Louisa Helgason

Troubled Water on the Kisiskachewani Louisa Helgason

From the next ravine the enraged, pain filled scream, tore the calm morning air mixed with the challenging, taunting cries of another. Dropping his axe and taking up his rifle Dan ran toward the sounds of battle. Hooves clashed, teeth were bared and blood flew as dust rose from the war torn ground. In the background the mares watched as a stallion the colour of oxblood fought with the beautiful black stallion Baldy had become. The Red was shorter and not nearly as solid, but he was fast moving and battle shrewd.... obviously confident enough to challenge the big black for his herd. Had it not been so terrifying it would have been almost a thing of beauty - the two locked in a dance of death. Their front hooves flailing as they stood on their strong hind legs, manes and tails flying, heads swinging, and cries the like of which Dan had never heard. Dan drew a bead on the neck of the battle scared Red. As he started to squeeze the trigger the struggle changed enough to shift the Red out of the line of fire and Baldy into it. Dan relaxed his hand. Not yet. Through the sites of his rifle he watched in horror as a sideways body slam knocked Baldy to the ground. The Red's powerful hooves came down on him. Before he could raise and come down a second time, Dan pulled the trigger, but his aim had been lost. The Red swung away toward the mares, a small line of blood seeping from the bullet burn now along his neck. Without slowing, he had the mares running off toward the north. Dan fired again, but this time did not even touch the Red stallion as he twisted and turned chasing and nipping at the mares. The Saskatchewan territories mid 1800's - life happens. With the backdrop of the waning fur trade to the north, thriving whiskey trade to the west, civil and Indian wars to the south, and crazy plans for confederation to the east, it is the sometimes tender, sometimes brutal story of two young Irish immigrants independently working their way toward each other and the beautiful, wild Saskatchewan River Valley - The Kisiskatchewani. The world is changing and to be alive is to be part of the change. Turbulent times as the Canadian Western Frontier opens - the Powerful Forces of Nature, Cour de Bois, Voyagers, Free Roaming Tribes, Rum Runners, Buffalo Hunters, Adventurers, Trappers and Traders will one day be replaced by kinder, gentler influences. But for now one does what needs to be done to survive. A novel that brings to life some very real giants of the time - Jerry Potts, Gabriel Dumont, John Rowand and Sir George Simpson. History as they lived it, both the strong and the weak; the large and the small. Louisa Helgason lives with her husband on the beautiful banks of the lake now flooding the Saskatchewan River valley. She enjoys nature, history and beauty and brings all three together as she paints the soul of a land in this novel. While many of the characters are fictional, it is historically accurate and brings insight into the history of the west as it developed in the Saskatchewan territories influenced by but independent of the east. This is the tale of strong men and women, their sagas.