ooOoo
The Supernatural characters belong to Kripke Enterprises and the CW, not me. No money is being made from this story. It is for entertainment only.
The Fae Prince
Chapter 3
Forest Hunt
By the margin, willow-veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses, and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?
The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson 1809-1892
Samisfallen stood silent under the trees. They were out on the hunt for the Will-o'-Wisp In the woods beyond Grainger. John Winchester had marshalled his troops like he was the general of an army and stationed them in predetermined points. This was not a spot that Samisfallen would have picked but he was in no mood to start a fight with John Winchester.
First of all he would have had to explain how it was he knew where the Wisp mostly likely would be found and secondly, after the demonstration last night he had no desire to fire up the older man's temper again.
After Dean's shower they had been settling into their beds when John knocked at the door. Dean had checked first, of course, and then opened the door to his father. John, obviously already drunk in such a short period of time, had strutted into the room, barking commands. "Shut the door, check the salt lines. Have you cleaned the weapons? You need to sleep; we're leaving early in the morning."
John's voice cracked like a whip against Dean's face. Sam saw the younger man's lips tighten, evidently holding in his response. It appeared that Dean had learned long ago not to answer, just nod, when his father became a drunken bore.
When he couldn't get a rise out of Dean John turned on Samisfallen. It looked to the Fae like this human wanted a fight. The Prince determined that Winchester wasn't going to get a fight out of him. He would do as the younger Hunter asked and follow Dean's lead. Samisfallen resisted the urge to get up and kick the sot out of their room.
"Did Dean tell you the rules?" the older man barked. "No questions, no arguing, just do as you're told and everything will come out right. I'll keep you safe, it's my job. The only way you'll get hurt on my watch is if you don't follow my rules."
The man had a partially full bottle of whisky with him and he tossed back a hit. "I'm going down the street for a bit. I'll come and get you in the morning so be ready."
John turned to leave and staggered into Dean. John shoved the younger man out of the way, evidently still looking for that fight. He then threw open the door and left.
Samisfallen restrained himself and watched the younger man's face. Dean looked heart-broken. His idol had a number of cracks in it as far as Samisfallen could see,
"I'm sorry, Sam," Dean said. He went and lay down on his bed. "It's my fault."
"How could that possibly be your fault?" Samisfallen was stunned.
"In the car I made that crack about being an only child. I should have kept my mouth shut." Dean answered. "I had a brother once. His name was Sam too. He died in a fire along with my mother and every time something reminds Dad about that night his first impulse is to drink the memories away."
"When did this happen? Samisfallen asked.
"Almost fourteen years ago."
"Fourteen years and he still uses it as an excuse to be a drunken ass?" as soon as the words left Samisfallen's mouth he knew it was a mistake. You do not insult another man's God.
Dean sat up and glared. "It's not an excuse. It's real pain. I know because it still hurts me too. Sometimes I'll go out to a bar with him and drink the place dry trying to forget the screaming."
Samisfallen gave up on both the father and the son. You can't argue with grief no matter how old and well used it had become. He rolled over and pretended to sleep.
An hour later he listened to the even breath of his roommate and decided it was safe to move. He never needed to sleep; at least not to sleep the way that humans did. In this dark, quiet box he felt cut off from the world. No sky, no breeze, no feeling of the earth turning under his feet, rushing through space and taking him with it.
He slipped outside and stood in a clearing behind the motel, his face turned to the sky. He drank the moonlight like water and rested. He rested until John Winchester came staggering back to the room, banging and clattering and swearing his way along. His peace broken and trampled underfoot Samisfallen waited for the Hunter to get into his room and then the Fae Prince went back to Dean. He felt better now and decided to spend the rest of the night meditating on the strangeness of humans.
XXXXXXX
Now Samisfallen was standing out in the woods, on a Winchester hunt. He was supposedly in the safest spot, placed so because John Winchester regarded him as the least of them; too young, too inexperienced, too trusting. He decided to hell with John Winchester, the great commander. He was going to find the sprite. These Hunters called it a Will-o'-Wisp and Samisfallen smiled at the name.
He moved through the woods like a shadow, passing close to John but unobserved. Dean was posted on the other side of a small stream and both men were scanning for the sprite. Samisfallen could already see the glow of the little nymph, lying in the grass of a clearing. He thought that was an odd thing for a tree Lantern to do so he approached carefully.
The little creature was trapped in the grass, lying on the breast of a spirit. Its light was failing and its life was being siphoned away by the gray, unnatural mist in the grass. Samisfallen approached and the sprite attempted to rise but the spirit plucked it from the air and clutched at it.
Samisfallen decided to go get Dean. They could lay this ghost together. They could dig up the bones buried beneath the spirit and free the sprite by using the Hunter's standby cure, fire.
He drifted again through the woods until he stood six feet behind the young Hunter. "Dean"
Dean whirled. "Sam, what are you going here? You're supposed to be fifty feet west, where Dad put you."
"Come with me," Sam responded. "I have found the Wisp and it is, as your father said, bound to a spirit. Do you want me to show you?"
Dean stared. "Let me get Dad. I'm sure he'll have something to say about this. He doesn't like changes to his plans."
"Can we not take care of this together? " Samisfallen asked. "It is only a small Wisp and a single spirit. Surely three Hunters is a bit of overkill." Sam could see the distress in Dean's eyes.
In the end, Dean went for his father and Sam followed. The older Hunter was angry at being disobeyed and complained all the way to the clearing.
"You were supposed to stay on point, boy. Why were you wandering around? You could have ruined the entire hunt." The complaint never stopped until Sam waved a hand and abruptly asked for silence. They could all see the weak glow in the grass at that point and Sam's order not to chase the Wisp away lay like poison in the air between him and the senior Winchester, but at least the chatter stopped.
Approaching carefully Samisfallen was able to stir the Wisp away by providing the smallest amount of energy to the dying nymph and the Winchesters set to work digging up what Sam assured them was an unmarked grave. He could feel John Winchester's gaze on the back of his head and he knew there would be questions later. He took a turn at the shoveling while the other two kept the angry spirit at bay. Even with their caution, however, Dean ended up getting tossed away by the ghost. Sam heard Dean's head hit a rock.
Even then John's focus never wavered. Sam scraped the bones as clean as he could and climbed out of the hole, just avoiding getting salt poured on him. John only said "You need to be quicker".
The gasoline followed and the grave and the spirit went up in flames together. Only then did John glance at Dean. "You want to go check on him? I'll finish this."
Sam moved to Dean and lifted his head. As he had feared, there was a knot on the back of the young Hunter's head. Sam's fingers came away filmed with blood.
John called out, "How is he?"
"He hit his head on a rock and he's out cold but other than a lump and maybe a headache to come I think he might be alright." Sam answered.
"Can you get him to the car while I finish this? I'll check him over at the motel." John then turned back to pounding the spirit's embers into dust and feeding the fire more fuel.
Sam lifted Dean easily and drag-walked the unconscious young man away through the trees. When he was completely hidden from John Samisfallen propped Dean against a tree trunk and searched for a hidden knife. He found a steel blade in Dean's boot and pulled it out. The iron content was so twisted and beaten and allied with carbon and nickel that the iron was almost inert. It was so modified by the tinkering of man that Samisfallen could handle it easily, its natural properties weakened to almost null.
He used it to slash his palm and ran his bleeding hand over Dean's wound. The Fae blood transformed; sucked Dean's blood into itself and increased in volume. It worked its way into the gash, healing and purifying along the way. Once inside it soothed the hematoma that was pooling blood under the bone and used the extra blood to heal. Dean's skull began to knit and the gash started to close.
In a few more moments Dean's eyes began to flutter. He breathed a deep sigh and moved his hand to the back of his head. "Ow," he exclaimed and opened his eyes completely. Sam's face filled Dean's horizon and he smiled weakly at the teenager. "Hunt finished?" He asked.
"Yes, it's done. Your Dad is burning the bones right now. He'll be with us shortly." Sam ran his fingers lightly down the young Hunter's face, tracing the line of his cheekbone and lips delicately.
Samisfallen smiled. "You know that you're a pretty thing, don't you?" He laughed as Dean's eyes widened in surprise. Leaning over Samisfallen pulled Dean to his feet and they slowly resumed their trek to the car with the Fae's arm around Dean's waist.
There was a light "ping" and the Fae Prince caught sight of the weak flicker of the wounded sprite. It had followed the Prince and now was settled on the back of Dean's head, trying desperately to draw the last of the Fae blood into its body.
Samisfallen raised his slashed palm. The gash was closing fast but there was still enough blood flowing to attract the sprite by the mild iridescent glow. The fairy Lantern left its refuge on the back of Dean's head and settled on Samisfallen's palm. It dipped its butterfly wings into the small smear of royal blood and gained another few minutes of life.
Sam was torn between the wounded Hunter and the dying creature. He was selfishly involved with the wellbeing of the Hunter but he also owed the sprite consideration as its liege Lord. He turned his head away from Dean and brought his hand to his mouth. A quick intake of breath and the little nymph's suffering was over. Samisfallen felt the bubble of its magic burst upon his tongue in a quick shower of sweetness.
XXXXXXX
Back at the Impala Samisfallen settled Dean into the front seat. He found a red plaid blanket on the floor of the back seat and wrapped it carefully around the Hunter. This close Samisfallen could feel the Fae blood moving throughout Dean's body. It wasn't enough to effect any major changes and most of the magic had been exhausted healing the head wound but wherever it traveled through Dean's blood stream small adjustments were made. Pathogens and minor invaders were killed, left behind for human white blood cells to sweep away. Small nicks and cuts on the skin healed over seamlessly.
Since most of the blood was concentrated in his Dean's head Samisfallen was amused to note that small, old scars began to shrink. One eyebrow had a minor slash and now the scar dissolved leaving fresh skin to grow hair again. In a little while that mark marring the young man's face would completely disappear, Samisfallen thought.
Dean's head was lying on the back of the bench seat and his eyes were closed. Believing the young man to be sleeping Samisfallen once again trailed his fingers over Dean's face. He ran a careful finger along the eyelashes resting on the young man's cheekbones, pressed a hesitant finger over Dean's lips and rolled the lower lip down to feel the heat trapped inside then flitted over the long column of Dean's throat.
Dean rolled his head from side to side and Samisfallen stopped his exploration. There would be plenty of time to uncover all the hidden flesh as long as the Prince didn't ruin his changes by being too bold. He could wait.
