by Stargate
Jack reached the top, having acquired a child in each arm on the way. He looked around the narrow platform. There didn't seem to be any way out.
"Oh," Carter mumbled. She was looking out over the pit.
A slow-moving river of lava - or was it magma? Whatever, the stuff inside volcanoes that made a real mess of everything when it came out - was bubbling and spewing around inside, periodically spitting globs of yellow-white stuff against the black walls. "Did I mention I don't like volcanoes?" he said.
"Well," replied Carter, "it makes sense. After all, these are magma tunnels."
That answered one question. "Didn't I hear you say they were ancient?"
She grimaced. "Like the ancient mud bubbles and geyser fields, yes, sir. It's probably because of the orbital eccentricity."
He shot her a dark look, the one that usually stopped enlisted men in their tracks. Unfortunately, Carter was becoming immune to his glare, so he turned back to White-owl - who was reaching above his head with the spear. Jack looked up. About three feet above White-owl's head was a large, wooden trapdoor. There were no hinges, just a hole in the center that White-owl was pushing against. The kid was both observant and planned ahead. He'd make a hell of a soldier. The heavy trapdoor moved a little but then the spear snapped.
"Okay," Jack said, looking around. "Plan B."
White-owl stared at the splintered ends of the spear. "What is aplanbee?"
"Carter?" Removing his pack and P90 as he went, Jack walked across to a ledge, and then gestured to his shoulders. "Climb aboard." Although White-owl wasn't as tall as Carter, the kid was much stockier and probably a lot heavier.
She hesitated and her eyes flickered to his knees. "Sir?"
"I'm not planning on squats, Major."
Handing Two-water to White-owl, Carter removed her pack, climbed onto the ledge, and, bending low to avoid bumping her head on the roof of the cavern, wrapped her legs around Jack's shoulders. With much giggling from the children - which Jack encouraged with a few theatrical grunts - he walked her across to the trapdoor. The weight increased as Carter pushed the wooden door aside, then she pulled herself up.
"Clear," she called down.
He looked up. A rope ladder fell on his face. More giggles drifted up from below... and was that one from above?
"Sorry, sir."
"No giggling, Carter, it's bad for discipline in the ranks." He handed up her pack and weapon, then helped the children up the ladder.
The tunnel looked much like the others, complete with glowbugs. After pulling the rope up behind him, Jack lowered the trapdoor, and then looked around for something to secure it.
"What is it that you seek?" asked White-owl.
"Something to slow Cat Lips' priests down." Another rumble shook the tunnel. Was he imagining it, or were the quakes increasing?
White-owl looked at him oddly. "Now that we have left the skull cave, no one will follow. This close to Nemontemi none but you, Quetzalcoatl, would dare walk the Roads of Mictlan."
Carter's eyebrows did a little dance, the one that said, uh-oh.
"Great! Well... lead on, White-owl." Jack showered him with a confident smile.
"Sir," Carter whispered when the children had gone ahead. "They think we're gods. And gods are supposed to be omniscient." When he said nothing, she added, "It means - "
"I know what it means, Carter."
"Yes, Sir." She shook her head in puzzlement. "Colonel, none of this adds up. The children were taken to the `gate to be sacrificed, so what are all those skulls doing back there?"
He shot her an incredulous look. "You're asking me? I thought we'd just established that I'm not omniscient?"
She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "Sorry, sir. I was just thinking out loud. If White-owl's story is accurate, then some of these people are being turned into Jaffa to fight for Tonatui and Tzcatlipoca, while children are sent through the `gate to Chalchiuhtlicue. But the skulls back there must mean that they're also sacrificing people, including children, in the old Aztec way." Her face screwed up. "Why would the Goa'uld want them to do that?"
"For the sheer hell of it?" Jack ventured. "Remember, Carter, these are Goa'uld we're talking about."
"Yeah, but that's a little extreme, even for Goa'uld." She sighed. "I wish Daniel were here."
"It will be night when we arrive," said White-owl when they caught up with him.
In the mossy light of the cave, Jack could see the concern on White-owl's face. "Is there a problem with that?" Aside from the fact that the kids had only had a short break since their departure, had almost been sacrificed to a snakehead, real or imagined, thought the world was coming to an end, and, even when freed, were probably facing starvation.
"The children will not leave the temple until dawn, or else a demon might eat them."
Demon? This just kept getting better and better! Before he could ask, Two-water stumbled and dropped the chocolate bar she'd been clutching. The dog jumped out of her blouse and scurried away, tail between its spindly legs.
"Xipe!" cried Two-water. Having lost both the animal and her chocolate, which was now liberally coated in dirt, Two-water's face collapsed and she began to cry. Not girlish sobs; she didn't make a sound. The poor kid just sat in the dirt and hung her head in complete and utter dejection.
Carter moved to pick her up but Two-water lunged desperately for the chocolate.
"It's okay," Jack said, reaching for it. "I'll get you another one."
Two-water snatched it up first, and looked up at him with stricken eyes. It was then that he noticed all of the kids clung onto the bit-sized individually wrapped pieces of chocolate like they were gold. "Hey, kids? You can eat it, there's plenty more here." He patted the bag that White-owl carried over his shoulder. The boy's chest visibly swelled with pride. Carter's face did that confused thing again. He was definitely missing something. Another long, grinding shudder shook the tunnel.
"You are very kind," said White-owl when they began walking again.
"On our world children are not mistreated," Carter replied.
Jack caught her look over the top of Two-water's now battered headdress. Since when?
Her lips thinned, and she held the girl a little closer.
White-owl looked down, then added, "Vow that I have met you, Chalchi, I am ashamed."
Carter hesitated. "Uhm... Why?"
"When the crops were killed by fire-rain, the priests said it was because you were angry. Many starved, but we were fortunate, for Quetzalcoatl's priests bought us to serve in his Temple, paying three months worth of grain to our families.
"Two mornings past, the Lord of the Underworld, Mictlantecuhtli, shook the ground in a way we had never felt before. It opened a hidden passage in the Temple of Tonatui, revealing the sacred Ohtliquetzalcoatl, the Roads of Quetzalcoatl." White-owl glanced at Jack. "Believing this to be a sign of your return, a fire priest took ten of us to the Chappa'ai as a gift to you, in addition to the ten gifts normally given each month to Chalchi.
"When your servants emerged from the Chappa'ai, but did not come to take us from the chamber beneath, we did not know what to do. It was so cold ...we should have been stronger. It was I who convinced Heart-eater to take us back to the warm Roads of Mictlan. When you sent the flood we...we thought it was because we had not been strong enough for you, and that when you found us, you would punish us. I did not want my sister to be taken by you, Chalchi, that is why I begged Heart-eater to give her heart to Tzcatlipoca."
Manfully trying to bite back tears, White-owl's voice dropped. "Please forgive me for trying to steal your gifts. But I had heard... terrible things." Oblivious to the frantic, silent wordplay between Jack and Carter, he added, "I am sorry."
Carter went to speak, but closed her mouth. Her eyes were burning with sick anger. This whole setup was as rank as the deepest pits in Netu, and that `monthly gifts to Chalchi' bit had a suspiciously Nirrti-like ring to it. As for taking the kids home...
Two-water
hugged Carter and whispered sleepily, "Soon I will see mother?"
White-owl smiled at Jack. "Yes, little sister, we shall soon be free, and home with our mother and father."
The children's pace faltered. White-owl strode out in front of them. "Come, all of you! We're almost there. Quetzalcoatl and Chalchi have promised to protect you from the demons, and we shall enter the Emperor's palace gardens. There, the jaguar warriors, Tzcatlipoca's guardians of the night, will celebrate our freedom and take us to our homes."
Jack exchanged another less-than-thrilled look with Carter. Goa'uld, Jaffas, demons and jaguar warriors; this was so turning out to be a bad idea. And the damned rumbling and shaking from the quakes was slowly driving him nuts!
Proudly pointing to where the tunnel divided into two, Whiteowl declared, "That is the way to our skull cave. Would you like to see it?"
The children's feather capes hung about their grubby, tired little bodies. They looked like a bunch of bedraggled parrots after a hurricane. "Y'know, I'd love to," replied Jack. "But I think maybe we should get the kids home, first."
White-owl looked relieved. He was putting on a good show but he, too, was obviously reaching the end of his endurance.
The green glow-bug light tapered off into a brighter, sickly yellow color. The texture of the walls also changed, from basalt to carved granite blocks. They emerged from the tunnel into a large, rectangular room with magnificent, brightly colored murals. In the flickering light of a half-dozen torches, the painted figures seemed to dance across the walls. It was such a contrast to the eerie gloom of the tunnels that the children no longer clustered together in a tight little bundle of fear, but picked up their pace and began whispering happily to one another.
Carter looked around. "Boy, Daniel would love this."
"Yeah, well, don't tell him otherwise he'll want to see it. White-owl," Jack said, turning away from Carter's troubled gaze. "What's with the demon?"
White-owl was bowing to a picture of some guy with a feather boa and big nose. When the kid finished, he cast a cautionary glance in the direction of the younger children, and dropped his voice before replying, "You do not know?"
Jack hedged. "I don't always get all my memos."
White-owl blinked.
"It's a...god thing."
"Ah, of course you do not know... because the demons are not real?" White-owl ventured. When Jack didn't reply, he added, "It is a story that grownups tell children to prevent them from wandering away at night."
"Like the bogeyman, huh?"
"I do not know of this demon." White-owl frowned.
Jack winced. He had to stop doing that. "No, I meant, the demons are not really real."
White-owl looked at him thoughtfully. "The demons supposedly come from the darkness, the portal to Mictlan, the Underworld. You, Jack Quetzalcoatl, have led us through the Roads of Mictlan unharmed, but for the smaller children it is hard to understand"
Oh, he could so sympathize with that; he didn't understand any of it. Pointing to a bright light shining through a doorway, he said, "That the way out?"
White-owl nodded. "Otiacicoh, we have arrived. Meztli lights the night sky."
Signaling Carter to watch their backs, Jack cautiously looked outside into a huge city square, and examined the layout with a professional eye. A round looking pyramid thing dominated the center. Beside it, a large fountain, of all things, gurgled and splashed away in the center of what looked like a carefully mani cured arrangement of palms and other foliage. A dozen frogs had set up a croaking competition, almost but not quite drowning out the low hum of cicadas. It all seemed peaceful enough, although weirdly warm and still. And what was with the planet, Meztli? Instead of giving off a bluish light, it had taken on a coppery hue.
The cornerstones of the nearby buildings had been carved into massive gargoyle-looking snake things with fangs, feathers and long tongues. Definitely Goa'uldish. On the upside, the angle of the light coming from the overhead planet created stark shadows across the square; there would be plenty of cover as they made their way across.
Two-water whimpered softly against Carter's shoulder.
"Brave little sister, we are almost home," said White-owl, taking her from Carter. "I can see the Emperor's palace; it is just the other side of the zocalo, the central plaza."
"Mother, father?" Two-water whispered.
Jack could see a stone wall, probably seven feet high, on the far side of the plaza. "That the place?"
White-owl nodded. "We must stay in the light."
Well, that was a bad plan; no way were they traversing the open ground, enclosed on all sides, in broad Meztilight.
"The children will not go into the darkness," White-owl reminded him.
Demons. Great.
Bright, anxious eyes clustered around him with a soft rustle of feathers; the promise of freedom and home had renewed their flagging spirits. No point in hanging around. Jack checked his weapon and then stepped out into the plaza.
The first thing Teal'c smelled was the thick sickly-sweet odor of blood. A great deal of it tinged with something he knew well from his time with Apophis. Few Tauri understood that one could smell pain and terror. O'Neill was an exception. He also understood that terror came in many forms and could, on occasion, prove useful.
The crystal skull on P7X-377 appeared to have transported them into a large cavern glowing with a dim green light. There was neither a pedestal nor a crystal skull; however a half dozen humans lay prostrate on the ground before them. Naked but for rough brown loincloths, they chanted in a language of which he had no knowledge. A short distance away, a body was sprawled facedown on the earth. Its fingers clutched what appeared to be a large feather headdress.
"Uh-oh," whispered Daniel Jackson. He pushed back the hood of his parka and removed his ski goggles. "This is not good."
Teal'c said nothing as he, too, removed his hood. Under such circumstances he had always found it best to allow others to speak first. It generally proved most enlightening.
One of the prostrate figures, a man with exceedingly long, filthy hair, stole a quick glance in his direction, and then cowered. "Oh mighty Quetzalcoatl, we beseech you!"
Daniel Jackson's eyes slid from the murals on the walls to the tattoo on Teal'c's forehead. "Oh..."
"What is it, Daniel Jackson?"
"Your tattoo is identical to the glyph representing Quetzalcoatl. And we're wearing white. The murals depict a whiteskinned Quetzalcoatl arriving on white clouds, or a bright white light. We must be inside a temple dedicated to him."
"Quetzalcoatl, we beg your forgiveness." The same groveling man continued to speak. "When we discovered the Ohtliquetzal- coatl, the Roads of Quetzalcoatl, we sent offerings to you, to the Chappa'ai. But then Chalchiuhtlicue caused a great flood!"
The seconds passed. Teal'c wondered if perhaps Daniel Jackson's hesitation was due to the stench of death and blood. Curiously, the odor did not come from the recently dead body, but from the prostrate figures.
"I am not Quetzalcoatl," Daniel Jackson said at last. "But we are his messengers."
A good choice, for Daniel Jackson spoke the truth.
"Please, please stand up that I may see you," Daniel Jackson added.
When they did not move, Teal'c scowled. If Daniel Jackson wished to take on the guise of a messenger of the gods, he had much to learn; a messenger was the mouthpiece for that god. "Your god orders you to stand!" he bellowed.
Daniel Jackson looked at him in alarm, but his words had the desired effect. The figures found their feet with alacrity, although their eyes remained suitably downcast.
"These people," Daniel Jackson whispered to him, "are not the people Quetzalcoatl brought from Earth."
That much was evident. Even in the gloom Teal'c could see that the men were black-haired and copper-skinned. The Orbanians were gold-haired and pale-skinned. "What name do you give this place?" he demanded loudly.
" Teotihuacan, oh mighty god."
"The name t
he Aztecs gave it." Daniel Jackson's nose wrinkled at the stench. "Coatlicue must have brought Aztecs here to mine the naquadah. They were incredible warriors. With her as their deity, they would have slaughtered the original inhabitants." He regarded the men and, still whispering, added, "These must be fire priests, the ones who made blood sacrifices. What are they doing here? Quetzalcoatl is not going to be happy when he learns this."
Apparently one of them heard this last statement, for he sank to his knees, pulled aside his filthy brown cape, and cried, "Take my heart and blood that I may serve instead!'
Ignoring the fire priest's outburst, Daniel Jackson continued to speak in low tones. "Assuming this is where Wodeski arrived, he could be in serious trouble. And if Jack and Sam ended up here..." Raising his voice, he called, "Tell me of the others who have arrived."
The one with the exposed chest looked hesitant. "You do not know, my Lord?"
"You question the one who speaks for Quetzalcoatl?" Teal'c's words echoed around the chamber almost as effectively as a Goa'uld's voice.
Blanching beneath the layers of filth on his face, the fire priest spluttered, "No! Of course not my Lord Jaffa."
Lord Jaffa?
Teal'c bellowed even more loudly, "Then tell us!"
"Our lord god Tzcatlipoca arrived two days past in the same manner as you, my Lord, within the skull cave beneath his temple. He came in the guise of a fire-haired man with pale skin."
"Oh...great," Daniel Jackson groaned. "It's worse than I thought. Tzcatlipoca was the Aztec god of the night. He must be another Goa'uld, but these people mistook Wodeski for him!"
Once again addressing the fire priests, Daniel Jackson demanded, "What of those who came through the Chappa'ai before the flood?"
This time, the priest did not hesitate. Indeed, the words tumbled quickly from his mouth. "Chalchiuhtlicue and Quetzalcoatl, my Lord. After the flood, they spent the night in the Roads of Mictlan. Instead of taking the offerings, they returned them to the capital city, Xalo. An apprentice priest, Heart-eater, journeyed with them. He can speak to you of this."
"They could be talking about Jack and Sam," Daniel Jackson whispered. "Except that they would never pretend to be gods..." Eyes narrowing in thought, he added, "Unless the `offerings' were human sacrifices."