[Stargate: Fiction] "The Satedan King" [John/Rodney, G]
Title: The Satedan King
Author: Ami Ven
Word Count: 9, 191
Prompt: romancingmcshep 2021, suggested by Eos1969
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, background Evan Lorne/David Parrish, implied Jeannie Miller/Kaleb Miller
Setting: sequel to The Codex of Atlantis
Summary: The Mummy Returns AU - the Sheppard-McKay family race to stop the Wraith Queen from summoning the Satedan King.
The Satedan King
Long ago, amid the great dynasties of Egypt, there was a kingdom called Sateda. The people were strong and brave, and none more so than their king. He was a wise king, and their kingdom prospered. But soon their neighbors, who had once been friends and trading partners, began to grow jealous.
They conspired against Sateda and combined their armies to attack. The soldiers of Sateda fought bravely, but they were vastly outnumbered and were soon defeated.
But their king had not been there. He had been in a distant kingdom - head of Sateda’s diplomatic envoy - and returned to find his kingdom destroyed.
In his grief, he fled to the desert. The king wandered until he was faint with hunger and thirst, and still he went on, hoping for the desert to claim him.
But luck had forsaken him entirely. Instead of the peace of death, he met a fate much, much worse. For a great evil lurked in the desert, and she claimed the Satedan King as her own. Though she herself was trapped in darkness, she could use him to channel her power out into the world. She bound his soul to her will, so that not even death could free him from her power.
At every place that he sought refuge, her darkness brought death and destruction, until the Satedan King could stand it no more. He turned on her and used what little power he had to send them both back into the shadows.
But he was still bound to the darkness, still denied the escape of death. Legend says that he waits there still, that the key to control him was equally lost in the shadows, and that if it is found, another may control the Satedan King…
*
John Sheppard crept slowly down the temple corridor, torch held high. He ducked to avoid a drape of long-abandoned cobwebs, then turned at a noise behind him, catching sight of a rat’s tail before it vanished from sight.
With a sigh of relief, he raised the torch again and took a step backwards - straight into a solid human shape.
“Ah!” he yelled and drew his gun, only to jerk it sharply away when he saw who he’d pumped into. “Maddie!”
Madison McKay-Sheppard was biologically Jeannie’s daughter, the result of an Italian holiday and a “beautiful young English poet” she refused to further explain. Rodney ranted for a solid ten minutes about responsibility and the inherent dangers of poetry, but nine months later he was holding a tow-headed newborn with a look of pure awe on his face.
They were the subject of furious gossip for months - even more so than when they’d first arrived in Vancouver - who were apparently convinced that John was the father and refused to marry her. Jeannie didn’t care. She’d been the one to ‘officiate’ when John and Rodney made their vows to each other, as good as a legal marriage to them. They were an unorthodox family, but happier for it.
Madison called Jeannie ‘Mum’, Rodney ‘Papa’, and John ‘Dad’, and seemed to have the best qualities of all of them. She had her mum’s honey-blonde hair, her papa’s sharp blue eyes, and her dad’s braying laugh. She was as brilliant as Jeannie, as inventive as Rodney, and as adventurous as John.
It was just that John didn’t always appreciate that adventurousness when Madison snuck up on him in an unexplored tomb.
“Maddie,” he said again. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay in the entrance chamber.”
“But I found a relief carving,” she said, “And the soldier looked just like you, Dad.”
“Did you bring your sketchbook with you?” John asked.
“Yes…”
“Then go make a sketch of it, in the entrance chamber.”
Madison sighed. “You never let me have any fun.”
“Nope,” he agreed cheerfully. “Now, scoot.”
John waited until she had turned into the corridor that lead back to the entrance of the tomb, then raised his torch again and continued on. After several yards, the corridor opened out into a larger chamber, where he found Rodney, standing in front of a relief carved in the far wall.
“Hey,” John said. “You okay?”
Rodney blinked, looking around for a moment, before spotting John. “There you are,” he snapped. “What took so long?”
“I had a little unexpected help,” John snorted.
Rodney looked up sharply. “What?”
“Our kid.”
“Oh.”
“You’re not worried about her wandering around by herself?” John pressed.
Rodney smiled. “You’re the one who taught her how to throw a punch, Sheppard. And I taught her archaeology. I’d pity any trouble she manages to find.”
“Great parenting there, McKay,” said John, but he was smiling. “Did you find anything?”
“Yes!” said Rodney. “There’s a door here, but it’s locked. I was hoping this relief would have a clue on how to get it open, but it’s just the usual Here lies King What’s-His-Name, conqueror of blah, blah. So, it’s on to Plan B.”
He held up small hammer and chisel.
John just arched an eyebrow, and Rodney sighed.
“Fine, you can blow things up.”
John grinned.
One (small, controlled) explosion later, the wall opened into another chamber. It was a crypt, walls lined with cobweb-wrapped mummies and floor crawling with beetles.
“Which way?” John asked.
Rodney frowned. “I’m a scientist,” he muttered, as much to himself as to John. “I shouldn’t believe anything I can’t prove, but…”
“But?”
“Ever since I had that dream, I feel like I know this place. Nobody has been here in three thousand years, but I know where I’m going. Like…”
He moved to the far wall and pulled a sconce - the wall twisted, cobwebs distorting, into a hidden door. As Rodney stepped into the room, the air seemed to shimmer. He suddenly saw it as it had been in its prime, enamel and gold reliefs gleaming in the lamplight.
A figure appeared out of the shadows, the echo of a servant long-dead, and crossed to the far wall. She reached for something on the relief - with his attention drawn to it, Rodney could see it was a match for the key box they had once used to wake the Wraith Queen - and turned it, three clicks to the right, two to the left, two more to the right, like a combination lock. Another door opened, into a larger and more golden chamber.
The figure walked past Rodney, just as John entered from the previous chamber, and his torch disrupted the illusion.
“You okay?” John said again.
Instead of answering, Rodney crossed to the wall and turned the key - three to the right, two to the left, two to the right.
The wall creaked open, and John caught Rodney’s arm. “McKay, you’re starting to scare me.”
“I’m starting to scare myself,” Rodney admitted, and led the way inside.
It was much darker than it had been in his vision, lit only by John’s torch, but there was more than enough light to see the golden platform on the far side.
“The emblem of the Satedan King,” breathed Rodney, raising a hand to brush over the golden symbol. “But he’s a myth. There are descriptions, but no one has ever found a single trace of him.”
“Before now,” said John.
“Exactly.”
Rodney blinked, and examined the rest of the platform with a more critical eye. He used the small brush from his belt to remove the layers of dust, and what had appeared to be the top of the structure was revealed to be a separate golden chest, also bearing the Satedan emblem.
“Still got those explosives?” Rodney asked.
John smiled. “How about we do it your way?” He reached over to pick up a gold key from the dust, and Rodney took it, smiling back.
The lock clicked, opening easily even after thousands of years, and he opened the lid. Scraps of fabric clung to the corners, remnants of what was presumably a luxurious lining, and at the center sat a golden bracelet.
“Oh, my god.”
“What?” John demanded.
“The Satedan King,” said Rodney. “The legends say that he’s only sleeping. Or something like that. That there’s a way to summon him, and whoever summons him can control the armies of darkness and rule the world.”
He picked up the bracelet and moved to put it on, but John caught his wrist, “Oh, no, you don’t.”
Rodney scowled. “No harm can come from a bracelet.”
“And no harm ever comes from reading a codex,” John said, darkly. He put the bracelet back in the box, then picked it up - and a low rumble started all around them. “Rodney…?”
“What?”
John gestured at the box he was still holding. “That blah, blah, blah written on the wall of the first chamber, that wouldn’t have happened to have any warnings, would it?”
“There was something about disturbing the treasures within,” Rodney admitted.
“Any specifics?”
“Ancient Egyptian is a subtle language,” he defended. “But there may have been a reference to drink from the Nile in there somewhere.”
“Uh-huh,” said John, shoving the box into his pack. “And that means…?”
“Well, it could have several interpretations-” Rodney began, just as the rumble grew louder still, and the plaster wall beside them collapsed with a wave of water.
“Run!” John yelled, and they took off with the water lapping at their heels.
*
Madison scuffed her way back out to the entrance chamber, hands shoved into the pockets of her shorts. She didn’t know why her fathers brought her along on these archaeological trips if she wasn’t allowed to help. Papa insisted it was good for her overall education and Dad said they’d miss her too much if she stayed home - and usually Mum came with them, so maybe he was right.
She found her sketchbook in her bag and climbed the wooden scaffolding for a better view of the relief she’d found. It was chipped and faded, but the figure on the left really did look a lot like her dad, and she sat down to sketch it.
Madison was just working on the crazy hair - the best evidence for Dad-resemblance - when she heard a sound below.
Frowning, she peered over the edge of the scaffold. Down below, three rough-looking men slunk into the shadows of the entrance chamber.
Two were clearly European, under all of their grime, but all were wearing western clothing - and carrying guns. Madison stayed out of sight as they made their way closer.
They began poking through the gear they’d left in the entrance chamber. “How does he even know it’s here?” one of the men grumbled.
“The boss just knows,” another replied. “If we’re lucky, they already found it and we just gotta take it.”
“When have we been lucky?” the third man joked, and his companions laughed.
Madison knew she ought to stay hidden, but… She eased the slingshot from her back pocket, found a small rock, and took aim.
“Ow!” yelped the man she’d hit, looking wildly around.
When he couldn’t see anything, he went back to the search. Madison took aim again, and the second man shot upright again, clutching his aching backside.
“Hey!”
She drew back another rock, loosed - and the third man caught it.
“Uh-oh,” she breathed, and scrambled back from the edge of the scaffold.
But Madison had been spotted. The men circled around, and one of them found the ladder to the upper level.
Madison hurried to get away, but the scaffolding only went so far, and she backed against the railing. The man reached the top of the ladder and continued coming. Madison leaned back, and the railing cracked beneath her.
She flailed backwards into the pillar just behind - and it toppled, crashing into the next, and the next, and the next.
The base of the first pillar knocked the scaffolding off-kilter and the three would-be thieves quickly made their escape.
Madison slid down the pillar she’d hit, wincing as the falling pillars continued all the way around the entrance chamber, until the last one crashed into the wall.
It exploded in a spray of water - and two figures, which came to a stop sprawled at her feet.
“Dad… Papa… I can explain everything.”
*
The usual stillness of a desert night was broken by the roar of machinery and the shout of orders. Hundreds of men hurried to carry them out, excavating dozens of holes across the sands which had only recently reclaimed the City of Atlantis.
Suddenly, a shout went up from one group, and a messenger raced to the large tent at the edge of the worksite.
“Dr. Michael, sir,” the boy panted. “They’ve found it!”
Michael Kenmore, curator of the Vancouver Natural History Museum, rose from the desk where he had been studying an ancient book - the Codex of Atlantis. “At last. Three months with no results, I was beginning to think everyone in this country was incompetent.”
“I…” the messenger began, uncertainly.
“Never mind,” Michael snapped, tucking the Codex under his arm. “Show me. Kolya, come along.”
A shadow detached itself from the others, a man in a gray uniform who fell into step beside the curator as they left the tent, following the messenger. They approached the dig site, a hole twenty feet wide and ten foot deep. Men were still digging, but there was definitely something at the bottom.
As Michael looked over the edge of the crater, the diggers broke through.
A thick, dark cloud swirled out of the ground.
Men scrambled out of the way, but two weren’t fast enough. The darkness twined around them, causing them to age before their astonished colleague’s eyes. It only released them when their corpses were mummified, then coalesced into the shape of a woman.
Michael swept into a bow. “I am at your service, my lady.”
The Wraith Queen regarded him. “Are you?”
“I am,” he promised, eagerly. “Since I was a young boy, I have heard stories of your power and majesty. I wish only to serve you, and bring your glorious reign upon the earth.”
“Indeed.” She brought up her hand - the others backed away, alarmed, but Michael held still as she laid it against his cheek, then took the Codex from him. “This is a good start, but we shall need my first servant.”
“The King of Sateda,” he said. “I have sent men in search of the key, Your Majesty. When they find it…”
He trailed off at the sound of hoof-beats. The crowds parted to let the three thieves ride up them.
“You have it,” demanded Michael. “Give it to me!”
“Ah, about that, boss,” said one of the men. “We lost it.”
“But we know who has it!” a second added quickly.
“Then we will retrieve it,” said the Wraith Queen.
As they moved back toward the large tent, a hooded figure broke away from the crowd - Teyla cast one look back at the resurrected evil, then slipped out into the desert night.
*
“Jeannie, we’re home!” Rodney yelled, as they let themselves into the house.
With the gold they’d taken from the Wraith Queen’s tomb, they’d been able to afford a large manor just outside Vancouver, now filled with art and objects from across Egypt.
“Jeannie, we brought your child home alive!”
“That was the only requirement?” muttered Madison, sharing a look with John.
He shrugged. “That was the bare minimum. And you can help carry some of this stuff in.”
“That’s child labor,” she complained, but took the box her papa handed her, as John pulled Rodney toward the pile of other luggage to be taken upstairs. “And this is gosh darn heavy.”
“Language,” Rodney said, distracted, and headed up the stairs.
“Bit weighty, this,” Madison said, airily, and lugged the box over to a table. Setting it down must have jiggled the key in the lock, because it popped open.
Madison frowned - she hadn’t seen this box when they were packing. It was clearly ancient, but the markings were odd. She opened it and found a gold bracelet inside.
“Nice,” she said, and slipped it over her wrist.
There was a flash of light and a sharp click and Madison swore she felt the bracelet move. She could hear her fathers moving around upstairs and hurried to pull it off - but it wouldn’t budge.
“Crap,” Madison muttered. She froze for a moment, panicked, then picked up a statue from the bookcase, a football player from the team her dad liked, and shoved it into the box. She locked it again, then tucked the key into a book of poetry - Dad or Papa would never look for it there.
The bracelet flashed again - then projected an image, the distinctive pyramids of Giza. Then, it whooshed, like flying, to the ruins of Carnac.
“Whoa,” breathed Madison, and hastily tucked the bracelet under the sleeve of her jacket.
*
“This changes everything, Sheppard,” Rodney said, heading up the stairs with only his own bag. “Everything about the Satedan King treated it as a myth, but now we know it’s real, we need to look again at the other places mentioned, like-”
“We just got home,” protested John, as they turned onto the landing. “We haven’t even unpacked.”
“Which means we’ve got everything ready to head out,” the other man said.
John snorted and dropped the suitcases in the hallway outside their room. “Can’t I have a moment just to enjoy you?” he asked, softly.
Rodney melted into the kiss.
“That’s not fair,” he breathed, and John smirked, “That was the idea.”
He kissed Rodney again, longer this time, but this time when Rodney pulled away, he said, “It really is odd that Jeannie isn’t here.”
John sighed. “I’ll find her,” he said, “You check on Maddie.”
While Rodney went back downstairs, John continued on down the hall to Jeannie’s room. He knocked on the door, worried when there was no response, and threw open the door - to find his sister-in-law sprawled on her bed, fully clothed and on top of the covers.
“Jeannie!” he cried, hurrying to shake her.
She blinked awake. “What time did you get back?”
“Just now,” said John, with a huff of relieved laughter. “When did you get back?”
Jeannie smiled. “Just now. There was a party at Dr. Kavanagh’s, and you know how I love to cheat terrible scientists out of their money at the card table.”
“Oh, I know.” He held out a hand to help her up. “Wanna see what we found?”
“Of course,” she said. “I always-”
Jeannie broke off as a crash sounded from the first floor. She and John shared a look, and both of them raced toward the stairs.
*
“There was a key when we brought it in,” said Rodney, moving the Satedan chest to see if it had simply fallen out when Madison had moved it. “Are you sure you haven’t seen it?”
“Of course I saw it,” she said. “That doesn’t mean I know where it is.”
“Uh-huh.” He sounded unconvinced. “Where did you last see it?”
“Here in the library,” said Madison - still technically not a lie.
“Then it should not be difficult to find,” said a new voice, darkly.
Rodney stood up and pushed Madison behind him. “Who are you? What are you doing in my house?”
The man wore a gray uniform and a sour expression. “I am here for the bracelet of the Satedan King, Dr. McKay,” he said. “Hand it over and no one needs to be hurt.”
“Somehow, I don’t believe you,” said Rodney.
“That is unfortunate,” the man said, drawing a sword, and the library was full of more men in gray uniforms, carrying swords.
“John!” yelled Rodney, and suddenly he was in the middle of a fight.
Madison ducked under the table when one of the men came toward her, and he grabbed the Satedan box instead. “Sir-”
He broke off as he narrowly avoided a sword aimed at him - Rodney had grabbed the one that had been in the umbrella stand, wielding it more awkwardly than his attackers, but accurately enough for a decent defense. He kicked the box under the table with Madison, then turned back to the fray.
Rodney was heavily outnumbered. There were about a dozen gray-suited men - it was hard to count under these conditions - and he was also worried about Madison. Even a good fighter would have had a hard time, and Rodney was not a good fighter.
He fended off a few more attacks, but was backed into a bookshelf. A sword thudded into the wood beside his head, then drew back - and clattered to the ground.
Suddenly, the fight had three gray-suited attackers less.
John grinned, darting in for a kiss before throwing another punch at the stunned attacker and snatching up the man’s sword. Jeannie was beside him, wielding an umbrella - they’d only had one sword in the umbrella stand, but that made her no less effective.
The fight was now a little more fair - and getting fairer. Another figure joined them, throwing back her cloak to reveal a familiar face.
“Teyla!” gasped Rodney.
“Greetings, my friend,” she said, calmly, like she wasn’t fending off another sword-wielding man..
“What’s going on?” asked John, downing another man. “Where’s Maddie?”
“Here, Dad,” she said, from under the table.
“Well, stay there. Teyla, what’s going on?”
She didn’t answer, facing the leader of the gray-suited men, who still hadn’t joined the battle. “Kolya.”
“Emmagan,” he replied, coldly.
“You know him?” Rodney demanded, but Teyla ignored him.
“Take Madison and go into the dining room. We shall cover you.”
“I can’t-”
“Go, Rodney,” snapped John.
“We’re right behind you,” added Jeannie.
Rodney took another swing, then grabbed Madison around her waist, box and all, and ducked through the side door to the dining room. A moment later, Jeannie burst through the door, then John and Teyla, and they braced the door behind them as Jeannie ran to hug Madison.
Standing side-by-side, John glared sideways at Teyla. “Explain. And make it quick.”
“These men call themselves the Genii,” she said. “My people call them Wraith Worshipers.”
“Wraith as in…?” Rodney asked.
“They worship the dark entity known as the Wraith Queen,” she said.
“But she’s dead,” said John. “We killed her.”
Teyla shook her head. “She is revived, I saw it myself. By this man.”
She took a photograph out of her cloak, and Madison gasped. “That’s Dr. Michael, curator of the Vancouver Museum!”
“Are you sure?” asked Teyla.
“She’s sure,” said John. “She spends more time there than at home.”
“But what does he - or these Genii - want with us?” asked Jeannie.
“They search for the Bracelet of the Satedan King,” Teyla explained. “Did you not send word of your findings to the Museum?”
“We did,” said Rodney, darkly. “I never liked Michael, but I didn’t think he was a lunatic.”
“We cannot allow them to get the Bracelet,” said Teyla. “With it, they can command the Satedan King, and with the Wraith Queen resurrected, they will surely bring darkness to the world.”
“But the Satedan King is a myth,” Rodney protested.
“So was the Wraith Queen and the Codex of Atlantis,” pointed out John.
“And they don’t have it,” said Jeannie, holding up the box.
Madison winced. “About that…”
She pushed up her sleeve, showing the Bracelet, and her parents all frowned. “Madison-”
“I know!” the girl said. “I just put it on. It glowed, the projected some kind of… moving picture. The pyramids of Giza, then - whoosh - on to Karnak.”
“Moving picture?” Rodney repeated. “How did it-?”
“Not important now, McKay,” interrupted John. “Teyla, how many Athosians came with you?”
She shook her head. “None. I came to warn you, but I did not know that this man was connected to the Museum and that I would be too late.”
“Not your fault,” said John.
“But the Genii still think the Bracelet is in the box,” said Jeannie. “We can use that.”
“Good,” said John, as the door rattled ominously. “Rodney, did you ever get around to sealing up that old servant’s entrance in here?”
“It’s on my to-do list,” his husband admitted, then his eyes widened in realization. “But it’s tiny.”
“So is Maddie,” said John. “Jeannie, you could probably fit, too. You both go out that way, we’ll let the Genii take the empty box, and meet you outside at the car.”
Jeannie looked like she wanted to argue, but nodded and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Good luck.”
Madison hugged him, then Rodney, then Teyla. “Love you.”
“We love you, too,” said Rodney. He moved to open the door, hidden in the wood paneling behind the sideboard, and helped Madison and Jeannie inside, then closed it behind them.
“Now,” said John, and he and Teyla stepped away from the door.
It burst open, letting in a stream of gray-suited Genii. Rodney made a show of trying to protect the box, but he was a poor enough swordsman that it was only half a lie when he fell back. John and Teyla were more strategic, drawing the Genii around to the far side of the long dining room so the three of them could get back to the door to the library.
Teyla went through first, and when Rodney followed, he saw that she had engaged the Genii leader, Kolya, both of them grimly determined.
“Sir, we have it!” yelled one of the Genii from the dining room.
This distracted Kolya long enough for them to make their escape. John, Rodney and Teyla slipped out of the back of the house, but ran into Jeannie and Madison on the path.
“You were supposed to be at the car,” said Rodney.
“They slashed our tires,” Jeannie replied. “I needed tools to hotwire one of theirs.”
“I’ve got a kit in my jacket,” Rodney said, “Let’s go.”
They all rounded the side of the house toward the curved driveway - and found a dozen more Genii waiting for them. Kolya held up the chest, clearly and inexpertly blown open.
“Empty,” he said. “Give me the Bracelet and I may let you live.”
“Never,” said John.
There was a sudden yelp - Madison, held in the air by a blonde woman, and her sleeve rode up to reveal the Bracelet.
“Maddie!” cried Jeannie, but Kolya grinned.
“Well done, Sora. Come.”
“Let her go-” demanded John, striding forward, but one of the Genii soldiers threw something on the ground, which exploded in a shower of gravel.
Ears ringing, Rodney picked himself up, a beat behind the others, and saw that the Genii had gone.
“Maddie…” Jeannie repeated.
John put an arm around her. “She’ll be okay, she’s a tough kid.”
“Also, we know where she will be taken,” added Teyla.
“Karnak,” said Rodney.
“The Bracelet is the key to the Satedan King,” Teyla continued. “According to legend, when they reach Karnak, it will show the next step on their journey.
“Then we have to get there before they do,” said Rodney.
John nodded. “I know just the guy.”
*
Madison didn’t struggle as Michael dragged her along the corridor of the train. She’d figured out pretty quickly that her best bet was playing along on the long journey from Vancouver to Cairo, but she was getting more and more worried.
“Show respect to your queen,” Michael snapped, and shoved Madison into the next compartment.
The figure that rose from the plush seat was the stuff of nightmares - pale skin and pitiless eyes and a cold smile that revealed sharp teeth.
“So delicate a creature to bear the key to my glory,” she said.
“I’ll show you delicate,” Madison snapped, unable to play nice anymore.
But the Wraith Queen smiled again. “Ah, but there is spirit. Soon, child, we shall reach the first step in our journey, and you shall tell us the next.”
“And what if I don’t?” the girl demanded.
“Then you will die,” said the Queen, matter-of-factly. “If you do not reach the Pyramid of the Satedan King by the time the sun hits it on the beginning of the seventh day, the Bracelet will drain your life.”
“The seventh day,” said Madison. “But it’s been five days already!”
“Indeed.”
“Oh. And if I do tell you, and we find the Pyramid?”
“I may let you live.”
*
“Your friend lives in… a garden?” asked Rodney.
It was a garden, completely incongruous with the Cairo desert, and John frowned. “He’s a pilot, not a gardener, but this is where he’s supposed to-”
“Sheppard?” asked a surprised voice.
John grinned. “Lorne!”
A man appeared from behind a stand of palm trees, grinning and brushing dirty hands on his trousers. “Last I heard, you were in some kind of big trouble. What are you doing here?”
“I’m in big trouble,” John admitted. “Lorne, I’d like you to meet my, um…”
“Rodney McKay. And this is my sister, Jeannie. We’re John’s family.”
“Right,” agreed John. “And Teyla Emmagan, our dear friend. Evan Lorne is an old friend, and a fantastic pilot. Which is what we need, Lorne. And we can pay you-”
“We can argue about that later,” interrupted Lorne. “I still owe you for that time in Marrakesh. And I’m sensing that this is important.”
“They’ve got our daughter,” said Jeannie. “And they’re taking her to Karnak.”
“Your daughter?” Lorne asked. He looked between them, obvious questions on his face, but he didn’t ask them, only called over his shoulder, “David!”
Another man appeared, taller and skinnier and with dirtier hands. “David Parrish,” he introduced himself. It’s nice to meet you.”
“No time for socializing,” Lorne told him. “Pack our things, we’ve got a mission.”
“You’ve got a plane?” asked John, as David disappeared again.
Lorne smiled. “Even better.” He led them around a large wall of crumbling stone. “The Painted Rose.”
“It’s a dirigible,” protested Rodney.
“No faster or finer way to fly.” David handed Lorne a duffel, already carrying one of his own, and pointed them toward a rope ladder on the gondola’s side. “All aboard.”
The dirigible was a comfortable ride. Once they were airborne, they made good time, gliding silently over the desert.
“So, what’s with the garden?” asked John, leaning against the tiny control console.
“David’s a botanist,” Lorne explained. “I learned how to garden, he learned how to fly our Rose. We make it work. Looks like you’ve got some experience with that.”
John glanced over at Rodney, who stood at the rail with an arm around Jeannie’s shoulders. “Yeah.”
“So, the people who have your daughter…?”
“The Genii.” He explained the situation to Lorne, knowing how ridiculous it must sound to someone who hadn’t lived it, but his old friend only nodded.
“That’s too crazy a story not to be true,” he said, in reply to John’s surprised expression. “We’ll find her, Sheppard. And you’ll save her. You never did leave anyone behind.”
John managed a smile. “Thanks.”
*
The Wraith Queen walked with Madison to the center of the Temple at Carnac, and waited.
Madison felt the Bracelet shake, then the image appeared - Karnak, then like flying over the desert, it took them across the water to the Island of Philae.
“Philae,” she said. “The Island of Philae.”
“Well done, child,” said the Wraith Queen.
“I have to pee,” Madison blurted. “Don’t let them watch.”
The Queen raised a hand, holding back the Genii soldiers who had accompanied them, as Madison went around the far side of a large pillar. But instead of relieving herself, she found a sheltered section of floor in the corner beyond and quickly built a crude rendering of the Philae structure.
“Child!” called the Wraith Queen suddenly, and Madison jumped, knocking the corner off the roof of the last building. “Come now!”
“Coming,” Madison grumbled, making a show of pretending to tuck her shirttails back into her trousers. “Can’t a girl even use the facilities in peace around here?”
“No,” said the Queen, and they escorted her back to the train.
*
The silence of the dirigible was more noticeable at night. Rodney had tried to point out how bright the stars were in the desert, far from the light of the city, but none of them were in the mood.
“There is a legend among my people,” Teyla began.
“You have a lot of legends,” said Rodney, but when she arched an eyebrow at him, he added, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
“We have long been the guardians of Atlantis, against the rising of the evil Queen. There is a legend among my people that the Ancient Ones, the builders of Atlantis, did not all die out in the plague she caused. Some left the city, traveling to the ends of the earth, and began their lives anew. That their descendants live, and that were the city to rise again, they alone would be able to control the wonders there.”
“And you’re telling us this why?” asked John.
“It is not a common legend,” she said. “I had not remembered it, but after our meeting and the first rising of the Wraith Queen, I spoke with Charin, one of our most learned elders, and she recalled it immediately.”
“But why?” pressed Jeannie.
“When you faced the Queen,” said Teyla, “it was Rodney who read from the Codex of Atlantis, but his words alone could not control its powers. Only when you touched it did it work.”
“You’re telling me I’m descended from the Atlantis-builders?” he asked, incredulous.
“How else would you have found Atlantis all those years ago?” she countered. “Why now is it your daughter who wears the Bracelet of the Satedan King?”
“But she’s not-” Rodney began, then corrected himself fiercely, “I mean, she is, we’re her fathers, but…”
“That is no matter,” said Teyla.
“It’s all nonsense,” snapped Rodney, and got up to walk to the opposite rail.
John followed, leaving Jeannie to ask Teyla about her people’s legends. He slid an arm around his husband’s waist, “You okay?”
“I..” Rodney began, but the dirigible around them seemed to fade away, and he was in Ancient Egypt again.
This time, he had a sense of himself, wearing the simple white robes of his office of Chief Scientist to the Pharaoh. Lanteus beckoned for him to approach the throne, and he bowed.
A distant part of Rodney’s brain still in the ‘now’ recognized that they looked very much alike, scientist and pharaoh, but mostly he was lost in the vision as he bowed to Lanteus.
“Your Majesty,” he said. “I bring you grave news.”
“Oh?”
“My research has been exhaustive, sire,” said Rodney. “But there can be no other conclusion. While I cannot disprove that the plague is a punishment from the gods, as the High Priestess, your sister, claims, I can prove that she is not imploring them to release us. Instead, she is doing this.”
He gestured, and two guards came forward carrying a litter between them. On it was a body, another guard still in his uniform, who had been reduced to a withered husk.
“The plague does not do this,” said Lanteus.
“No, sire,” agreed Rodney. “But this does.”
He gestured again and more guards came forward, five this time, dragging with them a living figure wrapped in heavy chains. It was pale, showing pointed teeth as it thrashed.
“A priest,” breathed Lanteus, recognizing the tattered robes it wore. “But how?”
“The High Priestess,” said Rodney. “I have the guards questioning all in the city, sire - already it is reported that there have been a dozen bodies like this, all slaves or peasants - and I expect there will be more.”
“She must be stopped.”
“I’m working on that, sire,” said Rodney. He held up a bracelet - the Bracelet of the Satedan King. “I’ve been working to imbue this with a binding ability, but it isn’t finished.”
“Continue your work, then, my son” said the pharaoh. He rose, coming down the steps of his throne dais to stand beside him. “Your effort is appreciated,” he said, softly. “But your part in this is done. I shall confront my sister, and end this.”
Rodney wanted to argue, to ask his father to wait until his binding bracelet was complete, but he held his tongue. “Yes, Father.”
He bowed - and was back in the present.
John’s arm around him was the only thing holding him up for a moment. “Rodney, you okay?” he repeated.
“Yes, I… I had a vision,” said Rodney. “The High Priestess - the Wraith Queen - there was a plague killing the people of Atlantis, and she… she turned herself into that. And Lanteus, the pharaoh, sealed her away.”
“Not well enough,” John muttered.
“And I created the Bracelet. Not me me, some kind of … of past life. I was the son of the pharaoh, his Chief Scientist. It had nothing to do with the Satedan King, that part must have come later. And I have no idea how to the Queen came to possess it, but…”
“It is fate, my friend,” said Teyla, joining them.
The sun was beginning to come up over the horizon and Lorne, at the controls again after David had also taken a shift, began to descend toward the Temple at Karnak.
There were the remains of tracks in the sand, but the ruins were deserted. Jeannie plopped onto the sand, looking lost, but John did a sweep of the area - “Over here!”
Rodney and Jeannie crowded around. “Clever Maddie,” her mother said. “She’s left us a sandcastle.”
“The Island of Philae,” added Rodney. “Lorne…!”
At Philae, they found another sandcastle, hidden in another corner, beneath the jacket of Madison’s suit.
“The Great Temple of Abu Simbel,” said Rodney, and they took off again.
*
Madison crouched behind a bolder, shaping the sand into another shape, when a shadow fell across her work.
She offered Kolya her most innocent smile, but he grabbed her arm and hauled her off toward the Wraith Queen.
“Insolent child,” she hissed. “But no matter. Your parents cannot save you now.”
“They can,” Madison said, confidently. “They will.”
“Not if they are dead,” the Wraith Queen said. “Watch.”
They had come through a narrow canyon, pausing to water their camels in the river shallows, before they started on the last leg of the journey to the oasis beyond. In the distance, Madison could see a speck in the air, growing larger - a dirigible!
She turned, triumphant, to the Wraith Queen, who only grinned evilly.
The Queen raised her hands. The surface of the water trembled, then rose in a swirling column. It raced down the canyon with a roar, swallowing the tiny dirigible, which disappeared from sight.
Madison watched. The dirigible would appear again, she just knew. Her parents were all dashing explorers, a little water wouldn’t stop them.
But it never appeared.
“Mum?” she breathed. “Dad? Papa?”
The Wraith Queen laughed and swept past her.
*
“Any landing you can walk away from, am I right?” said David, with a smile.
The Painted Rose was in pieces, the balloon envelope deflated and draped over the treetops, the gondola more whole but strewn with branches and debris.
“That’s one way to look at it,” John said. He pulled his duffel from the wreckage and slung it over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” asked Lorne.
“I saw the oasis over the edge of the canyon,” he said. “If we don’t have a ship, we walk.”
“We must go quickly,” added Teyla. “Nightfall approaches.”
“We’ll find her,” said Jeannie, as much to herself as to the others. “We’ll make it.”
“Of course we will,” John said, then, “Lorne, do you think you can get this thing airborne again?”
“Airborne?” he repeated. “It runs on gas, Sheppard, and we’re all out.”
“When we find our daughter, we’ll need a way to get her home,” said John, steadily.
David rested a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “We’ll think of something.”
“Right,” Lorne agreed.
John managed a smile. “Thanks.”
They set off into the jungle, walking in determined silence. It grew steadily darker, and the sun finally set as they reached the edge of the oasis.
The pyramid was visible in the distance from the top of the cliffs that separated the oasis from the jungle and desert beyond, and they paused.
“Okay, this is it,” said John.
“I know this is the plan,” said Rodney. “You and Teyla are much better suited to actual combat, no question about that. But me, with a rifle…”
“You can do this,” John told him, firmly. “For Maddie.”
“For Maddie,” he repeated.
“No rousing speech for me?” asked Jeannie.
“I know you can shoot a rifle,” he said.
“Damn right,” she agreed. “Good luck.”
Suddenly, from the jungle below, there was the sound of a gunshot. John ducked, but no one was aiming at them - a group of Genii, in the jungle below, were shooting at glowing balls of light, which streaked through the air, hitting them with a painful-looking zap.
“Let us go,” said Teyla.
John leaned in to kiss Rodney, briefly, and followed her into the jungle.
*
Madison couldn’t see over the sea of ferns and fronds they were walking through. She could just make out the tip of the pyramid ahead, but she could only hear the Genii soldiers swearing and shooting at the tiny glowing somethings that were attacking them. Madison had tried to examine them, but none of the somethings would come near her.
Kolya kept a firm grip on her arm, but she fought him now, shifting her weight to throw him off balance, and he was beginning to lose his temper.
“Must we deliver he alive?” he asked.
“She must arrive at the pyramid alive,” said Michael. “After that…”
Madison didn’t like the sound of that. She raised her foot and kicked hard at Kolya’s shin. It startled him into loosening his grip and she broke away. The tall ferns meant they lost sight of her immediately and she zig-zagged - she needed to get away from them, but she also did need to get to the temple.
*
Teyla drew her sword and stepped into the chest-high ferns. The glowing orbs swirled around her but did not attack. She could see the Genii soldiers still flailing at them, and started toward them. Most ignored her, too busy with the orbs, but one broke away.
“Did my queen not kill you?” asked Kolya.
“I am not that easy to kill,” she told him. She heard John slip away through the ferns, and raised her sword, drawing Kolya’s attention. “Shall we see about you?”
He lunged and she parried, whirling through the fronds to face each other again. He was taller, stronger, but slower and after a few moments, she was gaining the upper hand.
“You Athosians don’t know what you’re doing,” said Kolya, drawing back a step. “The darkness is more powerful. Why do you not join us? Serve our queen and be rewarded.”
“Darkness is never more powerful,” said Teyla. “I will always choose the light.”
She feinted forward, striking out at Kolya’s unprotected side when he made to parry. He staggered back, clutching his ribs with bloody hands. “You…” he rasped, and slumped to the ground.
Teyla stood over his body for a moment, then moved back into the fray.
*
Madison pelted through the ferns. She heard shots again and looked back over her shoulder. Not looking where she was going, she collided with a human shape and fell back screaming.
“Maddie!” John scooped her up into a frantic hug. “You’re okay.”
“Daddy,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck.
“You’re okay,” he repeated, then pulled her back to look at her. “You are okay?”
“I’m okay,” said Madison, just as Jeannie and Rodney crashed through the underbrush. They joined in the hug, until she pushed them away, needing to breathe. “I’m okay now but I won’t be.”
“What?” spluttered Rodney.
“The Bracelet,” she said. “I have to get to the pyramid before the sun comes up!”
In the distance, gold light began to creep above the horizon.
“John, take her and go,” said Jeannie, taking the shotgun from him.
John slung Madison over his shoulder and ran, as fast as his legs would take him. The sun continued to rise, sliding over the jungle as the ferns thinned and they hit the sandy outskirts of the pyramid complex.
With a last burst of speed, he thundered up the stone steps and flung them both inside. John hit the sand and wrapped his arms around Madison, eyes closed.
There was a sharp click.
When he looked, the Bracelet had unlocked - Madison threw it several feet away, where it lay, unmoving.
John let out a breath and fell back against the sand. “This being a parent thing is hard.”
“Yeah,” said Madison, “But you’re really good at it.”
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair.
*
John looked up to see Rodney, Jeannie and Teyla coming out of the jungle toward the pyramid, and he heaved himself to his feet. Madison jumped up much more easily.
“Mum! Papa!”
“You did it!” Jeannie cheered and hurried forward.
Rodney fell a step behind, beaming - and didn’t see the second group of people who emerge from the trees. Before he realized what was happening, the Wraith Queen was beside him, plunging her dagger into his side.
He gasped and crumpled - she continued walking. Michael, beside her, waved with the Codex of Atlantis still in his hand, and they walked into the pyramid as John and Madison raced to kneel beside Rodney.
“No, no, no,” John murmured. “No, Rodney, you can’t leave me.”
“Take,” Rodney gasped. “Take care of Maddie and Jeannie.”
“No,” repeated John. “Rodney”
He raised a hand, touching John’s face, then it dropped limp at his side.
“Papa?” breathed Madison, then turned her face into her mother’s jacket.
John let out a shuddering breath, and Teyla touched his shoulder. “John,” she said, kindly. “There is still much to do.”
“Right,” he said, then repeated more strongly. “Right. Jeannie, Maddie, stay here.”
Jeannie didn’t argue, and he strode purposefully toward the pyramid.
*
The sand had only gotten so far into the pyramid, but there was still enough dust on the inner corridors for John and Teyla to follow the footsteps into the audience chamber. Braziers were already burning, casting the room in flickering light, and Michael raised a mallet to ring a huge gong.
The Wraith Queen stood, smiling expectantly, as the ringing reverberated through the stones around them. The walls shuddered - then the decorated relief on the wall creaked slowly open.
Inside was a small chamber, glowing a faint blue that faded as it was opened. A human figure hung suspended in the space, a man whose eyes blazed the same blue as he dropped to the ground.
“King of Sateda!” thundered the Wraith Queen. “You will serve me again.”
The figure shuddered.
“You will serve me,” she repeated, then added to Michael, “Go and prepare your soldiers.”
He bowed, “Yes, my queen,” and left.
The Wraith Queen raised her arm, revealing the Bracelet now around her own wrist.
“King of Sateda,” she repeated. “You will serve me.”
The man walked out of the small chamber, movements jarred like he was resisting. “I…” he rasped. “I serve you.”
John and Teyla shared a dark look, and drew their weapons.
*
“He can’t be gone,” Madison sobbed.
Jeannie sat in the sand beside her brother’s body, arm around her daughter. “It’s… it’s going to be hard,” she said. “It… what is it people usually say at times like this? Well, usually they quote the Bible, but I don’t think your papa would appreciate the Good Book just-”
“That’s it!” interrupted Madison, jumping to her feet.
“What, the Bible?” her mother asked.
“No, the Codex of Atlantis! Dr. Michael had it, I saw him. We can revive Papa!”
“That… that might just work,” said Jeannie. “Stay here and-”
“I’m coming with you,” the girl insisted, and Jeannie didn’t have the heart to argue.
“All right. Then we’d better bring Papa with us.” She knelt beside Rodney’s body. “I hope you’ve been laying off the sweets, Big Brother.”
He was heavy, but Jeannie managed to get him over her shoulders in a rescue carry. She staggered up the steps and into the temple.
“This way,” said Madison, and took a lit torch from the wall.
They had only gone a few more yards when they were stopped - Michael was coming down the corridor and scowled. “You.”
Jeannie set Rodney’s body on the floor. “Madison.”
The girl darted forward and snatched the book. Michael lunged after her, but Jeannie aimed a punch at his jaw, more to distract him than to cause actual harm. It worked, and he fell back a few steps.
“Maddie, find the spell,” she said.
“We still need Dad to make it work,” Madison protested.
Jeannie ducked a punch from Michael. “One problem at a time.”
She continued the fist fight, bobbing and weaving to avoid more blows than she attempted herself, as Madison flipped through the metal pages. “I’ve never actually used this book, Mum,” she said. “How do I know which is the right one?”
“Read them out,” Jeannie suggested.
“Prolicio-”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Legatio tuo-”
“No…”
“Restituo vitae amo-”
“That’s the one!” Jeannie called, and knocked Michael into the wall.
Madison dropped to the ground beside Rodney’s body. “Restituo vitae amo perversus adimo!”
The Codex glowed blue.
Rodney gave a huge, gulping breath and sat up. “What the hell?”
“Papa,” cried Madison, and hugged him.
He hugged her back for a moment, then got to his feet. Jeannie and Michael, still fighting, hadn’t seen him and it was a complete surprise to both combatants when he hauled back and punched Michael, knocking him out.
Rodney flinched, shaking out his stinging hand, only to have Jeanne hug him just as fiercely as their daughter had. “You’re alive! But how?”
“I thought you would know.”
“No, but…” Jeannie looked over at Madison, who still held the Codex. “Mer, she has the gift, John’s gift.”
“What?” he said.
“There’s no time for that,” said Madison. “You have to help Dad!”
“Right,” Rodney agreed. “Come on…”
*
“You serve me,” the Wraith Queen said. “And my first order is to kill the intruders.”
She and the Satedan King both turned - John had been hoping they hadn’t noticed him and Teyla, but apparently not.
The king drew a large, dangerous sword and advanced. He was fast, for someone so large, and clearly skilled. It was all John could do to keep up with his own sword, but even Teyla, who was more used to bladed weapons, was finding it difficult.
The Wraith Queen stood by, watching excitedly. She raised her hand with the Bracelet, which glowed blue - and the Satedan King glowed as well. He winced, as though the glow hurt him, and redoubled his efforts in the fight.
“He’s controlled,” said John.
“We knew that,” Teyla told him.
“Yes, but…” He didn’t have time to explain. “Trust me, okay? Can you draw him away for a few minutes?”
She raised her sword. “I can.”
“Good.” John let her take the lead, and the Satedan King focused on her. While they were busy, John fell back until the fight moved away from him and he was behind the controlled king. He drew his pistol and took careful aim-
The shot found its mark, striking the sapphire jewel embedded in the Satedan King’s shoulder. He reared back, roaring in pain, and Teyla drew back warily.
But the Satedan King straightened, and his eyes were clear, his motions suddenly more fluid.
“I don’t serve you,” he said, and ran his sword through the surprised Wraith Queen’s heart.
She didn’t even have a chance to scream as she crumpled to a heap on the ground.
The Satedan King turned back to John and Teyla - and dropped to one knee. “You have freed me. Whatever is in my power to grant is yours.”
“You got a name?” John asked.
He looked up, startled. “Ronon.”
“Glad to meet you. Let’s get out of here.”
As if summoned by his words, the walls around them began to shake. “That does not seem good,” observed Teyla.
The shaking worsened. Statues toppled and braziers spilled their oil, fire spreading across the stone floor.
“Yeah, not good,” John agreed, as smoke filled the room. “How do we get out of here?”
“John!”
He looked up sharply - it was Rodney, alive and waving from a smaller doorway that had been behind a now-toppled statue.
“Rodney!”
“Questions later, escaping now!” his husband called back. “Come on!”
“I…” faltered Ronon, and John grabbed his arm, tugging him along.
“We’ll sort it out later, come on.”
The three of them made their way through the fire and debris to the doorway where Rodney waited. John kissed him, far more briefly than he wanted, then followed him down the corridor, where they bumped into Jeannie and Madison.
But their way was suddenly blocked. Through the open doorway of the pyramid, they could see the jungle being ripped away as though by a fierce wind.
“It’s collapsing in on itself,” said Ronon. “The spell to bind the darkness broke when I killed her. It’s all collapsing.”
“With us in it?” Jeannie asked, and he shrugged.
“Up,” said Rodney. “We need to get up.”
They followed him through the interior of the pyramid, up and up and out onto the stone side of the pyramid.
“There’s nowhere else to go,” said Madison.
Jeannie pulled her into a hug, then reached around her to include John and Rodney, who tugged Teyla in, too.
Ronon stood, defiant - and he was the one who noticed the dirigible.
“Look!”
It was the Painted Rose, repaired and flying low toward them.
“Hey!” called David, leaning over the side of the gondola.
When it was close enough, Ronon hauled himself up into it, then helped pull the others up.
The Sheppard-McKays collapsed into a heap. “How?” Jeannie gasped.
Lorne grinned from the dirigible controls. “You can find all sorts of useful plants in the jungle,” he said, and David leaned in to kiss him.
Jeannie stayed on the deck, hugging Madison to her, but John got to his feet, pulling Rodney up, too.
“For a moment, there, I thought I’d lost you,” he said, softly.
“For a moment, you did,” Rodney replied. “I… would you like to know what heaven looks like?”
John pulled him close, both hands cupping Rodney’s face. “I already know.”
“Puh-lease,” grumbled Jeannie and Madison together, but they were smiling.
Teyla smiled at the Satedan King. “You are free,” she said. “What will you do now?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. My home was destroyed long ago.”
“Well, then,” said John, turning with his arm around Rodney’s shoulder. “You’d better come home with us.”
“Home,” repeated Jeannie, dreamily, and the dirigible arced its way back across the desert.
THE END
Current Mood:
tired
Author: Ami Ven
Word Count: 9, 191
Prompt: romancingmcshep 2021, suggested by Eos1969
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Pairing(s): John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, background Evan Lorne/David Parrish, implied Jeannie Miller/Kaleb Miller
Setting: sequel to The Codex of Atlantis
Summary: The Mummy Returns AU - the Sheppard-McKay family race to stop the Wraith Queen from summoning the Satedan King.
The Satedan King
Long ago, amid the great dynasties of Egypt, there was a kingdom called Sateda. The people were strong and brave, and none more so than their king. He was a wise king, and their kingdom prospered. But soon their neighbors, who had once been friends and trading partners, began to grow jealous.
They conspired against Sateda and combined their armies to attack. The soldiers of Sateda fought bravely, but they were vastly outnumbered and were soon defeated.
But their king had not been there. He had been in a distant kingdom - head of Sateda’s diplomatic envoy - and returned to find his kingdom destroyed.
In his grief, he fled to the desert. The king wandered until he was faint with hunger and thirst, and still he went on, hoping for the desert to claim him.
But luck had forsaken him entirely. Instead of the peace of death, he met a fate much, much worse. For a great evil lurked in the desert, and she claimed the Satedan King as her own. Though she herself was trapped in darkness, she could use him to channel her power out into the world. She bound his soul to her will, so that not even death could free him from her power.
At every place that he sought refuge, her darkness brought death and destruction, until the Satedan King could stand it no more. He turned on her and used what little power he had to send them both back into the shadows.
But he was still bound to the darkness, still denied the escape of death. Legend says that he waits there still, that the key to control him was equally lost in the shadows, and that if it is found, another may control the Satedan King…
*
John Sheppard crept slowly down the temple corridor, torch held high. He ducked to avoid a drape of long-abandoned cobwebs, then turned at a noise behind him, catching sight of a rat’s tail before it vanished from sight.
With a sigh of relief, he raised the torch again and took a step backwards - straight into a solid human shape.
“Ah!” he yelled and drew his gun, only to jerk it sharply away when he saw who he’d pumped into. “Maddie!”
Madison McKay-Sheppard was biologically Jeannie’s daughter, the result of an Italian holiday and a “beautiful young English poet” she refused to further explain. Rodney ranted for a solid ten minutes about responsibility and the inherent dangers of poetry, but nine months later he was holding a tow-headed newborn with a look of pure awe on his face.
They were the subject of furious gossip for months - even more so than when they’d first arrived in Vancouver - who were apparently convinced that John was the father and refused to marry her. Jeannie didn’t care. She’d been the one to ‘officiate’ when John and Rodney made their vows to each other, as good as a legal marriage to them. They were an unorthodox family, but happier for it.
Madison called Jeannie ‘Mum’, Rodney ‘Papa’, and John ‘Dad’, and seemed to have the best qualities of all of them. She had her mum’s honey-blonde hair, her papa’s sharp blue eyes, and her dad’s braying laugh. She was as brilliant as Jeannie, as inventive as Rodney, and as adventurous as John.
It was just that John didn’t always appreciate that adventurousness when Madison snuck up on him in an unexplored tomb.
“Maddie,” he said again. “What are you doing here? You were supposed to stay in the entrance chamber.”
“But I found a relief carving,” she said, “And the soldier looked just like you, Dad.”
“Did you bring your sketchbook with you?” John asked.
“Yes…”
“Then go make a sketch of it, in the entrance chamber.”
Madison sighed. “You never let me have any fun.”
“Nope,” he agreed cheerfully. “Now, scoot.”
John waited until she had turned into the corridor that lead back to the entrance of the tomb, then raised his torch again and continued on. After several yards, the corridor opened out into a larger chamber, where he found Rodney, standing in front of a relief carved in the far wall.
“Hey,” John said. “You okay?”
Rodney blinked, looking around for a moment, before spotting John. “There you are,” he snapped. “What took so long?”
“I had a little unexpected help,” John snorted.
Rodney looked up sharply. “What?”
“Our kid.”
“Oh.”
“You’re not worried about her wandering around by herself?” John pressed.
Rodney smiled. “You’re the one who taught her how to throw a punch, Sheppard. And I taught her archaeology. I’d pity any trouble she manages to find.”
“Great parenting there, McKay,” said John, but he was smiling. “Did you find anything?”
“Yes!” said Rodney. “There’s a door here, but it’s locked. I was hoping this relief would have a clue on how to get it open, but it’s just the usual Here lies King What’s-His-Name, conqueror of blah, blah. So, it’s on to Plan B.”
He held up small hammer and chisel.
John just arched an eyebrow, and Rodney sighed.
“Fine, you can blow things up.”
John grinned.
One (small, controlled) explosion later, the wall opened into another chamber. It was a crypt, walls lined with cobweb-wrapped mummies and floor crawling with beetles.
“Which way?” John asked.
Rodney frowned. “I’m a scientist,” he muttered, as much to himself as to John. “I shouldn’t believe anything I can’t prove, but…”
“But?”
“Ever since I had that dream, I feel like I know this place. Nobody has been here in three thousand years, but I know where I’m going. Like…”
He moved to the far wall and pulled a sconce - the wall twisted, cobwebs distorting, into a hidden door. As Rodney stepped into the room, the air seemed to shimmer. He suddenly saw it as it had been in its prime, enamel and gold reliefs gleaming in the lamplight.
A figure appeared out of the shadows, the echo of a servant long-dead, and crossed to the far wall. She reached for something on the relief - with his attention drawn to it, Rodney could see it was a match for the key box they had once used to wake the Wraith Queen - and turned it, three clicks to the right, two to the left, two more to the right, like a combination lock. Another door opened, into a larger and more golden chamber.
The figure walked past Rodney, just as John entered from the previous chamber, and his torch disrupted the illusion.
“You okay?” John said again.
Instead of answering, Rodney crossed to the wall and turned the key - three to the right, two to the left, two to the right.
The wall creaked open, and John caught Rodney’s arm. “McKay, you’re starting to scare me.”
“I’m starting to scare myself,” Rodney admitted, and led the way inside.
It was much darker than it had been in his vision, lit only by John’s torch, but there was more than enough light to see the golden platform on the far side.
“The emblem of the Satedan King,” breathed Rodney, raising a hand to brush over the golden symbol. “But he’s a myth. There are descriptions, but no one has ever found a single trace of him.”
“Before now,” said John.
“Exactly.”
Rodney blinked, and examined the rest of the platform with a more critical eye. He used the small brush from his belt to remove the layers of dust, and what had appeared to be the top of the structure was revealed to be a separate golden chest, also bearing the Satedan emblem.
“Still got those explosives?” Rodney asked.
John smiled. “How about we do it your way?” He reached over to pick up a gold key from the dust, and Rodney took it, smiling back.
The lock clicked, opening easily even after thousands of years, and he opened the lid. Scraps of fabric clung to the corners, remnants of what was presumably a luxurious lining, and at the center sat a golden bracelet.
“Oh, my god.”
“What?” John demanded.
“The Satedan King,” said Rodney. “The legends say that he’s only sleeping. Or something like that. That there’s a way to summon him, and whoever summons him can control the armies of darkness and rule the world.”
He picked up the bracelet and moved to put it on, but John caught his wrist, “Oh, no, you don’t.”
Rodney scowled. “No harm can come from a bracelet.”
“And no harm ever comes from reading a codex,” John said, darkly. He put the bracelet back in the box, then picked it up - and a low rumble started all around them. “Rodney…?”
“What?”
John gestured at the box he was still holding. “That blah, blah, blah written on the wall of the first chamber, that wouldn’t have happened to have any warnings, would it?”
“There was something about disturbing the treasures within,” Rodney admitted.
“Any specifics?”
“Ancient Egyptian is a subtle language,” he defended. “But there may have been a reference to drink from the Nile in there somewhere.”
“Uh-huh,” said John, shoving the box into his pack. “And that means…?”
“Well, it could have several interpretations-” Rodney began, just as the rumble grew louder still, and the plaster wall beside them collapsed with a wave of water.
“Run!” John yelled, and they took off with the water lapping at their heels.
*
Madison scuffed her way back out to the entrance chamber, hands shoved into the pockets of her shorts. She didn’t know why her fathers brought her along on these archaeological trips if she wasn’t allowed to help. Papa insisted it was good for her overall education and Dad said they’d miss her too much if she stayed home - and usually Mum came with them, so maybe he was right.
She found her sketchbook in her bag and climbed the wooden scaffolding for a better view of the relief she’d found. It was chipped and faded, but the figure on the left really did look a lot like her dad, and she sat down to sketch it.
Madison was just working on the crazy hair - the best evidence for Dad-resemblance - when she heard a sound below.
Frowning, she peered over the edge of the scaffold. Down below, three rough-looking men slunk into the shadows of the entrance chamber.
Two were clearly European, under all of their grime, but all were wearing western clothing - and carrying guns. Madison stayed out of sight as they made their way closer.
They began poking through the gear they’d left in the entrance chamber. “How does he even know it’s here?” one of the men grumbled.
“The boss just knows,” another replied. “If we’re lucky, they already found it and we just gotta take it.”
“When have we been lucky?” the third man joked, and his companions laughed.
Madison knew she ought to stay hidden, but… She eased the slingshot from her back pocket, found a small rock, and took aim.
“Ow!” yelped the man she’d hit, looking wildly around.
When he couldn’t see anything, he went back to the search. Madison took aim again, and the second man shot upright again, clutching his aching backside.
“Hey!”
She drew back another rock, loosed - and the third man caught it.
“Uh-oh,” she breathed, and scrambled back from the edge of the scaffold.
But Madison had been spotted. The men circled around, and one of them found the ladder to the upper level.
Madison hurried to get away, but the scaffolding only went so far, and she backed against the railing. The man reached the top of the ladder and continued coming. Madison leaned back, and the railing cracked beneath her.
She flailed backwards into the pillar just behind - and it toppled, crashing into the next, and the next, and the next.
The base of the first pillar knocked the scaffolding off-kilter and the three would-be thieves quickly made their escape.
Madison slid down the pillar she’d hit, wincing as the falling pillars continued all the way around the entrance chamber, until the last one crashed into the wall.
It exploded in a spray of water - and two figures, which came to a stop sprawled at her feet.
“Dad… Papa… I can explain everything.”
*
The usual stillness of a desert night was broken by the roar of machinery and the shout of orders. Hundreds of men hurried to carry them out, excavating dozens of holes across the sands which had only recently reclaimed the City of Atlantis.
Suddenly, a shout went up from one group, and a messenger raced to the large tent at the edge of the worksite.
“Dr. Michael, sir,” the boy panted. “They’ve found it!”
Michael Kenmore, curator of the Vancouver Natural History Museum, rose from the desk where he had been studying an ancient book - the Codex of Atlantis. “At last. Three months with no results, I was beginning to think everyone in this country was incompetent.”
“I…” the messenger began, uncertainly.
“Never mind,” Michael snapped, tucking the Codex under his arm. “Show me. Kolya, come along.”
A shadow detached itself from the others, a man in a gray uniform who fell into step beside the curator as they left the tent, following the messenger. They approached the dig site, a hole twenty feet wide and ten foot deep. Men were still digging, but there was definitely something at the bottom.
As Michael looked over the edge of the crater, the diggers broke through.
A thick, dark cloud swirled out of the ground.
Men scrambled out of the way, but two weren’t fast enough. The darkness twined around them, causing them to age before their astonished colleague’s eyes. It only released them when their corpses were mummified, then coalesced into the shape of a woman.
Michael swept into a bow. “I am at your service, my lady.”
The Wraith Queen regarded him. “Are you?”
“I am,” he promised, eagerly. “Since I was a young boy, I have heard stories of your power and majesty. I wish only to serve you, and bring your glorious reign upon the earth.”
“Indeed.” She brought up her hand - the others backed away, alarmed, but Michael held still as she laid it against his cheek, then took the Codex from him. “This is a good start, but we shall need my first servant.”
“The King of Sateda,” he said. “I have sent men in search of the key, Your Majesty. When they find it…”
He trailed off at the sound of hoof-beats. The crowds parted to let the three thieves ride up them.
“You have it,” demanded Michael. “Give it to me!”
“Ah, about that, boss,” said one of the men. “We lost it.”
“But we know who has it!” a second added quickly.
“Then we will retrieve it,” said the Wraith Queen.
As they moved back toward the large tent, a hooded figure broke away from the crowd - Teyla cast one look back at the resurrected evil, then slipped out into the desert night.
*
“Jeannie, we’re home!” Rodney yelled, as they let themselves into the house.
With the gold they’d taken from the Wraith Queen’s tomb, they’d been able to afford a large manor just outside Vancouver, now filled with art and objects from across Egypt.
“Jeannie, we brought your child home alive!”
“That was the only requirement?” muttered Madison, sharing a look with John.
He shrugged. “That was the bare minimum. And you can help carry some of this stuff in.”
“That’s child labor,” she complained, but took the box her papa handed her, as John pulled Rodney toward the pile of other luggage to be taken upstairs. “And this is gosh darn heavy.”
“Language,” Rodney said, distracted, and headed up the stairs.
“Bit weighty, this,” Madison said, airily, and lugged the box over to a table. Setting it down must have jiggled the key in the lock, because it popped open.
Madison frowned - she hadn’t seen this box when they were packing. It was clearly ancient, but the markings were odd. She opened it and found a gold bracelet inside.
“Nice,” she said, and slipped it over her wrist.
There was a flash of light and a sharp click and Madison swore she felt the bracelet move. She could hear her fathers moving around upstairs and hurried to pull it off - but it wouldn’t budge.
“Crap,” Madison muttered. She froze for a moment, panicked, then picked up a statue from the bookcase, a football player from the team her dad liked, and shoved it into the box. She locked it again, then tucked the key into a book of poetry - Dad or Papa would never look for it there.
The bracelet flashed again - then projected an image, the distinctive pyramids of Giza. Then, it whooshed, like flying, to the ruins of Carnac.
“Whoa,” breathed Madison, and hastily tucked the bracelet under the sleeve of her jacket.
*
“This changes everything, Sheppard,” Rodney said, heading up the stairs with only his own bag. “Everything about the Satedan King treated it as a myth, but now we know it’s real, we need to look again at the other places mentioned, like-”
“We just got home,” protested John, as they turned onto the landing. “We haven’t even unpacked.”
“Which means we’ve got everything ready to head out,” the other man said.
John snorted and dropped the suitcases in the hallway outside their room. “Can’t I have a moment just to enjoy you?” he asked, softly.
Rodney melted into the kiss.
“That’s not fair,” he breathed, and John smirked, “That was the idea.”
He kissed Rodney again, longer this time, but this time when Rodney pulled away, he said, “It really is odd that Jeannie isn’t here.”
John sighed. “I’ll find her,” he said, “You check on Maddie.”
While Rodney went back downstairs, John continued on down the hall to Jeannie’s room. He knocked on the door, worried when there was no response, and threw open the door - to find his sister-in-law sprawled on her bed, fully clothed and on top of the covers.
“Jeannie!” he cried, hurrying to shake her.
She blinked awake. “What time did you get back?”
“Just now,” said John, with a huff of relieved laughter. “When did you get back?”
Jeannie smiled. “Just now. There was a party at Dr. Kavanagh’s, and you know how I love to cheat terrible scientists out of their money at the card table.”
“Oh, I know.” He held out a hand to help her up. “Wanna see what we found?”
“Of course,” she said. “I always-”
Jeannie broke off as a crash sounded from the first floor. She and John shared a look, and both of them raced toward the stairs.
*
“There was a key when we brought it in,” said Rodney, moving the Satedan chest to see if it had simply fallen out when Madison had moved it. “Are you sure you haven’t seen it?”
“Of course I saw it,” she said. “That doesn’t mean I know where it is.”
“Uh-huh.” He sounded unconvinced. “Where did you last see it?”
“Here in the library,” said Madison - still technically not a lie.
“Then it should not be difficult to find,” said a new voice, darkly.
Rodney stood up and pushed Madison behind him. “Who are you? What are you doing in my house?”
The man wore a gray uniform and a sour expression. “I am here for the bracelet of the Satedan King, Dr. McKay,” he said. “Hand it over and no one needs to be hurt.”
“Somehow, I don’t believe you,” said Rodney.
“That is unfortunate,” the man said, drawing a sword, and the library was full of more men in gray uniforms, carrying swords.
“John!” yelled Rodney, and suddenly he was in the middle of a fight.
Madison ducked under the table when one of the men came toward her, and he grabbed the Satedan box instead. “Sir-”
He broke off as he narrowly avoided a sword aimed at him - Rodney had grabbed the one that had been in the umbrella stand, wielding it more awkwardly than his attackers, but accurately enough for a decent defense. He kicked the box under the table with Madison, then turned back to the fray.
Rodney was heavily outnumbered. There were about a dozen gray-suited men - it was hard to count under these conditions - and he was also worried about Madison. Even a good fighter would have had a hard time, and Rodney was not a good fighter.
He fended off a few more attacks, but was backed into a bookshelf. A sword thudded into the wood beside his head, then drew back - and clattered to the ground.
Suddenly, the fight had three gray-suited attackers less.
John grinned, darting in for a kiss before throwing another punch at the stunned attacker and snatching up the man’s sword. Jeannie was beside him, wielding an umbrella - they’d only had one sword in the umbrella stand, but that made her no less effective.
The fight was now a little more fair - and getting fairer. Another figure joined them, throwing back her cloak to reveal a familiar face.
“Teyla!” gasped Rodney.
“Greetings, my friend,” she said, calmly, like she wasn’t fending off another sword-wielding man..
“What’s going on?” asked John, downing another man. “Where’s Maddie?”
“Here, Dad,” she said, from under the table.
“Well, stay there. Teyla, what’s going on?”
She didn’t answer, facing the leader of the gray-suited men, who still hadn’t joined the battle. “Kolya.”
“Emmagan,” he replied, coldly.
“You know him?” Rodney demanded, but Teyla ignored him.
“Take Madison and go into the dining room. We shall cover you.”
“I can’t-”
“Go, Rodney,” snapped John.
“We’re right behind you,” added Jeannie.
Rodney took another swing, then grabbed Madison around her waist, box and all, and ducked through the side door to the dining room. A moment later, Jeannie burst through the door, then John and Teyla, and they braced the door behind them as Jeannie ran to hug Madison.
Standing side-by-side, John glared sideways at Teyla. “Explain. And make it quick.”
“These men call themselves the Genii,” she said. “My people call them Wraith Worshipers.”
“Wraith as in…?” Rodney asked.
“They worship the dark entity known as the Wraith Queen,” she said.
“But she’s dead,” said John. “We killed her.”
Teyla shook her head. “She is revived, I saw it myself. By this man.”
She took a photograph out of her cloak, and Madison gasped. “That’s Dr. Michael, curator of the Vancouver Museum!”
“Are you sure?” asked Teyla.
“She’s sure,” said John. “She spends more time there than at home.”
“But what does he - or these Genii - want with us?” asked Jeannie.
“They search for the Bracelet of the Satedan King,” Teyla explained. “Did you not send word of your findings to the Museum?”
“We did,” said Rodney, darkly. “I never liked Michael, but I didn’t think he was a lunatic.”
“We cannot allow them to get the Bracelet,” said Teyla. “With it, they can command the Satedan King, and with the Wraith Queen resurrected, they will surely bring darkness to the world.”
“But the Satedan King is a myth,” Rodney protested.
“So was the Wraith Queen and the Codex of Atlantis,” pointed out John.
“And they don’t have it,” said Jeannie, holding up the box.
Madison winced. “About that…”
She pushed up her sleeve, showing the Bracelet, and her parents all frowned. “Madison-”
“I know!” the girl said. “I just put it on. It glowed, the projected some kind of… moving picture. The pyramids of Giza, then - whoosh - on to Karnak.”
“Moving picture?” Rodney repeated. “How did it-?”
“Not important now, McKay,” interrupted John. “Teyla, how many Athosians came with you?”
She shook her head. “None. I came to warn you, but I did not know that this man was connected to the Museum and that I would be too late.”
“Not your fault,” said John.
“But the Genii still think the Bracelet is in the box,” said Jeannie. “We can use that.”
“Good,” said John, as the door rattled ominously. “Rodney, did you ever get around to sealing up that old servant’s entrance in here?”
“It’s on my to-do list,” his husband admitted, then his eyes widened in realization. “But it’s tiny.”
“So is Maddie,” said John. “Jeannie, you could probably fit, too. You both go out that way, we’ll let the Genii take the empty box, and meet you outside at the car.”
Jeannie looked like she wanted to argue, but nodded and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Good luck.”
Madison hugged him, then Rodney, then Teyla. “Love you.”
“We love you, too,” said Rodney. He moved to open the door, hidden in the wood paneling behind the sideboard, and helped Madison and Jeannie inside, then closed it behind them.
“Now,” said John, and he and Teyla stepped away from the door.
It burst open, letting in a stream of gray-suited Genii. Rodney made a show of trying to protect the box, but he was a poor enough swordsman that it was only half a lie when he fell back. John and Teyla were more strategic, drawing the Genii around to the far side of the long dining room so the three of them could get back to the door to the library.
Teyla went through first, and when Rodney followed, he saw that she had engaged the Genii leader, Kolya, both of them grimly determined.
“Sir, we have it!” yelled one of the Genii from the dining room.
This distracted Kolya long enough for them to make their escape. John, Rodney and Teyla slipped out of the back of the house, but ran into Jeannie and Madison on the path.
“You were supposed to be at the car,” said Rodney.
“They slashed our tires,” Jeannie replied. “I needed tools to hotwire one of theirs.”
“I’ve got a kit in my jacket,” Rodney said, “Let’s go.”
They all rounded the side of the house toward the curved driveway - and found a dozen more Genii waiting for them. Kolya held up the chest, clearly and inexpertly blown open.
“Empty,” he said. “Give me the Bracelet and I may let you live.”
“Never,” said John.
There was a sudden yelp - Madison, held in the air by a blonde woman, and her sleeve rode up to reveal the Bracelet.
“Maddie!” cried Jeannie, but Kolya grinned.
“Well done, Sora. Come.”
“Let her go-” demanded John, striding forward, but one of the Genii soldiers threw something on the ground, which exploded in a shower of gravel.
Ears ringing, Rodney picked himself up, a beat behind the others, and saw that the Genii had gone.
“Maddie…” Jeannie repeated.
John put an arm around her. “She’ll be okay, she’s a tough kid.”
“Also, we know where she will be taken,” added Teyla.
“Karnak,” said Rodney.
“The Bracelet is the key to the Satedan King,” Teyla continued. “According to legend, when they reach Karnak, it will show the next step on their journey.
“Then we have to get there before they do,” said Rodney.
John nodded. “I know just the guy.”
*
Madison didn’t struggle as Michael dragged her along the corridor of the train. She’d figured out pretty quickly that her best bet was playing along on the long journey from Vancouver to Cairo, but she was getting more and more worried.
“Show respect to your queen,” Michael snapped, and shoved Madison into the next compartment.
The figure that rose from the plush seat was the stuff of nightmares - pale skin and pitiless eyes and a cold smile that revealed sharp teeth.
“So delicate a creature to bear the key to my glory,” she said.
“I’ll show you delicate,” Madison snapped, unable to play nice anymore.
But the Wraith Queen smiled again. “Ah, but there is spirit. Soon, child, we shall reach the first step in our journey, and you shall tell us the next.”
“And what if I don’t?” the girl demanded.
“Then you will die,” said the Queen, matter-of-factly. “If you do not reach the Pyramid of the Satedan King by the time the sun hits it on the beginning of the seventh day, the Bracelet will drain your life.”
“The seventh day,” said Madison. “But it’s been five days already!”
“Indeed.”
“Oh. And if I do tell you, and we find the Pyramid?”
“I may let you live.”
*
“Your friend lives in… a garden?” asked Rodney.
It was a garden, completely incongruous with the Cairo desert, and John frowned. “He’s a pilot, not a gardener, but this is where he’s supposed to-”
“Sheppard?” asked a surprised voice.
John grinned. “Lorne!”
A man appeared from behind a stand of palm trees, grinning and brushing dirty hands on his trousers. “Last I heard, you were in some kind of big trouble. What are you doing here?”
“I’m in big trouble,” John admitted. “Lorne, I’d like you to meet my, um…”
“Rodney McKay. And this is my sister, Jeannie. We’re John’s family.”
“Right,” agreed John. “And Teyla Emmagan, our dear friend. Evan Lorne is an old friend, and a fantastic pilot. Which is what we need, Lorne. And we can pay you-”
“We can argue about that later,” interrupted Lorne. “I still owe you for that time in Marrakesh. And I’m sensing that this is important.”
“They’ve got our daughter,” said Jeannie. “And they’re taking her to Karnak.”
“Your daughter?” Lorne asked. He looked between them, obvious questions on his face, but he didn’t ask them, only called over his shoulder, “David!”
Another man appeared, taller and skinnier and with dirtier hands. “David Parrish,” he introduced himself. It’s nice to meet you.”
“No time for socializing,” Lorne told him. “Pack our things, we’ve got a mission.”
“You’ve got a plane?” asked John, as David disappeared again.
Lorne smiled. “Even better.” He led them around a large wall of crumbling stone. “The Painted Rose.”
“It’s a dirigible,” protested Rodney.
“No faster or finer way to fly.” David handed Lorne a duffel, already carrying one of his own, and pointed them toward a rope ladder on the gondola’s side. “All aboard.”
The dirigible was a comfortable ride. Once they were airborne, they made good time, gliding silently over the desert.
“So, what’s with the garden?” asked John, leaning against the tiny control console.
“David’s a botanist,” Lorne explained. “I learned how to garden, he learned how to fly our Rose. We make it work. Looks like you’ve got some experience with that.”
John glanced over at Rodney, who stood at the rail with an arm around Jeannie’s shoulders. “Yeah.”
“So, the people who have your daughter…?”
“The Genii.” He explained the situation to Lorne, knowing how ridiculous it must sound to someone who hadn’t lived it, but his old friend only nodded.
“That’s too crazy a story not to be true,” he said, in reply to John’s surprised expression. “We’ll find her, Sheppard. And you’ll save her. You never did leave anyone behind.”
John managed a smile. “Thanks.”
*
The Wraith Queen walked with Madison to the center of the Temple at Carnac, and waited.
Madison felt the Bracelet shake, then the image appeared - Karnak, then like flying over the desert, it took them across the water to the Island of Philae.
“Philae,” she said. “The Island of Philae.”
“Well done, child,” said the Wraith Queen.
“I have to pee,” Madison blurted. “Don’t let them watch.”
The Queen raised a hand, holding back the Genii soldiers who had accompanied them, as Madison went around the far side of a large pillar. But instead of relieving herself, she found a sheltered section of floor in the corner beyond and quickly built a crude rendering of the Philae structure.
“Child!” called the Wraith Queen suddenly, and Madison jumped, knocking the corner off the roof of the last building. “Come now!”
“Coming,” Madison grumbled, making a show of pretending to tuck her shirttails back into her trousers. “Can’t a girl even use the facilities in peace around here?”
“No,” said the Queen, and they escorted her back to the train.
*
The silence of the dirigible was more noticeable at night. Rodney had tried to point out how bright the stars were in the desert, far from the light of the city, but none of them were in the mood.
“There is a legend among my people,” Teyla began.
“You have a lot of legends,” said Rodney, but when she arched an eyebrow at him, he added, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
“We have long been the guardians of Atlantis, against the rising of the evil Queen. There is a legend among my people that the Ancient Ones, the builders of Atlantis, did not all die out in the plague she caused. Some left the city, traveling to the ends of the earth, and began their lives anew. That their descendants live, and that were the city to rise again, they alone would be able to control the wonders there.”
“And you’re telling us this why?” asked John.
“It is not a common legend,” she said. “I had not remembered it, but after our meeting and the first rising of the Wraith Queen, I spoke with Charin, one of our most learned elders, and she recalled it immediately.”
“But why?” pressed Jeannie.
“When you faced the Queen,” said Teyla, “it was Rodney who read from the Codex of Atlantis, but his words alone could not control its powers. Only when you touched it did it work.”
“You’re telling me I’m descended from the Atlantis-builders?” he asked, incredulous.
“How else would you have found Atlantis all those years ago?” she countered. “Why now is it your daughter who wears the Bracelet of the Satedan King?”
“But she’s not-” Rodney began, then corrected himself fiercely, “I mean, she is, we’re her fathers, but…”
“That is no matter,” said Teyla.
“It’s all nonsense,” snapped Rodney, and got up to walk to the opposite rail.
John followed, leaving Jeannie to ask Teyla about her people’s legends. He slid an arm around his husband’s waist, “You okay?”
“I..” Rodney began, but the dirigible around them seemed to fade away, and he was in Ancient Egypt again.
This time, he had a sense of himself, wearing the simple white robes of his office of Chief Scientist to the Pharaoh. Lanteus beckoned for him to approach the throne, and he bowed.
A distant part of Rodney’s brain still in the ‘now’ recognized that they looked very much alike, scientist and pharaoh, but mostly he was lost in the vision as he bowed to Lanteus.
“Your Majesty,” he said. “I bring you grave news.”
“Oh?”
“My research has been exhaustive, sire,” said Rodney. “But there can be no other conclusion. While I cannot disprove that the plague is a punishment from the gods, as the High Priestess, your sister, claims, I can prove that she is not imploring them to release us. Instead, she is doing this.”
He gestured, and two guards came forward carrying a litter between them. On it was a body, another guard still in his uniform, who had been reduced to a withered husk.
“The plague does not do this,” said Lanteus.
“No, sire,” agreed Rodney. “But this does.”
He gestured again and more guards came forward, five this time, dragging with them a living figure wrapped in heavy chains. It was pale, showing pointed teeth as it thrashed.
“A priest,” breathed Lanteus, recognizing the tattered robes it wore. “But how?”
“The High Priestess,” said Rodney. “I have the guards questioning all in the city, sire - already it is reported that there have been a dozen bodies like this, all slaves or peasants - and I expect there will be more.”
“She must be stopped.”
“I’m working on that, sire,” said Rodney. He held up a bracelet - the Bracelet of the Satedan King. “I’ve been working to imbue this with a binding ability, but it isn’t finished.”
“Continue your work, then, my son” said the pharaoh. He rose, coming down the steps of his throne dais to stand beside him. “Your effort is appreciated,” he said, softly. “But your part in this is done. I shall confront my sister, and end this.”
Rodney wanted to argue, to ask his father to wait until his binding bracelet was complete, but he held his tongue. “Yes, Father.”
He bowed - and was back in the present.
John’s arm around him was the only thing holding him up for a moment. “Rodney, you okay?” he repeated.
“Yes, I… I had a vision,” said Rodney. “The High Priestess - the Wraith Queen - there was a plague killing the people of Atlantis, and she… she turned herself into that. And Lanteus, the pharaoh, sealed her away.”
“Not well enough,” John muttered.
“And I created the Bracelet. Not me me, some kind of … of past life. I was the son of the pharaoh, his Chief Scientist. It had nothing to do with the Satedan King, that part must have come later. And I have no idea how to the Queen came to possess it, but…”
“It is fate, my friend,” said Teyla, joining them.
The sun was beginning to come up over the horizon and Lorne, at the controls again after David had also taken a shift, began to descend toward the Temple at Karnak.
There were the remains of tracks in the sand, but the ruins were deserted. Jeannie plopped onto the sand, looking lost, but John did a sweep of the area - “Over here!”
Rodney and Jeannie crowded around. “Clever Maddie,” her mother said. “She’s left us a sandcastle.”
“The Island of Philae,” added Rodney. “Lorne…!”
At Philae, they found another sandcastle, hidden in another corner, beneath the jacket of Madison’s suit.
“The Great Temple of Abu Simbel,” said Rodney, and they took off again.
*
Madison crouched behind a bolder, shaping the sand into another shape, when a shadow fell across her work.
She offered Kolya her most innocent smile, but he grabbed her arm and hauled her off toward the Wraith Queen.
“Insolent child,” she hissed. “But no matter. Your parents cannot save you now.”
“They can,” Madison said, confidently. “They will.”
“Not if they are dead,” the Wraith Queen said. “Watch.”
They had come through a narrow canyon, pausing to water their camels in the river shallows, before they started on the last leg of the journey to the oasis beyond. In the distance, Madison could see a speck in the air, growing larger - a dirigible!
She turned, triumphant, to the Wraith Queen, who only grinned evilly.
The Queen raised her hands. The surface of the water trembled, then rose in a swirling column. It raced down the canyon with a roar, swallowing the tiny dirigible, which disappeared from sight.
Madison watched. The dirigible would appear again, she just knew. Her parents were all dashing explorers, a little water wouldn’t stop them.
But it never appeared.
“Mum?” she breathed. “Dad? Papa?”
The Wraith Queen laughed and swept past her.
*
“Any landing you can walk away from, am I right?” said David, with a smile.
The Painted Rose was in pieces, the balloon envelope deflated and draped over the treetops, the gondola more whole but strewn with branches and debris.
“That’s one way to look at it,” John said. He pulled his duffel from the wreckage and slung it over his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” asked Lorne.
“I saw the oasis over the edge of the canyon,” he said. “If we don’t have a ship, we walk.”
“We must go quickly,” added Teyla. “Nightfall approaches.”
“We’ll find her,” said Jeannie, as much to herself as to the others. “We’ll make it.”
“Of course we will,” John said, then, “Lorne, do you think you can get this thing airborne again?”
“Airborne?” he repeated. “It runs on gas, Sheppard, and we’re all out.”
“When we find our daughter, we’ll need a way to get her home,” said John, steadily.
David rested a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “We’ll think of something.”
“Right,” Lorne agreed.
John managed a smile. “Thanks.”
They set off into the jungle, walking in determined silence. It grew steadily darker, and the sun finally set as they reached the edge of the oasis.
The pyramid was visible in the distance from the top of the cliffs that separated the oasis from the jungle and desert beyond, and they paused.
“Okay, this is it,” said John.
“I know this is the plan,” said Rodney. “You and Teyla are much better suited to actual combat, no question about that. But me, with a rifle…”
“You can do this,” John told him, firmly. “For Maddie.”
“For Maddie,” he repeated.
“No rousing speech for me?” asked Jeannie.
“I know you can shoot a rifle,” he said.
“Damn right,” she agreed. “Good luck.”
Suddenly, from the jungle below, there was the sound of a gunshot. John ducked, but no one was aiming at them - a group of Genii, in the jungle below, were shooting at glowing balls of light, which streaked through the air, hitting them with a painful-looking zap.
“Let us go,” said Teyla.
John leaned in to kiss Rodney, briefly, and followed her into the jungle.
*
Madison couldn’t see over the sea of ferns and fronds they were walking through. She could just make out the tip of the pyramid ahead, but she could only hear the Genii soldiers swearing and shooting at the tiny glowing somethings that were attacking them. Madison had tried to examine them, but none of the somethings would come near her.
Kolya kept a firm grip on her arm, but she fought him now, shifting her weight to throw him off balance, and he was beginning to lose his temper.
“Must we deliver he alive?” he asked.
“She must arrive at the pyramid alive,” said Michael. “After that…”
Madison didn’t like the sound of that. She raised her foot and kicked hard at Kolya’s shin. It startled him into loosening his grip and she broke away. The tall ferns meant they lost sight of her immediately and she zig-zagged - she needed to get away from them, but she also did need to get to the temple.
*
Teyla drew her sword and stepped into the chest-high ferns. The glowing orbs swirled around her but did not attack. She could see the Genii soldiers still flailing at them, and started toward them. Most ignored her, too busy with the orbs, but one broke away.
“Did my queen not kill you?” asked Kolya.
“I am not that easy to kill,” she told him. She heard John slip away through the ferns, and raised her sword, drawing Kolya’s attention. “Shall we see about you?”
He lunged and she parried, whirling through the fronds to face each other again. He was taller, stronger, but slower and after a few moments, she was gaining the upper hand.
“You Athosians don’t know what you’re doing,” said Kolya, drawing back a step. “The darkness is more powerful. Why do you not join us? Serve our queen and be rewarded.”
“Darkness is never more powerful,” said Teyla. “I will always choose the light.”
She feinted forward, striking out at Kolya’s unprotected side when he made to parry. He staggered back, clutching his ribs with bloody hands. “You…” he rasped, and slumped to the ground.
Teyla stood over his body for a moment, then moved back into the fray.
*
Madison pelted through the ferns. She heard shots again and looked back over her shoulder. Not looking where she was going, she collided with a human shape and fell back screaming.
“Maddie!” John scooped her up into a frantic hug. “You’re okay.”
“Daddy,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck.
“You’re okay,” he repeated, then pulled her back to look at her. “You are okay?”
“I’m okay,” said Madison, just as Jeannie and Rodney crashed through the underbrush. They joined in the hug, until she pushed them away, needing to breathe. “I’m okay now but I won’t be.”
“What?” spluttered Rodney.
“The Bracelet,” she said. “I have to get to the pyramid before the sun comes up!”
In the distance, gold light began to creep above the horizon.
“John, take her and go,” said Jeannie, taking the shotgun from him.
John slung Madison over his shoulder and ran, as fast as his legs would take him. The sun continued to rise, sliding over the jungle as the ferns thinned and they hit the sandy outskirts of the pyramid complex.
With a last burst of speed, he thundered up the stone steps and flung them both inside. John hit the sand and wrapped his arms around Madison, eyes closed.
There was a sharp click.
When he looked, the Bracelet had unlocked - Madison threw it several feet away, where it lay, unmoving.
John let out a breath and fell back against the sand. “This being a parent thing is hard.”
“Yeah,” said Madison, “But you’re really good at it.”
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her hair.
*
John looked up to see Rodney, Jeannie and Teyla coming out of the jungle toward the pyramid, and he heaved himself to his feet. Madison jumped up much more easily.
“Mum! Papa!”
“You did it!” Jeannie cheered and hurried forward.
Rodney fell a step behind, beaming - and didn’t see the second group of people who emerge from the trees. Before he realized what was happening, the Wraith Queen was beside him, plunging her dagger into his side.
He gasped and crumpled - she continued walking. Michael, beside her, waved with the Codex of Atlantis still in his hand, and they walked into the pyramid as John and Madison raced to kneel beside Rodney.
“No, no, no,” John murmured. “No, Rodney, you can’t leave me.”
“Take,” Rodney gasped. “Take care of Maddie and Jeannie.”
“No,” repeated John. “Rodney”
He raised a hand, touching John’s face, then it dropped limp at his side.
“Papa?” breathed Madison, then turned her face into her mother’s jacket.
John let out a shuddering breath, and Teyla touched his shoulder. “John,” she said, kindly. “There is still much to do.”
“Right,” he said, then repeated more strongly. “Right. Jeannie, Maddie, stay here.”
Jeannie didn’t argue, and he strode purposefully toward the pyramid.
*
The sand had only gotten so far into the pyramid, but there was still enough dust on the inner corridors for John and Teyla to follow the footsteps into the audience chamber. Braziers were already burning, casting the room in flickering light, and Michael raised a mallet to ring a huge gong.
The Wraith Queen stood, smiling expectantly, as the ringing reverberated through the stones around them. The walls shuddered - then the decorated relief on the wall creaked slowly open.
Inside was a small chamber, glowing a faint blue that faded as it was opened. A human figure hung suspended in the space, a man whose eyes blazed the same blue as he dropped to the ground.
“King of Sateda!” thundered the Wraith Queen. “You will serve me again.”
The figure shuddered.
“You will serve me,” she repeated, then added to Michael, “Go and prepare your soldiers.”
He bowed, “Yes, my queen,” and left.
The Wraith Queen raised her arm, revealing the Bracelet now around her own wrist.
“King of Sateda,” she repeated. “You will serve me.”
The man walked out of the small chamber, movements jarred like he was resisting. “I…” he rasped. “I serve you.”
John and Teyla shared a dark look, and drew their weapons.
*
“He can’t be gone,” Madison sobbed.
Jeannie sat in the sand beside her brother’s body, arm around her daughter. “It’s… it’s going to be hard,” she said. “It… what is it people usually say at times like this? Well, usually they quote the Bible, but I don’t think your papa would appreciate the Good Book just-”
“That’s it!” interrupted Madison, jumping to her feet.
“What, the Bible?” her mother asked.
“No, the Codex of Atlantis! Dr. Michael had it, I saw him. We can revive Papa!”
“That… that might just work,” said Jeannie. “Stay here and-”
“I’m coming with you,” the girl insisted, and Jeannie didn’t have the heart to argue.
“All right. Then we’d better bring Papa with us.” She knelt beside Rodney’s body. “I hope you’ve been laying off the sweets, Big Brother.”
He was heavy, but Jeannie managed to get him over her shoulders in a rescue carry. She staggered up the steps and into the temple.
“This way,” said Madison, and took a lit torch from the wall.
They had only gone a few more yards when they were stopped - Michael was coming down the corridor and scowled. “You.”
Jeannie set Rodney’s body on the floor. “Madison.”
The girl darted forward and snatched the book. Michael lunged after her, but Jeannie aimed a punch at his jaw, more to distract him than to cause actual harm. It worked, and he fell back a few steps.
“Maddie, find the spell,” she said.
“We still need Dad to make it work,” Madison protested.
Jeannie ducked a punch from Michael. “One problem at a time.”
She continued the fist fight, bobbing and weaving to avoid more blows than she attempted herself, as Madison flipped through the metal pages. “I’ve never actually used this book, Mum,” she said. “How do I know which is the right one?”
“Read them out,” Jeannie suggested.
“Prolicio-”
“No, that’s not it.”
“Legatio tuo-”
“No…”
“Restituo vitae amo-”
“That’s the one!” Jeannie called, and knocked Michael into the wall.
Madison dropped to the ground beside Rodney’s body. “Restituo vitae amo perversus adimo!”
The Codex glowed blue.
Rodney gave a huge, gulping breath and sat up. “What the hell?”
“Papa,” cried Madison, and hugged him.
He hugged her back for a moment, then got to his feet. Jeannie and Michael, still fighting, hadn’t seen him and it was a complete surprise to both combatants when he hauled back and punched Michael, knocking him out.
Rodney flinched, shaking out his stinging hand, only to have Jeanne hug him just as fiercely as their daughter had. “You’re alive! But how?”
“I thought you would know.”
“No, but…” Jeannie looked over at Madison, who still held the Codex. “Mer, she has the gift, John’s gift.”
“What?” he said.
“There’s no time for that,” said Madison. “You have to help Dad!”
“Right,” Rodney agreed. “Come on…”
*
“You serve me,” the Wraith Queen said. “And my first order is to kill the intruders.”
She and the Satedan King both turned - John had been hoping they hadn’t noticed him and Teyla, but apparently not.
The king drew a large, dangerous sword and advanced. He was fast, for someone so large, and clearly skilled. It was all John could do to keep up with his own sword, but even Teyla, who was more used to bladed weapons, was finding it difficult.
The Wraith Queen stood by, watching excitedly. She raised her hand with the Bracelet, which glowed blue - and the Satedan King glowed as well. He winced, as though the glow hurt him, and redoubled his efforts in the fight.
“He’s controlled,” said John.
“We knew that,” Teyla told him.
“Yes, but…” He didn’t have time to explain. “Trust me, okay? Can you draw him away for a few minutes?”
She raised her sword. “I can.”
“Good.” John let her take the lead, and the Satedan King focused on her. While they were busy, John fell back until the fight moved away from him and he was behind the controlled king. He drew his pistol and took careful aim-
The shot found its mark, striking the sapphire jewel embedded in the Satedan King’s shoulder. He reared back, roaring in pain, and Teyla drew back warily.
But the Satedan King straightened, and his eyes were clear, his motions suddenly more fluid.
“I don’t serve you,” he said, and ran his sword through the surprised Wraith Queen’s heart.
She didn’t even have a chance to scream as she crumpled to a heap on the ground.
The Satedan King turned back to John and Teyla - and dropped to one knee. “You have freed me. Whatever is in my power to grant is yours.”
“You got a name?” John asked.
He looked up, startled. “Ronon.”
“Glad to meet you. Let’s get out of here.”
As if summoned by his words, the walls around them began to shake. “That does not seem good,” observed Teyla.
The shaking worsened. Statues toppled and braziers spilled their oil, fire spreading across the stone floor.
“Yeah, not good,” John agreed, as smoke filled the room. “How do we get out of here?”
“John!”
He looked up sharply - it was Rodney, alive and waving from a smaller doorway that had been behind a now-toppled statue.
“Rodney!”
“Questions later, escaping now!” his husband called back. “Come on!”
“I…” faltered Ronon, and John grabbed his arm, tugging him along.
“We’ll sort it out later, come on.”
The three of them made their way through the fire and debris to the doorway where Rodney waited. John kissed him, far more briefly than he wanted, then followed him down the corridor, where they bumped into Jeannie and Madison.
But their way was suddenly blocked. Through the open doorway of the pyramid, they could see the jungle being ripped away as though by a fierce wind.
“It’s collapsing in on itself,” said Ronon. “The spell to bind the darkness broke when I killed her. It’s all collapsing.”
“With us in it?” Jeannie asked, and he shrugged.
“Up,” said Rodney. “We need to get up.”
They followed him through the interior of the pyramid, up and up and out onto the stone side of the pyramid.
“There’s nowhere else to go,” said Madison.
Jeannie pulled her into a hug, then reached around her to include John and Rodney, who tugged Teyla in, too.
Ronon stood, defiant - and he was the one who noticed the dirigible.
“Look!”
It was the Painted Rose, repaired and flying low toward them.
“Hey!” called David, leaning over the side of the gondola.
When it was close enough, Ronon hauled himself up into it, then helped pull the others up.
The Sheppard-McKays collapsed into a heap. “How?” Jeannie gasped.
Lorne grinned from the dirigible controls. “You can find all sorts of useful plants in the jungle,” he said, and David leaned in to kiss him.
Jeannie stayed on the deck, hugging Madison to her, but John got to his feet, pulling Rodney up, too.
“For a moment, there, I thought I’d lost you,” he said, softly.
“For a moment, you did,” Rodney replied. “I… would you like to know what heaven looks like?”
John pulled him close, both hands cupping Rodney’s face. “I already know.”
“Puh-lease,” grumbled Jeannie and Madison together, but they were smiling.
Teyla smiled at the Satedan King. “You are free,” she said. “What will you do now?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. My home was destroyed long ago.”
“Well, then,” said John, turning with his arm around Rodney’s shoulder. “You’d better come home with us.”
“Home,” repeated Jeannie, dreamily, and the dirigible arced its way back across the desert.
THE END
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