Tamil Farlong and the rest of the group made their way around the circle where Mephasm had been imprisoned, now filled with hellfire which eerily burned in the air despite the fact that there was nothing there for it to consume. The barrier the devil had been holding in place was now just a tiny circle in Tamil's possession. The rubble around the edges of the wall where SG-1 had blasted it made the group tread carefully as they continued forward.
"Ammo check," Jack called to his teammates from Earth.
"I've got half a clip for the P90. The 9 mil is fully loaded and I've got an extra mag," Daniel reported.
"I have one full clip of P90 ammunition remaining," Teal'c replied.
"And I'm down to one clip for my M9 and about half a clip for the P90," Jack informed the rest of the group. "Aside from what Carter had in her weapons, that's all the ammo we brought with us from Earth. After this we'll have to rely on Carter's improvised ammo when go back to restock."
"Hopefully, we won't need to restock. If Mephasm was telling the truth…"
"Daniel," Colonel O'Neill gave the archaeologist an incredulous look. "You're getting your hopes up about a devil keeping his word. It's a long shot at best."
An ambush cut short their conversation. Fortunately, it was just a single githyanki and one succubus trying to kill them. A couple shots from a zat and a beat down on the demon from the rest of the group took care of that threat. However, just past that, there was an even larger threat standing between them and the next doorway forward. In fact, it was a much larger threat.
Standing between two succubi was a huge blue-skinned demon. Its head was located at shoulder level, with no apparent neck but still at least eight feet tall. The massive creature had a crown of horns on its head to complement its angular snout. The creature was pounding on a door directly before it, which surprisingly was withstanding the thing's blows. Its arms were as thick around as a human torso and ended in razor-like, clawed hands. When it noticed the approaching group and turned to face them, the group also discovered that it liked to refer to itself in the third person.
Everyone in the group felt the unpleasant sensation of a vile presence speaking directly to their minds. The creature telepathically sent a message promising impending death and destruction, 'Zaxis does not know how you got past the barrier, but Zaxis is pleased to see you. All our bashing and rending have failed to open this door, but our claws will tear you easily.'
"Uh, Jack, this guy doesn't seem to be at all friendly," Daniel noted.
"Yeah, I noticed."
Bishop suggested attacking without waiting. For once, the paladin agreed with him, suggesting they strike from a distance. Before the demons even started to approach, the group launched their own assault.
Tamil, Neeshka, and Bishop made use of their bows, firing the most powerfully enchanted arrows in their quivers. Likewise, Casavir attacked long range with an enchanted crossbow he had taken from fallen orcs. Jack O'Neill and Daniel Jackson didn't even consider using zats against such a massive enemy, immediately opting for their P90s. Teal'c, of course, leveled his staff weapon and fired, taking aim at the succubi.
Despite all the firepower being thrown at it, the demon Zaxis charged forward. Arrows and bullets bounced off its tough, thick hide or only made superficial wounds. If that weren't bad enough, the creature brought with it a tremendous stench. As soon as the demon got close, Daniel felt his insides begin to turn queasy and he gagged on the foul air. The others were similarly affected, Neeshka also finding it particularly difficult to cope. Casavir and Tamil, though, valiantly put away their bows and charged the beast to give the others room to continue firing.
Of them all, only Teal'c was unaffected the creature's stink. While he smelled the same stench, he did not feel nauseated or weakened by its effects. The former Jaffa calmly fired his staff weapon until both of the succubi were blasted back to wherever they came from. Then he turned his attention to Zaxis.
The monstrosity was roaring, swinging its massive claws at the small attackers hitting it with hammer and sword. The arrow attacks were mostly ineffectual, but the creature was bleeding from numerous wounds. The damage was beginning to add up. With a bulky creature of that size, Teal'c had no difficulty avoiding hitting his allies. He pointed his ma'tok staff and fired a shot.
The creature took a direct hit, but did not go down. It was certainly hurt by the blast, though, chunks of its demonic form burning off of it, and Zaxis roared in protest. It grabbed Casavir, who was unable to avoid the creature's sudden turn in his direction, and it bit down through his armor right over his shoulder. The holy warrior fell to the ground, blood pouring out from his wounded neck.
Teal'c fired his staff weapon directly into Zaxis again and again. Finally, the creature exploded in gore and guts before burning away into bluish smoke that returned to its home plane. The last demon standing between them and their friends was now destroyed.
Tamil rushed to Casavir's side, a stricken look on her face. Teal'c was soon there as well. Casavir looked up at the pair, his voice rasping out. "It is good that you all will live to see that justice and right prevail. This is a good death for me, falling in a cause I believe in."
Behind them, Bishop gave a snort of derision. "Hardly what I'd call a good death, being snapped in half by a demon that reeks. I'd much rather go in my sleep, a pair of women crying over me in the morning."
"Then you know nothing of honorable death," Teal'c retorted. "But it is not your time to die, my friend," he continued, turning back to the stricken paladin. "Tyr still watches over you and has greater things in store for you before he is ready to accept your sacrifice."
Teal'c's hands glowed with white intensity. Right before Jack and Daniel's eyes, the wounds the demon had inflicted on the paladin knitted together. Casavir's skin, which had become pale as it lost blood, regained some of its color. The paladin rose to stand unsteadily on his feet. Another burst of healing magic poured from Teal'c, and Casavir looked almost as if he had never been wounded.
The paladin stood solemnly before the man who had just healed him. "You are truly favored of Try." Casavir took the former Jaffa's hand. "From this day on, you and I are brothers in the faith."
Teal'c gave a slight bow of his head. "I am honored."
"Aww, isn't this sweet, two grown men professing their eternal love for each other," Bishop said snarkily. "If you two are finished making my stomach turn, I believe we've still got a useless farm girl and another fool to save."
Jack gave Bishop a cold look for his insensitivity, but then got ready to get back to the business of the rescue. "Well, first of all, I think we need to figure out a way to open that door the demon was pounding—"
The door swung open of its own accord revealing a room filled with githyanki surrounding a strange portal.
"—on," Jack finished. "Well, problem solved…"
"Uh, Jack, I think we should take a moment to prepare ourselves before we walk into the ambush?" Daniel suggested.
"Right you are, Daniel. Do your Harry Potter thing while Tamil plays us some 'walking into an ambush' music."
Daniel adjusted his glasses then started recasting spells that had worn off. Tamil considered the sort of battle they were likely to be walking into and started humming a tune to bolster everyone's nerves and confidence. Teal'c invoked a blessing of Tyr on the group.
When Daniel finished with his spellcasting, he pulled out one of the flasks Tamil had distributed. They'd want an extra edge, although members of SG-1 had thus far resisted using magic potions. Jack took out a potion of bull's strength and looked at the concoction dubiously.
Daniel looked at Jack, then lifted his flask in a toast. "Here's to the Army and Navy, and the battles they have won. Here's to America's colors, the colors that never run," Daniel quoted.
Jack O'Neill didn't miss the reference. "May the wings of liberty never lose a feather," he concluded and downed the potion in one gulp.
Teal'c and their companions from Neverwinter all looked at the two quizzically.
"It's from Big Trouble in Little China. It's a classic," Daniel explained. Everyone nodded, not really understanding, but not really bothered by not knowing anyway.
Then Tamil and Jack lead the way into the room with all the githyanki. To Jack's immediate relief he saw Sam and the farm girl, Shandra, over in a cage in a corner.
"Carter!" he called out.
"We're over here, Colonel!" she responded.
"Silence!" came the imperious demand of an armored githyanki woman standing in the middle of what appeared to be a blurred bubble of space within the room. The woman fixed her gaze directly on Tamil Farlong. "While these demons were unanticipated, your arrival was not. I have seen it burning in my visions for some time."
Her voice was cold and her tone menacing. "How long did you think you could escape us? You have stolen our shards, defiled them with your touch. And now you will die, Kalach-Cha," she accused and threatened all in one breath.
"Whoah, hold on!" Daniel spoke up. "Where do you get off accusing us of stealing anything? You're the one who attacked us and kidnapped our friends."
Zeeaire didn't even glance at Daniel.
"They believe they have the right to punish even the children of anyone who wronged them in the past," Sam called out. "It doesn't matter if we did anything or not."
Tamil Farlong looked at Zeeaire with death in her eyes. "What does matter," the bard said, "is that these githyanki are guilty. They killed people I cared about. They hunted me and my friends. And now they bloody kidnap my companions while murdering innocent people."
Zeeaire appeared unfazed by Tamil's counter-accusations. "While you have slaughtered many of our people. And you hold in your possession relics sacred to the githyanki, a… silver sword of our people—or fragments of it," the ancient githyanki leader responded, hesitating when it came to mention of the sword.
"Don't pretend that you give a care about the lives of your people, or any people for that matter. You recklessly threw your people into harm's way chasing these chunks of metal. Sent them as assassins and as murdering thieves. Not only are you responsible for killing the innocent people of my village and the city I serve, but you sent your own people to their deaths even after you knew my friends and I were no easy marks."
"You—" Zeeaire attempted to interrupt and wrest the conversation away, but Tamil was not done.
"No, you. You have attacked without parley. You have harassed and attacked without cause. You have sent your servants to die. And now you have taken our people, my FRIENDS. And of all this, you are guilty and cannot deny it."
Zeeaire seethed in anger from within her dimensional bubble. Without warning, she pointed a finger directly at Tamil. The silver shards in the bard's possession flew from her packs into the portal and to Zeeaire's waiting hands. "Fool. Did you really think you could keep such relics of my people? They do not belong to you."
Tamil's eyes went wide with fury at being robbed in that manner.
"Odd," Zeeaire continued. "I now possess all the shards you carried, yet it seems you still possess one." The ancient gith leaned forward to more carefully examine the bard. Again she gestured, trying to gain possession of the elusive shard. This time, though, there was resistance as magical light erupted from Tamil's chest. There was a long pause as everyone in the room looked on in surprise. Then Zeeaire revealed the mystery, "You have a piece of the sword inside you. And I shall remove it from you by force!"
The moment of shock shattered into a maelstrom of action as attacks began to fly on all sides. The first thing Tamil did when the battle began was use her musical ironskin chant to protect herself and all her allies from physical attacks. The second thing she did was mark where the githyanki spellcasters were standing and drop an area of absolute silence directly where they were. She was able to disrupt the casting of two their wizards before they had a chance to do any damage.
Daniel was also prepared to act as soon as the fighting commenced. He quickly cast a spell that energized the entire group, allowing them to move nearly twice as fast as before. Then he turned and shot the nearest githyanki with his zat gun.
In the confusion, none of the githyanki noticed the door to the metal cage open and Samantha Carter run out. Or, actually, several Samantha Carters run out. Before kicking the door to the cage open, she had cast what protection spells on herself that she knew. She sprinted through an area devoid of combatants towards her teammates. She pulled up when she saw Neeshka being attacked by a pair of large gith with big weapons and began casting a spell. A burst of acid in the shape of an arrow flew out from her hand and struck one of the tielfling's attackers in the back.
"Carter!" Jack yelled, seeing the astrophysicist free of the cage. "Gun!" he called out as he tossed his M9 9mm Beretta to her.
"Careful not to damage the portal!" Daniel yelled out
He didn't need to worry. Nobody in the room had any desire to damage the portal. For the githyanki, it would be certain death at their leader's hands at the end of the confrontation if they inadvertently damaged Zeeaire's portal. For SG-1 it was a way home. For Tamil, Neeshka, and Casavir it was a way home for their friends. For Bishop, well, he was pretty sure if he damaged it that someone would want to kill him for it.
The power of the zat'nik'tel turned the battle into a rout. The githyanki quickly fell to a weapon that had the power to painfully disable them with one shot. Those gith wizards who had protected themselves from energy were left to stand alone and quickly cut down. Soon, only Zeeaire remained, protected from attack within her portal but able to cast blasts of electricity out from it while uttering impotent curses. It was time to turn her portal against her.
Tamil removed the small, disc-shaped dimensional rift Mephasm had given them from her pack. "Okay guys, get ready. I have no idea what's going to happen when I combine this with the gith portal." Then she focused her will on the planar object and watched as it elongated from her hand into a thin line until it reached the portal and then abruptly merged with the astral bubble.
Zeeaire screamed. "WHAT? NO!" Fire burst through the portal and the ancient gith was forced to leap out of her bubble between the Astral Plane and the Prime Material Plane to land physically in the room.
It soon became clear why Zeeaire had risen in the ranks of the githyanki. She was a formidable warrior with superior equipment. It took Casavir and Tamil combined to match her. She rained down powerful blows with a large, deadly sword.
"Go on!" Tamil yelled at the members of SG-1 as they stood watching the battle, looking for a clean shot at Zeeaire. "We can handle her. Get through the portal."
"Come on, Carter, this is our way home," Colonel O'Neill ordered.
"But, how?" she asked.
"We sort of made a deal with a devil," Daniel explained. "Well, made a deal with it, then forced him to agree to more conditions…"
"What?"
"Just get in there before it closes, that's an order!" Jack commanded.
Samantha Carter gritted her teeth and then ran into the spherical space created by the githyanki portal. Hellfire licked around her body, but she did not feel burned. Teal'c was the next to enter, turning to give a salute to Casavir before joining Sam in the circle. Daniel was about to run forward next when he was interrupted.
"Daniel!" Neeshka called to him. Daniel stopped and turned to the tiefling. There were tears in her eyes. "I'm really going to miss you," she said. Then, impulsively, she grabbed the archaeologist from Earth and kissed him full on the mouth, and didn't let go. Daniel's hands were wrapped around her shoulders by the time the kiss ended and there was a stunned expression on his face.
"Come on lover boy, stop chasing that tail and get moving!" Jack prodded and headed into the circle.
Daniel was the last to join them, looking back as Tamil, Casavir, and Bishop stood triumphantly over a fallen Zeeaire.
As soon as he was inside the portal, three gigantic spikes of earth rose up from around the group, forming yet another portal. Aburplty, the sound of deep, devilish laughter rumbled out of the dimensional rift, sending shivers of dread down the spines of all who heard it. The spikes of earth from the lower planes then descended, taking SG-1 with them into the hells.