Author's Notes:
Whoo Who!
I'm back!
After a flash drive blowing up on me, buying my first house, a major home remodel, and finally a move to said new house. I want to thank everyone for the notes of encouragement sent and not to mention the patience. Now I'm actually in my new place updates should be flowing much more regularly.
This chapter references "Paper Tiger" and Griffin stating that Jim had some very dark, wild days when he first joined the Brotherhood before finding his path to the church. I'm taking liberties and I know it.
I also took some freedom with Brotherhood tribal culture and law.
It always bugged me that Dean didn't put 2+2 together and add up he was the next Guardian.
-A Scholar Speaks:-
It is said leaders are born.
I disagree.
Leaders are forged like the finest of blades.
They are crafted from the fires of betrayal, beaten and strengthened by the blows of tragedy, and finally cooled and tempered in the waters of hope. It is only after all those elements come together true leaders are shaped.
Come to me, young Guardian.
I am weary and it is time for my spiral to turn.
My brothers call to me from beyond the veil.
Hear my call.
"Exactly what am I looking at here, Mujib?" Caleb asked the next morning as he studied the ground penetrating radar images on the computer screen in front of him.
"That's what I was hoping you could tell me," Mujib replied from across the lab. "I've never seen anything like it."
Ground penetrating radar or GPR had been used to help archaeologists map dig sites for years. It was also be used in modern construction to survey bedrock at large sights to help determine if there were any large fissures or cracks that could undermine heavy foundations. Caleb was looking at a GPR image of the main chamber of the Brotherhood structure's floor. There was a layer of something underneath it that was blocking radar from penetrating beyond half a meter.
Caleb examined the image closer. "I haven't either. I don't know what it is, Mujib, but it's not bedrock."
"Agreed," Mujib nodded. "It's not the building's foundation either." Then the doctor hit a button and pulled up another image. "What ever substance we are looking at, it's in the walls too. I think we need to call Zack and see if he can make anything out of these pictures."
Caleb groaned. "Must we?"
Zack was a younger member of the Brotherhood and Mujib's overeager research assistant. Roughly a few years older than Dean, Zack was an electronic imagery specialist and an unapologetic BattleBot junkie. He was a nice kid, but he drove Caleb crazy. Zack had a very irritating tendency to talk very, very fast. Add in the kid could not sit still for more than two seconds at a time. He reminded Caleb of a punk-dyed, over-caffeinated Tigger on speed. The fact, that when they had been first introduced to Zack his hair was dyed orange and spiked only helped cement the image in Caleb's mind.
What was even worse?
Throw Zack and Deuce together and Zack tended to bring those annoying bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, and pouncy traits out in Dean too. To the point Caleb wanted to strangle both of them. He had learned the hard way not to leave Dean and Zack alone unattended with spare parts and caffeinated beverages. It was like leaving two addicts alone with a trailer full of heroine.
After a rough initial meeting, Dean and Zack had become fast friends after it was discovered Zack was a deep sea diver in his spare time. Deuce loved to cave dive and had loved it since the first day Johnny had strapped tanks on their backs for training. Leave the two of them alone and bad things tended to happen. Like Zack and Deuce putting their meager, pea-brains together and getting bone-headed ideas about going diving in the Bermuda Triangle together.
Not if he had any say in the matter.
Deuce pulls out one more map of the freaking Devil's Triangle…
Caleb swore he was kicking his ass.
Mujib shot him a big-eyed, butter-wouldn't-melt look.
"Please tell me you didn't." Caleb rubbed his head. "How long do I have?" He could already feel the migraine coming on. Then he heard Zack's voice talking to Jim upstairs.
Damn it.
The doctor smiled at him and fought valiantly to keep a straight face.
Oh yeah, it was official.
The universe fucking hated him.
"Hey man," Zack greeted him warmly as he bounded down the lab stairs two at a time and opened a Mountain Dew. One look at the kid and Caleb did a double take. Zack's hair had gone from bright Tigger orange to blue overnight.
Smurf Blue.
Hair dye came that color outside the movies?
"Dean told me you guys lost most of what you packed when your room burned." Zack took a deep breath and started bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. Caleb tried not to visibly cringe and prepared for a deluge. "Anyway, afterIfinishhere. Icouldtakeyoubothtothemarketplace. Showyouaround."
He really hoped he nodded politely in the right spots as Zack went on and on without taking a breath.
Shit.
Divers lung capacity you had to love it.
"Cccooolll," Zack replied happily. "Dean will be thrilled you decided to join us."
Oh, crap.
What had he just agreed to?
"After the marketplace we were going out on my boat," Zack added. His water blue eyes were shining with excitement. "See the sites around the harbor. Do some diving. We'll have a blast."
Caleb smiled at Zack and nodded.
Him out on a boat?
Diving?
Oh, Hell NO.
If humans were meant to be under the freaking water, God in his infinite wisdom would have given us gills.
Zack was opening his mouth again. Noting this could be his only shot at escape Caleb shot Mujib and Zack a charming smile. "If you'll excuse me? There's something I need to do up stairs". Then he bolted for the lab stairs much to Mujib's chortling amusement.
He was going to kill Deuce.
He walked in to the blessed quiet of the kitchen. Caleb paled a little when he saw the empty Mountain Dew cans and Gummi Bear packages littering the place. He didn't even want to think about the sugar and caffeine inspired mayhem Dean and Zack were capable of. "Please tell me those are all Zack's."
The pastor looked up from the laptop he was studying. The panther was happily wrapped around Jim's feet like a housecat. "They are. Dean went for straight for, and finished, the first pot of coffee."
"You're not making me feel any better, Jim," Caleb muttered. He eyed the panther cautiously. The panther shot him an unblinking, gold gaze back. It had to be an instinctual thing with two predators co-existing in a small space. Ever since the cat had shown up they'd been sizing each other up cautiously.
"Bagheera stop that," the Guardian reprimanded gently. Then the pastor reached over and started scratching right behind the panthers ears. The ecstasy at the pastor scratching just the right spot reflected in the dark cat's gold eyes.
Caleb groaned.
He recognized the panther's name.
It was the name of the panther from the Kipling's The Jungle Book.
The morning was getting better and better.
He eyed the cat one more time and then poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down across from Jim. "The two of them caffeinated are like two punk-rock gummibears at an all night gummiberry juice rave. They bounce here and there and everywhere."
"Very true," the pastor chuckled. Jim obviously recognized the reference to the old Disney cartoon. Sammy used to love it and would never miss it. The Pastor's eyes sparkled with amusement. "On the bright side, Mackland will be so pleased. Dean finally made a friend his own age."
"Yeah, all we need now is a powerful enough tranquilizer so they can interact normally with the rest of humanity," Caleb grumbled half-heartily. Zack could just breathe and annoy the hell out of him.
Jim's eyes sparkled a little brighter. "I was thinking of sending a picture of them together to Samuel and John."
Caleb snorted. "They would never believe us. And I'm pretty sure if we introduced Zack to either John or Sammy they'd kill him in ten seconds flat. And speaking of killing someone," He smiled sweetly at the pastor, "Have you seen Deuce?"
Jim's expression suddenly got sour. "Dean is down in the library."
Caleb lifted an eyebrow at the pastor's tone. "Did you and Dean have a 'small divergence of opinions' this morning?"
"You could say that," the pastor snorted. "Lord that boy is stubborn. He reminds me of a Bloodhound. Once he gets a scent trail, he simply does not let up."
Caleb shot the pastor an amused look. All he could think was pot meet kettle. "Be thankful Deuce has a gentle, affectionate temperament to counter-balance the tenaciously strong hunting instinct and willful nature. He worries about you." I didn't add even more since we'd almost lost Jim a few months back.
"Well, he's not the only one that worries," Jim grumbled. "He's black and blue from head to foot this morning."
"I'll corner Deuce and check him out. I'll hog-tie him if I have to," Caleb promised as he grabbed his coffee and stood up. He had plans to do it anyway since he caught Dean favoring his side the other night.
The pastor sighed, "While your down there see if you can convince him to call his brother."
--888--
He found Dean in the library sitting at a desk studying an ancient map. His hunter's journal was open next to him.
Dean looked Caleb up and down and raised an eyebrow. "I see someone is wearing his teddy-bear this morning."
Caleb's only response was the universal one-fingered one.
It figured.
Deuce would spot the .45's bulge first thing.
And hell yes, after nearly getting his brain fried by Nate, he was feeling a little insecure. Getting his ass kicked tended to make him irritable. There were precious few people he trusted enough to watch his back and go unarmed around. Jim may trust Mujib implicitly, but Jim had trusted Griffin Porter once too at the near expense of Deuce's life. A lesson Caleb never forgot. Brotherhood ring or not, his trust was not a thing Caleb gave away easily.
Anyone that had a problem with that could go fuck themselves.
Caleb walked in, sat down in the chair across from Dean, and causally put his feet up on the desk. "I'm only wearing the belly-band, Asshole, because you cut me out of my favorite shoulder rig. It was custom made too."
Only idiots and amateurs didn't use a holster of some kind. The last thing you wanted when you needed a fast draw was the guns sights to get caught. He hated belly band holsters with a passion. Being a left-handed shooter was a pain in the ass. It made replacing equipment difficult.
"You'd think after the number of times you've been cut out of the damned thing you'd carry a couple spare shoulder rigs with you," Dean replied lifting an eyebrow.
"Thank you Corporal Winchester. As always, I'm enlightened by your insights and opinions."
Dean smirked. "As Dad would say, Anytime, Smartass."
He took this opportunity to study his friend. Jim wasn't kidding. Dean was exploring new and unknown shades of violet everywhere. It had some internal alarm bell of Caleb's going off. This amount of bruising wasn't normal. He'd have to ask Mujib if this could be a possible side effect of the Muninn.
If not he and Deuce were on a plane headed back to the States and Mac tonight.
Caleb cleared his throat. "So Jim…"
Dean's eyes suddenly became green, icy, glaciers. The room suddenly became charged up like the winds right before a thunderstorm. Oh boy, their jade dragon was in a stormy mood this morning. Caleb vaguely wondered if there was a nice, heavy shield around here to hide behind. "If Jim sent you down here to sweet-talk me in to calling Sammy, you can forget it."
"He's still your brother, Deuce. Sammy called because he was worried about you."
Dean snorted, "Yeah right. More like pissed off and wanting to yell at me for interrupting normal."
"Maybe," Caleb acknowledged. Dean knew Sammy better than anyone. He shrugged. "The problem is we both know Sammy is never going to be the person he wants himself to be. The Runt can pretend and take it out on us all he wants. It's not going change a damned thing."
Dean pinched the bridge of his nose. The kid really looked exhausted. The idea of jumping on that plane and heading home to Mac was appealing to Caleb more and more. "I know. That leaves Sammy and me right back at our wonderful Mexican stand-off. Sammy refuses to understand I will not be blackmailed to tailor my life to fit his delusions of normal. I can't do it. Not even for him. And he won't back down from demanding it."
"I know." Caleb stated quietly.
A set of troubled, murky green-eyes met his. "Despite what Jim thinks, I am not up to putting on the boots to wade through my family's emotional shit this morning. I am just too damned tired."
"You okay?" Caleb narrowed his eyes and scanned his friend again. "Don't shit me either. I saw you favoring your side."
"Sure. Watching a bedroom burn around always brings out such agreeable memories," Dean replied bitterly.
He didn't even have to ask why Deuce was so exhausted or if nightmares came with that particular package. Caleb glared. He wasn't letting Deuce change the topic. "Be straight with me here. I need to know if you're not a hundred percent."
Dean rolled his eyes. "I'm fine. I tweaked something lifting Jim out of bed a few months back." He shot Caleb a humorless grin. "Somehow, I keep getting thrown through walls and flaring the damned thing up."
"Then stop using your head as a battering ram, Dumbass" Caleb grumbled. "Use something other than that super dense Winchester skull. Give those poor walls a chance to fight back.
"I so feel the love, Damien." It was Dean's turn to suddenly sigh. "I really want this whole normal thing to work for Sammy. It's another reason why I can't call my brother right now."
"I know," Caleb replied softly.
The biggest gulf was Sammy seemed to believe he could pretend the dark away by simply willing it away. Ignore it long enough and the world will become this normal, safe, wonderful place. Sammy was never going to be part of that world. On some level the kid knew it too. That world had been taken from him the moment his mother had been murdered over his crib. Deuce and he had accepted the reality a long time ago. Sammy didn't. Sammy fought it. No amount of anger, self-loathing, or plain old Winchester stubbornness was going to change that fact, either.
"So what are you doing down here besides…" Caleb tapped Dean's journal with his foot, "hiding your appalling spelling skills and making future generations of Scholars heads explode." Deuce, took a page out of DaVincci's book, literally, and wrote his hunters journal in his own secret code.
"I followed a hunch, called Bobby, and asked him what he knew about the death order Julian Smith issued."
"Let me guess," Caleb muttered. "Nate?"
Dean nodded. "The black tinted band kind of gave it away, huh?"
"A little, "Caleb replied dryly. "So what did our favorite troll have to say about Nate?"
"Besides, 'KILL his ass'?" Dean replied dryly.
"Ah, great minds," Caleb muttered nonchalantly.
"Bobby told me Julian passed a death order for Nate but never publicly named a Gungnir or summoned The Wild Hunt."
The Wild Hunt was the Brotherhood equal of a 'kill on sight order'. The Wild Hunt could only be summoned by a Guardian. It called upon all that wore the ring and didn't end until the death sentence was carried out.
That meant Julian didn't have the balls or the will to see the death sentence through or…
Caleb narrowed his eyes. "Someone petitioned Julian for the Right of Vidar."
To petition the Guardian for the Right of Vidar was to petition for the right to be named Gungnir or executioner. If the Guardian granted the boon it became the petitioner's sole responsibility to carry out the order and no other members of the Brotherhood could, by law, interfere. It was usually a right only granted to close friends and family members.
Dean nodded.
"Jim. Jim went to Julian and demanded Vidar," Caleb finished grimly. "That complicates things."
"For you maybe," Dean replied icily. The tone made the hair on the back of Caleb's neck stand up. "I have no problem claiming self defense and toasting his ass." It was moments like this Caleb secretly hoped that Dean didn't gain too many powers when he became Guardian. He could be cold-blooded and scary enough without them.
"What are the odds Jim would actually step back and allow us to be as ruthless as we need to be?"
A sarcastic grin was Dean's only response.
Caleb ran a tired hand over his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, that's about what I thought. Jim's Eagle Scout shit can get old."
"It's who Jim is. You're never going to change him. You merely need to adapt and flow around him." Dean gave him a knowing look. "I get it Damien. You're first priority has to be protecting the Guardians."
Fuck.
He was starting to truly comprehend why John Winchester drank sometimes.
Who the hell are you supposed to choose when you have two stubborn, head-strong, self-sacrificing, idiots to protect? Present or Future?
What a hell of a choice.
Wait…
Caleb blinked.
Did Deuce say Guardians?
Dean must of have read the confusion on his face. "I thought… I mean… I thought you saw it. In the right light…" Then a look of doubt crossed Deuce's face. "Maybe I'm wrong."
"Wrong about what?"
"Eureka!" Mujib's gleeful voice suddenly rang out from the lab. Both their head snapped towards the library doors. The doctor stuck his head in and announced, "We found something."
"Deuce," Caleb growled in his friend's ear as he followed him to the door, "This conversation is not over."
"What do you know? Throw enough darts at a wall," Jim replied from the top of the stairs. As the pastor made his way down toward them Mujib started dancing around them singing George Thoorgood's "Shake Your Money Maker."
"I'm just thankful you have pants on this time." Jim rolled his eyes as Mujib shook his booty. "I still have nightmares."
Mujib stopped and shot the pastor a pleased look. "I'm only taking this abuse from you because I know it's professional jealously. It is okay to admit you are in wonder of my brilliance."
"Oh, little doubt, old friend," Jim retorted, "You make me wonder at times. What did you find?"
"Follow me," Mujib announced as he gestured for them to follow him in to the lab. The Arab doctor handed Jim a file. "First off, all the bodies we found had excellent teeth."
"Signs of a well balanced diet," the pastor informed him and Dean. Jim flipped open the file. "Poor diets that are starch heavy promote premature tooth decay."
"The better the diet the better the teeth and bones," Mujib smiled happily. "Very good. I knew I taught you something."
Jim looked up from the file and raised an eyebrow. "You mean besides how to get hopelessly lost in the desert looking for looters?"
"We were NOT lost. Allah led us to where we needed to go," Mujib retorted.
"We got captured," Jim fired back.
"Tomato, Tomahto," The doctor said causally as he walked over to a lab table with a skeleton on it. Mujib picked up a blade and handed it to Caleb. "You may find this fascinating."
Caleb studied the distinct pattern on steel blade. He did a double take. "Damascus steel. I studied about this stuff in school. It could slice through lesser European steel like butter. European blacksmiths never could find the secret to reproducing it."
Mujib nodded. The Arab doctor flipped the blade so Caleb could study the handle. On the handle was the distinct mark of three intertwining circles. "The interesting thing is the evidence does not point to these blades being captured war booty."
"Interesting," Jim muttered. "Anything else?"
"Zack figured out what was blocking our ground penetrating radar," Mujib purred happily. He pointed to the computer monitor.
Zack sat up a little straighter when Jim turned his eyes in the kid's direction. Caleb snickered. If Zack had been wearing a tie he would have nervously straightened. The young research assistant cleared his throat. "I recognized the EMT frequency that was blocking our probes."
"And?" Jim prompted.
"The EMT field….," Zack yanked nervously at his collar. "The structure is giving off the same EMT frequency as our rings."
It was Caleb's turn to raise an eyebrow, "Are you saying they used the silver as a building material?"
Mujib nodded. "They used a form of construction very similar to what the ancient Greeks used at the Parthenon."
"They used iron pegs at the stone joints and then poured the silver in to protect the iron from rusting?" Caleb guessed. He'd studied the Greek Parthenon in school. It was still considered a marvel of classical architecture. Though the Greeks had used lead at the joints. It was one reason some of their buildings were still standing after thousands of years.
Jim was silent for a long time. "That's a lot of wealth, and labor they put in to a tomb."
"Put your Hunter's hats on," Dean stated. "Think of the position of this structure in comparison to the location of the ancient roadways through this region. This wasn't a tomb. What we found was a massacre site." There was no doubt in Deuce's voice. For a moment, just a moment, Caleb swore Dean's eyes turned from jade green to sapphire blue.
Jim nodded. "It would tie in to the level of violence inflected on these men."
"It would also support the evidence I found," Mujib added softly. "None of these men were knights. They don't carry the indicators of the training in their bones. The grueling training a knight under went in that time period leaves distinct signs."
"No evidence of knight's training. These were the Scholar's men. It was either a desperate last stand," Dean muttered thinking out loud.
"Or these men acted as rear guard to cover escape." Jim finished the thought.
An uncanny far-away look entered Dean's eyes. "Whoever killed these men wanted something and they were willing to slaughter and torture every one of these people to find it."
Jim glanced over at Mujib. "Did you find evidence of any of these men being part of the Triad?"
Mujib shook his head. "None. No rings found were marked as such." The Arab doctor looked over them and read their confused looks. "In ancient times all three of the Triads member's rings were marked. The Guardian's ring was marked with spiral or the five-pointed star of protection, the cross or sword for the Knight and the Eye of Providence or the All-Seeing-Eye for the scholar."
"The practice of marking the Knights and Scholars rings came to an end during the Burning Times." Jim added thoughtfully, "It makes sense. If the Guardian had been there this building wouldn't have been taken."
I didn't want to ask how Jim knew this fact.
I had a feeling, even if I had asked, the Guardian wouldn't have told me anyway.
"I did find one unusual thing," Zack's voice suddenly broke in. "There's iron pegs rammed in between the stones of the ceiling and wall on one side of the room. It appears to be a random pattern. The odd thing is the angle the pegs were crammed in to the joints is very strange." Zack held up an image.
"Let me see," Caleb ordered. Sometimes being able to switch thinking from two to three dimensions and back again had its advantages. I was following a hunch this was some type of message. Looking at the angle of entry of the iron pegs reminded me of the few times I'd seen Mac fling things with his mind. "Zack can you shift this image in to two dimensions?"
The image specialist nodded and hit a few keys.
An image appeared.
He looked over at his best friend. "You recognize that, Deuce?"
"Oh, yeah," Dean nodded. "Sammy had to look for him every night at bedtime."
The pegs were laid out in the pattern of the star constellation Draco the Dragon.
What the hell did it mean?
"Excellent work, Zackery," Jim stated with a nod of his head.
Zack puffed up proudly and smiled.
That's when I saw it.
John Winchester once told me that telepaths could be humanly blind. He was right. I missed it. It was Zack's smile and how his face lit up. It was like getting an unexpected flash of John in Dean's face.
Zack had Jim's smile.
Deuce had fucking seen it from the very beginning.
Everything suddenly made an incredible amount of sense.
From Dean's remark about Guardians to him approaching me about the recommendation for Gungnir.
Growing up Jim had always told Sammy stories about how the future Guardian was hidden and would be called to step forward to claim his place when he was needed. Dean had apparently taken those stories literally. With him becoming the Knight and Sammy the Scholar. Deuce had waited, prepared to accept the new Guardian's authority, and taken it on faith that Jim had some role in mind for him in the future. Then they had come here and been introduced to Zack, Jim's son, and Deuce had come to his own conclusions.
Son of a bitch.
"You think there's any connection that Merlin's fountain in the garden has a large dragon or serpent?" Dean suddenly asked.
Every head in the room snapped in Dean's direction.
Deuce shrugged. "What? It's just a thought."
Somehow it made an incredible amount of sense. This place had been a Brotherhood strong hold for centuries. It was distance away from the other site for it to be a safe place. It was a perfect location to either flee or leave a message for any survivors. Hide it in plain sight.
I looked at Jim. "I think we need to check out that fountain."
The Guardian nodded. "Agreed."
As we walked towards the door, I watched Jim and Zack interact.
That's when I realized that Deuce was wrong about one thing.
Jim wasn't that good of an actor. He didn't have an inkling Zack was his son. And I was almost positive Zack didn't know either.
My life had suddenly gotten much more complicated.
I HATED complicated.