A/N: Thanks again for the great reviews. They're very much appreciated. :)
Chapter 21 – Jaffa?
A few minutes earlier, Jack had been exploring north of the lake, oblivious to what was happening to Sam with the jaffa. He was about to turn around and head back to her after hearing an especially loud rumble of the thunder, when Rover flew down out of the sky and landed a few feet from him. "Hey buddy, you here for your lunch? Looks kind of like you've already had yours." He noticed blood on the front claws of the young dragon. With that, Rover snorted at him.
Jack frowned at the reaction. "It's ok, if you want more, I've got some extras for you."
Rover then crouched down, staring intently at Jack. He suddenly hopped backwards turned his body and walked a few feet away and stopped, while still staring at Jack the whole time. Jack just stood there watching the odd display, not knowing what to do. When he didn't react, Rover walked up to him again, crouched low, and growled at Jack. He once again, hopped backwards, and walked a few steps away while looking at Jack the whole time.
"O...Kaaay... Why do I feel like your name should be Lassie instead of Rover? Is Timmy stuck down a well again?" He started following Rover, who bounded forward a few more steps and looked back to make sure Jack was following.
Jack followed a few steps and felt a cold dread grip his heart when he realized what the problem might be. He started running in Rover's direction, who sped up his pace as well. Jack grabbed his radio. "Sam? Is everything ok?"
Sam looked over at her radio which was a few feet away. When she didn't immediately respond because that would involve getting up and moving, which she didn't feel up to at the moment, Jack continued. "Sam? Are you there? You haven't fallen down a well or gotten hurt or anything, have you?"
Well that was an odd question, even for Jack. She crawled over to the radio and spoke into it. "Yeah, I think so. I think they're all dead, but I got hit in the shoulder and I'll need some help cleaning and dressing that."
"They? What? ... Sam, I'll be right there." And Jack ran after the dragon even faster.
After about 10 minutes, they emerged into the clearing at the opposite end from where Sam was. Rover immediately took off and flew towards her, as it was faster than running. He landed a few feet from her, cautiously sniffed at her wounded shoulder and then sat down staring at her intently. Jack cringed at the jaffa's mangled body as he passed it and ran up to Sam. "Are you all right?" He kneeled down next to her and looked at her shoulder. "Oh god, Sam, what happened?"
"Well, one of our questions has been answered. Rover can breath fire. I didn't think he would because the two adults I saw fighting hadn't."
Jack's mouth opened wide, then he closed and opened it again a couple of times as he started imitating a large mouth bass. "Fire? Wait." He grabbed his zat. "HE did this to you?" He started to turn toward the dragon.
Sam quickly reached for the weapon before Rover might think it was a threat. "No! Jack... He protected me. There were jaffa, you didn't hear or see anything?"
"Jaffa? I saw the one in the clearing." He made a face as he remembered seeing the body. "Well, what was left of him." He quickly scanned the area. "But, no, I was a couple of clicks north of here and didn't realize what was going on. I'm sorry. Why didn't you call for backup?"
"They caught me by surprise and my radio was too far away. He killed them all, I think we're safe."
"He did? Way to go Rover. Do you know which way they came from? Are you sure they were all killed?"
"They came by cargo ship. There were four of them, I'm pretty sure that's all there were and they've all been killed."
He looked around again. "How do you know they came by ship, where is it?"
One side of her mouth raised in a half smile. "Rover persuaded it to fall out of the sky."
Jack blinked a couple of times and looked at the dragon. "Oh." He had a new found respect for the creature. "OK. We should probably get you back to the cave to clean this up rather than stay here out in the open, just in case more show up. Can you walk?"
"Yeah, it's just my shoulder and hand that were hurt." She slowly stood up and started to sway a little. Jack gently placed his hand on her back to offer her support. "Um... maybe in a minute."
