Prologue

Heath rode hard and fast towards Sample's farm. He'd had no intention of going there; not until Mrs. Barkley talked to him. After that, he'd taken time to think and decided that, if for no other fact than to prove that he wasn't lying about who he was, he would fight with his brothers. By the time Sample's farm came into view, there was no question which men were on whose side. Heath raced passed the railroad men and, jumping off his horse and grabbing his rifle, made his way over to his half brothers, taking the barest of glances at Nick. He then turned his attention to the men who had come to run Mr. Sample off his farm.

Nick and Jarrod, who had at first assumed that Heath was indeed arriving to fight with the railroad, were astonished beyond measure to see the blonde haired cowboy jump off his horse and join them, didn't know what to think. They'd been so sure he was lying, for whatever reason. The last thing they had expected was for him to join them in their fight. However, any musings they had would have to wait as the sheriff began talking.

"Are you willing to wait until nine, until the courthouse opens?" Jarrod asked, knowing he was wasting his breath, still he hoped for a small miracle. He was not to get it; a shot rang out and Frank Sample fell down upon the ground, dead as could be. Men on both sides began firing shots and men began dying. Nick ran to the side of a wagon while Jarrod stayed in front of the house. Both men were shocked beyond measure when, a few seconds later, Heath pushed Jarrod out of the line of fire. One minute he was in front of Jarrod, the next he was on the ground with a bullet in his leg and what appeared to be a crease to his upper right arm by another bullet. It didn't take long for the fight to be over. The farmers had won and the railroad men were riding away in defeat.

An eerie silence fell upon the farm, broken only by the sobbing of Mrs. Samples. Nick, Jarrod and Gene looked at Heath, who had managed to pull himself over to the side of the house during the last couple of minutes of the fighting. One of the other men, a balding man in his fifties by the name of Jeffery Nelson, was helping Heath with his injured leg and arm.

"He saved my life." Jarrod spoke quietly. Why would a drifter join their fight and save his life? Unless…a small seed of realization began breaking through the denial he'd been in earlier.

Nick, who was more than unsettled at Heath showing up, fighting with them instead of against them, and being injured for Jarrod, didn't know what to think. "He's got to be lying." He said only there was no conviction to the words he spoke.

Gene was also amazed, but he said nothing, contemplating on the fact that he didn't believe a man who was simply a drifter would do such a thing. He started to walk towards Heath, as did Jarrod when the gentleman tending to Heath's injury finished wrapping Heath's wounded leg and helped him stand up.

"Get my horse, please." Heath gestured towards his Modac and looked at the gentleman; perspiration rolling slowly off his forehead. He had only come to fight for the farmers, to prove he wasn't with the railroad; he had no intention of sticking around; it had been a mistake to ask for a job from the Barkleys.

The gentleman started to protest when Jarrod, who had reached Heath, spoke up. "You need that leg and arm tended to. We can get a wagon and get you back to the house; we can send for a doctor."

Heath glared at Jarrod. "No thanks, Mister Barkley," Heath snapped as his horse was brought to him. "I…" he stopped as he felt a wave of nausea roll over him, but then forced himself to continue. "I've been injured before and ridden my horse just fine. Don't worry about me!" He took his horse's reins in his hands.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Nick snapped back before Jarrod could reply. "You just saved my brother's life. We…"

"Our brother's life," Heath, who had managed to get into his saddle with a bit of help from Mr. Nelson, leaned forward in his saddle and hissed at Nick. "I don't lie! I'm your father's bastard son! I saved our brother's life." He then swung his horse around. "Would've done it for anybody though; I'd try and save any man fighting for justice." he said.

Before Jarrod, Nick and Gene-who had walked up beside his two brothers-could give any sort of reply; Heath was riding away, and at a very hard pace.

"We have to follow him! The fool can't get far with those injuries!" Jarrod snapped as he ran for his horse; he might not want to accept his father had sired a child outside his marriage, only he wasn't about to leave a wounded man without help either.

"What if he refuses our help again?" Gene asked Nick as he and Nick ran for their horses also.

Nick didn't reply as he mounted his horse. Only, after he was in the saddle, he looked at his baby brother and replied, "Then I guess big brother and I follow him until he accepts it, while you go back and tell mother what's going on."

Gene would have argued, but Nick was already riding through the open gate with Jarrod beside him. The youngest Barkley caught up with his older brothers only to find himself, along with Nick, allowing more than on cuss word to escape their lips when a couple of long time friends stopped them.

"We don't have time for this!" Jarrod said louder than he meant to when it became apparent they hadn't been stopped for anything but to fulfill anything but one's curiosity. He spurred his horse onward, as did Gene; leaving Nick to quickly apologize to their friends before spurring his own horse forward.

~oOo~

Heath, who had heard plenty when it came to the Barkleys' reputations for stubbornness and ability to track men, had managed to put quite some distance between him and his half brothers thanks to delay caused by their friends. Heath had also managed to mix the tracks of his horse in with that of the railroad men before making his way up into some rocks. The huge boulders were large enough and, as fortune would have it, arranged so both he and his horse were hidden from view. A crooked grin appeared on his face as he saw the three Barkley brothers appear and try to figure out whose tracks were whose. He might not be close enough to hear what was being said, but he could still tell Nick was cursing.

"I can't believe it!" Nick bellowed. "How did that man do it! I've been tracking for years, and he's successfully made it so I can't tell which way he went!"

"Go tell mother Nick and I are taking separate trails and are going to try to find him. In his condition, he can't continue on with this pace. Sooner or later, we've got to find him!" Jarrod, who was beside Jingo, looked up at Gene. He didn't need to say that he, Jarrod, felt it was imperative that they find the man called Heath Thomson.

Gene might have argued, only he looked at Nick, who wasn't exactly trying to hide how upset he was. "All right, but I have a funny feeling, if he doesn't want to get found, he won't be." He then looked at Nick and, while he knew it wasn't exactly good timing, he said, "For the record, I think he's telling the truth." He then turned his horse around and rode away.

"Don't say it." Nick snarled as he watched Jarrod remount Jingo.

Jarrod looked around, sighed and then headed north. On the other hand, Nick remained where he sat in his saddle and looked around. 'Why did it have to be you that saved Jarrod?' He thought as he turned south.

Heath smiled…and then slid off his horse and hit the ground.