The hill was quickly getting steeper, and as Daniel glanced behind he caught a glimpse of the Stargate through the top of the trees behind him. The forest was getting more sparse too as the ground was steadily growing more rocky.

Soon he came out of the trees all together and down below he could clearly make out the clearing, the Stargate and the Jaffa guarding it. This is good. Finally a little luck. If I can just find somewhere to hide I'll be able to see when the rescue team gate in and make my way down to meet them. To bad my radio's broken, but as long as I can see the gate I'll be just as ready.

A few steps further ahead the hill got even steeper until a vertical cliff face rose before him. He started walking along the cliff wall, investigating even the smallest crevice to find one large enough to house him. He didn't have to search long – the cliff was literally littered with caves. The first few were too small but the forth one opened up beyond the narrow entrance to a tunnel where he could stand quite comfortably.

A couple of white lines on the wall caught his eye, and stepping aside to allow more light in he stretched out his hand to trace the markings. They were even and straight, leading further into the cave.

"Man made", he whispered to himself, his curiosity now fully captured.

With his fingers on the lines he stepped carefully over rocks and debris on the floor as he walked through the tunnel. To his surprise it didn't get darker further in. As what little light the entrance allowed in disappeared behind him, a different light filled the tunnel. With amazement he realized its source was the white lines he'd been following. They were glowing with a bright bluish florescent light. I wonder what kind of source the locals would have to make florescent paint. Even more intrigued he hurried his steps, almost tripping over a larger object lying in the middle of the tunnel.

As he looked down he let out a gasp of surprise when he realized what he had tripped over was no rock, but in fact a large cracked urn. He sank to his knees, so fully in his element that he hardly noticed his broken ribs jabbing with pain, and searched the markings on the urn for anything that could help him figure out the origin of the people who had made it.

The urn was shaped as an amphora, pointy at the bottom with – originally – two large handles. One was broken now. The body of the urn was covered with a large Greek motif in black and brilliant orange, depicting some sort of hero fighting a large snake.

Looking closer still and carefully brushing away the dust Daniel recognized the unmistakable features of a Goa'uld symbiote; the large pointy fins around the head so clearly designed to burrow through the neck of a host.

The thought sent an icy cold shiver down his spine, but he shook it off by studying the design on the urn again. The Goa'uld was depicted as a menacing monster, but it was clear that the much smaller human figure was the one winning the fight. Is this a sign that the Goa'uld were once overthrown on this planet? And if so, what happened to the people who overthrew them? How come there are now Jaffa on the planet again?

With small gasps of pain he got back on his feet and continued to follow the florescent lines. He hadn't gone far before the tunnel suddenly opened up to a vast cavern, lit by elaborate florescent designs covering the walls and the roof high up above.

The designs were similar to those on the urn he'd found in the tunnel, clearly Greek in influence and all depicting fights between Goa'uld symbiotes and a hero figure, and the hero winning. The anthropologist part of him had a close race with the part that had begun to live to defeat the Goa'uld, in which could feel most joy at his discovery.

Eagerly he began searching the cavern for artifacts that would tell him more about the people who had left this extraordinary place for him to find, and what may have happened to them. The roof and wall paintings were his best clue he realized, not much else was intact. The floor of the cavern had once been divided into sections by free standing walls but most of them had crumbled under the weight of time. Just like in the village there was nothing but the ruins left of the people who had lived here. It must be hundreds of years since this place was abandoned.

Further in the designs on the walls depicted more everyday scenes and as an expert archaeologist Daniel soon had quite a good grasp of how these people had lived. Like so many others across the Milky Way they had been brought to this planet by a Goa'uld posing as a god, this one apparently claiming to be the Greek god of wine, Dionysus. Dionysus had made his worshipers build him a fortress and in its shadow they had lived their lives, struggling to feed their god's crazy and unending feasts.

It was clear that whoever had drawn the story on the wall had been well aware of the Goa'uld's deception, and Daniel drew the conclusion that the pictures must have been drawn after the Goa'uld had been overthrown. Perhaps the people moved in here to hide.

The uprising itself was depicted on another section of the wall, showing that it had been led by the same hero-like figure Daniel had seen on the urn and the roof. It seemed this hero had descended from the stars in a ball of light to reveal the Goa'uld's true nature and help the people overthrow their unjust masters. The rebellion appeared to have worked, according to a huge image depicting the villages feasting as they tore down their god's opulent abode, so Daniel could find nothing indicating why the people had chosen to retreat into the cavern. If they overthrew Dionysus, why would they move under ground?

A sudden but familiar sound broke through his pondering of the mystery: the staccato of gunfire. His heart warmed at the sound that before the Stargate program would have filled him with dread. I knew Jack would come. Then he remembered, the rescue team wouldn't know where to look for him, and he had no way to contact them. They might – no, would – think he was still held captive in the fortress. He had to get to them before they stormed the place only to find he wasn't there.

He moved as fast as he could, trying to run back through the tunnel, but back from his dream world of ancient human dwellings he was once again reminded that he was seriously injured. The broken rib hurt even more than before. He should have wrapped it, he knew he'd get it from Janet about running around with an unwrapped broken rib, but there wasn't really much he could do about it. He'd lost his pack in the fight at the Stargate, before he got separated from the rest of his team, so he didn't actually have anything to wrap it with. At least I'm not showing any signs of internal bleeding yet, he thought with an ironic half smile.

He only stopped for a moment at the narrow exit to make sure there was no one outside. It's no good if I get recaptured so they actually have to break me out of the fortress. The coast was clear, so he headed outside, noting that dusk was falling. Barely a sliver of the planet's sun was visible over the horizon, covering the valley in shadows from trees and hills.

He could hear the sounds of battle clearer out here, drifting up from the distant clearing where the Stargate stood. In the increasing darkness it was hard to see how many men the SGC had sent but it looked to be at least two teams, and they seemed to already have taken control of the 'gate. If I know Jack right, he will break off with Sam and Teal'c as soon as the 'gate's secure and head for the fortress to save me. There was no time to lose; he had to get down there. With one last longing look towards the mysterious cave he headed down the steep hill.

The climb was more difficult than he remembered from going up, or perhaps his injuries combined with his frantic escape and the fact that it had been almost a full day since last he ate was finally starting to get to him. It wasn't long before he was soaked in sweat again. His ragged panting sent stabs of pain through his chest with every breath. His vision was graying too, making him stumble on tree roots that blurred into the ground. He wanted to stop, wanted so badly to stop and just lie down, but he had to keep going. It's not like it's the first time I've been injured and had to go on. I'm not about to let Jack down this time either.

Finally, after what seemed like hours he approached the 'gate-clearing. Taking deep painful breaths he blinked hard to try and clear his vision. He had to be careful since he had no idea how the fight had gone after he lost sight of the Stargate as he got deeper into the forest. As he stopped to creep slowly through the underbrush at the tree line he realized that the gunfire had stopped. That could either be a very good sign, or a very bad one.

Carefully he peeked into the clearing and almost let out a cry of relief. There were no Jaffa at the 'gate, if one didn't count the dead – and Daniel really did not at this point. The clearing was held by men dressed in the sweetly familiar uniforms of SGC. Without hesitation Daniel stood up and walked out of the trees.

He must have startled the young marine corporal standing a few yards away, because he spun around and fired before Daniel had a chance to yell 'Stop'. The word turned into a stunned "St…ugh" as the bullet tore into his shoulder and felled him to the ground. A second later the corporal was at his side, the horror of his mistake evident on his face.

"Oh my god, Dr, Jackson, I'm so sorry. I thought you were a Jaffa."

As he spoke the others guarding the 'gate drew closer, gathering around them. Daniel smiled. The pain now burning in his shoulder was just one more pebble on the mound of injuries he had sustained that day, and all of them still could not erase the joy of finally being among friends.

"I'm alright..." he searched for the man's name, "…Marks. Just glad you didn't aim better. Gimme a hand up?"

Corporal Marks hesitated.

"Ehm, maybe you shouldn't get up just yet. Let me put a..."

"No I have to. I'm guessing the rest of my team went to the fortress to get me out?"

At that moment an older man, who Daniel recognized as Major Lewis, approached them, and bent down to his side. A firm hand on his uninjured shoulder gently hindered his attempts to get up.

"Stay down, son. We should have a look at that shoulder before you go anywhere."

"But, Jack, Sam and Teal'c could be walking into a hell of a fight to get me out of somewhere I'm not. I have to stop them and tell them I'm fine."

Daniel was getting desperate now. Couldn't these damned marines – his thoughts sounded like Jack again – couldn't they see how important it was to let the rest of SG-1 know he was here. He tried to get up again, but the pain erupting in his shoulder and side sent him back down before Major Lewis' hand could. His vision was graying out again, getting blurrier by the second. Lewis was speaking to him, but he couldn't quite make out the words. Something about radios – and there was the name O'Neill. Then everything went black.