The Raid

By Donna and Abs

The Sadaamites decided they had to get into Edan covertly.  You couldn't just sail past the fort and expect to do so unmolested!  So they took their ship only as far as the other side of the river, and then anchored as close to shore as possible.  They were south of the fort but still north of the House of Love.  Then, using longboats, they made their way to land. 

The reasoning was that surely no one expected them to raid so close to the fort itself, especially in broad daylight! They would scout the area, grab anyone that they could, then head back to the boats. Once it was night, they could easily sail up the river to another mooring point. 

Plus, they could just as easily get into the town from this direction as any other, and not have to pass the Fort itself.  They were certainly not running right past the stockade in daylight, where they would be picked off like turkeys in a shoot! 

As they headed through the woods in the general direction of the town of Edan, they came upon something they hadn't expected. A Gypsy camp! Complete with two beautiful women sitting around the fire. 

They were both darkhaired, but one was cradling a newborn to her breast.  Kronos leered at the breast and then motioned his men to steal in and grab the women.  "Not the brat!" he hissed.  At least one of them was Immortal. 

Irena had just finished nursing the baby and had put him in his cradle next to her caravan when she felt the presence of other Immortals. But it was not from the direction of the stream where Duncan and Jacob were fishing. "JACOB!" she screamed, making a grab for her sword. 

But she did not get to it.  Silas came up behind her and grabbed her, pinning her arm as he put his hand over her mouth.  Laughing, he pulled her away from the cradle - and the sword - while Caspian did the same to Esmerelda! 

As the two men came running back into the camp, they were both quickly dispatched with some expertly thrown knives. As tempting as it was to go take their heads, Kronos knew that a quickening would only attract attention from the nearby fort. So, leaving the men where they lay, the marauders stole the two women away. 

ARM wrestled Esmerelda from Caspian's grasp.  When the other looked angrily from Methos to Kronos, the scarred one said, "When we have extras you can play.  You never leave much for the rest of us.  Now, come!"  And the small band of men hurried back toward their ship. 

"It is almost unlucky we were so lucky," Methos joked.  "We never made it to Edan proper!" 

While they made their way back to their boats, they were unaware that they had been spotted and were being followed themselves. Two of members of the Singing Creek Camp had been out hunting, and had seen them drag the now gagged women along the trail. Squanto followed them to see where they were going, while Archie Grey Owl went back the way they had come to see if he could get reinforcements from either the gypsy camp or the fort itself. 

At the camp, the two Immortals lay with knives in their chests.  Tadgh came from his caravan, which was still parked in the woods nearby, to find them in that condition.  He did not know what to do!  Weren't they supposed to be Immortal?  Just then a shimmer of sparkles erupted next to him, and Marea appeared.  "Pull 'em out, you ugly lump!" she said, and becoming Five Feet she ran to the cradle to check on the baby. 

About that time, Archie Grey Owl showed up in time to help and pulled the wicked looking knife out of Gypsy Duncan's chest, while Tadgh did the same with Jacob. A moment later they both revived, gasping for breath to fill their empty lungs. 

"They took Irena!" shouted Jacob as soon as he could.  He didn't seem as worried about his son, though he did glance over to see the baby being lifted out of his cradle by the Leprechaun. 

Seeing the baby was going to be taken care of, the two Immortals grabbed their swords and then took off with Grey Owl to the spot where he had last seen the others. From there, the trail that Squanto left for him was easy to read. 

Tadgh looked nervously from Marea and the baby to the men.  He wanted to go off with them!  But she said, "Go to town and fetch a new mother.  This'un will need tendin' I won't be able t'do.  C'mon," she urged, "I don' think less of ye for no' goin' with them!"  Put that way, he ran to do as she'd asked.  

Meanwhile, the trail led the posse toward the riverside. 

They found Squanto crouched in a dense thicket. "They take little boats to big boat hiding in reeds. Wait for dark I think," he told the others. 

"So they have my wife out in that river?" Jacob asked, almost mad with anger and grief. 

The Indian nodded, his dark eyes showing his own frustration at not being able to help rescue the women. 

"I have an idea," Duncan suggested. "Why don't we go up to the fort, and get one of their boats and go across the river. And when their ship goes by in the dark, we can swim out to it." 

"If the ships are in port!" said Jacob angrily. 

"They have river boats at the Fort," Grey Owl told him. "Smaller. I can run back to the camp and get help. We can take out any guards on deck with our arrows from the shore while you get on board." 

By the time they got to the fort, the watch had spotted the ship to the south, pulling further and further across the river, and out of their reach.  When O'Neill heard the Native Americans' request, he was unsure if it would work. 

He assured them that he and his men would do everything in their power to rescue the stolen women. But to the grieving Jacob, that promise was not enough. Even if he had to swim the river himself, he was going to somehow get to his wife!