Nayleia's Heritage

***CAPTURED!***

Nayleia’s eyes followed the passage of the strangers as they were led into the center of the village. Three men and one woman completed the quartet of strangely garbed individuals who had approached Lahal much too closely for Harla’s comfort. Nayleia had seen them arrive through the Ring of the Ancestors, and had tried her best to turn them away. Somehow they had missed the warning signs that she had run ahead to leave in their pathway. The heap of Orluk bones, the broken spear and branches, and even the tuft of Coltasa fur covered with blood from her fingers.

~Is it possible that they couldn’t understand the signs? ~

The woman had stopped warily at each new sign, and yet they had continued their journey towards the village. One of the men kept pointing strange-looking instruments in the direction of the village and the others followed his urging.

The attack was expected and swift. Nayleia watched helplessly as the spears were hurled from the brush, causing the strangers to herd together into a tight knot. The ploy was the favorite of the Lahalans, and yet…it almost failed. The tallest man had somehow managed to detect the ambush and called out a warning to the others. They attempted to run for cover as the first wave of spears flew towards them, but their path was cut off by other spears thrown their way. It didn’t take long, to herd them together. It was strange, they seemed to have superior looking weapons, and yet the leader stopped the others from firing on those throwing the spears.

The strangers were herded into the Leader’s Lodge and pushed to the ground in front of Harla.

“Who are you? Why do you trespass on Lahalan lands?” Harla’s gruff voice rang out over the gathering of interested people.

“I am Colonel John Sheppard; this is Dr Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagen and Ronon Dex.” The leader of the strangers indicated each of his teammates in turn.

Nayleia listened from the shadows as the introductions were made. She saw the leader of the village guards place the confiscated weapons and backpacks in front of Harla, who examined them with interest.

“Your weapons are strange, where are you from?” Harla asked, looking over the group expectantly.

“We are travelers,” the lone woman of the set answered, “we came here looking for trade partners.”

“We don’t trade with strangers,” Harla answered, brusquely.

“You should reconsider that policy…we have a lot to offer.” The leader, Colonel Sheppard had stepped forward once more to respond.

“Silence!” Harla shouted, “Janta, keep them in the holding cell until I decide what to do with them!”

As the guards closed on the prisoners to attempt to herd them in the direction of the holding cell, Nayleia watched as the tallest man punched the nearest guard and single-handedly disarmed two others. His leader stepped in front of him however, stopping him from charging towards Harla, who had looked on apprehensively.

The guards were able to regroup and roughly directed the captives to the holding cell at the middle of the settlement.

Harla signaled to Janta as she was about to step outside with the captives.

“Give that wild man the ‘special’ treatment. I have been planning to give my darling sister a special treat, and I think he’ll be perfect.”

Janta and Harla shared a secret smile as they looked across to where they knew Nayleia had been hiding as she surveyed the proceedings. The spot was empty.

“Too bad,” Harla said with mock disappointment at Nayleia’s absence, “I guess it will be a true surprise. Make sure she is brought to me by sundown, by then the drug should have taken full effect and the ‘present’ will be ready.”

“As you wish, Harla.” Janta bowed briefly and left to supervise the preparation of ‘the defiant one’, as she secretly thought of him.


**********

“I did not see where they took Ronon.” Teyla stood looking through a space in the boards making up the walls of the hut they had been imprisoned in.

Their guards had led them towards the center of the settlement and locked them inside the structure. A short time later, a woman who was obviously the head of the village security, had entered and directed the guards to remove Ronon. He went without a struggle, though his defiance and disdain for their authority was undeniable. Sheppard, suspecting they had some form of punishment in mind to pay back Ronon for his earlier resistance, had offered to go in his place. The head of security simply laughed and said ‘you’ll get your turn, but we have a special treat planned for this one’.

“I don’t understand what they want with Ronon. What’s so special about him?” Sheppard did not expect an answer to the question he had asked several times already, as he prowled around the room.

“Listen people, we have to get away from here. Did you see that group of men in the other hut? They were all broken down and underfed.” Rodney sounded a bit desperate and definitely worried.

“Rodney…you were the one who insisted that they have a power source on this planet! You were the one that insisted that we continue on despite those strange signs that had Teyla and Ronon uneasy!”

“I know, I know, but I didn’t know that we’d be captured by a tribe of unreasonable savages! Besides, we still need to find that power source. If they hadn’t taken my instruments I’d be able to tell if the power source is in this village.”

“You scientists, and your search for power sources! True we need to find another Z.P.M., but that’s not all there is!” Sheppard was clearly angry.

Teyla stepped away from her position at the wall and walked over to the two men.

“Please Colonel Sheppard…Rodney. We are all tired and worried about Ronon, but we aren’t going to help him by fighting amongst ourselves.” As usual Teyla could be counted upon to be the voice of calm reason needed to reassure them all.

“We have to get out of here and find Ronon!” Sheppard was all business now and the others drew closer to hear his plan.

“I know where your friend is.” A voice sounded from behind one of the sections of the wall, close to where Teyla had been peeping out.

Signaling the others to silence, Sheppard crept over to the wall and looked out between the boards. A woman of indeterminate age was crouched in the bushes close to the hut. Her face was covered with the facial paint favored by the rest of the tribe, with intricate patterns traced in colored pigments. The only person who had patterns that were more ornate was the Leader, Harla.

“Who are you?” Sheppard asked warily, having noted the extent of her facial decoration.

The woman met his eyes and nodded as she realized he had noted her facial decoration and made the correct assumption.

“As you suspect, my status is high in the village. I am Nayleia. You met my elder sister Harla, who took over from our father as the village leader. Why did you not heed my warnings? Why did you continue on towards the village?”

“Those strange signs were left by you? The bones and bloodied fur?” Sheppard’s incredulous voice drew Teyla, who crept over to the wall and looked out at the woman.

“Who is she Colonel Sheppard?” Teyla asked.

“The Leader’s sister. She wants to help us, if you could believe that!”

“I know my sister,” Nayleia was now desperate to make the strangers understand her motivation, “Harla, is evil and a bad leader to our people. Despite this however, the elders refuse to remove her because then I would become the next person chosen to lead. I’ve decided I will help you to escape, but I have one condition.”

“Oh yeah, what’s your condition?” Sheppard asked, without any true interest in Nayleia’s answer.

“I want you to promise to take me away with you,” Nayleia said, softly.

“Let us think about that offer, we’ll let you know our answer in two hours.” Sheppard was shocked by the request but hoped to buy some time, without actually promising anything. He wasn’t sure he trusted the Leader’s sister.

“Your friend does not have two hours. They are probably giving him a drug right now that will cause him great pain and suffering unless he does exactly what they tell him to do.”

“What drug!” Sheppard voice betrayed his concern for Ronon.

“I can’t be sure, but most likely it is a cantharides-based drug that the farmers use on the animals during rutting season. Harla loves to give it to those men of the village who openly oppose her rulings. It makes them incapable of free will; all they want to do is quench the fire that burns in their loins. Harla loves to deny them that release. She would usually tie them up and leave them to scream out their pain and frustration. Most are so bruised and sore the next day, they cannot walk and will do anything to avoid another dose.” Nayleia finished in a sympathetic rush.

“Shit! I knew that bitch was grinning too much when she came for Ronon.” Sheppard slammed his hand against the wall and jumped up to pace.

“Colonel Sheppard, we cannot leave Ronon to endure such treatment! I suggest we find out how Nayleia can help.” Teyla could not quite conceal the rising panic in her voice, and that more than anything caused Sheppard to return to the wall.

“Listen Nayleia, I can only promise to help you get off this planet. I cannot promise you a place where we came from. There are a lot of other planets and settlements out there and we can take you to a better place if you help us.” Sheppard tried to infuse his voice with as much sincerity as possible.

“I think Colonel Sheppard, Nayleia should tell us why she is willing to go against the wishes of her sister.” Though Teyla had directed her suggestion to Sheppard, Nayleia knew that they both waited for her to answer.

“My ‘half’ sister hates me and I hate her,” Nayleia said simply. “Be ready to leave after everyone is asleep.”

“How do you plan to get us out?” Sheppard called out to Nayleia, but got no answer.

“She is no longer outside the hut; we will just have to see what happens later,” Teyla said simply.

“So you think we should trust her?” Sheppard asked.

“I don’t see that we have a choice. They have our weapons, and from what I can see the guards are quite alert at present. We have to wait until later when they get tired.”

“Well, I suggest that we all get some rest.” With that Sheppard sat down facing the entrance of the hut and closed his eyes to rest.

TBC