Forest of Illusion

"Maeve!!Noooooo!",Sinbad woke up with a scream. He had the nightmare again, almost every night the past week it had haunted him. He dreamt that he and Maeve were running through a forest, some beast came after them. Suddenly they reached the edge of a cliff, Maeve didn't notice it before it was too late, she slipped, and before Sinbad could grab her she fell, she fell into the sea below.... he was going to lose her, the same way he lost Lea.

Firouz had heard the scream and came in to check on Sinbad.. "let me guess," he said "you had that nightmare again...". Sinbad got out of his hammock, his heart was still pounding in his chest. He nodded "I.. I just don't understand why I've been having these nightmares lately." Sinbad said. "Maybe it's your fear of losing Maeve that have risen to the surface." Firouz suggested "You always have a fear of losing her, your fear has been kept within you, but it's now coming to life in your dreams. "Maybe you're right Firouz, perhaps I shouldn't worry so much, after all, Maeve can take care of herself....Well, I better get up on deck, how far until we reach Dirania? Sinbad asked." "I believe it's only one days journey away." Firouz answered. "Who's at the tiller?" "Doubar." "I guess I'll....." Sinbad was interrupted when the Nomad suddenly started shaking. "What the..!" Sinbad and Firouz quickly ran up on deck. When they got there the shaking stopped. "Check for damages!" Sinbad hollered, and ran over to Doubar. "What in the name of Allah was that?" Sinbad asked. "Well, it, it was some kind of object in the water, something big... I tried to steer clear, but it must somehow hit the ship anyway. I couldn't see clearly what it was because of the dark, but if haven't known better I would have sweared it was an ice floe. "ICE?! But that's impossible" "I said it LOOKED like ice, it could have been something else" " Like what?". "Sinbad, the side of the ship has a crack and we're taking in water, we need to find a harbor, quickly!" Maeve called out from below deck. Sinbad went down to look at the damages, it looked bad. Firouz' water pump took away some of the water, but more was coming in than was pumped out. "Firouz! Where's the nearest harbor?" Sinbad said while he ran over to Firouz who was studying a map. "Well, according to my charts, we are very near this place." Firouz said and pointed at the map. "Well what are we waiting for, let's go there."

When they reached land it was nearly sunrise. Sinbad, Doubar, Maeve, Firouz and Rongar went out to look for lumber to repair the ship, and maybe they could find someone who could help them. "Is there a forest nearby? Sinbad asked. Firouz looked on the map. "Point of fact, it is, but...." "But what?" "It's the Forest of Illusion. Maeve suddenly seemed worried. "Well, and?" Sinbad asked. "The Forest of Illusion is known as a place where people have gone in,and didn't come out." Maeve said "The people who came out safely could tell about horrifying things." "But the things they see are not real, they are merely illusions" Firouz exclaimed. "Well, illusions or not, we have to get lumber to repair the Nomad." Doubar said. "Maybe those people over there could help us" Sinbad said and pointed towards two men who came walking. "Excuse me, but could you tell us where we could find cedar to make repairs to our ship?" Sinbad asked the two men. "The only forest around here is the Forest of Illusion," one of the men answered, "but I wouldn't go in there..." "Have you been there?" Sinbad asked. "No, but he has" the man said and pointed to the other man. "Well, what did you see then?" "I walked around in the woods for three days, I got lost, I can't understand how, I didn't walk that far. But one thing's for sure, I'm not going back in there again." the other man answered. "Ok then, but we're going in there anyway, what choice do we have. We can't go anywhere until we have repaired the ship." Sinbad said. "Do as you like, but don't come and say we didn't warn you" the man said.

The crew were walking in the forest. "Well, I don't see anything unusual" Doubar said. He didn't get an answer and he turned around. "What the.." the others were gone...or so it seemed. The others experienced the same thing. They just couldn't see or hear eachother anymore. "Ok, I get it, this is an illusion." Firouz said "Well, I don't believe in it". Nothing happened. Sinbad discovered the others had disappeared. "Hey, where did.....ok, this is an illusion, so I just have to ignore it, right?" Sinbad walked a few feet, but suddenly he noticed he couldn't move, he was stuck in some kind of mud, and he was sinking into it. "What's this? Another illusion? Well they sure look real to me." he said. He looked around to see if he could find something to grab hold to, he only saw some branches hanging over the pit, but he couldn't reach them, he was now in mud to his knees.

Meanwhile, Maeve walked around and called out "Hello?! Where are you?!" "This is an illusion" she said to herself "I wonder why this forest is like this, what is causing it?" Maeve closed her eyes to see if she could feel any magic. "This illusion is like some sort of spell, but not just an ordinary one. It doesn't seem like you have to be a magician to break it, but....""I got it!" Maeve said. "Even if we know what happens are illusions, we believe that they are something, illusions. When we came into this forest we some way expected to see illusions, and so we did. To break it we just have to stop thinking about illusions at all."

Sinbad was sinking deeper into the mud. He took off his sash and threw it over one of the branches, he then tried to pull himself up, but the branch was old and dry so it snapped. "Great, now what?" He tried to throw his sash over one of the other branches, but he missed. "Hello!" he shouted "Anybody? Where are you?" Maeve tried to block out all her thoughts. "Lets see" she said, "where am I? Yes, in a forest, and we're looking for cedartree. She imagined to herself she was in an ordinary forest. She held on to that thought, and suddenly she felt something change, in a way she saw things clearer, then she heard Sinbad's cry. She ran towards the sound and saw him stucked in mud to his waist. "Sinbad!" "Maeve!" "Sinbad, throw your sash to me!" Sinbad threw his sash, and Maeve grabbed it. Then she pulled with all her strength, and she managed to pull him up. "What? This was an illusion too?" Maeve had discovered that the mud pit was gone, and so was the mud on Sinbad's clothes. "Sinbad! Maeve! What's going on?" They turned and saw Firouz who came running. "Firouz! Have you seen Doubar and Rongar?" Sinbad asked. "I haven't seen anyone until now, not since you all suddenly disappeared... So how come I can see you now?" "I think I managed to break the spell...or something" Maeve said. "Well, we just have to go and look for Doubar and Rongar then" Sinbad said as he wrapped his sash around him. They didn't have to go far before they saw Doubar and Rongar. "Little brother, what happened?" Doubar exclaimed when he saw Sinbad and the others coming. "It was some sort of spell, but Maeve broke it." Sinbad said. "Well, you all vanished, and I went around looking for you, then I found Rongar...and, I found some cedartrees." "If I'm right we might not need any cedar." Maeve said. "What? What do you mean?" Sinbad asked. "Well, this eh.."illusion area" is not only this forest, it extends far out to sea as well... Doubar, what exactly did you see hit the ship?" Maeve asked. "It looked like an ice floe." "An ice floe? I guess that was just an illusion too" "But, the crack, the water.., how do you know this Maeve?" Sinbad asked. "I felt it when I broke the spell, I somewhat could feel how far it went." "Well I think we better get out of here, and we better check on the Nomad." Doubar said. Sinbad agreed "Right, let's go" When they came out of the forest they were met by a group of people attacking them. "Now what?" Doubar groaned. "Well, it's definitely not the welcoming committee" Sinbad said, and drew his saber.

The crew started fighting. "Sinbad!" Maeve yelled, "these people, they're illusions too." "You mean like in the City of Mist?" "Yes, but this time none of them are real." "I must say the illusions around here are very vivid." Doubar said, as he knocked a couple of them down. They fell onto the ground, and disappeared. The crew continued to fight until they had defeated all of them. "Well, so much for those illusions," Sinbad said. "now, let's head back to the Nomad." Maeve looked down at the ground where the people disappeared. "I guess that's another way to stop seeing illusions" As they were walking down towards the sea, they heard a voice behind them. "Wait, stop!" They turned and saw one of the men they met earlier. The man was trying to regain his breath, "Strangers...please help us....Our village....they're attacking tomorrow" "What? Who? What are you talking about?" Sinbad asked "The Potheans, from the village on the other side of the mountains...." "But what...." "I watched you fight earlier, and you must be quite clever since you managed to get out of the Forest of Illusion that quickly. Please help us!" "Calm down, we're going to help you." Sinbad said. "That's right, so where's your village?" Doubar asked "It's not far from here, please follow me." "What about the ship?" Firouz asked. "You and Rongar can go and check on the ship, Maeve, Doubar and I will follow....excuse me, I didn't get your name" Sinbad turned to the man. "My name is Aleem" he answered. Sinbad turned to Firouz again, "We'll go with Aleem, and you can catch up on us later.

When they reached the village they were met by a small group of people greeting them. "This is my house Aleem said, Sinbad, Maeve, Doubar and Aleem went inside. "You can stay here tonight" Aleem told them. "Can you tell us more about these Potheans?" Sinbad asked. "For many years the Pothean village and ours have lived without even knowing about eachother." Aleem said "But then, people from Pothea came over the mountains and discovered our village. And now they want to take it by force. But we are so few, and they are so many, and they have better weapons I'm afraid." While Sinbad listened to Aleem, he noticed that Maeve had a strange look on her face.

Later in the evening Maeve came over to Sinbad "Sinbad I have to talk to you." "What is it Maeve?" They walked over to a where they could talk without anyone hearing them. "Sinbad. You know, earlier today, when I broke that illusion spell... " "Yes Maeve, what then?" "I think... I think my magic has become stronger today Sinbad, I don't know how, I just....I don't know. But I can see right away if something is an illusion or not, and..... when we came into this village.... Sinbad, the whole village is an illusion, everything, except Aleem..." " WHAT?!... but, what about the Potheans?" "I don't think there are any Potheans either, Sinbad" "But who is.." They where interrupted by someone who called out "Sinbad!" Firouz and Rongar came walking towards them. "We're back, and we brought Dermott with us." Firouz said. They looked up and saw Dermott, he dived down and landed on her gauntlet, which Rongar handed to her. Doubar came to join them. "How's the ship" he asked. "The Nomad is just fine, she hasn't the even the tinyest scratch where the crack was. It's as if nothing ever happened." Firouz said. "The men told us that it continued to take in water a while after we left, but then the water and the crack suddenly just disappeared." " I think this is beginning to make sense now." Sinbad said. "Listen, Maeve says this whole village is a fake, an illusion." "Can't anything on this island be nothing but illusions?" Doubar muttered. "Well, Aleem's for real," Sinbad said "And I think have figured out who he is." Maeve said "He's the Trickster." "What? That little twerp again?" Sinbad exclaimed. "So you mean that everything that's happened here was caused by him?" Doubar asked. "No, not quite everything," Maeve said "Not the thing about we not finding eachother in the Forest of Illusion, the spell I broke, that was the forests doing. But the ice floe, the mudpit and everything else was caused by him. What better place than Illusion Island can a guy like him find." "He lures the people here by making them believe their ships are damaged, then he plays tricks on them. And people thinks it's the forest."" Sinbad said. "Well, what do we do now?" Doubar asked. "We'll just have to wait until tomorrow and see what happens. Until then we act like we haven't discovered anything, and just play along with his games" Sinbad said. "We're gonna trick the trickster" Maeve said.

The next morning when the crew got up, Aleem came in the door "Well, are you ready to fight? The Potheans will attack anytime now." he said. They went outside. Dermott came flying and landed on Maeves hand. At the sight of the hawk, Aleem got a troubled look on his face for a moment. Dermott had been spending the night outside, and Aleem hadn't seen him before now. "What is it, are you afraid of the bird Aleem..... or should I call you Trickster?" Maeve asked. "What? Nooo" Aleem turned into the young boy, the Trickster. The village and all the villagers disappeared. "How did you know it was me?" he asked. "Well, let's just say I got some help from the forest." Maeve said. "Great, you spoiled everything, again. This island, it was just so perfect.....oh well, I'll just be moving along then." The Trickster disappeared. "We better get back to the ship, now." Sinbad said. "Couldn't agree with you more, little brother. Doubar answered. When they got down to the ship... it wasn't there. "What the... where's the Nomad?" Doubar exclaimed. A minute later the Nomad reappeared. They heard the Tricksters voice "Gotcha" he laughed.

On board the Nomad, Firouz came over to Sinbad. "I noticed one thing, you didn't have the nightmare last night." "No I didn't" "Well, do you think the nightmares have stopped?" "I think so Firouz" "Why?" "I'm not sure, but I think it was that accident in the forest, where Maeve saved me. It changed something. I became aware of something I think I've thought too little about the last weeks." "What's that?" "That I have saved her many times, but she have also saved me a lot of times. Maybe she is as afraid of losing me as I am of losing her. She's an invaluable member of my crew and she means a lot to me, you all do. And I just have to live with that.......so.. By the way, didn't you want to show me your latest invention Firouz? So what do you say, shall we go and look at it?" "Point of fact, I think that's a good idea." Firouz answered.