flashback to a year and a half ago---
"Sinbad!!!" Maeve screamed, holding on to the ropes for dear life.
"Maeve!!!" came his response. He tried to make it to her in time, but her strength gave out as she was finally knocked overboard and into the sea's awaiting depths.
the present---
Maeve remembered she had already been unconscious before he dived in after her. What was amazing was the fact that she knew he had dived in after her. She hadn't seen it, nor had she voluntarily 'looked' into the past, as she could now do, but she just somehow knew... Maybe if he had made it to her in time, she would not be here now...
flashback to the morning after the storm---
Maeve awakened feeling chilled to the very bone. It took her a moment to realize that she was in the ocean, clinging to a piece of driftwood that she would later decide must have come loose from the Nomad during the storm. How she had gotten hold of that life preserver, she didn't know, but she was glad she had. Otherwise, she surely would have drowned last night.
Then the full reality of the situation hit her. Where was she? How would she survive? Were Sinbad and the others looking for her? What if they didn't make it? How would she ever manage to go on if she found out Sinbad was dead?
A calm, rational voice within her mind answered every question. *You're right where you're supposed to be. You'll find a way. Yes, they're looking for you. They're all alive and well, except for Sinbad who's having problems with a monster and a certain damsel in distress right now. Don't worry about it because he's alive and well, and will be for a long time.*
She froze at that voice. She hadn't heard it in so long, and even given her dilemma it was a relief to hear it. *Dim Dim,* Maeve called telepathically.
*Yes, my child, I'm here.*
*What happened?*
*I had to take you from the Nomad. It's better that you not be there right now, I'm afraid. Sinbad's about to become a person that you'll hardly recognize, in looks and in actions. For you to stay there would be disastrous for your magic. You need complete concentration, not the distractions that his new lifestyle would provide.*
*Distractions? Master Dim Dim, I don't understand! What kind of distractions? How could being on the Nomad harm my magic? Master, please, tell me what you mean!*
*I haven't the time to explain everything now, child. Just trust in me and believe me. Practice your magic every day, and be careful to avoid Rumina's detection. Do not take unnecessary risks. And, my child, remember me when I'm gone.....* Dim Dim's voice began to fade out.
"Master, wait!" Maeve called aloud, forgetting to use her mindvoice. "I'm afraid! Don't leave! What am I going to do to survive?"
*Look behind you, child.* Maeve did as he commanded and gasped to see a ship much like the Nomad looming before her. *Go to it. Live there. Practice. Learn. Do as I say, and the time will come when you can return to your ship and friends.*
"But, Master, when will that time be?"
*Do as I say, and it will all fall into place.* His voice faded completely, and he was gone.
Maeve swam to the ship, noticing the name as she neared it (The Captive), and climbed to the deck using a rope that hung unusually near the water. She surveyed the deck, went below and into every cabin, the galley, the cargo hold, everything, and she didn't find another single soul on that ship. Odd, since it seemed so well kept and had obviously survived last night's storm unscathed.
After dismissing the lack of other people as something merely part of Dim Dim's plan, Maeve gave the ship a more thorough inspection. Food awaited her in the galley, neatly packed away and not a single morsel decaying or bug-infested, all as if it had just been brought on board that very day. Fresh water accompanied the food, not the best tasting in the world but clean and drinkable nonetheless.
the present---
*Ah, the food...* Maeve thought. It was only one of the mysteries that came with this ship of hers. At first she had rationed the food, planning for the future and trying to make it last as long as it could just in case there was no land very nearby. It had only taken a few days of this for her to discover that this was unnecessary. The food and water replenished themselves every time any thing was used.
Maeve looked down at the band of colors that had surrounded her wrist for a year and a half now. *And you,* she thought, *You led to more revelations.....*
flashback to a week since Maeve first boarded The Captive---
Maeve stared at herself in the mirror. The only mirror on The Captive. For a week now she had considered it an odd luxury, a distraction in what was supposed to be a place of learning. Only five minutes ago she had done something amazing. Something that she had never dreamed possible. *It's got to be this bracelet,* she thought, gently touching the band around her left wrist.
Maeve closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to again bring about what had happened purely by accident only a few minutes before. This second time was much harder, the first time had come as a cool breeze that teases you on a hot summer day, one that promises to quench your heat and then disappears, leaving you unsatisfied.
A full hour she stood there, concentrating, waiting, hoping, trying to tap into the power that her new piece of jewelry had to offer. Then it happened. She opened her eyes, and it had happened. Staring back at her from the mirror was not the red-headed beauty she usually saw, but a different form altogether. This woman was shorter, dark-haired, wearing a short yellow dress and a sword hung from her waist instead of on her back. This was Bryn. Or at least the image of her. Maeve's best friend from years and years ago, as she pictured the woman must be now. (Maeve had no way of knowing how accurate she was at that moment.)
The image was there for a few seconds, and then it disappeared again. But it hadn't been just an image. Maeve had 'been' Bryn for those few seconds, at least physically. *This must be one of those talents Dim Dim wants me to concentrate on,* Maeve thought. It was something that would bring her joy in her times of despair, for all she had to do after a few weeks of practice was think of her friends and they were there, with her. She could see them looking back at her form the mirror, and if she made the changes fast enough, it was almost like having a real conversation with them.
When she changed to appear as Sinbad, she chose to make her image as he used to be, with his shorter hair, loose blue pants, his sash and headband..... Yes, she knew that he had changed. She had seen it firsthand.
Her ship docked itself (an amazing feat for an unmanned ship to do without arousing any suspicion, but done nonetheless) and allowed Maeve to leave it for the first time. She had never been able to leave it before, not even to go swimming when the ship was in the middle of the sea, where she would have had no where to run. It had never docked before, either. She had discovered early on that the ship controlled its own course and destination and that she had no control over where it went.
For the ship to dock was odd, but for her to be able to leave it was even stranger. She found that there was a catch, though. After quite a bit of trial and error, she found that she couldn't leave the ship as 'Maeve.' She had to change her form to someone else, someone that no one would recognize her as. And while she was off the ship, she could not change into her 'Maeve' form. She had thought of escaping the confines of the ship this way, but there was evidently a spell connecting her to it that made her tire greatly while away from it. Her time on land was very limited, and she was convinced that if she stayed away too long she would surely die. So she always came back. She had no choice.
the present---
"Stupid ship," Maeve muttered. "You thought you could keep me away from my friends, but you were wrong. I found a way. So what if they didn't know who I was? At least I was there. It doesn't at all matter that I had to appear as so many different women....."
Maeve stopped. That was the thing that had really made her laugh in the first place. The women. All those women that Sinbad had slept with since Maeve had fallen overboard. She grinned mischievously as she thought, *And he was great every time.*
Changing her appearance had had its advantages. This new talent was the one that had given Maeve the most pleasure, and the one that had helped her to accomplish the most during her odd imprisonment. This ship of hers had a habit of taking her wherever the Nomad went.
Whenever she had the chance, Maeve changed her form to get closer to the crew, posing as whatever suited her purposes at the time. She had helped them along on their adventures a few times, though they would probably never know that it had been her. She could imagine an identity unknown to the world, or she could pose as a real, living person. One only had to study their behavior and appearance for a few minutes before they could easily be duplicated, at least for a short period of time.
All those women..... the ones that Sinbad had slept with..... they had all been her. Maeve. The woman who had stared at Sinbad for an entire year, memorizing every detail of him, knowing she could never tell him how she felt... All it took was making him believe that she was someone else, and she was no longer afraid to tell him. The problem was, he didn't know that it was her. A few times, though, while making love, he had called out Maeve's name instead of 'Shirez' or whatever other wench Maeve was posing as.
Every woman Sinbad had slept with over the past year and a half (more precisely, every time he had slept with Maeve) he had been drawn to her by a force unknown to him, but it was his love for Maeve. For although she looked different, and acted different, her heart and soul were the same, and that was what mattered. And, in a way, he had been faithful to her all this time. He just didn't know it.
To always be so close to him, to even be with him, but for him not to know that she was there was a tremendous strain on Maeve's nerves. She had wanted to scream at the top of her lungs who she was, but he would never have believed her anyway. It was better for him not to know anyway, because if she were to tell him she would probably spill out the story of the child she had miscarried. Her and Sinbad's child. *No, don't think of that now. Think of the good that has come from it.....*
Maeve was getting too depressed to continue thinking this way, for now. She wanted so badly to be in his arms right now, for him to comfort her, rescue her, take her away with him... But she knew it wasn't going to happen. *Things like that only happen in fairy tales. Forget it, Maeve, you'll just make things worse,* she thought. For now, she would have to be content with the occasional encounter and her magic. For now, she would watch, practice, and wait for the day when Dim Dim would return and she would be set free form her prison.
Maeve got up from where she had been sitting on deck, looking at the stars and thinking that, maybe, Sinbad was doing the same thing right now. For the moment, that would be her only connection to him. She went down below, to her cabin, which was in the same place that Sinbad's was on the Nomad. She laid down in her bed and fell asleep, hoping that the next day would bring her to the Nomad and her friends, even if they wouldn't recognize her....
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The Captive - Part 2