A/N – This is more of an overindulgent Rodney story and exercise to try and get myself back into writing again after a bit of a crisis recently. Thought that as I wrote it, I might as well share it!

Summary – Rodney's about to find out all about exactly what it is the locals call, 'The Horcluff!'

Rating – K+

The Horcluff

Rodney stood with his team in a large hall. The people they had met seemed friendly enough, but he could not help the paranoia building up inside him. They were too nice; they must be hiding something!

He abruptly blurted, "What's your secret? Why are you all smiles and not wanting to kill us?"

Sheppard glared at him and then looked back to the gathered leaders for their answer anyway. Rodney knew he probably had the same suspicion. The hall was enormous, but there were only three people posing as the leaders.

The tallest man spoke with a sneer, "We are not hiding anything." He turned to Sheppard, "But if your companion cannot keep his silence, maybe we will hide him."

Another man quickly put his hand on the tall man's arm, "My Lord, no! We could use their help."

The third man spoke, "I agree."

Teyla smiled at them and asked, "What is it you require? We are keen to find new trading partners."

The tall man grinned at her, but Rodney did not see any happiness there, in fact, there was no warmth in the expression at all. He suddenly waved and before Rodney could move, feathered darts took down his team. None of them reached their weapons in time and Rodney had his hand hovering near his side arm, but decided against retaliation when he turned and saw at least twenty guards behind all aiming their bows at him.

He opened his mouth in shock and shakily raised his hands up in surrender. He turned back to the three leaders and shouted, "What the hell was that for?! What's going on?"

The tall man indicated Teyla and said, "What we require is a sacrifice to appease the Horcluff."

Rodney lowered his hands and held them palms face up to the leaders as he gabbled, "What's the Horcluff? No no no! Why are you doing this? What did we do? Let us go!"

His answer came when three strong guards took hold of him. He struggled as they removed his sidearm and tac vest. Once it was clear, one of them punched him in the back, right in the kidney, and then smacked him in the side of the head. Rodney staggered and muttered, "My team! Got to rescue them and get back to the gate…"

Hands grabbed his wrists and he pulled and twisted and aimed a few low kicks at his captors, but that only earned him another punch, in the gut this time, and he doubled over, gasping.

His arms were drawn behind his back and fastened together so tightly he almost instantly lost the feeling in his fingers. He was then gagged, blindfolded and had his legs kicked out from under him. He landed with a heavy grunt and his ankles were then tied too. He wriggled away as he felt hands touching him, then there was a sudden sharp pain in the centre of his chest and then nothing.

Rodney woke up and groaned. He kept his eyes tightly shut, but he could no longer feel the piece of cloth tied around his head obstructing his sight. There were still bands around his wrists and ankles… and his neck now too.

His back hurt, his belly hurt and his head throbbed unrelentingly. As he drew in a shaky breath to try and calm his nerves he discovered his chest hurt too.

He winced and screwed up his face. Where were the others? What had happened to him after they had knocked him out? Where was he? Why couldn't he move?

The Horcluff!

Rodney's eyes snapped open and he instantly regretted it. The sun was shining in his face through the trees above and as he tilted his head up as far as he could given the constricting object tied around his neck, his eyes widened even more.

He looked left and right and saw that his arms were splayed out and staked to the ground. His legs were also tied down and the kind locals had stolen his shirt and probably his trousers too as his legs were cold. He was lying on the hard ground and completely immobile. He tugged at the restraints, but could not get enough movement to do anything other than bruise his appendages.

The sun was beating down on his bare skin and he smelt something sweet and utterly disgusting. He knew it was not coming from him, at least he hoped it was not.

He furrowed his brow and gazed along the small section of his own body that he could see without strangling himself and noted that his skin was darkened with bruises as well as a sort of sticky, syrupy substance.

"Oh, basting?" He cried in panic. "What's the Horcluff?"

He writhed some more and gritted his teeth, but he was well secured and laid out for anything that wanted to have at him. He closed his eyes when he pulled too hard and cut off the circulation and airflow through his neck.

There was a snuffling sound and then a quiet growl nearby.

"Oh, God! Help me! Help!" He tried shouting, but his voice was scratchy and his throat sore from what felt like thin, metal wiring slicing his skin.

The growl turned into a roar at his struggling and calling out. He saw a creature come bounding up to him out of the corner of his eye and turned to face it. "The Horcluff…" he breathed as it stood there and looked at him.

The monster walked on all fours, it was about the size of a tiger, but a hideous ugly thing. Its fur was dull brown and it had small horns on its head. Its mouth was slightly open and drool came out and splattered to the ground in dangly strings from between rows upon rows and small, razor sharp teeth.

Rodney cried out to it, "No! No! Don't eat me! I'll be tough and chewy and taste horrible after lying here for however long it's been. Go and find those idiots who did this to me and chow down on them."

The animal growled again and came over to him slowly, almost tentatively. Rodney grimaced and tugged at the restraints again, a nervous sweat was forming on his skin and the combination of the smell from the liquid poured on him and his own fear made him feel nauseous.

The creature leant forwards over him and he felt its warm breath over his skin. It made him flinch and the hairs all over his body stood up as they swayed in the putrid breeze and tickled him. The monster growled and opened its mouth widely as it lowered its head down towards Rodney's exposed midsection.

He tensed up and turned his face away in preparation for the first bite where he was about to be eaten alive.

He flinched massively when something touched his side and then worked its way up and over his belly. He bunched his face up and held his breath. The sensation left him and then started again on the side of his chest. He whimpered in panic as he released his breath. Two heavy weights rested on his upper body and he gritted his teeth as the strange, tingling feeling moved up his chest and passed over his throat and face.

He had expected the pain to have hit him by now and he was actually glad that the universe had finally decided to cut him a break and numb all the agony as the monster crunched his ribs where it stood on him and hungrily munched its way through his flesh.

"Hey, boy, what have you got there?"

Rodney frowned, the tickle had moved down to his belly again and he opened his eyes in curiosity. If this was what being eaten alive felt like, then maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought it was going to be.

He flinched again and cried out when he saw that the salivating creature was dragging its enormous tongue across his skin as it lapped up the substance the locals had basted him in. "Oh, that's so gross! Shoo, shoo!" He called out to it as it slobbered all over him and he squirmed to try and get away from it.

There was a whistle nearby and the monster's fur bristled and it grudgingly lifted its huge paws from Rodney and almost rolled its eyes with intelligence Rodney had not noticed before in his primal fear. He watched it trot away and trembled with unspent adrenaline.

A man came out and the creature bounded over and made a half meowing woof in affection. "Hey, hey, Horcluff! What's all this?"

The man looked around and spotted Rodney staked out his face fell in concern. He furrowed his brow and opened his mouth, "Oh, another one!"

He quickly ran over with Horcluff on his heels and unsheathed a knife. Rodney's eyes flitted down to the blade and he turned his face away again and closed his eyes as tightly as he could in fear as he waited to be stabbed in his vulnerable state.

The man said, "Do not be afraid. I am not going to hurt you." He swiftly cut through the ropes binding Rodney to the ground. He did it carefully so as not to cut him as they were very close to his skin.

He frowned as he looked down at McKay's battered body and said, "They also beat you before they did this?"

Rodney nodded and sighed and the moment one of his arms was free he drew it over his middle and curled his hand around his side. Horcluff came snuffling over to him again and its long tongue poked him in the ribs. Rodney pushed it away with his free hand and it head butted playfully into his palm.

The man laughed, "Oh, do not mind Horcluff! The men from the town think he is a terror so they keep leaving people out here as a means of execution."

"Who are you?" Rodney croaked. "Have you seen anyone else recently?"

"A few." The man freed Rodney's legs last of all and took off his jacket and wrapped it around Rodney's shoulders as he helped him upright. Horcluff came round and shoved as well. The animal's fur brushed the backs of Rodney's bare legs and it was warm and soft against him after the hardness of the ground.

The man said, "I am Horan."

"Dr Rodney McKay."

Horan drew Rodney's arm over his shoulders, but Rodney shook off the support. "It's okay. Do you have any food or water though? I don't know how long I've been there for, but I'm hungry and I've got hypoglycaemia. I could die if I don't eat soon!"

"Sure." Horan passed him a small bottle and a piece of dried meat from his bag. Rodney eyed the food warily, but the weakness in his limbs and light-headed feeling through the headache made him push the revulsion and reluctance away and he wolfed it down.

The creature was still looking at both of them dolefully as it sat on its oversized haunches with its tongue hanging out…the tongue that had just been licking Rodney. He shuddered and suddenly felt the urge to shoo it away again after its intimate contact. He could feel that much of his body was still damp with saliva and he grimaced.

Rodney passed back the bottle and said, "Thanks for the dried dead thing and water. What's going on around here?"

"When the others leave people pinned out like that, they do usually get eaten by the pack, with Horcluff's help, I rescue as many as I can."

Horcluff suddenly yapped and ran away. Horan said, "Oh, what now?"

He turned to Rodney, who was looking at his bare feet as they nestled in the undergrowth and he wondered if he was going to get an infection from the prickles he was standing on.

Horan said, "Wait here."

Rodney looked up to protest at being left alone, but Horan had already vanished. He drew the edges of the jacket together over his chest and trembled. The adrenaline rush was long gone from the initial distress of waking up to find that he had been laid out for anything to come and eat. He felt cold and he was now in a lot of pain from the bruises. It felt like he had received a few more blows just out of spite after he had been rendered unconscious.

He could not believe how lucky he had been. What if there had been flesh-eating ants? Or carnivorous squirrels? The tiny little monsters would have taken him apart piece-by-piece and it would have taken hours of agony for him to die.

His bare legs were freezing and the jacket really was not doing much to warm him up. The slimy dog-tiger dribble all over him was not helping and making him feel sick as he stood there by himself.

He called out, "Hello! I'm hurt and still stuck here without any shoes!"

"McKay?" A man shouted back.

"Sheppard."

Rodney heard the rustling of the bushes and turned around in time to see the rest of his team, along with Horan and his pet coming through the branches.

They all looked shocked at his appearance and Rodney looked away and down at the ropes and stakes still in the ground where he had been lying.

Horan said to the others, "Is this the man you were looking for?"

Ronon grunted, "Yes, that's him."

Horan continued, "Sorry he's a bit of a mess, but Horcluff got all excited and cleaned most of it off. I think that's why they do it. They think he eats people. But they only ever leave offworlders out here. We rescue them and escort them back to the gate to go home."

Sheppard nodded. "Thanks. We can take him from here."

Rodney winced as he folded his arms. Now that his limbs were free and the feeling had returned, they were incredibly stiff and sore from being stretched out for who knows how long he was lying in the dirt.

Sheppard came over and removed his jacket before putting his tac vest on again. "Give him back his jacket back, Rodney."

McKay drew it more tightly closed around himself. He did not want the others to see the bruises where he had not been able to block or prevent the locals from hitting him. That would only increase their shock and pity and he knew Sheppard would be disappointed that he had let himself be beaten and bruised so badly. They had spent enough time in the sparring room when the Colonel had forced him to train and he should know how to defend himself by now.

Sheppard repeated, "Rodney, give it back. It's okay now. We're quite close to the gate."

Rodney looked around at them all as they continued to watch him expectantly. He glanced down and his hands were shaking so badly, he was struggling to keep the material closed around him.

He asked, "How did you get away?"

Sheppard smiled, "Ronon was still awake after the first stun and waited until we woke up to deck all the guards."

Rodney furrowed his brow, "You overpowered them all?"

Ronon grinned back at him. "Sure, it didn't take much."

"Oh!" Rodney looked down at the ground again in dejection over his weakness and letting himself be pounded, bound and gagged.

Teyla furrowed her brow at him and said, "But we did not prevent them from taking us by surprise."

Ronon came right up to Rodney and carefully pulled his arms away from his chest where he was holding onto the jacket for dear life. The Satedan was too strong for him to get free and even with the extra strength his shame channelled into his weary muscles, he could not resist. Sheppard grabbed the jacket and tossed it to Horan. When he glanced back at Rodney, he gasped and said, "What did they do to you?"

Rodney looked down at himself and winced at the sight of the purple bruising mottled all over his pale chest and abdomen. It even more pronounced than when he had last seen it. He could not imagine his back looked any better either. He shivered and whispered, "Hurts. Cold."

"Right." John shook himself out of his worried gaze and drew his jacket around Rodney's shoulders.

The air was warm, but Rodney was still trembling.

Teyla said, "You do not look well, we should return to Atlantis."

Rodney closed his eyes and hung his head down. Dizziness washed over him and he felt his legs buckling. A soft feeling rubbed against the backs of his legs again and he narrowed his eyes blearily as the Horcluff tried to prevent his fall.

Ronon was now without his shoes and passed them to Rodney. He frowned at them and said, "What about your feet?"

Ronon shrugged, "I've spent a long time without shoes over the years."

Rodney widened his eyes. "Doesn't it hurt?"

"No. It tickles a bit."

Rodney dropped the shoes and pushed his feet into them. The sore bands of red bruising around his ankles protested at the movement, but he gritted his teeth and did it anyway. The shoes were far too big, but better than the sharp pieces of twig and dried leaves that felt like they were cutting his feet open.

With Sheppard and Teyla's help he shuffled back to the gate.

Horan stood a short distance away and hid in the trees with Horcluff. The animal prowled over to the team where they gathered by the DHD and its tongue lolled out of its mouth as it stared at Rodney.

John laughed, "I think it likes you."

Rodney patted the animal's head. He was careful to avoid spearing his hand on one of the horns and it purred loudly and closed its eyes. Rodney smiled even through the pain.

Ronon smirked, "Maybe we should get one to track you the next time you get lost."

Rodney scowled at Ronon and scratched Horcluff's ears.

Horan chuckled and said, "You're welcome to come back any time. Just avoid the town."

Teyla said, "Thank you."

"Yeah, thanks," Rodney agreed. "Just feed Horcluff before you send him into the woods next time."

He turned and clomped through the gate behind Ronon and heard John and Teyla following closely behind.