The library building was on the other side of town. It was barely signposted and it had taken them almost half the morning to find it. Dumace, the librarian, was an old, tall, thin man with pale skin who looked like he hadn't seen the outside for centuries. His grand-daughter, Kitana, a pretty girl with dark hair and eyes, showed them around the books and set them up in a small room.
Jonas was completely in his element. Rya'c looked as though he would rather be back on the mountain. Vala looked as though she would rather be anywhere else. The former thief sat on the table perusing one book with a sulky expression.
Cassie could appreciate their viewpoint but something told her the research was good intel and they needed it; they needed every advantage they could get. She leafed through another book and discarded it. It was incredibly boring though especially as they had to be circumspect and try and find the manuscript Daniel had talked about without actually asking for the manuscript.
'This is boring.' Vala said, unknowingly agreeing with Cassie's train of thought. 'We've been at this for hours and we haven't found anything.'
Cassie sent her a chiding look.
Rya'c got to his feet. 'I believe I should make a patrol.'
'I'll come with you.' Vala jumped down from the bench, throwing the book she held back on the pile beside her.
Cassie and Jonas exchanged rueful looks as they left.
'The Cartegians have a fascinating history.' Jonas commented. 'But I haven't been able to find anything from before the first Council was established.'
'Keep reading.' Cassie handed him her book. 'I'll see if there's anything else.' She got to her feet and wandered down to the aisle Kitana had insisted held all their historical documents. She let her fingers brush over one bound book after another.
Daniel had said manuscript in the note. Perhaps it wasn't a book but a parchment of some kind, Cassie mused. She turned the corner to head down the next aisle and almost bumped into Kitana.
'You are searching for something?' Kitana asked politely.
Cassie smiled at her, desperately hoping her nerves didn't show on her face. 'Yes.' She hid her hands behind her back. 'Jonas, uh, my husband,' she blushed slightly, 'is really interested in old history, particularly how human populations became established on planets. The books are very informative about the establishment of your civilised society but...'
'But you wish to study the time when we were not quite so civilised?' Kitana smiled at her.
'If there are any documents relating to the period that would be most helpful.' Cassie said.
Kitana seemed to hesitate before she picked up her skirts. 'Come with me.' She swept down one aisle and then another before stopping in a small alcove. 'We have few documents before the foundation of the Council.' She glanced at Cassie before climbing up a short ladder to fumble through scrolls on the top shelf. 'You are only the second to request such documents.'
Daniel has been the first, thought Cassie.
'If there is someone else on Cartegia who has studied them we would love to discuss their conclusions.' Cassie said out loud.
'Unfortunately he was also an off-worlder.' Kitana sighed heavily. 'He was a scholar though as was the woman with him; one could see it in their eyes. A shame.'
'A shame?' Cassie questioned before she could catch back her words.
'They went missing with others of their kind.' Kitana informed her.
Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to prompt her. 'You mean the Tau'ri.'
Kitana stuffed three scrolls under her arm and came back down the ladder. She handed them to Cassie solemnly. 'We were all saddened by their disappearance.'
Cassie attempted a smile and raised the scrolls she held. 'Thank you.' A shiver skated down Cassie's spine as she watched Kitana walk away. She turned on her heel and headed back to Jonas.
'There you are. I was getting worried.' Jonas said as she placed the scrolls carefully in front of him before closing the door.
Cassie shot him a look. 'Kitana gave me these. They document the Cartegians before the foundation of the Council.'
Jonas lit up like a kid at Christmas. He reached for them eagerly but with reverence as she sat down. He rolled out the first one and frowned.
Cassie looked at the parchment and froze. 'That's Goa'uld.'
'A very old dialect.' Jonas agreed seriously. 'Interesting.'
'But didn't Vala say the SGC thought Cartegia was settled by Merlin.' Cassie said.
'That was what everyone assumed.' Jonas murmured. 'Obviously they were wrong.'
They shared a look, acknowledging Daniel's note and his words warning that their assumptions about the planet had been wrong.
'OK, but it would be unusual for a Goa'uld to transport a medieval society from Earth, right?' Cassie argued.
Jonas nodded enthusiastically. 'There's only one other known instance; a planet SG1 came across, I think in their second or third year, which was settled by Sokar. He's the one that took on the persona of the Devil.'
Cassie cast her mind back. 'He's dead, isn't he?'
'Yes, his mothership was destroyed when Netu exploded.' Jonas read the scroll, his fingers poised millimetres from the inked words. 'This is saying the symbol of this Goa'uld was a Dragon.' His brow creased in thought. 'There is some evidence that Sokar originally had the form of an Unas that might explain it.'
'Unas?' Cassie asked. She couldn't remember SG1 or her Mom mentioning Unas but then she knew they'd kept some things from her to protect her.
'Sentient humanoid lizards.' Jonas kept his eyes on the parchment. 'They're very big and fierce; practically indestructible. They're native to the Goa'uld home-world and we think they were the first hosts.'
Indestructible lizards? Cassie gave a sigh. 'Why would the Goa'uld want to change hosts to humans then if the Unas were so great?'
Jonas glanced up. 'That's a very good question.'
'And the answer?'
He flashed a smile at her. 'Daniel believed it might have had something to do with how advanced the Unas were at the time from an evolutionary perspective. But really: we have no idea.'
Cassie couldn't help smiling back at him.
The moment was broken by a knock on the door. Jonas and Cassie scrambled to move the scrolls but stopped as Vala and Rya'c walked back into the room, closing the door behind them.
'Snack.' Vala declared setting out a picnic of sorts on the table of fruit, bread and something that looked like cheese.
Cassie's mouth watered. They had all skipped lunch intent on their research.
Rya'c gestured at the scrolls as Jonas rolled the first one out again. 'You have found something?'
'That's Goa'uld!' Vala exclaimed.
'Yes.' Jonas pointed at the parchment even as he picked up a piece of fruit and popped it in his mouth. 'This is fascinating. Apparently, the people of Cartegia were taken from their home by the Goa'uld...'
'Who we think is Sokar.' Cassie inserted, accepting a hunk of bread.
'They were taken to the Land of the Dragons to serve their new God. Each day they would be taken through a portal to mine the naquadah in the mountains. Many days passed until one day, the Goa'uld ordered them to stay in the mines. Much time passed. Eventually one slave ventured out and found that they had been abandoned. The Goa'uld and the guards were gone. They found the key to the portal but it wouldn't work for them.'
'Key?' Vala questioned, climbing up to sit on the table, her feet on a chair.
Jonas turned the parchment round and showed them the picture; a round jewelled object that had been placed onto the column of a familiar DHD.
'I have heard stories from Master Bra'tac about these devices.' Rya'c said around a mouthful of food. 'They were used to prevent slaves from escaping through the chappa'ai by rendering it inactive or locked to one address. It is thought that they were all destroyed.'
'Makes sense.' Jonas commented. 'They say the key did not glow for them as it had done for their God.'
'So it was activated by naquadah.' Vala theorised.
Jonas reached for the second scroll. 'Explains why some people may have thought someone in particular was important.'
Cassie shoved her hair back over her shoulder as she translated Jonas's guarded words; he thought it explained why Sam was important to the Cult of the Dragon. She exchanged a look with Vala; both of them had naquadah in their blood too. In theory, they would be able to activate the lock too.
'Locking the Stargate would also explain why the SGC believed there was no Stargate here and why nobody has been able to travel here that way.' Jonas mused as he began reading the second scroll.
Vala jumped down and moved to read over his shoulder. 'So, this is all about the Cult of the Dragon.'
'It's telling the story of the days after the abandonment.' Jonas corrected absently. 'The miners came across another group in the temple holding the portal; one who believed they had been cast out by their God but that he would one day return and reclaim them...'
'The Cult of the Dragon.' Vala pointed out with some exasperation.
'But the miners believed they had been freed.' Jonas continued as though she hadn't spoken. 'There was a minor war and the Cult was defeated. The leader swore one day she would return with the power to lead the Cult back to the Land of the Dragons through the portal to show their God that they were deserving of his mercy.'
'Well, that explains a lot.' Vala murmured.
'Alwren the First became the leader...and according to the books I read earlier his grandson became a tyrant, was overthrown and the Council established.' Jonas concluded.
'And their history before the foundation was all but buried.' Cassie sighed.
Jonas nodded. He reached for the final scroll. Vala shoved him trying to get a closer look and there was a small tussle before Jonas's glare had her subsiding.
'Interesting.' Jonas commented as he spread out the scroll. 'This is the prophecy of the Cult of the Dragon.'
'And?' Vala prompted impatiently.
Jonas's eyebrows rose. 'Interesting.'
'You say interesting one more time I will hurt you.' Vala smiled but her eyes were deadly serious.
Jonas cleared his throat. 'This scroll details Alwren outlawing the Cult of the Dragon by giving the members of that religious order as wives to his soldiers as gifts.'
'They were women?' Vala's eyes widened.
'Priestesses.' Jonas explained.
'That's not good.' Vala grimaced. 'Many of the priestesses are as dangerous as the Jaffa warriors.' She waved at Rya'c. 'Look at Ishta.'
'She is Jaffa.' Rya'c pointed out. 'I have never heard of human Priestesses.'
'They were definitely human.' Jonas sighed. 'Who knows why the Goa'uld...' he stopped suddenly. He pushed the scroll away and reached for the first scroll. 'OK, I made a mistake.'
'What kind of a mistake?' Cassie beat Vala to the question.
'It's not a male Goa'uld.' Jonas said. He looked over at her. 'It's a queen.'
Vala flinched almost imperceptibly. 'Great. A queen.' She sighed. 'But that would explain the Priestesses.'
They all looked at her.
'They're not priestesses.' Vala explained. 'Qetesh kept a group of young human girls in her entourage just in case she needed a new host. It's likely this...queen did the same.'
'Wouldn't they be grateful not to become a host though?' Cassie questioned.
It was Rya'c who answered. 'They are told it is an honour to be chosen. They are kept in luxury and treated well. For some they truly believe that becoming a host is to become a God.'
'They don't realise it's a living death.' Vala added soberly.
'Great.' Cassie sighed.
'I think the Goa'uld could be the goddess Tiamat.' Jonas tapped the table. 'On Earth she's a Babylonian goddess associated with a leviathan, a five-headed sea dragon.'
'Lovely.' Cassie remarked.
A dull scrape outside the door had all of them turning swiftly.
Rya'c pulled his knife and gestured for them to be silent. He padded to the door silently and opened it. There was nobody there.
'Perhaps it's time we left.' Vala suggested.
'Good idea.' Jonas said. 'Let's get out of here.'
'I'll take the scrolls back.' Cassie offered.
'I will go with you.' Rya'c said.
Cassie gathered them up and started back through the maze of aisles. She was almost at the alcove when Dumace appeared from nowhere.
'Where did you get these?' Dumace yanked the scrolls from her arms.
Rya'c stepped forward but Cassie held up her hand. 'Your grand-daughter Kitana gave them to me.' She replied.
Dumace's eyes widened and for a moment she thought she saw fear flicker across his wrinkled face. 'These scrolls are cursed. You should leave.'
'We were just on our way back to the inn.' Cassie said agreeably.
'No!' Dumace's hand shot out.
Before the librarian could touch Cassie, Rya'c yanked her out of reach, placing her behind him.
Dumace glowered. 'You must leave Cartegia!' He hurried away before they could reply.
Cassie willed her heartbeat back to normal and turned to Rya'c. 'Let's get back to the others.'
