The Cursed Clearing

Maeve stood at the railing, looking out over the city. The nomad crew were in Basra to do some trading.
Firouz came up behind the sorceress "What is it Maeve?"
"Hm?.. Oh, it's Sinbad, shouldn't he be back by now? He's been away for hours. Maybe I should send Dermott out to look for him?"
"Don't worry my dear, I'm sure he'll come back any minute now." "He better, " Doubar added "or we'll miss the tide."


They didn't have to wait long before they heard someone climbing onboard, and Sinbad came over the railing. At the sight of their captain everyone just stopped whatever they were doing and stared at him.
Sinbad could barely stand on his feet and his shirt was covered in blood. He took a few steps, then collapsed on the deck.
Doubar was the first to run to his brother, followed by Maeve, Firouz and Rongar. "Little brother, what happened?"
Sinbad grabbed Doubar by the arm. "We.. have to set sail...at once." Then he passed out.
His crewmates brought Sinbad below deck and Firouz examined him. When the physician removed the bloody shirt, he discovered several whip marks across Sinbad's chest.
Doubar slammed his fist in the table. "If I find the barbarians who did this I'll...I'll!"
Maeve looked in concern at the captain. "Will he be all right?" "It appears he's been whipped and beaten badly, but he'll be fine." Firouz stated.
Doubar went towards the door. "I'll go and give the orders to set sail." Rongar followed him.
Right after, Firouz went to get some water.
Maeve sat down beside Sinbad and took his hand. "Sinbad, who did this to you?" She gently stroke some hair from his forehead. Suddenly Firouz barged in the door. "Maeve, you better come up on deck! Bring your sword. Hurry!"
"What is it?" Maeve asked, but Firouz had already went back up. Maeve took her sword, and ran up on deck.
She was met by the sight of at least twenty harpies surrounding the ship. Doubar, Firouz, Rongar and some other crewmembers were fighting them.
Maeve threw a fireball at a harpy who was about to dive down at Firouz.


The crew managed to kill several of the harpies, much tanks to Maeve's fireballs, but the fight had weakened her.
Suddenly, one of the remaining harpies dived down, grabbed Maeve, and flew off with her.
"Maeve!" Doubar shouted.
Maeve swung her sword at the harpy "Let go of me you demon!" But another harpy grabbed her sword, and pulled it out of her hand, it fell down on the deck.
As the harpy holding Maeve disappeared, the others retreated. "We have to go after her!" Firouz stated. "What about Sinbad?" Doubar asked.
"I'll go see if he's awake." Firouz said, and went below deck. A moment later he came running out again. "Doubar!" "What is it Firouz?"
"It's Sinbad. He's gone!"


"What do you mean gone? I'm right here." They turned and saw Sinbad coming out from below deck. He was limping. "I was in the cargo hold to get..."
"Sinbad, you are in no condition to.." Doubar interrupted him. "I'll be OK, Doubar, but what was all the noise I heard a while ago?" He looked around "And where's Maeve?"
"Well, there was a..." Firouz began. Then Sinbad noticed Maeve's sword.
"Her sword.." He went over and picked it up "What's happened? Something happened to Maeve?"
"We were attacked by harpies, and..." Doubar began.
"Harpies?!" Sinbad asked. Doubar and Firouz exchanged concerned looks for a second.
"Several harpies attacked us earlier. That's why we haven't left the harbor yet. "We managed to drive them off, but..."
Doubar and Firouz exchanged concerned looks again. "But what, Doubar?"
"Maeve threw fireballs at the harpies, and she got weakened, and.." "One of the harpies flew off with her" Firouz ended.
"Rumina.. I should have known.." Sinbad said to himself. "Did you see where the harpy was taking her?"
Doubar pointed to the east "They went in that direction" "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go after her."


Rumina was standing in front of Maeve, sitting in a magic made cage. "Now listen up, peasant. I've decided to finally put our magic up against each other. I once told you that I would choose the time and place for this, and, well, this is it. You'll be locked in this cage until I'm sure you'll agree to my terms."
Maeve glared at Rumina from the cage "All right, witch, I've been waiting for this moment myself. But it will have to be a fair fight, just you and me. How do I know this isn't just one more of your tricks?"
"No, you'll have my word. But..as I said, you'll have to agree to my terms." "And they are?"
"Well.. only two little things actually. Which I have already told you. One being that I would choose the time for this fight, which is now. The other that I will choose the place." "And that would be?" "I'll show you." Rumina waved a hand, and both of them disappeared.


The Nomad was heading eastwards. Rongar came over to Sinbad with a map. Firouz was looking through his magnoscope.
"Do you see anything Firouz?" Sinbad asked. "No, nothing." Doubar came over to them. "So, Sinbad, you still haven't told us what happened to you back in Basra."
"Pirates." Sinbad said. "Pirates? What pirates?" "I don't know." "You don't know?" "Well.. I haven't seen any of them before, and besides, I don't remember all that much either. I was headed back to the Nomad, when I was attacked. Next thing I remember I awoke in some sort of dungeon, and... I think I heard one of the pirates talking about a sorceress.." "You think it was Rumina?" "Could be." "How did you escape?" Firouz asked. "The pirates left me in the dungeon, I escaped because there was a loose brick in the wall near the window, I found myself outside, in an alley...or something. I could barely stand on my feet, but I somehow managed to get back to the ship."
"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if Rumina was behind that too, when I.. "
Doubar was interrupted by one of the crewmembers who came running out from below deck. "Captain Sinbad, there's something you see.." "What's wrong?" "The sorceress' cabin.. something's happening in there."

Maeve looked around at the place she suddenly found herself in.
She and Rumina was standing on a grass field, around them was some trees, a big rock on one side, in between the trees on the other, she could see the ocean, so she figured they were on a quite small island.
"This is it." Rumina said. "This is one of my favorite places, and the perfect place for this battle." "Hmm.. I don't see what's so special about..." Maeve suddenly felt a pain through her body, and she fell on her knees. "
Something wrong dear?" Rumina asked while trying to look innocent. Maeve didn't know what was happening to her, but she felt like something was draining her powers. But it wasn't coming from Rumina, it felt like it was coming from beneath her.

Sinbad and crew barged in the door to Maeve's cabin, inside things were floating around and in a corner there was some kind of magic cloud.
Suddenly they heard a voice "Sinbad, step into the cloud." then again "Sinbad, please step into the magic cloud." Sinbad took a step forward, but Doubar held him back.
"Are you sure it's not a trap of some sort" Firouz questioned. "No, I don't think it is, I just have a good feeling about this, and besides I think I recognize that voice."
Sinbad stepped into the fog, a while he just stood there, then he fell to the floor. The cloud disappeared. Doubar rushed over to his brother.
"Little brother, are you all right?" Sinbad slowly got up and with surprise they noticed that the bruises Sinbad had before was gone, the whipmarks were gone, and he was walking without limping.
"What happened?" Firouz asked "I think I've just been healed." Sinbad said with amazement.
"By who?" Doubar asked "It was Cairpra, Dim Dim's wife. And she also told me that Maeve has been taken by Rumina to an island where she would try and defeat her in a magic duel.
"But surely the sorceress is up to some trickery as usual." Firouz questioned "It wouldn't be like Rumina to have a fair fight, no.." Sinbad said "but this isn't just any island..."

Maeve was lying on the ground, crouched over by the pain. Rumina was standing over her with a pleased grin.
"What....is this...place?" Maeve asked with difficulty.
"Maybe I should tell you a bit about this little island...It's situated right over the place where it is said that, in ancient times, one of the evil wizards lost his most powerful talisman, as he was defeated right here. It sank to the bottom of the sea, and no one has been able to retreave it since."
"And this...talisman takes away...my powers?" "No..not exactly, it wouldn't be a fair fight then, now would it."
"Then.. what is happening to me?" "Your powers are being transformed" "Into what?" "Dark powers."
The pain suddenly started to get less and then it stopped. Maeve got up. "What did you say?" "Congratulations, you are now a practitioner of dark magic."

The Nomad was heading towards the location of the island.
"So, Dim Dim told you once about Cursed Clearing Island, but I don't understand why this witch would want Maeve to have dark powers." Doubar said. "Wouldn't she be even more of a threat to Rumina that way?" Firouz asked.
"No." Sinbad answered "First of all, white magic and dark magic isn't all that different, it mostly depends on how you use it. But...None of us know much about spellcasting, but Dim Dim told me once that if a sorcerors powers were to change from good to evil (or vice versa) instantly by influence of some outside force, and the sorceror was not deliberately trying to do so, the person would not change his/hers personality and feelings and then there would become an unbalance that would either make their powers backfire on them or just make them weak and unreliable"
"Either way it doesn't sound to good for Maeve." Firouz said. "Let's just hope we get there in time" "But what are the plans when we do?" Doubar asked "We'll know when we get there, I hope." Sinbad answered.

Not long after they had reached the island, and Sinbad, Doubar, Firouz, and Rongar took the longboat to shore.
After a short walk they reached the clearing.
They hid behind the trees. Rumina was standing over Maeve, gloating. A fireball had just backfired on her.
"If you just walk in there Rumina will kill us." Firouz said. Sinbad suddenly noticed something "Why do you think Rumina is depending on Maeve to destroy herself with her magic"
"I don't know, because it's a fun and easy way to get rid of her?" Doubar suggested.
"Maybe that too, but unless I've missed my guess, this island is influencing her powers as well. First I thought it might not, or even that it would make her stronger, since the talisman belonged to an evil wizard. But I think that's why the evil wizard was killed back then, because he forgot that the transformation talisman would transform his powers as well. But Rumina knows about this, and is just waiting for Maeve to use her magic on her. And in a way they would actually be equal in the fight." Sinbad explained
"And that's why she wanted you out of the way. The pirates attacking was not just to make it easier to kidnap Maeve." Firouz said.
"So what are we waiting for, let's go and get that witch!" Doubar exclaimed.
"Wait.." Sinbad tried to hold him back, but Doubar had already walked into the clearing. The others followed him, carefully.

When Rumina discovered them, Doubar had almost reached her, she reacted instinctively with sending a magic bolt towards him, but it just whirled around a few times and disappeared between the trees.
"Doubar, stop." Sinbad shouted "her magic is unreliable and could be dangerous if you get to close."
Rumina looked at Sinbad in surprise. She hesitated for a moment, looking at the crew. "I'll get you for this!" she shouted, then she turned and ran into the trees surrounding the clearing.
All but Sinbad followed her. He went over to Maeve, and helped her to her feet. "Are you OK?" "I...I think so.."
A moment later Doubar, Firouz and Rongar came back to the clearing. "She went into the sea, where she turned into a waterspout that dissolved itself." Firouz said. "Well, at least we're rid if her for now." Doubar stated.
The crew went back to the Nomad.

"So, are you a dark witch... eh sorceress now?" Firouz asked Maeve.
"No, Sinbad said the effect created by Cursed Clearing Island would only last as long as the person is on the island." "So you're back to normal then?" "I hope so."
Dermott came and landed on her arm. "Dermott seems to think so..." Sinbad said.
Maeve looked sadly at Dermott. "Just sad Rumina got away, again" "Just glad your're all right." Sinbad smiled at her, and went over to the tiller.