A/N: The reviews are gathered, treats are dispensed, and the plot trudges on...
Ch. 18
The Ruins
John was quite cleanly off the hook. There was no body to be found, and Dev's side of the story was also testimony to John's innocence and Leyn the older's less than savory nature. John would have exhaled a right happy breath of relief if it hadn't been for the murderous look in Leyn the younger's eyes, and Jorsek's more unnervingly undecipherable stare. John would have preferred the heated glares of a pissed Jorsek. Anger was predictable, as were the actions that followed. Whether Jorsek was up to something or had simply stopped caring, John couldn't tell. Although he wasn't going to settle on Jorsek no longer caring.
The thrown together search party had spread in a ragged circumference from the spot John had led them to. Tarl demanded a thorough search that left no bent twig unturned or scent snorted up through an iaret's snout. Except the iarets brought in seemed confused about what smell it was they were supposed to follow, including Ris. They sniffed, snorted, and dug their noses into the dirt. They would follow a trail, stop, and start circling and hopping about in chirping agitation.
" Happens every time," Maj had commented. " Either the scent's all muddled or they're refusing to go any further."
John was going with the latter. The iarets weren't going any further, no matter the coaxing and threats.
There were signs of footsteps – said bent twigs, crushed leaves, and tread in the bare spots of ground but too obscure to make anything of. The hunters of the village were used to animal tracks, not human, and could only follow the tracks so far before they became interspersed with that of animal.
The search was called off a few hours before twilight, and everyone started heading back. When they stepped out of the woods, Tarl had them stick around so they could gather names to keep an inventory just in case someone else decided to up and vanish between tonight and tomorrow. Tarl also wanted names to be able to call on people to aid him in the investigation. Mandatory aid, he said, which meant when he summoned, you came.
After a name was taken, that person was free to go. John was number twelve after Tarl took the names of all the protectors and a couple of other nearby men. The light wasn't gone, and there was enough left for Tarl to have a good look at John, especially all the colorful bruises and cuts marking up his face. Tarl's scrutiny lingered on them for a moment despite having all of today to take note of them
If Tarl had anything to say about them – witty comment or witless need to point out their existence – he didn't indulge in it. He studied John's face, then pulled his gaze down to the clip-less clipboard with his papers. " Name?" he asked.
" John Sheppard."
Tarl's eyes darted back to John's face for the space of two heartbeats, then back to the paper. " How do you spell that?"
When John spelled his own name, Tarl didn't hide his confusion. Maj stepped in and spelled for John, converting English letters into Iothian, which John was quite impressed by. According to both McKay and Weir, the dominant language being already some form of English wasn't simply dumb luck or a fluke. John didn't recall all the details – something about the Ancient language on earth developing into Latin and so on – but supposedly it was inevitable that Ancient would lead to English. Only the writing styles varied from planet to planet, though many worlds had writing either remarkably similar or exactly the same as English.
Some days John didn't know whether to smack the Ancients or hug them.
What surprised John wasn't that Maj knew English spelling, but that she was able to convert the two styles so quickly.
Tarl jotted John's name down using Iothian letters. " We are to leave for the ruins at first sunlight," he said. " And are to meet at the town square before then. Please try not to be late."
With that said, Tarl moved on to Gidel while pointedly ignoring Maj, making it quite clear that this expedition was only for the men folk. Quite ignorantly sexist of the man what with Maj having been the one to follow Leyn and attacker's vague trail the farthest. It made John appreciate that he lived in a time where he didn't think twice about having a woman on his team. He'd be dead a long time ago if it hadn't been for Teyla.
When Gidel's name was jotted, the little family group was free to head home with light enough still to see by. All the same, Gidel pulled out his flashlight, keeping the beam on the path ahead and occasionally casting it into the already darkened woods.
" He really should have asked you to come," John said to Maj.
Maj waved a nonchalant hand of dismissal. " Bah! He didn't want a little old lady like me slowin' the trek. Of course, he's old ways, could tell by his bearing. He wouldn't have asked me if I was young and pretty. But I wish he hadn't asked you. I know you're on the mend, John, but it's plain as a cloudless summer day that you've been recently injured, and I'd rather you not procure any new injuries."
Gidel clasped his meaty hand lightly on John's lean shoulder. " I'll catch him if he so much at trips on a root."
" What I'm more worried about is Jorsek and his lot. You two need to be watching for them. He was right sneaky about getting you once, John, and he can certainly do it again."
To John's increasingly heart-sinking detriment, he had to agree with Maj. John was all fine and dandy with showing Jorsek that John Sheppard was no push over who crawled into holes and hid just because of a little torture. But facing facts, the man made John nervous, and he would rather avoid a repeat session with the paranoid thug.
" Guess I'll just have to stay out of his way," John said, and could only hope it was enough.
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John hunched his shoulders to bring up the collar of his coat and shield the lower half of his face from the gusty arctic wind as he trudge through the woods beside Gidel. The large search team was spread haphazardly, with John and Gidel taking up the rear as their means of avoiding Jorsek and his boys. Dry needles, old bark, and dead twigs crunched and snapped under their heavy boot tread. It was loud in what would have been otherwise an all-encompassing silence, smothering the moan and creak of the trees into ignorable back-ground noise. John didn't find the lack of silence settling. The noise grated on his military conditioned nerves.
All hope of catching the killer or killers unaware skulking about the ruins was insufficiently shot to hell. Sheppard could grudgingly understand Tarl's neatly packaged approach of establishing the perimeter then set about taking down the bad guy. It's just John was used to establishing a situation that allowed for a 'kill two birds with one stone' approach. If you could get the bad guy during the reconnaissance, then do it and maybe you'll get lucky enough to call it a day.
It was a bit of a ways to the ruins on foot. Thanks to Jorsek, John's strength had taken a couple of small steps back, and by the time he saw the first flash of gray walls through the trees, he was breathing heavily, sweating profusely, and starting to lag behind Gidel. He was feeling a little pathetic about it, and therefore pissed as well.
" Spread out!" Tarl called from somewhere ahead. His voice was sharp and cracking, like a whip. " I want every inch of this structure scoured. And not just with your eyes. Search out secret doors and loose stones that might provide a hidden entrance."
The group dispersed, and John and Gidel made sure to go the opposite way of Jorsek and his boys.
The structure that constituted the ruins John could already tell was massive in terms of perimeter, but varied in height. He and Gidel went around a wall two stories in height, to a section three stories in height. The walls were smooth, solid, and it made John wonder if it had been carved out of a small mountain. The cracks in the wall and rubble-littered ground didn't make the place any less imposing. It felt less like a ruin and more like a recently abandoned stronghold after a pretty fierce battle. Which maybe it was at one time.
When they were out of sight of the rest of the escort party, John sat down on the nearest pile of rubble for a breather, pulling out his water bottle, unscrewing the cap, and taking a massive swig. Gidel leaned his shoulder against the smooth wall and drank from his own canteen.
" You know," Gidel said, his breathing a little on the heavy side, which made John feel somewhat less pathetic, " Tarl's free to spout his know-it-allism like he actually has a lick of a clue as to what he's doing, but we're not all a lot of backward mud diggers. We've been all over these ruins and haven't found flesh nor fur of an entrance, hidden or otherwise."
John wiped the sweat off his brow with the sleeve of his coat. " And you never thought to just blow open the entrance to check things out inside?"
Gidel shrugged. " Thought of that myself a few times. But on Ioth there's been this long standing belief that when something's closed off, you don't open it back up again. My pa believed it was because half our victory over the wraith was because we trapped them in places to starve. For the most part, though, I think most folk believe that once we open this place up, it'll be used by the brigands as a future camp, and we really can't have that."
John pursed his lips. " Makes sense," and he took another drink. " I'd say why not blow the whole thing to hell, but I'm guessing it has some kind of historical significance to your people."
" More like practical significance. It's always been said that if we needed a sound structure to hide in for whatever reason, then the ruins are it. Until then, they remain sealed." Gidel stuffed his canteen into his pocket so he could fold his thick arms across his broad chest. " Aunt Maj told me about the chase yesterday. She said you were downright spooked to the tips of your hair about something but you never said what. I'm not usually one to pry, but Maj was quite curious. She would have asked except you'd already slipped off to bed to be down close to dead for the night."
John massaged the back of his neck uncomfortably. Gidel's tone wasn't accusing, but John couldn't help feeling like he was being accused of withholding something vital. However, he'd been true about going up to bed without another word or supper. He'd been exhausted.
" Too much in one day," he said, which was fact, but still felt like an excuse.
" I don't doubt that, John," Gidel said in good humor, " and I'm not claiming you neglectful in telling anything. I was just wondering if you caught a glimpse of something. I've been meaning to ask all morning but got a little distracted trying to catch glimpses of that something myself."
John looked over and up at Gidel. The bigger man's casual stance and inquisitive expression made his tone out to be genuine. He really was curious, and John had to wonder if the man harbored a curious nature under the nonchalance.
" People claim to have glimpsed somethin'," Gidel said. " But they can never make foot nor hair of it. Was there somethin' or was it more just a feeling? Because people get that too though I usually don't take much note of it. Most tend to see and feel all kinds of things when plenty spooked."
John looked away into the forest at nothing in particular. He wanted to word everything just right. Nothing was a certainty, and though Gidel was pretty level headed, words tended to get twisted when passed around from mouth to mouth.
" I didn't really see anything," John finally said. " I thought I did... The thing is, Gidel..." John huffed a frustrated sigh, then pivoted around on his seat to face the large man. " Oaky, I'll level with you on the condition that you take what I say as a theory and not at face value."
Gidel jerked his head in a single nod. " All right. I can do that."
" Good." John glanced around to ensure that they were alone. " Because I'd hate to be the one who started the rumor that led to a panic riot." He looked back to Gidel. " I can't describe to you what I saw or thought I saw, and chances are I didn't really see anything. I kind of saw, and I kind of felt, and what I felt was familiarity. I felt like I was being watched, and that I was surrounded, and the fact that I couldn't get a fix on whatever was flitting out of the corner of my eye only made it all worse. The last time I felt that way, and the last time I saw but didn't really see..." John cleared his throat and glanced down, fidgeting with the cap of his canteen. " The last time that happened was because wraith were around."
John forced his gaze to move hesitantly upward in order to observe Gidel's reaction. Gidel stared down at Sheppard with both eyebrows raised, a little startled but otherwise not panicked nor skeptical, which John was grateful for. He hated skepticism, especially in a galaxy where nothing was impossible.
" I'm not saying there's a wraith around," John emphasized. " It's just... That's what it felt like. A wraith situation."
Gidel's eyebrows remained hovering an inch below his shaved hairline for a moment, then drew together when he shifted to have his shoulder higher up the wall.
" Huh," was all he said. He remained pensive for a moment. " Well, I honestly hope that's only a theory or we're all up to our necks in fodder."
John nodded. " The thing is, if it was a wraith you'd think you'd have an entire hive taking a nose-dive toward your planet by now. Once the signal's sent that there's an all you can eat buffet for the taking, there's no hesitation on a hive's part to head over, and you and Maj said these disappearances have been happening for a while now." Now it was Sheppard's turn to go pensive, and he gnawed the edge of his tongue nervously as he thought. " I suppose... That whatever's keeping the wraith off this planet could have also trapped a wraith or two on the planet. In which case it's less that you're up to you neck in crap and more that you're up to your waist."
Sheppard, feeling a lot less spent, pushed himself to his feet with a grunt, and Gidel pushed off from the wall.
" What do we do if it's a wraith?" Gidel said, taking up Sheppard's pace as they resumed a casual trek following the wall of the structure.
" Get a hell of a lot of ammo, fill the wraith with that ammo, then cut its throat the moment it's down. Or better yet, chop off it's head. You could also let the thing self-destruct itself. That's always fun. Dangerous, painful, really stupid if you're standing three feet away when it happens, but fun."
Gidel grunted his understanding. " Never seen a wraith. Saw their ships once during a cull back when I was a teenager. Maj and I, plus a few others, were heading to a town when they came. We took shelter in a cave. Must have been a quick cull since they never showed up."
John stepped over what looked to be a chunk from a corner wall half embedded in the ground and walled in by dead weeds. " Has Maj ever seen 'em?"
" Once. Came in after a culling and found one dead. Or what she thought was dead. She said the thing was just lying there, then all of a sudden it'd bolted upright, reaching for her."
John smiled tightly. " Yeah, they love doing that."
" She wasn't alone at the time, and the group she was with did exactly as you said – filled it full of projectiles. Then they burned it."
John held up a finger. " Even better."
John explained to Gidel the ability of the wraith to create illusions, and about Teyla's ability to sense them (leaving out the part of her being a smidgen wraith). The perimeter of the ruins was long and all over the place rather than going straight on like the defensive wall of a castle or fortress. They passed two other members of the search party who seemed more interested in their conversation than searching for hidden doors. John couldn't blame them. He tapped on the walls with the tip of his blade stick, kicked at sections, and even tapped and listened with his ear pressed against the cold stone. Gidel mostly slapped the wall or shoved at it, and with very little enthusiasm.
They stopped to rest by a shorter section of wall that John took to studying. By standing on a chunk of wall debris, and had he been able to stretch his full length without pulling his ribs, his fingertips would have brushed the edge of the top.
This gave John an idea.
" Hey Gidel. Think you could give me a boost?"
Gidel moved to stand beside Sheppard and stare up at the top of the wall. " Sure about it? The walls might be sturdy but there's no telling what the top's made of."
John shrugged. " Only one way to find out."
Gidel bent his knees and intertwined his fingers to from a step. John placed his foot in Gidel's hands, and his own hands he pressed against the wall. With one, massive heave, Gidel practically flung Sheppard upward within reach of the wall's rim. John threw his arms onto the edge and hauled himself up and over onto a solid rock roof.
John stood, dusting off his hands, and looked down at Gidel with a grin. " It's made of rock."
Gidel shrugged and folded his arms. " Doesn't mean it's solid rock. And Maj'll have my hide if you fall through."
" I won't."
" And you know this how?"
" I just like to think positive. And the weak points are usually where the most cracks are, and usually in the center. So I know what to watch out for. I shouldn't be long anyways."
John then turned to survey the top of the structure. It was uneven, like a collection of block structures that had been smashed then welded together.
" This place must be one hell of a maze on the inside," John called for Gidel to hear.
" I've been told that was one of the reasons for it being sealed," Gidel called. " So no one would wander in and get lost."
" And the other being the keep the brigands out," John said.
" Yeah. Though I've also heard tale that it was sealed to keep something in."
John frowned uncomfortably. " Of course," he muttered to himself. " And I'd bet my entire next paycheck that it isn't working." He wondered, and not for the first time, if there was some way to squeeze hazard pay out of this. He was pretty sure he'd earn a couple of good overtime bonuses to have him set for life with all the crap he kept going through.
John kept to the edges of the roof as he skirted the buildings. He didn't have anything particular in mind for what he was looking for. This was one of those situations where he would know it when he saw it.
And he did see it the moment he began hauling himself up onto a higher rooftop. He had his chest over the wall when he spotted it, so pulled himself the rest of the way for a closer look.
A hole; gaping jagged and ink black in the center of the roof, spider-webbing the top in tiny cracks like broken glass. It was big enough for John to squeeze through though it would mean a nice collection of nicks and bruises for the effort. He nudged a pebble with his toe toward the edge, then kicked it the rest of the way in. Silence, silence, silence, then a small 'ping' of a clatter.
" I'll definitely bet my next paycheck that this isn't the only hole."
To prove his own point, John went to the next section of structure taller than the one he was standing on and pulled himself up. He was afforded a pretty good view of most of the ruins before it was obstructed by even taller sections. He saw several more holes; some in the center, some the corners, and one roof with three. There was no determining size from where John stood, but it didn't matter. Where there was a bunch of holes, there was bound to be a few large enough for a body to get through, along with the means to reach it.
John didn't know whether to feel smug that he'd made this discovery, or even more worried over the possibility of the ruins being sealed to keep something in, because had his bet been for real, he'd have some extra money to burn.
John headed back to the section where Gidel waited, and slipped feet first over the edge that scraped his ribs and made him choke on a yelp of pain. He dropped the rest of the way down, bending at the knees to take the impact, and straightened swiping his dirty hands onto his pant legs.
" Well?" Gidel asked, trying not to sound anxious and actually doing a pretty good job of it. His eyes had betrayed him, however.
John rubbed at his aching side, and grimaced. " You're not going to like it."
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They had to wait for a ladder to be brought in, which meant they had to wait for someone to go fetch it. It was late afternoon by the time that someone had returned. The sky was still light but twilight always came early to the woods. Not enough to make it hard to see, just enough to make the cold sharper and the shadows more expansive. The search party was gathered at the front – or what was considered the front – of the ruins. John and Gidel made sure to stand at the farthest end away from Jorsek and his boys. Yet not out of sight. Jorsek was staring at John, and though Jorsek's face didn't express much, the hostility was a given. After all, John had made the discovery that Jorsek -the chief village protector - should have made a long time ago.
Like tossing kerosene and gun powder onto a bonfire. Too bad John knew for a fact that Jorsek didn't like him, because that left absolute 'kill you without a second thought' hatred. And John really didn't want to end up hanging by his wrists again.
When the ladder arrived and was placed against the wall, Tarl had John lead the way onto the roof, then over the sections of various heights like geometrically perfect rough terrain. They didn't go far, just to the nearest hole that wasn't even big enough for John to get through. Didn't matter as it was proof enough that there were indeed ways of getting in and out of this place. Tarl and his two uniformed assistants took out flashlights and cast the beams into the perfect darkness. The three circles of light danced like rat-sized fireflies on what looked to be a stone floor far below. The light also flashed off of wooden beams, and scattered debris of stone and wood.
The three men discussed the find as though Sheppard weren't there.
" If the debris were high enough..." Tarl said, pointing and gesturing down at the hole, " perhaps a few beams fallen beneath the right sized hole..."
They talked about finding the right hole where someone would be able to get in and out easily, then setting up some sort of surveillance to trap this someone. Or having all the men of the village take point throughout the top of the structure by the largest holes, and leave a few on the ground should the kidnapper slip passed. One man suggested they blow the front entrance open.
" That would create two escape routes," Tarl said. " So long as there is only one door out, the kidnapper will have no choice but to take it once he becomes desperate for food and water."
Unless the kidnapper's a wraith. Then he can just pop in and out like a snake striking a passing mouse. John wanted to say as much but already doubted that it would make any difference. Wraith or human, if this kidnapper was good enough not to leave a trail, he'd find a way to slip passed whatever watch Tarl set up. Either that or take each man down one at a time.
" It would be better if we were able to find the single hole in particular this person has been using..."
John had to hand it to Tarl – he wasn't stupid. But he didn't have to sound so indifferent about it all, as though it were nothing more than a big waste of his time. People were vanishing, and the one pulling these magician acts was too good to be natural. John wasn't even from this world and he was well aware that there was something freakishly off about all of it. The least Tarl could have done was to sound the tiniest bit intrigued.
When the mumbling discussions were finished, Tarl and his men headed back down the ladder forcing John to come last. Tarl raised his arms for silence from the gathered men, then dropped them.
" Tonight, I would ask all of you to stay in doors, your families with you. The situation is too complicated to warrant a quick solution, and a plan must be formed that will end this quickly and without consequence."
Jorsek stepped forward out of the crowd. " Why not just blast the entrance and flush the piece of fodder out?"
Several men nodded and murmured in agreement.
Tarl gave Jorsek a somewhat disdainful, but otherwise patient, look as though the man were the biggest idiot on the planet, to which John would have to agree.
" Because," Tarl said, " This structure is massive, and the kidnapper knows it better than we do. If we were to come at him from the front, he would slip out the back, through on of the holes in the ceiling. This kidnapper has been clever enough to elude you for many months, now. To catch him, we must play his game, play at being as smart if not smarter than him. This requires careful planning, and patience. I was sent here by your request to end this nightmare. And I cannot end it if I do not have your full cooperation and understanding. So have patience, and you will have your justice."
Tarl had spoken and that was that. The men mumbled in annoyance, but Tarl ignored it and brushed by leading the way from the ruins and back to the village. They were done here, whether anyone liked it or not. One by one, like water trickling through a crack, the men grudgingly followed. John and Gidel took up the rear once again, and John eyed Jorsek carefully.
Jorsek and his men had gathered in a tight group, and were talking quietly.
" I say we just close off all the holes," Gidel said, " let the trash starve, wraith or human. Think that would work?"
John never took his eyes from Jorsek. " Yeah. Actually it would, as long as you blocked off the holes with something a wraith can't punch through."
" Uh-huh. What can't they punch through?"
John shrugged. " Metal, maybe. If it's thick enough. Of course a desperate, starving wraith is liable to punch through anything, or at least damage itself trying. I did mention their healing capabilities, right?"
Gidel nodded.
John held up a single finger. " Not a bad idea, though. More like a last ditch effort, though, in case everything else doesn't pan out."
Jorsek glanced over his shoulder, in John's direction, then quickly looked away. John narrowed his eyes.
" And especially so long as no one tries anything stupid."
SGA
A/N: Now you know the part the ruins play (as if you haven't guessed already). Exciting stuff next chapter, and a nasty surprise (grins wickedly and rubs hands together in delight) Mwhahahahahahaha!
