Chapter 23: The Feeling of Falling

Jonas continued to climb, Colonel O'Neill following closely behind him. The wind was still gnawing on them and there was still a strange feeling washing over them as Jonas made the final push to end up on the cliff-top. He lay there, panting and shaking in the chill before forcing himself to sit up next to Jack.

From nowhere, Daniel appeared and looked each of them over.

"Daniel, so nice of you to join us. You couldn't lend a hand back there?" Jack jabbed his thumb over his shoulder towards the cliff drop.

"You seemed to be doing just fine Jack, besides there was really nothing I could've done anyway." Daniel replied.

Jack rolled his eyes and sighed.

"We made it up alive, now what?" O'Neill asked looking around in the dimly lit darkness.

"You wait." Daniel said.

"Uh huh, for what?"

"I don't know, all I know is that you must wait."

"Just don't pull your little vanishing act you seem to enjoy so much, we are not waiting here in the dark and the cold all alone."

"I'll stay as long as I can." Daniel stood still, watching Jonas and Jack closely as they tried to decide what would come next.

OOO

Major Carter was still struggling when an odd sensation washed over her. She felt as though she was being disassembled and re-assembled over, and over, and over again and it was highly disturbing.

Then just as soon as it had come, it was gone and she was atop a cliff, in a flowing blue dress, with a stone tied around her ankles on a chain. The wind was blowing wildly, tossing her blonde hair about and she was shivering. The thin strapped dress didn't provide much protection against the cold and the wind passed through the material.

A feeling of fear and caution bubbled up in the pit of her stomach as she gazed wildly around, feeling the strong grasp of her executioner, knotting a rope around her wrists so she had no use of her hands.
Coris stood by, still in the form of a child, she looked on in sheer amusement, eyes ablaze with anger and hatred. She was illuminated in a green light that gave her a mist-like appearance that was almost opaque.

Sam grimaced against the tightness of the restraints around her wrists and she felt a rough shove as she was forced ahead, despite the chain about her ankles which made it extremely difficult to move.

As she stopped, she had a clear view of the sight below her, it was easily a 75-foot drop, straight to the bottom, where a deep pool of water shimmered in the darkness. She heard the soothing sound of a water fall cascading over the rocks and she felt the mist from it cling to her cheeks in a gentle, almost soothing manner. Amidst it all she fought her captor to the best of her abilities, she was not going to go over the cliff edge easily.

OOO

Jack heard commotion from nearby, and peered around the rock he and Jonas had taken refuge behind. Coris was there, illuminated in a green light, and there were two others there as well. A man in dark clothing and...Sam.

She was dressed in a flowing blue gown, that pooled about her. A chain was peeking out from the hem of the dress skirt, and on the chain was an oversized boulder.

O'Neill squirmed uncomfortably in place as he watched what was happening, he couldn't just sit there while Sam was shoved to her death, there had to be something he could do.

"Colonel, what's happening?" Came Jonas's voice. It was a hoarse rasp in his throat, and Jack couldn't help the chills that crawled over him at the sound of it.

"It's Major Carter, Coris and some other guy." Jack stated.

Jonas was silent as he took in what he'd just heard.

"Huh?" Was all he could come up with. He thought Carter was with Teal'c and he thought Colonel O'Neill had ordered them as far away as they could get.

"She doesn't look like she came willingly. She's chained to a rock. A big rock."

"We've got to do something." Jonas replied silently.

Jack nodded and looked about for the archaeologist that had been tagging along, only to find that he was nowhere in sight.

"Great!" Jack's frustration wasn't disguised as he almost yelled the word, catching himself at the last moment.
O'Neill made his move, he pushed himself from behind the rock, keeping himself concealed in the shadows that weren't lit up by an eerie light and made his way slowly closer to where Sam was being held.

OOO

Sam felt a familiar presence nearby, a presence she had come to know when someone was there, but not seen. It was that chill that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and your throat run dry. It was the feeling of a sudden emptiness in the pit of your stomach, and your heart thudding wildly against your rib cage.

She craned her neck around to cover as much area with a single glance as she could. She turned up nothing, if someone really was there, they were doing a damned good job of staying hidden.

Coris moved in toward her, eyes glinting and smile wide. The child stopped to Sam's left and looked over the cliff edge.

"It's far down, isn't it Sam?" Coris replied, stating the obvious.

Sam glared.

"I know. Don't forget I've been over that cliff, it's not fun.

"You know your falling, it's that single, most terrifying feeling of every last foothold being snatched from under you. There's a momentary hover to begin the descent and then you feel nothing, but wind. The wind tears at you as though you are poison to it's well being, it wants to get rid of you as soon as possible, so it makes you fall faster, the stone helping along.

The fall seems to last for an eternity and it scares you half to death. You can see the water rushing up at you, but it takes forever. You just want it all to end as soon as possible but it doesn't.

"When you hit the water, you're alive and it leaps at you like a vicious predator, swallowing you up, and you sink. You can't breathe, you have no time to take a breath before entering. On the way down, you hit things, plants, animals, rocks, that followed you down, whatever else is in there, and you end up looking like this." Before Sam's eyes, Coris transformed into a young woman. Her face was a mangled mess of cuts, scratches, and bruises, her gown clung to her slender frame, and her eyes were hollow and lifeless, but still they glistened.

Sam shuddered involuntarily at what she'd taken in and kept her attention focused on Coris.

"Does it scare you, Samantha?" Coris asked, her childish tone back.

"Why would you think that?" Sam asked, trying to hide the fear it struck in her.
"Just a guess.

"After hitting the water, you continue to fall until you hit the bottom, the rock sinks into the muck and you can't move. You try to push your way to the surface, but can't because your legs are holding you back and your arms are tied.

"Your lungs start to burn, and you begin to freeze in the chill of the water. Your heart, feels like ice is being passed through it and you think to yourself. 'This is it, it's really over for me.'

"You get weaker, until finally you can't move any longer and you die, your lungs burning, and your heart breaking at the realization that it's all over. Then there's nothing, but dark." Coris replied, her voice trailing.

Sam kept her eyes glued to Coris. The girl's hair fell limply around her face, sticking to her bare shoulders around the thin straps of the dress. The same dress Sam was in. Coris's eyes hollowed until they were dull. Her face grew more mutilated and her skin tone paled considerably to almost white.

Carter shuddered again. She was going to meet the same fate as Coris had, and she was nearly scared to death...