The Search by Michael L. Ross Read an Excerpt

Publication Date: December 15, 2020
Publisher: HistoricalNovelsRUS
Page Length: 217 Pages
Series: Across the Great Divide, Book II
Genre: Historical Fiction, Christian Historical Fiction, Historical Romance

Synopsis

Where do you go when home is no longer an option?

The guns of the Civil War have ceased firing, and the shots are but an echo... yet the war rages on, deep inside Will Crump's soul. His "soldier's heart" is searching for peace, and in that quest Will joins the westward movement, setting his path on a collision course with adventure, loss, and love.

The Westward Expansion floods the sacred, untouched lands with immigrants, bringing conflict to the Shoshone, Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho. Amidst the chaos Will finds safety in the shadow of the US Army, but the army brings battle-hardened troops into Red Cloud's War, pulling Will into a tornado of conflict. Broken treaties and promises leave both sides searching for answers. Will's search leads him to a battle for survival, and there he finds a love that could change him forever.

Dove, a young Shoshone woman, is a survivor of the Bear Creek Massacre. After being kidnapped and escaping from the Cheyenne, she joins Will's search, seeking where she belongs. Dove longs for more than the restricted role placed on women in her tribe. If she can learn to trust a white man, he just might help her find home... and hope.

Together, Will and Dove must search for understanding, and reach Across the Great Divide.

Excerpt

Dove’s English improved, though she understood more than she could speak. She gained useful information from the girl, who chattered on every imaginable topic. She learned that at least a third of the soldiers were without horses, and horses were much desired. Dove guessed her chance of getting her horse returned without a fight was non-existent.

After a week, she decided she must venture out in the daytime. It appeared that the soldiers had forgotten about her. The fort had no walls. Instead, there was a wide trench around it with the river on two sides. Walking with no seeming purpose, she ambled toward the corral on the northeast end of the fort. There weren’t many animals, perhaps twenty horses in all. At night, it should be possible to steal one. She saw her pony, mingled in with the other horses; the whites thought it too small for anything but a packhorse. They didn’t recognize that it would be running and loping when their big mounts were dead from exhaustion on the prairie.

“Hey, you! Squaw! What’re you doing over here?”

Startled, Dove saw a greasy, unkempt soldier advancing on her.

“I was looking at my horse,” she managed.

“Your horse? You’re not supposed to be on the post—wait, ain’t you that squaw Gabe brought in half-dead a few weeks back?”

Encouraged, she said, “That’s right.”

He laughed, showing yellowed teeth. “Well, that doesn’t change nothing. You prob’ly stole the horse anyway. Government property now—you can even see the US brand on the little runt. Too small to ride, ’cept maybe for a squaw like you. Say, now that Gabe and that other feller’s gone, you might be wanting some company.” He started to reach for her, but Dove sprang back. “No need to be unfriendly-like. You must be wanting a real man by now.” He reached for her again.

Dove backed into the corral post. Cornered, she reached up with her good arm and pulled up the leather thong that held her knife. Armed, she crouched and waited.

The man laughed again. He wasn’t afraid. He tried to grab the wrist that held the knife. Dove slashed across his palm, moving sideways a step.

“Hey! You worthless little wildcat! I oughta . . .” He moved toward her again as if to pin her arms to her sides.

Her mind saw again the soldiers at Bear River, death all around her.

Dove knew she dared not let him capture her; she was wobbling a bit already. With all the strength she had left, she made an underhanded stab at the soldier’s belly, just above the belt. He tottered backward in surprise . . . and they both fell.

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Meet the Author

Best-selling author Michael Ross is a lover of history and great stories. He's a retired software engineer turned author, with three children and five grandchildren, living in Newton, Kansas with his wife of forty years. He was born in Lubbock, Texas, and still loves Texas. The main character of "Across the Great Divide", William Dorsey Crump, is one of the founders of Lubbock and Shallowater, Texas. Michael knew Will's granddaughter when he was a child. He has written a scholarly article on Will Crump for the Texas Historical Society, published in the Handbook of Texas Online, and has sold short stories in the past. This is his first novel and the first in the Across the Great Divide series, now an Amazon bestseller. Michael attended Rice University as an undergraduate, and Portland State University for his graduate degree. He has degrees in computer science, software engineering, and German. In his spare time, Michael loves to go fishing, riding horses, and play with his grandchildren, who are currently all under six years old.

He sees many parallels between the time of the Civil War and our divided nation of today. Sanctuary cities, immigration, arguments around the holiday table, threats of secession - all are nothing new. Sometimes, to understand the present, you have to look at the past- and reach Across the Great Divide.  

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