Taelo

The story of Taelo (Tā low), talon of the eagle, follows the journey of a young, exceptionally talented child that lived more than thirty thousand years ago in America's Northeast. The eagle, Taelo's totem always makes an appearance at the critical and important moments in Taelo's life. Golden Hawk is, Taelo's cousin, best friend, and partner in their many adventures. White Swan and Quiet Pheasant their mothers are sisters who gave birth to the two on the same day. All know when an eagle screams from the sky, something eventful is about to happen. The story of The Early Years, begins with his naming and takes the reader through Taelo's and Golden Hawk's early years until they are recognized as full members of the Clan. The story of Taelo ends with the successful hunt by a hunting team having both male and female hunters for the first time. The team's success overwhelms the clan and changes its culture.

Taelo is called by the Ancestors to travel to the origin of his people. This takes he and his team north, along a green valley running between two massive glaciers. Taelo has been called to aid the White Bear Clan that have been conquered by a ruthless people they call the Sky Eyes. These are a renegade group that arrived from the far west. Their leader, Angry Cougar is ruthless and only interested in domination. Taelo and team reach the dangerous passage where the river surges through a gash between two mountains. It will be only the first of many challenges. The giant brown bear, the fathomless ice crevasses of the ice bridging the two continents, the cold and blizzards of the Artic region and the ruthless Sky Eyes all present a continuous flow of challenges. Feather-in-the-Wind almost loses her life to the giant brown bear. The Sky Eyes are defeated. In the final fight with Angry Cougar, Taelo is saved by both his best friend, Golden Hawk and Bashful Lark. Then fierce winter storms challenge Taelo and the White Bear Clan as they all cross the great ice field that connects them to their destination. Taelo, Lasher and all the sled wolves fall through the ice and are almost lost. Only his quick thinking and the help of Burley Bear and Saber Scar and the coordinated effort of his team save him and sled wolves. The bounty of the northern buffalo and Taelo's learning on how to handle the threat of the giant brown bears take him safely back to the dangerous river passage. Here Single Leaf is almost loses her life to the raging waters. Taelo acts out of instinct and armed by the recollection of a story told by an old warrior turned weaver, he saves her. The return from the north coincides with Elk Clan meeting time. Taelo and more than one hundred additional people and set up the meeting valley to ensure the acceptance of everyone into the Elk Clan. For the second time, Taelo has the opportunity to establish himself as the leader of a clan, but he as no interest in doing so. He has listened to Feather-in-the-Wind voice her desire to one day be a Clan leader. She would lead her clan east to the singing sand beach that she had danced on during her last travel with Taelo. Taelo and all the new people arrive to the meeting valley early and set things up so the new people can show off their wealth and value. They have the northern buffalo hides, they have local buffalo hide, they each have two capture mounts. They have many young men and women looking for mates. They want very much to be accepted into the Elk clan. Taelo and his team have set them up for easy acceptance. They have arrived with what can only be termed, a "rich" group of people. Taelo enrolls his mother, now the Northern Elk Clan leader and Wise Owl the leader of the Elk Hide Clan and also the most senior of all clan leaders to support making Feather-in-the-Wind the second woman to lead a Clan. Feather in the Wind is named to that position. All the rescued people are supportive of her, but she only gets a few Elk Clan families to join her Eastern Elk sub clan. Feather-in-the-Wind leads the Eastern Elk Clan from the Valley. Taelo's original intent to escort her, has been realigned by the Ancestors. They are calling him to journey to the land of the Condor. This is the land south and the birthplace of Feather-in-the-Wind and a land where the people of her clan all believe she has been taken by the Condor as his bride. The people there need Taelo's guidance.

The Early Years begins with his naming and takes the reader through Taelo's and Golden Hawk's early years into young adulthood. They constantly contribute to the well-being of all around them. They are known throughout all the Elk sub clans as being good luck to have around. In The Golden Feather this same team takes the next step in their development. They first travel South into the Andes of South America. They meet the people living in those areas. On their return they go into the North Coastal area where the Elk Clan originally had its home. In The Journey of Discovery Taelo and Golden Hawk travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and see the wonders of nature. In Dangerous Passage the team travels across the northern ice bridge to the origin of their race. They meet and befriend a clan of their heritage and bring a group back with them. In Condor Clan Slingers the team returns to aid the Condor Clan in their battle against an aggressive Warrior Clan. In Circumvention Taelo pushes beyond the boundaries and discovers that the world is like a round boulder. It is rough and pitted but by moving in one direction you return to were you started. In the Journey of Sages, Taelo guides the Sages of his clan on trip around the Pacific. They meet people on the far side.

Taelo was not prepared for the laughter of his mate when he shared his vision of the next trip. He had picked up a smooth round granite stone and described the next journey as one going west until they returned to where they started. Once again a visit to Broken Spear set the tone of the upcoming journey. Broken Spear shared that he had in discussions with the Ancients and had been instructed to make sure that strong warriors of the Others were part of the team. Taelo was pleased that the six were none other than one of his best friends Burley Bear and Meadow Flower. The other four, Saber Scar, Marigold, Single Leaf and Sharp Blade were veterans of previous journeys. The team was equipped in a similar manner as they had been for their Dangerous Passage journey. The journey to the Eastern Sea was smooth and problem free. The trip past the coast was a treacherous, and overwhelming challenge. Their travels though challenging produced numerous positive experiences. They met a black Prince and his troop of twelve warriors. The Prince joined Taelo for a part of the journey. They approached a village on a river that ran to the north. Two eagles flew circles in the sky. A tall person backed by a formidable group of warriors met them outside of the village. He had his hand up in a greeting of friendship. Taelo, Golden Hawk and the black Prince all walked up with the same greeting. When they were exchanging names, the person greeting Taelo pointed to the sky and indicated that his name was Flying Eagle. Taelo smiled and pointed to the sky and indicated that he was Taelo, the claw of the eagle. One of Flying Eagles warriors came forward and showed his scars and pointed to Quiet Rabbit, Busy Bee and Talking Wren. He pointed to Taelo and made as if to cut off his hand. Taelo was not sure of the time it would take for the remainder of the journey, but he knew that the world was round.

Taelo lived more than thirty thousand years ago in the US northwest. The Early Years are stories of Taelo and Golden Hawk in their early years. In “The Golden Feather”, this same team takes the next step in their development. They first travel South into the Andes of South America. They meet the people living in those areas.

In “The Journey of Discovery”, Taelo and Golden Hawk travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and see the wonders of nature.

Taelo Taelo lived more than thirty thousand years ago in the US northwest. The Early Years are stories of Taelo's and Golden Hawk in their early years In The Golden Feather They travel South into the Andes of South America. In The Journey of Discovery Taelo and Golden Hawk travel from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean and see the wonders of nature. In Dangerous Passage the team travels across the northern ice bridge to the origin of their race In Condor Clan Slingers the team returns to aid the Condor Clan in their battle against an aggressive Warrior Clan. In Circumvention Taelo pushes beyond the boundaries and discovers that the world is like a round boulder. In the Journey of Sages, Taelo guides the Sages of his clan on trip around the Pacific Journey of Sages Taelo envisions giving the leaders of his clan, the Sages, an experience of a lifetime. His mentor and close friend cannot walk so Taelo plans around the ocean journey on a raft. He invites all the clan leaders to take the journey. He and Golden Hawk have a large new large raft built to house everyone on board. Storms buffet and challenge the journey but the raft is well built and with stands all. The journey takes them to the land of the Condor where they are greeted and pick up two more Sages. Feather-in-the-Wind sneaks on board so that she and her daughter can be with her parents. The raft continues on its journey south and meets the ocean currents going north. At this point the journey turns and takes the combined currents that go west across the Pacific. The journey seems to be smooth until the black horizon signals a storm and raft get drive backwards by the wind and the waves. The main mast is broken but the raft holds. After repairs, the journey continues westward. They reach an island where people are spotted on a beach. At the same time a huge volcano is belching smoke and rumbling. The beach folks signal the raft to go around the mountain and as they go the volcano erupts and sends a huge wave toward the island. The raft is safe in the island harbor where they meet the ancestors of the Condor Clan. The journey continues after the mast for the raft is replaced. After departure they face an attack from another group people who are repelled and the raft sails on. Their northward journey take them back to where Taelo and his team built the three rafts they use on their return from their Circumvention journey. After months sailing around the ocean, they are greeted back at the point of departure and hosted to a celebration.

Taelo is called to help the Condor Clan. Feather-In-the-Wind's family lead this Clan. Now living with the Elk Clan, she has become the leader of the newly formed Eastern Elk Clan. Taelo has promised to escort her to the East of the current Elk Clan territory but the Ancestors are calling on him to go south to help the Condor Clan. On learning of Taelo's situation, Feather-in-the-Wind frees him of his promise to escort her and the newly formed Eastern Elk Clan so he can go south to help her parents. Taelo is also plagued by a nightmare where his mate Quiet Rabbit is beheaded by a warrior priest. This is to happen in the land of the Condor. He takes only seasoned team members. He does not know why he is being sent by the Ancestors, but he anticipates a dangerous situation. He finds the huge army of the Warrior Clan camped in the valley facing the Condor Clan living area. They are kept out of the Condor Clan village by the huge bottomless crevasse that separates them from the village. Taelo and his team enter the land of the Condor Clan, through what is called the "backdoor", a point where a daring person can leap across the crevasse and take a narrow path to safety. Taelo and his team enter and train the Condor Clan a fighting formation they refer to as the "fighting Diamond". This formation allows nine persons to fight as many as thirty at a time. The fighting diamond and Quiet Rabbit's, and Busy Bee's suggestion that they establish nine slinging squads to use the sling, to sling volcano class shards at the oncoming Warrior Clan fighters give Taelo confidence that the Condor Clan will drive the Warrior Clan of the mountain and back to their own land. Preparation seems to be going smoothly. Taelo sets out with nine fighting diamonds to drive the Warrior Clan back from the crevasse. He needs the area immediately across the crevasse to set up his fighters for the major assault. In an attempt to prevent having his beheading nightmare come true, Taelo has deployed Quiet Rabbit and Busy Bee with their own fighting diamonds to protect the Llama herds located in another section of the mountains. However, the Warrior Clan captures both Quiet Rabbit and Busy Bee. They are brought to a sacrificial platform especially built by the Warrior Clan war priests. A warrior priest drags Quiet Rabbit out to be beheaded. Taelo watches nightmare becoming real. He races faster than he has ever run to save her. In his dream his spear pierces the priest's chest, but the priest's blade moment follows through the devastating beheading arch. The action Taelo takes is one that saves Quiet Rabbit. It is an inspirational counter intuitive flash that surprises him at the moment it occurs. Quiet Rabbit is also aware that Lasher, the wolf that she thought had been killed saves her from the swing of the blade when he fiercely chomps down and crushes the warrior priest's wrist. In a subsequent battle where the Condor Clan is vastly outnumbered, the fighting diamonds and the all-female, glass shard slinging squads, handily defeat the Warrior Clan and drive them off the mountain. The all-male fighting diamonds are never confronted because the Condor Clan Slingers are so effective that no Warrior Clan fighter gets close enough to effectively throw a spear.