"A little that a righteous man has is better than the riches of many wicked." Psalm 37:16

Kate slowly fluttered her eyes open, only to be greeted with a splitting headache. She groaned and felt lousy. She blinked her eyes. It was dark, dimly lit, wherever she was. Then she gasped with fear when she saw a cell door. "No!" She cried. "No..." Is this a dream? I have to be dreaming! No, I can't be in here again! Wake up, Kate, wake up!

"It's not a dream, Kate." She heard Will's dismal voice coming from somewhere. She glanced around quickly, but that only increased the excruciating discomfort inside her head. She blinked, trying to make her eyes adjust to the dim light. She crawled forward, only to be yanked back by chains! She gazed at her hands with horror. They were shackled again.

"Will?" She whimpered.

"I'm over here." Will said quietly. "Neither of us are getting out of here any time soon." She peered through her cell bars to see Will in the same cell he'd been before with Jack. He was also trapped, and this time both of them had shorter chains.

"How could this happen?" Kate asked, her heart racing with fear.

"One of Briggs' lackeys knocked you out. I tried to fight them off, till they got me too." Will explained. Kate furrowed her brows. In the low light, she could see that his left cheek was bruised, and his lip was badly cut.

"Oh my goodness! Will, are you all right?" She asked sadly.

"I'll be fine." He nodded.

"You're hurt."

"I've had worse, trust me." Will tried to give a feeble smile.

"Wh-where are we?" Kate asked, her lip trembling.

"We're on the Vendetta, Kate. We're back in the brig." Will told her.

"Oh my g-." Kate shuddered. "Then we're as good as dead!"

"I won't let it come to that, Kate." Will said encouragingly. "We'll see Elizabeth, and Jack, and Thomas again."

Kate hung her head when he mentioned Thomas. Was he okay? Had he been freed of his bonds? Was he worried about her? Where was he? "Do you...know where we're going?" She gulped.

"Aye. Whitecap Bay." Will sighed.

Kate fell back against the wall. She couldn't think clearly. She couldn't sit up without something to brace herself. She leaned there, hyperventilating. "We're going to die!" She declared in fright.

"No, we won't." Will said firmly.

"How can you know that?"

"We must have faith. And we're not going to go down without a fight, either. Kate, I know I'm not your kin, or anything close to it by blood, but I promise you, I'll get us out of here somehow, and back to the people we love." Will smiled confidently. How could he comfort her so when he was injured like that? Kate began to shed tears at his kindness.

"You're more of a brother to me than Briggs ever was!" She wept. "You always have been, also to the young boys in town. They've named you their adopted big brother, especially after the fencing and smithy lessons you gave them. I've always wished you were my brother, Will."

Will grinned in surprise. "I...don't know what to say. Except that I've felt the same way about you, Kate. After your mother died, and you had no one left, then you lived with Elizabeth. I've always considered you to be younger sister to me, and felt it was my duty to look after you whenever I could."

"Really?" Kate smiled.

"Aye. I hope I haven't been overly protective." He joked.

"Not at all." Kate grinned back. "If anything, Jack was the one who was being overprotective once Thomas showed up! He was even more uptight about it than Dad!"

"I know. And it's funny. I've never seen him act that way." Will mused. "Kate, I'm deeply sorry about your father."

"You and Elizabeth have been there for me when I needed it most. And that has been a tremendous comfort in itself." Kate assured him.

"Thomas is a decent young man, Kate. He has great potential. And I believe he's going to use it for whatever God calls him to do. And it's clear that he loves you."

Kate's head shot up. "Thomas...loves me? Do you really think so?"

"Kate, I have a woman I love too. And I've known you most of our lives. Do you think I wouldn't recognize the melancholy attachment when it is so obvious?"

"Thomas...loves me." Kate gaped. "That's why...oh my goodness!" She covered her mouth. This new truth was mind-blowing and changed everything she'd known and thought since they'd dared this entire quest.

"Do you love him back?" Will asked cheekily.

"I...I..." Kate stammered. How should she know? She'd never been in love before! How could she understand the true phenomenon when it arrived? She blushed and looked at Will, biting her lip.

"Ahh. That's what I thought." Will smiled broadly.

Just then, the door leading down to the brig was opened, and heavy boots were heard trotting down the stairs. Briggs himself entered, eating a hearty chicken leg. He stopped in front of Kate's cell. She froze against the wall, panting. She was very scared. "We're going to take a little walk." He sneered.

Elizabeth was lost in her troubled thoughts as she leaned on the starboard side of the ship. Jack had given her his compass to hold, and she endlessly glanced back and forth at it and the horizon. The Vendetta was out of sight, but the compass pointed directly in the said ship's direction. Elizabeth could only pray and hope that they weren't too late! What if Will and Kate were being tortured? If they were, she would never forgive herself for letting Will go the way he had.

"Not to fret, luv. We're right on course. And we're catching up, never fear." Jack's cheery voice interrupted her gloomy thoughts.

"I pray so." She mumbled, looking down at the compass again. Jack nudged her arm with a bottle of rum. She reluctantly took it.

"Rum helps with everything." Jack grinned.

"No, it doesn't!" Thomas shouted at him. The boy had been restlessly pacing around the deck for hours. "You know what would help? For us to catch those filthy sea dogs!"

"We'll catch them, lad. Like tuna in a fishing net." Jack said lightly.

"How much further to Whitecap Bay?" Elizabeth asked.

"We shall reach it by nightfall." Jack replied. "Most unfortunately, that is the most convenient time for the mermaids to be lured to the surface, to feast in their devilish ways."

"Then why don't you do something?!" Thomas hollered at him in a strangled voice, raising his clenched fists to his head. He looked on the verge of panic. "My g-! How can you speak so callously about it? Do you realize what this means if we don't find Will and Kate in time? They'll both be killed!"

"Jack and the crew are doing their best." Elizabeth tried to calm him.

"Oh, yeah? Well, that's not good enough!" Thomas cried out frantically. "Can't we make this ship go any faster? There's no time to lose!" Elizabeth came to him and touched his arm. Thomas was shaking and he dropped to his knees on the floor. "Oh g-…" He cried.

"Take it easy, lad." Jack said calmly. "The Pearl is the fastest ship in the Spanish Main, in all the Caribbean, the Seven Seas even! She won't fail us."

"You better be right about that!" Thomas glared at Jack with tears in his eyes. Jack was taken aback and scratched his head. Elizabeth gave him a pointed look. She helped Thomas stand and led him to a crate to sit on.

"Thomas, I know exactly how you feel." She said kindly. "Last year, I was kidnapped by cursed pirates. It was terrifying! And there was a moment when I thought that Will was dead. I shook my entire world. But...just when all hope seemed lost, there he was, alive and fighting for us like I loved him for! Will won't give up, no matter what. And Kate never loses hope. She has determination, like her father. She never loses hope, and you must not either."

"I can't help it." Thomas sniffled, shaking his head. "I haven't told her yet."

"That you love her?" Elizabeth smiled warmly. He looked right up at her.

"Yes! I was going to! But, before I could, we were captured. And I can't stand to think of her as a hostage on that ship, maybe being treated the way the slaves were on the Cartwheel. Every time I think about it, I..." He faltered, trying to swallow down a sob. "I just can't! Aren't you afraid for them, Elizabeth, for the man that you love?"

"Of course." Elizabeth said seriously. "Every minute that the ship is not in our view, I'm dreadfully afraid. I pray every minute that we will see it so that we can catch them. But, I have to believe that God is watching over them. I've nearly lost Will, more than once. And he always comes back!"

Thomas had to breathe to calm himself. "I want to believe that, I really do! But I don't know how." He said in a quivering voice. Elizabeth patted his shoulder sympathetically.

"A ship! I see a ship!" One of the men called out from the crow's nest. They all raced to the rail to see. Jack peeked through his spyglass.

"Is it Briggs?" Gibbs asked.

"Too far too make out for sure," Jack grunted, "but I'll shoot me own toes off and eat my hat if I'm wrong that it isn't!"

"Let me see." Elizabeth said, taking the scope from him. "He is right, they're pretty far out. But I recognize those aristocratic sails. It's them, all right. I can feel it!"

Jack gave orders, and kept his eye on the ship. He noticed Thomas clinging to the rail, white-knuckled. "Ahh, you have it bad, boy." Jack teased him.

"What?" Thomas squeaked innocently.

"The unscratchable itch. No cure for it since time began." Jack went on dramatically.

"I don't know what that means, and you don't have to explain!" Thomas retorted anxiously. "Right now I don't care about that. All I care about is getting Kate and Will back."

Jack smiled knowingly. "You're a dramatic one, aren't you?" Thomas ignored him, biting his lip hard. "You and the lass are definitely, unmistakably, fatefully meant for each other."

"She's the first person I've ever felt this way about. I haven't had many people to love during my life, Jack. If anything happens to her, then...I won't have anything to live for."

Jack cleared his throat. "Ahh, young love. A most wonderful, painful, spiritual, and tragic phenomena. Stand tall, lad. We'll get her back. I give you me word." Thomas looked at him skeptically.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

Jack walked away to take over Anamaria's play at the rudder. In truth, he was really worried. He knew they were on the right path, and he had no doubt that his crew would pull off an outstanding rescue. But, he was more than a little concerned of what shape they would find Will and Kate in when they found them. He knew men like Briggs too well, who blamed the world for their problems and gleefully inflicted pain on innocents. Though in Jack's book, Briggs' reasoning for his madness was lame. After all, he'd had a decent life, brought up by loving parents. He could have been a fine man. "Suppose it's like old Summers said." Jack pondered to himself. "His son just couldn't handle the relentless taunting from his peers. Tis a tragic shame." Jack was mostly worried about Kate. Will could take care of himself if necessary. But Kate was young, and inexperienced, and now she had no family. Jack had no doubt that Briggs would enjoy torturing her while she was at his mercy, and the very thought of that made Jack's blood boil. "If she was my daughter-heaven forbid!-she'd never be let off this ship unsupervised!" Jack told himself. "If that piranha hurts her, if I find one hair of her head out of place, if she has one scratch, one bruise, I'm going to send that lethal blow-fish straight to Davy Jones' Locker!"

Kate didn't move, even as one of the guards unlocked and opened the door. He walked in and unlatching her chain from the wall, jerked her to her feet. She stood still, refusing to step forward. He shoved her. "Bring her along." Briggs said.

"What are you going to do?" Will asked, standing on his feet as far as he could. Briggs leered at him.

"You two seem to have a special connection. Bring him too. He can stand by and watch."

Will set his jaw and followed them up the deck. They'd been so quickly thrown into the brig every time they were on this ship that he'd almost never observed their surroundings. His dark eyes widened when he saw a small furnace glowing with live coals aboard the main deck. He saw one of the sailors pulling out a long, blazing hot tong from the small oven. Will's stomach dropped. He was a blacksmith, he knew what was coming.

"Hold her down. See that she doesn't wriggle free." Briggs said nonchalantly, as if this was an every day occurrence. Will guessed that as a slave trader, to Briggs, this was an every day occurrence! Kate squirmed and struggled, but with three large men holding her arms back, she couldn't escape.

"No!" Will cried.

"Bare her shoulder." Briggs ordered his men. They yanked off the collar of her blouse, just above her chest. Briggs nodded to his man with the tong. "I had this made especially for unwelcome relatives." Briggs boasted. "See, the S shape? For Summers. And this, the T. That stands for Traitor." He looked at his fire man. "Do it."

Kate was whimpering like a whipped puppy. She struggled. "Please!" She begged. The man came closer to her, to brand her, just like her dad. She looked away, squeezing her eyes shut.

"NO!" Will protested, stomping away from his captors. Even though his hands were shackled, he raced over and snatched away the tong, then with all his might, he log-tossed it overboard into the ocean.

"Wretch! Scum!" Briggs bellowed. He was angry now. He slapped Will across the face. Will just firmly stood where he was and glared at the man.

"You're not going to hurt her, not anymore." Will said boldly.

"You'll suffer for this most impudent act of rebellion." Briggs squinted at him.

"If you want to hurt someone, then hurt me!" Will told him. "But Kate's suffered enough. She's never done you any harm. You just blame her and your mother and your father for the ruthless peer pressure you endured as a lad."

"Don't you dare to speak of my past, boy! You don't know anything about me!" Briggs clenched his fists.

"I know more than enough." Will replied icily. "Your parents cared for you. But to you, it wasn't enough. Your mother would be heartbroken, to see the monster you've become today."

"Enough!" Briggs kicked Will right in his lower abdomen. Will groaned and panted, but he stood back up. "You're going to wish I had branded her, boy. I'm going to cinch you within an inch of your life!"

Will gulped. "If it means that you won't harm her, then I'll take it." He said.

"Will, no!" Kate cried.

"So be it." Briggs smiled cruelly. "Ten lashes!" A weathered man with long, dark curls and a feathered hat stepped up, coiling a bullwhip. They removed Will's shackles, ripped his shirt open exposing his back and held him fast.

"Will, no you can't!" Kate wailed. "Let him go! Please, please let him go!"

"Or would you like to share his punishment?" Briggs leered at her.

"Please, don't do this!"

"Ten lashes!" Briggs ordered. The overseer chuckled, and the crew jeered as he laced the evil whip across poor Will's back.

"Ohh, Will..." Kate blubbered as tears poured out of her eyes. Will flinched painfully, and moaned loudly as the whip cut into his skin. Every lash was more acutely stinging than the last. It hurt like heck. He just wanted it to be over! "Stop it!" Kate screeched at the crew. "Stop this now!" She shrieked. Will lost track of how many times the overseer had lynched his flesh, and wished he would just pass out!

"All right." Briggs finally commanded. The overseer relented, and as they let go of Will's hands, he dropped to the floor, panting profusely, barely conscious, and writhing in extreme pain.

"Will!" Kate wept.

"Let her go." Briggs muttered. Kate ran to her friend.

"Ohh, Will..." She sniffled, stooping at his side.

"Throw them back in the brig."

Will was dragged back to his cell and left on the floor. Kate was allowed to be in there with him, as a taunting tactic from her brother. The guards raced back upstairs to clean up the blood from the floor as Briggs had told them to, so thankfully, Kate and Will were left alone. Kate sobbed as she gazed down at the horrible, raw slashes on his back. "Will, I'm sorry!" She choked. "I'm so sorry! You should've let them singe me! Why did you do this? Why?!"

"Couldn't...let them...torture my sister..." Will garbled.

"Water! We need water down here!" Kate yelled at one of the remaining guards. "He's hurt! Give us water!" The guard tossed a bucket into the cell, spilling half of it. Kate ripped part of her skirt, dipped it in the remaining water, and gently dabbed at Will's wounds. "This is going to sting, Will." She warned him sadly.

"Just do it...please!" Will begged her helplessly. She applied the rag to his bag and he gritted his teeth hard.

"I'm sorry!" Kate sniffed.

"Don't be." Will told her. "What you're doing is a mercy!"

"I'll never forgive myself for letting you get hurt." Kate moaned.

"I chose it, Kate. Let that bear. That's what friends do." Will said wearily. Kate blinked back more tears. She kissed the top of his hair. "Thank you." Will whispered.

Kate cleaned his wounds for the next half hour. But their hearts lurched when the crew upstairs bellowed, "Whitecap Bay! Whitecap Bay!"