“Jaffa!”
The men on duty came to instant attention, but their eyes were wary. They were, Teal’c knew, in an awkward position, expected both to keep the “goddess” confined and to do her bidding.
“My servants have not returned,” Egeria said. “And I have neither bath nor my evening meal. Must I speak to Ra himself?”
“Great Lady,” the senior Jaffa said. He licked his lips, visibly trying to decide upon he right response. “Great Lady, there has been some disturbance. Perhaps your servants have been delayed?”
“Delayed for no little time,” Egeria snapped. “And I am still without service. Find them for me. And send someone with at least the meal.”
The Jaffa bowed his head, relieved to have an order he could obey. “At once, Great Lady.”
“See to it,” Egeria said, and slammed the door. She turned back to Teal’c with a wry smile — Aset’s smile — and held up her hand to show it trembling.
“You did well,” Teal’c said, and it was Aset who answered.
“So far, so good. Do you think — Egeria thinks we will still have to speak with Ra.”
“I believe she is right,” Teal’c said, reluctantly. “He will have questions, particularly when your servants are not found. But you are his match.”
“I must be,” Egeria said.
It was some time before the Jaffa returned, but at least they escorted a handful of servants carrying trays, and one carrying a covered basket. Egeria lifted her eyebrows at that, and the man carrying it bowed even more deeply.
“A gift from our lord Ra,” he said, and opened the basket. “That you may be clothed more as befits your station.”
Egeria plucked at the fabric disdainfully, even though Teal’c knew she must recognize the dress as belonging to the young queen. And the jewels, too, collar and bracelets and gilded sandals: all the queen’s, and Egeria waved for the man to put the basket aside. “It will do for now,” she said. “Where are my servants?”
“Forgive me, Lady,” the nearest Jaffa said. “We have been unable to find them.”
“What?” Egeria mimed shock and anger. Teal’c drew himself to attention, a First Prime responding to his mistress. “Why not?”
“Perhaps because they have joined the rebels.”
It took all Teal’c’s willpower to keep from reaching for his staff weapon at the sound of Ra’s voice. The System Lord stood scowling in the open door, the fingers of his left hand tipped in gold. From the movement of her eyes, Egeria saw that, too, but she matched anger with anger.
“Why would they do that? They know what it is to serve their goddess. More likely they’ve been taken prisoner.”
“And what do you know of prisoners?” Ra asked. He waved for the human servants to leave, but the Jaffa remained, two on each side of the door. Too many if it came to a fight, Teal’c thought, especially with Ra in possession of a hand weapon.
“I would have to be deaf to have missed what your Jaffa were up to,” Egeria answered. “And I worked hard to train my people.”
Ra seemed to relax slightly. “The Jaffa say they are not within the palace. We may receive an offer to trade them, as I have one or two prisoners of value. If so — well, if I must use them, I will repay you, never fear.”
“I would expect no less from one as great as you,” Egeria said, and gestured toward the waiting platters. “Would you do me the honor of joining me?”
Ra lifted one perfect eyebrow. “You find this adequate for the gods?”
Egeria blinked once, lifted her chin. “I do not, though I would not have said so had you not asked. But this body must be fed, and I — would be glad of your company.”
“Ah.” Ra smiled. “Would I had the time. Another day, I think, and we will have the chance to know each other better. But for now, alas, I have other matters to attend to.”
“I eagerly await that other day,” Egeria said.
Ra chuckled, and for a moment Teal’c thought he would kiss her, but he settled for chucking her under the chin. “As shall I,” he said, and turned away.
The Jaffa followed, closing the door behind them, and Egeria shuddered.
“It was well done,” Teal’c said, softly. “And now we know Dr. Jackson and Colonel Mitchell are still free.”
She nodded, visibly collecting herself. “I’d better change,” she said, and dragged the basket of clothes into the inner room.
Teal’c watched her go, uncertain of the best response. He wanted to embrace her, to embrace Aset and tell her how brave she was, how strong, and how much he admired her, but it was Egeria who had spoken, who had been brave and strong. No, he told himself firmly, it was also Aset. They were Tok’ra, one could not act without the other. He looked at the meal — a roasted duck, bread, dates — and could not muster an appetite. Instead, he went slowly to the bedroom door.
“Aset?” He had spoken without thought, winced as he realized who he had called, but the word could not be taken back.
She looked up from where she knelt by the basket, still sorting through the young queen’s clothes, and her face was transformed by an entirely familiar smile. Surely this was different, Teal’c thought. Shau’nac had never smiled so, as though her thoughts were her own.
“I am here.”
“And so is she,” Teal’c said. He hadn’t meant to have this conversation now, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself.
“She is.” Aset sat back on her heels, regarded him steadily. “We did well, did we not?”
“You did.”
“So.”
There were no stools, just the queen’s bed, and she stood, gestured to it. Teal’c seated himself beside her, his legs crossed, their backs against the painted wall. All around them, the gods marched in procession for the birth of the child Horus, and at their feet, the peoples of Egypt went about their lives, fishermen, hunters, weavers, scribes and priests, a fluteplayer and a dancing girl and a maker of sandals.
“If this has changed things,” Aset said, at last, and Teal’c closed his eyes.
“I do not know.”
“I would rather have died than lose you,” Aset said. “But to live and have you still… seemed best of all.”
“And so it is,” Teal’c said, but knew he didn’t sound convinced. He shook his head. “I am sorry, Aset. I do not know what I think.”
“I am I,” she said.
“And yet Egeria lives within you,” Teal’c said. “She is here, she listens, she is part of you.”
“It is I who speaks,” Aset said. She touched his cheek, and when he did not resist, turned his head to kiss his lips. “It is I who kiss you, not her.”
“And what does she conclude?” Teal’c asked. He took her free hand, laced his fingers with her, feeling their bones solid beneath the flesh. He expected her to bow her head, to let Egeria speak, but instead she gave a wicked grin.
“She is embarrassed. Interested and embarrassed. Remember, she is young, and I have had my share of lovers. I have assured her she will have no complaints.”
Teal’c laughed in spite of himself, as she had meant him to, but he sobered quickly. “I had hoped our children would be born free.”
It was the first time he had spoken so openly of his feelings, and Aset’s smile softened. “They will be more than free. As will you and I.”
“We will not live to see the end,” Teal’c said. “Nor will anyone who remembers us.”
“She will,” Aset said. “And when Ra is destroyed, when the Goa’uld are finally beaten, they will know all too well where this began.”
Teal’c rested his arm on her shoulders, her skin warm beneath his touch, leaned his head against her fragrant hair. “May it be so,” he said.
Jack rested his back against the wall and took a sip of the beer Danyel had brought them along with the morning porridge. He felt better than he had expected. His knees hurt, yes, but only a little worse than usual, and the pain stick had left no lasting damage. OK, his back was a little sore, but that
was as much because they’d had to give up their rooms to Hor-Aha and the Queen Mother. Pallets on the floor were a lot less comfortable than his nice big bed. He felt a little bad about SG-1, who’d been bumped right down the ladder to one of the back storerooms, but not bad enough to offer to swap.
Ellie gave a screech of intense disapproval, and Sam put down the spoon with which she was trying to feed the baby a last bite of porridge, reaching for a rag to wipe her face.
“I’ll take her,” Jack offered, and Sam gave him a grateful look.
“She’s all yours,” she said, and set the baby in his arms.
“Aren’t you my sweetheart?” Jack exclaimed, and lifted Ellie into the air. She giggled, but the movement made his shoulders ache. He set her on the pallet between his legs, and she promptly lunged over his knee, grabbing for the battered wooden duck that was currently her favorite toy. She crammed the tail into her mouth and stared at him over it.
“Wouldn’t you rather have some more porridge?” Jack asked, feeling as though some attempt at adult guidance was required. “How about some bread?” He tore a piece from the center of the loaf, but Ellie turned her head away, pursing her lips in definite refusal.
“I think she’s probably had enough,” Sam said. She was eating her own porridge hastily, before it cooled completely. “Tamit can give her more later if she’s hungry.”
“How are we doing for supplies?” Danyel asked. He held out a piece of crust, and Ellie took it, the duck still in her other hand. She considered for a moment, and stuffed both of them into her mouth, gumming them happily.
“Your turn to wash the ducky,” Jack said.
“Three more days at this rate,” Sam said. “The Queen Mother has sent for grain from one of her manors to the south, but getting it here without drawing Ra’s attention is going to be a trick.”
“Yeah,” Danyel said. “Ra’s bound to be keeping an eye on the river traffic.”
“Hey, Danyel,” Jack said. Now was as good a time as any to ask, safe at home with the baby pounding his thigh with a wooden duck. He took the duck away, and Ellie shrieked, flailing for it. He gave it back to her, wincing in anticipation, and she resumed her pounding. “Why would Ra think I was an Ancient?”
“What?” Danyel held out another crust, and this time Ellie dropped the duck to grab it. Jack moved the duck out of reach.
“Me,” he said. “An Ancient. Why would Ra think that?”
“I — well, I suppose because you have the Ancient gene,” Danyel said. “I mean, you know that’s how you fly the jumper, right? But how Ra knew that —”
“He brought out this little box,” Jack said, miming the shape. “It went all sparkly when it saw me.”
“OK, so Ra had some Ancient device that he’s using to test for Ancients,” Danyel said, dubiously.
“But why?” Sam asked, and Danyel nodded in agreement.
“Why bother looking for Ancients? They’re mostly dead, or too busy Ascending to bother with the Goa’uld. As far as we know, they weren’t particularly active here on Earth.”
“As far as you know,” Sam said. “From everything you’d said, it wouldn’t take many of them to cause the Goa’uld some serious headaches.”
“No, that’s true,” Danyel said.
“So maybe there were Ancients here who helped humans,” Sam said.
Ellie was reaching for the duck again, making increasingly urgent noises, and Jack handed it back to her, bracing himself. She seemed content to chew on it now, however, and he relaxed a little. “Maybe it’s time we gave Ra a serious headache,” he said. “Ra thinks I’m an Ancient. We’ve got two puddle jumpers, the one I just stole, and the one we left parked at Saqqara. Two identical puddle jumpers, both capable of going invisible — if we handle things right, Ra will think we’ve got a whole fleet of them.”
“And I really don’t think he’s going to hang around to find out how well a mothership stands up to Ancient drones,” Danyel said slowly. “We know how badly that can go for him. You — the other you — took out a fleet of motherships with the drones from the Antarctic chair installation. Granted, that was a lot more drones, but he’s only got one ship.”
“And he won’t know how many of us there are,” Jack said. “Two invisible puddle jumpers — Mitchell and I can make them seem like a whole squadron.”
“Mitchell doesn’t have the gene,” Sam said. “She — Carter told me. The doctor is the only one who can fly it.”
“OK, that makes it a little harder,” Jack said. It meant he’d have to do all the fancy flying, but still, he thought, he could manage that. “Kids, I think we’ve got a plan.”
“Part of a plan,” Sam said. “There’s still the Queen and the boys to think about.”
“Yeah.” Jack’s hands closed a little tighter on Ellie, who squirmed in protest. “We’ll figure that out, too.”
Chapter Twenty
The sun was rising over the palace compound but there were no sounds from the temple, none of the familiar ritual of the morning. Instead, there were Jaffa on guard at the entrance to the pyramid, and more Jaffa marching purposefully toward the courtyard gate. Teal’c craned his head, but couldn’t see which way they turned. Not toward the house, he thought, and hoped it was true.
“Teal’c?”
It was Egeria who spoke from the doorway of the bedroom, and he turned, dipping his head.
“Look at this,” she said. She held out a palm device, the finger-stalls dangling. “It seems Ra trusts us this far.”
Teal’c stared for a moment, embarrassingly glad she had not put it on before she told him. If he had been faced with the device, the gold disk nestled in her palm, the glittering fingers — his reaction would have shamed them all. “Indeed.”
“It was in the basket with the queen’s dress,” Egeria said. “We didn’t see it last night.”
“You must put it on,” Teal’c said, though his throat tightened at the wrongness of the idea. “Ra will expect to see you wearing it.”
She nodded, and worked her fingers into the pieces. She had a little trouble with the fastenings, and after a moment Teal’c moved to help her, tugging the last closure into place.
“Your fingers are cold,” Aset said.
“It’s early still,” he answered, but he guessed she knew that was not the entire cause.
Aset looked away, moving her fingers carefully in the device’s embrace. “We — this is new to both of us,” she said. “Egeria knows how it should work, but she’s never used one.”
Teal’c took a deep breath. This was Aset, Aset and Egeria together, and unless he ceased to believe in them, he would have to trust that they would use even Goa’uld tools for good. “I hope it will not come to that,” he said. “We cannot fight Ra directly.”
“No.” This time it was Egeria who spoke. “But I can’t say I’m sorry to have a weapon of my own.”
That was a sentiment Teal’c could share, and he nodded, his hand tightening on his staff weapon. “Yes —”
The door was abruptly flung open, and he swung to face it, bringing his weapon to bear. Half a dozen of Ra’s Jaffa stood there, their captain to the fore.
“What is the meaning of this?” Egeria drew herself up, the beads in her hair clashing. “How dare you interrupt me?”
“Your pardon, Lady,” the captain said. “Ra requires your presence. Immediately.”
Egeria lifted her chin. “We will come. And I am sure Ra will be less than pleased by your discourtesy.”
Teal’c took a tighter grip on his staff weapon and placed himself at Egeria’s shoulder. To his relief, the other Jaffa said nothing about their weapons, but hurried them toward the throne room.
Egeria checked in the doorway, and Teal’c’s breath caught in his throat. A body lay sprawled before the throne, a palace servant in fine linen now scorched and bloodied, and beyond it stood the young queen, her children clutched against her skirts. Ra glared at her from the throne, then waved to the nearest Jaffa. The Jaff
a shoved the queen to her knees, settling the baby wailing. She clutched him more tightly, but said nothing.
“How dare you defy me?” Ra demanded. “How dare you stand against your god?”
The queen said nothing, holding the wailing baby tight against her breasts. The older boy buried his face against her shoulder, too afraid to cry.
“You see what this has earned him,” Ra went on, pointing to the body. “A deserved death, and the end of all chance of rebirth. His body will be given to the jackals, and scattered into so many pieces that even the gods themselves could not find and restore him. Tell me why the same should not be done to you!”
“Gracious Lord,” Egeria said. Teal’c could see the tension in her shoulders, prayed Ra was too distracted to notice. “What has happened for you to summon us in such haste?”
“This woman conspires against me,” Ra answered. “She and this slave would have sent word to my enemies.” He turned back to the queen. “And I would have honored you for your beauty, raised you up among my servants, had you but proven worthy.” He gestured to the Jaffa. “Still, perhaps she will serve someone as a host. Take her to the ship.”
Teal’c stiffened, and made himself relax again, hoping none of the other Jaffa had noticed. It would be almost impossible to rescue the queen from the cells on the mothership — Ra wouldn’t be taken by surprise a second time.
“Gracious Lord,” Egeria said again. “If I might offer a suggestion?”
Ra lifted an eyebrow.
“Perhaps she could be of more use to you here,” Egeria said. “If she remains in the palace, the rebels will try to rescue her because she is their queen. It will be an excellent opportunity to crush them utterly.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Ra smiled slowly. “I was correct, Egeria, I shall certainly enjoy getting to know you better. Jaffa! Return the woman to her cell, and the children with her. Then double the guard — but discreetly.”
The leader of the Jaffa bowed his head. “At once, Lord.” At his gesture, two more Jaffa hauled the queen to her feet and turned her toward the door.
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