Grizzly Killer: Under The Blood Moon

by Lane R Warenski

  Cal cringed and grabbed his side as he felt the blood running down his body. He was furious as no one had ever cut him that bad before. His eyes looked like demons as he went for Zach again but this time Zach spun out of the way of Cal’s knife and brought his own knife up and drove it in clear to the hilt just under Cal’s rib cage slicing through his liver and into the bottom of his lung.

  Cal stopped dead still with a look of surprise on his face. He started to say something but only blood came out of his mouth and he dropped to his knees looked over at his brother then fell face first to the ground.

  Zach was shaking from the intensity of the fight. He felt the cut on his hip and it had already stopped bleeding. He looked over at Ben, who was pale with a shocked look. There were tears running down his checks into his full black beard.

  Zach walked over to him and asked, “Is this over now, Ben, or are we going to have more trouble?”

  Ben looked up and said, “Ain’t gonna have no trouble from me. I know how mean Cal and Bull were; I grew up with ‘em. But they’s my brothers, now I’s all alone, got no family nowhere.”

  Zach told him to get the horses ready to travel that we would take Cal and find a good spot to bury him. Ben nodded and stumbled over to their horses. It took both of them to lift Cal up on his spotted horse and tie his hands and feet together under the horse’s belly. Then they headed back to camp where Running Wolf and the women were waiting.

  Jimbo ran into camp to announce their arrival. Running Wolf had a shocked look on his face and Sun Flower a worried look as they recognized Ben; he looked so much like Bull. Ben was still pale and never said a word as Zach led him and their horses into camp. He asked Running Wolf to grab a spade; that they had a grave to dig.

  They picked a spot under a large cottonwood not far from the river bank and when Zach ask Ben if that was okay, he just nodded and tears rolled down his cheeks again. He wiped his eyes and took the shovel from Running Wolf saying, “Please, let me bury my brother.”

  They all stood back and watched as Ben worked fast and sure getting a good deep grave dug in no time. Zach and Running Wolf each took an arm while Ben picked up Cal’s legs and they carefully laid him in the grave. Ben picked up the shovel and Grizzly Killer asked him if he wanted to say a few words before he covered him up. Ben thought for just a moment and shook his head then said, “I jest cain’t think of anything good to say ‘bout ‘em.”

  While Ben covered the grave the women went back to the fire and heated up a big pot of stew, made coffee and made two frying pans full of biscuits. When the men came over to the fire Zach asked Ben to sit and Shining Star brought him a wooden bowl of stew with three biscuits on top and Sun Flower handed him a tin cup full of coffee. He looked at Grizzly Killer and asked, “Why is you helping me?”

  It was Running Wolf that answered, “He found me with a broken leg and a war party of Snake’s on my trail. I ask myself why is this white man helpin’ me, but now we have been brothers for over two years and I know it makes his heart good to help others.”

  Zach asked Ben what he would do now and without hesitation he said, “Go back home if’n I can make it. But I’s all alone and got no supplies. Zach told him if that’s what he wanted to do they would help him with supplies but it was getting late in the year and if he was going he shouldn’t wait.

  They gave him a buffalo robe and enough dried buffalo to last one man a few weeks. He had his and Cal’s powder horns and shot. But Zach gave him another small pouch of powder. Then told him to stay off the main trails, to build a fire only after dark and down in a swale or dig a hole so the light or smoke from it couldn’t be seen. Not to sleep where he built the fire or ate and to take game when the opportunity presented itself. Then told him he should be able to make it to Saint Louis before the snows come.

  He spent that night with them and headed out after breakfast traveling east by north. Running Wolf asked as they watched him disappear into the distance, “Do you think he will make it?”

  Zach shook his head and said, “It’ll take a powerful lot of luck. But I do think he can make it.”

  Returning Home

  After Ben Beaumont left, they broke camp and loaded up. It was midmorning when they started up stream along the south bank of Black’s Fork. Jimbo was a quarter mile out front on point like usual looking for any trouble that might come their way. Zach figured it was late August, berry picking time and he, like the others looked forward to getting back home. The air was still cool from the night before and there was a mild breeze blowing across this dry flat land that made them glad the sun was shining. The sky was filled with white puffy clouds and it looked as though you could see forever in the crystal clear air. Jimbo would come back to check with them once or twice an hour wagging his tail letting them know all was clear.

  Zach was relieved. It seemed trouble had been following them all summer and now for the first time in weeks he felt he could relax. Oh, he knew as long as he was living in the Rocky Mountains there would always be danger. You could never let your guard down but with Jimbo on point and Running Wolf bringing up the rear he was as relaxed as he could ever be. He turned in his saddle and looked at the smiling faces of Sun Flower and Shining Star and he thought he had to be the luckiest man in the mountains.

  They had seen several herds of antelope on the north side of the river and just after midday, after being on the trail maybe three hours, he stood in the saddle and motioned Running Wolf to come up. When Running Wolf approached he pointed at a herd a quarter mile to the north and Running Wolf grinned and nodded saying, “Fresh meat would taste mighty good.”

  Zach smiled telling him, “We’ll stop at the next grass to give these horses a rest, see ya there.” He nodded, turned and rode back to the east out of sight of the antelope. As he passed Raven Wing he held out his hand and gently brushed Raven Wings face as he rode by.

  They had only traveled a mile or so when Zach heard the report of Running Wolf’s rifle and he smiled knowing how good of a hunter his Indian brother was. Another hour and they came to a horseshoe bend where the grass was thick enough for the horses to feed. There was one lone cottonwood tree there at the opening of the horseshoe and that is where Grizzly Killer stopped. The women made a fire up under the tree so the smoke would be broken up by its branches while Zach unloaded each horse and turned them loose on the grass. He had just finished with the last one as Running Wolf come riding in with an antelope over the back of his saddle.

  He took the time to repair one pack and reinforce another that was tearing from the large loads of dried Buffalo they were carrying as the women skinned and butchered the antelope. By the time they had strips of the fresh meat roasting on sticks over the fire Zach noticed Shining Star was pale and leaning against the tree. He walked over to her and she smiled as he approached. When he asked her if she wasn’t feeling well she answered, “It is nothing, just a little tired.” But the pale complexion told him there was something more.

  They ate and rested for over two hours before they started to load up. Jimbo went out and caught several prairie dogs for his lunch. Running Wolf brought in one horse at a time while Zach got the packs on them and in just a short time they were on the trail again. They were now only a couple of days’ travel from the dugout and their home on the upper reaches of Black’s Fork. They could see the towering Uintah Mountains just thirty or forty miles south of them. They figured they would be off of these dry flats and starting up into the hills by the time they stopped for the night.

  He was concerned about Shining Star and watched her closely throughout the day but she seemed just fine and Sun Flower and Raven Wing were always nearby as well. By late afternoon the terrain was changing and the river banks were now covered with brush and trees. They made an early camp and while Zach and Running Wolf were taking care of all of the stock the women started along the creek picking berries. Some of the branches were so heavy they touched the ground just from the weight of those big ripened berries.

 
; They heard the women yell and Jimbo took off on a dead run towards them. He and Running Wolf started after Jimbo with rifles in hand. As the men approached they could hear the women still yelling and then they heard Jimbo attack and they pushed even faster through the brush. As he came through the band of thick brush he could see Shining Star had climbed a tree and at the base of it Jimbo was taunting a large Black bear getting him away from the tree. Sun Flower had a broken branch and Raven Wing was throwing rocks at the bear trying to get it away from the tree. Zach and Running Wolf stopped, Zach whistled at Jimbo and the big dog stopped his attack. Their rifles went off at the same instant and the enraged bear fell and never moved again.

  Zach rushed over to the tree to help Shining Star down. She fell into his arms and he felt blood trickling down her leg from a deep scratch on her right calf were the bear had clawed her as she climbed the tree trying to get away. He held her tight to him until she stopped shaking. Then looked down into her beautiful dark eyes and smiled as he sat her on the ground to get a good look at the scratch. It was a nasty looking thing about three inches long and as he reached down to pick her up. She said, “I can walk, it is only a scratch.” But he just smiled and picked her up and carried her back to camp.

  Back in camp, Raven Wing got her medicine pouch and while she and Sun Flower cleaned and bandaged Shining Star’s leg, Zach and Running Wolf went back and skinned the bear. The Bear had been gorging himself on the berries and was mighty fat getting ready for his long winter’s sleep. They would need the fat it provided as they prepared their own winters supply of pemmican.

  They made pemmican by pounding buffalo jerky, berries, pine nuts, and acorns all together along with bear grease then stuffing it all into gut casings. It provided the nutrition they needed through the long months of winter when meat was the only food available.

  The next morning the women were fixing breakfast of coffee, biscuits and thin-cut antelope steaks fried in bear grease when Zach noticed Shining Star looking pale again. He didn’t say anything but he was concerned and watched her closely. He thought about his past life growing up on the homestead in Kentucky and he could see his ma cooking over the fireplace in their small cabin. He remembered the smells and his anticipation as she boiled the wild plums and berries adding sugar to make the jams that were such a treat for him and his pa. He picked up the black pot that the women were not using and walked down to the creek. After filling it with a couple of hands full of berries he added just a little water and took it back to the fire and set in on the hot coals. When Sun Flower asked him what he was doing he just smiled and told her it was a surprise.

  When the berries were boiling hard he added most all of the sugar they had left and let it simmer into a thick syrup while they ate breakfast. Shining Star didn’t eat and Zach then asked again if anything was wrong but she just smiled and said she wasn’t hungry. Raven Wing ate her breakfast and more. She was over being sick in the mornings now and being pregnant now it seemed she was always hungry.

  Zach picked up one of the left-over, still warm biscuits and cut it in half and spread the warm berries over it and held it up for Shining Star to taste. With everyone watching she took a small bite. Her eyes sparkled as the smile formed and she took another larger bite. Then, as they all were enjoying this never before tasted treat Shining Star dropped her biscuit and ran just a few steps and threw up what little bit she had eaten. Zach and Running Wolf both ran to her to find out what was wrong but Raven Wing and Sun Flower just pushed them out of the way telling them to give her some room.

  Then with almost a sad look on her face Sun Flower looked up at her man and said, “Your second wife is giving you your first child, my husband.” Zach was stunned and just stared at Sun Flower trying to let what she had just said sink in. By now Shining Star was watching and seeing his stunned reaction and the look of Sun Flower’s face as she started to cry.

  By now his stunned reaction had changed into a huge smile but Shining Star had turned away and not seen the look of complete joy on his face. He reached out and picked her up in his arms then held her tight. In a minute he loosened his grip on her and reached for Sun Flower and with one arm around each of his wives in somewhat of a shaky voice he said, “I don’t know how to be a pa.”

  Running Wolf answered, “We will learn together, my brother.”

  Sun Flower smiled looking up at Grizzly Killer saying, “You will make a fine pa, my husband.” Then with a worried look on her face Shining Star asked, “You are not angry with me for having a baby first?”

  Zach wiped the tears from her cheeks, smiled at her and said, “It is for the one above to decide which of my wives will have my first child and my second and for how ever many more he has for us. When he decides it is Sun Flower’s time for a child she will have one, but for now it seems it is Raven Wing and your time. It is for us to be happy that the one above has given us the honor to have a child.”

  “But,” she said, “You didn’t look happy.”

  He smiled even more saying, “I was just surprised. I’ve never thought of myself as a pa before.” She smiled at him and her dark eyes sparkled as she said, “Sun Flower is right, you will make a fine pa.”

  Sun Flower came to her and hugged her and told her how happy she was for her. Then she turned to Grizzly Killer with a sly smile and said, “We will just have try more often.”

  They stayed there the rest of that day rendering all the grease they could from that bear. As evening approached, Zach along with Sun Flower and Shining Star walked along the creek enjoying the cool evening and each other. They talked about the baby and what it would be like to have a baby with them and the more they talked the more determined Zach became to be a father as good as his own had been.

  Shining Star suffered with morning sickness the next morning worse than the day before so they didn’t get a real early start. Zach still figured they would make it back to the dugout before dark. As they rode farther into the mountains there were small patches of bright red where the mountain maple was starting to turn into the fall colors and there was a little more of a chill in the air. Jimbo, Ol’ Red and the rest of the stock all seemed to know they were getting close to home for it seemed they were moving at a faster pace now.

  By late afternoon, he could see the hill at the north end of the big meadow, the one where they had buried See’s Far well over a year ago now. Another hour and they were riding into the clearing of the dugout and home. He looked at the dugout and thought of his pa again. Then looked all around and smiled at being home.

  The women started a fire and put the last antelope haunch on the spit over it while Zach and Running Wolf finished unloading the horses and turned them out into the meadow to roll and graze in the now dry grass.

  It was nearly dark by the time they finished eating and had the teepees up and all of their supplies in the dugout but Zach left camp and walked up the hill to the little flat that overlooked their camp and the big meadow. It was the same spot where he had had the dream a year ago of the grizzly turning into his Pa and his warning him to be aware of the man riding a spotted horse.

  He smiled as he stood there and watched his loved ones around the fire and Ol’ Red and the horses grazing in the big meadow. He felt Jimbo come up and stand there by his side and he looked up at the heavens and thanked God for this life and for keeping him and his family safe for another season in these rugged and wild mountains.

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  Lane R Warenski

  About the Author

  Lane R Warenski lives in a log home in Duchesne County, Utah, where he has an unrestricted view of th
e highest peaks in the mighty Uinta Mountains. He was raised being proud of his pioneer heritage and with a deep love and respect of the outdoors. Ever since childhood, following his father, Warenski has hunted, fished, and camped the mountains of the West. Whether it was the daily journals of William Ashley and Jedediah Smith or the fictional stories written by the great storytellers like Louis L’Amour and Terry C. Johnston, throughout his life, Warenski loves reading the history of the first explorers that came west, most of whom never dreamed they were opening this wild and rugged land to the pioneers and settlers that followed.

  Find more great titles by Lane R Warenski and Wolfpack Publishing at http://wolfpackpublishing.com/lanerwarenski/