Two Men

Chapter 1

I wasn't born to walk on water

I wasn't born to sack and slaughter

But on my soul I wasn't born

To stoop, to scorn and knuckle under

Her name was Annie Price, and until three days ago, she had worked at a bakery in Port Royal. Been friendly and a hard-worker, and no one had a bad word against her. She had attended church every Sunday and sent money home to England every month to help support her aged parents, who worked on a farm. She hadn't been plain, but nothing particularly special in the looks department either – she'd had a beau, John Harding, but they had been keeping their courtship entirely proper until such a time as John had finished his carpentry apprenticeship and had enough money to support them both before they became engaged.

But three days ago, she'd been alive. Now, Annie Price was dead.

She'd left work three days ago, and vanished. John Harding and her friends had noticed very soon, and it had been reported, but only now had she been found.

Her body had come floating up in the waters, on her front so that her shoulders and the back of her head were the only parts of her not submerged. But her patterned, light green dress showed brightly through the blue waves, and if that didn't catch the fishermen's eye, the seagulls hovering and swooping definitely did.

The fishing sketch had hauled her body out of the water, and the undertakers waiting on the docks would put her into the ground, but it was Commodore Norrington's job to catch her murderer, for murdered she had been.

On the docks, she looked more like a sack of potatoes than a person – the fish had done a lot of damage, but her dress was still mostly intact – and it highlighted what the body was lacking.

She had no eyes, but this was not unusual in someone who had been fish food. Her hair was matted with blood from the hole in her head – but this too was not unusual; a body could easily bang against rocks on its way into the water, or even in the water itself. What was wrong, what was terribly, horribly wrong, was that her hair was not on her head - it was in it.

She'd been scalped and then whoever had done so had stuffed that mop into her mouth after removing her tongue.

Norrington was not surprised that Governor Swann, after hearing the preliminary report, had handed the case over to him to solve as soon as he could. Naturally, once the murderer was found, it would be up to the Governor to sentence him.

Still, he sometimes wished that it were not part of his duties to deal with such cases - the duties of policing the Caribbean did not only extend to the capture and punishment of pirates – the Navy was the only police force the British colonies had and murders such as this were always given high priority, since the news of the gruesome murder would surely get back to England and public interest, morbid though it was, would be high.

"You've seen her then?"

The Governor remained in his carriage, at the far end of the dock. He sounded nervous. Norrington didn't blame him; he knew the Governor was not a man of action, the world was full of men of action and it needed a few good men to keep it sane. Norrington had a hard time associating men of action with goodness, even in himself; sometimes decisions had to be made and though they had no goodness in them, they were necessary – those were the decisions men of action made, the decisions made after that by good men were simply there to repair the damage.

"Was she very bad?" Governor Swann asked, and Norrington was glad to hear no eager morbidity in the question, though others were sure to ask because they thought murder exciting.

Still, his reply was slightly reproving, "It is murder, Governor."

The Governor did not question his conclusion; he held Norrington's abilities in absolute trust.

"You'll see to it the murderer is found, won't you?"

The Governor's faith in his abilities always amazed him. The Caribbean was already under policed, and the killer could already be on his way to England or any number of other countries by now…

"To the best of my abilities, sir."

"Excellent, Commodore, I trust this will not keep you from attending my ball on Friday?"

"I look forward to it, Governor." Truthfully, Norrington rarely attended balls – being too caught up by his duties – but he had made a point of attending the annual Governor's Ball ever since his interest had fallen on Elizabeth. Now, the idea of the ball felt like ashes in his mouth – for though he was man enough to realise he would never have her – that didn't stop his heart aching at the sight of her... and of his teeth grinding when he saw Turner and her together…

He had decided, after some thought, that giving up Elizabeth did not have to mean giving up on love – it would just take some time before he could be glad that she had found true happiness. 

But the Governor was a good friend, and previous balls had been enjoyable. In the meantime, he had a murder to investigate, pirates to hunt (there were always pirates to hunt, it seemed), and so many other duties that there weren't enough hours in the day to complete them.

Author's Note: Hi all, this story (to the best of my ability) is going to be action/adventure with little to no romance. The main characters are going to be my adored Commodore Norrington and the inimitable Captain Jack Sparrow.

Also, the chapters will probably vary in length so bear with me… ^_^

The quote at the beginning is from the Scarlet Pimpernel and I used it because I wanted to emphasise that both Betsy Pineapple (snerk – see La Pamplemousse's most amusing 'Norrington's Special Fic') and Jack (though he'd deny it) are ordinary men (hard though it may be to believe, I know).

Reviews are always welcome, since usually I try and finish something before I post it, rather than posting chapters as they're done, and this is the first time I've done the opposite.

The title… well, just look at whom I'm writing about…