Caleb - You boys should've stayed in town. We already got laws up here. Real old laws. We don't need any others. All right, boys. [flashes of light as the guns fire, the deputies fall into the crevice]

RR - [follows Tessa out to her convertible, yawning] You know what I don't like about the great outdoors? There's all these . . . bugs, and funky animals looking at you, hiding, trying to figure out where you fit in, in the food chain.

Tessa - What are you going on about now?

RR - I like nature in smaller doses. You know, like shrubs . . . in pots. I got lost in a nursery once.

Tessa - I'll be fine.

RR - Maybe you should wait for Duncan. There are BEARS up in the mountains.

Tessa - I promise not to bother them. You worry too much.

RR - Maybe I should come with you.

Tessa - No, you stay here and mind the store. I'll be home before Duncan gets back.

RR - What'll I say if you're not?

Tessa - Tell him I'm going to visit our favorite shaman.

RR - Oh, okay.

Tessa - [Tessa blows him a kiss and drives away.]

Eddie - [watching Tessa starting her trek] That's one fine hunk of woman.

Caleb - Yes, she is.

Eddie - [to Tessa, who is drawing sketches of a rock face with pictographs carved on it] Do you like my new boots?

[Tessa stands up, startled]

Joshua - Afternoon, ma'am. Ain't too many people who know about this place.

Tessa - I'm with a guide. He went up there [points up the hill] to take some pictures.

Caleb - Well, then he just vanished. Like the old Indians that painted that there, cuz we sure ain't seen him. And we're pretty certain to see almost anything that moves up here. It's kinda like our own front porch, you might say. I like to sit up here, think about the old ones who got this up. [gestures at the rock] Whipped themselves up a big bonfire, what do you think? Danced in front of it, their shadows writhing on the walls . . . some sorta fertility right or somethin'. [reaches out to touch Tessa, who jumps and tries to run]

Eddie - [reaches out to block her way] Where're you goin', girl? Hell, you wanna dance with me? Huh? Come on and dance! Ha ha ha! [Tessa, unable to dodge around him, grabs his knife from its sheath on his leg and cuts his hand with it.] Ah! Damn! [Joshua fires his rifle into the air] She cut me good. I may have to stitch this up.

Caleb - We shoulda made our intentions clear to the young lady. How nobody intends to hurt one hair on your head. [reaches out to touch Tessa's hair. She dodges and fends him off with the knife.] Nor to offer you anything that might . . . dishonor ya' in any way.

Tessa - Then what DO you want?

<Caleb - Ma'am, I come up here to ask for your hand in marriage. I want you to be my wife. CUT

Tessa - I . . . I'm flattered that you want to be my husband, but I'm already married.> Now I want you to let me go.

Caleb - Go? Where?

Tessa - Back to my home.

Caleb - That ain't your home . . . anymore.

Caleb - [as Tessa pauses to look out over valley below mountain] I believe in goodbyes. I come up here years ago and said goodbye to all that human stench, and I ain't been back since.

Tessa - I'll be back. They're looking for me already.

Caleb - Oh, it's all right to think so, but where we're going, no white man's ever been, nor most Indians neither. None's ever been able to track us.

<Tessa - I don't want to go with you. Why can't you understand?

Caleb - CUT [looks at sky] Full moon in an hour. We can make good time.>

[Tessa drops her lipstick on the trail after Caleb walks past her.]

DM - [entering store] Hello?

RR - [over rock music] You're back! Excellent! How was Peking?

DM - Pretty much the same. Things don't really change in the forbidden city.

RR - Right. [clears his throat]

DM - Where's Tessa?

RR - Actually, I was hoping that was her coming through here now. She uh, she went up to the mountains to sketch some wall painting . . . your favorite shay-mon, she said. [DM looks at his pocket-watch] She WAS supposed to be back by now.

DM - [closes watch] I can be there by dawn.

RR - You're going to go to the mountains tonight?

DM - Yeah. If she's lost, I'll know where to find her.

RR - I'll come with you.

DM - No. She'll probably just show up or call. I'll check in from the trading post up there. Bring my other bag up, would you?

RR - Oh, sure, no problem.

DM - [parks next to Tessa's convertible, gets out of T-bird] Excuse me, have you seen the woman that drove that car?

Benson - You a friend of hers?

DM - That's right. MacLeod. Where is she?

Benson - Well, she hasn't come back. Mr. MacLeod, I'm gonna be straight out with you. I'm more than a little worried about your lady friend. [points at bulletin board] Caleb Cole, his son Joshua and Eddie Doyle, they're wanted men. [cut to bulletin board holding Wanted For Murder reward posters for the three men] A couple of my deputies walked into a camp to serve a warrant for poaching deer last year. They never came back out.

DM - Last year?

Benson - Well, they're mountain men. They live off the land. Come into Big John's here every couple of years and steal what they need.

Big John - This time they wrecked the place. Tore my phone line out, took the distributor cap off my truck. Took me a whole day to just climb down the mountain.

Benson - Caleb, he knows this country better than anybody, natives included. He's kinda spooky that way. My deputies'll be here soon. You're welcome to come along with us.

DM - You'll slow me down.

Benson - You don't even know this country.

DM - [shouldering pack] I've been here before.

Benson - [blocks his way] I can't be responsible if you go off by yourself.

DM - [pointedly] Excuse me.

Benson - [as DM walks off] Damn fool.

Big John - A sword?

[DM examines footprints, looks up at pictograph carved on rock face and . . .]

[near the same carved rock, DM feels BUZZ, then is jumped on by Carl the Hermit, knocking them both rolling down the hill]

Carl - You knew I was about, but you couldn't hear me or see me, could ya?

DM - Very good.

Carl - Yah, best there ever was! [swings at DM with tomahawk] Better'n any Indians come for my pretty hair. Better'n any U.S. Government scouts paid to track me.

DM - I wasn't tracking you. [they circle each other]

Carl - Sure, that's what you say now. But you've come for old Carl's secrets, huh? [disarmed and knocked down by DM] Nah, ah, ah! You kill me now, secrets is gone forever.

DM - I didn't come for your head, and I wasn't tracking you.

Carl - You don't want my secrets?

DM - [pulls Caleb to his feet] Maybe I do.

Carl - Ah, o'course you do! Everybody wants to know what old Carl knows. [laughs] I can think like any animal that ever was. Any man, too. Like them there. [points at pictographs]

DM - Yeah, that's very old. It's a form of prayer. The ancient ones implored the spirits of the animals to give them success in the hunt.

Carl - You know 'em personal?

DM - You know them too, don't you?

Carl - Maybe.

DM - So how long have you been up here on your own, Carl?

Carl - Long enough.

DM - Will you teach me your secrets? [Carl laughs] Huh? Teach me how to track, the ways of the land?

Carl - What's in it for me?

DM - I'll teach you how to fight.

Carl - You think I don't know how? [punches DM in the jaw, laughs]

DM - There's room for improvement.

Carl - Oh?

DM - Come here, I want to show you something. [motions for Carl to attack him, throws him to the ground when he does] Tsk, tsk. Just watch. [pulls Carl to his feet] Now, pretend I'm coming at you from behind. Put your hip here. And take my hand. [Carl grabs DM's wrist] Good. Like that. [Carl tries to throw him, DM resists] Ah, ah. How do you track animals?

Carl - You've got to know what they want. [tries to throw DM, who still resists]

DM - Food and water.

Carl - It sounds easy, but it ain't. [tries again to throw DM]

DM - Yeah, well, this looks easy, but it ain't. What about men, have you tracked them too?

Carl - Men who come up here are always looking for something. Always going north, like you. You wanna track a man up here? [looks to the side, distracting DM, and finally manages to throw him] Go north. [both laugh]

Benson - They were here. They took the woman south.

Deputy - South? Why would they go south?

Benson - Throw us off, maybe. The other one was here, too. He headed north.

Deputy - Maybe he didn't see the tracks.

Benson - He squatted down right in front of them. He saw 'em all right, then he headed north. Tracks are far apart, on the balls of his feet. He's running.

Deputy - Running?

Benson - Running.

[Tessa sees search plane overhead and tries to signal it with her compact mirror.]

Eddie - Hey! [Tessa bolts and he chases her]

Caleb - [pulls Eddie off Tessa] What are you doing?

Eddie - She's tryin' to signal them flyboys, Caleb. Look here. [He grabs Tessa's mirror]

Caleb - [examines the mirror] I guess it's only natural. [kneels by Tessa] You haven't learned to trust us yet.

Tessa - Trust you? You're kidnappers. I'm nothing but a hostage!

Caleb - We don't see you that way. Do we, Joshua?

Joshua - Whatever you say, Pa.

Caleb - What's that mean?

Joshua - It means we got folks followin' us on account o' her. And just when we thought they's gonna leave us alone again.

Tessa - Again? Are you wanted for something?

Joshua - Shut up, you.

Caleb - [backhands Joshua across the mouth] You learn to talk to her with more respect. And you, [turns to Eddie] get. [hands Tessa her mirror]

[Tessa bends to get her pack and Eddie brushes her rear with his hands. She jumps and pushes him away from her.]

Eddie - [laughs] You oughta be nicer to us. We're real bad men. There's a couple of deputies thought they was tougher than us . . .

Caleb - Eddie. [jacks rifle]

Eddie - I just helpin' her with the things here, Caleb. Wasn't doin' nuthin.

<Caleb - [to Tessa] You're under my protection. [hits Eddie in the stomach with the butt of the rifle] Nobody nor no thing will harm you. What is your name? CUT

Tessa - Tessa.

Caleb - You know . . . Tessa . . . I'd die for you, if it come to that.>

Tessa - [angry] You hardly know me.

Caleb - I wasn't joking. [He leads them off and Tessa drops the compact before she follows.]

Deputy - What the hell did they come here for? The view? We just wasted four hours.

Benson - They're headed north, all right. And no more fun and games. [hands lipstick container to deputy] If the woman wasn't along, I couldn't track them at all. They move like cougars, those men.

Deputy - North, huh? Well, either her boyfriend's dumb lucky, or he knows more than we do.

[meanwhile]

[DM follows the trail, far ahead of the sheriff and his men. He finds the compact mirror lying on the ground and examines it.]

CUT

<Eddie - Caleb Cole knows this country better than anybody I ever heard of. Ain't nobody gonna track us . . . [laughs] no how.>

Tessa - Are they father and son?

Eddie - Adopted son. And me . . . I'm just a boon companion along for the pure hell of it. For the fun, you might say. Venison jerky? Homemade. [Tessa shifts away as he leans over her] You know, when Caleb talked about bringing you along, I thought it was a piss poor idea. But now, it's starting to grow on me. [he grabs Tessa by the shoulders and pins her to the ground.]

Tessa - Ahh! No! [she continues to cry out until Joshua appears and pulls Eddie off of her]

Eddie - Well, now, if it isn't little Josh. Protecting his daddy's grazing rights. You was out there watching me, instead of doing what you was told, like a good little boy.

Joshua - [holding his knife in front of him] You pull your knife.

Eddie - [holding a short tree branch, laughs] You just calm down now, Josh boy. Ain't no harm been done to your daddy's property. I was only joking. Hell, we pretty near shared everything up till now. Why change arrangements, what I say.

Joshua - My pa heard you talking like that, he'd kill you.

Eddie - Well, now, wouldn't that be a sorry ending to a good companionship. [throws stick to the ground] Killing a fine fella like me over a woman. [walks toward Joshua] I told you, I was only jokin'. [walks past Joshua, picks up rifle] Reckon I'd better do what you was supposed to be doing.

Tessa - [As Joshua puts knife away and sits down] I know you don't want me here. Let me go. Now.

Joshua - I can't do that.

Tessa - You're afraid of your father, aren't you?

Joshua - He ain't my real daddy. He took me from my momma when I was eight. And he'd kill me if I ran off. And he'll kill you too if you don't start liking him soon.

Tessa - He treats you more like a slave than a son. [she moves away hurriedly as Caleb walks up]

Caleb - [to Joshua] Where's Eddie at?

Joshua - He-he gone out scoutin' for game.

[some distance away, high in a tree's branches, DM spies smoke from the group's campfire through a break in the trees.]

Caleb - Eddie shoulda been back by now. [to Joshua] Find out what's keepin' him. Go on. [as Joshua leaves, he picks up a plate and touches Tessa on the elbow, waking her] Hey. <[he lifts the plate and she shakes her head] Venison. CUT

Tessa - You live like men on the run.>

Caleb - We live like free men. Beholden to none. This country GIVES us what we need. [he holds the plate up in emphasis] But there's some things that civilization does have that are worth havin'.

Tessa - [interrupts both his speech and his hand moving toward her hair] Why did you leave?

<Caleb - [stands] There was a woman. Joshua's ma. We were together from the time he was three years old -- a real family. Then some doctors killed her. CUT I couldn't seem to put the grievin' behind me. I come up here with Josh. It's like I been reborn. I've been reborn before.>

Tessa - Don't you get lonely . . . for other people?

Caleb - We've been up here nigh on twelve years, Joshua and me. Eddie Doyle for six. Up here, we're kings!

Tessa - What happened to those deputies?

Caleb - Eddie shouldn'ta talked about that.

Tessa - But he did. What happened to them?

Caleb - They just didn't understand. Up here isn't like anyplace else; they just didn't understand. I know you won't like me today . . . or tomorrow . . . or next week . . . but I plan to win you over, Tessa. I want you to be my woman . . . of your own accord.

Tessa - That will never happen. There's someone else, and I love him.

Caleb - You'll forget him. In time, you always forget him. You'll see.

DM - [surprises Joshua from behind, with his sword at Joshua's neck] Don't even think about moving. Now where are the others?

Eddie - He's right here behind you, boy. [holds gun aimed at them] That's a real nice sword. Take it from him, Josh. [Joshua takes the katana and moves away] You're good. I was just comin' up behind you, Josh boy, and there he was, risin' outta the ground like a wisp of fog. [keeps DM at gunpoint]

Joshua - Let's get movin'.

Eddie - [looking over cliff edge into fog below] Never can see the bottom of that old crevice. So deep, the sun never does get down there.

Joshua - Come on, Eddie, let's just do it.

Eddie - [laughs] I bet he ain't so anxious to get it over with.

DM - Doesn't matter.

Eddie - Hear that. We got a real fatalist on our hands here, Josh boy. We've known fellas to start begging just about now. [DM turns to face the edge] Maybe he things he can fly. [DM swan dives off edge of crevice] That's the damnedest thing I ever saw.

Caleb - [as Eddie and Joshua walk up] Where you been?

Joshua - We found someone out there, Pa. He might've been working for Sheriff Benson.

Caleb - Where is he?

Eddie - Oh, he's visiting his deputy friends.

Caleb - [takes katana from Joshua's pack] What's this?

Joshua - Well, he had that on him. Some kind of war souvenir or somethin'. I thought you might like it, on account of you collectin' old weapons and such.

Caleb - [kneels by Tessa, holding katana] You know this sword?

Tessa - No.

Caleb - You killed her man, boys. He's down in the ravine?

Eddie - That's right. Take somebody all night to climb down there.

Caleb - Or up. We're breaking camp. We'll travel by night.

Eddie - Why're we going to do that?

Caleb - Now! [unwraps ancient battle ax from tarp]

Tessa - He's your adopted son because you can't have children. You are one of them.

Caleb - What d'you know about me? Speak up, woman.

Tessa - Because HE'S like you.

Caleb - I thought so, the minute I saw that sword. So he's told you all about . . . our kind. I knew there was something special about you, the minute I laid eyes on you. We travel by night, head straight for the river. No more stops.

[Snaps and pops are heard as DM's bones repair themselves. He wakes and slowly begins climbing out of the crevice. When he reaches the top, he removes his torn shirt and washes himself in a stream, removing the dried blood as:  ]

[voice-over]

DM - If you wanted to get away from people, as far away as you could go, up here, where would you go?

Carl - Big River. If she don't kill you, she'll take you where you want to go as fast as anything. Right into the heart of the big nowhere.

[DM starts off again, moving quickly.]

Joshua - [pulls compound bow from cache in outcropping of rock] Here she is, as good as when I left her. I'll wander upstream apiece, see if I can scare up a deer. They oughta be coming down for water about now.

Caleb - Good idea, but make it quick. I wanna be on that river by sundown. Can't run them rapids after dark.

Joshua - I'll be back in an hour.

Caleb - I believe I'll scout upriver, too, just in case there's somebody there who's waitin' for us.

Tessa - No. Send him. [nods toward Eddie]

Eddie - Well, looks like she's takin' a shinin' to you after all, Caleb. Who'd a' thought. [walks off downstream with his gun]

Caleb - [to Tessa] Is that true? Is that why you wanted me to stay?

Tessa - I don't trust him.

Caleb - Why? [she doesn't answer] I asked you a question.

Tessa - They were fighting over me.

<Caleb - For a second you had me going, but Eddie and Joshua both know I'd do more than kill 'em if they ever crossed me. No. You're still grievin' for your man, and you're lookin' to avenge him, but you'll never see him again. CUT

Tessa - Duncan isn't dead. You know that. And he's coming after you.

Caleb - Duncan. That's his name? Duncan?

Tessa - Duncan MacLeod.

Caleb - Well, he won't catch up to us in time because we'll be long gone.>

[Joshua wades along the bank, DM yells and jumps out at him from the brush. Joshua screams as they fall into the water.]

Caleb - [hears Joshua scream] Joshua! [pushes Tessa down as she starts to rise] Sit. [looks around and grabs a length of rope, reaching for Tessa's wrists.]

Tessa - Leave me alone! No! [she quiets when Caleb threatens her with his fist.]

Caleb - You sit. [loops the rope around part of a boulder and ties Tessa's hands together]

Caleb - [examines location where Joshua was attacked, feels BUZZ] It's you, innit? MacLeod! Duncan MacLeod! You killed my boy! Come on out! We'll fight, naked blade to naked blade! [no answer, he fires his gun into the woods. Elsewhere, the Sheriff and his men hear the shot and move toward it. Eddie also hears the shot and starts running back up the river.] That's right. Hide! Or I'll blow a hole in your chest. Then saw your head off with a pocket knife. MacLeod!

[Tessa has managed to get one hand free, bloodying her wrists in the process.]

Eddie - [appearing suddenly] You going somewhere, missy? [moves toward her]

Tessa - Go away!

Eddie - [turns as Caleb walks up to them] Was that you shooting, Caleb? You could hear that shot for ten miles!

Caleb - We're leaving.

Eddie - Where's Joshua?

Caleb - We're leaving.

Eddie - Without him?

Caleb - Without you, too, if you don't shut up!

Eddie - All right, Caleb. Settle down.

Caleb - [after a pause] Joshua's dead.

[The two men head off down the river, Tessa in tow, her wrists tied again. She stumbles over a branch and falls to the sand]

Caleb - Get up. Get up! Nothing's stoppin' me from killing you the way he killed Joshua!

<Tessa - I'm sure he didn't do it. It's not his way. What if someone else killed your son?> CUT

Caleb - Who?

Tessa - Someone he trusted. Someone who could have walked up to him, smiled, and killed him. [Caleb looks over at Eddie, unsure] Eddie and Joshua were fighting over me. Eddie told me he wanted me all for himself.

Caleb - You think I can't see what you're doin'?

Tessa - Where was Eddie when Joshua screamed, Caleb?

Caleb - [backhands Tessa across the face] Get up.

[Sheriff Benson bends to examine spent shotgun shell in the water by the bank]

Deputy - Sheriff . . . come look at this.

Benson - Well, hello, Joshua. [Joshua is gagged and tied to the foot of a nearby tree.] Got yourself in a bit of a bind, I see. You and your old man have a falling out, did you?

Joshua - No. It wasn't him. Wasn't my pa. It was a dead man.

Benson - A dead man?

Joshua - [nods] Dead man.

[Sheriff and deputies laugh.]

Eddie - I found them canoes right where we left 'em. Now, we can just shoot through them first set of rapids before sundown if we start now. [smiles at Tessa] We're gonna be three hundred miles north by week's end. [Caleb strikes Eddie in the face with the butt of his rifle. Eddie rolls on the ground for a few moments.] What the hell'd you do that for? You ain't right in the head, Caleb!

Caleb - What'd you do with Josh?

Eddie - Joshua? [to Tessa] What the hell you been saying?

Caleb - Is he alive? Or did you kill him, leave him for the wolves?

Eddie - Caleb, I-I swear I never touched Josh. I don't know what happened to him.

Tessa - Don't kill him. Just send him away.

Caleb - [to Eddie] You wanted her . . . for yourself.

Eddie - Don't listen to her, Caleb. She's talking trash. Look, I'll just take one of those canoes. I'll-I'll go away, I'll vanish. Caleb, you'll never see me again.

Tessa - Let him go, Caleb. I'll go with you.

Caleb - Looks like somebody's gone sweet on you.

Eddie - No, it ain't. Caleb, she ain't. No, Caleb, she ain't. [Caleb aims the rifle.]

Tessa - Don't!

Eddie - Caleb!

Tessa - Don't! [Caleb shoots Eddie] How could you? [she tries to grab another rifle from the packs but Caleb stops her]

Caleb - What are you doing? Pick up that gear. [he pushes Tessa to the ground, then tenses as he feels the BUZZ] It's you, innit? MacLeod? I had your woman! Had her good!

Tessa - He's lying, Duncan!

<DM - [from the underbrush] You've been out here too long, Caleb. You're beginning to think you're a god. CUT

Caleb - Duncan MacLeod! You don't easily forget a name like that. Old Carl had some mighty kind words for ya. Most likely used up his lifetime supply.

DM - You killed him, didn't you?

Caleb - Think what you will.

DM - This was HIS place! He suffered all the beasts. But none of the monsters.

Caleb - What we have, you and me . . . it's a sign!> [aims at DM's hiding places and fires rifle, takes aim and fires again as Tessa sneaks up behind him. Before he can fire a third time, she hits him from behind with a thick branch. Before he can recover she grabs the katana from his pack.]

Tessa - Duncan!

[Caleb reaches her and grabs the katana away. DM rushes down the bank and grabs Caleb's battle ax, facing off against him.]

DM - [quickly, to Tessa] Are you all right?

Tessa - I'm fine.

DM - [to Caleb] The signs are just part of the fun, Caleb. Whatever gods made you and me made us different.

Caleb - First, I take your Quickening. Then I take your woman. [They fight, in and out of the water's edge.] Not this time, MacLeod. Your Quickening's mine. [They fight some more, until with a primal yell, DM beheads Caleb with his own battle ax.]

Tessa - Duncan. [She watches from the shore as DM receives Caleb's Quickening – the first one she's seen. When it is over, he staggers to her and they embrace.] Duncan.

[later]

[MacLeod kneels by cairn of rocks, Caleb's battle ax sticking upright at one end of the mound.]

Tessa - Duncan.

Benson - [walking up with his deputies and Joshua, nods at cairn] Who's this?

DM - Caleb. I thought he should be buried here, not in some cemetery.

Joshua - No, you murdered him!

DM - Eddie's down by the stream.

Tessa - Caleb killed him.

Benson - Did they hurt you in any way, ma'am?

Tessa - I'm fine.

Benson - [to DM] You're the most amazing son-of-a-bitch I've seen in all my years, you know that? For a hundred years, no one's even known HOW to do what you just did.

<Joshua - That's cuz he ain't human. We killed him! CUT

Benson - [to deputies] Let's move out.>

DM - [hugs Tessa] I forgot something. [He walks to the pool, retrieves his sword.]