Daniel's restlessness dissipated as Sam stumbled into the campsite looking shaken. "Sam!"
Jack stalked in behind her as Daniel stared at them both, and Teal'c opened his eyes from his meditations and got to his feet as Sam sat down on a log. A more accurate term – at least to Daniel's thinking – was 'collapsed'. She went from standing to sitting almost without transition. "Sam?" He glanced at Jack, guessing that the other man's anger at finding Sam gone from the camp had translated into a very unsympathetic commanding officer on the walk back.
"Found her at the stones. It looked like she was talking to someone."
"Aengus?"
"I dunno. You tell me, Daniel." Down on the log, Sam had put her head in her hands, raking her hands through her hair – almost as if she had a headache. "Carter!"
Her head jerked up as if someone had electrified her. "Sir?" She glanced around at her team-mates, standing up around her. "What are you guys doing awake?" She looked over at Daniel, surprised. "Daniel, I was going to wake you..."
She seemed disoriented rather than defensive – like someone awakening woozy from anaesthesia. Warning bells started going off in Daniel's head.
He hunkered down beside her, glancing up at Jack's irritated expression. "Sam, what do you remember?"
The gaze that met his was measuring and he saw the wariness in her eyes as she processed his question and what it might mean. "I was on the watch and..." Her eyes widened. "I was...talking...with someone. With...Aengus?" Then she jerked as if her mind had only just kicked into gear. "He's still here! They didn't bury him...he's still...but how does that work?"
Daniel had a moment for a brief smile - in spite of her shock, Sam's essential instincts remained the same. As Jack had very recently pointed out, any question beginning with a 'How...?' was a dangerous one around Sam.
His thoughts skipped ahead of hers. There was only one place for someone to live in that circle. "The stones are in a circular formation, Sam. Maybe there's a ring transporter in there as well. He lives beneath the ground by day, and can come above ground by night when the stones 'operate'." It wasn't a very good description, but given that he'd woken up half an hour ago, found Sam missing, and panicked, it would do. He looked to Jack, "What was she doing?"
"'She' is right here, Daniel." Sam spoke with renewed asperity. Daniel didn't even have to look at her to know she was glaring at him.
"She was trying to get into the circle," Jack told them. "Dunno if it was of her own free will or if he had hooks in her..."
Sam opened her mouth, then shut it again. She looked surprised. "I tried to get into the circle?"
"Yeah. There was some glowy light thing happening when I came over the hill but when I got to you and pulled you round there was a bright flash and the circle was dark again."
"Ring transports." Daniel couldn't keep the satisfaction of a correct assessment out of his voice.
"Whatever." Jack's voice was marginally above a growl. Whether or not he'd taken Sam to task for her actions, he was still angry with her. Understandably so. "So, Carter, now that you're actually awake, would you care to enlighten us as to why you're wandering around – during your watch, no less."
She looked blankly at Jack, then swivelled her gaze to Daniel and Teal'c. "I... I don't know, sir. I don't remember. One moment I was here at the camp thinking that I needed to...uh...relieve myself. Next minute...I..." She turned back to Jack, dark-shadowed eyes seeking a confirmation of her actions. "I was at the stones?"
"You were on the verge of walking into the glowing circle, Carter. If I hadn't turned up, you'd probably be in the Goa'uld's clutches right now."
One hand rose to her head, pressing against the temple. "Damn. I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what I was thinking..."
"Yeah? Join the club."
Daniel was only half-listening to the conversation between his team-mates. Something had caught his attention. Aengus... Aengus... What aspect did he represent in the Irish pantheon...?
It suddenly clicked. "Love." His team-mates stared at him at the non-sequitur of his statement. "Aengus was the Irish god of love and youth."
Their bewilderment continued unabated. "So?" Jack asked.
"So we've already encountered a Goa'uld posing as the god of love." Still no recognition in their eyes, so Daniel gave them another hint. "More accurately, the goddess of love."
"Hathor," Sam said, understanding dawning in her eyes.
"Hathor was able to bewitch the men in the SGC," Teal'c noted, lifting his head in curiosity. "As the god of love, Aengus may possess a similar effect on women."
They stared at each other, digesting these thoughts.
"So Carter's a liability as long as we're on this planet?"
Daniel winced at Jack's blunt depiction of the situation. It wasn't how he'd have described it, but it was accurate enough. "In terms of the fact that she's a woman, yes."
Sam was staring down at her hands, frowning slightly. Her gaze flickered up to meet Daniel's and she smiled slightly – more of a wince than a smile - then looked away.
"Okay, so how come SG-9 didn't have this problem." Jack interrupted just as he was about to ask Sam if everything was okay. "They've got at least one female member, don't they?"
"Not for this mission, they didn't," Daniel interjected, remembering the initial report he'd read. "Lieutenant Palmer was down with the flu, and Lieutenant Norris took her place during the initial survey. So when they came here, SG-9 was an all-male team."
"Could he have any influence on us?"
Daniel looked to Sam. Normally he would have expected some kind of reaction or response from her, but she said nothing.
He took up the thread. "Given that you, Teal'c and I are okay, and that SG-9 made it out in one piece, I think it's fairly safe to say that it only works on women."
Jack nodded, presumably thinking that it was one less thing to worry about. "Okay, so he ensnares Carter. Presumably against her will..."
"Definitely against her will," Sam muttered. She sounded irritated, but there was a dark humour to her voice. She might not like the idea that she was in the thrall of this Goa'uld, but at least she was taking it in her stride.
"...what next? What does he want her for?"
Daniel looked to Sam. "Sam?"
She stared back at him, her face growing pale as a memory intruded. "He called me 'Etain'," she remembered, meeting Daniel's eyes. "Not just tonight but last night as well."
"Last night?" Jack interrupted, alarmed now. "You mean tonight wasn't the only night..."
"O'Neill..."
"Jack..."
"Sir." Sam's voice cut through both Daniel and Teal'c's protests.
"Okay, okay. You didn't know he was doing it. Doesn't mean that it's not a worry!" Jack threw up his hands, raking one of them through his hair. "Okay, so he's having a bad case of mistaken identity in you...what about it? What comes next?"
"Etain was the slave Aengus stole from the other Goa'uld. Maybe Sam's his Etain."
"She's not." Jack sat down on his own log. There was a smug finality about his attitude and Daniel restrained the urge to roll his eyes.
"Well, maybe he thinks she is."
"Okay, so we have a Goa'uld who's fixated on some slave he got imprisoned for however many thousands of years ago, then Carter comes along and he decides that she'll do in a pinch." Jack glanced sideways at Sam. "No offence, Carter."
Her lips curved faintly in a wry smile. "None taken, sir." She'd moved beyond her behaviour of earlier this evening and was now ready to work through the ramifications.
"So, what now?" Daniel asked. "Abandon the mission?" It wasn't a prospect he cherished, but it might be necessary. They had the inscriptions on video camera and translations could be made from them, but it would be out of the question to continue with the astronomical calculations Jack had been doing, and the same would go for Sam's work with the huge slabs, their composition and properties.
"I do not believe that will be necessary, Daniel Jackson. It appears that Major Carter is susceptible to this Goa'uld. However we are not."
The idea had its merits, but even so... "You're saying we should take Sam back?" Something in him objected to the idea of just 'discarding' Sam for the remainder of this mission. All for one and one for all, after all.
Jack turned to Sam. "Carter? What's your take on this?"
Her unhappiness about the situation was plain to see, but she made the choice Daniel had expected - the only choice she really could make. "Sir, I'd rather not go back. But if this Goa'uld has the same effect on women that Hathor had on men... You pretty much said it yourself, sir. I'm a liability. You guys don't have to leave," there was a brief resentful resignation in her voice as she admitted that, "I do."
Daniel was both relieved and regretful. On one hand, they wouldn't have to pack it all up. On the other hand, it would mean that Sam would have to wait back at the SGC until the analyses were done, and Daniel had hoped to have her around so he could bounce ideas with her.
As it was, she was taking the news pretty well.
A thought occurred to him. "Would taking her through to the SGC do it? How do we know she's not...I don't know...like a za'tarc?"
"Daniel, don't complicate things. Wouldn't he have to...I don't know, get a link to her brain to make her a zanax?"
"Za'tarc, Jack."
"Whatever."
"Well, how does the za'tarc-ing work? Did the Tok'ra ever explain that?"
"You're asking me? Carter?"
"The Tok'ra never fully explained the process by which a person became a za'tarc agent. I don't think they knew it themselves – and they refused me access to the notes on...on za'tarc technology." For a moment, she looked distressed, then she relaxed again. "I don't know sir."
"Okay, Carter, what do you remember about him? What did he ask you?"
"I'm not sure, sir. Speaking with him is...blurry."
"Blurry?"
She looked over at him. "Like a distant memory."
"All right, so what exactly is in these 'distant memories'?"
There was a note of uncertainty in her voice as she described the bits and pieces that she recalled from her memory. Very little of it was worth worrying about - Aengus appeared to be fixated on her as Etain rather than as a potential resource. It suggested that the Goa'uld in question was oriented almost solely towards regaining his lost love rather than the usual pursuits of galactic domination and power. Of course, that didn't mean that the Goa'uld wouldn't eventually use her in that manner if she were left with him.
Best not to tempt fate at all.
Jack evidently thought the same because after a minute he held up his hands in silent request for her to stop. "Okay, I don't think there's too much to worry about – after all, he didn't manage to get a hold of you in person. We'll send you home and keep and get Janet to check you out – there's no point in trying to second-guess ourselves." Jack glanced around, meeting everyone's eyes in the darkness. When he found no other resistance, he nodded in their direction. "Right, I want Teal'c and Daniel to keep an eye on the camp while I get Carter back to the Stargate and see her through. That Goa'uld can't get out of the circle, right?"
Daniel spread his hands out in a gesture of uncertainty. "I don't know - it's just a theory, Jack."
"He can't," Sam said, looking from Daniel to Jack. "He's trapped inside the circle. I got the impression that he's sent below ground during the day and can only come outside at night."
"Which is why we've never seen him during the day... Jack, I think we should learn everything we can about Aengus before we send Sam back. Most of what we know about him is based on a couple of legends and a lot of assumptions." He turned back to Sam. "Are you up to answering questions?"
"I think so."
"Daniel, I'd like to have her out of his reach before dawn. It took us six hours to get here - we've only got about another four before the sun rises."
"Uh, sir, that was because we couldn't take the shorter route with the FRED in tow. Since we won't have the FRED, it'll only take two hours to the gate."
Jack glanced at his watch. "That's still a couple of hours."
"I can ask them on the way back to the Stargate," Daniel added. "So we don't lose any time."
"I haven't said you can come with, yet."
"Did you have a problem with finding out more information?"
"No, but I'd rather you kept an eye on things here at camp."
"Jack..."
"Daniel."
"Don't you want to know what this Goa'uld is capable of?"
"Yes, but I'd rather have you and Teal'c hold the camp down. And believe it or not, I can ask intelligent questions too!"
Daniel rolled his eyes. It seemed that Jack had the bit in his mouth and was going to take it for a run. He could go head-to-head or he could back down.
Right now, he was too tired to be bothered going head-to-head. And Jack would have a good idea of the questions to ask regarding their security and the security of Earth - even if he wouldn't ask the cultural ones that Daniel was interested in.
Which opened up another possibility - communicating with the Goa'uld.
If Aengus was safely confined in that circle, it might be possible to communicate with him - maybe learn new things about the Goa'uld. An exchange of knowledge? The promise of freedom?
The only question was what that freedom might entail.
In the back of his mind was the freedom they'd given Nirrti in exchange for Cassie's life.
It was something to think about anyway.
Seeing that Daniel wasn't about to argue, Jack got to his feet as he started sorting out his plans. "Okay. Grab your pack, Carter, we'll head back to the gate now. I want you off this planet before the sun comes up." He paused halfway across the campsite and turned back, a little sheepish at the tactlessness of his phrasing. "I didn't mean that quite the way it sounded."
A short, wry laugh punctuated her understanding. "I know, sir." Slowly hauling herself up, she went off in the direction of the tent she shared with Daniel.
"You sure about this, Jack?" Daniel asked quietly.
"I don't like it. But yeah, I'm sure. She was on the border of walking into the Stonehenge thing. And it was glowing. God only knows what would have happened once she got in there." Jack looked from Daniel to Teal'c. "In fact, I'm not happy about staying here at all. I'd rather we got away from here immediately. We only suspect that this Goa'uld only has power over women. I'd rather not stay around and discover that we're just as susceptible as Carter."
"We could get information out of this Goa'uld. We've never met one who was in a position where he couldn't touch us but we could still communicate."
"Daniel, I don't know that we want to be in such a position. Besides, the only thing we have that he wants is Carter. Unless you're suggesting we trade Carter for information..."
"I've already been traded once for a gun," Sam said, emerging from the still-shadowy corners of the camp. "Information is probably only marginally better."
"Or we could avoid trading you at all," Jack said with the tones of someone who thought that was the most sensible idea so far.
"I admit to liking that option best, sir." She smiled. "Are we going soon?"
"Right now. Gimme a moment to get my pack." Jack vanished to his corner of the camp.
They stood around in an uncomfortable moment before Teal'c asked, "Are there any specific details of the site that you would wish me to record, Major Carter?"
"Oh!" She seemed surprised by the courtesy Teal'c's request. "I do...but they're probably too many and a bit complex to just give them to you right now. What I can do is write them down on my way to the gate – it'll be a couple of hours' walk back – and I'll give them to the Colonel. Is that okay?"
Teal'c inclined his head in assent, and Daniel took the moment to ask, "Are you okay with this?" He was feeling a little guilty about having her go back while the rest of them stayed behind.
"No, Daniel," she sighed. "I'm not. But between taking the opportunity to study the stones and their properties – to say nothing of how the Goa'uld managed to get me to meet him and then wipe my memory of everything but the vaguest recollection of the meeting – and ending up as his prisoner..." Sam grimaced but shouldered her pack. "It's not much of a choice."
Jack emerged with his pack. "Right guys, hold down the fort, and I'll be back in about six hours."
"'Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast,'" Daniel quoted, mischievously. He doubted that Jack would get the reference, but it was funny - or maybe just early. "Take care, Sam."
She shot him and Teal'c a half-smile and followed after Jack, the lights on their P-90s illuminating the dark night stretching out before them.
They watched them vanish into the night.
*
Once again, they had taken her away. The one born of Fionn had come and removed her, and Aengus had activated the ring transporters to descend beneath the surface and ponder what he could do.
He had been right, at least, the Fionn-born had too much independence and spirit to submit to Aengus. And if the Fionn-born was the leader of them as he seemed to be, then it was unlikely that the others would bend.
But he'd had time with Etain. Time to know her, to learn of her. Time to influence her as only he out of all his brethren could. And she would not leave him. She loved him. She had come to him, running from the jealousy of Fuamnach and seeking sanctuary with him.
And he had given her sanctuary – and more. He had given her everything that he was.
And he would not lose it again.
Up on the surface again, he turned to the distant, greying sky where the Chappa'ai stood.
He called her.
She would answer him.
*
Headache. Hard ground. Hard wet ground. What am I... Memory returned, bringing pain along with it. Jack sat up and immediately wished he hadn't. Dammit, Carter!
They'd been walking for about half an hour when she began slipping behind, claiming tiredness. She looked pretty exhausted. Four hours of sleep, another couple of hours of being on watch, and thirty minutes of walking through the almost-pitch black wasn't easy on the body. Up until that moment Jack hadn't seen any odd behaviour by her, so he eased up the pace, walking a little slower. She dropped behind a step or two, then everything blacked out.
Damn Goa'uld must have had a stronger hold on her than they realised.
He checked his watch. He'd lost at least forty-five minutes of time – she was probably back at the stones by now. Time to call in the cavalry.
Jack clicked his radio. "Teal'c? Daniel?"
After a moment, Teal'c's voice came, sleepy and surprised. "O'Neill?"
"Carter made a break for it. Guess the Goa'uld did have something programmed into her."
"She will go directly to the circle, O'Neill."
"Yeah. Look, Teal'c, I want you and Daniel to head for the Stones – you should be immune to anything the Goa'uld tries on you. Keep an eye on Daniel. It might be just Carter, it might not, but I'm not taking risks. I'll meet you there in about thirty."
"Very well, O'Neill."
Bones creaked alarmingly as Jack hauled himself to his feet and trotted back the way they'd come. He was getting much, much too old for this kind of running around. Technically, he should have been flying a desk by this time – it was only by the grace of Hammond that he wasn't. That, and because the Air Force probably didn't have a lot for him to do if he wasn't in the field. Training cadets to deal with offworld situations, maybe, but again with the oldness and the aches.
His old bones were really aching – especially the knees. Jack kept jogging driving himself onwards.
There wasn't a lot of time before dawn, and Daniel had theorised that the ring transporters wouldn't work during the daylight hours. And the idea of her in the hands of a Goa'uld who thought she was his lost love for a full sixteen hours of daylight...
It didn't bear thinking about, so Jack didn't think about it. Instead, he gritted his teeth and kept running.
She'd been a little quiet as they left the camp. He'd asked a few questions and her answers were subdued. It wasn't usual for her, but he'd waved it away as shell-shock that the Goa'uld had managed to get subliminal hook in so deeply. He should have looked harder and not just accepted that she was okay.
Hindsight is always perfect.
He ran over the last hill and down towards the camp, then veered off down in the direction of the stonehenge.
It was glowing.
As Jack drew closer, he could see the two dark shadows before the faint light of the circle of stones. Standing. Doing nothing.
Logic told him they wouldn't have been doing nothing unless there was nothing to do.
Damn. Too late.
"Guys?"
"No sign of them," Daniel said as he turned to Jack. "But there's nowhere else she could be... Are you sure she came back here and didn't run somewhere else?"
Jack rubbed his neck. "No, I don't know. She knocked me out and I only came to twenty minutes ago."
"How long were you out?"
"At least half an hour – maybe closer to forty-five minutes..."
"Major Carter has had more than enough time to return to this place." Teal'c turned his face back to the faint glow of the whatever-it-was that hummed on the edge of their hearing.
Jack gritted his teeth. He didn't like this. He didn't like it at all. Under normal circumstances, she'd never have broken like that. She'd never have hit him either – striking a superior officer was a court-martiallable offence.
These weren't normal circumstances, any more than the men of the SGC allowing a Goa'uld to take over the installation were normal circumstances. He'd cut her slack when they got her out of there.
Some slack, anyway.
"You haven't gone in, yet?"
"Haven't dared to," Daniel admitted. "It crossed my mind, but I don't know how much of what Sam told us was the truth and how much of it was spun to her by Aengus. She said it was attuned to his body chemistry..."
Jack looked over at Teal'c and shrugged as he stepped up to the shield. He doubted that this was going to be fun – but he didn't really have a choice.
From a purely military standpoint, Carter was a liability with all the knowledge she possessed about the SGC, it's technology, it's allies and with the fragments of Jolinar still in her head; leaving her in the hands of the Goa'uld would be one of the biggest tactical mistakes since they sent Apophis (allegedly dead) back through the wormhole to Sokar.
From a personal standpoint, she was among the closest people to Jack, a neverending source of amazement, someone who knew where he was coming from – even if she didn't fully understand it, and a good friend. He'd be damned before he left her in the hands of a Goa'uld, infatuated or not.
The shield didn't tingle, didn't hum. It felt like he was thrusting his hand into something that had the texture molasses - but no stickiness. He pulled his hand back and stared at it, studying it.
"You're going in?" Daniel sounded worried and Jack felt a spark of anger.
"Unless you want to leave Carter in there?"
"Wouldn't Teal'c be better? At least we know he's not open to Goa'uld..." A humming sound interrupted him: transporter rings.
Jack had his P-90 up and pointed even as the rings rose out of the ground in the circle. At the same time, he heard the sizzle of a staff weapon being prepped. They were as ready as they could be for whatever the Goa'uld was going to throw at them.
As the dazzling light faded and the darkness swept in once again, two figures became distinguishable from the dark surroundings.
Carter. Carter watching them serenely from inside the circle. And a man who stood at her shoulder, the colour leached from his skin so he looked unearthly and pale. By contrast, his hair was like fire, even in the eerie blue light of the stones.
Aengus.
"You intrude."
So. No small-talk, then. "You've got our team-mate."
"She came of her own free will."
Jack snorted in disbelief, "You expect us to believe that?"
"What my colleague is trying to say," Daniel interjected with a warning glance at Jack, "Is that Sam is very unlikely to have gone to you if she wasn't drugged."
"Etain has known me through the ages, and I have known her. I have waited for her and she has returned to me."
Damned smug Goa'uld.
He ignored Daniel's attempt to keep him quiet. "Or you just took advantage of the fact that she's the first female to arrive on the planet in a couple of thousand years and thought you'd jump her."
The Goa'uld's eyes – a pale, watery ice-blue – narrowed at Jack. "I am not so indiscriminate, son of Fionn. Etain is my mate as she has been since Fuamnach's wrath fell upon her in the household of my brother and she fled."
Jack had no idea what the creature was talking about. Jack didn't give a damn what the creature was talking about - he wasn't about to lose her to this mook. "Yeah, whatever. Look, I'll do a deal. You let her back through here, we'll walk out of here and never come back. You can have your nice misty planet all to yourself again."
Of course there was no way the Goa'uld was going to say 'Hey, sure, no problem. Get out there, 'Etain' and go back to your life before I decided I wanted a partner and the first available woman came along.'
"I care not for your presence or the presence of your companions. Etain is here with me, and here she will remain."
Of course.
"Carter?" There wasn't any point in further trying to argue with the Goa'uld. It wasn't about to give her up, so it would be up to her to get up and get out of there - and up to Jack to persuade her to get out of there.
She looked at him, expression still mostly serene, although it seemed she was trying to frown. "Sir?"
"Come out of there now." He resisted the urge to add, 'Before we have to come in and fetch you!'
"With all due respect, sir... No."
"This isn't like you, Carter." Jack held her gaze, trying to get through whatever illusion the creature had put on her. "This isn't like you at all."
"Maybe you don't know me, then."
Aengus had turned to her, brushing strands of hair back from her ear, taking her hand in its own. Jack ground his teeth and tried again. "Carter, I know that somewhere inside you, you're trying to fight this guy. Remember Hathor? You kicked her ass when she tried this routine on us. You're a fighter, Carter, always were. Fight it, dammit!"
She blinked and, for a moment, they saw something flit across her face – terror, anguish, revulsion, sorrow – before it settled back into the calm and cool expression of the woman who didn't care.
The Goa'uld brushed its mouth across her jaw. "As you see, she is mine." It shifted, half-blocking their view of her, although Jack could see the hand that slipped under her jacket, curving about her waist.
Fuck.
"You'll never own her completely," Daniel said clearly into the circle. "A part of her struggles to be free..."
It turned, pale eyes burning in a livid expression. "And what kind of life would you have her lead? One in which she grows old, unloved? Her destiny belongs with me – the men who desire her are cursed to destruction!" Jack noted that the Goa'uld still held her hand, but that her other hand – her free hand – twitched a little, as if she were struggling against whatever coercions the creature had put on her. Aengus's face contorted with rage. "Who would claim her from me? Will you tell me that her heart belongs to any of you?" There was no mistaking the insult in its voice as it looked at each man; there was no mistaking the challenge in its stance.
Jack hardly heard the question. he was holding her eyes as if her life depended on the force of his will as transmitted through their locked gazes. Come on, Carter. Don't you dare give in. Fight it. Whatever he's doing to you, fight it!
For a moment there was only the faintest whispering of the wind through the leaves of the forest, then Aengus' expression eased to exultation. "No? Then she remains."
And he turned his back on them – turned his attentions back to her.
Jack saw red. A desperate blend of fear and fury rushed through him and gave rise to the knife-sharp edge in his voice. He was not going to lose her. "Carter! Get your sorry butt out here right this instant! If you don't come out of there immediately, then you're up for dereliction of duty and I will not be impressed!"
They saw her freeze; saw her hands come up and push the Goa'uld away; saw him catch her arm. "You swore to me there was no other, Etain!" She winced under the pressure of his fingers around her forearm. "You are mine, and I will not let you go!"
Jack felt a moment of triumph that she'd fought the creature. If she could fight it once, then she could fight it again. "I think we're at a standoff," he said conversationally. "Because we're not going to let her go if we have to blow this place to hell."
And he would. He would have to, because Jack couldn't leave her in the hands of the Goa'uld. He wouldn't leave her knowledge – he wouldn't leave her – in the hands of someone who only wanted her for her resemblance to a long-dead slave.
For one, it went against all his training; for two, it went against all his instincts; and for three, she deserved so much better than that – and Jack knew it.
"You seek that which no longer exists," Teal'c said, his voice deep and clear in the night. "Major Carter is not the slave Etain."
Aengus looked up, and the intensity of hatred on his face was so strong, they instinctively took a step back. "Etain is mine," he all but snarled, more animal than Lord. "She belongs to me."
In the end, that was all she was to it, Jack saw. An object of possession. True Goa'uld nature coming out, plain and clear.
Over my dead body.
"Will the choice be hers to make?" Daniel challenged the Goa'uld, "Or will it be made by you?" Daniel had straightened his shoulders from their usual slight hunch, his chin was up, and his gaze never left Aengus'. "Give her the choice, Aengus. Let her choose if she'll stay or go."
It paused, thinking over Daniel's words. They waited. Then the Goa'uld shifted, and Jack could see the outright rejection of the idea before it began to speak.
He ignored whatever the creature was going to say, appealing to the person in the circle he knew he could reach. "Carter!" Come on, Carter. Where's that stubbornness of yours?
And she moved.
Her hand tightened on Aengus' arm and she swung it around, tipping it off balance. Then she ran for the opening between the stones.
She nearly didn't make it. The Goa'uld was fast.
It was up in a split-second, grasping futilely after her.
Jack thrust his arms inside the shield, reaching for her hands to help yank her through. He seized one arm of her fatigues, the warm solidity of her flesh through the jacket a comforting sensation.
It wasn't until much later that he realised if he hadn't reached in and grabbed her, she'd never have gotten out.
Whatever was keeping the Goa'uld in there reacted to her body contacting it. The glow of the stones dimmed briefly – like a brown-out – and there was a sudden resistance to her passage through the shield. She cried out, her face contorting in brief agony, and Jack pulled at her with all his strength even though her scream tore at him. His other hand plunged through the field to grip the edge of her jacket...
And then she was through. The resistance of the shield was gone, and they stumbled backwards until Jack's heel caught on the dew-damp grass and they fell.
She didn't quite land on top of him but the collapse winded them both. A single quiet moment passed with only the thundering of his heart running overtime on adrenaline, and the panting sound of her breathing.
Then the Goa'uld howled.
It was an utterly inhuman cry of despair and pain, resonating deep in the bone and raising hairs on the back of his neck. Jack shivered and grabbed for her arm as she rolled off him. Considering how she'd run off before, he wasn't going to give the Goa'uld a second chance at keeping her.
She glanced at him, but didn't protest. Her gaze was dragged back to the now-silent Aengus, standing inside the edge of the inner circle of stones.
Teal'c knelt beside them, "Are you well, Major Carter?" His eyes ranged swiftly over her from head to toe, making a careful note of her state.
"Yeah. I'm fine, Teal'c. I think." She glanced up at Daniel who'd taken slow steps backwards, never turning his back on the Goa'uld glaring out from the circle.
Staring at Carter, who was looking back at him.
His grip tightened on her arm. "Carter..."
"It's alright, sir."
Slowly, she stood up, Jack matching his movements with hers and never letting go of her arm. She took one step forward, and Teal'c interposed himself between her and the Goa'uld and Jack's grip on her tightened to the point of pain. She winced and he eased his tense fingers a little as she looked over at him, a question in her eyes that he answered with a look. You're not going anywhere, Carter. Certainly nowhere near him.
She nodded and held her ground.
Teal'c moved away, still facing her and staying between her and the stones so he could stop her if she tried to return to the Goa'uld.
"Aengus."
"Etain."
"Sam," she corrected it. "I'm not Etain, Aengus." And if there was a note of regret in her voice as she said it, Jack didn't care. He had her and the Goa'uld didn't. "I never was."
And with that, she turned towards the camp and began walking away, the rest of her team following after her.
*
Continued in Trilithons Part Five - Absolution
