Prologue

October 1844

San Saba River Valley

Topusana (Prairie Flower) lay upon the soft sand of the cavern floor, dreaming fitfully. She could hear the songs of Tosahwi (White Knife) faintly in the distant recesses of her mind. She was clinging desperately to this world. She could still remember.

Thoughts floated through her mind. She had seen the attack on the Home Camp coming. She had witnessed her daughter’s cruel violation and brutal murder. She had watched her child’s spirit rise from the burning camp. The silhouettes of the bodies of her friends blurred in and out of focus within her mind.

The tears rose again. She cried out, a pitiful whimpering cry like that of a wounded fawn.

How could these men be so ruthless?

The words of the songs Tosahwi sang penetrated deeply within her soul. The Dream Time ultimately overcame her.

Tosahwi, the Shaman, knew in his heart that Topusana needed to let go of this place and time. He rested his hand upon her brow. He could feel her pulse slow within his palm, the warmth of her skin…the surrendering of her spirit. He let the song drift from his soul, quieting now.

Then Topusana slept.

Chapter 1

The Cavern

Present Day

In the darkness of the hidden cavern along the banks of the San Saba River, Topusana awakened.

Her awareness dawned…as the Dream Time came to an end. The pungent charcoal smell from the old cave fires brought forth her memories. The feel of the soft sand and cool stone against her skin awakened her senses. The sound of dripping water echoing softly through the cavern reached her ears and brought further awareness to her mind, bringing her alive. Topusana was alive!

She wondered how long had it been? An hour? A day? A year or longer? Had she been in the Dream Time long enough…long enough to escape the rangers? Would they now finally be safe?

She sat up abruptly. She was alone, suddenly cold. Reaching for the flint and stone stored against the cave wall, she located it easily in the darkness. She struck the stone, the shower of sparks lighting the prepared torch. Topusana watched the upper rooms flicker before her in the glow of the small torch. Shadows danced across the vast open room as the flame wavered in the light airflow that moved throughout the cavern continuously. As her vision adjusted, Topusana peered across the open space of the hidden cavern. There, just a few feet from her, under the warmth of the huge buffalo robe, she could make out the shape of her husband, her beloved Tabbananica (Voice of the Sun). In the dim light, she could detect the movement of her husband’s shallow breathing. Tabbananica was still in the Dream Time.

The gentle movement of the air that flowed throughout the cavern brushed across her skin like a soft feather. This whisper touch brought further awareness. That movement of air was the last thing she remembered as she entered the Dream Time.

Her memories again drifted into the forefront of her mind. She thought of only her daughter, Topunicte (Prairie Song), and her heart seemed to skip, a dull ache making its way into her very being. Topusana recalled the gentle spirit of Prairie Song. As her mind awakened, she began to remember all that had taken place. The reasons for the preparation, the planning, the escape…

She thought of Tosahwi. His medicine was indeed powerful! Topusana knew not where he was now. He seemed to be able to travel great distances and to be where he was most needed at the most appropriate time. She needed him now. She would pray to the Great Spirit for Tosahwi to come to her in her little cavern in the Texas Hills.

Tosahwi, the Shaman, seemed to have no years. No one from the Numunuu (Nuh-Muh-Nuh), The People, knew his age or even his birthplace. Tosahwi would say he was born of the prairie in the time of Topusana’s grandfather Buffalo Hump, the great Comanche Chief. However, her grandfather told her Tosahwi was an old man during his time as Chief and leader of The People. Her grandfather taught her about Tosahwi, revealing that he had been given special gifts from the Great Spirit. He taught her that she should always respect and trust Tosahwi. She always did. She trusted him even now.

Topusana thought of her People, the once great Numunuu, the Comanche Nation.

The People had offered peace and agreed to peace. Those agreements were violated by the government soldiers and rangers time and time again. The People were promised a Homeland, promised ceasefires, and in later days even promised food when they were starving and the buffalo gone.

Those promises were always broken. It seemed the terms from the white leaders were never sincere, as within a few days or hours of any terms, the treaties were violated.

Bands of Comanche were hunted down and wiped out in the same way the whites hunted and slaughtered the once great buffalo herds. It is true the Comanche fought back fiercely as any people would who were fighting for their very existence. It was also a fact that the Comanche Nation was losing this fight.

Topusana knew in her heart they would never survive the struggle. She had seen her family murdered before her own eyes, including the brutal violation of Prairie Song by the white soldiers. She would never understand that level of cruelty. Topusana knew she would forever walk with the wounds and pain of that day.

The Comanche always showed mercy toward the children of war. Why could the white soldiers not do the same for her daughter? The whites called it taking captives. The People saw it as a chance for those children to learn the Comanche ways. The white children would have a chance of a new life by integrating into the culture and a chance at true life with The People. For centuries this had been their practice, and by far the majority of those adopted never wanted to return to their old life. Most were much happier and content in the simple nurturing life of the Comanche culture and in the acceptance and love of The People.

Topusana thought she would never understand the death of Prairie Song. The details of her death she hid away in her heart and mind. She could never share with her husband, Tabbananica, what had happened to Prairie Song. She knew it would mean his death. He would attempt to enact revenge on the entire white nation, but their numbers were too great.

In answer to his question, “Did Prairie Song die well?” She simply answered, “Yes.” She knew in her heart they must survive.

She also knew revenge was not a way to live well. To live well, Tosahwi taught her, was to forgive, a thing most Warriors did not understand.

Her husband was a Warrior.

She also knew something must be done to preserve a remnant of their way of life and the culture of The People. That would be her focus, a way to live through the horrors of war. In the incredible pain of losing her beautiful daughter, the only choice she had was indeed forgiveness—and survival.

Tabbananica, Topusana, and Shaman Tosahwi were willing to live a new way. They had planned well for their escape. They had escaped not into a place or new land or even into hiding. They had escaped into the Dream Time.

The Dream Time was a place where the enemy could not go, nor did they understand. There, for a time, they would be safe from the bullets, safe from the broken promises, safe from the rangers and the white soldiers. The once great Numunuu were no more. Topusana thought perhaps never again would this great proud Nation of people walk this earth as they had in their time.

Topusana, or Sana as her mother referred to her, was alive in her little cavern near their former Home Camp on the San Saba. She had awakened from the Dream Time. She would now await her husband’s awakening. Perhaps they could find a new beginning, and then possibly once again walk and live and love upon this land the Great Spirit had given to them all. Sana thought perhaps they were now safe from their enemy, those who would see the Comanche People, culture, and way of life brought to an end.

She had seen that this pursuer was so hungry for land that nothing seemed sacred to them. No person, no place, no people could stand in the way of what this adversary called progress.

She knew her enemy well, although this foe seemed to appear in many different forms: white soldiers, cavalry, Texas Rangers, politicians, Indian agents, even missionaries. That formidable force she felt deep in her spirit she would somehow now face again—the Government of the United States of America.

Sana rose from the sleeping area and gently swept the soft sand from her skin. She could hear faintly the shallow breathing of Tabbananica, or Tabba as she called him. She moved the few steps across the elevated sandstone room. Kneeling beside her husband, she watched for a moment as he slept. Tabba was her life, her everything. Their love had endured the most tragic events that a family could ever imagine. Sana knew she needed his strength; she needed his protection.

“Oh, my husband, how long will it be before you awaken and join me?” she whispered softly to him. She stared across the empty space of the cavern in the direction of the perilous route toward the cavern entrance. What would await her once outside the cavern in this new world and time in which she had awakened?