"Commodore, I really must protest!" My voice didn't sound my own, but I was determined not to back down. "Pirate or not, this man saved my life."
I stepped in front of the criminal, my back to him and my fists clenched at my sides. It was going against all my proper raising to defend such a man, but I liked the feeling of… rebellion. It was like a fire, burning in my chest, and it gave me pleasure and the courage to go on.
"One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness." Norrington replied in that cold, cruel voice I had come to hate. Why was he always so formal and stiff with me? Could he not treat me as an equal, more than just a woman? I was not a child!
"Though it seems enough to condemn him." The pirate quipped, and I had almost turned to snap at him to stay quiet when Norrington's words sent cold fear through my heart and I stopped.
"What… is that?" I tilted my head back around to catch the man staring blatantly at my chest. I frowned, looking down to where his eyes were pointing and noticing the medallion, flying free on its chain and lying flat on my left side.
On the inside, I groaned; my heart and lungs seeming to collapse as my spirits failed and the rebellion disintegrated. Many un-ladylike words came to the top of my lips, but I restrained myself, looking up at the commodore, unsure of what to say or do.
With two steps, Norrington was upon me, his hand reaching out to snatch at my chest, taking the gold between his index and thumb. He looked at the medallion's face for a moment, studying its every line and indentation, while his own face became increasingly darker and more concerned.
My breath came out in quick gasps and I could barely inhale enough to keep myself alive. Cold fear wrapped itself around me in an icy grip and I could not move, only stare at the older man's face in pure terror. The commodore looked up at me once more, his face a mass of lines that clearly stated his disgust and horror at finding such a piece of jewelry around my neck.
"Elizabeth…" he hissed, snatching the metal from my neck, breaking the chain. The actions stung the back of my neck and lead me to gasp in surprise, but I still stood my ground, unable to move either way. "What is this doing around your neck?" he snapped, his hazel eyes narrowed and searching.
"I… I…" I could not say it, I could not force myself to come clean.
"You support the pirates that you protect." He spat, fist clenching around the metal. He snapped his hand to the side and backed a step away. His face was contorted with silent rage and displeasure, pure hatred emanating from him to me. "You are a traitor, a disgusting blemish, unworthy of standing in the presence of civilized personnel!"
I gasped, his words stinging as much as the mark he had made on neck. I pushed past him, looking for my father, eyes wide and mouth gaping.
"Father!" I blurted out, flabbergasted. "Do you allow this man to call your daughter such filthy terms, allow him to accuse her of such terrible acts?" I pleaded, attempting to appear as though it were Norrington's fault.
"Do not call me your father, insolent girl." I found my father in the crowd, his face as full of rage as the commodore's. My mouth fell open and all I could do was splutter incomprehensibly. "I have no daughter."
It was there that life as I knew it ended. I would never live the cushioned way I had, never have maids to wake me in the morning nor fancy dresses from London. I would not be able to return to the place I once called home, and I would never again be recognized by those of Port Royal as the respectable Governor's daughter.
Within seconds, I became the scum of the earth, as low of a thing as a pirate. It was not a mistake I could ever fix, and no amount of pleading could repair the damage done. And it was all because I wore a simple necklace, stolen from a boy when I was just a child. Had I known it would cause me this much pain, I would have thrown it off the side of the ship right then and there.
"A pirate medallion, Elizabeth! How could you do such a thing?" Sparrow mocked, sliding up behind me to put his chin on my shoulder. I shrugged him off and he grinned, leaning in to breathe into my ear, "We must talk, my dear…" before stepping back.
Norrington rolled his eyes and stepped forward with irons, handcuffs. I held out my wrists and he refused to look me in the eye, instead he focused on fastening the metal around my arms. It was loose, and it chaffed my skin, but it did its job: I could not get free.
He then motioned with his hand and four men stepped forward, two gripping either of the pirate's arms, the other two hesitating at my side. With a stern look from my father, they grabbed my upper arms and lifted me so that I could not run or pull away.
"What are you doing? I demand you put me down, right this instant!" I shrieked, writhing around and trying to pry myself loose.
"You are one of them, Elizabeth. You have no room to make demands, nor no right to speak against me." Norrington reached out to deliver a blinding blow to my cheek, leaving me to gasp in pain. "A lesson you had better learn soon." He snapped, and walked away, trailed by the other men of his little naval army.
"Bring them into custody!" he called over his shoulder, echoed by a man who called for us to be hung. With that, he and my father turned away, neither of them glancing back as the men dragged up in the opposite direction, away from the mansion I called home and towards the fort, where we would be put into cells to await trial.