Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize.
A loud caw made Roger sit bolt upright, almost banging his head against the stone outcrop. He blinked, and remembered where he was. He lowered his body and crept out of the overhang, careful not to wake the others.
He looked around; the dawn light was just creeping into the sky.
A loud screech made him whirl. A crow sat on the overhang.
Roger lowered himself into a crouch and leapt. The crow took off long before he hit, and Roger stood up.
He looked the way they come, examining it in the light. They'd jumped down the cliff, onto a plateau, run across the plateau and jumped down an second cliff. They now stood on a second plateau, rockier than the first.
Roger noticed something. Against the gray cliffs in the distance, tan blurs were moving. Which put their pursuers about half a mile away.
"Shit." Roger swore, and leapt down from the overhang.
"Guys! Wake up!" Roger almost roared but thought better of it.
XXX
Sam stood up, and glanced at the were-panther. Roger's yellow eyes were worried, and his lip was curled slightly.
"What's going on?" Sam asked, helping Dean to his paws. His brother had struggled to rise, his muscles were clearly stiff.
Roger flattened his ears against his head. "The hunting party's too close for comfort. We've got to go!"
"Fine with me." Castiel spoke now, shaking his black fur out.
Sam glanced at Dean, wondering if his brother could make it. Dean had quit leaning against Sam's shoulder but didn't look much better.
XXX
Sam was relieved that the trail was down hill. He and Dean were having no trouble keeping up with the were-panthers now. Castiel lead the way, Roger bringing up the rear. The only noise was their footsteps on the rock.
It had taken the group about twenty minutes to get down the cliff, since they stopped for a break every so often. Roger looked as relax as ever, the panther was clearly happy to be back in his element. They were heading down the canyon, enjoying the shade.
"Uriel, There they are!" The cry made the four look up. A panther was peering down at them, before it lunged down slightly, followed by a second one.
Dean swore. "Son of a bitch!" He took off running down the canyon, pretty well considering his injuries. But they'd probably started healing by now. Sam and Castiel ran after.
Sam glanced over his shoulder; Roger was following at a slight distance, the panther raced to catch up with them.
The group speed through the canyon, the hunting patrol not far behind. Roger growled in his throat, and put on a burst of speed. Sam and Dean glanced at the cat and double their speed, surpassing him. Roger fell back, letting Castiel keep up with the wolves. The increase in speed put them further ahead of Uriel and his patrol. Suddenly Dean slid to a stop, Sam and Castiel did too, forcing Roger to stop as well.
"Damn. When did this get here?" Roger asked, staring at the pile of logs in front of them. Sam couldn't tell if the damn comment was supposed to be a pun.
Castiel answered quickly. "During that bad storm, part of the mountain eroded, and a bunch of trees fell here. About half of the pine forest is gone. Even those really old trees."
Roger started leaping up the trees. "Wonderful." He commented, before glancing down at them. "You coming or you want to go back?" Sam and Dean started scrambling up the logs, Castiel leapt up after them.
After about five minutes of climbing Roger glanced back. "Sam, Dean, shift human, you'll be able to climb easier. I forgot your claws were different than ours."
XXX
Castiel heard Roger's order and glanced over his shoulder. Dean and Sam had already shift human, and were climbing a little easier. They were still behind him though.
Castiel glanced at the taller of the two, who was climbing a little easier.
"Come on Dean." The man spoke. Castiel jerked his gaze to Dean and stopped climbing.
Dean had light brown hair, with a rough look to him. He was covered in patches of dried blood from where he'd been injured. But Dean had determined look on his face and was slowly but surely hauling himself up the logs.
"Oh, fine." Roger muttered, and a tan blur flew by Castiel. Roger carefully leapt down the logs back to where Dean was.
"Shift to wolf." Roger ordered. "Now!" Dean shifted back into the black wolf, and Roger did something weird. He moved around Dean as he shifted, for no apparent reason. Then Castiel saw what Roger was doing. As Dean shifted to wolf he ended up on Roger's back.
"Hold on tight." Roger told Dean as he tensed his muscles. Several large bounds put him right underneath Castiel.
"Grab Dean, and I'll go help Sam." Roger looked up at Castiel. Dean slid off Roger and the panther turned to help Sam.
Dean shifted human and put his hands against the logs.
"Here." Castiel shifted human and offered Dean his hand.
Dean looked up, and after a moment, took it. Castiel strained a little, but helped Dean up to where he was.
A loud caw made the two look over. A crow was perched on one of the logs above them.
Castiel narrowed his eyes, wondering if it was the same crow as before. "Climb to that log where he is."
"I've heard crows sometimes attack people." Dean commented, "If they come to close to their nest."
Castiel nodded. "Yes, but we're not near his nest, no bird would be stupid enough to build a nest here. And if it attacks, eat it or something."
Dean snorted as he started to climb. "Eat it or something. Cas, you are just hilarious."
Castiel blinked. "Thank you Dean." He said, confused. Used to being kicked around by the other were-panthers, he'd wasn't used to people saying nice things to him. Not since Roger had left.
Dean pulled himself up on the log, and the crow hopped away. Something suddenly shoved him on to the log.
"Move." Sam ordered, as he pulled himself up.
"Bitch." Dean muttered.
Sam just pulled himself further up the pile. "Jerk."
Castiel was about to comment, but decided against it.
"Where's Roger?" Dean asked, peering around Sam as if the were-panther would appear there.
Sam paused. "He went back, he's trying to slow them down. He promised he'd catch up."
Dean looked down, and Castiel saw him tense. He peered down as well, to see what had distressed the were-wolf.
Roger stood on a log, swiping at any panther that came to close to him. He occasionally leapt up, before turning to attacking the other pumas.
"Crap." Sam murmured softly, as he leaned over a little. Dean grabbed him by his shirt collar to prevent Sam from falling down.
Castiel felt it first, the log underneath them shifting.
"Umm…" He glanced at Sam and Dean. They clearly hadn't noticed.
Castiel still remembered what the Canyon had looked like before the pile of logs formed a dam. A river, not a very powerful one, but a deep one ran along the bottom. It was about thirty feet deep at its shallowest and the canyon was only fifty feet deep.
He and Roger had loved to play in the water, swimming on the hottest days of summer. Often times they swam as humans, since they were used to that form. They were only panthers when they needed to travel long distances or had to fight.
But the logs formed a dam. This just now occurred to Castiel. Since in the winter, the Canyon dried up, when the storm hit the logs had formed a dam. Which meant there was water behind these logs.
Once again the log moved; this time Dean and Sam looked up.
"Son of a bitch." Dean muttered, glancing at Castiel. A low rumble was building underneath the logs.
XXX
Roger heard the noise coming from behind the pile. Shit! The water! Roger thought, it finally dawning on him what was missing from the canyon.
When all of us were climbing, we must have shifted the logs. Roger glanced up to the top of the pile. Castiel said trees of all sizes piled up here. Who knows what trees work as a lever to shift a larger one.
Roger staggered as a hard blow hit his shoulder. Uriel had climbed up to where he stood. Roger braced himself for the fight that…
Never came. Because just as Roger braced himself, a tree, deep inside the pile, shifted. The tree Roger was perched on, rocked as the pile slowly gave out. A horizontal geyser of water shoved over the logs, and Roger just stared at it.
"Aw, crap."