Author's Note: The setting is the first episode in Season 1. And the usual disclaimer - the characters from the drama The Young Riders are the copyright of Ogiens/Kane. I have merely borrowed them for amusement and non-profit fun. If an infringement have been done please alert the web-mistress!

Jimmy continued to stare at the girl until she begun to squirm under his scrutiny. She gazed worriedly at him, expecting and hoping for an answer to her request. Then it struck him what it was about her that had him puzzled.

"You're a half-blood," he stated only to see the girl look down at the floor, but not before he had a chance to see the humiliation the statement had caused in her eyes. Then she collected herself and looked up again.

"Will you help me?" she asked again. Jimmy could see tears in her eyes, but there was also a firm defiance, as she wanted to show him that he could not hurt her. He didn't know what to say.

"You will not help me," she said calmly with only a hint of a tremble in her voice after waiting for his reply. "You can leave this way---." She turned around to show him the way, when Jimmy finally realized that he had hurt her. He reached for her and grabbed her by the arm.

"Wait a moment," he said. "I ain't sayin' I ain't helpin' you, but you have to explain what all this is about. Who are those men and what exactly is it you need help with?"

"It's a long story," she said silently.

"You'll have to tell me sooner or later," Jimmy argued. "And I want to know if you really know how to get my papers back."

"I can," the girl insisted, "but you have to get me outta here first."

"What do ya' mean - help you get outta here? Why can't you just leave?"

She looked down again.

"I can't."

"You're some kind of prisoners here? Why?"

Before the girl had a chance to reply there was a large thud from somewhere downstairs as if a door had been broken in. Jimmy quickly drew his gun and moved the girl behind him as he watched the door from where the noise had come. A moment later they could hear the sound of several men walking through the corridor they had come through. A harsh mumble of voices could be heard all the way up to them. Jimmy immediately realized that they were too many for him to be able to handle them on his own. He turned to the girl.

"Is there another way outta here?" he asked tensely. The girl nodded.

"Yes, this way."

They hadn't taken more than a few steps towards the door on the opposite side when a voice told them that their pursuers had thought of that too. They were trapped. The voices of the men approaching were soon clearly heard.

"I'll kill that half-breed wench if she had anything to do with this!" The call was clearly heard from the stairs and Jimmy quickly looked at the girl who had paled slightly at the voice. Then he started to look around the room.

"Are you sure there ain't other way out?" he asked. The girl shook her head. Desperately Jimmy searched the room again when he happened to look up. A ray of light was visible through a crack in the roof. In opposite to most other houses this one had a sloping roof and if he reached up he could almost reach the crack. He continued staring at it for a second before he realized what it was - a hatch.

"Where's that going?" he asked the girl and pointed.

"To the roof," she replied as she questioningly looked at him.

Jimmy reached for a chair and without a word he stood on it and reached up. It was with some effort he managed to get the hatch up and found himself looking over the town from a three-floor building. He peered over the edge and realized that it was along way down if they should fall. As he looked at the sloping roof he also realized that there wasn't much to hold on to. He was to turn away when the sound told him that the men were getting close. He jumped down and quickly used another chair to barricade the door as he told the girl to do the same with the other door. Then he returned to the hatch.

"What are you doing?" the girl whispered as he prepared to haul himself up on the roof.

"Getting us out of here," Jimmy replied before he disappeared through the hatch. Soon he found himself on his stomach, holding on for dear life with one hand on a supporting plank that was fastened on the roof and the other on the opening. Quickly he moved around so that he could reach down into the room with both his hands.

"C'mon," he wheezed, "grab my hands and I'll help you up."

The girl stared frightened at him, but when a large thud told her that the men were by the door, she quickly stepped up on the chair and reached up. Jimmy grabbed her by her arms and slowly hauled her up.

"Move up and grab that plank," he told her as soon as she was up. "Move!" he urged her when she hesitated and then he turned to shut the hatch. Their pursuers would probably realized where they had gone, but maybe it could save them a few minutes anyway. He started to move along the plank until he reached the girl, who had stopped not far from the hatch.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked.

"I can't move," she whispered, "I'm gonna fall."

"No, you ain't. Just take it easy. C'mon, we can't stay here all day."

She closed her eyes and mumbled something that sounded like a prayer in Jimmy's ears and then she opened her eyes and slowly started to move. Jimmy followed her closely and soon he realized that she had spoken the truth. It was no picnic edging their way along the roof. Too late he came to think about where the roof ended. If it ended in a wall, then they were stuck again. He tried not to think about it as they slowly reached the end of the roof.

"What now?" she girl asked, trying to catch her breath after the exhausting exercise.

"What's down there?" Jimmy asked as he leaned over her to peer down. And there it was again, that faint fragrance of flowers that filled his nose as he leaned over her. Concentrate, he thought to himself as he peaked over the edge. To his joy he saw that there was another roof beneath them. He quickly returned to his original position.

"We gotta get down there," he stated.

"Down there? How?" the girl asked.

"Jump. I'll help you."

Jimmy held on to her as she slowly lowered herself over the edge until she was hanging from his arms.

"Now, let go," Jimmy urged her and without hesitation she dropped herself on to the roof. Jimmy quickly followed as the hatch behind him flung open.

"They're on the roof!"

Jimmy quickly rose from where he had fallen and grabbing the girl by the hand he rushed over to the edge. Another flat roof appeared before him, except this time there was a small alley between them and the next roof. For a second Jimmy stared at the gap, but as a shot rung out from the ground he made up his mind and together he and the girl jumped. They landed with a large thud on the next roof and with another bullet whistling pass them they were on their feet seconds later. Together they continued their hazardous way over the roof until they had made a safe distant from their pursuers. First then did they climb down onto the ground. With his gun in his hand Jimmy quickly continued to the livery, the girl following him closely. As they turned around the corner to the livery they almost bumped into the manager.

"What's this?" he asked irritated and Jimmy quickly reholstered his gun as not to upset the man further.

"I need my horse," he demanded and then he remembered the girl. "And I wanna rent one more."

"You wanna rent a horse? You've got any money?"

Jimmy quickly scanned his pockets for any cash and finally came up with a few dollar bills. The man muttered but accepted the cash and went to get the horses, while Jimmy and the girl looked nervously around them in case there was trouble coming. But everything seemed calmed, too calm to last.

"You now how to ride?" Jimmy asked as the man brought forward the horses. The girl nodded and to show him she quickly mounted. Jimmy nodded approvingly and mounted himself.

"Where are we going?" the girl asked.

"You tell me," Jimmy replied. "I want some answer and then I need to get those documents back." He had no more than finished the sentence when shouts behind them told them they had been discovered.

"But right now I think we should get out of here!" Jimmy shouted and forced his palomino into a gallop, the girl following him close by. They rode out of the town as if the devil was after them, which under the circumstances, he might as well could have been.

To be continued…