Cowboys and Indians

By Neil Dabb

Stephen Alphonso was a blind blacksmith who had been given his sight back after forging a treaty with the knifewriaths, a nocturnal savage race on his home world of Altron. In this new adventure the treaty is strained to the breaking point as his son and nephew come home for a visit, and what is worse, the beings from off-world that restored his sight to him are involved.

Cal Whems and Monjo Alphonso are the next generation of blacksmiths, and must help Stephen forge a new treaty with the knifewraiths, as well as help Stephen's son-in-law forge a treaty with the beings that restored Stephen's sight in the first place.

In their quest they will travel off world, meet a pirate descendant from their past, and take part in the establishment of the pirate planet called, Tortuga.

Sequel to: The Blind Blacksmith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Neil Dabb
• Release date: Mar 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301590520

Neil Dabb

Neil grew up in Smithfield, Utah, and currently holds a General Class license amateur radio license. He was a material handler for over 10 years while obtaining a BA from Utah State University. He has been a freelance writer for most of that time and has been published in a variety of magazines over the years.Neil worked for Utah State University for twelve years with the Junior Engineering program. He enjoys writing, Frisbee (disc) golf and bonfires. He is the father of five children and lives in Logan Utah.

Book preview

Cowboys and Indians

By Neil Dabb

Cover art by Mark Moody

Copyright 2013 Neil Dabb

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Cowboys and Indians

by

Neil Dabb

Chapter 1

Long time no see white man, my cousin said as he approached me from behind.

I spun. Monjo! We both smiled, slapped each other on the back, and took a seat on the space bound shuttle. You aren't going to keep that white man stuff up the whole time are you?

The huge olive skin indian looking man smiled revealing his huge white teeth. We'll have to see.

I knew the source of his reference and quickly changed the subject. We'd fought over the reference many times in the past and I had since learned to ignore it, most of the time.

In the early 1800's in the old west mine and Monjo's true relationship was built by two of our ancestors. My 18th great grandfather was a man named Calvin C. Wiggins. He was a blacksmith in the town of Timothy near the Arizona border in the old United States. He befriended a large indian named Monjo. These two became unofficial public servants in Timothy and their descendants maintained the relationship playing their various roles in the early history of the western United States. That relationship had been maintained until the present, with one common denominator carrying through the ages, Blacksmithing, and particularly, the anvil.

The story goes that the anvil was purchased by Cal Wiggins' great grandfather for $20.50 and handed down from generation to generation along with the blacksmithing skills till it came to my grandfather. At that point my aunt Sasha asked to use the anvil on her home world. My grandfather agreed on the condition that the anvil be returned to me when I was old enough. Dad had learned the skills from his dad, and fully intended to teach them to me when the time came. Unfortunately, Dad was killed before he got the chance to teach me those skills. Consequently, I had to take the initiative to learn.

It was on this, the last of my visits to see Monjo on Altron, that I finally learned those skills, as well as a great deal about myself.

My aunt Sasha had known Stephen Alphonso, one of Monjo's descendants, for many years before she became his second wife.

When she had convinced my father to let her use the family anvil it was more to ensure the safety of the colonists on a recently settled planet called Altron. After the accident that left Stephen blind, and a peace treaty with a race of carnivores called knifewriaths, they had finally gotten around to love and a son. They named him Monjo after their ancestors friend, and every year made arrangements for him to go spend time with cousins off-world so that he could discover more of the Galaxy.

Sasha and Stephen planned on spending the rest of their lives on Altron but they knew that many humans could not live in such conditions. Altron was not the easiest of places to live, with an atmosphere that corroded and disabled much of the technology used on other worlds, and the uneasy peace with the knifewraiths who ruled the night, it was less than a perfect environment for raising a family. Stephen and Sasha's blacksmithing was not a hobby, it was a necessity.

Monjo had grown up strong, and had learned much from his father. He also learned much on his trips away from home, especially after meeting Cal Wheams, the tall skinny brown haired blue eyed cousin of his mothers sister. At least, that's what he told me after a particularly interesting trip to my home world.

I had been to Altron to spend my 'summer vacation' with Monjo once before. It had been when I was about thirteen, and I quickly learned why Monjo was so good at anything involving nature. I have since discovered that I learned a lot more that first trip than I ever imagined I would, but that's another story.

While humans are not known for their night vision, some of us are better at using what we have than others. Monjo was an expert. He passed on some of those skills to me that year. Likewise, the ability to see and track wild life is one that some humans never develop. I see only a fraction of what Monjo sees, but that is far more than many of the people I've encountered see.

As the shuttle approached the binary star system where Altron occupied a rare stable orbit, I looked forward to my next stay on Altron. It would be far more eventful than I could ever imagine.

The Monks were a race of highly intelligent beings that were highly protective of their own brand of technology. No one had seen what they really looked like, as they always dressed in rough hooded robes similar to the old monks from the middle ages of old earth. However on Altron, just like human technology, much of their technology had failed. They'd negotiated with the humans there for help and found themselves in the middle of the conflict between humans and knifewriaths. Had it not been for Stephen, the humans and monks would likely have fallen victim to the knifewraith's violence.

Now it had been many years since the first treaty was signed. The monks had long since gone from the planet and the knifewriaths were still maintaining their part of the bargain, at least in appearance. Unfortunately, a group of rebel monks determined that it was time to share their technology with the highest bidders, and what was even worse, the knifewriaths had something that those rebel monks wanted... access to the natural resources of Altron, and the skills to use those resources. Of course the humans knew how to use the naturally occurring minerals of the planet, but the knifewraiths had direct access to them. The humans did not.

A group of rebel Monks had arrived on Altron just before we did, making the situation on Altron less than stable when the appointed day of my visit arrived.

Richard Wardley and Janet Alphonso had been away from the outer areas of Altron for so long, that they had almost forgotten what it was like. Janet was Stephen's daughter from his first marriage, and she had married Richard shortly after he and Stephen had managed to put together the first treaty between the knifewraiths and the humans. After their marriage Richard had been charged with maintaining the peace with the monks. He had managed to forge the first draft of an initial treaty with the Monks before the rebel monks began to stir up the knifewraiths. Now it was looking like all of Richard's negotiations might be in vain.

Janet would gladly have helped, but with three young children at home, the best she could do was keep up appearances during Richards long absences as he struggled to keep the original treaty intact.

The Rocne den of knifewraiths had always been the ones that caused trouble among the knifewraiths, Chechr thought as he sat at the negotiating table with Richard. Even with the death of Rocne their founder, shortly after the initial negotiations, and the division in the tribe, their meddling was still going on. We speak for all of the wraith's, Chechr said with less conviction than he felt.

Richard knew better, but