1.

The ruins were not the first ones that they encountered – it seemed there had been an entire city, or at least a large village in the area, one that dated before the Cataclysm, and didn’t exist on any maps. Yet there was something special about this particular building. It might have been a temple of some sort, but it wasn’t dedicated to any god or goddess known to the companions. And the most spectacular part of the ruins was a huge ring, made of stone and carved full of strange symbols, standing on a pedestal.

Even Raistlin had no idea of what it was. It did remind the young mage of something that he had once read about, a portal of a sort, but that portal was not supposed to look like this. He had tried to search the stone ring for any traces of magic, but the spell that would usually reveal such things showed nothing at all.

Since it was already getting dark, and they were at least a day’s journey from the nearest inn, the travelers decided to set up camp in the forest outside the ruins, at a very safe distance from the strange ring. Even though Tas was so eager to see something happen to it that he could hardly stay still for a moment (which wasn’t so unusual when talking of the kender), Tanis was adamant that they should not be too near it. He was suspicious of the thing.

No matter how eager he was, Tasslehoff Burrfoot was also very tired after the long day of walking in the wilds, and soon he was snoring happily, even though the rest of the companions still talked softly in the glow of the embers. But Tas wasn’t the only one who was extremely interested about the strange object.

Raistlin had been very annoyed to find out that he could not learn anything of the ring – what it was, why it was there, or who had built it. So, when all the others were gathered around the fire, thinking that the mage was simply studying his spellbook before going to sleep, if not quite asleep already, it was easy for him to sneak away from them and return to the stone structure.

It was so dark already that it was getting hard to see – the thing might not have been there at all, for what the mage could tell. He decided that he was far enough from the others, and uttered one word of command, “Shirak”, that lit the crystal of the Staff of Magius.

In the clear light of the staff, Raistlin could see something alarming. There were footprints on the dusty pedestal, many more footprints than the ones that the companions had left, and clear marks on the grass around it, leading to a direction where they had never went. Someone else had been here, not long ago, and perhaps still was.

Quickly, the young mage uttered another word – “Dulak” – that turned off the crystal, and stepped into the shadow of a nearby wall, fearing that someone had already noticed him because of the bright light. After standing there for a while, shivering in the cold wind, since he had left his cloak in the camp, he began to feel more secure. If someone had seen him, surely they would have come already.

All of a sudden, when Raistlin was about to leave his cover to examine the ring of stone again, he was assailed by a particularly bad fit of coughing. He had to lean on a pillar for support, as he gasped for breath.

Just as suddenly, the mage felt a soothing, supporting hand on his shoulder. The relief lasted only for a short while, giving way to irritation. “Caramon, you fool! I can take care of myself...” he whispered, expecting to see his twin brother’s annoyingly worried face.

As soon as he was able to turn his head and look, Raistlin saw that the hand didn’t belong to Caramon. It wasn’t nearly as muscular, and this man wasn’t quite as tall, although he was about the same age, or just a bit older. He was wearing glasses, and strange clothes the like of which the mage had never seen. And he wasn’t the only strange human about.

“Daniel! Be careful, okay? I don’t think the alien flu would be a very nice souvenir for Doctor Fraiser,” called out another man, one who looked clearly older and tougher than the first one.

Raistlin stayed silent – not only because he was still out of breath, but also because he was not sure what would be wise in the situation. He could understand the strangers’ words, so he would be able to talk back to them. But should he? Would he want to tell them that his illness was not contagious, or would it be better to keep them away?

“Aww, Jack, I was just trying to help,” the younger man replied feebly, but did indeed pull back his hand.

Someone shone a bright, yellow light on them. “Colonel? Is everything all right?” asked a female voice – it was a woman who had short, blond hair, and was clad in same kind of clothing as the men. With her followed a fourth person, a dark-skinned one, as tall as Caramon. And there was something odd about him. As Raistlin looked at the three others with his cursed eyes, he could see them grow old and dead. But not this last one. It was like looking at an elf: the man seemed to be aging very slowly.

The tall man was pointing the mage with a staff of some sort, and the woman had something black that was probably a weapon as well, judging from the way she was holding it.

“Yeah, sure, Carter. Daniel just wanted to play nurse with the natives,” the oldest-looking man – Jack? – quipped to the woman, and pointed towards Raistlin. It was only now that they all turned to gaze at him in the light that came from an odd sort of lantern that the woman carried.

The dark man raised his eyebrows in surprise, the young one’s – Daniel’s – eyes widened at the sight and his mouth fell open. The woman – Carter? – had a thoroughly annoying look of pity. The mage could imagine his golden skin reflecting the light in an eerie way, and his hourglass eyes narrowed under the scrutinizing stare of the strangers.

“Well, he sure looks bad,” Jack noted to the others.

Fighting to keep his growing irritation from showing, Raistlin licked his lips, trying to clear away some of the already dried blood that he had not even noticed, being so amazed by the sudden arrival of the quartet.

Earlier, the mage had been glad that the companions had set up camp so far from the ring of stone, but now he was beginning to get worried. What if, unlikely as it seemed, these strangers would attack him? His friends might not hear a thing. Even though he did have a few spells left, it was already late, and he felt weak and tired...

“Hello, I’m Daniel, and here’s Jack, Sam and Teal’c,” the young man had begun to gesture around, probably supposing that Raistlin could not speak their tongue. “Can you understand me? What’s your name?” he asked, pointing at the mage.

“Raistlin,” the mage hissed his answer. “And you need not worry. Whatever your ‘alien flu’ is, you won’t catch it from me. My illness is mine alone and it is not infectious.” He had finally decided that since these odd people did not appear aggressive, he could as well try and get some information from them. “So, who are you, and why do you sneak around in the darkness?”

“We’re peaceful explorers,” Daniel replied quickly. “We came...” he started, and then frowned, glancing at Jack. Jack simply shrugged, and so the younger man went on. “We came through the stargate.”

The word meant nothing at all to Raistlin, but it did not take long for him to reach the obvious conclusion – that the Gate this Daniel spoke of was nothing else than the ring of stone, and that these four were the ones who had appeared through it. He simply nodded as an answer, encouraging the man to keep talking.

“And, umm... We’re here to exchange information and culture...” Daniel tried to go on, but he was cut off by Jack’s question.

“Ever heard of the goa’uld?”

Now, here was a word that Raistlin could not connect with anything. He frowned, and shook his head.

“Evil snakey parasites? Gods with glowing eyes that take young people as hosts?” Jack suggested.

“I have never heard of a god with glowing eyes... And even the ones that I have heard of are somewhere far away,” Raistlin replied, shaking his head again.

“I wonder if there’s a village of some sort in this area? We’ve only found ruins so far, and for a while, we thought there’s no one living in here,” Daniel said.

Again, the mage had to consider if he wanted to answer, but then, he thought that it would probably be more useful to speak, especially since this area was almost as unknown to him as to these strangers. “And ruins are all that you will find, unless you wish to spend long days walking.”

“Then, what are you doing here, sneaking in the darkness?” Jack sarcastically returned Raistlin’s earlier question.

“I’m... studying,” Raistlin replied vaguely. These people had not shown the slightest sign of recognition when they had seen his red robe, and they had peered at the Staff of Magius with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. Neither had they shown any sign of hostility. “I’m a magic-user,” he added in his soft whispering voice, testing to see how these four would react.

The team turned to look at each other, each of them with a questioning look, which no one was able to answer. “A magic-user, eh?” Jack repeated, in a voice that was suspicious, but definitely not hostile.

“Magi. Mage of the Red Robes,” Raistlin added, his eyes turned towards the Red Moon, Lunitari, in the night sky. Somehow, it felt like the moon were winking at him.

“Well, all kinds of magic-users are not unusual in mythologies... For example, in Finnish myths, there’s the ancient Väinämöinen who can make people sink into the swamp or put them to sleep with his song...” Daniel explained, more to the three strangers than to the young mage. Jack simply shook his head in disbelief, Sam Carter shrugged, and Teal’c’s look was quite impossible to read.

“I’ve never heard of this Väinämöinen, but yes, such spells do exist,” Raistlin replied. “Yet they are more than just legends... You are not from this world, are you? Not from Krynn?” he uttered, letting out his guess of the strangers’ origins.

Daniel nodded – he seemed to be the one most eager to talk. “As I said, we came through the stargate, or the chaapa’ai – that ring over there. We come from Earth – we’re Tau’ri...” he tried to explain.

Raistlin nodded as if he had understood, although the part about the stargate was the only one that truly made any sense to him. Yet his theory was confirmed. These people were from an entire new, unknown world. This was quite an interesting challenge. He would have to find out more.

2.

“Ooooh! What’s this? I’ve never seen anything quite like it before. Well, if you don’t count that thing that a gnome once showed to me, but that was a lot bigger than this anyway!” a cheerful, rather shrill voice called out from somewhere behind the red-robed magic-user and SG-1.

“Hey, wait! That’s mine! No, look out, don’t point at anyone with it! You might hurt someone,” Daniel replied hastily to the little figure that was happily waving his sidearm towards the group. Oddly enough, he didn’t remember having lost or dropped it.

“Really? What does it do? This pipe-thing here looks a bit like a whistle of some sort.” The newcomer had turned the barrel towards himself and was peering inside, his finger on the trigger. At first sight, Daniel had taken him for a little boy, but actually, that might not have been correct. Clad in extremely colorful clothes, the figure had bright, almond-shaped eyes, a cheerful topknot of dark hair, pointed ears and a collection of assorted, bulging pouches.

“It’s a weapon that shoots bullets – a bit like a bow, except even more dangerous. Just give it back, all right?” Daniel reached warily towards the weapon.

“Well, if it’s that dangerous, you really should learn to be more careful, instead of just dropping it away like that,” the strange little character scolded, and reluctantly returned his finding to its proper owner, who let out a sigh of relief. “You know, that gnome-thing that I talked about, it was also like a bow, or actually, like a crossbow, except that it was black and made of some metal, and the bolt was placed in a pipe, and there was steam and all, and it made a horrible noise!”

“Umm... All right, sounds interesting. So, my name’s Daniel. What’s yours?” the archeologist was keen on learning more about this talkative fellow. He stepped closer to squat nearer so he could hear everything.

“I’m Tasslehoff Burrfoot, but just call me Tas,” the little figure introduced himself and held out his hand, which Daniel courteously accepted. Of course, that was pretty thoughtless of him, since a moment later he noticed that he had lost a notebook.

***

Daniel nearly forgot about Raistlin, the so-called mage, when he began to talk with Tas. Sam seemed to be listening to Tas as well, although not as closely as Daniel. Teal’c kept eyeing him, but the Jaffa’s gaze did return to Raistlin every now and then.

Jack was not at all interested about Tasslehoff. Instead, he had an irritated look that perfectly matched the mage’s glare. Jack peered at Daniel and Tas, shook his head, and took a step closer to Raistlin. “A friend of yours?”

“A companion on the road,” Raistlin replied dryly.

“So, is he the only one, or can we expect more happy encounters and lost guns?”

“There are others, but they should be more rational than this one,” the red-robe answered, sarcasm apparent in his voice.

“What is he, anyway, this Tassel-whatshisname?” Jack went on asking.

“Tasslehoff. He’s a kender. They have a habit of finding things that were never lost, and they enjoy telling stories... But what about you? Are you all humans, like myself?”

“Well, we’re humans except for Teal’c, that big guy over there, who’s a jaffa. Though I wouldn’t have thought you a human. No offence, but you look a bit weird, with that skin and those eyes and all.”

“I’m just as human as you are,” Raistlin whispered. “Tell me, what is a ‘jaffa’?” he began to ask, but Teal’c’s warning stopped him.

“Someone is coming,” the jaffa stated in a low voice.

***

Daniel jumped up and gestured for the kender to stop babbling for a while. He could hear the loud footsteps as well, several sets of them, crunching on dry grass and partly crumbled stone. He didn’t like the sound at all.

Following Jack’s handsigns, SG-1 retreated to hide behind the nearby pillars and ruins, and Raistlin sought cover as well. Only Tas remained clearly visible in the red light of the strange, full moon.

When they saw what the source of the footsteps was, Tasslehoff quickly retreated to hide behind a wall.

There were eight of them. They were scale-covered, lizard-like creatures with small wings protruding from their backs. Their claws made a nasty clatter as they hit the ancient flagstones.

“Friends of yours too?” Jack whispered harshly from behind Raistlin.

“Don’t be a fool. I don’t travel with lizard-men. I would suggest you prepare for battle. And beware, they will turn to stone when they die,” the mage replied sharply. Then, he turned his back to Jack again and closed his eyes. His hands moved to a pouch hanging from his belt.

Now, Daniel could definitely guess what Jack was thinking! He quickly approached the colonel. “We can’t just attack them right away, we don’t know who they are, or what they want!” He was still hoping that appearances might be deceiving, that these creatures might not be hostile after all.

“Well, I’d rather not find out what those claws are for... But no, we’ll only attack if they give us a reason to,” Jack answered in calmer tones.

Raistlin glared at them, shaking his head to himself, but saying nothing.

Daniel’s hopes were quickly quenched when the aliens stopped advancing and one of them stepped forward. Peering straight at him, it began to speak in a thick, hissing voice. “We know you are there. We can sssee you. Sstep out and ssurrender, and you might be ssspared,” it declared.

Jack, Sam and Teal’c were already fully prepared for a fight, when Daniel finally grabbed his gun – luckily, it was still in its place, away from Tas’s nimble hands. The kender was nowhere to be seen, but the mage was up to something... magic, probably. Still staying in the shadows, the red-robe raised his hands to sprinkle something that looked like sand in a high arc in the direction of the lizard-men, uttering mysterious, spider-like words that Daniel couldn’t even begin to understand.

The last syllable of the spell was still ringing in the air, when a dozen things seemed to happen in the same time.

One of the hostiles, who had been heading towards Teal’c, suddenly jumped back, screaming in agony – the jaffa had hit it point-blank with his staff weapon.

Five figures emerged from the ruins around the lizard-men – in the darkness, Daniel could only discern that three of them were human-height, while two were clearly shorter, and one of these was an anxious Tasslehoff.

A lizard-creature had leaped towards Sam, slashing at her with its claws. Luckily, the thing had obviously never met modern-day weapons, and didn’t even try to dodge when Sam shot at it. The beast yelped and backed away a bit.

Jack stepped away from Raistlin, stopping behind a low wall, his weapon aimed at the lizards as well. But he hesitated still, as the newly arrived humans – and other beings – were so near to the enemies. Daniel was crouched behind the same wall, but he was even more hesitant. He had learned a lot during the last years, yes, and he knew he could hit things well enough during target practice – but now, it was dark, and he just couldn’t afford hitting a friend...

Then, Raistlin’s spell took effect. Two of the creatures actually fell to the ground, one stooped, and the rest stood still and stared ahead blankly. It must’ve been a sleeping charm or something of the like. Weakened by his spell, the mage leaned on the wall next to him.

The battle was over before it had even truly began.

The beast that had been hit by Teal’c was lying on the ground, unable to stand up anymore, as was the one that had attacked Sam.

The stooped creature was quickly taken down by one of the newcomers, who struck it with the hilt of his sword.

A tall, muscular man was struggling to pull a large sword out from a dead beast that had encased it in stone.

An armor-clad, knightly figure stood over a dead alien. He had been victorious as well, and faster than the other stranger, since his sword, covered with green blood, was still in his hands.

A small, dwarf-like figure had struck the ones that were asleep so that they would not be waking up anymore.

The eighth enemy was gone, Daniel noted absently. Oddly enough, no one else seemed to care a bit – or then they hadn’t noticed it. He should probably tell Jack. But not right now, first they needed to find out who these new people were.

As Raistlin stepped out from his shelter, he swayed slightly. The muscular man was at his side instantly, offering his arm for support. Standing close enough, Daniel could see that their faces were surprisingly alike, although the thin mage looked far more unpleasant than the kind-faced, tall man. Perhaps they were brothers? Twins, even?

The SG-team had regrouped in front of the gate, and the companions gathered around them, cleaning their weapons and talking quite cheerfully. The battle had been fast, no one had been injured. It felt almost too easy.

“I think we’d better just head back, Sir,” Sam suggested to Jack.

“But there’s still so much here that we don’t know!” Daniel exclaimed. “I mean, didn’t you see, he actually cast a magic spell!” he pointed towards the mage. He was quite amazed that Sam wasn’t as anxious as he – after all, wouldn’t real magic defy all the laws of physics? Reading about magic from ancient myths was one thing. Seeing it was something beyond imagining. What if this Raistlin could actually teach them some of it? The archeologist was so eager to get to speak to him some more.

“Hmm, that one sounds a lot like you,” the dwarf grunted to Tasslehoff, nodding towards Daniel.

“Just who are all these people? Your friends? That a dwarf there?” Jack approached Raistlin.

Raistlin simply nodded. “Perhaps you should ask them...”

Again, it was Teal’c’s deep voice that cut short the conversation. “More enemies approach,” the jaffa declared calmly.

3.

The sight before them was depressing, almost overwhelming.

In the blood-red light of Lunitari, the surrounding ruins seemed to be teeming with dark shapes. It was impossible to tell how many there were, but it could well have been a whole regiment. Luckily, all the attackers seemed to be of the same breed, the smallest race of draconians.

“I don’t understand!” Tanis Half-elven whispered hurriedly to Raistlin. “Why are they attacking like this? If they’re looking for the blue crystal staff... it just doesn’t make sense!”

The mage shook his head to the half-elf. He didn’t have any idea either. It really didn’t make any sense. If the attackers knew that the companions carried the mystical crystal staff, a relic of the lost gods and proof of their powers, they would know that it was with Goldmoon and Riverwind, who were hopefully hiding now. Draconians were not stupid, and randomly attacking people when it was no use to them was definitely not their way of doing things.

The two groups didn’t even have the time to look for cover this time – besides, it would hardly have helped, because the draconians had already seen them all. Nevertheless, the stargate team did seem to have some sort of a plan.

“Daniel, dial us home. We’ll cover for you,” Jack called out sharply.

Raistlin had no idea of what the four strangers were doing. Daniel approached a stand of some kind that was some distance away from the stargate, at the foot of the pedestal and the ramp leading up to the ring. The draconians had already reached it as well, but the rest of the Gate team began firing at them with their strange weapons, driving them farther from it.

Since the strangers only seemed to be taking care of Daniel and whatever it was that he was doing, the companions were left on their own – in real trouble. There were draconians approaching from almost every direction. Tanis had stepped back a bit and grabbed his bow, trying to stop some of the enemies before they got near. Sturm had called his knight’s salute, and had already felled two draconians, but it hardly seemed to make any difference. Flint was grumbling as he waved his axe, since Tas was hopping alongside him, using his hoopak as both a staff and a sling, and explaining something all the time.

Daniel had finished punching a series of symbols on the device and was reaching to push the central orb, when his backpack was hit with such force that he was flung aside. The pack was slit open, its contents scattering to the ground. And then, before he had the time to defend himself, the claws struck again, this time ripping through jacket, shirt and skin. He cried out and lurched forward.

“Daniel!” Jack called out. “Dammit! Carter, go to the DHD. I’ll take care of him,” he commanded, gun already pointed at the draconian that was standing over Daniel, who was prone on the ground.

Caramon stood in front of Raistlin, protecting him, waiting for him to begin his spellcasting. For a passing moment, the mage hesitated. But then again, he really didn’t have much choice. He closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate on his spell.

The draconians had now literally surrounded the party. They had even stepped on the ramp, between the stargate and the group. Tas and Flint were away from sight, somewhere among the mass of enemies. Tanis had grasped his sword and was fighting side to side with Sturm. The two were separated from Caramon and Raistlin, who were the nearest to the Gate.

Sam was standing at the DHD, but she appeared much more wary than Daniel as she punched the buttons – she kept stopping to glance around, and to fire at any enemies who had gotten too near despite Teal’c’s continuous struggle to keep them away.

The draconian who had attacked Daniel was now lying next to him, at some distance from Sam and the device, and Jack was standing next to him, trying to stop more draconians from coming near. But no matter how many lizard-men fell to the ground, there always seemed to be more to come.

All of a sudden, everyone and everything stopped and fell silent. Raistlin’s spell took effect; a sticky web spread out to entangle a large number of the attacking beasts. In the exact same moment, there was a whooshing sound from the Gate, caused by a blue wave that surged out of the stone ring. The draconians that were caught in it vanished from sight, save for a few pairs of clawed feet.

The net had hardly fallen all the way down when Raistlin fell to his knees, coughing and breathing hard. He didn’t notice how the stone ring was now filled with a shimmering, liquid-like substance. But the mage had just understood something important: he knew what the draconians were after! Cursing his weakness, completely unable to speak, he nevertheless whisked away a worried Caramon.

“Carter, Teal’c! Go!” Jack yelled, gesturing at the Gate. Daniel was leaning heavily on him. They had tried to move away from the worst fighting, but instead had only succeeded in placing themselves so far from Raistlin’s web that they were still nearly surrounded by draconians. Carter and Teal’c, on the other hand, had a clear path to the portal.

The woman and the jaffa ran towards the open Gate, only to be stopped by Caramon, who was carrying Raistlin – the mage had been picked up despite his objections. Though actually, one part of him was telling that he should just let his brother take care of everything. He was much too tired to think for himself.

“Where are you going?” Caramon rumbled at the two others, worried that they were just going to flee and leave the others behind.

“Back to our homeworld, so we can get help. We’re not going to abandon the colonel and Daniel,” Sam replied quickly. Teal’c pushed Caramon aside to reach the Gate – even the muscular warrior was unable to resist the strong jaffa. Carter followed him quickly.

“Now, just you wait! We’re coming with you!” Caramon exclaimed, and ran after them, still carrying Raistlin.

“Caramon, you oaf, what are you doing?” the mage croaked, his skeletal fingers pinching his brother’s shoulder, but it made no difference. Caramon didn’t even stop when Sam and Teal’c disappeared into the rippling, blue matter, but went in right behind them. They had just passed through, when the surface dissolved, leaving the stone ring empty and lifeless again.

***

“Where did they go?” Sturm uttered to Tanis. He was suspicious of anything that had to do with magic, so this odd portal appeared extremely dubious to him.

Tanis shook his head. “I don’t know, but I hope they’ll come back, and bring others.” The half-elf looked towards where the two humans were standing. They were now completely surrounded by the beasts, so that he could only just see their heads. “If we keep fighting, we’ll just get ourselves killed,” he noted bitterly. Then Jack cast a glance at him, and as their eyes met, he knew that they were thinking the same thing. Tanis placed a hand on Sturm’s shoulder. “Drop your sword, friend.”

Both Jack and Tanis let their weapons fall and raised their hands in a gesture of surrender. To their surprise, the draconians stopped fighting almost instantly. They formed a circle around the four remaining defenders, and just stood there, glaring at the three humans and the half-elf with their cold eyes.

A draconian who was dressed as a cleric entered the circle. “Ssstrange. I would have expected sstronger resisstance. Not ssomething quite as... Haphazard as you,” he hissed at the four. Then, he addressed the troops in their reptilian tongue. Apparently following his orders, several draconians stepped out of the circle to tie the feet and hands of their captives, and to carry them away from the stargate.

4.

The situation was extremely uncomfortable. The ground was damp and the captives were so far away from the stargate that they couldn’t see it. The lizard-like guards were standing at a few paces from them, although the companions had been tied so tightly that they had no hope of escaping.

On the positive side, Daniel didn’t think he was as badly hurt as he – and probably Jack too, judging by his continuous worried glances – had feared, and it was all thanks to the now destroyed backpack. Daniel was lying on his side, leaning on his elbow to keep his head up. The cuts on his back were still bleeding, but, according to Jack, less than before, so they were probably not that deep. That didn’t help the pain, though, and the fact that help was nowhere to be seen didn’t make it much more pleasant, not to mention that there was a strong risk of infection.

Daniel had finally gotten a better picture of the two other captives. One had a beard, the other, a thick moustache. There was something strange about the bearded one, something unusual about his facial features, and his ears seemed to be pointed. The man with the moustache was the one that Daniel had, on first sight, labeled as ‘knightly’ – he kept his back very straight and his head up, and was wearing a full suit of plate armor.

“So...” Jack cut the silence awkwardly, glancing at the two strangers. “I don’t think I caught your names.”

“I didn’t hear yours, either,” the one with pointed ears replied quickly.

“I’m Daniel, and that’s Jack,” the linguist offered helpfully. “We’re from Earth. Tau’ri,” he added, and received a headshake from Jack. So, the colonel thought he had given away more information than necessary. Well, he really didn’t think it mattered that much in this situation.

***

Tanis was about to tell his name, when Sturm stopped him. “Are you sure you want to tell them your name?” he whispered to the half-elf’s ear. “I don’t trust them. Where did they come from? Why are they here? And what did they do to Caramon and that... brother of his?”

“I know, I don’t trust them any more than you do. But they did help us in the fight. The only way we can learn more is to ask them,” the half-elf replied, keeping his voice low as well.

***

Meanwhile, Daniel was telling Jack the opposite of what Sturm had said. “Jack, come on. What bad could that possibly do? They’re not hostile, and so far it seems they’ve never even heard of Earth, and know nothing about the Gate...” He pushed himself up into a sitting position, wincing at the pain on his back, and glared the older man in a manner that was both challenging and pleading.

“Look, Danny. We know nothing about them. What if they’re in league with the lizards and the whole thing was a ploy?” the colonel replied, his voice perhaps a bit louder than he had meant.

“That does not mean that they’re not evil. For all we know, they could be seeking for the crystal staff and serving false gods as well!” the knight’s heated reply was so loud that Daniel heard each word clearly.

A tense silence fell among the four. Both pairs had heard enough of the others’ arguments to understand what was going on. Daniel peered at Jack in a reproachful manner and the colonel grinned back cynically. The knight looked rather embarrassed – his rather serious accusations hadn’t been very courteous. The bearded fellow looked thoroughly frustrated.

The second stranger crawled nearer to Jack and Daniel, gesturing with his head that the knightly one should follow. “I’m Tanis Half-elven, and this is Sturm Brightblade,” he declared in an apologetic manner. Then he went on with a lower voice, so that the guards could not hear a word. “If we are to escape, we’ve got to trust each other, at least a bit. And I believe our freedom is what we all want?”

Daniel raised his eyebrows at ‘Half-elven’ – the one with the pointed ears was a half-elf? Did that mean that there were true elves around as well? He nodded eagerly in reply to Tanis – that was what he had been thinking as well. Sturm and Jack weren’t quite as quick to accept, but they did, after all.

“Tanis, I trust you. If you trust these people, it will have to do,” the knight gave in. Jack sighed, shrugged, and nodded as well.

“Oohhkay. Now that we’re all pals, maybe you could explain a few things. Like who, what, where, when, why and so on,” the colonel inquired irritably.

“What? We do not need to answer to you! It is you who appeared out of nowhere, clad in strange clothes, carrying odd weapons, and it was because of you that two of our group are now missing!” Sturm could not contain himself.

Now it was Daniel and Tanis’s turn to exchange glances, frustrated at the two others.

“We came through the stargate – that’s the stone ring that your friends disappeared into. It’s basically a gateway that leads to different worlds. Please don’t ask me how it works, that’s Sam’s area of expertise,” Daniel began explaining, ignoring Jack’s attempts of catching his attention.

“And you came here through it,” Tanis nodded, making sure that he had understood. “But why?”

“We’re explorers. We use the Gate to travel to different worlds, so we can learn from the people who live in those worlds.”

“Simply out of curiosity?” Sturm asked, his disbelief apparent.

“Our Danny here really does it out of curiosity,” Jack remarked, still unwilling to elaborate.

Daniel, on the other hand, saw no reason not to tell. Since they were all stuck in the same trouble, knowing each other better could do no harm. “Well... We have powerful enemies who use the Gate as well, and we’re trying to find ways to fight them better, and to help others who suffer because of them. They’re called goa’ulds, and they often impersonate local gods.”

“False gods! We’ve had more than enough of those,” Tanis uttered, shaking his head. “I doubt there even is such a thing as a true god.”

Sturm shook his head vigorously at the half-elf, whose idea must’ve been quite blasphemous to him.

“You’ve seen false gods? Did they ask for people to use as hosts? To take over their bodies and live in them?” Daniel was starting to get worried. Was this planet controlled by the goa’uld after all?

To the archaeologist’s relief, the half-elf shook his head. “I’ve never heard of one who’d do that. On the other hand, with all the charlatans that we’ve seen, one like that would be easy to dismiss.”

“Why’s there so many of those, then? I mean, how can you determine that they’re false?” Daniel frowned.

“Because the true gods used to be here. There were clerics who could heal deadly wounds with their holy powers. Then came the Cataclysm, and the powers of the priests were lost. Their prayers are no longer answered,” Sturm spoke with a wistful voice.

“So, what’s this cata-thingy?” Jack asked. Obviously he had finally decided that sulking would do no good.

“According to the legends, the gods cast a fiery mountain on Krynn, willing to punish the people for their arrogance. And then, the gods went away,” Tanis told.

“So, the legends don’t suggest that the gods might be returning again, when they’re needed? That’s typical in many known mythologies,” Daniel began, but Jack interrupted him.

“To tell you the truth, I really couldn’t care less of your legends. I want to get out of here, away from those stinkin’ lizards. But before we start planning, I’d still like to know what you’re doing here, if you didn’t even know about the Gate.”

“Well... We... We’re a group of companions, and we just ended up on some kind of a quest – really, I hardly understand it myself,” the half-elf explained vaguely. It looked as if he was going to continue.

“And you need not know more than that,” Sturm finished for him, not willing to reveal more.

Jack glanced at him darkly. “Who’re you to decide what we need to know?”

“Jack, let it be,” Daniel muttered wearily. Why couldn’t they just drop it... The situation was bad enough without anyone deliberately making it worse. Moving quite awkwardly with his hands and feet tied, biting his lip to suppress a wince, he settled down on his side again, his back turned towards the others. At least they had some trust now, delicate as it was, and so there had to be hope as well.

“Now, we only need answers to two questions. Why did they attack and capture us, and, most of all, how are we going to escape?” Tanis said.

5.

“Caramon, put me down!” Raistlin hissed, though he was shaking from the chill and exhausted beyond measure. He was amazed that he was still conscious, but then again, the strange trip through the portal had been so rough that it might almost have awakened the dead.

During an eternity that was a passing moment, he had flown past an innumerable amount of bright lights scattered on black, like stars in the night sky. And then, they had been cast out at such speed that Caramon had stumbled to the odd, metallic floor, but he had still held his grip of Raistlin.

“Raist, are you sure... Well, all right, then...” Caramon muttered, shrugging at his brother’s angry glare, and set the mage on his feet next to him. He did still keep his arm on Raistlin’s shoulders, though.

They were in a large room or hall of some sort. It was completely unlike anything Raistlin had seen before. Behind them stood the circle of stone, and in front of them, a line of people clad like the four Gate travelers and armed with the same sort of weapons – all of them pointed at Raistlin and Caramon.

Sam Carter and Teal’c were quick to call out that the others should just lower their weapons, since Raistlin and Caramon were friends. They hesitated, but obeyed immediately, when a rather stout, bald man repeated the order.

“Where are colonel O’Neill and doctor Jackson?” the stout man enquired from Sam and Teal’c.

“General Hammond. We were assailed by an enemy that left us completely outnumbered. Colonel O’Neill and Daniel Jackson could not reach the stargate. These two helped us in the struggle,” Teal’c replied, gesturing towards the twins.

The General glanced at Caramon, who was spotted with blood, both draconian and his own, and Raistlin, who was swaying on his feet and leaning heavily on his brother’s shoulder, eyelids drooping, but lips twisted to a disgruntled grimace. “Are they in need of medical attention?” he asked, pointing his words to Teal’c and Carter.

Caramon turned to look Raistlin in the eye, wearing a confused expression quite typical to him. The mage didn’t respond. His strength finally failing him, Raistlin collapsed to his brother’s arms.

***

Raistlin woke up to a feeling that something was wrong, and very badly so.

There was something in his nose, and something caused his arm to prickle. He opened his eyes to find himself in an extremely strange room, lying in a bed, covered with white sheets. The prickling was caused by a needle stuck in his arm. He couldn’t begin to understand why it was there, just like he had no explanation for the tubes leading to his nostrils. It certainly wasn’t comfortable.

Oddly enough, he didn’t feel very rested, but rather uneasy, and weaker than he would’ve wished. Nevertheless, he reached to pull out the strange devices.

“No, don’t touch it, it’s all right,” a woman called out quite sharply. She was short, had auburn hair, and an unexplainable air of command about her. She walked closer to examine some sort of a display nearby, frowning.

Raistlin withdrew his hand reluctantly, and glared at the woman. He didn’t like the situation at all, since he had no control over, nor understanding of what was happening. “What have you done to me?” he snarled.

“You passed out in the gate room. We’re trying to cure you,” the woman replied matter-of-factly. “I’m Doctor Janet Fraiser. You’re Raistlin, right?”

The mage nodded, and cast a sarcastic smirk at the woman. “You can try all you wish, you will never succeed. My illness is incurable. Am I a prisoner?”

“Of course not!” Janet Fraiser exclaimed. “Though I can’t promise that they’ll let you roam freely, either. Besides, I’m not letting you out of here quite yet.”

Raistlin’s eyes narrowed. “So I am a prisoner,” he stated.

Fraiser gazed at him in an annoying, concerned and pitiful manner. “No, that’s not what I said. I’m a doctor – a healer, and you’re my patient. You can go when you’re fit enough.”

The young mage shook his head irritably. “Then you’ll keep me here forever. As I said, you cannot heal me,” he whispered. “So, what did you do to Caramon?”

“He wouldn’t let us touch you. I’m afraid Teal’c knocked him out for a while, but he’s all right.”

“Of course he is. Where is he?”

“He’s staying in our quest quarters. The General will want to talk with both of you soon.”

Raistlin sighed and shook his head. He didn’t have time for such idiocy. He reached for his pouches and his spell components, only to find out that his robes had been changed into some strange, blue clothing. Then, with a start, he realized that the Staff of Magius, his most valuable possession, was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m sorry, we had to take your things for safekeeping. You’ll get them back in a bit,” Fraiser explained.

“I will not tolerate this! You’ll bring them back to me right now or I will set a deadly curse on you,” Raistlin tried, seeking for his most threatening tone, and eyeing Doctor Fraiser in a murderous manner. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to cast such a spell, definitely not without any components, but what would this stupid woman know anyway...

“Oh, you’ll do no such thing. I’ll be back in a minute,” Fraiser replied, his tone almost as menacing as Raistlin’s. Before the amazed mage had any time to reply, the woman turned on her sharp heels and walked away.

Left alone, Raistlin went on to remove all the strange appliances that these annoying people had placed on him. He still couldn’t understand why he felt so strange. Had he been drugged? He could only guess.

The mage sat up on his bed, and was just about to go on and stand up, when Fraiser returned, accompanied by General Hammond, Teal’c, Sam and Caramon. To Raistlin’s great relief, they were also carrying his valuable spell components and his staff.

“You’re not to touch it! Give it to me,” he commanded, but Carter, who was holding the Staff of Magius, simply stopped and glanced at the General.

“You are in no position to give orders,” Hammond stated coldly. Nevertheless, he nodded to Sam and then pointed towards Raistlin with his head. Carter went on to give the staff to its owner.

“My men tell me that you can actually do magic. Is this true?” the General asked. Caramon was nodding eagerly, but no one was looking at him. Teal’c stood close by him, eyeing him cautiously.

“Yes, it is, and keeping me here against my will is not a wise thing to do,” Raistlin sneered.

“So you tell me, but why should I believe you? Can you prove your words?”

Ah, good, Raistlin thought to himself. The fools were playing for him after all. “If I can have my spell components,” he hissed, reaching for the pouches. The General nodded, and Teal’c handed them to the mage.

Raistlin picked one that contained dried rose petals and grabbed a handful. He gazed straight at Caramon, who understood, and moved away from the others as stealthily as he could.

But something was still not right. Raistlin could remember the words of the spell easily enough, but he did not feel the usual, wondrous surge of magic. It was as though he was trying to warm his hands in the glow of a sun that was so far it looked like a mere candle. Or, as he realized to his great horror, like trying to call for power from the goddess of a very, very far-away moon. There was no magic in this alien world, and Lunitari was too far to hear his plea for help.

Raistlin let his hands fall and his head sink. Annoyance, anger and frustration gave way to despair.

6.

In his dream, two wizards came to him.

Both were clad in white robes, although the first one’s were so shabby that they looked more like gray, while the second one had a silvery sheen about him. Topping the tangled hair of the shabby mage was a beaten, old hat – the silvery one had long, smooth, white hair. Looming behind him, vague as shadows, were two other figures, a beautiful red-haired lady in red and an intense-looking, raven-haired man in night-black robes.

He was certain that the two were mages, although he didn’t know why. And no matter what the two white wizards looked like, he also knew for certain that the bedraggled man was the older one. The ageless, silvery figure was younger, and perhaps somehow answerable to the older mage.

“Daniel Jackson of the Tau’ri,” the shabby wizard spoke in a surprisingly deep voice. It was not a question, but a statement – yet how could this strange old man know his name? They had certainly never met before. He did not dare to reply, but kept staring.

This had to be a dream. He couldn’t even see where they were standing. Instead, it looked as if they were floating among clouds in a dark-blue, starless sky. Still, the people in front of him were amazingly real, and his mind was clear. He tried to tell himself to wake up, tried to pinch himself, but it didn’t help.

***

“All right. So, we’re basically surrounded by lizard men and our hands are feet are tied so we can hardly move. What can we do?” Jack began sulkily.

They had went through the same conversation several times already. Jack would assure the strangers that he still didn’t know anything of the “draconians”, as they called the lizards, and that he didn’t know why they attacked. Then Tanis and Sturm would tell that they had met draconians before, but that this behavior was strange even from them. Jack would ask for any escape plans, and they would spend a moment in silence.

“I said it before – the first step on our way out of here is to get rid of these bindings,” the half-elf declared. “If only we had something sharp – a knife, or a rock, anything!” But they didn’t. The lizards had been extremely careful. All their weapons had been taken away, and the spot where they sat was covered with downtrodden grass.

Jack sighed and shook his head. “We’re not getting anywhere here. I guess I’d better check on Daniel, he’s been unusually quiet...”

***

An alarming thought woke up in Daniel’s racing mind.

What if he was dead?

That would actually explain a lot, like the clouds surrounding him, and these strange ancient figures who knew his name, though didn’t seem very talkative. Well, he could save them the trouble of speaking and ask for himself.

“Am I dead?” he uttered, his voice sounding weak and timid compared to the rich baritone of the shabby mage.

“Of course not!” the gray wizard replied quickly, sounding rather irritated. “If you were dead, we would not bother talking to you.”

“Umm... Well, you haven’t been talking that much now, either...”

“We have been thinking, for what we are going ask of you, what we are going to offer, has never happened before,” the silvery mage suddenly spoke up in a melodious voice. The two figures behind him nodded in accord.

“Fine... So, you know my name – won’t you tell me yours?”

“You would not understand,” the shimmering wizard replied. “It would mean nothing to you.”

“Oh, my name? Sure, of course!” the mousy-gray mage began, suddenly sounding a lot less pompous than before. “If only I could remember it! Fuzzbee- no, no, that’s not it - Fur – uh, not quite. Frisbee!” he exclaimed, and turned to look at the other white-robe. “That’s not it, is it? Frisbee? Dear son, you wouldn’t happen to remember it?”

Once again, Daniel got the strongest feeling that he was certainly asleep. He definitely wasn’t dead. This was way too absurd even for an afterlife.

The silvery wizard, serene as ever, nodded respectably to the older one. “Yes, father. Your name is Fizban. Fizban the Fabulous.”

***

Those stinkin’ lizard-aliens sure knew how to make life difficult!

Walking over to a friend who’s lying on the ground and checking if he’s okay, maybe shaking him a bit if he’s not awake, now, that’s not a hard thing to do. Doing the same thing with your wrists and ankles tightly bound, that’s a lot harder. And Jack had to admit that Daniel wasn’t helping him a lot, either.

It had taken him a while to squirm his way to Daniel’s side. It was easy enough to see in the first pale rays of the sun that the cuts weren’t looking better, but worse – the bloodstained fabric was sticking to the fiercely red, inflamed skin. The colonel shook his head to himself. This was definitely not good.

Daniel was still lying with his back turned towards the others and his face away from them. Jack didn’t want to try and turn over his friend, afraid that he’d just end up hurting him. Instead, he had to continue on his awkward way, so he could get around him. The lizard guards were stirring, casting really ugly glances at him, but he didn’t care. Why would they kill them now, if they hadn’t done it before? After all, they’d had plenty of opportunities.

“Daniel? Danny? You awake?” Jack called out. Of course, it was a pretty stupid question – he could see well enough that Daniel’s eyes were closed. So, Jack tried prodding him. Nothing. He tried the younger man’s forehead with the back of his hand – it was burning hot, especially against his tied, cold-numb fingers.

“Daniel! Come on!” he tried again, this time so loudly that Tanis and Sturm raised their heads from their conversation and looked at him.

“Jack? Is there a problem?” the half-elf called out, worried.

***

“All right, then... What is it that you want of me?” Daniel uttered. If this really was a dream, or a hallucination, which it really had to be, then he could just as well play along.

“A great danger threatens our world, one that is already known to you – yet there are powers at work that you know nothing of, some of them even stronger than those that you have already met,” Fizban the Fabulous replied mystically, now sounding quite solemn again.

“Since we are not allowed to challenge it openly, that task will fall upon you and those close to you. That is why you will be given a power to match that of the enemies. A force that comes from my siblings and I, by my father’s permission. Such an honor has never before been bestowed on one not of Krynn. Yet I warn you: it will be a heavy burden to an untrained mortal such as you,” the silver-white mage continued.

“Alas! I suspect that you would need much time and guidance to learn to use it properly. I’ve had quite a bit of time, myself, and I still haven’t quite mastered it. I always keep forgetting the words! But time is something you do not have, and something that we cannot give you. You will have to learn on your own. Trial and error, that has always been one of my favorite methods,” Fizban added. He waved his hand, like saying good-bye, and the surroundings began to fade.

“No, wait! Wait! What power – what enemy? What do we need to do? And why did you pick me, anyway, why not one of the others?” Daniel tried to get out all those questions filling his head, but it was obviously too late. Fizban was finished with him.

“Daniel, come on!” someone was yelling persistently. Jack. It sounded like Jack. So, he had been asleep after all. Now that he thought of it, he did feel more than a bit drowsy – actually, his head was swimming, although it was obvious he was lying on the ground. Slowly, he opened his surprisingly heavy eyelids and peered at the hazy face floating above him. He could just make out two other figures farther away – the two mages! But no, that had been a dream. The two strangers? The ones they had been captured with!

“Way to go, Danny!” Jack declared victoriously. “How’re you feeling?”

“All funny,” Daniel replied, blinking. His voice came out strange, hoarse and weak. He tried to shake his head to clear his thoughts. Instead, the world shook with it to the opposite direction, adding a few extra hops and loops.

“You were saying pretty funny things, too, just a moment ago. About waiting, and powers, and enemies,” Jack noted, his concern evident in his voice. “Quite a dream you had there?”

“Yup... Glad it was just a dream...” Daniel mumbled, and closed his eyes again.

7.

Raistlin quickly realized that he couldn’t form any kind of plans when he knew so little of where he was and who these people were. He would have to find out. And he would also have to learn the exact nature of his loss of magical powers.

Having spent most of his life studying magic, Raistlin had always been surrounded by it. Even when he had been very young and hadn’t known how to actually cast a spell, magic had always been there. It had been with his mother, who had never learned to use her talent, but often ended up lost in her own worlds, oblivious to what was really happening. Magic had been in him, in his very blood – but in the world as well, in the earth, the air, the water.

Now, Raistlin finally understood why he had felt worse than usual when he had first woken up here. Here, in this new world, there was no magic. Something that had always been a part of him was suddenly missing. The small traces of magic that he could actually find and sense had all been brought here by himself, like the Staff of Magius, or then were radiating from that distant world that was his home.

Raistlin decided to use his foolish hosts as he best could, which was quite a challenge after the unfortunate, unpleasant situation in the infirmary. Luckily enough, they did not instantly declare him a fraud when he couldn’t make his first spell work, and they actually let him keep his belongings. They suggested that since he was probably still tired and not feeling all that well, he should try again later.

“But you’d better be careful with what you do, son. I’d choose my targets a bit more carefully next time, if I were you,” General Hammond had said, managing to sound both fatherly and threatening in the same time.

The red-robe felt he was getting used to the lessened amount of magic in this place, either because he had already spent half a day here, or then because he now understood the reason for it. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t feel bad at all, but better than usually – less consumed by that inner fire that was originally born of magic. He was actually able to convince the General and the Doctor that he would stay alive outside the infirmary as well. Fraiser reluctantly allowed him to move in to the same quarters with Caramon, taken that he would have to return under her caring eyes should his condition change in any way. Raistlin suggested that they’d give him a target of some kind so he could practice his magic, a living thing, if possible. They brought him a white rat in a cage.

The young mage managed to put the rat to sleep, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make the spell work on Caramon – no one had mentioned that he shouldn’t use his twin brother as a test subject. Annoyed by this, he tried something else, and successfully burned the poor rodent to ashes. Of course, he had to hide the remains quickly, so he wouldn’t raise any unnecessary suspicions. Then he asked for a new rat and promised that this time, he would actually make it work.

It worked perfectly well, the rat fell asleep at his command under the very eyes of General Hammond, Janet Fraiser, Sam Carter, Teal’c, assorted lower-ranking people who he didn’t know – and, of course, Caramon. Out of the lot, Caramon seemed the most impressed. Teal’c raised his eyebrows, which appeared to be about as far as he ever went in showing amazement. Hammond frowned and looked at Fraiser, who simply shrugged. Sam instantly headed for the cage and began looking for mechanisms of some kind, and asked Raistlin to show that he didn’t have any devices in secret pockets in his sleeves or something like that. Of course, he did have secret pockets in his sleeves, and he had no intention of showing them to her.

After this little demonstration, Sam Carter was annoyingly eager to try and get some sort of an explanation out of Raistlin, though she wasn’t willing to accept any of what he was telling her.

“But you can’t really mean that there’s this one all-around strange, unexplainable power that can make anything happen and is simply controlled by hand-waving, sand-tossing and mumbling mystical words. That’s just not possible!”

“Of course, using magic does have its limits and its rules – one can’t just make anything happen. Yet those limits are mostly born of the magic-users. Spellcasting is very draining, as you have seen, if you have observed what I have done. The greater the spell, the more exhausting it is. Also, some mages are more powerful than others. Thus, even a beginner can, for example, learn to cast a spell that shows if there is magic about, but even a master will have difficulties with the greatest of things...”

“Like what? Raising storms? Creating fire or lightning? Mind-reading?” Carter suggested skeptically.

Raistlin was always reluctant to tell too much of how magic worked. It was not meant to be general knowledge. But now, in this world, he felt rather careless. As sharp as this woman was in some things, in the end, she was just another fool. He could tell her anything, she wouldn’t ever even begin to believe it. He might as well try and gain some awe from her. “No, those are not the most powerful of spells. I would rather say summoning demons, or time-travel.”

“Demons? Some kind of monstrous beasts, then? You can actually travel in time with this magic of yours?”

“When I say demons, I mean it. And yes, it is possible. I could not do such a thing, though. Not yet.”

“But I still can’t see how that could work,” Sam shook her head. “We’ve actually experienced time travel with the ‘Gate, but that was more of an accident, and happened in really unusual circumstances...”

“Are you not listening to what I say? I told that it is one of the most difficult things to achieve. I have no knowledge of such things so far, only that it is said that it can be done.”

“All right,” she nodded this time, but the look on her face was just as defiant as before. “Can you describe the actual power in any more detail? Is it visible? Where does it come from? You say there’s no magic here, on Earth. So, is it stronger in some places than others? How can one learn to use it?”

By the Gods, this woman was worse than the kender. The more he spoke, the more she would ask. That was not the way he wanted it to be. “No, I cannot describe it in any more detail. I have answered many of your questions already. Now you could answer one of mine. Can we return to our home through your portal? Have you tried returning there already?”

Sam frowned. “I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t really answer that,” she said regretfully. “I’ll have to ask the General.”

“Well, then we have nothing left to discuss. Return with your questions when you have something to offer in return. I was told I am not a prisoner, but here you keep me in a cell and come to interrogate me,” Raistlin sneered.

The woman rose up, still looking remorseful. “It’s all true, you’re not a prisoner. I’m not interrogating you, I’m trying to understand how your world works. I’ll go ask General Hammond. I really think you should be told what’s happening.”

When Sam Carter stepped towards the door, Caramon instantly sprang up from his place and courteously opened the door to her. Raistlin, still sitting on his bed, shook his head to his brother. In days like this, Raistlin felt happy that Caramon was so thick. There was no need to worry that he would tell too much about anything to these strangers. He was completely happy reading what the SG-people called “comics”, some kind of brightly colored story books with a lot of pictures, some of them containing talking animals – apparently meant for children. Clearly a perfect pastime for Caramon.

***

Captain Carter was actually able to surprise Raistlin in a positive way. She wasn’t gone for a long time, less than an hour, and when she came back, she had good news. “We’ve been planning a rescue mission to your planet all this time. We want to get the colonel and Daniel back here, and we hope that we can get you back there as well, if that’s what you want. It’s not going to be easy, though. We sent a MALP through earlier – that’s a machine we use to see and hear what’s happening on the other side of the ‘Gate – but it was almost instantly destroyed by something that looked like a bolt of lightning. I have no idea what it was. Magic, maybe,” she smirked.

Raistlin snorted and glared at the woman. “That’s clearly what it was, yes. Now, go on.”

“Well, during the short moment that we could get some data, we saw that the area around the ‘Gate is completely in control of those aliens that you call draconians. Looking at enlarged pictures later, we’ve actually figured out that they’re cleaning up the ruins and building new things at an amazing pace. We couldn’t see Jack, Daniel or any of your friends. I think you’ll get to see those pictures soon enough, to check if you can tell us anything more about them,” Sam paused to cast a glance at Raistlin and Caramon, who had abandoned his comic books and was standing behind his brother, listening attentively.

“That was to be expected. They should be wise enough to stay hidden, unless they’ve all been caught. So, what are you going to do?” the mage asked impatiently.

“Actually, it’s quite simple. We’re sending through a large armed party – gathering it has taken quite some time, since we’re really going to take everyone we can spare. First, we’ll need to secure the ‘Gate area, and then we can split up to look for the lost people. But that’ll all be explained in the mission briefing, which will take place in an hour. The General wishes to have you both there. You know best what’ll be waiting for us once we get to the other side.”

“And had I not asked you, when would you have told us this? This plan of yours does closely concern me and my brother.”

“We were going to tell you soon, really. The General said he’d been planning to send someone here in a moment, but I wanted to do it myself.”

“So you say, but what proof do I have that it is true?” Raistlin sneered.

“As little proof as we have that you’ve been honest to us,” Sam replied and headed out of the twins’ room, not looking angry, but rather disappointed.

8.

When Daniel Jackson finally woke up again, the sun of P4A-984, also known as Krynn, had already finished its climb to its highest point in the bright blue cloudless sky. He was startled by the idea of how long he must’ve slept. Luckily enough, he didn’t remember seeing any dreams this time, though the earlier strange visions were still fresh in his mind. Now that he thought of it, his head was clear too, not even distantly hazy anymore, and his back didn’t hurt. He felt fine. He began to wonder if he’d just dreamed having woken up earlier and feeling sick.

“Jack?” Daniel called out. The sound was still somewhat raspy, but definitely better than before, he thought. Without waiting for an answer, he sat up, looking for the others.

“Daniel. Still feeling funny?” the colonel asked. He was sitting next to Daniel, and Tanis and Sturm were nearby, much closer than where they had been when he had gone to sleep. Something else had changed, too: there was a nasty-looking claw mark running across Jack’s chest.

“I’m good, but what’s happened to you?”

“Never mind that, it’s not half as deep as what you’ve got. Won’t even leave a scar.”

“He tried to speak to the draconians,” Tanis offered helpfully – Jack instantly cast an icy glance at him. Daniel looked at him as well, rather amused. The colonel was usually the last person to communicate with aliens.

“Some try it was, too. At least I found out that we’re not important enough to talk to. It pretty much looks like we’re not important enough to get food or water, either. On the good side of things, we’re obviously not important enough to get killed. It’s like they’ve forgotten we’re here.”

“I could try...” Daniel began, but didn’t get too far.

“No, you won’t, as fancy as it might be to have matching scratches on both sides. You sure you’re okay?”

“Positive. Why do you keep asking?”

“Firstly, because you don’t look all that good. Secondly since I already thought we’d lost you once. Couldn’t make you wake up. Gave me a good scare.”

Daniel closed his eyes and let his head droop. So, he had remembered that part correctly. It hadn’t been a dream – but it just didn’t make any sense!

O’Neill reached out his hands to try Daniel’s forehead. He tried to pull away, annoyed. “Jack, come on, you can drop the mother hen routine. I’m all right.”

Jack stared at the linguist, frowning. He didn’t return the joke. “Daniel, I don’t think you should be. Those cuts don’t look any better, and I think you’re still running a high fever.”

“I don’t feel it,” Daniel replied quickly and shook his head vigorously. “I’ll leave the lizards alone, though, just to please you. So, have you come up with anything at all while I was, umm, asleep?”

Sturm spoke up for the first time, albeit briefly. “We have not, although we truly should!”

“There’s something strange going on here,” Tanis explained. “The draconians are cleaning and rebuilding the temple ruins. It looks like they’re planning to return the place to its original meaning, whatever worship that might’ve been. I’d rather not wait here and find out that we are to be sacrificed to their dark gods...”

Daniel nodded. As he surveyed the surroundings, he could see quickly enough that Tanis was telling the truth. The view was quite different from the previous day. Most of the broken columns had been taken away or set up again, the floor had been cleared of crushed stone and grass, and dark banners were waving in the mild breeze. Without his glasses, he couldn’t quite make up the images in them.

“Any word from the SGC? Have they tried to contact us?” he asked hopefully.

“Can’t know. We’re so far from the ‘Gate that we can’t even know if someone’s dialed it.”

“So, what can we do...” the archaeologist mumbled. Frustrated, he gazed at his tightly tied hands. “God, I wish I could at least get the bindings off,” he growled, waving his hands about.

All of a sudden, they burst into fire.

It was such a quick flash that later on, none of them could tell for certain that it had truly happened. For a second, it really seemed that Daniel’s hands were surrounded by tiny but extremely bright flames. He didn’t even have the time to cry out when it was already over. Actually, he couldn’t say that he would’ve felt anything at all, and his hands were definitely not burned.

“Who-holy--ho-la-laa,” Jack tried to cover his startled yelp. A few draconians glared at him, but probably didn’t notice anything out-of-the-ordinary, since they turned away quickly.

Daniel sighed out of relief, both because the flames had died so quickly and because the draconians had missed the most important. He lifted his hands. They were no longer tied – actually, there was no trace of the straps left.

“What the hell was that?” Jack hissed.

“I have no idea.”

“It was magic! You are not what you claim to be!” Sturm declared darkly. He backed away from Jack and Daniel.

“Magic. That’s what it looked like,” Tanis nodded. “But it does not have to mean that they are evil – does it?” he pointed his last question at the linguist.

“It wasn’t magic! I don’t know anything about magic! Besides, doesn’t that include all kinds of gestures and incantations?”

Even Jack was eyeing Daniel with suspicion now.

“Look, guys! Let’s stick to the important things! My hands are free. That means we can escape,” Daniel uttered, keeping his voice low enough not to tell their guards that something was going on.

Untying his ankles had to wait a bit. He wanted to free Jack’s hands first. It was quite a task, taken that he didn’t have any tools except for his rather numb fingers, and the knots were tight. At least the draconians had used crude rope instead of some finer cord or metallic shackles. It was slow work, but finally, he succeeded. Now, freeing Tanis and Sturm was only a question of time. Luckily, the guards were obviously not expecting any trouble, since they weren’t particularly attentive. Not letting them know that their prisoners were no longer bound was not a hard thing to do.

After what felt like hours of work, they were all free. They kept the bands loosely around their wrists and ankles, so that it would be easier to fake being tied. The next question was, of course, how they, unarmed, were going to escape from a circle of rather dull guards who nonetheless had big, sharp claws and all kinds of weapons, magic included.

They hadn’t had much time to plan a thing, when something happened somewhere that caused the entire draconian army to go crazy, or so it seemed. Suddenly they were all running somewhere, hissing and growling orders and picking up weapons. Most of the guards left as well, leaving only two to keep watch over the prisoners.

Four against two – such odds looked a lot better than what they had had a minute ago! Sturm and Tanis attacked first, offering a great example of teamwork. The half-elf caught the attention of the draconian, so Sturm got to punch it in a not-so-knightly manner, and when the lizard turned to look at him, Tanis kicked it. Jack quickly pushed Daniel aside and took care of the other with his usual, well-timed and well-trained moves.

“Jack, I think they’re all heading for the ‘Gate!” Daniel noted, when the two guards were down on the ground and nicely secured with their own ropes.

“All right, we’ll go after them,” the colonel replied immediately.

“Why should we? Isn’t this a great opportunity to escape?” Tanis asked, frowning.

“Escape for us means going to that ‘Gate, Pointy-ears! You can go your own way.”

“But how do you think you can get through that portal of yours if all the draconians from the area have gathered around it?” the half-elf said patiently. “Besides, considering how many enemies there are and how few of us, I don’t think splitting up would be very wise.”

“Jack, he’s right. We can leave with them, hide, observe the situation and go to the ‘Gate when we know that it’s secure.”

“All right, all right! Let’s move it!” Jack gave in. Daniel was amazed that had taken him this long, since obviously following the enemies to the stargate would not be a smart move. He suspected that those concerned glances that he kept getting from Jack might’ve been a part of the reason. Yep, that was probably true. Jack wanted to get him back to Earth and Doc Fraiser as soon as he could. But that would have to wait.

So, Daniel and Jack ran away from the stargate and the ruins, following Tanis and Sturm, who led them back along the path that had originally brought them here, back into the wilderness.

9.

Raistlin was impressed by the amount of work and manpower that was sacrificed to the rescue operation. After all, they only had two people missing, and no guarantee that those two were even alive. Idiots. The briefing that Sam Carter had told him about was further proof of this. To call it a briefing was quite premature, since it was only meant for the team leaders, and included not only orders, but planning as well.

The mage and his brother were taken to the conference room in advance, so they could study the pictures taken from their side of the stargate. There was nothing surprising about them, except for what they had already been told: the draconians were indeed rebuilding the site. Well, that was to be expected. After all, he had figured out what they were after a long time ago.

The second attack of the draconians had made it clear what their target was. Instead of just taking down the companions, which they probably could have done, sooner or later, they had tried to get them away from the portal. They had been going for the stargate since the beginning. And for that, he could only find one possible explanation: the draconians, or someone commanding them, had to know what the stargate was and understand its immeasurable value to anyone commanding a strong military force. But that was as far as Raistlin could go with his speculations, since he had no idea of who was in command of the draconians.

One very interesting question that Raistlin found himself pondering as he waited for the briefing to begin was, whether or not he truly wanted to leave this place. Although he was healthier here than he had ever been on Krynn, he sorely missed his magic – here, he would never have but a faint shadow or an echo of the power that was rightfully his. Yet these people who did not accept magic had strengths of their own. Their technology was beyond what Raistlin could understand, like that window-like device on which he had seen the images from his world, or the weapons that could cause massive destruction from a very long distance. He wanted to learn more of these things, and see more of the world that had created them. But if he declined this opportunity to return, would there be a second one?

Also, he was uncertain of how much he should tell to these people. Should he keep his knowledge of the draconians’ target to himself? Currently, he could not imagine what he would gain by that, but information was power, and the situation might always change.

General Hammond entered the room, followed by several people dressed in the standard SGC uniforms. Raistlin and Caramon had been offered similar clothing earlier on, but Raistlin preferred his robes, and told his brother to keep his old clothes as well.

“As you all know, Colonel O’Neill and Doctor Jackson have been taken captives by the aliens of P4A-984. This happened nearly twenty hours ago, and since then, we have heard nothing of them. The stargate is under enemy control, so it’s likely that even if they’re alive, they’ve had no opportunity to send us a message,” General Hammond began explaining.

“Preparing the rescue has taken much longer than we all should have wished, but when we originally found out what the situation was, so many teams were offworld that we had to wait before we could gather a force large enough to even try to attack that army of aliens that’s waiting on the other side of the gate. Now, we’re prepared to move on, and we will be doing so as soon as possible. We’re sending a MALP through a half an hour after this meeting is over, and you will follow after it. The primary target of the mission is to bring back O’Neill and Jackson. To do this, the stargate will have to be secured, and it’s unlikely that the aliens, also known as draconians, are willing to negotiate. A secondary goal is a safe return for Mr. Raistlin and Mr. Caramon here back to their homeworld, unless they are willing to stay on Earth for a longer period. Captain Carter, if you may, what kind of resistance is to be expected?”

Raistlin smirked to himself. So, they were a “secondary goal”. Well, at least they would be offered to choose if they really wanted to go.

“We’ve counted at least fifty enemies from the pictures that we got with the MALP, and the ruins offer shelter to the defenders in all directions. One advantage we’ve got is that the aliens don’t understand our weapons. Last time, they were clearly afraid, and didn’t even try to duck, so driving them away from the ‘Gate shouldn’t be difficult. When they die, the draconians will turn to stone, but of course, that doesn’t really matter unless you’re fighting with a knife. The only weapons they’re likely to use are their sharp claws, teeth, and perhaps swords, so they’ll be looking for close combat. That’s another good thing for us. Anything you’d like to add, Raistlin, Caramon?” Carter turned to look at the twins.

Raistlin raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t been expecting that they’d actually ask him to speak. Caramon was completely at a loss, as usual. Raistlin decided that he could as well help the fools out a bit, since their mission was probably doomed nevertheless. “Yes. It is unlikely that all you will encounter are claws, teeth and steel. The draconians have had as much time to prepare for an attack as you have. They will have skilled magic-users with them, and perhaps stronger fighters as well – different types of their race. Some of them may explode or turn to acid when they are slain. I doubt even I can list all of the things that you might be facing when you attack them.”

“This brings us to another question,” General Hammond noted. He was obviously not impressed by the list of dangers that Raistlin had given. “You say ‘you’ instead of ‘we’. Are you or are you not willing to follow the teams and try and return to your homeworld?”

“Excuse that little lapse of mine,” Raistlin replied quickly. “Of course I and my brother will be joining the rescue mission.” The mage had made his decision. He had a destiny on Krynn. Here, they would try to make him a laboratory specimen. Of course, he did not really have any intention of fighting to get the two captives back. Perhaps the battle would offer him a chance to flee and hide.

“Is this your wish as well?” Hammond looked at Caramon. Of course, Caramon turned to look at Raistlin, who replied with a very slight nod.

“Yes, Sir,” Caramon declared.

***

The MALP was another strange device, something that closely reminded Raistlin of the gnomes’ work. It was rather like a wagon, but moved around with some kind of energy of its own, without anything pulling it, and it was covered with all kinds of contraptions. Slowly but steadily, it made its way up the ramp and disappeared into the rippling surface of the open stargate.

Raistlin and Caramon stood together with Teal’c and the General, behind Captain Carter and the screen showing whatever information the MALP sent.

What they saw on the other side puzzled Raistlin, but actually evoked an exclamation from Carter. Raistlin couldn’t quite tell what it was – surprise, terror or something else – but it definitely was not out of joy. Both the General and Teal’c looked very gloomy.

There were no draconians to be seen anywhere near the stargate on Krynn, excepting a few stone bodies. The captives were nowhere in sight either. Instead, there was a different army in control of the stargate and the surrounding ruins. It consisted of armor-clad warriors carrying staff weapons like the one Teal’c had. Some of them had snake-headed helmets, while others had eagle-like ones. And the oddest group of all were the several people who were obviously trying to look like draconians, without much success, because their helmets made their heads look too big, and, of course, they didn’t have any claws or wings.

It didn’t take them long to destroy the MALP completely.

“General...” Sam uttered and turned to gaze at him.

“It appears the stargate has been taken over by one of the System Lords,” Teal’c declared calmly.

“Can you say which one?” Hammond asked, his tone very serious.

“No, I cannot. I believe I saw both Serpent Guards and Horus Guards, and others that I could not even recognize. The last time I saw something like this was when we fought against Hathor and her gathered guards, but as Colonel O’Neill has assured, she is dead. I cannot tell who could be behind this.”

“Then I’m afraid I have no choice. We’ll need to adjust our plans. The rescue mission is called off for now.”

10.

They had hardly left the ruins behind and entered the forest when Sturm stopped dead on his tracks, gazing at Jack and Daniel in an annoyed manner. “Halt! Now, we have led them to safety. They can stay here. We are not leading the dark mages to our campsite,” he declared, not even willing to address the two.

“Just a moment! Who’re you calling dark mages here? Without us – well, without whatever Daniel did, you’d still be rotting there among those lizards!”

“Yes, and I am truly thankful of that, but –“

“Sturm, they have done nothing to harm us, nothing to suggest that they are not friends. They are in worse a situation than we, they are injured, they have neither food nor water, and they have nowhere to go. I think we owe it to them to at least offer them that.”

“Well, thanks, elf-boy!”

Sturm snorted, looking definitely unhappy, but he nodded his head. “You are right, Tanis. It is the honorable thing to do, and that is all that matters.”

“And we’re truly grateful for your kindness,” Daniel replied. Though odd as it was, he didn’t really feel hungry or thirsty. Or tired – which wasn’t strange, considering that it wasn’t that late, and he had slept quite a bit last night.

Tanis and Sturm led the way deeper into the woods. They had not walked long when they came to a large area of very thick bushes or low trees of some kind. Here, the half-elf showed them the easiest way to crawl through the growth.

Sheltered in the heart of the thicket was a round, open place. In the middle of the clear area was a small campfire, and next to it sat two humans and a dwarf. This had to be the very same dwarf who had fought together with the kender, Tas, earlier. Daniel had never seen the two humans before – he was certain he would have remembered the woman. She had long hair that seemed to be glimmering both silvery and golden in the same time. The man was tall and proud-looking. They were both dressed in clothes that somehow reminded Daniel of North-American Indians.

“So, finally you’re here!” the dwarf grunted to Tanis and Sturm. “That blasted kender said that they hadn’t killed you, so it was only a matter of time, I reckon. What took you so long?”

“Flint! Good to see you again,” Tanis replied, his warm tone quite a contrast to the complaining dwarf. “Tas actually saw us? Why didn’t you tell him to come and free us as well?”

“I’m sure he would’ve done that if he could’ve. He said that there were a lot of draconians surrounding you from every side, and he couldn’t even get close enough to greet you. And you’ve brought visitors with you! I remember, you were there fighting the draconians, you were, but I never quite heard your names.”

“I’m Daniel Jackson and this is Jack O’Neill. And I didn’t hear your name either...”

“Flint Fireforge, that’s what they call me. And the pretty lady is Goldmoon, Chieftain’s Daughter, and the tall man is Riverwind.” As she was introduced, Goldmoon smiled, albeit hesitantly, and Riverwind responded with a rather stiff nod.

“Without their help, we might be dead, and we would certainly still be prisoners,” Tanis explained, gesturing at Jack and Daniel.

“Still, I warn you. I will watch them closely. We were freed only because of the magic of this Daniel, and he would not explain it to us.” Sturm’s voice was quite hostile. Riverwind’s eyes narrowed visibly as he heard this.

Daniel spread out his hands, palms open. “Look, I don’t know what happened there. I know as little as you know. Actually, I know less than you know – not meaning you as a person, just the people of this world in general, mind you. I only heard of this magic of yours when I met Raistlin.”

“I must say, even I find that difficult to believe, but I do trust you, Daniel,” Tanis assured. “And whoever these two might be, they have earned our gratitude, and whatever little help we can give.”

“The stew’s nearly ready,” Flint pointed towards a large pot hanging above the fire. “If you’re quick, we might be able to finish it before that doorknob returns. Just siddown.”

Daniel walked a few steps closer to the fire and was about to do as the dwarf suggested, when he noticed that Goldmoon had stood up. She was holding a staff of some kind – a part of it was made of what looked like blue crystal. “I see you are injured. I might be able to help,” she offered.

“With that?” Jack glanced at the woman suspiciously. “A stick?”

“It may look like nothing more, but it is truly powerful. My friends could tell you that it is true, but I expect you wish to see for yourself,” Goldmoon replied patiently. “Just step closer.”

“Whatever...”

Daniel grinned. He was mildly surprised that Jack hadn’t told her to tend to him first. Jack definitely didn’t trust these people, since he was willing to take the risk and try this alien healing device thing first.

The woman pointed the staff at the cut on Jack’s chest. Jack closed his eyes – Daniel nearly did so as well. Goldmoon touched Jack with the tip of the crystal and mumbled something that sounded like a prayer of some kind.

“Is that magic?” Daniel uttered. Jack quickly opened his eyes and prodded at where the wound had been. Now, there was nothing there but smooth skin. Only the clothes were torn and spotted with dried blood.

“No, I am no magic-user. This power is different. I believe it may come from the True Gods.”

“Well, I’ll be... Gods or whatever, it worked. Like one of those goa’uld things, don’t ya think?”

The idea that this thing might come from the local “gods” didn’t sound too good to Daniel. The goa’uld liked to impersonate deities. The goa’uld were also able to produce healing devices. And here they had a world which the gods had abandoned, and where the power of healing came from them. The good thing was, there was no reason for the gods to be returning any time soon. He nodded his reply to Jack.

“He’s actually hurt worse than me,” Jack noted to the woman, pointing at Daniel.

Goldmoon approached, and Daniel turned around to show her the deep cuts crossing his back. “This does indeed look bad,” she muttered. “I am surprised that you’re still on your feet.”

“Me too,” Jack said quickly.

Daniel simply shrugged. He didn’t really see what Goldmoon did, and hardly felt anything – perhaps a small surge of warmth, but that was all. He turned to look at Jack, who smiled happily at him. Probably the woman had done her trick again.

“I don’t feel any different, actually,” he noted.

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Well, aren’t you stubborn,” he declared, which didn’t make much sense, in Daniel’s opinion. “May I?” Jack reached to try Daniel’s forehead once again.

“Jack, please!” Daniel exclaimed, but stayed still nevertheless, just to humor the colonel.

However, the colonel wasn’t humored. He glanced at Goldmoon. “You’re some sort of a healer, right? I think I might be going nuts. I keep thinking, and feeling, that this man’s got a fever. I’m starting to believe that it’s just me. Would you mind telling me the truth?”

The woman looked thoroughly puzzled, but nevertheless stepped closer, and placed one slender hand on the brow of each of the two.

“No, I think you are right,” Goldmoon replied to Jack. “It is quite understandable, after all, he was badly wounded. I think it should pass now that the wounds are healed, but he should rest.”

“Thank you! Now, Danny. I’m not listening to any of your ‘But Jack, I’m all right’ –crap. We’ll sit down, eat the stew and then you can go to sleep.”

Daniel rolled his eyes, but did follow Jack, when he sat down among the others around the campfire. He closed his eyes and leaned on his knees. Nope, he didn’t feel sick. Though he did feel a bit strange – kind of hyperactive, like after drinking a cup – or five – too much coffee.

Flint the dwarf was the only one who had finished eating when Tasslehoff Burrfoot emerged from the surrounding thicket, practically beaming with enthusiasm and bursting to share his news. Seeing Jack and Daniel seemed to agitate him even more.

“Something big has happened! The lizard-men have retreated, they’re not at that stone ring anymore! Instead, there’s some really strange people there. They’re trying to look like draconians, or snakes, or birds, or something like that. Though those are just the helmets. I saw them take those off! And underneath, they look a lot like that big dark tall man who was the friend of these two here!”

11.

Once again, Raistlin was standing behind Sam as she operated the computer, that window-screened device they used to watch the pictures from the MALP. Caramon was there as well, and so was Teal’c. On the screen was an enlarged part of the picture that showed one of the draconian-helmed men.

“So, he’s trying to look like one of those draconians – can you tell who the draconians serve? Or who they worship? An evil god of some sort?” Sam asked thoughtfully.

“No, I do not know who is their master, and I there are many evil gods in the legends of our world. But what does that have to do with this? Do you actually suspect that both the draconians and the newcomers serve the same lord?”

“That is quite likely,” Teal’c commented in his deep voice. “The goa’uld often make the local population their slaves. Yet if that is true in your world, then I cannot understand why the draconians were driven away by these jaffa.”

“All right,” Sam nodded. “Teal’c, do you think it’s absolutely certain that there is a goa’uld there?”

“I am, Captain Carter.”

“And if there’s a goa’uld in control of those jaffa, isn’t it quite unlikely that they’ll just instantly attack anyone who comes out of the ‘Gate?”

Raistlin was beginning to see where the woman was aiming at with this, and he had to agree that she was right. Perhaps she wasn’t a complete fool after all.

Teal’c raised his eyebrows. “Yes, that is true. Yet if it is a goa’uld who knows us, they will open fire as soon as they notice who we are. And there are not many goa’uld who have not heard of the Tau’ri.”

“But we don’t need to go there as people of the Tau’ri. What if we’d go in disguise? Just a small team of us? Say, you, me, Raistlin and Caramon?”

“I think that’s a fine plan. I can see no other way we could get to the other side, actually. If we go there prepared to fight, we might end up facing first them and then the draconians,” Raistlin offered his opinion.

“Indeed, we might succeed. Shall we go and explain this to General Hammond?”

“Yes – or no, wait. You can go. I’ll start arranging it. We don’t have any extra time to spare. Raistlin and Caramon, maybe you can help me. I’d like to make Teal’c and me look like people of Krynn as well.”

“I will do as you ask, Captain Carter,” Teal’c stated and headed out of the room.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? What do you think, Raist?” Caramon spoke out, to Raistlin’s amazement. “The draconians are from Krynn too, and they got driven away, or killed.”

“Well, that’s true. But the Jaffa are pretending to be draconians, and as such, I think they’re trying to gain control over the local people, so they can command them instead of just having to kill them. If you give them a reason to shoot, they’ll do it quickly, but if you don’t, they probably won’t. I’m just afraid that they’ll want to use us as hosts – or that they’ve… No, they haven’t, I’m not going to consider that.”

Raistlin could finish Sam’s thought by himself. She was afraid that the Jaffa had done something awful to her friends. “How do they make one a host, and what exactly does it mean?” he asked.

“They put a parasitic alien into the victim, and the alien takes over their body, so that they will be trapped inside, unable to stop the alien from doing whatever they wish. Because they’re posing as gods, they usually choose people who are young and pleasing to their eye…” she fell silent, as she eyed Raistlin.

“And they would not choose someone who is sickly?”

“They’re able to cure most common defects, but I think they wouldn’t bother. So, you’re right. No offense, but I don’t think they would pick you.”

“None taken - that’s precisely what I mean. And I believe the rest of you can pose something as well?”

Carter nodded, looking anxious. “We’re going to get them back.”

***

A pitiful-looking group stepped out of rippling blue surface of the stargate on Krynn.

Two of the four were strong men, but even out of the of these two, the fair-skinned was blind, and the dark one was leaning heavily on a stick, his back bowed and a hood of some coarse brown fabric covering his head. Then there was a woman who might have been beautiful without the ugly mass of scars that covered half of her face. And the fourth figure was the worst: sickly and skeletally thin, with wispy white hair and a strange golden skin.

The Jaffa guarding the gate didn’t know what to think of this pathetic gathering, but the Queen had told them to inform her immediately of any activity at the gate. So, the first prime left to tell her, and the rest stayed, their staff-weapons aimed at the four odd figures.

The Queen was not particularly interested of this group. “And you tell me they all look ill, incapable of fighting you? Then capture them, bind them and keep an eye on them. We have no time for such distractions right now, when we have reason to fear that all our plans might be compromised. We shall interrogate them later,” she declared in her god-like voice, her eyes flashing.

***

Raistlin hardly enjoyed the way the things were going. Their hands were bound tightly and feet were shackled together and they were led away from the stargate, to another part of the ruins full of the draconian-clad Jaffa running about. Though they didn’t go far, their pace was slow, with the blindfolded Caramon stumbling and Teal’c lagging in a very believable limp. When they finally stopped, three of the warriors stayed as guards, though keeping some distance to the prisoners, probably afraid that some of them carried a contagious disease.

Nevertheless, the mage had to admit that this what what they had expected and hoped for. The most important thing was, they were still alive and they had made it back to Krynn. But there was something he should’ve thought of earlier, but he hadn’t.

Raistlin was back where he’d always thought he belonged. He had never before realized how the magic was everywhere around him, touching everything, and making almost anything possible. On the other hand, he had never fully understood the price he had to pay for this power. The burden fell heavily on him as soon as he stepped out of the stargate – the feeling of dust and cobwebs filling his chest, and the cough that left him feeling like a ragdoll. He couldn’t help noticing how Caramon turned his head, scarf-covered eyes or not, towards him, and Carter cast a worried glance every now and then. The mage sighed. He had hardly spent a day on the alien planet, but he had nearly managed to forget what his life was like.

12.

After the kender had returned with his distressing newsflash, Daniel had lost whatever little interest he’d had in the cup of stew that he’d been offered earlier. Though at least it gave him something to do, he thought, twiddling the spoon nervously as he listened to Tas’s story.

“They just came from nowhere, all of a sudden – no, wait, that’s not quite true! They came out of that big round stone circle thing, though it wasn’t empty like when we saw it earlier, it was full of something that looked a bit like water! They killed many of the draconians and drove away the rest. They used those staffs that shoot firebolts, just like the one your friend had,” Tasslehoff paused dramatically and pointed at Jack and Daniel.

“Well, yeah, probably, but that doesn’t mean that we’re in league with them,” Jack tried to be quick with his reply, but didn’t quite succeed, since Tas just kept babbling away.

“So, did I tell you that they looked a bit like your friend too? They had these symbols on their foreheads, I think there were different kinds of them, like they had different kinds of helmets too… And I think I saw their leader too, and she had a dragon helmet of sorts…”

Daniel looked up from his stew, startled. “She? What did she look like?”

“I think she was pretty – though not at all like you, Goldmoon. Actually, she reminded me of Kitiara – that’s Raistlin and Caramon’s sister, though we haven’t seen her in a long while. She had the same kind of hair, black and curly. But it wasn’t Kit, I’m sure of that, even though I didn’t get to see her from very close. She spoke to her people in some strange language that I didn’t know. It sounded like a bird of some sort – ‘Kree! Kree!’”

There had been no goa’uld about when they arrived on Krynn, but now it seemed they had brought one with them. There was no mistaking Tas’s imitation of the very usual word of their tongue. And how many goa’uld Queens with dark, curly hair could there be?

Before he’d even realized what he was doing, Daniel had jumped up from his seat. “Jack, it’s got to be Sha’re! It’s got to be her! We have to get back to the gate!”

“You reveal yourselves at last, dark wizards! Your evil friends have come to help you!” Sturm had leaped up as well, and stepped closer to Daniel.

“No we don’t, and they haven’t! They’re NOT our friends. And no, Daniel, we’re NOT going to rush unarmed into the middle of a conflict that we can’t even begin to understand,” Jack declared, moving to stand between the archaeologist and the knightly man.

“Shhh, keep your voices down, there might be a good many draconians about,” Tanis noted, not taking sides with anyone yet.

“If they are not your friends, then how do you know this dark-haired, dragon-helmed woman, and why would you wish to go to her, if she is indeed an enemy?” Riverwind spoke up sternly.

Daniel sat down again, his shoulders hunched. “I know her, because she is my wife. Sha’re. That is why I want to go to her. She was taken as a host by a terrible, parasitic alien, who now lives in her and controls all her actions – but she is still there, somewhere, and I’m going to get her back!”

“Why should we believe you?” Sturm was defiant.

Jack ignored him completely. “Yep, Danny – we are going to get her back, but not right now. It’s dark already, and we have no idea of what to expect. Besides, you can’t actually be sure that it’s her.”

“It’s got to be!”

“We’ll go at sunrise. Before that, I want you to get some sleep,” Jack said, facing Daniel. Then he turned around to look at the odd bunch of aliens – the knight-like figure, the tall, leather-clad man, the healer lady, the half-elf, the dwarf and the kender.

“We’re going over there to have a nap,” the colonel gestured towards a corner of their hiding place, a bit farther away from the fire. “I don’t really care what you think about us, but you’d better not try anything.”

No matter how hard Daniel tried, there was no changing what Jack had decided. So, Daniel found himself lying on the ground, covered with a blanket that Tas had offered. Jack sat next to him, looking amazingly menacing without a weapon of any kind. Apparently the colonel wasn’t planning to get any sleep anytime soon, and neither was Sturm, who was still by the fire, staring intensely at the half of SG-1. Riverwind and Goldmoon had retreated to sleep as well, while Tanis, Tas and Flint were talking in low voices – and Daniel had no trouble guessing what was the subject of their conversation.

Daniel was certain he’d not be able to sleep. He didn’t feel even remotely tired, and the idea that Sha’re might just leave the planet during the night, for whatever reason, before they’d get to her, was a continuous torment.

***

Sha’re was crouched over him, her dark curls tickling his face, a broad smile on her beautiful, full lips. “My Daniel,” she uttered softly. “You have no idea of what is happening, do you?”

As happy as he was to see the face of his beloved again, Daniel frowned. “No, I don’t – what’re you talking about?”

“The great battle that is to come, in which you shall play one part or the other, though I know not what. That is for you to choose, but I can help.”

A persistent corner of Daniel’s mind kept telling him that something wasn’t right here. How was he suddenly facing Sha’re, when the last thing he remembered was trying to get some sleep, with Jack sitting on guard next to him?

“I want you to fight for me, my Daniel. Fight against the demon that calls herself a queen and a goddess, for she is neither.”

“Of course I will! I’ll do whatever I can, though I have no idea how I’m going to fight a powerful goa’uld like her.”

“But you have power! I know it was given to you, a power strong enough to match hers, even to overcome it. They gave it to you, but they did not tell you how to use it. I will show you how, and you will use it for me, you will have revenge over that creature!”

He had been thinking that something was wrong here, hadn’t he? The thought was beginning to slip away already. Why shouldn’t he help her? Of course he would! He would do whatever she’d ask!

“I will show you…” she repeated, whispering to his ear.

He opened his eyes to see that it was still dark, the fire had shrunk to embers and everyone besides Jack and Sturm had gone to sleep. He couldn’t help feeling both angry and annoyed. How could Jack be such a nuisance? Why wouldn’t he understand?

Daniel stood up. Of course, Jack noticed it instantly, and as usual, couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “Daniel? Everything all right?”

“Sure, everything’s all right! Share’s there, waiting for me, and you’re not letting me go to her! But I AM going to help her, and you’re not going to stop me!” Daniel yelled, loud enough to wake up everybody in the camp.

Without the slightest idea of what he was doing, he took a few steps backwards, raised his hands and drew an arc over the area before him.

Out of thin air appeared a fine, glistening net that fell down on the campsite, trapping everyone except Daniel in its sticky grasp.

He didn’t stay to wonder what he had done or how, he didn’t wait to check whether Jack and the others were all right or not. Instead, he turned his back to them and made his way out of the opening in the thicket, running as fast as he could towards the stargate.

13.

For the second time in a very short time, Raistlin felt completely helpless.

It hadn’t taken him long to get rid of the tight cords tied about his wrists. The guards had been stupid enough not to search them for weapons very thoroughly, so they had missed the little dagger that the mage always carried, hidden in his sleeve. He released it with a flick of his wrist, easily catching it with his nimble fingers, and used it to cut off the bindings. Only to find out that it didn’t do much good: his feet were still shackled, and he couldn’t remember any of his spells.

During his short stay on Earth, he hadn’t even thought of studying his spellbook. So, it didn’t matter that he could feel the magic surrounding him now that he was back on Krynn – the words of even the simplest spells were still beyond his reach. Besides, the people of the SGC had messed up his precious spell components, so he doubted he had everything that he might need. A quick search confirmed his suspicions. Nearly half of what he’d had was missing.

Raistlin decided not to bother telling the others that his hands were free. Not yet, when he would gain nothing by doing that. Instead, he would only make Carter more suspicious – if such a thing was even possible – he could just imagine telling her that his hands were free and he had all the physical means of casting a spell, but since he hadn’t studied the words and rested, he was unable to do a thing.

***

Captain Samantha Carter was worried, and steadily growing more and more annoyed.

Sam shifted her position slightly, trying to ease her aching ankles. The shackles and chains were cold and heavy, and with them on and hands tied, it was nearly impossible to find a comfortable way to sit on the ground.

They were on P4A-984 again, but they were hardly much closer to finding their friends, or solving the riddle formed by the draconians and the army of mixed Jaffa. Even though she had been expecting that they’d be captured, she had thought they’d be taken to whoever was the leader around here, so they’d at least learn something. And she’d hoped that it wouldn’t take long to find out what had happened to Jack and Daniel.

The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention. It was so dark that she couldn’t really see who was coming, but she guessed it was just another Jaffa, coming to relieve some of the current ones from their guard duty.

Suddenly, there was a flash of bright light and flames, and two of their guards fell down to the ground. The third Jaffa soon joined his companions, struck by something that looked like a bolt of lighting.

Sam could hear Raistlin draw a sharp, raspy breath next to her, and she could easily imagine the furious look on his face. He thought this was magic, just like his, or maybe even stronger. She wasn’t so quick to jump to such an explanation. It was much more logical to think that there was just some new weapon at use here. But who had used it, and why had they shot the guards?

The attacker was close enough now that Sam could see him, but she could hardly believe her eyes.

“Daniel?” she called out, amazed.

“Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c asked, almost simultaneously with her.

He didn’t seem to notice them at all, or understand who they were. The look on his face was enough to give Sam the creeps – an expression of utmost anger and hatred completely alien to the Daniel she knew.

“Don’t try to stop me!” he snarled at them.

“Daniel! Come on! What’s happened? What’s going on?” Sam tried to get through to him, but he wasn’t listening, or maybe he didn’t even hear what she said.

Daniel continued on his way, running, without any sign of recognizing who Sam was or what she had said. Soon, he disappeared into the dark night.

***

Raistlin’s face was twisted in a look of sheer fury that hardly lost to what Daniel had just showed. How had that stupid Earthling come up with such a talent so quickly? Raistlin had dedicated his life to learning about magic, he had sacrificed everything he had and even more, and hadn’t gotten anywhere near the power that he had just proved.

At least they had one less problem now, with the guards gone. Without asking a thing, he grabbed his dagger again, and went on to free Caramon’s hands.

“You’ll help them too, won’t you, Raist?” Caramon indicated the half of SG-1.

“Of course I will,” he replied quickly. “Captain Carter?” he turned towards the woman, showing her his free hands and his dagger.

Oh yes. He would set Carter and Teal’c free. Daniel had just given Raistlin a reason to stay around SG-1 a while longer. He would have to find out what had happened – how someone who was not of Krynn had suddenly become a mage.

The four captives had just begun to ponder how they could get rid of the shackles when the solution emerged from the dark ruins about them, in the guise of an anxious kender.

“This is just ridiculously easy! It’s like an insult! They should’ve tried a bit harder, a two-year-old could pick this one with their eyes closed!” Tasslehoff Burrfoot declared loudly as he began working on the lock about Caramon’s feet. And true to his words, he opened it in less than a minute.

“Did you see where Daniel went? I think he came this way, though I’m not sure, it’s so dark here. I think the sun should rise pretty soon, though. Anyway, that Daniel’s really learned how to cast spells! I’d say he’s just as good as you, Raistlin!” Tas looked up at Raistlin, already done with his shackles. “You know, he cast a web-spell, just like yours, on the entire party in our hiding place in the thicket. Well, almost the entire party, that is. I got away before it fell, so I decided to follow him, but then I lost him.”

“Yes, Tas. We did see him,” Raistlin whispered coldly. “And now that we’re free, we’re all going after him.”

14.

In the long-forgotten, rational corner of his mind, Daniel understood what he was doing, although he had no idea of how he was able to do it. He knew that every Jaffa he encountered and then struck down was only a soldier following orders, and what he did, attacking them suddenly, with no reason and no warning, was possibly worse than anything they had ever done. And he was not even sure of how badly he hurt them with each spell, each bolt of lightning or surge of magical fire that leaped from his hands.

The loud voice speaking to him drowned all his thoughts. Her voice. The voice that told him what to do, whispered the right words and gestures for each spell, and guided him towards her.

He did see Sam, Teal’c and the twins, but he could not remember who they were, and she told that they were not important, so he did not look again.

He went on tirelessly, even though he had hardly slept at all, without stopping to think when he had last had anything to eat or drink. He did not notice the way he was breathing in ragged gasps, or the frantic pounding of his heart.

He went on without any doubts, knowing that what he did was right, because she told him so.

And he was furious at all those who tried to keep him away from her.

***

Daniel would SO pay for this, Jack assured himself, as he tried to clear off the sticky web that covered him from head to toes. So far, he had just managed to get it twisted more tightly around his limbs, and the bits sticking to his hair felt so much like bubble gum that he wondered if he’d end up looking as bald as Teal’c before he’d finally get rid of it all.

Without Tanis’s help, he might have spent the rest of the night and most of the morning struggling to get free. The half-elf cut away the web in a matter of minutes. Though the stuff in his hair was still there.

Everyone else seemed to be free already. Flint was picking bits of web from his beard, Goldmoon was uttering something to Riverwind in low tones, Tasslehoff was nowhere to be seen and Sturm was his usual bright self.

Before Jack had had any time to collect his thoughts and figure out what to do next, Sturm stepped in front of him, sword drawn. “You can no longer say that your friend is not an evil wizard of some sort. I am going after him now, and if you stand in my way, not even Tanis can guarantee your safety,” he declared.

“Whoa, easy, now, Sturm! I’m not going to stand in your way. I’m going to run with you. I want to find him as badly as you do. See, he’s not usually an evil wizard. It’s not at all like him. That’s why we’d better catch him before he hurts someone. Or himself,” Jack replied quickly.

“I will keep a close eye on you, and if you give me any reason to think that you are like your friend…”

“Yeah, I know, I know – I will get to taste your sword, or whatever other knightly cliché you’ll pick. What’re we waiting for? Let’s go!”

“We’re all going,” Tanis added. “You’ll need our help if you truly want to stop him. Besides, we still don’t know what happened to Raistlin and Caramon, and those two other friends of yours.”

“And keep your eyes open for that no-good turnip-head of a kender, too. He’s gone again!” Flint grumbled.

***

Tanis Half-elven couldn’t quite decide whose side he was on, or how he wanted to see the situation solved. Of course, Sturm was a good friend of his, and had been one for a long time. Tanis had learned to live with his rather stubborn beliefs and somewhat narrow-minded view of life, although he didn’t share them. Still, he wondered what would happen if they actually managed to catch Daniel – would it only mean a possibly lethal duel between the two? Sturm’s sword against whatever magical powers Daniel had?

Tanis was equally unable to figure out Jack, and the relationship between these two who had come through the stargate. If Sturm had been right all along and Daniel was a dark mage of some sort, then was Jack one of those as well? Tanis didn’t think so. He could see that Jack was both worried about what was going on, and really mad at Daniel, and if he had any idea of what was going on, he certainly didn’t show it. If it really was just some kind of a trick devised by the two, then Jack was acting his part amazingly well.

Pushing aside all the questions that he couldn’t answer, Tanis joined the others in arranging the camp site. They put off the fire and hid most of their things, since they were planning to return and then depart into an entirely different direction, away from both the thicket and the ruins. If they only could find Raistlin and Caramon. And Tasslehoff.

“Goldmoon, Riverwind – I am not asking you to come with us. You could stay here and guard our belongings,” the half-elf suggested to the plainsmen.

“But we shall not. We stayed behind once already, and it was a coward’s choice,” Riverwind replied proudly.

“It was a wise choice as well,” Goldmoon soothed, touching his arm. “But still, I agree with you now. I fear I was the one who caused this, as I may not have managed to heal Daniel as well as I should have…”

“Nonsense! Your healing or not healing him has nothing to do with the fact that he serves a dark power of some sort,” Sturm rumbled. “We have lingered long enough already. If we do not go now, we have little hope of catching him at all.”

Without waiting for any answers, Sturm turned and led the way out of the thicket. Everyone followed him, moving as fast as they could.

***

It was still dark. So dark that the ruins were only a vague dark form surrounding them. Still, it was easy to tell that something was going on. They had literally ran into a duo of draconians when they entered the complex. The draconians could probably see in the darkness, judging from how they had acted, but still, the odd group of men, woman, half-elf and dwarf had won the battle, mostly because there were so many more of them.

After that encounter they had been much more cautious, and Tanis’s sharp half-elven eyes and ears had kept them from making the same mistake again. They had managed to avoid several groups of the lizard-men, some of which had been quite large.

They had also found a large number of Jaffa who were either dead or then very much out and unconscious – they hadn’t stopped to examine which was the case.

And then, when they had almost reached the Gate, they met the strangest party so far.

The sound of muffled coughing made Tanis utter a quick warning to his friends, even though the sound was oddly familiar. He advanced towards it, and his thoughts were soon confirmed. He saw a hooded, cloaked figure, and another, much taller one, equally cloaked but without the hood, standing protectively behind the first.

Tanis took a few more steps towards them and whispered, “Raistlin? Caramon?”

The hooded person immediately looked up, although he couldn’t possibly be able to see much.

“Tanis?” Raistlin returned the question in a slightly raspy voice.

“Raistlin! What happened? And how are you here again, and what are you doing?”

“It is a lengthy tale that you shall hear later. We are after the Earther called Daniel.”

“Daniel? Where? Did you see him?” Jack exclaimed from behind Tanis – it sounded really loud compared to Tanis’s hushed tones and Raistlin’s coarse whisper.

“Colonel O’Neill?” Teal’c’s deep voice replied.

“Sir!” Sam called out. “Are you all right?”

“Who’s there? Oh, it’s just you, Tanis, and Jack – is Sturm there too? And Flint? Goldmoon and Riverwind? I knew you’d get rid of that web soon enough, that’s why I didn’t wait for you… Everyone’s here now! Well, almost, at least!” Tasslehoff chimed in, his high-pitched voice covering everyone else’s.

Even though they were clearly in danger of being overheard by someone, Tanis had to struggle not to burst out laughing. It felt like an odd masquerade: most of them could hardly see the face of the person standing next to them, but everyone was trying to figure out who was there, and where they were, and what was going on, while trying to keep silent enough not to catch the attention of every draconian in the ruins.

It was a sharp hiss and a few demanding words from Raistlin that finally put an end to the situation. “Enough of this farce! Let us keep going.”

15.

The alien sun’s first rays leaped forth from the horizon, reflected from the polished stone of the stargate and the crumbling ruins, and made Jack O’Neill regret the fact that he had lost his sunglasses at some unknown moment during the last few days.

The day’s first light also revealed a sight so amazing that Jack could hardly believe his eyes, even though he had spent the last few years seeing pretty amazing things every day.

Beside him were Sam, Teal’c and the assorted aliens that they had run into in this world. To the left of them was a huge gathering of draconians and to their right, some scattered Jaffa bearing the emblems of various goa’ulds. Luckily, each group was following the scene before them so keenly that they did not pay any attention to each other.

Before them lay the opening, and at its far end, straight across from Jack stood the stargate. At the foot of the ramp leading to the Gate were three figures, or perhaps two, since the third was vague, despite its overwhelming size. It was hardly more than a huge, fuzzy, shapeless, slightly transparent dark mass, much bigger than the Gate. Like a still cloud of thick black smoke, or a shadow climbing upwards from the ground. The sunlight passed right through it as if it wasn’t there at all. And from it emanated an inexplicable feeling of dread and horror, strong enough to make Jack wish he could just run away and hide.

The other two figures were not nearly as imposing as the huge dark thing, though one of them certainly gave it a good try nevertheless. She was tall as well, but just tall for a human. She was clad in a suit of shining black mail, decorated with a collection of nasty-looking spikes. The helmet wasn’t on, so her curly, black hair was clearly visible. But even from this distance, Jack could see it wasn’t Sha’re. Though, judging from her commanding stance, her totally tasteless clothing and her choice of weaponry – a staff-weapon and a hand-device – she was definitely a goa’uld.

The third was, of course, Daniel. He looked smaller than ever, caught between the huge and horrible dark shadowy thing and the tall, armor-clad goa’uld lady. And no matter what magical powers he might possess, Jack couldn’t help thinking that he looked horribly vulnerable as well.

Just what the hell did Daniel think he was doing there, anyway? Of all the troublesome situations he had gotten himself into this was definitely the most spectacular. He would get himself killed, and this time, it would be permanent! More than anything, Jack wanted to do something to help, but he couldn’t think of a way. He had no idea of what the situation really was, but there was a countless number of enemies surrounding them in every direction.

***

There was the opening – and the stargate – and before the stargate, there she was! She was waiting for him! Daniel rushed forward, running even faster, even though he had thought he had been going at top speed all the time.

Finally, he had reached her. After the continuous struggle against parties of Jaffa, the endless running across forest, plain and ruined city – after the two years that he had spent looking for Sha’re, reaching her and loosing her again – he had finally found her, and this time, he would not let go of her. Never again.

But when Daniel had made his way across the opening and stood in front of her, looking at her beautiful face and her black curls, he knew that something was not right.

“Your search is over, beloved, and you have done well,” the voice rang in his head – but the woman’s lips were not moving, and her face did not repeat any of the voice’s feelings. Instead, she gazed at him with glowing eyes that held a mixture of amusement, disbelief and disdain. A look to be expected from a goa’uld queen, such as her. Such as Amaunet… But…

“Now, my Daniel, you must destroy her, and I shall be free of her forever!” the voice commanded, but now it sounded cold and menacing, and there was a feeling of dread that was growing, approaching slowly, creeping from behind.

Suddenly, the woman in front of him let out a strangled scream. Her eyes, now wide and wild with fear, were not on Daniel anymore, but looked past him, over his head, at something behind him. What was wrong with her – Sha’re – Amaunet – Sha’re – But no – No!

Finally, the truth that Daniel had been trying to ignore for so long struck him in full force.

It was not Sha’re in front of him, and not even Amaunet. It was some entirely alien goa’uld queen, a dark lady that he had never even seen before. The realization fell on him like a physical blow to the head, like one of those bolts of lightning that he had been casting. It was enough to make him feel sick and dizzy. He swayed on his feet.

But with understanding came also the feeling of responsibility. He had done horrible things, horrible beyond imagining – and why? Only because he believed that Sha’re was somewhere nearby? No, he would never accept that, it could not be the whole truth!

“What are you waiting for? Do as I say! You have the power, slay her!” the voice repeated from behind him, louder than ever before, so loud and so demanding that it was quite impossible to resist it.

Daniel had already raised his hands to point at the goa’uld queen and opened his mouth before he managed to gain control of himself again. He crossed his arms, pressed his fingers against his sides, closed his mouth tightly, and turned around to face the source of the voice and the horrible feeling of fear, threat and overwhelming authority.

It was a thing out of someone’s darkest nightmares, a creature more wondrous and more horrible than anything Daniel had ever seen during all his travels through the stargate. Still, it did not appear completely alien, since it was so familiar from numerous myths and tales. It was a huge dragon, and it had five heads, each of them different in color, the scales shimmering in shades of red, blue, green, black or white. It was beautiful, so beautiful that he wanted to kneel down and worship it, although there was a very concrete air of malevolence about it.

Without even noticing it, Daniel had fallen down to his knees, gazing at the five-headed dragon in awe. “Wh- who – what are you?” he stuttered.

Apparently the goa’uld queen was desperately clinging to the remains of her dignity. She was still standing proudly, and she answered Daniel’s question before the dragon had said a word. “I am Takhisis, Queen of…” she began, only to be interrupted by a much louder voice overlapping hers, repeating the same words.

“I am Takhisis, Queen of Darkness and a true goddess of Krynn,” the five-headed she-dragon bellowed, with the very same voice that had guided Daniel to this place, although much louder and deeper. “You dare use my name, you who are nothing but a pathetic parasite hiding within a mortal! Compared to me, you are less than a drop of water next to an ocean, you are a mere grain of sand that calls itself a mountain!”

“And now, you shall die! You cannot resist the orders of your goddess, Daniel. Finish that pathetic creature for me, and then I may be merciful and let you and your pitiable friends live.”

***

This was totally ridiculous, and on the other hand, pure torment.

Jack had no idea how long they had been waiting and watching, and holding their breath. Only the sun’s slow ascent showed that some time had actually passed. And it was not just he and his team, but also the group of locals they had allied with and the Jaffa. They were all waiting for something to happen. On the other hand, the draconians seemed pretty busy. They were muttering, or chanting, or something like that, keeping up a continuous low mumble in their snake-like tongue.

The scene in front of them had hardly changed since the moment he had seen it. Daniel was still there, caught between a huge dark something and a smaller dark goa’uld-queen-thing.

Only a moment after they had arrived, the goa’uld had let out a low scream, apparently looking at the shadowy mass, which, Jack had to admit, really was pretty scary. Then Daniel had mumbled something that sounded a lot like “No”, and for a moment, it had looked like he was going to collapse. But instead he had lifted his hands to point at the goa’uld, only to pull them back quickly before anything had happened. Then, he had turned to look at the dark thing too, and stumbled to his knees, mumbling something that Jack couldn’t quite catch. The goa’uld had replied something equally inaudible, and stopped again.

Everything stood still. Both Daniel and the goa’uld queen cowered as if waiting for some blow to fall.

***

Even though Takhisis, Queen of Darkness, the Five-Headed Dragon, was standing in all her glory in front of Daniel’s very eyes, he found that he could think more clearly now. Of course, he was scared out of his wits, and had already followed her orders a few times before he could stop himself. Still, he was now able to see the obvious fact that she had been using him all the time, turning both his hatred for the goa’ulds and his love and longing for Sha’re against him. Although he didn’t understand why she had chosen him, and he couldn’t explain how she had done it.

He had done magic, cast magic spells, just like Raistlin had done before. But unlike Raistlin, it had not made him tired, let alone sick. Instead, he was still feeling remarkably good, which was perhaps a bit odd, but certainly not a bad thing. Although it would not last long, he was sure of it. He had refused to do what she asked, and now he was only waiting for her retribution. She would cast some spell powerful beyond anything he had seen, or perhaps strike him down with one swift sweep of those huge, clawed hands. He had no means to fight such an enemy – but then again – just maybe – maybe he did!

This time, realization wasn’t a sudden thing that fell on him. Instead, it dawned slowly but inevitably, like the sun that was just peeking up from behind the nearby buildings. Takhisis had not given him the magical powers. Those strange mages in his dream yesterday had said something about giving him a force to match that of the enemies. It all added up. They had mentioned two enemies, a familiar one and an entirely new one. So, here he was caught between a goa’uld queen planning to take over this world, impersonating the local evil deity, and – as ridiculous as it sounded – the actual evil deity herself.

Time slithered on slowly, but nothing seemed to happen. No blow of any sort, no magical strike. Still, the overwhelming fear caused by the dragon-goddess-alien was a continuous strain, and it was growing stronger. Or perhaps he was growing weaker. He knew that sooner or later he would give in and attack the false Takhisis. And if that fight would not kill him, then the real Takhisis would. He had no time to waste.

***

All right. Jack had had enough of this useless waiting and hanging around. He was just about determined to cross the opening and meet up with the dueling trio to ask what’s going on, when something finally happened.

Slowly and steadily, without any sign of hesitation, Daniel lifted his gaze from the ground and stood up straight again, facing the scary dark thing face-to-face, or at least face-to-faceless-shadowy-mass. And continuing the same movement, he lifted raised his hands, reaching directly upwards, towards the slightly clouded sky.

The awaiting atmosphere felt denser than ever, almost suffocating in its thickness. Even the draconians stopped their so far ceaseless muttering.

There was a blinding flash of light, so bright that it forced him to turn his face away. It was soon followed by a thunderous bang. Jack’s first thought, of course, was that it was a bomb of some sort. His ears were ringing so loudly that he couldn’t even hear his own voice when he shouted, “Take cover!” to the others and ducked to the ground, waiting for the pressure wave to hit and make the ruins come down on them. But that didn’t happen. There was a gust of freezing cold wind, and something veiled the sun so completely that darkness fell, but only for a passing moment.

When Jack scrambled to his feet and looked at the opening again, the sun was shining down from a cloudless, clear blue sky. And in front of the stargate stood Daniel, unmoving, arms crossed against his chest. Behind him on the ground was a heap of spiked black mail and dark curls, the remains of the goa’uld lady. And in front of him, there was nothing. The dark, shadowy alien thing was gone as if it had never been there.

16.

The draconians were fleeing, and Raistlin had no intention of stopping them. They were the least of his worries. He was only slightly more interested about the Jaffa warriors, but they were apparently at a loss. A few tried to advance towards Daniel or the combined group of SG-1 and the companions, but the SG-team quickly moved in to intercept, armed with weapons taken from the unconscious Jaffa they had met earlier.

Raistlin’s main concern was that he could not grasp what had happened. Daniel had cast an amazing spell, something that he could not associate with anything he had ever read. And what had been the meaning of that dark being? It had been immensely powerful, Raistlin had felt it clearly. But it had not been there entirely, otherwise it would have won the battle before it had begun. It had only been a strong projection of some sort, and it was obvious that the continuous prayers of the draconians had something to do with it. Had he just witnessed one of the true gods? The god of the draconians?

The entire group seemed to be headed towards Daniel, and Raistlin moved along with them, determined to get the answers that he’d need to solve this mystery. He was patient enough to wait a moment longer, as SG-1 met with their missing member and asked some questions of their own. Still, he had no patience to offer to Tasslehoff Burrfoot, who suddenly appeared at his feet, tugging at his robes.

“Raist! Raist, look what I found! I wonder if it’s magical? Won’t you take a look at it?” Tas demanded. He had a grayish something that he was waving about wildly. It was nothing more or less than a gray hat. An old, tattered, pointed hat.

“Tasslehoff Burrfoot. Once again, you surprise me with the amazing mental capacity of kenders. It is an old hat, and there is absolutely nothing magical about it – but I will show you magic soon enough, turning you into a snail if you will not leave me alone!” Raistlin replied, completely aware of the theatrical quality of his words. He knew that nothing less would take the point across to Tas.

“Awww, that’s not nice! I know it’s a very magical hat, since it just appeared out of nowhere, I found it there, near the stargate, but no one could’ve dropped it, I would’ve seen them! I’m going to keep it anyway,” Tasslehoff babbled, and walked away, striving to place the hat on his head – a task made rather difficult by his high topknot of thick dark hair.

When Tas fell silent and left, Raistlin was able to catch the first words SG-1 exchanged.

“So, Daniel. I see you’ve been busy,” Colonel O’Neill began casually. “And you look like hell. Which is pretty good, compared to that goa’uld,” he gestured at the remains of the dark-mailed lady. Actually, Raistlin noted to himself, the corpse was in as good a shape as possible. He could not see any injuries of any kind.

Daniel glared at Jack silently for a moment, as did Sam. But where Sam’s look was inquiring and perhaps even slightly reproachful, Daniel’s was almost completely blank. “Gee, thanks, Jack. I guess you could say the same about me compared to all those Jaffa that I killed, too. And that five-headed dragon.”

“Five-headed dragon?” Jack repeated, and Raistlin thought he could sense some concern in his voice, hidden underneath all the sarcasm. “Where was that?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t see it, Jack, it was right behind me,” Daniel replied, appearing completely unenthusiastic.

Raistlin, however, was far from indifferent upon hearing these words. They confirmed his beliefs. The dark thing that he had seen had been a projection, one that had been completely visible only to Daniel, and probably the now-dead dark lady.

“There was no beast such as you describe, Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c noted in his usual, infallible way. “Although there was a cloud-like dark being that I deemed threatening.”

“Care to tell us what really happened, Daniel? How’d you become a dark mage?” Jack asked, only half-jokingly.

“Jack, I’m not a dark mage… But I really can’t explain it – or I can try to, but I know I won’t even believe it myself.”

Raistlin was listening very closely now. Perhaps he would get all the answers he wanted without needing to ask anything at all.

“All right. We’ve been to numerous worlds and met many goa’uld system lords, but they all have one thing in common. They choose the local deity that they find most appealing, and impersonate them. Since they’re technically far more advanced than their subjects, they really look like gods, too. But suppose, just suppose, that in one world, the original, real gods actually exist. I’m not taking God-god into this debate. Just suppose that there is some alien race so alien and so powerful that they look like gods even to us, and even to the goa’ulds. And then there is a goa’uld who has chosen to play the role of one of these gods, or rather, a goddess.”

The three other members of SG-1 eyed Daniel with disbelief, but Raistlin was nodding to himself. It did make sense, and offered quite a few of the pieces that he had been missing.

“But no matter how amazingly godlike these beings appear, they still have some very human traits, and they have their grudges. Like in the ancient Greek pantheon. So, there are ‘good’ gods and ‘evil’ gods fighting each other, or driving their own agendas. The five-headed dragon goddess was clearly enough one of the bad ones, so it’s not surprising that the goa’uld chose her. As for the good ones, I think I met them. I think they’re the ones who gave the magical powers to me.”

“None of that explains what the draconians were doing when they first came, or what that muttering that they kept on a moment ago was all about,” Sam said.

“But it does!” Raistlin finally spoke up. “These ruins and the stargate prove that there has been someone here before. And these ruins certainly do not look like something built by the draconians, indeed, they do not remind me of anything on Krynn. Perhaps this false goddess has been here before, and has been driven away once. Now, she was planning to return, but somehow, the true goddess learned of it. Although I know not how this happened.”

“It is quite normal of a goa’uld to send out a party of Jaffa in advance, to observe the situation in the target world,” Teal’c offered.

“Ah, then that part is solved as well. This goa’uld sent through a party of her guards, who were seen by the true goddess, or some of her minions. So, she sends the draconians here, to prepare the site.”

“Prepare the site – for what? Certainly not for battle,” Sam wondered aloud. “They were not building up defenses, they were setting up flags, fixing broken walls and statues, cleaning up.”

“They were preparing it for the return of their own true goddess, who would come and drive the false imitator away forever. They were not fixing anything, they were rebuilding. They even carved new symbols into the walls. But the Jaffa came too soon and drove them away, and when the encounter of the two goddesses took place, their work was unfinished. So, the true goddess could not appear in flesh, or in any tangible matter. Even though the draconians were praying all the time, offering her all their faith, she was only able to show up as a vague projection. I think she would not have been able to harm you in that incarnation, except mentally.”

“So that is why she used me! That’s why she tried to force me to kill the goa’uld instead of doing it herself,” Daniel uttered. “I was the perfect tool for her job – she must have enjoyed the irony of it. The good gods, her enemies, wish to use me against her, but since they’re the good guys, they don’t guide or command me too strictly. And she sees through their plans, and uses me for her purposes instead.”

“But the good guys won, right? That’s why you’re still there, and the draconians are gone?” Jack asked.

“Right. Although the bad guys got away well enough too. I don’t think the dragon-goddess was harmed at all. And the goa’uld is dead. I guess that’s what everyone wanted.”

“Are you really so sorry that she’s dead, Daniel? She’s not Sha’re, after all. She wouldn’t have done any good to anyone if you had saved her.”

“I’m sorry for all those Jaffa, and I’m sorry for her. Now we’ll never know who she really was. She must have been a very minor goa’uld, if Teal’c doesn’t know anything about her. Maybe she wasn’t that evil to begin with. We’ll never know.”

“Can you still do magic? Would you show me some? Raistlin never wants to show me any tricks, except when he threatens to turn me into something awful! That really huge big spell that you did was really wonderful!” Tasslehoff had emerged again, as annoying as ever, and completely oblivious of the situation.

“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Daniel replied wearily. “I’m not going to try. Nothing good ever came out of it.”

“But you must tell me what that last spell was,” Raistlin stepped to face Daniel directly, pushing Tas away. “It was unlike anything I have ever seen!”

Daniel shook his head. “How should I know? Most of the time, someone was there to tell me what to do, but that last time, there was no one. I didn’t know what to do, I only knew that I had to do something soon or I would loose it. So I just desperately called out for help. And then… I don’t know. This is as much of a guess as everything else that I’ve said, but I think the good gods finally stepped in to the scene.”

***

Jack made it clear that he wanted his team back on Earth as soon as possible. It only took them a while to find the few remaining Jaffa and solve the matters concerning them. Some of the Jaffa that Daniel had attacked had actually woken up, and they were not that badly hurt – although some never woke up again. They were offered the options of either following SG-1 through the gate and then being sent to some safe world, or returning to wherever they had come from. It was not surprising that they all chose the latter.

After all the Jaffa had left through the stargate, it was SG-1’s turn. They took their time saying farewell to the companions. They advised them to bury the stargate, although they were pretty certain that it would not happen. Daniel insisted on it that they should have means to contact the SGC in case something happened, and it was decided that it would be arranged with General Hammond once they were home again.

This time, there were no draconians slashing at Daniel as he walked to the DHD and punched the series of symbols that opened the wormhole to Earth. Still, even though almost everything had went wrong on this mission and numerous bad things had happened, he felt almost reluctant to leave Krynn. He would have to return some day, and learn more of their ways, their culture, their magic – and their gods.

***

Flint had to hold Tasslehoff in his place to keep him from following SG-1 through the stargate. Especially after what Caramon had told him about Earth, Tas was convinced that he would have to go there one day. Well, there were quite a few other places where he would absolutely have to go, too.

As Raistlin watched the struggling kender, and then followed the team’s departure through the gate, he decided that his feelings were not that different from the kender’s. He was pleased that, if SG-1 would keep their promise, he would actually be granted the means to return to Earth one day, although he would definitely not take Tas with him.

The rippling surface of the open portal dissolved, and after one last look, Raistlin turned his back to it.

Aside from Tas’s babbling, the company walked in perfect silence. Everyone’s mind still lingered by the gate, and all the things that had happened during the last few days. Slowly, they made their way to the thicket where they had left their heavier belongings, and thence, towards new adventures.

17.

Jack was mad at himself. He had let the situation completely out of his hands, and hadn’t managed to get in control again. Instead, he had left Daniel to face, well, whatever it was, and then, when it was over with, he had been unable to face Daniel like he should’ve.

Of course, Jack had asked Daniel if he was all right, and, of course, he had said yes. He had looked mostly all right too, uninjured and in one piece, albeit a bit pale and apparently exhausted. That wasn’t the thing that Jack was worried about. Instead, it was the blank look on Daniel’s face, the way he kept a clear distance to everyone, and the fact that his explanation of what had happened had been very vague, and unbelievable at best. So, Jack made getting back to the SGC the first priority. It was so easy to believe that Janet would figure this out. She would know what to do.

Jack kept a close eye on Daniel – as did the rest of SG-1 – as they worked on the Jaffa situation. There was no change of any sort, and nothing alarming. Still, Jack was really glad when they were ready, and finally walked up the stone pedestal, into the cool blue event horizon of the stargate.

***

Somehow, Daniel wasn’t so anxious to get back home. On the other hand, he didn’t really feel anxious about anything right now. When they had first stepped through the gate to Krynn and met with the locals, it had been the excitement of exploration that had driven him forward, as always when they visited a new world. Then, later on, even when he should have been very tired, the thought of Sha’re – Takhisis’s plot – had kept him going. When he had finally seen through that, he had had to struggle to keep himself and his friends alive. Now, it felt as if there was nothing left, no force to push him on. Still, he kept telling himself, home was always home. Earth. Back through the gate.

The sight of the gate room was soothing, even with the military personnel that had their guns trained on SG-1, and only lowered them at Hammond’s command. The General was standing at the farther end of the room, with Doctor Janet Fraiser next to him. Both were wearing hesitant smiles: so far it seemed that all of SG-1 had made it back unharmed.

Daniel had hardly stepped to the familiar metal ramp, when he realized that something was very, very wrong. He felt so dizzy that he could hardly step straight, and the room was melting into a twirling haze. He was sweating and shivering at the same time, and the air felt too thick to breathe, no matter how hard he tried. And through everything else, he could feel a faint tingling on his back, right where the draconian’s claws had struck.

He didn’t understand what was happening, he couldn’t even remember where he was anymore. Suddenly he was falling, and Jack was there, a face just slightly clearer than the surrounding fog, looming in front of him. Jack. Jack had been worried that he was sick, had tried to make him listen but he hadn’t listened. Jack had been right.

***

“Daniel? What’s wrong?” Jack asked, holding his friend by the shoulders.

Daniel stared at him with glazed eyes full of confusion, breathing in shallow gasps. “I’m sorry, Jack,” he muttered weakly, closed his eyes and went completely limp, slipping from Jack’s grip.

Jack reached to catch him again, to keep him from hitting the ramp, but Teal’c was there first – he had stepped out of the gate right behind Daniel. Carter was there as well, kneeling next to him and calling for a medic, although she must’ve noticed that Doc Fraiser was on her way already.

Afraid of wasting even a few seconds waiting for Fraiser, Jack placed his fingers on his friend’s neck. First, he could feel nothing aside from the damp, cool skin. He sighed out of relief as he found a pulse – and then winced, since it was way too fast and shallow. He looked up to offer an encouraging nod to Carter, but the grave look on her face stopped him.

“He’s not breathing,” Carter uttered, loud enough that Fraiser could hear it as well.

Then the Doc was there, gently pushing Jack and Carter out of the way and guiding Teal’c to help her staff place Daniel on a stretcher.

One of the medics instantly confirmed Carter’s words. “He’s not breathing, but airway’s fine.”

“Bag him,” Fraiser ordered urgently.

Other commands, numbers and pieces of information came in a steady flow from the perfectly cooperating medical team. Jack listened to them with growing concern, although he hardly understood half of the exchanged words. BP’s 80 over 60, pulse 144, no visible trauma. As they turned him around to check for injuries, Fraiser raised her eyebrows at the claw marks tearing through Daniel’s jacket, and the perfectly smooth, unharmed skin beneath.

They were already on their way out of the room when the Doc stopped to gesture that Jack should follow. He was amazed. After all, she was usually strict on keeping people out of her way when lives were at risk.

“I’ll need you to explain exactly what happened,” Fraiser told Jack in a commanding tone.

Why me, he thought for a passing second, before he remembered that Teal’c and Sam had been back at the SGC for quite a while, and missed a lot of what had happened. Although it was not like Jack had any explanation for Daniel’s condition either.

Nevertheless, Jack ran along with the medical team, trying to speak to Fraiser as quickly and coherently as possible. “It’s not like I’m going to be able to help you a lot… I have no idea what’s wrong with him… He was on his feet just a moment ago, and has been for the best of the last few days …“

“What about those cuts on his clothes? Something that didn’t quite hit him?” she asked.

“He got clawed by a lizard-man-alien not long after we arrived there… Looked pretty bad for a moment, infected and feverish… Then there was this woman with an alien healing device who fixed it – she thought he should be OK after that… But then he ran after this goa’uld we thought to be Sha’re, but it wasn’t… It was another goa’uld lady and then there was this huge dark alien thing – and then somewhere along the trip, Daniel became a mage…”

Sooner than Jack had expected, they reached the infirmary. He absently noticed that his throat was getting sore. After all, he had been babbling all the way from the gate room just like that little pointy-eared alien, Tassel-something. Tas. Daniel would remember the name…

The scene playing out before his eyes was just as busy and no less shocking than every other time when a member of his team had been brought in here in a hurry. Still, something was missing. They had still found no injury, nor any explanation to Daniel’s condition, so there was no blood, no bandaging, no suturing, no preparing for emergency surgery. Just a massive array of tests of all sorts, and continuous requests for even more.

Jack sat down on one of those highly uncomfortable plastic chairs and closed his eyes. How long was it since he had last had any sleep? Last night he had been guarding over Daniel, the night before that, he had been planning things with Tanis and Sturm – so it had been prior to this damned mission, when he had never even heard of Krynn – how long ago had that been? Ages and ages. He wasn’t able to figure it out before his head drooped and he fell asleep.

***

Jack woke up to find himself lying in an infirmary bed, with an IV stuck to his arm, and without any memory of how he had gotten there. He was quite certain that he had not been injured lately, but someone else had… Daniel!

Jack jumped up from the bed and drew the IV out, and was about to start runnin, when he nearly crashed into Carter.

“Good morning, colonel,” she greeted casually. “I was wondering when you’d wake up. Janet sends her apologies for being a bit over-protective of you, but when you just fell asleep like that, for a moment, before they knew what was wrong with Daniel, they thought that you had caught the same thing. You had that cut across your chest too, and Teal’c and I had no explanation for it.”

Jack quickly swallowed a remark of how he found it perfectly normal to take a nap after some three days without any sleep at all. The truth was that he was just angry with himself for having dosed off like that. “Before they knew what was wrong, you say, so they know now? What was wrong with him? He’s going to be OK, isn’t he?”

“I guess you’d better ask Janet, but apparently, he’s suffering from septic shock that was probably caused by the cuts from the draconian attack.”

“So the alien healing thing wasn’t as good as it seemed – damn! I knew it! I only wish I could’ve done something about it,” he grumbled, and quickly motioned for Carter to lead the way, since he actually had no idea where they were keeping Daniel, and he was nowhere in sight.

“For a short while, we were worried that he had caught some contagious disease native to that planet, so we put him in isolation,” Fraiser explained as soon as Jack and Carter got to the room.

Jack couldn’t help thinking in horrible clichés: how Daniel was paler than the sheets about him, and how small and lost he looked among all the medical equipment. His face was half covered by the ventilator tubing and tape, and his eyes were closed. He was still as dead.

Hardly thinking what he was doing, Jack reached to hold his friend’s hand. “His hand’s cold,” he uttered, surprised. “I thought septic shock causes fever?”

Fraiser nodded in reply, looking very grave. “It does, initially, and it’s usually noticed by then. However, Daniel’s condition is a later stage, sometimes known as cold shock.”

“But it’s nothing alien, right? You know what it is and you can help him, can’t you?” Jack asked, although something in Fraiser’s face and her voice had already given him the answer.

“To begin with, his situation is unlike anything I have seen before, since the initial injury was healed in an alien fashion – we have no way of knowing what that did or did not do to him. Nevertheless, it seems quite clear that those wounds were infected badly enough to cause sepsis. His condition must have deteriorated continuously as he just went on, although he inexplicably did not feel sick, and apparently didn’t look that bad either. Now, in addition to the septic shock that’s already bordering on multiple organ failure, he suffers from exhaustion and dehydration. We’re doing our best, but he’s not responding to the treatment very well,” Fraiser explained.

Jack glanced at Carter, who looked shocked, although she must have heard this already. He raised his eyebrows at Fraiser, urging her to tell what he knew had to be coming.

“I won’t say that he’s not going to make it. He’s not dead yet, and it’s possible that he’ll survive. Still, unless there is some unexpected turn to the better, the odds aren’t very good. I would say there’s a 70 to 80 percent chance that he’ll never wake up again.”

Jack nodded, and closed his other hand over Daniel’s, as if trying to warm it between his hands. “Where are all those miracle-working alien mages and healers when we need them,” he mumbled, while in his mind, he only blamed himself. He should’ve done more and better, he should’ve helped Daniel before the situation got this bad. Yet he had no idea of how he could’ve stopped Daniel.

Unstoppable Daniel. Daniel casting magic spells to ensnare his friends, and spells strong enough to kill jaffa. The idea was like a distant dream, even though it had only been yesterday.

***

Daniel was back among the clouds, back in the dream he had had on Krynn.

The same dream, but not quite. The clouds were less solid, more like a grayish mist, and there were no stars in the dark sky. The shabby, gray-cloaked wizard in front of him looked slightly transparent, unreal, and he had lost his pointed hat.

“Fizban the Fabulous,” Daniel greeted the wizard. “I thought you would not bother talking to me if I was dead. This time, I know I’m not asleep, and the way I felt when we got back to Earth really makes me think that if I’m not dead, I’m not far from it either.”

“I know this, and I am truly sorry, especially as it is mostly my fault,” Fizban replied sadly.

“Actually, I thought it’s mostly my fault,” Daniel uttered. “I guess I didn’t quite do what you expected me to.”

“No, do not blame yourself! It was I who underestimated my sister, I should have known how resourceful she is, and how twisted. Still, in the end, the situation was solved.”

So, Takhisis-the-evil-goddess and Fizban-the-good-god were sister and brother, Daniel noted to himself. Somehow it did not surprise him, but he kept the thought to himself. Instead, he asked the question that had been troubling him ever since it happened. “What really happened in the end, then? It was you, wasn’t it? I had nearly given up, when suddenly, without knowing what I did, I did – something. I still don’t know what it was.”

“It was a powerful spell, but not one like the mages cast. It was the sort of spell that gods may grant to very loyal, holy priests. And yes, I gave it to you. It was such a spell that it only harmed evil beings, so you need not worry for the goa’uld. As for the real Takhisis, she was not harmed. Soon, she will gather her dignity and rise again, glad that she’s finally got rid of the impostor.”

“Just wait a moment,” Daniel said, raising a finger. “Very loyal, holy priests? I’m hardly one of those. That’s another thing that really puzzles me. Why did you choose me, out of all the possible beings on the planet?”

“First of all, I did not wish to choose anyone of Krynn. As you may have heard, we gods left the people during the Cataclysm, and although the time of our return draws near, it is not quite yet. I did not wish to reveal myself, and perhaps accidentally make a prophet out of someone. Also, I could not have chosen anyone of Krynn had I wanted to, because they already live in a world filled with magic, and they either have the talent, or not. Suddenly giving such a power to any of them might have had devastating effects. As for why I chose you out of the four team-members, that was quite simple. When the draconians forced you to split, I only had two to choose from, you and Jack O’Neill. You were sick and feverish, which made you the easier target. I also thought that I would be helping you, but in that, I made a mistake. And aside from all this, your mind is more open, more ready to accept such an amazing gift.”

Daniel nodded. If that was not an extensive explanation, then he did not know what was, although he was not sure which of the reasons he believed.

They stood silently for a while. Daniel noticed that the surroundings looked even more faded now, and when he looked at Fizban, he could see straight through him. Fizban was frowning.

“I cannot stay much longer. I am too far from my world, and you are too far from your body. There is only one more thing left that I must take care of. You see, as I said, I made a mistake when I thought I would be able to help you. Instead of making you any better, one could say that I set a fire in you, the fire of magic, that both drove you on and consumed you, and was so strong that it drowned everything else. When Goldmoon tried to use the crystal staff to heal you, there was a kind of a misunderstanding. You see, the power of that staff comes from my companion, Mishakal, and she did not wish to disturb what I had done. That is why you were not entirely healed,” he fell silent again, perhaps waiting for questions, but Daniel had none.

“And now, again, I wish to help you, and so does Mishakal, and she is a goddess of healing. Although Earth is not our world, and it is far away, we should still be able to do enough. But as you must have guessed, the magic is gone forever, unless you return to Krynn some day, and speak with me again. Then, you should call me Paladine,” the god finished his speech, and then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

The clouds were gone as well.

Daniel was alone, in the middle of an empty darkness.

And then he was falling, falling into the emptiness, and there was nothing else that he could feel or see or sense.

Fizban-Paladine had failed, and he was dead. He was sure of it.

And still, he was falling, falling for eternity.

Falling…

…until he felt someone holding his hand, strong hands wrapped around his, stopping and steadying him. Paladine’s hands? Then Fizban had succeeded after all.

***

The debriefing was just as long and tedious as Jack had feared, and even more so with the thought that Daniel might take a turn to the worse while they were sitting and talking. He couldn’t concentrate. Every time he explained something that had happened during the last few days, he had to speak of Daniel, and every time he thought of Daniel, his thoughts went back to the infirmary.

The last thing Daniel had said had been “I’m sorry, Jack.” The idea that those might be his last words ever was dreadful, and even more so, because Jack felt that he should be the one to apologize.

Of course, as soon as they were finished, Jack headed straight back to the infirmary.

Janet Fraiser looked up from a stack of papers and smiled at him. “Apparently we got our miraculous, unexpected turn to the better. His condition’s been improving – body temperature and blood pressure are nearly back to normal, and we could expect him to wake up any moment. However, I’m going to keep him sedated for some time. I want to keep him on the ventilator a while longer, since I’m still worried of his pulmonary function.”

Jack was quick to return the smile. He had been fearing the worst, and got the best instead. “You’ll let me know as soon as he wakes up, won’t you?”

“You can trust me on that. Now, I’m your doctor as well, and I’m ordering you to go to the cafeteria right away, to get something to eat.”

***

“Daniel, I’m sorry, you shouldn’t be,” were the first words Jack said to Daniel when he finally woke up.

And as soon as Fraiser had taken the tube out of Daniel’s throat, he was quick to answer, even with a very raw and sore throat, despite the fact that Fraiser had particularly told him that he shouldn’t speak yet.

“No, Jack. Not your fault. Blame the gods.”

***

Paladine, also known as Fizban the Fantastic and the Platinum Dragon, picked up his old gray hat from the ground, where Tasslehoff Burrfoot had forgotten it. He dusted the worst dirt off the hat, placed it on top of his tangled hair again, and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.

“I just cannot help it,” he mumbled to himself. “Happy ends always make me cry."

Author's Note:
If you've read it all (or even if you've just read a part of it), please send mail to veldeia(a)yahoo.com and tell me what you thought!

Disclaimer:
The Stargate, SG-1, the Goa'uld and all other characters who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names, titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television, Showtime, Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd. Partnership. The Dragonlance universe, characters and everything else Dragonlance-related belong solely to TSR, WotC and Hasbro. This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and solely meant for entertainment. All other characters, the story idea and the story itself are the sole property of the author.

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