Prologue

Jamie and Kate MacCallister were together now, buried side by side on a ridge overlooking the huge valley they had settled and the town they had founded. It was up to their children now to carry on the MacCallister legacy—nine children, eight of them living through the harshness of the awakening land called the west.

A whole brood of blond-haired, blue-eyed kids who had produced another brood of blond-haired, blue-eyed kids. It was said in this part of Colorado that if one shook a tree, a MacCallister would more than likely fall out.

To say that Jamie Ian MacCallister was legend would be grossly understating history, although history, in its dry prose, never did justice to Jamie’s exploits. Nor did history do justice to a MacCallister named Falcon. Rage of Eagles will attempt to set the record straight once and for all.

Some have written that Falcon MacCallister was a cold-blooded killer who terrorized the west, killing hundreds of men for sport after his wife’s death in 1876. Actually, the number of men who fell under Falcon’s guns was much lower than that, and there was no sport involved.

It is true that Falcon was a gunfighter, and it is also true that he was a skilled gambler, but it is not true that he was an outlaw and a highwayman. That is nonsense, for Falcon was a rich man at the time of his wife’s death. He began riding what some call the hootowl trail through no fault of his own.

Falcon MacCallister was the spitting image of his father, Jamie. He stood six foot three and was heavy with muscle. Just like his father, Falcon literally did not know his own strength. And just like his father, Falcon was quick on the shoot. Jamie and Falcon were both known as bad men. In the west, being a bad man did not necessarily mean being a brigand. It just meant he was a bad man to crowd.

And Falcon was definitely a bad man to crowd.

The kids of Jamie and Kate MacCallister pretty much stayed close to home, except for Andrew and Rosanna, who became famous musicians and actors and toured the world. A MacCallister was the sheriff of the county, another was the mayor of the town. They all possessed huge holdings and were all successful ranchers and miners and businesspeople. The town had regular stagecoach runs and a fairly reliable telegraph wire. It was a peaceful town, with a large bank, a newspaper, good schools, and several churches.

Outlaws and riffraff knew better than to start trouble in MacCallister’s Valley. But occasionally, one would drift in with news of interest to all and he would not be bothered as long as he did not start any trouble. The news usually was of Falcon MacCallister.

In the six months or so since Falcon buried his wife, Marie, and then went on the drift, alone with his grief, not much had been heard of him.

All that was about to change.