I AM NUMBER FOUR
Teyla had bandaged his arm, stopped the bleeding, and given him something to eat. Now she was insisting that he rest for a moment while she stood guard.
Sheppard's mind wouldn't stop spinning though. Something about the battle was bothering him, and surprisingly, it wasn't the chunk of flesh missing from his forearm. It was related to that, though…
He leaned his head back against the wall and began moving it from side to side, enjoying the feeling sensation of sliding from side to side effortlessly. Suddenly, he sat bolt upright.
"Teyla?" Sheppard said, "Is it just me, or is this rock really smooth?"
Teyla gave him a look that told him she thought he had lost his mind. "Perhaps you should not talk, Colonel…"
"Relax, I'm not delirious. I think. Humour me. This rock, it's pretty smooth, right?"
"Yes. It is almost like glass."
John struggled to his feet before she had a chance to protest. "And those gogoms, they got little claws?"
"Their claws are quite thin," Teyla agreed. "Why do you ask?"
"I'm wondering, how did a big guy like him," Sheppard nudged the dead gogom with his boot, "Get all the way up a hard, smooth, vertical wall with little claws like his?"
The light bulb over Teyla's head clicked on almost instantly. "You believe that there is a ledge."
"Maybe." Sheppard stepped back and craned his head to look at the space above the carved door. "And maybe this door doesn't open because it isn't a door. Does that patch of rock look darker than the rest to you?"
"I will check," Teyla said instantly. "Are you strong enough to lift me?"
"I'll manage." Sheppard knelt; Teyla stood on his shoulder, and with a grunt of effort he stood. Teyla was heavy. Small as she was, she was almost entirely muscle.
"There is a space here," Teyla called. "It is narrow, but it is possible to wriggle through."
"Where does it go?" Sheppard called.
"I cannot tell."
"Can you see the ledge?"
"Yes. It is to the right of the tunnel." Teyla suddenly pulled herself up off John's shoulder, and hoisted herself up onto the ledge. "There must be handholds somewhere. I will keep watch while you look for them."
Sheppard didn't blame her. Saving Ronon's life in the middle of an adrenaline rush was one thing. Lifting a man in full body-armour was another dance entirely. He walked back down the middle of the tunnel, listening to the rustling noises made by Teyla shadowing him on the ledge two metres above.
"You think those gogoms will fit up the tunnel after us?" John called up.
"It does not look big enough for them, and I saw no signs of claw marks," Teyla replied reassuringly.
"Keep an eye out," John ordered. "We know they know that ledge is up there. I'd hate to find out that they know about those tunnels too, especially if it happens while we're stuck in one." He paused as a pile of rocks caught his eye. They were lying against one wall and looked almost artistically placed… too artistically placed…
"Colonel, there are claw marks on the ledge."
"Yeah, I think I just found the way up," Sheppard agreed. "This is gonna be fun with one hand."
"Here." Teyla lowered the butt of her gun. "I will help you once you get close enough."
Sheppard took a tentative step onto the pile. A stone rolled away under his foot, but he gritted his teeth and waded in. It took a few attempts, but after a while he worked out what stones were stable and what ones weren't to be trusted. The Ancients had made this tricky, not impossible. It got more difficult the closer he came to the top, but just as he began to think that there was no way to make it up to the ledge with one hand, Teyla tapped him on the shoulder with her gun, reminding him that she was there.
"What kind of parents," John growled, scrambling awkwardly onto the ledge, "Makes their kid go through that just to be called an adult?"
"Ronon's people aren't the only ones who had coming of age rituals," Teyla said fairly.
"Yeah, but on Earth it's going out and getting legally drunk for the first time." Sheppard didn't correct her use of present tense when talking about the Satedans; it made Ronon feel better and he suspected that it reassured Teyla as well. In her mind, if the Satedans could survive a war with the Wraith, then there was hope for every society, the Athosians in particular. "I mean, floors that drop out beneath you? You don't think that's a bit much?"
"We should keep moving." Teyla was too diplomatic to start a fight with him, but that just made John more determined. As they wriggled along, he continued,
"And what would have happened if those gogom things had been down here when they were sending their kids down? You really think an Ancient with no weapons could have fought them off?"
"They might have had knives."
"I guess." Sheppard watched Teyla crawl down the ledge in front of her and bit his tongue to keep from saying anything inappropriate. She was married, a mother, under his command and a close personal friend. Her boot was also dangerously close to his face, and he doubted he would get away with blaming it on blood loss.
Still, it was a remarkably nice view.
The other worshippers didn't trust Kisri. That much was apparent. As they walked through the tunnel, Daras kept her by his side at the front of the group, watching her like a hawk. Leena and Harwin, the other two, walked right behind them, leaving Ronon and McKay to trail along at the end.
"Shouldn't, uh, shouldn't I be walking at the front?" McKay called, unable to bear the silence any longer. "I mean, I'm the traps guy, right?"
Ronon gave him a look that said shut up in no uncertain tones, but McKay was getting increasingly edgy about being separated from Kisri.
"He's right," Kisri said to Daras.
Daras nodded grudgingly. "Up you come, then."
McKay moved forwards eagerly. Ronon followed, with a dangerous glare for Harwin when he opened his mouth to say something. The tunnel wasn't wide enough for three people to walk side by side, so before Daras could complain, Kisri dropped back to walk beside Ronon.
"So where are you from, Rod?" Daras asked casually.
"Stop flirting, Daras," Kisri called out, sparing McKay from coming up with a lie. "You'll make him blush."
McKay was bright red.
"I just want to know if we can trust him, is all," Daras called.
"Kish'Kirin gave me his approval to bring whoever I needed. I won't have you chasing them off because you're jealous you didn't get there first."
"You know, Kisri, our queen was saying that yours hasn't been seen since she took over the alliance," Daras said casually. "We were all wondering where she had gotten to."
Ronon wanted to laugh. Kisri's 'queen' was in another part of the maze with Colonel Sheppard at that very moment. "Wonder that in front of Kish'Kirin and he'll turn your hair another shade of red," Kisri said in a dangerous voice. "The affairs of our hive are none of your concern."
The words struck a sour note in Ronon. Our hive. These people were worshippers, and his enemies. He was outnumbered two to one… but he wasn't, because with Kisri, it was three against three. He wanted to growl in frustration. His mind was having trouble wrapping around the fact that the fourth worshipper in the tunnel with him was his ally.
He turned his head to look at Kisri as she walked. Red clothing, black hair, blue eyes, creamy pale skin… she was human, and beautiful, but she served their greatest enemies without any sign of shame or regret. He couldn't understand it. He couldn't imagine anything that was bad enough to turn you against your own kind.
Kisri looked up and met his eyes. For a moment, she looked angry. Then a sweet smile grew on her face. "Keep staring at me and your eyes will fall out."
"She'll cut them out, more likely," Leena grumbled under her breath behind them.
Kisri half-turned. "Would you like me to teach you how, Leena?"
"That's enough," Daras ordered. "There's a fork up ahead, Kisri. Which do we take?"
Kisri stepped up and made a show of examining the symbols carved in the wall. "Left."
"It looks like it leads to the bowels of the earth!" Harwin complained, looking down the tunnel.
"So you should feel right at home," Ronon growled.
Kisri glared at him, trying to remind him to behave like a worshipper. He glared right back. Daras looked at them both and began laughing.
"You, my friend," he said, clapping Ronon on the shoulder, "Have chosen the wrong woman."
"Tell me about it." Ronon resisted the urge to break the other man's hand. It seemed like something that might give him away.
Harwin suddenly sniffed. "Do you smell that?"
"I didn't do it." McKay flushed a brighter red as everyone turned to stare at him. It was junior high all over again.
Daras opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed to the ground without a sound. Ronon drew his weapon. He hadn't survived for seven years as a Runner by ignoring his instincts, and right now they were screaming louder than the alarms of Atlantis during the famous car-on-fire incident. Suddenly, he caught a whiff of a cloying, sickly sweet smell, and gagged. The walls around him began to melt, but even through the swirling colours, he saw the blur of red that was Kisri fall to the ground, just as Daras had, just as Leena and Harwin were doing even now.
His knees hit the ground, his gun fell from his hand, and all around him his world was dissolving. A faint voice in his ear was yelling, "Ronon! Ronon!"
It was a faint thread connecting him to reality, but he grasped it with all of his strength and tenacity.
It was all he had left.
Far above their heads, Todd stood in his control room and watched the screen. His second-in-command approached his elbow and said harshly, "The other hive approaches. It will be here in a day."
"Yes, I see that," Todd said, sending a wave of irritation in his underling's direction. He was looking at a screen that was telling him the exact same thing, far less obnoxiously.
The other Wraith resisted for a moment to ask one more question. "Has the human made it to the center?"
"Not yet," Todd admitted, his face expressionless. "Soon." He hoped it would be soon, at least. He couldn't expect to hold off the other hive for long if it came to a fight.
Still, he wasn't worried. Sheppard and his team were the stuff of legends, and Kisri had never failed him yet.
Ok! Points to Kinetikat for her description of Kisri, and for her awesome story which gave me inspiration for the last part. (Blinde Guide: get into it.)
Also, the car-on-fire incident is something I made up. I might make it into another fic if enough people are interested (hint-hint-nudge-nudge).
