Chapter 10

Behind the Vale

For so long, she had just wanted to die, for someone to somehow kill her. She never imagined that she would actually be freed from this… this living death.

One moment, she had no control over her body, a slave to her own limbs. The next, she felt excruciating pain that led to black.

While she was unconscious, she dreamed. She dreamed of all the atrocities that Isis had done. That she had done… She remembered the day when she was called into her lord's court, Seth was his name, and asked to follow some maidservants.

She had followed, and they led her to a beautiful courtyard, which had a small pond with deep green lily pads and a stone table that was more like a bed prepped with the fluffiest cottons and pillows.

The maidservants pampered her and made her beautiful, more beautiful than she ever would have imagined. They washed her and brushed her dark hair, which flowed freely along her curved neck and past her smooth shoulders into the small of her back.

They put flowers in her hair and adorned her ears and arms and fingers with jewels. They clothed her with a gorgeous purple dress.

The dress slipped over her face and torso, fell past her slender legs and stopped just before her petite feet.

She thought this was heaven.

She wondered why she had been chosen. There were plenty of other women just as beautiful, weren't there? What made her so special? At the moment, she didn't care.

She was then led to the table laden with pillows. Or was it a bed? She wasn't sure, but she was enjoying herself too much to care.

The pillows were scented with a sweet fruit that made her mouth water. She longed for the mysterious fruit's nectar. She was instructed to lie down.

She sat on the bed, or table, and swung her feet up. She laid her head back on the soft pillows and inhaled deeply, the fragrance of the fruit's delicious nectar overwhelming her senses.

She heard a sound and she looked toward the doorway from whence it came. There were two menservants carrying a stretcher with a beautiful woman on it. The woman looked like she was dying.

The men stopped beside the bed so that the woman was lying right next to her, at the same height off the ground.

The woman turned her head and looked into her eyes. This woman that was lying next to her was so beautiful, but even so, her eyes looked menacing… evil.

Before she could react, something shot out of the woman's mouth and into her mouth. For the split second the unknown object was transferring hosts, she saw the woman's eyes go from menace to horror.

The object brushed past her tongue and felt slimy, like a snake. It slid down her throat, and settled wrapped around her spine.

She tried to get up, but her arms and legs weren't responding. Nothing was.

And so it began, a prisoner in her own body.

She felt herself falling from the dream. She inhaled deeply and opened her eyes, but the light hurt them, so she closed them again, quickly. For a moment, she thought it was all a dream, and that she was waking up in her own bed and would be expected to make breakfast for mama and papa.

She blinked and tried to sit up, but felt herself being pinned down. She couldn't move her arms or her legs, but this didn't come as a surprise.

What did come as a surprise was the realization that she had just blinked her own eyes! The snake she had swallowed, who had turned out to be Isis, was no longer here!

Then why could she still not move her limbs? She saw an angel. No, it was a young man standing over her. Who was he? Did he save her? Wait, she recognized this boy. She recalled the events of the evening.

The boy had been leaning in close when she had opened her eyes. What was he doing? The boy turned to leave. She struggled for something to say. If only she could remember this boy's name. Was it Joreth? Jace? No, it was… "Jack!" She called desperately. Isis was gone, but her memory lingered.

Jack stopped and turned around.

"You know my name, but I missed yours," he said. He had a kind look in his eyes.

Her name? It had been so long since she had been referred to by her own name, she could not remember it. "I do not know." She had an accent that seemed like a cross between British and French.

"Okay, what would you like to be called?"

She thought of the intoxicating nectar and imagined what the fruit would be called. "Vale," she decided. The name had no resemblance to the fruit, but it sounded familiar, in fact, that was her name! Yes, she remembered now.

Jack walked over to her and unclamped the cuffs.

Vale sat up, "Thank you."

Jack nodded, "You don't have to worry about Isis anymore."

Vale couldn't imagine having her life back. The thought was overwhelming. "What do I owe my rescuer?"

"Some information would be nice," Jack replied. "When you're ready."

There was a glint in Jack's eyes that came across as noble. She could trust this boy. She could tell that he was mischievous, cunning, and not all he appeared to be, all from the glint in his eyes.

How many others had this boy saved from the same torment? How many other creatures, such as Isis, had he vanquished? This boy reminded her so much of her good friend Joshua.

Joshua had been a good friend when she needed one. She guessed Jack and Joshua were about the same age. Joshua, perhaps, a little older. If only their friendship could have lasted longer. But not long after they met, he vanished. Where had he gone?

Joshua had told her that she would find a new family when hers was stolen from her, but how would he know? Her family had certainly been taken from her. Or maybe she was taken from them?

Vale looked at Jack's princely eyes, "What do you want to know?"

"Some information would be nice."

Jack wasn't quite sure what to make of this girl, Vale. When he looked in her eyes, he saw innocence, but maybe there was more.

"When you're ready."

Vale had a blank stare on her face. She was thinking.

"What do you want to know?" she asked.

Her voice reminded him of the sensation he got whenever he opened his refrigerator to retrieve a beer, a good sensation.

"Did Isis know anything about Medusa?"

She searched her memory, "Yes. Yes she did!"

"What is she, exactly?"

"She is the mother of all Goa'uld, but she is not Goa'uld herself. They are her children and do her bidding, but she is a different creature completely."

"What is she?" Jack asked with immense curiosity.

"She is a cross between a Goa'uld and a human. She has the body of a human, but young symbiotes spawn from her head."

"So that's why all the stories say she has snakes for hair!" Jeff said. The other four walked in, having seen their status from the control room.

Jack introduced everyone, and they continued.

After an hour, Vale seemed much more comfortable talking with them.

"You would be a valuable asset, if you came with us," Jack said to her, considering her knowledge.

"Us?" Jeff asked, hope in his voice.

"Yes," Jack replied. "Us."

Jack looked at Vale, "So what do you say?"