Left, right, turn kick. The hedge maze went on forever and one of the mandragora had Sam by the leg trying to drag him into the soil below.
"Sam!" Dean ran forward crashing through the little plant men to help his brother. CRACK! He laid the thing low with a well placed hit with the butt of his gun and pulled and strained mightily to get his brother up and out of the earth. It was only when Sam was on his feet that he saw little hands clutching up at them from where Sam had been.
"Dean," Sam tugged on his arm, pulling his brother from his reverie. "We've got to get out of here!"
Another turn, then straight and huge rusted gate stood before them blocking their way to a formerly beautiful now bone-dry fountain beyond. The fountain seemed to be craved from a single enormous block of granite with a nude female angel emerging from a rose and holding a great dish on her back with her wings on either side. All along and trailing up the angel rose vines grew and tangled with each other.
Dean gave a deep tortured groan and let his head drop. "It's just so typical…"
"What?" Sam asked, looking at his brother.
"Look." Dean said pointing far beyond the fountain; the door to the castle was just beyond their grasp.
"Damn it!"
"Great, here come our friends." Dean groaned, his back to his brother.
"We haven't tried left yet, let's go!"
To the left and to the right ran a great rose covered stonewall. They ran and finally came to an ancient aspen growing against and through the wall. The granite bricks had crumbled out in a pile on both sides of the wall but hadn't left a whole wide enough to slip through.
"We'll have to climb." Sam said his eyes running up the trunk of the tree. "Dean, give me a boost."
"Right." He was right behind him, braced himself and Sam stepped into his offered hand.
Sam just barely reached the lowest branch, took hold of it and just as he began to pull himself up the branch snapped and he fell hard on his back. "Son of a bitch!"
"They're back." The plant creatures surged forward as a hungrily legion. "Sam, help me. Maybe we can push in these bricks."
They grunted and groaned against the wall, and at last the bricks began to give way. "Yes!" Sam cried grabbing his gun. "Damn it, yes!"
The pair struggled through the small space just as the mandragora reached them, each monster slowing down and slipping past the wall single file. Dean smiled grimly and flipped them off as they ran hard to the fountain and the castle door beyond.
"Mother fucker!" Dean groaned. The great oaken castle door was locked. Just as they were about to curse God and die two marble statues appeared- two knights, one missing his sword, the other his shield.
"You go right, " Sam ordered. "And I'll go left."
They split up running through the open courtyard. Sam found his first. The statue was a replica of the knight statues guarding the door, but this one had both its shield and sword.
He walked slowly, yet determinedly forward not noticing the mandragora burrowing away into the soil. Ten feet away the earth shook and dust fell from the knight as it started to move!
Sam stared in wonder, a real golem! And it was holding the key.
Dean crouched over, his hands on his knees, and he was struggling to catch his breath. Unlike Sam no little plant men followed him, it had been an easy run, but exhausting.
"I've gotta take up jogging." He said to himself.
He stood up straight and wiped his forehead. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a new creature. It looked like a tiny wingless demon hardly knee high. It wore a hooded cloak and carried a small gnarled wooden staff. The little man, smiled showing off the mouth full of sharp teeth, but unlike the little plant men the creature's all black eyes seemed friendly, harmless, and playful.
The little man gave a friendly wave. "Hello!" He said in a rough high-pitched voice.
Dean waved back, smiled, and cursed. Just as Dean finished waving green lightening shot from the creature's staff and suddenly the hunter felt much lighter.
"Aww, you've got to be kidding me!" All of his equipment was gone. The little man pulled down one eyelid, bent over, spanked his ass, and then disappeared.
"Come and find me." It said in a playful voice. Dean ran forward and came to the same wall. "Oh, you're so hot right now!"
He looked up and saw the little man waving down to him. From left to right he looked and saw a rusted ladder drilled into the side of the wall. "I'm coming for you."
The wall on this side was much wider than where they entered it was made for people to fight on. Just as he was about to reach the creature it teleported away and reappeared into the hedge maze below, and once again it smiled and waved at him.
Then something began to happen, the wall began to shake, and deep within a dark hole in the wall a golem came alive, raised its sword, and stalked toward the helpless hunter.
"Oh, you little bastard."
"Well, it's a good thing I prepared for ghosts…" Sam grumbled under his breath. "I'd hate to survive this and ruin today's streak."
All around it was nothing but grass and the stonewall beyond. Maybe there was a way to out smart it? The construct seemed to only walk- never run. Maybe he could use that to his advantage?
Sam charged forward dodged under a swing of the sword and a bash of the shield and finally got behind it. As hard as he could he hit the thing in the bend of its leg with the butt of his gun and as it crumbled to its knees he turned the gun around and shot it point blank with the rock salt.
A large chunk of rock fell from the golem's back! The good news, it worked even with the rock salt. The bad news, he had to get in close.
The golem shrugged, knocking Sam to the ground and the gun from his hands. It stood turned around raised its sword high and slammed it hard in the ground sending twigs, little stones, and dirt spraying through the air.
Sam's eyes grew big as he saw the sword come down and rolled just in time feeling the sword scrape his back. He rolled to his knees and then to his feet. Wincing as he moved as the blood soaked through his shirt.
The hunter leapt and skidded to a stop with the gun in his hands. Just as he grabbed it the construct was over him once again. Sam rolled quickly on his back raised the gun and BAM! BAM! Two shots hit the thing, one in the shoulder, and the other where its gut would be.
The golem stumbled back as rock crumbled off it. Sam got to his feet and while running reloaded his gun. Running quickly, he circled around it ran forward and put two more shots in the golem's leg and watched as it crumbled to the ground.
It was helpless now, and drug itself along the ground. The hunter stood there a moment to catch his breath. He put it out of his misery with five more shots.
At last the shield was his.
The golem walked forward and with each step the wall shook under its weight. Dean was stuck against a break in the wall and was too high to jump down.
There was no delaying the construct, it walked always forward, and it wasn't long before it reached Dean. It towered over him, raised its sword, swung, and the wall gave out taking man and golem with it in a pile of rubble.
Dean was the first to rise. Oh how his body ached. Each step, each breath was searing pain. He limped along and once again saw the little man waving at him.
He tried so hard to make his legs run, but they could not and would not. The hunter finally reached the creature and it teleported away once again and reappeared on a pile of shrub-covered rocks.
On his belly he climbed, because he could no longer stand. Blood was pouring from his nose, mouth, and the cuts and scraps that lined his body. He pulled himself to the top and this time the little man didn't teleport away he only smiled and patted the dying hunter on the head.
"Look." The creature said pointing to a stone basin with green light rising up from its depths.
Dean struggled to raise his head and finally saw what the little man was pointing to.
"Touch the light! Touch the light!" Then the little man teleported away leaving Dean alone with his equipment and the basin to explore.
He slowly pulled himself up the stone basin on will alone. Dean stood there a moment on wobbly legs swaying back and forth and then plugged his hands deep into the basin.
This was like nothing he'd felt before; it was like life energy flowing into him. Even when Cas healed him he had only healed his wounds, but this was different. Pure life filled him, broken bones mended, shattered teeth reformed and were like new, even old and new cuts and scars we gone. He felt like he just got the best night's sleep of his life. Hell, even his clothes were like new.
"Well," he said looking at the now dimmed light. "I'll be a son of a bitch. I could just kiss that little bastard." Dean turned and picked up his things. "Even showed me where the key is. Too bad it's in the hands of a walking statue of doom."
Dean came into the clearing where the golem stood. The thing had lost its left arm and shoulder in the fall and huge portions of its head and back was missing. He smiled, the construct had fallen first and was buried under the stone blocks now it was mostly defeated and struggled to stay balanced when it walked.
It took one step, two, and a third. It tried for a forth, then wobbled and crumbled into a pile on its belly. It was dead and the stone sword laid flat on the ground. Dean looked at the construct's ruin, smiled and said to himself. "Hmm, not just kiss I'm going to give that little guy a full on blowjob for that."
Sam had already placed the shield in the knight's offered hand by the time Dean arrived. He was chewing on a stick of gum and walked up without a word and slipped the sword into the knight's hand and heard a click.
They both looked at the door and it was Sam who gave the first tentative tug. The door was heavy but slid with a loud squeak and a groan under Sam's pull.
The pair took the first steps inside and the door slammed shut behind them. They looked at each other and Dean shook his head. "I can't believe how much trouble this has been and we've just started. Almost makes me wish we were fighting the leviathans again."
As he finished talking Sam slowly faded away and then disappeared all together. Dean's troubles were just beginning.