Chapter Five

She held me spellbound in the night
Dancing shadows and firelight
Crazy laughter in another
Room and she drove herself to madness
With a silver spoon
Woo hoo witchy woman see how high she flies
Woo hoo witchy woman she got the moon in her eye
Witchy Woman
The Eagles

Calla was no more out of his sight then Daniel came out of his daze. It took a moment to get his bearings and realize what had happened. His chest was cold, so cold that exhales white with frost turned to steam upon mingling with the open air. Gone was his Wife and in her place nothing more than a coat and winter accessories. “Where’s Calla?” Daniel asked a confused voice. His head felt light, as though it had floated away from his shoulders and was only now settling into its proper place as he cleared his throat. “Callestah, I meant.”

Morgan Le Fey, wispy golden haired beauty that she was rose from her seat to float the distance between them and then sit by his side. “Calla,” she said stressing the name in an easy tone, “has gone with Nimue. She is fine and you will see her soon.”

“Yes, yes, very soon.” Covey echoed as too left her seat to meander down to where Daniel sat. “We have been told that you are some kind of historian.” She said pouring a glass of mead and handing it to him.

“Historian” Daniel asked taking the glass. “An archeologist, yes.” Raising it to his lips he caught a whiff of the brew. “Is this alcoholic?”

“Mildly.” Morgan informed him.

Daniel put the glass down on the table “No thank you.” He said to them. “I promised her that I wouldn’t drink.”

The two women exchanged a concerned glance. “You’ve a problem with the spirit then?” Morgan asked, her deep brown eyes narrowing harshly on him.

Did he? Well, yes. Well, no. “I had a small problem,” Daniel admitted. “Just a small one. But, for now, let’s just say I’d rather not imbibe.”

“Very well.” Covetina intoned taking the glass back and drinking from it herself. “Water?”

“No, I’m fine.” But he wasn’t. Daniel was starting to feel a bit uneasy as he sat there being stared at by the two women.

“If that’s what you wish.” Morgan said. “Please tell us now.”

Daniel looked from one to the other not understanding the demand. “Tell you what?”

“Everything.” Morgan said without hesitation.

“Yes, everything.” Covey agreed taking another drink. “All of it leave nothing out.”

“Everything?” He sounded like a parrot.

“Start at the beginning that’s always best, Daniel.” Morgan Le Fey encouraged. “How did you meet Callestah? How did it come to be that you were once Sa’Tan but now you are Husband.”

Oh that beginning! It was so long ago. Carefully and very expertly avoiding certain minefields, Daniel started with a mall in Athens and moved to a planet known as Tiberia and the Shankuk Tribe. He told about the Stargate and how the Mortals had managed to master the ancient piece of technology. “You know, Maeve didn’t have a problem with my marrying Calla.” Daniel said as he gauged their responses to what he was saying. “She and Poseidon conducted the ritual that separated us.”

“The one that destroyed your bond.” Morgan said in a corrective tone.

“No, not exactly.”

“Explain.” Covetina coached and leaned toward him listening intently to what he had to say.

“Do you know about my brother?” From the looks on their faces it appeared they did not. “I have a twin brother, David.” Their faces whitened and he hurried forward. “He, ah, um, David…hurt…Calla. He took the…fluid,” he pointed to his heart, “from her and ah, after that, the bond was tattered.” Daniel explained. “Later, when Maeve came, she and Poseidon agreed that we should be completely separated.”

“Well yes,” Morgan huffed. “What good is a bond like that?”

“So you married her?” Coventina asked. “Why?”

“Ah, because I was in love with her and I still am.” He said in a voice which seemed to hold a quality of disbelief. Daniel thought the question stupid. Why else would he marry her? “And she gave birth to my children. I wanted to spend my life with her and my children. What is this about? Why are you so concerned?”

“Callestah was to have a Sa’Tan and a Husband, you are aware of this?”

“Sort of.” Daniel mumbled thinking back so many years ago when he was younger and trying to decipher the text in the small book which accompanied Calla through the Stargate. “But since Maeve….”

“No more talk of her.” Morgan demanded.

“Aye.” Covetina agreed. “She took Callestah from here saying we were not fit to raise her.”

“Your Wife nursed at my breast for the first year of her life, not Maeve’s.” Morgan Le Fey told him roughly.

“You know, obviously there are some issues here that I’m not aware of,” he said with a smile and trying to keep his voice light. “You can fill me in or not, that’s up to you of course but, sorry here….Maeve raised her and Maeve conducted the ritual which originally…” he groped for the right word.

“This would why we hate her so much.” Covey hissed and poured another glass of mead. “Instead of bringing Callestah back here once Psyche tried to kill her, she allowed that insane ritual to be conducted.”

“Ok,” Daniel said in an agreeable voice. “The way I understand it is that, that was the best they could do under the circumstances. What would have happened if Maeve brought Callestah back to Avalon?” The Ladies only looked at one another. “I mean, surely, Mave thought of that option but decided against it for a reason.”

“We would have helped her.” Coventina said in a dry voice not her usual happy-go-lucky tone at all. “She would have grown up here and grown up strong protected from the outside world. Instead Maeve opted to conduct some arcane ritual….nothing more than an experiment upon her.”

Daniel finally asked a question that had been on his mind for almost twenty years. “Why didn’t Aphrodite want Ares to know about Callestah? Why did she come here to give birth and then leave the baby behind?”

Morgan Le Fey looked at him with a quizzical expression. “You don’t know?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I did.” That was true. If Ares had taught Daniel Jackson one thing over the years it was; don’t ask questions you already know the answer to.

“Archeologist.” Coventina mused. “How many Daughters has Ares sired?”

Daniel thought about it for a moment and realized he didn’t have an exact or even a ballpark number. “History records that Ares had thousands of children.”

“Does it?” Morgan asked. “Well history is wrong.” She informed him. “Ares had thousands of sons.”

“Any idea of why, Daniel?”

“Bad luck?” He asked not liking where this was going.

“You really don’t know. She hasn’t told you.” Morgan’s turn.

“Told me what?”

Covey, reaching for another ladle of mutton stew spoke. “The Lady Callestah is the only female child Lord Ares ever sired because long ago his Father forbade him Daughters.”

Without missing a beat Daniel spoke the first thought that came into his head. “Why? What did Ares do?” The news was not new, Bacchus told him this months ago but this was Daniel’s first opportunity to explore the subject.

“It’s not what he did, Daniel it’s what he will do.”

For the first year after their marriage Ares made no bones about the fact that he wanted Callestah to breed with him and give him children. That he wanted to rebuild the Olympian race. “What?” Little by little it all started to fall into place in Daniel Jacksons’ mind. He stood up and started pacing around in a wide circle. “What does Zeus know?”

They weren’t ready to supply him with an answer so easily. “What do you know of Ares’ sons?” Morgan asked.

There was a curve ball. The computer that was his brain kicked into high gear looking for the information. “I don’t know,” he mumbled, “they were all…..for the most part…they were like him, warriors, they enjoyed bringing trouble and pain to people.”

“What else?” Covey asked sitting back in the chair and watching him process the information still thinking about how handsome was.

“I don’t know,” Daniel insisted again. But he did know. The answer was dancing on the tip of his tongue all he had to do was say it. “Ares’ sons they, they were all….cracked, ok? They were nuts.”

“Precisely.” Morgan Le Fey said with a knowing smile. “They all went utterly insane before they died. Even Eros, didn’t he?”

Daniel really didn’t know about that he’d only seen the little prick for few scant minutes before he died—both times--but he was Calla’s Brother and to do the things that Eros did to her all those years ago and while she was so pregnant! Well, he just had to be nuking futs! Just had to be. That wasn’t all.

Daniel knew what they were going to say next and tried to cut them off. “Calla is not crazy.” He said to the Ladies in the room. Still, even if she wasn’t technically crazy, she didn’t always make the most sense and that might set some sort of precedent that insanity was on its way.

The Ladies stared back at him thinking it over. “Still you cannot deny there are two women in one body. If that is not insanity, what is?” Covetina asked. “They cannot live that way forever.”

“You never know, Covey, it could be that Ares’ x chromosomes are stronger than his y’s after all.” Morgan joked. “Then again perhaps not and one day she will lose her mind altogether.” Even though the jovial tone turned serious something in her eye or maybe it was her demeanor told Daniel on some level it was all just a game to them.

His x chromosomes are stronger than his y’s. Oh Christ! “Zeus forbade him Daughters because Ares doesn’t want to recreate the Olympian race he wants to create his own superior race, doesn’t he? He can use her to do that, can’t he?”

“Yes.” Covetina agreed dryly.

“Sure,” he said out loud but still to himself. “Someone like him, that has got to be something he’s always wanted. Aphrodite went against Zeus and gave it to him. So why did she take it away at the last minute? Why did she come here?”

“We don’t know.” Morgan told him but Daniel felt she was lying. “However you are very right and we are all amazed that you’ve made this far, Daniel Jackson. We see no reason why Ares didn’t strike you down years ago.”

“Because she loves me.” Daniel said without thinking. “If he kills me,” another thought hit him…oh fuck! ... “Or if he lets me die, she’ll never forgive him. If she can’t forgive him then she won’t go to him.” It wasn’t just the fact that Ares could get Calla into bed by saving Daniels’ life and making him Immortal, oh no. Ares hoped to gain favor with her as well but he couldn’t control himself once he had her. Part if Daniel understood Ares’ problem, it was very difficult to hold back and stay in control with her. It took a lot of effort and a long time to learn the little tricks he had, the ones that kept him from crossing the line and just taking whatever the fuck he wanted from his Wife. How could a Wolf or the God of War be expected to behave? “She’ll never love him, never go to him.” What he sincerely hoped was the very last penny dropped with a resounding thud in his mind. “Ares.” Daniel whispered. “That’s who I’m supposed to protect her from? Her own Father?” He started walking around in long strides again and as he spoke his words came faster and faster just as the thoughts became concrete in his head. “That’s why there’s supposed to be two of us, Husband and Sa’Tan. One man or God to breed with her and one to protect her possibly even from the Husband and Ares. That’s what the ritual was really all about after Psyche cursed her, isn’t he? She didn’t know the danger in Eros, like Calla Maeve never suspected such cruelty lurked in him. Maeve only wanted Calla protected but she didn’t want her here in Avalon where she’d be sheltered away from the entire world. Did she? No of course she didn’t want that for Calla.” He stopped walking and looked at the two Ladies. “But you did want her here and that’s why you’re so pissed. Nimue,” he looked around the room for the third Lady. “Where is she?”

“Nimue went with Callestah to return the sword.” Coventina said enjoying the conversation and the way the muscle stood on his neck and how his face reddened just the slightest when he spoke about Callestah and the pieces fell together to make a rather ugly jig-saw puzzle in his head.

Why was that? He wondered but dared not say it and jump the track he was on, he was so close to putting this all to rest. “She said your population is dwindling, that the Avalonians are dying. How long has been since an Avalonian was born? Or before, Calla, an Olympian? Maeve said it was at least five hundred years. You all wanted Callestah bring life back to your own kind…didn’t you?” Suddenly he felt angry. Looking around at all the riches of Avalon and the regal Ladies who guarded it. “You’re no different from Ares.”

“I’d be careful if I were you.” Morgan warned.

Suddenly there was the image of the Norwich State Hospital in his head. Aphrodite and Hades were there. Daniel accused that cold-hearted bitch of the same thing even back then and Aphrodite told him the same thing; to watch his step. But she was a liar with her own agenda and so were these women. “You listen to me; my Wife is not a fucking cow.” He spat. “Neither Calla nor Callestah is breeding stock, do you understand that? I am not, I repeat not, going to allow anyone to use her like that or in any other way. She isn’t here to breathe life into dying races.”

“I fear you still do not understand,” Morgan sighed and watched Covetina nod in agreement. “Any child Callestah gives birth to is special.”

“Of course, they’re at least half Olympian. Of course they’re going to have…”

“No!” Covey groused loudly. “She has the power to create new races the only thing she requires is a bit of DNA. Whether it’s Ares or you or another, whoever she breeds with those children are gifted.”

“This is what is she here for.” Morgan shot. “It is why every man who lays eyes upon her wants her. On a primal level they know what she can give them and they want it, they’ll do anything to get it. Won’t they, Daniel?” She whispered in a cruel voice. “It is her sole purpose. It is her Destiny.”

“Like hell it is.” Daniel told her. “No way. Destiny or not this isn’t what she wants. Calla has her own life, her own family. She paints, did you know that? She’s very talented and for a while there very famous, people pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for her paintings. At any moment she could have the whole world…..no scratch that, excuse me….she DID have the entire world dancing in the palm of her hand and she was miserable. You’re not going to take her away from me. I will protect her from Ares and anyone else who tried to harm her, all of you are going have to get through me before you can touch her.”

“You cannot be Husband and Sa’Tan.” Morgan shouted.

“I’m not going to let you put another man between us. We’ve had enough of that to last us a lifetime.” Daniel shot back. “I am both….live with it.” OK so he’d dropped the ball on both counts just recently but he had it now and he wasn’t going to let go of it again. “Where’s my Wife? We’re getting out of here.”

“Such bravado,” Morgan complimented mockingly while clapping her hands. “Well done, Daniel. Shall I throw roses at your feet now?”

Covey giggled. “It wasn’t over done anyway.” She remarked.

“I don’t know what either of you Ladies finds amusing but I’m serious. You won’t put another man between us and we’re leaving.”

“You’ve still one problem, Daniel.” Covey said in a serious voice and leaning across the table to gaze deeply at him. “There are two women in that body. One whose very Destiny is to bring Ares children to be his Consort and live out all of eternity as an Olympian Mother Goddess. You have no right to stand in the way of Destiny.” She warned.

“She’s my wife,” he said sternly, “I am not going to turn her over to Ares.”

“Oh, Daniel,” Covey cooed. “But didn’t she go to his bed because of you? If she had been able to bare children then we wouldn’t be here now. Ares would have killed you the second he found out she was carrying his child. Don’t fool yourself, Daniel, Callestah wants this. She wants to be his Consort and Mother to his Children.”

“No, it’s not true. Ares loves her,” his mind stumbled over that thought. “OK, he loves her a little too much but he spent 18 years with us and didn’t cross the line once.” Daniel reminded them but he came close to it now didn’t he? Sure he did on several occasions. Then again not that long ago, as Covetina just reminded him so bluntly when temptation was put directly in his path Ares went way over that line and Daniel was too weak, too sick to stand in his way. If there had been a Sa’Tan then maybe Ares wouldn’t have gotten away with forcing Calla to his bed.

“Things change,” Morgan said absently. “What we believe for one day or years in an instant can be found to be falsehood. Dreams dashed upon the rocks of Hope.”

Yep there was that problem. See, now that Daniel was Immortal and the chances of his dying were slimmer maybe Ares would cease being so patient with him and Callestah in the not too distant future. Perhaps the God of War would be forced to show his true self and who would protect her who would stand between them when that happened? It Who would stop Ares from creating a Master Warrior Race?

“Neither of them will ever be content, Daniel.” Morgan said. “Not as long as they share a body and eventually that will drive her mad. Maeve should have left her with us.”

“Funny, I hear that’s what Maeve told Aphrodite too. Seems Calla’s always being bounced around from one woman, one family, one monstrous man, to the next. Me,” Daniel pointed to himself, “I gave her a home and a family of her own. I share her life and her bed….not you. Not Ares. Me. I love her. Not you. Not Ares. I do. We’ve come too far for me to let you or anyone else stand in the way.”

Once again the two Ladies exchanged a long glance between them. It was almost as though they were passing some kind of mental messages back and forth and Daniel just stood there waiting for one of them to say something. “We believe your love for her is true, it has been tested and found strong.” Morgan said as she rose from her chair. “In days of old, a queen, such as Callestah, had her king and a champion, did she not?” Morgan asked but did not wait for an answer. “Of course she did, a man who would fight for her honor alone usually the king’s first knight. I believe that you should reconsider your decision regarding the Sa’Tan. You may be Immortal but you are not a God, you are not even favored by them, you require a Second. She requires a Second. Is there not one man you would trust in this capacity?”

“Excuse me but one of the fringe benefits of being Sa’Tan is sleeping with her, isn’t it? I mean it’s even part of the Ritual that Binds them.”

“Yes it is and usually sexual intercourse does continue, even if it has to take place behind the Husband’s back.” Covey replied with a smile. “What about your brother? In the end, he is you and you are him. So what difference does it make if she takes him into her from time to time?”

“Did you hear me? I know you know what David did to her. You can’t possibly be serious to suggest he be made her Sa’Tan? That he be allowed to touch her? Trusted with her?”

“She let him live….as we understand it.” Morgan clarified. “There must be a reason for this, if not for him to be Sa’Tan then what?”

Oh God they couldn’t be serious! “Yeah,” Daniel smirked, “I’m not altogether sure but I’d be willing to be that Calla thinks he deserves a second chance because David helped her. You know something, for two women who are never around and who didn’t even come forward to help with the battle for this planet, you sure seem to ‘understand’ a hell of a lot, don’t you ladies?” Everyone and his or her brother wanted him to share Calla if not with them then with someone else just so Daniel could talk about it later. “I’m tired of this game and I’m sick of saying it, there is not one man in the universe that I will share her with.” Well, maybe there was one. But just one and it certainly wasn’t David. No, this was a man who wouldn’t be interested in sleeping with her past the Binding Ritual. Sill, Calla would never go for it. “Not because I’m so wickedly selfish” (though that was certainly part of it) “but because she doesn’t want to be shared. We both believe marriage is sacred and best left to just Husband and Wife.”

Well it looked like the game was almost over. It was fun while it lasted but time to get down to serious business. “We do not lie when we tell you of her mental weakness.” Morgan warned. “If something is not done, eventually the woman you know will lose her mind. A way must be found to content both of them.”

“And I’m not it.” Nothing new there, huh? Nope. None of the Olympians ever thought him good enough for Calla why should the Avalonian Ladies be different? Or Norse or any other magickal creature for that matter? Too fucking bad for all of them. They weren’t going to win. “Let me guess, that’s your way of telling me the Lady Callestah doesn’t love me? That she’s actually in love with Ares?” Another piece of news that wasn’t exactly hot off the presses.

“Yes.” Morgan said deadpan.

“And he is very handsome, and, ah…” Covey smiled and then tittered as she gestured with her hand to suggest a very large penis. “Ahh,” she sighed and blushed deeply at her own memories. “Very large.”

Covetina didn’t exactly look like Ares’ type, she was too round for his tastes or so Daniel thought. Nonetheless she still seemed to have a handle on the situation. There was always the fact that Sam spent a few decade smitten with the God of War and Daniel Jackson did not consider Samantha Carter to be a stupid woman by any means. So maybe Ares did have something that he didn’t. But Daniel had something Ares didn’t.

Did he believe that? You better bet your ass he did. Calla loved him and there wasn’t anything that could destroy it. He’d know if there was. Nope, not Ares, not Andrew Fucking Hartley, not Antoinette or Bacchus’ women. Not his drinking or her addictions. Nothing. “Thanks for the heads-up, Ladies but I already knew that. Now if you don’t mind, please, take me to my Wife I’m sure she’s wondering where I am by now.”

Now the look the Ladies were sharing seemed to more approving than not. “Perhaps you are the right man for this after all, Daniel.” Covey said in a wondering voice. “Come with us, you’ll meet Gupp,” she smiled, “we will take you to her.”

End Chapter Five Of
The Cradle Will Fall: Sentimental Journey
Continue to
Chapter Six

This story and all stories in the Cradle Will Fall series are copyrighted to Lisa Beth Darling these stories may not be transferred outside of this URL in any fashion.