*Whoa, talk about stupidity,* Maeve thought. She walked over to the table and used the dagger to free her hands. Then she tucked the dagger into her boot, deciding that it might prove to be useful since she didn't have any of her own weapons. She walked over to the door to tried to open it, but found that it was locked from the outside.
*It probably wouldn't be a good idea to use my magic to bust down the door,* Maeve decided, *I don't know how many men are on this ship. Besides, what would I do even if I won?* After a short debate with herself, she decided to just wait and see what happened.
A short while passed before the door to the cabin was opened and five men (pirates, to be more exact) walked in. Then one of them began to speak.
"I am the Captain of this ship, and you will address me as such," he said. "You are the newest addition to the crew. You are mine, my servant, and you will do as I say without question."
Maeve had listened quietly up until this point, but now she could take no more.
"Why you little pig!" she said, "I am NOT your servant. I HAVE a crew and a ship, and I'm GOING to get back there whether you like it or not!"
"Silence woman!" the Captain said, then he slapped Maeve across her face. Before she had time to move forward and hit him back, two of the other pirates had moved behind her and held her arms while another bound her hands behind her back and gagged her.
"I think I need to give you a little time to think over this situation," the Captain said, "because you're going to be here for a while." Turning his attention toward the only man who'd remained silent and motionless through these events, the Captain said, "Guard the woman and be sure that she doesn't try anything. Give her NOTHING. No food, no water. Understand? Nothing."
"Aye, Captain," the man said as the Captain and the other three men stormed out of the room. One was left behind to guard the door and it was locked from the outside again.
Maeve was sitting on the bed and glaring at the man before her. When he moved forward to sit beside her, she kicked out at him but he caught her leg in midair. She didn't allow her expression to show that she was a little impressed by this.
"Nice legs," the man commented before letting go of Maeve's leg and removing her gag. "My name is Sean. If you'll tell me yours, I'll try to explain just what it is that you've managed to get yourself into."
"Maeve," she said.
"Maeve..... Nice name."
"What do you care!?" she snapped.
"Oh, don't confuse me with the others," Sean started, "I'm nothing like our Captain. Believe what you wish, but I do care. Otherwise I wouldn't be here right now."
"All right, then, tell me what's going on here." Maeve said, her tone a bit softened this time.
"First things first," Sean said, moving closer to Maeve. He wrapped his arms around her and Maeve was fully prepared to bite this guys ear off if she needed too, but she was actually a little surprised when he untied her hands from behind her back and then stepped away once again.
"Uh, thank you, I think," Maeve said, not quite sure what to make of all this.
"Caught you off guard, didn't I?" Sean said playfully. "Well, like I said, I'm not like the Captain."
By now Maeve was beginning to relax a little with Sean. So far he hadn't done anything to hurt her. He had even untied her hands, which Maeve interpreted as a move of trust on his part. Besides that, he was extremely handsome, even if he was wearing ragged clothes and in need of a bath. He was perhaps a few inches taller than she was, with slightly shaggy brown hair and deep brown eyes. *Alright* she decided, *I'll give him a chance to tell his side of the story.*
"Back to the business at hand," Sean said, "The first thing that you need to know is that you cannot trust the Captain for anything."
"Well, that much I kind of figured out on my own," Maeve said with a hint of sarcasm.
"Don't interrupt. He takes women for one thing and one thing only. I don't think I need to explain that to you."
"I'd rather not hear about it, thank you."
"The next thing you need to know is that most of the men here are here out of fear. The Captain runs this ship on fear, and it only takes him and his four closest officers to keep the entire crew in line."
"So no one can leave and it only takes five men to keep everyone here?" Maeve asked, surprised.
"Well, there are only four of them now. One of them died in the fight with you. Needless to say, the Captain isn't too happy about that. I can't say that the rest of us aren't, though."
"So I take it that you're not one of the Captain's little henchmen?"
"No. I've been on this ship for almost ten years, since I was a boy in my teens and taken from my home."
"I'm so sorry," Maeve said.
"So am I. The Captain and his four killed my family and some of his other loyal subjects attacked and killed many other families in my village, so they could take other boys who were also about my age. This is how the Captain built his unwilling crew. But with such harsh employers and nowhere left to go home to, what were we supposed to do?"
"It's alright. You don't have to explain yourself. I have not been home in years, either, but it's not because I don't want to. Something that happened, something that I did, caused my family to blame me for a terrible wrong that was done. I can never return to my home until I have righted that wrong."
"I am sorry," Sean said, looking into Maeve's sad eyes.
"It's alright. At least it will be, one day....."
"Good. As I was saying, we are here against our will and now you have joined us. I only came to warn you of what you're in for,"
"Well, that's a big help!" Maeve said sarcastically. "How many of you are there anyway, under the Captain's control?"
"Fifty, maybe sixty."
"And yet you continue to allow him to treat you this way!?"
"We've never been able to organize a resistance. We are always either too busy with the work that the Captain gives us or we are too tired or hungry to worry about rebelling."
"If someone were to start a rebellion, would the others follow?" Maeve asked, quite seriously this time.
"I suppose, if they felt they had good enough reason, they would."
"In that case, I think it's time for a good old-fashioned mutiny."
"It's foolishness to plan such things right now. Give yourself a little time to see how things are run around here. Then we'll be better equipped to form a plan."
"Fine, we'll do it your way. Don't take this personally, but the less time I spend here, the better. I have a ship and crew of friends to get back to."
"The Captain will either order you not to be fed at all or he will tell me to bring you your dinner. He always leaves women alone on the first night; he gives them time enough to realize that they can't escape. I'll come later tonight, with food, and then we'll talk."
"What can I say, I'll be waiting right here," Maeve said with a smile.
Sean moved to leave the room, but Maeve stopped him.
"Won't the Captain be suspicious if he comes back in and I'm untied?" Maeve asked, concerned. "I wouldn't want you getting into trouble on my account."
"Are you sure you want your hands tied? That leaves you a bit defenseless, doesn't it?"
"Go ahead. I won't have you being hung or anything just because you're afraid for me." With that Sean tied Maeve's hands, checking to be sure that the ropes didn't hurt her, and left.
Back on the Nomad, Sinbad was pacing around in his cabin. *If we don't find her soon, I'm going to go insane!* he thought. Just then he heard a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" he asked.
"It's me, little brother," Doubar called, "You're needed on deck."
"I'll be there in a moment."
When Sinbad came up on deck, he found his brother back at the tiller. "So what's wrong?" he asked.
"We've been wandering around on the sea for almost an entire day now. We need a direction," Doubar replied.
"Look, I don't know exactly where this ship went, all I know is that Maeve is on it and we have to get her back." Just then Dermott flew down from the sky and landed near Sinbad.
*I can lead you to her, Sinbad.* he heard a voice say.
"Did you hear that?" Sinbad asked Doubar.
"Hear what?"
*He can't hear me, Sinbad. Up until recently, only Maeve could hear me. I can lead you to her. We have a link.*
"Dermott?" Sinbad asked, puzzled. Doubar gave his brother a strange look.
*Yes, it's me. And for goodness' sake, don't talk to me out loud. The others will think you've lost your marbles. Just talk to me in your mind. I will understand you perfectly.* Then Dermott took off into the sky.
"Doubar," Sinbad said, "Where ever Dermott goes, I want you to follow him. I think he'll be able to lead us to Maeve."
"Aye, aye, little brother." Doubar answered, but he was secretly worried about Sinbad, who seemed to be hearing strange voices. "I hope you know what you're doing..." he murmured, hoping that the stress of losing Maeve wasn't affecting his judgment.
"I hope you know what you're doing..." Sinbad whispered to himself, realizing that he just had a conversation with a bird, and he'd just put that bird in charge of the rescue mission. Sinbad just sighed, hoped for the best, and walked away.
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A Fact Of Life - Part 3