High Noon – chpt 9.
by: sifi.
OOooOO
Enough! Sam thought raising his arm up as another corded tentacle slammed into the ground close enough for the spine to grab the front of his shirt. He slammed his hand down on the thing just as Dean's alto voice howled from the other side of the chamber and a frightening "Crack!" seemed to seek him out. It's gotta be like Argus, some guardian of the way.
"DEAN!" Shep hollered in time with Sam.
The youngest Winchester stood up, "That's enough out of you... I got freakin' Doc-Oc over here smashing the crap out of my brother! Uh uh, NOT gonna happen!" he leaned his weight on the tentacle, "GUARDIAN!" He called loudly.
"Sam…" Dean seemed barely able to grunt.
"Are you injured?" Imdugud could be heard asking in the darkness.
"Mmm…m'alright…" Dean's voice strained.
"We're trying to reach the dragon! The son of Enlil is on his way to her, if you don't let us pass…"
The whipping tentacles slowed and a whisper of rhythm swept through the cavern, "Who would think to order me?" it asked.
"I am Marduk, son of Enki, of the Line of Ea. You exist FOR ME!" Sam hollered furiously feeling his whole body trembling around him. "We ARE the party of the king and his gallas! DO NOT force our will!" he challenged hoping the thing couldn't feel his body trembling through the ground.
"You are not the first pretenders I have faced…" its susurration said.
"In nomine deos et imperius n'deus haz ma' te' aungularum et quivnos olah, ahlom enno ta'te!" Dean spat, stumbling through the darkness to Sam's side, clutching his left arm tightly to his chest while the thing retreated into the shadows.
If Sam didn't know better he would have sworn the ball of eyes and tentacles was bowing as it retreated.
"Dean…" he breathed wrapping his arm around the older man, "what'd you do? What'd you say? What the hell kind of mishmash was that?" he asked, "… oh hell… your cast…" he breathed all at once.
"What'd you say boy?" Bobby asked standing besides Shep, neither man knowing just what to make of all these… things plaguing John's boys.
Dean shrugged as Ammit and Imdugud lit torches placed at intervals around the cavern. His expression belied his pain, the cast that had once cradled his fragile arm had been shattered with a piercing from one the creature's spines, and the forearm itself was bleeding copiously.
"Here…" Shep stepped forward wrapping a bandana around the slice, frightened by the fact that the cut was deep enough for him to see bone, though he hid it well enough.
"I told it to honor its king or I'd kill it with a breath…" he winced looking around the group of concerned faces dancing in firelight, "I think… well at least it felt like I was saying something like that…"
Holding his brother up, Sam could feel the older man shudder as if frozen to the core. His heart pounded in fear and he shook his head. He tried to deal with the situation the way Dean would want him to, "If you threatened it with your hangover breath I can see why it retreated…" he smirked peeling away the last remnants of the cast. "Dean… I think you should go back."
OOooOO
The copper colored deity turned at the sound of those big fuzzy feet striding over the grasses, "Did you get it?" he asked.
"You would doubt me my old friend?" Cernunnos stepped out of the sandals grinning and holding up a plastic bag full of ash and bone.
Anunnaki shook his clean shaven head and grinned, "Not really," his gaze swept over the woodland God, "You look like one of the meandering ones."
"You mean a bum?" Cernunnos grinned sweeping his favorite t-shirt over his head. He handed it to a sidhe who folded it, placed it atop the sandals and waited patiently for him to step out of the brown corduroy pants he liked so well.
"I believe that is the correct term," the copper colored God nodded watching the small warrior fold the pants as well then take the whole bundle and stuff it unceremoniously into the bole of a tree-stump.
"How they spend all their time in those things I have no idea!" Cernunnos grinned while running his hands up and down his legs and over his hips to fluff up his wooly fur once again.
"Most of them are not as hairy as you," the Babylonian observed holding the bag and waiting with just a hint of impatience while the other got himself adequately adjusted, "Do you think the yellow haired boy will be able to do it?"
"They call him Tommy, and I think so," the Celt nodded, "either way it has to be done by a human, and the champion is a little busy right now."
"He is wounded," Anunnaki said softly.
Cernunnos' gaze snapped to him, "What?"
"The guardian of the entryway…"
He felt his eyes pop wide, his heart hammered, "He was STUNG?" and his mouth turned down.
"Yes."
"Then we have less time than we thought," the Celt sighed then crouched before the sidhe at his side, "go to the pool and fetch this much," he held his hands out together with the palms cupped upward, "of the sacred clay and bring it back to me," he commanded watching the warrior shimmer away.
"It alone will not save him…" Anunnaki shook his head.
"It will give him time. You know it will take the both of them together or all will be lost," Cernunnos rose to his full height, looking the ancient God in the eyes, "Tom's body was only broken a little, he should be healed by now. When I have finished mixing the clay you will bring it to him then fetch Gader'el from the old hunter's lands, and have him instruct the boy."
The sidhe warrior returned, weighed down with a mound of gray clay the size of the God of Fertility and Rebirth's head.
With a wave of his hand, the stump under which his human raiment's were kept began to change. The bark covered edges rose up and the worn smooth top beveled downward in accordance with its visible rings creating a very large bowl.
"Thank you," Cernunnos nodded relieving the warrior of his burden and placing it into the bowl. The warrior then handed over a flask. The deity nodded, pouring the crystal clear water over the clay.
He plunged his hands into basin and began to knead the mixture until it appeared that the bowl was filled with heavy gray mud.
To the side another of the sidhe appeared carrying two large bowls of stone.
Cernunnos swept his hands clean of the mixture, oblivious to the crowd that had gathered around him as he moved through the simple ritual of creation that hadn't been performed in such a way in nearly six thousand years.
He glanced at the sidhe on his right, taking the sacred dagger from his hand, "Thank you," he nodded poking the tip into the vein of his right arm and drawing it upwards by an inch.
All those around him bore witness to the sight as he let his blood run into the mud until it was a color somewhere between butterscotch and chocolate. Then of its own accord the slice sealed itself and the woods God returned his fists to the mix working his blood thoroughly into the combination, his eyes now closed in concentration as the energy of creation moved through him.
Some time later he opened his eyes and breathed deeply with a smile, "Wow, haven't done that in quite a while!" he chuckled taking the first stone bowl and filling it with the sacred mixture. He then took the second bowl, handing the first one back to the same sidhe and instructed, "Find the champion, they have entered the underworld through the guardian's doorway so you should be able to pass through it now. He is wounded and his time is short. Bind the wound with this and make sure they know it is only a temporary measure, they must reach Tiamat before the marauder does, then stay with them, render any aid you can."
The warrior nodded as a fine layer of stone grew over the top of the bowl, keeping the contents safe. He slid the treasure into a pack and slipped from the grotto.
"Alright," he nodded at Anunnaki who leaned over the basin and added the contents of the plastic bag. He watched grinning as the ancient Celt worked the ash and bone into the clay mix. "What?" he asked the grinning Babylonian.
"I am embarrassed to say that I of all did not realize…"
Cernunnos shook his head casting a glance at his old friend, "You had already taken up residence with the exiled when Ereshkegal killed Inanna the first time. There would be no reason for you remember or to even know what Enki had done with her ashes."
"Still I should have known he would never simply let her fade," he nodded, "But keeping her remains safe…" he chuckled, "I guess that's why he was the first king of the Gods."
The Celt nodded, "Those tablets have had almost as many incarnations as all three of their souls."
"Yes, but hiding them in plain sight as simple story cylinders? And ensuring the safety of her remains by sealing them inside those cylinders it is quite clever."
"Except that Nergal somehow discovered that the cylinders actually WERE the tablets of destiny. Do you think he realized they were weighted with her remains?" Cernunnos asked scooping the last of the mix into the second bowl.
"Even if he did, it's fairly obvious he didn't care. Foolish child," Anunnaki shook his head then met Cernunnos' eyes as he took the bowl from his hands, "You do realize that after this is done, NONE of them will ever again be the same humans you have come to love so?"
The Celt's smile was tinged with sadness as he nodded, "It is always hard to watch ones' children grow and go their own way," he clapped the Babylonian on his smooth copper shoulder, "But if you recall correctly, it was YOU who reminded me that if they are to have a fighting chance, that they MUST be changed. They cannot be allowed to stumble through the darkness any longer, they must be made to KNOW what they are capable of."
Anunnaki nodded, "Indeed. Though I understand why you were so reluctant," he started to move away, "Will you be watching?"
"I will make the rounds to the portals, ensure that all is going as it should be… after that I will be."
"Do not endanger yourself my old friend, if the universe survives then there will be need of fertility and rebirth," Anunnaki warned before sliding through the veil to seek the human boy swimming in the sacred pool.
OOooOO
The marauder stopped at the lightless entrance ahead. Even his advance igigi could not be seen though he was more concerned with listening for what might come. He would hear them die.
Above and below the entrance jagged fangs of rock appeared ready to snap shut while billows of sulfuric smoke puffed from holes in the floor or ceiling at any given moment. The stench of rot and decay mingled deep in the recesses of his nose as he moved forward frowning with all three of his stony mouths. Nine eyes scanned the cavernous expanse around him, watching, waiting, his sights alert on every spectrum.
Reds and yellows shone against blacks and grays detecting heat or cold in this foreign world, while greens pitched against other varieties of blacks and grays taking advantage of the faintest light much like the felines of this realm. And with the final three of his nine eyes lacking stimulation of any kind, he was relegated to whatever his other senses could tell him.
Something is not right… he pulled the bronze map from his satchel and examined it carefully. Once he'd entered the passage from the place called Massacre Rocks, Love that name… he smiled, the landscape of the map shifted, showing him the way to the dragon. Only HER fire can re-forge Enki's blade… then for his transgressions it will be HE who finds himself on trial… Shaking his head he backed away from the entrance taking in the multitude of strange formation, the stalactites and stalagmites that reached for one another.
Peering into the blackness he could see ripples in the ground as if floes of molten rock had cooled suddenly while in the process of pushing forward, and he wasn't quite sure but it appeared as if a ledge of rock had broken away from one of the side walls and seemed to form a ramp, though exactly where it led to, he couldn't have said.
There is no turning back, the others should have returned by now, he told himself motioning two more of his igigi into the blackness before them, this time daring to follow closely enough to keep an eye on them as they entered the stony orifice.
A gluttonous fatty gurgle from their master halted the igigi as he turned back, motioning two more to approach.
Raising his arms at those who had been behind him that same strange bubbling fatty sound seemed to envelop the creatures. Their already malignant faces contorted and twisted as their forms were altered. Their smooth smoky dart-like 'bodies' writhed and pulled, with extremities being forced out of their shapes. Their snub-like ends that held those warty sinister faces cleaved into three and grew pinched and longer, each new head growing a muzzle of snapping slavering canine ferocity until both new creatures sat at their master's feet, all three heads panting and exhausted.
This will do. He spoke again, his instructions unmistakable. These newly minted three-headed dogs had but one task now. Let none other than he, pass this way.
With each canine diligent on either side of the tunnel entrance, the marauder turned back, following closely on the heels of the other two igigi while the last half dozen remained at his back to be used in any way he saw fit.
As blackness engulfed them all, and the only sight left to the marauder was the orange of his own heat, or the occasional flicker of orange or yellow occasionally visible where perhaps parts of the tunnel wall had grown thin enough to be warmed by whatever molten rapture lay outside he realized he would need light.
Motioning one of the troops behind him to come forward he halted in his tracks, grasped the igigi by the tail and spoke. Its scream was cut off as each mote of its essence glowed a faint yellow. Each bit of light slowly feeding the next as he held it aloft, trapped in his grip and slowly being eaten away as it combusted molecule by molecule for its master.
That's better, he smiled to himself turning back toward the long end of the tunnel before him, only to find that the two leading igigi were nowhere to be seen. Where did they go? With frustration gnawing in his belly he motioned two more forward, more determined this time to keep his eyes on them as he progressed deeper into the dragon's lair.
OOooOO
When the cracked stony ground gave way to soft, cool grass full of the scent of green and the feel of moisture whatever was left of the woman that was once Laura thought for certain that she would cry. It would have been a much easier task if there'd been moisture inside to let out, but at least the sentiment was there.
Something in the color, or maybe the freshness seemed to fortify her. In what was left of her mind she remembered Dean standing here, the man she loved and had for some reason died for, why was that again? Or maybe it was a dream… had stood here, or somewhere very like 'here' in a pair of blue boxers and had watched without lifting a finger as whatever her body had once been, was drawn through the gates of the underworld, taken through that seventh gate on the Road to Dead and left to fend for herself.
I thought there was something important. He was my king… he left me, abandoned me? If she wasn't afraid her neck would break, she would consider shaking her head, no more together… together, for ever… my king, my son, my love… together…Ah! Yes I remember now… it will take them together… yes. I have a duty. Duty first, vengeance later. She tempted fate with a faint nod as her fingers sank into the rich moist soil, I must remember, duty first, then revenge.
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A/N With luck… chapter 10 will come up on time next week. :D Thanks for all of your forgiveness and support between High Noon and Resurrection.
tbc.
Please R&R
Thanks.
sifi