CHAPTER 4: LOST IN PAIN

When all the people had found their seats, Dim Dim began

"You all know that Maeve and I had been trapped in this place for almost two years and we couldn't make it through the portal. Not that I didn't have enough power or Maeve hadn't obtained the full magic. It was just because the devil whose duty is to guard this island got a mighty power. And as long as he still lives, we cannot make it out here."

"I see…But what happen to all those people in town. It seems that they lost the interest of talking to each others.", Doubar raised the question

"It would be a big surprise if you knew half of those one used to be sorcerers.", Maeve said.

"WHAT?", Nomad crew rolled their eyes

"Told ya!...Well, just as master Dim Dim, they had been sent to this place by Asmir. And first thing of all, the devil lord took all their power away, also he threatened them not to gather more than three people, not to communicate to strangers…Phew, luckily, Dim Dim got enough power to get himself out of all those troubles, then he saved me", Maeve told them the whole story.

"So, what is the role of this little one in this story?", Bryn smiled and pointed at Asif.

"He? Well, he was a friend of a friend of us which you also know, guys", Maeve blinked her eye. "Asif lived here and took the mission of buying supplies for us since Dim Dim and I cannot go out of here."

"But you haven't tell us why you were chased by those soldiers, Asif?" Firouz reminded him.

"Aye, nothing special. I sneaked into the post to get news from them, and they caught me red handed, unfortunately", Asif said. "Then you know the rest, you guys came and save me."

"Uh huh…Be careful next time little boy. That kind of luck wouldn't come too easy."Maeve warned him.

"And…just who is the friend you're mentioning about? Quit playing mysterious game, sorceress! ", Sinbad said feeling hot in his mind.

"He will come home soon, Sinbad, very soon", Maeve replied.

"Home? She's living with another man under a roof ? ", young captain thought confusedly. He couldn't stand that thought.

Just as the same time, somewhere in the island, a man who got a devil face was talking to a mirror. In the mirror was a figure of a sorceress called

"Rumina! What are you doing here?", the devil asked.

"To check if you had fulfilled the task I assigned yet, Beelzebub…"

Beelzebub shook his head. Rumina raised her eye browns and shouted at him

"What? It's been almost two years and you haven't been able to find such an old useless man and a peasant wench? You idiot!"

"Rumina, that old useless man and the peasant wench you're talking about are the most two powerful sorcerers in this island. You should know that it isn't easy…"

"Shut up"…Rumina interjected, her eyes are red because of anger. She just couldn't believe how those two brats had managed to get out of her hands. Beelzebub is strong, she knows, the truth is he is the strongest minion in her army. That's why he was assigned to guard this island which was full of ex-sorcerers.

Beelzebub ignored what Rumina was saying for he was used to hearing all those insulting words. He turned his attention to the hawk which was caught in the morning, talking to himself.

"what should I do with you? Should I fry you or stew you for my dinner?"

Noticing that Beebzebub had paid his attention to another subject, Rumina was angry and shouted at him.

"What are you doing, you idiot? You are not going to tell me that you have changed your interest from woman into bird, are you?

"Of course not, Rumina. I was just thinking about my dinner with that hawk."

Beelzebub showed Rumina the cave which had the bird inside. At first she didn't notice it much, but later she realized it.

"That look…it's so familiar…It maybe…that wench's hawk.", she murmured then she turned to Beelzebub and said with a victorious smile.

"Good! You've done a good job. I think I know how to make that peasant witch show up…HaHaHa"

Back to Dim Dim's house, when everybody was chatting about lives in two years ago, they heard a knock on the door. Asif came out to open it. In front of him was a man with athletic muscles. He was holding a little girl who was about 2 years old in his hand. The man walked into the house as everybody turned their attention to him.

Shocked, both of them, and Sinbad was the one who talked first

"E…Eyolf ?"

"Sinbad ! And everybody's also here? Great!", He let go of the little girl and gave Sinbad a big Viking hug.

"How are you? Long time no see.", Eyolf said

"I'm fine…" Sinbad was interrupted by the voice of the little girl

"Mama!"

He turned his back to see what happened and he saw Maeve was holding the little girl in her hand, embracing her with the sweetest voice

"Oh my dear Sigrid, finally you're home to mama. I miss you so much"

"Ma…mama? Who's that little girl's mother?...", still can't believe in what he heard, Sinbad thought confusedly.

Maeve picked up Sigrid and came closer to Eyolf, she kissed him on his cheek and softly said

"Welcome home, Sigrid's daddy."

"What? Da…daddy? Eyolf is the father? And Maeve is the mother of…of this girl?", Sinbad fell the ground under his feet is shaking, he almost fell on the floor. Maeve who was picking the girl in her hand came to him and told

"Hey, Sinbad? How are you? You look pale? Are you ok? "

"I'm…okay, Maeve…I…just was shocked at the adoration of…of this girl", trying all his strength, Sinbad said

"Aye, my daughter, her name is Sigrid. Hey, little Sigrid, say "hi" to captain Sinbad", Maeve asked her daughter

"Hi", Sigrid said.

"Hi", replied Sinbad though he still didn't know what he had just said. All he cared about was that Maeve…his Maeve had got married to Eyolf and they even had a child. Looked closer to the girl, Sinbad found that Sigrid got a red hair just like Maeve and the green eyes just liked his Viking friend.

But he was not the only shocked at the news, Nomad crew did,too

"Oh dear! I cound't believe it…", Doubar told Firouz.

"We're in an awkward situation. I know someone's heart is broken now.", Firouz whispered.

"Rongar, you know who those two are talking about?", Bryn asked.

But the moor just shook his head as if there were nothing could be done to save the situation. Bryn was the only one confused for she didn't understand the whole thing.

And the young captain whose heart had broken into pieces as he knew Maeve hadn't waited for him. The thought of losing her was tearing him apart.

"Maeve…why…why…?"

He blamed himself for not finding out the meaning of the paper sooner. If he had discovered it sooner, Maeve might have not married Eyolf, he might not have lost her.

"It's all my fault… if only I had told her my true feeling…If only I had found the clue sooner…If only…"

Lost in his thought, Sinbad didn't realize that Eyolf was coming closer to her and said

"Maeve…I didn't sure about that but since Sinbad and everybody are here, I thought you'd better know this."

"What is it, Eyolf ? What's that important?"

"Maeve, promise me you'll keep calm…", Eyolf insisted

"Oh, c'mon man, you know how I hate this when people keep fooling around. Just tell it straight away…", she told him, feeling a little bit irritated.

"Dermott…he's in Beelzebub's hand"

"What?", Maeve widen her eyes. "You're telling me that Dermott was caught by that devil lord Beelzebub, aren't you? "

"I'm afraid so…And the notice on the market wall also said that if you and Dim Dim don't show up in the next two days, he will kill Dermott", Eyolf informed.

Maeve kneeled down.

"Der…Dermott…no, it can't be", she started to cry "it can't be…No"

Sinbad was trying to comfort her but he stopped as Eyolf had done his job as her husband. The Viking came to her and let her borrow his shoulder. Maeve held him and cried while Eyolf rocked her back and forth.

Seeing Maeve cried made Sinbad's heart stop beating. Her pain is his pain, and he hated it when Maeve cried for she had always been a strong girl. Nothing could beat her.

Maeve suddenly stood up and ran out of the house. Everybody was so surprised at her reaction, only Sinbad who knew Maeve better than himself knew what she was trying to do. Quickly he said to the rest

"Leave this to me"

Then he ran after her right away. As fast as an arrow in the wind, Sinbad was able to catch up with Maeve, he called

"Maeve, stop!"…"Maeve!"

But she didn't slow down. Knowing the sorceress too well, young captain jumped on her making the two fell over to the ground. Sinbad was on top of her. She struggled against him to make him let go off her.

"Sinbad! What are you doing? Let me go!", she demanded angrily

"I won't. I know you, Maeve. You're going to give yourself to them, right?"

"No, I didn't…I was just…", trying to defend for her action, she said,

"Maeve, I'm not a fool to let whatever excuse you're gonna tell me let into. Listen, I am not going to let you risk your life saving your pet."

"Sinbad, you don't understand. He isn't a pet, he is my brother. Don't you hear it? Dermott is my brother. He's human", she blurted out the secret which she had been hidden from every one over the past few years.

Not even a word was spoken after what she had said. Sinbad stared at her as if he had mistook it. Finally, he took a deep breath and asked her word by word

"Are you serious, Maeve?"

"Do I look like I am kidding? Now, let off of me, sailor. I promise I'll not run away."

Sinbad stepped aside and helped her stand up. He breathed heavilly.

"Now Maeve…"

"Dermott is my younger brother…", Maeve started while dusting her brown dress. She went on "our father owned a pig farm. When I was sixteen, my pop forced me to marry a land lord in order to getting more pigs and lands…"

"What? Who did he think he was? Who gave him the right of trading Maeve?", Sinbad thought infuriously.

"Dermott happened to listen to the conversation between my pop and the land lord. He came to tell me the news. Knowing that I would never agree and that my father would never give up his plan. He helped me pack my clothes and escaped on that night. I was so afraid that pop would punish him, so I took him along.", she stopped for a moment. Recalling this part of her past really hurt her.

Sinbad could see tears were forming her eyes, yet she didn't let them drop out of her beautiful brown eyes. Maeve continued her story

"We were half way to the port then we saw a red light behind us. This…was the light of fire and it…came from my…my house. We turned back to the village and all we could see…was…was…"

Sinbad wrapped his arms around her waist, he pulled her closer to help ease her pain.

"Maeve…", that was all he could say.

"Sinbad, you never knew…I saw Rumina, not the one you used to know for this was the younger Rumina, yet she was still wicked. Rumina was performing some kind of magic to catch all the handsome men in the village. And anyone stood against her would receive the punishment liked my pop. She fired our house…"

"That witch. I'll never forgive her for what she had done to you.", said Sinbad full of anger.

"…Then I asked Dermott to hide in the bush while I went searching for a weapon. I found a plough, luckily…I crushed into Rumina…screamed "Stop what you are doing, you witch". She dodged it, but I also made a small wound in her arm. Angrily, she shouted

"ouch, you damn peasant. How dare you stand against me? I will make you regret doing this for the rest of your life."

She then waived her hand in the air and chanted some spell, suddenly a yellow beam burst out of her hand, flew straight toward me. I…was so surprised at what she was doing that I could hardly make a move. At the time, I thought my life was done for. A shadow passed right in front of me

"Watch out, sis"

I realized that it was Dermott who took Rumina's spell. He did it for me. Rumina was shocked for a while but it didn't took her much time to come back to her devilish smile.

"ah…another idiot. Well, well, well, well…brotherhood huh? Oh! I hate to be emotional. Peasant! It's not over yet, in fact, I might add that it's just the beginning…Hahaha…from now on you will be tormented with remorse."

After that, she disappeared. At first, I didn't understand what she said, but later when I looked back at Dermott…I knew…what she meant…

"Maeve, you saw Dermott was being transformed into a hawk, didn't you?", said Sinbad still holding her in his hands.

"…yes, and his last words as human were "sis"… Since then, I swore I would find a way to bring him back to his human form, even if it cost my life. No home, no family, Dermott and I had passed a hard time before Dim Dim found me and became my master.", said Maeve with tears all over her face.

She couldn't hide it any longer. She got to put away the heavy weight in her chest. Those years living in secret had caused her to feel tired. She was fed up with keeping secret from all the one she loved.

Sinbad turned her to face him. He wiped out her tears, stroke her cheek and said

"Maeve! I'm sorry for all that stuff…but you should have told me sooner."

"Sinbad, not that I don't believe you, it's just that I don't want you to be involved in such relationship between Dermott, Rumina and me.", she replied and didn't forget to add "I don't want you to be in danger."

"I know but Maeve…Not only is Dermott your brother, but he's also a precious crew member to me. And I'll save him no matter what. That the promise of a captain"

"But…The devil…he's very strong. How can we…?", Maeve asked doubtfully.

"As I said, we'll defeat him or die trying. Soon or late, we've got to deal with him to get outta here, right?", said the young captain

"Fine then…let's go back and make a plan", for the first time since Eyolf broke the news, Maeve smiled. And that helped relieve a certain captain. Though he couldn't hide the sadness in his sea blue eyes. The sadness caused by the fact that he had lost her to another man just because of his foolishness.