Sorry for the delay in getting this off to you – I've been off-line for a few days which was extremely frustrating, I can tell you. For some reason our service provider decided that our router wasn't working so we couldn't connect to the internet – only for them to discover - three days later that the problem was their end, and not ours! Grrr!

Thank you all so kindly for your reviews, and I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as you did the other parts.

The Devil Incarnate.

by Lingren.

Previously:-

With tears in her eyes Sam bit her lip so hard in sympathy, that she could taste blood. She tried to run towards him, but was captured by some of the guards and held back. She struggled valiantly but to no avail, she was held fast where she stood and made to watch as Jack was whipped. She turned away from the sight hoping that either Daniel or Teal'c could stop this, but Teal'c was being held fast with a knife at his throat, and Daniel was still trying to get through to Ebrahim to ask for mercy.

Chapter 4 – Falling on Deaf Ears

"W…wait...wait...wait, please!" Daniel pleaded with the Chief. "Jack is not the Devil. He just wanted save the woman's life...don't you understand that? He stopped her from dying...right? She lives?" He turned towards Jack looking for confirmation but the colonel had a death like grip on the post and his face was scrunched up against the pain. Daniel could tell that the agony must have been excruciating for Jack as he rode out each lash which tore at the flesh on his back. The linguist could only watch in horror, as the man continued to whip his victim. Both Sam and Teal'c had lost the fight to stop the brute of a man from his given task, feeling utterly impotent under the restraining grip of the guards.

Jack couldn't stop every scream that fought its way up from his throat but was making a concerted effort to remain quiet by biting his lip which made that bleed, too. Daniel turned away from the horrendous sight as he once more tried to reason with the Chief.

"Please, STOP. You're making a terrible mistake, Ebrahim. On our world, we save lives all the time. We always try to make sure every 'accident' victim lives. It's what we believe is the right thing to do. It's what our God would want us to do! Please...stop...you'll kill him."

The Chief stared back at Daniel, his expression almost unreadable but Daniel thought he saw a lingering sadness there.

"If that is God's will then so be it," Ebrahim uttered with finality.

Before he knew what was happening Daniel found himself held firmly by two of the muscular guards as well. So now all three of them were forced to watch from their knees as Jack grew weaker. Daniel failed to comprehend what the natives had in mind for them after what he believed was an extreme punishment had finished. And despite his desperate pleading on Jack's behalf the lashings were continuing.

"What's going on?" Daniel racked his brains trying to find the right words. "Wait a minute? What are you going to do to the three of us?"

"You are to return to your world, where you will now live better lives without the Devil as your leader."

"No...No...No...Jack's a good friend. God..." Daniel began hesitantly, slightly out of his depth here. Searching his knowledge frantically, he came up with a small quote, and hoped he could sway their punishment by using it. He couldn't recall where it came from but that wasn't important right now, and he was desperate in his appeal for reason. "Our God created man on our world..." he never mentioned that they were in all probability descendants of Earth's humans too. "...to learn and understand our limitations. He gave us the knowledge to put things right so that we may save lives. Jack was only doing what he believed was right. We have a saying from our scriptures that cites, 'God helps those that help themselves'. We do this by helping others as it was written.

Ebrahim looked for any deceitfulness in Daniel's eyes but found none. Therefore, he thought his words through very carefully but his own prejudiced beliefs fought against the idea that anyone should be able to revive the dead other than the rightful god.

Sam spoke softly, feeling every lash that she witnessed and wishing there was more she could do to stop it. She could feel the hot tears as they ran down her cheek but her mind was mainly focussed on how Jack was faring.

"Daniel...is that...true...that quote you've just cited?"

"Quite honestly, Sam I'm not sure, but I don't think he's at all familiar with our Bible, do you? I just hope it gives him something to think about and maybe it will be enough to stop the punishment."

Sam nodded mutely, agreeing with his sentiments.

Daniel turned his attention back to Jack. He could see his friend had fallen to his knees and looked as if he was barely conscious though he was aware that Jack hadn't passed out completely yet because his head jerked whenever the whip cracked against him. He couldn't see much of Jack's back from his viewpoint but knew by now it would be criss-crossed with deep, bloody lines. Daniel felt every fiery, pain-filled lash for himself and whispered his own prayer that Jack would be able to hold on until they could at least hand him over to Janet. He had every confidence in the petite medic's ability to heal his friend.

Unseen by his colleagues, Jack's back was awash with rivers of sticky red blood. It welled up slowly and steadily from the many deep cuts across the shredded skin on his back. Jack gave a final pitiful moan and then fell limp, slumping awkwardly against the rough post and sitting back on his heels. This caused his friends to gasp in their own private agony at his predicament and feeling so totally helpless to go to his aid. The whipping stopped, too.

Despite the many guards around him holding him down Teal'c had managed to struggle free and he ran to Jack's side angrily pushing everyone out of his way. Once there he felt for a pulse and was satisfied but not at all happy when he found a thready and faint throbbing beneath his fingers.

"He lives!" he called across to the others before turning back towards Jack. "O'Neill."

"Teal'..." was all Jack could articulate when he roused slightly through the thick haze of pain. It was, however, satisfying to Teal'c that the one barely uttered sound meant his warrior brother was still alive and relatively cognisant. "Over?" Jack asked, mustering up just enough strength to hope his punishment was done with.

"I do not believe it is...though I wish it were so, O'Neill, but I fear this is just the beginning." On hearing this, Jack let out a long groan of frustration liberally mingled with pain. Teal'c was then dragged away before he could be of more help to his Tau'ri friend.

Daniel and Sam closed their eyes briefly, thanking God for sustaining Jack and keeping him alive. The brutal whipping had finally stopped at long last, and Daniel was hoping they would now be able to take Jack and return to Earth to get him the medical help he so badly needed. He was soon disappointed however, when the Chief's next words cut deep into his consciousness almost as if he'd been slashed with a knife.

"You are to be returned to the great circle at once. The Devil's punishment will continue at nightfall if he yet lives."

Daniel protested loudly, but the result only made the guards tighten their grip on him and proceed to drag him back towards the gate. Sam though, had thought of a clearer plan of events and cried out, making everyone stop at her yell.

"No...Wait. Daniel, please, stop struggling; tell them we will go peacefully."

"Sam? What? What are you saying? What about Jack?"

"It's okay, Daniel. Just tell him what I said, and then ask him to return our things to us before we go through the gate."

Daniel looked at her, a startled expression on his face. He couldn't believe that Sam would even dare to think about leaving Jack behind, especially considering his current condition. If Jack needed them at all, it was here and now. How bad would Jack feel if they all trooped back to the SGC leaving him behind? Sam knew as well as anyone back in the SGC that it was Jack's unwritten law that no-one got left behind. They just couldn't go and leave him. On a more personal note, he knew darn well he couldn't to do that to Jack; so how could Sam? She, who secretly professed to love him so dearly.

Although Sam appeared otherwise, she was not immune to Daniel's argument via his surprised, yet unspoken, anger. As the next in command after Jack, she had no choice but to take control of the situation despite how much she was hurting inside.

"Do it, Daniel!" However, Daniel continued to gape at her as if she'd lost her mind. "That's an order," she snarled in the hope of getting him to obey. He glowered at her all the more but after a carefully worded prompt from Teal'c he turned to the Chief and translated her wishes to him. As soon as he'd complied, he sent her a thunderous expression fuelled by disappointment and simmering fury at her apparent betrayal.

The Chief lifted up his hands and the three remaining members of SG-1 found themselves released from the grip of their captors, though they were prevented from rushing over to Jack. Daniel wanted to know exactly what Jack thought of Sam's unbelievable plan. Ebrahim then turned back to Daniel after consulting with his elders, and informed him that their things would be returned to them -- but not until they were about to enter the portal. Daniel gave Sam a bitter glare as he duly relayed the message back to her, and she nodded her agreement.

He just couldn't understand what the hell she was thinking of – leaving Jack here. She was shaking the very foundations on which their trust was forged. And how could she remain so calm and calculating at a time like this? She seemed totally impervious to the pain Jack was suffering. It looked like they would be taking the easy way out and leaving their friend behind, either to slowly bleed to death from the mass of weeping welts across his back, or to whatever these people were going to do to him after they'd gone home. It was an impossible and unthinkable situation they now faced.

Counting to ten, Sam turned to face her team-mates, her own face impassive even though she was fighting to hide the anger coiled tightly inside her gut. Anger at what the natives had already done to Jack and whatever else they had in mind -- neither of which was good in anyone's books -- and anger, too, at Daniel's attitude towards her because he really believed she would actually want to leave the man she loved behind. No way! This was her strategy being played out here and she silently pleaded with Daniel to simply trust her. She then requested Daniel to ask the Chief if she could say a final goodbye to the Colonel.

If anything Daniel's anger was decidedly obvious to her. It as a living growing organism which threatened to overwhelm them all should he give in to it, but Sam had a job to do and by god she was going to do it properly. Even if he never spoke to her for the rest of life.

TBC