Sinbad awoke the next morning feeling refreshed. He had slept the entire night through, without incident. Cracking his eye open, he searched his cabin for the sorceress. She wasn't there.
He dressed for the day and headed to the galley for breakfast. Maeve was already there with Firouz and Rongar.
"Hey sleepyhead," she greeted. She was shoveling down runny eggs. Sinbad suspected that breakfast had been on Firouz.
"Anything left?" he asked, his stomach rumbled loudly.
"Still in the pan Sinbad," Firouz pointed out eagerly. Sinbad helped himself to the remaining eggs. He was happy they had decided to keep a few hens on board.
"So Sinbad," Firouz asked, "how was your night?" The two male crewmembers did little to hide their amusement. It was no secret that Maeve had spent the night in the Captain's cabin. Maeve rolled her eyes. Sinbad chose to ignore the comment. Firouz and Rongar snickered away.
Maeve spoke next over the sound of Firouz's laughter, "Sinbad, I could detect nothing out of the ordinary last night," she told him. He had already suspected that much.
"I know Maeve," he replied happily, "I haven't slept so well in the past 2 weeks. Maybe the dreams are finally over," he stated optimistically. "Now things can get back to normal!" Sinbad was always overly enthusiastic about these things.
"I wouldn't get my hopes up so quickly sailor," Maeve warned. She finished her eggs and put her dish in the soapy water basin. "I'm headed to bed," she informed him. "I'll see you all in a few hours," she nodded to each of the men as she set off down the hall towards her own cabin.
"Take as long as you need Maeve," Sinbad called after her.
Without turning back, she raised her arm as if to blow him off repeating, "I'll see you all in a few hours."
Sinbad's mood improved throughout the day, he felt lighter, like a weight had been lifted. He'd almost forgotten what it was like to feel rested. He was re-energized and made good use of that excess energy.
He was high up on the netting tying a few stray ropes together when a headache hit him… hard. Visions filled his mind; swords, axes, blood, carnage, and a child caught up in it. It was his dream, coming to him in fragmented pieces. Then, just as suddenly as it had come, his mind cleared of the images, and he saw his ship below him again. Doubar was standing with Rongar just beneath him. Sinbad caught one of the ropes dangling beside him, intending to slide down it to tell his brother and friend what had just happened.
But just then, a second wave of visions hit him, harder than the first this time. These visions were new, ones he had not witnessed in his dream. They were trapped, in a cellar, sparks of fire were falling through the cracks in the floorboards overhead catching quickly on the dried leaves and wood in the cellar. He was her again, she wasn't alone. There were 2 older boys with her, and a baby. Her brothers he realized. And they were trapped. All of them. For the second time his vision suddenly began to clear, he saw the Nomad again, but felt distanced from it, like he was now watching his own ship from a dream.
He didn't have a chance to analyze it as the visions hit him for a third time, pulling him into something he no longer wanted to witness. The cellar was ablaze, the boys were yelling at him, yelling at her he realized, pushing her towards the wall. He felt the numbness in her body, the willingness to let go of life. Suddenly he felt light, the larger boy had lifted him, lifted her, pushing her into a dirty hole in the wall. It was an air shaft leading to the surface, designed to keep the cellar arid and not musty. It was just barely large enough for her body. The baby was there as well. He heard her brothers screaming at her to go, to escape. He heard their screams as the flames consumed them. He felt her anguish, her terror. It gripped his very soul. Let me die. The words echoed in his mind as his fingers went numb. He lost his grip on the ropes and plummeted to the deck of the Nomad.
Authors Note: More reivews more motivation to post! Hope you guys are enjoying it so far. There's lots more to come. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I appreciate the feedback!