Savage Bonds

By Mary Dreeszen

Nicole is now on her own in a place that is unwelcoming to women, especially with savages all around. Nicole always heard about what the savages did to women. Not only she is alone and desperate she has now been captured by savages.

Eagle Eye has nothing but hatred toward the white man and his ways. Now he has a captive to tend with and tend with he plans to do! He will make her wish she had not been captured by his tribe. He will make an example of her.

Colonel Wright is determined to have all Indians placed on the reservations. He crosses paths with Eagle Eyes tribe. With the conflicts between the Army and these savages will Nicole choose the only way to survive or will she choose what is in her heart from the Savage Bonds that have tied her?

An exploding novel of love, hate, trust and deceit! A must read for any history buff, romantic or adventurer! This action packed story has it all packed into one book!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465389909

Mary Dreeszen

Mary served proudly in the US Army for over 12 years. She deployed to numerous operations including Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. She continues to support soldiers that are deployed. Mary also has published poetry with the Indian Heritage Council and the Library of Congress. Mary resides with her husband, Todd in Virginia.

Book preview

Copyright © 2011 by Mary Dreeszen.

Library of Congress Control Number:       2011919658

ISBN:         Hardcover                               978-1-4653-8989-3

                   Softcover                                 978-1-4653-8988-6

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4653-8990-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris Corporation

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 1

NICOLE AND HER family had settled in Arizona when she was a young girl. Her two brothers, Jeb and Adam whom were older than she, protected her from the savages that had tried several times to steal their horses. Her father knew someday they would get too close to the house and would want more than the horses. As Nicole grew into a young lady, her brothers and father showed her how to use the guns and where to hide should the savages get too close. Her father had spoken of how the Indians were raiding and killing the settlers around them and lately he had been talking about it more often. They lived a small distance away from the nearest settler. A few occasions they had to fire off some rounds toward the forest to scare away the savages. It seemed to work. But as time went on, the Indians grew bolder and now also had guns. Nicole was terrified of the savages. She had been told of how they rape and kill the women or make them slaves. Nicole worried that someday the savages would try to come and steal all their possessions and even worse kill her brothers and father and rape her and her Mother before they killed them as well. Just because they were white? Nicole didn’t understand how the savages could do such things or even why? They had all this land and the whites weren’t bothering them. So why were they insistent on terrorizing the settlers? Nicole was about to meet the savages in a way she would never forget.

The flames were bright and as large as trees. Screams of terror and fear entered the night as Nicole watched her house burn along with her entire family inside. Nicole was only eighteen summers old. She heard the commotion and the raising of voices. Her oldest brother Jed screamed at her Run Nicole, run! as he grabbed his gun to protect the house. She crept from her bedroom window into the night. Hiding in the forest, she watched as the red men burnt all she ever knew. Screams of horror could be heard and then silence. Nicole’s body grew heavy and her eyes went black as she fell to the ground.

She awoke cold and wet from lying in the forest floor. She didn’t know how long she had laid there. As she opened her eyes she noticed how tall the pine trees really were from that position. She slowly looked around and then quietly rose to her feet. With caution, she turned her head to the left and then to the right. No Indians were in her sight. They must have left after she fainted on the forest floor. Wet leaves and cold mud lay heavy on her body. She brushed as much off as she could. Nicole was frightened that the red men would come back for her. She had only hoped they did not know she existed as she ran to the forest when the commotion first started. Hearing nothing but birds in the forest she quickly began to run down the hill as fast as her long legs could carry her. Suddenly she stumbled over a loose bed of rocks and twigs and rolled to the bottom of the hill. Stunned, she picked herself up and proceeded to cautiously walk to the edge of the river.

As she neared the forest’s edge clearing she looked around for anyone or anything that might put her in danger. She slowly got to her knees and crept to the bank of the stream and slowly bent down. Using her hands as a cup, she began to take a drink. Before she realized it she was making cups of water in her hands rapidly. She was gulping the cool, refreshing water. After her belly felt full from the water and her quench fulfilled she thought about immersing herself quickly in the water to wash off the mud and debris that was now dried to her skin and clothing. Again, she cautiously looked around an feeling safe she quickly slid into the river from the bank she was kneeling from and washed the mud and debris from her skin letting the water wash away the dirt from her dress. She quickly got out sopping wet and ran back into the forest. She looked up at the sun that was covered by the lengthy trees and guessed it was late morning as the sun was not too bright and hot yet. Again thinking about the horrible event that took place in the early morning hours, tears fell instantly. Trembling and scared she wondered: where would she go? What should she do now? Should she go back? What if the red men were still there? Was anyone else alive from her family or was she the only one that escaped? The she thought perhaps if the Indians were in fact gone she might be able to salvage some items and head toward other settlers. But where? Her father always forbade he to leave the immediate area around the house. She was never allowed to go into town for her father’s fear of Indians. If there were even any surviving settlers. She had always heard her parents talking about the raids the red men continued to do even after the treaties.

As she arose to the top of the hill, smoke could be seen from where the flames once burned. Trembling, she ran to where the house once was. Nearing it, she could tell that the fire the red men had set destroyed almost all of it. Steeping over ashes and embers she tried to make out some of the old furniture. Then she gasped in horror! There lay her parents and her brothers. The smell of burnt flesh was consuming her nostrils and she was getting sick! They laid liked puppets of bones. Scorched and unidentifiable other than by their sizes, Nicole managed to drag what little was left of each of the bodies from the smoldering wood onto the untouched soil. She couldn’t even tell where the front door was or her bedroom where it used to be before the purposely-set fire.

Nicole was tired, scared and weary. She looked to the right and noticed the barn had not been burnt. It appeared in tact. She wondered why the Indians did not burn down the barn? Walking over to the barn she thought surely they took the horses and all the supplies that were in there. After all, they were known for stealing horses! Nicole the heard a sound that instantly brought a smile to her face. Cochise was neighing and he was not in the barn but came from around the backside of the barn. Cochise was her horse. Her father had bought for her last year. Cochise was a Palomino that was large, strong and beige with a white mane and tail. She threw her arms around Cochise and began to sob. After praising him and petting him she remembered exactly why she even bothered to walk over to the barn. As she headed for the barn Cochise instantly followed her. She walked in and realized that the place had been ran sacked but it looked as if most items were still there. Broken, but still in the barn, what were they looking for? Then she gasped! The guns and money, they were looking for that! Her father had hidden beneath the barn floor a safe place that could fit guns, ammo, and food supplies and of course his money in case of an emergency. She ran to the place in the floor where the hay bales were stacked and began throwing them off into the corner. When she reached the pull up door she opened it and found the item still there. As she looked back Cochise had helped himself to some feed that was on the floor and was eating. No sign of distress from him, which was indicative to her that no trespassers were around. He seemed calm. She grabbed the 2 handguns and the ammo bags that were filled with bullets out of the safe place and laid them next to her. The she grabbed some food and the bags to carry them in. Her father had shown each of the children where these items were in case of an emergency and that they were prepared to be mounted onto the horses for fleeing in case of an emergency. She then grabbed the pouches of coins that her father had been saving for emergencies. She did not know how much was there but both pouches were full and heavy. As she laid the last of what she felt she needed next to her she closed the safe place gate and covered it again with the bales of hay. She then secured Cochise into the stall, locked the gate, grabbed the shovel and headed toward the burnt down house. Looking down at the bodies of her family she knew what had to be done. Her eyes swelled with tears as she dug a space large enough for all her family to be laid to rest. Now crying she pulled and tugged on the bodies and placed them in the space she had made from dirt. As she shoveled the final dirt upon the shallow grave she said a silent prayer. Wondering, how could the red men do this? Did they forget the treaty they agreed upon? Not to kill any more settlers? Her heart began to really know what hate meant. As the tiresome job finished, she swore vengeance on any red man she came across!

Walking back to the barn she knew she had to leave before they came back. If they would come back. She knew she could not stay here and certainly did not want to take her chances! She didn’t know where the other settlers lived. She had only heard her father telling her mother to the east was some folks but where was east? Nicole was not taught directions nor even had proper schooling. Confused and scared, Nicole saddled up Cochise and placed all the items she had secured. As she walked Cochise out of the barn, she grabbed a lantern and matches and placed them onto the saddle as well. The last thing she grabbed was her father’s overalls and shirt that hung next to the stall closest to the outer door. She quickly stripped out of her dress and put the dry clothes on. Although they were baggy they felt much better than the wet now dirty again dress she was wearing. She mounted Cochise and he slowly trotted out of the barn. She rode