The End
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As Maeve opened her eyes for what seemed about the hundredth time that night, she wondered if she would ever have a good night's sleep again. For the past couple of nights, Maeve had been having nightmares. Not the typical nightmare with ghosts and goblins, but rather, memories of her past. Maeve sighed as she pulled up her covers and once again, tried to get back to sleep.
"Maeve!" Maeve's mother called. "Where are you?" An eight year old Maeve groaned as she heard her mother's calls. Maeve could see her pretty mother scanning the farm from her hiding place, high in a tree.
She sighed as she laid back in the entangled branches. Her mother wanted her to help her cook, or clean, or sew, or some other house-bound task.
Maeve wished she had been born a boy. All the neighboring farms had children. While the girls helped their mothers, the boys remained outside to play and watch the animals. In fact, the only visible difference between herself and the boys, was her long red hair and the dresses that her mother forced her to wear.
Maeve's father was a pig farmer and her mother was a typical housewife. The three lived on a big farm with lots of chickens, horses, sheep, cows, and pigs. Although the farm could be fun at times, Maeve preferred the big forest behind it.
It was always sunny and green there. She could just lie there, listening to the peaceful sounds of nature, and watching the busy world pass her by.
"Maeve!!" her mother once again shouted. Maeve sighed.
"Oh, I'm coming, I'm coming!" Maeve called back. As she climbed down the tree, her mother gave her an exasperated look.
"Maeve, you look a wreck!" she shrugged at her mother.
That's why she loved the forest. She didn't have to please anyone up there.
"Maeve, go wash up for supper." she added.
As Maeve turned, her mother scolded her, "If you must insist on climbing trees like a monkey, at least wear some shoes!"
Maeve smiled. How she loved her mother! Even when she scolded her, she always had a touch of love in her voice. Her mother, Sophia, was a beautiful woman in her early thirties. She had long fiery red hair, which she always wore in a loose on the top of her head.
Sophia was a dedicated wife to her husband, Makon, and always wore an apron, ready to wait on his every need. Sophia knew that Maeve loved her, but she wished that she was closer to her father.
As she watched her daughter trudge into the house, she rubbed her bulging stomach. She couldn't wait for the baby to be born, Maeve needed a sibling. She never seemed to get along with the other neighbors children.
"Soon, my daughter," she thought, "you won't be so lonely anymore."
A few months later, Maeve's mother gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Dermott. Although it should have been a joyous occasion, it was anything but happy for Maeve and her father. Shortly after the baby was born, Sophia passed away.
Makon blamed her death on Dermott, and he grieved more than any man could grieve the death of his wife. A nine year old Maeve was sad, but not at just the death of her mother, but at the birth of the baby.
It was a mix of first child jealousy and sadness of death. But she couldn't be sad for long. Makon shut himself off from the world. He locked himself in his room, and rarely ever came out.
Maeve had to maintain the household and care for her new infant brother. But everyday, while her brother napped, she still snuck out and went into her forest. It was the only time and place that she could be alone.
As Dermott neared three, he began talking. He should have learned earlier, but he needed a mother or father, not a twelve year old girl. He also ditched his naps.
One day, Maeve was getting ready to leave for her daily trip into the woods. As she was heading out the door, the baby began to cry from in his play pen.
"What now?" she asked him, slightly annoyed.
"Don't go leave me!" he wailed. "I wuv you Maeve!"
Maeve's heart melted as her three year old brother said that. She hadn't been told that she was loved ever since her mother died.
"Oh, come on Dermott!" she said lovingly as she lifted him into her arms.
Everyday, Maeve and her little shadow played outside. By now, most of the farm's animals had died. She couldn't maintain the whole farm, animals, house, and Dermott by herself.
Little Dermott was no longer a baby. As a four year old, he was Maeve's only friend. Basically everything they did was together. Everywhere Maeve went, Dermott went too. The bond they had was stronger than any siblings had ever had for each other.
Maeve had taught her brother how to read and write, and he taught her the songs he made up. Maeve couldn't go to school anymore. She had too many responsibilities at home, and she couldn't leave her brother home alone.
Their father hated him. Maeve often wondered if he was dead, for she saw him so seldom, but then he would run out after Dermott trying to kill him and Maeve knew the answer. He took up drinking after Sophia died and he blamed Dermott for her death.
Maeve and Dermott took blankets outside, and almost every night fell asleep in the trees, underneath the stars. Not because they were scared of their father, but because nature was beautiful, and they both thought the forest was the best place in the world.
They both slept in the same tree, the one with the hole in the canopy, so that they could see the night sky.
"Look Maeve! Look up there! That's the big dipper!" Dermott would excitedly tell her.
Maeve was so proud of her little brother. He read books at the same level as her now. He could even stump her with math problems. And he never, ever bragged to her. The two never even disagreed with one another.
As Maeve contentedly closed her eyes, she cuddled up next to her little brother and quickly fell fast asleep. She usually dreamed of how proud would have been of her, if she saw how Maeve took such good care of Dermott.
At fourteen, Maeve juggled her schoolwork, housework, and her brother on a daily basis. She had recently re-enrolled herself back in school. At six, Dermott began his first year and was doing wonderfully.
Makon had packed up his bags and moved out a few months earlier. Maeve and Dermott now lived in their house again and were maintaining a thriving bunch of animals.
"Maeve! Time to wake up!" Dermott said as he shook his sister awake. "School's closed today!" he exclaimed.
"Why?" Maeve asked him, half asleep still.
"It's snowing!" he replied.
"Yes!!" she shrieked as she jumped out of bed. Even though she was the one who enrolled herself back in school, she still hated it.
"Come on! I'll make us oatmeal for breakfast!" she decided. "You go feed the animals. When we finish eating, we can go out and play." she planned.
"Okay." he agreed. Dermott pulled on a jacket and some boots and skipped outside into the snowy farm.
About twenty minutes later, Dermott still hadn't returned. Maeve pulled on some boots and a shawl to go and get him. When she reached the barn, she saw him collecting some eggs from the chickens.
"How thoughtful!" she thought.
He was always trying to do something helpful for her. When Maeve turned back to the house, she noticed a girl about her age standing near the fence.
The girl was very pretty and wore a lot of jewelry and an exotic looking dress. Maeve shrugged. As she opened up the screen door to her house, the girl walked up to her.
"Hello, can I help you?" Maeve asked.
"Yes." the girl replied. "My name is Rumina. I am the daughter of Turok, the greatest sorcerer in all the world.!" Rumina proudly declared.
"I'm almost completed with my training." Maeve carelessly shrugged.
Rumina went on. "My daddy said that you will cause trouble for us later on."
"Me?" Maeve asked. "I don't even have any magic in me!" She explained.
"Yes you do." Rumina replied. "You're just not trained. But you don't have to worry about that anymore. Where you're going, you won't need magic." And with that, Rumina raised her arm and allowed a blue ball of light to form in her palm.
Just as she was about to throw it, Dermott threw himself into Rumina, knocking the witch to the ground, and causing the fireball to explode against the side of the house, barely missing Maeve.
"Come on Dermott!" Maeve yelled as she ran away from the house.
Dermott got up and fled with her. Rumina furiously chanted a few words and pointed at Dermott. Maeve stopped and watched Dermott in horror.
His little arms shrank against the side of his body. His shoes were torn open as sharp claws emerged from his toes. Dermott's tiny nose grew larger and pointier to form a beak.
Maeve began screaming as she watched her little brother fall into the snow. Not as a human anymore, but as a small, black, red tailed hawk.
Maeve sat up in her bed, realizing that she was in her cabin, aboard the Nomad. She began to cry as she remembered her dreams.
"It's all my fault!" she whispered.
Tears streamed down her face as she remembered the pain that Dermott had gone through. Learning to fly was the worst.
Maeve closed her eyes, trying to block out those awful memories.
As Sinbad was returning to his cabin, with a glass of water, he heard someone whimpering. As he turned back, he realized that it was coming from Maeve's room.
He quietly rapped on the door and opened it. "Maeve?" he called out.
Sinbad shut the door and set his glass down on her night stand. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw Maeve sitting up in her bed, sobbing.
He sat down next to her and put a hand on her trembling shoulder. She suddenly threw her arms around his neck. Sinbad hugged her back and slowly rocked her back and forth. How it broke his heart to see her like this!
"Maeve?" he asked. "Dim-Dim always said that it helps to talk about your problems." Maeve nodded.
She slowly pulled away from Sinbad. He watched her wipe away her tears with her nightgown's sleeve.
"Sinbad?" she asked in a wavering voice.
"Yes Maeve, I'm here." he assured her.
"Promise me that we will kill Rumina."
Sinbad was surprised to hear that that was what she was crying about.
"Maeve, I don't know how she hurt you, but I swear, I will do my best to defeat her." he said.
As Dermott flew to the windowsill, Maeve began to sob again. "It's my fault!" she cried. "My fault!"
Sinbad pulled Maeve close to him, wishing he could erase her pain. If Rumina had caused Maeve to be crying right now, he would gladly kill her a thousand times.
As Sinbad sat, slowly rocking Maeve, he vowed to kill Rumina, much like Maeve had for Dermott, ten years earlier.
Dermott sat watching his sister and Sinbad from his seat on the windowsill. He missed being a human, but not so much for him, but to erase Maeve's sorrow.
She blamed herself for his condition, but he would easily go through it again in a heartbeat if it was for Maeve. She was so good to him, he just wished he had arms right now, so he could comfort her.
He should be the one comforting her, not Sinbad! Dermott was indeed jealous of the attention Sinbad always got from his sister, but he was a good man. Dermott also wished that he could thank Sinbad for accepting him and treating him fairly, like a member of the crew.
He knew that if anyone could kill Rumina, it would be Sinbad and Maeve. As Sinbad looked at the hawk on the windowsill, he could have sworn that he saw a single tear drip down Dermott's tiny face.
About an hour later, Sinbad quietly closed Maeve's door and returned to his own cabin. Maeve had finally fallen asleep. She still hadn't told Sinbad what was wrong. As he walked into his cabin, he thought of what Maeve had said.
"Promise me that we'll kill Rumina." she had said.
"What has Rumina done to her?" Sinbad wondered.
He knew it had something to do with Dermott, but he didn't know what. When Dermott had flown into her room, Maeve had said that it was her fault.
"What was her fault?" he would have to think about that.
Hopefully, she would tell him when she was ready. Sinbad laid down on his bed, trying to figure out what the connection was between Maeve, Dermott, and Rumina.
*Maeve!* Dermott called.
*Come on Dermott, we have to find this man!* Maeve sent back.
Maeve and Dermott were in Baghdad, looking for a man named Dim-Dim. Maeve was trying to learn, or at least understand her powers. She had heard that Dim-Dim taught students magic.
*You don't have to do this!* Dermott said. *Let's just go back to the farm and live our normal lives again!* he finished.
*Dermott, it's my fault you're like this, and I have to learn my powers to free you!* she said.
Maeve was determined to master her magic and free her little brother. She just couldn't let him live out his life as a hawk!
A few hours later, Maeve exhaustedly plopped down on a wooden bench.
"I'm never going to find him!" she thought as she peered out into the darkening town.
"Maeve?" A short, elderly man called her. Maeve looked up. "I am Dim-Dim. It's awfully chilly out here. Please, come in." he offered.
Maeve happily nodded in acceptance. Dim-Dim opened the door to allow Maeve and Dermott inside.
Maeve slowly opened her eyes as she heard Dermott speaking to her.
*Maeve, please tell Sinbad about me.* he simply requested.
She reluctantly nodded as she opened up her door. Although she didn't think it was the right time, it was Dermott's decision, after all. Maeve went into the hallway and walked down to Sinbad's cabin.
"Sinbad?" she called as she knocked on his door.
"Come in." he called from inside. He was still awake, thinking about Maeve and Rumina.
Maeve opened the door and entered. Sinbad was sitting up in his bed and he patted the spot next to him, inviting her to sit down.
She sat down next to him and he put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Sinbad? We need to talk." she said as Sinbad nodded.
"Yes, I was hoping you'd say that." he said
"If I tell you this, I'd like you to keep it between us." Maeve said as she gestured to Dermott who was perched on Sinbad's windowsill.
"Of course Maeve. You can trust me." he promised.
Maeve took a deep breath before beginning.
"Okay. Here goes." she began, "Dermott is my little brother. He's eight years younger than me. We met Rumina when I was fourteen and Dermott was six. She said that I was going to cause trouble or something. She tried to kill me, but Dermott stopped her."
Maeve looked at Sinbad. He was staring at Dermott with a pained look on his face. He shook his head, then looked back at Maeve.
She continued, "As punishment, she turned my six year old, baby brother into a hawk. My mother was already dead and my father walked out on us. I had no friends, besides Dermott, so we left and went to Baghdad to find Dim-Dim."
"I was with Dim-Dim for ten years trying to learn my magic. And that's about it." Maeve finished.
Sinbad was silent as Maeve watched him.
"Maeve? Thank you for telling me that. I had no idea." he shook his head in his own stupidity.
"Well my feathered friend," he said as he stroked Dermott's soft feathers, "you won't have to be like this forever. We will defeat Rumina."
Dermott chirped in thanks.
"Once you're returned to your true form, you will still remain a member of my crew, right?" Sinbad hopefully asked.
Dermott squawked and Sinbad looked at Maeve. She nodded.
"I'm sorry this happened to you two." he told Maeve.
Dermott peacefully sighed as he watched Maeve and Sinbad hug. He could wait to be returned to his normal human self. This way, he could spy on these two lovebirds without them noticing.
Dermott flew out the window into the cool night sky. As he happily swooped around the Nomad, he was completely unaware of the evil eyes of Rumina that were watching him.