Blood Ties

Chapter thirty-one

Years ago, when Ronon's existence had been defined by running and fury and hopelessness, he'd often contemplated the best manner in which to die. All the variations had centered on taking out as many Wraith as possible in the process. None of them had involved burning to death trapped and alone.

For that reason, he didn't plan to bum. Even in the middle of the ever-changing fire, he'd managed to retain his sense of direction, and he knew he was close to the main entrance to the cave. All he had to do was get through the flames that stood between him and that opening.

He sprinted along a creek, the water far too warm as it splashed into his boots. A thermal area, he remembered Rodney saying earlier. In front of him, a huge branch splintered at the point where it joined the tree trunk and started to fall. On instinct, Ronon threw himself into the shallow water on his hands and knees and rolled around to saturate his clothes and hair as best he could.

The branch plummeted to the ground in an explosion of sparks, knocking over a pair of nearby tree ferns as it crashed across his path. The ferns, maybe still damp from the melted snow, didn't ignite right away. They bought him a few seconds, which he used without hesitation.

He took a running start, jumped up onto the shriveling fronds and leapt through the wall of flames. Intense, unimaginable heat assaulted every part of his body, but his coat shielded most of his skin. Emerging on the other side, he found a set of steps and a ramp he recognized as leading to the cave.

At the top of the steps, he caught a quick glimpse of a boot through the smoke. Someone was running ahead of him. Ronon took the steps three at a time, each breath getting shallower as he felt the heat scorching his lungs.

"Ronon!"

He identified the voice as Daniel Jackson's. Following it, he made for a gray smudge amid the sea of orange. As soon as he crossed into the dark, cool entrance of the cave, the door slammed shut behind him.

Ronon leaned back against a wall and inhaled deeply, tasting the moisture in the air.

Breathing hard, sweat streaking through the soot on his face, Jackson offered, "Fancy meeting you here."

Hands pounding out a lock of hair that had started to smolder, Ronon smirked. The archeologist was just the kind of doctor he could work with.

After taking a few seconds more to recover, Jackson reached for his radio. "Jumper One, this is Daniel Jackson. Ronon and I are safe in the cave for the moment."

No response came. Ronon tried his own radio. "All jumpers, come in. Anyone hear me?" Nothing-not even static. He glanced back at the heavy door separating them from the blaze outside. "Maybe the door's too thick to let the signal through."

"I don't think that's it." Jackson aimed the light affixed to his P-90 down a set of steps. The beam was soon swallowed up by the black void. Changing tactics, he played his light over the nearer walls until he found a rusty box mounted on one side. "Aha. This is a show cave," he explained, opening a panel on the box with one hand while illuminating it with his weapon in the other. "It's been made accessible so tourists can come in and look around."

He flipped a set of switches, and the cave was suddenly awash in light. Looking over the rail, Ronon could see steps descending to an open area.

Bending down, Jackson picked up an abandoned flashlight and handed it to Ronon. He also located a handheld radio and a couple of crumpled pieces of paper advertising some kind of singing concert.

The flashlight and radio served as reminders that others had been here recently, though the warning was unnecessary. The missing park guides and the broken padlock had been clear enough. Ronon drew his blaster and started down the steep steps, listening for any sign of movement or noise in the cave.

At the bottom, a shallow pool, so clear and still that at first he wasn't certain it even contained water, ran alongside a section of flowstone covered in rows of bench seats. While Jackson looked around what he described as pews, Ronon climbed the next set of steps, which had been partially cut into the existing stone and finished with the artificial rock called cement. The cave was large, its layout complex. He was almost to the top step when Jackson said, "They use this place as a concert chamber."

Although he'd used a normal speaking voice, the sound resonated throughout the cavern. Ronon felt the air shift and turned toward a darkened passage off to his left. Was something down there?

He glanced down. Standing motionless at the bottom of the cave, the other man studied the walls with a thoughtful expression. "Sansenoy," Jackson intoned.

The word echoed for some time, reverberating under Ronon's feet and even through his hand where he grasped the guardrail. He watched Jackson as he spoke again, understanding the idea. As weapons went, it didn't seem like much, but it might be better than nothing.

Jackson took the steps returning to the entrance at a run. Ronon hurried down from his position and lengthened his stride to catch up, wondering what the plan was. He considered asking but decided to wait until he was closer and could do so quietly. Not far away, he suspected, someone-or something-was waiting.

Back at the entrance, Jackson put his hand on the door and instantly jerked it back with a grimace. The heat outside had to have been intense to penetrate the thickness of the metal. "I think something in the cave system is interfering with our radios," he said. "If we can stand to open this door even for a short while, we should be able to call Jumper Two. They need to bring their amplifier and speakers in here and set them up inside the cave. It shouldn't be long before the worst of the fire has passed through."

The idea of subduing a Wraithlike mutation with sound still seemed crazy. Even so, Ronon had to admit that the acoustic power in that cavern was remarkable.

Using the sleeves of his coat to protect his hands from the hot metal, he carefully pulled the door ajar, instantly feeling the wave of heat that forced its way inside. It was strong, though not unbearable. The shelter that had been built over the entrance had largely burned down, sparks whipping through the air. The uncontrollable walls of flame had given way to individual burning trees, still deadly but possibly manageable in a jumper.

"Jumpers One and Two," Jackson called into his radio, his head ducked low to protect his face, "how do you read'?"

"This is Jumper One," Teyla replied instantly, relief evident in her voice. "Do you know if-"

"I'm here, too," Ronon put in, anticipating her question. "We're inside the main entrance to the cave."

"Nice of you to let us know!" Rodney shouted from Jumper Two. "Your beacons disappeared off our screen ages ago."

"Couldn't get through on the radios earlier. You find Sheppard?"

There was a pause, and the voice that answered was Lorne's. "There was an explosion right on top of his last known position. It's hard to see how he or Agent Larance could have survived."

Sorrow flickered in Jackson's eyes, but Ronon allowed himself only concern. He knew his team leader, and he wasn't about to grieve until he saw a body.

"McKay and Lee, get your equipment down here," Jackson said, lifting his jacket up over his face as a gust blew a curtain of sparks toward them. "I have an idea, and we're going to need the amplifier."

When he explained the properties of the concert chamber, Rodney started to object. "Whoa, wait a minute. We're going to risk going out in the firestorm to play this ridiculous chant through the caves in the hopes it' ll reach the bad guys?"

"They're in here somewhere," Ronon said with certainty. "Can you amplify the words enough or not?"

Rodney heaved a sigh. "With enough power, I suppose we could set up a resonance that would transmit through most of the immediate area of the cave system."

"Which would achieve what?" Lorne asked.

Jackson shrugged. "Don't know until we try. If you have any better ideas, we're listening."

"Fine," snapped Rodney. "How close can the jumper get to the cave entrance?"

"Close enough. The shelter's been pretty much destroyed by the fire. Just be ready to offload as quickly as possible. We'll hold the door open for you."

Ronon raised his voice over the crackle of a disintegrating tree in the distance. "If Teyla could come as well to sense the Wraith-or whatever they are…"

"I can," Teyla responded, "but Jumper Two will have to transport me. We have no one to fly Jumper One. Most of the brush in our immediate vicinity has been consumed, so the fire has receded somewhat, at least in the area visible through the windshield. We should be able to open the jumpers' hatches long enough for me to board."

Before Rodney could make much more than a sound of protest, Lorne said, "All right, we're on our way."

His back against the wall of the cave, using the tip of his boot to keep the door open just enough to maintain radio contact, Ronon slid down to a sitting position and waited.

Less than a minute passed, and then Lorne's voice returned. "Teyla, the fire hasn't receded all that much near the back of your jumper, although the flames are only about four feet high. We can land, but if we open the hatch-"

"Then do not land," said Teyla. "Hover above the flames and open your hatch. We will open ours only as far as necessary, and I will run up the ramp and leap across into Jumper Two."

The image her description created in Ronon's mind was worrying. If the ramps were not perfectly lined up, she risked a fall into the blaze below. He said nothing. If Teyla believed she could do it, he did not doubt her.

"Okay, here goes." Lome sounded less confident. "We're at six feet and rotating to align the hatches. Edwards, stand by the hatch and be ready to catch her if she needs you. Open the hatches in three, two, one-now!"

Ronon closed his eyes.

"Close 'em up!" In the background, coughing could be heard from several people. Above it, Lome announced, "Passenger's aboard. We're heading for the entrance."

"That was one hell of a jump," said one of the Marines, sounding awed.

Blowing out a held breath, Ronon stood up and pushed the door open to see Jumper Two rise up out of the still-burning forest and head toward the cave. "We'll lose radio contact as soon as we close the doors," Jackson told Lome. "Just join the other jumpers and wait for a call."

"Understood," replied Lorne. "Good luck."

The hatch descended, and Teyla ran along the ramp, jumping the last three feet to the ground and sprinting into the cave. Rodney was next, flinching as a tree branch crashed to the smoldering ground a few feet away. Throwing himself through the doorway, he turned and yelled into the jumper, "Get your ass down here, Lee! If Teyla can impersonate the Flying Wallendas, you can handle a damned ramp!"

After another second of hesitation, Lee made an awkward jump, followed closely by two Marines carrying the equip ment. The moment everyone was safely inside the cave, Ronon and Jackson swung the door shut.

"Well, I feel extra crispy," grumbled Rodney, examining a singe mark on his sleeve. "Now what?"

"I sense a presence." Teyla sent a wary look in the direction of the steps. "Like before, it is not Wraith, but similar."

"We'd better get moving." Jackson led them down the stairway and into the chamber. No sooner had Ronon's foot hit the last step than a rumble sounded in the distance.

The Marines tensed. "That's an AK-47," one said. "Actually, it sounds like a whole bunch of AK-47s, and maybe a couple of P-90s."

Ronon crossed over to the set of steps he'd climbed before, hoping to gain more information from the noise. "Might be a good sign." The look Rodney threw him made it clear his sanity was being questioned. "Sheppard would be firing a P-90, remember?" he pointed out.

"His signal went missing in the vicinity of a number of sinkholes," Rodney admitted. "And your signals did disappear when you entered the caves." He ducked his head, as if reluctant to show too much hope, and bent down to help Lee connect a bundle of wires to the amplifier.

The weapons-fire grew in volume. Was it getting closer, or more fierce'? Perhaps both'? "Hurry up!" Ronon told the scientists.

Lee slapped at a row of switches on the amplifier and detached a small microphone from the side. "Testing," he said, an anxious waver in his voice. "Testing, one, two-"

Impatiently snatching the microphone from his hand, Rodney shouted, "Senoy, Sansenoy, Semangelof!"

The vibrations that instantly dominated the chamber were painful. Ronon clapped his hands over his ears, watching the others do the same. As the echoes died down, he listened for the gunfire and found it absent-but only for a moment. Soon the abrasive clatter began again with renewed enthusiasm.

Rodney opened his mouth to try again and was halted by Jackson's hand on his shoulder. "It's not just the words," the archeologist said, his eyes rounded in sudden realization. "It's a cantillation! I remember running across it in some Hebrew folklore-I heard the melody once at a conference…" He closed his eyes, brow creased in concentration, and started to sing a tentative tune.

Once he'd completed the refrain, he went back to repeat it from the beginning. Teyla quickly picked up on the melody and joined in with a strong, pure tone. Rodney wasted no time in shoving the microphone at her.

The words, and an unsettling harmonic undercurrent, reverberated through the caverns. Although he couldn't have explained it, Ronon got the sense that something very primitive and powerful was happening. He tightened his grip on his weapon and waited.