The rest of SG1 and Mughal looked at the camp that Carter and Abu's tracks led into.

Teal'c gestured towards it, 'The tracks lead directly there.'

'Who owns the place?' Jack asked.

'An enemy. A man who kills for pleasure. This is very bad,' Mughal explained.

'Well then we will go and get her tonight,' Jack went on, still watching the camp. It was not as brightly coloured as Mughal's camp, or as peaceful. He could see men riding around on horseback and scurrying figures. They seemed to be in some kind of state of alarm.

'If we attack, there will be war. Turghan is allied with twenty two clans. When he fights, he takes no prisoners,' Mughal said.

'You mean they'd kill all of you?' Daniel clarified.

'Yes. If you will wait until morning, I will go and request a trade. He cannot refuse.'

'But what will happen to Dr. Carter tonight if we wait,' Teal'c asked.

'Turghan will partake in his newest purchase.'

'Oh, there's not a chance in hell,' Jack shifted slightly in his crouch, eyeing the camp again.

'In our land, if a man wants a women, she can say no,' Daniel explained.

'No one refuses Turghan and lives,' Mughal said, his voice heavy.

'Then we go now,' Jack said, pushing up from their hiding place.

They walked towards the entrance to the camp, leading their horses. A sentry yelled to them to stop, which they did, but any further conversation was interrupted by a band of horsed men galloping out of the camp. The man at the front of the band signalled for the riders behind him to stop.

'Mughal!' The young man called down from the horse he was riding, 'Why do you skulk around my camp like a scavenger?'

'We seek trade with Turghan,' Mughal answered, his voice defiant.

Several of the warriors sneered, but the young man merely regarded them calmly before he answered.

'Turghan is dead. The demon woman killed him. The woman your son brought into our camp. There will be no trade, only vengeance.'

Mughal bowed his head slightly, recovering quickly from the surprise of the news, 'Allow me to offer what I can to repair the damage between our tribes. We can take the demon woman from you now, as a start.'

Several of the men around the band laughed Mughal's offer, but the young man leading them remained calm. His face was still impassive when he spoke to Mughal, 'Run back to your tribe old man. Arm yourselves and hide your women and children. We seek revenge on those who sent that woman amongst us, not a bloodbath.'

'Wait,' Daniel stepped in front of them. 'The woman is with us. She is of our tribe,' he gestured hurriedly between him, Jack and Teal'c. 'He was not Abu's to trade and he did not know of her power. It is not his, or Mughal's or their people's fault. We are from far far away. Let us take this demon woman from you and we'll go away. We will pay whatever you want in blood money and then you will never have to see us or the demon woman again.'

The young man glared at Daniel, 'You seek to appease my honour with gold and horses? My father's honour must be avenged by those who brought destruction upon him. These brought her into our camp and they must pay for it.'

He pulled the reins on his horse and started walking away from them with a backwards look towards Mughal. 'Run back to your tribe old man,' he repeated.

'Wait,' Jack called after them, 'we are not leaving without Carter.'

The young man shrugged, 'You are wanderers. I care not what you do.' He kicked his horse into a gallop with a harsh 'yah' and the large group of men around him followed suit, urging their own mounts into a gallop.

Mughal was already pulling himself onto his horse. 'I must warn my people. If you have others in your tribe that you can call upon, now might be the time, but I must return.'

'Go,' Jack told him.

Mughal nodded once and then kicked his own horse into a gallop.

They looked towards the camp and then Daniel and Teal'c looked towards Jack. He surveyed the large numbers of guards near the entrance and then nodded Daniel and Teal'c towards the woods. They ducked back out of sight and held an impromptu strategy meeting.

'We'll scout around the camp,' Jack told them. 'See if there's a weakness or someone we can trade with in the squirt's absence or someone who can tell us where Carter is. If we have to, we'll go back for reinforcements, but I'd rather not turn this into a war.'

Daniel and Teal'c both nodded. Teal'c took point and they began to skirt around the edges of what had been Turghan's camp. As they got closer to the edges of the yurts they could hear wailing from deeper within the camp.

Every gap they came to had a guard and before they'd got halfway round a shirtless young man, barely more than a boy, on horseback came across them. He had a bow in his hand, and an arrow pointed at them.

Jack brought his gun to bear on the youngster.

'Jack!' Daniel warned.

'Daniel,' Jack replied. 'He's pointing a weapon at us.'

'He's pointing a couple of bits of stick and string at us and you're pointing a semi-automatic at him.'

'And if he lets go of that bit of string he'll probably kill me.'

The boy looked wildly between the three of them, seeming uncertain. When Teal'c began to shift away from the other two he relaxed the bow and reached back on his saddle. Jack lifted his gun warily, but the boy merely brought a horn to his lips and blew a long note.

The boy began to ease away from them, steering his pony with his legs so that he could still hold the bow and the arrow, although they were currently pointing at the dirt.

'Let's get out of here,' Jack suggested, giving Daniel a directory pat on the upper arm to walk away from the edge of the camp the way they'd come. They'd only take a few steps before the way was blocked by a handful of men on horseback, bows ready. They glanced the other way, back towards the boy, but more men appeared on that side and they all had their bows drawn.

'What tribe are you?' One of the men called, looking down an arrow at them.

'We are travellers, from a long way away, from the Seas of Ogada,' Daniel explained, while Jack gradually shifted his gun higher and Teal'c did yet more subtle re-positioning to make them a more difficult target.

'Travellers who skulk around our camp?'

'We come seeking trade,' Daniel went on.

'There are no trade rights while the honour of our chief is in dispute. Though that retribution will be swift. Perhaps if you come back in two days our tribe will trade with yours then.'

'We will be gone from here by then. We must trade today or the opportunity will be lost,' Daniel went on. 'It is of great importance to us.'

The man who was speaking shrugged, 'If it is of great importance then it can wait two days.'

'No, you have one of our tribe. She was traded by one who did not own her and who had no right to trade her. We will pay highly for her return to us. She is a chieftain amongst our people, a powerful warrior and a noble scholar. She must be returned to us before the sunsets or else our spirits will be angered,' Daniel gabbled, improvising desperately.

'Your superstitions mean nothing to us. Chinua took the demon woman under his protection and he is gone from the camp to seek vengeance for the death of Turghan. He is the one you need to trade with, but there will be no trade rights for two days.' The man seemed to be getting angry.

Daniel bowed his head slightly. 'We will return in two days then,' he said.

'Daniel?' Jack said in a low voice.

'Jack,' Daniel responded, in an equally low voice, 'You heard them.' Daniel turned and began to almost shove Jack away from the camp and between the line of men with their bows and fierce looking expressions.

Teal'c eyeballed the spokesman of the guards for a moment, but then followed them.

They walked away from the camp, watched by the guards and waited until they were out of earshot.

'Daniel,' Jack started as he began to lead them back towards the ponies Mughal had lent them. 'Tell me why we're walking away without Carter.'

'Because their laws mean that they won't even consider trading with us for two days and because the person we need to trade with won't be in the camp for two days, which gives us time to go back to the SGC and get enough reinforcements to demonstrate what a powerful tribe we are.'

'And what about Carter in these two days? You heard Mughal.'

'She's been placed under this 'Chinua's' protection and with their emphasis on ownership it is highly likely that she will be perfectly safe, as long as she keeps her head down and her mouth shut.'

'This is Carter we're talking about'

'Relatively safe then. Either way, we can't do anything at the moment.'

'We have weapons Daniel,' Jack went on, holding up his MP5.

'It would be a blood bath to open fire on those with such primitive armour and weapons,' Teal'c said.

They'd reached their horses once again. Jack looked unhappily at the camp for a long moment in silence, apparently weighing their options.

'Fine, we'll go back to earth, we'll get reinforcements and whatever these people might want in trade and we'll come back.'

Daniel looked relieved and reached for the reins on his horse.

'But if we don't get Carter back in trade we will open fire,' Jack said darkly. Reaching for his own horse and swinging his gun around his hip. 'So help me, if they....,' he started, but then went quiet.

They rode back in silence, pushing the horses and their own riding skills as they retraced their steps back towards Mughal's camp. They passed the force from Turghan's camp about two thirds of the way, changing their direction slightly to avoid them. They were trotting along almost leisurely and Jack was glad that at least Mughal would have time to get back to his own camp and prepare.

When they arrived at Mughal's camp the older man greeted them tersely. He wore leather and chain armour, carried a curved sword and around him the camp was a wild scene of desperate preparation as men saddled horses, fetched bows and herded children and veiled women to hiding places. He thanked them for the return of his horses, apologised for the loss of Carter once again and then hurried them from the camp so that he could continue preparing.

They wished Mughal luck in what appeared to be an inevitable confrontation with Turghan's camp and then hurried on their way back to the SGC.

XXXX

'Carter?' Nya called her name gently and Sam stirred from the uncomfortable doze she'd drifted into in the humid warmth of the yurt. She rolled over gently, wincing when she caught the gash in her side and her rib and looked at the girl in the gloom.

There was another two figures in the yurt as well, another young woman who was heavily pregnant and an older woman. Neither of them looked at Sam when she moved.

'How are your injuries?' Nya enquired.

'Sore,' Sam admitted, eventually, her mouth was dry and she struggled to get enough moisture in her mouth to speak, when she did she tasted dried blood.

'Why don't you change and join us for some food and tea,' Nya suggested, putting a small bundle of clothing onto the bed next to Sam. 'That dress is impractical.'

Sam couldn't help giving the girl a slight smile at that comment. She sat up on the edge of the bed carefully and began to pull the ruined dress off. Nya watched her for a minute, but then reached in to help with fussy fastenings that Sam was struggling with. Between them they got the outer dress off, and then the under layers. Nya giggled slightly as she struggled with the knots and looked up at Sam, 'I always wanted a dress like this, but right now I think I hate it.'

Sam looked at her and wondered how the girl could deal with the death of her father so well, but she didn't have the energy to ask her. Her face throbbed and pulsed as if the blood was trying to burst through the clots and stitches. Between them they eased the new clothes on over her stiff muscles. They were loose, plain coloured and largely made of wool and in comparison to the blue dress that she'd dropped onto the floor they were incredibly comfortable. She now wore a narrow sleeved woollen dress over trousers, both belted at the waist. The dress reached to her knees, but at least it had a slit in each side that meant she would be able to run if she had to. Nya had a head scarf as well, but she looked at the bruising and cuts on Sam's forehead and put it to one side with another gentle smile. She helped her slip leather boots onto her feet and laced them, tucking the bottoms of her trousers in with deft hands.

'Thank you,' Sam told her, already embarrassed by Nya's willingly servile attitude, as much as she appreciated the caring gestures.

'Stew and tea,' Nya said, gesturing to the cooking fire in the centre of the yurt. Sam stood up from the bed and followed her to sit carefully cross legged near the pot. The other women around the yurt ignored her completely and focussed resolutely on their own food, except the younger pregnant woman, who gave Sam a careful smile, which she returned gingerly.

Nya handed her some kind of stew that Carter sniffed and identified as lamb or mutton and some tea. She sipped the tea and was surprised to find it was salty, but swallowed it anyway because she was thirsty. The salt seeped into small cuts inside Sam's mouth where her teeth had caught on her cheeks or tongue, or where her gums had split, and it stung.

Nya took a bowl herself and rocked back on her heels while she spooned the hot food into her mouth. She didn't speak further to Sam, or look at her and the other women continued to ignore her studiously. She ate her stew and tried to work out whether or not they would stop her if she walked out.

She finished her stew and drained the tea, despite the unpleasant taste, and handed the dishes back to Nya. She got up from the floor of the yurt, nodded briefly to Nya.

'See ya,' she said and walked out of the door to the yurt.

Maybe it was the desire to get away or maybe it was the blows to the head, but she'd forgotten her head scarf and the first man to see her yelled at her. It wasn't too long before more men rushed over. They grabbed hold of Sam and, though she struggled against them, they dragged her back to the yurt she'd only just walked out of.

There was some shouting from the women in the yurt as the men hustled Sam back through the door and there one or two hands in places there shouldn't be hands as they forced her into the yurt. They let go of her, but Sam stood panting in the centre of the yurt and glared them.

'She will just run again,' Nya said simply, not meeting Sam's eye.

'Chinua wants her to remain,' one of the men spat. Nya shrugged, indicating that it wasn't her problem.

One of the men produced some rope, 'Well then, we'll stop her running.'

They tied her hands and feet to one of the beds and left, eager to get out of the yurt full of irritated women, who looked disgustedly at Sam and tutted.

'Don't mind them,' Nya said, sitting down on the bed by Sam. 'That's Hyurl, she's Turghan's first wife; that's Chotan, she's Turghan's second wife and my mother and that's Saikan, she is Chinua's wife.'

'Why won't you let me escape?' Sam muttered, feeling a little betrayed.

'Chinua will be angry and I love my brother,' she said simply.

Sam sighed and resigned herself to a miserable over night stay in another stinking yurt. At least she had a bed tonight, even if she was going to have to ask for Nya's assistance to go pee.