Chapter Thirteen

Celestia, Epona and Avalon

Daniel and Agnes wait for the lift doors to open, for some reason they seem to be taking an age. As they wait, Agnes guiltily clutching her handbag to her chest, a guard walks past and, seeing them waiting, comments, 'You'll be there for ever, it's on lock down. The away team is exiting via the tunnels.'

'The tunnels?'

'Yes, Sir. The old quarry tunnels. Past the Isolation Unit, turn left, big airlock door marked no entry. Can't miss it. If you're quick, you'll might catch up with Commander O'Neill.'

'Oh yes, those tunnels.' Daniel shrugs his shoulders in surprise at Agnes and they turn back in the direction of the Isolation Unit.

Daniel and Agnes find the door to the tunnels open and step through into a cold passageway hewn out of the chalk, lit by a line of lights. Within a minute or two they emerge into a large cavern, once part of an old quarry, from here several tunnels branch out into daylight beyond, each big enough to drive a truck down. Parked in neat rows on the floor of the cavern are a fleet of utility vehicles, Daniel quickly makes his way to one and, finding it unlocked and the key dangling from a chain on the dashboard, indicates to Agnes to join him.

'Shouldn't we ask someone rather than just take it?' she asks as she climbs in.

'No time to lose and, if the site is in lock down mode, the chances of us being let out, especially with the gate tokens is slim.'

'And, where exactly are we going?'

'To the Stargate, where else?' With that, Daniel turns the ignition key and the engine roars into life and he speeds off up the nearest exit tunnel and out into the afternoon sun before anyone can stop them.

The light is beginning to fade as afternoon turns to evening in the pool glade. From their hiding place, Tara and Kyna, with Jack and Teal'c held captive at sword point, watch as Rob Bowden places the Dragon Ring on his finger and commands the Naxen and the team of SGC guards to search for something.

'What are they after?' Kyna whispers to Tara.

'You, probably.' Jack answers before Tara can.

'No, not us yet. He is not strong enough. He is in moult still.' Tara watches Bowden and shakes her head. 'They are looking for the Doublet that Naxen had. Without it, they cannot return to Epona.'

'In moult?' Teal'c asks. 'What do you mean?'

'Once the soul of the Dragon King has chosen a living vessel to inhabit, it kills off its host and takes over its body, changing it and... moulding it into fearsome form. This is the moult, when it sheds the old shape and reappears in its true form.'

'I'm guessing from the weirdy alligator eyes, its true form isn't human.' Jack surmises.

'Nixor? No, he is not human. I imprisoned here on Celestia many millennia ago. Someone has broken the seal of Epona on his tomb and freed him. Now he will take revenge...' Tara stops short as the Naxen seems to turn towards them and stare directly at them, as though sensing where they are hiding.

'OK, my spidey sense is telling me things are about to turn bad, so I guess it would help if we decide we are all on the same side against alligator man, the man from Atlantis and our own team of guards and maybe you stop trying to shave me with that sword and we get the hell out of here!' Jack gently pushes the sword edge away from his neck and turns to face Tara. He stares in shock at the beautiful, Amazonian woman standing in front of him. 'Wow! We've been kidnapped by Wonder Woman!'

'No time for that now, Jack.' Teal'c grabs Kyna and Jack and thrusts them back into the trees, 'Run!' he turns to face the Naxen as it approaches their hiding place, drawing his staff weapon in front of him, getting to ready to fire. Tara steps up beside him, her sword drawn, she turns to Kyna and says. 'Take this Celestian to safety, Kyna.'

'But my Queen, I an sworn to defend you!'

'You are sworn to obey me, Kyna, this is no fight for a horse herder, I command you to run!'

Kyna grabs Jack's arm before he can protest and drags him back through the trees as the Naxen and the team of guards start to close in on Tara and Teal'c.

A thought occurs to Jack, 'Here follow me, I have a vehicle we can use!' He runs off to where the Jeeps the team arrived in are parked and Kyna follows him, wondering what manner of chariot these strange Celestians would have. As they run, Jack can hear another vehicle rapidly approaching and he and Kyna leap out of the way as an SGC Jeep screeches to halt in front of them. Recognising Daniel and Agnes he leaps up onto the running board and indicates for Kyna to do the same, opening the door and shoving Daniel over, shouting, 'I'm driving!'

Kyna instinctively leaps onto the the open back of the jeep, landing with catlike agility and, holding onto the roll bar, draws her sword as the horseless chariot roars into life and charges back towards the Stargate.

Gryst stares at Tara and Teal'c. They are much taller than him, stronger than him and have better weapons than him but none of that matters now. Now he has found Nixor, the Dragon King. Only that matters. Nothing must stand in Nixor's way. He lowers his head and clears his gullet and then lunges forward at them as Teal'c fires the staff weapon at the ground in front of him. The blast kicks up a fierce heat and throws dust high into the air, leaving a crater in the ground. Gryst is thrown back off his feet by the blast and sent sprawling and crawling away in fear into the water, whimpering at the feet of Nixor who is still standing in the pool.

Nixor waves a hand and the SGC guards start to move forward, trying to encircle Tara as she expertly keeps them at bay with her sword. Teal'c fires another warning shot at the guards but before they can get any closer, a Jeep careens through the trees, scattering them and forcing Nixor and Gryst to turn and run for cover as it slides to a stop, water up to its wheel arches in the pool.

'After them!' Without pausing for breath from the fight, Tara calls for Kyna to join her and chases after Nixor and Gryst, crashing through the undergrowth in their haste to catch them. Jack and Teal'c give chase, leaving Daniel and Agnes to climb carefully out of the Jeep and watch as a team of dazed and confused SGC guards stagger to their feet, unaware of what just happened.

Tara and Kyna run fast but it is too late, the trail ends at a riverbank and there is no sign of Nixor or Gryst on the other side. Tara leans out over the river but the water is deep and shadowy, perfect for a Naxen to disappear in. She sighs and shakes her head at Kyna, they are too late, they have lost them. Teal'c and Jack arrive at the riverbank to find Tara and Kyna waiting for them. Jack stops and doubles over, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath as Tara points to the fast flowing river. 'They will be leagues away by now, the Naxen are a water-born race and the rivers will keep them safe, we have lost the trail.' She turns to Kyna. 'We will need help to recapture Nixor and stop him returning through the Gate of the Twins to Epona. I must travel to the planet Avalon.'

Jack looks up and replies. 'Oh no, the only place you two are travelling to is with us, back to SGC...Teal'c, if you'd be so kind to point the way.'

Teal'c points his staff weapon at Tara and Kyna as Jack disarms them and then the four of them turn back from the river to walk to the Stargate pool.

Under the river bank, deep below the surface of the water, Gryst waits, listening to their plans through a hollow reed plucked from the riverbed, beside him, in an unconscious slumber is the slowly evolving form of Nixor, Dragon King of the Naxen, the moult fully upon him.

'What was that?' Agnes jumps slightly as the Jeep slides further into the pool on its own accord.

'What was what?' Daniel asks over his shoulder, wading out to check on the guards who seem to be recovering from a form of temporary amnesia.

'That!' Agnes hugs her handbag full of the hoard coins closer to her as the Jeep moves again, this time beginning to slide and turn as the water starts to spiral up. Daniel glances round and catches sight of the vortex beginning to form. 'Quick Agnes, it's the coins in your bag!' He yells, as he crashes through the wall of water towards her, realising immediately the danger she is in if all four versions of the coins open a Stargate to different world at once 'Throw it out of the pool now!'. Agnes lobs her bag as high and far as she can through the water as the truck starts to lift up out of the pool and into the swirling wall of water, knocking the bag as it passes by causing a coin to shake free from the bag and fall back towards her. Instinctively she catches it as Daniel reaches her and grabs her, shouting 'No!' but it is too late and they are both lost in the void travelling to a distant planet.

Jack and Teal'c arrive back at the pool with their captives to find the Jeep upside down in the shallows of the pond and no sign of Agnes or Daniel. Jack tries to question the guards but they are too disorientated by what happened to get much sense. Teal'c and Kyna start to search the glade for any tracks leading away as Tara watches Jack, bemused by his efforts to get the Guards to remember anything. 'They will not know what happened. The Dragon ring is an enchantment ring. Those it holds in its thrall lose the power of free will and thought. They will have been consumed by Nixor's anger, it will take a few hours for the effect to wear off. They are lucky he was not fully formed. Their minds will return but I doubt they will remember anything of any use to you... Jack.' She comments, remembering the name the one called Teal'c used.

'What's this?' Kyna stumbles slightly, finding a sodden bag lying in the long grass at the edge of a glade. She holds it up and the bag jingles softly as the coins shift their weight.

'That is a handbag, Agnes's I bet!' Jack strides over and takes the bag from Kyna, emptying the contents out onto a nearby flat rock, carved with a figure and a couple of horses.

Among the wallet, comb, make-up items and phone are the hoard coins. Jack quickly counts off eleven of them. 'One missing. I guess that explains where they are.'

Tara sighs and shakes her head. 'Doublets! How did this woman have so many?'

'It's a long story and it will have to wait. Right now, we need to work out exactly where they have gone.'

Tara reaches over his arm and starts sorting the coins, 'These three are for our planet Epona,' She points to the nearby stone. Jack notices it is the same symbol on her armour breastplate. 'These three are for your planet, Celestia.'

'Celestia?' Teal'c asks in surprise. ' I thought this planet is called Earth?'

'These three are for... Maere.' Tara drops her voice and whispers the name. 'Planet of the Morrigna, the nightmaere realms...'

Jack interrupts her. 'There's only two of these... these ones, where are they for?' He holds up the two coins to the fading light as though trying to discern something of their nature in the strange hieroglyphs.

'Those are for Avalon, planet of the Magus, this is where your friends have travelled to. Where I must travel to before Nixor reveals his true self and raises an army...' Tara makes a deft move to try and grab the coins from Jacks hand but he pre-empts her move and drops them into his top pocket, along with the rest of the coins.

'Not so quick Princess... come on Teal'c lets get these two and the guards back to SGC. We need to debrief and then prep a team for off world. I guess now we know which planet we'll be visiting first, Avalon it is.'