Pointed Ears, Scaled Toes, and Fireballs
or
You Must Have Dropped It!
Daniel went and helped the rest of SG-1 to get out of the cobwebs. The first thing Jack did once he was free of the webs was go and try to punch Darem, but he didn't even get close to impacting Darem because at that moment a glow so bright that no one could look at it encompassed Darem and when it dissipated, the was a dragon standing in Darem's place. "Darem," Daniel muttered, this transformation was bringing back memories of some myth he had once read, most likely off one of his artifacts with Dragons painted all over, "Darem!" Daniel shouted triumphantly, "Darem, the Dragon Prince, the Prince of Dragons destined to rule all his ungrateful kin! Are you THAT Darem?" he asked.
"Yes, that is I," Darem responded, "I try to help my kind and I am banished from our lands, disowned by my family! Disowned by my own kith!" Thankfully Daniel, being well versed in many languages knew the meaning of the obscure word "kith," a word that is not commonly used in modern day English, unfortunately, Jack chose this moment to try to understand what was being said.
"What the hell is going on?" Jack asked, "And what the hell does 'Kith' mean, Daniel?"
"How can they do such a thing?" Darem moaned, lamenting in his own misfortune and not hearing Jack at all.
"Kith means family, Colonel O'Neill," Anakin said, appearing, wraith-like beside Jack.
"Don't DO that! You near scared me to death, Anakin!" Jack exclaimed.
Meanwhile, Daniel attempted to placate Darem, "Darem, calm down, don't get your self worked up over it!" amazingly, Darem did. The Dragon realized his mistake and transformed into the more familiar shape of the elegant hominid that they had first seen what then had been attacked.
Now Darem turned his attention back to his friend, Dalamar, who had been left unattended because Jacen and Jaina were attending to Jakkin and Akki. Dalamar was just recovering from being hit with the zat's energy and was beginning to stir. "Dalamar is awakening," Darem said to Daniel for he felt that the rest of SG-1 was untrustworthy. Daniel hurried over to the waking Dalamar and helped him to recover. Dalamar's first instinct was to cast another spell to harm this human who had attacked him, but a cool voice cut through his concentration, "Dalamar, there is no need to harm them, they are not going to hurt you again. He wishes to help you,"
Darem was able to save Daniel from danger from Dalamar, but right after Dalamar started to cooperate with Daniel, a voice was heard, Dalamar recognized the words and barely had time to warn the others, "GET DOWN, NOW!" he screamed. The others hit the deck and were almost burn as a huge fireball exploded in the clearing.
"Fireball, such a wonderful spell," the voice said, "Now, where's my hat? Ehhh? Who's there?" The old man whom the voice belonged to, came into sight and spotted Jacen who happened to be farther away from the rest of the group.
"Sire," Jacen said for surely this old man was one of great wisdom to be respected, "I am—" he began, only to be interrupted by the old man himself.
"Jacen Solo?" the old man asked, peering out from under his large shapeless hat, quite a sight in his mouse-gray robes which were almost falling off his body.
Jacen started at this, how could this man know his name? But he just said, "Yes, Sire, I am he. Oh, Sire, I found your hat," he said to the old man.
"Oh really?" the old mage glared out at the darkness because the fires from his fireball had all died out.
"Yes, Sire, it's on your head," Jacen said.
"On my head? Rubbish! Oh my!" the old man exclaimed, "Help, something is attacking me!" the old man said as his hat fell over his eyes, "What's this? My hat? Who's there? I know you're out there!" he challenged the nonexistent fiends who hid out in the sanctuary of the dark woods.
"Sire, I wish not pry, but, if I may, mightn't I be allowed to know your name?" Jacen asked curious in spite of his training.
"Not know my name? Rubbish! I am... I'm... ahh! I'm Fizban, Fizban the Fabulous, that's who I am" Fizban exclaimed triumphantly at recalling.
"Well than, Sire Fizban, would you accompany me back to the clearing where the rest of my friends are waiting for me?" Jacen inquired as he held out an arm to aid Fizban who seemed to have a habit of tripping over every available root and stone.
Jacen, who do you have with you? Jaina asked Jacen when she detected the extra person with her twin.
This is Fizban, the one who sent the Fireball at us. Jacen responded and as he did so he came into sight.
Dalamar was the first to react, but he reacted a moment after Fizban spoke. "Dalamar? The young dark elf?" this statement got a reaction out of the team as well, an ELF? Of course Daniel had noted that Dalamar had pointed ears, but that could be attributed to a number of reasons. Dalamar jumped because he felt a palpable aura of power around this man. "Darem, Dragon Prince! You're doing well. Who else is here?" SG-1 stepped into view. "Oh, hello Daniel, Jack, Sam, and Teal'c," the team was left speechless at this. "And Jakkin and Akki. What's that, ehh? Dragons? Sssargon, Sssasha, Tri-sss, Tri-sssha, and Tri-ssskkette, hello there. Are Jaina and Anakin here?" the old man inquired.
The two other Solo children stepped into the magically summoned light that Dalamar had created and spoke as one, "We are here, Sire"
"Good, good," Fizban said, but he seemed to be looking for something.
"Sire? Are you looking for something? Might I be able to assist you?" Anakin offered.
"I'm looking for a kender by the name of Tasslehoff Burrfoot. He should be here," the old mage ignored the groans coming from Dalamar. Right on cue, a child-sized figure bounced out of the woods, pouches all bouncing to their own rhythm.
"Hello," the little person said, "I'm Tasslehoff Burrfoot," only Jacen noticed that Fizban had disappeared. Tasslehoff offered his tiny hand to Dalamar, who put Darem between himself and the Kender. Tasslehoff shrugged and turned to Jaina, who was the closest person to him. Jaina warmly took both of Tasslehoff's hands in greeting. Tasslehoff turned to each member of the team and to the other two Solo kids. After everyone shook hands, each member of SG-1 noticed that their side arms were missing.
"Tasslehoff," Jacen began
"All my friends call me Tas," the Kender said.
"Well, Tas, could you please return their weapons?" Jacen asked for the sake of asking.
"Weapons?" Tas asked, at that Jacen used the force to lift the weapons away from the bewildered Kender. "Oh, those things? You must have dropped them!" he said shrilly, he was surprised to the weapons, and so he guessed he had meant to give them back.
"That's what you get for trusting a Kender!" Dalamar shouted from atop Darem. "You can't trust them unless you Kender-proof yourself and your stuff!"
SG-1 and the Solo children turned and looked at the elf and they almost lost track of Tasslehoff, but Anakin saw to it that the kender did not escape, much to Tasslehoff's interest. "Wow this is amazing," Tasslehoff said, "Are my feet even touching the ground?" the Kender tried to see his feet, but he couldn't. "Say could you let me go?" Tasslehoff was a bit unsettled, but before he could tell everyone about how this suddenly reminded him of something that happened to his Uncle Trapspringer, his mouth was forced shut by an invisible hand.
"There, Tasslehoff will be quiet, now, what were you going to tell us before he came here?" Anakin said calmly. Dalamar didn't answer the question; rather he looked oddly at Anakin.
"You're a mage? You're rather young"
Anakin smiled. "I am no mage, Dalamar. This is manipulation of the world by thought, not magic," he explained. Now Akki and Jakkin were both rather confused, but their dragons stood near and were forming a blockade.
Dalamar looked at him and explained. "Kender are vile creatures," he said, ignoring Tas's struggles of indignation, "They take anything they can get their little hands on or in,"
"I meant about yourself, not the kender, Dalamar," Anakin said to the Elf.
Dalamar scowled. "I am from Silvanesti, I was exiled because I learnt magic 'Beyond My Station'. I am trying to find the Tower of High Sorcery at Wacryth to take my test," he explained reluctantly. The tale continued for a good long while.
TBC...