Overview
A continuation of Don Coldsmith’s Spanish Bit series, The Lost Band traces the sage of the People, a fictional nation of American Plains Indians in the late eighteenth century. Annually the People celebrate the Sun Dance, and each year the Council circle leaves an empty place of honor for the Lost Band, whose members disappeared and are presumed killed in a genocidal raid in the Great Plains two hundred years earlier. This group is the Lost Band, their fate an ongoing mystery in the history of the People.
In The Lost Band, Story Keeper, chief of the Forest Band, unravels the puzzle when he makes a sudden and dramatic appearance. To claim the empty place at the Council table, Story Keeper must recount the fate of the Lost Band. The story begins as White Moon and her adopted child are gradually embraced by a childless couple whose people have abducted the last of the Band. At the same time, White Moon’s friend Turkey Hen becomes the Second Wife of her captor. Turkey Hen enjoys her status and is willing to sacrifice her heritage for security. White Moon, however, is determined to return the Lost Band to their seat in the Council circle. She secretly struggles to keep the traditions of the Forest Band alive.
Synopsis
White Moon's Dream...
For the Forest Band of the People, summer is a peaceful time of hunting and gathering. But when a band of Shaved-heads brutally attack, the People's women and children are carried off into slavery. Most accept their fate, but one of the captives, the courageous widow White Moon, vows to keep the traditions of the band alive until the day the survivors can be reunited with the People.
Her dream will inspire many of her tribe as they struggle to preserve their culture: a young hunter and his loyal wife, a troubled warrior on a vision quest, an aged storyteller, a wily trader — until at last the special child is born who is destined to lead the Forest Band back to its rightful place in the Great Council of the People.