She attempted to change her position on the floor so that she would be able to at least see the ropes that now bound her to her own bed. Unfortunately, the sailors had done a good job of tying her. So good that no matter how she twisted or tried to turn, she was still in no condition to be attempting an escape. *This isn't going to be as easy as I thought…*
Meanwhile, Doubar was emerging from his own cabin, debating with himself over whether or not he should check on his sorceress friend. He wanted desperately to figure out what was going on, but something told him that talking with Maeve right now would not serve any purpose other than to anger Sinbad. That was the last thing anyone needed right now. So instead Doubar passed by Maeve's door and headed toward the upper deck.
*This might be a good time to have a little talk with Sinbad,* Doubar decided. He was determined to find out why his brother was acting so strangely lately, especially toward Maeve. This kind of behavior was nothing like what he would have expected from his younger sibling. But then again, he never would have expected that Maeve would set the sails ablaze, either. If she had been angered over something at the time, that would be different, but she had burned the sails as calmly as he had ever seen her whlie performing magic. *The whole world is just turning upside down!*
Doubar emerged from the lower deck and sighted his brother exactly where he expected the young Captain to be - at the tiller. The sails had quickly been repaired - how had Sinbad known that extra canvas would be needed, anyway? - and the Nomad was now speeding toward her original destination. *No time like the present…*
"Sinbad!" Doubar called. "Um, how's the sailing little brother?" Doubar hoped that question would somehow lighten his brother's mood and lead to a conversation about this screwy situation with Maeve.
Sinbad (or should we say Terran in Sinbad's form) gave Doubar an irritated look and said, "You're a sailor, why don't you tell me how the sailing is?"
Doubar let out a frustrated sigh, gave up, and walked off to find something else to do.
Firouz and several of the other sailors had noticed the exchange between the two brothers and knew better than to approach the Captain right now. It wasn't that the conversation had been particularly loud or that it seemed threatening, but there had been this quality of tension to the whole thing. They all wanted to know what was going on just as much as Doubar did, but their Captain was not a man to be messed with when he was in a normal mood. When he was like this, the men were afraid to even look at him the wrong way. But secrecy didn't last long on a ship this size, so the cat would have to come out of the bag soon enough.
Maeve struggled with the ropes one more time. Physical measures were futile since the cords had been cursed by Terran. Maeve had been attempting to undo what Terran had done to them with as little magic as possible - small spells, low-energy incantations, short chants… Maeve had been trying not to use enough power to disrupt the continuous flow of magic that surrounded the ship - a result of there being two magic possessors on board. (Maeve and Terran)
Ordinarily Maeve's rather mediocre attempts would have taken care of anything, anything that Terran could have concocted, but his very presence here and now proved that his abilities had more than improved, they had multiplied several times over. She was going to have to do something a bit more dramatic if she was going to actually expect to get anywhere with this… And she was going to have to pray for a miracle if she wanted to live through the possible consequences…
Sinbad (Terran) was still at the tiller when suddenly a strange feeling came over him. Strange as it was, he knew exactly what it meant. "That little witch!" he suddenly shouted.
Everyone on deck heard him, and some below, too. They all turned, all wondering the same thing, yet none were brave enough to ask what was going on. Sinbad suddenly grabbed the sailor closest to him and pulled him over to the tiller. "Take over!"
"But, Captain, I-"
"I said, 'Take over!!!"
The sailor reluctantly, and silently, complied, not wishing to anger his Captain further.
Sinbad stormed down the stairs to the lower deck, all the time cursing aloud and planning how he was going to deal with a certain red-haired sorceress.
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