Five priests are dead, brutally murdered by the people God sent them to save. One survived, the young Franciscan who was enslaved and tortured by the Indians, but who refuses to testify against the killers. And what of the old Indian, the Acueran who speaks many tongues? Does he allow himself to be held prisoner of the Spanish sergeant? Is Father Pareja wise to use the old man in his language studies, and what dangers does he present for the priest, the mission or the young altar boy, Juan de Coya? And what hope is there for the Indians who have no defense against the arquebus and musket, and no magic for the pox and plague the invaders bring? The year is 1601. The place is the Catholic Mission San Juan del Puerto where the ancient Timucuan River of the Sun flows into an uncertain future. AUTHOR BIO: The author lives on the River of the Sun. In modern times it is called the St. Johns River, and flows northward through Central Florida until it reaches the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville, Florida. He shares his love of the river with earlier inhabitants who occupied this land for ten thousand years, but who disappeared two hundred years before the author was born. From his dock he can see where a smaller, spring-fed tributary enters the St. Johns, a stream the Seminoles and Creek called "Wekiva" which means "waters of the spring." Before they died out, the Timucuans might call this place "hachanamoyo-ibi-ca-re," which means "where the waters meet." Fredric Hitt has been published with his stories of the river, its history and its ecology. He is a life-time member of the preservation group The Friends of the Wekiva River. This is his first novel. He graduated with a degree in Journalism from the University of Florida and received his law degree from the University of Miami. After twenty years as a trial judge, he has retired and returned to his first love, writing. He lives with the love of his life, wildlife artist Linda Silsby Hitt.