The man straightened his back stiffly. Daniel lifted the fallen torch and held it to his face, causing the light to reflect strongly off his glasses. Daniel opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a groan. This procedure repeated a number of times, Daniel becoming more frustrated with each attempt. Finally, he huffed and reached out his free hand and covered the man's mouth. Unfortunately, the man's eyes rolled back and he didn't get any farther than, "My name is Dan-," before the man's eyes fluttered and shut. He'd passed out. With a sigh, Daniel shot a wary glance at Teal'c who flicked an eyebrow in bemusement, loosening his grip on the man's throat. Daniel pulled up a corner of his mouth and nodded. Teal'c lowered the man to the ground, though he kept his hand to the man's chest, pinning him still to the wall as his eyes flickered open. Daniel gestured to the jaffa and spoke slowly. "This is Teal'c." He pointed to himself and each other person in turn. "My name is Doctor Daniel Jackson. This is Major Samantha Carter and Captain Kyle Rand. Can you understand me?"

Daniel slowly withdrew his hand, waiting for an answer. Finally, the man's shuddering abated and he nodded several times, becoming surer of the motion each time. Daniel's eyes crinkled in relaxed satisfaction. "Good. We don't want to hurt you but we do need to leave. Right now." Daniel gestured to Teal'c who released him completely, taking a step back. The man seemed to unwind himself from a striking posture.

He seemed to breathe shallowly, almost hissing as he spoke. "You… won't kill me?"

Daniel shook his head and spoke kindly. "No. We just want to leave."

The man narrowed his eyes with practiced suspicion, "I don't understand… Aren't you invaders? Do you not seek the yggdrasil?"

Daniel's eyes darted around to his companions. "Well, we're not invaders. We just need to do something here. Then, we'll leave."

The man swallowed hard. "Only those with the authority of the gods can approach. We are sworn to repel all other invaders."

Daniel tilted his head gently to the side. "Why exactly?"

The man relaxed a heavy breath. "Thor charged our people long ago to protect the world-tree at all cost. He told us that many would try and take that which belonged to him. He said that we must aid in them."

Daniel wrinkled his eyebrows, passing a curious look to the others. He held up a finger and pressed his eyes shut. "Just… one minute." Daniel backed up and motioned to the others who gathered around him. Teal'c took a few steps back and made a corner turn, putting his ear to the others but still watching their friend. Daniel cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up. "Does this strike anyone else as a little odd?"

Sam crossed her arms. "Thor asking people like this to guard technology? Yeah." She shot Kyle an inquiring glance. "Did this happen the last time you were here?"

He crossed his arms and sighed. "No. This doesn't add up at all." He scratched his chin and gestured with his hands. "The plexus has loads of passive security on it and that's more than enough on it's own."

Daniel's eyes darted around. "Well, here's a thought: maybe it's something they've taken upon themselves. It could be that this… whatever-you-want-to-call-it has been such a big part of their culture so long that they've developed an original mythology around it. It's not unheard of."

Sam rocked her head and shrugged. "Okay. Well, we'll just need to get out as quietly as possible." The circle unfolded and Sam turned to the man, still cowering under Teal'c's stern gaze. "We need the things you took from us and a way out. Can you help us?" The man seemed to be speaking to himself silently, looking down with his eyes shuddering around in a non-descript pattern before he finally voiced words.

"But… if I allow you to go… Thor will strike me down."

Kyle took a step forward, resting two fingers on Sam's shoulder. She looked over and stepped to the side. Kyle looked wearily at the man. "Do you have a name?" He nodded vigorously. "Egan." Kyle smiled kindly. "Egan, I think I can put your mind at ease. Don't be afraid." Kyle took a deep breath and held his hands out and a few inches apart. After a brief moment of silence, the palms of his hands began to glow and blue bolts of electricity shot between them, adding a harsh indigo light to the dim cell. A moment later, the glow subsided and Kyle lowered his hands.

Egan's eyes went wide and he nodded curtly. "I will take you where you need to go." Sam and Teal'c claimed the discarded torches from the corner and re-lit them from Daniel's.

Egan led them down a series of dank, narrow corridors with Teal'c and Kyle close behind with Sam and Daniel in the rear. Teal'c kept a watchful eye on the man leading them, looking for any sign of deception or violence. He heard a quiet grumble from the man at his side. "Are you well Kyle Rand?"

"Hm?" He heard the object of his query turn his head slightly before returning it to the front. "Yeah, don't worry about me. This just isn't the vacation I had in mind."

Teal'c's curiosity was aroused. "Vacation?"

He chuckled. "Yeah. I was supposed to have two weeks of down time. Like that ever happens."

Teal'c's mouth turned upward. "Indeed. Did you have any arrangements made?"

"I was hoping to make it to this place I have in California. I figured a week and a half of surfing, and a few days back in the Springs. Right," he said smacking his lips.

Teal'c smiled tautly. "That sounds worthwhile. I one day hope to have a similar opportunity."

Kyle chortled. "Surfing?"

Teal'c had long ago learned to recognize sarcasm as the disguised humor it was. He accepted the tacit invitation to elaborate and relaxed his face further, noting that Kyle Rand, while watching Egan carefully as he was, was passing him an occasional glance. "While that is… intriguing, I was referring to the opportunity to enjoy time outside the SGC." There was a slight change in the pattern of sounds behind him. The balance of Daniel Jackson's gait had changed at his statement and Major Carter's voice floated up to him.

"Teal'c? What are you saying?"

He chanced a glance over his shoulder and found a hopefully bemused smile on her face and a shocked grin on Daniel Jackson. "If I am welcome, I believe I may wish to establish myself outside the confines of the SGC." They turned a corner, bringing them into a wider section of corridor made from lighter tan stone. The torchlight no longer reached the ceiling and, combined with the reflection from the lighter walls, cast their features in stark shadows while accenting skin tone in an almost statuesque manner. Teal'c returned his attention forward.

"Teal'c, not that I'm trying to discourage you, but I though you didn't want to do that… that you always intended to return to Chulak someday," Daniel Jackson inquired.

Teal'c permitted himself a look of hopeful satisfaction. Truthfully, he had been considering this for sometime, but had not yet shared his intentions. "I am jaffa; I will always stand with my people. However… contrary to my intentions, your world has become my home. I have no shame of this."

They came to a halt before a heavy wooden door, blackened with age. Major Carter, though, proceeded forward several additional steps before turning back around. He pivoted and met her gaze, greatly upturned due to their height difference. "After all you've done for Earth, we should be so lucky to have you." Teal'c bent deeply at the waist, his trepidation at broaching the subject washed away. Straightening himself, Daniel Jackson merely smiled and clapped him lightly on the shoulder; Captain Rand's face was attentive, but with a small smile of approval.

"I'll teach you to surf. Or, snowboard if you stay in Colorado all the time. It's better than fishing—I swear."

Daniel smirked and Sam tried to hide a sad smile by rubbing her face. Daniel noticed and quickly stepped up beside Egan. "So, where are we?"

He glanced at the door and then looked around the room. "This is where your belongings are stored. I haven't the ken of how to open the door, though." Daniel crossed his arms and scrutinized the door. It was identifiable as such only by it's difference from the walls surrounding it. The door was carved from a solid piece of timber, had no discernable hinges and no handle or keyhole of any kind.

Daniel huffed. "Egan, have you ever seen this door being opened?"

Egan nodded. "Yes; today, in fact, when your items were interred. I know only that it has to do with the runes." He gestured to the large space opposite the door. Engraved in tan marble on the floor was a giant ring nearly the size of a stargate. The ring was sectored, with each segment containing a small group of runes; at the center was a large hammer emblem. The party approached the circle cautiously. Teal'c knelt on the outside of the ring and ran a finger along the edge of a rune block.

"These symbols are all raised slightly." He rubbed his fingers together as he rose. "Major Carter?" She approached and ran a finger over his, bringing it up close to her eyes for inspection. She rubbed it between her fingers and sniffed, making a face.

"It smells like some kind of oil. Maybe a lubricant." Kyle walked the perimeter slowly inspecting the object and came to Sam, sampling the substance himself.

"Or, hydraulic fluid."

She nodded. "That would make sense." She glanced at the floor again. "Daniel, can you read these runes?"

Daniel waved his torch over several. "Sure. Mostly it looks like a list of figures from Norse mythology." He paused and waved a finger at Sam. "You're thinking of Marduk's ziggurat."

Sam's eyebrows flared. "Exactly. We just need to figure out what the combination is."

Daniel examined each rune carefully. "Got it." He looked up and gestured with his torch. "Okay, there are two clans of good gods in Norse myth and most of these runes represent them. However, the god Loki and his three children were enemies of the gods and essentially evil." He gently rested his foot on the rune in front of him, and then stepped forward with all his weight. The rune slid down a fraction of an inch slowly. Daniel stepped off and it rose again. "Um, okay, it looks like we'll need to work together." Daniel looked around and motioned to the group as he led them around the circle, pointing as they went. "Kyle stand here, Sam stand here, Teal'c here." Each stood on their appointed rune and Daniel returned to the one he had been on previously. As he stepped onto it, the massive door silently glided open and came to rest. Daniel looked to Egan, noting his carefully impressed expression. "Egan, can you see if there's a lock or something to hold that door open?" Egan walked over and knelt at the edge of the door, dropping a heavy iron stake into a socket on the ground. It slid in with a metallic gurgling before emitting a hollow THUNK after it fell several inches. Each stepped off and approached the dark hole now opened in the wall.

Egan walked in ahead of them, lighting flame pits set in corners of a large room. As they each began to burn, polished metal mirrors in the ceiling bounced the light around to help illuminate the room. They placed their torches in wall sconces and turned to face the brightened room. Daniel's eyebrows shot upward. "Whoa. Okay, so I think we can officially put these people down as being a little out of bounds as far as Norse culture is concerned." Sam and Teal'c's eyes widened slightly.

Kyle blinked. "Holy crap. Who's the decorator, Vlad the Impaler?"

Daniel looked around, surveying the room carefully. "That actually might be a fair guess."

The walls of the room were decorated with weapons of every sort: swords, staves, shields, helms, and energy weapons of a dozen different kinds. They seemed to be divided into partitions, with clusters of similar weapons each occupying a distinct section of wall, with runes cut within each group; some groups had dusty skulls set into the walls along with the other things. Egan was standing near the center of the room, watching their reaction sheepishly. Their packs were in a pile off to the far right, with their weapons newly tacked to the wall by wooden pegs. They began re-assembling their gear and checking their weapons.

Sam clipped her P90 to its sling and began walking around a blackened hemisphere cut into the floor. "Egan, what's this for?"

Egan stepped up beside her. "Your other belongings would have been burned here."

Sam looked up and noted a darkened, black hole in the ceiling that seemed to act as a chimney.

Teal'c had begun wandering slowly, perusing the items mounted, presumably, as trophies; his staff weapon and heavy footsteps clicking heavily with each step. "Staff weapons… zat'nikatels… Tollen hand weapons… TERs… and many others I do not recognize." Kyle slipped his zat into its holster and came up beside him.

"Efanti disruptors." Teal'c turned his head and cocked an eyebrow. Kyle shrugged. "You haven't met them yet." He jerked his head at Egan, looking crestfallen near the door. Sam followed with a glance and met his eyes. "How about we go to work, ma'am?" She nodded.

Daniel took a heavy breath, looking at their helper. "Sounds good to me." The four of them walked over to the waiting Egan. Daniel folded his arms across his chest. "Egan… correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't seem to approve of this," he said looking around broadly.

Egan looked down, gripped the collar of his tunic and let his elbows dangle, seeming to form a careful explanation. "Doctor Jackson… no one enjoys this task. These relics are here to remind us of the seriousness of the undertaking. Kefal says that if it were a simple or easy thing for us to do, then there would be something wrong with us. I must believe that he does not know who you are."

Sam wrinkled her nose slightly. "Egan, who is Kefal? Is he your leader?"

Egan dropped his hands. "His voice is strong among our people, and he leads us in this task but not in all matters."

Kyle shifted his weight and cleared his throat. "Egan, you don't need to do this. Thor wouldn't ask you because what you guard has defenses of it's own; defenses built by," he winced slightly, "the gods."

Daniel nodded his agreement. "You can stop this. You and your people don't need to do this anymore."

Egan stared at the ground for a moment, his forehead creased in thought. "Since the time Kefal came to us, he has helped us in many ways and he has always been honorable. I do not know if my people will be willing to go against his word. I do not know if I am."

Teal'c inclined his head. "If he is indeed honorable then perhaps your people need only discuss the situation. If you require information, we can provide it."

Egan nodded with a thin smile and spoke with a slightly scratched voice. "I will consider your words. For now, you must leave before your escape is discovered. I do not know how long you have. Come, this way."

They followed him out the door, lifting the stake and allowing the huge wooden plug to come to rest flush against the wall. Their torches provided bare lighting, but Egan seemed to know where he was going. Even so, they made a tactical advance with weapons drawn and Teal'c moving backwards almost the entire time. The stone walls narrowed severely forcing them to walk single file and the walls themselves changed from glassy tan blocks back to the quarried gray stone of their cell. As they went, the hollow footfalls soon became rougher as the floor became more cobbled. Soon, their footsteps sounded with grinding scrapes as the floor added a layer of coarse grit. Finally, Egan slowed and held his hand out.

Sam sniffed and whispered. "Fresh air."

Egan nodded with his head turned as if listening ahead. "Yes. We are near your exit."

He rested his foot on a markedly raised stone on the left edge of the passage. "Douse your torches. I can re-light my own once you are away." One by one, they did as they were asked, sending the passage into a soundless, empty darkness. Only faint green afterimages, tricks of eyes deprived of light, played across their vision. After a moment, those too faded. A bit of scratching ahead, followed by the distinctive sound of stone grinding on stone. Slowly, a sliver of starlit sky sliced through the black ahead of them and began to widen, silhouetting each of them to the eyes of the one behind them. A peaceful buzz-chirping sound filled the air and a soft, cool breeze blew in the passage, knocking pine boughs around the frame of sky. As their eyes adjusted they could see that they were in an area surrounded by trees, as the musky, not-quite-pine scent confirmed. Egan moved forward quietly, leading them silently into a tiny clearing before the passageway. It was set into a large moss-covered stone wall that shot several stories into the sky and receded at angles to the left and right. Egan whispered at a nearly inaudible volume. "Take your leave quickly. Thor go with you."

Sam's eyes flitted between him and a field, just visible in the blue moonlight. "Thank you, for everything. Egan, if your people want to talk, we should arrange for somewhere to meet on our way back."

"That will not be necessary," a booming authoritarian voice called from the blackness, "for we are already here." Dozens of torches flared to light, illuminating twenty or more men brandishing crossbows, many dressed similarly to Egan, though all lacking his slight presence. The five of them each snapped up a weapon to a ready position. "Egan, I am disappointed. I thought you were going to go home and rest from today's battle with the etans. Instead you turn them loose." A tall man with chiseled features and long gray hair stepped from the group, a heavy sword at his side.

Egan rose to his full height and stepped forward, his posture taking on a comfortable one of dignity and authority. "Kefal, these are not etans. They wield the power of Thor and come in His name. My only regret is that I did not learn this sooner." Kefal's eyes narrowed and he stepped toward them, his boots crunching the pine needles loudly. Finally, he stepped an arm's length from the group.

"Egan, you do not know what I do about these people, nor do you know what they are. You have been deceived."

Sam straightened her back and glared down the barrel of her weapon. "My God. He's goa'uld."