Part Five
Maeve and Sinbad walked the rest of that days journey side by side. Every once and a while his hand would reach out for hers, or hers for his. Sometimes one would "accidentally" bump up against the other; anything for a stolen touch or a light caress. They fell behind the others, sometimes talking, mostly just walking in comfortable silence.
Firouz and Doubar both wore idiotic grins on their faces, inspired by their good friends. They knew something significant had changed, and it could only be for the better.
The afternoon passed quickly as the little group rose higher into the mountains. The air grew colder the higher they climbed; Dermott's cries echoed off the mountains as he flew gracefully above them.
When they broke for camp that night, they took shelter in a large cavern carved into the side of the mountain. The weather had changed abruptly just before twilight and a violent thunder storm was just getting ready to break overhead.
"We had better hurry if we're going to collect dry wood for the night." Xaldar said as they settled into the cavern.
Maeve shrugged lightly. "I'll go, I want to see if I can find Dermott anyway."
Xaldar paused. "If you don't mind, Maeve, I'd like to go with you. These mountains can become confusing in the dark, and with this storm brewing, well, I don't want you taking any chances."
Maeve scowled. "I am well capable of taking care of myself, Xaldar." She sighed. "But you can come along to keep me company."
Sinbad frowned as the two left the cave; he still didn't trust Xaldar, especially not alone with his Maeve.
"Little brother, are you going to follow them?"
Sinbad shook his head. "No. Maeve can take care of herself." But he knew that if they weren't back soon he was going to go after them, and may Allah help Xaldar if Maeve had been harmed.
*****************************************************************
Xaldar never took his eyes off Maeve as she strode through the woods, unbothered by the strong winds or the chilly beginnings of rain.
"We should be returning soon, Xaldar." Maeve said. "We've been gone for over an hour. Sinbad will be concerned if we're not back and this storm worsens."
Xaldar sighed. "We'll go back in a few minutes, Maeve." he gestured to a fallen log. "Please, just for a moment, won't you sit down?"
Maeve furrowed her brow, but set the wood aside and sat down.
Xaldar took a deep breath. "Maeve, as you know, my island is based upon the idea of a queen ruler, a queendom if you will. Now, Tayia is the last of my family in line for the throne, and she, as yet, has no husband and no heirs. If anything, Allah forbid, should happen to her, then the crown falls upon my wife and our daughters."
Sinbad crept quietly up behind the dup, listening carefully to every word of Xaldar's speech. When Xaldar and Maeve had not returned with in forty five minutes, Sinbad had become increasingly alarmed for the safety of his love. Ignoring Doubar's smirk, Sinbad reached for Maeve's cloak and headed out the entrance.
Sinbad remained hidden in the rocks and foliage mere feet away from his beloved and Xaldar. Every word burned his ears, and hardened his heart.
"Xaldar, what are you getting at?" Maeve said, slowly.
"Maeve, like my sister, I have remained unmarried and heirless. I know the reason for this. I have already met the perfect woman; she is strong, beautiful, intelligent and so very loving. I fell deeply in love with her the instant I set eyes on her."
"What did you do?" Maeve leaned forward in interest.
"Nothing. I let her come into my life and leave it without ever saying a word. I vowed that if I were to be given a second chance I would not waste it. I would tell my love how deeply my heart and soul yearn for her, how my every thought consists only of her activities, that my dreams have made her an angel and have placed her on a pedistal so high not even the gods could ever reach her. I love her with a love so deep and pure that I feel as though I were to die without her."
Maeve sighed deeply. He had just described her exact feelings towards Sinbad. "Were you never given that second chance?"
Xaldar shook his head. "Not until this very moment."
Maeve drew in a sharp breath. "Me?" she whispered. "These beautiful thoughts were for me?"
Xaldar nodded. "I live only for you, my love. Everything I have become is due to your influence. I have never loved another so much as I do you."
Maeve's eyes grew misty, and her heart broke for her dear friend. "Oh, Xaldar."
Xaldar looked pleadingly into Maeve's eyes. "Maeve? When you left Thalderon my world fell apart. You took my heart and I became only half a man. Would you please marry me? Would you become my wife and make me whole again?"
Maeve paused, her mind and her heart shifting into overdrive. She had never been one for delicate subtleties, but now she was faced with breaking her friend's heart without shattering the whole man. "Oh, Xaldar, you are so very sweet to ask me, and I love you for it."
Sinbad's heart plummeted into the ground....she wouldn't.. she couldn't.
"But?" Xaldar asked, slowly. Sinbad's hopes rose again.
Maeve hesitated. "Xaldar, I have two quests in my life; I sail with Sinbad and the others so that I may complete these quests." Besides, Maeve thought mischeciously, where else can I watch Sinbad run around half naked with all his muscles rippling... Maeve shivered at the thought. "As long as I can sail with Sinbad, I could never leave to be married."
Sinbad received a small measure of pleasure from hearing Maeve turn down Xaldar's proposal, but something about her reply was bothering him.
A stricken look crossed Xaldars face, "And if Sinbad were to request you no longer sail with him and his crew, would that alter your decision?"
A sharp stab of pain flashed through Maeve's heart. If Sinbad were to leave her, she would have no reason to live. Shoving her sudden terror aside, Maeve looked off into the distance. "Xaldar, if Sinbad were to leave me here, if he were to truly insist upon me not coming with him, it would change a lot of things for me." she paused. "But to answer your question, I would have no reason to turn down your proposal should that happen."
Sinbad's jaw dropped and his heart exploded into a million pieces. His teeth ground together as he slamed his mouth closed and clenched his jaw. He was just moving away when Xaldar's next question stopped him cold.
"Do you love me at all, Maeve?"
Maeve smiled gently. "Oh, yes, Xaldar, I love you dearly." She paused to try and format her next sentance, but Sinbad didn't wait around long enough for it. A strangled sob escaped his throat. He had heard enough. If Maeve wanted to be with Xaldar, then by Allah she would be! Neither Maeve nor Xaldar heard Sinbad leave. "You are a dear, sweet friend, Xaldar, and I love you as such."
Xaldar's face fell. "But not as a husband?"
Maeve shook her head. "I'm sorry, but to be quite honest, my heart is no longer mine to give."
"Sinbad."
Maeve blushed, but she nodded. "Aye, I fought it for a long time, but recent events have been making me see the truth."
"You love him don't you?"
Maeve hesitated, she had never before said her next words, but she knew she had to. "Yes, Xaldar, I do love Sinbad. I love him with all my heart, my soul, with my entire being."
"Does he feel the same way?"
"Oh, god, I hope so." Maeve sighed. "I hope so."
Anger built up inside Xaldar as he saw the love in Maeve's eyes, the love she held for Sinbad. Well, he'd show that seadog who truly owned Maeve. Once Sinbad was out of the way, permanently, Maeve would be his forever.
With a smile, Xaldar moved to his feet and took Maeve's hand. "Come on, let's return to camp."
Maeve nodded and began to pick up the wood. That's when she noticed her discarded cloak lying on the damp ground. "Xaldar? Did I bring my cloak with me?"
"I really don't remember, Maeve, why?"
Maeve frowned. "No reason. I must have jsut forgotten bringing it." She picked it up and wrapped the wood in it to keep dry. "Okay, I'm ready now."
Swiftly they returned to the cavern with the wood, the rain coming down in droves. It was as if some force had ripped open the heavens, divided them into two halves, leaving a rift nothing could fill. Thalderon decended into the heart of the storm, and it didn't seem as if anything would be the same again.
*****************************************************************
Maeve laughed as she and Xaldar ran into the cavern, drenched to the skin. Maeve handed the wood to Doubar. "It still should be dry; I wrapped it tightly."
Wringing out her dripping hair, Maeve moved over to where Sinbad was sitting, isolated from the little group. She smiled warmly at him. "Did you miss me?"
Sinbad looked at her coldly. "Give it up, Maeve. You were hardly gone for two hours. I didn't even notice."
Pain flashed across Maeve's face, but she bit her tongue to keep from speaking harshly. "I was only kidding, Sinbad." she paused. "Could you hold my hair up for a moment? I want to unstick this shirt from my neck."
Doubar had just managed to light the fire, and Sinbad, for the first time, saw Maeve clearly. Her clothes were plastered to her body, the drenched white cloth revealing more of her than he had ever seen. His breath came rapidly as he regarded her. All he wanted to do was to drag her on top of her and kiss her into oblivion, and for an instant his hand reached out to her. Then his mind came back on line. "Get a grip, Maeve, and stop acting like... like.. Rumina!" He spat out. "You're making me sick."
Maeve's stomach turned over and her eyes filled with tears. For a moment she just sat there and looked at him. Stark, raw pain radiated out of her every pore. Just as the tears began to stream down her face, Maeve leaped to her feet, kicked Sinbad in the stomach, and dissapeared into the depths of the cavern.
Everyone had heard Sinbad's final comment, and turned to see the beautiful sorceress reduced to tears. While they were all preoccupied with their friends, Xaldar slipped five exploding sticks out of Firouz's pack, along with plenty of fuse string.
Doubar glared at his brother. "By my soul, little brother! What evil demon possessed you to say something so despicable to that poor girl?!"
"Mind your own business, Doubar. What Maeve and I do has nothing to do with you."
Doubar pointed after Maeve. "When you make a friend of mine cry while she wilts like a dying flower, well then it has everything to do with me! Now are you going to go after her, or am I going to have to give you the beating of your lifetime?"
Sinbad snarled. "I think not. Xaldar, she loves you, so you go after her!"
Xaldar paused, finally cluing in on what had happened. This was the perfect oppurtunity for him to get rid of Sinbad for good, but he would also likely kill Maeve in the process. It was important that Sinbad was out of the way, and Maeve was only a minor character in his plan. He knew what he had to do. Sighing he thought, well, now, that's irony for you. He turned back to the men. "Sinbad, you are galactically stupid, you know that?"
Sinbad looked up. "Huh?"
"Exactly how long were you spying on us?"
Sinbad looked sheepish, but still was angry. "Long enough to hear Maeve tell you she loves you."
"So you left in a huff didn't you? You missed that she only loves me as a dear friend because her heart had been stolen away long ago."
Sinbad looked incredulous. "Why should I believe you?"
"Do you really want to throw away your chance at love because of petty differences?"
Sinbad groaned and he lowered his head into his hands. Doubar broke in, "Well? What are you going to do now?"
"I can't exactly go after her now, Doubar. Not after the things I said to her."
Doubar frowned. "You underestimate the power of love, little brother. She'll forgive you, eventually." Doubar smiled. "So I guess you had better start making it up to her right now. You should be back on her good side in oh... twenty or thirty years."
Sinbad groaned again, and they all laughed at him. Xaldar patted Sinbad on the shoulder. "Come on then, Captain. Take a torch and I'll show you where she went."
Both men lit one of Firouz's torches and they headed out to the back of the cavern. Xaldar kept the exploding sticks well hidden as he led Sinbad deeper and deeper into the trecherous tunnel. Twenty mintues later, Xaldar smiled. "This is as far as I go. Good luck, Sinbad."
Sinbad shook Xaldar's hand. "I was mistaken about you, your highness. Thank you for all you have done."
Xaldar laughed. "I'll see you back at camp."
Sinbad turned into the darkness, his torch dissapearing around a blackened corner.
Xaldar quietly set the fuses on the exploding sticks to give him plenty of time to get back to camp. Planting the along the brace of the cavern, Xaldar lit the fuses and ran.
*****************************************************************
Maeve sat on the rocks at the top of a beautiful underground waterfall. She felt akin to the water fall as she wept into her hands. She could take rejection, lord knows she had had enough of it in her life, but to have him tell her she was behaving like Rumina.... he had meant to hurt her. That much was obvious, but why? Her breath hitched as she sobbed quietly. Perhaps he hadn't enjoyed their stolen moments as much as she... or perhaps he truly did not love her, though her heart was overwhelmed when ever she saw him. Well, that was fine, she sniffed, she didn't need a stupid man anyway. She could take care of herself. Standing up, she screamed at the falls:
"I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!!! DO YOU HEAR ME??? I DON'T NEED HIM, SO STOP SCREWING WITH MY MIND!!!!!"
A sound that resembled her name reached her ears, so she slowly turned around. Standing at the entrance to Maeve's oasis was Sinbad, his face pleading with her to forgive him, his eyes overflowing with love.
Maeve glared at him and crossed her arms. Sinbad stepped towards her, mouthing the words, "Please forgive me, Maeve, I'm sorry, I love you."
Maeve blinked. She couldn't have just seen that. He couldn't love her, not the way he'd been acting.... could he?
"I love you." This time his voice met her ears as he took another step forward.
Before his foot even touched the ground, the entire cavern began to shake and a painful blast reached their ears. Xaldar's exploding sticks had done their job and well. The whole tunnel that Sinbad had just emerged from dissolved, the force of air from the blast knocking Sinbad to his stomach. He managed to look up just in time to see the displacement wave hit Maeve. One instant she was standing there at the top of the falls, looking as beautiful and as angry as ever, the next she was flying through the air.
No, it can't happen this way! Sinbad thought desperately. "NO!!! MAEVE!!!!" he screamed as her body was flung over the edge of the cliff, and she began to fall. She appeared to pause for a moment in mid air, then her body began to decend the two hundred and fifty feet to the bottom of the chasm.
The last thing Sinbad heard before Maeve dissapeared into the chasm was her terrified scream, "SINBAD!!!!"
"MAEVE!!!!!" All around him the cavern was collapsing, yet somehow he managed to work his way over to the edge and peered over. "Maeve." he whispered brokenly, but there was only darkness, and she was gone.
Continued in Shared Admissions: Part Six
