Howdy!
Welcome, Welcome to a terrific Tuesday!
Deep breath. The first draft of SHE PAINTS MY SOUL is done! (Another deep breath) Now the book goes into edits, which are usually quite intense as we get the book ready to release.
Although the book won’t be on the market for another couple of months — due to edits — I’m so excited to be done with this story, I thought I’d post a short excerpt as well as a peek at the new cover. I’m always told one shouldn’t do this because people can’t then, at once, go and get the book. But, I’m going to break the rules for a moment and post a short excerpt. This book ties up the 1st, 2nd and this, the 3rd book in the series.
The book is so new, I don’t even have a blurb yet. So, forgive me all the things that should be here and at present, are not. Am just excited to be finished with the story and am now heading straight into my own edits and then the book goes to my editor. This first scene is a highly fictionalize story of what I’m told was an actual happening that took place perhaps thousands of years ago. I am told the real event took place in the dog days — long before the horse ever came to America.
SHE PAINTS MY SOUL
by
Karen Kay
CHAPTER ONE
Montana Territory
Blackfoot Country
August, 1840
From a ridge high above the four tepees, Strikes Fast looked down upon the familiar scene of the blue, yellow and red painted tepees, their entrances facing east, while the back of each of the lodges was braced by several poles to provide protection against the westerly winds. The largest dwelling—the lodge painted with images of warriors the magician had killed—would be the tepee of Red Sky and his first wife. Probably it also housed his newest captive, Sharon.
The second tepee would be the home of his other six wives. Strikes Fast recognized the third and fourth tepees in the camp as belonging to the magician’s brother and his four wives. But, the brother was not a recognized warrior with a good war record, and, during a fight, it was well known the man would be inclined to hide like the coward he was.
The tepees had been set up on an island in the middle of the Áashisee, the Big Missoui River, and Strikes Fast took a moment to admire the setting of the blue water against the backdrop of the white and gray cliffs which jutted up so grandly from the land. In the far distance could be seen the summit of a mountain, but it was too far away to discern more than a misty image of its peak. Because it was late morning, the sun was high in the sky, adding to the silhouette of the bright, blue-colored river and the gray and white cliffs, the azure sky seeming to paint them with all the colors given by Sun, the Creator.
It was a good day to die. But perhaps, if his medicine were good today, his demise could be delayed.
Heaving in a deep sigh, Strikes Fast rose up to his full six foot height and stood up straight and tall, his look unafraid as he began his descent down the cliff. He did not seek to hide the noise he made in the warm, shallow water as he trod through it toward the island. Nor did he creep into the magician’s camp like a wolf in the night. Rather he announced his coming with as grand an entry as possible.
After stepping up onto the shoreline of the island, Strikes Fast strode immediately to the lodge of Red Sky and, scratching on the entry flap, let himself in without awaiting a reply.
Strikes Fast scanned, without really looking, at the interior of the lodge. Many of the comforts of home were to be seen within the lodge even though Red Sky was far from home. The brightly painted tepee liner, the comfortable back-rest, the many robes and furs, as well as the several and assorted parfleche storage bags holding food and the family’s clothing were laid out or hung up on tepee poles for convenience. It was odd how comfortable Red Sky and his family were, being that they had set up camp within the territory of the enemy. It only went to show the amount of faith Red Sky and his family placed upon the deadly effect of Red Sky’s magic.
As the familiar scent of the smoke from the inside fire reached out to Strikes Fast, his “host,” Red Sky, said in his deep, bass voice, “Welcome. I have not seen you for many snows. We had all thought you to be dead, yet here you are, alive and without proper manners…as usual. What brings you here on such an uninviting afternoon?”
Odd, how the other man could insult, yet extend a welcome all in the same breath. Said Strikes Fast in the Crow tongue, “I have come to bring the woman you have stolen back to the Pikuni people. She is not Pikuni. She is white and you may not have her.”
“I will not part with her. She brings me…pleasure.” Red Sky smiled, though the look possessed more of the air of an evil temperament than amusement. “You may leave now.”
But, Strikes Fast did not leave. Instead, he glanced quickly at Sharon, the beautiful tawny-haired white woman, if only to ensure she was alive and aware. For a moment, she returned his gaze, but then she looked quickly away.
Finding an unoccupied place within Red Sky’s lodge, Strikes Fast sat down cross-legged, as was befitting a real man. He said, “I think you had best give her to me.”
“Think you so?”
Strikes Fast shrugged. “I do. Unless you wish to war with me. But, I advise you against it, for you will not win it.”
Red Sky seemed to enjoy a good laugh at Strikes Fast’s expense, before he replied, “You know well my magic. You have seen it kill men much greater than you.” Again Red Sky smiled, but the gesture was hardly cheerful. “Go now and I will forget all about this.”
“I would like to leave at once,” said Strikes Fast. “But she must come with me. I will not go away from here without her.”
Again, Red Sky laughed, as though Strikes Fast were a clown intent on humoring him. “‘She must come with me,'” Red Sky mimicked. “I do not think so. This is your last chance to leave and remain alive.”
Strikes Fast didn’t speak. Instead, he looked down as he extended his mind out into the environment, preparing himself for what he knew was to come. He had never been witness to Red Sky’s medicine. Yet, he had heard much about it from many other Crow people and he had personally known men who had been killed by it.
Unexpectedly, he felt the power of kindness as well as a warm regard upon him, and he looked up to see its source, finding himself staring straight into the light, amber color of Sharon’s eyes. For a moment, he gazed into the beauty of her countenance, realizing for the first time the strength and goodness of her heart.
However, her heart was not the only admirable quality about her. She was beautiful of face and figure, as well, with light, delicate-colored skin; rose-colored cheeks and long, amber-colored hair, some of the length of it falling in waves over her shoulders and covering her breast. She was slim and rounded in all the right places and the style of her white-man’s clothing emphasized her femininity.
The image of her, as well as the strength of her heart gladdened him. Said Strikes Fast, returning his attention to the matter at hand, “I will do battle with you if you insist upon it. But I warn you. You have never had to endure the power of my medicine upon you. And so, because you do not know who I really am or what I can do, I will give you one last chance. Give her to me and I will leave here.”
Red Sky laughed so hard, the tepee practically shivered. Then, reaching out to take hold of a particular parfleche bag, Red Sky looked up and grinned. This must have been a special bag to the man, for it was decorated with red and white symbols of war; triangles, sharp-tipped arrows, spears, bows and even a red and white symbol of a white man’s long rifle were all painted upon it.
“Prepare to die,” uttered the magician, Red Sky, and, from the parfleche bag, he extracted a spider. No more. No less. But what a spider it was, being perhaps the size of a man’s fist. It was a black spider, also, and its front legs looked to be claws. But, it was the spider’s fangs, sharp and long, which would cause its poison to enter into a man’s bloodstream, the result being a long and painful death.
So, this was the source of Red Sky’s black magic.
For a moment Strikes Fast felt a shiver of fear run down his spine. But, instead of allowing himself to give in to the emotion, Strikes Fast grinned at the magician as though daring the man to do his worst.
And, his worst was known to be very bad. Indeed, Strikes Fast knew there was no medicine man within the Crow Nation who possessed an herb, a tea or a special kind of mud to extract the poison or to counter the poison, once the spider had bitten a man. Indeed, the effect of its deadly poison was legendary within the memory of his people; many warriors had perished because of it. Strikes Fast had known a few of them.
But, Strikes Fast had not come ill-prepared. He possessed his own power. And, taking a parfleche bag from around his shoulder, Strikes Fast extracted a few small, brown twigs, some bits of buckskin, a few bones and stones.
Uttered the magician, Red Sky, “You are looking for a fight with me and your only defense is an assortment of sticks?”
Strikes Fast grinned. They certainly looked to be no more than sticks and small bones which had been glued in place. But, these were more than what they appeared to be. As simple as they looked, Strikes Fast knew these small sticks and bones could cause fear to flourish within even the most stout-hearted man.
Glancing up at the evil magician, Strikes Fast grinned, then waved his hand over the assembled sticks, silently asking the sticks to become a small warrior. At once it was done, and, though the tiny figure of the man was perhaps not larger than a man’s middle finger, the small fighter looked unflinchingly at his enemy and held his small lance up into position, preparing to jab it into the spider.
The little man, however, didn’t appear to put fear into the spider. The monster continued to move forward toward the tiny man.
Looking down at the tiny warrior, Strikes Fast beheld his man’s minuscule weapons, a bow and some arrows, as well as the sharp spear. They might be tiny, yet he knew them to be effective. The diminutive figure, now obviously alive, paced steadily toward the spider, the small man’s lance aimed directly at the heart of the spider.
Red Sky laughed evilly. “This is all you have to counter my spider? A spider who has defied men bigger than you? My spider cannot die, you see. Your man, there, being no more than sticks and pieces of bone, will have no effect upon my creature of magic.” And so saying, Red Sky waved his hand over the spider, saying to the monster, “Kill the small man. Then kill his owner.”
But, Strikes Fast also waved his hand over the small man, saying nothing at all with words, but with his mind, he spoke to the man, and said, “Drive the spider away. Kill him so that the evil of the creature is gone from this earth.”
And, fearlessly, the small man, armed with a lance, as well as the bow and arrows, advanced toward his opponent. The little man did not hesitate nor back away, even when the spider, who was bigger than he, showed his fangs, the poison dripping from them onto the ground.
Red Sky laughed…at first. But, when the tiny man showed no fear and kept advancing toward the spider with his spear trained upon the creature, Red Sky frowned.
Again, Red Sky waved his hand over the spider, causing the creature’s fangs to ominously click. The magician chuckled.
But still, the small man advanced using his spear to lunge forward, and then, with a quick movement, he propelled the spear into the creature, the spider emitting a cry and jumping back.
The small man continued to advance, however, and he jabbed his lance toward the spider, narrowing missing the creature.
Only then did Strikes Fast admit to Red Sky, “There be poison on my man’s spear. Should he strike another blow upon your monster, it will die. Be prepared.”
The war waged on and the spider continued to retreat, injured and in a hurry to get away. The small man continued to advance, lunging his spear at the spider, and though he did not connect his lance with the spider again, each jab narrowly missed the unsightly monster.
Then, obviously seeking to get away from his opponent, the spider jumped up onto one of the lodge poles and quickly climbed upwards toward the top of the pole. But, Strikes Fast’s little man did not back away; he continued to advance toward the creature, the little man appearing to be uninfluenced by gravity.
“No! What are you doing? Spider come back!” cried Red Sky. But the spider didn’t listen to his owner.
“Call your man off!” cried Red Sky. “Do you hear? Call him off!”
“I will call my man back to me only if you will give me your promise to allow the girl to go with me. Nor must you fight me in any way.”
The spider had now reached the top of the highest tepee pole. And, Red Sky, looking upward at it, cried out, “You may have her. You have my word on it. Take her! Now! Hurry and go! Take anything else of mine you wish to have, but call your man back!”
Without saying a word, Strikes Fast silently spoke to his magical man, and, opening his parfleche bag, allowed the man to jump back into it. With the flick of his hand, the man became again no more than sticks and bone.
Arising, Strikes Fast stepped around the fire toward Sharon and, taking her by the hand, paced toward the entrance flap. Bending, he let himself and Sharon out of Red Sky’s lodge, he, of course, being the first to exit the lodge, as was tradition. He still grasped Sharon’s hand within his own.
Only then did he really look at the two ponies tied beside Red Sky’s lodge. Earlier he had given them little attention, but now his gaze took in their obvious worth.
They were both black and white spotted horses and they looked to be strong. Perhaps they were Red Sky’s best buffalo runners, the kind of horse valued more to the Indian heart than the white man’s gold.
Cutting them both from their bindings, Strikes Fast gave the reins of one of them to Sharon and kept one for himself. And then, calmly, as though they had all the time in the world, he and Sharon walked out into the calm of a warm afternoon.
Well, that’s all for today. I’ll be giving away the e-book of the 1st book in this series, SHE STEALS MY BREATH to one of the bloggers today. So, please leave a message. And, please be sure to read all the P &P rules that govern our giveaways — they are off to the right on this page.
Have a super day and a fabulous week.
Kaitlene Dee lives on the west coast, enjoys outings along the coast and in the nearby mountains, hiking, supporting dog rescues and outdoor cooking and camping. She also writes contemporary western Christian romances as Tina Dee. Kaitlene and Tina’s books can be found on Amazon.
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Maeve’s Pledge
