About

KADO - Lost Treasure of the Kadohadacho is the saga of eighteen-year old Tom Murrell, who in 1818 strikes out with his family from Tennessee to the “Arkansaw” Territory to build a new life in the frontier west of the Mississippi. Tom’s father, John Murrell, plans to carve a homestead out of the wilderness, but Tom wants no part of it. He wants to do something else with his life besides spend it behind a plow, but it seems he has no choice in the matter. Their expedition would take the Murrell family and their traveling companions through the perilous Great Raft, a 100-mile tangle of broken trees, stumps and hidden perils between Natchitoches, the last civilized town on their journey and Long Prairie, their destination on the banks of the Red River. 

Everything changes for Tom and John when they encounter an Indian massacre -- four Osage are murdering a Kado Xinesi (high priest), and his guide. Trying to save the Kado, Tom is forced to kill one of the Osage braves and is almost killed himself. Before Tiatesun, the Kado holy man dies, he makes Tom his blood brother and draws a map in his own blood in John’s Bible to some place called Na-Da-cah-ah. Tiatesun wants them to somehow get the map to his tribal elders. This draws Tom into a raging conflict between the Kado and their arch enemies, the Osage. His new friends Mattie and James say there is no alternative. They must use the map to find Na-Da-cah-ah. Only then can Tom be sure that his family and friends will be safe.

But it is a race against time – a race against Wey Chutta’s band of renegade Osage. Dangers are everywhere. The only chance to save his family is for Tom, Mattie and James to join with six Kado warriors, make sense from the map and the many clues they uncover on their quest, and discover the real Na-Da-cah-ah. It could already be too late. Because the Osage know more than they should. Everything and everyone important to Tom is threatened unless he can solve the mysteries of the Kadohadacho.

KADO - Lost Treasure of the Kadohadacho is a book of historical fiction written by Rusty Braziel scheduled for publication by NTA Press in 2019. The book is a deep dive into the world of early pioneers that moved to North Louisiana, South Arkansas and what is now East Texas in the early 19th century. There they encountered the Kadohadacho and other branches of the family of tribes collectively known today by historians and anthropologists as the Caddo Confederacies.

This website is an introduction to KADO. It includes information about the story, the Kadohadacho tribe, resources used in research of the book, artwork which depicts many aspects of the story, and background on the author.

Most importantly, each week an episode of the book, including the text, images and an audio of the episode will be posted on the page titled Read Serialized Episodes. This serialized publication of the book is absolutely FREE, and will be updated each Thursday until Parts I, II and III of the novel are available on the website. Provide your email address here and we’ll send you a link to the new episode posted each week.

Want to get more involved in the KADO story? We’ll send you a Bag of Treasure – absolutely FREE!!, including 5 Full color postcards, a Medicine Bag, a Scroll Map of the expedition, a KADO symbol book mark and compass sticker. 

The published KADO manuscript, including hardcover, paperback and audiobook will be available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble NOOK and other outlets on October 1, 2019.