Punishment
He waited in the woods half of his mind praying that Ronon would come back any second with the rest of the team to save him but the other half knowing that wasn't possible. The others had to be through the gate by now and maybe if Ronon had been in top shape he could make it in some sort of record time but he wasn't. He was still blind and weakened.
So now all he had to do was wait for the guards to come and take him back. He didn't know what would happen then. Would they just kill him for his escape attempt? Would they give him some sort of treatment and then go back to the usual torture? Whatever it was he knew he wouldn't be getting off free, but he wasn't too worried. Well, that was a lie, he was, and actually terrified would be more accurate word. He knew his friends would come to save him, he just hoped it wouldn't too late. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.
As he lay on the ground cradling his broken limb he chewed on his bottom lip and listened with all his might. That was when it came, the crunching of leaves in the distance behind him. The shouts and yells signaling the men were closing in on his location. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath as he tried to push himself deeper into the tree trunk behind him. He wished he could just melt into it and disappear then he would be safe, nothing bad would happen.
The voices became clearer and after a minute it was like they were right behind him. Shifting his body he tried to curl up closer to the tree trunk, the pain from the movement caused tremors to ripple through his body and he hissed in a sharp breath. He hoped they didn't hear him, but then again it probably didn't matter, before he even looked up he knew they were standing over him. He could see their large shadows created by the heavy protective armor they wore. It couldn't have been a comfortable outfit.
His eyes slowly flickered upward and above him stood a guard he had not yet seen before but that didn't make the man any less menacing.
"Well," the guard said with a grin spreading across his face. "What have we here? I've found the witch." He shouted to the others.
Unconsciously he shrunk back into the trunk of the tree.
The man grinned sadistically, some of the people here truly were sick, Carson thought she he was roughly grabbed and hauled to his feet. Before he could control himself he cried out as pressure was applied to his foot.
The guard looked down and saw the injury. "Sir," he called out to his superior officer. "The witch has harmed itself."
More steps were heard as several ore men came barreling toward him. "How badly?"
"I do not believe he can walk well."
"He could be faking it, check the wound and make sure it is existent. Depending on its severity we can decide how to bring him back." The large man turned around to fake the remaining men behind him. "I want four of you to go after the others; they could not have gotten far. As I recall the warrior should still be blinded, it's inconceivable he is able to move now…"
Despite his better judgment Carson smirked and said, "Well lad, if that's what you think then you obviously don't know Ronon very well." For the comment he felt a hand whip across his face causing a flash of white hot pain.
"You will speak when spoken to, witch!" The man hissed and immediately after that his boot came off none too gently. Carson hissed but refused to cry out this time as the pain settled in. "It is not as severe as he makes it seem," the man glared at Carson. "He can make it back on his own two feet."
Carson looked mortified, his foot was broken, he was sure of it. How did they expect him to walk back on it all that distance?
"Come!" The leader ordered. "You, witch, have made a very grave mistake today, I hope you realize that. Perhaps if you waited your innocence could be proven through further tests but now this only supports the accusation you are indeed a dabbler in the dark arts. Irion will not take kindly to this."
"Why do yeh obey every word he says?" Carson asked desperately and brokenly as he was shoved along painfully through the fallen trees and leaves.
"He is our pathway to the Gods, he is the one who speaks with them. Someone like you can not understand that. Though I suppose he has a connection to them much like you do with the demons you worship." He spat.
Carson made a move to reply but found himself cut off when his foot struck the ground once more and he was overcome with pain. It would be a long trip back to the village, he just hoped Ronon and Atin were fairing better then he was.
John walked through the corridors of Atlantis and back up to the jumper bay. They would be leaving any minute now, his and Lorne's teams were ready to go back and get their Doctor back. They already wasted too much time, much more and he feared it would be a recovery mission and not a rescue.
Ronon had a hand on John's shoulder and was walking behind him. You wouldn't know it just by looking at him but his sight had not yet returned. He was still staring off into space and if you looked close enough you could see they weren't focused and he stared at nothing. The team could tell he loathed having to depend on the others like this but he had no choice. John was thankful now they were all friends and he knew them decently well, if he didn't and was still new to Atlantis this would be awkward.
They had something of a hard time convincing Elizabeth to let him go but she knew that if she didn't let him John, Mckay and Teyla too would find someway to sneak him aboard the jumper. So it came down to her letting him go or them stowing him away. She was sure to give Lorne some special instructions to make sure not to let the Satedan out of his sight. He quickly agreed and promised her nothing more would happen to the team, or at least nothing bad. Somehow she had a hard time believing that given the team's track record.
John walked into the jumper, Lone and his team would be in the one behind him, like last time they would be touching down before reaching the village. If it were up to John they would land in the middle of the court yard but they feared what this would do to Carson. If they thought what Carson was doing was witchcraft what would they make of the jumper? They might decide to just kill him on the spot.
The teams boarded the puddle jumpers and spared no time in going through the gate. Within a minute they were flying through with Elizabeth over the radio talking to them.
"I don't want my CMO and my number one team killed," she said harsher then she meant but they all must have known that. "Come back alive, that's an order."
"Well you know me, always order abiding." John replied.
They heard her give a small huff of a laugh. "Yeah, right, just be careful."
"We will, no need to worry about us, we'll get he Doc and be back before lunch."
"I hope it's that easy, for all of your sakes." She said gravely. "Tell me when you touch down and give me regular updates. I don't want to have to ask Major Lorne if you're still alive."
"Well I'm pretty sure he'd tell you if I wasn't." John drawled.
"I'm serious here, John, be careful."
"I will, we all will." He said and glanced back to his team who sat anxiously in the jumper, Rodney was in the copilots seat looking like he was trying to kill the whole village with his mind.
"Look after Ronon especially." She added.
"Hey," the warrior said gruffly from the back.
John smiled though he knew Elizabeth couldn't see it. "Don't worry; I'll make sure the big guy doesn't walk into any trees or anything."
"Alright, remember, talk to me when you land."
Like a child John grunted and rolled his eyes. "We will, stop it. We'll be fine, Sheppard out." He said and cut the conversation with Elizabeth.
"Are you sure you should have done that?" Teyla asked looked worried.
John waved it off. "Nothing important, if she does get some dire news she has to tell me she can just call me again and I'll answer." He explained. "Now come on, guys, we have a rescue mission to conduct her over-worrying is the least of our problems."
"The least of Carson's maybe." Rodney mumbled and gave John a small glance.
"Don't worry, we'll get him."
Rodney turned his head to say more but then thought better of it. He didn't need to broadcast his paranoia to the rest of the team even if he knew they were thinking it too.
They traveled the rest of the way in near silence and as promised contacted Elizabeth when they touched down. Lorne and his men exited the jumper soon after ready to save the Doctor.
"Okay," John began. "I don't think it would be a good idea for all of us to go bombarding the village, I've seen how these people act and they're nutcases. We'll need back up."
Lorne nodded. "Of course, that's what we're here for." Right away he knew he would be breaking his promise to Elizabeth by letting Ronon out of his sight, but he'd be with the others... "You guys go in and get the Doc, if something should happen we'll jump in and save your asses. And, while you're saving him we'll make sure no one leaves and stumbles upon the jumpers, this isn't a big space, even with a cloak over them the chances would be high someone will walk into them if they chose to walk through the clearing."
John paused and bit his lip. "Hey, giving out the orders is my job."
He nodded again. "Would you have anything to change to what I just said? Anything to add maybe?"
Another pause. "Can't think of anything."
"Alright then, let's move out."
"Oh come on, at least let me say that." John complained as the teams ran off to their destinations. They gave Lorne and his team a detailed description of the village and what they would stumble across while patrolling the outskirts that and with their directional technology they shouldn't have a problem.
John an the team arrived at the village about a half hour later, they tried to touch down closer and they had been running as fast as possible. Ronon, who now had full mobility back, was running along with them just fine as long as someone stayed ahead of him which about eighty percent of the time was John. He stumbled a few times but most of the time they tried to warn him when something came up he would trip over. They could tell the third time he stumbled slightly over a stray log the blindness was bothering him, and who wouldn't it bother? But still, he had probably hoped it would be gone by now.
When they arrived at the village they peered in over the surrounding brush which kept them well hidden. From what they saw they couldn't see Carson anywhere, they wished Ronon could see so he could try and track him, with an injured foot his tracks probably wouldn't be hard to find. But the others couldn't tell if the tracks around them were human or made by some animal, injured or not injured. Even Teyla was having trouble, though she found something but she couldn't be sure of anything. Maybe if they tromped through some mud they could tell but their luck wasn't that good.
They slowly walked along the edge looking for any sign of Carson as John quietly spoke over the comm. to Lorne.
"We're here, we don't see the Doc yet but we started."
Over the link Lorne replied. "Okay, we're about fifty yards behind you. We'll keep an eye out for anything, maybe they didn't come back yet."
"No…" John murmured. "They came back."
"Keep looking," Lorne said. "Well be in touch."
"Yeah," John said and turned back to the others. "See anything?" He asked with his weapon partially raised and at the ready.
"I do not," Teyla said. "It does not seem any different then it was when we first arrived…" She observed.
"But it is," Rodney pointed out.
"No," John said. "It's not any different, they were freaks like this before we came along, we just didn't see it until it was too late."
"Doesn't have to be too late," Ronon grunted as he walked behind them with his head ducked down behind the bushes.
"Oh no," they heard Teyla said, she had wandered down a few feet a head of them and was staring at a spot in the town they could not see from where they stood with a hand over her mouth.
"What?" Rodney asked and was the first one to rush over, John was right behind him but he had to make sure Ronon wasn't going to fall over anything. "That's not good." he croaked. "Why… why – why do we take him on missions? Nothing good ever happens."
Ronon opened his mouth a couple times like a fish to ask what was going on but through better of it. He remembered how the Doc came back when he was still trapped in the cell, he couldn't imagine what they did to him this time.
"I do not see him." Teyla said as they looked.
"He must be I the cell." Ronon grunted earning everyone's attention. "That's where they put him, after the torture." He added.
They all went silent for a minute after that. "We have to go get him," John said and looked to the others. "Ronon, do you remember where you exited the prison? Did you see anything in particular?"
The warrior raised an eyebrow as if asking if John was really asking that. "There was a door," he began. "On one side of the prison the run to the woods wasn't far so if there's a door that's close to the forest line I can bet you that's where we left from."
"You're a genius." John said. "Not too many blind men can do the things I've seen you do the past few hours, Ronon."
"I'd hardly think that requires genius." Rodney mumbled.
In his cell Carson whimpered and whined as he lay on his stomach in the fetal position, refusing to move even the slightest. He was in pain. No scratch that, he was in agony. His whole body aches with every move he made. At first he knew his friends would come but now he didn't care anymore. He was on the verge of giving up, he was almost praying for death to take him.
He moaned and tried to hide his face deeper into the hard floor under him. For the millionth time since he was locked in here after his escape attempt his mind replayed the series of events that lead him to his pain.
Carson cried out in pain as they threw him down to the ground, he couldn't walk anymore, he was being dragged by the natives back to the village. His medical mind began to run through the repercussions of all this damage to his foot but as he did this he felt his body being pulled upward.
"What are ya doin' now?" Carson asked as he tried to stand on his own two feet.
"You ran away," he heard Irion say. He didn't even know the sadistic healer had been here. "Now I fear you must suffer through the punishment that would have been unnecessary if you had just stayed with us.
Carson bit back a remark as they tried his hands to the thick wooden pole he had been tied to earlier.
"You're escape has done nothing but prove your power to us, there is no way you were able to escape on your own, you and the blind man. You did something, and you did something to one of our own making him turn against us."
"You're daft! He was always against ya! He helped us!" Carson screamed in frustration as he was pinned against the log with his back exposed to everyone.
"No…" Irion scowled. "You have bewitched my men for the last time." He snarled. "Begin." He said to the guards.
Caron felt a wave of panic as what remained of his shirt was torn off leaving his bare back. He couldn't turn his head around but he heard the unmistakable sounds of a whip cracking against the ground. He managed to give a silent prayer before the agonizing weapon struck his back for the first time.
