YAY! A new reviewer:) I love reviewers:D Thanks gals for support me... and thanks for bearing my english! ;)
This is a longer one... enjoy!
Maeve clipped her long auburn hair out of her face, trying to calm down and letting what happened sink in. She was free... she was back! But Master Dim Dim wasn't there. Plus, she didn't have the slightest clue about HOW she escaped from the prison of the Island of Eyontil.
It was insane! She spent weeks trying to pull down the barriers around the island, then abruptly Dermott came, he perched on her arm... and she was back!
'Perhaps it is the rainbow bracelet...' Dermott quietly said, intruding in her sister mind.
"Yeah... perhaps. - she sighed - Do you even have an idea about how you reached me?"
'No, Sister mine...'
Maeve chuckled and shook her head defeatedly. One year of training, white magic mastered perfectly... and there she was, totally at loss.
"Maeve!" a voice echoed in the sky.
"Master Dim Dim! What..."
"You're free, my child... Rumina's magic sent Dermott to the Island, and somehow the charms of your enemy reacted with your bracelet, sending you both back..."
"What about you, Master?" Maeve asked, trying not to think that she was free thanks to Rumina.
"I'll be fine and waiting for you, Maeve... now go, find Cairpra... Rumina and her father are going to strike again, harder than ever. Don't waste a moment, my child... fight against them, you have the forces to do it!"
"Master... what... how?"
"Everything happens for a reason, Maeve... never forget that. May the higher beings bless you..." the voice of Master Dim Dim said, slowly fading down, and Maeve could picture her master smiling sadly.
"I'll come to get you, Master... I swear it..." she quietly said, fighting back the tears.
"Stay strong Maeve... and find Cairpra..." the voice repeated, and a moment later, the magical door who abled Dim Dim to communicate faded down.
"I'll do my best, Master..." Maeve nodded, her hand caressing absently her rainbow bracelet.
'Sister mine?'
"Come on Dermott... we are going to-" Maeve began, but she fall silent when she felt a wave of power coming from the Skull Mountain.
'Maeve?'
"Follow me, Dermott... scout ahead for any glimpse of Rumina..." the celtic sorceress whispered, taking the road through the plains to go near to the mountain. She had to find out what was producing that power... she couldn't tell if it was good or evil, but it was something so great that she felt shivers running down her spine.
Bryn struggled against the chains holding her to the wall of her prison. She hate to admit it even to herself, but she was getting scared. One moment she was trying to sort out how she knew the witch Sinbad called Rumina, and an heartbeat later she was trapped with chains and blinded by a cloth on her eyes. That was the less, she knew that Sinbad and the crew were going to come to rescue her even if she was in the other side of the world.
What was really scaring her was that everything was familiar to her...
"So... She was with Sinbad..." Turok said thoughtfully, pacing back and forth in the main hall of the palace he built for him and Rumina.
"Yes, father..."
"I thought she was dead..."
"You know that the white magicians are SO annoying..." Rumina snorted, sprawled gingerly on some cushions while a handsome man was serving her a bowl of fruit.
"Dim Dim and his faithful wife Cairpra... - Turok spat out disgusted - always in the middle!"
"Perhaps we should think about taking care of that wench... and send her to join his beloved husband!" Rumina said smiling.
"Rumina, you can't even manage to kill a bird without Cairpra deflating your curse and sending him in Eyontil... you really think you'd be able to go near her?" Turok pointed out, staring at her daughter.
The witch lowered her gaze, boiling with rage.
"You don't need to be so harsh, father..." she growled beneath her theets.
"I'm not harsh, my dear... just trying to make you objective. - Turok dismissed with a wave of his hand - Now... can we go back to the important matter?" the dark wizard asked icily.
"Yes father - Rumina sneered frustrated. She has been commanding the black army for months, while he was gone... and now her father was making her feel like a total idiot. - The girl, they were calling her Bryn. She doesn't remember a thing..."
"She doesn't remember you?" Turok asked puzzled, and his daughter shook his head.
"No father..."
"Well... Cairpra worked well. But now we have her back, and we'll stop the prophecy to come true. Your sister Brianna won't help to destroy you, my dearest..." Turok smiled to Rumina, coming to caress her dark hairs. The witch smiled relieved, leaning in his father touch.
Maeve arrived near the base of the Skull Mountain, while Dermott was flying in high circles above her.
'Can I ask what are you looking for?'
'I'll tell you when I'll know...' Maeve absently replied, cleaning a flat rock near her from the mud. Her sensations were now clearer. Rumina had to be gone for months, but the black magic was still powerful on those grounds. In the same time, she was feeling an active source of good energy...
Her rainbow bracelet started to glow, and the celtic sorceress had to shield her eyes from the blinding light.
"This thing is getting on my nerves!" she declared angrily, rubbing her orbs and trying to adjuste them back to the daylight.
'Sister! Above you!' he heard Dermott call in her mind, and she abruptly moved her gaze up to see a green light spreading from the side of the Skull. She istinctively put her bracelet in front of her, and the green rays came to focus on it. When the light faded, she had a new shining ring at her middle finger.
Maeve studied it closer. It was a silver band, with an intricate pattern of a beast similar to a dragon on it and a green stone shone in the middle.
"The Gryffin Stone..." she whispered in awe.
Rumina jerked up, interrupting the massage that his slave was giving her. She narrowed her gaze, staring at the ocean out of the windows before turning to face her father, who just joined her.
"She's back..." she observed staring in Turok's eyes.
"Firouz... get some exploding stick ready! We are going to need them, since we are out of magic!" Sinbad yelled, staring at the shore. They were approaching Basra, but he was fuming for the low wind they were getting. Bryn was in Rumina's hands... Dermott was gone... they couldn't lose a minute!
"Little brother... don't blame yourself..." Doubar quietly said, putting a comforting hand on Sinbad's arm.
"What kind of captain am I, Doubar? I can't protect my crew!" Sinbad muttered.
"You couldn't do anything to stop Rumina and prevent her to take Dermott and Bryn, you could have done anything even if we were waiting her... - the older man calmly stated, before adding hesitantly - and the same about Maeve..."
"Don't bring me there, Doubar..." Sinbad warned, freeing himself from the grasp of his big brother and going to join Rongar who was sorting out some ropes.
In a whirlwind of little white lights, Maeve and Dermott orbed in the back of a road near the market of Basra. The celtic sorceress let the string helding the hawk free as soon as she felt the ground back under her feets, and she straightened her blouse before walking in the crowd of the market.
'See you at Cairpra's?' Dermott inquired.
'Yeah... - Maeve communicated throwing a glance to the sky - Dermott...?'
'Aye, Sister?'
'Is the crew ok?' she finally asked. Everything has been so crazy since the moment they met, that she didn't have the chance to talk about it before.
'He's ok, Maeve. Playing the pirate, but still waiting for you...' Dermott quietly answered, knowing what was really bothering her sister.
Maeve blushed slightly.
'See you at Cairpra' she blurted out, before focusing her attention on a dark brown cloak. When she was taken from the Island of Eyontil, she was wearing just an light orange blouse, similar to the white one she used to wear, with a brown leather vest and matching tight trousers and boots. She was going to need something warm, if she was going to hunt Rumina down. And she was going to need supplies. She couldn't count on the Nomad, also if her heart was aching to join her family again, Dim Dim recommended not to lose time. She paid for the cloak with two spare coins she still had in the pouch at her belt, then she walked across the marked, heading Cairpra's house.
'Dermott...? Dim Dim said Rumina's magic sent you to me, didn't he?' the celtic sorceress asked, finally letting her mentor words sank in.
'Aye, sister...'
'But... why? Why you? Why not to attack the Nomad directly?' Maeve panicked slightly.
"Because she was just planning to tease Sinbad and rebound the fight... she loves to play cat and mouse, but she couldn't know she would have given you freedom... and found out something horrible for her. - a voice calmy stated, making Maeve spin on herself - Hi Maeve... it's a pleasure to see you again..." Cairpra smiled warmly, opening her arms to hug the girl in front of her.