The Spirit of the River

Áwacha náy. This is the way it was.

The spectacular landscape of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest is not as it always has been.

Before dams and railroads and cities, back when the river ran free, there existed a delicate balance of power, trade, and alliances amongst the people who called the mighty Nch’i-Wána home.

No one understood this more than Askuwa’tu. Growing up as a chief’s son, Asku learned quickly that many would seek a piece of the power his people, the Patisapatisháma, held along the Great River just above the trading village of Wayám.

But the year is 1805 and the Corps of Discovery is making its way westward. Their arrival will break upon the region as the cataclysmic floods of the last ice age and will threaten the stability Asku’s people have built along the Great River.

Thanks to visions of ancient ancestors and their tremendous sacrifices, and then the unlikely friendship of a lonely wanderer named Henri, Asku learns quickly that the river is flooding again, and he may be asked to make the ultimate sacrifice for those he loves.