II: Into The Frying Pan
They slowed to a walk the second they saw us. They approached even more cautiously once they saw the dead birds on the ground, and by the time they halted they formed a semicircle around our makeshift cover. The birds had blunted talons and the bridle assembly they wore not only had a piece that capped the sharp beak but had funky little blinders attached to them. The riders sat on pads instead of saddles, their legs tucked under the bird's wings in lieu of stirrups, and all of them were armed with either short wicked looking bows or blow guns. Their skin was the same shade as Teyla's and their hair was black and pulled back into tight elaborate braids that rested against the backs of their necks. They wore simple Sumo-like loin cloths and all of them sported tattoos in black and red that covered their shoulders, arms, and legs. And they all looked very, very serious.
The leader nudged his bird forward a step. At least I think he was the leader – his tattoos actually ran up his neck and onto his face and he had some fancy carved bone thingy stuck through his nose. We tensed, every one of them tensed in response, then the guy spoke and for once I didn't understand a single damn word he said. When we didn't answer he said something else, frowned, and pulled back on his bow a little more. I had to admit - with the bone and the tattoos it was pretty intimidating. Without taking my eyes off of him I said through the side of my mouth to Teyla, "You understand that?"
"I think so," she replied. "Some words are similar to a dialect I am familiar with."
"Think you can make him understand 'we come in peace'?"
"I will try."
She started talking and I watched as the leader cocked his head. He said a few words, she rattled off some more, and they went back and forth like this for a couple minutes. Suddenly I saw the light of understanding dawn in his eyes. A moment later he relaxed his draw and lowered his bow. He looked to his left and right and obviously ordered his men to do the same.
I gave the order as well. "Well?" I asked Teyla.
"I believe I will be able to converse with him. It will take some work, however."
"All right," I said. We stepped out into the open and the leader gracefully slid off his mount. He was a wiry squirt barely as tall as Teyla, and they met halfway between our two parties and started a conversation that was equal parts gesture and actual words. I took that time to sit on the crumbling wall behind me and take those much needed Tylenol. Rodney was consulting his scanner and Ronon did what he was best at – looming ominously.
"I don't get it," Rodney said and grumbled a few more things under his breath.
"Get what?" I asked as I put my water away and grimaced at the twisting motion.
"I have no idea where these pygmies came from." Yeah, they were all really short. "There are absolutely no readings for a good kilometer. Except for that energy source. And I'm not even picking up that cat anymore."
"Could they have shielding?" Ronon asked.
"Are you kidding? Look at them – they haven't even mastered pants or personal hygiene. I doubt they would have anything as sophisticated as a cloaking device."
"Do you think it could be something like that planet with all the kids with a death wish?" I added.
"Possible," Rodney replied. Then his face screwed up and he grunted. "Give me a minute," he muttered and promptly tuned us out as he started scrolling through more readouts.
While he did that I watched the other riders. Several had dismounted and were checking out the dead birds. The rest were staring at Ronon, no doubt impressed by the furry octopus-headed giant that was in their midst. Ronon noticed and crossed his arms and scowled. They backed up a step. I think the fact that he was half covered in bird blood helped with that reaction.
Teyla finished up and came back over to us. "That was easier than I expected. These people have dealt with travelers through the Stargate before and are familiar with Trader's Sign." As she said that latter bit she made a couple graceful motions with her hands. "They call themselves the Nixtahuec, Shadow People, and this was their capital city."
"Was?" I said, then grimaced. "Wraith?"
Teyla nodded. "They call them the Ixlacal – the Pale Death. But their city was decimated generations ago. The current population is apparently rather small, and when the Wraith came through two years ago they took some, but not many."
At the mention of the Wraith the leader said something to the other riders and thumped his chest. The others started laughing and some held up lean but muscular arms and pinched their biceps. Teyla smiled and said, "Kintu says the Ixlacal found his people too scrawny."
I had to smile at that. "Hello, Kintu," I said and nodded at the man. I tapped my chest and said, "Sheppard." The man smiled and nodded and managed to repeat my name without butchering it. I pointed to Rodney and Ronon and said their names as well. He picked them up without any problem either.
"Kintu is the Keeper of the Ixlatecutl," Teyla said and pointed to one of the birds. "If I understood him correctly, their name means Two Legged Death."
"That's fitting," Ronon said.
Teyla's smiled faded. "When I spoke of the panther Kintu did not seem at all concerned. In fact he was elated and said, and I quote, 'If the Guardian has protected you, then you are welcome here'. Then he invited us back to his village to rest through the worst of the day's heat."
"Guardian?" I said, but before I could ask anything else Rodney interrupted.
"We don't have time to go gallivanting through the jungle to visit some third world's nightmare equivalent of a seedy motel." He held up the scanner and waggled it. Gaah, I hate it when he does that – makes me want to grab and shove it…. He interrupted my vision. "We really – and I emphasize the 'really' part – really need to find this energy source." He was starting to get that wild look in his eyes that meant he was either on the verge of a scientific orgasm or his blood sugar was about to crash.
The corner of Teyla's mouth twitched up. "Then you will be happy to know, Dr. McKay, that Kintu's village is – how did he word that? Oh, yes - a short trot that way." She pointed in the exact direction we needed to go. "It is at the edge of this complex."
"Oh. Really?" Rodney said. He glanced at Kintu. "In that case, lead on."
"You are pathetic," I said as I straightened up. Yeah, tomorrow morning was going to suck. Kintu started talking again and gestured towards the dead Eeshlati, teh … oh, the damn dead birds.
"He wants to know what we are going to do with our kills." Teyla supplied.
I made an open handed offering motion to the little guy. "Knock yourself out." I received another big grin in return. His riders immediately began cutting lengths of the tough ground vines with obsidian bladed knives and braiding several together to form short ropes. These they tied around the birds necks and attached them to the saddle pads of their own mounts. Kintu sent the extra rider ahead while he decided to walk with us back to his village. He led his own mount like it was just a dog on a leash and not the two legged super predator it really was. I was happy to see the cap not only covered the sharp tip of that beak but also kept the mouth shut as well, and the little blinders flipped up over the bird's eyes and acted just like a falconer's hood. Sweet.
Kintu noticed I was walking a little stiffly and offered his ride. I eyed the bird and respectfully declined.
As we walked through the ancient city I finally got the chance to ask Kintu about this Guardian. Through Teyla we learned that one, the Guardian, or Tilahuaxutzli in his language, had been protecting his people since before the fall of the great city. They used to live in the shadow of the Great Pyramid before that, but since then moved the location of their village. In the last visit by the Pale Death she saved many of them from the giant screaming wasps that were their allies.
I couldn't hide a grin at that. Gotta love primitive explanations for technical stuff we take for granted. If it were only that simple.
"He says their village is built around her temple."
"Temple?" Rodney said around a mouthful of Powerbar – the light in his eyes earlier was from low blood sugar. Shoulda figured. "What does this temple look like."
Kintu talked at great length and Teyla listened intently. Occasionally she would ask a question then nod at the explanation. "He says it is small on the outside and covered with many plants, but the inside is many times larger. If I am understanding his description correctly, most of it is underground. And it has light without fire and little rooms that move up and down on their own."
"Ancient outpost," Rodney and I said at the same time. "It's a definite possibility," I said.
"And if it is …." Rodney practically skipped down the trail we were following.
"Does she live there?" Ronon asked.
Teyla interpreted. Got a reply. "Yes, she does."
"Now that's a waste of Ancient technology," Rodney said. "We'll have to evict it."
"No!" Teyla protested.
"I can do it," Ronon said. He patted his gun.
"Nobody is going to evict anybody, er, anything and there will be no shooting. Understood?"
"But …," Rodney started.
"Rodney," I said through my teeth. "We want to make friends with these people and their big kitty cat. If they can tame these …," I hooked a thumb at the Jubjub bird. Yeah, that'll be a lot easier to remember than … ah, forget it. "Then they would probably have absolutely no problem wiping our asses out because we insulted their goddess. Or whatever she is."
"He does have a valid point," Teyla said. "Dr. Weir would agree as well."
"Damn it," Rodney muttered. "I hope one of you remembered to bring catnip, because I sure as hell didn't." He took an angry bite of his Powerbar. Then he noticed Kintu eyeing his snack curiously. The little guy held out a hand and raised his eyebrows in an unmistakable share? "Oh, no you don't. Get your own."
"Be nice, Rodney," I said and pulled one of my own bars out. Chocolate peanut butter. I opened the wrapping, started to tear off a chunk of the warm half melted thing, then decided to give the whole thing to Kintu. He took a hesitant sniff, then his eyes lit up and he devoured it. He even took the time to lick the wrapper clean. He would have tried to eat the wrapper, too, if Teyla hadn't warned him off. He patted his belly and said something behind a broad chocolate grin.
"Kintu thanks you. He promises to give us all a fine feast from the Ixlatecutl we hunted today."
"Huh, I wonder if they taste like chicken or turkey?" I said. Rodney rolled his eyes at me.
We were walking between two more huge pyramids. We didn't have much shade anymore – the sun was getting closer to its zenith and was no longer blocked by the tall stone buildings or the trees that jutted up here and there. I swear the temp had gone up ten degrees in the last few minutes and I was looking forward to the shade up ahead that was cast by the true jungle's canopy. I held my left arm tight to my side and grimaced as we plodded along. I caught Teyla out of the corner of my eye watching me with a concerned frown on her face. "I'm fine," I said. "Just looking forward to sitting down for awhile."
We cleared the complex and saw Kintu's village. We faced a wooden palisade that was easily forty feet high. The main gate was open and Kintu led us through without any challenge. I glanced up as we passed under and noticed that about a yard from the top of the wall there was a row of wicked spears pointing down at roughly a forty-five degree angle. Huh – Jubjub's must be able to climb, too. Then we were inside and I saw the place was a couple acres in size and completely surrounded by the wooden palisade. Wait, no – about three-quarters was made of logs. The rest had been replaced by stone and I could see scaffolding in place for new construction. They kept quite a few of the tall trees to provide shade for the village and most of the huts were simple wooden structures with thatch roofs and walls that could be raised to provide air flow. There were very few stone structures, and the ones I could see looked like communal kitchens. Makes sense – don't want cooking fires in straw huts, I guess.
"Crap!" Rodney suddenly said and whapped the side of his scanner a few times. He looked at me with a disgusted scowl on his face like it was all my fault. "The scanner just quit working. Well, that lends more precedence to the shield theory."
"That means our radios are dead, too," I added. I glanced at my watch – the second hand had quit moving but I could see our next check in time was in roughly forty minutes. I guess I'll just have to make sure I'm outside of the wall then.
Kintu looked concerned at our, well, mainly Rodney's distress. I had Teyla assure him everything was all right.
"Everything is not all right," Rodney said. "How am I supposed to interface with the database with nothing but some feathers and a few stone tablets?"
"We'll deal with it when we get there." And 'there' was very obvious – I pointed to the sight Rodney obviously missed in his fit.
The temple was taller than the palisade and so overgrown with vines it looked like a big green lump in the center of the village. But here and there an untarnished metal spire poked out of the foliage and the design was very familiar. For a second there I thought Rodney was going to charge forward scattering tiny villagers like so many bowling pins. But he pulled himself together, gave his head that half cock, half twitch he makes before getting down to business, and muttered. "Okay. This is looking better and better all the time." He looked at Kintu and said, "Lead on." The guy didn't understand the words, but he understood the gesture Rodney made with them.
Our merry little band caused quite a commotion as we walked through the village. People were stopping and staring at us, and I have a good feeling it was mainly because Kintu was one of the tallest people in his village. The men were dressed pretty much the same as him but the women were decked out in these short skirt-like things that were either dyed bright colors, had intricate designs woven into the cloth itself, or both. They wore lots of bracelets and anklets made of polished stones and what looked like gold. And pretty much nothing else. Most of them wore their hair out and had bright feathers braided into it while others had it pulled back in simple braids. And what children I could see were just running around naked.
All in all, I felt like we were walking through a National Geographic special, and Rodney was trying very hard not to gawp at all the exposed breasts. He finally forced himself to look straight ahead, a very fixed and studious expression on his face. Then his eyes would dart to the side, the mask would slip for a moment, and back came that look. That did it – I let out the belly laugh I was keeping inside because I knew it would hurt. Yup, it hurt like hell. "Relax, Rodney – you're starting to look constipated," I said in a slightly strained voice. "They don't have anything you haven't seen before." Then I glanced sideways and frowned concernedly. "Uh, you have seen real breasts before, haven't you?" I heard Ronon snort behind me.
"As a matter of fact, I have," he snapped back. When Teyla glanced over her shoulder at him, one eyebrow raised in a very humorless manner, he suddenly found the ground very interesting. "I'm just not used to things being this …." His head bobbled a few times. "Earthy." He was red, and I knew if I made a big deal out of it he'd just say it was the heat.
I resorted to just snickering instead. It didn't hurt nearly as much.
Kintu's riders returned with our "kills" and that distracted most of the adults. The children, however, started to come out in droves and we had quite the little crowd escorting us in a very short time. Then they started playing a game. One would run up to Ronon and touch him then sprint back to the others, giggling. Then they'd egg another one to go touch the giant. After the third time this happened Ronon glowered down at the little boy who was the current victim. The kid squealed in fear and dashed back to be laughed at by the rest of his playmates. The next one to try got a growl and several of the crowd screamed this time. Then the laughter and giggles came even harder. I had to admit, it was pretty damn cute, and I think Ronon was getting a kick out of it as well because his next growl was accompanied by a short lunge and a lot of screaming.
We came to the center of the village and the children were shushed and pulled back by the adults who were present. The area around the temple was surrounded by a clear flagstone lined perimeter about thirty feet across. There were several sections of the base of the round building completely cleared of vegetation. Ornate spigots came out of the metal wall and streams of clear water emptied into basins set beneath. Several villagers who were there filling large clay pots stopped and stared at us as we stepped onto the flagstones. A set of stairs that looked just like the ones in the Gate Room at Atlantis led up to a wide open archway.
And standing in that archway was a woman. She was tall – hell, I think she could look me in the eye – and was wearing a plain dark green dress. Well, dress may have been too fancy of a word. It looked more like a long piece of cloth with a neck hole cut in it and was simply held in place by an ornate belt made of gold and jade. Her skin was a shade darker than Teyla's and her hair was jet black and pulled back. She came down the stairs and from the way her dress was cut she showed an awful lot of leg as she did. The tip of a braid that was somewhere near the back of her knees swayed into view with each step, and as she got closer it was obvious she had put the dress on while she was wet, like she had just gotten out of a shower or something.
I must have had my mouth open because Rodney nudged my arm and said, "Down, Kirk." Judging from the distracted sound of his voice, I should be telling him the same thing.
When the woman reached the last step Kintu placed his right hand over his heart, bowed briefly, and said, "Tilahuaxutzli."
She briefly placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him before she focused her attention on us. "Welcome to the Temple of Life, travelers," she said plain as day in a contralto that sent my pulse racing. Then eyes that weren't quite green, weren't quite gold locked on mine. "I am Nixta."
My introduction died on my lips as I was overwhelmed by a sense of déjà vu. Holy Christ – no fucking way! I thought. Then while I was trying to convince myself I was just imagining it she stepped right up to me and did something I really, really did not expect. With her eyes half closed and her lips slightly parted, she sniffed me.
Oooookay – why do I never see these things coming?
And it wasn't exactly a sniff - it was more like an deep inhale. Now I've been sweating like a pig for the last hour and a half, and I'm pretty sure my deodorant gave up its heroic battle with this heat about the time we hit the bottom of the pyramid - not to mention the roll on the jungle floor I did – so I'm certain the smell coming off of me right now was not something someone would want to bottle and sell for fifty bucks an ounce. But there she was, her eyes now fully closed and a disturbingly satisfied smile on her face.
And just exactly how does one react to being sniffed by a really beautiful woman? If I didn't have witnesses right now I could think of a few things I'd try. And let's face it, saying, "Hi, I'm Lt. Colonel John Sheppard, USAF," would just seem anticlimactic at this point. Should I, like, sniff her back? Or would that make us married because of some obscure tribal tradition I didn't know about? Ah hell – why does this kind of crap happen to me? Why couldn't it happen to Ronon? Oh wait – it doesn't happen to him because the bodies would pile up really fast and we wouldn't be welcome anywhere in the Pegasus Galaxy.
While I was trying to get my mind wrapped around all this I glanced to the left at Rodney. He just stood there, staring, with his mouth hanging open and a WTF expression on his face that could beat all other previous attempts to hell. Then Nixta stepped over in front of him and sniffed him, too. At first Rodney tried leaning back away from her, then he flinched away and almost fell over as the strangeness of the whole thing really started to freak him out. He looked at me, again, like it was somehow all my fault. She didn't look nearly as ecstatic about what she got off him as she did with me because she took a step back and shook her head.
Then I caught a glimpse of Kintu. Apparently this was all pretty new to him, too, because he just stood there with the whites of his eyes showing as he looked back and forth between me and his Guardian.
Yup, that definitely falls under the heading of things you don't see every day.
Nixta fixed her eyes on mine again and I felt all the little hairs on my body try to stand up. And let's face it – there are an awful lot of them. She offered an apologetic smile but it didn't help matters any – we were all pretty much freaked. "I have upset you." Yeah, no shit. She lowered her eyes and gave her head a little dip. "My apologies – I had to be sure."
"Sure of what?" Rodney said, for which I was glad – I still hadn't found my voice.
"If you were truly Ancients," she replied and looked at me through her very long eyelashes.
Oh, man, I thought. If she's another Chaya I'm going to ask Rodney to shoot me. My chances of surviving would be a whole helluva lot better than if I asked Ronon. "Uh, no, we're not," I said then had to clear my throat. "We're just humans. Plain, ordinary, run of the mill humans. Yup, human." Oh, Jesus Christ – I was babbling like a damn teenager. Rodney, however, managed to bring all that to an end when he elbowed me in the ribs. The jab wasn't that hard, but it was enough to make me clamp my teeth down to keep from cussing out loud. I glared at Rodney, my right fist clenching and unclenching as I fought the urge to deck him.
"Oh shit," Rodney said as he realized what he had done. "Sorry. Sorry sorry." He actually started to look very concerned. "I forgot about … um, you can breathe any time now."
Huh, so I was holding my breath. Teyla put a hand on my arm as I blew that out and drew in another shaky one. "Rodney," I said through my teeth, "you are a walking WMD. Has anyone ever told you that?"
"I may have heard that a time or two," he said with a crooked grimace.
"You should come with your own warning label." I took in a few more shaky breaths and gave Teyla a strained smile. "I'm okay," I said. Her expression clearly replied, no you aren't.
Nixta grew very concerned as well. "My apologies again – you have wounded in your party." She glanced at Ronon for the first time.
Ronon shrugged. "I'm fine – not my blood."
One eyebrow rose faintly at that and she gave him a ghost of an approving smile. That made him stand up straighter and puff his chest out a bit. Figures – compliment him on using a fork, he grumbles. Compliment him on killing something and he glows. "Please, come inside the temple. You will find it much more comfortable there – it is obvious you are not accustomed to this climate." Nixta turned to Kintu and said something. He nodded and trotted off into the village. "I've asked Kintu to bring us some food. Come," she said and started up the steps.
Teyla still had her hand on my arm and I didn't mind. The second I came within a few feet of the steps my ATA gene triggered the lighted designs in their edges. Oops, forgot about that. Nixta whirled around to look at me, then at Rodney. "Who are you?" she said, her attention settling on me again.
Rodney jumped in right away. "Well, um, I'm Dr. Rodney McKay, astrophysicist and genius," he said as he put one hand to his chest and stuck his jaw out. "The stoic one who actually looks like he's about to puke is Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. That is Teyla Emmagen, our diplomat, interpreter, and voice of reason, and the big guy covered in something else's, uh, blood is Ronon Dex."
"Pleased to meetcha," I gritted out as I slowly plodded up the stairs. It wasn't a sniff, but it would have to do.
