The Last Operation (The Remnants of War Series, Book 1) by Astre Patrick

Author:Astre, Patrick [Astre, Patrick]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: ePublishing Works!
Published: 2013-12-07T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

A cloud of Sandpipers and Sanderlings exploded from the water meadows just outside Daniels' camp, disturbed by the noise of the approaching airboat. The craft was nothing more than a flat bottom rowboat with an elevated motor powering a propeller. Tricky as they were to handle, Spirit Wolf slid the boat expertly to the bank where Daniels waited, almost exactly at sunrise.

Wordlessly, Daniels stood next to Spirit Wolf as the craft flew over the surface of a vast sea of yellow and white waterweeds, interspersed with expanses of sawgrass. The run lasted almost an hour and the sun came up from the horizon, a giant yellow-orange burst, filled with the guaranty of another blast-furnace day. They came on a string of small islands overgrown with live oaks and cabbage palms, crowded and screened with bushes. Spirit Wolf guided the boat as it drifted among patches of water hyacinths under the baleful eye of a single heron.

The Indian ran the boat up a tiny sand bar, like a small beach in the riotous vegetation. Daniels followed him up a trodden footpath until they came to a clearing dotted with a tiny house that was not much more than a hut. As they approached the open door, Spirit Wolf placed a restraining hand on Daniels' arm and pointed gently down.

It was at least eight feet long, the body as big around as a man's ankle. It stopped and coiled its lower half, all sinuous muscles, fast and deadly. The Diamondback Rattler's head reared up waist high, the mouth open, the tongue flickering over the wicked curved fangs.

Both men stood very still as Spirit Wolf spoke, his voice soft and low as the breeze rustling the palm grass.

"It is Ulwati. He has been sent by Elohino, our Mother Earth, to be Taloona's guardian."

Richard Daniels had encountered many things, strange and inexplicable things. But now, right here in this time and place, in the tapestry of the savage wilderness of the Everglades, he felt a mystical connection. He sensed his spirit moving in the timeless stream of the universe. In that stream, he became aware of the spiritual entities that flowed all around him, their shapes and natures changing in the constant, moving evolution. He knew that he'd just encountered an entity, a timeless spirit that was more then it seemed.

The Diamondback lowered its head and body. Daniels could never have explained the feeling, the sensibility that washed over him. He felt as if the huge reptile had accepted his presence as it slithered inches from their feet and disappeared beneath the tiny cabin.

It was a religious mystical experience transcending anything he had ever known. Standing at the edge of that hut in the clearing, watching the Diamondback vanish under the footings of Taloona's cabin, he felt the undercurrent of powerful forces. Spirit Wolf's hand grasped his arm, the fingers like stones wrapped in leather. The Indian's voice floated like rumblings from the earth in the still air.

"Come my friend. It is time to meet Taloona.

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