Tainted Love

by Megaera

When the Nomad docked in Qurna, the crew headed straight for the nearest tavern. They had things to celebrate. Sinbad and Maeve swallowing their pride and admitting they loved one another was at the top of that list. The couple had their arms entwined and the others watched them with gleaming eyes. They were so distracted they didn’t notice the familiar figure that hid behind her scarf the instant they entered.

The crew sat at a table, Maeve and Sinbad opposite each other with their eyes and hands locked across the table. Rumina found the public display of affection sickening. She called over a serving wench and ordered a glass of wine for Sinbad. "Can’t you see he’s with that red-head?" the wench protested.

"I can see that," Rumina snapped, "but she won’t stop me." The serving wench shrugged and went to get the wine. As she walked past Rumina, Rumina grabbed her and waggled her fingers over the glass. "Hand that to him, and make sure that he takes a sip before you tell him it’s from me," Rumina ordered. The wench rolled her eyes before gliding over to Sinbad.

She set the glass before him and planted herself on his lap. "What’s this?" Sinbad queried. "I didn’t order this."

"I just thought you’d like it, sailor," she breathed seductively. Maeve glared at him from across the table, but all Sinbad could do was shrug and lift the glass to his lips. He took a large swallow and set the glass back on the table.

"Not bad," he said. "Now, don’t you have other customers whose laps you could sit on?"

"I’m not finished," she said. "The wine was from her." She nodded her head in Rumina’s direction. Sinbad followed the gesture and groaned. Then, something began to happen. His head pounded and his vision blurred. He shut eyes and shook his head but to no avail. He opened his eyes and saw the serving wench on his lap.

He became suddenly aware of the sparkle in her cobalt eyes, the smoothness of her pale skin, the sheen of her dark blonde hair. His vision cleared and the pounding mercifully stopped. "What’s your name?" he breathed like a lovesick teen.

"Nadeza," she replied with a smile.

"Nadeza," he repeated. "What a beautiful name." He didn’t notice the shocked looks he received from his crew or the hard glare he received from Maeve. And no one notice the surprise and anger of the figure at the other table.

"Argh," Rumina groaned. "Sinbad, your timing is a little off." Then realization struck and a smile twisted her lips. "This could work too. So long as it isn’t Maeve you love…this could work." Rumina smiled wickedly to herself. "I have a feeling this will be quite a show."

*****

When the crew left, it was with a very angry Maeve and without Sinbad who had become joined at the hip with Nadeza. Rumina watched in giddy delight as the ‘happy couple’ rolled onto the table as soon as the crew left. Sinbad’s lips against Nadeza’s ear repeated over and over "I love you. I love you." Their arms entwined, the lips pressed against one another’s, they were young love personified. Rumina smiled inwardly when they two scanned the tavern guiltily and ducked out the side entrance.

The couple tightened their embrace once they were in the relative privacy of the back-alley. Sinbad pressed his body against Nadeza’s. She could feel his passion swell. His kisses warmed her flesh and her soul but still she pulled back. "Don’t lie to me. Look me straight in the eyes and tell me you will still love me if we do this," she implored.

Sinbad looked deep into her eyes, his own eyes twinkling with desire. "I love you. I loved you the first moment I saw you and I will love you every time I see you until the day I die. Nothing we do will change that." Sinbad’s words came straight from the heart, they were pure and honest and offered much assurance. But he didn’t stop there. "Well, maybe one thing…"

"No," Nadeza pleaded, "tell me nothing will change these feelings."

"You don’t understand," Sinbad assured her. "This can make our love so much deeper, so much more than it is now." He stopped for a moment to gather his nerve and, taking a deep breath, plunged forward. "Will you marry me?"

Nadeza’s breath caught in her throat. No man had ever wanted her for more than one night and now she had the most beautiful, loving, strong, and gentle man in the world and he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life. Only one word came to her lips. "Yes," she breathed softly.

Ecstasy filled Sinbad’s heart. "Yes," he sighed, pressing his lips to hers. They kissed long and deep, until Sinbad finally pulled back just enough to allow him to speak. "Tomorrow?" he asked.

Again, Nadeza found she could only say one word. "Yes." She kissed him again, but pulled away sooner this time. "We have to make plans. I need a dress and you need a suit and we need to invite people and I have to tell my father and…when tomorrow?"

"An hour before sunset," Sinbad decided. "That way the sky will be crimson red like the passion in our souls and our love."

"Ohh," Nadeza melted. "You certainly have a way of turning a phrase." She kissed him one last time before turning and running down the alley. She took only two steps before spinning to face Sinbad one more time. "Come to dinner tonight and meet my father."

Sinbad nodded and blew a kiss after her. With his thoughts a million miles away, he returned to the hotel where he and his crew had rented rooms. He went straight to the room he shared with his brother and lay down on the bed, his eyes still and unseeing. He snapped to reality though when the opened and then slammed loudly. Four figures stood around him, glaring down on him.

He looked at each nonchalantly and said, "What’s up, gang?"

"Where’s your wench?" Maeve snapped.

"My what?" Sinbad said incredulously while moving to sit, leaning against the wall. "Oh, you mean, Nadeza. She’s getting a dress and telling her father the news."

"What news?" Doubar asked, still glaring.

"No biggie," Sinbad insisted, "just we’re getting married tomorrow evening."

"What kind of drugs have you been taking?" Firouz exclaimed. "You don’t even know her." Maeve stood speechless, her legs barely supporting her. "And what about Maeve?" Firouz whispered.

"Ohh," Sinbad offered, "Maeve understands, don’t you? I mean, you can’t really help it when you fall in love. Lightning strikes and bang, you’re never the same again."

Maeve nodded sadly. "I understand," she admitted. She didn’t lie. She had seen lightning when she first laid eyes on Sinbad, though she wouldn’t admit then and still wouldn’t admit it out loud. But to herself, she couldn’t deny it. Her jealousy wouldn’t let her deny it.

*****

That evening, Sinbad dined with Nadeza and her father. She dressed for the occasion in billowing midnight blue pants gathered at her ankles and waist with silver and a black velvet vest over a white lace top. She wore a silver pendant inlaid with dark sapphires that matched her eyes. Sinbad had changed into tight trousers in a deep scarlet and a black shirt. Nadeza took one look at him and licked her lips. Sinbad smiled at the compliment while her father gave him a very though once over.

The three sat down to dinner and tried to start a pleasant conversation. It turned out to be a difficult task since Nadeza’s hand rested on Sinbad’s thigh and he couldn’t figure out how to move it without drawing attention to the inappropriate act. He decided to let it remain there as he wasn’t truly bothered by it, it merely distracted from what her father was trying to say.

All in all, Sinbad made a few intelligent comments and Nadeza’s father decided he kinda liked the sailor and didn’t mind much that he wanted to take his only child sailing around the world. Nadeza was glad to have her father’s blessing and evening went off without a hitch. Elsewhere, another meal wound up being much less pleasant.

*****

"He has lost his mind," Doubar hollered. "He is completely nuts and he needs to have some sense knocked into him."

"That’s not a very feasible idea," Firouz argued. "The implications of actually hitting someone hard enough to knock sense into them are astronomical. First off, you’d probably kill him…"

"Fine by me," Maeve interjected. "Better dead than married to some floozy like that…wench, whatever her name is. I’m with Doubar, let’s beat him up."

Rongar just sat with a subtle grin on his face looking for all the world like he was enjoying the heated debate going on all around him. Dermott perched in the window sill and tried to ignore the arguing and delight in his meal. So far, that hadn’t happened. The arguing had started the moment Sinbad had left and had yet to lose its intensity.

"Firouz, he’s my little brother and if I want to club him over the head and drag him back to the Nomad kicking and screaming then by Allah that’s what I’ll do!" Doubar shouted.

At the same time, Maeve could be heard saying, "I don’t really care what we do anymore. We could just leave him here and let him get mauled by wild animals."

Firouz yelled back, "You can’t do that! It’s barbaric!"

"I can do anything I want! I’m bigger than him and I’m older than him and what I say goes!"

"Actually," Firouz said in a normal voice that brought the room to immediate silence, "he’s the Captain, so what he say goes. So, I guess, if says he’s marrying a wench he met in a tavern, we can’t really stop him." Maeve and Doubar thought about this for a second, then all hell broke loose. Everyone began screaming again, Dermott flew around the room screeching, and Rongar covered his ears.

*****

By the time Sinbad returned, everyone had screamed themselves into exhaustion. They had retired to their rooms by slamming the doors. Firouz tried to convince Rongar to side with him but Rongar wanted no part of the first world war. Sinbad crept stealthily into his room trying not to wake his sleeping brother.

He managed to remove his boots and shirt and slip between the covers. All was going well, until Sinbad heard a knock on the door. He cringed but Doubar didn’t stir. Sinbad tossed back the covers and tip-toed to the door. It squeaked as it opened but Doubar still didn’t wake. Sinbad blinked and tried to pretend he’d just woken up. Maeve stood in the corridor with a box under her arm and said, "I thought I heard someone coming and then I heard the door so I thought you must be back and I wanted to stop by and give you this before the…wedding."

Maeve extended one hand, handing Sinbad a somewhat large box. "What is it, Maeve?" Sinbad whispered. Maeve gave a puzzled look at his hushed tone, so he pointed to Doubar. Maeve giggled and took Sinbad’s hand, leading him across the corridor to her room. One of the perks of being the only woman in the crew, she had her own room.

Maeve led Sinbad to her bed and set him on the edge saying, "Open it." Sinbad looked a little nervous and with good reason, after all she had been ready to have him mauled by wild animals only a few hours ago. He lifted the lid slowly and peeked inside. The box held black suede pants and a matching vest , a black satin shirt and even a black sash for around his waist.

"Wow," Sinbad sighed, "they’re beautiful. Does this mean you’re not angry?" He looked so innocent as he said that, the way a child looks after his mother has punished him and he honestly thinks she’ll never forgive him.

"I’m not angry," Maeve explained. "I never was. It’s just that you and I have been avoiding telling each other our feelings and when we finally do, you decide almost the next day, that you want to marry someone you barely know. I was hurt, that’s all. And now I’m over it and I want you to be happy."

"Good," Sinbad replied, jumping up like a child. "I would hate for anyone to be sad or mad at my wedding tomorrow. Speaking of which, I gotta get some sleep." Sinbad held Maeve in a warm embrace and kissed her cheek lightly. "And thanks for the clothes."

Maeve couldn’t bear to see him leave so as he turned to leave, she said, "Speaking of which, you should probably try them on. You know, make sure they fit."

"Oh," he said, "you’re right." He caught exactly what she meant. He set the box down on the bed and began taking off his pants. Maeve lifted the black suede pants from the box and held them out to him. She tried to divert her eyes but he didn’t seem at all embarrassed to be standing in front of her buck naked so she simply reached into the box and took out the shirt.

She stood behind him, holding the shirt open so he could slip into it. She almost regretted having bought the shirt as she watched the moonbeams dance over his bronzed flesh. He slid his arms in and tucked the shirt into the pants. Then Maeve helped him slip on the vest and finally Maeve wrapped her arms around him and tied the sash at his waist.

When Maeve stepped back to admire her masterpiece, her knees began to tremble and the room suddenly felt very warm. "Well, the pants are a little tight…" Sinbad groaned, tugging at the seat and thighs. As Maeve watched him, she couldn’t help but think she was watching a child whose parents were forcing him to wear nice clothes for the first time.

Maeve wondered, and not for the first time, why Sinbad was acting so strangely. He hadn’t been himself ever since they walked into town. He fell all over the tavern wench and suddenly he wants to get married even though he’s always sworn he never will and now he’s acting like a child when he’s usually so collected and charming. The worst part was that his juvenile behavior made him so sexy.

Maeve watched him tug at the pants and the shirt, a look of distaste marring his perfect features. "Don’t you think they’re too tight?" he queried. Maeve shook her head slightly and ran her hands over his chest. He threw her a strange look but when she tugged at the laces of his vest, his entire body responded. He pulled her close and locked her in a deep kiss while his hands tugged at the long shirt she always wore.

They only played with each other’s clothing for a short time before they both reached for their own clothes and pulled them of while falling onto the bed and entwining their arms and legs. They seemed a mound of writhing flesh, one body indistinguishable from the other until finally Sinbad realized himself. "I’m getting married tomorrow," he panted, trying to catch his breath. "We can’t do this. I should go back to room and get to sleep."

He gathered his clothes while Maeve stared breathlessly at his naked body. Sinbad shoved the clothes back into the box and pulled his pants on before ducking out into the corridor and sneaking back to his room. He set the box on a chair and crawled in bed but as he shut his eyes, he couldn’t help but wonder if he would dream of Nadeza or Maeve.

*****

The next morning found Maeve wondering aimlessly through the small town. It didn’t take her long to find a direction, though. Maeve passed the tavern and recognized a familiar form exit and turn to walk down the side alley. Maeve followed.

As soon as the two were out of sight from the tavern, Maeve caught up to the women and spun her to face the raven-haired sorceress she so despised. "Rumina, what are you doing here?" Maeve demanded. She had guessed Sinbad’s attitude had been caused by some kind of magic and now she knew.

"I’m here for a wedding," Rumina replied. She laughed wickedly and Maeve had all the confirmation she needed.

"What have you done?" she cried, grabbing the witch and shaking her senseless. "You can’t let this happen. Undo whatever trickery you have done, NOW!"

"Undo it now?" Rumina asked incredulously. "Why, the fun is only just beginning."

"No, witch," Maeve retorted, "your fun ends here. You can’t let Sinbad marry her. It isn’t fair to either of them." Maeve glared down on the evil seductress. "Besides, if you let him marry her, you won’t be able to sink your claws into him whenever you want. He’ll be a married man, untouchable…forever."

"Forever?" Rumina mumbled. "So I haven’t quite worked out all the details…" She’d been so wrapped up in the thought that Maeve could no longer have Sinbad that she hadn’t thought that SHE wouldn’t be able to have him either.

"Rumina, you have to stop this," Maeve implored. "Whatever you did, it’s changed him. He isn’t the man we both know and love. I think he’s confused. You’re messing with his mind."

Rumina considered what Maeve had said. "I’m not ready to stop. I’ll bet you’re just over-reacting because you aren’t used to him not falling at your feet."

"That is so not true and you know it," Maeve snapped and immediately regretted it. "Rumina, we finally got the courage to admit that we want to fall at each other’s feet…so to speak. I’m not so much over-reacting as I just want him back the way he’s supposed to be."

"Well," Rumina said, her resolve fading. She hated herself for acting so humanely but she very much liked the way Sinbad was and if he truly was acting oddly, maybe she should stop. "I want to see how strangely he’s acting. Then I’ll think about it," she blurted. Maeve seized her opportunity and took the witch’s hand, leading her to Sinbad’s hotel room where he was dressing and preparing for the wedding.

*****

When the two reached Sinbad’s room, the door was already opened the tiniest bit. Maeve got her usual ‘something’s wrong’ feeling and burst through the door. What they found shocked them. Maeve’s eyes first came to rest on the white dress that lay in a pile on the floor. Rumina first looked to the bed where Sinbad and Nadeza had started the honeymoon early.

They both gasped when they caught sight of Sinbad’s bronzed and muscled back and Nadeza’s roaming over it. Their gasps drew the attention of the couple and they both turned and gaped at the duo who stood at the foot of the bed. "What do you think you’re doing?" Sinbad roared.

Maeve regained her composure, after diverting her eyes from Sinbad’s chest, and replied, "And what do you think YOU’RE doing?" Rumina stood in silent awe and watched as Sinbad grabbed his pants from the floor and pulled them on, under the covers. Then he stood and plucked Nadeza’s dress from the floor and casually tossed it to her.

"I think I’m getting to know my bride," Sinbad answered capriciously, "and you?" His hands rested on his hips and his brilliant blue eyes shot sparks. Maeve’s thoughts twirled erratically. ‘He looks even more gorgeous when he’s angry.’ All the same, he expected an answer and Maeve feared what he might do in his spellbound state.

"We’re here to stop the wedding," Maeve said confidently, placing her hands on her hips and staring straight into the sea-blue depths of Sinbad’s eyes.

He looked at her incredulously, "You what? Why? Are you jealous?" Maeve wished for all the world she could slap him for that last comment but instead she acknowledged its truth.

"We’re here to stop the wedding," she repeated, "because Rumina put a spell on you and that’s the only reason you want to marry this girl. And…yes, maybe, I’m a little jealous, too." She walked right up to him and draped her arms over his shoulders, pulling him to her. She brought her lips to his and silently rejoiced when he responded, kissing her in return.

"I thought I was in love with you," he remarked. "But Nadeza is so pretty and she likes me back. I didn’t know if you liked me." Maeve almost laughed at his childish reasoning.

She turned to Rumina. "See? What did I tell you?" Rumina did laugh at the look that crossed Sinbad’s face. "Don’t laugh," Maeve chided, "just undo the spell." Rumina waggled her fingers and Sinbad swayed on his feet before slumping against Maeve.

"Thank you," Maeve said, placing Sinbad gently on the bed.

Nadeza looked dejectedly from Maeve to Sinbad and finally to Rumina. "I guess this means I won’t be getting married today."

Rumina laughed again. "If you wanna marry Sinbad, you’ll just have to get in line." That said, she misted away to wreak havoc on someone else for a while.

Sinbad’s head cleared and he looked up at Maeve. "What just happened?" he queried.

"You don’t want to know," Maeve said with a smile. Sinbad’s eyes darted from Maeve to Nadeza to his bare chest and back to the two women.

"Maybe I do," he said wickedly.

*****

Back at the Nomad, Sinbad told Maeve all that he recalled of the last two days. Much to her dismay, Sinbad remembered much more than she cared to know. Sinbad told her all about what he and Nadeza did to pass the time between dawn, when she had shown up at his door, and noon, when Maeve and Rumina had burst into his room. He also recalled what had happened when Maeve had knocked at this door. "It’s a little fuzzy but I think you tried to seduce me," he said.

Maeve smiled and faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "Well, I couldn’t resist," she said to justify her actions. "Besides, you didn’t fight too hard, so I’d say it was as much your fault as mine."

Well," Sinbad proclaimed, "at least nothing…happened." A wicked smile crossed his lips and he leaned in to her, stealing her breath with a kiss.

"At least not yet," Maeve responded, taking his hand and leading him below deck to finish what they had started back at the hotel.

The End