Chapter 7 – Mind Games
As the man in the trench coat came into a more open area, he quickly stopped. He tilted his head at the sight before him, unsure of what to make of it.
A table had been set up with a cloth covering it. Sitting on the table was a bottle of wine, two goblets, and even a basket of bread. For a second, all the man could wonder was where all of this had come from, since Crowley had not been carrying any of this with him. That was not what drew most of his attention though.
Crowley was sitting on the side opposite to him with a smug look on his face. Beside him was Dean, though a blindfold now obscured his vision. The boss had drawn his dagger, and the hunter sat absolutely still as the blade rested on his neck.
The man in the mask approached the table with caution.
"So it is down to you, and it is down to me." Crowley stated in a somewhat dramatic fashion. "If you wish him dead, then, by all means, keep moving forward." He pressed the dagger a bit harder against Dean's neck and the hunter gave a small gasp as it nicked him.
The man immediately stopped. He slowly raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "Let me explain – "
"There's nothing to explain." Crowley snapped, cutting him off. He shot the man a disgruntled look. "You wish to kidnap what I have rightfully stolen." He gestured at Dean with his free hand.
The man's eyes narrowed at that. "Perhaps an arrangement could be reached?" He asked reasonably enough. He took another step forward.
"There will be no arrangement, and you're killing him." Crowley's blade once more barely nicked the hunter. Truthfully, neither of the cuts was deep enough to even bleed, but the effect made the man stop all the same.
Crowley and the mysterious man simply stared at each other. "Well, if there can be no arrangement, then we have reached an impasse." He finally said. Crowley was glad, as the silence had been getting uncomfortable.
"I'm afraid so." The boss sighed. "I can't compete with you physically, and you're no match for my brains."
"And yet you managed to drag someone in chains all the way here." The man pointed out. Before Crowley could protest, he moved on. "You're that smart?"
"Let me put it this way: ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?"
"Yes." The man tilted his head, trying to see where he was going with this.
Crowley snorted. "Morons, the whole lot of them."
"Really." The man's tone could have been sarcastic, but it had a monotone quality to it that made it really hard to tell. He was studying the Brit again as if trying to pick his brain apart with his eyes. "In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits."
"For the princess?" Crowley asked.
"Hey!" Dean protested. Unknown to him, the man just rolled his eyes at Crowley's attempt at humor and nodded.
"To the death?" The boss tried to clarify. The man once more nodded. "Then I accept." Crowley sheathed his dagger, and gestured for the man to sit across from him.
"Good." The man settled himself, and after glancing over the table again, he waved at the wine. "Pour the wine."
As Crowley did so, the man took out a small vial from the inner pocket of his trench coat. He easily uncorked it, and held it out to the boss.
"Smell, but don't touch." He ordered as the other took it.
Crowley held it up to his nose and took a large sniff. He then raised an eyebrow. "I smell nothing." He said as he returned the vial.
The man in the mask held up the vial. "What you do not smell is Rowena's bane. It is odorless, tasteless, dissolves immediately in any liquid, and is among one of the deadliest poisons known to man."
Crowley's face showed nothing. "I see."
The man picked up both goblets of wine and turned away from his opponent, fully blocking his sight with his body. In less than a minute, he faced the table once more and set the goblets down. One was in front of Crowley, and the other rested in front of him. "All right." He gestured at the two goblets. "Where is the poison?" He folded his hands delicately in his lap. "The battle of wits has begun. It ends when you decide and we both drink. We'll find out who is right, and who is dead."
The man's faced showed no emotion at all as Crowley smirked up at him. "But it's so simple." As he continued to talk, he gestured at whatever he was talking about. "All I have to do is divine from what I know of you: are you the type of man who would put the poison into his own goblet or his enemy's? Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he is given. Clearly, I am not a fool so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known that I am not a fool, in fact you would have counted on it, so clearly I cannot choose the wine in front of me."
The man frowned at him. "Have you come to a decision then?"
"Absolutely not." Crowley countered. "Because Rowena's bane comes from Scotland, as everyone knows, and Scotland is filled with wild and suspicious people. Therefore they are used to not trusting others, as I do not trust you, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you."
"Fascinating." The man said, his face still showing absolutely nothing though his eyes held a curious light to them. "It is interesting to see your thought process."
"Just wait 'til I get going." Crowley grinned at him, though it faltered a second later. He frowned. "Where was I?"
"Scotland."
"Yes, Scotland." The Brit recovered. "And you must have suspected that I knew the origin of the poison, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me."
"I believe you're stalling." The man deadpanned.
"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" Crowley pointed an accusing finger at the man. "You've beaten my giant, which means you're exceptionally strong. You could've put the poison in your own goblet, trusting in your strength to save you, so I clearly cannot choose the wine in front of you. However, you've also bested my swordsman, which means that you've studied. In studying, you must have learned that man is mortal, and so you would have put the poison as far away from you as possible, so I clearly cannot choose the wine in front of me."
The man tilted his head once more. "You're trying to trick me into giving something away." His head righted itself. "It won't work."
Crowley laughed. "But that's the point! It has worked! You've given everything away! I know where the poison is!"
"Then make your choice." The man in the trench coat simply said.
Crowley rubbed his hands together. "I will, and I choose – " Something caught his eye and he squinted at it. "What the bloody hell is that?" He pointed in the direction of his gaze.
"What? Where?" The man turned around, away from the table, in order to look at what Crowley had been pointing at. As soon as his back was turned, Crowley gleefully switched the goblets around. He chuckled to himself as the man turned back around. "I don't see anything." The man sounded a bit disgruntled.
The Brit shrugged. "My mistake. I could have sworn that something was there. No matter." He smirked at the man.
"So have you made your decision?" The man asked once more.
"Yes." Crowley confirmed. "Me from my glass," he picked up his goblet, "and you from yours."
The man nodded his assent and grasped his own goblet. Together, they drank the contents of their respected goblets.
As they set them down once more on the table, the man smirked. Pointing at Crowley, he said, "You guessed wrong."
Crowley couldn't hold it in any longer. He roared with laughter. "You only think I chose wrong! I switched glasses while your back was turned! You fell for one of the oldest tricks in the books!" He continued to laugh until it suddenly cut off abruptly. His body fell forward onto the table.
The moment his body hit the table, the man was up and at Dean's side. He quickly removed the blindfold. The hunter finally got a good look at the man who had been pursuing him relentlessly.
"Who are you?" He demanded, as the man pulled a set of lock picks from his pocket and got to work on the handcuffs.
"Someone not to be trifled with." The man replied as he freed Dean. He looked up into his eyes, blue meeting green. "And that is all you ever need to know."
The hunter averted his gaze by looking over at the table and Crowley's body. He pursed his lips. "And to think that your cup had been the poisoned one the whole time."
"They were both poisoned." The man said matter-of-factly. He pulled Dean to his feet as he returned the picks to his pocket. "I've spent the last few years building up an immunity to Rowena's bane." With those final words, he grabbed Dean's arm and pulled him away.
As soon as they were gone, no one was there to see the body twitch and then sit up.
Crowley chuckled. "Put it in both glasses. How smart." He smirked as he held up his goblet before putting it down once more. "Rowena's Bane. If it were anyone other than me, it would have worked. After all," a bit of a Scottish accent slipped into his voice for a moment, "that witch practically raised me on the stuff."
He stood and looked off where the two had gone. "I'll give you this round, kid. The game was quite a lot of fun." He dusted off his clothes and withdrew a sack of money from his pocket. "I already got paid, so no worries." He pulled out a coin and flipped it. His eyes stayed on it as it twirled in the air. "These boys and their petty fights. Why on Earth would someone wish to have a kingdom…"
"Master Crowley?" Several men popped up with horses and supplies. They stood ready and waiting for their boss's command. The boss snatched the coin and pocketed the money, before moving over to his men.
Crowley smirked once more as he mounted his horse. "When you can rule the entire underground world?" He finished his earlier thought.
With that, he rode off, cackling evilly.
AN: Despite putting him in Vizzini's role, I couldn't kill off Crowley. He's just too smart for that. Actually, as he has survived to Season 11 on Supernatural without actually dying once (though he did fake his death like in here), I'm pretty sure one of the rules is that Crowley can't be killed off. I like this scene, and putting Crowley in it only made it better in my opinion. Next time, we'll get to find out who the man in the mask is (though we all already know). See you!