Teal"c also turned when he saw Jack looking and then they all stopped and waited while Elspeth, braids dancing as she ran, caught up with them. Bracing himself to turn her down if she wanted to come along for the ride, Jack stalked back past Carter and Daniel so that he was the first one to meet her. "Did we forget something?" he said.
She shook her head, out of breath. "I wanted..." she gasped, "...to tell you..."
Jack waited, almost patiently, while she caught her breath.
"South," she said, when she could speak again. She pointed off in the opposite direction from the Stargate. "You should go south," she said. "That"s where the camps are. If you want to find the Devourers, they"re there."
Jack shared a glance with Teal"c. "How far south?"
"Several days walk," she said. "But if you go north," she nodded in the direction he"d been taking them, "there is nothing beyond but mountains. Some people up there, yes, but little food. And when the snows come, they"ll head south too."
Jack didn"t bother telling her that they weren"t planning to hang around for the ski season.
"Thank you, Elspeth," Daniel said, coming to stand next to Jack. "Um, did Aedan not want you to tell us? Will you be in trouble, now?"
She shrugged. "Aedan thinks the Devourers will take you before you get anywhere. And if you walk like this, in the open, they will. He thinks you"re fools."
"He may have a point," Jack said.
But the girl shook her head. "I think you"re unafraid and that"s rare in this world. Aedan is no coward, but he"s frightened. He"s too frightened to do anything. But you..." Suddenly she seized Daniel"s hand, squeezing it between her own. "If you find Dix, if you find a way to reach the resistance, promise that you will tell me. Promise you will come back for me."
"I..." Daniel threw Jack a helpless look. "Sure. Of course we will, Elspeth."
"Promise."
"I promise."
She looked at him closely for a moment, as if judging the honesty in his face, before she nodded in satisfaction and let his hand go. She glanced up at the sky, then back again. "I will pray that the G.o.ds will keep you safe," she said. "And that they"ll guide you toward them and to safety."
Next to him, Jack heard Teal"c take a breath to object, but silenced him with a hand on his arm. "Great, thank you," he said. "You pray away."
Elspeth nodded, gave Daniel one more long look, and then took to her heels and started running back toward the distant line of rocks that marked her home.
"Did you see the way she checked the sky?" Jack said to Teal"c.
"I did."
"I thought I saw something earlier. Keep your eyes peeled, buddy."
Teal"c raised an eyebrow at the expression, but didn"t comment. Carter said nothing, still resolutely p.i.s.sed off, but her disapproval of his plan - such as it was - radiated out in cold waves.
With a sigh, Jack glanced at the ridgeline. He figured they"d get a better view from there - both north and south - and then they could decide which path to take. "Let"s go," he said.
"I don"t suppose we"ll be able to come back for her, will we?" Daniel said as they started walking. "I hate doing that, making promises I know I can"t keep."
"You gave her hope," Carter said. "That"s something. And who knows? We might be able to come back."
If Daniel answered, Jack didn"t hear and they walked on in silence.
Maybe half an hour later, they were climbing up the rocky incline toward the ridge. Daniel was struggling and Carter had her hand on his arm, helping him along. Jack stopped halfway up and looked back along the valley. At the far end, beyond the entrance to the caves, it swept around and he realized it joined with the Stargate valley - the whole area looked like it had been glacial several millennia ago.
Although the air was dank and cold, the white sky was weirdly bright and Jack pulled on his sungla.s.ses to cut the glare. And that"s when he saw it: a dark shape racing up the Stargate valley, banking right and streaking toward them, long and jagged like a dagger. And fast.
"Teal"c!"
Teal"c lifted his weapon, but the ship - whatever it was - was moving too d.a.m.n fast. Then it climbed, almost vertical, and disappeared into the clouds.
"Okay," Jack said, "that was no glider."
"It was not," Teal"c agreed. His eyes were still on the sky and he pointed. "There, look."
O"Neill followed the line of his arm and saw it, another shape, swooping down through the clouds and then up again. "Huh," he said. "That was a glider."
"Indeed."
They kept watching the sky and suddenly the clouds lit up, orange then blue, before two shapes dropped down out of the clouds, one on the tail of the other.
"It"s a dog fight," Carter said.
"The ship in pursuit is certainly a Death Glider," Teal"c said after a moment, his sharp eyes picking out what Jack"s couldn"t. "The other, I do not recognize."
"Whoever he is," Jack said, "the other guy"s in trouble." There was a burst of weapons fire - definitely looked like a staff-cannon - and then the small ship was nose-diving, a trail of smoke streaming out behind. "He"s lost power."
Jack winced as he watched the ship plummet toward the ground, but at the last moment its pilot managed to pull the nose up. Not enough to keep the bird in the air but enough to keep it from driving headfirst into the ground.
He heard the impact a few moments later and saw the curl of black smoke rising up on the far side of the ridgeline. Up above, the glider disappeared into the clouds and was gone.
"Let"s go," he said, heading up to the top of the ridge. From there it was easy to see the crash site; it was about half a klick down into a valley on the other side. Despite the smoke hanging in the air, Jack couldn"t see a lot of fire and it looked like a sizeable portion of the fuselage had survived the impact. It wasn"t in pieces, at least, and for the first time in too long Jack felt a pulse of optimism. Maybe, at last, their luck was about to change.
"That is certainly not a Death Glider," Teal"c said.
"Nope. But whatever it is," he said, "it came out of the Stargate valley." He risked a glance at Carter. "Think it might have a DHD on board?"
"There"s no way to tell, sir."
"Well, there"s one way..." He turned to Daniel. "Okay to keep going?"
A tight nod, not even a smile, was his only response. Daniel was in a bad way, but this could be it - their way home. They couldn"t stop now.
"Right," Jack decided, "stay sharp. We"re gonna check it out."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
Colonel O"Neill led them slowly down the steep incline toward the smoking remains of the crashed ship. He moved with his customary stealth, but more slowly than was usual in consideration of Daniel Jackson"s incapacity. Teal"c himself brought up the rear, his gaze roving between his teammates and the smoke curling black into the misty sky. He caught the acrid scent of burning flesh on the air and guessed that the pilot had not survived the impact.
High in the sky, he thought he saw more shapes darting in and out of the clouds. But they were too far away for him to be certain.
The terrain was rocky, as if some giant hand had scattered boulders across the landscape, which made it easy to conceal their approach. Here and there a few of the low, scrubby trees that populated the higher slopes also dotted the sides of the valley, and among those trees Teal"c thought he saw movement. He was about to alert O"Neill when the colonel lifted his fist to halt them, dropping to a crouch behind one of the larger rocks. He waved Teal"c closer.
Major Carter helped Daniel Jackson to sit down, and as he pa.s.sed them Teal"c caught her eye. The look of sharp anxiety he saw there made him fear for his friend, whose skin now bore an unmistakable deathly pallor.
Preoccupied with his fears, Teal"c crouched next to O"Neill. His eyes were also fixed on Daniel Jackson, his mouth a tight line of concern. But when he looked at Teal"c all he said was, "I saw movement in the trees."
Teal"c nodded, "As did I."
Peering around the boulder, Teal"c scanned the crash site. It was now only a couple hundred meters away and he could make out a dark, wedge-shaped ship that was mostly intact. A long furrow of scorched, overturned earth marked its landing trajectory, the sharp nose having come to rest amid a small copse of trees close to the edge of the valley. Smoke was rising from the rear of the ship and Teal"c thought he could see what appeared to be an open canopy. Someone, perhaps, had survived. He also saw movement, on the far side of the wreck.
He ducked back down and let his back rest against the boulder. O"Neill"s face was closed and hard, his eyes once more fixed on Daniel Jackson. Major Carter was trying to persuade him to drink from her canteen, her expressive features unable to mask her distress.
"I believe," Teal"c said in a low voice, "that we will not be the first to reach the crash site."
O"Neill nodded. "We need whatever that ship uses to dial the gate," he said. "At any cost."
Teal"c understood his meaning. "We are well armed, O"Neill, and have the element of surprise."
With a curt gesture, O"Neill beckoned Major Carter closer. "There are people," he said, when she crouched down next to him. "Teal"c - go around to the nose of the ship, wait for my signal. Carter, you"re with me."
"What about Daniel, sir?" She glanced back at him. "If we leave him here, he"ll be vulnerable."
"Don"t worry about me," Daniel Jackson said, opening his fevered eyes. "I"ll catch up."
There was silence while O"Neill considered the question: Teal"c could tell he liked neither option. Daniel Jackson was too weak to fight, and they must move fast to keep other scavengers from taking or damaging the technology they sought in the downed fighter, but to leave him alone and unguarded also posed dangers. After a moment, O"Neill said, "Carter, once we"ve secured the ship, come back for Daniel." He looked over at Daniel Jackson. "And you stay put."
Daniel Jackson just closed his eyes. "You betcha."
Major Carter merely nodded, her hands moving to ready her weapon.
"Okay," O"Neill said, catching them both with one look, "I want this quiet, fast and with no fuss. Our only priority is the dialing mechanism - a.s.suming there is one." He crept to the edge of the boulder, peered around it, and after a moment signaled for them to move out.
In a low run, they moved from cover to cover, crossing the remaining distance quickly. Teal"c could now see people moving on the far side of the ship - they appeared similarly dressed to Aedan"s kin - and there was some commotion taking place in the trees beyond the crash site. As they drew closer, O"Neill signaled Teal"c to move left while he and Major Carter made their way around to the rear of the ship.
Keeping silent and low, Teal"c moved into the shadow of the fuselage. Seen at close quarters, he realized that even the material from which the ship was constructed was unfamiliar. If these were Goa"uld, they were like none he had ever encountered.
He could hear shouts now, rising up with the smoke. Jeers of anger, furious laughter. Rage. It was the sound of a mob and he did not like it.
With caution, he made his way around to the front of the ship, keeping his weapon ready. Crouching low near the crumpled nose of the fighter, he studied the scene before him. A dozen young men were gathered around a figure that lay p.r.o.ne on the ground. Teal"c could see little of him besides large, heavy boots. He a.s.sumed it was the body of the pilot, dragged from the wreckage. But as he watched he saw the boots start to scrabble backwards, sliding along the ground until they lifted up and he realized that someone had strung a noose around the man"s neck and that the rope was slung over a tree branch.
Teal"c had seen much horror in his life, many things far worse than this. Yet he felt a cold revulsion watching the laughing, jeering men haul on the rope until the pilot"s head started to rise above the mob as he struggled against the rope that was slowly hanging him.
Teal"c sucked in a breath, shocked when he saw the pilot"s face. Whatever he had been expecting, it was not this. The man - if indeed it was a man - was monstrous. His skin was mottled green, gray-hued lips pulled back in a snarl over sharp, killing teeth and his long hair hung in lank and pallid strands around his face. He struggled in fury, spitting and growling, his hands tied behind his back and something black - blood? - seeping from a wound in his leg.
The humans were beating him now with sticks or pieces of the wrecked ship, cursing, venting their fear and fury on this wounded creature.
In his ear, Teal"c heard his radio crackle.
"Teal"c," O"Neill said, hissy through the static. "You seeing this?"
"I am," he said quietly.
There was a long silence. He knew the question with which O"Neill was wrestling and could guess the choice his friend would make; his stubborn adherence to right in the face of wrongdoing was the trait that had first drawn him to the man.
To aid his decision, Teal"c toggled his radio and said, "The men appear to be armed only with sticks, O"Neill."
A moment later, O"Neill spoke again. "Yup. We"re gonna stop this. Look to your right."
Teal"c did as ordered and could glimpse O"Neill"s leg and boot protruding beyond the wreckage. "I see you."
O"Neill moved further out of cover, crouching low, with Major Carter close behind him. He signaled three, two, one. Go.
They went.
O"Neill let loose a burst of gunfire wide of the mob, hammering bullets into the trees and knocking out chunks of bark and leaves. Teal"c did the same, sending two bolts from his staff down into the ground at the feet of the men, spewing up dirt, while Major Carter broke to her left and came to stand midway between Teal"c and O"Neill.
"Move back!" she yelled. "Move away from him!"
Half the men dropped to the ground, the rest bolted into the trees.
O"Neill stalked closer, his weapon leveled. "Go!" he barked at those who cowered in the dirt. "Get outa here. Go on! Run!"
They did not need to be asked more than once, scrambling to their feet and racing up the sides of the valley after their friends. Teal"c kept his eyes, and his weapon, trained on them until he could see them no more. Behind him, he heard O"Neill say, "Carter, go get Daniel. Now."
"Yes sir." And she was gone.
After a moment, O"Neill came to stand at Teal"c"s side, lowering his weapon but not his guard as he studied the man - creature - still trapped at the end of the rope, but no longer in mortal danger. It looked like a wild animal, cornered, spitting and hissing at them. O"Neill glanced at Teal"c. "What the h.e.l.l is that thing?"
"I do not know."
"Really?"
"I have never seen its like before."
O"Neill took a deep breath and shook his head, as he often did when about to do something of dubious wisdom. He clicked his weapon onto single shot and said, "Stay sharp." Then, in one swift move, he lifted his gun and made the shot, slicing through the rope that held the creature. It collapsed forward with a thump and laid there, arms and legs still bound, still snarling.
Teal"c aimed his weapon and so did O"Neill, watching the creature watch them through its strange yellow eyes.
"Okay," O"Neill said. "So I guess we wait for Daniel to come talk to the zombie."
By the time Major Carter and Daniel Jackson returned, the creature had maneuvered itself to a sitting position - clearly favoring its left leg, which appeared to be bleeding heavily.
"Sir," Major Carter said as she approached, and Teal"c turned to see her supporting Daniel Jackson as he limped closer.