Chapter 25: Spilling the Tale

Jack saw Coris push Jonas off and he drew in a sharp breath. He sucked in a sharp intake of air when he heard Jonas yell out in what was clearly pain and fright. He made the decision that he couldn't stand by and watch another of his team members killed. What made it worse was that the next head on the chopping block was Sam's.

He increased his speed, running silently to the cliff edge, remaining hidden.

OOO

Sam yelled out to Jonas as she saw him pushed and she turned away sharply when she heard him yell out, followed closely by a splash that cut his shouts off. She gazed into the darkness around her for any sign of Colonel O'Neill and when she saw a sudden movement in the shadows, followed by the glint of his tags she sighed. He was coming.

She turned back and peered over the cliff edge at the 75-foot drop Jonas had just fallen from into dark water. Her eyes were wide with alarm and fright, but she fought it back to avoid appearing frightened and providing Coris with anymore joy than was already present in the child's glowering eyes.

She shivered against the biting wind and wished she had her hands free so she could attempt to warm herself. She swept her gaze around the cliff-top again, just to keep from looking at the cliff edge and recalling what had just happened.

Again the silver tags glinted in the eerie green light covering the entire area and silently willed for the Colonel to hurry.

OOO

Jack shimmied through the shadows until he was no more than five feet away from Sam and the cliff edge. Then he sighed, in front of him, blocking his path for a clear dash to retrieve Sam was a stream. The water trickled through the river bed, cutting him off.

He'd have to jump? No, he couldn't do that, it'd just cause Coris to order Carter shoved over the edge quicker. He slowly backtracked his way to where, he could cross silently, he hadn't had to cross in the first place, why now?

He slipped into the water and it tugged at his legs. It wasn't deep and only reached slightly lower than his knees, making it easier to cross.

He trudged through the stream silently, and pulled himself out on the other side. Good he was on the same side as the soon-to-be execution and he moved closer so he could make his move.

OOO

Sam saw the Colonel's change in direction and her heart jumped into her throat, was he leaving?

Her answer came when she saw the form of O'Neill coming closer to her once again. No, he wasn't leaving, she didn't think he would've anyway.

She tore her gaze from O'Neill and looked everywhere but, at the cliff edge.

"What's wrong Sam?" Coris asked, a hint of a smile in her voice. She knew damned well what was wrong and was using it to torture her.

Sam said nothing.

"Don't worry, you'll be joining him soon enough." Coris said.

"Push her over." Coris said.

"Wait!" Sam called.

"Final words Major?" Coris asked. Sam nodded.

"Tell me this one thing, what is it that you want from us exactly?" Sam asked, maybe if she could stall long enough, Jack would have time to pull off a plan.

"Nothing really, I just need help to destroy my people for what they did for me, now that I have you though, I don't need it. I'll just push you over and then maybe I'll be able to finally rest. You will have taken my place and you'll be the one begging for help to allow you to just sleep, for an eternity. I guess you could say it's an exchange, your life, for my ability to finally rest." Coris stated.

"You don't know if it'll work. I mean you just pushed Jonas over and it looks like you're still here, a restless spirit stuck in eternity." Sam replied, she shot a look to where O'Neill was coming from and saw he was closer, he nodded quietly and continued to come towards them.

"True but, he wasn't intended to take my place. I just needed him to fuel the destruction, but now with you to take my place, I have no more need for him." Coris replied simply.

"How do you know that if I take your place it'll be any different?"

"I don't, but I'm sure it will. You're going through the exact same process as I did before I was pushed. Oh and also, I was told by one of my mentors that it'll work."

"You're dead, and you have mentors?"

"Yes, they too are in the same situation as I am."

"Dead?"

Coris nodded and Sam shuddered. The dead were helping the dead, that struck her as a bit strange.

"You make it look as though it scares you." Coris stated.

Sam was silent, it did scare her but, she didn't want to let that out.

"It does doesn't it? You're terrified of death. It really isn't hat bad Samantha, unless of course you're forced to wander the place of your death for an eternity." Coris looked at Sam before pulling a pendant from her pocket.

"You see this?"

Sam nodded, she saw it.

"My mentor gave it to me before I was executed, he said it'd bring me comfort. He said it'd give me reassurance and it'd make my people pay for what they'd done to me." Coris replied, smiling wickedly, she tucked it back into the pocket of her dress.

Sam looked down and saw a glint of gold in her own pocket, a pocket she hadn't known existed until now.

"It's the safe-hold of your power isn't it?" Sam asked, putting two and two together.

"You're smart Sam, smarter then what I'd credited you for. Only, the power will not work without a means of fuel. That's what Jonas was for. That's why he was being affected in ways that you and the others were not. Remember the strange behavior he was sporting?"

Carter nodded silently.

"The people that attacked him in the first place. They were my mentors, they were preparing him to be fuel."

"What'd you do for fuel the first time? Jonas wasn't here then." Sam asked.

"Yes he was, he just didn't know it."

"He didn't even know of this place, how could he have been here?"

"He entered the past when my mentors got at him. You see Sam, there wasn't a first destruction until Jonas stepped through the gate and encountered my mentors."
"You used him?" Sam exclaimed.

"Ever wonder why when you first sent your probe through the pictures that came back showed nothing but a peaceful planet, and then when you came through it was dark and cold?"

"I remember."

"It was like that before you came through. When you got here everything was thrown off. You see Sam, I was still dead, I'd still been executed, only I had no means of fueling the destruction of my people until you got here."

Sam's eyes grew wide.

"That's right Sam, Jack was the first to see me. He told you and you didn't believe him. I was in your camp that night. I was going to get Jonas myself, until Jack shot at me. Then I sent my mentors after Jonas. I needed him, he was different, I knew he'd believe me and I knew he'd help me. I just didn't know he'd drag all of you into it with him." Coris replied, she was spilling the entire story, it was good because it gave Jack a chance to move in.

"What about Colonel O'Neill?" Sam asked.

"I didn't really need him in the first place, but then he followed Jonas into the forest and he was caught in the process as well. I was going to discard of him, but then I thought 'No, having two means of fuel would work with twice the force of one, so let him join. The destruction will be all the more powerful."

"What about Teal'c and I? We felt the same effects when we were in the field of Cora plants."

"Yes, the destruction was fueling there as well and caught you two up in it. It wasn't meant to be anyway, so it didn't work as planned."

Coris continued to explain and past the drone of her voice, Sam moved her gaze back to where O'Neill was coming.

OOO

Jack moved in, he caught Sam's gaze and nodded.

'That's good Carter, keep her talking.' He thought.

He was mere feet behind Coris when he heard his name, thinking he'd been discovered, he leapt back into the shadows and listened. To his relief he hadn't been discovered, he was just being mentioned in the conversation, under the section titled fuel and unneeded.

"Nice." He whispered to himself as he moved in, he was less than a foot behind Coris when he heard the scatter of rocks beneath his feet. Coris turned around and her eyes were blazing, he'd been discovered...