Shadunka

Samuel Brathwaite has not had an easy life. He was kidnapped as a young boy and raised by Paiute Indians. Taken away from his home at a young age, and raised in a completely different environment changed and shaped the young boy to be something else. His original name was dropped and the Paiutes called him Shandunka, giving him a completely new life and identity from what he might have had. Shandunka has never felt welcome with either the white settlers of his origin, or with the Paiutes who abducted and raised him. The former view him as a unique oddity, a white man trying to be a savage, and the Paiutes view him as an outsider that was never really part of their tribe. This sense of disconnect, of being a man apart haunts Shandunka for the rest of his life.

The Civil War rages across the young country of America. In this tumultuous and uncertain period, Shandunka the white Paiute brave, travels to St. Louis to try and find his sister. He is a man apart from both his tribe and the white men. In his heart, he hopes that finding his sister can give him some sense of connection. Along the way he meets Cassie Bolton, a female gunslinger and gambler. Cassie is a rebellious sort, who plays by her own rules and plays fast and loose. After Shandunka helps her out of a tough bind, Cassie proposes they work together. Shandunka agrees hoping the money they earn from the job will help him locate his sister easier. Little does he know that the job itself will be a lot more demanding than he thought. Shandunka will come face to face with a new and terrible evil. A new kind of machine gun that threatens to revolutionize warfare and turn the tide for whatever side possesses it.

After escaping prison for killing three hunters, the Paiute pariah Shandunka returns to his native tribe, hoping to find some level of acceptance. He returns to a less-than warm welcome as most of the tribe still view him with contempt because of his half-white heritage. Kalutta the one tribe member who has tormented Shandunka for most of his life, continues to be just as aggravating for Shandunka. Chief Bending Oak decides that it is best that Shandunka accompany the boy Little Cub out in the woods to teach him to hunt. The old chief hopes that this will diffuse any brewing tensions with Shandunka and Kalutta. During the hunting trip, Little Bear stumbles upon the hideout of Wedge Wilson and his gang of bank robbers. The outlaws chase down the little boy, and kill him to protect the location of their hideout. Shandunka tries to defend Little Cub but is eventually overpowered. He returns to the tribe's camp and reports the tragic news. Compelled by his tribe's customs, the pariah Shandunka must track down the killers of Little Bear in a "Death Stalk." The practice demands that the killers of a tribe member must be put to death and scalped while 'counting coup'. Counting coup is the practice of touching an enemy's forehead, best done while he is dead, of course. Shandunka goes off to fulfill his grisly task, but he does not know that Kalutta followed him, and is determined to kill him whether he completes the Death Stalk, or not.

Shadunka looked quite strange. He seemed like some deformed string puppet that was out of proportion, or a giant dog that did not know it was so large. Shadunka had long flowing red hair with large, piercing eyes. He should have been handsome and imposing and perhaps he would have been in another time. He was unusually tall for any man, standing at a little under seven feet. This was quite exceptional for the time that Shadunka lived in, and he could almost be considered a giant in white men or Piute, or any native tribe's eyes