Eagle Shadow
by
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No one on either side knew that Nate Hunter watched from the woods north of the camp as his own plans were being flawlessly executed. Within five minutes of the initial assault he noticed soldiers and volunteers entering from the east and west and forming a battle line across the north side of the camp in front of his position. He checked the magazine of his Henry rifle and made sure it held its full complement of fifteen rounds, then silently moved closer to the fighting and watched for Mark to appear. He soon spied Mark behind a tree about twenty feet away. When he caught Mark’s eye he pointed and held up two fingers, indicating that Tara was in the second tepee from where they stood. Mark nodded and cocked his revolver, ready to make a run for it. Nate made a quick check of their immediate environs to see if it was safe, then he worked the lever of his rifle to chamber a round and signaled for Mark to go. Mark darted into the open and headed straight for the tent flap of the second tepee with Nate following closely behind. Nate crouched beside the tepee while Mark went inside. It was only a moment before Mark emerged with an ashen-faced Tara clutching her red coat. Nate was relieved to see that they had located her all right but he didn’t allow himself to bask in it. They still had a long way to go to get to safety. Apparently she’d been left alone in the tepee, but as the trio began to make their way back to the woods, nearby gunshots rang out. The Indians had spotted them. While Mark forged ahead, shoving Tara in front of him and shielding her with his body, Nate found where one shooter was hiding, took aim, and fired. Shot in the neck, the Indian fell dead, and Nate continued following Mark’s path. They soon found that they were going to run into more opposition than they expected. Several Indians had already managed to break through the ring of cavalry and volunteer troops, and Mark, Tara, and Nate were being fired on with bullets and arrows from two directions. With no words spoken, Nate and Mark worked in sync, Mark firing on the attackers on their right and Nate taking on those on their left, each employing implicit trust in the other for his life. They had to alter their original escape route and head in an easterly direction, but they moved when they could, racing from the cover of one tree to the next. At one point, as he ran in the open, Nate heard the lever of a gun behind him. He turned around, dropping to one knee as he did so to throw off anyone who was trying to target him, raised his rifle and pulled the trigger in time to kill the Indian who had trained his sights on Tara. Soon the three of them crouched near a cluster of granite rocks, boxed in on three sides by Indian shooters. Mark pushed Tara down behind him and got off a couple of rounds, killing two attackers. Nate propped himself up on one knee and started chambering rounds and firing in rapid succession. He made every bullet count, taking down an Indian on every shot. Mark covered for him while he reloaded the magazine; in no time he was ready to fire again. As soon as Nate saw a break in the attack on them he gave Mark a shove. "It’s clear! Go!" Mark and Tara ran from their hiding place while Nate kept his eyes trained on his sights and his finger on the trigger. They had gone about fifty feet when new shots and arrows began whizzing by them. From their protected spot behind a tree Mark gestured to Nate that he was going to take Tara into a different direction to avoid confrontation with Indians. A moment later they both ran off to the right, disappearing from Nate’s view. "Damn," Nate muttered to himself. He’d been separated from Mark, and because of the location of these new shooters, he wouldn’t be able to follow the direction Mark had taken. He quickly considered his options. If he could make it to the cover of the woods he could circle around and take out the shooters from behind, but he must work fast to be able to meet up with Mark again on the other side. There was one shooter he knew was blocking his nearest escape route to the woods. He counted the rounds fired, and when he knew the Indian had to stop to reload, he made a mad dash for the woods. Once in the woods where he felt only a little safer, he ran full speed, ducking under branches and jumping over logs and low bushes. When he neared a position in back of the Indians who had forced Mark into the other direction, he slowed down and crept stealthily along until he found them, two braves taking cover behind a fallen log, one with a bow and arrow, one with a rifle. Nate was breathing hard from running, but he struggled to quiet his breathing so as not to give away his presence to them. He decided to go for the one with the rifle first; a bow and arrow would react slower than a gun, but as he took aim, out of the corner of his eye he saw the other Indian pull back his bowstring.
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About the Book
Nate Hunter was born half-Cheyenne and half-white and lives as a contented, ordinary ranch hand in 1860s Montana Territory. But his heritage draws him irrevocably into the rising conflict between the Indians and whites. He has learned expert tracking and hunting skills from his Cheyenne father, and this knowledge serves him well as he makes a daring escape from an Indian massacre, of which he is one of the only survivors, and flees into the mountains where he leads the lonely life of a fugitive sought by both of his peoples. Where once he felt loyalty to both sides, now everyone becomes an enemy, and he must rely on his keen senses and knowledge of the mountains to survive. Almost as challenging are his clashes with the strong-willed and attractive Tara Sinclair, member of a wealthy and prestigious family of landowners. As Nate’s only contact with civilization, it is her help he must have and her intervention that sets off a battle between his two peoples, a fight in which he is forced to choose a side. When he is eventually called on to mediate peace negotiations, his questionable reputation with the United States Cavalry as well as the Indians’ suspicions of him jeopardize his very life and the hopes of hundreds of white settlers who live in fear of the powerful Northern Cheyenne nation. Eagle Shadow is a riveting tale of passion and betrayal, and a dramatic and exciting portrayal of one man’s personal conflict set against the backdrop of a beautiful but unforgiving frontier.
About the Author
Shelly Greenhalgh-Davis, a native of Florida, now makes her home in Utah. Her professional experience includes eleven years as a network news editor with a national press clipping bureau and five years as a movie reviewer with a Tennessee newspaper. The story of Eagle Shadow is a reflection of her keen interest in Old West history and Native American culture. Married since 1994 to artist David Kimball Davis, they are the parents of two sons, and Shelly has embarked on a new career as a home school mom. She is currently writing a sequel to Eagle Shadow.