Love’s Journey

Chapter 1
Brave Eagle


Consumed with sadness and fear the heartbroken man stood empty and alone wrestling with the reality that his loving memories of his wife would be all that he would have to keep him warm that night.
His beautiful young wife, with her long silky, red curls spiraling down to her tiny little waist and her bright, sparkling eyes the color of the soft green grass would not be with him.
No, his precious Soft Wind would not be there to share the stories of his day’s hunt or to sit nestled warmly within his strong, loving arms. His only companion that night would be loneliness as the drifting smoke from his cooking fire faded slowly into the dark starless sky.
Quickly, jerking his head back, and tossing his long, thick hair over his left shoulder, the tall, muscular, copper skinned man fought back the warm tears that were repeatedly filling not only his eyes but his heart.
Watching, from a dense tree covered cliff hidden high above the trail below, the man’s dark, haunting eyes followed the floating dust from the distant wagons as it slowly made its way up to the heavens. Even though he had only just bid his young family goodbye the man known as Brave Eagle already ached for their return.
His tortured mind was twisting and turning like wild prairie tumbleweed on a cold, blustery day. Would he ever again see his young son, the boy he had given the name of Running Wolf? The boy, who from the moment he took his first breath, had stolen both the man’s heart and soul. He trusted the soft spoken white woman, who for the past 5 years had been his loving wife and devoted companion, yet the man known as Brave Eagle was filled with fear. What if her people in the white man’s land of Ohio keep her captive? What if she herself made the decision not to return to him and their home in the Kentucky Mountains?
Both the steaming heat from the powerful noonday sun and the terribly, loud pounding in his aching head made him unable to think. The faint, soft breeze, which earlier in the day had been only warm, was now hot and the soft floating clouds which were hovering overhead promising an afternoon rainstorm had given way to the bright penetrating sunshine.
His aching heart was throbbing with the stabbing pains of loneliness, and his body was sticky, from his own dripping sweat. His clothes were drenched and he was miserable.
Not looking away from the small group of disappearing wagons Brave Eagle slowly removed a thin, worn, leather band from his left wrist and pulled his thick, tangled hair back tying it tightly at the crop of his neck. The long, loose strands flying wildly around his face and into his eyes made him nervous and he was in no mood for the taunting annoyance.
Finally, after the last of the Ohio bound wagons had quietly slipped into the plush green tree covered horizon, the young Shawnee Chief slowly turned and began his ride back up the lonely mountain trail to his home.