Author´s note:

I know, it took me a while and I´m sorry. I hope I can make up for the long wait :-)

Modestus:

I agree. The second season definintely lacked the humour of the first. There are one or two things that I like about season two but it´s nowhere even near season one. And yeah, the show never really had an end, even though, reading that interview with Ed Naha, I am almost glad there was never a season three :P.

Yup, sure thing. And the background on them starts in this chapter, at least on two of them. There will be more uncovered by and by as the story develops further but it will be more like little gimmicks that will also hopefully make those smile who know a bit about Greek mythology.

Ageofaagje:

Heh, thanks. It´s funny really, but when I write him these two sides appear almost automatically. That guy seems to have a really complex inner life and rather complex and difficult thoughts. I only hope that my readers are not bored with the parts where I describe his thoughts, they tend to stretch at times I know.

Loveangel19

Yay, a new face :-) There ya go, sorry it took me so long.

TK:

Thanks for reviewing. I´m glad you like it. :-)

TiaKisu:

No prob, I guess I don´t really have the right of complaining about anyone for being late (lol) (kicks her own butt). Heh, yeah. By the way, the two of them are kind of difficult to figure out at times as in right now. I´m not sure if this chapter is able to bring this across though.

Chapter 29

Near the rims of night

Their journey from Elysion started off well with benevolent winds taking them from the island´s shores a little more to the east first and then following a straight path north. It was against Sinbad´s experience as a sailor to try and ignore the four directions, but shortly before they had left, Philotes had advised them to do so. They had Maeve´s necklace to guide them and this was enough. More, even Philotes had been unable to tell them. The land of the dead was out of reach for the mortals, but with the guide that had been given to them there would be no question that it was possible for them to reach it. Rumina would have taken care for that. She would not have wanted to be denied the joy and glee of them maybe coming all the long way and despairing right in front of the throne of Hades. Therefore, Sinbad was certain that the passage into the land of the dead was open for them by whatever means.

The new additions to the crew had immediately started to make themselves useful with an enthusiasm that had surprised the captain and that had contradicted the rather heavy mood that their journey had taken on in the previous days. He wondered what explained this strange mood but quickly found the answer. Menelaos, Kadmos and Peleus had been dwelling on Elysion, but for how long he didn´t know. Years? Centuries? Ages? Their names meant nothing to him, but this didn´t mean anything. They had other gods than he had, maybe their culture had been a different one, too. However long their stay on the isle had been and however many years had passed since their time in the world of the living had ended, these three seemed eager to participate in a new adventure and this told him they had not had one in a long time. Elysion was a place of eternal bliss and piece, yet these men seemed joyful to be with them for a change. And this could only be for the good Sinbad decided when the afternoon came and he was directing the Nomad further north.

Maeve had not mentioned what had happened in the night before and he appreciated that for a reason he could not even clearly name. He had admitted his feelings towards her, but was still glad that she did not make it a big issue on board – denying himself the knowledge that people around him knew anyways and had known for longer than he himself had admitted these feelings towards anyone, not even himself. She seemed more at ease around him now with a slight curiosity she was trying to hide from him, but which became obvious in her eyes and body language which had not changed in the year they had been separated and Sinbad found great satisfaction standing at the tiller and finding out he could still read her so well. The tension around them had relaxed noticeably, changing into something that was a little closer to how things had once been even though of course the lack of memory on her side prohibited some things, but then again, new things had been added and he felt good about it, despite the fear concerning the end of their journey that was still and always lingering in the back of his mind.

Right now, the red headed sorceress was sitting on the captain´s cabin, not too close to him, but not too far away either. Dermot was perched next to her and her fingers were lightly running through his feathers. Sinbad had asked her earlier to keep attention to what the pendant was doing and now and then they would exchange some words on the course and she seemed to appreciate the calmness and trust he showed towards her. Beyond that, they acted comfortably around each other, but did not mention what had happened in the forest and garden. It was not necessary right now, the words were unspoken and between them anyways. It was as if both of them were trying to deal with them, trying to get accustomed to them with a little bit of uneasiness on both sides. If anyone of the crew had noticed – and Sinbad was certain they had – they respectfully stayed out of it. Or rather… most of them did.

"Careful, boy."

The voice came from somewhere behind and when Sinbad turned his head, he saw who it belonged to. Menelaos, one of the three they had taken with them from Elysion was standing nearby, fastening the ropes around the side of one of the masts with his strong brown arms. The moment Sinbad glanced at him, he turned to look, half a mischievous smile on his face which barely showed under his thick beard. Sinbad raised an eyebrow, both at the message itself and at the way he was being addressed. Menelaos didn´t seem to bother. He finished with the rope and stepped a bit closer. He was stronger than Sinbad and older, double his age when it came to his body, but of course age did not count on the eternal island.

"Women." Menelaos continued, not waiting for Sinbad to reply, his eyes shortly straying over to the sorceress who was just out of earshot. "Got nothing but trouble with them, mark my words, lad."

"So?" Sinbad replied, his voice neutral in a way that meant neither agreement nor even the admittance that his thoughts had been circling around Maeve. He barely knew Menelaos and since it had taken him so long to admit things to those it concerned, he would surely not chat about it with an almost stranger. Leave alone with one who looked like he saw himself superior in all this. "How would you know. Menelaos?"

The other man stepped closer and crossed his arms in front of his chest, coming to stand next to the captain as he looked across the Nomad´s deck. His and Maeve´s eyes met shortly, and the sorceress looked away again, slight stubbornness in her eyes that made Sinbad smile inwardly. Just as if she had heard…

"Experience of a long live, sailor." Menelaos said, not using any title or name whatsoever. Sinbad did not know anything about him, but from what he saw about this man alone he guessed he had been a leader of some sort. His whole mannerism, the way he spoke and the way he reacted towards others made this likely. Had he been a warrior? A king? He couldn´t tell.

"They are beautiful. Enchanting." He chuckled, a sound that was swallowed by the beard as much as his smile had been. Sinbad scowled slightly, knowing that had he been any younger or anywhere more relaxed and not on a journey to save Maeve´s life and soul, he would have blushed because unknowing or not, Menelaos sure struck a point. He just scowled slightly and the other man stepped a bit closer. "Take no offense", he said, patting Sinbad on the shoulder as if they had been comrades for years. "it may be different with any man and woman, but I have fought wars over mine. And she wasn´t worth it. She preferred another over me." Briefly wondering why he told him all this, Sinbad noticed the taller and much heavier man shrug his shoulders. It looked almost comical. Then he chuckled. "As I said," he repeated. "no offence."

"None taken." Sinbad replied when Menelaos did a few steps back again, his eye still directed at Maeve, hands now resting at his belt. "At least she seems to have better manners." he commented and Sinbad noticed he did not like the way this man talked about Maeve – or women in general for that matter. Had this been in a tavern, this might have been the point where he would have taken up the argument and possibly fight it out. But not here.

"I trust on your manners then, too." he said instead, making sure his gaze was locked with that of Menelaos, his voice not unfriendly, but stating authority against a man who was quite many years his senior.

Menelaos held his gaze for a moment, then nodded slowly, his body language once more betraying the manners of someone powerful. With a small chuckle, he turned to busy himself with the rope again.

"Don´t listen to him." another voice called over to him. "He is just bitter that his wife denied him." It was another one of their new arrivals, Peleus who seemed wiser and older than the first man. "Stop making such vain accusations, Menelaos, we all paid a bitter price for your revenge. I paid with the life of my son, so leave it at peace now." Peleus´words were more cultivated, but that didn´t take away anything of the fact that these two men were fighting their own little fight here, on deck of his ship.

"This is enough." Sinbad therefore stated, his voice serious and just a trace of anger swinging in it. Maeve, noticing, looked up from Dermott for a moment. "I will not allow rivalries on this ship." he stated, tossing her a brief glance. "Is that understood?"

Peleus glanced at Menelaos for a moment, a calm gaze of a man who knows his status in a hierarchy whereas Menelaos reminded him of a tense predator. Then both men nodded and a moment later the tension was gone when both of them tended to their work again.

*****

Sinbad left his post at the tiller only a few minutes later when Rongar took over the shift. Walking over to Firouz who was somewhere near the other end of the ship, he propped a foot against the railing and rested his lower arms on his knee.

"Not even a day ahead and we already have rivalries." he said, half joking, but the matter was serious. "Maybe it wasn´t such a good idea to take them along at all."

Firouz gave a shrug. He had been busy with one of his inventions, something where Sinbad couldn´t even start to guess what it was. "They were powerful in their days after all, Sinbad." The inventor said when fastening a small lever. "or at least if my knowledge about history serves me right."

"You know who they are?"

Firouz looked over to the two of them who were now each tending to their own tasks. "Yes." he said. "they are mentioned in the historic chronicles I studied many years ago when I started studying science. Sometimes history can be really helpful, because the ideas you get there, you know, Sinbad, ideas from ancient adventures, can be a great help. This thing here for example, the first draft was taken from…"

Sinbad chuckled. "Can we delay the science lesson Firouz? Who are they?"

Firouz hesitated a moment, but did not contradict, obviously not really seeing a reason to pout because Sinbad showed interest in something else he knew. With a nod of the head he indicated towards the younger of the two. "Menelaos was a king." he said. "and he was married to er… Helen of Troy."

"Helen of Troy?" Sinbad exclaimed, the memory of the young blonde still vivid in his mind.

"Yes." Firouz confirmed. "the chronicles say one of the princes of Troy, Paris, took her with him because he loved her and he took her to Troy. Menelaos called together the Greeks and led them to war against Troy. They beleaguered the city for years before it fell. Helen and Paris escaped somehow." Sinbad nodded, watching the older man carefully. "What about Peleus?" he asked. "was he in the war, too?"

"Er…I don´t know. But his son was. Achilles. Big warrior, invincible and favoured by the gods if you believe in this sort of thing." He added with a grin and a shrug.

Sinbad tried to keep himself from rolling his eyes and reminding the inventor that he had seen enough in the last couple of days that did not match with science and went very deep into religion, belief and mythology. But he didn´t. There was no use in trying to challenge a scientific mind.

"I see." He said instead with a small smirk, his gaze was more travelling over towards the two men. As long as they kept their personal rivalries to themselves he would not get into trouble with them.

He turned to look across the ocean, only then noticing that the wind had nearly died down. The waters were untroubled, no waves disturbing its perfect blue surface that lay under a bright blue sky which had not even changed colour in the slightest even though evening started to come. With a scowl, the captain looked up at the sails and could see that they were full in the wind, looking just as if there was a strong breeze guiding them. However, the sea itself was perfectly calm …

Something about all this was just not right. It was as if the ship was moving on its own accord or rather as if it was being pulled or guided by something. Sinbad felt his senses sharpen. The last few days had been troublesome and whenever something strange had happened it had usually meant danger ahead, therefore it would be good to be on guard. His eyes were still fixed on the sky when something … happened to it. Like everyone, Sinbad was used to a slow and almost unnoticeable nightfall, a soft fade from blue to black. But this was different. The sky suddenly changed its colour, just as if someone had pulled a dark curtain of blue velvet over it in a swift and powerful movement, changing light to dark.

Sinbad turned his head quickly and ran over to the railing to follow the movement only to notice he had been right. Night was falling … but faster than he had ever seen. It was as if the day was wiped out, as if a curtain was suddenly drawn. He could hear people on deck exclaim in fear and surprise and he could fear Firouz gasp next to him, but did not pay attention. Instead, his gaze was fixed on the rim of night. There was a light ahead, like a moving star guarding night, moving swiftly across the horizon from south to north like a chariot that pulls the dark blue of the nightly sky after it. The light swiftly travelled across the sky, across the Nomad and further north towards the edges of the eerily calm ocean. Like a falling star it sank closer and closer towards the water´s edge in a distance too far to measure. The world turned dark as it fell and as its journey across the sky darkened it, extinguishing the last bits of daylight when the star fell, its light blazing so brightly for a moment that Sinbad covered his eyes with an arm. Then the star was gone and night was there and the night that had been dark before, after the falling of the star, was now full of stars. Silence fell. And silent it had been throughout the chariot´s ride.

"That´s… what I call nightfall." he heard Firouz say to him while he still had his eyes fixed on the horizon, trying to make out the point where the star chariot had come to rest. What was there? Was it the end of the world?

He had not even noticed that Maeve had gotten up and walked to join him. Only when she spoke to him did the captain notice that she was there. "Look." She said and when he did, he saw that the amulet was shining more brightly than it ever had, its light dimming again slightly while he looked.

"When that just happened, it was shining like a little sun." Maeve said, her voice sounding a little shaken. "I think it´s still guarding us the way. We have to go there." She pointed out towards he had been looking. "Where the star touched the sea."

Sinbad nodded, realising what had just happened. This was not the end of the world. Or maybe it was. Here, at the rims of day and night where nightfall could be watched in the form of a fiery chariot drawing nightly skies over that of day, here they were close to the land of the dead. And its entrance was just ahead. And it had just opened for a moment.