“I’m good with pain, actually,” John said.
Teyla froze as a new figure appeared on the wall above.
His long white hair almost glittered, and the somberness of his black leathers were relieved by a cloak of silvery blue that snapped and waved against the clearing sky. He wore a circlet across his forehead set with heavy blue stones, and a fancy mesh of gold and jewels covered the back of his feeding hand. His face was proud and haughty, and he lifted his chin like a god or king.
The guards did not bow, but most of the people around John and Teyla threw themselves to their knees. “It is the High King!” someone whispered, tugging at Teyla’s sleeve.
She shook his hand off. She would not bow to any Wraith.
John remained standing too, as well as a handful of others, though it would have been wiser for him to blend in. “I’ve got a problem with my knees,” he said out of the corner of his mouth, and Teyla almost smiled.
She had not paid attention to the beginning of his speech, which seemed to be laying out the rules of the game. Contestants would enter the maze in small groups a few minutes apart. There, they would face challenges and obstacles. The person who exited first was the winner and would be set free with a fabulous prize in gold. There was no mention of what would happen to the rest of the contestants, though Teyla thought she could guess far too easily.
She could see John sizing up the other players. They fell into two groups, those who hoped to win and those who already despaired. Some, like Jitrine, knew they had little chance of beating out warriors in a trial of strength and endurance. Others eyed the contestants thoughtfully, as if deciding who to get out of the way. More than one pair of eyes lingered on John, though fewer did on her. She did not look as obviously prepossessing as he did. With three days growth of beard and the cut across his forehead, he looked like a ruffian to watch out for.
Those were the contestants angling their way toward the front. Obviously the first groups would have an advantage in getting through the maze. It did not seem that the contest was only one of skill, but also of speed.
John seemed in no hurry, content to hang back as the speech ended and the eager ones crowded forward, so she remained beside him.
At the Wraith Lord’s signal, two guards stepped forward with gold staves in hand. They stretched them over a section of pavement. With a grinding sound, the stones began to part smoothly, exposing a dark hole between them that might be deep as an abyss.
A moan rose from the crowd, except for the contestants who still pressed forward eagerly, intending to be the first. Unsurprisingly, there were six men at the fore, big men that Teyla had marked for warriors. Of course they would want to be first. The cordon of guards parted and three of the six were chosen out, matched with three random people from the crowd, two women and an old man.
Some pushed forward and some pushed back. In the milling around, Teyla saw that Jitrine had come to John’s elbow. “How is your head?” she asked.
“Better.” John put his head to the side. “Why are you here?”
“I told you,” Jitrine said simply. “I have enemies. And it seems they were more powerful than my friends. So I take my chances in the labyrinth.”
“Those chances are slim,” John said. He glanced over to the pit, where already a shout came from below. Some of the first group were losing no time in beginning to eliminate rivals.
“There will be those below who are injured,” Jitrine said, and her chin rose.
“Yes,” John said. His face looked serene. Teyla had seen that expression before when he flew, when he was judging to a nicety the distance from obstacles, avoiding shots by a hair. She had seen it fleeing the Wraith armada with Orin’s family aboard, dialing the gate with that look of concentration that was almost rapture. “Don’t worry,” he said to Jitrine. “Just stick with us.”
“That is not wise, Sheppard,” Jitrine said with dignity. “You know that only one can win. You, by yourself, might have a chance.”
“We’re not going there,” he said. “Teyla’s my team. We go together. You stick with us, and we’ll get you through.”
“People have tried that before,” Jitrine said. “It does not work. Those who make common cause are destroyed.”
“We’ll take our chances,” John said. He looked at Jitrine keenly. “Will you?”
“I am a doctor. I will go with you so far as I may, as much as the ethics of my profession allow.”
“Fair enough.”
The second group had gone down while they waited, and it was not lost on Teyla that the Wraith Lord had disappeared. Probably to join his fellows wherever they intended to watch the games from, for surely they meant to observe what happened underground! She shivered. If the Wraith had noticed her he had not acted. Probably he had not noticed her. She had not reached out with her mind, and when she did not she might seem as ordinary as any other human. Certainly when she had been captured by the Wraith before, in the Culling Sheppard and his men had interrupted, they had paid her no special attention. Perhaps they had not noticed anything at all.
The third group went down, and they moved forward, John carefully keeping her and Jitrine one to each side.
“Play it like it goes,” he said in a low voice. “Let’s not pick a fight. But if they jump you…”
“I will take care of myself quite adequately,” Teyla said.
He had the good sense to look abashed. “I know. I meant with your shoulder and all.”
“We will look after one another,” Teyla said, and gave him a small smile to indicate that she was not really angry.
“Yeah.”
There was no one in front of them. The guards gestured. Before their feet there was a steep stairway running down into darkness.
“Here goes nothing,” John said.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The steps led down into darkness. John went down carefully, Teyla and Jitrine behind. Presumably there were another three people to make up their group following. The ones eager to be in the labyrinth had already descended in the first groups.
There was the glow of firelight ahead, and the corridor broadened. John looked about and nodded with satisfaction as the others came down behind. “You enter a ten by ten corridor,” John said. “It’s lit by four brackets with torches in them. Ahead of you, a ten by ten corridor runs straight ahead. There are also ten by ten corridors going off to the left and the right.” He grinned. “It’s perfect.”
Teyla looked confused. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s a roleplaying game. I used to play it as a teenager. The dungeons always start exactly like this.” Jitrine was also looking at him with bewilderment. The other three people pushed on ahead, glancing back nervously at his smile and heading straight down the center corridor. They might think his amusement was a little odd, under the circumstances.
Teyla shook her head. “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
“It’s a puzzle. A game. I used to play a game like this,” he said.
Now she looked alarmed. “With people?”
“No, not with people!” John shoved his hair back out of his eyes. “Well, with pretend people. My friends and I had these characters…” This would take a week. “Look, it’s a really complicated game. But it’s just like this.” He looked around the smoothed stone walls, the iron brackets with torches. Yep. Just like the game. Except for that.
John took a step around, getting his back to it so no one could read his lips. “Teyla, look over my left shoulder. Up where the wall meets the ceiling.”
She breathed out. “A camera.”