Beyond the River of the Sun by Fredric M. Hitt

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Intrigue rocks the world of the 17th century Indians of La Florida, as they struggle for survival under Spanish dominance.

A new paramount chief emerges. He is a Christian. Soon the Franciscan missionaries are welcomed where they have feared to go, beyond the River of the Sun into the Timucua provinces of Potano, Utina, Yustaga, and even further west to the land of the Apalachee.

The friars gain thousands of converts, but even among the faithful the seeds of discontent are sown, as the priests trample upon the old ways: the legends and ceremonies and beliefs that have served the Indians well for ten thousand years.

The priests seek only to save pagan souls. The Spanish governor and soldiers would change the Indians into beasts of burden, to carry food and supplies two hundred miles to the starving colony of San Augustin. Thousands die, struck down by diseases carried by the Europeans, the heat, and the weight of their burdens.

The aging Spirit Warrior, Atichiciolo-Iri, seeks to foment rebellion. He is laughed at and scorned by his people, until a head-strong and insensitive Spanish governor makes a tragic miscalculation of how much the Indians will endure.

A fuse is lit, and the resulting wildfire of passion and violence may scorch them all.

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