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17. Liars
As Daniel eases himself carefully into a sitting position opposite an elderly, white-haired man in a paper-walled hut, a crackling fire between them, he can't help the sense of deja vu that washes over him.
"Tea?" the old man asks, lifting the pot himself from the hot stones.
Daniel blinks, and glances over at Teal'c, whose expression is inscrutable aside from one raised eyebrow.
"No... thank you," Daniel replies, returning his attention to the old man, who looks neither offended nor particularly surprised as he places the pot back by the fire.
"I suppose I should have known better than to ask," he states, his tone soft and almost regretful. "If what my son has told me is true, then Sani has begun travelling a path that not even I thought him capable of."
"Yes, well, the Goa'uld have a habit of bringing out the worst in people," Daniel says, letting his gaze settle distractedly on the gentle flickering of the flames.
It was the understatement of the century, really.
"My people, the Jaffa, have suffered for millennia at their hands," Teal'c adds gravely. "I fear Sani will pose a danger to all those who hesitate in their obedience to Amun - including those in your own village."
"Teal'c, that is your name, correct?" the man asks, looking between them. "And you are...?"
"Daniel."
"Teal'c, and Daniel. Since we will not drink tea, I must at least insist on introductions," he continues.
"Father," Apenimon says in exasperation from where he sits to the elderly man's left. "This is a matter of urgency."
"I do not know these people, my son," the old man responds sternly, but with gentleness. "Let me learn at least something about them."
Apenimon appears to yield, bowing his head in acquiescence of his father's demand. It is clear to Daniel that their interaction is one of love and respect, and he immediately feels some of the tension churning uncomfortably in his gut ease: despite the affection Sani had sometimes shown Anoki, there had been no respect between them.
It had been pretty obvious that Sani's love was contingent on obedience.
"I will begin," the old man says, and Daniel mentally shakes himself as he pulls himself from his thoughts and back to their... interview... of sorts. "I am Kitchi. I care for the people of this village - you might call me their chief, but I prefer not to use such a title."
"Are you a priest, like Sani?" Daniel jumps in. "A spiritual leader?"
The corners of Kitchi's mouth turn down momentarily in displeasure, and Daniel can't tell if it's because of his interruption or the question itself.
"No," Kitchi replies after a beat. "I was born and raised in Sani's village, and like Sani, was selected for Amun's priesthood, but I refused it."
"Why?" Daniel persists.
"If you indeed spent time with our sisters and brothers in the other village, and if you are, as I hope you are, moral people, then at least some of the answer to that question is already known to you."
He speaks slowly, deliberately, and Daniel can't help the beginnings of a smile tugging at his mouth at how Kitchi is testing them.
He wishes they'd met the people of this village first.
"Sani... doesn't care for his people equally," Daniel offers in response.
"It was difficult to determine if he cares for his people at all, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c adds, but Daniel keeps his eyes on Kitchi.
The old man smiles, but it's one of sadness.
"Yes," he finally continues. "You speak truth. Sani is unfortunately the embodiment of Amun's teachings: it entices those whose attraction to power is greater than their regard for the people."
Sani's pleasure in controlling the people of the other village had been pretty self-evident, that was true, but Kitchi seemed to indicate there was more to his story.
"You said we could determine some of the answer?" Daniel probes further, hoping for the old man to fill in some more of the picture that he was starting to paint.
"Ah," Kitchi says, the sadness in his smile shifting into something brighter as he turns his head towards Apenimon. "That would be Nuttah."
By the embarrassed rolling of Apenimon's eyes, Daniel can guess at what, or rather who, 'Nuttah' is.
Some reactions were apparently universal.
"Your... wife?"
Kitchi nods, and reaches over to place a hand on Apenimon's shoulder.
"I could not become a representative of Amun's priesthood, to follow its customs, and claim to love Nuttah," he explains, and fixes Daniel with an ernest look. "And I could not bear the thought of marking our children."
"Marking? You mean the symbols on the children's faces?" Daniel asks, waving his hand over his own face.
"Yes."
There is a finality in Kitchi's tone, and Daniel realises that the old man would share no more - that his introduction was over, and that it was time for them to offer their own story to this, seemingly, kind and patient village elder, who appeared genuinely concerned about those who, by gender or age, had been repressed in his former home.
For a moment, the only sound in the hut is the soft pop of kindling in the fire.
"Um, Teal'c and I, and two other members of our... group, came through the Great Ring about two days ago," Daniel begins. "We are peaceful explorers..." he says, and pauses, because he realises that Kitchi and his people would have no concept of exploration and expansion and war, having spent their entire lives between two villages within a relatively small distance of the gate used to seed them here.
An image of Sha're comes to mind just then, painful and present, offered to him by his subconscious, and he knows immediately what his commonality with this man is - how he can convince him that they are trustworthy.
"We are peaceful explorers," he continues, sharing a glance with Teal'c, "but truthfully, we each have our own motives for being here, Kitchi. I am searching for my wife, who has been taken captive by a Goa'uld, just like our companion Jack has been taken by Amun, with Sani's assistance."
The concern and sympathy that begins to spread across Kitchi's features as Daniel talks is unmistakable.
"What is her name?" the old man asks.
"Her name is Sha're."
"And you thought that she may be here?"
"Um, not exactly," Daniel replies. "She could be anywhere we travel to that is under the influence of the Goa'uld, but when we spoke with Sani, I believed that there was a connection between Amun and the Goa'uld that have taken Sha're - Apophis and Amaunet.
"You may know one of them as Apepi," he adds.
Kitchi's eyes widen at that. "I do know this name - my lessons described him as Amun's usurper."
"Sani said as much," Daniel confirms.
Kitchi nods thoughtfully, his brow deeply furrowed, accentuated by the creases of his wizened face.
"You claim you are peaceful, yet you carry weapons," Kitchi states suddenly, pointedly directing his gaze to the staff weapon where it lay on the floor next to Teal'c.
"The Goa'uld are a dangerous enemy who kill without hesitation," Teal'c replies. "If you thought Amun's teachings to be a danger to your people, then imagine the danger Amun himself must pose.
"And if you thought me to be a danger," Teal'c continues, inclining his head questioningly, "then why return the weapon to me?"
Kitchi smiles at that, and there is something knowing about it.
"When Apenimon showed me the weapon earlier as he relayed your story, I could not shake the feeling of familiarity that it evoked, for I recalled having seen it before: when I was a very young child," he says, his expression growing distant. "Two men, tall and strong, like you, came to our village. They each carried a staff just like that one, and stayed only briefly before disappearing back through the Great Ring.
"When I learned from Apenimon that the staff was a weapon, and that you not only chose not to use it, but relinquished it in return for our assistance," he continues, focusing on Teal'c again. "I could think of no reason to withhold it from you - it seemed to me that your desire was only to return through the Great Ring, like those two men so many moons ago."
Teal'c regards Kitchi for a moment before offering the old man a slow bow of his head. "I thank you for your trust, though I regret to inform you that those Jaffa would not have hesitated to use their weapons on your village if they'd been commanded to do so by the Goa'uld they served."
"And I take it that you are no longer commanded by a... Goa'uld?" Kitchi asks, taking care over his pronunciation of the word.
"I realised his danger to my people, as you realised the danger of Amun's priesthood to yours," Teal'c replies. "I hope to end his rule one day."
"Mmmm..." Kitchi hums in agreement. "Would that I could have freed more of my brothers and sisters from the teachings of Amun."
"Kitchi," Daniel says, drawing the old man's attention again, and putting as much urgency into his voice as possible. "Sani believes that Amun has returned to your people, that he is working through Sani to bring you all back to your god.
"He has already incited his village to violence, and he will bring the Goa'uld here."
Daniel doesn't miss how Kitchi's eyes drop to the wound on his thigh, and notices for the first time himself that a small amount of blood has begun to seep through the bandages.
"And the Goa'uld gave you that wound?" Kitchi asks.
"Yes, in Sani's presence, while we were all imprisoned in the mines near the temple," Daniel says, meeting Kitchi's steady gaze.
"With this very weapon," Teal'c adds. "Taken from me after we were rendered unconscious by a poisoned tea."
Kitchi fixes Daniel with a look so intense that it feels like he's trying to pull the memories from his brain and examine them himself.
"Apenimon told me this much of your story," Kitchi finally responds, "and speaking with you now, I believe it, but what has not been made clear to me is what a Goa'uld is.
"You talk of Amun as though he is a physical being, having presence, and using weapons to inflict injuries... You speak as though Amun and this... Goa'uld are one and the same, but the teachings say that Amun no longer walks with his people, and he has been nothing but a story used to control and shame my brothers and sisters for as long as I can recall - for as long as my father and his father before him could remember. How does Amun come to be here now? Where did this Goa'uld come from?"
Daniel feels his stomach sink like a lead weight. For all his good intentions, his unrelenting drive to find Sha're had put these people in harms way - had transformed what was a mere story into an imminently dangerous reality.
A dangerous reality that happened to be wearing the face of his friend.
He looks over at Teal'c again, whose expression is genuinely sombre in this moment.
He would've preferred the Jaffa's usual stoicism, to be honest.
"The Goa'uld was always here," Daniel says quietly, turning his gaze back to Kitchi. "Buried, in the temple - and we unearthed him."
Both Kitchi's and Apenimon's eyes grow wide at that, but it is Apenimon that makes a move to rise to his feet, only for his father to place a restraining hand on his arm.
"Be still, my son," Kitchi says. "Daniel has willingly offered this information when they could've laid the blame at Sani's feet. I wish him to explain himself."
Daniel nods, and inhales a deep breath, conscious now of the slow throbbing in his thigh - whatever the healers here had put on it seemed to be wearing off, or perhaps the increase in pain was simply psychosomatic.
He thinks perhaps that it's a bit of both.
"It's true," he continues. "It was us that found the... vessel that held the Goa'uld. We, um, literally tripped over where it was buried..." he says, and shakes his head at himself at his almost flippant words, pausing for a second to gather his thoughts.
"A vessel?" Apenimon cuts in impatiently, his tone clearly sceptical.
"An actual jar, yes. It may be difficult to believe, but a Goa'uld isn't like you or me - it's a serpent-like creature that takes us as hosts," Daniel tries to explain, raising one hand to his neck in demonstration. "It will enter a body through the back of the neck, and take control of a person from within."
He pauses, taking in the varying looks of disgust contorting Kitchi's and Apenimon's faces.
"That's why it can fit in something as small as a jar when it's not occupying a host body," Daniel says. "And honestly, none of us - except Teal'c - had even heard of a Goa'uld being contained that way."
Kitchi shakes his head, his expression morphing from disgust into something closer to incredulity, and Daniel shares another look with Teal'c, who begins to unbutton the jacket of his fatigues.
He knows that what is about to happen next could go either way for them, but they really can't afford to pull their punches now; the fates of these people were dependent on them understanding what they were up against.
"The Goa'uld have an affinity for the use of vessels," Teal'c says, drawing everyone's attention. "Whether a jar for imprisonment, a person as a host body, or a Jaffa to carry them as infants."
At that, Teal'c lifts his shirt, revealing the pouch holding his larval Goa'uld, and the creature pushes it's head out, issuing it's usual high-pitched squeals as though indignant at being disturbed.
Kitchi doesn't stop Apenimon from jumping to his feet this time - if he had been limber enough himself, Daniel gets the impression that he would've joined his son.
Daniel finds that the alienness of the Goa'uld's true form never ceases to surprise him.
In the worst possible way.
The fact that, given enough time, such a threat to the human species was always a possibility just wasn't very comforting, particularly since his wife, her brother, and his friend had now been invaded by these beings - their bodies kidnapped, and as far as anyone knew, their minds imprisoned and destroyed.
Daniel swallows thickly, his anxiety at the thought causing his stomach to clench uncomfortably.
He most definitely was not going to be sick.
"You have nothing to fear from this infant Goa'uld," Teal'c says, his words cutting through the tension in the hut like a knife, and ripping Daniel from his reverie.
"Why do you carry such a thing?" Apenimon demands, his eyes fixed on Teal'c as the Jaffa pulls his shirt back over his pouch and begins to button his jacket.
"He has no choice, my son," Kitchi says before Teal'c can respond, his quiet words falling like a heavy stone between the four men as he regards the Jaffa thoughtfully.
Daniel watches as Apenimon's eyes shift back towards his father, his expression an unmistakable mix of confusion and anger.
"His people are ruled by these Goa'uld," Kitchi continues. "Such a powerful people must be ruled by something other than force."
Apenimon blinks, and glances back towards Teal'c. "Like... the way Sani rules our brothers and sisters."
"Yes, my son," Kitchi says, his voice grave. "They are deceivers."
They are liars, Daniel.
Kitchi's words are an echo of Sam's words to him in her lab just a few days earlier, and Daniel realises he has let something very important slip his mind.
"Apenimon," Daniel says forcefully, grabbing for the young man's attention. "Where did you encounter me and Teal'c?"
"At the edges of the forest near to the Great Ring."
"And why were you there?" he probes further.
"Our young ones play in the forest near there," Apenimon replies, his look of confusion morphing into bemusement. "All children are fascinated by the Great Ring, and they often get the opportunity to spy on the children of the other village."
"So... they saw something?" Daniel guesses.
"Yes," Apenimon responds. "A few of them reported a great noise, and a very bright light, issuing forth from the Ring. They became afraid and ran home immediately."
"So you were there watching the Great Ring?"
"I was curious, yes," the young man explains, "but as the day wore on and night fell, I was beginning to think that it was simply youthful imaginations, until a number of men from the other village arrived...
"... and then you and Teal'c."
Daniel feels his anxiety swell and press into his sternum like it was a physical thing, and his eyes search for Teal'c's, finding his thoughts mirrored back at him in them.
"You saw no use of the Great Ring during your watch yesterday?" Teal'c asks.
"No, I did not," Apenimon replies cautiously, clearly picking up on the concern in Teal'c's tone.
"Then Doctor Carter did not arrive at the Stargate," the Jaffa states sadly.
"Sam..." Daniel breathes.
/
/
The exhaustion settling into her limbs from the pace of their march is all but forgotten as they round the now familiar curve in the gorge that she knows obscures their destination from view.
The temple of Kar-nat.
She can feel her pulse quicken, pounding inside her still delicate skull, and she squeezes her eyes shut as though she could somehow delay the inevitable, allowing the two village men gripping her arms to pull her onwards until she all but trips, and she's forced to open her eyes to stop herself from falling.
For a moment, they steady her between them, and then hastily increase their speed before Sani issues a command, and the men come to a stop at the base of the steps leading up into the temple.
Amun, already ascending the steps as he strides ahead of them, spins on his heel at Sani's call and lets his eyes drift over their little group before fixing Sani with a glare.
"Bring her," he orders, practically spitting the words, the metallic edges of his Goa'uld voice reverberating between the pillars standing tall on either side of him.
"My God, she must not enter..."
"This again," Amun says, cutting Sani's protest off as he stalks back down the steps towards the old man - the young boy at the priest's side practically falling on his face in his hurry to kneel.
Sani visibly cowers, shrinking back from the Goa'uld's rage.
"Tell me, priest," Amun says, his voice deceptively light as though he were coaxing a child. "To whom does this temple belong?"
"It is yours, my God," Sani quickly replies. "It is all yours."
"Indeed," the Goa'uld says, a sharp smile curving one corner of his mouth as he turns his gaze on her this time. "And I will do what I will with what is mine."
He moves like a snake then, closing the distance between them and darting one hand towards her, fingers of iron clamping around the bones just below her wrist as he grasps her forearm. Sam manages to stifle a pained yelp before it escapes her throat; it was obvious his objective was to surprise her, and she had absolutely zero intention of reacting to his little demonstration of strength.
Instead, she levels him with the most unemotional stare she can muster, sucking in a deep breath before exhaling it in a visible display of collectedness.
He tightens his grip in response, and yanks her from between the two villagers, practically propelling her up the steps and across the threshold into the temple, and down a long archway. Sam blinks as her eyes adjust to the relative darkness; the torches along the walls all but dead now as they give off their final pulses of subdued reds and oranges, painting the space in hazy strokes. Behind her she hears scurrying, and harsh whispers that can only be Sani, and the young boy races past them into the shadowy chamber ahead, hurriedly lighting the dying torches.
Jack - Amun - pauses for a moment as the boy continues his mad scramble around the room, and the space around her begins to take shape.
It reminds her of Abydos, but there is something sad and neglected about it.
There is something else, though - something oppressive. Not in the lighting, or the severe lines of the pillars dividing the large area she was being led through, but in the air itself.
The smell of death.
Amun gives her an abrupt shove as they reach the centre of an apparently open space to the right of the archway, and she cannot stop herself from falling this time. She lands heavily on her knees on grass matting that appears to cover the floor, and pitches forward, stretching out her bound hands to stop her continued momentum.
Only, her hands strike something that is both soft and hard at the same time.
Something that can only be described as an amorphous bundle, wrapped in pale, gauzy fabric.
Sam sits back quickly, staring at the bundle as the torches around her continue to be lit, and it finally reveals itself to her.
It's a body.
A small body.
A child.
She knows that this is Anoki, and guesses that this is where the Goa'uld left the boy and took Jack as host instead; cast the boy aside like so much refuse in a place Sani insisted was holy to his people.
It was disgusting.
Sam raises her eyes to find Amun's gaze already fixed on her, watching her carefully, his expression impenetrable, and she happily takes the disgust rising inside of he like so much bile, and allows it to feed her steadily growing anger.
She has no doubt that Jack fought them here; fought Sani and his helpers and Amun. Fought for his very existence, and somehow, he'd managed to come to her that morning as himself - let her know that he was still here.
And it was her turn now to fight for them both.
/
A/N: This was a difficult chapter to write. I don't often ask for reviews, but if you have a moment, I'd love to know your thoughts. I hope you enjoy!
As always, thank you so much all followers/favouriters/readers/reviewers!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of the Stargate franchise. All other characters mentioned in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.