Steve Hirst's Books
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Steve Hirst's Books |
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SUNU’ KWUNUNTS is the Red-tailed Hawk Sarah Bryce receives her first assignment as lead FBI anti-terrorism investigator to infiltrate the environmental terrorist group “EcotageFirst” in Southern Utah. EcotageFirst claims responsibility for several acts of domestic eco-terrorism and recently posted serious death threats. Sarah is drawn into a world of violence and explosive revelation as she attempts to prevent a cataclysm of death and destruction. The mysterious presence of her Native American Paiute ancestry hovers above all, protecting and seeking justice. PROLOGUE Graywing Hawk stood by his buckskin gelding horse near the rim of a deep ravine covered with pine trees and watched sheep grazing peacefully in the pasture below. Today, Graywing liked hunting in the way of the old people, Wee Noonts in his native tongue, with the primitive weapons of his Paiute ancestors. He carved his bow from mountain mahogany and backed it with sinew. He used mule deer antler to pressure-flake arrowheads from glasslike volcanic obsidian. He settled easily into the saddle and began following the fresh elk track when he heard the call. Eeeeuh, eeeeuh, the eerie sound of a cow elk whistle echoed through the cool morning air. Elk hoofs clattered on rocks as the small herd scrambled up the deep, narrow ravine. “Go Buck, get to the top before the paw duh’ee," Graywing whispered, leaning forward and pressing his heels into the horse’s ribs. The horse’s sides heaved from exertion of the hard seven-minute sprint up the hill. Graywing jumped to the ground and sprinted the last fifteen yards to the narrow cleft in the rock at the top of the ravine. He just managed to nock an arrow on his bowstring when the first cow elk burst through the opening, her tongue lolling from the side of her mouth. Following close on her heels was a spike bull elk. Thup! Graywing heard the arrow strike and saw the fletching lodge on a dark spot behind the left front shoulder of the young bull when it ran past within ten paces. The bull disappeared over the ridge with three more cows and two calves. Graywing turned and walked slowly back to his horse. "Got him, Buck. He won't go far." Graywing walked his horse to a large clump of cactus and carefully picked several of the plump red prickly pear fruit. He sat on a rock to peel the fruit and looked down at the large silver hawk on his chest. A necklace, strung with many elk tooth ivories, held the hawk. He remembered melting silver dollars on a forge and pouring the molten metal into a sand mold to form the rough shape of the hawk. He spent weeks hand carving and polishing each feather. When it was finished, Graywing took the silver hawk to the top of "Our spirits are one, sunu’kwununts," he lay back on the warm rock and closed his eyes. A half hour later, Graywing rose and patted his horse on the neck. "I think it's been long enough, let's go find him." He rode along the blood trail as it circled back over the ridge and soon spotted the elk where it lay against the base of a Utah Juniper tree. Graywing pulled a handful of berries from the tree and rubbed them between his hands until the pungent odor filled the air. Walking around the elk, he sprinkled the berries on the blood soaked ground. Grasping the long velvet-covered spike antlers, he pulled the elk's head back and blew sharply into the dark nostrils. "Thank you, Toovuts, for giving me this meat to feed my family until my child is born. May this paw duh’ee spirit graze with you forever," Graywing prayed. He cut the two ivory teeth from the top jaw of the elk, wrapped them in his bandanna and put them into his saddlebag. After gutting the elk, he threw a rope over a high limb and used his horse to hoist the elk and tie it off so he could load it onto his horse. The buckskin snorted and jerked against the reins tied to the tree when Graywing lowered the carcass onto his saddle. Graywing was tying the elk securely to the saddle when he heard commotion below. Through the trees, he could see the sheep racing frantically around the fenced pasture with a pair of coyotes slashing their flanks. "Hieee, hieeee, suhnuv,” Graywing raced toward the fence shouting and waving his arms. He climbed over the fence and scooped up a handful of rocks while running at the coyotes. One coyote slashed through the hamstring of a ewe and the other tore open the sheep's throat as it fell. Graywing continued to shout and throw rocks as he ran. The coyotes crouched by their prey and snarled until one yelped when a rock found its mark. Retreating reluctantly, the coyotes leaped over the fence and disappeared into the trees. Graywing watched death glaze the eyes of the fallen ewe. I don't know who owns these sheep, but the meat will be wasted unless I take care of it. He thought. He dragged the carcass to the fence and cut a slit through the hock on a hind leg. Hoisting the sheep up, he hung the leg over a fence post and began to skin the animal. Mitch Grimes rode his horse slowly up the mountain trail. The fine red dirt of That’s one more bird won't live off my lambs. I'd like to kill ever damn eagle in Through an opening in the trees he caught sight of the man in the pasture. Mitch jerked back on the reins and pulled his binoculars from the saddlebag. Thought so, another Injun stealin' my sheep. Damned if I'll let it happen again! Mitch quietly dismounted and pulled his 30-30 carbine from the scabbard. He crept forward to steady the rifle against a pinion limb, took careful aim and pulled the trigger. Graywing felt the hard blow to his back and his legs collapsed. "Fly home sunu’kwununts," he groaned and grasped the silver hawk. Mitch remounted and rode to the pasture gate. He unlocked the gate and walked to the body with his rifle at the ready. The man did not move when Mitch reached down and tapped an open eye with the barrel of his rifle. "Now you're a good Injun," he said. Mitch noticed the ewe's torn hamstring tendon and looked up to see blood dripping from the hindquarters of other sheep in the herd. Sumbitch! Looks like it was them damn coyotes killed my sheep. Well, what's done is done. Now I gotta get rid a this body. I'll fetch it up to that cave I know in the tall timber. There’s plenty big rocks around there I can use to fill up the hole so's nobody'll find it. Mitch rolled the body over and pried the silver hawk from Graywing's hand. High overhead a Red-tailed Hawk pulled her wings close to her body and began an accelerated dive to the pasture below. The hawk flared slightly and one talon raked Mitch’s arm, as the other grasped the necklace from his hand. The hawk screamed and spread her wings to soar back into the air with the necklace. Mitch dropped to his back to fire a wild shot and the hawk dropped the necklace before it disappeared above the trees. "Well I'll be damned," he walked over and picked up the silver hawk. "Never saw a hawk do anything like that. Maybe this necklace is some kind of powerful injun medicine." Two hours later the buckskin shook his head and grunted as the flies buzzed around the elk lashed to his back. The horse was thirsty and the musky odor of warm elk carcass continued to grow. He began jerking his head from side to side and backed up until the reins broke free. The horse trotted down the hill and around the pasture fence on the way back to water and food in Graywing’s barn. Willow Hawk sat on a chair in the shade of her cabin. Her large abdomen pressed tightly against her long calico dress. I just hope Graywing gets enough meat so he can stay with me until the baby comes. She pushed herself up out of the chair. When she turned to go back into the cabin, she saw the horse emerge from the trees with the elk still tied across the saddle. "I guess you must have spooked and broke the reins," She poured a can of grain into the horse's trough and returned to the cabin. Afternoon stretched into evening while she waited for Graywing. When she returned to the barn, Graywing may not get home until after dark, so I had better try to get this meat and saddle off the horse by myself. "Please, Toovuts, don't let the baby be hurt," she began crawling to the cabin. Waves of pain were washing over Suddenly the contractions began again and another larger head appeared. Exhausted, "Ow’ suhntuhee, I love you Graywing," She lay back down and the blood continued to flow. Nyla Horn held the kerosene lantern at arms length in front of her as she walked the trail back to her house from the coop where she had gone to feed the supper scraps to the chickens. The horse startled her when it ran into the yard. "Whoa there," she called and moved toward the animal. When she reached the sweat-foamed horse, she recognized it as the buckskin gelding her husband sold to Graywing two years ago. "Why have you come back here in such a hurry, Buck?" She stroked the frightened horse's neck and noticed the dark stains on the saddle. She held the lantern up to examine them more closely. "Shem, come quick!" She cried out when she recognized the bloodstains. Shem Horn ran from the house barefoot, holding the shotgun in his right hand while trying to pull up a suspender with his left. "What is it, Nyla?" he shouted. "Has that bear come back again?" "No, no," she pointed to the bloodstains on the saddle. “Looks like Graywing has been hurt." “Doesn’t look good, Nyla, you better get some bandages and blankets." Shem went back into the house and woke his son. "Graywing's horse is outside, Micah, take the saddle off and put him in the barn with feed and water. Nyla and I are going to the Hawk's cabin. There's blood on Graywing's saddle and they may need help." Nyla tore a clean sheet for bandages. She knew that Willow Hawk's baby was due soon and wondered how the Paiute woman could cope if her husband was badly hurt. Nyla was a natural caregiver but cervical cancer had robbed her of the opportunity to bear children. The cancer was removed five years ago and maternal instincts moved her to marry her Paiute husband Shem, after his wife died and left Shem with a young son to raise. Even though it was uncommon for a Paiute man to marry a white woman, Nyla's caring ways brought her full acceptance into the hearts of the Shivwitz Paiute people. "If Graywing is badly hurt we may need to bring both of the Hawks back to stay with us until the baby is born," Nyla said as the pickup truck bumped along the dirt road to the Hawk’s cabin. "Maybe so," Shem answered. "I just don't know if The twenty-minute ride finally brought them to the Hawk’s cabin. Shem stopped in front of the cabin and lit a kerosene lantern. The cabin was dark and the door stood open. Holding the lantern high, Nyla called out: "Graywing, When they heard no response, Nyla and Shem slowly entered the dark cabin. Nyla gasped and pressed her hand to her mouth. "Look at all this blood!" Shem knelt down near "Oh, no," Nyla sobbed. She reached to find a pulse in "Help me Nyla," Shem tore back the blood soaked blankets. “There's two babies here!" Nyla crawled back and clutched a baby to her breast. The fire climbed the cabin wall. Shem lifted the other baby and reached down to help Nyla stand. Nyla stood motionless looking down at "She's dead, Nyla!" Shem shouted and pulled Nyla toward the door as flames spread through the cabin. "We've got to get these babies out of here!" Nyla and Shem stood outside watching the flames consume the small cabin. "Nothing we can do to stop it, Nyla. When Shem returned, he was holding an obsidian arrowhead. "There's an elk on the ground in the barn with one of Graywing's arrowheads imbedded inside a rib bone, Nyla, and a blood trail leads from the barn to the house. The blood on the saddle is likely from the elk, but there’s no sign of Graywing. Something mighty strange happened here, but the most important thing now is to get these babies back home and give them a chance to survive." Both infants cried weakly when Nyla wrapped them in clean blankets. She sat in the pickup holding a child in each arm while Shem drove back down the trail. The babies were asleep when Nyla and Shem carried them into the house. Shem started a fire in the wood stove to heat water. The twins were not identical, but they both had the strong features and black hair common to their Paiute ancestors. The larger baby began to cry when Nyla lowered it into the warm water. Shem heated milk on the stove and poured it into a bottle he used to feed lambs. Nyla dried the baby and handed her to Shem’s son, Mikah, then unwrapped the second twin. The infant shuddered but made no sound when Nyla washed it. The smaller baby seemed barely alive while she dried and wrapped it again in a towel. "I just don't know if this little one is going to make it," Nyla lowered the baby onto a pillow near the stove. During the next two weeks, Nyla and Micah attended to the newborn babies day and night while Shem searched for Graywing. "This baby eats twice as much as the tiny one," Micah said while feeding the warm goat milk to the baby. "But I feel a strong spirit when I hold the tiny one." Shem contacted the authorities and most of the Paiutes on the Shivwitz reservation in his attempt to find Graywing. While driving to town for supplies, he decided to stop at Mitch Grimes cabin. Shem knocked on the cabin door and heard the gruff response. “C’mon in, it aint locked.” Shem opened the door and stepped inside. Mitch stood with his back to the door, cooking scrambled eggs in a cast iron skillet on his stove. “Graywing has disappeared, Mitch, and I wondered if you have seen him lately.” When Mitch turned around, Shem saw the silver hawk hanging from Mitch’s neck. “Where did you get that?” Shem shouted. Mitch grasped the handle of the heavy iron skillet and swung it viciously. Shem crashed to the floor and Mitch continued to strike until Shem lay motionless. Now what the hell will I do with this injun? He wondered. Mitch dragged the body to Shem’s pickup and lifted it inside. He climbed into the driver’s seat and drove down the road to a steep embankment, where he stopped and stuffed a greasy rag into the neck of the gas tank. Mitch lit a match to the rag, put the pickup in gear and watched it roll down the embankment and explode at the bottom. After Shem’s funeral, Nyla sat with Micah to discuss their future. “We need to take care of ourselves now, Micah, but our first responsibility is to these babies. I talked to the state authorities and they agree with my plan. I'm going to take the healthy twin to Ardith Bryce for adoption tomorrow. Ardith and Laverl are planning to move to "This is the happiest day of my life," Ardith held the baby. "I'm so sorry her mother was killed in that fire, but this child will make life complete for Laverl and me. I'll name her Sarah, after my mother. How can I ever thank you, Nyla?" "I'm just thankful that the baby will have such a good mother. Your love for her is the best thanks you could give. Ardith, please save this necklace for the child. Before her mother died she tied the elk ivory to the baby's wrist." Nyla did not tell Ardith that baby Sarah had a sister; and she made Micah promise never to tell the frail baby she named Esmiralda that Essie was born with a twin. |
