"This is either madness or brilliance," Will muttered.
Charlotte choked back a laugh. "How often those two go hand in hand…" she trailed off in a whisper.
"How we managed to get up here in the first place is still beyond me," he confessed.
"Then it's a good thing you've got me t' do the thinking, is it not?" she asked cheerfully.
Will said nothing as they continued across the rooftop of the temple. He was grateful to have Charlotte near for more reasons than that. Not that it mattered. The only man in her life was her father, perhaps with the exception of Gibbs when Jack was not around. He had always been so narrow-mindedly in love with Elizabeth that he had never thought to love another.
Animal noises filled the silence between the two as they lowered themselves into a courtyard. They stuck to the shadows cast on the edges of the hall as they crept inside; the poor lighting made it rather easy for them to sneak down undetected. The place reeked of incense, which burned at intervals along the long corridor. After a time, Will spoke up again. "Charlotte, do you know where we're going?" he asked, keeping his voice quiet.
"'Course I do," she bluffed. She peered at the three doors at the end of the hall and, finding that there was no one around, darted into the one on the left. Lady Luck was with her tonight.
The charts lay on a pedestal in the middle of the room. Shuttered lanterns were arranged around the angular room to shine on the charts. No incense burned here. In fact, the charts and the lamps seemed to be the only things in the room. Charlotte held out her arm, stopping Will from entering. She unsheathed one of her swords and used it to unhook one of the lamps from where it hung from the ceiling. Taking it in hand, she shone the light into the dark corners of the room. She frowned when nothing was revealed. This could not bode well for them.
"Wot's wrong 'ere?" she asked Will, turning to face him. Her tone of voice was completely serious.
Will took the lamp for himself and had a look around. He shrugged. "I don't know. There's no one in here?" he ventured, judging from her earlier reaction.
Charlotte grinned. "You've not been treasure hunting afore, have ye?" she asked, returning her sword to its scabbard.
"Not all treasure is gold and jewels," he replied smugly, remembering what Jack had once told him, that very first time he had gone after treasure.
"But most every treasure is guarded," she said. "An' there be no one about. There's not even a single booby trap." She frowned again. Something was terribly wrong, and she thought she had been so careful. There was only one way to find out what might happen next. With bated breath, Charlotte took one step forward.
It took all of Will's self-control not to yell out loud for her to stop. He reached forward to grab hold of her arm or the back of her frock coat at the very least, but she was already tip-toeing to the center of the room. He wasn't sure that he had ever been this nervous in his entire life as Charlotte stood poised to snatch up the charts. With all his heart he wished that she would get it over with already and just pick them up, but she seemed to be contemplating something. The set of her shoulders made it clear that she was struggling with what to do next. When she finally spoke her voice was so quiet that Will wasn't sure if she had actually said anything or if he had only imagined it.
"These be the ones," she whispered. Very gently, Charlotte rolled up the charts. She tip-toed back to Will and handed them to him. Now it was just a matter of getting out and back to the Pearl.
Will let out a sigh of relief. Although he was curious to see what they looked like, he kept the charts rolled up and tucked them under his arm. "Now, time to get out of this godforsaken place," he muttered, looking around. He felt the heat of a glare and cleared his throat. "Godforsaken might have been the wrong choice of word," he amended.
"Right, well, this way'n," Charlotte said, heading back in the direction from whence they came. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end even as they climbed through a window out to the courtyard. To her, the silence was unnerving. While it was still relatively early in the morning, there should have been people about: attendants, worshippers, anyone. As far as she could tell, Will was unconcerned. Perhaps she was being overly cautious.
Right, 'cause 'e really knows wot it is t' be pirate, her inner voice chimed in sarcastically. The brunette pirate lass glanced over at him before scaling the wall up to the roof. He was pirate by blood as was she, but he'd hardly been raised as one. Yet despite his initial distaste for the lifestyle, here he was looting from holy men. The words of her father and Mr. Gibbs rang through her head: Take what you can, give nothing back. Her throat closed up at the thought of Captain Jack Sparrow. It was for his sake that she and Will were undertaking this venture.
Meanwhile, Will's palms were beginning to sweat. His train of thought was running around in anxious circles. Obviously his main priority was getting the charts to Barbossa. Trying to figure out what had gone wrong with Charlotte was at the front of his mind, though. He wished he could break the silence to ask her why she was so tense and perhaps mend the rift between them. Even though she kept hinting that he ought to reconcile with Elizabeth, he wanted nothing more than to put that off for as long as possible. He was sure that she was hiding something from him and it made him nauseous to imagine what that might be.
As they neared the trees that they had climbed to reach the roof, both of their stomachs dropped. Up ahead there were three figures. Charlotte drew both of her swords and steadily continued forward. Will was right beside her, sword in his right hand and the charts in his left. This was the scuffle that Charlotte had been anticipating since they weighed anchor a few hours ago. She tightened her grip on her weapons, preparing herself. However before she was in range to attack, Will gave a cry of alarm from behind her right shoulder. Spinning around on her heels, she had to duck to avoid a blow to her head.
"Mon Dieu!" she yelled, recoiling. The sword in her right hand swung towards her attacker's chest and her left hand remained near her shoulder, ready to engage. Her fighting form was one ten years in the making, having evolved from the basic fencing stance that Jack had taught to her. Even so, the men that they were up against had probably been training in swordplay for much, much longer. This became evident as they traded blows and were joined by the first three men.
Fighting back to back, Will leaned his head towards Charlotte and said, "Take the charts and go. I will hold them off."
As noble as that sounded, she snorted with laughter in reply. "Non. We leave t'gether," she argued before lunging at one of the men. He attacked at the same time, forcing her to duck below his sword only to trap it between both of hers. With a deft twirl, she manipulated the interlocked blades and sent her opponent's spinning away. Another man had already been knocked over the edge of the roof, leaving three to face the pirates.
Will locked blades with one of their assailants and pushed him back into open space. "Then perhaps we should move to more solid ground," he suggested. He parried a cut to his flank and made a riposte, aiming for the man's head. Before he could make contact, the weaponless man launched himself at Will and the two hit the wooden roof with a dull thud. Shocked by the impact, Will's hold on the charts loosened and they went flying.
Charlotte shouted, "No!" and dove after them. She dropped both of her swords in the process. Sliding along the roof, her fingertips grasped the charts as they slowed to a stop in front of a pair of feet. Heart pounding, Charlotte rolled to the side and scrambled to stand up. Pain blossomed at the base of her skull right before her vision blurred. Her body collapsed as she slipped into unconsciousness. The last thing she would remember was frantically worrying about Will's well being.
A/N: I almost forgot that I wrote this chapter, but here it is. -insert plea for reviews here- They really are useful to me as a writer, especially since it feels like it's been ages since I posted anything.