"Ancient?" Daniel asked, turning and stumbling over a rock on the floor and barely catching himself before he fell. "Really?"
"Careful, Daniel," Jack said – again.
"I'm fine, Jack… it's just a little unsteady right here."
"There have been several instances of rocks falling…" Peter said, looking around with interest. He had been to the cave before, but had never actually spent so much time inside it. Children were warned from a very young age just how dangerous the place was, and this was usually enough to keep all but the bravest – or most foolish – out of it.
"What does it say, Ian?" Jack asked, shining his flashlight that direction for a moment, but then bringing it back to the picture of the ship and the map. It was the first time he'd actually been all that interested in anything that they'd found – that wasn't a weapon, anyways – and he had to admit it was pretty interesting to be looking at something so old.
Daniel shined his flashlight at Ian, and the wall that he couldn't yet get close enough to see with any clarity. Ian wasn't watching him, though. The cadet had turned back to the wall and was looking at it – presumably reading it, and was moving further to the right, absorbed in whatever it was. Daniel couldn't really tell what he was looking at, because Ian's flashlight was blocked by his body.
"Hey! There's a-"
"Ian!"
Jack was the first to feel the tremor. The shudder that seemed to run through the entire structure of the cave that surrounded him. The others felt it almost as soon, and Braxton and Aaron fearfully looked up, already dodging towards the entrance. Before any of them could move, however, and huge slab of ceiling came crashing down, landing right in front of Daniel, who jerked backwards, tumbling to the rocky floor of the cave and crashing into Jaffer, who had been lunging toward Ian – as if to knock him out of the way. The big dog was knocked backward and both of them careened into Teal'c, who took their impact without being knocked over, and reached a hand to steady them.
"Ian!"
"We must leave!" Aaron screamed, already heading for the entrance, and pulling on Jack, who was closest.
O'Neill shrugged him off easily, staring at the wall of rubble in front of him. Dust and dirt were floating all around them, but Jack had eyes only for the stone. The slab had weighed thousands of pounds – it had to considering how big it was. If Ian had been caught by that…
"Ian!"
"Don't yell," Braxton hissed, looking pale and scared in the light of the flashlight Jack held. "You'll bring more down."
"We have to clear this away…"
"It is impossible."
"Teal'c."
Jack pushed Braxton away, and he reached for one of the rocks – one that was about the size of his head.
"It'll take days…" Braxton said, shaking his head. "And you must realize that even with his powers, if the stones landed on him, he's dead."
"He doesn't have any powers," Jack snapped, dropping the rock to the side after making sure Jaffer was out of the way. "He's just a kid. And we have to find him."
Even if he was dead, they had to find him. They couldn't leave him. Jack wouldn't leave him.
"It might have missed him," Daniel said, reaching for a rock as well, his P90 already on the floor to the side, where Jaffer and Jack (the dog) were standing. Teal'c had gestured for both dogs to go there, and had leaned his staff weapon against the wall where it would be out of the way and give him both hands to move stones.
"He would have answered." Peter said, from the entrance to the cave.
"Not if he was knocked out or something," Jack said, bringing over another rock and dropping it to the side. "Either help, or get out of the way."
The three villagers looked at each other, then looked up at the ceiling, and then looked at each other once more.
Then they inched into the cave once more, and hesitantly started picking up rocks.
OOOOOOOOOO
On the other side of the huge pile of rubble that had once been part of the ceiling of the cave, a single form was sprawled on the rocky floor. Covered in dust and smaller pebbles, he was motionless, but there were still signs of life. His chest rose and fell as he breathed, and a cut on his shoulder and another on his forehead bled freely, a sure sign – had anyone been there to see it – that his heart was still beating.
He'd felt the shudder through the cave – felt it like it was going through his own bones – and had launched himself forward, knowing without even thinking about it that he didn't have a chance in hell of getting out of the way going backwards. There was a niche in the rock wall. A depression of some sort that he'd started to tell the others about. It'd looked like another cave, perhaps – or maybe just a small tunnel. Something like that. Whatever it was, that was where he'd headed, and he'd almost made it. But he'd hit his head on something – a rock, undoubtedly – or maybe one had fallen on him, and he'd been knocked out instead.
He didn't know how lucky he was, and he'd never know, probably.
But someone did. Someone who had been watching. Hiding from the newcomers and their fearful beasts – which he'd heard of and had wanted to see, but definitely didn't want to get close to. He'd seen the magical light coming close to his hiding spot, and had backed away, afraid that despite how very quiet he'd been he was still going to be discovered.
And then the ceiling had dropped, and in the sound of rock settling and the confusion of voices and shouts from the other side of the large pile, the watching figure moved forward once more. A hand reached out, nudging the boy who was sprawled on the cave floor. When he didn't move – only made a soft groan of protest that was barely audible to the watcher, and certainly inaudible to any of the others, the watcher checked to make sure there weren't any broken limbs that needed to be immobilized, and then carefully pulled the boy backwards, towards his niche.
It was hard work, but the watcher was far stronger than he looked. Most of his people were. In only fifteen minutes or so there was no sign that the watcher had been there – and there was no sign of the boy he'd just taken.