"So we're talking about the same Jack Horne. The Jack Horne. The legend Jack Horne." Goodnight asked for confirmation.

Matilda found herself and her new band of misfits resting underneath the shade of an old shack, just off a creek and a trading post town, if by town; she means only two to three buildings standing there by the flowing creek. She had to admit, she was impressed with Sam Chisolm, as he appeared to know every great outlaw and legend in every state. She remembered hearing stories of Jack Horne as a kid, and she could've sworn that he died years ago.

"Legend? Legend, my ass."

"Yeah, he might've killed 300 Crow, but he ain't never met the Pigeon brothers before."

Matilda snorts in amusement, perched up on top of an old and rotting fencepost that was built guarding the porch to the shack. She was swinging her legs into the air out of boredom, Vasquez leaning over and resting against his knee beside her, frowning as usual with a cigar in his mouth.

"And you saying that's Jack Horne's rifle?" Sam was definitely smiling out of amusement.

One of the Pigeon brothers held said weapon out for them to see, the initials JH carved on the end of it. His brother spoke while pointing to the gun, "It was Jack Horne's rifle. And there's an Army fort want to pay $1,000 for proof of death," he pauses when his brother roughed up his arm to shut him up, finishing quietly while lowering his head, "Rifle'll do."

"You have no body?" Faraday asked flatly from where he sat at the foot of the stairs leading up to the shack.

"Well, you see, Len here smashed a boulder over his head. Fell off a cliff." One brother smirked smugly.

"Snuck up on him, huh?" Goodnight asked sarcastically, leaning against one of the porch railings.

"Just what the hell are you trying to imply-?!" The one Pigeon brother grunts in pain just as the blade of an ax embedded itself into his chest out of nowhere. As he's falling to his knees, all the other cowboys perked up in shock, turning their bodies to see a huge burly man stomping down the hillside, pursuing the last brother with red in his eyes. The brother fires the old man's rifle, only to miss and trip and fall on his own feet. He tries crawling back to get away from the old man, who has now picked up his gun.

"Oh, my Lord," Matilda muttered as the burly man slams the butt of his rifle against the last brother's head, making Chisolm wince while watching. The man they assumed was Jack Horne stood over the slumped over body, and with all his might and anger, brought his leg up and stomped it over the now dead man's face. Faraday blinks and looks away with a grim expression.

"The Pigeon Brothers weren't famous very long." Goody comments, making Vasquez chuckle darkly.

Jack Horne retrieves his stolen hat and looks to the odd group of westerners, acting quickly to defending himself, "These two ungodly creatures! Broke a rock on my head. Robbed me of my possessions. I trailed 'em for two days."

"Guess they got what they deserved, Mr. Horne," Sam replied calmly as Jack kept crouching down to regain what little possessions he had left from the dead robber brothers, "My name is Sam Chisolm. We met about six years ago up in Cheyenne?"

Horne looks up at him for a moment, then leans down to dig out the bloody ax embedded inside one brother's body, ignoring Chisolm all together, "Now, I got a right by the Lord and by the law, to take back what belongs to me. Are we in agreement?"

He glares at the rest of the group, all of them exchanging glances, shrugs, and mutters of an agreement, before Goodnight speaks for all of them and lets out a meek, "Yeah."

Horne's gaze darts to Sam, who bows his head, "Yes, sir." As the old man stands up, Chisolm's voice does as well, "You still collecting scalps?" And the question makes Horne pause.

"The government don't pay a bounty on Redskins anymore. You must be out of work." Faraday states knowingly, seeing the look of distress and weariness in Horne's eyes.

Horne eventually looks back at Chisolm, and there's definitely some shared pain behind each of their eyes, "Now that's part of another story, ain't it?"

"Yes, it is." Sam agrees with a heavy-heart sigh. He pulls himself together, trying to lighten the mood by raising his voice, "We, uh... We're looking for some men, Mr. Horne. Some good men like yourself, to do a job. Going after a fella, name of Bartholomew Bogue and his men. Just... Well, just thought you'd be interested."

By then, Horne had a hold of his possessions and hoisted them all up onto his stolen horse. The field is calm and quiet. He glimpses at everyone, staring at him expectedly and all he does is lower his head, leading his horse away. He passes Teddy Q and it makes the younger man back away. Once the great legend was out of sight and out of earshot, Faraday turns to the others.

"I believe that bear was wearing people's clothes."

A few grave chuckles were exchanged, Vas agreeing with Faraday with a few Spanish words while Sam looks on with a distant look. He insists that they hurry across the valley in order to get to Rose Creek in time, and so the crew heads off again. As they make it to the valley, however, dawn was supposed to set in a couple of hours and they were in uncharted Comanche territory. As they trotted down a steep slope, they came across a tiny shrine made from wood, skull, and feathers.

"Never trust a people who bury their dead above the ground," Vasquez muttered while passing the supposed burial.

"Don't call the alligator 'big mouth' till you cross the river." Goodnight reminds him.

"And besides, it's not technically a burial if it's above ground, now is it?" Matilda wore a smug grin to lighten the mood, her smile only widens further when Vas frowned at her sarcasm. Goodnight chuckle halfheartedly to save her from the silence that had fallen over their small crowd, and the two falter from the blissful humor.

The silence grew uneasy, and everyone had started to look up along the cliffs sides to see if they were being watched. In a valley such as this, it almost felt like they were being followed from all corners of the area.

Eventually, they find shelter underneath a cliff and make camp there, secluded and not entirely out in the open. It was well hidden from all sides of the valley, so, therefore, it was a strategic position to have night watches and make sure they wouldn't be ambushed.

As the night starts forming, so does their campfire, and very little talk is exchanged between the group of strangers. Matilda found herself shocked and amused to see that Vasquez had finally found it safe enough for him to fall asleep first amongst these strangers, in which he no doubt still is uneasy around them. His hat was propped over his face, his arms curled in protectively around himself as he snored softly, his head propped up on his small baggage of belongings.

Teddy Q feels a pebble being thrown at his ear and looks over his shoulder, seeing Faraday further up on a boulder and motioning him over. The younger man gets up and goes to sit down beside the Irishman.

"Are you in the army?"

"No, sir."

"I figured 'cause you carry this army-issue Open Top .45 Long Colt. Took you for a soldier. You know how to shoot that thing?"

"If I had to, I reckon."

"If you had to?" Faraday repeats almost mockingly and he suddenly nods towards Teddy's flask of drink he had been holding, "Tell you what, for a sip of your whiskey, I'll teach you a few lessons."

Teddy pondered on this, then gave up his flask to Faraday, who guzzles his first hungry sip within seconds, then turns back to the owner, "Lesson one. This-" he mimics his arms going up as a form of surrender, his face read a form of ridicule as if he was teasing Teddy Q for his naive state, "-means don't shoot."

Teddy frowns, looking off into the distance. He knew when he was being made fun of. "You got it?" Teddy regrettably nods, "Now watch this one."

The gentleman caller grew confused when Faraday brought out a playing card from the deck in his pocket, "Now, lesson two. Take this card out of my hand. You take the card, you live. You don't, you die."

Understanding the meaning behind the small lesson, Teddy complies, only he slowly reaches out for the card and Faraday easily takes it out of reach from the younger grabbing it. The gambler wore an unimpressed look as he took the card out again, "Come on, Teddy. Focus. You gotta be quick."

Teddy straightens up a little and tries again, failing again, "You just lost your first gunfight," Faraday holds out the card, "Again."

Teddy Q grew a little frustrated and determined, so he shifts in his seat to face Faraday more and practically glares at the card. In a seconds flash, the card was in Teddy's hand but the small barrel of a peacemaker pistol was in his face, and he heard a distinctive click.

Emma shoots out from underneath her blanket, rifle in hands as she watches Faraday hold a pistol to her friend's face and Teddy grew a little squeamish. Sam watches but doesn't make a motion to his gun.

"Lesson two. It was never about the cards." Faraday growls.

Out of relief, Teddy sighs as Faraday tucks the gun away, and this time, he takes a sip of his new ally's whiskey without asking, "Now, I'll give you a third lesson."

"Think you need that more than I do." Teddy puts a stop to it, standing up to walk over to his original spot by Miss Emma, blatantly responding, "Why don't you just take the rest, Mr. Faraday?

"Well, I reckon I will." Faraday shrugs, almost as a way of responding with 'suit yourself'.

Emma nestles uneasily back into her woolen blanket, sending a small side glare towards Mr. Faraday, while he just smirks at her and she looks away.

Billy, at the moment, was propped up higher than the rest of them, furthest away from the fire so he would be the first to see any mortal danger. He takes his time by polishing and sharpening every one of his knives from his gun belt. Letting the cool, silver steel reflect and shine off of the moonlight, Billy feels eyes staring at him and looks down to realize that he wasn't the only one admiring his work.

Matilda had been talking quietly with Goodnight, the old Cajun mentioning the said assassin she was looking at from time to time. Billy was alright with that; he was used to people staring...but not in this way. Her staring was more out of curiosity, eyes gleaming over the fire and particularly eyeing his knives. She didn't have the pleasure of seeing them in action in Volcano Springs, so she was mostly curious as to how skilled he must actually be to bring knives to a gun fight. From what Goodnight had told her about his and his partner's past adventures, she couldn't wait to see what promise his held on Rose Creek.

Billy could feel a tiny quirk of amusement betray him, one corner of his lips twitching while tucking one knife away and clearly showing off the hairpin he takes out of his hair. Matilda tilts her head, smiling out of wonder. From what Teddy Q and Goodnight had told her, Billy was excellent with speed and stealth, and pondered over how much faster a hairpin could be against a bullet. She was fascinated and intrigued, to say the least as she watched Billy openly sharpen the hairpin for her to see better, no exchange of words needed between the two. They already knew they were gonna get along just fine.

As Billy entertains the young woman, Goodnight finds himself standing up and walking over to Sam, who had been poking at the fire for a long amount of time, "The fire still burns." He comments as he sat down alongside his oldest friend, just as they all heard wolves sounding off in the distance.

As everyone besides Vas looked up at the melodic and peaceful sound, Goodnight smiles gently at Sam, "We have heard the chimes of midnight. Have we not?"

Sam smiles back in response while the sharpshooter continues, "So what's the play here, Sam? What's the payout? Little gold? Cash money? Diamonds?"

"You ain't changed," Sam spoke fondly and the two chuckle quietly amongst themselves. "Everything that... Everything they have, that's what they offered."

"Everything, huh?" Goodnight looks over at Emma, who was watching the fire out of boredom, "She's about the same age your sister'd be by now, right?"

"Yeah, she is," Sam confirms, growing silent for a moment before darting his eyes back to Goodnight, who just stares back knowingly.

"Just making sure we're fighting the battle in front of us, not behind."

~~~~~~~~~

The fire was just left smoking throughout the night, the light of the sun was just barely peeking over the mountains, leaving a pale blue color fall over the rocks in the valley. Everyone was asleep by now, but in a matter of seconds, Sam sits straight up from his makeshift bed and draws his weapon, looking​ around, alarmed.

Goodnight awoke to Sam stirring and immediately sits up when he experiences the same odd feeling of being watched.

"Smell that?"

"What smell?" Faraday grumbles as everyone got up, taking his hat away from his face with a prickly frown.

"The smoke?" Teddy Q asked.

"It's blood," Sam responds and on cue, there's the sound of rocks crumbling and everyone quickly stands up, reaching for their weapons.

They all look up to find Jack Horne cautiously approach them, Teddy Q stating the obvious, "He's been tracking us."

"I'll be damned."

Horne shushes them with his hand motions, then makes a sign that indicated that there were footsteps ahead. The rest of the group turn their heads to the direction Horne was pointing to, and slowly they hear hooves. Something was coming.

Beyond the trees and the bushes, out appears to be a Comanche warrior on his horse, a dead deer resting on his thighs. His body was covered in red, painted designs, his hair shaven to a point where it only came down the middle.

"Please someone tell me I am hallucinating," Goodnight mutters in shock, his rifle now stationed in his arms.

"If you are hallucinating, so am I," Faraday muttered, resting himself on the boulder he'd slept on, gun pointed straight at the intruder. Matilda was fully standing up, guns in both of her hands while standing over Emma, who was cowering into a crouch with a rifle in hand. Goodnight runs up to higher ground, darting his eyes up at the cliffs, looking for more danger.

"Where there's one, there's more."

"Hold your fire. Hold your fire," Sam instructs, looking different without his hat on, "Comanche?" He suddenly calls out, causing everyone to look at him as if he was insane. When the warrior didn't respond, Chisolm held up his gun non-threatening, "We come in peace. Vasquez."

The outlaw turns his head to see Sam offering him his gun while never taking his eyes off of the Comanche. Vasquez takes the gun, unarming Sam as the bounty hunter slowly walks towards the native, keeping his open arms in sight.

"You speak Comanche?" the warrior finally speaks, sounding surprised.

"Some," Sam responds, finally reaching the warrior until he was only a few feet away, "You speak...white man's English?"

"Some."

"Where's your tribe?" Sam speaks in English, sounding as gentle and cautious as much as possible.

"The elders told me my path is different."

"My path is different, too. My path... Our path. We go to fight wicked men. Probably, we all die."

The Comanche looks beyond Sam and around at each and every one of the faces pointing guns at him, studying them. Some looked tired and weary, others looked determined and broken; he could read that through their eyes.

Slowly, he throws his game onto the ground, letting the deer collapse on impact with the earth. He slowly dismounts from his steed and brings out a knife, making Vasquez and a few others shift nervously with their feet, watching the weapon with alarmed eyes from a distance. The Comanche crouches down beside the deer carcass, slicing open its skin and carving out a chunk of its bloody meat.

He stands back up, offering the intestine to Sam, "I'm called Red Harvest."

Sam takes the raw meat, taking one more look at Red Harvest with keen eyes. Red makes a motion to eat his peace offering, and he does so. He squints his eyes as he's chewing on it, handing it back to Red Harvest and nodding. He turns to walk away, quickly spitting out the rotten meat into his hands, washing it away with the sand by his feet. As he approaches the group again, Jack Horne speaks up,

"What'd he say?"

"Said he's with us," Sam responds, while everyone else stares over at Red Harvest in disbelief, "Gonna fix him some breakfast. I had mine. Let's get this fire started."