The second book in the Brotherhood of Warriors series, 2007

Ranger Blueeyes sat with the small gathering of brother warriors inside the cave of secrets, a natural recess in a sandstone cliff high above the tree line of the forest. This site, nearly at the center of the vast Colorado Plateau region of the southwest, had been the Brotherhood of Warriors’ gathering place for over a hundred years.

The Brotherhood of Warriors had been established during the time of Kit Carson. Undercover warriors bound by loyalty and traditions, they stood between the tribe and its enemies-an unbroken line of defense. Never seen but always felt, they’d each been hand-selected and tested to the breaking point until only the best of the best remained. The Brotherhood of Warriors existed for one purpose only-so the Diné, the Navajo People, could go about their lives in peace and safety.

Tonight, something bad was going down. Ranger could feel the tension in the air. Even the pitch-filled piñon wood fire in the center couldn’t push back the chill in the cave. That penetrating cold had more to do with the reason they were here than with the temperature.

Ranger had known the medicine man, Hastiin Sani,

“Old Man” in Navajo, for many years. Hastiin Sani was their leader and also a very gifted crystal gazer, a seer who could foretell the future with uncanny accuracy.

The fact that Hastiin Dííl, “Tall Man” in Navajo, was also here tonight told him that his instincts were right on the mark-trouble was heading their way…or had already arrived. Security measures passed down through generations of warriors dictated that their leader and his second were never to be in the same place at the same time unless there was a dire crisis that demanded it.