The palace and the area around the pyramid was busy as an anthill. Ra’s Jaffa had already corralled enough of Pharaoh’s workers to create a seemingly endless stream of bodies carrying things in and out of the pyramid. Others scurried around the edges of the working groups: courtiers and servants, Carter guessed, trying to salvage what they could of their lives without drawing Ra’s notice. At least it gave them some cover, and kept the Jaffa occupied.
They found the entrance to the tunnel easily enough, hidden in one of the outbuildings — a stable, by the smell — and she and Teal’c stood guard while Danyel wrestled the trapdoor open. There would be no one to spread straw back over it, but it opened on an ordinary-looking cellar The entrance to the tunnel itself was hidden behind a stack of coarsely made storage jars: double bluff, Carter thought, with approval, and flicked on her flashlight.
The tunnel was low, but wide enough for a man carrying weapons to walk comfortably. Even Teal’c didn’t have to bow his head, though he did glance warily at the bricks shoring up the walls. Only the ceiling was timbered, no surprise in this wood-poor land, and the tunnel ran straight and true. Torches and lamps would foul the air, Carter thought, as would a horde of soldiers, but with flashlights and only four of them, it was surprisingly clean and efficient.
Danyel took point, leading them briskly along the corridor. They’d sealed the walls with what looked like some kind of mud plaster, and it was flaking away in spots, but the basic structure seemed sound enough. They’d covered maybe a hundred yards when the brick gave way to timber, and Danyel’s pace slowed.
“Almost there,” he said quickly. “It’s just wood and plaster between us and the corridor, so — let’s keep it quiet.”
“Of course, darling,” Vala said, and drew her zat, letting it unfold. Danyel looked annoyed, then realized her intent and swallowed his complaint.
“Let’s go.”
The tunnel ended a few yards further on. It was sealed by a wooden panel set into a frame of heavy timber and crossed by more timber bars. Danyel drew a thin knife and scratched at the panel’s edge, opening a thin crack that glowed with artificial light. He applied his eye to the gap for a long moment, then straightened.
“Clear,” he said, and began methodically to cut around the other edges — through plaster or paint, Carter guessed, that hid the panel from the other side. Once all four sides were clear, he and Teal’c lifted away the heavy bars and set them carefully out of the way. Teal’c stepped back to cover him, and Carter lifted her P90 as well. Danyel braced himself, and hauled the panel back and in. Plaster split and rattled on the stone floor of the pyramid. It wasn’t really all that loud, but Carter winced, bracing herself for discovery. Light spilled in over them, but nothing happened, and she let out her breath in a sigh of relief. Danyel heaved the panel out into the corridor, and scrambled out after it.
“Clear,” he said again.
Carter gestured for Teal’c and Vala to go, followed them a moment later. She’d been in pyramids before, on enough planets that she’d lost count, but it felt weird to know that this was Earth. She shook that thought away, and turned to help Danyel set the panel back into place. It would pass a cursory glance but not a close inspection, and she hoped Ra’s Jaffa were still busy securing the palace complex.
“Which way?” she asked, and Danyel pointed.
“Up. To the mothership.”
Cam gave his shenti another downward tug surreptitiously, keeping his eyes on Teal’c ahead of him. The other Teal’c, the one without hair. It was more than a little odd having multiples of his team running around, but not nearly as weird as the time he’d stolen a battlecruiser from himself. All in a day’s work at the SGC, he said to himself.
They were waiting in the antechamber of the palace, or at least he supposed that’s what it was, with giant carved columns and lots of Egyptian hieroglyphics, lit here and there by torches and a little more weirdly by Goa’uld portable lights. Dawn was coming outside, but as yet the skylights illuminated nothing. Beside him, Daniel shifted from foot to foot, probably trying to adjust his towel too. One thing you had to say about security in these outfits — there wasn’t any way to conceal a weapon. He and Daniel wore their zats perfectly openly on their belts, and Teal’c had his staff weapon in hand.
It had caused raised eyebrows, but nobody had tried to take it yet, not after Egeria forbade them to in her unmistakably Goa’uld voice. Ra’s Jaffa were pretty confident themselves.
At last the doors opened. “The Lady Egeria,” Teal’c intoned solemnly, preceding her into the hall.
Aset/Egeria stepped forward, her eyes golden. “My Lord Ra,” she said, her voice dropping into its lowest register.
He came forward, a ribbon device on his hand, and Cam saw Daniel tense, though Ra did not so much as glance at them. His eyes were for the lady. Cam had to admit that Aset was beautiful, and with that air of command she captured attention. “Egeria,” he said. “How is it that I do not know you?”
“I was carried in the body of one of your Jaffa,” she said, and held out her hands to rest them lightly on his own. “One who escaped the slaughter of your men. But I was near maturity, and when that time came I took a host who pleased me. Since then I have lived in quiet, hoping that you would return.”
“I am pleased that you have survived,” Ra said. His eyes roved over her face.
“And now I have come to pledge myself to you,” Egeria said, and the beads in her hair rang as she moved her head. “It would be an honor to serve so distinguished a master.”
“And my pleasure to have so beautiful a servant,” Ra said.
Cam saw Teal’c’s fingers tighten on his staff weapon, but otherwise the Jaffa did not move.
“It is good to return to civilization,” Egeria said. “I have spent too long in hovels.” She looked about the palace appreciatively. “I hope that I may come with you when you leave this world?”
“Most assuredly,” Ra said with a smile. “It is only the least part of my domain. My servants will find rooms for you and your entourage aboard my ship. In the meantime, I hope that you will make yourself comfortable in this palace. It is mean, but for a short while…”
“I am sure your hospitality will lack nothing,” Egeria replied. “Come. Let us speak further.”
Danyel had been on the prison levels of a ha’tak before, both as a prisoner and as a rescuer, and he didn’t think it was actually getting any easier with practice. The corridors here were dark, there weren’t too many Jaffa, but they came and went unpredictably, and there was still no sign of Jack. Something was nagging at the back of his mind, the weird conviction that he’d done this before — rescued Jack from a System Lord with the help of Sam and Teal’c, but the third, the alien, wasn’t Vala, but — the ghost of memory was gone, leaving only frustration. It was an Ascended memory, it had that peculiar, unmistakable flavor, the certainty that there were tremendous secrets just beyond his reach. And this was not the time, he didn’t need the distraction, except maybe he did, if it was something about rescue. Whatever it was, though, it dangled just out of reach.
He controlled his thoughts with an effort, took another quick look around the edge of the door: the main corridor was still clear. Behind him, Carter was bent over the console, searching the ship’s database to find where Jack was held. Teal’c dragged the last Jaffa body out of sight behind it, straightening with a grunt, and Vala came to join him, smiling at him over her unfolded zat.
“Isn’t this fun? Just like old times.”
“The old times we shared involved me getting kidnapped and tied up,” Danyel reminded her. “And you nearly getting me killed. Oh, and I still haven’t been to Atlantis.”
“You are still annoyed about that,” Vala said, with an air of discovery, and Danyel nodded.
“Yes. As a matter of fact — yes, I am.”
Vala pouted, and he looked away, peering down the corridor again. Jack a prisoner, Jack tortured, Ba’al with that smug lying smile — he was almost there, and then it slipped away.
“Got it!” That was Carter, turning away from the console. “Three levels down, along the lateral corridor.”
Danyel let her take point, Teal’c at six, kept his own zat cocked and ready. Luckily, the corridors were nearly empty — not only were Ra’s Jaffa busy with the palace, but he was beginning to suspect that Ra hadn’t waited to collect a full complement before he headed to Earth. If so, it was the first stroke of luck they’d had so far.
There was more light ahead, a hum of machinery and the sound of scuffling feet, and then the cry of a man in agony. Jack. Danyel started forward, but Carter caught his arm.
“Wait.”
Danyel froze, all too aware of what he’d almost done, aware, too, that his instinct had as much to do with whatever it was that he couldn’t remember than with the present situation. “Sorry.”
“General O’Neill?” Vala asked softly, and Danyel didn’t bother to correct her. Carter nodded, her expression grim.
Danyel flattened himself against the corridor wall, eased sideways until he could take a quick look into the cell. Jack hung suspended from the back wall, his head down, body slack. There were two Jaffa on guard, eyes front, faces impassive, and a third held a pain stick, his head tipped to one side as he considered his next move. Danyel bit back a curse, and held up three fingers. Carter nodded again, and turned her attention to the locked door. After a quick examination, she pried open a panel, and reached in.
“Teal’c,” she said. “Ready?”
“Yes,” the Jaffa answered, and she did something to the machinery. Sparks flew, and the door slid open. Teal’c fired twice, three times, and there was silence.
“Pretty,” Vala said, and folded her zat.
Danyel ignored her, pushed past the others and the Jaffa bodies to get to Jack. The cuffs that held him were locked, and he turned to look, but Vala tossed him the keys. Teal’c came to help, and together they got Jack down onto the cell floor. He looked terrible, his face pale and drawn, but his eyes opened slowly.
“Ow.”
Danyel closed his eyes in relief, and Carter grinned. Jack dragged himself to a sitting position, wincing.
“About time,” he said. “And you might have left one alive for questioning.”
“We could put you back and try again,” Danyel said, and kept a steadying arm on Jack’s shoulders.
“No, no, just —” Jack accepted Teal’c’s hand, and hauled himself to his feet. “File it for next time.”
“Right.” Danyel stood, carefully just in reach in case Jack stumbled.
“Glad to see you’re all right, sir,” Carter said. “Look, they’re probably monitoring the cell, so we need to get going. And the sooner we’re out of the pyramid, the better.”
Jack was shaking his head. “Sorry, Colonel, we’ve got one more stop. Ra’s got your friend Carolyn Lam.”
The quarters given to Egeria were those of the Queen Mother, Teal’c saw, and he repressed a frown. Of course they were. They were the nicest ones besides Pharaoh’s own, which were no doubt reserved for Ra himself. Egeria would not know that, but Aset did, and for a moment dismay chased across her face before Egeria spoke. “These will do,” she said regally and favored Ra with a smile. “I will send my servants to prepare my bath. I am fatigued from my journey. Also,” she plucked at the fabric of Sam’s best dress disdainfully, “better clothing.”
“It will be as you wish,” Ra said smoothly. After all, what was it to him? A bit of plunder from humans who had defied him. “I will return to my ship, as I have business to attend to.”
“So soon?” Egeria favored him with an intimate glance, and Teal’c tried not to grind his teeth together. “I had hoped you would talk with me a little while.”
“Perhaps I could do so,” Ra said, and sank into the finest chair in the room. “While your servants are about their business.”
Daniel Jackson bowed gracefully from the waist. “We will do our best, Lady,” he said, and trotted out of the room followed by Cameron Mitchell. Which was the plan, of course. They were now loose in the palace to do what they could.
Teal’c went and stood behind Egeria’s chair, protective as a First Prime should be. Aset would know he was there and would let no harm come to her.
“Tell me of your realm and of your person,” Egeria said. “I am eager to know you better.”
Cam drew Daniel aside as soon as they were around the corner and out of sight of the two Jaffa who guarded the door to the Queen Mother’s rooms while Ra was in them. “OK,” he said. “Let’s stop and think. Where would Ra keep the Pharaoh?”
Daniel reached up as though he were going to adjust his glasses, but of course he wasn’t wearing them. “He’s probably claimed Pharaoh’s rooms for himself. So he’s being kept somewhere secure. Sam said there wasn’t a prison attached to the palace, so if he hasn’t been taken to the mothership he’s likely in a storeroom somewhere. They’re the only rooms in a palace of this era that aren’t connected to anything and don’t have a skylight.”
“OK,” Cam said. “We’re servants. We can go visit the storerooms, right?”
Daniel nodded. “They’ll be around the back, past the smaller courtyards that have living quarters around them. I don’t see Jaffa widely through the palace. Mostly they’re guarding the entrances. We can probably take out the guards with zats.”
“Good.” Cam unfolded his zat. “Let’s do this thing.”
The third storeroom was the charm. Cam looked around the corner and gestured Daniel back. Two big Jaffa guarded the door, but there didn’t seem to be anything other than a bar across it. After all, it was a pantry, not a high security prison. Cam tucked his zat inside the waistband of his shenti and ambled out, ignoring Daniel’s weird gestures. Daniel knew what the score was and he’d have the surprise.
“Hey guys,” Cam said in a language that was utterly incomprehensible to the Jaffa, his hands empty and visible. “Can you give me a hand with a problem here?”
One of the Jaffa stepped forward shaking his head, saying something that probably universally translated as, “Dude in a towel, go away.”
Cam pointed to the storeroom. “I need to get some stuff out of there. Clean towels. For my master, Ra’s guest.”
Ra’s name seemed to go over at least, as the other Jaffa leaned his staff weapon against the wall, saying something that probably meant, “Dude, this area is restricted.”
“I’ve got a problem,” Cam said with a disarming grin, and drew his zat. Which unfortunately caught on the folds of his skirt, but one swift jerk took care of that just as Daniel fired and the first guy crumpled. “Like that,” Cam said, shooting the other one without raising his hand from his hip. It didn’t matter where you hit someone with a zat. Hitting the guy in the legs dropped him all the same.
Daniel hopped around the corner with an exasperated look. “What was that about?”
“It worked, didn’t it?” Cam picked his skirt up off the floor and tried to rewind it around his waist.
Daniel shook his head. “Is that a zat in your shenti, or are you just glad to see me? Honestly.”
He unbarred the door while Cam fixed his little wardrobe malfunction and opened it, saying something in Egyptian. Presumably it was something along the lines of ‘we’re here to rescue you.’
“Danyel!” The speaker was the young man with a shaved head Mitchell had seen O’Neill talking to earlier, shorter than they were but seriously ripped, and he clutched Daniel’s forearm in a handshake before he stopped, looking at him more carefully.
More Egyptian, presumably explaining that he wasn’t Danyel but the other Daniel.
“OK,” Cam said. “Let’s get out of here. We haven’t got a lot of time.” He handed Hor-Aha the zat. A staff weapon was easier to manage in a shenti anyhow.