Castiel.

I looked down at the disturbed human as he dropped down to his knees and said, "I'm sorry your greatness. I did not realize that was you. I would never have acted against you if I had known and I would never try to take back what had been given to you. I'm very pleased to see that you enjoy our gift."

"Humans are not things to be traded, and the implications that you think I would want to own, molest, or in any way abuse a human is an insult. I have never desired that you harm another for me and I am in no way pleased that you have decided to start now. The only reason I am here now is to find his brother. I have no desire to waste any more time with you so tell me where he is so we can be on our way."

"I am so sorry you took offense from our gift. None was meant and everyone in the village holds you in the highest regards. I promise you, your greatness, that nothing like this will ever happen again and we will take great measures to amend our mistake. I would like to personally…"

Stars above this man liked to hear himself speak. "I care nothing for your apologies or for praises spoken only from fear. Simply give me his brother and never do this again and our deal will continue under the same arrangement."

"Yes, master. Whatever you want. I am simply your servant and I…"

What was wrong with this creature? "Stop talking about doing as told. In the time you have spent wasting air we could complete our business. Now, where is Sam? I will not ask you politely again," the hallway was far too narrow to accommodate my full wingspan but I flared them out as best as I could.

"I apologize for your delay your greatness, but…"

"What?"

"He isn't here."

"Then where is he?"

"I don't know," the man mumbled to the floor.

"How could you not know?" Dean suddenly exploded. "You were the one who took him. You admitted that you had him earlier. I swear to the great Earth Mother above if he's dead because of you…"

"No!" the man on the floor screamed. "He's not dead. At least as far as I know." This last part was whispered as though he was hoping it wouldn't be heard.

"Stop wasting time and tell me what happened that could cause you to lose track of a human," I growled.

"I sold him," the man responded, still talking mostly to the floor.

"What?" Dean yelled. "You couldn't have. Slavery is illegal. And you hate me. The only reason you went after him in the first place was to get to me. You couldn't have done that."

"Quiet," I murmured to him, hoping to get this all sorted out as quickly and neatly as possible. "We will figure out what happened.

"Care to explain?" I asked.

"Yes. Of course, your Excellency. Anything you…"

"In no more words than necessary."

"Out in the forest," he started, "there is a hut. Slavery is illegal here but anyone that wants to sell someone without dealing with the law can go to that hut. It's out of the village lines so not under village law. You can do anything illegal out there. It's not just for slavery. People go out there to do all kinds of thing, like…"

"What happens to the people that are sold there," I interrupted.

"Every couple of months a courier come to the hut to take everything there to other villages, where the different products aren't illegal and sell them there." This man disgusted me more and more the longer he talked. People were not things to trade or sell. "Two months ago I received word that the cart would be coming to the hut in about a month so I took the human you desire out to the hut and sold him. I don't know any more than that." I narrowed my eyes at him in warning. "I will swear on anything you want, master. That is all I know."

"Take us there."

"What?"

"To the hut."

"He won't be there anymore. The cart came almost a month ago."

"I don't care. Take us there."

"Yes, your greatness. You," the floor man said, pointing to one of the guards, "Take our awesome protector and show him…"

"No," I corrected. "I said 'you show us'. Now."

The man looked around for a response for a moment, before dropping his gaze back to the floor. He then slowly stood up, and, with a small gesture, walked off.

We followed behind the man through the streets and into a forest. Dean and I were walking a far enough distance behind him to talk. I leaned over and whispered, "I am sorry for addressing you as my human. I did not mean that as I view you as a something I own or as a piece of my hoard. I was simply trying to protect you from that man that had harmed you in the past and had obvious intentions to do so again."

Dean gave me a startled look, "That's fine. I didn't think you did. Do you really think we'll be able to find Sam like this?" there was a scared vulnerable look in his eyes that he only ever showed when he was worried about his younger brother.

"Yes, I do. We will ask the man there where the people are taken and then go there to look for Sam. We will find him."

"Thanks. I wouldn't be able to do this if I was on my own," he murmured, almost inaudible. At least to human hearing.

We walked in silence until the sun was almost overhead before the man said, "It's right here in this clearing."

The hut was small and made of slats of wood. Smoke was coming out of a hole in the top of it. There was a man standing in front of the door and when he saw us he put his hand on the hilt of his blade and began to walk over. My wings had been folded tightly against my back to stop them from catching on branches. I flared them out at the man and stopped him right in his tracks.

"He wanted to speak with you," the creepy temple man said.

"What do they want?" the hut man asked warily

"This man sold someone to you when he had no right to," I said. "Tell me where you send the people sold to you."

"I'm not sure where they were taken this time,"

"Become sure," I growled threateningly.

The man slid back against the wall, "I can tell you both the biggest place and the first place that the cart stops at, but I can't guarantee where each particular good is sold." I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and turned around.

"Where do you plan on going?" I asked the temple weasel, who was sneaking off.

"I didn't know you still needed me, master," the man stammered.

"Yes. Come here."

The man slowly walked over to the spot I had indicated with his head down. I put one hand on his shoulder, pushed him down on to his knees and left my hand resting there. "I told you I was not happy with the use of humans as bargaining chips. I have been planning out a method of punishment from the moment I noticed that you planned to use a human in my tribute. At first, I thought that I might just destroy the village, but that wouldn't be fair to the residents when you are the one at fault. Then I thought that I would change the deal. Maybe order for more to be given next time: more expensive or more frequent. I had to throw that idea out as well. Seeing as you were uncaring with a human life I doubt you would fix your own mistakes. You would probably just tax the people harder. I could just kill you, but I understand how sacred life is. After cycling through all of these ideas I truly was clueless about what to do, but then, just on this walk, I figured out how to justly punish you." I slid my hand up to his cheek. I then lowed my temperature so far that a large blue-white freezer burn was visible when I lifted my hand away. The man screamed but I had gone back to holding his shoulder so he couldn't move. "That was for trying to sacrifice someone, but you have desecrated the living in more ways." I placed a matching mark on the man's neck, before allowing him to fall to the forest floor.

I then turned back to address the terrified hut man. "I apologize for the interruption to our conversation, but I believe you were about to tell me something."

"I really don't have a definite answer as to where the person you're looking for is, but maybe if you describe him I could guess better. That really is the best I can do for you."

I turn a questing look to Dean, who had just been silently staring the temple man this entire conversation. When he didn't answer I lightly touched his shoulder and he jumped. "Sorry," he said. "What?"

"This man thinks he might be able to tell us where Sam is if you describe him."

"Yeah. Okay. He's taller than any person should be, brown hair that needs to be cut, hazel eyes, pretty thin, and about the same skin color as me."

"Okay," the hut man said. "I still can't guarantee you where he is but I can give you a list of all the places we sell to. The first place on the route is Andalun, but not many people buy there. The biggest village is Darttrenn. They usually buy almost everyone to be resold in the market. I think he would have either been sold there or in Stinloft. That's the best I can do."

"We should be going then," I said to Dean who just nodded numbly.

When we got out of range I turned to him and asked, "Are you doing alright."

"Wasn't expecting that with Zachariah," he muttered.

"Would you have preferred if I had done nothing?"

"No. just wasn't expecting that."

"Is something else wrong?"

"Nah. Let's just get going."

"Dean."

He sighed before saying to the leaf litter, "The places the man said to go are some of the worst villages. Stinloft is very poor and crime filled, but Darttrenn has this giant arena where they kill people for fun. If the man thinks that Sam is there then something has to be wrong."

I reached over and gently made him look at me, "I already promised you to help you find your brother and this changes nothing. Which place do you think we should look at first?"

"Darttrenn."

"Alright. I will be right back. I need to see if there is anywhere around to take off from in my full form." I flew up above the trees to look around. The clearing was not in the middle of the forest, like I had thought, but rather near the other side. It would be a short enough walk to get there and then fly to the next village.

Three days later.

The flight there, on the other hand, had not been short, but we had made it to a nearby landing site and then had walked to the outskirts of the village. "You should wait here," I said. "I will return as soon as possible, hopefully with Sam."

"What? There is no way you are going off without me to look."

"I don't want to put you in danger."

"I am capable of taking care of myself. And I think that being with you is safer than standing in some random ally while you go off who knows where for who knows how long."

"It would be better…"

"You don't even know what Sam looks like, so how could you possibly expect to find him without me."

"We don't…," I raised on hand when I realized that he was not going to give this up. And I had no good argument for that last statement. "You can come with me, but my idea for getting him back was to pretend to be a dragon that keeps humans as slaves and to say that Sam was one of my slaves that was stolen. If you come with me you will have to pretend that you are my slave. That means that you cannot speak or interfere no matter what you see."

"Alright. That sounds like a plan. If getting Sammy back means I just have to shut up for a few hours I can do that," he said with a nod.

"Also you have to remember that I am only acting to serve a purpose. I do not think of humans as slaves and I would never treat a person like that." There was the real reason I didn't want him to come. It scared me that my new friend might leave, or that he might only stay out of fear or convenience. I had never realized how lonely I was living alone until I suddenly wasn't alone anymore, and I had no desire to go back. More than that I liked Dean, maybe more than it should be possible to like someone so soon after meeting them, but I would miss him if he left, and it would hurt if he hated or feared me.

"I know how to recognize a lie. I'm not waiting here."

"Change back then and we will be going." He was currently wearing the furs since we had been flying.

About an hour later found us standing in front of a short smarmy man in a black suit in front of a doorway to a white stone building.

"Good evening gentlemen. Name's Crowley, and what can I do for you today?" he spoke with a strange accent and held himself with a confidence that didn't quite meet his eyes.

I flared my wings up at the man hoping that intimidating him might move this along faster. Or at the very least make him less irritating to deal with. The only reaction I got was a quick nervous flick that was gone as soon as it came. "Someone stole a slave from me. I heard that he might be here and I want him back."

"Yes, of course, your dragon-ness. And what kind of slave might you be looking for?"

"A tall, white, young teenage male, with brown hair, and hazel eyes that would have come here about three weeks ago."

"That doesn't really give me much to work with."

"Do you best."

"Alright then. Lucky for you I usually keep new acquisitions for at least a month before selling, to make sure that they are properly trained, priced, and to find any special skills to advertise. I will gather up all of the product that I have that matches your description," Crowley said before inviting us into the building. We followed him into a large lobby made of the same white stone as the outside. There was a ring of cushions set around the walls of the room that the man gestured to while saying, "Please make yourselves comfortable. I will come to get you when everything is ready."

Dean and I sat in silence for about ten minutes before a blond man came in to lead us into another room where Crowley was waiting. I had a lot of choice words that I could use to describe him, but I couldn't say that he didn't know how to get things done. The floor of the new room was covered in straw and there were four people chained on their knees to wooden poles fixed into the floor. I turned slightly to look at Dean who shook his head 'no' to me. I turned to look a Crowley and said, "None of these men is the slave that I am looking for."

"I could sell one to you at a discount if you would like. Help you replace what you lost or maybe give you an upgrade," he offered.

"I never had any intention to pay you for what is already mine, and I do not care about efficiency. I have plenty of slaves. I am only looking for this one because he is mine and no one takes what is mine. Now unless you have any other ideas about where he might be you have ceased to be useful to me and I will take my leave."

"I do have another idea about where your slave might be, but you most certainly will pay me for my services if not for the slave himself."

"I most certainly will not, and if you refuse to help me I will tell the dragon that protects this land that you are aiding in the stealing of my Hoard."

"Why would the dragon of this land care about what happened to you?"

"When a piece of one of our Hoard has been stolen it becomes a matter for all of us. Hoard is the most important thing for us and the dragon of your land will be outraged if I tell him that something happened to a piece of my Hoard." While I didn't think of a human as a piece of Hoard, it was true that if a dragon told another that a piece of their Hoard had been stolen it was likely that the other dragon would help get it back.

Crowley looked around angrily for a moment, considering his options, before saying, "Go wait in the other room. I'll go look at the arena. I sold them three slaves that were in too poor condition to go up for auction."

Back in the other room I turned to Dean and asked, "Are you doing alright?"

"He's at the arena. He was already injured and now he's at a place where people are tortured for fun."

"We don't know that he is there."

"Then we have no idea where he is."

"He might be here, and if he is then we found him."

"You never had slaves?"

Where had that question come from? "What? No. why would you ask that?"

"Just the way you were talking…"

"I was speaking as I would if something had actually been stolen from my Hoard. I would never consider a living creature as part of my Hoard but I know how having a piece of it stolen would cause me to react."

"So your Hoard really is the most important thing to you?"

"No. For me, family is the most important. That is the way that most dragons feel, but some do value their Hoard above all else. We will find your brother," I said, trying to change the topic.

"Yeah. Okay," he said unconvincingly.

We waited for a few more minutes after that until Crowley came back and said, "I found another slave that matched what you are looking for. Come with me to the back and the owner will show you."

At the back door of a large round building, made of the same white stone as the other building, we were greeted by a tall red-haired woman. She led us through a labyrinth of disgusting cells and cages. I picked my wings up as high as I could so the bottoms didn't touch the floor. When she stopped she gestured to one of the cages and said,Here's the slave that you were looking for."

I turned to ask Dean if this scrap of a creature was his brother, but the stricken look on his face answered for me. "Yes. He is mine."

"Not sure why you would want that back," she said with a disgusted flick of her wrist. "Or what you're going to do with him now. I could just keep him for you, I would pay you of course, but it would save you the hassle of dragging him out of here just for him to die in a few days."

"No. He is mine and I will be taking him with me."

"Of course. Whatever you say," she said before opening the cage and walking away.

"That's him," Dean muttered. "Oh goodness, what happened? We should have gotten here sooner. Why didn't you get us here sooner?" he yelled.

"Calm down. I know you're just acting angry at me because you have no one else to take it out on, but we should focus on solving the current issue instead of placing blame. The important thing is that we found him. "

"Not soon enough."

"He's not dead."

"You heard what that lady said."

"Hey, I told you I would help you. I am not going to break that promise now. We can get him out of here."

"And then what?" Dean snapped.

"There is a half-scale that lives about a day away from here. She works as our healer and she will be able to help him."

"A half-scale?"

"The offspring of a dragon and a human. Now we should hurry. See if you can get your brother up."

Dean bent down next to the cage the woman had opened before leaving and reached out to the person laying inside of it. "Sam? Sammy? Come on man. Sam," he was starting to talk a bit more frantically as he got no response. He then started to lightly shake Sam's shoulder "Sam!" until the man opened one eye and dazedly looked up.

"Dean?"