Stargate SG-1: Trial by Fire: SG1-1 (22 page)

Tomorrow we shall wipe out what has blighted our lives...

"We'll see about that," Sam promised herself softly, trying to
dispel the uneasy feeling that she wouldn't be able to keep that
promise.

"See about what?"

"Dammit, Daniel!" She hadn't heard him coming and stared at
the dark trail the splash of spilled wine had left down her front.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to startle you." He shrugged. "See about
what?"

"This." A sweep of her arm took in the three ships, man and
mate. "Am I the only one who thinks that it's a bad idea to roll in
there all guns blazing?"

"Normally it's me asking that question. But as our friend
Hamilgart remarked so astutely, The likes of them never are
persuaded by reason." Daniel stared at the third galley. "They've
mobilized the crack troops, haven't they? Those guys are Temple
Guards. Somebody called them `beloved of the spirits', whatever
that means. The ship sure looks like its been through the wars."

"All it needs is a scout team and twenty men," she muttered, only
half listening. "Go in fast and quiet, grab what you've come for, and
leave fast and quiet. Laser surgery, not Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
If they turn up there with an army, they'll get slaughtered, and the
Phrygians'll kill the hostages just to make a point."

"You sound like Jack."

She winced.

"Sam? You're worried about him."

That would be an understatement, and Major Carter had no
intention of going there. "It'd break my heart if we never saw Kelly
again."

It earned her a scowl and an odd look of frustration, but for once
Daniel took a hint. Gazing up at the brilliant cobweb of stars above
their heads, he asked, "Where exactly are we headed?"

"There." She pointed at a constellation that, with the help of
a hyperactive imagination, might just be construed to represent a
man at a loom. "The Tyreans call it The Old Weaver. At this time of
year it should stand almost directly above the islands."

"How long will it take?"

"The island's about a hundred and twenty nautical miles from
Tyros, and I'm guessing we average ten knots, so -"

"You know, those arcane measurements are really fun, but
I haven't got a clue of how to convert them into something
intelligible."

"Another twelve hours, give or take. You sound like the
Colonel." Sam smiled a little.

Somehow Daniel couldn't find anything to add to that, and
they both fell silent, staring into the gently swirling wake. The
disturbance of the water caused bioluminescent algae to flare, and
their green shimmer marked the ships' passage with a faint, eerie
trail.

Into the gentle sloshing of the sea and the hum of the sail edged
the murmur of voices; Teal'c's calm bass and, pitched above that,
the excitable tenor of Hamilgart. Their Jaffa friend seemed to be
getting unusually chatty, and Sam wondered if he'd granted the
wine a second hearing.

Without warning, the murmur detonated into a shout.

"No! It is unspeakable!"

"Uh-oh," said Daniel. "Sounds like Teal'c's misbehaving. I'm
guessing we should go and check?"

They threaded along the side of the canvas screen and ducked
back under the sunsail just in time to see the spirit level a stem gaze
at Hamilqart.

"Parley never is unspeakable. It may, indeed, serve to prevent
needless bloodshed."

"How can you...? You are... Aren't you...?" Hamilgart backed
away until he walked into the cloth, on his face a mix of resentment
and pure horror. At last he stuttered, "But you are the Lord Meleq's
emissaries!"

He sounded like he wanted to convince both them and himself.
Doubts as to their status was the last thing they needed now. Why Teal'c hadn't done what he usually tended to do, namely keep his
mouth shut, was anybody's guess. Carried away by this whole spirit
routine? If that was the case, then Meleq help them. A carried-away
Jaffa was a handful.

"Sure we are," Dr. Jackson confirmed, too brightly for a deer
in the headlights. Sam recognized the signs. He was improvising
and hoping to hell it would work. "And... uhm... doesn't the Lord
Meleq desire his children to prosper?"

Horror gave way to defensiveness, which possibly signaled an
improvement. "How are we going to prosper by fawning to the
Phrygians?"

"Who said anything about fawning?"

"Kandaulo!" He rapped out the name in that So there! tone
schoolboys used when discussing whose dad drove the biggest
car. "When Abibaal spoke like you, Kandaulo said he would be
punished for his weakness, and Kandaulo was right!"

"Are you suggesting that the Lord Abibaal intended to negotiate
with the Phrygians?"

The last time Sam had seen Teal'c look so smug was when
they'd bullied Thoran into handing over the Tok'ra mission
reports. Carried away, her foot! He was after something, and so
he'd chucked a snowball at an unstable slope and waited for the
avalanche to happen. Going by the smugness, the first drift was on
its way downhill.

"Yes!" yelped Hamilgart. "He was to have met with the leader of
the Phrygians. You have witnessed the outcome of his... labors."

"Wasn't he supposed to have sailed to Sidonia to bring back
some children?" Daniel pointed out.

"Daniel Jackson, do you believe we could have told the people
of Abibaal's true intentions? There would have been a revolt! The
Tyreans do not take kindly to heresy!"

"How can talking be heresy?"

"Whenever it involves talking to the enemies of the Lord
Meleq!"

"And for this reason you insisted that the Lady Ayzebel forego
any further contact with the Phrygians and release her pigeons,"
Teal'c contributed matter-of-factly.

"Of course! It is my duty as her -"

The goblet had slipped from Hamilqart's fingers and struck the
planks, exploding in a fountain of shards and wine. Their resident
archaeologist flinched at the destruction of the artifact. How much
was Phoenician glass on the open market? Probably priceless. Pale
as wax, Hamilqart crumpled on one of the seating cushions that
littered the deck.

"You knew all along, Lord Spirit, did you not?" he whispered.
"The Lord Meleq has sent you to try my devotion, and I have
failed."

"Perhaps not," the Lord Spirit replied. "However, I must advise
you to speak the truth now. Your wife warned the Phrygians that the
children's rite of passage was about to take place?"

Somebody should advise Teal'c to curb his intake of vintage
American cop series. Next he'd Mirandize the guy. But seeing that
Hamilgart wasn't familiar with The Streets of San Francisco, it
actually worked.

"Yes."

"And it was the Lady Ayzebel who passed on the information
about the harbor and the hidden entrance to the temple?"

"The Phrygians have always known about the harbor, but she
did reveal the door to them."

"Why would she do this?"

Hamilqart slid off the cushion and onto his knees. "Please, Lord
Spirit... I beg you to understand. She is not to blame. She is not an
evil woman. She was misled from childhood. Her father, like most
men in her village, worshipped the bull-slayer." A guilty glance
darted Daniel's way. "I lied to you Daniel Jackson. I lied to protect
her. Her village, it was not abandoned. We destroyed it many years
ago, when the heresy became known. I was with the men sent to
extirpate the abomination. I was young then. When I found her,
she had already witnessed the deaths of her family. She was so
beautiful and so afraid... I secretly took her away with me, and I
hid her, and then, after some time had passed and it was safe, I gave
her the name Ayzebel and married her. We told people that she had
come from a remote mountain village. Nobody ever suspected. Not
even Kandaulo..."

"What happened to the other survivors?" asked Daniel.

"There were none."

"But shouldn't they have been... purified?"

"We tried, Daniel Jackson. Believe me, we tried. But all those
whom we took for purification proved recalcitrant. They would
not alter their ways, and thus they could not be purified. They
abandoned themselves to the wrath of the Lord Meleq."

"You mean you executed them!"

"We and the Lord Meleq would have much preferred them
to live. Death always is a last resort. But by renouncing Meleq's
mercy, they forfeited their right to choose."

"Of course," muttered Daniel, looking sick and biting back
whatever else he'd been about to add.

"I see." The spirit steered the confession back on track. "So
the Lady Ayzebel sought to avenge the murder of her fellow
villagers?"

"No, Lord Spirit!" The brief surge of confidence had ebbed,
and Hamilgart was beginning to sweat. "I told you she is not evil!
She was misled! I swear, I did my best to teach her otherwise, for
such is my duty as her husband and as an acolyte of the Mysteries
of Meleq. But there are fears that can never be fully dispelled,
especially in a mother."

"What fears?"

"The Phrygians believe that a terrible fate befalls our children
at the hands of the Lord Meleq. It is a shameful lie, an old wives'
tale to scare their own young. But the tale has wrought its damage.
Ayzebel is convinced it is true."

Sam remembered the night of the procession and the anxious
sense of anticipation that had hung around the Tyrean woman. It all
made sense now. Ayzebel hadn't been waiting for the procession
or to see her son for the last time. She'd been waiting for the
Phrygians to arrive, because she knew - or at the very least hoped
- they would be riding to the rescue.

"So when Luli was chosen, your wife alerted the Phrygians?"
asked Sam. The moment she said it, she realized it couldn't be
right. Too short notice to set up a reliable contact.

A miserable shake of the head confirmed it. "She has aided them for a long time. Perhaps even since Luli was born. The Phrygians
told her that, if she did their bidding, her son would be safe. She
trusted them. I assume, she had no choice. It was very likely that
Luli would be chosen, and she always dreaded the day."

"And you have known all these years?" Teal'c again.

"No! I never knew until the night of the procession! When
your friends were taken along with the children, Ayzebel became
terrified, and that night, after you had gone to the temple with
Kandaulo, she confessed what she had done. That is why I joined
you. I am not a fighting man. I am no good at war. But I must atone,
for her mistakes and for mine. Perhaps, if I am killed tomorrow, she
will be forgiven. Please, Lord Spirit..."

He lay half prostrate, white-knuckled fingers clutching the
fabric of Teal'c's pants in a death grip. All of a sudden, Sam felt
nauseous. He hadn't deserved this, not if his only crime was trying
to protect his wife. She launched an angry stare at her friend,
semaphoring that it was enough. Teal'c acknowledged it with a
barely perceptible nod.

"Rise, Hamilgart." The Jaffa practically pulled him up by the
scruff of the neck and gravely studied the shivering man before
him. "I believe you. You have my word that we shall keep your and
the Lady Ayzebel's secret."

"Even from the Lord Meleq?" breathed Hamilgart, like he
couldn't believe his luck and was trying to decide whether such
leniency was a good thing or a bad, perpetuating the lies.

"Nothing further shall be said. On one condition."

"Name it, Lord Spirit, please!"

"If tomorrow there comes a chance to do parley with the
Phrygians, we shall take it. Do not object or hinder us in any
way!"

"It shall be as you say, I promise. But you must understand,
Lord Spirit, that I cannot speak for the priests."

The priests being Lords Fuano and Tendao, who traveled on
the second battleship and had been dispatched by the Synod to
supervise matters spiritual. Or perhaps because Kandaulo figured
it would be a good way of getting rid of a nuisance. The shape
Tendao was in, he might just die of heart failure when the wind breezed up.

"Do not concern yourself with the priests. Your only concern is
with us," replied Teal'c.

"As you wish." Hamilgart nodded eagerly and his gaze fell on
the mess he'd made earlier. "I... I need to call a servant to remove
these shards. You might hurt yourselves."

With that he pattered down the stairs and vanished below-decks.
Most likely he just wanted to get out of the line of fire before the
spirit changed his mind.

"Uh... Teal'c?" Daniel spent longer than usual shuffling his
glasses back up his nose. "What the hell did you think you were
doing?"

Sam nodded mutely, seconding the motion.

The eyebrow flicked skywards, and Teal'c gave one of his rare
smiles. "Major Carter. I believe I am correct in assuming that
you wish for us to form a vanguard and approach the Phrygians
stealthily before the onset of hostilities. My actions may perhaps
ensure that Hamilgart will not attract attention to our departure
from the Tyrean troops." After a brief pause he admitted, "They
also satisfied my curiosity."