Grizzly Killer: Smoke On The Water by Lane R Warenski

Author:Lane R Warenski
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781641194884
Publisher: Wolfpack Publishing
Published: 2019-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

14 INTO THE UNKNOWN

SPOTTED ELK HELD up his hand to halt the men. He then slowly moved forward toward the remains. The eyes of every hunter were scanning the entire basin for any sign of movement. It was Red Hawk that first pointed to movement across the lake and there was a quick moment of nearly silent laughter as it was just a porcupine climbing down a large spruce.

The mangled body was over half eaten away. Teeth marks had penetrated the skull and broke a large piece of it off, they were sure that is what had killed the young warrior. The bear had eaten all of his vital organs and the face was so mutilated not one of them could identify what remained.

High Back Bull stepped forward and knelt down to the bloody mangled corpse. There was a small rawhide thong still around his neck. It was so blood soaked no one else had even noticed it was there. High Back Bull took his knife and cut off the thong, pulling it free. Buried in the blood and dirt under the body was a small wooden carving of a dog howling to the heavens. Long Lance had carved the small totem and given it to his son when he was just twelve summers old and Howling Dog never removed it, it was his most prized possession.

High Back Bull just stared for a moment out across the lake; the only sound was the whispering of the breeze through the trees. The lakes surface was surprisingly calm with the approaching storm. He was trying to blink the tears away before he faced the others as he stared into the distance. A fish hit the surface of the water, which was strange for this time of the year. The fish were usually in the depths of the lakes by now where the water was slightly warmer rather than up near the surface. High Back Bull watched the ripples disappear then turned around and showed the rest of them what he held in his hand.

Everyone knew what the totem was, even Grub, Ely, and Benny, for Howling Dog had boasted about it many times. Although they all had little doubt before, this small hand carved totem positively identified Howling Dog. Red Hawk stepped forward and put his hand on High Back Bull’s shoulder showing his sympathy to a man he had known his whole life.

Spotted Elk turned and looked around at the fourteen solemn faces all watching. He then spoke to them all, but looking right at the sorrowful young man, he said, “High Back Bull, I want you to pick five men to take Howling Dog’s Body back to the glade and bury him with his leg. There are enough warriors here to both track the bear and honor your friend with a Shoshone Burial. Make a fire, burn the sweet sage and let the sacred smoke carry your prayers to the one above. When you have finished, return to the village and let Long Lance and Charging Bull know what you have done.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.