Gold and Steel by Nathan D. Cook (superbooks4u txt) 📖

Introduction


My name is Tom Blaite, I own a house outside Fort Mcklasky, an old Mexican fort North of the Mexico/ Texas border. I built a house right on the spot my wife Julianne wanted it to be. It overlooks the valley and is surrounded by a small clump of trees that made a half circle. After the birth of our first son Brandon, I built a small stable for our horses. About the time Brandon was four, Julianne gave birth to our second child, Anne. Things were going well for us, but I had no idea what the future had in store for us.


Chapter 1


The dead heat of July hit as i set out to do the days work. I was planning to fell some timber to repair the house from the storm that took place the night before. About half way into a swing, my balance was shifted when I heard gunfire in the distance. I shrugged it off, because we lived near a fort...
As I was swinging yet again, I heard horses. The sound got louder and louder. Before I could do anything, bandits were circling me like wolves stalking a deer, one bandit came up behind me and knocked me out with the butt of his gun. I was out cold. When I came to, there was no one in sight and it was about noon. I quickly made my way back to what i feared for most...
My House was in ashes and my family was nowhere in sight, horseprints littered the ground. My wife, my eight year old son, and my four year old daughter, were gone. My soul thirsted for revenge, so i searched for anything that would be of use in the ashes. I had nothing but my axe, so I mounted my horse and rode to the fort. I sold my ax at the store. With the money i had saved up and the money from the ax, I bought myself a Colt pistol. I over heard a man talking about bandits, burning houses, killing people, stealing what they had, and raping women. I tried to keep my head from wandering off to a God awful image that seemed to have cemented inside me. Thoughts began to stir like fireflies after dusk... anger filled my soul, eternally scaring me...


Chapter 2


I rode into a small Sioux village a few miles away from Fort McKlasky. It seems that they have never had trouble with the bandits. The cheif shared with me some very helpful information that would send me on the biggest fight of my life.
There was some sacred land about three miles away due west. There rests a Solid gold Buffallo with a short temper. The cheif said if I killed the beast, he'd give me a gift of great value.
I slept outside the village away from unwanted attention. A young Indian girl noticed me and shared rabbit with me. I accepted the rabbit, because I didn't have anything to eat. Hunger was the last pain on my mind. The next hours, I spent planning how to kill such a beast, If it existed.
The next morning, Me n' Bucky set off to hunt the beast. I followed the chief's directions, which were kinda discreet. Three miles later, I dismounted, and Bucky took off back the way we had came. I looked around, and found nothing, so I took refuge on a large boulder to scope out the small meadow. As soon as I had a satisfying plan, this huge monstor of a bison walked out of the woods. It was gleaming in the sunlight. It really was golden, but I was still sceptical of its malleability. I took careful aim, and shot directly behind the shoulder. DING! the beast turned, looking for the source of the bullet. The bulet did not penetrate anything, almost like the hair was indestructible. The beast went into a feirce rage, breathing heavily and bucking around. I took a few more shots and no better luck. By that time, the beast had found me perched atop the boulder, and charged with full force. I took one more careful aim, I waited for an eye to meet the bead at the end of my barrel. It was my last bullet... BANG!


Chapter 3


BANG! The bullet streamed through the air and, fwack!, hit the beast in the eye. The beast fell with a thunderous thump. I fell back in releif and exaustion. I climbed down the boulder to inspect my victim. I noticed that when the beast fell, it was like the durability left the fur. It started to sway as it fell. So, I cleaned the buffallo. When I was finished I had a golden colored buffallo pelt. I loaded the pelt on my shoulders after a good buffallo feast, and headed back on my way. By this time, it was almost sunset, and I remembered my family and how we used to sit outside with the children playing in the yard. As the sun set, the memories of what was no more continued until the sun sank below the horizon.
I was approaching the village, there was deer trails all throughout the woods. I could see the village campfires ahead of me. As I closed in on it, I met the cheif outside the mouth of the trail,were it comes out of the woods. He was a young cheif, about 30 or so. He had been running for some time, he said the village was attacked by bandits. He was completily filled with fear for his people. He held a paculiar rifle in his hand. I showed him the buffallo pelt and he shoved the rifle in my hand with a quivering haste. There was four bandits heading our way. I took aim with the rifle, after handing my pistol to the cheif. I shot the rifle and it hit directly in his heart. The man fell off his horse. I reloaded it and took aim again. By the time I was ready to fire again, the cheif shot and killed one mans' horse. I shot the third bandit. and the cheif finished the one which he missed. I took aim again, but the bandit got to fire one shot. It hit me, and I fell to the ground. The chief picked up my rifle
and fired it, the bandit fell, as I layed there with blood spilling on the ground. I blacked out...


Chapter 4


I crept back into conciousness... "Did you have a good sleep?" "You've been resting for awhile now." I arose and a sharp pain hit my left shoulder. I
looked around and saw the cheif sitting beside me. "What happened?" I said. "The men from the fort came and scared off the bandits." Said the cheif. "The
one who is brave and strong enough to take down the sacred buffallo is said to have the power to heal really quickly." I asked him what had happened to the
others in his tribe, not intending to make his last statement irrelevant. "Some were killed, others taken away. The few survivors decided to move to the fort,
they felt safer there." So there we were, two men with a very similar taste for revenge.
"So, what are you gonna do now?" asked the chief. "Im gonna hunt down them damn bandits." I said. "Then im going, too." He said. I understood him, so i didnt plan to argue, even though i didn't want a tag along. I figured I owed him something for saving my life.
I decided that when my shoulder had somewhat healed was when I was gonna
move out. But, as the cheif had mentioned earlier, it was healing rather fast. I asked him which way the bandits had went. His arm pointed towards the North.
I went to the northern part of the village to see if i could find any sign or tracks. Bucky was once again nowhere to be found. So me and the cheif set out on foot.
As we walked, i finally decided to ask him his name. My name is Douglas Cha-O-Ha. My mother was a white woman and my father was full-blodded Sioux. I
became chief after the death of my grandfather.
As we talked, i kept up with the tracks on the ground. I realized that they could be anywhere in the country by now, and that there was no way of catching up to them on foot. It seemed like our adventure was running on a silent prayer, and not looking up any time soon. Our only chance was a single streak of luck that would grace us with a bump in the direction we were going.
Chief Douglas stopped me for a second, and threw me the rifle he gave me the night before. I looked around for any sign of life, but the only thing that caught my eye was a shadow streaking across the landscape. I looked up and saw the largest
bird I'd ever layed eyes on. "It's a Thunder Bird" the chief said. I wasn't very familiar with Indian beliefs, but I was starting to be less sceptical about the little I did know about it. He told me it was a very large bird that was a sign of a storm. It also carried off children who wander off alone. It was a very bright colored bird, almost like the golden buffallo. It was a rare occurance, so i just watched as it flew into the horizon. Soon enough, clouds began to form in the west and we decided to rest until the storm had passed. We made a small tent on a small cliff-side and waited out the storm...


Chapter 5


The storm passed. "We can no longer track them, the rain washed away the footprints." said the chief. "What do we do then?" I asked. "I suggest we go back toward the fort and find someone who