A/N: Sorry for the later posting, I warned you. Anyway, thanks again to all of you who are tuning in to this story, and to those of you who have reviewed. By the way, you can look it up if you like, but rest assured, our dear Daniel will explain who Belenus is in due time. Enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 4

The pain suddenly stopped and the young woman collapsed back onto the floor of the throne room. Taking short, quick breaths, she tried to figure out what had just happened. All she could remember was blinding pain and…images. Thoughts and memories all jumbled together. The goa'uld had been searching her mind! Fearing the worst, the young woman tilted her gaze up to see the face of her tormentor.

The goa'uld Belenus leered down at her, an intrigued and knowing smile on his face. He had seen many interesting things from this woman's mind. Now he must decipher what these strange images meant. "Who are you, where do you come from?" He motioned to the Jaffa and the man drug her up to her knees to face him.

"We told you this before. We are Union. We come from far away." The woman responded, hissing at the pain that the Jaffa's rough handling had caused.

"So you have said. But what planet are you from? Tell me the address to your planet!" Belenus lunged forward and caught the woman's chin in his hand. "What is your purpose here?"

The young woman stared at him, trying not to show how afraid she was. Opening her mouth, she attempted to talk around the hand that gripped her jaw. "Our planet is of no consequence. It is no longer safe to tell you from whence we come." She paused, waiting for the goa'uld to lash out at her. When he did not, she continued. "Our purpose was to search for our kin. When we found you, we were overjoyed. But you are different. Why do you waste the gift you have been given?" A look of genuine concern came to her face.

Belenus did not appreciate the pity on her face. He let go of her face abruptly and stood up to begin pacing the room. "I tire of your foolish games. You will tell me what I want to know!" Pivoting to face the prisoner again, Belenus came closer and flung out his hand on which the ribbon device was set. In fear, the young woman flung up her arms to cover her face.

Then a most interesting thing occurred. From her arms erupted bright green vines that rapidly wove through each other and spread outwards to create a type of shield, blocking her face completely from the view of Belenus. Both the goa'uld and the Jaffa took a step back in surprise. As quickly as the shield had appeared it disappeared, the vines receding back into the woman's body as if they had never been. For a moment, her skin seemed to ripple, and then it was smooth again.

Overcoming his surprise, the goa'uld Belenus stepped closer to the young woman, who had fallen back, flinging her arms out behind her to catch herself. Some of the images he had seen when searching her mind seemed to make sense now. "We will see what other secrets you hide from your god another time, Ninsar." He motioned to the Jaffa, who quickly pulled the woman off her feet and marched her out of the throne room. Left alone to his thoughts, Belenus pondered the threat this stranger had now become.

Stepping out of a hut in the village, O'Neill plucked at the raggedy robes the team had found conveniently sitting around. "Well, even if we won't stand out, the Jaffa'll be able to smell us coming from miles away." He wrinkled his nose in dissatisfaction.

"Hardly, Jack. Don't forget, they all smell like this." Daniel added, taking a whiff of his own robes. "It's not that bad." He coughed.

"Now that we have disguised ourselves, what will be our next plan of action?" Teal'c asked as he, too stepped out of the small hut, straightening his robes to hide the weapons concealed beneath.

"Uhh, well I'd like to take a look around, maybe talk to the townspeople a bit." Daniel said, starting to drift toward the town square. O'Neill reached out and snagged him by the sleeve, stopping him.

"We're not here for the sightseeing, Daniel. In case you forgot, we're here to save that girl that you just had to come back and get." O'Neill frowned at Daniel, who was feebly pulling away in an absent-minded attempt to get on with things. "Daniel!" Jack practically shouted at him, which made Daniel snap back to look at him, a confused look on his face. "Fine, I'll let you go, but Teal'c's going with you. I'm going to scout out the temple." He let go of Daniel's sleeve.

Daniel pulled his arm back to himself, patting his sleeve down protectively. "You do know I'm not just doing this for the fun of it. We should find out who this goa'uld is and who his visitors were." He glanced over as Teal'c took position behind him.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Just get on with it, okay? I'm hoping to get this whole thing done before we're due to go back to the SGC." He started to head off in the direction of the temple. "Meet back here in three hours, okay?"

Teal'c nodded, Daniel having already started back toward the town center. "We will be here, O'Neill." Turning, he went to catch up with the impatient archaeologist. "What exactly are we endeavoring to discover, Daniel Jackson?"

"Oh, Teal'c. I didn't see you there." Daniel had jumped slightly when Teal'c spoke, having already engrossed himself with listening in to the townspeople's conversations as he pretended to examine a market stall. Teal'c merely inclined his head in apology. "Well, like I said, we need to find out what goa'uld rules here, but more importantly, what these people know of the visitors who came."

"Perhaps a more direct approach would be quicker, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c said as Daniel made furtive glances around at the people in the market. The only conversation the Jaffa could hear was about the price of grain and whose son was getting married.

"Huh? Oh, maybe you're right. If we only have three hours to get this information, listening in to the village gossip isn't going to get us very far." Daniel left the protection of the market stall, and began to approach a small group of people. "Here goes!" He said under his breath, trying to sound optimistic.

A/N: I didn't want to confuse you in the note before, but the name Ninsar is also significant. You can look it up if you like, but again, Daniel will explain it soon. Sorry about the slightly boring chapter, things will be picking up soon. Hopefully.