I can help! he said. Look, I can help you through. Most of the rest of them ran away, so they're still ahead of us. Don't you want some more muscle on your side?
And how can we trust you? Teyla asked. If we take you with us, how do we know that you won't turn on us the moment we run into your friends again?
And, you don't? He was thinking hard about that.
John walked over to stand beside Teyla. This guy is not the brightest bulb on the tree, he said out of the corner of his mouth.
I am a Pelagian doctor, Jitrine said. Do you think that I lie?
No, ma'am, Suua said respectfully. Clearly that meant something to him.
These people are not from our world, and they have come to release us from the service of these false gods, Jitrine said, the High King and his men are nothing but parasites demanding tribute. Is that not how you got here in the first place?
Suua's face turned red. I owed a lot of money, he said. And they said one of my family needed to be tribute so I figured better me than my wife or my daughter.
We will have no more tribute when they are done, Jitrine said. Sheppard has promised it, and he is a hero sent by the Ancestors.
Teyla looked at John and her eyes widened a little. He could read that as if she've spoken. Pretty tall order, and no idea how they were going to deliver on those promises. But he better figure out a way.
Sure, John said, trying to look nonchalant. We are going to shut this place down.
Suua blinked. No more tribute? Ever?
No more tribute, Teyla said. Now will you come with us, or stay behind and not hinder us? If you wish, you may, and nothing ill will be done to you by our will.
Suua looked at Nevin. What about that kid?
He is with us, John said.
Nevin swallowed.
Suua nodded slowly. That's right. If that's how it is.
That's how it is, John said. We are all going to get through this thing together.
Then I'll come with you, Suua said. No more tribute.
No more tribute, Jitrine said. This will be the end.
Ok, John said. Welcome aboard. This was turning into a regular party cleric, fighter, kickass ranger, random kid, and now dimwitted bruiser. What's next? he asked aloud. Vampires? Mummies? Ghouls? Gelatinous Cubes?
Teyla looked at him quizzically. I thought gelatinous cubes were those things Rodney liked so well in the mess hall? Why are they frightening?
Those are gelatin cubes, John said. I gelatinous cube is different. There was really no explaining this one. It's a long story.
Yeah.
They're a kind of monster.
I think we already know what monsters we will face, Teyla said. Wraith.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Well, this is nice, John said. The corridor sloped down, the walls not squared now but shaped like natural rock, the floor not entirely even. Ahead, there was the sound of rushing water. The torches were further and further apart, so it was necessary to go slower, checking the floor ahead constantly. John took the point, followed by Suua where he could keep an eye on him, followed by Jitrine and Nevin, with Teyla bringing up the rear.
Before him the corridor opened out into a large chamber, the sound of the water louder yet. Taking the nearest torch from the wall, John held it up to take a look. Oh man, he said.
The corridor opened into a cave, the ceiling some twenty feet above their heads. Through the middle of it ran a swift stream, white water rushing quickly past in a steep bed. Two pillars stood at the edge, and an identical pair stood on the other side. From the ones on the other side dangled the remains of a rope bridge. The main ropes had been cut, however, leaving the rest dangling in the stream.
The others crowded out onto the ledge over the water with him.
Suua blinked. The guys I was with who got ahead? They must have gone across and cut the ropes so nobody else could follow.”
John swore.
Jitrine shook her head, looking down into the stream bed. “The water flows underground again before long, just there. Who knows where it goes?”
“It does not matter,” Teyla said, kneeling down and reaching toward the water below, spreading her fingers to the spray that rose from the whitewater. “It is bitterly cold.”
“And running like a fire hydrant,” John said. “There’s no way that’s natural here. They’ve got this under pressure.”
“Very probably,” Teyla said. “But if the bridge were still intact, it would not be difficult. It is only about twenty feet across.”
“And if the ropes weren’t all on the other side,” John said.
“Too far to jump,” Suua said thoughtfully.
“I could swim across,” John said. “And then throw the ropes back. If we tied the ropes back to the post on our side, we could all get across.”
Teyla stood up, her hands on her hips. “Colonel, I should be the one to do it. You are injured.”
Colonel, he thought. We’re back to Colonel instead of John. With the addition of Nevin and Suua, this had turned into a large enough group to warrant formality. Or perhaps it was the addition of people she didn’t trust.
John shook his head. “Not with your shoulder. My head’s not as bad as that, and you know you can’t climb up the other side with your shoulder messed up.” On the other side, the ropes hung down into the water about ten feet from the pillars they were attached to. Ten feet of wet, slimy jumbled stones making a dangerous slippery surface. Whoever swam across would have to climb up the ropes, and there was no way Teyla could do it with her torn up shoulder. She hadn’t been able to get up a dry stone wall the day before without help.
Teyla opened her mouth and then shut it again, her lips pursed together. “The current is very strong,” she said. She didn’t argue. She had more sense than to claim she could do things she couldn’t.
“I know.” John looked at it. “But the thing’s not that wide. Twelve, fifteen feet across the actual water. If I start upstream of where the bridge was, it’s a couple of good strokes and the water will carry me down to the ropes.”
“And if you miss you will be swept away,” Jitrine observed.
“I’m a good swimmer and it’s not that far,” John said, taking off his jacket and handing it to Teyla. “It’s cold, but I’m only going to be in the water for a minute. It won’t be bad.”
He walked around the pillars, checking out the steepness of the bank upstream. It wasn’t as steep as he’d feared. The stones were broken and there were good hand and foot holds. Carefully, with Teyla holding the torch above, John started climbing down.
The spray was icy. Definitely under pressure, he thought. And definitely chilled. It might be cool here, but this temperature was too low not to be artificial. Just above the surface of the water he stopped, taking a good look across. There were probably rocks just beneath the surface. The water couldn’t be more than a few feet deep. Shallow water was more dangerous than deep water. This current could throw you against rocks hard enough to break bones. He’d broken his foot that way, whitewater rafting on the Snake River when he was sixteen.
So he wouldn’t dive. He’d just try to paddle across as quickly as possible. A couple of good strokes, maybe only one if he kicked off from the wall hard enough.
John lowered himself the rest of the way down, up to his hips in the icy water. The torch wavered as Teyla bent over, a worried look on her face.
“It’ll just take a second,” John said. Damn, this was cold!
With one last glance at the other side, he let go and pushed off strongly.
The water shocked him, and all he could see was white foam. The current buffeted him, half rolling him on his back. Don’t panic. Keep going across the current. One stroke. Two. Three. Where was the other bank? The stream wasn’t this wide.