A/N: Ok now at this point I realized that the title has almost no relation with the story. But at least it does in the way that Amara means unfading, so because of that I won't be changing the title. Here is a longer chapter, right now its like the middle of this story. I already have the next chapters but I have to wait until I give them to my beta, who I thank very much for you time and patience. This is a longer chapter, but I think it'll be the only one that is this long, and finally remember to review, it helps me to know how the story is going.
Chapter IX: Leading the Way
Major Sheppard awoke only to find that he was still hanging from the ceiling. If he didn't find a way to escape soon, Elek would have his head on a platter. He looked around but couldn't see much, there were no windows and the lights were turned off. He started to feel an incredible pain in his left shoulder.
He knew that if Maur gave him a bad time today, the shoulder could dislocate. He already had the pleasure of a dislocated shoulder once from the time he had been a teenager and he sure as hell didn't want to have that happening again.
John tried to shield his eyes as the door was suddenly opened up and bright light filled the room. He could barely distinguish a figure walking into the room. The person turned towards the ring on the wall where the rope holding him up had been tide up. The figure loosened the rope and as a result John fell to the ground, barely able to move. The person closed in on him and kneeled next to his side. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the light he could see Amara stare back at him. She was holding a bowl of water which she gently put to his lips. John was grateful to finally have something cool running through his mouth and down his throat. He drank the water but not all at once; making sure he didn't get sick, while staring at Amara. "I need to know… What do you want? Or at least what do you want when you decide to break the biggest law against you?"
She looked grim and a bit ashamed of the mess she had caused, "You won't understand."
John shifted so that he could sit next to Amara, "Try me."
"I am a thing, Major Sheppard. Here I have no more use than to be awakened every few thousand years and make the Wraith believe that this is an inhospitable planet. That is my life, if Elek's ancestors hadn't killed the Ancient scientist, the Ancients would have found a way to place my abilities in something else. Something not human, so that nothing like this could ever have happened."
For the first time since Sheppard had met Amara he pitied her, she was being used for other people's sake. If he had been in her shoes he knew he wouldn't have lasted long, knowing your only purpose in life is to do some tricks every few thousand years eluding an enemy you have never seen before. And then this man who has the distinctive gene of the Ancients comes to your planet, of course your curiosity will rear its head.
Sheppard started prodding his face, feeling the dried blood that had taken residence all over it. The cut on his upper lip wasn't that deep, but the one he had just found behind his hairline of his forehead was going to leave a pretty nice scar. At least he wouldn't be able to see it once it was healed, if it would ever heal properly.
Noticing John was prodding his face and feeling all that dried blood Amara got up and walked towards the small table in one of the corners, gathering water and a cloth. She returned to start cleaning his face, while he stayed still and in perfect silence.
"There was another like me on my team." John silently whispered, not wanting to break the silence of the moment, "Why did you pick me?"
Amara froze in her cleaning for a split second and seemed to need the time to think about his question. Why had she chosen him? Did she even know the real answer? Then as she drenched the cloth once more, she answered, "You are the one with the strongest gene and…" Amara fell silent. Never before had she talked about herself with others. John stared at her, "And?" She looked back at him.
"I knew the Ancient scientist as he was my caretaker while he was here. He was like a father to me and when I saw you ... to me it felt like having him back. I cannot understand why after so many years I still remember his presence."
But before she could say anything else, a small piece of paper was slipped underneath the closed door. Amara looked at it and quickly got up from where she was seated next to John, "That's my warning, I have to go."
Amara put the bowl back on the table and hurried to the door where she turned back at him, "I am going to help you, I promise."
Amara gave him a small reassuring smile before disappearing through the open door and out of the dungeon.Amara quickly walked back to her room, often peeking around corners and long hallways making sure she wasn't seen or followed. As she entered her room she gratefully thanked Leila, her helper and friendly guardian.
As she closed her door she could hear a light shuffling behind her. She turned around at one, gasping as she saw Elek sitting on her bed, a murderous expression on his face. Amara was speechless. Elek raised himself slowly from the bed and walked over towards Amara.
In a futile attempt she started to backpedal until she bumped into someone. She turned around only to see Maur's sneering face. Elek had closed in on her and grabbed her by her throat, holding her so tight she could barely breathe, "Put her in her stasis chamber!"
"What?" Amara's eyes widened in fear. "No!" The guards grabbed her arms and started dragging her to the room she had learned to hate. "NO!" She struggled and screamed but to no avail as the guards were a lot stronger than she would ever be, and were determined on locking her up according to Elek's orders. As they walked out the door, Amara saw her aid and companion, Leila being carried away. Dead. Seeing there was absolutely no escape this time she aloud herself to be dragged away, knowing she could possibly help the Major better this way. The sight of his bloodied face was now imprinted in her mind and she wouldn't give up without a fight, even if that meant spending some time in the dreaded stasis chamber.
As soon as the Toulnyan Stargate activated, there were guards deployed to see who dared to venture onto their planet this time. They waited, weapons drawn and ready to arrest any who would dare to come through but none came as the gate shut down.
They never saw the Puddle Jumper exiting the event-horizon and continue his flight over the planet. McKay had cloaked the little ship before entering the event-horizon to prevent any early warnings and by doing so elevating their chances of getting the Major back. Ford was sitting next to McKay, while Teyla and Sgt. Stackhouse where in the back getting ready.
The bluish screen came up in front of the Jumper as McKay was searching for the best place to land. Rodney landed the Jumper in a clearing near the beach and once on the ground they started gearing up.
McKay opened the rear hatch of the Jumper and turned to the rest of the team, "I want to make this clear, that in case they activate that damn device, do not let me give away our position. Is that clear?" McKay heard a general reply of clear, "Shoot me or stun me but I don't want to end up in Elek's prison again, loosing all hope of rescuing the Major." The others nodded while picking up their stuff and walking out of the Jumper; Ford in the lead. "McKay secure the Jumper and don't forget the life signs detector, Teyla be alert, Stackhouse watch our six, let's move people!"
Amara woke up inside the stasis chamber, hoping it was just a dream. She tried to move but it was useless, they had her tide up. She knew screaming wouldn't do any good and as she did a quick headcount of the guards surrounding her she realized she was now effectively a prisoner. She had pushed Elek too far and as a result he didn't trust her any longer.
Suddenly a forth guard appeared in the room and began speaking in hushed voices with the others. The conversation was quickly over and most of them left, leaving only one guard with Amara.
She had heard all she needed to hear. The Stargate had been activated, and there was a chance that the Ancient intruders had returned. Amara knew that she needed to act as quickly as she was able to.
Major Sheppard started to feel worn out after the trials of the past couple of days. He was grateful Amara had cut him loose from the ceiling. He knew he had only a couple of hours to relax his shoulders, which were by now really sore. He had moved a bit, just enough to rest his body against the wall, and had closed his eyes for a moment. He was almost off for a good sleep, albeit uncomfortable, when he heard the door being opened.
Sheppard opened his eyes, hoping to awake from a nasty nightmare, only to find himself looking at one very pissed off Maur. The man and one of his loyal guards roughly grabbed John and had him hanging from the ceiling in no time.
John frowned as he noticed Maur dropping a wooden stick with three very long and very sharp-looking metal spikes on the table. No doubt it was going to be used in the daily beating ritual which wasn't all that good.
At that very moment Elek entered the room. Sheppard gave him his best glare. "No beheadings today?"
Slowly Elek approached Sheppard and replied with a mischievous grin plastered on his grin, "My dear Sheppard, beheading is the main event."
Elek was now standing so close to him that he couldn't let the opportunity slip and before anyone could react properly, he had his legs around the man's neck, strangling him with all the might he had still left in his body.
Maur immediately ran toward his leader, stopping just behind Sheppard hitting him twice in the kidney area. John released his captor, but not before he managed to kick Elek square on the nose, effectively breaking it.
Elek's face was an instant mess and Maur took his anger out on Sheppard's torso. He hit John twice in the back and one full blow to the stomach, knocking the wind straight out of him.
John gasped for air, knowing that all had gone to hell the moment he had decided to attack Elek. The pressure on his already weak body had been under more strain when he had attacked his captor, and the retribution received for doing exactly that was finally taken its toll on his body, his left shoulder was on fire. He knew it had been knocked out of place the moment Maur had started hitting him.
Even with the pain raging heavily through his body, John was conscious enough to watch Maur walk toward the table and pick up the spiked stick. Underneath the bloody mess that was now Elek's face he noticed the man smirking. John Sheppard knew that his little hell was about to freeze over. He was going to be a dead man soon.
The rescue team was walking near the main trail, but close enough to the big trees to be able to take cover every few meters. Ford ordered the team to stop and take cover as he had seen some movement behind them.
McKay was the first one to see it, an orb flying near them. They immediately recognized it as a Wraith probe. "Okay, now we're doomed!" McKay mumbled to himself while Teyla took another look at the probe. "Why now? Why so fast?" McKay turned to face her, "This planet has never been culled by the Wraith thanks to the wonderful being called Amara. What do you think the Wraith do when they find a place they'd probably been before but tasted the bitterness of defeat? You know they don't just give up. They continue scanning the area in hopes to one day return and cull without any interruption."
As they watched the orb fly away, Ford ordered them to move on. But before they had the chance to move, Rodney noticed more guards near the path. Rodney just saw it coming when the Toulnyan guards started to point at the orb, thinking it was Ancient they turned the device on. He quickly put his hands over his mouth, willing himself to stay as quiet as possible. Teyla began to fear that he might not be able to hold it much longer as she saw the Doctor loose his concentration. The moment he dropped to the ground and grabbed his head, she jumped on top of him covering his mouth with her hands and holding his body as still as possible.
It was like watching a wrestling match, waiting on who was going to win. And as suddenly as it had started the pain stopped. Rodney opened his eyes only to see Teyla on top of him. He quickly moved from under her, feeling slightly embarrassed he glanced at Teyla and whispered a quick thank you. She gave him a nod, while he was trying to get the blush of his face and to get his body and mind to co-operate again.
Ford moved toward McKay, "You feeling okay to move?" McKay nodded and they were back on their way. Rodney took the life signs detector out just in case. They hadn't walked more than a couple of meters when McKay abruptly stopped, his eyes glazing over for a second. The team stared at him confused about what was happening to him. It took McKay only a few seconds before snapping out of it, "I know where to go." Ford moved towards before he could move away too far from the team. "What do you mean?"
"She's telling me where to go. Come on!" McKay started moving towards the main building. Seeing he was not taking the trouble to cover his approach, Teyla and Stackhouse stopped him, giving Ford some time to catch up with them, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Okay, I want you to trust me and follow me. If we don't move now we might not get another chance, Amara is waiting for us."
Somehow hearing Amara's name convinced the rest of the team to follow McKay. They moved through the vegetation, until they reached the entrance to the main building. McKay stopped for a moment unsure of where to go to next. Amara was definitely leading them to her and she was the only one, besides Elek and his guards, who knew where Major Sheppard was.
Then the voice was back and while Rodney wasn't sure he followed Amara's instructions to a T. The rest of the team walked behind Rodney, uncertain and confused by the fact they were walking inside the enemy's lair, only to find it completely deserted. McKay felt like he was walking in a big maze, and having someone pointing the way out for him.
Amara gave Rodney one last warning about the guard that was still in place in her cell before leaving his head and concentrating on more urgent matters, like freeing herself somehow. But she also knew she had to somehow make it easy for the Atlanteans and therefore an idea popped into her head. When the idea had completely formed she could sense Rodney McKay standing on the other side of the door.
The guard looked around confused as the room started to swirl. He jumped back as in front of him a blurry projection of Amara appeared. "You are not real."
The projection rested a hand on the stasis chamber, "Maybe she is the one who is not real."
The guard backpedaled to the door suddenly fearing the being that was standing before him; as a result he didn't see the door opening and was hit over the head with the butt of Ford's P90.
The room immediately stopped swirling around; coming to a full and complete stop the moment Amara opened her eyes.
A/N: Now to my reviewers:
Highonscifi: This is not all she does, but wait for the next chapter.
Laheara: Stay tuned for the next chapter, you'll see how evil it gets for poor John.
ErabuHikari: Hope you have an idea of what Elek is going to do to Sheppard.
Emoras: Another chapter, let me know what you think!
