A/N - This is the quickest I've gotten out multiple chapters so close together in a long, long time; probably since the days of The Hunted, actually. And there are more finished after this! I surprise myself, honestly. And with a full time internship, I'm not sure where I've found the time. Anyway, enjoy!

Read it? Review it! That's what makes the world go 'round.

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Chapter 10

The pulsating light of the lichen was growing noticeably fainter the deeper they traveled into the cave. Thea, however, did not seem concerned as she picked her way through boulders and over rockslides, forced to pause often as the Atlantis team struggled to keep up. They had been moving constantly for nearly twenty hours now with little sustenance and few breaks. Even Sheppard, who often surprised even himself with his endurance, was starting to trip. Rodney was near collapse.

Sheppard grit his teeth as he slipped on some loose rock and cast a dark look on Thea, who had paused some meters ahead, waiting for them to catch up. She shrugged slightly as if stretching her back and shoulders and continued to look ahead, not even glancing back to see how close her companions were to catching up.

They had spent the better part of the day in this passageway and had already crossed a very deep chasm on a very narrow natural bridge and climbed over countless cave-ins, boulders, and short but steep inclines. On a number of occasions, Thea herded them into the middle of the path before disappearing into the shadows; a few of those times Sheppard was sure he felt the ground vibrate and each time Thea returned she did not speak of what she had done. He only had his imagination to rely on which, after awhile, was starting to create fantastic scenarios.

The last hour or so had been fairly obstacle-free and Sheppard began to hope that they were nearing the exit. There was certainly more light coming around the bend than there was elsewhere in the cave. But when they reached the corner, the group was faced with a very steep and rather tall face of stone barely five meters ahead of them.

And that is where they had been for the last ten minutes. At least, that's where the Atlantis team was; their guide had moved on, just as she had the entire time.

She was on top of the sharp incline, which, now that Sheppard had time to study it, resembled a sheer wall more than it did a climbable surface. He stood with his hands on his belt, eyeing it and not quite sure of how to proceed. There was little in the means of a way up except an excuse of a path that was crumbling in most places and a few cracks that only a skilled climber would be able to find purchase in. Thea had used the cracks and Sheppard had no doubt that Teyla would do so as well. He and Ford would be able to navigate the path easily enough, if not climb the wall directly, but Rodney was a different matter. Sheppard just wasn't sure if the scientist would be able to make it up the wall right now, if ever.

The conflict taking place inside Sheppard's mind was apparent on his face and he was only stopped by Ford's, "Sir?"

Sheppard cleared his throat and looked up at Thea, ignoring the young officer.

"Exactly how important is it that we make it to the Scabbed Lands today?"

"Imperative to your survival, I believe," she replied, tilting her head slightly as she spoke. "Few dare to navigate these tunnels after nightfall."

"How does that matter? There is not any light coming through the walls so I would imagine it to be quite similar conditions regardless of the time of day," Teyla said. "Doctor McKay is hardly in good enough condition to scale the wall right now, so I would have to argue in favor of remaining here until he is well rested enough. We all need rest."

Rodney's pitifully exhausted sounds of agreement went ignored as Thea stepped away from the party; when she stopped, they could only see the top of her head.

"Darkness is not all that comes when the sun falls. Many say these caverns are haunted by the Himmel children who were murdered here and by the Warriors who died at its mouth trying to protect them from the Skygge onslaught." She paused. "And even if the ghosts of the dead do not wander these passages, creatures certainly do. I would rather not have to face them."

"And if we physically cannot make it to the top?" Teyla insisted.

Thea turned then and returned to the edge. She seemed to glance in their direction, her expression as if she were daring them to challenge her. Then, without speaking a word of explanation, she extended her hand towards Rodney. The scientist let out a shout of surprise as he was suddenly jerked off his feet, fear crossing his features as a dozen terrible outcomes flashed through his mind. Rather than being thrown across the cavern, as he clearly expected, Rodney seemed to hover in place for a moment before slowly floating towards the top of the wall.

"This is not… I don't… Someone help… Oh," he said finally as Thea sat him down on the edge. Quickly scrambling to his feet, Rodney dusted off the seat of his pants and looked around, quite concerned about what had just happened to him.

"That was unpleasant," he said finally, giving Thea a hard stare. She tilted her head towards him and blinked her strange eyes, an equally stern expression coming to her pretty face.

"I do not approve of complaining about a situation for which there is only one outcome, Doctor. You were not going to exert the effort to climb the wall on your own accord so I thought it necessary to give you the assistance you so obviously needed." The smile that touched her lips was not a pleasant one. "Be grateful that I helped you rather than making you do it on your own. If I hadn't, we would have been fodder for the dark ones before you even summited. I will not let John Sheppard die here because of you."

Rodney furrowed his brow in anger, but did not fight back. He was too exhausted at this point in the journey to really care.

"Fine," he said, "Thank you."

Thea nodded.

In the meantime, the three other members of the Atlantis team had started their way up the wall. Though they had been at first surprised to see Rodney floating through the air, each was silently thankful that they would not have deal with getting him up the wall. Indeed, Sheppard and Ford were having a hard enough time themselves without having to worry about the scientist. Neither had done much climbing before now and by the time they made it to the top, their muscles were screaming. Teyla, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine and Sheppard momentarily resented her as he put learning how scale sheer walls on his list of things to do.

Rubbing at his injured hand (the pain in which made all other pain pale in comparison), Sheppard took a ragged breath, filling his lungs with the stale air. As he stood there waiting for Thea to continue, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"Thea, how long are the days on your planet?"

"Very long and the nights very short, at least for now; our winters bring nearly endless nights."

"I mean how many hours."

"Hours?" Thea repeated, not familiar with the word.

Sheppard pressed his lips together as he tried to come up with a way to explain the concept of hours. "Basically," he started, "at least where we come from, the day is separated into twenty-four equal parts from sunrise to sunrise."

She nodded slowly, internalizing what he said. After a moment of thought, she creased her brow. "Our sun touches twenty-two points in the sky as it moves across the horizon from sunrise to sunset. During the night it remains hidden for a little more than a quarter of that."

"So, twenty-eight hours?" He asked, calculating quickly.

"I suppose."

"Three hours to sunset then."

Thea tilted her head and gave Sheppard a curious look. "Why must you quantify the day? There is little enough time to make it the rest of the way before the sun falls below the horizon. We are over the physical crux and do not have a great distance to cover before reaching the mouth but we are in the most dangerous part of our journey yet."

Rodney closed his eyes and sighed; he was beyond distraught now and seemed strangely calm. Sheppard gave him a sidelong glance, concerned. This was not the Rodney he knew.

"What lies in our path that makes it so dangerous?" Teyla asked, watching Thea closely.

"The dark ones." Thea's muscles grew tense as she spoke of them and a tremble ran through her body. "They slumber during the daylight hours but start to wake in the twilight—soon. If our path were singular and straight we would nearly be able to see the mouth of the passage from here."

"But…" Sheppard continued for her.

"But there is a labyrinth ahead of us. One path of dozens is true; most lead to wolves."

Ford laughed. "We can take care of a couple of wolves, right, major?"

"I somehow doubt these are the Earthly variety, lieutenant."

The younger man seemed to shrug even though he did not make the gesture. Thea just turned and looked down the path they were to take. "I know the way out," she said, pointing down the path, "but the wolves do not inhabit the same nest season in and season out. I have not been through here in many years—they are likely not where they once were."

"And you don't know where they will be?" Teyla asked.

"The Mother does not touch them," she began, her voice haunted. "The Wolf-father murdered Her children and fled from her kingdom in the night. He learned how to hide from the Mother's touch in fear of Her wrath and has remained hidden since. Wolves do not wander into our territory but if we enter theirs, they hunt us down. Because the Wolf-father hid himself from the Mother, we as her children cannot sense his offspring, but they can track us anywhere."

"Why in the hell do you travel through his passage, then?" Sheppard asked, his voice rising as it took on a sarcastic tone. "A labyrinth in which most turns lead to certain doom? That's a little too much for me."

Rodney, who had been silent up until then, held up his hand. "And big walking vampire bugs that suck the life out of you with their hands aren't 'too much' for you?"

But Sheppard didn't hear him; he was too busy pinching his upper arm. Rodney lifted a brow.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to wake myself up because this is one hell of a bad dream."

"I don't think I've ever actually seen someone do that in real life," Rodney said. Sheppard didn't appear to hear him.

The major persisted for a moment before growling the word "Fuck," and dropping his arms to his sides, his face distorting into a snarl. All eyes were on him at this point and he seemed to challenge them all before closing his own eyes and taking in a deep breath. There was silence as Sheppard took the time to gather himself. At length, he turned to Thea and frowned.

"You said you know the way out?"

She hesitated for a moment but her answer held no tone of doubt. "Yes."

"Major…" Teyla began to say, but was cut off by Sheppard when he put his hand up. Obviously he had found some balance point that he did not want disturbed right now.

"And these wolves…?"

"Stand as tall as a man when they so choose." She turned to face him fully, fear of the creatures still evident in her eyes even though her voice had returned to its normal strength. "We cannot feel them as we do the rest of the Mother's creatures, but sometimes we can sense their void." She did not offer any time for explanation. "We will make it to de Sarnlande unscathed. But we must go; it will be dark soon. Carefully now."

And she took the lead.

--

It was just when Sheppard was wondering if they would make it out of the caves scot-free (and therefore wondering when something terrible would happen) that it came.

No one heard it approach but when Thea stopped mid-stride, the colour suddenly draining from her face, they all knew she had managed to sense it.

"Nedad!" she cried. "De ulv…"

The words needed no translation; Sheppard and his team hit the ground just as something soared through the air at chest height. It had intended to knock them to the ground…whatever it was. Sheppard turned as quickly as he could in his prone position to get a look at the creature that had come after them and was surprised to find Thea standing protectively over him. She was facing it, her cruel-looking sword in her hand, and Sheppard found that he had to look around her legs to see the thing.

To his surprise, the creature resembled, to a certain degree, the wolves he was used to from having grown up in a mountain community. It was big, though, and certainly much larger than any he had ever encountered near his parent's house. The fine hair that covered the wolf's body seemed to ripple and absorb light rather than reflect it, giving it the appearance that it had simply materialized out of the shadows surrounding them; very little of the lichen light seemed to actually touch it. In some places, it vanished all together.

The creature gnashed its long teeth at Thea as it leaned forward onto its long, hand-like paws and prepared to leap at the Warrior, the hair on the ridge of its back standing on end. Sheppard could see the shiver than ran through Thea's body and he suddenly understood why she was so afraid of these wolves. If she could truly feel all living things than this black hole of a creature must be the thing nightmares were made of. Even its eyes did not glint in the faint glow surrounding them.

"Thea…" He said, hauling himself to his feet, surprised that he wasn't mauled the moment he moved. The wolf did, however, look at him, hunger in its eyes.

"Yes, John?" The shiver carried to her voice.

"You have faced these before, right?" he asked under his breath as he withdrew his knife.

She hesitated. "Once." The wolf snarled. "It did not end well."

But the wolf did not wait for Sheppard's response. It snapped its jaws, spittle flying, and leaped at the two humans. Sheppard dove to his left and rolled to his feet, turning towards where his team had been lying just moments before. They weren't there. His heart pounded against his chest until he saw where they had relocated into a shallow recess. Ford unlocked the safety on his P-90 and Teyla held her knife but neither made any move beyond that to join the fight. Rodney was cowering behind them.

But the wolf had disappeared.

Clenching his jaw, Sheppard instantly noticed that Thea, too, was nowhere to be seen.

"Stay here," he told the others as he turned to retrace their steps deeper into the labyrinth. The small group had bypassed a narrow passageway not too long ago and Sheppard could only hope Thea had pursued the animal in that direction, otherwise he would be completely lost.

The first major junction that led him back into the labyrinth produced nothing, not even a hint of where Thea and the wolf might have gone. Glancing down both of the tunnels that opened before him and unable to remember which one they had come through, he chose the one to his right simply because it was a little darker than the other one. Holding his knife out before him and hoping upon hope that he had chosen the correct direction, Sheppard advanced.

There was no sound here and very little light to go by. His eyes quickly adjusted as well as they could, but the sharp turn to his right came as a surprise. He stopped there, unsure where the path would lead him since this was definitely not the way they had come. Cursing under his breath, Sheppard took a step forward and prayed that he was not about to step into a den full of wolves.

Much to his delight, however, the Warrior woman came into view the moment Sheppard turned the blind corner. She was standing with her back to him just outside a small side passage, an arrow nocked to her short bow. The wolf was nowhere in sight.

Sheppard paused momentarily to watch her. There was no indication as to whether or not she had sensed his presence while he stood there, but as soon as he approached she turned first an ear in his direction and then her entire body.

"He is in there," she said, indicating the narrow passage.

"I gathered that. Is he coming back out?"

"I would assume so."

Though she stood strong in front of him, the string of her bow taut and ready to release, there was still a slight shake to her voice.

Sheppard frowned; something wasn't right. "Have you ever actually killed one of these things? And don't lie to me again, 'cause this is a really bad time to try and be brave."

"I would not lie to you, John."

"But there is something you're not telling me."

She only moved enough to speak. "My master did most of the fighting the last time I encountered one. All of it, actually. I had only fourteen years at the time and it was my first journey through de Østervej. Neither of us felt the void nor did we know we were being stalked until it was upon us. He was too distracted…" She trailed off, abandoning that line, as her eyes became more unfocused than usual. "The first thing—and truthfully, one of the only things— that I remember is the terrible pain that came when de ulv tore into my side. I was quite unconscious during most of the battle for the loss of blood and quite sick for sometime afterwards for the venom."

"You mean to tell me that you have never actually fought one of these?"

"I distinctly remember sticking my knife in its gut. My master said that I was instrumental to its death."

Sheppard ignored that point. "And they're venomous?"

Thea nodded once. "The only reason I am still alive is because the skyggeulv—the shadow wolf in your language, these creatures—is my spirit animal. Very few living things can withstand their venom besides those of their own kind and those children of the Mother whom the Wolf-father chooses to love above all else."

Sheppard knit his brow. "I thought you said that this wolf…father killed the Mother's children."

"Did I not also mention that his wife was Her eldest?"

"No, you failed to get to that in your little story," Sheppard said, his voice barely under control. "It might have helped."

Her eyes flashed in offence but her voice remained calm. "I do not understand why you are so angry, major. The nature of my spirit animal should be of no consequence to you and this is hardly a good time or place to have an argument of this kind. There is a good chance de skyggeulv is now gone."

"Good riddance," Sheppard muttered.

"It will seek out your fellows," Thea said, her shoulders suddenly stiff. Her eyelids fluttered as her eyes rolled back in her head. Sheppard expected her to faint and prepared himself to catch the tall woman. When she did not fall, however, and her eyes instead flew open, Sheppard's heart jumped into his throat.

"He has found another way out," she said. "And your friends—"

She was cut off by the rapid staccato of gunfire and the sounds of raised voices echoing back to them through the caverns.

With barely a glance at the woman, Sheppard took off, Thea on his heels. He did not pay attention to his surroundings and nearly took the wrong tunnel had it not been for Thea calling him in the right direction. He spun towards her voice, disoriented, and followed the woman down the correct path, the gunfire growing louder.

And then it stopped.

"Your weapons will hardly harm de ulv!" Thea called over her shoulder.

They were too late.

"Don't, don't, don't tell me that!" Sheppard pushed himself harder, running as fast as he had ever run. The path had not seemed this long when he had gone searching for Thea…

The next bend brought them back to where they had left the party. When Sheppard did not see them, he nearly panicked, terrible fates flashing through his mind. The sheer amount of blood on the ground did not help, either.

"There," Thea said, her lips nearly brushing his ear. He followed the line of her finger and let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding. They were still alive and at the far end of the tunnel, but were precariously perched on a too-narrow outcropping of stone, two wolves now pacing the ground beneath them. The larger of the two was limping but, miraculously, seemed to be getting stronger with each pass of its prey.

"Why does she not use her arrows?" Thea asked, more of herself than of Sheppard.

He glanced at her, half lost in forming plans to save his team. "Sorry?"

"She should use the arrows Kale gave her."

Thea nocked an arrow of her own.

"What in the hell makes you think that arrows will work better than bullets?"

Thea muttered, "bullets" unable to translate the word, as she aimed. "The arrows are poisoned."

"Oh."

Twang…

"And the poison is the only thing we know of that kills them."

The smaller of the two wolves yelped as the arrow went through its shoulder. It stood on its hind legs and looked at Thea but did not stay there for long as another arrow went straight through the same wolf's throat, dropping it instantly.

"I see."

Her fear of the creatures seemed to have left her even as the large wolf raised itself on its hind legs and sniffed the air. It was taller than Sheppard by nearly a foot and looked every inch the terrifying creature that had nearly killed their Warrior guide. As it stood there, the long toes that resembled fingers flexed slightly as if it were calculating something. Other than that it did not move and Sheppard found himself wondering why.

Thea drew an arrow from her quiver; the wolf still did not move. "Because they can heal rather rapidly, even a knife through the skull hardly stops them for long unless it has been dipped in poison."

"Crap."

She blinked and let loose a third arrow, but the wolf was ready for it. Ducking below the projectile that would have killed it, the wolf leaped towards Thea, covering a quarter of the distance in that one jump. As it came bounding towards her, Thea withdrew a long dagger from its sheath after throwing her bow aside and stood ready to face it, the fear that had previously been so apparent now gone in the adrenaline that caused her muscles to visibly shake. Sheppard fingered his gun before forgetting it and reaching for his knife once again.

"No!" Thea cried as she readied herself. "Your weapons are not poisoned as mine are."

Sheppard started to argue but Thea was quicker and shoved him out of the way with her strange powers.

"This is my fight, John. Do not get yourself killed—"

But that was as far as she got. In the next moment, Thea was ducking under the wolf as it covered the distance left between them in a single leap. As it sailed overhead, she pulled her head between her knees as it made a desperate attempt to snap her neck in two and failed. The wolf rounded on Thea the moment it landed and reared to its hind legs once again, turning an amber eye on its prey. Thea, too, was ready to face the creature even before it landed and held her dagger out in front of her, ready to strike when it came for her again. The wolf took a step forward and then another, watching the woman it closed the distance between them. When it stopped two meters in front of Thea without striking, Sheppard felt his breath catch in his throat. He was utterly helpless and hated it.

The wolf's howl filled the cavern with a terrible sound as stood over Thea and Sheppard could see the shiver that violently shook her body, the rush of adrenaline that had given her temporary courage gone. In that moment, she seemed to cower, terrified by the creature, and looked so weak that Sheppard just wanted to hold her and tell her that everything would be okay. She seemed so like a child in her fear that when the wolf descended upon her, Sheppard expected to witness their guide's terrible death before dying himself.

But then Thea hurled herself into the wolf's abdomen, plunging her knife deep into its gut, her hand nearly disappearing in the cavity she created. The wolf cried in pain and snapped at the woman who dove away from the creature's terrible jaws. As she flew through the air, propelled by her own strange gifts, she withdrew an arrow from her quiver and reached for the discarded bow as she skidded across the cavern floor on her back, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. Without even grimacing, Thea nocked and released the weapon as the wolf made a last ditch effort and bounded after her.

The arrow hit with such force as it went through the wolf's eye that it protruded out the back of its skull, killing the creature instantly. The body of the dead wolf, however, slammed into her as she covered her head and was thrown into the cavern wall from the force of the impact.

Neither Thea nor the wolf moved after that and a great silence descended.

It took nearly a minute for Sheppard to recover in the aftermath and when he was finally able to move, he ran over to Thea. She was trembling beneath the dead wolf, tears streaking her filthy face as she turned towards Sheppard. He offered his hand to help her stand but she hesitated before taking it.

"They're dead, Thea," he found himself saying.

She only blinked and took his outstretched hand in her own. By the time she was on her feet the only evidence that she had been crying were the trails on her cheeks.

"Thank you," she said quietly as she turned away from him to gather her weapons, still shaking from the encounter. Once she had fished her dagger out of the creature's gut, however, she seemed very much her usual self. There was even a slight smile on her lips as she turned back to Sheppard.

"I told you I could deal with them."

Sheppard looked incredulous. "But you were almost killed in the process."

"But I still killed them both. Few Warriors can claim that."

"Then why didn't you do that the first time?" Sheppard asked, pointing at the arrow that had gone clean through the wolf's skull. Thea's perfect aim cast a shadow of doubt on the theory he had been forming about her.

"Because I was terrified," she admitted without looking at him. She almost seemed embarrassed. "The last time I encountered the skyggeulv I was nearly killed. I still bare the mangled scars left by their jaws and affected by their venom. I am far more skilled now than the child that I was and have faced many greater dangers without fear, but that does not mean that I do not remember how it feels to have half my torso torn off."

She turned from him then without giving him the chance to retort. Sheppard watched as she left his side to meet the other members of his team just as they were coming down from their place of refuge. From his vantage point, at least, she did not appear to have lost half of her torso to these creatures. Indeed, she appeared the perfect example of health and wholeness.

He shrugged away the thought. Her body was none of his concern, especially when she enraged him so.

It did not take him long to reach the rest of the group once he went to meet them. Ford, Teyla, and Rodney, though haggard in appearance, did not seem any worse off for the attack. The young lieutenant's eyes even flashed with excitement for having been able to do something other than walk.

"Are you okay, sir?" Ford asked, looking Sheppard up and down.

"No worse for wear," Sheppard replied, distracted by their guide. After placing a makeshift bandage across her skinned shoulders, Thea moved past the others to the smaller of the dead animals in order to remove the arrows. She replaced them in her quiver to be used again before walking back to the larger wolf and running her fingers through the fur after removing the arrow that had finally killed it. The ebony fur rippled faintly in the lichen light and Sheppard found himself wondering what she was doing. When she removed the long dagger from its sheath, however, and grabbed the animal by the dense fur around its neck, Sheppard clued in.

"Thea," he said as a put a hand on Rodney's shoulder to move him to the side. Rodney hardly made a sound of indignity. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Spilling the blood and taking the pelt," Thea said as she slid her dagger under the larger wolf's throat.

"No you're not," Sheppard said, closing his arms over his chest. "We're getting out of here before any more of those things show up and nearly kill you…us"

"Only her pups will show up looking for their mother," Thea said, indicating the other wolf. "This was the mating pair and they have chased all others out of their tunnels. None will dare approach."

"You can't possibly be considering taking two blood soaked hides with you," Sheppard continued, thinking it a sound argument.

Thea did not look up as she finished making her incisions and flipped the large wolf onto its stomach. Straddling the wolf's shoulders, Thea started to expertly peel the skin away from the animal's body. "Only the one; we do not skin the females, especially those with pups."

"But you feel fine killing them?"

She paused and when she spoke, her voice was quiet, "Would you rather I had let her feed on your fellows?"

Sheppard narrowed his eyes. "Of course not."

"Then let me take my prize of her mate."

There was silence after that. Thea continued to work at removing the skin of the dead wolf, determined to make it hers in spite of Sheppard at this point. At length, she started muttering to herself, the guttural intonation of her native language more obvious in the quiet tunnel. As she did so, Sheppard turned to watch her work, a scowl marring his features. This was wasting their time—his time—and he simply did not understand why she needed to make such a barbaric display of success even after the magnificent display she made of its death. And how in the hell, he thought, were they going to sneak around with a stinking, dripping animal hide in tow?

That was it. Sheppard had had enough.

And as if she were sensing his thoughts (which, he figured, she probably had) Thea stood and gave one last pull on the skin she had been taking so much care with to remove; the hide from the legs and the head had already been separated from the animal so this last bit from the torso was all the remained. The skin separated from the muscle with possibly the most sickening sound Sheppard had ever heard, which was saying a lot. Thea, however, seemed perfectly unaffected while Rodney had lost what little food he had in his stomach.

"I assume you're done then?" Sheppard asked as Thea held the surprisingly compact hide tenderly against her stomach before tucking it into her satchel. It was almost as if the fight had not happened she was so serene.

"I am." She did not look at him. "And no more skyggeulv will stand in our path; we shall enter de Sarnlande soon."

"Good."

"Follow me."

And they did.