Hello, readers! I'm so sorry for the long delay! :( I unexpectedly became really busy and could never find the time to decently review this chapter which is the last prologue, and its content is rather important because it's hinting at the major plot of the story. But to earn your forgiveness for making you wait an extra week, I'm also posting chapter 1 so you can have two chapters to read. :)

Also, I'm so sorry it took me a while to reply to all your wonderful reviews! I just didn't know how to. As if the blue bubble of discussion wasn't obvious enough for me to notice… XD

On that note, here's a reply to you Ally, because it would seem I cannot reply to guests/unregistered users: thank you so much for your kind words, my dear! They really warm my heart, you have no idea! :-*

And here's a public reply to something my good friend Inbid mentioned in one of her reviews, concerning the red dress memory Sinbad has of Maeve when he's clearing her cabin. There will indeed be a missing scene about this particular moment in a distant chapter. ;) I must say I'm pretty proud of it and I can't wait for you guys to read it! :D

Lastly, as some of you know, I am a member of Distant Lands (the link is in my profile), which is basically the biggest and most active forum/board there is out there online dedicated to The Adventures of Sinbad, and I've recently opened a thread there for this story because with the upcoming chapters, I will probably often invite you guys to check it out if you want to see some related artwork and other miscellaneous tidbits. :) For example, if you check it out right now, you'll find a beautiful manip my friend made for Prologue 1 - Gathering Storm. ;)

Alright, enough babbling on my part since you've waited long enough already! Go on reading! :)

Prologue 3 – Secrets

"How is she?"

Dim-Dim tore his gaze away from the window overlooking the distant white-sanded beach bathed in bright sunlight and went back to pouring tea into his cup. He sighed heavily, his heart twisting a little in his chest before he replied to his wife, her reflection keeping him company in the small mirror set before him on the table.

"Same way you would feel if you were torn away from the people you love and replaced by another overnight: crushed." He set the teapot aside and glanced back at Maeve's lonely figure in the distance, keeping a weather eye on the horizon to catch a glimpse of white sails that would never appear. "The rest of the time I'm pretty sure she wants to snap my head off."

"You had no choice," Caipra insisted calmly, trying to dissipate his doubts. "Galen will be furious you interfered with the storm, but the transition will be easier this way."

"I don't think any sort of transition will soften the blow," Dim-Dim mused sadly. "Perhaps Galen was right all along; maybe I should have told them the truth from the start."

"Everything would be different if you had," Caipra pointed out, reiterating her opinion. "You did the right thing."

Dim-Dim smiled a cunning smile at his beloved wife, living a thousand miles away from him in the comfort of her home in Basra. "For someone who doesn't even know the full account of the matter at hand, you have an awful lot of faith in me, my dear."

"I've always had faith in you, and I always will," Caipra returned his smile softly with a twinkle of her own in her eyes, but then she turned serious again. "You believed the two of them were destined to meet. Well, they did and nothing happened. Galen and the Central Council were afraid it would be too dangerous yet the world still kept on turning."

"Yes, but I fear that is about to change," Dim-Dim said grimly, looking out the window again at the peaceful serenity of the realm he was trapped into, powerless to stop the upcoming storm that was threatening to crush the real world beyond. "The skies are darkening overhead, love. Galen reacted on time. He did the right thing as well."

"How long before you send her away?" Caipra asked, concern sharpening her voice.

"I don't know, I'm still waiting for Jacob to contact me," Dim-Dim replied with a sigh. "Sending her first to him in Denwood will hopefully lessen the blow, as opposed to sending her straight to Erindale…In the meantime, I'm wondering if I should tell her everything or let the Central Council handle it. I fear she's not ready to take it all in, not right now at least, not when her separation from the Nomad is still so recent and painful. Besides, I wouldn't even know where to begin…"

"I'm afraid I can't advise you on the matter," Caipra said with an apologetic shake of her head. "I know so little about what's going on, even with the tidbits you've shared with me."

Dim-Dim looked at his wife heavily, the weight of guilt washing over him again for keeping secrets from her. "I wish I could tell you everything. It would be such a blessing to carry this burden with you, but I can't. It's too dangerous."

"I know. You swore an oath." Caipra shrugged dismissingly, then addressed another important matter. "What about Sinbad?"

Dim-Dim's eyes found Maeve's lonely figure on the beach once more. "I told him and the crew that the turn of events was best for Maeve's safety, that Rumina would have otherwise killed her before her time."

"They believe the storm was her doing?" Caipra asked.

"It doesn't matter what they believe," Dim-Dim explained. "What matters is that Maeve is safe. As for Sinbad, the road he will henceforth travel on will have many bumps along the way, but in the end he will be alright. They both will. You've seen them together; they can do everything."

"Aye, together they can," Caipra pointed out. "But what if the Central Council doesn't allow it? What if they keep them apart like Galen wanted to do in the first place?"

"I won't let that happen," Dim-Dim replied firmly. "When the time comes they will see each other again, but right now it's inevitable; until we figure out what the prophecies mean and who has access to them, they have to go separate ways. And they have a long way to go before the final journey begins…"

"That doesn't sound very encouraging," Caipra observed with the lift of an eyebrow. "What if Sinbad comes to me? What do I tell him?"

Dim-Dim thought for a moment, sadness gripping him. "Tell him she's safe. Tell him she's safe with me."

"So I'm supposed to lie to him," Caipra said in slight disapproval.

"I wish there was another way, love, but if Sinbad knows where she is, he will sail there in a heartbeat and that would be a disaster waiting to happen," he stated bitterly. "The Central Council was on Galen's side from the start, as was Beyar for that matter, even if he never openly supported either of us. He was always stuck in the middle of our quarrels…" Dim-Dim shook his head regretfully, recalling all the animated discussions he had had with the two men such a long time ago, but he dismissed the loaded memories and continued on with his main train of thought. "None of them wanted Maeve and Sinbad to meet. By bringing them together a year ago on the Isle of Dawn, I went against everything they believed in. If Sinbad shows up in Erindale they'll know I was the one who sent him there and it will only make matters worse, adding many unnecessary, risky complications to the big picture and with the looming war Kalladrell is facing, that is one problem they do not need."

Frowning thoughtfully, Caipra rubbed her fingers on her forehead. "I still don't understand why you have to send her into that warzone when the matter at hand is about keeping her safe. It sounds rather counterproductive. She was safe with Sinbad on the Nomad and-"

"That is where all the danger lies," Dim-Dim declared gravely, unable to reveal any more details to his wife. "They will see each other again, I will see to that myself, but I have to be careful as to when and where they reunite, or else the odds could tip in darkness' favor."

Caipra listened to him silently, watching him through the mirror across the miles separating them. "I suppose you're right," she sighed dejectedly. "Especially now that Turok is back from the dead…"

"Indeed, fate has an odd sense of humor when it comes to balancing out the players on both sides," Dim-Dim commented gloomily.

"Have you told her he's back?" Caipra asked, the tone of her voice clearly indicating that he should.

"No, and I don't intend to," Dim-Dim answered plainly, holding his wife's scolding gaze as they silently challenged each other's opinions from either side of the mirror. "Kalladrell is all the way to the west. I seriously doubt Turok has any notion of its existence and I suspect he is considerably weakened at the moment to even attempt such a journey. Rumina will most likely nurse him back to his strength somewhere in the east, away from our prying eyes."

"But Maeve must have felt the shift in magic," Caipra observed, pointing out the obvious.

"She has, but not enough to suspect his return from the Wikken Hells," Dim-Dim replied.

"I suppose you haven't told Sinbad either?" she asked, the scold returning to her face.

Dim-Dim looked away sheepishly. "There's no need to worry him and his crew for now. Like I said, I suspect it will be a while before we encounter father and daughter again."

Caipra let her scowl soften a bit. "Then I suggest we use their absence to our advantage in the meantime. What about these prophecies you mentioned?"

"That is one of our big problems," Dim-Dim said, exhaling deeply. "We are lucky to have a prophet on our team; one of the prophecies Jacob picked up a few weeks ago is most alarming, which is why he rapidly warned Galen. I cannot discuss the content of the prophecy with you, but let's just say that if other prophets had wind of it as well, then we better pray they serve the cause of Good instead of Evil, because if this prophecy falls into the wrong hands, then it won't be long before the dark forces set out to find the missing piece of information they need, now that they know where to find it."

Caipra glanced at him, a sudden spark of understanding flashing in her eyes as they slightly widened. "Maeve," she whispered. "That's why you're sending her away."

Dim-Dim averted his eyes, a part of him kicking himself for revealing too much, while another part of him was proud of his wife's sharp mind as her perspicacious intellect connected the pieces together: the prophecy, the dangerous information it was mentioning and where it could be found, and Maeve being sent into hiding for protection shortly after the prophecy was revealed.

"In a manner of speaking," Dim-Dim conceded grimly, bringing his gaze back to his wife. "But until she herself learns the truth, she won't be able to divulgate anything."

Caipra frowned. "That makes no sense. She has information the dark forces want, but she doesn't know it yet?"

"I cannot tell you anymore," Dim-Dim shook his head, dismissing the matter before he could disclose anything that could put his wife in danger. "You know too much already."

But Caipra refused to drop the subject, pressing him again on safety issues. "But you, Galen and Beyar know about this information as well. The three of you took an oath to safeguard whatever segment of history the rest of the world was deemed better to forget. Won't our enemies seek you out as well to get what they want?"

"Aside from the Wizards of the Central Council in Erindale, no one knows we took that oath, no one knows we possess such dangerous knowledge," Dim-Dim explained calmly. "Unfortunately, this works both ways. We neither have any idea which of our evil counterparts also hold this dangerous fragment of history. It would be wise to assume some of them do, and if those people have heard the prophecy and grasped its implication, then you can rest assured that they will spring into action to find the person who has the information they need."

"Maeve," Caipra completed for him, then urgently went on. "You should keep her with you then. No one will find you-"

"No," Dim-Dim cut her off. "The longer she stays here the more the dark powers of this realm can suck out her energy like it's doing to me. She has to leave."

"But what if this great evil Kalladrell is currently facing knows about this prophecy and what it means?" Caipra spoke alarmingly. "By sending Maeve into that warzone, it will be like serving her to the dark forces on a silver platter!"

"Not necessarily," Dim-Dim observed, weighting his words carefully. "The prophecy only hints at the person who can reveal the key information, but the forces of darkness have yet to identify Maeve as that specific person. Galen, Beyar and I may know for a fact that it is her, but that's only because our paths inadvertently crossed all those years ago when she came to me on the Isle of Dawn, as ironic as that was..." His voice trailed off for a moment, recalling the day when the young woman he'd been searching for for a decade of his life had ironically found him instead, seeking his help. But he quickly shrugged the memory away and continued. "This gives us an advantage over our enemies because we can protect Maeve from their clutches should they try to get to her. Sending her to Kalladrell where an entire army will be able to protect her is our best chance to keep her out of harm's way."

"Until what?" Caipra argued. "Someone is bound to figure out that she's the one the prophecy speaks of at some point. Turok might figure it out, or Rumina, or Scratch…What will we do then?"

"Protect her at all cost," Dim-Dim declared gravely. "Whatever happens, she must not fall into the hands of evil. She must not reveal what they seek."

Caipra sat back heavily in her chair, quieting down for a moment while she digested everything they were discussing, churning it over in her head. "I guess it was a good thing to keep her in the dark after all. As long as she doesn't know anything, she's safe. The rest of the world is safe."

"Oh I'm sure Galen would argue otherwise," Dim-Dim replied bitterly. "We could have better prepared her for what's to come."

"What's Sinbad's role in all of this?" Caipra abruptly asked, eying him intently from the other side of the mirror. "And Bryn's? Are you sure it was wise and safe to send her on the Nomad, considering the crew's history with Rumina?"

"Bryn wears a bracelet," Dim-Dim said, exposing his argument. "She takes after her mother, not her father."

"Right, the bracelets," Caipra mused critically, tilting her head to catch his eye. "Another matter which you can't discuss with me."

Dim-Dim averted his gaze regretfully. "Believe me, I wish I could."

Pursing her lips in slight frustration, Caipra let out another loud sigh and rubbed her temple with two fingers, as if to soothe an upcoming headache. "This is all very complicated…

"I know," Dim-Dim sighed, joining in on his wife's restlessness. "Maeve and Sinbad's journey is like a game on a chess board. Every move they make must be carefully planned if we even hope to maintain the balance of Life itself."

"I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear that they are but pawns in the grand battle of power between Good and Evil," Caipra snarled bitterly, a veil of sadness falling on her features as she tugged her shawl tighter around herself.

Dim-Dim looked down into his cup of tea, the guilt surfacing once more. "They are far more than simple pawns, love. They are important key players, and it's only a matter of time before our enemies figure it out and spring into action."

He swallowed hard, well aware that this was another crucial turning point in the battles to come; when the forces of darkness finally discovered the truth, putting the pieces of the puzzle together, everything would become a race against time to protect Maeve's life.

Sinbad's life would be just as vital, and Dim-Dim sensed he would be the one launching out the final strike, but if something went wrong along the way there were always Bryn or Tetsu to carry out the deed instead. But Dim-Dim prayed it wouldn't come down to that alternative.

He prayed every day for the upcoming trials not to be as dark, painful and bloody as he could foreshadow them to be, but the road ahead was simply too long, tortuous and dangerous to clearly behold its final destination. Thus, he feared what the ultimate outcome would be.

He wished things could have been different, that he could somehow wield enough power to sway the circumstances to their advantage, but his magic unfortunately only allowed him to catch glimpses of the flow of time, denying him the ability to alter its course.

If it hadn't been for Turok's curse sending him to this alternate secluded place, he might have had the chance to explain everything to Maeve and Sinbad when they had first met, but fate had decided otherwise and now they would have to learn and deal with it all the hard way.

And Dim-Dim had foreseen how hard that way would be.

War was coming. A war he would not be able to fight.

The people he cared about would be on the front lines, in the midst of terrible battles, and all he could do was warn and arm them as best as he could. But so far he had done a terrible job. Caipra might insist he had done the right thing, but lately he was beginning to see Galen's point of view a lot more.

Maeve had no idea what was awaiting her, and he still didn't have a clue on how to break it all up to her. She was hurting badly at the moment, grieving for everything she had lost, her brother, the crew, Sinbad, and she was mad at him for it, blaming him for the unfair turn of events, for snatching her away so unexpectedly.

There was just so much to tell her…But how could he possibly burden her with the weight of the world now, when her own world was shattering?

But he had no choice. He would have to tell her something at some point, hopefully before Jacob contacted him and he had to send her away.

"Life certainly has a lot in store for them," Caipra sadly observed, her voice yanking him out of his thoughts.

Dim-Dim's gaze floated back towards the beach once more where Maeve still stood frozen like a statue, glancing at the empty horizon. "Destiny has touched them both," he said heavily, sorrow coloring his voice.

It was a special touch, beautiful and deadly, timeless, a touch that bore the weight of overwhelming duties, cruel sacrifices and bittersweet heartache. Dim-Dim wished he could rid Maeve and Sinbad of its tragic taint, to spare them the painful months that were coming, and yet he couldn't think of anybody else in the world to fill their shoes.

This was their destiny, and he knew that together they would find a way to prevail, no matter the hardships they had to face and endure down the road.

Stifling a pang of sorrow for the couple he cared so much about and who had no idea what was awaiting them, Dim-Dim brought his gaze back to his wife in the small mirror set on the table before him. She was watching him longingly.

"I miss you," she said softly.

The words crushed him as he reached out to touch the glass, his fingers only feeling the cold surface. "I miss you too, love. When all this is over I am coming straight home."

"Good," Caipra smiled sadly. "Because your dinner has grown quite cold."

"Yes, how could I forget that lentil stew…" Dim-Dim chuckled tenderly, remembering the special meal Caipra had told him she would cook that evening so many years ago, that evening when he never returned home. A lump formed in his throat at the memory but he forced himself to speak. "I don't know when I will be able to contact you again, but I want you to know that…not a day has gone by in all those years where I didn't think of you."

He saw a tear roll down his wife's cheek but she quickly brushed it away with the corner of her shawl. "You old softy," she teased, but then the smile faded from her lips. "I love you."

Dim-Dim felt his own vision blur. "I love you too, my love."

And at that moment the images on the mirror began to fade, the shapes and colors twisting and blending together as if the glass was suddenly melting.

Then Caipra was gone, his own reflection staring back at him.

Dim-Dim waited a few minutes, controlling his breathing and the pressure inside his heart, then he reached out shakily and pressed the mirror down on the table.

He knew it would be years before he saw his wife again, and he could do nothing except endure the everlasting longing that was slowly nibbling at his soul.

He looked out the window again, at the spot where Maeve hadn't moved an inch on the beach, watching the sunset on the horizon, and he hoped she would learn to endure the longing, too.