Another twenty-four hours, he told himself, and he’d call it off. If they weren’t home by then, the Tollan mission would be a bust anyway, and he wasn’t keeping up this charade for a moment longer than absolutely necessary.
He picked up his MP5, slipped the strap over his head and cinched it tight, then holstered his Berretta. Better. He felt much better armed. Carter was doing the same and Teal’c was hefting his staff weapon with obvious satisfaction. Daniel hadn’t moved, so Jack picked up his handgun and handed it to Teal’c; Daniel wasn’t in any condition to fight and someone should make use of the weapon. Just in case.
So, this was it. They were ready. The question was, ready for what?
He glanced up, but the sky was empty. He figured they’d head for high ground and stay out from under any tree cover, looping back toward the Stargate. If there were some flesh-eating Goa’uld flying around up there, they’d get a good view of them and hopefully come close enough that Teal’c could take them down. If not, then maybe Carter would be right and they’d find a MALP at the Stargate and SG-3 scouting the area. Crazier things had happened.
It wasn’t a great plan, but it was a plan.
After their final farewells, Aedan’s people watched in silence as they left. The only one showing any kind of agitation was Elspeth. She was fidgeting next to Aedan, looking from him back to Daniel, and up at Aedan again. Jack couldn’t figure out if she was his sister, girlfriend, or just another member of the gang, but in the end she didn’t say anything as Jack gave the order and his team moved out.
He took point, leading them back up the valley along a shallow incline. There was a ridge along the top that was nice and exposed and would give an easy view down over the valley and back toward the Stargate. He kept the pace slow because of Daniel, who walked with Carter. Teal’c brought up the rear. No one was talking. Specifically, no one was talking to him. He could hear Daniel’s slow, breathless voice behind him and a few curt replies from Carter. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, for which he was grateful. Eavesdroppers never heard anything good about themselves and he was quite sure he didn’t want to hear Carter’s opinion of her CO right now.
He kept his eyes on the sky as they walked. The clouds were high, a thin misty layer of darker cloud running fast beneath the impenetrable ceiling of white. Once he thought he saw something, a dark flash that was gone before it was there, but he couldn’t be sure. It could have been a bird. “Teal’c,” he said, glancing over his shoulder, “did you —?”
He broke off when he saw a figure running after them — one of Aedan’s people.
Teal’c also turned when he saw Jack looking and then they all stopped and waited while Elspeth, braids dancing as she ran, caught up with them. Bracing himself to turn her down if she wanted to come along for the ride, Jack stalked back past Carter and Daniel so that he was the first one to meet her. “Did we forget something?” he said.
She shook her head, out of breath. “I wanted…” she gasped, “…to tell you…”
Jack waited, almost patiently, while she caught her breath.
“South,” she said, when she could speak again. She pointed off in the opposite direction from the Stargate. “You should go south,” she said. “That’s where the camps are. If you want to find the Devourers, they’re there.”
Jack shared a glance with Teal’c. “How far south?”
“Several days walk,” she said. “But if you go north,” she nodded in the direction he’d been taking them, “there is nothing beyond but mountains. Some people up there, yes, but little food. And when the snows come, they’ll head south too.”
Jack didn’t bother telling her that they weren’t planning to hang around for the ski season.
“Thank you, Elspeth,” Daniel said, coming to stand next to Jack. “Um, did Aedan not want you to tell us? Will you be in trouble, now?”
She shrugged. “Aedan thinks the Devourers will take you before you get anywhere. And if you walk like this, in the open, they will. He thinks you’re fools.”
“He may have a point,” Jack said.
But the girl shook her head. “I think you’re unafraid and that’s rare in this world. Aedan is no coward, but he’s frightened. He’s too frightened to do anything. But you…” Suddenly she seized Daniel’s hand, squeezing it between her own. “If you find Dix, if you find a way to reach the resistance, promise that you will tell me. Promise you will come back for me.”