Algonquin Quest 2-Book Bundle. Rick Revelle

and then continued along the riverbank. When we reached the small bay that was nestled into the bend, we all decided that this was as good a spot as any for the trap. Figuring that the enemy would stay on this side of the river, we kept the bend between our group and theirs. I told everyone that we would wait to spring the ambush just as the Haudenosaunee were gliding into the bay, by staying concealed, they would not know how many of us there were. If we could kill or injure enough of them with our first couple of volleys, they might retreat downriver. This element of surprise along with the fear of not knowing our numbers might be enough to turn this skirmish to our advantage.

      Silently, we waited in the cool afternoon shadows as their canoes glided silently into our range. Just as I was drawing my bow I heard a noise like a tree snapping in the cold. It was Mitigomij. He had fired his slingshot and caught a Haudenosaunee square in the face with a rock. The man screamed and fell back into the boat, sending the man behind him tumbling out into the bay. I heard one more crack of the slingshot before I could loosen my bow. I watched as the arrow struck a young warrior in the shoulder. Immediately, I restrung my bow and let loose another projectile. This one entered the eye of the man behind my first victim. By that time, as they were being showered with arrows from the shore, I could hear their screams of pain. Three of the canoes had retreated out of the bay as they had wounded and dying men in them. One of the remaining canoes was floating without any guidance, its occupants all dead.

      However, we had a problem. Two canoes had landed and their occupants were intent on facing the hidden menace that had ambushed them. There were four of them, and they had the two young warriors cornered a distance from me. As I ran to their aid, I could see Makòns spurting blood from a neck wound and his assailant hitting him on the head with a war club. The two women were aiding Miskwì. Kìnà Odenan had her knife buried in the back of a Haudenosaunee. The man then screamed as Agwanìwon Ikwe hit the dying man with her war club full in the face. The warrior who had killed Makòns now had realized his worst nightmare. Makadewà Wàban. As the man turned to the sound of the panther’s scream, the animal struck him full in the face. They rolled down the small embankment with the cat tearing chunks of flesh from his prey.

      “Mitigomij, call the cat off. Let this man live to tell of his ordeal. We have vanquished them; the others are leaving in their canoe.”