Calling Crow (Book One of the Southeast Seriesby Paul Clayton
Runs Like Deer extended his lance into the water to prod the thing. The surge picked up, moving it forward, turning the large head as if it were trying to look up at its tormentors.
“Aieyee!” said Runs Like Deer, drawing back to hide in the dugout. “It moves!” They watched in awe as the thing slid over the small rocks and continued its snail’s pace toward the beach.
Calling Crow turned to Big Nose, who continued to maneuver the dugout. “Go to the shore. We will wait for it there.”
The form broke the surface of the water and did not move. Calling Crow and the others waded into the sea. Calling Crow held his knife outstretched. Big Nose put an arrow to his bow and Runs Like Deer raised his lance and prodded the manlike thing. Nothing happened.
“Pull it out of the water,” said Calling Crow.
The others grabbed the thing by its legs and dragged it up onto the sand. It was big. Big Nose jabbed at the gleaming shell-like skin, his lance glancing off with a loud clatter none of them had ever heard before.
“It has magic skin,” said Big Nose.
“Aieyee,” said Runs Like Deer.
“With his first novel, Paul Clayton has taken me out of today, even out of the world I know best-- the frontier of the early far west-- and plunged me back to an ancient America that resounds with the ring of truth to my very marrow. Make no mistake about it: This is frontier fiction at its finest and most compelling-- characters that yank you into their lives at this most crucial time in the history not only of this hemisphere, but in the making of the New World. -- Terry C. Johnston, author of Wind Walker
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