PREPARATIONS

At breakfast the next morning, Sinbad, Doubar, Rongar and Maeve sat around the table and ate and drank and it was as if the previous evening never existed. Maeve acted just the way she did every day. There was no special greeting or look exchanged between them as their eyes made contact for the first time since last night. No sign from Maeve that anything was different between them. She greeted him the same way she always did, the same way she greeted the other crewmembers. This did not surprise Sinbad. He knew last night had been a unique moment.

By the end of the day, Sinbad had noticed that Maeve seemed much more restless than she had. She kept coming up from below decks up to the bow of the boat and staring across the water. Sinbad guessed she was straining to see Ismariad, Rumina's new island fortress. They had found out about it purely by accident. At one of their port of calls, they'd gone to a local tavern for a drink and had made the acquaintance of a shepherd whose name was Ezrahm. He mentioned that he had been tending a flock of sheep on Ismariad for their owner, when strange things began happening. Flashes in the sky at night, sudden storms that came up out of nowhere, strange, disembodied voices. He also began having frightening dreams at night. He became convinced that some evil spirit had taken possession of the island, and he left the island. Maeve asked him many detailed questions about what he'd seen and heard. From everything he told her, she concluded that it was very likely Rumina's new stronghold. Sinbad asked if he could draw a map of the island and describe it.

They both knew that danger lay ahead. But only Maeve knew the full extent of the risk they faced. If she weren't strong enough, if she failed, she might die, Sinbad or any of his crew might die, and Dermott might die. The enormity of the risk that she was about to take weighed very heavily on her. She was putting those she loved most in the world in extreme peril. Only the fact that Dermott concurred with her effort to free him from his feathered prison kept her going.

Sinbad, for his part, had welcomed the chance to battle Rumina again. During their last confrontation he and Maeve together had been able to destroy Rumina's evil father. Sinbad had chopped his head off. And they had destroyed her cave fortress with a special stone that Dermott had carried into its bowels. Sinbad had been sure that Rumina had been killed then but Maeve knew with one glance at Dermott still imprisoned in his hawk form that she had somehow survived. He remembered their exact words. He had said, "Well, I guess that's the end of her." And she had answered without hesitation, "No, she lives." He knew there was some mysterious connection between them but he did not know what it was.

As Maeve paced the deck searching for sight of land, she wondered if the weapons she had obtained would be enough to finally defeat Rumina. If she had not been able to obtain the Crystal of Goodness and learned how to cast the Aura of Protection Spell she would not even have entertained a thought of going up against Rumina. Maeve thought of the Crystal of Goodness as her ultimate weapon. Once its power was released, no evil was able to oppose it, it was said. She knew that Rumina had not been idle since the death of her father. She would have used every possible means to increase the powers of evil at her disposal. Her desire to increase her power was insatiable. The fact that she also wanted to possess Sinbad made Maeve hate her all the more.

Sinbad found a lull in his shipboard duties and decided to talk to Maeve. He tried to look casual as he worked his way up the deck to the bow of the ship where Maeve stood. As he got closer he took in the way the wind ruffled the gauzy fabric of her blouse and lifted her skirt slightly. He noticed her long, well-toned, shapely legs and the way the breeze was blowing her hair. He whistled under his breath at the sight of her. He did not want it to appear too obvious that he came just to talk to her, so he stopped a few feet away and stooped to pick up a length of rope, which he slowly coiled in his hands. He called out to her, "A dinar for your thoughts, Maeve."

Maeve turned at the sound of his voice and gave him a quick smile. "You don't want to know," she answered.

He dropped the rope and came up right beside her. "But I do," he said softly.

She gave her head a toss, ostensibly to get her hair off her face. But Sinbad had seen that head toss before. She was trying to brush off his interest in her thoughts.

"I'll bet I can guess," he said, not waiting for her to answer. "You're wondering what that evil witch of a woman, Rumina, has up her sleeves for us."

Maeve's head spun to face him so quickly that he knew he was right. Then he quickly saw the wrinkles on her forehead that appeared whenever she was angry. He had seen them often enough during their arguments that he knew what they meant. He immediately regretted his words.

Maeve rebuked him sharply. "Don't joke about that. You have no idea what we're in for."

"I know all too well. She had quite a welcoming committee waiting for us the last time. Those skeleton warriors weren't very friendly, were they?" he said wryly.

"I don't know how you can make light of this; there's nothing the least bit funny about any of this," she said with an angry toss of her head. Her Celtic temper was showing. She turned away from him and moved a couple more feet up the rail.

Sinbad knew he'd touched a raw nerve. "Look, Maeve. I know that she's dangerous. I can see you're worried about meeting her again. Making light of it doesn't mean I don't think this is serious business. Don't think I'm not worried about losing you because of this. I am."

Sinbad moved up the deck beside Maeve. He touched her on the arm. "Please forgive me, I didn't mean to upset you. I can't have you mad at me. Not today, not after last night. Please. "

Maeve turned and faced him. His words touched her deeply. She had regained her control. "You shouldn't be apologizing to me. I'm the one that snapped at you. I'm sorry. I'm a little jumpy today. I've had a lot on my mind lately." She could feel the tears coming again, so she walked away. "I've got things to do in my cabin," she called back to him.

That night at supper, Sinbad was careful not to bring up the subject of Rumina or what faced them the next day. Instead he steered the conversation to past adventures and good times. He worked hard to keep things light for Maeve's sake. He noticed that she only smiled at the funny parts of their adventures, where in the past she would have been laughing right along with the rest of the crew. Also, she did not make any contributions to the conversation other than a word or two here or there. He could see she seemed occupied with other thoughts. He wanted to ask her about them, but knew he couldn't.

Later that evening as Sinbad carried out his duties, he tried to keep an eye on Maeve's whereabouts. This was not that easy, for she disappeared right after supper into her cabin. Sinbad did not want to interrupt her if she were working on some magic spells. He decided to check in with Firouz to see if he had everything ready for tomorrow. He went down to Firouz's cabin, knocked on the door, and opened it upon hearing Firouz saying, "Come in."

Immediately his nostrils were assaulted with an acrid smell. He shook his head and said, "What on earth is that awful smell?"

"Oh sorry, is it really strong? I don't smell it any more. I just mixed up a new batch of powder for my exploding sticks. Hey, you should see these." Firouz went over to his workbench and picked up a round object and handed it Sinbad.

"Coconuts? What so special about these?" Sinbad questioned.

"Turn it over," Firouz said. When Sinbad complied, Firouz continued enthusiastically, "These are a new improvement over my exploding sticks. I picked up lots of coconut shells on the beach of the island where we stopped for water last week. I cut them in half, scooped out the meat, and dried the shells in the sun. Then I filled them with my exploding powder. I drilled some small holes along the sides and fastened them together with leather thongs."

"I see," said Sinbad turning it over in his hands, admiring Firouz's handiwork. "And how are these better than your sticks?"

"Well, for one thing, they hold more powder. So they should be much more powerful. And, also, because they're rounder, they're easier to throw accurately. I was never sure where those sticks would go when I threw them."

"Well that's comforting to hear," Sinbad quipped with a mildly sarcastic tone.

"And a person can throw them further too because they're round. And look at this one," he said excitedly. He brought Sinbad a second coconut. It looked just like the first one except that it had a loop of leather attached to the leather thong that held the two halves together. "You can swing this around and around and then let it go." He took it from Sinbad and started to demonstrate how to swing it, nearly hitting Sinbad in the face as it went around and around.

"Enough, enough. I don't want that going off in here."

Firouz let the coconut come to a stop. "Oh don't worry. They're safe enough. Just keep them away from fire, that's all."

"Well that's very interesting. Have you tried any of these out yet?"

"No, not yet. But I'm almost certain to tomorrow, aren't I?"

Sinbad nodded. "I'm glad you brought that up. No matter what happens tomorrow, we must keep a close eye on Maeve at all times and protect her. She will be Rumina's main target. I don't want anything to happen to her."

"Don't worry. You can count on me. You know how we all feel about her."

"Thanks. I'm depending on you. I'll leave you to your work. Get a good night's sleep. You'll need it."

"I will. Until tomorrow." Firouz watched Sinbad go, and then turned back to his work.