A love between two very different men is put to the test. John Strobaw, a young mixed-blood, grows up in the relative security of a family farm after the Civil War. His mother raises her family as Americans, but his foster brother, Matthew Brandt feels his red blood more keenly and leaves to ride with Crazy Horse. John doesn’t understand the longing he feels for his absent companion until he has his first sexual experience with a man and he only thinks of Matthew. After the murder of Crazy Horse, Matthew makes his way back home. John fights hard against a growing lust for Matthew, but when he ultimately succumbs, he is lost to this handsome, dusky warrior. Just when the future looks bright, another suitor appears -- a handsome Cheyenne army scout, and trouble looms on the horizon.

Echoes of the Flute

To change clothes, probably. Boot prints disappeared, replaced by the blurred scuffmarks of moccasins. Without dismounting, I followed his pony’s trail to the west. He wasn’t galloping or trotting now. His horse was walking. Arrow eased through a particularly dense thicket and came to a halt.


Matthew Brandt stood hip-sprung in the middle of a small clearing. Except he was Shambling Bear, a Teton warrior, now. His legs were spread apart aggressively. His lean, muscled body was naked except for a small breechcloth and low-cut moccasins. A three-inch scar I’d never seen before ran down his left thigh. A necklace of blue heishi beads brought up from the Spanish territory held a huge bear claw around his neck.


I slid from Arrow’s back and walked up to him. Everything I’d planned to say, everything I needed to say died, and I stood tongue-tied. Neither of us spoke for a what seemed like an hour but was probably less than a minute.


“Your eyes show who you are,” he said at last.


Chapter 38