Chapter 12


This was quickly becoming the worst job. Even the wendigo was better than this. It wasn't just the freakin' goblins, his missing brother, his missing father, the forest, or even Mae. It was that he didn't have a good bead on any of it. He had dropped in the middle of this ocean with no clue where the shore was. He swam aimlessly, his least favored direction. Going the wrong way would have been far more preferable. Because of all of those things, he was so far off his game, he knew he was making huge mistakes.

He had decided to double back to the place he and Mae had separated and then try to follow her presumed path. She had been moving towards the location on the map and even though he no longer had the map or the compass, he understood the general route and direction she had been heading. With any luck, there would be enough geographic signs and maybe, just maybe, she had marked her trail to make it easier for her to find her way back.

Sighing, he dragged a hand over his wet hair. He was absolutely soaked and there was no time to do much about. Had he not lost his gear, he would have had a change of clothes but in the skirmish, he wasn't sure where one of the two bags he'd been carrying landed. At least he had found one bag and his gun as well. Oh, this was so not worth it. It didn't matter what Sammy said, next stop he would be having fun by any means necessary. Sammy needed to have some fun too even if that was just… whatever that kid found fun these days. After Nebraska… Bloody Mary… they needed a break. Whatever Sammy's secret was… *crack*

Dean stopped, straightened. He held perfectly still, waiting for that sound again, any sound. Nothing was ever easy. It could be Mae and Sam, but they weren't likely to sneak up on him. He closed his eyes and repressed a shudder as the thought about the limited list of things it could be. Great, just great, he though as he was accosted by two more goblins.

This was a bigger fight than any of them realized. No wonder these creatures had been near impossible to pin down. He wasn't sure any more if he had killed the original duende that got the drop on he and Mae. This was much worse. Particularly because it meant, in all likelihood, that Mae and Sam were under similar attacks.

Or course, Dean wasn't the sort of man to just roll over and die. He fought the only way he knew how: dirty and rough. The creatures were relentless and just when he thought he had the upper hand he would be back down on the ground, getting his ass kicked. "Fuck it."

He didn't know if it would do any good but pulling the handgun from the back of his pants, he opened fire. Admittedly, it was a move more out of frustration than any real strategy. It might slow them down at any rate.


It wasn't surprising, as Mae stared casting and the air began thickening with the pungent herbs and roots, she had cast into the flames, that the duende's started appearing. They too had started to fill the small cave. She did not know if they were coming back to this area or had been there all along and were only manifesting in more physical ways. Sam stepped in to the fight now, keeping her in the clear so she could finish her job.

There couldn't have been more than 12 but it was an angry 12. Sam did his best to draw their attention towards him rather than Mae. The woman chanted as he fought the things off. She was disturbingly good at blocking out everything, even when the duendes started getting by Sam. She kept going although her rhythm was shot to hell, as she had to kick her tiny attackers away.

It however was a good sign that they were on the right track and if she could finish the modified exorcism ritual, they could put an end to it. It however wasn't going as well as she'd hoped. God, she could use Dean's help here. For all his faults, he was good in a pinch and damn near ideal in a fight. Up to that point Sam had wisely been using the sawed off as a club but there were too many goblins… or spirits or whatever they were. And they bit. Hoping the salt rounds would do something more than just piss them off, the young man took aim and shot.

The shot was mindbogglingly loud as it echoed in the cavern, but Mae did not so much as cast a wayward glance at Sam. Keeping a hold of her book, she threw more of the exorcism powder on the fire as she chanted. It appeared to be weakening them, although not by much when there were so many. She just needed time. A few more minutes and this would either be over. Or they'd be dead. Either way, at least they weren't just running around in circles. The duendes had realized that Sam wasn't the real threat. After all, the blunt force the taller man was exercising didn't exactly hit home. It probably angered them more than slowed them down.

"Shit."

At the curse in the exorcism ritual, Sam turned to look at her. Mae was on her knees, covered in the damn tiny creatures. She fought against them. He was at her side in seconds about to pull them off her. She had to finish. As he was about to come to her rescue, the redhead grabbed the nearest blunt object: a rock. He watched with a mixture of astonishment and disgust as she bashed it against one of the creature's head. She didn't stop until the thing stopped moving and the body melted back into mud.

Sam wasn't given the opportunity to think more about it as the duendes continued to take him on as well. With his help, she was free enough to get her hands back on her book. Sam smirked. Mae certainly could hold her own. He should have been more worried about himself because while duendes had turned more attention on the redhead, he was not in the clear. With a last prayer, she tossed the cloth containing the remains and herbs to conclude the spell into the fire as the onslaught of tiny fists and teeth pulled her down.

Mae held her breath as the flame shot higher. Her eyes squeezed shut. And it stopped. With hesitation, she opened one eye and then the other. "Thank God," she muttered under her breath as she let her head rest again the cave wall.

The fire burned peacefully now, small pops and crackles that were almost calming at that point. The cave was otherwise quiet. No more angry spirits but mud everywhere. Mark that down as a success in the book. Letting her head roll to the side she saw Sam wasn't joining in her little celebration. He was passed out cold. "Well hell."


Dean opened his eyes to find himself splayed on the forest floor. Alone. Beat to hell and soaking wet, a fist full of mud in each hand. "What the hell?"

He hoped that this wasn't just some ploy, that Sammy had pulled it off and this was all over. He had never been so glad at the prospect of getting back to his real life, or whatever it was that he lived. He had to find his brother and Mae. The man had no plans of letting himself get taken by surprise again and he was not going to let it happen to Mae or Sam again.

He would give his right arm for a satellite phone right now or any kind of decent reception. It did however take them back to their roots of camping, hunting, and survival skills. He would find them, no doubt but there were no guarantees that they were safe or that those creatures were dead. From the time they were little, they were trained to track but also leave clues for the one of them to find. With any luck Mae still remembered or Sammy was with her. He had hiked for about an hour, rather aimlessly, until he noticed another sound. Relieved to know this wasn't an attack, he smiled.

Mae's indiscreet swearing was the sweetest sound he had heard this entire trip. Dean realized he was up against a nearly impossible search since had no idea where or if he was going to find the young woman and his kid brother. It was a wide area and going on vague directions only, he knew he had a better chance of not finding them. How she had gotten over the ledge was still a mystery, he though as he peered over the side of the steep slope. He could have called out to her but watching her get his giant brother on that contraption was more amusing if she was unaware of him being there. They were both safe, which put him at ease although looked like they had been just as occupied as he had been. Besides, his energy was better spent finding a way down to them.

Dusting her hands off on her pants, Mae stood. She was fairly proud of herself and her ingenuity. Not that she could or would brag about it. She didn't exactly have a lot of other hash marks in the win column on this one. Sam was out again but she wasn't as worried as she had been the first time. She too was worn out and would have preferred to not be awake either. But she was and she still needed to get Sam back to their original camp site. They were hardly in the clear.

Then there was Dean. With any luck, the ritual had exorcised all of the duendes in the area but, again, there was no way to know without talking to Dean or checking out the town. She found it odd that she was worried about him. The man was competent, more than just competent really, as a hunter. But this was a tricky one and he wasn't thinking clearly.

She knew a part of that was her fault, that she had antagonized him more than necessary and she wasn't even clear as to why. He was doing the same thing to her. They were both well aware that their bickering and fighting had gotten out of hand. She understood how that had clouded their thoughts. The other issue clouding his thinking on this was his missing brother. While the lanky younger Winchester was no longer lost, Dean had no way to know that they weren't both dead. Although, she was fairly certain he was more concerned about Sam being alive than he was about her.

She needed Sam awake and somewhat cogent so they could get out of this. They hadn't saved the kids, but they had stop more from going missing. The hunters' mantra of 'you can't save everyone,' echoed in her head. It wasn't the way she had wanted this to go down. Mae sighed, casting a glance at Sam as she picked up one end of the makeshift stretcher and started to make her way off the mountain. He looked almost peaceful.

To her side, she heard the skittering of dirt and rocks. She was not looking forward to another round of fighting and quite frankly, she wasn't certain she had one in her. If they hadn't actually destroyed the duendes… Mae lowered Sam to the ground gently as she crouched, trying to make it look discreet as she slid the wicked looking knife out of her boot. She didn't even know if it would help her, but all of her other weapons were in her bag and not so easy to reach. Waiting a moment for the rustling again, she turned with the knife ready to strike.

A relieved sigh deflated her body when she realized it was only Dean. "Fuck sake, Dean." She wasn't about to tell him that he'd scared her, so she just took in his disheveled appearance. "What the hell have you been doing?"

"Went for a swim. You?"

She tucked the knife back into her boot, stood back up before resting a fist on her hip, trying to hide the smile she felt coming over her. "We were busy saving the day. You look like crap."

He was covered in mud and water from the river although she was certain she didn't look much better. "Yeah and you'll win the beauty pageant yourself."

Mae had taken a spill down that hill she had thought wasn't any big deal. When her feet when flying out from under her, she was glad that little goblin had gone to lengths to separate them because while she might end up toeless or dead. Her red hair stuck out at odd angles with leaves and dirt, and blood, dirt, and mud scattered around her face and ripped clothing. "I'm no Ned Beatty but I have my charms."

She was a weird girl, but he laughed all the same. "Fair enough. What's wrong with Sam?"

"He's total and complete dead weight. But I think he'll be okay. I mostly wanted to get him out of here. We had a hell of an afternoon and... he's just unconscious but I don't think there's anything more serious."

Dean wasn't sure. "Did you take care of them? There's more than one you know."

"Yeah, I got that. Turns out they were spirits. We laid down some mojo and took care of the lot of 'em."

The girl sighed. "Why don't you help me lug his ass back to camp?"

"Camp?" He asked as he went to help her pick up his brother. "We are not going back to camp. Even though those things are dead, we're getting the hell outta here."

Dean took the lead as he had found the way down to the gully. He would have been satisfied getting out of their as fast as possible. Mae just had to argue. "Hey pal, I'm all for outta here but maybe you notice it took us a day and a half to get this far and we won't be making any land speed records with your brother outta commission. Dead goblins or not I'm not making this hunt perfect by trying to make our way back in the dark."

He hated when she was right, but she was. "Fine. You couldn't have found a more inconvenient place to have this little lie down."

She glowered even though she knew he was only trying to get a rise out of her. Mae was going to take the high road but still felt the need to complain about something as they made their way to higher ground. "Dude you brother is freakish. Who gets this big?"

Dean smiled all the same, glad she couldn't see the grin. No one could call Dean or Mae short compared to the general population but his 'little' brother towered over them both. "Aw, c'mon teamwork, Red."

"Teamwork, my ass." She grumbled but felt better about this whole hunt than she had in days.