Stonecroft Saga

The author of the bestselling Buckskin Chronicles takes us on an epic journey in the new Stonecroft Saga. It started as a brother defending the honor of his only sister, but it led to a bloody duel and a young man of a prominent family lying dead in the dirt... Gabriel Stonecroft along with his life-long friend, Ezra, the son of the pastor of the African Methodist Episcopal church, at his side, begin the journey to the far wilderness of the west. One man from prominent social standing, the other with a life of practical experience, are soon joined in life building adventures. That journey would be fraught with danger, excitement, and adventure as they face bounty hunters, renegade Shawnee and Delaware Indians, and river pirates. The odds are stacked against the two young men that were lacking in worldly wisdom when it came to life on the frontier. But that reservoir of experience would soon be overflowing with first-hand involvement in happenings that even young dreamers could never imagine.

The author of the bestselling Buckskin Chronicles takes us on an epic journey in Book 2 of the Stonecroft Saga. Two friends committed to one another and their destiny of exploring the wilderness known as French Louisiana. A land that would soon become the Louisiana Purchase and a part of the growing nation of the United Colonies. But another man, wealthy, influential, and vindictive, is determined to see Gabriel Stonecroft pay the ultimate price for the death of his son, a ne'er do well troublemaker who surrendered his life in a duel with Stonecroft. After a perilous journey down the Ohio River aboard a flatboat, the two friends now set out to explore the west. But local toughs in the young town of New Madrid pick a fight and earn nothing but wounds and a grudge, a grudge that will be nursed by bounty hunters that seek to collect the sizable reward offered for the head of this young, would-be explorer. But when they find a runaway captive of the Pawnee, and fight alongside the Osage Warriors, the most feared fighters in the new land, the plans of the two friends take a drastic detour. Land-locked pirates team up with bounty hunters and renegade Indians to do their best to permanently change the plans of the two adventuresome friends. And when women enter the picture, everything changes.

B. N. Rundell keeps listeners coming back for more in Book 3 of the fast-moving Stonecroft Saga. Osage, Kansa, Otoe, were all tribes west of the Mississippi and dwelt directly in the path of the two friends determined to escape the bounty hunters from Philadelphia and to explore the uncharted wilderness of the west. But when they encounter former French Voyageurs turned slave traders that take Pawnee women captive, their purposes take a turn. But slave-traders are nothing compared to the Omaha and Ponca tribes that have the market cornered on all trade from the Missouri and North Platte Rivers. But Gabe Stone and Ezra Blackwell, lifetime friends and companions on this journey of discovery, find themselves befriending the Omaha and Ponca and then suddenly paired with the daughter of the most powerful chief in the territory. With every turn they meet a new challenge and just when they think they're on their way into the uncharted wilderness, they are faced with a new challenge, the like of which they never imagined. Confronted by a company of Soldado de cuera, the exclusive corps of the Spanish Empire, and a band of Maroons made up of runaway and freed slaves, they have to make a choice that could mean the end of their journey, if not their lives. Can two men really make a difference in a battle such as this?

The author of the bestselling Rocky Mountain Saint series, B. N. Rundell, takes listeners on an epic journey in Book 4 of the Stonecroft Saga. Louisiana Territory had been the exclusive domain of Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company, seeking to fill their larders with the riches of the uncharted wilderness. But into that territory came two friends, determined to explore and learn about this vast land, land that had seldom if ever had the footprint of a white man. With their journey already taking them through the lands of the Shawnee, Osage, Pawnee, Omaha, and more, they have finally come within sight of the Rocky Mountains, but their way is blocked by the Plains tribes of Arapaho, Ute, Shoshoni, Crow, and others. The challenges of the wilderness never cease, and each day brings unknown dangers and death dealing conflicts, and they are forced to find their way in the unknown wilderness . . .

AUTHOR OF THE BEST-SELLING BUCKSKIN CHRONICLES SERIES TAKES US ON AN EPIC JOURNEY IN BOOK FIVE OF THE STONECROFT SAGA. By any measure, they would be considered old-timers in the mountains of the uncharted territory. Land that had been known as French Louisiana and Spanish Colonial Louisiana, was largely unexplored. The two old-timers were young men that had spent the last two years in that uncharted territory and had taken women from the Shoshone people as their brides. But their long-held dream and goal was to discover and explore the vast lands of the western wilderness and they set out to do just that. But when renegade Coureur des bois of the Hudson's Bay Company and trappers of the Northwest company decide to abandon the fur companies and seek their fortune by raiding the native villages, the two young friends and their women stand in their way. The life and death struggle will bathe the wilderness in the blood of both raiders and explorers, and the screams of the tortured will echo through the canyons of the wilds.

B.N. RUNDELL KEEPS YOU COMING BACK FOR MORE IN BOOK SIX OF THE FAST-MOVING STONECROFT SAGA. Their dream and goal had always been to explore and discover land unknown by white men. The land that lay within the territory known as New Spain or Spanish Louisiana, land that had been known as French Louisiana and that had only known the presence of Spanish Conquistadors and a few French Voyageurs or Coureur des bois. But it was the land of mountains that stood as the pillars of Heaven itself and held many natives that had never seen the face of a white man nor that of a man of color. But now, with their new wives, Gabe and Ezra set out to discover and explore the mountains and wild country to the north. Land that was full of mystery and tales of the natives that told of indescribable wonders. Into this journey of great discovery, came a raiding horde of Blackfoot that sought to kill, maim, destroy and take captives from lesser tribes, like the Absáalooke, Agaidika Shoshone, and the Bannock. When Gabe and Ezra make friends with the Shoshone, they are caught up in the war between the peoples and the price that is to be paid, maybe more than they are willing to give. They are determined to defend their friends, and turn aside those that would wreak havoc, but what can two men do against so many?

BEST-SELLING AUTHOR B.N. RUNDELL KEEPS YOU COMING BACK FOR MORE IN THE FAST-MOVING STONECROFT SAGA. What started as a joyous reunion of friends, soon became one of the most challenging periods of their lives. Chosen as scouts for the Kuccuntikka village of the Shoshone for their trek to the grand encampment of the Shoshone, their encounter with the scouts from the Tukkutikka band would set them on a different course altogether. When Gabe meets the war leader of the other band, he is challenged at every turn by the woman warrior, his equal on every count. But when they are attacked by Blackfoot, a battle rages… When a raiding party of Hidatsa warriors strikes another band of Shoshone, an old friend, the war leader of the Agaideka Shoshone, asks Gabe and Ezra to join in the vengeance party to rescue the five captive girls, one of whom is his niece known as Sacajawea. But raiding Blackfoot and Hidatsa war parties were not the only challenges for the two explorers. When a jealous Shoshone warrior tries to take the place of the woman warrior war leader and seeks vengeance, the fight rages with both the war leader known as Cougar Woman and her new mate, Spirit Bear – also known as Gabe Stonecroft.

WHEN FACED WITH THE MONSTER OF VENGEANCE, YOU HAVE TO ASK: WHOSE BLOOD WILL PAINT THE WHITE OF THE WOODS? It was supposed to be a cozy winter in their new cabin, but it started with a cantankerous silvertip grizzly wreaking havoc on everything. That would prove to be the least of their problems in the coming winter… After a trading foray to visit their neighbors, the Salish, two days north, everything seemed to get turned upside down. They found themselves in contested territory with a band of honor seeking young bucks from the Siksika band that sought to gain scalps and captives from their sworn enemies, the Salish. And that wasn't enough to upset their peaceful plans, but when Gabe, or Spirit Bear, found out the Blackfoot had stolen the mares bred by his stallion and were carrying foals that belonged to him, it became personal. "Excitement, daring hardship, combined with a Christian edge, makes this a very captivating, page-turning story."

LUST, HATRED, GREED, AND VENGEANCE ALL COMBINE TO MAKE THIS JOURNEY ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS AND DEADLIEST OF THEM ALL. They had rescued a young Nez Percé warrior from the warring Blackfoot and were bound on a journey to take him home to his people. The vast land of the Bitterroot Mountains and the badlands that lay at their feet held more obstacles than they expected. It was to prove to be a treacherous journey, fraught with natural disasters and conflicts with familiar foes. But when confronted with evil of another sort, an evil that sought to destroy their very own, it became kill or be killed, and blood would soon paint the mountains and the plains of the wilderness. Yet even in the most challenging times, friends can be found, and old acquaintances renewed. But it takes more than friendship and new allies to dispel the wickedness that comes from the darkness of malevolence. And when vengeance drives the demented, can there be deliverance? When women warriors prove their mettle, anything can happen, and usually does.

BLOOD WOULD BE SPILT, LIVES CHANGED AND DECISIONS MADE. When the Salish War Leader, Spotted Eagle appeared in the clearing before their cabin, life-long friends Gabe and Ezra weren't sure what to think. This man had shown himself to be their friend, and now he invited them to join him and the village on a buffalo hunt. With winter just around the corner, it seemed the likely thing to do, but had they known what the journey would bring, they might have had second thoughts… Gabe and Ezra's discovery of the massacre of the Paiute village, and the three survivors that told the story, was just the beginning of the fight against the warring Waiilatpus. When the band of raiders also attacked the Salish and fled, it was up to Gabe and Ezra to seek some vengeance and recapture the stolen girls. A pursuit across the lava beds of the Snake River plains, a fight in the dead of night, a thundering stampede of buffalo, and a horde of bugs that shrouded the entire valley, were just the added complications to a simple buffalo hunt, or perhaps more. The unorthodox ways of the two non-native men would earn Gabe more scars, Ezra a new name, the lasting friendship of the Paiute, and the gratefulness of the Salish.

IN A LAND OF PROVEN WARRIORS AND BITTER ENEMIES, THE OUTCOME OF ANY BATTLE IS NEVER CERTAIN AND MORE OFTEN…DEADLY. The bloody waters at the lake's edge told of the destruction of the Kutenai village. Dead bodies were strewn about, smoke curled from burning lodges, and the war cries of screaming Blackfoot warriors followed the war party from the scene of death and destruction. It started as a rivalry between two war leaders of the Piikani Blackfoot. Friends since their youth, they both wanted the same woman and were on a quest for honors and loot. One chose to attack the Salish but met more than expected. The second, known as White Eagle, chose to go after the Kutenai and blood flowed. His easy victory over one village drove him to go for a second village, but he had not known of the wrath and vengeance of a dreaded enemy of the Blackfoot known as Spirit Bear. Together with his battle-hardened friend, Black Buffalo, these two were determined to become the personification of vengeance as they pursued the blood-thirsty and vengeful Blackfoot war party.

BLOOD, LUST, AND GREED SEEMED TO LAY IN WAIT FOR THE UNSUSPECTING TRAVELERS. What started as a visit to the families of the women turned into a fight with renegade Apsáalooke warriors. But that was just the beginning of the battles… After a friendly encounter with the Yapudttka Ute, their journey would take them into the middle of a fight between the Mouache Ute and an expedition of gold hungry Spaniards. The prospectors traveled across the southern tier of the land known as New Spain in search of the Seven Cities of Cibola – the same cities of gold once sought by Coronado – now thought to be in the headwaters of a river in the Sawatch mountains of the Rockies. When the leader of the Spaniards tries to enslave the band of Utes to dig for gold, it starts a bloody battle. But when Gabe and company learn about captives and the treatment of them as slaves that does not sit well with Ezra who will fight any form of slavery wherever it is found. Blood will fill the sluice boxes and rivers of the Sawatch Range before this conflict is over!

BULLETS, BLOOD, DEATH AND VENGEANCE FILLED THE VALLEY AS BITTER ENEMIES CLASHED. Gabe and company spent the winter with the Mouache Ute but the buffalo hunt was watched by a hunting party of Yaparuhka Comanche. That hunting party soon became a raiding party and the blood began to flow. When the Northern Arapaho descend on the plains, the bitter enemies of the Comanche riled the warriors bent on vengeance to attack the Arapaho, and warriors died. But the cry for vengeance was directed at the white man and his people that were responsible for the deaths of Comanche warriors. The quest for vengeance was misdirected and again the stench of death would fill the air.

The south country beckoned, and Gabe and Ezra answered. It was nothing more than a re-supply trip to Santa Fe, but an encounter with the Tabeguache Ute and the Caputa Ute changed the course of their journey. It wasn't until they came upon the massacre at a Mexican Hacienda and the subsequent attack from a rampaging band of renegade Jicarilla Apache, that they would uncover a prospering trade in captives and slaves that would raise the ire of both Gabe and Ezra. When a garrison of Mexican Soldados and one particular officer intervenes, things are not as they would first appear. Their purpose was derailed when an unexpected ambush by Apache would prompt a rescue expedition. When all is complicated by the intervention of slave traders, Comancheros, and the perpetrators masking as Mexican Soldados, only then does a simple re-supply journey become a vengeance quest, and all the blood that would flow would not be Apache! This historical western series will have you gasping for air and capture your heart.

AUTHOR OF THE BEST-SELLING BUCKSKIN CHRONICLES SERIES TAKES US ON AN EPIC JOURNEY IN BOOK SEVEN OF THE STONECROFT SAGA. After spending most of five years in the Rocky Mountains, Gabriel Stonecroft finds it necessary to return to civilization to settle some long past accounts. He sets out from the headwaters of the Missouri River, with his only companion a wolf, navigating the wild river through the lands of the Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, and more. But an attack by a renegade French voyageur and his rebel Blackfoot companions is just one of the obstacles in his way. Once he lands at the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi, the conspiring and deceitful ways of civilization weigh heavy upon him and his duty to the memory of his father and his fortune. Along the way, he will discover a purpose and plan for the return to the river and the mountains of the west. The past always has a way of raising its ugly head and bringing havoc and heartache upon the unsuspecting…