It had been several weeks since Aris had last seen his sister – they had been separated from each other when he'd been chosen to be sent into the naquidah mines and he hadn't found anyone who could tell him exactly where Riah was. Just like Deyla, he had no idea if she was alive or dead – she might have never even existed. His days were empty of everything but work, pain, and the growing need for the tiny blue packets of liquid that were added to the water brought to them below ground. Through listening and asking questions that were too often answered with a jab from the prods, he'd learned more about the invaders who had destroyed his world and enslaved his people; the ones with glowing eyes were the Goa'uld, the soldiers were known as Jaffa, and the blue liquid the Ilempiri had been addicted to was roshnah.
Aris used his time in the mines to think, one way to take his mind off the naquidah dust that clogged his lungs and the unending labor that drained his strength and left him too exhausted to even sleep when they were allowed downtime. At the end of each interminable shift it was all he could do to crawl beneath one of ledges of rock chosen for a sleeping area, lying awake and thinking of his family. He hadn't heard anything concerning his father's fate, but rumors of continued resistance to the Goa'uld made Aris convinced that Rion Boch was still alive. The belief was abruptly justified when he was unceremoniously pulled from the water line one evening and dragged before one of the lesser Goa'uld. "This is the one, my lord Ba'nal," the Jaffa announced.
The Goa'uld shifted indolently on his perch, and Aris glanced down at the pitted surface of the council chamber's floor so that the monster wouldn't see the hatred in his eyes. "You have a father," Ba'nal announced.
"So does everyone else," Aris snapped back, unable to keep the anger from his voice.
One of the Jaffa stepped forward with a staff weapon but the Goa'uld occupying his father's chair shook his head slightly, motioning to a nearby pain rod instead. Bracing himself, Aris gritted his teeth when the prongs caught him in the small of his back and sent waves of agony flooding through his body. "Your father is said to be one of the Elders. You will tell me what I wish to know," Ba'nal said smoothly. The rod was jammed into his side again and again, until the resolve to keep silent evaporated and Aris cried out in pain. When it was finally withdrawn, he struggled to his feet only to be knocked back to his knees.
If I could just get out of here…
"Where are the rest of the Elders?"
And there he had it. Taking a cautious breath, Aris raised his eyes to meet Ba'nal's and schooled his expression to show polite deference. "If you let me go, I can find him for you." Ba'nal gestured, and another Jaffa entered through a far door with a hand clamped around the upper arm of…
"You also have a sister."