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Part Thirteen: by PHO

Fool! Stubborn and foolish! The handsome Tau'ri was playing with him. Deliberately trying to achieve his own death. As if that would save him. Apophis smiled at the thought. Oh, yes, the young prisoner had forgotten the sarcophagus. Perhaps he believed that Apophis was without the device. True, one sarcophagus had been destroyed with Sokar, but that particular Goa'uld had been intelligent, cagey, evil, and ... paranoid. The second sarcophagus was older, less ornate that its destroyed counterpart, but it was functional. Perhaps he should surprise the young man by granting his wish, allowing him to die, then reviving him to do it all over again. Perhaps that would bring his prisoner to his knees.

"My Lord?" Lo'wn's quiet voice pulled him back from his thoughts.

"Report Lo'wn."

"Daniel Jackson has awakened."

Apophis turned. "Exce..." The Goa'uld's words hung in his throat as he saw the weapon hanging at his First Prime's side. The Zatnikatel gun. He'd forgotten the potential of the Zatnikatel. This would never do. A dead Daniel Jackson he could revive; a disintegrated one, he could not. His Jaffa were new to their roles. One of them might just... "Lo'wn. Have the guards rearmed. The Zatnikatel weapons are not to be allowed anywhere near the Tau'ri."

"Colonel, are you sure?" Sam's voice contained all the uncertainty she felt about the order to divide into teams.

"I'm certain, Major. You'll have to travel into the 'city', such as it is, and I'm afraid that a party of five will be much too noticeable."

"At least take Teal'c with you, sir."

Jack shook his head. "You'll need him."

"Sir, Aris can translate..."

The alien grinned. "Forget it Major, you're gonna lose this one. O'Neill doesn't completely trust me, so he's not about to leave his Major alone with me. Besides, it gives me the opportunity to have you take my arm, for a change."

The look Carter shot him could have boiled water, but merely added to Boch's amusement. Jack barely controlled his own annoyance at the ego of this alien. "Boch's right, Carter, I don't really trust him. So Teal'c goes with you. Check out the packs, take what gear you'll need, but make sure the energizer bunnies in our flashlights have been fed."

"Yes, sir." She shot Boch another significant look, then set about modifying the contents of their packs. To her utter disgust, Aris Boch supervised the operation, without any offer of aid.

Makepeace was studying the entrance to the caverns, seemingly uninterested in the goings on behind him. Jack approached him quietly. "Anything interesting, Robert?"

The Marine shrugged. "The passage to the left appears clear. There're a good many rocks on the right. I suspect a cave-in somewhere in there."

"My memories indicate that 'left' is correct." The Jaffa's voice caused both Colonels to jump. Neither had been aware of his approach.

"Jeez, Teal'c, how do you do that?" O'Neill grabbed his chest in pretended dismay.

An eyebrow raised slowly. "Do what?"

Jack sighed. "Never mind. Did Bra'tac teach you anything else about this place?"

"Only that left is the path of choice, and that it is very dangerous."

"I see. That's it?"

"That is all I remember. There is one other detail I wish to discuss with you."

Something in Teal'c's tone caused Jack to give him his undivided attention. "Yes?"

"There will be a sarcophagus. If Daniel Jackson has indeed become host to Apophis, killing him will not be enough. You must destroy his body as well." The Jaffa granted O'Neill and Makepeace one of his rare bows of tribute, before walking away.

The darkness was a living entity, encircling him, enfolding him, embracing him with its existence. His vision was gone, and Daniel was not entirely certain that it was due to the lack of illumination. There was, however, nothing wrong with his hearing. Every breath he took seemed overly loud, and to his astonishment, if he remained perfectly still, even his heartbeat seemed to echo throughout his prison. Frowning, he realized that he was no longer bound. Confused, unable to completely recall his last 'session' with Apophis, he reached out a tentative hand in the darkness, only to encounter... A wall? A second hand joined the first in the exploration of his current environment. It took less than a minute for him to realize the truth. The 'heartbeat' he heard was his own, enhanced by the mechanical miracle of a Goa'uld sarcophagus.

Oh God! Daniel swallowed convulsively as the reality of his situation settled on him like a shroud. Surely Sokar had had his sarcophagus with him when his ship had exploded. He'd never known a Goa'uld to have two such devices. Silently Daniel berated himself for his stupidity. This was obviously a sarcophagus, and he was obviously in it, healing ... but from what? Now that his thoughts were clearing, he strained to remember what had happened to gain him admittance to this life-restoring device. Life-restoring? No! Please, no! An image raced unbidden through his mind of a jagged blade, and sudden, severe pain followed almost instantly by a blessed darkness. He had died ... again. And once again, he'd been forced into this thing to heal.

Slowly he realized that the darkness was receding, being replaced by a muted, yellow glow. His time in the hated device was almost over. Soon, its heavy lid would slide open, and Apophis' games would begin again. And again. Death alone would no longer thwart the Goa'uld's plans. The creature could kill him over and over until his mind folded in upon itself and he retreated into madness. But Daniel knew that was not Apophis' design. No, once the Goa'uld had finished his play, he would abandon his current body, and take up residence in Daniel's, imprisoning him forever in an existence without hope.

"How far do you think it is?" Makepeace already had his own suspicions, but felt compelled to draw a least a semblance of conversation out of O'Neill.

"I'd guess a mile, as the crow flies. Down here, your guess is as good as mine."

"Well, the first few tunnels have been pretty straight, no major zigzags. Maybe we'll get lucky."

Jack snorted a derisive laugh. "Lucky. Yeah, right. Lucky."

"Jack, don't write Jackson off just yet. He's a resourceful kid."

"Right. One who's been taken in chains to his worst enemy. I'm thinking resourceful is not gonna help him."

Makepeace could think of nothing to say. It was true. The young archaeologist was probably being brutally tortured even as they spoke. Either that, or the snake had already changed his place of residence. God. It was a cruel world, uh, universe indeed, where torture was the better option.

The two men traveled in troubled silence for an undefined distance; suddenly Jack gripped Makepeace's arm tightly and whispered urgently. "Do you hear something?"

The other man started to shake his head when he too caught the sound. "Footsteps? Coming our way?"

Jack nodded.

"Carter?" The Marine whispered hopefully.

Jack shook his head emphatically. "No way. No how. Hide?"

"Ya think?"

O'Neill found himself grinning at the other man's use of his favorite idiom as they scrambled to find concealment. A rock slide provided the necessary cover, and the two had barely ducked, when a small force of warriors rounded the corner. In their center was a heavy set, cloaked and hooded figure, but whether he was prisoner or not, neither man could tell.

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