Conquistador

About the Book

When CALEB WILKES' wife is murdered and his young son,

JUBAL, is kidnapped by Apaches, Caleb sets out on the vengeance trail.

After killing several of the marauding warriors, he is chased into the mountains, where he takes shelter in a hidden cavern. Exploring the long hidden cave, he discovers the skeletons of Spanish Conquistadors, along with the gold they carried.

Taking the armor from a dead Spaniard, Caleb uses it for protection against arrows, finding out by accident that the Apache are terrified by what they feel is the spirit of a dead Conquistador.

RED HORSE, a respected warrior of the tribe of WOLF WHO WAITS, is raising the kidnapped child as an Apache, to replace the dead child of his wife, RAVEN'S WING.

Red Horse must fight an inner battle with his conscience, believing that it was he who brought the spirit, and death, to his people. He tries to win Jubal's affection after the boy witnessed the death of his mother, wanting him to grow into a great warrior.

Thinking his son is dead, Caleb continues to take revenge on the Apaches with his Sharps buffalo rifle. While wearing the feared armor, he leaves a trail of blood and death in his wake.

After several years of living in the mountains, hunting Indians, Caleb marries a widow named CONSTANCE O'HANNION, who nurses him back to health after he is wounded in a battle to save her life.

When Caleb learns that Jubal is alive, he rescues him, only to have Red Horse brave the guns of an entire town to recapture the boy. Both families, one Indian, one white, now vie for Jubal's love.      

Jubal, known to the Apache as BADGER, struggles between two cultures, and his love for two families. He learns the skills of the Apache warrior, while struggling with dreams of the life and family he was torn from. His struggle to free himself of those dreams leads both fathers on a collision course with destiny, one selflessly giving his life to save the boy from certain death.

About the Author

C.L. “Buckshot” Cake was born in 1949, and lives in Fresno, Ca. Married for thirty years to his high school sweetheart, Kathy, he has two sons, and four grandchildren. A heavy equipment mechanic by trade, he builds custom Harley Davidson motorcycles as a hobby when he isn’t hunting or fishing in the nearby Sierra Nevada Mountains. Buckshot began writing short stories about motorcycles and the biker lifestyle about ten years ago, and has had a large number of them published in Thunder Press, and other publications. Skinner’s War is his first novel, and he is now nearing completion of his fourth.