Yay! A quick update: two chapters in as many days. If I keep up this speed,
I might actually be able to finish this story one day. ;-)
Thanks for all the reviews that you've written so far, and do write more.
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Raistlin quickly realized that he couldn't form any kind of plans when he knew so little of where he was and who these people were. He would have to find out. And he would also have to learn the exact nature of his loss of magical powers.
Having spent most of his life studying magic, Raistlin had always been surrounded by it. Even when he had been very young and hadn't known how to actually cast a spell, magic had always been there. It had been with his mother, who had never learned to use her talent, but often ended up lost in her own worlds, oblivious to what was really happening. Magic had been in him, in his very blood - but in the world as well, in the earth, the air, the water.
Now, Raistlin finally understood why he had felt worse than usual when he had first woken up here. Here, in this new world, there was no magic. Something that had always been there with him was suddenly missing. The small traces of magic that he could actually find and sense had all been brought here by himself, like the Staff of Magius, or then were radiating from that distant world that was his home.
Raistlin decided to use his foolish hosts as he best could, which was quite a challenge after the unfortunate, unpleasant situation in the infirmary. Luckily enough, they did not instantly declare him a fraud when he couldn't make his first spell work. Instead, they suggested that since he was probably still tired and not feeling all that well, he should try again later. "But you'd better be careful with what you do, son. I'd choose my targets a bit more carefully next time, if I were you," General Hammond said, managing to sound both fatherly and threatening in the same time.
Raistlin felt he was getting used to the lessened amount of magic in this place, either because he had already spent half a day here, or then because he now understood the reason for it. Surprisingly enough, he didn't feel worse anymore, but better - perhaps less consumed by that inner fire that was originally born of magic. He was actually able to convince the General and the Doctor that he would stay alive outside the infirmary as well. Fraiser reluctantly allowed him to move in to the same quarters with Caramon, taken that he would have to return under her caring eyes should his condition change in any way. Raistlin suggested that they'd give him a target of some kind so he could practice his magic, a living thing, if possible. They brought him a white rat in a cage.
The young mage managed to put the rat to sleep, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make the spell work on Caramon - no one had mentioned that he shouldn't use his twin brother as a test subject. Annoyed by this, he tried something else, and successfully burned the poor rodent to ashes. Of course, he had to hide the remains quickly, so he wouldn't raise any unnecessary suspicions. Then he asked for a new rat and promised that this time, he would actually make it work.
It worked perfectly well, the rat fell asleep at his command under the very eyes of General Hammond, Janet Fraiser, Sam Carter, Teal'c, assorted lower- ranking people who he didn't know - and, of course, Caramon. Out of the lot, Caramon seemed the most impressed. Teal'c raised his eyebrows, which appeared to be about as far as he ever went in showing amazement. Hammond frowned and looked at Fraiser, who simply shrugged. Sam instantly headed for the cage and begun looking for mechanisms of some kind, and asked Raistlin to show that he didn't have any devices in secret pockets in his sleeves or something like that. Of course, he did have secret pockets in his sleeves, and he had no intention of showing them to her.
After this little demonstration, Sam Carter was annoyingly eager to try and get some sort of an explanation out of Raistlin, though she wasn't willing to accept any of what he was telling her.
"But you can't really mean that there's this one all-around strange, unexplainable power that can make anything happen and is simply controlled by hand-waving, sand-tossing and mumbling mystical words. That's just not possible!"
"Of course, using magic does have its limits and its rules - one can't just make anything happen. Yet those limits are mostly born of the magic-users. Spell-casting is very draining, as you have seen, if you have observed what I have done. The greater the spell, the more exhausting it is. Also, some mages are more powerful than others. Thus, even a beginner can, for example, learn to cast a spell that shows if there is magic about, but even a master will have difficulties with the greatest of things..."
"Like what? Raising storms? Creating fire or lightning? Mind-reading?" Carter suggested sceptically.
Raistlin was always reluctant to tell too much of how magic worked. It was not meant to be general knowledge. But now, in this world, he felt rather careless. As sharp as this woman was in some things, in the end, she was just another fool. He could tell her anything, she wouldn't ever even begin to believe it. He might as well try and gain some awe from her. "No, those are not the most powerful of spells. I would rather say summoning demons, or time-travel."
"Demons? Some kind of monstrous beasts, then? You can actually travel in time with this magic of yours?"
"When I say demons, I mean it. And yes, it is possible. I could not do such a thing, though. Not yet."
"But I still can't see how that could work," Sam shook her head. "We've accidentally experienced time traveling with the 'Gate, but that was actually more of an accident, and happened in really unusual circumstances..."
"Are you not listening to what I say? I told that it is one of the most difficult things to achieve. I have no knowledge of such things so far, only that it is said that it can be done."
"All right," she nodded this time, but the look on her face was just as defiant as before. "Can you describe the actual power in any more detail? Is it visible? Where does it come from? You say there's no magic here, on Earth. So, is it stronger in some places than others? How can one learn to use it?"
By the Gods, this woman was worse than the kender. The more he would speak, the more she would ask. That was not the way he wanted it to be. "No, I cannot describe it in any more detail. I have answered many of your questions already. Now you could answer one of mine. Can we return to our home through your portal? Have you tried returning there already?"
Sam frowned. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't really answer that," she said regretfully. "I'll have to ask the General."
"Well, then we have nothing left to discuss. Return with your questions when you have something to offer in return. I was told I am not a prisoner, but here you keep me in a cell and come to interrogate me," Raistlin sneered.
The woman rose up, still looking remorseful. "It's all true, you're not a prisoner. I'm not interrogating you, I'm trying to understand how your world works. I'll go ask General Hammond. I really think you should be told what's happening."
When Sam Carter stepped towards the door, Caramon instantly sprang up from his place and courteously opened the door to her. Raistlin, still sitting on his bed, shook his head to his brother. In days like this, Raistlin felt happy that Caramon was so thick. There was no need to worry that he would tell too much about anything to these strangers. He was completely happy reading what the SG-people called "comics", some kind of brightly coloured story books with a lot of pictures, some of them containing talking animals - apparently meant for children. Clearly a perfect pastime for Caramon.
***
Captain Carter was actually able to surprise Raistlin in a positive way. She wasn't gone for a long time, less than an hour, and when she came back, she had good news. "We've been planning a rescue mission to your planet all this time. We want to get the colonel and Daniel back here, and we hope that we can get you back there as well. It's not going to be easy, though. We sent a MALP through earlier - that's a machine we use to see and hear what's happening on the other side of the 'Gate - but it was almost instantly destroyed by something that looked like a bolt of lightning. I have no idea what it was. Magic, maybe," she smirked.
Raistlin snorted and glared at the woman. "That's clearly what it was, yes. Now, go on."
"Well, during the short moment that we could get some data, we saw that the area around the 'Gate is completely in control of those aliens that you call draconians. Looking at enlarged pictures later, we've actually figured out that they're cleaning up the ruins and building new things at an amazing pace. We couldn't see Jack, Daniel or any of your friends. I think you'll get to see those pictures soon enough, to check if you can tell us anything more about them," Sam paused to cast a glance at Raistlin and Caramon, who had abandoned his comic books and was standing behind his brother, listening attentively.
"That was to be expected. They should be wise enough to stay hidden, unless they've all been caught. So, what are you going to do?" the mage asked impatiently.
"Actually, it's quite simple. We're sending through a large armed party. The last time we fought them, the draconians didn't understand our weapons. I think they were actually afraid of them. I hope they still are, that'd help us a bit. First, we'll need to secure the 'Gate area, and then we can split up to look for the lost people. But that'll all be explained in the mission briefing, which'll take place in two hours. The General wishes to have you both there. You know best what'll be waiting for us there."
"And had I not asked you, when would you have told us this? This plan of yours does closely concern me and my brother."
"We were going to tell you soon, really. The General said he had been planning to send someone here in a moment, but I could do it just as well."
"So you say, but what proof do I have that it is true?" Raistlin sneered.
"As little proof as we have that you're not lying to us," Sam replied and headed out of the twins' room, not looking angry, but rather disappointed.
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Raistlin quickly realized that he couldn't form any kind of plans when he knew so little of where he was and who these people were. He would have to find out. And he would also have to learn the exact nature of his loss of magical powers.
Having spent most of his life studying magic, Raistlin had always been surrounded by it. Even when he had been very young and hadn't known how to actually cast a spell, magic had always been there. It had been with his mother, who had never learned to use her talent, but often ended up lost in her own worlds, oblivious to what was really happening. Magic had been in him, in his very blood - but in the world as well, in the earth, the air, the water.
Now, Raistlin finally understood why he had felt worse than usual when he had first woken up here. Here, in this new world, there was no magic. Something that had always been there with him was suddenly missing. The small traces of magic that he could actually find and sense had all been brought here by himself, like the Staff of Magius, or then were radiating from that distant world that was his home.
Raistlin decided to use his foolish hosts as he best could, which was quite a challenge after the unfortunate, unpleasant situation in the infirmary. Luckily enough, they did not instantly declare him a fraud when he couldn't make his first spell work. Instead, they suggested that since he was probably still tired and not feeling all that well, he should try again later. "But you'd better be careful with what you do, son. I'd choose my targets a bit more carefully next time, if I were you," General Hammond said, managing to sound both fatherly and threatening in the same time.
Raistlin felt he was getting used to the lessened amount of magic in this place, either because he had already spent half a day here, or then because he now understood the reason for it. Surprisingly enough, he didn't feel worse anymore, but better - perhaps less consumed by that inner fire that was originally born of magic. He was actually able to convince the General and the Doctor that he would stay alive outside the infirmary as well. Fraiser reluctantly allowed him to move in to the same quarters with Caramon, taken that he would have to return under her caring eyes should his condition change in any way. Raistlin suggested that they'd give him a target of some kind so he could practice his magic, a living thing, if possible. They brought him a white rat in a cage.
The young mage managed to put the rat to sleep, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make the spell work on Caramon - no one had mentioned that he shouldn't use his twin brother as a test subject. Annoyed by this, he tried something else, and successfully burned the poor rodent to ashes. Of course, he had to hide the remains quickly, so he wouldn't raise any unnecessary suspicions. Then he asked for a new rat and promised that this time, he would actually make it work.
It worked perfectly well, the rat fell asleep at his command under the very eyes of General Hammond, Janet Fraiser, Sam Carter, Teal'c, assorted lower- ranking people who he didn't know - and, of course, Caramon. Out of the lot, Caramon seemed the most impressed. Teal'c raised his eyebrows, which appeared to be about as far as he ever went in showing amazement. Hammond frowned and looked at Fraiser, who simply shrugged. Sam instantly headed for the cage and begun looking for mechanisms of some kind, and asked Raistlin to show that he didn't have any devices in secret pockets in his sleeves or something like that. Of course, he did have secret pockets in his sleeves, and he had no intention of showing them to her.
After this little demonstration, Sam Carter was annoyingly eager to try and get some sort of an explanation out of Raistlin, though she wasn't willing to accept any of what he was telling her.
"But you can't really mean that there's this one all-around strange, unexplainable power that can make anything happen and is simply controlled by hand-waving, sand-tossing and mumbling mystical words. That's just not possible!"
"Of course, using magic does have its limits and its rules - one can't just make anything happen. Yet those limits are mostly born of the magic-users. Spell-casting is very draining, as you have seen, if you have observed what I have done. The greater the spell, the more exhausting it is. Also, some mages are more powerful than others. Thus, even a beginner can, for example, learn to cast a spell that shows if there is magic about, but even a master will have difficulties with the greatest of things..."
"Like what? Raising storms? Creating fire or lightning? Mind-reading?" Carter suggested sceptically.
Raistlin was always reluctant to tell too much of how magic worked. It was not meant to be general knowledge. But now, in this world, he felt rather careless. As sharp as this woman was in some things, in the end, she was just another fool. He could tell her anything, she wouldn't ever even begin to believe it. He might as well try and gain some awe from her. "No, those are not the most powerful of spells. I would rather say summoning demons, or time-travel."
"Demons? Some kind of monstrous beasts, then? You can actually travel in time with this magic of yours?"
"When I say demons, I mean it. And yes, it is possible. I could not do such a thing, though. Not yet."
"But I still can't see how that could work," Sam shook her head. "We've accidentally experienced time traveling with the 'Gate, but that was actually more of an accident, and happened in really unusual circumstances..."
"Are you not listening to what I say? I told that it is one of the most difficult things to achieve. I have no knowledge of such things so far, only that it is said that it can be done."
"All right," she nodded this time, but the look on her face was just as defiant as before. "Can you describe the actual power in any more detail? Is it visible? Where does it come from? You say there's no magic here, on Earth. So, is it stronger in some places than others? How can one learn to use it?"
By the Gods, this woman was worse than the kender. The more he would speak, the more she would ask. That was not the way he wanted it to be. "No, I cannot describe it in any more detail. I have answered many of your questions already. Now you could answer one of mine. Can we return to our home through your portal? Have you tried returning there already?"
Sam frowned. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't really answer that," she said regretfully. "I'll have to ask the General."
"Well, then we have nothing left to discuss. Return with your questions when you have something to offer in return. I was told I am not a prisoner, but here you keep me in a cell and come to interrogate me," Raistlin sneered.
The woman rose up, still looking remorseful. "It's all true, you're not a prisoner. I'm not interrogating you, I'm trying to understand how your world works. I'll go ask General Hammond. I really think you should be told what's happening."
When Sam Carter stepped towards the door, Caramon instantly sprang up from his place and courteously opened the door to her. Raistlin, still sitting on his bed, shook his head to his brother. In days like this, Raistlin felt happy that Caramon was so thick. There was no need to worry that he would tell too much about anything to these strangers. He was completely happy reading what the SG-people called "comics", some kind of brightly coloured story books with a lot of pictures, some of them containing talking animals - apparently meant for children. Clearly a perfect pastime for Caramon.
***
Captain Carter was actually able to surprise Raistlin in a positive way. She wasn't gone for a long time, less than an hour, and when she came back, she had good news. "We've been planning a rescue mission to your planet all this time. We want to get the colonel and Daniel back here, and we hope that we can get you back there as well. It's not going to be easy, though. We sent a MALP through earlier - that's a machine we use to see and hear what's happening on the other side of the 'Gate - but it was almost instantly destroyed by something that looked like a bolt of lightning. I have no idea what it was. Magic, maybe," she smirked.
Raistlin snorted and glared at the woman. "That's clearly what it was, yes. Now, go on."
"Well, during the short moment that we could get some data, we saw that the area around the 'Gate is completely in control of those aliens that you call draconians. Looking at enlarged pictures later, we've actually figured out that they're cleaning up the ruins and building new things at an amazing pace. We couldn't see Jack, Daniel or any of your friends. I think you'll get to see those pictures soon enough, to check if you can tell us anything more about them," Sam paused to cast a glance at Raistlin and Caramon, who had abandoned his comic books and was standing behind his brother, listening attentively.
"That was to be expected. They should be wise enough to stay hidden, unless they've all been caught. So, what are you going to do?" the mage asked impatiently.
"Actually, it's quite simple. We're sending through a large armed party. The last time we fought them, the draconians didn't understand our weapons. I think they were actually afraid of them. I hope they still are, that'd help us a bit. First, we'll need to secure the 'Gate area, and then we can split up to look for the lost people. But that'll all be explained in the mission briefing, which'll take place in two hours. The General wishes to have you both there. You know best what'll be waiting for us there."
"And had I not asked you, when would you have told us this? This plan of yours does closely concern me and my brother."
"We were going to tell you soon, really. The General said he had been planning to send someone here in a moment, but I could do it just as well."
"So you say, but what proof do I have that it is true?" Raistlin sneered.
"As little proof as we have that you're not lying to us," Sam replied and headed out of the twins' room, not looking angry, but rather disappointed.