Now, Daniel was hanging on again, though just barely. He was hardly even conscious anymore, and the way his breathing sounded, it was obvious there was something in his lungs that definitely wasn't supposed to be there. Awful as it was, Sam couldn't lie to herself nor to the Colonel.
"Sir... I don't think he's going to make it through the night," she whispered to him, standing as far from Daniel as they could in the cage, hoping that he would not hear. "Unless we get help soon..." she shook her head.
"Help should be here any minute now. Somewhere near here, at least. SG-2 know that we're at the ruins. They'll find us," O'Neill said adamantly.
Sam didn't need to remind him that the gate was a long walk away from the ruins. She knew that he knew it perfectly well.
The complete lack of anything useful or helpful to do somehow felt even worse now that Teal'c wasn't around. Keeping constant watch by Daniel's side, trying to wake him every now and then to make sure that he was still with them, was pretty much all they could think of. The rest of the time they spent worrying about how Teal'c was doing.
The nearly ceaseless growling and hissing of a very large crowd of dinosaurs reached them from some other part of the roof. That was probably where Teal'c was. At times, it grew louder, and it paused a few times as well. It had to have something to do with the ceremony, whatever it was.
The noise really peaked sometime over an hour after Teal'c had left. It sounded like a fight out there, or a riot. They could only guess what was happening. Maybe it was a part of the ceremony as well.
Soon after the racket had begun, they caught the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Sam got up and walked to the door, gazing through the bars. She saw a lone dinosaur running towards them. It was carrying something around its arm--she couldn't quite make it up in the pale light of the moons.
It stopped right in front of the door and growled at Sam. Of course, she had no idea of what it was saying. She cast a glance at Daniel. The Colonel was already trying to rouse him. He opened his eyes, but didn't say a thing.
The dinosaur didn't wait for an answer. It opened a fisted hand, revealing a key, and opened the door. Then, it simply stood aside and waited, motioning with its hands and head that SG-1 should get out.
O'Neill had again helped Daniel to sit up, and tried to encourage him to talk to the dino. "Daniel--what's this dino up to? What's going on? Is it Barney?"
Daniel nodded, probably answering the last question. It was Barney. He had really returned to help them, although much later than they had hoped. Daniel croaked a dinosaurian word at Barney, who answered at length. The dinosaur had begun stepping nervously at his place, by the open door.
"Teal'c won," Daniel announced, though his faint, near choking tone didn't relay much victory. "Unexpected--There's--coup--rebellion--riot... Hurry."
Simply sitting up and speaking a few words seemed to take what little strength he had left. He closed his eyes and leaned back, to rest against O'Neill. Luckily, those few words had been enough to give Sam a pretty good idea of what was going on. Apparently, the ritual hadn't gone as the dinosaurs had planned, Teal'c had won, and it had led to a disturbance of some sort. Teal'c had won--so he had to be all right, and maybe he had even made it out. And this offered SG-1 the perfect chance to escape.
"Sorry, Danny, but that 'Hurry' clearly means we've got to go," O'Neill said, standing up, one hand on Daniel's shoulder.
Sam walked over to help him, wondering how they'd ever manage to get Daniel out of this place. He was way too sick to walk, even with support, and the Colonel needed a lot of help walking as well. There was no way Sam could carry Daniel on her own.
O'Neill had figured out the same thing, and was trying to convey it to their dinosaur friend. "Barney, we could use a hand... Or a tail, or whatever. See, Daniel's pretty sick-"
The dinosaur was intelligent enough to grasp the meaning though it knew none of the words. It stepped closer, and crouched low right next to Daniel, waiting. Sam was quite amazed to see that. The dinosaur was shorter than she, and couldn't weigh a lot more than any of them. On the other hand, it did seem to have the strong muscles of a wild predator, friendly and civilized though it was. She and O'Neill helped Daniel on Barney's back.
"Hang on tight. You get to be the first human ever to ride a dino," O'Neill told him. He wrapped his arms around the dinosaur. Barney stood up, looking a bit wobbly under Daniel's weight, but he did manage it. He took the lead, running out of the cage. From the door, he didn't turn where they'd come from, but to the opposite direction.
Though Barney was carrying a half-conscious Daniel, he was still moving pretty fast. Jack had a hard time trying to keep up with him, limping on with Carter's help. He had no idea where the dinosaur was leading them, but Jack figured he probably had a plan of some sort.
He began to doubt that, when he realized that they were approaching the edge of the roof. With two floors full of huge halls above the ground, the building wasn't exactly low. They'd be walking into a dead end.
When they stopped at the low rampart that separated them from the fall to the jungle floor, Barney revealed that he really had thought about this after all. First, he crouched again, and Daniel slid to the ground. Then, he held out his hand. A coil of sturdy rope was hanging from it.
"Not bad, Barney, not bad at all," Jack told him, hoping could figure out the approving tone.
"Sir, we can't be sure it's safe down there--there might be an army of dinosaurs waiting us right below," Carter reminded. "Let me go first. I'll signal you if it's all right."
"Sounds like a plan to me." Jack would rather have gone first, himself, but he knew he couldn't do it. He couldn't even walk. If he'd find himself in the middle of a dino riot or something, he'd be dead. Carter was the only one of the three of them who really could go first.
The nearest cage was right next to the rampart, so they tied the rope around one of the bars.
Before she went, Carter knelt by Daniel's side, cupping his cheek with her hand. "See you soon, Daniel," she said.
"Take--care--Sam," Daniel whispered, peering at her through half-closed eyes.
She grabbed the rope and climbed on the rampart.
"All right, Carter. One pull for OK, two if it's not. You'd better be careful. Beware of angry dinos," Jack told her.
"Sure thing, sir," she declared, and disappeared over the edge.
Jack stayed by the rope, resting a hand on it, so he wouldn't miss her signal. It was a really tense wait, with Carter out of sight. Jack could still hear the dinos fighting somewhere not too far. Daniel's rattling breaths were a really strange contrast to that noise. Barney was standing on the tips of its clawed toes, looking as nervous as a dino could get.
"Yess!" Jack whispered to himself, when he felt Carter tugging at the rope. He waited for a bit longer, but that was all. She'd only pulled once, telling that it was safe.
He'd need to get Daniel down first, and he couldn't think of an easy or nice way to do it. He pulled the whole length of rope up the side of the building again, and tied it around Daniel's waist.
"This is probably going to hurt your side... If you can just stay awake and climb down yourself, you know, grab the rope with your hands and place your feet against the wall, it'll be a lot easier," Jack told him.
Daniel nodded, but didn't say a thing, and Jack couldn't be sure he'd really understood. The sooner he got Daniel down, the sooner he'd get help. With huge effort, Jack lifted him on the rampart, and grabbed the rope.
"All right, Daniel... I really don't want to push you over..." Jack uttered, pulling the rope tight. "I'll lower you down. You'll just have to trust me."
Daniel had taken a look over the edge, and shook his head. His breathing sounded fast and shallow. "So high..."
"I know, Danny, but this is probably our only way out of this place. I've got you, don't worry."
Daniel growled a word at Barney. The dinosaur walked to him and nuzzled the side of his head with its snout. Jack would never have thought a predator dino could do something as gentle as that.
With a deep sigh, eyes closed, Daniel crawled over the edge. All of a sudden, all his weight was pulling down the rope. Jack bit his teeth together and held on to it tightly, ramming his good foot against the rampart. He started lowering Daniel as slowly and steadily as he could. It felt horrible, doing it without seeing him at all. Jack could only hope he was taking support from the rope and the wall instead of hanging there, unconscious, with the rope digging into his bruised side.
It was equally scary to feel the weight suddenly disappear. He couldn't really be sure that it was Carter who'd let Daniel off the rope, could he? What if the knots had just given in and he'd fallen down? The fastest way to find out was to get down as soon as he could.
"Barney, buddy," Jack said to the dinosaur, who was still hopping about nervously. "You're one incredible dino. Thank you for everything."
Barney stepped closer, and put his chin on Jack's shoulder. An odd dino gesture, that, and awfully sweet.
"Now, now, Barney. We're not that good friends yet," Jack muttered, climbed on the rampart, and then over the edge, starting his descent down the side of the building.
Jack hadn't realized how tired and sore he was, and how much lowering Daniel had taxed his strength. The wall of the building felt like Mount Everest. An amazing feat. He felt his hands shaking at the effort... And slipping.
His grasp slipped just slightly, and he caught the rope again, but he was sliding, the rope burning the skin of his palms, until he hit the ground. He hit it pretty hard, too, and didn't feel like getting up again.
"O'Neill! Don't worry, the cavalry's here," Lou Ferretti's voice greeted him, and a second later, his face appeared above Jack's.
"Ferretti. Great timing," Jack smiled at him. "How'd you find us?"
"We didn't. Teal'c did. We saw him come out of the ruins, and he told us you were on the roof. We were just wondering how the heck we could get you down when he spotted Carter climbing down the wall."
Teal'c? Was Teal'c really here? Jack sat up so he'd get a better look. Nothing surprising about the surroundings--moonlit rainforest, and the wall of the complex right behind his back. But to his right, a medic was patching up Teal'c, who seemed to be bleeding from more cuts than Jack could count, and to his left, the rest of the med team was working frantically around Daniel. Carter stood right next them. Jack could guess she desperately wanted to help, but knew she'd just be on the way if she did.
"Colonel O'Neill," Teal'c called out. The relief of simply hearing his voice again was enormous.
"Teal'c! I hear you won the race. Great job."
"Indeed. Although I am not proud to think that the dinosaurs now regard me as the true chosen host to the Goa'uld."
Author's Warning: The end is near. Next chap shall be the last. And no, my net is still not working. Ack.