Previously: They rescue Benny from Luthor's camp and during their escape, Nia gets to kill Luthor by hacking him into a million pieces. They keep running, chased by Luthor's vampire followers until they hit 'the Plains'. Benny's warning:

He pointed upwards at the quickly brightening sky. "Reason one, dragons," he said before gesturing to the landscape ahead. "Reason two, climate. What lies ahead, brother, is ten days of travel with no cover, no food, no water, and no shelter. Dry as a bone and hot as the July sun in Hades."

CHAPTER 9 – Adventures of an Angel Dragonslayer

After three grueling days on the plains, every member of the group except Castiel began to voice their doubts about the decision to travel during the day and hide through the nights. Even Benny, who didn't run the same risk of dehydration and heat exhaustion as his human companions, grumbled about the heat and the relentless Purgatory sun beating down on them fourteen hours straight every day.

Cas forced himself to stop consciously wishing he still had his angel-travel ability in this forsaken land after having the thought run continually through his mind for three days straight. It was futile and pointless to dwell on something that could not be changed. Cas knew it was physical duress and fatigue behind the voiced objections to his insistence they travel during daylight hours but he remained adamant they stick to the plan. The heat and the unyielding sun were hard on his three friends, especially Dean and Nia, but the perils of day travel were far less than those of being out in the open at night, when the dragons appeared in the night sky, hungry and hunting.

Before leaving the forest, they had stocked up on fruit and water, most of which was carried in the makeshift sack slung over Cas's shoulder. If rationed properly, their supply would provide sufficient sustenance for Dean and Nia for the estimated ten days' travel to the other side of the plains. Benny would be uncomfortable but being only the physical embodiment of a soul, he would not perish and as an angel, Cas need not worry about food nor water nor weather.

Dragons, on the other hand, did worry him. Huddled close together in whatever small measure of shelter some random pile of rocks or small outcrop offered them, the travelers could hear them screeching above them in the dark of night, hear the deep flapping of their powerful wings as they scoured the terrain for food. With the exception of the Leviathan, dragons were the top of the food chain in Purgatory. They hunted and fed indiscriminately. Humans, vampires, even angels were but a tasty meal and an opportunity to kill.

The group's only shred of good fortune in this place was that dragons slept during the day. It made the traveling conditions difficult, but at least they could make their way from one tiny patch of rocks to another without worry of being snatched from above and devoured by teeth the size of walrus tusks.

Of course, there were exceptions to every rule. They were five days in and plodding wearily across the open expanse of dry, cracked muddy terrain towards what appeared to be a rocky protrusion in the distance that promised sufficient shelter for the night. They were walking in single file with Benny in the lead and Cas bringing up the rear when a shadow suddenly fell across them. Cas heard the deep thrum of displaced air and spun around before the others even reacted. He looked up, his eyes confirming his worst fear.

A dragon. Despite having over two hours before dusk, there was a dragon in the sky above them. As he saw its burning yellow eyes staring right at the small group, Cas instantly recognized the way it folded its wings back and extended its neck forward as the beginning of a diving pose. "Run!" he shouted, knowing even as he said it that they had no chance of outrunning it. Even if they miraculously reached the small pile of rocks, the creature knew they were there and would surely use its huge claws to dig them out.

The others were already running, a "Holy fuck!" gasp escaping Dean when he spared a glance back and caught his first good look at a real-life dragon. Cas had watched enough television passing the time in the psychiatric hospital with Meg to know the dragon above looked much like they were portrayed in human movies with scaled skin and a fifty-foot wingspan.

It only took a matter of seconds for the dragon to make the dive for its prey, during which time Cas ran all their limited options through his mind. He reasoned it would only snatch up one of them and fly back to its den, dragons preferring to eat on the ground. He would simply have to make sure that 'one' was him and put up enough of a fight to allow the others to reach some semblance of safety.

He twisted to locate the beast and saw it swooping in from the side... aiming right for Dean. It screeched as it lifted its head and thrust its claws forward, talons open wide to wrap around its intended prey. Cas lunged forward, throwing himself in its path.

He had drawn the small sword he now carried and he hacked away at its clawed feet as it reached him but the tiny piece of steel did little damage, even wielded by an angel. The giant talons bowled him over as they struck him. For a brief instant, he thought the dragon was going to pass him over and continue on towards the hunter behind him but a sharp pain in his side and a sudden tremendous pressure on his chest made it clear it had closed its talons, thankfully choosing its prey on a first-come, first-served basis.

"Cas!"

The angel heard Dean's alarmed shout followed closely by a full-out scream from Nia as he felt himself being lifted off the ground. He writhed and twisted, swinging his blade frantically at the thick claws wrapped around him but they failed to loosen. He felt a downward tug on his trench coat as the dragon gave a powerful flap of its wings and rose higher and instinctively knew that was Dean trying to haul him back down. The hunter's efforts proved to be useless and Cas continued his stabbing of the beast's feet as the panicked cries of his friends grew distant beneath him. A couple of arrows sailed past his head and bounced off the scaled underbelly of the beast as it gave another upward lurch and he twisted around, suddenly feeling a perplexing but overwhelming urge to catch one last glimpse of Nia before he met whatever fate awaited him.

She was loading another arrow in her bow, her face wrought with fear and anguish. Cas stopped his struggles for just the briefest of seconds, his chest knotting with sadness that this might be the last he saw of her. She really was quite beautiful in every way imaginable as far as he was concerned.

Then his gaze drifted to Dean, who was running full tilt after him, blade in his hand as he charged across the arid plain in a hopeless attempt to save his friend. The dragon was already fifty feet in the air and traveling fast but the stubborn hunter kept running, doggedly refusing to give up. Cas's chest tightened again at the sight, at the show of incredible loyalty and devotion he did not even come close to deserving.

The tormented expression on the hunter's face below was enough to turn the angel's attention back to his struggle for survival. He was not dead yet. His friends needed him. Dean and Nia had already suffered too much loss in their short lives to have to bear the grief of his death also.

Ignoring the deep gash in his side, he slapped his palm on the side of the beast's leg and summoned his celestial powers. As he projected his smiting mojo forward, he was met with resistance, more than he had suspected to find, but he held fast. He wasn't sure if smiting a dragon was possible even if he'd had his full powers because dragons were known to hold a power of their own. They were the top servants of The Mother, who Cas had discovered could render angels powerless by her mere presence.

He kept it up full-throttle for over three minutes before he started to feel a slight give in the dragon's resistance. It had been squeezing him tighter and tighter in its fury at what should be helpless prey fighting back from within its grasp. He could feel his insides crushing and collapsing and blood was freely pouring out of his mouth but still he kept up his attempted smite. The talons around him started gouging and tearing at him, ripping long, deep gashes in his vessel but he kept trying. He could feel his power running out but the dragon's flight was turbulent and jerky and he could tell it was struggling to continue.

Finally the talons let him go. He almost lost his grip and tumbled to the ground but wrapped his arms around the creature's leg at the last moment. It was not the threat of a fall that made him hang on - he could survive that easily - but rather the fear that the dragon would turn back and attempt to find an easier target among the pack of travelers it had found.

The dragon screeched loudly and tried to shake him loose again, clawing at him with its free talon. Cas knew he didn't have enough smiting power left to finish the dragon off - heck he was barely staying conscious - but if he could just climb up a little higher...

It took him a couple of minutes to pull himself up the leg, his efforts hampered by the dragon's swooping and twisting in the air as it tried to dislodge him, but finally Cas found himself within reach of the scaly underbelly. He had somehow managed to keep his small sword in his grasp during his struggles and he rammed it upwards now with a tired grunt.

The dragon screeched and lurched but did not go down. Cas stabbed it again and again and again until the airborne pair were suddenly in a tight downward spiral. They slammed into the ground and the last thing Cas heard was the dragon's dying gasp of air before darkness swallowed them both.

~X~X~X~X~

He was drawn back into consciousness by the sounds of voices. Muffled and distant-sounding, but acutely familiar. His eyes were open but it was dark and it took a second for him to realize his legs were underneath the dragon's dead body and the rest of him cloaked in one of its giant, leathery wings. He was still feeling weak from draining his celestial powers into the dragon in his futile attempt to smite the thing and he simply let out a loud groan and closed his eyes again. He allowed himself a moment to recover before refocusing what was left of his powers to heal himself while his friends worked to uncover him.

A blade he recognized as Dean's pierced the dragon's wing to his left and started to slice back and forth, cutting the thick skin slowly open above him. Daylight poured in the gap and he saw Benny's large, rough hands start to pull at one side of the split while Nia's tiny ones curled around the other edge. By the time he had freed his crushed and twisted legs, Nia's face was peering down at him, her expression wild and frantic.

"Cas?" she gushed as her eyes met his.

He gave her a weak nod in response as he re-shifted his powers to heal the gaping wounds in his torso.

"You're hurt," she gasped, practically falling on top of him as Dean and Benny managed to tear the wing apart enough to toss it completely off the angel.

"I shall heal," Cas managed, surprised at how raspy his voice was. He had finished fixing Jimmy's crushed insides and felt Nia's hand on his cheek as he turned his concentration to closing the numerous gashes and stabwounds he had suffered. Logically, he knew it wasn't the case, but it seemed the task was made easier by her touch, by the comfort and affection she was offering. He closed his eyes and soaked it up while he worked on his healing.

"Cas, you good?" he heard Dean say after a few long minutes.

He let out a weary sigh and sat up. "It would appear so."

Nia moved back enough to let Dean lean down and grasp Cas's arm to pull him to his feet. The angel swayed unsteadily for a few seconds but eventually gave his friend a nod to indicate he could stand on his own. He looked around at their surroundings.

"We are off course," he stated.

"No shit," Dean answered with a barked laugh. It was then Cas noticed the hunter was still breathing heavily and dried rivulets of sweat lined his dust-smeared, flushed face. He glanced at Benny and Nia both to see the same thing. It occurred to him they had all run non-stop in the direction the dragon had taken him with some kind of blind hope he would get free somehow.

It also occurred to him their body temperatures were extremely elevated and they were no longer sweating. Extreme exertion in these temperatures while dehydrated was dangerous for humans. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke were very real concerns here, especially since Cas could not heal them.

He frowned. "Did you come across the sack with the food and water on your way here?" he asked.

The hunter shook his head and Cas saw the moment the severity of the situation struck Dean. "Oh fuck."

"I'm afraid it fell somewhere in flight," Cas explained unnecessarily.

"So you're sayin' we got at least five days in either direction with no water and no food for these two?" Benny gestured to Dean and Nia as he summarized the problem in the form of a question. There was no blame in his tone, only worry.

"We still got some," Dean countered, clearly trying his best to sound optimistic. He pulled a water pouch, his water-filled whisky flask, and a couple of the yellow fruit he had long ago dubbed Purgapples out of his pockets.

Nia dug in her own pockets and produced three Purgapples and a half-full waterpouch. "Maybe we'll find the sack on the way," she shrugged.

Cas wasn't optimistic. The dragon had flown far before starting its erratic flight trajectory in its effort to rid itself of its bothersome passenger. It had been going in every direction and Cas wasn't sure where they were at the exact moment the sack had fallen. It could be anywhere.

He sighed. "We have a more pressing problem," he told them.

Dean arched an eyebrow. "More pressing than five days of desert with no water?"

"Yes. There is less than an hour until dark. We need to find cover."

"Oh fuck," Dean mumbled for the second time in as many minutes.

"We can hide here," Nia suggested, pointing to the huge dead dragon next to them. "Under it."

Cas shook his head. "Dragons are very territorial and social creatures," he explained. "Others will come looking for this one. When they find her, they will want to know who or what killed her."

He noticed Dean's skeptical look

"Dragons are intelligent beings," he informed the hunter. "They may look like simple beasts here in Purgatory but they have the same intelligence as humans. Although they do not breathe fire nor do they speak English like the one on your show with the British boy named Merlin." He frowned, suddenly remembering Saturday night TV viewing at the mental hospital. "Which is a completely inaccurate depiction of Arthur, by the way. He was not king of…"

"Try to stay on topic, huh?" Dean chuckled, though his jaw was tense with worry he was clearly trying to hide.

"Yes, right."

"So which way, Dragonslayer?" Benny pressed.

Looking around, Cas could see no cover for them in any direction. They needed to get as far away from the dragon's carcass as possible and fast so he chose the direction in which the cracks in the mud seemed more sparse, having noted that had thusfar been an indicator of more rocky terrain. The group started moving, setting a fast pace despite their weariness and Cas's still-recovering mojo.

His choice didn't offer much in the way of shelter for the night and when the extremely short dusk pounced on them, the travelers had to settle for a four-foot high embankment that had been hollowed out by a previous mudslide, leaving a shallow cave-like space approximately seven feet in width. It was tight quarters but not a single complaint was uttered as they squeezed in only minutes before the first dragon screech pierced through the night sky.

It was a long, hard night. There was a bitterly cold wind hitting them from the open side of their cramped shelter, the temperature difference between night and day being severe here in the plains.

Cas was on the end with Nia next to him and when he felt her body trembling with cold, he shuffled around enough to open his trench coat. He didn't have to say anything for she immediately tucked inside, snuggling up against him, eager for any heat he could offer. He closed his arm around her and pulled the bottom of his coat around her curled up legs also, wrapping her tiny frame entirely within it. She wiggled her shoulder into the crook of his arm and rested her head on his chest. If it wasn't for the extremely tense and dangerous situation they were in, Cas might have cherished the moment.

He had been right about the dragons' social practices. They did indeed flock to the scene of their comrade's death just a couple of miles away. Bloodcurling screeches of rage and deafening wails of mourning sounded all night long. The foursome didn't dare speak, for dragons had excellent hearing, and didn't dare poke so much as a foot out from under their meager shelter for dragons had even better eyesight. Luckily, a dragon's sense of smell was minimal so they managed to go unnoticed despite the flurry of reptilian activity above them.

Cas could feel Nia's even breathing within the confines of his coat and knew she was sleeping. A surge of warmth ran through him at the notion of her sleeping in his arms but he swallowed it down. He glanced over at Dean and Benny and wished he could help his other friends also. Dean especially was shivering to the point where his teeth were almost chattering and the wince on his face made it clear he had a muscle cramp from being unable to move from the restricted position he was in for so long. Cas wondered why Dean and Benny didn't simply huddle together for body warmth. After all, despite urban myths to the contrary, vampires maintained a body temperature of 98 degrees, almost the same as humans. For someone so liberal in his nakedness and intimacy with women, Dean certainly had strange inhibitions about physical contact with men, even clothed. Cas didn't yet fully comprehend the distinction. Body heat was body heat, after all.

Morning finally arrived and with it, silence. The dragons disappeared and the small group tumbled stiffly out of their hiding place. Very little was said as they headed back in the direction they had come last night after Cas's crash landing, which was also the way to the other side of the large plains. Cas knew the direction by memory from the early days before the worm-possessed Dean had performed the angel-banishing spell on him and cost him his 'blipping' ability.

The dragon's carcass had been completely devoured, stripped right down to the bones. Even the skin was gone. An unfortunate turn of events because they really could have used the nourishment dragon meat would have given them in the days to come. Dean voiced some disappointment over the teeth being so big, claiming had they been smaller, they would have made a nice necklace for Cas to boast his impressive kill.

~X~X~X~X~

The next three days were difficult for the two humans but they seemed to fare relatively well considering their limited rations. They were tired and weary and their pace had slowed to a crawl by late afternoon each day, but they kept moving.

Cas took note of their cracked, dry lips, their sunken eyes, their dry skin that was now angry red and completely void of sweat, and he grew more and more concerned. Their body temperatures were reaching over a hundred degrees for much of the day. They cooled off at nights but with no water to re-hydrate themselves, they were walking a dangerous line.

They were perhaps two days' travel from the edge of the plains when Dean began to display more acute signs of serious heat exhaustion. Benny was trying to keep up morale by telling a tale about running away from home as a youth and making it as far as a neighboring farm's back field before deciding his dad's chore list wasn't so bad after all. Dean chuckled as he walked alongside the vampire.

"Yeah, Sammy, you and Dad sure do go at it sometimes."

Benny's head whipped around to look at the hunter just as fast as Cas's did.

"Uh, it's Benny, brother."

"Sam is not here," Cas elaborated, a worried frown tugging his eyebrows together.

Dean scoffed. "I know that. He just better not forget my pie like he did yesterday." His gait was slow and unsteady and he had a confused look on his face.

Benny grabbed his arm. "Dean, you still with us?"

Dean stopped walking for a second and closed his eyes tightly. "Yeah, Benny, I'm still here. Just a dizzy spell is all."

They gave him a moment to pull himself together before continuing on their way. They could not afford the delay a rest-stop would bring since they were now completely out of food and water. The sooner they could get Dean and Nia to the forest beyond, the better.

Dean seemed back to himself for a while but the confusion soon returned. An hour later he let out a sharp cry, staring ahead with wide, panicked eyes. "Nee!" he barked past his swollen tongue, his voice hoarse with thirst. "Shit, Cas, how did Nia get so far ahead? There's a gorilla-wolf up there! Why'd you let her go off on her own?"

He started to rush forward but Benny caught him, dragging him to a stop. "Bit's right there," he said calmly, pointing to Nia, who had been completely silent all day, walking next to Cas. "There ain't nothin' ahead of us but dirt."

Dean's head swung around and confusion filled his features once again as he stared back and forth between Nia and the empty plain up ahead. "Crap, I'm seeing things," he panted.

"It is a normal side effect of heat exhaustion," Cas offered. "Your body's core temperature is almost 104 degrees. Dehydration, the direct sunlight, and the physical exertion are all contributing factors. Confusion, disorientation, and even hallucinations are quite common side effects. You are in grave danger of suffering heat stroke."

Dean rolled his eyes, his fist still gripped in Benny's sleeve to hold himself upright. "Thanks for not sugar-coating it, Cas." He attempted to grin at the angel but there was nothing much beyond weariness in his eyes and his cracked lips wouldn't let his mouth spread into a proper smile. "Okay," he sighed in defeat. "Let's keep moving, huh? Looks like I'm the resident crazy aunt for the time being so just… aw crap, just ignore me if I start rambling about bees."

They were still a couple of hours shy of the abrupt relief dusk would bring them when the situation got worse. Benny had been helping Dean walk for most of the afternoon and Cas's attention had been so focused on the hunter's occasional odd behavior and obvious struggle to stay upright that he had failed to notice anything wrong with Nia next to him. She had not spoken a word all day but had kept walking along silently so it was with dismayed shock that he looked down to see her suddenly collapse to the ground.

"Nia!" he cried, kneeling quickly at her side.

He placed a palm on her face. Her eyes were closed and she lay completely still, giving no reaction to his calling of her name or to his touch. Her body's temperature was close to 105 degrees. Cas realized with a painful lurch of his insides that this could very well be heat stroke, not the lesser heat exhaustion that Dean was suffering. He could not read minds here in Purgatory but he could pick out little scraps of information or thought when he concentrated and right now, he could sense nothing from Nia. Nothing at all.

"Cas?" came Dean's worried voice from behind him.

Cas closed his eyes and swallowed. "She is unconscious," was all he said, not elaborating because for some reason, he couldn't bear to say the word 'coma' out lout. Not here, in the middle of the brutally harsh Plains of Purgatory with no angel-travel powers and no angel-healing powers to speak of.

He slid his arms underneath her shoulders and her knees and scooped her up as he rose to his feet. "I will carry her," he said evenly. "We must keep moving."

Seeing the fear and worry on both the other men's faces, he knew he was supposed to lie at this point and say she would be fine but he didn't have the inclination or the spare effort to bother with human social nuances and he simply blurted, "She does not have much time."

~X~X~X~X~

Nia did not wake at all during the night nor the next day. Dean was being half-carried, half-dragged by Benny by the time they reached shelter on the second night. He seemed to recover slightly at nights but his body was desperte for hydration they simply didn't have the means to give him. His hallucinations had become worse and Cas was amazed the resilient hunter had not yet succumbed to his body's pull towards coma as Nia had. Delirious and dizzy and practically dead on his feet, Dean had made it through yet another blistering day. On that second night, as the angel sat stiffly between a comatose Nia and a passed-out, barely-hanging-in-there Dean, Cas knew if they didn't reach food and water and shade tomorrow, he would lose at least one of them, if not both.

"I am worried," he admitted out loud to the vampire, who was leaning back against a rock a few feet away with his eyes closed.

Benny cracked an eyelid open. "They'll make it, Cas. Both of them. They're tough for humans. Hell, they're tough for any kind of being. By all rights, they shouldn't have made it this far but… here they are."

Cas nodded in acknowledgement of the encouragement but wasn't convinced so easily. "Dean has a chance if we reach the forest early tomorrow as I suspect we will," he acquiesced. "But Nia…"

Benny studied him intently for a long moment. Cas was aware of the scrutiny but, unlike Dean, it didn't bother him.

"So are you in love with her then?" the vampire asked, his tone soft, not challenging nor accusing.

Cas frowned at the question. "I don't… " He paused, pursing his lips in thought. "I don't have any point of reference to give that question a properly informed answer."

Benny chuckled. "You've never been in love before?"

Cas shook his head. "No. Angels do not fall in love."

"Would you die for her?"

Cas nodded. But he would die for Dean too. And Sam. And even Benny at this point.

"Can you imagine your life without her?"

Cas shook his head.

"Do you want to be with her every wakin' minute of every day?"

Cas paused but eventually nodded, glancing down at her peaceful face. He wanted nothing more than that, he realized with a start.

Benny chuckled again. "Well congratulations, my friend. Guess you're the first angel to fall in love."

"You speak from experience," Cas ventured.

Benny nodded. "Andrea," he said softly.

"She is the reason you found your humanity once again," the angel surmised. "Why you are so different from the rest of the monsters in this place."

Benny shrugged. "Love'll do that for you."

There was a long silence before the vampire spoke again. "You don't plan on goin' through this door, do you?" he challenged.

Cas stole a nervous glance at Dean, making sure the hunter was still passed out and not listening. He was surprised Benny had figured out his plan to remain here to serve out his penance and hoped Dean and Nia had not.

"I do not deserve reprieve. Purgatory is my punishment for all I have done, all I have cost my angel brethren and…" he glanced once more at Dean, "…and my friends."

"Ever occur to you you're gonna break that girl's heart if you stay here? And Dean's too?"

Of course that thought had occurred to him, but it was not his choice to make. "I don't deserve to get out," he said stubbornly.

"You need to rethink your priorities, Cas. You can't do no good here. You wanna be selfless and earn yourself some forgiveness? Then get your ass topside and keep lookin' after this pair." He gestured towards the sleeping humans. "Now that's something that's worth some redemption points, brother."

Cas was impressed with the vampire's intuition and admitted the reasoning he was offering was logical. Back home he would reconnect to Heaven and regain his full powers. He could protect his human friends far more effectively than he was doing here. Lately, he had been re-evaluating his decision to stay behind every time he looked at Nia and every time Dean spoke of getting back to Sam and included the angel in his optimistic, imagined future. Thus far, however, he had always convinced himself it was just his own desires and wants trying to convince him not to stay and he forced himself to dismiss them. But Benny's words held merit and it seemed right that Dean's and Nia's needs come before his need for redemption. There could still be a Leviathan threat in the topside world and there would almost definitely be a threat to Dean from Crowley and his demons. Perhaps Cas could do more to earn his redemption there than in here.

He nodded slowly, making his decision. "If I am able to pass through the door, I will," he told Benny sincerely.

Benny gave him a lopsided grin. "You'll get through. Purgatory wants to spit these two out coz their souls are pure and they don't belong here. You're an angel, for crying out loud. If anything don't belong here, it's you. "

~X~X~X~X~

They saw the treeline just a couple of hours into the next day. Cas's attention was focused on Nia, who was still completely unconscious in his arms but thankfully still breathing, when Dean groaned out loud.

"Am I hallucinating that mirage thing up ahead?" he asked, his voice like sandpaper.

Benny let out a loud whoop of delight. "Not unless I am too, brother!" he exclaimed, his voice the most animated Cas had heard it to date.

"It is definitely the edge of the plain," Cas confirmed and the three of them picked up their pace.

The sound of the wind rustling in the tree tops and the lush, green color of the vegetation struck Cas with such a sense of relief he didn't realize he was grinning right alongside Dean and Benny when they finally reached the forest and stepped onto the grass. Dean practically collapsed in the middle of a soft clump of mossy vegetation under the first tree they came to, lying down on his back with a loud exhale.

The hunter's smile vanished when Cas lay Nia down next to him and told him to stay put while he went to fetch food and water. Dean gave him a somber nod, leaning up on his elbow to press his fingers to Nia's forehead.

"She gonna be okay?" he asked hesitantly. It was the first time Dean had asked the question since the moment Nia had collapsed almost two days ago and Cas didn't miss the fear and apprehension in the hunter's voice.

"I don't know," he said simply before heading quickly into the woods in search of water. He found a stream within fifteen minutes and filled the pouches he had with him. He came across a fruit-bearing tree with an unfamiliar red fruit and plucked a few from its lower branches, sniffing them to see if he could detect any contents he knew to be harmful to humans. Finding none, he headed quickly back to the others.

As he approached the spot he had left them, he sensed the presence of strangers before he actually saw them. Not human, monsters. Lots of them.

Curling his fingers around the hilt of his small sword he rushed forward, hoping Dean and Benny had at least enough fight left in them to have lasted until his return.

He stopped short at what he saw when he burst through a thick patch of undergrowth.

Dean and Benny were on their knees at the edge of the clearing with displeased expressions and their hands behind their heads. At least twenty drawn bows were aimed straight at them. Nia was lying where Cas had left her but two women were now kneeling at her side. She had been stripped down to her tank top and underwear and wet cloths were being placed gently across her legs and arms while a cup was being gently brought to her mouth.

He felt at least ten bows being turned towards him and Cas glanced around again, assessing the enemy one more time before launching his planned attack when an odd fact struck him. The thirty or so monsters gathered around were all women. Attractive, healthy, fit women.

Amazons.

This was not good.

~X~X~X~X~

A/N: I have to apologize for the delay in posting again. Things just get crazy and finding the time to write can be difficult when there's a lot going on. I know I could have posted half this chapter in the interim but I think each chapter should have enough meat to be worth you guys taking the time to read and should move the story along to a new place, so I'm sorry you had to wait while I finished it. It shouldn't happen again – things in RL seem to have slowed down. Hope you are all still with me – just a couple of chapters left before they reach the gate but big things happen so hopefully you haven't lost interest in my absence.

Funny note: I thought their trip across the plains would help explain why at the beginning of season 8, Dean had a super-dark tan, lol. We know it was probably because Jensen was spending too much time frolicking on his boat in LA during his summer break, but I'm going with Dean got sun-burned crossing the Plains of Purgatory.