AN: Sorry about the delay and thank you so much for the reviews! Now things really start to get exciting! Enjoy!

Chapter Four: Escape From the Pit

Once the natives had gone, leaving Sheppard and his team alone, John spent a few minutes checking himself over. He was bruised, battered and had a few cuts and scrapes, but he was otherwise alright. He could already hear confused grumblings from his companions echoing in the cramped space. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yes, sir," Ford answered, somewhere to his right.

"I am fine," Teyla said from further off.

McKay made a few incomprehensible noises. "McKay?" Sheppard inquired.

"No I'm not ok!" he cried at last. "I've been manhandled by a bunch of dirty savage! And thrown into a pit! And left to rot! And..."

"Alright!" Sheppard cut him off. "You're getting hysterical."

"I assure you there is nothing funny about this!"

"Calm down!" Sheppard snapped, a little harder than he meant, but he was reaching the end of his patience. He peered around at their prison. It was difficult to make out details as the only light was filtering down through cracks in the wooden door.

From what he could see, they were in a small stone cell. The stairs jutted out from one wall and was the only visible entrance. The walls were high and rough and completely free of cracks or stresses. It surprised him that a people who seemed to take no care of their won dwellings would have such a well maintained prison. He wondered if they threw people in here often.

Well he did not intend to stay long enough to find out. He adjusted his position to be more comfortable and tried to think. After a few moments silence, McKay broke in: "So?"

John glared in his general direction. "So what?"

"What are we gonna do?"

He shrugged in response, which no one could see. "It's probably better just to wait."

"Wait! For what? For them to sharpen their swords?" He was to panicked at the moment to think clearly. Ironic since you would think he would be used to this by now.

Ford had already caught on. "If we don't make it back, Atlantis will send a search team."

"Who would probably make the same mistake we did and we'd all be one happy prison family!"

John frowned; McKay had a point. "Ok. Then we need to escape ourselves. What do we have to work with?"

"I have my knife," Teyla put in.

John smiled. "I figured that."

As it turned out, the mob had not a thorough search of them before they had been imprisoned. Even so, most of their equipment had been in their vests and packs. Besides the knife, they had a fire starter, one flashbang, three ammo packs, and two power bars. It wasn't much to work with.

Sheppard tiptoed up the stairs and tried to peek through the largest crack in the door. It was hard to see and he couldn't quite tell if a guard was posted outside. The door seemed solid and held in place by a large lock. It was primitive, but effective. He felt like Macgyver trying to puzzle a way out with almost nothing to work with. At that thought, an idea began to form in his mind. He went back down to the others feeling considerably more hopeful.

"I think I have an idea," he told. "We should wait until dark."

"What is it?" McKay asked.

"You'll see. We should get some rest for now."

"I'll take first watch," Ford volunteered.

X X X

Several hours later, Sheppard decided it was time. He woke the others and began to lay out his plan for escape. "We're gonna blast our way out," he said.

McKay was skeptical. "Oh right. With what?" He had already grabbed one of the power bars and started munching.

"With your snacks." John grabbed the second one and ripped it open. The others watched in fascination as he worked out his plan. First he emptied several bullet casings of gunpowder onto the bar. Then he mushed the sticky snack together. Then he cut a stripe of cloth and powdered it in gunpowder as well.

"What is that for?" Teyla asked.

"To break that lock and get out of here. Stand back and get ready to move."

He sneaked quietly up the stairs with the two items in hand. He stuffed the mush into the lock and stuck one end of the cloth into it. Then he stepped back and grabbed the fire starter.

Grinning like a school boy, he lit the end of the cloth. The flame sparkled and traveled up quickly. There was the briefest pause when it reached the top; then the door blasted open. The team ducked and shielded themselves from the shower of wooden slivers. Angry shouts came from outside.

"Time to go!" Sheppard yelled. Ford was ready with the flashbang and lobbed it through the remains of the door. It went off with a bang and a bright flash and several people cried out in shock.

They ran up the stairs and passed a small crowd of confused men who were still recovering from the blast. They went back around the temple aiming for the main road out of the city...and were halted by several hundred staring faces. Several bonfires bathed the seen in an eery flickering light. The natives appeared to have been having some kind of celebration, and they had walked right into it.

The men growled in anger and rushed forward. In no time, the square was filled with a confused milling of bodies. It was too dark for anyone to see clearly and soon they were mistaking each other for prisoners. It was a massive pit of chaos filled with punching, kicking and desperate fighting. The team tried desperately to stay together, but they were quickly separated and fighting for their lives.

Teyla found herself largely ignored and gradually pushed farther away from the main group until she was surrounded only by confused and worried women. These women were not participating in the fight, but had stepped back to stay out of the way, and it seemed that the men had mistaken her for one of their own in the dark. She made a few attempts to get closer to the action and find her friends, but kept being forced away.

Suddenly she felt something chill pass her arm and she whipped around ready to anything. Her gaze was met by a pair of startling gray eyes. They belonged to a strange man. He looked to be about forty, but there was something in his eyes that betrayed ages of experience. A wisp of golden locks escaped his round cap to blow delicately in the night breeze. He was no local.

"Who...?" Teyla began, but the man put a finger to his lips. He smiled and beckoned her to follow.

Teyla hesitated. She was reluctant to abandon her friends and she was equally reluctant to trust a complete stranger. Even so, she was intrigued. Who was he and what was he doing here? Finally, common sense won out. The bottom line was that if she stayed much longer, the people would recapture her. She needed to escape in order to help the others. She had little choice but to trust him.

She pushed her way through the crowd in his direction. It surprised her that he seemed to pass through so effortlessly, while she has to force and fight her way. They escaped the crowd and traveled down several deserted side streets. Twin moons provided more than enough light to see and was even bright enough to dim most of the stars. They reached a field of yellow green grass near the edge of town. Teyla could see the gate not far away and to her great surprise it was open.

What truly caught her eye, though, was the herd of strange animals grazing nearby. They did not appear to be restrained in any way and they only sign that they were anything but wild beast were the leather halters on each one. Each was at least five feet high and stood on four long legs. Their feet had three fat toes with thick calluses on their pads. Their bodies were muscular with long straight backs that ended in a short whippy tail. They had short necks and large heads with little round ears. They also had long snouts that they stretched down to feed. They had no fur or hair to speak of, but instead were covered with thick bumpy skin on their backs and faces and smoother underneath.

Teyla immediately understood. It would take far too long to reach the Stargate on foot and she could not fly the jumper. She turned to give her thanks to the man, but he had disappeared. She shook away her confusion and grabbed the halter of one of the animals. The sleepy creature jerked slightly but made no other protest.

As she mounted, she heard several cries of anger. Several men were running for the gate to cut her off. Teyla kicked hard at the creature, hoping it was faster than it looked. It gave a startled grunt and lunged forward in such a bouncy gate that Teyla nearly fell off. It bolted for freedom with her clinging to its back. As they passed under the gate it slammed shut inches behind them. The men shouted through the bars and shook their fists, but it was too late: they had escaped.

X X X

John fought desperately, but he knew it was hopeless. He had already lost track of his team and he was surrounded by an angry mob of strong men. Suddenly his head exploded in pain and he black out. He woke a few moments later, just in time to catch himself as he was once again thrown into the dark cell.

Ford and McKay were already their. The lieutenant had a fantastic black eye and was nursing a few bruised ribs. McKay was a little worse off and was holding a limp right arm with a pained expression. "Are you alright, sir?" Ford asked.

He checked and was dismayed to find that besides his pounding head, the fall had mangled his left leg. "I've been better," he answered through gritted teeth as the pain started to set in. "Where's Teyla?"

"Your woman will soon be no more," Gulah said from the door. "No one survives in the wasteland."

"When will you understand that we haven't done anything!" McKay cried.

"That does not matter. That you exist is enough of an insult to our Ancestors. Thankfully it will end soon."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sheppard asked, dreading the answer.

"Tomorrow. Your deaths will begin." With that they covered the broken door with several more layers of strong wood beams. Once more the prisoners were left alone in the dark with this happy thought.

TBC

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