Broc

By T. K. Jones

Broc is the story of a 19th Century African American Western. A 12year old slave boy escapes the South. Broc is discovered near death off a Pennsylvania roadside by an aging Chinese laundry merchant and former Shaolin Monk.

The kindly old man nurses Broc to health and raises him as his own son. He teaches him reading, writing and Kung Fu. At 16 Broc fights in the Civil War. At war’s end he returns home a man of 18.
Mr. Quan sick with consumption lie dying. He languishes in agonizing memory of his 2 kidnaped daughters sold as sex slaves in California years ago.

Willing to risk his very life simply for love of the old man the war harden young cowboy rides dangerous frontier trails Westward bound atop his black stallion. He travels with deadly weapons fighting skills and burning determination to rescue the girls.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jul 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781728365602

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© 2020 T.K. Jones. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 06/25/2020

ISBN: 978-1-7283-6561-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-6559-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-6560-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020911987

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CONTENTS

Prologue: Eula

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

PROLOGUE

Eula

I n the year 1595, deep in the West African rainforest of Ghana lies a sleepy Mandinka farm village called Mandupa. Unbeknown to the three hundred Jaumbi tribesmen, who are a tall, handsome people, their king, Unyota Tutu, has betrayed them. He has conspired with the Portuguese slavers to sell the villagers for guns, wine, silk from the Far East, and a shipload of European booty.

A plan was set with the foreigners to destroy and capture his enemies. The ruthless Unyota determines that selected people in his kingdom are as well expendable. His evil graft and greed have dealt the unsuspecting innocent a heavy blow.

On a quiet, steamy day, the Jambi people farm and fish while children play. The old weave straw baskets, girls harvest fresh fruit, and hunters return with the day’s kill as a sinister evil lurks in the forest—slavers accompanied by Unyota’s henchmen, who silently creep forward.

In the family garden, a nine-year-old girl, Eula Fadika, youngest of three siblings, attends her little mango tree. She is a strong, high-spirited child who enjoys exploring the rainforest and too often alone. She has been warned repeatedly by her parents of dangers beyond the village boundaries, but her fearless nature and strong will match that of any boy.

Sounds from the forest go silent, still. The people stop and stare curiously into the eerie calm. Unnerved, they watch screeching birds take flight from perches high atop the thick green canopy. The villagers listen as creatures scurry about in a panic.

Some alerted to a possible threat beat warning drums to draw the people into the village center. There, grandparents and women shield the children. Warriors take defensive positions and slowly advance into the thicket. They anxiously ready their spears, clubs, short swords, and bows and arrows for the conflict against an enemy unseen.

In a succession of thunderous, explosive flashes, and frightful screams, the Portuguese and Unyota’s trappers strike fast. The tribesmen even though outmatched charge into deadly fire with fierce war cries. Jaumbi warriors fall by the score, but undaunted, they slash, stab, and shoot arrows deep into the flesh of their enemies. Overwhelmed by superior weapons, the remaining Jaumbi men capitulate.

The enemy concentrates on the village center, where they attack screaming women and children. The confrontation is swift; their victims are forcibly shackled. Little Eula, the brave one, fights doggedly like a true warrior. She pulls her concealed skinning knife and plunges it deep into the chest of her attacker, who screams and rolls on the ground in searing pain.

Overpowered, she too is chained like a wild beast. Shocked by the sudden loss of freedom, Eula screams and yanks mightily at the black iron links. Her futile attempts to free herself are in vain. She watches as the others are led away. The only ones left behind by the conquerors are the very old and very young.

The forced march brings pain and misery as the yoked villagers cry out for loved ones. The victims’ wails are haunting as if a thousand souls have died.

Eula looks back at her smoldering village and into anguished, tear-stained faces; they struggle but are unable to follow. The sight of frail victims ignites a fire of hate and vengeance in the princess warrior. She cannot make sense of the madness but vows not to comply with the white and black devils who have taken her kinsmen from all they love.

The nightmare procession takes many weeks before it reaches the coast. Fatigue, hunger, and thirst have taken a terrible toll on the weak. Emerging from the tree line onto a crowded beach, Eula is surprised to see many hundreds of neighboring tribespeople herded into several holding pens. The clearing is miles long, and she has lost sight of her family. The desperate girl continues to call out for them as do others for their kin. Surviving warriors from her village inform the girl that her father and brother were killed in battle. The distressing news brings a river of tears, but it also strengthens Eula’s resolve.

The males and females are separated; Eula cannot locate her family. The holding pens are unbearable and unsanitary as the weary and sick are unable to control their bodily functions. Armed guards with barking Estrela mountain dogs patrol the perimeter. At feeding time, the masses are ladled water and cassava bean mash into their hands. Those who do not eat are force-fed through long funnels, and those who dare fight back are beaten unmercifully or shot. The slavers do not tolerate any insurrection.

Young Eula’s eyes well with great sadness as she peers out to sea. She is awed at the sight of four strange ships with three towering masts each. The vessels are eerily calm and beautiful, but she senses an evil presence about them; they spell doom to her.

Desperate, Eula as well a few other brave souls seek a way out of the hellish enclosure. When darkness falls, one by one, each escapee including Eula silently slips away. Alerted, the hunters and their large dogs pursue the weakened Natives and return them with brute force.

After two days of terror and sleepless nights, the loading of human cargo begins. The captives awaken to cracking whips and the loud, foreign cries of angry white sailors yelling at them. Each pen is systematically cleared of those it holds; they are hurried to the water’s edge, where longboats wait with sinister, stone-faced coxswains and rowers.

Eula and the others watch long lines of men and women shuffle awkwardly while bearing heavy chains. She catches a glimpse of her mother and sister, so she desperately scales the picket fence. She runs to join them but is swiftly beaten down. Her cries are not heard above the rattling chains; she hopes she will be reunited with them onboard.

By the dozen and under armed escort, masses of weary souls are rowed to the hell ships. Scores of Africans resist boarding. Under great duress, the captives struggle with their loss of freedom. They look back for a last glimpse of their motherland.

When Eula boards the strange vessel, her fears and anger are great. She and the other females are herded aft and placed in a massive but crowded cage. Some females are taken below to the first deck adjacent to the sailors’ sleeping bay. The women have the advantage of fresh air and freedom from their shackles and are allowed some freedom of movement on the main deck.

The men on the other hand are forced below deep into dark cargo holds. Their fears are much greater as oil lanterns cast eerie shadows all around. There is little circulation; it is hot and stuffy, and they find it difficult to breathe. The stale air in the crowded confines induces gagging and nosebleeds. The men perspire and cough profusely. Some panic and fight the sailors only to be beaten down or shot as an example for the others. Many levels of wooden shelves body length deep stretch all around the hull. In the middle of the floor rests a wide stretch of knee-high platforms where scores of slaves lie chained head to toe. Shackled by the ankles, the others are crammed face-first into tight cubicles abreast one another. They are unable to even turn.

The nightmare is worse than the holding pens on shore especially when the sailors exit with the lanterns. The pitch black sets off panic, chain-rattling, and bloodcurdling screams. On deck, the women cry and moan while the children beg for milk and comfort. Eula and the other women watch the frustrated sailors scurry about a busy deck jumping to their captain’s barking orders.

Eula’s ship, the Lord Pedros, set sail catching the westward winds. It is not long before the Africans succumb to seasickness as the ship relentlessly pitches and rolls. The slaves vomit and soil themselves from the endless motion and putrid food force-fed them.

As they sail into the unknown, rival tribespeople become one and communicate. They fear the worst thinking perhaps that these white devils will cannibalize them. They cry out to their gods with desperate pleas for salvation, but hope fades with each day. No rescue or miracle can be had as all view a vast ocean.

It is not long before the sailors take their aggression caused by their labors and sexual frustrations out on the young African maidens. The women scream and viciously fight off their attackers but to no avail. Eula watches as one by one, each young girl is dragged off; she fears she will be next. Mercifully, she is too young, but her anger soars as she hears the women’s screams coming from below.

The slave men are brought topside in groups of thirty. They are dowsed with pails of sea water, which burns their skin as they bathe. Forced to dance in place to the beat of a drum, they stare hard with hate and anger at the armed guards. In their native tongues, the captives chant revolt.

The nightmare aboard the hell ships creates panic, depression, and insanity. The weak and strong alike suffer the same hopelessness. The occasional jumper leaps overboard knowing death is assured freedom. They do not cry out; they welcome life’s end as heavy chains pull them down deep into the cold abyss.

Two hundred slaves are taken to the Portuguese Cape Verde Islands to be used as forced labor on plantations while selected women become concubines. Eula and the remaining fifty are shipped to Lisbon for auction. Time and her captors are her enemies.

Over six years, the young girl is sold twice as a domestic servant and sex slave. She fights doggedly, unwilling to submit each time hands are laid on her. The defiant young woman becomes immune to beatings; they only increase her hatred of her white masters.

She learns to read, write, and speak Portuguese but remains resistant to a race of people she finds repulsive. She has escaped numerous times and even attempts to stow away aboard cargo ships with desperate hopes of returning home. The young woman has given up hope of ever finding her family and wonders often about her little mango tree. She prays that the gods provide enough sunlight and rain for the sapling.

In 1605, Eula’s evil master ships the troublesome woman to the Brazilian colonies. The two-month journey is more hellish than her first voyage was. Arriving on the South American shores, she finds a striking familiarity to her African home with the climate, the smells and colors, and the landscape.

The new arrivals are immediately branded with red-hot irons, which sends Eula into a painful rage. She wrestles the branding iron from her brander and stabs him with it. His screams alert the others, who all pounce on the princess warrior and knock her unconscious.

When Eula awakens, she finds herself in ankle shackles and a metal neck ring with bells attached. Separated from the other women, she is forced to do a man’s work. She endures the drudgery of sixteen-hour days in hot, steamy sugarcane and tobacco fields. She is shocked and disturbed by the barbarism, disease, and murders of so many innocent lives. She is targeted and brutally sexually assaulted repeatedly by a sadistic overseer; she vows to kill him at her first chance.

The days become months. The hard labor takes a toll. Every night, the young woman cries silently. She has but two thoughts—revenge and escape. Torture makes her only stronger in spirit. After many nights of methodically cutting through the links with old, rusty nails, she frees herself. Her first duty is to slit the throat of her tormentor while he sleeps. She confiscates his keys, weapons, blanket, and canteen and slips into the dark.

As Eula ventures deep into the dark rainforest, she is afraid. Sounds of the night unnerve her, but she remembers her father’s lessons on how to navigate by the moon and stars. She was taught to think like an animal when living in the wild. Her first night’s sleep is uneasy, but she remains alert as nocturnal creatures forage and hunt.

During the light of day, Eula studies her new environment while penetrating deeper into a colorful and tropical wild. She gathers obsidian stones for butchering game and carves long spears for defense, hunting, and fishing. To avoid detection, she keeps her fires low and smokeless. Her eyes are sharp; her ears are in tune with every sound.

The princess warrior spends months lurking in the shadows warding off wild animals and living off the land. Eventually, she discovers the dangerous Amazon jungle, where she is obliged to learn the wilderness secrets and respect its unpredictable might.

In time, the indigenous Indians, the Tapulias, discover Eula trespassing on their hunting grounds. A curious eye-to-eye standoff ensues, but no hostilities occur. The Indians are aware of the foreign invaders and guess that Eula is a runaway slave. Many of their own people have been captured and enslaved by the Europeans. In time, she is befriended by the Natives and made a tribal sister; she is honored. She is content with the people, who are not too different from her Mandinka kinsmen. She learns their ways and language and teaches them about her culture.

Well into the seventeenth century, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and other European explorers and their armies continue to encroach upon the South American continent. The indigenous people including Eula fight and retreat beyond their territories, but the invaders keep coming like waves.

While living with her Tapulias family, the young female warrior fights many battles against the white conquerors, but European deviance and technology ultimately destroys the will of the Natives.

Eula is weary of war. In her final battle, she feels dread and déjà vu. She recounts her capture in Africa; the painful memory haunts her. Now twenty-nine, she fights with savage fury like a wild black puma but is ultimately caged.

His Excellency Juan Santiago Batista, the commandant general of the North Central Slave Colony Garrison, sees his men fall by Eula’s bloody blades; he is entranced with her wild, untamed beauty, and he desires her for his own.

Eula cannot believe that twice in her young life she has been captured in such a gruesome and violent manner. As she desperately struggles for freedom, she wonders, Why does my enemy’s god allow such evil? The question does not seem to matter any longer as she gave up on her own god years ago. Exhausted from the hard-fought battle, she is subdued by a dozen soldiers.

Familiar with Eula’s reputation, the commandant general orders her locked in a bamboo cage. The restricted enclosure sends her into panic and fury. Her mad cage-rattling and heavy grunts make her tormentors laugh.

In a squeaky cart pulled by a burro, the exhausted Eula is led to the commandant’s villa. She stares at her captors through calculating eyes. Arriving at the commandant’s estate, she is fitted with an iron belt and long chain attached to a grounded metal stake. Her accommodations are a rather comfortable and plush gazebo tent in the courtyard grounds; she is guarded day and night by a single sentry.

With each passing day, the commandant general becomes more and more smitten with the beautiful girl. From his veranda, he observes her catlike motions. He studies her black, silky contours as she bathes and brushes her long hair. She knows he watches her, and she anticipates his approach, which is soon to come.

His excellency attempts to make contact with Eula but is always cautious enough to keep a safe distance from her. Like a wildcat, she lunges at him to claw him only to be held back by her chains. The general seems excited with her untamed manner. She never speaks but plays coy with her seductive stare. Unable to resist the seductress any longer, he comes up with a plan; he must have her now.

One moonlit evening as his servants prepare Eula’s meal, the general secretly laces her food with a concoction of opium oil and blue lotus dust. Hours later, Eula is in a deep, drug-induced state. The world around her spins in a whirlwind of colors and strange images.

Soon thereafter, the general visits Eula’s tent. He dismisses the guard and creeps inside. She is barely aware of his presence and is unable to move or speak. He closes the tent’s flaps. She looks up at him through glazed eyes; his image swirls in a murky mist. It suddenly happens; she is aware that she is being violated. Her muscles cannot respond; she is frustrated at being unable to repel the assault.

Later, when her head clears, she is fully aware of the general’s dirty deed; she seeks vengeance. She figures out which foods are safe to eat by smell and sample. On the fifth evening, she discards the poisonous meal and lies in wait.

When he closes in for a ravenous assault, the angry girl springs into action. She pounces like a black panther surprising her frighten attacker. She outmaneuvers him and wraps the chain around his neck. The general fights desperately for his life as Eula squeezes tight with every intention of killing him. He gasps for air and manages a raspy scream for help when he is near death and blue in the face. Multiple sentries burst in and knock Eula unconscious.

Bruised and battered, Commandant General Juan Santiago Batista recovers from the shocking ordeal only after a few weeks. Angered, he sells the woman to Dutch traders in 1615. The Dutch ship takes her to North America, to the southern British colonies of Virginia. Weary of her enemy’s slave vessels, Eula has thought many times of leaping overboard to welcome death’s freedom, but her never-dying dream is to regain the life she knew as a child. She vows to escape again and will welcome death in pursuit of freedom.

Upon her arrival in the New World, Eula becomes the property of fifty-year-old Commodore Frederic Scott Williams, a retired Royal Navy captain and veteran of the 1588 Spanish Armada war. His wife, Martha, is thirty-five, and their daughters, Anna Marie and Abagail, are eight and two. He owns a fifty-acre cotton and tobacco plantation outside Jamestown.

They employ the crown’s twelve indentured servants and own fifty captured Cherokee Native Americans and twenty-six African slaves including Eula. This is a strange mix of slave cultures and languages to Eula. Although forced to learn the master’s language, she is most willing to learn each language and especially that of the Native Americans and knowledge and their land and culture.

She has never seen such a strange wilderness country before. She looks around already planning escape. She becomes a laborer working the fields with the black and red people. The white European slaves are relegated as personal servants and yard, garden, and domestic helpers who are obliged to attend church services.

Two years later, Eula speaks near-fluent English, Cherokee, and the dialects of her fellow Africans. Her master recognizes her remarkable skills; he often uses her as an interpreter with Spanish and Portuguese envoys and traders.

Eula and two other attractive girls are assigned house duties; they replace indentured servants who passed away from sickness and disease. They befriend the white servants as all share a common bond. In her new role, Eula is patient as she learns the ways of the house. She despises serving the master’s family and setting their table. She hates their entitled attitudes, sense of privilege, and arrogant ways. Although Eula and the other black girls work with white servants, they remain quartered with the people of color.

The slaves have conspired many a day to revolt and escape, but past attempts by a brave few have met with violent retribution. The run is difficult as escapees must elude the overseers, dogs, and local militia. Eula has learned that a solo escape is preferable as too many ears are dangerous. She knows which way to run by word of mouth and the sun.

After months of secretly procuring the necessary items, Eula makes good her escape. It is June 1618, and the land is abloom with thick, lush vegetation. Under a full moon and a starlit sky, the princess warrior navigates swiftly and cunningly through the night. A million crickets and hooting owls mask her sounds as she treks westward. She skillfully keeps her scent downwind as she goes.

Eula was told by the Cherokees that if she crosses the great Mississippi River, she can escape the reach of whites. She was also warned to beware of warring factions between Indian tribes.

A hundred miles into mountainous wilderness country, Eula is discovered by Cherokee warriors. The Indians are curious about the tall, dark, statuesque woman. The braves are astonished when she addresses them in their tongue. They listen to her story and know of the white trespassers’ advances.

In time, the Cherokees adopt the princess warrior. They call her Black Flame as she used a flaming piece of kindling from a campfire against the braves who denied her the hunt. She proclaims that it is difficult to be relegated the duties of a mere squaw.

She loves her new home with such magnificent people. She soon marries Magic Bear, a strong and powerful warrior, a tall, handsome man. He acquired the name by single-handedly slaying a menacing grizzly with only his knife. So happy are they that Eula bears her husband two children, a girl, Silver Blade, and a boy, Silent Fang.

Five years after her escape, the Native people continue to fight the ever-encroaching Europeans. Eula is content living a life as a black Cherokee woman. She loves her new family but secretly dreads the thought of recapture especially for her children’s sake.

Her tribe migrates ever westward, but so does the white conquerors. They fight a never-ending and determined nemesis. The Native Americans realize that the foreigners are intent on taking all Native lands as far as the eye can see.

Eula’s life unfortunately is about to take another drastic turn. The Indian Colonial Wars have taken scores of innocent lives, and after many hard-fought campaigns, Magic Bear is killed in battle. A distraught Eula mourns his death and becomes weak with despair. Troubles continue to follow the widow when her tribe is captured in the dead of night by enemy Natives and white conquerors.

Like an unleashed black panther, the African princess fights a fierce battle with her long blade. She and the other women attempt to shield the children as they are determined to defend all that matters. The wild woman stabs to death two enemy before she is beaten down and subdued. Weakened and near unconscious, she sees a blur of her children and neighbors being led away. As Eula is bound with tight leather, she screams to hell’s end; she cannot bear the thought of her offspring in bondage. For the third time in her young life, Eula has been captured. She wonders why life has cursed her so. She is immensely angered because her own children have fallen victim to the same fate.

Eula, her children, and the surviving tribe members are scurried along to the Williams plantation. There, Eula is reunited with the commodore and his family. She is given a harsh return greeting along with a disciplinary beating as a reminder of mastery.

In her desperation and despair, Eula thinks of committing murder and suicide. It pains her to have the ones she loves in bondage. She is grateful only that the master allows her and her children quarters as a family. Her spirit remains defiant, but she performs dutifully as a servant in the master’s house. All the while, Eula wishes nothing but death to all Europeans.

A year later, Eula realizes the difficulty of escape with two children in tow. She secretly continues to teach her young their cultures, both Mandinka and Cherokee. She reminds them to never forget who they are and to always be proud. Her depression deepens when the children speak sadly of their father’s absence. The woman is near her breaking point but remains strong for them.

During the busy harvest season when all including the house servants work the fields, Eula returns late in the day to her empty cabin. She is surprised the children are not there to greet her. Alarmed, the worried mother calls out to them inside and around the dwelling. No reply. She frantically searches here and there until a neighbor slave informs the panicked mother that the commodore’s men had spirited her children and others away.

No one can tell her of their whereabouts, but Eula quickly realizes that the person who knows is the master himself. She falls into a trance-like state and stares wide-eyed with dread, fear, and rage. Wearing a frown, she stumbles to the master’s home, her anger boiling over.

The Williams family are enjoying their evening supper while the servants wait on them. Arriving at the well-lit home, the furious Eula bursts through the dining room Dutch door with a loud crash. The family and servants are quite startled at the sudden intrusion. Panting and perspiring heavily, Eula gives a crazed, cold, hard stare at the master.

Where hast thou taken my children? she screams aggressively.

The room falls silent; all stare in disbelief. The commodore retorts angrily, Just who the hell are thee who disturb our meal? Red-faced, he spouts that she needs to remember her station and that the worst punishment will be dealt her.

She again screams out loud with greater vindictiveness. The master swells with burning anger and stands in a huff. He swiftly maneuvers his way around the table to subdue the angry mother, but in an instant, Eula grabs the carving knife from the roast and snatches young Abigail from her seat. She demands that Master Williams halt; he freezes in his tracks. With her eyes ablaze, Eula holds the frightened child in one hand and raises the blade high above her head with the other. The family gasps and pleads for mercy as fear of death looms.

Eula demands to know where her children were sold and orders their immediate return. She threatens to hold the girl hostage and will kill little Abigail if her demands are not met. The distressed mother begs her husband to do something, but he tells Eula honestly that a number of his slaves were sold to northern plantations; he is unsure of which. Tormented with tears streaming down her anguished face, Eula addresses the wife directly alerting her that she too will soon know what it feels like to lose a child.

Abagail’s mother drops to her knees and clasps her hands as if praying; she begs Eula profusely to spare her child. The master gestures as if to charge her, but Eula warns him that if he takes another step, she will plunge the knife deep into the child’s heart.

Having a fleeting moment of thought, the princess warrior knows she is no killer of innocent children. She steadies the knife while staring at the child’s frightened and teary blue eyes. Her heart melts for the young girl; in one swift motion, she flings Abagail into her mother’s anxious arms.

A sigh of relief fills the room, but nervous eyes remain fixed on Eula and the shiny blade. As she stands before the petrified onlookers, who are awaiting her next move, Eula speaks softly as if alone. Stone-faced with a blank stare, she soliloquizes about her childhood village. She speaks incoherently of longing to know whether her little tree grew tall and village angels about her.

Her mood swings, and the princess warrior realizes all is lost. She realizes she will never see her children again. With both hands raised high above her head grasping the handle of the blade tightly, she slowly turns with a menacing glare and projects a chilling forecast. She promises the devil’s curse of death will haunt the Williams family for generations. Only when her children and children’s children are freed will the curse be lifted.

In painful agony, she loudly chants the names of her husband and children in Mandinka and Cherokee. Her face is wet from a river of tears. The shocking moment comes swiftly; Eula plunges the blade deep into her chest piercing her heart. She drops like a stone and lies still before the stunned room. The princess warrior’s earthly journey ends; death brings freedom eternal.

A year after Eula’s demise, the Williams family is plagued by horrific misfortune. Their plantation home is destroyed by a mysterious fire killing the mother and older daughter. The father dies from a heart attack a year after. Young Abagail is forced to live with relatives who fare no better as sickness ravages them as well. In the aftermath of the family tragedies, Abagail inherits the family estate. As she grows, she struggles living with survivor’s guilt.

In fifteen years, young Abagail grows into a beautiful woman. Now a married lady with two children, she is quite concerned about her family and Eula’s everlasting curse. She never forgets that the woman spared her life that evening. She vows to someday find Eula’s children, set them free, and hopefully break the curse.

Abagail speeds up her mission especially after her husband falls ill from ergotism. Fearful, she spends months traveling from plantation to plantation until in late spring of 1637, she finds Silver Blade and Silent Fang laboring in tobacco fields. She negotiates with the owner, who sells them at an exorbitant price but one Abigail is most willing to pay.

She returns home in her coach and small caravan of bodyguards. She orders a travel pause to picnic in a pristine meadow. There, the young mistress orders the two slaves’ shackles removed; they sit with her. Abagail introduces herself; Eula’s children have a slight recollection of her from childhood. She informs them of Eula’s last hours and of the curse their mother imposed.

Because of her father’s deceit, Abagail in her awkward moment is compelled to ask the siblings for forgiveness. Silver Blade and Silent Fang forgive her and assure her that it was no fault of hers. She is relieved with their pardon. She produces signed documents announcing their emancipation. Speechless and puzzled, the two just stare at one another. Then they ask where they will go and how they will live. Young Abagail offers to build a cabin for them near her plantation. She also offers them paid employment as her personal house and garden servants, but she makes it clear that it is their decision to stay or depart.

The two slaves appreciate her candor and thank her. They are reluctant, however, to speak of their desires to rejoin the Cherokees. Silver Blade and Silent Fang know in their hearts that they will always be suspicious of white people, even young Abigail.

Several months pass, and miraculously, Abigail’s husband recovers while others with the same affliction do not. Her children are safe and in good health. Profits are high, and she lives a life of contentment, but for the children of Magic Bear and Eula, it has been a lifetime of sadness. They endured the absence of parenthood and envision what life would have been like with them.

One day in the spring of 1640, a colorful rainbow appears after a shower. Eula’s children take the brilliant image as a good omen … It is time to leave.

The emancipated couple departs with their papers and drifts into the wilderness. After a two weeks’ trek beyond the white colonies, the siblings encounter a hunting party of Indian braves. The Natives appear strong and confident; the parties stare at each other suspiciously but also curiously. The Indians admire the black Cherokees’ silky, auburn skin, long, curly hair, and handsome features.

The Native Americans are surprised when Silver Blade and Silent Fang address them in Cherokee. They introduce themselves as members of the Yellow River Tribe; they are sad to discover that their childhood people have all but vanished.

The Native Americans encountered are called the Wind People because they worship and follow spiritual winds that carry the message of ancient ancestors. They greet Silver Blade and Silent Fang with kindness, but they debate how they will fit in. But over time, the two prove their worth and loyalty. She becomes the squaw of Marctar, a fierce warrior. Silent Fang becomes a tribal war brave who marries Singing Bird, one of Chief Big Cloud’s daughters.

The transition from slavery to Native American culture is naturally fulfilling, and soon, the siblings have children. They vow to keep Eula’s and Magic Bear’s spirits alive through heroic tales and song.

The Cherokees’ numbers slowly diminish. Eula’s Mandinka language and Magic Bear’s memory fade with the winds, but the legend of the princess warrior survives.

With the ever-encroaching European conquerors afoot, the threats of capture and servitude plague Eula’s descendants. The Indian nation becomes a defeated people whose culture is stolen, and like the Africans, they become prisoners in their own land. Eula’s grandchildren, however, never forget her teachings and are obliged to keep her legend secret, always at a distance from the master’s prying ears.

A hundred generations of depression and despair become the norm for a people haunted by exploitation. Both red and black man’s ancestral names and languages are forever banished; they have no recollection of who they are or whence they came. Though physically and emotionally defeated, they never surrender their pride or dignity.

Secretly, Eula’s children never accept the pacification of the white man’s God; instead, they praise her spirit alone. They seek her strength, guidance, and salvation, and they chant her name in song, By the power of Eula!

Her children down through the ages survive by her philosophy of strength. They cherish the girl child who grew into womanhood and fought like hell’s fury in a man’s world.

When the last of Eula’s enslaved children are emancipated on July 1, 1863, only one carries on her fighting spirit. A great-grandson called Broc will crusade against the tyranny and oppression of Jim Crow. Thus begins the saga of Broc, a champion cowboy and nobleman of peace and justice.

CHAPTER 1

O n June 23, 1847, a hot Virginia sun caresses the sweet, black soil of the MacDougal plantation. A grand, old, white mansion sits majestically above the spacious valley, where green hills surround sprawling acres of cotton and tobacco. A dirt road winds through the crops to the slave cabins in the distance. A gentle breeze carries mild fragrances of honeysuckle and fruit from nearby orchards. Morning dew begins to fade, and sounds of spring come to life. Scores of slaves sing in cadence as they work the fields. Bending and straining, they turn to the wind and listen.

A young slave mother labors in childbirth in David’s and Betsy’s cabin. Two midwives are attending to her needs. Old Martha, a matriarchal figure and kin to the slave families, is well into her eighties but is as fit as a forty-year-old. She has two white, shoulder-length braids, and she smokes an old corncob pipe, which dangles from her mouth. Sold twice before, Martha has been MacDougal property thirty years, since the family’s land acquisition. Though short in stature, she projects a larger-than-life presence; she is respected by all, even her owners and their white neighbors. Held in high esteem, she is allowed her own cabin.

Martha directs the less-experienced Sara through the birthing process. Twenty-one-year-old Sara is a thin, plain-looking girl bought two years ago as a helper. She is frail but high-spirited. Past breeding attempts resulted in two miscarriages and left her childless.

Betsy lies in labor. She is twenty-six; she is a proud woman with striking Nubian and Cherokee features—silky smooth auburn skin and long, curly hair. Betsy is a direct descendant of Eula, the sixteenth-century captive African girl and legendary warrior heroine who is the family’s spiritual protector. Betsy and her husband, David, have been MacDougal property all their young lives.

Betsy painfully twists and turns in her straw bed, and her screams carry far.

Martha tells Sara, Gimme dem clean sheets, gal!

Sara replies, Yes’m, as she nervously scurries about.

As the child nears, the old woman encourages Betsy. Commo’, child, push a little harda! Drenched and worn, Betsy complies. Moments later and after a forceful push, a rather large baby emerges and slips onto the sheets in Martha’s arms.

Sara shouts, Look at dat! Dis sho’s a big ’un!

Hush up and give me dat bowl of woeda! Martha commands.

With surgical precision, Martha cuts and ties the wailing infant’s umbilical cord. She gives the baby to the younger woman to clean up, and she comforts the exhausted mother. Sara hands the wrapped child to Betsy. It’s a boy! she says with a grin.

Betsy briefly holds the infant face to face before resting him on her bosom. She unbuttons her blouse, and the baby immediately begins to suckle. Betsy looks up through fatigued eyes at the two women and says, His name is Broc, a name Betsy secretly procured from a great-grandfather, a tall, strong, family hero who died in his second escape attempt killing two slave catchers in the process.

You git parmission from Massa Jefferson? Martha inquires.

Yes ma’am, Betsy respectfully responds.