Maeve had finally begun to sleep with a bit of peace when Tallan misted into her room, and Sinbad stood up from his position on the floor. Tallan knew that Sinbad was watching. He had checked on the sailor several times during the night, only to find that he was intently watching Tallan's bride-to-be.
Tallan decided to give himself a little pleasure, and anger Sinbad in the process, by waking Maeve with a kiss. He walked over to the bed and sat down beside her. Then he leaned in and harshly kissed her on the mouth, causing her to stir and, after opening her eyes and seeing who it was, resist him and try to pull away. Tallan wouldn't take this kind of behavior from her, though, and deepened the kiss. Maeve's continued efforts to pull away finally succeeded, but only briefly as Tallan quickly began to kiss her again and climbed on top of her in the process.
Seeing where this was going, Sinbad began to pound on the wall again, and Dermott squawked loudly and flapped his wings while pecking at the lock to his cage to try to get out.
Maeve again managed to break away and said, "No! Tallan, please! Not now! Please!"
Tallan ignored Maeve's pleas and began to try to take off Maeve's dress. When she began to struggle even more, he started to rip her dress. Maeve again screamed for him to stop, and Sinbad shouted, "Get off of her you son of a bitch!" even though Tallan still couldn't here him and wouldn't have cared if he had.
What finally brought Tallan's actions to a halt was when Dermott managed to break out of his cage and flew over to the couple, wildly pecking at Tallan's head and neck. The sorcerer climbed off of Maeve and swung around, hitting Dermott and sending him soaring across the room much like he had only a day or two before. Once again, Dermott's flight was ended as he slammed against the wall, but this time he was still conscious. As Dermott began to regain himself and got ready to charge Tallan again, Tallan raised his arm and sent a beam of magic at Dermott that transported him into the room with Sinbad.
"Dermott! No! Tallan, what have you done to him!?" Maeve cried while trying to hold her tattered dress together.
"You angered me again, now you have lost your brother. You shouldn't have fought back, and the feather-brain might still be alive."
"You killed him? But why?"
"I told you, you angered me. Why must you always be so stubborn, woman!? No matter. You'll be my wife by tonight, and then we'll finish this. Then it won't matter whether you fight back or not, I'll enjoy myself all the same. And your little pet won't be here to spoil things, either. Until tonight, farewell, my love," Tallan said and then misted himself out of the room, leaving Maeve once again to throw herself down on the bed and sob while Sinbad and Dermott watched helplessly from behind the wall.
"Well, my feathered friend," Sinbad said, "We've got to find a way out of this, or we may lose your mistress for good."
Dermott chirped in reply and flew toward Sinbad, coming to rest on the rainbow bracelet on his outstretched arm. Suddenly Sinbad heard a voice in his head say, *She's not my mistress, she's my sister.* Then Dermott flew off of Sinbad's arm and into a corner where he could watch Maeve's every move.
"I'm losing it," Sinbad said, "This time I'm really losing it. The stress must be getting to me. I thought I just heard the bird talk." Sinbad looked intently at Dermott as if waiting for some response. "Well, if you talked, then do it again," Sinbad said, half jokingly.
Dermott just stared at him and cocked his head to one side as if to say, 'Are you crazy? I don't do tricks.'
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Cloudy Skies - Part 4