"I told you I would come to you," Tallan said. He turned around and saw Little Sinbad lying on the bed, now awake and screaming in response to his mother's distress. "And now that we've had this little visit, I'll take my child and go." Tallan roughly picked up the crying child and misted off of the Nomad before Maeve had a chance to do anything.
"Maeve!!!" Sinbad cried as he entered the room and saw the position Maeve was in. The rest of the crew behind him gasped as they came through the door. Everyone had heard Maeve's screams and come as quickly as they could, only to find her alone in the cabin with a sword through her chest and the chair.
Maeve barely responded to their shock. She looked down at the blade protruding from her body and at that moment realized that she wasn't feeling any pain. Maeve looked up from the blade at Sinbad, who was now at her side, and then back down at the blade. Experimentally she ran her finger along the blade. Blood. It seemed real enough. But looking down again at her body she saw no blood there. Quickly Maeve took the handle of the sword in her hand and yanked it out of the chair and her body. Still no pain.
Maeve stood and held the sword in her hands. The only blood on it was the tiny bit from her finger. Maeve ran one hand over her chest where the sword had been only moments before. There was nothing there, no wound, no blood, not even a thread from her blouse cut or out of place.
Sinbad stood next to Maeve, his eyes wider than she could ever remember seeing them, and touched her just to be sure she was real. Then he touched the blade as she had to test its solidity, and it, too, seemed real. "How--?"
"Watch." Maeve took the sword in both hands and stabbed herself in the stomach, then pulled the blade out again to demonstrate. Again there was no blood or wound. Then she rose the blade high above her head and plunged it into the floor boards, stepped back, and watched as it disintegrated, leaving no evidence of its ever being there in the first place.
"Lass, what was that, and why?" Doubar questioned.
"A damn deception, that's what it was," Maeve replied. "Just something to keep me busy long enough for Tallan to take my and Sinbad's child."
"Tallan was here? And he took our child!?" Sinbad cried with rage.
"Aye, he was, and he did."
"I thought he was dead-" Sinbad said, confused.
"No, he was just sent away. I didn't think he'd be able to escape. He shouldn't be able to, unless he had the help of-"
"Scratch!"
"Exactly."
"I'll kill him, and this time he'll STAY in the underworld! Where did he go?"
"Back where I sent him: to Hell."
"He took OUR child THERE!?"
"Aye, but you must remember, he still thinks of the baby as being his. He never accepted the truth," Maeve said.
"I don't care WHOSE he thinks the baby is, I'm going to get him back!" he promised determinedly. "Um... How exactly do we get him back?"
"WE don't. I do. Sinbad, for starters, Tallan hates you now more than ever, for fathering my child. He wouldn't play his little games with you, he'd just kill you on sight. Besides, I may be able to get two people there with my magic, but I don't think I could bring three people back."
"But you can't face that maniac alone!"
"That's exactly what I have to do. Sinbad, love, there's no other choice."
Sinbad closed his eyes as if in prayer for a few moments. When he opened them his expression had changed. "Maeve, I love you, and if you don't come back in one piece, I won't be able to go on."
"Yes you will--"
"Don't argue with me on this one, Maeve! I'll let you go alone on the condition that you PROMISE me you WILL come back to me. It's either that or I'll go with you and stay behind when you return."
"You know I could never leave you there!" Maeve cried. "What if I fail?" she asked meekly.
"You won't. You can't," Sinbad turned Maeve around and raised her head to look him in the eyes. "I believe in you."
Maeve's eyes became watery as she threw her arms around Sinbad and they held each other tight. "Thank you," she whispered, and then they parted.
Maeve took a few steps away from Sinbad, closed her eyes, and began chanting softly. As the chanting grew steadily louder, her hands rose proportionately higher, with streaking bolts of energy wrapping around them like snakes. Maeve opened her eyes to look at Sinbad one last time. In words, they both hoped she would return, but in their hearts they knew that this could be the last time they saw each other alive. Maeve squeezed her eyes shut and in a flash she was gone.
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Cloudy Skies - Part 14