A Stargate Halloween

Chapter 2

The four team mates stood crowded together under the slight overhang of the doorway, glad for any kind of relief from the intensity of the storm. Teyla's teeth were chattering loudly that although Rodney made a pained face, he hesitantly put his hand around her shoulder and rubbed her arm violently, trying to give her some warmth to which she gratefully smiled.

John looked back once towards his sopping wet team before he raised a closed fist towards the looming doors and rapped loudly three times.

Silence.

"Wow…" Rodney said softly.

The others turned quickly and looked at him as he stared intensely at Colonel Sheppard.

"What is it Rodney?" Teyla asked through her chattering.

"Your hair….," he said, reaching out a hand towards Colonel Sheppard's dripping wet head. "Its…..just……flat…."

Colonel Sheppard pushed Rodney's hand away, giving him a dirty look as Ronon chuckled quietly.

An impossibly loud creak came as one of the heavy double doors began to slowly open inwards, causing them all to look on in anticipation. Soon, an old man dressed in black stood before them in the doorway. Although, he was covered in large faded liver spots and his spectacles were thick as steel plates, he stood regally and well postured, as his magnified eyes seemed to look past them, almost unfocused, as he said in a monotonous voice, "Good evening."

Colonel Sheppard gave a lopsided smile and replied, "Well, a good evening to you too sir. My name is –,"

The old man cut him off.

"No need to explain sir, you are expected." The old man turned sideways and held the door in a polite gesture for them to pass.

"Expected?" Colonel Sheppard repeated as he looked back curiously towards his friends.

"Oh, who cares at this point? It's dry in there, isn't it?" Rodney said rudely as he pushed past his friends and entered into the grand house, giving the old man a half feigned smile as he dramatically wiped his feet on the rug.

Sheppard looked at Ronon and Teyla who smiled and shivered as he turned to enter the house with the two of them in tow.

The inside of the house was unbelievable. The foyer in which they stood was enormous, at least the size of the control room back on Atlantis. The walls to the right were covered in magnificent blackened armor and shields, all emblazoned with strange carvings of serpents and rams.

Paintings of many men and women dressed in exquisite robes and gowns covered the opposite wall, most of their expressions smug and the paint eerily faded from obvious years of exposure.

Ronon peered closely at one particular painting. A beautiful woman, no older than him, sat obviously posed for the portrait, a saddened smile across her lips as she peered out a closed darkened window. Ronon stepped closer to the painting as the others shook the rain from themselves and he felt momentarily captivated by the woman's haunting beauty.

Movement in the painting caused Ronon to gasp, stepping back quickly as he wiped the straggling rain from his eyes. He thought he had seen the woman's eyes move from peering out the window to staring straight at him. "Impossible…," he whispered aloud.

A hand on his arm caused him to jump and Teyla stood there looking surprised. "Ronon, what is it?" she asked gently looking towards the painting.

"Nothing….," he replied, turning and looking back at the image one last time before joining the others.