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The Strong Current
Book One: Attaugee
A novel by
Robert Day
NewSouth Books
Montgomery | Louisville
1818 map of the new Alabama territory,
with Creek reserves along the Georgia border.
NewSouth Books
105 S. Court Street
Montgomery, AL 36104
Copyright 2011 by Robert C. Day. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by NewSouth Books, a division of NewSouth, Inc., Montgomery, Alabama.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60306-046-2
eBook ISBN: 978-1-60306-087-5
LCCN: 2009008573
Visit www.newsouthbooks.com.
To Elizabeth
Table of Contents
Otci: Hickory Nut, leader of the initiates
Nokusi Fiksico: Pitiless Bear, the initiates’ teacher, known to the initiates as “Bear”
Iste Puccauchau Thlako: the Great Leader, head of the busk rites
Taskaya Thlako: Big Warrior
Hobithli: Fog, Otci’s companion
Katutci: Little Panther, Otci’s companion
Hobayi: Faraway, one of Busk initiates
Pakahle: Blossom/Flower, Otci’s attendant and accomplice during busk fasting
Attaugee Miko: chief of Attaugee Town
Tarchachee: Otci’s uncle
McMullen: white trader
Tumchuli: initiate
Illitci: Killer, an initiate
Kunip: Skunk, an initiate
Fuswa: Bird, an initiate
Pinili: Turkey Foot, an initiate
Lojutci: Little Fist, an initiate
Halpada: Alligator, an initiate
Eli Francis: an initiate
Esaugetu Emissee: Master of Breath
Long Person: large river which runs before Attaugee
Miko: chiefs of Muskogee towns
Nokfilalgi: men of the sea foam, all white people
Kithla: prophet
Poskita: the green corn ceremony, also the busk
Hiyayalgee: the Light People, dieties of the four winds
Pasikola: the trickster rabbit
Ikjo: deer
Nokusi: bear
Halpada: alligator
Pin: turkey
Utassi: fox
Fuswa: bird
Kunip: skunk
Tafia: liquor made from potatoes
Sofki: ground corn meal boiled in water, flavored with wood ash
Snake-in-the-Sky: lightning
Thunderman: thunder
When he was born in the hay cutting moon of 1791, he was given the name of Otci, or Hickory Nut, for the plentiful amount of edible hickory nuts that fell that autumn. His village of Attaugee was provided with a good harvest to help feed the people that winter. As it had always been among the Alabamas, who were a part of the great Muskogee nation, most of the other male infants took the names of their clans or from some distinguished personal trait which would follow them in life. Otci’s mother rejoiced in the harvest, which to her was an augury of what her son might become.
Otci was one of the twelve initiates seated in the thicket in front of Nokusi Fiksico or, Pitiless Bear, the old warrior and their teacher. It was a fine, bright morning deep in the trees where they had gathered, as they had over the past fourteen days of the blackberry-ripening moon. On this day, Nokusi was speaking to them in his commanding way so that he had all ears. He was talking of the famous chiefs of the Muskogees, of how the great Alexander McGillivray—son of a white trader and a Wind Clan princess, who spoke in the white man’s tongue as often as his own—had unified the nation. His cunning had no equal. It was he who kept the English, Spanish, and Americans so occupied in trying to outmaneuver each other for the favor of all the councils that the towns came together and held. Nokusi kept them attentive in every lesson, whether it was of the rituals they were soon to undergo, or of hunting, or of the disciplines of warriorhood, or of killing their enemies. His word was established because his strength was known.
As Nokusi spoke, Otci noticed Tumchuli’s nodding head. From the outset of their training, he had doubted if his companion and fellow initiate, the mild one they called “Slow Fat,” could make it to the Busk day, when they would be brought in as men and warriors. Nokusi must have had the same reservations. If there was anyone who could give poor Tumchuli a sharp, hard edge, it was he. Otci watched the lesson-giver lean to the side and slowly lift his arm without interrupting a word of his talk. As he stretched his arm all eyes followed as he tightened his hand to a fist. Thumb held middle finger as the first knuckle rose. He held it there still facing them as he drew to the close of the sentence. Then like a trap springing on an unwary prey, he let it go against the innocent’s forehead. Whap! Tumchuli was instantly fully awake, dizzy and shamefaced. No one uttered a sound until a grin of satisfaction slowly spread across the face of the old warrior. Then birds were spooked from branches above as eleven young voices howled in laughter.
As they began to quiet down, it seemed to Otci that their teacher knew that they were ready for a break. The boys had been at it since the sun lit the morning with the first purple glow in the east. But their teacher took a deep breath and said, “Relax now. I want to tell you two stories. Maybe Tumchuli can stay awake to listen.”
The first tale was