Hope you enjoy the new chapter! Please don't hate me when you get to the end... {evil grin here} :) Please review and thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, it's really appreciated! :)

Daniel hurt. Everywhere.

The natives had clearly borrowed a lot of Goa'uld technology from somewhere and they had no qualms about using it. They had taken him from the pole he had been tied to earlier into some sort of hut and begun immediately with the questioning. He had tried to reason with them at first, tried to explain that it wasn't powers, that they got the wrong guy, that…..well, he had tried about every excuse he could think of, but all they did was poke him with…well, his brain was too scrambled at the moment to come up with the exact name, but the pain stick that brought back such fond memories for him had returned with a vengeance.

This time, it was in the hands of a very ticked off native chief of some sort, who seemed to like digging it into his skin hard enough to leave bruises, apparently not satisfied by the pain that came with each touch of the rod.

"They never even asked me any questions..." Daniel choked back a pained chuckle. Wow. Did I just quote a Star Wars movie? I've been spending way too much time with Jack and Teal'c.

"You think this is funny, witch?" The native chief barked at him in his foreign tongue.

Instantly, all mirth Daniel had managed to salvage disappeared. He shook his head, not trusting his voice at the moment.

"You're going to die. We kill abominations like you."

The Goa'uld you stole that from is probably scarier than you.

"The gods have decreed that none shall use their power and you dare to disobey?"

Apparently.

"You are foolish to trifle with something so beyond you, witch."

At least you don't mistake me for a Goa'uld. The last time we were mistaken for gods didn't go over so well…so don't want to do that again.

"For your punishment, you will be burned at the stake at nightfall."

Wait…..what?

"I would suggest you make peace with whatever gods you worship in the meantime."

What? Burn at the stake? Th-that doesn't even FIT into this culture…oh crap. Jack, I could really use a rescue right about now.

….

Just breathe, Daniel. Jack will be here. He always gets here. Even if he thought you were dead, he would still come, because he's Jack, it's what he does. He did with Nem on that water planet we went to, he'll do it again. He always pulls your butt out of the fire…..this time he'll do it literally. Just hang on.

Daniel wasn't panicking. He wasn't. He refused to panic. It'll be okay. They'll be here.

The three native men stepped back, the straw-like material packed around his feet, and the village chief stepped forward, the torch held tightly in his hand.

Okay. I'm beginning to panic. Jack, where are you? Fear began to settle in Daniel's stomach as he realized that his friends probably weren't coming, or at least not in time. Friends were no shows, right up there along with the powers that had suddenly become unresponsive. Daniel felt strange, a weird tingling up and down his body, but his scattered mind was too tired, too spent, too panicked, to try to understand why. Why's weren't going to free him or find his friends. What if they're already dead? The natives could easily have killed them while kidnapping me. What if they died defending me? Oh my- Please let them be okay. Even if it means I have to die today, please don't let them be dead. Let them be okay.

Daniel's thinking was cut off as the village chief approached the edge of the straw.

"TONIGHT, the witch BURNS for his abominations!" the chief shouted. His grip loosened on the torch.

Daniel felt his stomach drop to his toes. "NO! WAIT!"

The chief released the torch and a mighty shouting rose from the crowd.

The straw burned fast and the flames were already licking at Daniel's feet. Daniel closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the pole and willed himself not to scream as he began to burn.