The labor lasted far longer than Dark Star had remembered with her other children. And the pain…

"One last push," her mother-in-law encouraged her that the end, at last, was in sight.

Within moments the lusty cry of a newborn's protest filled the longhouse bringing smiles to the women surrounding the squirming chief's heir.

"Ah, a boy," Small Bird grinned, kissing her grandson's pudgy cheek. "My son will be pleased."

At that moment ...