PART FOUR

"Tula!" The flashlight bobbed on rock, rock and more rock. Talk about feeling entombed, and that was just going in a few feet. "Tula, can you hear me, please answer?"

She felt Teal'c grip firm on her ankles and wriggled further inside. The edge of the cave mouth dug into her belly through the vest and jacket. It reminded her of a place her parents had taken her on a trip to Europe; she'd been about eight and they'd been in France. Of course, being a tourist attraction, the French had widened the entrance and dug out some steps complete with handrails. This, on the other hand, was just a rock tunnel that you'd have to slide down and devoutly pray you didn't get stuck.

Oh boy! And wouldn't that be fun?

Still, Teal'c had managed to get in and out, so she should have no problem. Straining to see further and hear something, anything, Sam made a decision. "Teal'c, I'm going in."

Just at the worst possible moment, her radio squawked into life. "Carter, Teal'c, come in."

"Oh crap!"

Using her free hand, Sam reached up to the radio in her vest and pressed 'transmit', "Here, Colonel."

Teal'c's, "As am I," came out loud and clear straight after.

There were a few seconds of static crackle before O'Neill spoke again. "We're on our way. Report, over."

Sam was about to speak into the radio again when she caught something that sent her heart plummeting and soaring at the same time. It was a whimper of terror. "TULA!" she yelled. Almost losing the flashlight as she tried to angle it to see further, she cursed as her knuckles scraped along the rock of the wall by her left shoulder. Nothing, damn! She couldn't see a damned thing unless she went down further.

"Sam!" a quavering voice replied, only to be repeated in a sobbing yell, "SAM!"

She had to turn down the radio volume to speak over the chatter as Teal'c relayed the news to O'Neill.

"Tula, oh, thank God!" Sam's eyes slid closed and she took a deep, relieved breath. "Can you climb up to me if I hold the light steady for you?"

"I'm afraid, I'm so afraid," she heard the girl whimper from somewhere out of sight and in the bowels of the cave, "I keep hearing things move. The gods are angry and they'll take me if I try and leave."

"Nobody will take you," she soothed, wracking her brain for something to say that would convince the terrified girl that she had the power to save herself if she'd just give it a try. "All you have to do is follow my voice and the light and we can go home. It's that simple. I promise."

There was some scraping and then a squeal so piercingly loud and terror-filled that Sam jerked forward to go to her and would have except for the hold Teal'c still had of her ankles.

"Tula! What happened?"

"I can't," she wailed. "They're waiting for me to try…"

"…Dr. Carter is trying to persuade the child to climb up to us." Teal'c's deep voice advised over the radio.

Not slowing his pace, Jack actually crossed his fingers and asked, "How's she doin' with that? Over."

"So far she has been unsuccessful."

Daniel's "Damn!" coincided with his own.

"Roger that," Jack acknowledged, "Both of you stay put and we'll be there ASAP, over."

Teal'c's next transmission ran his blood cold, and then hot "I believe Dr. Carter wishes to go down into the cave and attempt to retrieve her that way."

"Negative!" he barked, much more explosively than he'd intended. Then he thumbed the switch harder as if it would make his voice louder on the other end. "Carter, respond! Over."

Nothing, no reply. Oh shit! She better not have just gone ahead and done it. Helplessness never failed to have him grinding his teeth. "Carter, damn it all to hell. If you don't respond right now, I swear I'm gonna—"

A harsh crackle of static cut him off, then, "Colonel, I can hear Tula, but I can't see her. She's too terrified to come out on her own. Somebody is going to have to go down there, calm her down and then bring her back up. It may as well be me."

The relief of her hearing her voice and knowing she was still above ground was way out of proportion to anything he would have expected given he didn't even like her…much, maybe…or hadn't, as in past tense. Who the hell cares?

"Negative!" Taking a breath, Jack felt Daniel's concern across the few feet separating them as they picked up the pace to a steady jog. "I repeat, negative on that plan, Carter. You will stay put and that is a direct order, over."

There was a pause and she must have picked up on something in his voice. "Why, what have you found out?"

If he told her, there was no way she'd leave the girl for another twenty minutes or so. "You have your orders, Doctor. Stay put and when we get there, I'll go down and fetch Tula, over."

Once again all he got was silence. He almost broke his radio clicking it, "Teal'c yank her out of there now, and then sit on her if you have to, over."

"I'm afraid it is too late for that, O'Neill. The child called out in terror and Dr. Carter is already making her way down. Do you wish me to go in after her?"

Stunned, Jack felt as if he'd been dunked into a vat of icy water. Sluggish or not, his mind zeroed in on one thing—Teal'c would do whatever was necessary to protect the girl and Carter. Jack knew that without a doubt. Recovering his wits, his first impulse was to say yes, but then sense overrode it. Even so, the words stuck in his craw like a burr, "No, if they need to get out of there fast, you'll be more help pulling them out than getting stuck in an ambush, over."

"As you wish, O'Neill."

He didn't wish it, but he had no choice. In fact, the only choice he did have was to trust that Carter was as good at defending herself as she claimed. She'd done okay on their first mission on Chulak, but she was still a long way off from being battle-experienced to his mind. Plus, what she could be facing down there would be nothing like she'd ever come up against before. Fury and anxiety were never a good mix. When he got his hands on that woman, she was gonna wish she'd never even heard of the stargate.

Splashing through the stream he remembered from earlier, Jack thumbed the radio a final time. "Keep sharp and we'll be there in ten minutes, over and out."

Finished with the radio he turned to Daniel, who was red-faced with exertion from running abreast with him. "A word of warning, if this goes bad, I'm going to take it very hard, Daniel. Then, I'm going to take it out on those assholes for convincing us this place was some kind of goddamned paradise!" By the time he finished he was yelling and he meant every word of it.

Looking haggard with worry himself, Daniel nevertheless opened his mouth to say something Jack could already predict; he shouldn't blame the Tahatan's for doing what they thought they had to do to survive. That sentiment was all well and good when it involved only their own people, and not his. Renewed fury lit up in his belly and Jack held up a stiff finger and cut him off harshly, "Watch me."

Sam was convinced that parts of Teal'c had to be made from jello. Either that or she was a lot bigger than she'd imagined in comparison. She gave a mirthless chuckle and muttered to herself, "Sam, it's time to go on a diet. No Ben & Jerry's for at least a month."

Of course he'd come down feet first, which made a lot more sense. It was a pity she hadn't had the option of changing positions before descending. Not so surprisingly that line of thought led onto why she'd had no choice. Violating a direct order was a court-martialable offence if she'd still been in the Air Force, which she wasn't. Still, she didn't fool herself that she was going to get away with this unscathed. In disobeying him, she may well have handed O'Neill the very thing he wanted most—a good enough reason to kick her out of SG-1.

Sam squashed the thought. She couldn't think about that right now. Concentrate, she told herself. Even though Tula had calmed down after that scream, there was no going back now and no point anyway with the damage already done.

Pushing with her toes and pulling with her hands, she made slow progress despite the tunnel's incline being practically vertical in places. Those sections were the worst since she had to control her body weight to avoid slipping and cracking her skull open. For the most part though, it was a case of dragging herself over ridges of rock that curved or jutted out. All in all, she was feeling pretty raw in places and a sensation of being hemmed in was a given. If this little jaunt was good for one thing, it was gaining a better understanding of claustrophobia. Great! Just what she'd always wanted. Thankfully, the flashlight went a long way towards easing any leanings in that direction.

She wished she had a mask, too. "Hoo boy, does it stink in here."

Actually analysing the smells would require her to take in a lot and focus on them, which was something she really didn't want to do; so Sam ignored it and concentrated on what she did want, which was reaching the cave itself and extracting Tula before whatever or whoever had O'Neill so spooked turned up.

If she estimated that it had taken her ten minutes to get this far, then that meant Tula had been silent for at least three. That worried her. "Tula, can you hear me?"

"I am here, Sam" was the timid reply, but at least it sounded much nearer.

Juggling the torch for a better view and spotting what could be a much wider space a few feet down, Sam injected a whole lot of confidence into her voice, "I'm nearly there and then we can both get out of here, okay?"

"O-Okay"

Finally, just at the bottom, the tunnel widened dramatically. Sam's searching hand met no resistance and the flashlight's yellow beam met more than confining rock walls. With enough space to swivel on her butt, she did so and planted her booted feet on the cave's rock floor. Directly ahead and huddled with her thin, brown arms wrapped around her legs, and long dark hair falling in straggles over her ashen face, was Tula.

She looked so small, scared and vulnerable, Sam's smile wobbled before she could steady it, "Hey."

Liquid brown eyes filled with tears and the next thing Sam knew, she was catching the hurtling child before they both landed on their backs. Clinging like a limpet, Tula was quaking with fear and cold. Running a hand over her back to warm her, she asked, "How long have you been down here?"

The child shrugged and didn't lift her face from the crook of her neck, "Don't know."

Crouching down, Sam pulled her away enough to see her face, "WHY did you come down here, Tula?"

The little face crumpled and tears leaked out of her eyes, "I'm sorry, it's m-my fault the gods are a-angry and broke the stone ring. I thought if.if I came her and left some gifts they might be appeased and relent."

Hugging her again, Sam searched the cave and saw a wrapped bundle with some of the contents spilling out—fruit, flowers and bracelets. Simple gifts that were nonetheless beautiful, "They're lovely gifts, Tula, it was a nice thought."

Then as gently as she could, she asked, "Why did you think the gods were angry because of you?"

"I brought you here," Tula replied still sobbing. "And the Aroonaka failed to protect the marae from the big one."

By 'big one' Sam assumed the girl meant Teal'c. "But doesn't that mean that if there is any fault it's ours and not yours?" Personally, she figured that if the Aroonaka were supposed to act as some sort of guards to this place, then it was they who were in the wrong here. Then, realising she was actually taking this stuff as true, she shook herself. What the hell am I thinking? This is just fairytales!

Ignoring a sudden, horrible feeling of trespassing, Sam flashed another reassuring smile and cajoled, "Look, why don't we leave your gifts right where they are and then we both go back up to the surface? You can go first and I'll help you up."

Tula went as stiff as a board. "They won't let me leave," she whispered, "I tried, many times."

It was the look on her face, so much more than fright, that caused every hair on Sam's body to stand on end. "Who are they?"

Instead of speaking, Tula raised a trembling arm and shakily pointed over to the right. Following where she was pointing, Sam tried to pierce the pitch blackness as well as suppress her mind's sudden insistence on conjuring up weird, menacing shapes in the dark. Any light from the surface was so slight all it did was bring some grey to the black. Where the hell was that flashlight?

What was it they said about the human mind being capable of making the unreal real? Heart hammering in her chest for no reason that she could think of, Sam reached down to where she'd dropped the flashlight and whipped it up to shine directly where Tula had pointed. The beam fell on more rock wall. Sam's breath whooshed out of her, "See," she said brightly, "It's all in your imagination."

Then a heavy scrape a few feet over on the left caused her to jump a mile and swing the flashlight over. Tula screamed and Sam's eyes went wide. Details stabbed into her brain in flash fire stages, searing her. Yellow eyes glared with feral hatred; matted dark fur covered a huge body, but most of all it was the fangs, huge and glistening that caught her horrified attention. It took a few seconds to realise the thing made no sound and no breathe plumed from that muscular snout. Jesus! It was the size of a big cat. How the hell had it gotten down here?

"Aroonaka," quavered Tula, cowering behind Sam. "I told you."

It had to be some kind of wild animal and they'd invaded its home. "Tula," she said tightly, "It is definitely time for us to leave."

As if it had heard her, the things head lowered and its massive haunches bunched in readiness to leap and pursue.

From behind her, Tula screamed again and clung to Sam's back. Hearing another ominous sound from that side, too, Sam froze. Oh crap!

Jack and Daniel arrived just in time to hear a child's high-pitched scream. He didn't waste time trying the radio since Teal'c had found it was inoperable down inside the caves proper. When the Jaffa made a move towards the cave entrance, he stopped him at the same time as he dropped his rifle and attacked the buckles on his vest to strip it off. "No, I'll go this time. I'm leaner than you and can get there quicker."

"I'm smaller still," inserted Daniel, forcefully.

"Forget it, Daniel." The vest was tossed aside. "I've got one civilian down there already. I'm going and that's final."

The second scream came just as he was pushing his second leg into the cave mouth. "I will follow, O'Neill," Teal'c stated and handed him his sidearm. Anything bigger was impossible to get down the shaft.

Jack briskly shook his head, "Keep this free of obstruction and be ready," was all he said before his head and shoulders disappeared.

Inching towards the tunnel and trying to keep a hysterical Tula covered with her own body, Sam swung the flashlight between the two creatures. In her right hand her sidearm was a reassuringly heavy weight. Sudden bursts of static from her radio interfered with her ability to hear if either of them made a move, but with no free hands, she had no way of turning it off. She only hoped it meant that help was on the way.

The beam of light and the Beretta kept swinging in a controlled motion. Cunning glinted, reflecting in predatory yellow eyes. They were on all fours now. Had they moved closer? Maybe, maybe not, she couldn't be sure. What were they waiting for? Sam wasn't certain why, but she sensed an awful intelligence that didn't bode well for her and Tula. Her breathing was shallow, brief quick intakes of air that fuelled her already adrenaline-charged system. Fear crowded at the edges of her mind but she held it bay. She just wished they'd make some sound, anything to give her some warning.

"Keep moving backwards until you feel the tunnel," she told the terrified girl behind her, "Then start climbing and don't look back no matter what, understand?"

"What about you?"

She was trying not to think about that too much. "I'm going to keep them from following you as long as I can, but you have to be quick, okay?"

They didn't make it that far. The flashlight lit on an empty space where a second ago it had been filled with one of the beasts. Tensing and turning, Sam felt a rush of air from dead ahead and brought up the gun to squeeze off two rounds. Gunfire lit the surreal scene for a microsecond, but it was enough to see she'd hit it. The pistol's retort was followed by a whistling yelp of pain. Enclosed as they were, her ears were ringing and the acrid smoke stung her eyes. Blinking to clear coloured spots from her vision, Sam searched for the remaining one in vain. Where the hell was it? The fear crowded closer, crushing her chest in a vice.

Then a strangled snarl from immediately behind and to the right had her grabbing Tula and leaping into the unknown. The move took them in the wrong direction; however, it was infinitely better than getting mauled.

Landing in a roll, she kept herself between the spot they'd leapt from and Tula. The little girl was incoherent with terror, beyond screaming and reduced to moaning pants. Scrabbling with her boots for the necessary purchase and momentum to gain more distance, Sam whipped up the flashlight and gun to begin a systematic search.

She didn't have to look further than the one she'd shot. It wasn't dead only wounded. It lay on its side, the massive body thrashing as it fought against the pain she'd inflicted on it. By the looks and sounds of it the bullets had only enraged it more. The second creature stood a few feet nearer as if it had been pursing them and then stopped dead. As Sam watched, finger tense on the trigger, that heavy head swung back to the other one. Its muzzle lifted in way that reminded Sam of a dog scenting the air. Then it attacked, whirling and leaping on the other one. A cacophony of deafening, blood curdling snarls filled the cave.

Sickened, Sam resisted the impulse to look away. It wasn't a pretty sight. The fight was brutally short and the finish was gory in the extreme. Wounded, the one she'd shot had been swiftly slain before it could get to its feet. Fangs designed to pierce, rip and tear made short work of their comrades exposed throat. Bile rose in her own throat and Sam swallowed it back, eyeing the tunnel that lay just beyond. Would it react if they circled round and back to it?

Before she could make a decision to risk it a pair of boots came into view, blocking their intended escape route. She didn't need to see their owner to know it was Colonel O'Neill. She almost slumped with relief and both arms holding flashlight and gun shook until she steadied them. Oh, yeah, great idea, Sam. Lose your concentration and get killed just as help arrives. The beast was still preoccupied with devouring the other and for that she was thankful.

Legs, hips and torso followed the boots, then he was there and he'd never looked a finer sight.

The last part of the tunnel wasn't a vertical drop, but perpendicular and you had to push or pull yourself along to the wider section that finished inside the cave, or so Teal'c had told him until they lost the signal. O'Neill eased himself along and tried not to imagine what the sounds that had erupted since the gunshots could mean. Every part of his body ached from the punishment he'd put it through in the rush to reach his destination. Prayer, fervent or otherwise, wasn't usually his thing, but right now was an exception. God! Don't let me be too late.

He'd seen enough lifeless bodies in his career to know he really didn't want to see that beautiful face with its quirky grin bloodied and frozen into a death mask, ever, if he could help it. She wasn't dead. He refused to entertain the idea. Carter had too much guts, grit and determination to let herself be taken down. Jack didn't know exactly when suspicion had begun to morph into reluctant admiration, he only knew it had. The fact that realisation only dawned on him while he slipped and slithered his way down a tunnel on an alien planet shamed him. He'd been so damned concerned with shoring up his defences against wanting her that he'd missed the clues until now.

Dumb, so dumb, unbelievable in fact. He deserved to be shot, after he gave her hell for scaring the crap out of him like this of course. That satisfying promise sustained him all the way to the bottom. The first sight that met his eyes had his jaw dropping. He didn't know what he'd been expecting after Tauman's sombre descriptions, but he was pretty certain it hadn't been what he was seeing now.

This was no bunch of assholes dressing up in animal skins to scare the locals into believing they were mythical beasts, as Daniel had suggested en-route; these were the real deal, every nasty inch. And there were a lot of inches.

Searching beyond the gory carnage, the flashlight hurt his eyes after being used to the dark, but he didn't care. The outlines of Carter and Tula behind the light made his heart trip faster. Stepping away from the ledge at the bottom of the tunnel and training his weapon on the creature busy cannibalising its pal, O'Neill gestured for them to come to him. Leaving the flashlight pointing in the direction of the tunnel, they did so, one slow, careful footstep at a time. By the time they reached him, Jack was covered in sweat from the tension that wracked him every time the beast moved. Once or twice he'd been convinced it was onto them, but after a few nightmarish seconds with Carter and Tula frozen into statues, it would snort and return to its meal. Finally, they were close enough for him to scan the pair properly. Tula was ashen, a ghost of the effervescent girl of only a few hours earlier. Carter was pale, too, but the light in her eyes was as bright and alert as ever. Controlled and with her supple body subtly coiled with battle readiness, she looked as prepared to handle any threat as any other seasoned solider he'd ever served with.

Despite his hopes, he'd expected ragged nerves at the very least, but all he could see was iron resolve. There she went, surprising him again.

He didn't say a word and neither did they.

Jerking his chin to indicate they should start the climb back up, he returned his attention back to the beast and kept it there until it was his turn to step back up on the ledge. The second he did, it lifted its head and turned to lock gazes with him. Inside the ring of molten yellow, he saw the pupils contract with the understanding that its true prey was slipping away. Wonderful! The sonavabitch was quick on the uptake.

Without hesitation, Jack methodically squeezed the trigger three times and expected to see lead pumping into that thick skull. Only it didn't as it reared up on hind legs the size of small tree trunks so that the bullets slammed into its torso. Its enraged, bellowing howl vibrated up his spine Then, dropping back to all fours, it charged him.

Oh shit!

PART FIVE

O'Neill had never moved so fast in his life. Careless of jutting rock, he literally scrambled up the tunnel and hoped the hell beast or whatever the heck it was, was too big to chase up after him. He wasn't that lucky. As impossible as it was to imagine, the creature was soon snapping and snarling at his heels, literally. As incentives went it was pretty darned unbeatable.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh yeah! He'd take one of them over this butt-ugly thing any day of the week, or even weekend, national holiday, Christmas, New Year…

Something incredibly powerful almost latched onto one boot. Shaking it off before it could get a proper grip, Jack lashed out with the other to try and slow it down. Free again, he speeded up. Coming to a hump that levelled off to flat, he heaved himself over it and nearly smacked his head on the rock above. Ahead of him, he could hear Carter coaxing Tula to go faster and added his own silent pleas for the kid to get her skates on. Snaking on his belly for the few feet before it began to rise again, he tried not to add pictures to go with the sounds of pursuit taking up the rear. Preferring to climb, it was a huge relief to be able to get his feet under him again, until his left boot lost traction and he slipped.

The potential consequences of that slip barely got a chance to register before his heel was crushed in a vice—with razor-sharp teeth. Searing pain followed on swift wings and unable to suppress a yell as white-hot agony shot up his leg, Jack felt the tremendous power and weight of the thing as it began to drag him back down the shaft. Carter, tone sharp with anxiety, called down to him, but returning it was impossible through teeth clenched tight against the incredible pain.

After a single attempt, and realising that resisting that pull was a big, fat no-no unless he wanted his hip ripped out of its socket, Jack stopped trying. Instinct, strongly favouring the urge to survive, thankfully, pumped enough adrenaline into his body to subdue the urge to spew. One thing was clear—if he was going to act it had to be now, because even if he managed to kill it back in the cave he'd never make it back up the tunnel with his left foot in its current condition. He'd been dragged back down about two feet and that was enough.

It paused to gather itself for more tugging.

Hands shaking as the wrenching agony worsened rather than lessened, Jack used that second of respite. Flattening himself as much a possible against the opposite wall of the tunnel, he sighted the Beretta down the length of his body. Everything was pitch-black, but even if it wasn't the sweat dripping into his eyes would have blinded him. Praying he didn't shoot his own foot off, or anything else for that matter, he squeezed off a single round.

The gun shot was deafening in the tunnel. Ears ringing, Jack felt the vice slacken. Gripping the rock wall with his free hand and bracing his other foot, he hauled himself back up.

Sam hustled Tula the rest of the way, unable to keep the tightness out of her voice as she urged the child to go faster. Both palms were raw from gripping the abrasive rock to help haul up her body weight, and the rest of her fared little better; however, none of that even touched on the pain mushrooming in her chest. She had no idea what the gun shot had meant. Had he managed to kill it? It was incredibly tight in here, and no matter how hard she tried, it was impossible to imagine how he'd been able get off a clear shot. A big part of her wanted to go back down and leave the little girl to find her own way, but logic forced her to keep going. She had to face facts, as ugly as they were; in the tight enclosure of the tunnel there was nothing she could do to help O'Neill

Even so, she had the wild idea of reaching the surface and changing around again to go back in hands and face first. That way at least she'd be facing the right direction.

Cold, fresh air on her face gave some indication that they were nearing the surface. They were nearly out. Relief didn't come. Colonel O'Neill had made sure they got out and now he was in trouble, possibly dead. Straining to hear over her thundering heart and Tula's laboured breathing, and failing, Sam was hit by the dual images of a handsome, smirking face with dancing brown eyes, and the beast ripping and tearing at the carcass of its dead kin. The resulting urge to vomit passed and was replaced by determination. If there was a chance O'Neill still lived, she was going back for him.

Decision made, the urgent thud of her pulse demanded she hurry, hurry, hurry, until finally she was pushing at the dirt around the entrance to heave herself out of the hole. Outside and coming up on her knees, she looked up, expecting to see Daniel or Teal'c ready to lend a hand. Instead, she felt her hair snatched up in a cruel hand, yanking back her head, followed by a sharp, slicing sting on her neck as a knife was pressed to her throat.

Blinking to focus on her attacker, Sam saw rabid dark eyes glaring out of a tattooed face.

Battered, bruised, and in considerable pain, Jack rolled free of the tunnel with a strangled and heartfelt "God!"

On his back with the pistol aimed squarely at the impassive hole in the earth, he waited a tense few beats to see if the creature had managed to survive being shot in the head. Then, it occurred to him to wonder why Sam, Teal'c and Daniel weren't either rushing to his aid, or helping him secure the entrance. Had Carter forgotten to mention the slathering monster with a taste for military uniforms? Or, maybe he meant foot fetish?

Annoyed and put out, he turned his head, a scowl firmly in place and then gaped in pure, dumb shock. On their knees, disarmed and with some type of machete pressed perilously close to their throats, his team stared back. Somebody had lit a fire to combat the dark of full nightfall. In the flickering amber light, Carter looked pale, composed and very, very relieved. Teal'c was stoic and yet managed to convey the impression of imminent head bashing, while Daniel was looking resigned and a mite pissed off. Of Tula there was no sign and Jack assumed she'd been hustled away.

Going utterly still, he asked, "Uhm, would someone like to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Passing over the three Tahatan men, who had morphed from carefree, peaceful fishermen to implacable barbarians with dizzying ease, he settled on the feather-cloaked priest who was currently mumbling and gesticulating before the alter. Something small, furry and dead lay in place of the fruit. Brown and lithe, the man danced and swayed to the rhythm of his incantations. He didn't have a clue what the nut-job was doing. It was all a bunch of voodoo to O'Neill.

"Tangola has forbidden us to enter the marae except for the time of the moon sacrifices, and then only those that will never return may enter," said the priest, still swaying on his feet with both arms outstretched beseechingly. "It is not yet that time."

Easing his way to a sitting position, Jack had a bad feeling about this, knives not withstanding. "So we mixed up our party dates and now we're in big trouble, is that it?"

Infuriated, the priest whirled to face him, revealing the streaks of blood that dragging fingers had left on his face. "You have broken sacred taboos and angered Tangola. Now he will send his demons to ravage our people." Lips drawn up in a snarl, he advanced and Jack had to give his costume credit for upping the creepy factor. Skeletal remains so small they could only be an infant's hung around his neck and decorated his headpiece. "No longer will they accept the sacrifice of old and crippled…wives, children, everyone will suffer when they emerge from the void."

"Have you considered fighting back?" asked Carter, only to go quiet as the knife dug deeper into her skin.

Shushing her with a wave in her direction, O'Neill felt a pang of guilt and hid it. "The only ones angry around here are you, and very soon, me." Dark brown eyes cooled to frosty, "Let my people go, or you can bank on that suffering starting right now, and beginning with you!"

From being pointed harmlessly to the side so as not to spook the Tahatan's holding his team at knifepoint, the gun was brought up and pointed dead-centre at the priest's chest. Hearing a muffled grunt and a gasp from the right, he slid his gaze to the impromptu guards and warned softly, "Don't do it."

Tension coiled and snaked around the clearing, constricting everyone present. His gaze dropped to Carter's and connected. Conviction, faith and courage lit the deep blue of her eyes. She trusted him to get them all out of this mess, or at the very least a fighting chance. O'Neill didn't plan on letting her down.

He returned his attention to the priest who was eyeing the Beretta warily. He waggled it for good measure, "Where's everyone else, like King Tauman for example?" His grin was wide and fake, "You don't exactly have permission for this little get-together, do you?"

The priest's eyes slitted, "You should have been stopped from coming here. He did nothing and so I do what I must."

"And what is that, exactly?" piped up Daniel, and winced when his guard did to him what Sam's had to her for speaking out. Blood trickled down his Adam's apple from the thin slice that punishment wrought.

This time the priest answered. "You will go back down and await Tangola's retribution. Nobody is allowed to return from the void."

Like hell! "Not gonna happen," asserted Jack. The pistol didn't waver one iota as he came up on his knees, ignoring the throbbing pain in his left ankle.

They were at a stand-off, but Sam couldn't see it staying that way for much longer. The Tahatan's had three hostages to the Colonel's one and that put him at a distinct disadvantage. If the fourth man hadn't been sent after Tula, who had managed to escape into the forest, it would have been a lot worse though. Silently, she urged the little girl to run as fast as her legs would carry her.

She'd never been so happy to see anyone as she had O'Neill when he followed her out. As dire as the circumstances were, she couldn't help smiling at the thought that the talk about him must be true; he was too damned stubborn to die, or give in. Filthy, with hair standing in tufts over a face that was pale and strained, all the while favouring one leg, he was still a force to be reckoned with.

Admiring that didn't change facts though, but the lights bobbing closer through the trees might, she figured when she caught sight of them out of the corner of her eye. The priest saw them, too, and careless of Jack and his pistol, he hissed in anger and stomped over to meet King Tauman who stepped into the clearing first.

As yet unaware of the new arrivals, and nonplussed at being so ignored when he had a gun pointed at someone, the Colonel was forced to turn if he wanted to keep his so-called hostage in sight. That was when he saw what appeared to be the rest of the village converging on them. Instead of being as surprised as she was however, he threw up his arms and yelled, "What took you folks so long, huh?"

A suspicion formed and Sam frowned. Had he pre-arranged this? That idea relaxed some of the tension wracking her stiff body, and seeing Tula clinging to her father's hand was even more reassuring.

Holding up a hand to silence his loudly protesting priest, King Tauman took in the scene with sombre eyes. "Release them," he said simply.

The three men instantly stepped away from Sam, Daniel and Teal'c. Rising to their feet, they reclaimed their weapons from an untidy stack by the fire and joined Jack. He was trying to get to his feet, too, and not doing a great job of it. Finding it a strangely endearing sight to see him struggle, Sam took his arm and pulled it over her shoulder to take some of his weight. After fearing he was dead, he felt solid and reassuring pressed into her side.

Their eyes met, "Thanks," he said, "But don't think I've forgotten we need to have a little chat about following orders…Doc!"

Staff weapon firmly back in his grasp, Teal'c looked as indomitable as ever. "O'Neill," he said simply as an acknowledgement of his continued existence.

"Nice to see you in one piece, Jack," said Daniel and then pointed towards the growing crowd, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go and help them get rid of him."

"But, but, Tangola must be appeased," sputtered the priest. "They broke the law and must pay or else we all suffer—"

The villagers began to mutter uneasily amongst themselves. "Tangola would not have allowed them to return if he did not wish it," countered Tauman loudly enough for all to hear, "Or, do you claim he is so diminished that he could not keep that which he wanted to keep?"

"Do you think your god would be pleased that you have so little faith in him?" added Daniel, hands in his pockets as he apparently wandered over and warmed to the theme. "Personally, I always thought that was the whole point of having a god—faith, that is."

The priest's eyes bugged with thwarted fury, "I do not doubt my god," he spat, "but you are fools if you think their return isn't a test of our loyalty to him." Backing away towards the forest on the other side of the clearing, he eye-balled the restless crowd. "Soon, you will see that I am right and your weeping will not save you."

Jack watched him go. "Pain-in-the-ass doomsayers," he muttered and shook his head. "There's always one in a crowd. Have you noticed that?"

"Always," Sam smiled.

A vast array of food was spread out before them on a long bed of flat leaves; small mountains of yellow, peach, orange, purple and green fruit in varying sizes were interspersed with whole cooked fish, roasted pig-like animals and diced meat in small bark troughs. Firelight from huge fires dotted around the beach-lit scene, and the slow beat of drums acted as a soporific background to energetic chatter and laughter.

Teal'c was slowly making his way through the fruit having refused the proffered drink after one suspicious sniff. Woozily, O'Neill wished he'd had the same sense. He blamed his lapse on the fact that it tasted as innocuous as fruit juice; that and the fact that his ankle was itching like crazy and driving him nuts.

"Jack, smile, this isn't a wake for God's sake!" Daniel hissed from his seat opposite him. "Remember all of this is supposed to be in yours and Sam's honour for saving Tula."

Obediently his face cracked into a patently false smile. "I'm not a social lion like you, Daniel, and did I mention that I'm finding all of this a mite odd after nearly being 'sacrificed' a couple of hours ago?" Diatribe finished, he waved and nodded at an enquiring Tauman and picked up something that resembled an apple. This time he did sniff it before biting into it.

"King Tauman is distracting his people with some fun and needs us to help him keep it friendly." He shrugged and picked up a morsel of meat. "Labelling you both heroes and declaring a celebration makes sense if you look at it in that light."

"That may be so, Daniel Jackson, but I for one will be pleased to leave this place and return to the SGC," declared Teal'c. Unlike the others he had removed the flowers crowding his neck within moments of having them put there.

"I'm with ya on that one, Teal'c." Jack twisted around to the stare back towards the village. "Did anyone see where they took Carter?"

"Sure, Jack, as if you didn't watch her every step like a hawk," Daniel scoffed, too light-headed to appreciate the warning glare he received in response. "Sam's fine, they asked her if she'd take part in the dance and she agreed. I think it was pretty courageous of her to give it a try."

"Do the Tauri not dance?" asked Teal'c, his curiosity piqued.

"Only when we're too drunk to realise how dumb we look," retorted Jack sourly, "As for Carter courage had nothing to do with it. She's drunk fer cryin' out loud."

"This stuff is pretty potent," agreed Daniel, tipping his wooden cup to eye the bottom owlishly. "I think there maybe some kind of drug in here, too, because I feel great!"

"Which is why we shouldn't be drinking it," snarled Jack and then promptly leaned over to swipe it out of his hands. The cup and contents ended up on the sand a few feet away. There was a shocked pause. A little stunned himself, Jack hid it well and said gruffly, "We need to keep sharp. I'm not so convinced by Tauman's certainty that those things never come up to the surface except a couple of times a year on a full moon."

"Twice a year during this planet's lunar zenith," Daniel corrected. Then brows snapping together to form a scowl, he was roused enough from his happy stupor to protest, "What the hell's wrong with you? It's not like you haven't had some yourself, and you've been acting like a bear with a sore head ever since General Hammond radioed through."

"Are you not pleased that General Hammond has promised assistance, O'Neill?" asked Teal'c, unfazed by his commander's show of temper.

Ignoring Daniel and wrestling back his foul mood, Jack tossed the apple and raked his hands through his hair before answering, "Sure, except we're still stuck here until he manages to find a way of stripping another DHD while the wormhole's still active. In the meantime, we can't get in-touch unless they activate the 'gate. Not my idea of intergalactic fun and games, y'know."

It was an apology of sorts. Flicking a glance at Daniel, he saw it went right over the archaeologist's head. The reason for that soon became clear when he turned to see what could possibly be so engrossing, and spotted Carter. She wasn't alone and more to the point, she wasn't in uniform, nowhere near it. It was only when Jack realised why he was going dizzy that he ordered his lungs to suck in some O2.

"Wow!" Daniel murmured.

Powerless to do otherwise, Jack agreed with that assessment. She looked— sensational. He didn't know whether to be relieved or not that she wasn't bare-chested like the rest. Tall, blonde and with a pair of legs that looked like they'd been designed to wrap around a man and keep him where she wanted, she stood out anyway.

The next twenty minutes or so were both heaven and hell. The dance was evocative in every sense and Carter was the centre of it. The Tahatan's didn't have a shy or prudish bone on their bodies. Watching it was like watching a bunch of guys throwing themselves at her feet, while the rest enacted exactly what they wanted from her with the other girls. Jesus Kerrist! It was like they were doin' it right there on the sand, a group orgy almost. He couldn't look away from her, didn't dare. If they tried that with her, he was going to have to spoil the party and break it up he decided; he refused to go into his reasons why. How could she seem so oblivious to it all? As if to answer to his incredulous question, dazed, unfocused blue eyes clashed with and then latched onto his. Jack's heart skipped a beat when she grinned at him, wide and bright, and then sunk when they snatched her up and onto their shoulders to whirl her away.

Daniel, the idiot, was clapping away to the drums and laughing so hard his glasses ended up skewed on his face. Wondering what the hell was so funny, O'Neill was hit by the fact that this fiasco was beginning to seem surreal. Either that or he was getting too old for this crap.

By the end, both the drummers and the dancers were in a frenzy and the thundering climax nearly gave him a heart attack. Literally on his last nerve, Jack's forehead was beaded with sweat and the fire in his guts had nothing to do with arousal, or not so much. He was pissed. No, make that royally pissed. He told himself it was because of the circumstances and/of his team being compromised so easily, with the exception of Teal'c, and refused to accept the little voice that admitted he was lying to himself.

He wanted to blame Carter, bawl her out until he was satisfied that she understood what he would and wouldn't allow; except he couldn't, because he'd drunk the same stuff as she and Daniel had. None of them had realised in time. Knowing that, assigning blame was ridiculous and unfair. Still, rage churned and he shot to his feet. Not a great idea. The second he was on his feet, the world tilted on its axis and he almost fell on his ass again as a fresh wave of dizziness assaulted him.

"Jack, are you okay? Daniel asked, visibly concerned and baffled about exactly why. That in itself was worrying. Daniel was normally much, much sharper than that.

"Fine, just peachy," he snapped having battled for and won his balance. The scene righted itself enough for him to state unequivocally, "From now on we stick with water only, got it?"

That said he turned to leave, albeit staggering a little. Teal'c went to rise and follow, saying, "I will accompany you, O'Neill."

"No, stay with Daniel, he's worse than I am," he said, sucking in a breath in a vain attempt to clear his head. Damn! This planet was a minefield, not a paradise. "I'm just going to get some air." A few steps on, he added, "And when Carter finds her way back, make sure she stays put."

A few meters down the beach, he did what he'd wanted to do the first time he saw it and sat down to pull off his boots and socks. The field dressing Carter had put on his ankle was secure, but he took it off anyway. Then, using what little firelight reached this far, he inspected it and blinked, sure he must be seeing things. Wonderingly, he ran his fingers over nearly healed scars and then scratched at the skin hard enough to create new ones.

Why the hell was it so darned itchy?

"You shouldn't have done that, Colonel," said a voice he recognised, "You could get an infection."

His wound was instantly forgotten. Drawn like metal to magnets, his gaze lit on and travelled up endless bare legs, over a skimpy grass skirt and upwards to settle on a beautiful face. Starlight and firelight competed to gild her hair. Irritated anew by this uncomfortable attraction, he said harshly, "You think now is a good time to have a conversation on what you should and shouldn't do off-world, Dr. Carter?"

Normally his tone alone would have had her hackles rising, but adding in her full title would have been the clincher. Now, she just seemed baffled by his rancour. "Why are you so angry?" she asked, "Aren't you having fun?"

Ms-I-can't-think-of-anything-else-but-science was talking to him about fun, here?! "Y'know me, normally I'm all about the fun," he quipped, and then finished sarcastically, "but, today for some reason, I can't seem to forget the pesky facts that we both almost got killed and are still cut off from going home."

"Oh," was all she said and started chewing on her lip. Behind her the revellery continued unabated.

That was another sign she wasn't herself. Normally she was quick to pick up on nuances like, 'leave me the hell alone'. She wanted to stay? So be it. Jack stood, "Speaking of which, we never did have that little chat about your actions earlier."

For the first time since he'd met her, she was slow on the uptake, "Actions?" she queried.

"Going against my explicit order not to go into those caves," he enunciated clearly, hands on hips.

"I'm sorry about that, Colonel, but Tula was frightened, alone and in the dark," she said slowly, finally picking up the threads and connecting them. "I had to do something."

"Not against my orders, Doctor." His tone brooked no argument. As far as he was concerned he was simply stating a fact. Like water being wet and that the sun rose every morning.

Despite the relative darkness, he could see some of the alcohol-induced fog dissipating. Her eyes turned frosty and chin lifted. "Fine," she said stiffly, adding, "I can see now that I've disturbed you. I'll leave you to it."

Watching her turn to leave shouldn't have bugged him, but it did. "I'll tell you what disturbs me, Carter, you getting ambushed twice in the space of an hour."

She spun back, "What the heck does that mean?"

Grim-faced, he stared back, "I thought you said you could handle yourself."

A lot of things would later get blamed on the drink and what happened next was one of them, both for him not seeing it coming, and Carter for acting so recklessly. One second they were facing off and the next he was flat on his back on the sand. Hands on her hips, Carter stood over him. "I am so tired of you doubting me all the time!"

"Too bad," he grated and kicked out in a swinging arc.

She landed next to him and it was pure instinct that drove Jack to pounce and flatten her back when she went to get up again. His hands were wrapped around her upper arms with his weight bearing her down. As he watched her eyes slitted with determination just before she managed to reverse their positions. Straddling him, she snapped, "I can't believe I was so worried about you, I was planning to go back into that damned tunnel to save you."

This time, Jack levered up and used both their weights to keep the momentum going enough to land Carter on her back again. He'd acted without thinking, though, thanks to her unwitting confession having knocked the wind out of his sails- verbally that is. As an alternative his frazzled brain came up with something that stunned them both.

He kissed her.

TBC