The vampires stopped at the lip of the gaping hole in the wall. They looked at the vivid patch of sunlight that separated them from the fleeing SG-1 team and then they looked up at the staggering SG-1 team and then they looked down again.

They sort of vibrated, caught in a loop between pursuit and their reluctance to risk the touch of sunlight.

Daniel Jackson stopped his staggering flight, breathing heavily, he smiled dopily. He placed the Count on the ground at his feet and thumbed his nose at the Vampires. He made a gesture where he placed his left hand in the crook of his right elbow and sort of swung an uppercut at the air with his right hand. While the gesture is not universal, the expression on his face probably conveyed the meaning to the hesitating vampires.

Heidi Pravda looked at him, her concern causing a frown to furrow her perfect brow.

"Huh," spat Jackson. "We made it."

Teal'c grabbed Jackson by the elbow and pulled him along.

"I think perhaps a little circumspection is order here," suggested Teal'c.

"Why?" Jackson was still exultant.

"Wolves."

In the distance, but not far enough away for anyone's confidence, a howl wafted from between the trees.

Jackson uttered a sound that might be represented by the symbols at the top of the typewriter keyboard once again.

They gathered their burdens up again and staggered onward.

*

The cart came bouncing along the roadway, finally clattering to a halt beside the beleaguered SG-1 team. Magda Pravda greeted her daughter happily and apologised for the delay.

They threw the comatose team members onto the back of the cart and dived into the back after them.

Magda frowned at the body of the Count. Her eyes asked a question of her daughter who shrugged in reply.

Daniel Jackson leapt into the back of the wagon, landing beside the comatose members of the SG-1 team. He checked Samantha Carter's and Jack O'Neill's pulses while Teal'c and Heidi found places in the cart.

Before they had gone more than a hundred metres down the road, Heidi clambered into the back of the cart to be with Jackson. She bent over with him to check on his companions, their heads almost touching. "Has Dad and his mates come back yet?" Heidi asked her mother without looking up.

"Mostly," Magda said and whipped the reigns to propel the horses into action. "Those that haven't come back yet are probably sleeping it off somewhere. While he's here with us," she said and nodded toward the body of the Count, "they are probably safe no matter where they are."

The cart bounced along the roadway, lurching alarmingly.

After exchanging a look with Daniel Jackson that caused Heidi's mother no end of concern, Heidi clambered from the back of the cart to sit beside her mother.

Teal'c leant over his shoulder to thank her for her assistance.

"It was something that we had to do," explained Heidi graciously.

"Still, it is a good deed."

They galloped along the road. The howls of the wolves were not getting closer.

Daniel Jackson was leaning over the form of Jack O'Neill, checking to make sure that his breathing was still happening. It was, but his breathing was very shallow.

Jackson stood up, stabilised himself in the rocking cart so that he could move around to check on Samantha Carter.

The horses passed beneath a low branch.

Magda and Heidi ducked.

Teal'c ducked.

Jackson ducked beneath the low branch too. Unfortunately he ducked after the blow on the back of his head, and his action had nothing to do with his own volition. His head made a sound like a baseball that had just been hit for the season's most noteworthy home run. He landed face first in Samantha Carter's lap. If he were a cartoon character, he would be watching a circle of birds flying in tiny orbits around his head at that moment.

Heidi let out a little screamlet and dived into the back of the wagon after Jackson. A branch from the same tree landed in the cart beside the comatose Jackson, almost impaling the frantic Heidi, only missing her by inches as she fussed over him. Her sobs were audible over the clattering of the horses hooves, the rumble of the cartwheels and the whipping of the reins.

On the floor of the wagon, unseen by either Heidi or Jackson, the Count stirred.