Derrick McCain from Bloody Trail

Our last guest from Wolf Creek is Derrick McCain created by author Cheryl Pierson. 

I’m not sure why you want to talk to me.

Our last guest was Charley Blackfoot. After our interview he let slip that he knew you in the war. It sounded like there was a story there.

I did things when I was younger that I’m not proud of, but I guess a lot of others did, too.

What happened?

I left home just after the War started. My older brothers had already lit out. I wasn’t following them, though—I was out to make my own way. And when I got news that my Pa had been killed because of his politics, I deserted and joined up with Jim Danby’s gang, determined to find the men who’d killed my Pa. But then, Jim seemed to get crazier about the things he wanted to do—torturing and killing prisoners and such. I drew the line there, and I didn’t care what happened to me. I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d done some of the things he was ordering us to do.

That’s how Charley Blackfeather and I got acquainted—Charley was one of the prisoners Jim was wanting me to kill. When I said no, Jim had the other men about kill me. He thought I was dead, or he’d never have left me. The reason I tell you all this is just to say, there were plenty of others like me, caught up in a world of not being able to know right from wrong. War does that to a man. I’m not making excuses. Just trying to explain.

I think I understand. What brought you to Wolf Creek?

We moved to Wolf Creek when I was twelve years old. My Pa was a headmaster at a Cherokee school in Indian Territory. Then one day, he came home and told Ma we were getting the hell out of there and moving to Kansas.

Why Kansas? I would have thought Indian Territory would have been a safer place to raise a family than Kansas before the Civil War.

From what I could hear, there wasn’t much of an explanation, but Ma seemed to understand without him telling her. She didn’t want to go, that much I knew, but we had to. I thought it was politics forcing us to go, but then I learned something later that shed a whole new light on things.

What did you learn?

When we moved to Wolf Creek, my older brothers, Benton and Eli, were still living at home with us, but Benton eventually got his own place nearby. That just left me and Eli and our younger sister, Kathleen, there at home, and Eli planned on going off on his own, too. But then the War came, and he and Benton went off, thinking it would be a high adventure. They both got themselves killed, and I had left too. Kathleen always held it against me that I went off and left her and Ma, but no one could have known that Pa was going to get himself murdered. Now that I’m back in Wolf Creek, Kathleen is married to a sour mouth preacher, and I’ve taken over the farming there at our home place and taking care of Ma.

So you've come home to settle down.

But I won’t be here forever. I’m too restless to stay in one place forever.

Is that because of your experiences during the war?

The War changed my life in a lot of ways. I was glad to get off on my own—that part was good. I’d never got on too well with my older brothers. They always treated me different, and Pa did, too. Turns out, there was a reason that I didn’t know until a few weeks ago.

What reason?

(Silence)

If you're not going to tell what you found out about your mother, why do you keep mentioning it?

Anyhow, I went off to make my own way in the world, and then felt honor bound to avenge Pa’s killing. Which was just putting me in a bad place, even worse than when I was a Confederate regular. Joining up with Jim Danby’s gang was something I have been sorry for since the day I did it. I was pretty young and needing someone to look up to. But Danby wasn’t the one, for sure. There wasn’t anyone more evil than Jim, but it took me a long time to understand it. When I did, I almost got killed for it. I came back to Wolf Creek when I healed up, and stayed with Ma. She was glad to have me back, having lost Pa, Benton and Eli. But she still never did tell me the truth that I needed to know so much. I had to learn that from someone else.

What? Never mind. I can tell by that smirk that you're not going to give me an answer.

You’re probably wondering what I’m going to do next with my life.

No, I'm wondering if anyone will notice if I strangle you... 
... Okay, I'll bite. What's next?

Chasing Jim Danby’s gang down gave me some satisfaction, like I was righting a lot of the wrong things I’d done earlier. But we didn’t manage to get them all. Some of them are still out there, going on with their lives and the killing and robbing they’re bent on doing. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I might finish up making amends for those years during the War.

One thing that keeps coming back to me is how I might just keep going after the ones that are left until they’re all dead. I know that might mean I’ll be dead first—just depends on who has a faster gun a lot of times. But even if I was to get killed, at least it would be doing something that needed doing.

You don't think taking care of the family farm needs doing?

Farming is not my calling. But neither is murder. I’m just wondering how I’m going to fit into this world. I’m not sure what I’m looking for.

So instead, you're hell-bent on the road for revenge.

You gotta understand, when Jim Danby’s gang rode into Wolf Creek, it changed everything for so many people. I was probably the one that had the biggest secret to keep, having been “one of them” in years past. Who knew there were so many secrets in one small town, though? And all of them important in their own way…

I learned some things about myself that I never would have if Danby’s men hadn’t attacked and brought it all out. I also learned some things about people I lived right there with for years that I didn’t know like I thought I did. But then, they didn’t really know me, either. Despite all that, I still feel adrift—unsure of what I want in life. I’m just not really sure how I need to go about figuring that out. It seems like what I got really good at during the war, that’s something I don’t ever want to have to do again.


On those cryptic words, we wrap up this series on Wolf Creek Book 1: Bloody Trail. Sometime in the new year we hope to have a few characters drop by from Books 2 and 3... maybe even Book 4. Meanwhile, buy or borrow Bloody Trail, written by the authors collectively known as Ford Fargo, published by Western Fictioneers.

Charley Blackfeather from Bloody Trail

Welcome back to Nighthawk Talks. This is the third in a series of four interviews with residents of the town of Wolf Creek who can be found in the pages of Bloody Trail by Ford Fargo. Ford Fargo, by the way, is not one author but many. Today's guest is the creation of Troy D. Smith, who is also the editor of the Wolf Creek series.


Tonight we are joined by Charley Blackfeather, a black Seminole who works as a scout for the cavalry outpost at nearby Fort Braxton and supplements his income by trapping, was dropping off some traditional Seminole medicines to the town doctor when the outlaws struck. He has encountered the Danby Gang before, when he was a Union soldier and they were riding with Confederate guerrillas William Quantrill and Bloody Bill Anderson. He volunteers for the posse, but is troubled when he recognizes one of the other posse members from the war as well…

This room is strange. But I’ve seen it before, in a dream –there is strong medicine here.

I've always thought so. How long have you lived in Wolf Creek?

I don’t really live in Wolf Creek, I just kinda pass through now and again. I live on the prairie. I scout for Colonel Vine over at Fort Braxton sometimes, when they need me–most of the time I hunt and trap. I bring my hides in to Wolf Creek ever’ month or so, and usually head over to Asa Pepper’s saloon to have a beer. I been comin’ around town like that, off and on, for ‘bout a year.

I take it, you have no family to tie you down to one place.

I used to have a wife and three young’uns. They’d all be growed by now with families of their own, if they’d lived – but they all died when the Confederate Cherokees attacked Opothleyahola’s band at the beginning of the war. And there’s my pa, I reckon he was born a slave in Georgia but ran away to the Seminoles in Florida and married my ma–but he got killed a long time ago, back yonder in the swamps when our people was fighting the U.S. Army.

And yet, you later fought with that army.

Like a lot of my Seminole brothers, I fought for the Union in the war. Partly because of what the Reb Indians did to my family–but I was Union before then, that’s why they done it.

Why fight at all?

Why was I Union? (snort of laughter) Well, let’s just say I wasn’t as much for the Union as I was ag'in' slavery. I take that kind of behaviour personal.

I understand you’ve had some prior experience with the Danby Gang. Can you tell us about that?

(Grunt) I don’t like talkin’ ‘bout that.

(Takes deep breath) But you been real polite and neighbourly, so I’ll say this much… That bunch that rode with Bloody Bill was as low-down as they come. I was at Centralia, where they slaughtered a whole sight of Union soldiers who had surrendered. One of the ones they killed was… well, somebody close.

So this is about vengeance for you.

(Grunt) My people believe in balance. In life for life, eye for eye. We call it Blood Revenge–till a death has been avenged, the world ain’t right. And I been out of balance ever’ since that day at Centralia… and when I seen Jim Danby robbin’ the Wolf Creek bank, I knowed I was gonna finally have a chance to get that balance back. And that’s all I’m sayin’.
 
Which means we'll have to find out the rest of this story in Wolf Creek Book 1: Bloody Trail, written by the authors collectively known as Ford Fargo, published by Western Fictioneers.

From Rowena Through the Wall

We've had a couple of the men from Rowena Through the Wall in the studio, tonight we welcome the ravishing Rowena Revel.

When Rowena falls through her classroom wall into a medieval world, she is kidnapped twice, married – sorry I’ve lost count how many times – and has enough sexy men after her to fill a Chippendale calendar.

That’s me: Rowena Revel, twenty-something, long auburn hair, medium height, medium weight, really bad luck with men. Degree in Veterinary Science, terrific on a horse. Oh, and I can talk to animals.

Like Doctor Doolittle?

Doolittle? Isn't that the guy with the reality show on the Animal Network? Some young chicks told me he didn't understand a chirp! Believe me, it's all cheep tricks with that charlatan.

How does it feel to be the object of so much attention?
Did I mention having bad luck with men? First Steve back home; great looking financial trader with the empathy of a weasel. Then Sargon, the king beyond the wall who just takes what he wants, and finally Cedric, the sexy sociopath – yikes! And there’s more…

More? Yikes! How did you get yourself into this predicament?

I walked through a wall. No, really – a portal opened up in my classroom wall, and I found another world on the other side of it.

Now I ask you – who wouldn’t be curious enough to walk through that wall?

Hey, I’ll be looking for my own wall after we wrap. Still, this must have put a crimp in your career.

My career? There is lots of work for an animal doctor in a land where horses are the main mode of transportation. Indeed, I use my gift for reading the thoughts of animals all the time in Land’s End.

And your love life is active...

In Land’s End, I actually have one! Things were pretty boring before, and – to be honest – I’m the sort of female who likes a lot of loving. So…I’m not complaining. It’s been one wonderful adventure.

What else is better in Lands End?

I would say I am a more generous person now – less quick to judge others. In truth, I had to do things to survive that sometimes conflicted with my own morals. It made me realize that civilization is a veneer, and our feeling of moral superiority is due to the times we have been fortunate enough to live in.

What’s worse?

Women from medieval times had an incredibly tough life. I have so much more appreciation for simple things, such as flush toilets, sanitary items – you get the picture. But truly, the thing that smarts the most is how little control a female had over her own destiny.

Also – I would have thought a world short of women would value women more. Instead, I found females have less power, and less control over their own lives. It makes me worry for places in our time where gender selection before birth has resulted in a shortage of female babies.

What’s next for you?

Now there is the million dollar question! Even I don’t know yet. My friend and author Melodie Campbell tells me the next book will answer this. As you can imagine, I am anxious to know…

Any advice for people seeking their own walls to walk through – assuming they get more than a bruised nose.

Everything comes down to survival. What do you need to do to survive in a different world? Sometimes it means accepting that different times demand different behaviour, and if you insist on maintaining 21st century morals, you may not live long in a more primitive world.

Any final words?

Just my favourite line - even though it was my student who said it: “Is that a broadsword on your belt, or are you just glad to see me?”


Rowena Through the Wall, published by Imajin Books, is available through Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Smashwords
Warning: This book is not a sweet romance. It is a sexy, funny, rollicking adventure with a spunky heroine and the medieval men of her dreams! Continues in Book 2.

Find out more about Rowena and her author, Melodie Campbell at: funnygirlmelodie.blogspot.com and www.melodiecampbell.com