"I wish I was. But I'm not. So deal with it!" Maeve answered back.
"But... the Maeve from the Nomad... Dim Dim took her away."
"That's what they wanted Sinbad and the others to believe. What do you know? It worked," Maeve said bitterly. "I've waited here for nearly two years. Hoping, praying that Sinbad would come to my rescue. Every night I dreamed that he would come, and every day I got nothing but disappointment." At this point Maeve turned away from Bryn and went to sit in a remote corner of the cell.
"Maeve, look, I'm sorry about you having to suffer like this, but it isn't Sinbad's fault!" Bryn came to his defense.
"Isn't it?" Maeve retorted.
"No, it isn't!"
"Then tell me this: What do you call it when someone vows to find you and bring you back, and then they spend all their time in the arms of whatever port girl comes their way?"
Bryn didn't answer Maeve's question. The topic of Sinbad's little flings was an uncomfortable one for her as well. Several minutes of silence passed before either of them ventured to speak again.
"He's only human, you know," Bryn said. "He can't be everywhere at once, can't do everything, and he certainly isn't perfect. He's doing all he can."
"And that's what I believed for the first few months, Bryn. I was naive then, as you are now, but a few months in here will change your mind, too. Wait until you meet Akman. His whip will change your mind."
"What are you talking about?"
"These people, the ones that have taken us, are a group in league with Turok."
"Turok? But I thought Sinbad said he beheaded Turok-"
"He did, but like most everything Sinbad does, it was no good. Turok lives. He was re-animated in the final blast in our last battle with Rumina."
"But Sinbad doesn't know that!"
"How convenient." Maeve moved toward Bryn as she spoke her next words. "Do you know what else Sinbad doesn't know? He doesn't know this," she pointed out a long, fresh scar down the side of her face. "He doesn't know this," she moved her tattered sleeves aside and showed Bryn her bruised arms and wrists, raw from being bound so often and for so long. "He doesn't know this," she turned and pulled up her shirt so that she could reveal the long, angry-looking welts that covered her back. As Maeve pulled her shirt back down and turned around to face Bryn, there were tears shimmering in her eyes. No matter how much she tried to control her emotions, Maeve's voice still betrayed her choked-back sobs as she said, "He doesn't know because he doesn't care to know. He's gone his own way and has forgotten about his oath to Dim Dim, and to me. We mean nothing to him. I mean nothing. Otherwise he would have found me long ago."
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Sinbad's Apology - Part 3