A/N: Warning: This chapter has implied content of a very mature nature. The place where Ronon and Erik are being kept is not nice, and this chapter is intended to highlight that. If you are easily offended then please don't read. Also, I made a mistake with the time line in the last chapter. Rydan said the tournament was 4 days away but it is in fact only 3 (I was counting the actual day itself).

Thank you once again to Chelsie66 for your amazing review of my last chapter. You keep me wanting to write this story!

Ronon POV

It was mid- morning before we saw the Rat again. For once, he passed by our cell door without bothering to taunt or antagonize as he moved down the corridor with purpose. Two sets of footsteps indicated that he was not alone, so Erik and I approached the window to investigate.

To our surprise, we saw his companion was a young boy. Small and lean with fair skin and flaxen blond hair, I guessed him to be somewhere around ten years old. He caught us staring and flashed us both a smile as he passed.

Erik looked at me with raised eyebrows. "Cute kid."

"Wonder what he's doing here?" I replied.

He shrugged. "Beats me."

I watched him saunter back to his spot on the bottom bunk while I stayed where I was, looking out at the empty corridor. "What do you think they have planned for us today?"

Erik stretched his long frame out on the bed and clasped his hands together behind his head. "To be honest," he said, "I really don't care what they have in mind… so long as it gets us the hell out of this cage."

I nodded. That I could agree with. "Sheppard and the others could show at any time."

He nodded. "I'm surprised they haven't already. Kind of makes me wonder what the security is like regarding this place."

"Uh huh," I agreed. "If the trouble we've had getting out is any indication, I'd say it's pretty high up there."

"It could have something to do with the tournament too," Erik mused. "It's only two days away."

I looked at him. Suddenly two days seemed a lot closer than three had yesterday.

"I wonder," Erik continued at length, "how they choose the match-ups in these things. Who faces who?"

He spoke casually, but I read in his words the same apprehension that I carried – not that we might have to fight in the tournament, but that we might be forced to each other. "Let's hope—

I broke off as a loud scream suddenly pierced the air. It came again almost immediately after, a blood-chilling sound, high-pitched and full of pain. I grabbed the iron bars in front of me and tried to get my head around them for a better look down the corridor.

"What the hell?" Erik sat up on the bunk behind me.

I turned and caught his eye, and it seemed to dawn on us both simultaneously that we were listening to the cries of the young boy we had just seen go by.

"Hey!" I called down the corridor. "What's going on?"

There was nothing but silence in reply and I watched as the Rat suddenly rounded the corner and came back into view. This time he was alone and the boy was nowhere in sight.

"Where's the boy?" I asked as he neared. "What did you do with him?"

He gave me a slow smile. "No need ta concern ya 'self with stuff that ain't ya business."

"The boy," I repeated. "Where is he?"

"Why?" the Rat stopped walking. "Fancy a piece of 'em, do ya? Ya best get in line then."

I sneered, and then in a move reminiscent of my foe down the corridor, I thrust my hand through the bars in an attempt to grab at him.

He stepped out my reach and grinned as he held up his hands. "Easy there… boys really ain't my thing either. Teeth's the one with the hankering."

"You left that boy alone with him?" I could not believe what I was hearing.

He shrugged. "Just obeyin' orders."

I stared at him with loathing, for a moment too repulsed to speak.

The Rat laughed. "Ya think that's the worst thing that goes on 'round this place? Damn… ya ain't gonna last five minutes 'ere."

The boys cries echoed down the corridor again and I spun around and connected my boot with the stone wall to vent my frustration. The rat took the chance to leave, while in front of me, Erik could not meet my eyes. In silence, we looked at anything but each other as the young boy's cries echoed around the tiny room. Eventually, they tapered off and were replaced by silence.

Unable to stand still, I paced the cell floor while Erik sat with his head in his hands. A lot of time passed before anyone else came to our cell. This time, it was two armed guards who opened the door and led us outside.

"Where are we going?" I asked the one closest.

"Training," he said, and motioned with his gun for Erik and I to start walking. Once again we were led down the stone corridor, only this time when we passed the communal cell I saw the young boy had joined its occupants. He lay curled up in a corner while one of the women there crouched over him. A fresh wave of rage swept over me. Now I knew why the other Satedan had taken such a violent dislike to the beast who resided here.

To my disappointment, he was not in his cell when we passed and nor were the others. It was only when we entered the ring that I saw a number of men sparring in pairs together in the centre. Among them was the dark skinned man that I sought. I forgot the armed guards at my back as I broke into a run towards him. He saw me coming and his eyes sparked with anticipation as he stepped away from his sparring partner and faced me. In his hand was a heavy wooden mace, and he swung it at me once, twice…

I dodged each swing and then tackled him around the waist. We fell to the ground with such force that I grunted from the impact. As we began to wrestle it immediately became clear that our goal was not to maim, but to kill one other as quickly and violently as possible. I landed a punch to his jaw and he dropped the mace he held and clamped his hands tightly around my throat. I immediately did the same, and with teeth bared we stared at each other, our faces just arm's length apart. Beneath me he bucked and twisted as he tried to dislodge me, his skin covered in a heavy sweat. We rolled over in the dirt and I increased my grip, surprised by his strength.

"Enough!"

Vaguely I registered a voice in the distance. But I was close now… so close to my objective. I could feel his strength weakening. Just a couple more seconds-

A gun blast pierced the air and suddenly my entire body burst into pain. I let go of the dark man's neck and rolled off him. His own hands were still around my throat but then a second blast came and I felt him release me. The guards came over and pulled the two of us apart as we gasped for breath. I pushed myself back up to kneeling in time to see Rydan striding towards us.

"Idiots!" he said to the guards. "I told you to keep these two apart!" He holstered his gun – my gun, I realized again, and swept his cloak back over his shoulder in exasperation. "See both of them back to their cells," he said. "And be grateful I don't have the two of you flogged for your stupidity."

The guard behind gave me a shove. "Get up," he instructed.

I did as he asked while the other guard held the black man on the ground where he lay. Wordlessly, I walked past Erik and the other men and allowed myself to be taken back to my cell. Covered in dust, my mouth dry, I leaned against the wall while I recovered from yet another blast from my own gun.

What seemed like a very long time later, Erik finally returned. He was coated in sweat and looked to be on the point of exhaustion.

"What happened?" I asked the moment we were alone.

"I think you got off light," he said as he wiped the dust and sweat from his brow. "They put me to work, dragging a stone column around the outside of the ring. I've done some workouts in my time, but nothing to equal that…" He flopped down on the bunk. "Then I got to spar with some of the others… That big guy with the orange hair, turns out he's here by choice. His name's Red, and Rydan pays him a wage for his winnings. He sends it home to his wife and five daughters."

"Some way to make a living," I replied. "What about the others?"

"There must be more cells here somewhere…" he said. "I counted twelve men in the ring."

"Did you speak to any of them?"

"Briefly. I learned the guy with all of the ink-work is named Sonny. Rydan saved him from execution on his home world. He's mean with a sword."

"What about my friend? The one they call Teeth?"

"Red said he's been here longest of the twelve of them. Rydan favours him because of his popularity with the crowd…" He paused. "He told me there's a good chance Rydan will put the two of you in the ring together."

"Good," I retorted. "Then I can kill him without interruption."

Erik looked at me. "He also told me that he knew one of the Satedans who was here. Said his name was Calden Leit. They shared a cell together for a time."

My anger slipped a little as the name stirred me to recollection. "I knew the guy," I said. "He was a good man, and a hell-of-a skilled combat fighter…. Did he say how he fell?"

"In the ring. He drew what is apparently known as the 3-way – where one man has to take on two opponents from the same team."

I snorted. "It would take more than two men to get the better of Leit."

"Apparently so. He killed them both, only Rydan upped the stakes and set him to face two more… and then two more after that…"

I shook my head. "He didn't give him a chance."

"No," Erik agreed. He swiped the back of his hand across his forehead. "If I've learnt anything today, it's that in these tournaments, anything goes."

I looked at him. "Lucky we don't plan to be here for the next one then," I said.

He nodded. "Damn lucky."

Sara POV

I was grateful that Marcus stepped up to take care of the arrangements for the military side of Troy's memorial. This allowed me to spend the morning with my aunt and cousins, fine-tuning the rest of the details for the ceremony the following day. It was heart-breaking work, my twin cousins still so distraught over the loss of their younger sibling, that most of the decisions were made between my aunt and I. After everything Troy had done for Tarus, I wanted to be sure that everything would run smoothly and he would receive the best possible send-off.

Natara stayed by my side all morning and in the early afternoon I put her to bed for a nap. Still struck with the inability to sleep myself, I asked Isobel to keep an eye on her while I went to see Marissa. Although I genuinely cared for the young woman's well-being, if I was being honest, my need to see her had as much to do with her link to Rydan – and by extension, Ronon – as it did with my concern for her.

I found her sitting in a wooden chair outside the cottage, enjoying the afternoon sun when I arrived. The guitar Marcus had given her was propped up beside her and I suspected she might have been playing it at some stage.

"Hi," I smiled at her. "I just stopped by to see how you're getting on."

She met my eyes, and I saw in her a calmness that had not been present the day before. "I'm good," she said. "I was just enjoying the sunshine."

"Do you mind if I sit down?" I pointed to the seat on the other side of the table.

"Sure," she nodded. "It's your home."

"Not while you're staying here, it isn't," I assured her. "If you ask me to leave, I won't be offended."

She shook her head and for a moment we looked around the garden together in silence. It was mid-summer and many of the flowers were out, their colours bright and cheerful amongst all of the green shrubbery.

"I like it here," Marissa said. "It's pretty… and peaceful."

I nodded. Sometimes I got so used to the serenity of Tarus that I forgot how lucky we were in comparison to many other worlds. "You really don't have to go back there," I said, knowing she would understand what I was meaning. "We can find another way."

She shook her head. "Don't get me wrong," she said, "But my going back to Danisine has nothing to do with rescuing your men. I need to go back for my own reasons."

"I understand that," I told her. "But why not just let the men deal with Rydan? He'd be just as dead by Marcus's hand, or Colonel Sheppard's as he would be your own."

She stared off into the distance and for a moment I didn't think she was going to reply. "The locked doors you saw in the hallway of Graystone…" she eventually said. "What do you think was behind them?"

I shrugged and pulled a face. "I don't know… money? Guns? Other prisoners?"

"Other women prisoners," she emphasised. "Rydan keeps them there for his personal entertainment. Sometimes he disappears inside those rooms for entire days on end…" She paused. "Now that I am gone, he will seek out another woman to take my place."

"And you feel like you are somehow responsible for this?" I asked.

"Maybe," she reached down to smooth a wrinkle from her skirt.

I watched her in silence. Her hair hung like a thick, glossy blanket down the back of her chair and the t-shirt she wore hugged her curves in all of the right places. If I did not feel so sorry for her, I would have envied her perfection.

"When I first saw Rydan, I thought he was the most handsome man I had ever laid eyes on…" she said. "It makes me sick to admit it now, but I actually felt attracted to him."

I half-smiled as I recalled my own reaction to the man. "I am sure he has that effect on many women," I told her.

She continued as if I had not spoken. "The first time he… took me, it lasted all night. I cried and begged for him to stop, but it made no difference. He was insatiable, using me in ways that I would not have thought possible…When he finally threw me out of his bed I was raw and bleeding, and I could barely walk. I wanted to die."

I bit my lip, caught off guard by her harrowing tirade. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

"I'm only telling you this so maybe you'll understand why I need to go back." She raised her hand and swiped a tear away from her cheek. "Where I come from, it is frowned upon for a woman to lie with a man outside of marriage."

No man would ever want a relationship with someone like me. Suddenly what she said to me the day before made more sense. I looked at her as an awful thought occurred to me. "You've never been with a man before Rydan?" I asked. "He was your first?"

She nodded. "But not my last. I have lain with others since."

I had no idea what to say, so I remained silent. Part of me did not want to hear any more, yet I also understood her need to talk. I just wasn't sure if I was strong enough to listen.

"Do you understand now why I am unworthy of a husband?"

I shook my head. "The circumstances were completely out of your control," I told her. "No one with an ounce of decency would judge you on what you went through." I paused as I searched around for something else, something that would make her see her life was not over just because of the actions of one man. "Not all men expect their wives to be… uh, untouched when they marry," I told her. "I intend to marry Ronon in a few weeks, and he is not my first."

She looked at me in surprise. "Really? And it does not matter to him?"

"It's not something we really talk about," I admitted. "It happened before we met."

"You've been with many men?" she asked.

I laughed. "Ah, no," I quickly assured her. "Just a couple… one of which was a long-term relationship."

"What was it like, the relationship? Why are you no longer with the man?"

I found myself wishing fervently that there was a glass of wine in my hand. Marissa was an odd contradiction in that she was wise beyond her years, while at the same time touchingly naive. "Uh…" I stammered. She had shared so much with me, and here I was, embarrassed to share my own, rather tame experiences in return. "As it turns out, I was with Marcus for a few years," I admitted. "And we're not together anymore because… I guess because it just didn't work out between us.

Her mouth fell open and she stared at me in surprise.

"Most of the women I know have slept with other men before they married their husbands," I assured her. "Some men actually prefer to have a woman who is more… experienced."

She shook her head as if she could not believe what she was hearing. "I don't understand," she said, "Why would you put yourself through something like that if not to please your husband?"

I suddenly realized how sheltered her life must have been before she met Rydan. "With the right partner, sex can be very pleasurable," I told her, sure that my face must by now be flushed crimson. "For the woman as well as the man."

"But… with Marcus… It was not?" She tried unsuccessfully to put things together.

I shook my head in disbelief at the conversation I had found myself part of. For her benefit, I did my best to make things as clear for her as possible. "Sex with Marcus was very enjoyable," I told her, "We are not together now because we do not get along in other ways."

"Oh," she said.

I sank back into my chair and hoped I had just seen the end of possibly the most awkward conversation of my life.

"I cannot imagine ever enjoying what Rydan did to me," she said.

"That's because he forced himself on you. With a man you love, it would be completely different."

She shuddered. "I won't ever love a man enough to let him do that to me again."

"You might feel like that now, but you are still young and there is plenty of time for you to change your mind."

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter anyway. I return to Rydan tomorrow."

"But when you get back-

"I am not sure I plan to come back," she interrupted.

I looked at her in surprise. "There is somewhere else you want to go?"

"If I kill Rydan, there will be retribution from his followers. I would rather die at my own hand than suffer the torment they would inflict."

My mouth fell open. "But… we'll be right there to protect you. Marcus, Colonel Sheppard – they won't just leave you."

"No," she agreed. "But if I ask them to, they won't have a choice."

My mind reeled. She was contemplating taking her own life? I had to tell the others…

"I would appreciate if you do not talk to anyone about this," she continued, as if she had read my thoughts. "It is my life and my choice."

I stared at her, aghast. No matter what she wanted, I could not be an accessory to her suicide. "If you do this," I told her, "Rydan will have won."

She gave me a sad mile. "Not in my eyes," she said as she reached for the guitar and picked it up to rest across her lap. She plucked at the strings and then paused to adjust the tuning a little. Her hands caressed the wooden frame and she smiled as she strummed again and this time hit the right note. I wondered if she was really as set on taking her life as she tried to make out. Music obviously brought her great pleasure – if she did as she intended, she would never sing or play again.

"I heard you singing last night," I said. "You have an amazing voice."

She would not meet my eyes. "I didn't realize I was so loud. I hope I did not disturb you."

"You didn't," I assured her. "I enjoyed listening. Do you sing a lot?"

"I used to," she said. "But I am out of practice. I have not felt much like singing this past year."

And yet she had last night… "Do you know Tarus has its own theatre? A talent like yours would not go to waste. You could practice there or even teach, if you wanted to.

I thought I heard her pause ever so slightly in her play, but I could not be sure. When a moment passed and she did not reply, I stood up. "Natara will be awake soon," I told her. "I should probably get going."

She did not object to my leaving, merely nodding her head to me as I hurried from the garden. I was so shaken by everything I had just heard that I did not see Marcus approaching until I practically ploughed right into him.

"Hey," he caught my arm. "Where's the fire?"

I shook my head and dragged him away from the cottage, out of earshot from Marissa. Oh God, did I tell him what I knew? My thoughts were in turmoil. "Listen, Marcus…I don't know why you're here—

"I came to talk to Marissa," he interrupted. "To tell her she was right yesterday, that the decision to return to Danisine should be her own."

I lifted my hand to press my fingertips to my forehead. "You like her, don't you," I said. "I mean… you really like her."

He gave me an odd look. "Uh… maybe. But I don't see that as being your concern."

I feared that for all his good intentions, he had little idea of what he was getting himself into. Fragments of my conversation with Marissa swam around inside my head and I found myself confiding to him a little of what she had said. "The wraith destroyed her home world," I told him. "Her family all perished at the hands of Rydan. She has nothing and no-one to return to." I looked at him. "The things she's been through… she might never recover enough to have a normal relationship," I told him.

He nodded slowly. "I didn't know about her family," he admitted. "But I was there on Danisine. I saw what he was like with her, and I wouldn't blame her if she never trusted a man to get close again." He ran rested his hand lightly upon his hip as he looked down at me. "But if she's ever willing to try, I'd like to be the one to show her it can be different."

The burden I carried was too much. I buried my face in my hands. "If you take her back to Danisine… She plans to kill Rydan and then take her own life."

"She told you that?" He stared down at me, his expression solemn.

I nodded. "I wasn't supposed to tell anyone, but… I had to. I like her, I really do, and I hate that she might do something so final."

Marcus shifted his gaze so that he was looking over my head, "I suspected she might be thinking something along those lines…" he said. "A year in that place would have to make almost anyone question their will to live."

I stared at him in surprise. "You knew?"

"Not for sure," he replied. "But I do now."

I suddenly felt more optimistic. "So you're going to talk her out of it?"

He sighed. "As much I hate to say it, she's a free woman, Sara. If she's ever to start believing it, we need to let her take charge of her own decisions."

I stared at him, not sure I had just heard him right.

"Don't look at me like that," he told me. "If she doesn't come around before I take her back, I'll challenge her about it on the day – try and make her see sense."

I raised my eyebrows. "Because disarming two guards while trying to save Ronon and Erik won't be enough for you to worry about?"

He smiled. "Maybe it's a good sign she talked to you about it. She could be having second thoughts?"

"Maybe," I agreed. "She sure likes that guitar you loaned her."

He chuckled. "It was a gamble," he admitted.

"You saw her tattoo, didn't you?" I asked. "That's how you knew she was interested in music."

He nodded, clearly uncomfortable that I had caught him paying such close attention to her.

"I heard her singing last night," I told him. "Her voice is like nothing I've ever heard."

"Singing huh? That doesn't sound like someone who wants to die to me," he mused. He glanced over my head towards the cottage. "I should keep going."

I stepped aside to let him past. "Just… be careful how you handle her. Okay?"

"I'm sure I'll work it out," he assured me as he went by. I turned around and watched him go, and with all my heart I hoped he was right.