Restlessly Maeve tossed and turned as before her she saw a vision of Hell. Demons taunted her, ushering her toward a towering wall of fire expectantly, waiting to see her reaction. Maeve struggled, believing that her dream was reality, but dozens of sizzling hands forced her to stand before the fire wall. As she watched a form emerged from the flames. Tallan.
"So my dear," he hissed, "you've come to visit your dear, lonely husband. How sweet." Maeve was too stunned to speak. This man had just been engulfed in flames, and yet he was not burned, not even his clothes.
"What's wrong, my darling wife? Cat got your tongue?" Tallan teased.
"Ta-Tallan?" Maeve finally stammered.
"Yes. Tell me, dearest, why didn't you bring my son along with you?"
At these words Maeve got angry. "He's not YOUR son, he's SINBAD'S son, and don't you forget it!!!"
"Sinbad," Tallan said bitterly, "Sinbad may have fathered that child, but in the end he WILL be mine!"
"NO!!!"
Tallan let out a low growl and said, "Go back to your little home on that ship, and enjoy your 'family life' while you can, for it won't last long. The next time we meet, ~I~ will come to ~you~." With those words Tallan flung his hand out toward Maeve and hit her with a bolt of black energy, and she disappeared from that realm.
Sinbad started in his chair as Maeve awakened with a scream of pain. He laid Little Sinbad down on a blanket in the chair and went over to comfort his trembling, sweaty sorceress.
"Maeve," Sinbad called as he made his way over to her. She didn't even look his way as she sat up in the bed and pulled her knees up to her chest. She rested her head in her arms and took several deep breaths, trying her best to calm down.
Sinbad sat next to Maeve on the bed and put his arm around her, then drew her head up so he could look her in the eye. "Maeve, what's wrong?"
"It's... it's Tallan," Maeve said, and Sinbad's eyes grew dark. "He was in my dream."
"Maeve, a dream can't hurt you."
"Then explain this." Maeve pulled up her long white shirt to show Sinbad the reddened skin of her torso, where Tallan's magic had hit her in her dream.
"What the--?"
"He did it in my dream. Sinbad, I'm afraid. What if he comes back? He wants to take our baby." Maeve looked at her son with loving eyes, then at her lover with worried ones.
"We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen."
"But how can we be sure?"
"Maeve, stop worrying! I know it seems difficult, my love, but we will find a way," Sinbad promised. "Our family will not be torn apart."
"Oh, Sinbad, I know, I know..." The two kissed briefly, a sweet, loving kiss, a memorial of the past and a premonition of the future.
"Why don't we show Little Sinbad the sea?" Sinbad suggested.
"That's a wonderful idea. I could use some fresh air myself." With those words the two took their child and headed top-deck to show their son the life of a sailor.
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Cloudy Skies - Part 12