B N Rundell

The mountains had become his home. He made them his home after fleeing the hypocrisy of civilization in Missouri at the graveside of his father and mother and began fulfilling the life long dream held dear by his father and himself. When he first came to the mountains, he was a younker and a greenhorn, but now he was a seasoned man of the mountains. Returning from a quick trip back to St. Louis, he was again determined to never leave his beloved mountains, the far blue mountains, the Rocky Mountains, the high and lonesome, the only place he could see forever and breathe the air that held not a scent of anything from civilization. On the trip up the Missouri to Fort Union aboard the steamboat, he befriended an old-timer and well-seasoned mountain man, Knuckles, and the old man agreed to show the newcomer around Crow and Blackfeet country. Tate Saint knew it was always best to learn from someone that knew the different people of the mountains, and this man seemed to know his way around the different tribes never before encountered by Tate in the mountains to the South. But he wanted to explore all the mountains from the Canadian Rockies to the southern Sangre de Cristo. This time the mountains in the north were beckoning the young man so full of wanderlust, but little did he know what awaited, from renegades to missionaries and a lovely Indian lass that seemed to be the answer to the question he didn't know how to ask.

Tatum Saint and his father shared a dream of the Rocky Mountains, but when his father was killed, young Tatum decided to make that dream a reality. But wherever he goes, there's always somebody needing help. Now as he prepares to build a cabin in the wilderness, he stumbles across a couple of runaway slaves that were seeking freedom in the uncharted territory. After their camp is destroyed and brother and sister are injured when Tatum stampedes a herd of elk, he feels obligated to care for them until they recover. Tatum finds it an arduous process to settle in the mountains, with confrontations with the Caputa Ute, mountain lions, and grizzly bears. But when the Jicarilla Apache take the girl and his friend, White Feather of the Comanche, captive, he and her brother, together with Tatum's friends from the Comanche, must mount a rescue. Using their own superstitions against them to balance the odds, the challenges and confrontations prove to be deadly and overwhelming. But not only must they battle the dreaded Apache, they must also face the assaults of nature herself, not just to rescue the captives, but to survive as well. It is a hard lesson to learn that freedom in the frontier does not come easily nor without great cost.

Driven by grief over the loss of his beloved wife and child, Tyrell Thompsett left the home of his childhood in the Medicine Bow mountains and started South in a quest for a new life. With his long-time friend, Grey Wolf, a warrior of the Yamparika Ute, who was on his own quest, the two start the long trek to the Sangre de Cristo mountains and a new beginning. Ty was bound for Fort Garland and a scouting job with General Kit Carson that he hoped would give direction to this new part of his life and Grey Wolf was searching for a life partner. The adventure takes them into the unsettled land of the San Luis valley, historical discoveries, and conflicts with prospectors, settlers and Indians. After a battle with the Apache, Ty and his new friend and fellow scout go South to Taos Pueblo and are surprised at a new friendship and a change of plans for the formerly grieving man. After conflicts with the Mouache and the Jicarilla, Ty's troubled mind brings him face to face with a decision that could change the direction and purpose of his and his companion's lives forever.

When a marauding band of Cheyenne Dog Soldiers attack a wagon train and take two women and a boy captive, Talon Thompsett is surprised when no one is willing to go after the Indians and try to rescue the captives. But the young man is reminded of his father's counsel that "Whenever a task falls to you, don't question the why of it, just get busy with the doin' of it " Now he must set aside his new job as Shotgun for the Overland Stage and gear up for the pursuit of a band of warrior renegades. A tall task for an unproven young man, but when none of the pilgrims believe in the cause, and the settlers of nearby LaPorte refuse to leave their homes unguarded, Talon realizes he must face this challenge alone. His commitment and determination lead to the making of a man and a bloody chase through the foothills of Colorado and the plains of the new territory. Along the way, he makes a bitter enemy of the Cheyenne war leader, Two Bears, who is determined to seek vengeance on this unknown white man and prove to his people that he is the chosen leader of the notorious Dog soldiers. But Talon is undaunted and even eager to show the renegade that this white man is more than his match. Follow the trail that takes a young man from the Cache La Poudre through intimidating country and back to the Overland Trail as he proves his worth as he rises to the challenge and the making of a man.

The power of a promise made and a promise kept is realized when Jeremiah Thompsett comes of age and accepts the responsibility of fulfilling his mentor's long-held dream. Raised by an escaped slave in the midst of the Arapaho nation in the Wind River mountains, he now must track down the slave catchers that killed his adopted father and stole their cache. The Vengeance Quest takes him and his companions through the mountains and across the nation to fulfill the promise of freeing the family of slaves held dear to his mentor and adopted father. Accompanied by Broken Shield and Laughing Waters, his Arapaho friend and his sister, the trek through the mountains and to Fort Union is fraught with hazard and ambush. It is here he is joined by Scratch, the crusty mountain man who joins him on his journey downriver and across country to find Ezekiel's family and to seek to free them.