[1] The story tells of Throat Shot, a member of the Floridian Toco tribe, and his quest to prevent an unknown danger from harming his people.

The story was inspired by finds at Tatham Mound, located near the Withlacoochee River in Citrus County, Florida.

During his first raid, an Indian boy named Hotfoot is injured by a rival tribe's arrow piercing through his upper arm, eventually crippling him.

In an attempt to hide from his pursuers, Hotfoot stumbles upon a burial mound, watched over by its Spirit, Dead Eagle.

It is Dead Eagle who chooses Hotfoot for a very important task: a terrible danger is coming, and in order to discover a way to avoid it, Hotfoot must seek out a quartz crystal called the Ulunsuti, which is guarded by a terrible snake known as the Uktena.