Chapter Faive .::Tyrs Hand::.

The morning sunlight filtered through the wooden shutters in Sam�s quarters. The morning birds chirped outside happily. She opened her eyes and breathed deeply, the sweet smell of morning glory flowers filled her lungs. She smiled at Jack who was stuffing the vase next to her bed full of purple morning glory.
�Sir, I think that vase is quite full enough,� She said to him as he was banging the vase on the side of the cabinet trying to get more in there. He quickly put it back.
�Oh, yeh! You�re right,� he blushed. He fiddled around with the vase to make sure it was upright.
�Sir?� She asked.
�Yes Major?�
�What are you doing here?�
His cheeks went rose red. �Umm! It is late! And Daniel told me to wake you up. He is also in coffee withdrawal. Do you have any?� he sputtered.
Sam checked her watch. �Sir its 09.30 hours. It isn�t late!�
�Sure it is Major! Please come down for breakfast. I made it specially. Ok fine, I requested the chefs make it specially, but that�s not the point!� he paused. �Oh, and I wasn�t lying, Daniel REALLY is in coffee withdrawal. He raided my pack for coffee at 05.30 this morning and he only got one cup out of it. He is not happy,�
�Okay. Help me out will you,� she put her hand out, Jack took it and pulled her out of the bed. She stood there brushing her hair with her fingers while Jack put a light robe onto her shoulders.
They walked down to the main hall for breakfast.

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Sam was onto the �dessert� of her breakfast. She was feeling awfully full, but she kept eating because she did not want to hurt the Colonel.
Daniel sat at the far corner of the table hunched over and twiddling his thumbs. He kept raving on about actually getting some sleep and how Jack had no coffee, making him insane. He picked at the small breakfast he�d ordered. He spent the whole morning yelling at the cooks because there was not enough coffee flavoring in the porridge.

Daniel slid down next to Sam and said to her and Jack: �My grandmother was a newt.� He laughed twitching profusely �She was an odd one too. She never liked me. I dreamt about her last night. And Steve Irwin*. I want coffee!� His head sunk into his arms and he sobbed. He began to mutter about his father and how his grandmother had turned him into a badger. How, that if you carry the 7 and make it the square route of 13091 it made him a rather large shrew. Daniel looked up at Jack for a moment, his eyes sunken and dull.

�What�s with all the food?� he asked.
�It�s for breakfast,� Jack replied.
�Oh,� was all Daniel said and went back to moping.
Sam couldn�t bear to see him like this.
Sam rushed up the stairs to her quarters. She went though the pockets of her uniform and found 4 packets of Ground Coffee.
On her way out she smelt the morning glories her Colonel had given her and she ran back down to the hall. She slid the coffee under Daniel�s nose. The moment he saw them he ripped the packets open at once and let the coffee pour into his mouth. He sat there with a look of utter glee on his face, his eyes rolled back into his head.
Daniel shook his head violently and his eyes went back to normal. He smiled at them. They looked at him stunned.
�What�s for breakfast?� he asked.
Jack pointed to Daniel�s porridge he left at the other end of the table. �Ooh! Goodie. Porridge,� he grabbed it and ate it as if he hadn�t eaten anything in a week.
Sam stood up and kissed Jack lightly on the cheek.
�Thank you for the breakfast,� she smiled. Just as she was about to go upstairs to get changed a messenger came in with blood all over him. Sam rushed to his aid. She supported his chest as he spoke.
�The villiage of Ingerlii is preparing to attack! They come from the Northeast�� Blood oozed from his mouth as he spoke. Daniel rushed over to the messenger and looked him in the eye.
�Ingerlii? The village I was going to unite with this one again?� he asked. The messenger nodded �Tell Mjollnir to prepare a defensive manouvre�tell�� the messenger went limp. Sam felt for a pulse. She felt nothing. She hung her head for a moment.
�Go tell Mjollnir there will be an attack, Daniel. Please hurry,� she told him. Daniel ran through a door that was behind the throne of Mjollnir.
�Sir, I think we�d better go upstairs and get our uniforms on. You get Teal�c too.� They ran upstairs and went into their quarters.
They stripped off their guest robes and put on their SG gear. They put on their artillery vests. They put a fresh clip in their p90�s, loaded their pistols and checked their zatnikatels. Sam looked in Teal�c�s room, he wasn�t there, she assumed he was in the main hall.
When they came back downstairs there was already a congregation of the Viking warriors Huskarls and the palace guards. Teal�c stood with Daniel fully geared and ready to go.
Mjollnir approached them with fear in his eyes. �Come with me, to the front of the palace, we must alert the people for a fight!� They walked out onto the steps of the palace.
Mjollnir stood with his arms to the heavens, as if to summon the rains. �People of Iqthalldalf! Hear me! The people of Ingerlii attack from the Northeast! I want every man, woman and strong lad to be at the entrance of the city in 10 minutes. There you will be provided with longswords, axes, spears, shields and bows and arrows! All the elderly and the children are to hide in the great hall of Gleipnir! May Tyr be with us!�
The people�s attention turned to one another and a lot of commotion started in the village. Mjollnir turned to SG1 and Charlie Schmidt-Tyers who had appeared at their side. �Will you fight with us?�
Daniel sighed regretfully. He knew what Jack was going to say. �I�m sorry Mjollnir, but this is not our battle. But we can try to avert all attacks on Gleipnir,� Jack answered.
�We are sad that the gods do not wish you to use your awesome power in battle. But I am sure it is for the best,� Mjollnir stormed into the hall and chanted something in Viking to the Huskarls and the guards. The Huskarls, with fierce expressions, large swords, axes and shield stormed out of the hall and into the streets. They ran out of the gate and surrounded the squabble of free men and women in a protective barrier. With their shields held high and interlocked they waited for the enemies horn to sound, to hear the pounding of thousands of warrior feet on thick snow, the war cries of the enemy as they are being charged.

The children and elderly of the town streamed into the hall. Mjollnir took position on his war-horse at the front of his people and drew his sword. SG1 closed the doors of the hall and barred it with a large piece of wood. They looked around the room to see little children filled with fear, being held close by their Grandparents, who softly wept when the war cries of the enemy were heard faintly in the distance.
Lieutenant Schmidt-Tyers looked out of the window onto the fields where the �army� of Iqthalldalf stood. On the third hill from the village appeared a man on a large muscular horse. He wore a long fur cloak, was protected by a large round shield and a chain mail shirt. His sword was long and broad, the hilt was thick and strong. In groups of ten men appeared behind the man on the horse. Thousands of men rolled over the hill, the first daisies of spring that popped out of the snow that morning had been crushed by thousands of feet.
�That is no village army. That is the army of a warlord,� said Charlie to Daniel.
�You�re right. Do you think that Ingerlii has been over run by a warlord?� Daniel asked.
There was no answer. Charlie had already climbed out of the window and was running down the hill towards Mjollnir.
�Uhh! Lieutenant!� Daniel shouted. Charlie did not even turn around. He halted beside Mjollnir and his horse, he bowed.
�I will die as one of you, as a Iqthalldalf!� he yelled. Mjollnir and the lieutenant raised their weapons to the heavens as if the battle had been won. It had not even begun.
The army of the warlord began to charge. A loud rumble of hoof beats and running men echoed across the plain.
The villagers of Iqthalldalf raised their swords, one handed axes, two and three handed axes, spears and the archers raised their bows. The army of the warlord ran into the shields of the Iqthalldalf like water. Men ran into the spears that came at them by surprise from behind the shields. Schmidt � Tyers had already killed a dozen men but used up one clip. He fiddled around in the battlefield with dark age weaponry flying at him from all directions, he was trying to reload his gun. Click, went the magazine and he began to fire again. The men of the warlord had broken the barrier of the Iqthalldalf men. Their swords swept high for the neck, for the shirts of mail did not reach the necks. And they swept low rendering many men legless and left them there to bleed. The warlord of the Ingerlii cantered up behind the Lieutenant and aimed his bow.

Charlie had seen the shadow of the horse and turned around, finger on the trigger ready to fire, only to be met with an arrow to the head. SG1 watched the devastation unfold before them. Before long Mjollnir was dead and all the people of Iqthalldalf were either dead, limbless or just had a mild flesh-wound that prevented them from doing anything. The Ingerlii had beaten the resistance and were flooding in through the gates of the town. Burning and looting all the houses as the approached the hall of Gleipnir where SG1 had sought refuge.
Daniel had been sitting in the chair of Mjollnir when he noticed an unusual inscription in the arm just as he was standing up. He translated it to be: