Man of Justice Chapter Thirty Six

Jarrod stood next to Raging River's Friend and his sister, Bright Stars. The three had become good friends and Jarrod credited his two friends for helping him learn the Shoshone language, along with the man he now looked upon as his father. His Shoshone family and friends had left California and traveled many miles to the territory of *Washington and to the *Snake River, as it was their winter quarters. Now, as winter had set in, he and his friends were dressed in their fur pants, shirts and covered with the fur coats the women in the village had made. It also meant that he had gone from living in the more permanent dwellings of the wigwam to living in a teepee.

Jarrod blushed from embarrassment as Raging River's Friend smiled at him and said "I'm serious. Our people are looking more and more to you for help in solving their problems and finding the truth to their questions and answers when needed, in spite of your young age. You are very good at digging up the truth."

Jarrod knew his friend was referring to the fact that on several occasions since arriving in the village Jarrod had cleared up both misunderstandings and revealed lies told to others. "I hear the chief has been talking to your father about giving you a man's name."

"I'm…" Jarrod started to answer his friend when a cry of war was heard through the village. The two friends sprung into action, as most of the men were out hunting.

They both hurried and made Bright Stars go into Jarrod's and Straight Arrow's home. Jarrod grabbed his two knives, sliding one into a sheath that hung on his side, and then hurried off, but not before calling over his shoulder to his friend, "You stay here and defend your sister and mother!" If Raging River's Friend didn't know his sister and mother, who was inside lying down, had no one else to protect them, he'd have gone with Jarrod. As it was, he stayed where he was.

Jarrod ran through the village, along with other young men or older men still capable of fighting enough to defend the village. When he saw an arrow flying towards him Jarrod ducked. The arrow barely missed him and embedded itself into one of the poles that belong to the teepee that set off to his right.

The brave who had shot the arrow lunged for Jarrod, infuriated that a "mere boy" was interfering with his plans; the man had been heading towards the wigwam with the intentions of having his way with the young woman he'd seen hurry inside. He put his hand on Jarrod, but that was as far as he got when Jarrod planted his knife into the man's chest.

Jarrod felt sick to his stomach as his attacker fell to the ground, the surprise of death still written on his face. Not a second after he'd fallen, the man was dead. Jarrod had no time to contemplate his revulsion as one of the elderly Shoshone men suddenly fell wounded to the ground. The old man's attacker went to finish him off only to find Jarrod's other knife finding its way into his heart.

With no time to retrieve his knives, Jarrod had to fight with whatever he could get his hands on, the whole time wondering when Straight Arrow and the other men would be back. When he heard the chief's daughter scream, Jarrod ran in the direction her scream came from. When he entered the chief's home, he was horrified to see the young woman lying on the ground not moving. Jarrod didn't know if the girl was dead or alive, but what he did know was that one of their enemies was getting ready to make sure she did not survive if she was alive. Jarrod let out a yell as he saw a knife lying nearby; he grabbed it and threw it with all the force he had into the man. The weapon hit its mark with great accuracy and the girl's attacker fell down dead. Jarrod hurried over to check on the young girl. He was relieved to find her breathing. By that time the Shoshone hunters had arrived back and were driving off their enemies, the ones that hadn't been killed. Jarrod and the others in the village had had to kill a number of their enemies that day.

By the time Jarrod reached the center of the village, he was more than happy to see his father was among the returning warriors, though he didn't know what to think of the expression that encompassed the warriors face. Nor could Jarrod understand why the other men were looking at him in the same way. One would think he had grown ten heads and fifteen eyes. Jarrod grew more nervous as he saw his Shoshone father look at two of their enemies lying on the ground dead, braves that he had killed. What he did not know was that Straight Arrow's aunt had just finished speaking to her nephew and the other men.

"They were going to kill me. Your son killed them instead." She had looked from the men to her nephew and went on to explain how Jarrod and a few of the other young men had refused to hide while the older men dealt with their attackers. "Not only is that son of yours proving to have thirst for the truth, he pursues justice for those who cannot get it for themselves. You did well the day you accepted him as your son. You should be pleased."

Straight Arrow put his hand on Jarrod's shoulder and looked at him with such force; Jarrod prepared himself for the worst. He was shocked when the Chief made his way over to the small group and began to speak.

Jarrod looked at Nick, "That's when the chief made his speech, but he spoke of my willingness to put my life on the line at such a young age to bring justice to their enemies and help defend the village. It was only after winter was drawing close to an end that we headed back for our village near the Feather River here in California." He stopped talking as he felt his stomach churn. Not even fifteen and he'd had to shed blood to save not only his life, but the lives of those he'd grown to care about. How could he have done any different? The Shoshone's enemy had attacked them, not the other way around. Sure, he'd seen young boys having defend their families during the Civil War, but that didn't help his him any.

Nick and Heath also felt sick and hurt for their brother. No wonder he'd come home not talking. "You did what you had to do, Jarrod. It wasn't your fault you had to kill those men at such a young age." Nick did his best to assure Jarrod he understood and did not blame him.

Heath too spoke up, knowing exactly how Jarrod must be feeling for having to take lives at such a tender age. "Don't blame yourself Jarrod, let it go. It's like Nick said you did what you had to."

Jarrod put his hands over his face as more tears fell. He shocked his brothers when he whispered, "That's only the half of what I've been keeping back."

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According to Wikipedia, The Snake is a major river of the greater Pacific Northwest in the United States. At 1,078 miles (1,735 km) long, it is the largest tributary of the Columbia River, the largest North American river that empties into the Pacific Ocean.[9] Rising in western Wyoming, the river flows through the Snake River Plain then rugged Hells Canyon and the rolling Palouse Hills to reach its mouth at the Tri-Cities of the state of Washington. Its drainage basin encompasses parts of six U.S. states, and its average discharge is over 54,000 cubic feet per second (1,500 m3/s).

Washington (i/ˈwɒʃɪŋtən/) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States located north of Oregon, west of Idaho and south of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory which had been ceded by Britain in 1846 by the Oregon Treaty as settlement of the Oregon Boundary Dispute. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889.