DREAMS

"Hard aport!" Sinbad yelled. "Hard aport," he repeated, shouting to be heard over the roar of the storm. Dead ahead was a large island and the Nomad was being blown straight toward its rock-filled shore.

He sat bolt upright in bed. It was totally dark. He realized he was sweating. "It's the same dream again," he thought. He had been having this same dream over and over for the last six weeks or so. Three or four times it had been vivid enough to actually wake him up. It was always the same. The Nomad was fighting its way through a big storm. Huge waves threatened to sink them at any time. Visibility was almost zero. A large turtle shaped island suddenly appeared in front of them and the Nomad was about to crash into it. No matter what action he tried to take, the ship drove toward the island. Then just before the crash, he woke up.

He swung his legs over the side of the bunk and found his shirt and pants and pulled them on. Then he slipped into his boots and went up on deck. Rongar was manning the tiller. No one else was about. Sinbad made his way quietly up to the bow of the ship, and slid his hand around one of the thick ropes that led aloft. It was the exact place where he and Maeve had stood many times in the past. A stiff, chilly breeze blew across his face but he welcomed it. He stared ahead into the darkness for a few minutes and then closed his eyes, envisioning Maeve. Although it was painful, he also found it comforting.

She had been missing for nine months now, but his feeling of loss had not lessened. He knew that she was not dead, even though she had been washed overboard during a violent storm. Dim-Dim had come to him in a vision and told him that she was with him for safekeeping. A lot had happened since then. They had a new crew member, Bryn, that he had found on the island that he himself had washed up on after diving into the stormy seas in a fruitless attempt to save Maeve.

Bryn was pretty much a mystery. She did not remember anything from her past. She had the same type of wrist bracelet that he had. He knew that could not be a coincidence. She had shown up immediately after Maeve had disappeared. He knew that wasn't a coincidence either. Somehow, Bryn and Maeve and he were linked together, but he did not know how. Dim-Dim had told him that Bryn would help him, so he had made her a member of his crew. He knew that she had powers. He had seen her use them. She could summon great strength and focus it with her eyes to throw people or objects. She was not a practitioner of magic like Maeve had been though. She knew nothing about making magic or casting spells. She did have Maeve's extra sense to "feel" the presence of danger. And Dermott had come to her and accepted her as his mistress.

But none of that really mattered right now. Now there was just the wishing that she were here to talk to and to hold. He had not felt right since that awful night. He knew it. Everyone on board noticed it. Everything about him had changed. He didn't joke around with the crew like he used to. He didn't really enjoy shore leave anymore. In fact, the crew complained about the long voyages that they were constantly taking now. They kept going further and further away from their home port of Basra. The crew noticed that he seemed to spend more and more of his time alone, either up in the bow of the ship or shut in his cabin. Often, a crew member would see him or hear him in Maeve's cabin. No one was allowed to use it. Everything was left just as was the night she disappeared. When Bryn came aboard as crew member, he fitted out one of the Nomad's storage spaces for her quarters, although Maeve's cabin was larger, airier, and certainly in a better location. At first everyone hoped they would find Maeve, but now that she had been gone so long, they expected Sinbad to offer the cabin to Bryn, but he hadn't.

The crew had had many adventures together since that fateful night, and everyone had grown to like Bryn and respect her. She had proved very useful in certain dangerous situations and was definitely an asset when they had to fight. She was nimble and athletic and was as deft with her kicks as she was with her sword. She had proven herself many times in battle. Any of the crew felt comfortable having her protect their back in a fight. But they missed Maeve's magic skill, which had saved them many times. Bryn's own powers were not to be depended on. She could not call them forth at will; they appeared erratically and with little control. She herself could not explain how or why they appeared or how strong they might be if developed.

Sinbad stood there motionless in the night. It was as if by some miracle he hoped she would appear. Every so often when he was alone like this he concentrated very hard, hoping he could somehow hear her or read her thoughts from where ever she was. Finally, he turned and headed back down the deck, stopping to tell Rongar to let him know if there was even a hint of a storm. Then he went back to his room and climbed into his bunk. It was a long time before sleep came again.