Authors: Kerry Newcomb

War Path (29 page)

“I am no beast,” said John Stark. “I am just a man who wants to live free.” He studied his adversary, wary of the man's speed, poised to meet him head on. “To live free or die.”

“Then live,” Atoan said. He stepped backwards off the cliff.

John Stark started forward, not quite believing his own eyes, halted, as the warrior vanished from view, plummeting through the night. Stark heard the sound of the body striking the rocks with a sickening thud. His hands began to tremble and he lost his grip on the tomahawk. A breeze stirred. And the ghostly voices of the Old Ones whose spirits were hidden in the haunted hills, began to sing their lament.

John Stark had no desire to walk to the edge of the cliff and see what lay below. He wanted to remember his enemy as he had known him. Free. He turned his back on the dead and returned to the living. The column of Rangers waited in silence, each man fixing in his memory what had happened on this night, waited for Stark to take up his rifle and pistol, to stand before them, hesitating at long last, as if uncertain. What now? He listened then, and heard beyond hearing. He took his marching orders from the wind and the rivers and the call of the wilderness.

John Stark â¦ lead them home.

And so he did.

Acknowledgments

I give glory to God.

I give thanks for the love and loyalty of family and friends.

A special candle must be lit for my agent, Aaron Priest, the best there is or ever was.

Much gratitude to my talented and patient editor, Marc Resnick, and to the righteous folks at St. Martin's Press for publishing my tales.

Lastly, to you, dear reader, I am truly obliged.

About the Author

Kerry Newcomb was born in Milford, Connecticut, but had the good fortune to be raised in Texas. He has served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and taught at the St. Labre Mission School on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana, and holds a master's of fine arts degree in theater from Trinity University. Newcomb has written plays, film scripts, commercials, and liturgical dramas, and is the author of over thirty novels. He lives with his family in Fort Worth, Texas.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

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

Cover design by Connie Gabbert

978-1-4804-7891-6

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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