The ruins were not the first ones that they encountered – it seemed there
had been an entire city, or at least a large village in the area, one that
dated before the Cataclysm, and didn't exist on any maps. Yet there was
something special about this particular building. It might have been a
temple of some sort, but it wasn't dedicated to any god or goddess known to
the companions. And the most spectacular part of the ruins was a huge ring,
made of stone and carved full of strange symbols, standing on a pedestal.
Even Raistlin had no idea of what it was. It did remind the young mage of something that he had once read about, a portal of a sort, but that portal was not supposed to look like this. He had tried to search the stone ring for any traces of magic, but the spell that would usually reveal such things showed nothing at all.
Since it was already getting dark, and they were at least a day's journey from the nearest inn, the travelers decided to set up camp in the forest outside the ruins, at a very safe distance from the strange ring. Even though Tas was so eager to see something happen to it that he could hardly stay still for a moment (which wasn't so unusual when talking of the kender), Tanis was adamant that they should not be too near it. He was suspicious of the thing.
No matter how eager he was, Tasslehoff Burrfoot was also very tired after the long day of walking in the wilds, and soon he was snoring happily, even though the rest of the companions still talked softly in the glow of the embers. But Tas wasn't the only one who was extremely interested about the strange object.
Raistlin had been very annoyed to find out that he could not learn anything of the ring – what it was, why it was there, or who had built it. So, when all the others were gathered around the fire, thinking that the mage was simply studying his spellbook before going to sleep, if not quite asleep already, it was easy for him to sneak away from them and return to the stone structure.
It was so dark already that it was getting hard to see – the thing might not have been there at all, for what the mage could tell. He decided that he was far enough from the others, and uttered one word of command, "Shirak", that lit the crystal of the Staff of Magius.
In the clear light of the staff, Raistlin could see something alarming. There were footprints on the dusty pedestal, many more footprints than the ones that the companions had left, and clear marks on the grass around it, leading to a direction where they had never went. Someone else had been here, not long ago, and perhaps still was.
Quickly, the young mage uttered another word – "Dulak" – that turned off the crystal, and stepped into the shadow of a nearby wall, fearing that someone had already noticed him because of the bright light. After standing there for a while, shivering in the cold wind, since he had left his cloak in the camp, he begun to feel more secure. If someone had seen him, surely they would have come already.
All of a sudden, when Raistlin was about to leave his cover to examine the ring of stone again, he was assailed by a particularly bad fit of coughing. He had to lean on a pillar for support, as he gasped for breath.
Just as suddenly, the mage felt a soothing, supporting hand on his shoulder. The relief lasted only for a short while, giving way to irritation. "Caramon, you fool! I can take care of myself..." he whispered, expecting to see his twin brother's annoyingly worried face.
As soon as he was able to turn his head and look, Raistlin saw that the hand didn't belong to Caramon. It wasn't nearly as muscular, and this man wasn't quite as tall, although he was about the same age, or just a bit older. He was wearing glasses, and strange clothes the like of which the mage had never seen. And he wasn't the only strange human about.
"Daniel! Be careful, okay? I don't think the alien flu would be a very nice souvenir for Doctor Fraiser," called out another man, one who looked clearly older and tougher than the first one.
Raistlin stayed silent – not only because he was still out of breath, but also because he was not sure what would be wise in the situation. He could understand the strangers' words, so he would be able to talk back to them. But should he? Would he want to tell them that his illness was not contagious, or would it be better to keep them away?
"Aww, Jack, I was just trying to help," the younger man replied feebly, but did indeed pull back his hand.
Someone shone a bright, yellow light on them. "Colonel? Is everything all right?" asked a female voice – it was a woman who had short, blond hair, and was clad in same kind of clothing as the men. With her followed a fourth person, a dark-skinned one, as tall as Caramon. And there was something odd about him. As Raistlin looked at the three others with his cursed eyes, he could see them grow old and dead. But not this last one. It was like looking at an elf: the man seemed to be aging very slowly.
The tall man was pointing the mage with a staff of some sort, and the woman had something black that was probably a weapon as well, judging from the way she was holding it.
"Yeah, sure, Carter. Daniel just wanted to play nurse with the natives," the oldest-looking man – Jack? – quipped to the woman, and pointed towards Raistlin. It was only now that they all turned to gaze at him in the light that came from an odd sort of lantern that the woman carried.
The dark man raised his eyebrows in surprise, the young one's – Daniel's – eyes widened at the sight and his mouth fell open. The woman – Carter? – had a thoroughly annoying look of pity. The mage could imagine his golden skin reflecting the light in an eerie way, and his hourglass eyes narrowed under the scrutinizing stare of the strangers.
"Well, he sure looks bad," Jack noted to the others.
Fighting to keep his growing irritation from showing, Raistlin licked his lips, trying to clear away some of the already dried blood that he had not even noticed, being so amazed by the sudden arrival of the quartet.
Earlier, the mage had been glad that the companions had set up camp so far from the ring of stone, but now he was beginning to get worried. What if, unlikely as it seemed, these strangers would attack him? His friends might not hear a thing. Even though he did have a few spells left, it was already late, and he felt weak and tired...
"Hello, I'm Daniel, and here's Jack, Sam and Teal'c," the young man had begun to gesture around, probably supposing that Raistlin could not speak their tongue. "Can you understand me? What's your name?" he asked, pointing at the mage.
"Raistlin," the mage hissed his answer. "And you need not worry. Whatever your 'alien flu' is, you won't catch it from me. My illness is mine alone and it is not infectious." He had finally decided that since these odd people did not appear aggressive, he could as well try and get some information from them. "So, who are you, and why do you sneak around in the darkness?"
"We're peaceful explorers," Daniel replied quickly. "We came..." he started, and then frowned, glancing at Jack. Jack simply shrugged, and so the younger man went on. "We came through the stargate."
The word meant nothing at all to Raistlin, but it did not take long for him to reach the obvious conclusion – that the Gate this Daniel spoke of was nothing else than the ring of stone, and that these four were the ones who had appeared through it. He simply nodded as an answer, encouraging the man to keep talking.
"And, umm... We're here to exchange information and culture..." Daniel tried to go on, but he was cut off by Jack's question.
"Ever heard of the goa'uld?"
Now, here was a word that Raistlin could not connect with anything. He frowned, and shook his head.
"Evil snakey parasites? Gods with glowing eyes that take young people as hosts?" Jack suggested.
"I have never heard of a god with glowing eyes... And even the ones that I have heard of are somewhere far away," Raistlin replied, shaking his head again.
"I wonder if there's a village of some sort in this area? We've only found ruins so far, and for a while, we thought there's no one living in here," Daniel said.
Again, the mage had to consider if he wanted to answer, but then, he thought that it would probably be more useful to speak, especially since this area was almost as unknown to him as to these strangers. "And ruins are all that you will find, unless you wish to spend long days walking."
"Then, what are you doing here, sneaking in the darkness?" Jack sarcastically returned Raistlin's earlier question.
"I'm... studying," Raistlin replied vaguely. These people had not shown the slightest sign of recognition when they had seen his red robe, and they had peered at the Staff of Magius with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. Neither had they shown any sign of hostility. "I'm a magic-user," he added in his soft whispering voice, testing to see how these four would react.
The team turned to look at each other, each of them with a questioning look, which no one was able to answer. "A magic-user, eh?" Jack repeated, in a voice that was suspicious, but definitely not hostile.
"Magi. Mage of the Red Robes," Raistlin added, his eyes turned towards the Red Moon, Lunitari, in the night sky. Somehow, it felt like the moon were winking at him.
"Well, all kinds of magic-users are not unusual in mythologies... For example, in Finnish myths, there's the ancient Väinämöinen who can make people sink into the swamp or put them to sleep with his song..." Daniel explained, more to the three strangers than to the young mage. Jack simply shook his head in disbelief, Sam Carter shrugged, and Teal'c's look was quite impossible to read.
"I've never heard of this Väinämöinen, but yes, such spells do exist," Raistlin replied. "Yet they are more than just legends... You are not from this world, are you? Not from Krynn?" he uttered, letting out his guess of the strangers' origins.
Daniel nodded – he seemed to be the one most eager to talk. "As I said, we came through the stargate, or the chaapa'ai – that ring over there. We come from Earth – we're Tau'ri..." he tried to explain.
Raistlin nodded as if he had understood, although the part about the stargate was the only one that truly made any sense to him. Yet his theory was confirmed. These people were from an entire new, unknown world. This was quite an interesting challenge. He would have to find out more.
Even Raistlin had no idea of what it was. It did remind the young mage of something that he had once read about, a portal of a sort, but that portal was not supposed to look like this. He had tried to search the stone ring for any traces of magic, but the spell that would usually reveal such things showed nothing at all.
Since it was already getting dark, and they were at least a day's journey from the nearest inn, the travelers decided to set up camp in the forest outside the ruins, at a very safe distance from the strange ring. Even though Tas was so eager to see something happen to it that he could hardly stay still for a moment (which wasn't so unusual when talking of the kender), Tanis was adamant that they should not be too near it. He was suspicious of the thing.
No matter how eager he was, Tasslehoff Burrfoot was also very tired after the long day of walking in the wilds, and soon he was snoring happily, even though the rest of the companions still talked softly in the glow of the embers. But Tas wasn't the only one who was extremely interested about the strange object.
Raistlin had been very annoyed to find out that he could not learn anything of the ring – what it was, why it was there, or who had built it. So, when all the others were gathered around the fire, thinking that the mage was simply studying his spellbook before going to sleep, if not quite asleep already, it was easy for him to sneak away from them and return to the stone structure.
It was so dark already that it was getting hard to see – the thing might not have been there at all, for what the mage could tell. He decided that he was far enough from the others, and uttered one word of command, "Shirak", that lit the crystal of the Staff of Magius.
In the clear light of the staff, Raistlin could see something alarming. There were footprints on the dusty pedestal, many more footprints than the ones that the companions had left, and clear marks on the grass around it, leading to a direction where they had never went. Someone else had been here, not long ago, and perhaps still was.
Quickly, the young mage uttered another word – "Dulak" – that turned off the crystal, and stepped into the shadow of a nearby wall, fearing that someone had already noticed him because of the bright light. After standing there for a while, shivering in the cold wind, since he had left his cloak in the camp, he begun to feel more secure. If someone had seen him, surely they would have come already.
All of a sudden, when Raistlin was about to leave his cover to examine the ring of stone again, he was assailed by a particularly bad fit of coughing. He had to lean on a pillar for support, as he gasped for breath.
Just as suddenly, the mage felt a soothing, supporting hand on his shoulder. The relief lasted only for a short while, giving way to irritation. "Caramon, you fool! I can take care of myself..." he whispered, expecting to see his twin brother's annoyingly worried face.
As soon as he was able to turn his head and look, Raistlin saw that the hand didn't belong to Caramon. It wasn't nearly as muscular, and this man wasn't quite as tall, although he was about the same age, or just a bit older. He was wearing glasses, and strange clothes the like of which the mage had never seen. And he wasn't the only strange human about.
"Daniel! Be careful, okay? I don't think the alien flu would be a very nice souvenir for Doctor Fraiser," called out another man, one who looked clearly older and tougher than the first one.
Raistlin stayed silent – not only because he was still out of breath, but also because he was not sure what would be wise in the situation. He could understand the strangers' words, so he would be able to talk back to them. But should he? Would he want to tell them that his illness was not contagious, or would it be better to keep them away?
"Aww, Jack, I was just trying to help," the younger man replied feebly, but did indeed pull back his hand.
Someone shone a bright, yellow light on them. "Colonel? Is everything all right?" asked a female voice – it was a woman who had short, blond hair, and was clad in same kind of clothing as the men. With her followed a fourth person, a dark-skinned one, as tall as Caramon. And there was something odd about him. As Raistlin looked at the three others with his cursed eyes, he could see them grow old and dead. But not this last one. It was like looking at an elf: the man seemed to be aging very slowly.
The tall man was pointing the mage with a staff of some sort, and the woman had something black that was probably a weapon as well, judging from the way she was holding it.
"Yeah, sure, Carter. Daniel just wanted to play nurse with the natives," the oldest-looking man – Jack? – quipped to the woman, and pointed towards Raistlin. It was only now that they all turned to gaze at him in the light that came from an odd sort of lantern that the woman carried.
The dark man raised his eyebrows in surprise, the young one's – Daniel's – eyes widened at the sight and his mouth fell open. The woman – Carter? – had a thoroughly annoying look of pity. The mage could imagine his golden skin reflecting the light in an eerie way, and his hourglass eyes narrowed under the scrutinizing stare of the strangers.
"Well, he sure looks bad," Jack noted to the others.
Fighting to keep his growing irritation from showing, Raistlin licked his lips, trying to clear away some of the already dried blood that he had not even noticed, being so amazed by the sudden arrival of the quartet.
Earlier, the mage had been glad that the companions had set up camp so far from the ring of stone, but now he was beginning to get worried. What if, unlikely as it seemed, these strangers would attack him? His friends might not hear a thing. Even though he did have a few spells left, it was already late, and he felt weak and tired...
"Hello, I'm Daniel, and here's Jack, Sam and Teal'c," the young man had begun to gesture around, probably supposing that Raistlin could not speak their tongue. "Can you understand me? What's your name?" he asked, pointing at the mage.
"Raistlin," the mage hissed his answer. "And you need not worry. Whatever your 'alien flu' is, you won't catch it from me. My illness is mine alone and it is not infectious." He had finally decided that since these odd people did not appear aggressive, he could as well try and get some information from them. "So, who are you, and why do you sneak around in the darkness?"
"We're peaceful explorers," Daniel replied quickly. "We came..." he started, and then frowned, glancing at Jack. Jack simply shrugged, and so the younger man went on. "We came through the stargate."
The word meant nothing at all to Raistlin, but it did not take long for him to reach the obvious conclusion – that the Gate this Daniel spoke of was nothing else than the ring of stone, and that these four were the ones who had appeared through it. He simply nodded as an answer, encouraging the man to keep talking.
"And, umm... We're here to exchange information and culture..." Daniel tried to go on, but he was cut off by Jack's question.
"Ever heard of the goa'uld?"
Now, here was a word that Raistlin could not connect with anything. He frowned, and shook his head.
"Evil snakey parasites? Gods with glowing eyes that take young people as hosts?" Jack suggested.
"I have never heard of a god with glowing eyes... And even the ones that I have heard of are somewhere far away," Raistlin replied, shaking his head again.
"I wonder if there's a village of some sort in this area? We've only found ruins so far, and for a while, we thought there's no one living in here," Daniel said.
Again, the mage had to consider if he wanted to answer, but then, he thought that it would probably be more useful to speak, especially since this area was almost as unknown to him as to these strangers. "And ruins are all that you will find, unless you wish to spend long days walking."
"Then, what are you doing here, sneaking in the darkness?" Jack sarcastically returned Raistlin's earlier question.
"I'm... studying," Raistlin replied vaguely. These people had not shown the slightest sign of recognition when they had seen his red robe, and they had peered at the Staff of Magius with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity. Neither had they shown any sign of hostility. "I'm a magic-user," he added in his soft whispering voice, testing to see how these four would react.
The team turned to look at each other, each of them with a questioning look, which no one was able to answer. "A magic-user, eh?" Jack repeated, in a voice that was suspicious, but definitely not hostile.
"Magi. Mage of the Red Robes," Raistlin added, his eyes turned towards the Red Moon, Lunitari, in the night sky. Somehow, it felt like the moon were winking at him.
"Well, all kinds of magic-users are not unusual in mythologies... For example, in Finnish myths, there's the ancient Väinämöinen who can make people sink into the swamp or put them to sleep with his song..." Daniel explained, more to the three strangers than to the young mage. Jack simply shook his head in disbelief, Sam Carter shrugged, and Teal'c's look was quite impossible to read.
"I've never heard of this Väinämöinen, but yes, such spells do exist," Raistlin replied. "Yet they are more than just legends... You are not from this world, are you? Not from Krynn?" he uttered, letting out his guess of the strangers' origins.
Daniel nodded – he seemed to be the one most eager to talk. "As I said, we came through the stargate, or the chaapa'ai – that ring over there. We come from Earth – we're Tau'ri..." he tried to explain.
Raistlin nodded as if he had understood, although the part about the stargate was the only one that truly made any sense to him. Yet his theory was confirmed. These people were from an entire new, unknown world. This was quite an interesting challenge. He would have to find out more.