A/N: Okay, I'm so spoiling you guys this week, but since a few of you have been such faithful reviewers, I decided it was alright. Enjoy.

Chapter 10

Jack twisted in the grip that held him, and Antioch, though he had a tight grip on the young body in his grasp, was suddenly surprised to find himself only clutching empty air.

Jack touched the ground and was off in the direction of the tree line. However, two Spartan guards were moving to cut him off. However, just as the soldier was about to reach Jack Teal'c's body came out of nowhere in a flying tackle that took him down. Chains and all, Teal'c was a frightening foe. Daniel and Sam attacked the other guard by attaching themselves to his feet and Jack scampered past. Teal'c knocked the guard out that he had landed on, and as the guard tripped that Daniel and Sam had grabbed, Teal'c leaned over and knocked him out as well.

"Let's go!" he yelled. Daniel and Sam immediately released their grips and ran to catch up to Jack. Teal'c moved as quickly as he could and Jack dashed under his chains to quickly unlock the manacles on his wrists and ankles. Antioch by this time had managed to grab the remaining guards and all were racing toward the weaponless team.

"Come on, Jack! Teal'c!" Daniel yelled from the tree line, and Jack and Teal'c ran toward their two friends. Antioch pulled out his zat and began to fire it at the disappearing figures. One of the blasts connected with Daniel, and with a scream of agony, Daniel collapsed, the electrical charge having a much greater effect on his younger body than it had on his older one. As he raced past, Teal'c scooped him up. However, the inevitable pause that occurred as Teal'c bent down proved his undoing, and another zat blast hit Teal'c in the back. Luckily very little of the blast traveled through Teal'c into Daniel, or Daniel's life might have ended at that moment. As it was, his breathing became very shallow.

As Teal'c dropped to the ground with Daniel, Jack's steps slowed. With a defeated slump of his shoulders, he looked at Sam.

"Carter," he said, softly, "go."

"Sir.." she protested, but he quickly forestalled her.

"Gate home," he said, "get backup."

A thousand protests ran through her mind, but she turned to go anyway. A useless gesture it turned out, because as she turned, several groups of Spartan boys came out of the darkness from the woods behind them, and SG-1 found themselves completely surrounded.

"Oiy," Jack said, and lifted his arms in the gesture of surrender.

One of the boys came forward and approached Jack. Carter watched him warily. He seemed surprisingly large, but he would only have been about twelve years old. However, she was absolutely stunned by the next words out of the boy's mouth.

"Aw, for crying out loud, Jack," the boy said in very heavily accented English, and then he began to babble at Jack in Greek. Sam understood a few words, but the majority of it was still less than intelligible to her. Now she understood how Jack felt every time she went off on 'techno-babble.'

"What were you thinking, you idiot?" Reiki asked, unable to keep the admiring smile off his face, "What made you think you had any chance of escaping from the Agoge? I don't understand why you'd want to leave anyway. Or why you'd want to leave your own kind to join with these unworthy helots."

At that Jack bristled, and Sam once again found herself shocked into silence as a babble of what sounded like Greek began to flow out of Jack's mouth like he had been born speaking it.

"They are far from 'unworthy,' Reiki," Jack said, as he stepped more protectively in front of his team, "they are my team, and I won't leave with out them. They are my own kind."

Reiki shrugged. "Either way," he said, "it's time you went to the barracks. I imagine you're going to get in a lot of trouble for this."

Jack nodded, and then was surprised as Reiki came forward and grabbed his hand in a friendly gesture. "Look," the older boy said in a whisper, "you are a very interesting individual. You don't always make sense, but I am proud to call you friend. Feel free to join my herd any time."

Jack nodded, a somewhat pleased expression on his face and said, "Same to you, Reiki. Good luck and survive."

Reiki gave one more nod and then turned away to report to Antioch who was standing somewhat to the side.

Jack turned to see Carter standing with her mouth hanging open. "Carter?" he asked mildly.

"Sir?" she said, her voice filled with surprise, "Do you understand this language?"

"I don't know, Carter," he said, "it's all Greek to me." And with that, Jack was led away to the barracks leaving his team behind with one last regretful look.

Sam began to nod before she processed his statement, and then paused mid-nod and a confused expression crossed her face.

"What?"

Jack was surprised that no one seemed very upset by his botched escape attempt. If anything, most of the warriors were looking very pleased. The older boys peeled away from the group to return to their camp to sleep. However, once again, Jack found himself with a rope knotted around his neck with the other end in Antioch's hand. A sensation of coming full circle seemed to surround him as he was led like a dog to another unfamiliar place.

He crested a ridge only a little way from the Jaffa camp to see a large shadowy structure illuminated from the double moons in the sky above. As they drew closer, Jack could see someone waiting for them just in front of the entrance to the structure. It was Glitsa.

Glitsa was the only one that seemed furious. As Antioch led Jack up toward the man as he stood in front of the barracks, Glitsa's fist rose and he hammered Jack across the face.

"Ow," Jack said, rubbing his jaw.

"You little brat!" Glitsa spat, "Do you know the punishment I will endure thanks to your treachery?"

Jack shrugged, not really caring. For some reason this seemed to enrage Glitsa further, but as he raised his fist again, Antioch carefully stepped in between. "The boy will be punished, Glitsa, but do not blame him for your mistakes. He did not force you to be careless, that was your own decision. Take responsibility for your own actions and accept your punishment as a true Spartan warrior."

Glitsa backed off, the mere force of Antioch's presence more than the lesser man could handle, but his eyes continued to glare holes in Jack's back as he and Antioch walked passed the older man and entered the barracks.

The barracks was a large, almost amphitheater-type structure. Guards stood at the entrance, though Jack could tell they were usually more for the boys' protection than to keep the boys in. However, as Antioch brought Jack past them, he stopped and introduced Jack and told the guards to keep an eye out for any further escape attempts. The guards eyes seemed to memorize every inch of Jack as he was led past them, and he glared back as forcefully as he could manage.

The large building was dark, most of the boys were obviously already sleeping. Jack was led into a room with bunk-beds lining the walls. Antioch led him over to an empty bunk that had a chain attached to it.

"This is a bunk we don't normally use," Antioch whispered, "but you are not the first off-worlder to attempt to escape. Every night you will be chained here while you sleep until you learn to accept you situation. In the morning a warrior will come past and release you. Then you will be told your schedule. You will also be given your punishment in the morning."

Then to Jack's surprise, he felt Antioch's hand descend on his shoulder from behind in a friendly manner. "Get some sleep, Jack," the man said, "and good luck. I know you will continue to make us proud. It was a very impressive escape attempt, but since you got caught, you will be punished."

Then, Antioch pulled the chain off the floor and clasped it around Jack's neck. Jack remained silent. He was a little thrown off by Antioch's friendliness toward him. He heard the older man leave, and sighing, he climbed into his new bed. After a week of sleeping on the ground the bed seemed entirely too comfortable. However, in a few moments he was deeply asleep, knowing that the next day would be altogether none too pleasant.

Daniel and Sam were carried back to the Helots' village. Neither of the Spartan warriors who carried them said a word, and Daniel was still unconscious from the zat blast. Teal'c had been placed once again in his chains, and left at the Jaffa village. He and Sam had exchanged a long look right before Sam had been picked up and marched out of sight. They both knew this would not be the end of it.

Sam and Daniel were dropped off at their home without another word, and the Spartan warriors left quickly. Herodota stared at the floor until the warriors were out of sight and then she looked intently at Daniel.

"What happened?"

Sam understood that, but she didn't quite know how to intelligibly explain what had transpired. However, she decided to try anyway.

"Jack came...we...walked to Teal'c. Spartans came...caught we...brought back." Herodota smiled. The girl was improving. Herodota nodded in sympathy and placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she said. Sam nodded.

At that moment, Daniel began to stir. He groaned softly and rubbed his hand across his face. He was happy to find that his glasses had not been lost in the confusion. "Jack?" he asked softly, confusion clear on his face.

Sam raced toward him, "I'm here Daniel. They took Jack away."

Daniel sighed and tried to sit up. Sam helped him. He looked at her after a moment, and pushed his glasses up on his face. "Was it my fault? Did we get caught because I got hit?"

Sam avoided looking at him and muttered, "We probably wouldn't have been able to get away anyway. After you went down, Teal'c took a hit as he tried to carry you off and then, of course, Jack wouldn't leave either of you. He ordered me to get away, but before I could the other search parties caught up with us."

Daniel groaned and leaned against the wall. Herodota came up with a glass and water, handing it to the discouraged archeologist. Gratefully, he took it from her and after drinking it, looked at Sam and apologized.

"I'm sorry, Sam. If I had been a little faster..."

"Don't worry about it, Daniel," she insisted. "We know Jack will never give up, and we'll make it next time."

He smiled slightly through his discouragement and nodded. "Yeah," he agreed.

"Meanwhile," Sam said, as she stood and helped Daniel to his feet, "we'll prepare to be faster next time."

Daniel nodded and then hobbled off to his bed. Sam looked at Herodota. "Thank you," she said. Herodota nodded and gently pushed her toward her bed.

"Sleep," she told Sam, and Sam did.