Chapter 12

"What I wouldn't give for a nice, long, hot shower," Dean mumbled to himself as he wiped the sweat that was dripping into his eyes. He had pushed them hard to put as much distance as he could from the dargar, not wanting to be a warm body for it to snuggle with again.

"Are we still following a trail, or have we lost it?" Sam asked panting for breath. "Think we can slow down now dude?"

"Okay, ten-minute break," Dean huffed. "I think I hear running water that way. We'll stop there and refill our bottles."

"Sounds good to me," Ice agreed.

They headed toward the sound of rushing water and found a fast-moving river that cut through the forest. Dean found a place where they could easily get to the water and where it wasn't moving so fast. They dropped their packs and pulled out water bottles to fill. The water was icy feeling and they sighed with relief when they splashed it on their faces and cupped their hands to drink some.

Sam pulled out three granola bars and passed them around for their breakfast. They relaxed for a short time before leaving and picking up the trail again. They had to double back a couple of times when it seemed the trail disappeared and was finally able to find it again.

The day wore on as the travelers moved deeper into the Forbidden Forest, ever watchful for any dangers. Dean stepped from the thick stand of trees and saw they were thinning out making it easier to travel. He had just stepped into a clearing when the movement across the way caught his eye. He held up his hand for the others to stop and squinted trying to see better.

"Is that…" Sam whispered as he stared in amazement at a large, sleek, black horse that had an ebony horn in the middle of his forehead. He fumbled to get his camera out to snap pictures.

The black unicorn stopped when it sensed the presence of others. It shook his head and neighed softly and let his head bob up and down. The sunlight glistened off his body and seemed to make it shimmer. He had large, intelligent eyes that studied them for a few minutes as he held his head high.

"Why is it black?" Dean asked softly. He pulled a camera out and took his own pictures.

"It is a dark counterpart of the white unicorn," Ice told them. "They are rare and only seen here in this forest. No one dares to catch one for fear of its wrath."

"Are they magical too?"

"Yes, but they don't like contact with other beings. We should not approach him, or he might attack and kill one of us."

They stood still and just watched the unicorn paw at the ground, snorting at them for a moment before trotting away into the trees.

"That was…" Sam trailed off not able to put it into words how he felt. If the black unicorn was that awesome, he could only imagine what the white one looked like. There were so many wonderful things here, but there was also the darker side of this realm that he didn't much like. These creatures and monsters were not like what they had in their world, so it made it hard to defend themselves from them.

"I know, right," Dean nodded with a smirk. "You never know what you're going to see or find here. And it's even more surprising to us since we're not from here."

"Yeah, it takes your breath away and words can't describe it," Sam replied.

"I found more tracks over here," Ice called to them from across the clearing where he was kneeling to look at something on the ground.

The brothers walked over to him to see what he had found. There were scuffled footprints where the ground was soft and noticed trampled weeds around the undergrowth. They followed it across the clearing to where the forest started again and found where they disappeared between the trees.

"These look fresh; I think we're catching up to them," Dean said, excitement in his voice. He made note of the sun overhead and the direction they were going before slipping between the trees to pick up the trail again.

"That means we're going to have to start using stealth," Ice added. "We don't need to alert them that we're close."

Spn

The next couple of hours were rough and hard going. Sam was on his last leg when Ice insisted they needed to stop and find a place to camp. He could see how determined Dean was to continue, but knew they needed to rest and eat something.

"We won't be any good to Titus if we're not able to fight Dean. We need to eat and rest, and you know it," Ice told Dean after stepping in front of him to stop him.

"Ice is right man. We need to stop, I'm about ready to fall over," Sam huffed as he tried to catch his breath.

Dean glared at his companions as his nostrils flared, and then he really looked at them. A silent communication passed between Sam and him before he drew in several long breaths knowing they were right. He needed to play it smart if he was going to rescue Titus.

"Fine," Dean snorted giving in to the request. "We need to find a place to set up camp."

"How about up ahead there?" Sam offered. "There's thorny bushes at our back and the trees with the low branches will shield our fire from being seen."

"It will work. Let's get stuff set up," Dean decided after looking the place over.

They dropped their packs and quickly cleared away branches, rocks, and debris to make a place for their sleeping bags. Once the tarp was spread out, the sleeping bags were arranged on it.

Sam went to gather wood while Dean fixed a fire pit so they could cook their meal. Ice searched for branches that had sap on them to use for torches in case they were needed during the night. When there was enough wood to build a fire, Dean used his lighter to light some twigs and pinecones and added larger pieces of wood until he had a large blaze going.

"I found some stones for the fire," Sam offered sitting them by Dean so he could put them in the fire to use for sitting the coffee pot and cooking pot on. "I'm going to see if there's a stream nearby to get some water."

"Be careful and don't go too far," Dean instructed him. "Don't need you getting lost out there."

"I won't," Sam replied pulling his machete off his pack to take with him. He gathered the empty water bottles in a small pack and wandered into the trees listening and looking for a water source. It was starting to get dark, and he wanted to get back before all the light was gone. Sam marked the trees with the machete so he could follow them back to camp.

It took him nearly twenty minutes before he ran across a small stream that bubbled out of the ground. He followed it a short way to where it got deeper and filled one bottle to check it, seeing it was crystal clear. He took a small swallow and nodded it was okay. After filling the bottles, Sam hurried back to camp and was happy that Dean had put up a torch so he could see it to guide him back.

Once they finished a meal of beef stew and crackers, they bedded down, with Sam taking the first watch this time. The night passed without any incident, and they were up early the next morning. Sam fixed a quick breakfast for them and then they got back on the trail of the kidnappers.

A/N: I do like reviews/comments. NC