(Telboriel, thanks. Here is another edge on your seat chapter, I hope. :smiles: JD alien freak, wow, and I thought I was happy to see a Martouf story. I hope you enjoy. AA, thanks.)
Part 2, Strangers
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"Wake up."
Martouf woke up, frowning slightly from his dream. He then felt surprised. "Mother? I thought Father was going to wake us up."
"Tur came early this morning, and they left. Hurry, you are going to be late."
His eyes widened. "What? No, can't be late. Marrow, Yirp, wake up!"
Yirp had been living with them since his parents died almost six years ago. "What?"
"We are going to be late." Martouf jumped out of bed as his mother left. He started getting dressed, and the other two started as well.
"What time is it?" Marrow, Martouf's older brother, asked.
"I don't know." Martouf left the room.
His mother put a sandwich in his hands. "You can eat it on the way over." She also gave him a bag with his lunch.
"Thank you, Mother," he said, and headed out. He started running and eating his sandwich. He heard his brother and friend behind him.
Martouf was curious about what Tur wanted. "I wonder why our mining leader would want to speak to Father." His father was a regular miner just like them after all.
"Not important now," Marrow said.
Martouf finished his sandwich deciding his brother was right. If they ran fast enough, they'd make it in time. That is what was important now. However, suddenly in the distance, he heard the sound of the Ring, and he came to a halt.
Marrow and Yirp stopped, and looked at Martouf for explanation.
"I heard the Goddess Ring," Martouf explained.
"That's impossible, Lady Bastet's Jaffa isn't due until two days from now," Yirp replied.
"I'm telling you, I heard it." Martouf ran off towards the Goddess Ring. He heard the other two follow him. He had left the path, and went into the forest. Martouf stopped when he saw the Goddess Ring was activated. His brother ran into him, and the two fell.
"Ow," Martouf said as he was knocked down, but stayed down as he saw someone was walking through. He positioned on one knee, and bowed. The other two did the same. However, Lady Bastet did not come through. Instead two females and one male came from the water.
The male wore a beige outfit of leather, and appeared to be in his sixties. The female, who appeared to be about three and a half decades, wore a long, light blue dress with short sleeves. The second female looked about ten years younger than the first, and wore a sleeveless shirt and simple, short skirt. They looked like they had just been running, and seemed a bit worried.
Martouf had no idea what to do.
The three strangers approached, and the older female spoke. "There is no need to bow. Please, stand."
Martouf glanced to Yirp, confused, but then got to his feet. "H-hello."
"Hello, my name is Saroosh. This is Setta and Rorm."
The other two looked very serious, especially the young female, and it kind of scared Martouf.
"Are you messengers of Lady Bastet?" Martouf asked.
All three of them looked slightly disgusted with the question. "We do not serve her," Setta added, who seemed more friendly all the sudden.
Saroosh glanced to Setta, and then looked back to the three boys. "Nor do we wish to insult your beliefs in any way."
"Beliefs?" Martouf questioned. "She comes here every year."
"She does?" Saroosh looked back to the others, and then backed to Martouf again. "When is she due to return?"
"On the full moon after next she will collect her tribute."
"What kind of tribute?" Setta asked.
"You can't have it," Marrow said quickly.
Saroosh nodded. "We don't want the tribute. Excuse the question. We are explorers, and are very curious about others."
Somehow Martouf didn't think they were explorers. "You should talk to our leader."
"We need to go to the mines," Marrow said. "We are already late."
"Our leader is probably at the mines. We can bring them to meet him, and then go to work," Martouf suggested.
"That sounds like a good plan," Saroosh said. "We will follow you to these mines."
"Well, they are a good reason to be late," Yirp said quietly as they headed off.
"We were already late," Martouf said as he hurried to the mines. "Why are you smiling like that?"
"We can see that woman's shoulders and legs. I've never seen a woman's shoulders or legs before."
Martouf scoffed lightly. "I doubt that."
"I haven't," Yirp said in defense.
"Well, now you have a nice view." Martouf said, who had been rather surprised by the her clothes as well.
"I seriously hope they can't hear you two," Marrow said.
Martouf's eyes widened slightly at the thought, and then looked back to see if they might have been heard. The three strangers were talking to each other. "I doubt it."
They arrived at the mines. Tur started yelling as soon as he saw the boys. "You're late! Why are-" He stopped when he saw the strangers behind them.
"They came through the Goddess Ring, sir," Martouf said quickly. "We were hoping Eush was here."
Tur looked very surprised. "You are sure they came through the Goddess Ring?"
"Yes, we saw them walk through the water, sir."
"All right. Get to work. I'll bring them to Eush."
Martouf nodded. He and the other two grabbed needed tools, and went into the mines.
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"It's not fair," Yirp said as he entered the house. Martouf and Marrow were eating their dinner that night. Their mother had already eaten, and was working outside. Their father had not yet come home.
"What's not fair?" Martouf asked.
"The strangers are staying for the next few days, and they were provided with our type of clothes."
"Well, they should wear what we wear," Marrow replied without looking up.
Martouf was disappointed with the news, and turned to his brother. "I happened to like what Setta was wearing."
"Exactly!" Yirp said as he served himself something to eat. He sat down. "You get the impression these strangers aren't who they say they are?"
Martouf nodded. "They seemed to be almost running through the water."
"Why don't we check on them tonight," Yirp said, which Martouf knew meant spying on them.
"What if they are other gods?"
"They can't be," Yirp replied. "Gods are all knowing, and they had too many questions to be all knowing."
"True."
Marrow looked rather shocked as he watched them. "You two can't be serious."
Yirp looked to him. "It would be fun. Don't you miss fun?"
"I will tell our parents what you plan to do."
"We'll just deny it, won't we, Martouf?"
Martouf blinked. "Uh, er, yes, we'll deny it."
Marrow glared at his brother.
"We aren't going to spy on them anyway," Martouf said. "So, just forget it."
"You'd better not."
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That night, Martouf wasn't too surprised when Yirp woke up him. Yirp smiled, and gestured to Martouf with hand signals that the two of them had created. "You going?"
Martouf frowned.
Yirp pleaded with facial expression and gesture until Martouf agreed to come. He changed his clothes, and quietly they snuck out of the house.
"Where are they staying?"
"They are staying in Rar's house since he and his family are out of town."
Martouf smiled. "The perfect house for spying."
Yirp smiled in return. It was one of a few houses they helped build, and knew how to spy on anyone inside.
They started out into the darkness, and though couldn't see well, knew where they were going. They crouched down as they walked on to Rar's property. They stopped, slightly wide eyed when they realized someone was behind them. Martouf was nervous as he turned around, but saw his brother. "Marrow?"
"I knew it. I knew you two were going to sneak out of the house. Wait until Father and Moth-"
"Keep quiet, Marrow," Yirp whispered. "You obviously snuck out as well. You won't be in any less trouble."
Marrow frowned at that, though they couldn't see in the darkness.
Yirp looked back to Martouf. "Ignore him. Let's go."
The two moved closer to the house, and despite saying he disagreed with the actions, Marrow went along with them. Yirp and Martouf knew just where to go. On one side of the house, two of the wooden planks didn't fit well together. They could look in. It was near a corner with an unfinished window near.
The boys were very quiet as they approached the house and took positions next to the wall.
The male, Rorm, was pacing. "We shouldn't be here." His voice was a lot deeper than it had been before. It eerily reminded Martouf of their Goddess, and he wondered if perhaps they were spying on gods. He looked to Yirp in concern.
Yirp signed back in the tiny light that was provided. "Then they would know we were here."
Yirp does have a point, Martouf thought.
"We will leave soon, Aldwin," said the older female, Saroosh, who's voice was also deep.
Martouf wondered why Rorm had two names.
"We should return to the Tok'ra base. Bastet is coming," replied the male. "If she finds us..."
"She won't," Setta said. Her voice was also very deep. "I still need to fully heal my host before we can move on."
Martouf, at this point, had the creeps. He glanced to the others, and even Yirp's eyes were wider than normal.
The male, Rorm, or Aldwin, whatever his name was, turned back to her. "I'm know. I'm sorry, Lantash. Being here is just...unnerving."
"Perhaps though, we could use this to our advantage," Saroosh said.
The younger female turned to her. "In what way, Selmak?"
"We know exactly when Bastet will be coming here. We could use that to our advantage."
"I don't think the people here would appreciate that," the male replied.
"Unfortunately, with not having enough naquadah, what they want won't really matter. If we can find some way to help them..." said the younger female, who's voice was suddenly normal.
"We should help them," the older female agreed.
Martouf felt very nervous. He wanted to both leave and to continue listening.
"Unfortunately the only way they'd want help is to have enough naquadah for Bastet. It is a solution that will only work this year." Setta lowered her head, and her eyes flashed when she looked back up. She started to say something else, but the boys didn't hear it.
Martouf and Marrow had taken off running. Yirp glanced up as they left, and then followed. They didn't stop running until they were back on their own ground. Martouf looked to Yirp as he caught his breath. "You fool! They were gods! We just spied on gods! They are going to kill us!"
"If they were gods-"
"Their voices were deep like Bastet, and that one, her eyes glowed like when Bastet was angry. Setta must have been angry."
"He called her Lantash," Marrow said.
"Whatever her name was! Does it really matter!"
Marrow nodded, very afraid himself. "I just-I-" He turned to Yirp. "This is your fault."
"But we have something now," Yirp said.
"All we have is a few gods who are now angry at us," Martouf said. "It's already bad that Bastet will be, but now them too."
"Don't you see?" Yirp asked. "These, these, what did they say they were?"
"I believe they called themselves Tok'ra," Marrow said.
"These Tok'ra, they were obviously enemies of Bastet. She would not allow her enemies to harm us. Obviously as gods they have a way to keep information from her, but we can tell her. Then she will be pleased, and forgive us for not having enough naquadah."
Marrow's eyebrows raised. "Do you really think so?"
"Perhaps it's even a test of our faith to her. Do you think it just happened that we who first met them are the ones who learned the truth. Just, whatever happened, they made no reaction to us being there. We'll act like we know nothing for now. Lady Bastet's Jaffa is due to come in two days. They plan to leave in three days. We simply tell him what we know about them."
"We should tell someone," Marrow said.
"The more people who know, the more likely the other gods will find out before they leave. We must do this ourselves."
Marrow frowned, but then nodded. "All right, Yirp. We'll do what you want. Good. Martouf?" He turned to his brother. "What do you say?"
Martouf thought about it. Something about the plan seemed wrong, but he nodded. "All right. When the Jaffa comes we'll tell him about the Tok'ra."
to be continued...
Character Key
Bastet-Evil female Goa'uld.
Carrof-Former mine leader.
Eush-Town leader.
Marrow-Martouf's older brother.
Rorm-Stranger male.
Saroosh-Stranger female.
Setta-Stranger female.
Tur-New mine leader.
Yirp-Martouf's friend and foster brother.