Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize do not belong to the authors. Some of the ideas were inspired by Xanthia Morgan’s wonderful fic, Brother of My Soul.

Archiving: Please ask first!

A/N: This story is coauthored by Rina and Shade—we hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much to everyone who posts reviews—your reviews encourage us to edit faster! Feedback is greatly appreciated. We’ve decided to start posting chapters twice a week—on Tuesday and Friday evenings. The story is done, and most of the rest of the chapters are edited. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Sokar’s Lair

"I hate it when they do that!" Jack snarled and whirled to face the furious, shocked warriors. "We need to get back into those tunnels! Find out if there's a ring platform, now!"

The warriors looked at Gen and Hakim, the two warriors who were assigned command upon the instances of Ardeth’s absence. After a moment and an exchange of glances, the Med-jai nodded. It seemed that these strangers had faced creatures like this before, and right now, with the prince taken, every second counted. They would take any advantage these new comers could give them.

After a minute, Gen noticed that Rick was missing. He groaned, immediately knowing what had happened. That boy had a lot to learn about being a Med-jai. He was loyal, but Rick almost always took unnecessary risks. Though he had to admit, his methods usually had an odd tendency to work out.... for the most part. While he was very fond of Rick and would do anything to protect him as he would for Ardeth, he couldn't worry about his safety now. He mobilized the men into units, picked up his machine gun and scimitar, and walked over to O'Neill to collaborate with him on a plan to sweep the ruins.

When the creature activated a device that made them turn invisible, it had startled Ardeth badly. He hesitated for a moment, but then realized that this could be a serious problem. He started yelling, hoping to give the Med-jai something to shoot at, but Sokar clapped a hand over his mouth. The boy fought hard against the creature, using all of the tricks he had learned, but was no match for the brute strength the goa’uld possessed.

Sokar finally reached an area slightly off to the side of the ruins. Pressing a gem on his ribbon device, suddenly, circles of stone rose from the ground, surrounding them like a cage. Then, there was a blinding flash of light. Once the light was gone and Ardeth could see again, the stones fell back into the earth, and they were in a completely different setting. They were back in the room with the sarcophagus where the creature had been sealed all this time.

Finally managing to get some leverage, Ardeth twisted away from Sokar, backing away from the creature. He glared at it but didn't reach for the dagger in his boot. He would save that hidden weapon for later. "Now what, creature? The warriors have this place surrounded."

Sokar smiled, lifting his chin arrogantly. "I have brought you here to give you a chance to repent and save your soul. Remove the shield you have raised over my palace, and I will be merciful and grant you and your friends forgiveness."

Ardeth stared at Sokar, incredulous. "You expect me to break every vow I have ever made to fulfill the sacred duty of the Med-jai? No, creature—I swear this, you will either be destroyed or put into your eternal sleep!"

Sokar's eyes glowed as he looked at the boy. He couldn't let it show that this pitiful magic that Ardeth had enacted was keeping him from ringing away to shuttle craft he had in orbit. He had spent hours trying to find a way to through it or to destroy it, but to no avail. He stepped closer to his captive. "You're defiant. You Tauri are all the same. Always resisting at first, but in the end, you always break. I am not requesting this of you. This is a command from your god! Deactivate the shield," he said in a threatening tone as he loomed over Ardeth, easily dwarfing the boy with the height of his host.

Standing to his full height, Ardeth's eyes were fierce and proud. "You may break me, but I will not lower the defenses." The boy reached behind him, feeling for the wall. If he could find some of the triggers, he could activate enough traps to give even this creature a difficult time.

Sokar's eyes narrowed, but after a while, he chuckled and tilted his head as if obliging a favor. "Have it your way." He raised his glove, and a beam of light stretched from the jewel across his palm and bored down into Ardeth's forehead.

The boy's breath hitched, but he kept himself from falling to his knees or crying out in pain by sheer will. Instead, he narrowed his focus to closing off the connections he had with Rick and his father, so that they wouldn't share in the pain.

Rick, who had managed to make his way into the ruins with out being stopped by the Med-jai soldiers, had been using the connection to try and see if he could figure out where the creature had taken Ardeth. He had made it through the first set of corridors when the connection suddenly disappeared but not before he felt a sharp burst of pain. Stunned momentarily, he was knocked to the ground. After he rose to his feet again, he searched for the connection but couldn't find it. His heart hammered in his chest as he pushed back down the sudden fear that rose into his heart that he might have just felt his brother's death. He shook his head, unable to even consider the possibility. He tried to discern in his mind the specific direction he had felt Ardeth's presence in. Once he had established that, he made a bee-line in that direction, praying that he found Ardeth alive when he reached him.

Sokar took an evil pleasure in watching his victim in so much agony. Even though Ardeth tried to hide it, he had himself been on the end of one of these devices and knew the level of pain he was causing the boy.

When Sokar finally released him, Ardeth collapsed to his knees, breathing harshly. The boy stayed still for a moment, shivering in reaction, then closed his eyes tightly and started concentrating on activating the protections. Hopefully, the creature would think he was just scared to look up again.

Sokar circled the boy, pleased to see him in such a weakened state. The prince had strength, but he was only a boy, and soon, he would do anything he asked just to make the pain stop. He would see to that. "Consider carefully, child, what you are up against. You fight because you think you can win, but I can assure you that nothing you can do will be able stop my power. If you continue to defy me, I'll make sure that you and your friends suffer unspeakable torment."

Activating the defenses took most of the strength that Ardeth had left after the torture. He fell onto the sand just as a rumble filled the air, and the ground shook. Slowly, the boy rolled over so he was facing Sokar. "You may torture me, you may even break me and kill me, but I am Med-jai. The tribes will stop you."

Sokar cast his eyes about, looking for the source of the sound. He tried to keep the fear out of his eyes, but some of it still showed through. "What is this? Another pitiful attempt to thwart me?" He picked the boy up by the collar of his robes. Holding him close, he sneered in his face. "No matter what your friends have started, no one will be able to save you nor will they be able to stop me from reclaiming this backwards planet as my own."

"Want a bet?" Rick said as he quickly emptied his clips into the unsuspecting Goa'uld. The creature went down, dropping Ardeth as he collapsed to the floor, groaning in pain. Rick didn't waste time kidding himself that he had actually killed it, but knelt by his brother. “Ardeth?” he breathed as he checked his pulse.

"Help me up, Rick. We must get out quickly—I activated the rest of the defenses. Watch out for the traps; they're all in the usual formation."

Rick helped Ardeth up and supported him by pulling the prince's arm over his shoulder. Together, he and Ardeth ran down the passageways, a layout of the tunnels and locations of the various traps that Ardeth had been showing to him over the past few days played out in his head.

As the two boys ran through the corridors, they rounded a corner and nearly ran into SG-1. Ardeth was sagging in Rick's grip, struggling to stay conscious.

All of SG-1's and the Med-jai guns were raised at the sudden movement.

"Hold your fire," Jack shouted immediately once he saw who it was. Gen had shouted the order in Arabic at the exact same moment. The Med-jai leader rushed forward to help the prince, but Jack caught him and held him back. "T?"

"I do not sense the presence of a Goa'uld in either of them," the Jaffa replied to the unspoken question.

Rick shook his head, almost angry at this point. "What? Are you blind? Do we look like Sokar to you?!"

"Peace, my brother," Ardeth whispered, using Rick to try to pull himself up more. "The defenses are completely up. That will delay the creature a little. And he can't get through the blood wards."

Hakim nodded. He yelled out orders in Arabic to fall back to the entrance of the ruins. It would not be safe in there for them anymore, and they needed to seal of all the escape points that the creature could use. Rick shifted his hold on Ardeth to help him stand better, taking a moment while they weren't on the run to see if his brother was injured. While he couldn't see any wounds, cuts, or bruises, he could see the exhaustion on his face and knew Ardeth would have to be in a tremendous amount of pain to lean on him as heavily as he did now. He helped Ardeth walk as they all started to make their way out of the ruins.

Once they were safely out, Ardeth pulled away from Rick and turned to face the ruins again. "I'm going to seal the entrances—this will probably knock me out, though."

Rick's face was grim, but he nodded and stood close behind his brother to catch him if he fell.

Raising a trembling hand, Ardeth touched the glyphs engraved on the door and closed his eyes. It took him much longer than normal, but a deep grating sound echoed through the desert as all of the doors sealed shut. With the last of his energy drained, Ardeth passed out.

Rick stood there and let the prince fall back into his arms. He bowed slightly under his weight but held onto him tightly, unwilling to let him fall to the ground. Gen walked over and picked the prince up in his arms. Rick let him take Ardeth but walked with him as he brought the prince back to the tent and laid him on his sleeping mat.

Jack turned to the rest of SG-1. "Carter, take Jonas and Daniel and help keep an eye on the kid. T and I are going to see if we can find the ring platform he's using to get in and out of the ruins."

"Yes, sir," Sam said, nodding to Daniel and Jonas. She led them back to the tent. Almost half the tribe was gathered around the outside of it—they had appointed themselves to guard the prince.

They parted to let their allies into the tent where the healer from before, Gen and Rick were kneeling by Ardeth's side. The healer frowned as he examined his sleeping form.

"What is it, Tahir," Gen asked with misgivings.

But Tahir shook his head, confused. "I can find no injuries to treat. His body is under a great amount of stress, but I cannot find its source." Gen looked between the healer and the prince, a puzzled expression on his face.

Rick shook his head emphatically. "He was in pain. Blinding pain," he insisted, his voice wavering slightly.

Daniel knelt next to Ardeth and turned the boy's face more towards the light so that they could see the faint burn on his forehead. "Sokar used a ribbon device. Ardeth will be fine after resting for a bit, though he will have a headache."

Rick looked at Daniel. “You’ve seen these devices before?” he asked, feeling a little better that at least one of them seemed to know something about what they were dealing with.

Daniel smiled ruefully. “Actually, many Goa’uld have used them on me.” He looked up at Rick and, seeing the concern the boy’s blue eyes, he placed a hand on his shoulder. “He’s going to be okay.”

Rick nodded as he seemed to visibly relax a little. After a moment, he took the empty clips out of his guns and started to reload them, giving himself something to focus on while they waited. Once he had finished that, he carefully took Ardeth’s scimitar out. Before he had run into the ruins after the prince, he had taken his sword and tucked it into his belt in case he needed it when he found him. Holding it across his lap, he carefully began to polish the blade.

“That scimitar is beautiful. What do the engravings on the hilt mean?” Jonas asked, sitting down beside Rick to look over the markings on the weapon. Sam kept one hand on her gun, but also settled down, knowing that there would be some noise before an enemy could get all the way to the tent.

Daniel immediately came over to look also, intrigued. Jonas almost smirked. It was quite amusing to send Dr. Jackson off on one of his tangents. Of course, Jack pretended to hate it, but the colonel was still too relieved over having the archaeologist back to make a big fuss about it. Jack made a big deal about having to put up with both Daniel and Jonas, but when the young alien offered to leave, he had nearly been kidnapped by the colonel until he promised never to bring it up again.

“These markings are the same dialect of Ancient Egyptian as the tattoos on everyone’s faces. It seems to be a genealogy, I think,” Daniel commented, squinting at the scimitar.

Rick smiled softly. "That would make sense. This is the sword of Ardeth's ancestors. It has been passed down the royal line over thousands of years, I'm pretty sure. His dad just gave it to him a short while ago, at least two full years before he was supposed to get it when he comes of age." Rick beamed at the memory and at how excited Ardeth had been that night. He was very proud of his brother.

Daniel pushed his glasses back up his nose, now completely enthralled. "You mean that these tribes don't normally have boys your ages out fighting? Why are you and Ardeth an exception?"

Rick looked at Daniel carefully. He wasn't sure how much he was supposed to tell him about the Med-jai ways. The only way he had been allowed to know what he had learned about them was because of the discovery that he was Med-jai. "His training's been accelerated, because one day he will be king. But he received the sword early because he.... saved the world, even though he and I had been captured by the enemies of our tribe." Rick was still getting used to the fact that he had a tribe, so it sounded a little odd to him when he said it, but it was a good kind of odd.

"He performed with grace under fire," Carter mused, using the euphemism she was used to. It sounded right to Rick, so he nodded.

Jonas stifled a smile as he realized how thrilled Daniel was at these new discoveries. He guessed that as soon as they got back to their own time, Daniel would go running off to Egypt to find out more about the Med-jai.

"How old do you have to be to come of age?" the archaeologist asked, watching as Rick finished polishing the blade and placed it right next to Ardeth, where the boy would be able to find it as soon as he woke up.

"Sixteen," Rick said as he started to gear up again, since he hadn't had time before the goa'uld had attacked. Once he was done, he looked around for something else to do, but everything was taken care of, so all there was to do now was to wait. He sighed, deciding that waiting was absolutely the worst aspect of life. But focusing on the questions Daniel asked him while Ardeth slept helped to keep him from becoming restless.

Several hours passed before Ardeth stirred. The boy woke up all at once and tried to sit up, only to collapse back against his sleeping mat. "Oh, ow," he muttered, shielding his eyes against the light from the candles that aggravated his headache.

Rick jumped immediately to his side. "Hey, easy buddy. Take it slow," he advised quietly, helping to support him as he sat up again, cautiously this time.

Daniel winced as he recognized the expression on Ardeth's face. "Yeah," he said nodding in sympathy, "I hate those things."

"I'm not certain which is worse—the headache from that horrible device, or the reaction headache from activating all of the defenses at the same time." Ardeth buried his face in his knees for a moment before sighing and forcing himself up. He glanced down at his scimitar and flashed a smile at Rick. "Thank you for retrieving it and cleaning it, my friend."

"No problem," Rick said, smiling back as he handed it to Ardeth. "Our friends were quite impressed with it," he said, nodding to Sam, Daniel, and Jonas.

Daniel nodded enthusiastically.

Suddenly, a voice was heard. "Carter?" It sounded like O'Neill, but it was coming from inside the tent, and he wasn't there.

Rick cast about in confusion and stared at Sam as she started talking to her vest. "Yes, sir?"

"We can't find the where the ring platform is hidden. Is the prince up yet?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ask him if he or his people know where it is."

Ardeth and Rick were both staring at Sam in complete confusion. "What sort of magic is this?" Ardeth asked, almost forgetting about his headache in light of the new puzzle.

"Oh," Carter said, waving her hand reassuringly as she opened a pouch in her vest, pulling a small device out. "It's a walkie-talkie. We use it to talk to people far away. Mainly, we use it so we can coordinate our people to search for things or organize attacks." She held it out to show it to them for a second. "Look, the goa'uld that took you, he's got to have a way to get in and out of the ruins that allows him to make it to and from of the camp without detection. We call it a ring platform. There's usually a circle on the ground where it is, five or six rings come out of the ground, there's a flash of light and then you're transported somewhere else. Have you or any of your tribe seen anything like that?"

"So that's how we ended up in the burial chamber! That part confused me. I can show you where the flash of light happened," Ardeth offered, standing slowly and carefully.

Carter nodded. She picked up the walkie-talkie again to talk to O'Neill. "Colonel, Ardeth knows where it is."

"Alright, have him take you to it. We'll triangulate your position and meet you there."

"Be cautious, Sokar may be laying in wait with his cloaking device," Teal'c's voice now came through the speaker.

"Neat! We should get some of those!" Rick said, still fascinated by the device. He grinned wickedly to think not only of the device's strategic value, but of all the tricks they could play on Evy and Ardeth's cousins with a set of those.

Ardeth snickered. "I know what you are planning, Rick. It would make ambushing the cousins much easier." The boy shoved his scimitar into his belt and pulled his robes back on, enjoying the warmth they provided. "This way."

Rick chuckled but was not surprised how easily Ardeth could read his mind. Sometimes, he wondered how deep the potential of the bond between them was. Often, he was convinced that they could speak to each other through their thoughts. He pulled his shot gun from its strap strung over his shoulder. If they ran into the creature this time, he wanted something more substantial to hit him with.

"How fast can the creature heal?" Ardeth asked as he led the small group across the desert over to where the confrontation with Sokar had taken place. "Rick put several rounds into him."

"Well, usually it depends on the severity of the injury," Jonas explained. "Since bullet holes probably take less time to heal than the damage he suffered from the grenade and then the resulting rock slide, he's probably due to come out some time soon."

Rick scoffed at the idea that anyone could think that bullet wounds took a short time to heal, his own experience in such matters still fresh in his mind. "So this sarcophagus makes it to where it's as if he's never been injured after I emptied both cartridges into him?" Jonas nodded. Rick turned to Ardeth, "Okay buddy, if we do end up destroying this guy, you and I need to get our hands on this sarcophagus!"

Daniel winced. "Oooh, no. I don't think that's a good idea."

"From what I remember of the history book, the sarcophagus is almost as evil as the creature. We won't be using it, ever," Ardeth told Rick firmly and stopped, eyeing their location. He moved a few paces to the right and nodded. "Right here is where we were standing when we were transported away."

Daniel began brushing through the sand to find the outline of the ring while Carter and Jonas kept their guns raised and alert in case the goa'uld was setting a trap for them. Rick kept his gun raised as well, determined that this time nothing was going to happen to Ardeth. After a second, Daniel found part of the ring. Brushing away the sand, he traced all the way around the outline until the platform was revealed. "Well, I guess we found it," Jonas said.

"Yeah," Daniel said uneasily, standing and glancing around. "So, where's Sokar?"

The young Med-jai prince was looking around uneasily. "Somewhere near—Rick, can you sense the evil?"

"Yeah," he breathed as he raised his shotgun and kept his guard up. "He’s watching us." Rick could feel Sokar's eyes on them as they all cast about looking for him.

"I wish I had time to test you all to see if you have the heart of a Med-jai. That would make this much easier," Ardeth commented to Daniel, scanning the area again.

Daniel logged that away. He would have to remember that later. The very idea sent a thrill of excitement through him, but he kept his mind focused on trying to find the goa'uld. But as soon as the threat had been eliminated, he was determined to undergo whatever test he had to find out what ritual Ardeth was talking about.

"Yo," they heard Jack calling from a distance. Everyone looked in the direction of his voice to see him and Teal'c approaching. "So, what did we find?"

It was in that moment that Sokar struck, taking advantage of the distraction.

Ardeth saw movement out of the corner of his eye, just a slight shimmer in the air, and didn't hesitate. He tackled Rick, protecting his brother against the blast from the strange weapon, and threw his knife in the direction in which he had seen the movement.

Since the use of the cloak prevented him from using the shield, the knife cut deep into Sokar's side. He growled in rage, both at the knife wound he had just sustained and the fact that he couldn't seem to gain any ground against these people, especially that Med-jai. They had always been a threat to the Goa'uld. Seti and his followers had organized them too well. He was not about to let some whelp and his soldiers defeat him.

"He's got a zat!" Jack called out.

"Thanks, buddy," Rick said to Ardeth as he rose to a kneeling position, opening fire in the direction that Ardeth had thrown the blade. Teal'c laid fire with his staff weapon and the rest of SG-1 opened up with their semi-automatics.

"Be careful, my friend." Ardeth warned, rolling to his feet, then yelping and flinging himself back down as a zat blast nearly got him. "What is that weapon he's using?"

"It's a zat," Daniel called out. "One shot stuns, two shots kill."

"So, nothing good," Rick commented dryly as he took a bullet from between his teeth to reload the cartridge. But what they didn't realize was that Sokar was trying to herd them closer to the center of the ring. Rick picked Ardeth up with a fistful of his robes and pushed him behind himself, trying to get to the safety of what remained of the stone structure on the opposite side. Staying between Sokar and Ardeth, he backed up, firing his gun as he went. Both boys reached the circle, having to cross it to reach the cover on the other side. The second they crossed the threshold, Sokar activated the device. Seeing the outer layer retract, Jack called out a warning. Rick, already knowing something was wrong, pushed Ardeth as hard as he could, getting the prince outside rings just as they rose from the ground.

Falling to the sand, Ardeth whirled just as Rick disappeared from sight. He spat out several curses in the various languages he knew, startling SG-1. He stood up, scimitar angled defensively in front of him, and faced the direction the shots had come from. "That was a very bad move, creature!"

Sokar, still invisible, shook his head. It had not been his intent. He had wanted Ardeth to be caught in the rings, but this could work to his advantage as well. From the way these two boys defended each other, he knew they meant a great deal to one another. So, he would play along as he tried to make his way to the rings himself. "I told you that your friends would suffer for your impudence. Lower the shield, and I will spare him the agony of a slow death."

Ardeth rolled his eyes at that. "You are out here, and I am between you and your transporter. My friend knows where the traps are, and he can easily get out of there while you try to find a way in.

"Do you think I left the sanctuary of the ruins again without setting a few traps of my own, especially after the trouble you two have caused me? Besides, I am a god. My powers span through out the universe. I can reach him in that room even with the current distance between us."

"And yet despite all this 'power', you've been trapped in a box downstairs in the basement for the past, oh, three thousand years," Jack chimed in.

The young Med-jai laughed at that. "My people work hard to prevent evil creatures like you from causing any problems."

"And yet, here I am," Sokar replied tauntingly. His voice was coming from a slightly different direction now. He was moving. "And nothing you or your pathetic tribe can do will stop me now. Soon, you will all curse Seti for ever daring to oppose me, but not before your brother does."

Ardeth's eyes narrowed, and he started for the ring device, intending to plant himself right on top of it. He wasn't about to let Rick face the creature alone.

But Jack grabbed him and pulled him back behind the rock he was crouched behind. "What are you doing? You're giving him exactly what he wants! He's trying to provoke you into turning yourself in!"

"I am not letting the brother of my soul face that creature alone!" Ardeth told the man fiercely, trying to twist away.

Jack tried to hold him down but was not aware of all the ways Med-jai knew on how to free themselves. He couldn't keep his grasp on the prince for long. "No! Ardeth!" he called out after the boy.

Ardeth stopped just short of the ring platform and titled his head to the side, listening carefully. Just because he was willing to let the goa'uld have him to protect Rick didn't mean that he wouldn't take another option if he could.

Sokar was only a yard away from the ring platform. If he could move quietly enough, he could stun Ardeth and activate the rings, transporting them both inside the ruins. As quietly as he could, he raised his zat with one hand, pointing it at the boy, the activator for the ring transport in his other hand.

Just then, there was a screech from the sky, and Ardeth jerked in surprise. His foot slipped, and he landed hard on his side. A white falcon swooped down on Sokar, screaming angrily at him.

Seeing Horus dive a few times at something a couple of feet away, Jack knew it had to be Sokar. "Open fire!" Jack called.

Sokar snarled. Abandoning the invisibility cloak for the shielding device, he dove for the rings, activating them.

As soon as he saw the man, Ardeth lunged for him, scimitar extended. He didn't expect to be caught up in the rings, though.

The goa'uld looked up slightly surprised to see the boy, but a cruel smile lit his face as they were enveloped in a cloud of white.