Author Description

This book begins with a small tribe of people, called the Wounded Elk People, struggling in a harsh and sometimes violent world. They have recently moved north, many days of travel, to escape the groups of men who terrorize small villages called raiders. In this new land that has some game in a protected part of the small valley, they still face the large reptilian creature known as a dragon, or Gabin in their language. The recent increase of these creatures has killed off most of the game animals and massive herds of buffalo that once roamed the valleys, making life hard. Hunger and winter are always close by-a time of torment. In this new land, they finally have hope for better times. After a devastating situation that will be sure to bring hunger on them, a man named Ehud, tired of the struggle, finds a way to solve their problem. He alone begins the work. Old Chief quickly sees what Ehud is doing as a solution and puts the full force of his small tribe behind him. He and his people could never envision where what he starts will take them in a short time. Their world is about to change forever, and they, in turn, will change others. This is not something one man could do alone-it will take many others, each helping in a different way, each adding something new to move them from a primitive tribe to a civilized people. Ehud is the catalyst, and the wisdom of Old Chief guides his people as they advance from tribe to nation, in the process, leaving the stone age of hunter gatherers behind.