Savage Journeyby Jessica Leigh~~~~~~~~~~~~~BLURB:On the day of Katari's traumatic birth, a 12 year old orphaned boy named Nicholas Belline is caught stealing a beaver pelt by a merchant along the rough waterfront of Montreal. Guilty, he is forced into servitude as a French-Canadian Voyageur - an adventurer - with a band of uncivilized men within the wilderness along the mighty Saint Lawrence River. In a world fraught with peril at every step, he grows to manhood among the roughest of men, as a Coeurer de bois - a Runner of the Woods.By the age of 17, Katari knows only one thing: she craves a life of adventure - outside the boundaries of her quiet, little family village. Although gifted with the talent of healing, passed on by generations before her, the restless Katari rejects her calling. When her twin brother, Grey Wolf, sets out on a journey of a lifetime to the bustling White trade settlement of New Amsterdam, Katari is by his side to experience it all. Little do they know that the eastern colonies are on the brink of war, and that their risk grows with every step.On the very night of an English invasion, Nicholas Belline rescues an injured and unconscious Native girl from within the battered rigging of a horrendous accident brought about by the terror of the city's inhabitants. Little does he know that the keenly bright and passionate Lenni Lenape girl is about to change his life irrevocably, and set him forth on a fierce journey of his own. When Katari ultimately returns to her people, Nicholas must battle the demons of his childhood upbringing and change his untamed nature to win back the love of a woman like no other in a wild New World.***********Excerpt
Katari’s curiosity bloomed. She had seen many nude males before; it was surely nothing new or wrong. The shape of one’s body was a gift from the Creator, and there was no shame in it.
However, Katari had never seen a naked White man. Where they so hairy everywhere? Where they that different from Native men? Her heart tripped along as they slipped into the bushes along the river’s edge.
Opichi peeked through first. Katari heard her intake of breath. “Eee, their rods are large,” she whispered heatedly.
Katari surged forward to thrust her head into the bushes just in time to watch Nicholas dive under the surface. Pétant had waded in far enough that the waters rose above his waist. His chest was as huge as a one of the White barrels of spirit-drink.
Nicholas swiftly emerged from the grey-blue water and swept back his hair. It had grown long enough since its last shearing to hang just below his muscled shoulders. Katari liked it this way, for it reminded her of her own people. But that was where the similarity ended.
He was much broader of chest than any man she knew, save for Pétant. His male muscles were taut and corded down his arms and back much like the most practiced of warriors. In truth, his body was not very hairy at all. There was a smattering of it on his chest, right between the place where his nipples puckered from the coldness of the waters. A line of it descended down past his ridged abdomen and into the water, exactly where his-
Katari bit her lip to stem the image, still waiting. “Come on,” she whispered encouragingly.
“It was large, I tell you,” Opichi voiced knowingly.
Katari glared at her. “I did not get to see it!” she exclaimed in agitation.
“Both men are well-made,” Opichi continued. “I am pleased with my man. Are you with yours?”
Katari stared at her young friend, embarrassed. “He is not mine, you know this,” she returned after a moment’s pause.
“Ha,” Opichi stated with a smug grin. “If I were you, he would be, and quickly. He called you his Country Wife, and kissed you full upon your mouth in front of all.”
“That was in jest,” she sputtered.
“Such a heated kiss was in jest, you say?”
“Yes!”
“Ha,” was all Opichi said in return.
The men spotted them both at that moment. Pétant cupped his large hands around his mouth and yelled, “Come here then, girls!”
Giggling, Opichi spun around and dragged her friend from the bushes. Together, they sprinted for the room.
***********My Review
13 years old Nicholas Belline caught stealing a beaver pelt by a merchant along the rough waterfront of Montreal. It wasn't his first time to steal without a family it was only way to survive. This time ee was forced into servitude as a Engagés - indentured servants, with contracts upwards of three years - a band of uncivilized men - They paddled canoes deep into the wild interiors to receive and return pelts gathered from the trappers of New France’s booming fur trade. It was endlessly laborious, and wickedly dangerous, even for men twice his age, bulk, and cunning. The hostile interior of the New World was filled with every kind of danger known - weather extremes, sicknesses before unheard of, and predators of every kind, from giant bears to scalping Natives. He Survived. He had paid off his indentured servitude in less than three years and grow to a barrel-chested, with thick beard. He also had ended up in many brawls and spent more time in the rough-hewn brigades under the torment of self-appointed lawmen than he would have liked. He didn’t seek out trouble, but it seemed to follow him doggedly. he also had come to love the wilds
Opichi was a girl that Nicholas saved from a drank trapper who kidnapped her without an turning her to her to be his “country wife". By the Native traditions, it's an agreement between the girl's family and the white man. The sides usually exchange gifts to celebrate the arrangement and the fur trader would become, through marriage, an honorary member of the girl’s family. Thus, he would gain the loyalty of the woman's kin when it came to trading furs and supplying game. It put coin in a man’s pockets, made Native allies, and warmed his bed in the process
Katari - On a wintery April first at Wolf Clan Lenni Lenape village - Jenna Ulfsson gave birth to boy and girl twins. Jenna was of Swedish ancestry, and not of Native Lenape birthright, Back in the Dutch-controlled harbor settlement of New Amstel, along the Delaware River where she was raised, many women died in childbirth. Jenna had faced death, betrayal, capture and captivity, and had survived it all, finding love and a home with her father Running wolf.
As a toddler, Katari’s mischievous enthusiasm had been impossible to contain and as adult Katari was simply the continued gale-force. She was a truly gifted in the the art of Medicine but she seemed almost afraid to embrace her talents.
Mingan, or Grey Wolf, Katari’s twin brother, had become a trapper of extreme talent and notoriety in the Minsi clan, as well as their neighboring tribes. He wished to make trade and procure coin and gifts so that he could then select the finest of bride-wives. And he certainly had plenty to choose from. Katari could tell that her brother did not like rooming in a White man’s house. He did not like the way the bedding smelled, or fact that piss pots were commonplace. He did not trust walking on wooden floorboards that creaked loudly, as if under extreme duress, from even the lightest of footsteps. Yet he had given into her pleas in the end.
On the day that Katari succeed to convince her family to sent her with her father to New Amsterdam, King Charles II of England who had promise New Netherland to his brother, James, Duke of York, sent four warships and over six hundred soldiers to carry out the task. It was the cause of turmoil and confusion which lead to a terrible accident. A yoke of four oxen thundered, torn free from an overturned dray, and charging in unfettered fear toward them. They crush onto them cause the separation of unconscious Katari from her brother.
Nicholas saw the accident and save Katari from a certain death, the confused mass of people caused him to turned and flee the town. without his best friend but with 2 native Indian women. One injured and unconscious and the other he could barley communicate with. When ” the injured girl had moaned “Mingan ( a warrior’s name of Lenape origin. Wolf) he was sure that due to his superior luck, it was likely that he had kidnapped the injured mate of a fierce Lenape warrior, and was also traveling with the stolen and defiled daughter of an Ojibwe elder – of high status – as he had earlier learned from Opichi.
To his amazement he discovered that Katari could speak both Dutch and French with a good degree of competency.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:Jessica Leigh is an author, a professional freelance writer, and an environmental scientist with a degree from Penn State University (1993). Born and raised in Pennsylvania, she is an outdoorswoman, a nature enthusiast, and is an avid researcher into Native American cultural history in her state.Jessica currently resides in Kempton, PA, with her four children and cat Rose Marie along a beautiful mountain stream near Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. She loves running, mountain biking, hiking, fishing, and reading as much as possible.LINKS: (website) www.writerjessicaleigh.com
The Giveaway
Jessica will be awarding a $15 Amazon GC to TWO randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $15 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn host.
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