Chapter Two: Frights and Pistols

"There was a rather peculiar man at the docks today," Anne said over a steaming bowl of soup.

"Another one?" asked Will, and then he took a slurp of his soup.

"Oh, Will! I know I see a lot of peculiar men at the pier, but this one was more so than usual. He had all sorts of weapons and gold teeth. He was out in out strange, Will."

"Alright, sure," said Will between bites. Anne rolled her eyes.

*Why doesn't he take me seriously?*

"So, how has the remainder of your day been?" Will asked.

"With the nervous tizzy Murdstone's been in? Tedious. But how has yours been?"

"Fine. Brown's drunk again and sleeping in his favorite chair, not that I mind. Working is much easier without him really there."

"Amen to that!" Anne agreed, thinking of the fencing lessons Will once gave her. They'd been put to an end one year ago, when Mrs. Murdstone nearly had her sacked for it.

"That is not the behavior we want presented to the public. Could you imagine if the Governor's household was known as a home for wayward girls?!" Murdstone told her, referring, of course, to the fact that only the whores of that time knew how to defend themselves adequately.

Will and Anne made small talk over their soup, which gradually veered over to political talk, as always, by the end of their time together. Both needed to get back to their jobs, for different reasons. Will needed to work, and Anne needed to go back before somebody really missed her. They left tavern and began to give each other a parting embrace when a dozen redcoat soldiers dashed by, their rifles brandished.

"I wonder what's going on?" said Anne.

"I don't know. They only run about like that when there is a criminal on the loose." Will remarked. Just then a man scurried past, also bearing a weapon.

"You there," called Will, "what's all the commotion about?"

The man stopped and came over to the two friends. "Somebody put a gun or something to Governor Swann's daughter. A pirate, perhaps," he informed Will and Anne.

Will grabbed the man's shoulders. "Is she alright?" he asked.

"Yes she's fine, just scared is what I heard. He didn't actually hurt her or nothing just scared her."

Will relaxed and said, "Alright thank you."

The man turned to go, but Anne stopped him, saying, "Wait! Do you know which direction he went?"

"That way." The man pointed left down the street toward Will's smithy, then took off in that direction.

"Will, go check your shop. I'll go back to care for Elizabeth," said Anne.

Will hurried down the street, and Anne cut through an alleyway to the hill the Governor's house sat on.

When she entered the back door roughly ten minutes later, the servants were all in a bustle. Anne hurried to the front door of the house and reached it just as Elizabeth walked in. She was sopping wet, and only wearing her father's coat over her underclothes.

"Miss Chaucer, do help my daughter upstairs," ordered Governor Swann.

"Yes Sir, of course," said Anne, and followed Elizabeth up the stairway to her bedroom.

Once the door was closed Elizabeth exclaimed, "What an uncivilized prick!"

"Who?" Anne inquired, "Norrington or the pirate?"

Elizabeth giggled, "Oh, the pirate. Norrington is just --- oh I don't know --- well --- you know, I couldn't breath in that corset, and when I tried to tell him I needed help, he went on with his little speech and completely didn't realize, and then I fell off the fort and into the ocean, fainted. Jack Sparrow saved me, actually, but then he threatened me to get what he wanted. Oh, I had to stand so close to the smelly oaf and put his hat and arsenal of weapons back on him after Norrington had him clapped in irons! It was absolutely revolting!"

"Sounds terribly exciting to me!" I objected as I helped Elizabeth out of her wet clothing.

"Well, yes, actually it was. But still revolting. Actually, that part with Jack Sparrow was part of the excitement."

"Who is Jack Sparrow? Is he the pirate?" Anne asked as she helped Elizabeth out of her sopping clothes.

"Yes. He ran off, you know. That was what he wanted, to get away, and he did. I sure hope they find him and put him in jail."

"Well, he went toward the smithy. In fact, that's probably where he went to get the irons of him. But no worry, Will is an excellent swordsman. My brother will take care of him all right."

"I find it so strange that the two of you are related, but have different last names," Elizabeth remarked.

"Well, we don't actually have the same blood at all. We met when we were very young and he had just come to Port Royale. We've been best friends ever since," Anne said.

Elizabeth then startled Anne by asking, "Does he fancy you?"

Anne was completely floored. This was the most personal conversation she had ever had with Elizabeth, and, furthermore, nobody had ever assumed Will fancied her. The thought of it disgusted her. She knew every detail of Will's life and a great deal of what went on in his mind, and the thought of marrying him totally disgusted her!

"No!" Anne exclaimed. "Of course not. He fancies you, though. I told him that he better move along if he wanted to propose to you before the good Commodore did," Anne babbled before she knew what she was saying.

Elizabeth's mouth hung open, moving slightly as if she were trying to say something, but had no voice.

"I'm sorry, Miss, forgive me. Perhaps I was being too forward."

Anne left the room quietly and filled the bathtub with a few buckets of warm water. Elizabeth followed, peeling off her wet stockings as she hopped along.

"Er --- no, you weren't. I was just under the impression that he hated me, or didn't like me, or something like that."

"No, quite the contrary, Miss," Anne replied.

"Well, I suppose it really doesn't matter anyhow. I don't feel that way about him, and with the Commodore's proposal it wouldn't be sensible to begin such feelings," said Elizabeth nonchalantly. Anne knew she was lying, but she decided not to comment. Anne was also startled by the other part of Elizabeth's statement.

"Commodore Norrington proposed marriage to you?" she asked.

"Yes."

"How dreadful," Anne mused. Then she worried that Elizabeth would get angry with her and braced herself for an Elizabeth's "That was too bold," or "please do not say such things in my presence," (yes, she could be too aristocratic at times) but the reply Anne got was different.

"Well, no," Elizabeth reasoned, "He is a fine man, but …."

"You don't imagine him as your husband. I understand. You know, once the stable hand, Davy tried to kiss me, and I had to turn him down. I felt bad doing it, but I had to. He was fine, and now he's getting married. So, you see, it may hurt the good Commodore, but he'll find somebody else easy. After all, he's got a title --- and a good one for that matter --- so many women would say yes in a jiffy." Anne finished.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"So, what was it like?" Elizabeth whispered curiously.

"What was what like?" asked a bewildered Anne.

"The kiss!" Elizabeth clarified, still whispering; pre-betrothal kisses were completely scandalous during that Age.

"Oh. Well, I don't know. I stopped him before he could."

"You didn't," said Elizabeth, disappointed. "I would have waited, just to see what it was like," said the so-obviously-non-conformist-in-some-respects Elizabeth.

"And buss Davy? Ick! I think not," said Anne.

Elizabeth giggled and said, "Have you ever bussed a man?"

"No, but I have bussed a cat before," Anne joked. Elizabeth giggled some more.

"I haven't ever kissed a man, but I can think of a few I would like to," Anne said.

"Me too," Elizabeth agreed. Anne did not ask for details, though she craved them.

"Miss, I know Mary thinks you should wed Norrington, and I love her, she's best friend here, but she can be wrong. You do what you want to do, alright?"

Elizabeth smiled as she got into her bath.

"Yes, I'll try."

"Good. Well, I'll send Mary up in a half hour or so to take care of getting you ready for bed and so forth. Good night, Miss Swann."

"Good night, Anne."

Anne clicked the door shut and hurried to the kitchen, bracing herself for Murstone's wrath.

***********************************************

Later that night, the wind came in full gust and fury. The clouds danced upon the blackened sky as ghosts going to meet their maker, and Anne basked in the glory of it all, from her cellar room with its little window. There was something eerie about the breeze, but Anne couldn't make it out.

Then the sound of cannon fire echoed throughout the dampness of the night. Port Royale was under attack. Anne stood up on her cot to see through her window to the fort, but the rose bushes in the garden blocked her view. Anne, aware that if she were to go upstairs to investigate she would have to contend with Murdstone, climbed out her window and to the top of the garden wall. She gazed at the harbor, searching for the attackers. All she could see was a ship with black sails so tattered they couldn't possibly be of use. Yet the cannon fire came from it and that ship had not been in port earlier that day.

How strange, Anne mused as a burst of flame emitted from the fort. The reality of the enormity of the ambush didn't occur to Anne until she saw five rowboats head toward the civilian docks. They intended to harm the people of Port Royale!

Oh no you don't! Anne thought, then ran toward town, her frazzled hair coming loose from its bonnet. On her way there, Anne stopped by the smoke house and seized a long carving knife off the wall.

When she reached town, Anne headed at once to J. Brown's smithy. She never did reach it. As she passed the local jail, a canon ball sailed right past her head. Anne fell backward, her knife clanging to the ground. As three prisoners hopped through the newly-made hole, Anne stood and reclaimed her knife. She turned to once again go to the smithy, but somebody stopped her before she could even begin to run. A hand clenched her throat, and a dirty, bearded face grinned at her with the evil of the cardinal sins in his eyes. Anne raised her knife and jabbed it into his cheek. She yanked it out as he yowled and raised his hand to his face. Anne escaped him and, yes, again, tried to get to Will. She needed him to come back and protect the Governor's manor house. Then she saw him, in the street, valiantly battling the ambushers. Anne and Will both fought, Anne trying to get to him, and Will unaware that Anne was there. Then Anne heard Will shout, "Elizabeth!" and she turned to see him falling to the ground, appearing lifeless.

"Will!" Anne cried, trying her damnedest to get to his seemingly lifeless body. She saw a pistol raise and heard the shot before she could even move out of the way at all. Anne collapsed, blood pouring from her wound ……

* * *

A cool cloth was felt lightly touching Anne's face. She opened her eyes to the placid light of a pale summer morning.

"Where am I?" she murmured to no one in particular.

"She's awake!" a young woman cried out.

Anne vaguely heard the clop of shoe-heels on an obviously wooden floor.

"Anne?" said a separate voice. This time it was a man's.

"Will?"

"Anne!"

"Mary?" said Anne. She looked up into the faces of her two friends.

"Will! Are you really alive? Or am I dead with you?" Anne said, in a state between death and sleep and life and waking.

"No, Anne, dear, he's alive," said Mary, "He's just got a nasty bump on his head, and you, darling, are alive as well. You got shot is all. Doctor Simpson says you're going to be just fine."

"Was I shot? Is that why my shoulder hurts like it went to Hell and back? Is that what happened?" asked Anne, slurring her words that would otherwise have made perfect sense. She tried desperately to recall it, but couldn't without fiercer jabs of pain to her left shoulder.

"Yes, Anne, you were shot. But you will heal, the doctor is quite confident of it," Will answered her.

"Oh. Wait, what happened to Elizabeth?" she asked. Will cast his glance to the wooden floor of the infirmary.

"They took her," he answered gravely.

"What?!" Anne, exclaimed, ignoring her pain and sitting up in bed. "Ooooohh, God!" she shouted as her shoulder flared up, "Who --- oh --- who t-took her?"

"They were Pirates," said Mary.

"Pirates! But I thought that one who threatened her got sent to jail."

"He did, but they were different pirates," Will informed Anne.

"But what do they want with her?" Anne implored.

"We don't know. But, as she is the Governors daughter, its probably ransom," Mary told her.

"Dirty, mangy, bastards!" Will said through clenched teeth.

"Well, they're going to go get her aren't they? Norrington and the lot?"

"No. They don't know where to look. And of course that Norrington isn't about to humble himself and get help from Jack Sparrow," Mary said.

"Oh, so you don't like Norrington now?"

"After his refusal to William here to go find her, no."

"What are we going to do, then?" Anne demanded.

"I don't know, stay here, I suppose," Will answered glumly.

"Stay here?! Stay here? Will, if the good Commodore won't go, you should! Go get her, Will. You said Jack Sparrow knows where this ship, the, uuh ….."

"The Black Pearl," Will offered.

"…..The Black Pearl is heading off to. Well you get help from him. Help me up, I'm coming with you," Anne said, trying to swing her legs over the side of the bed.

Will stopped her, saying, "No, Anne, you just got shot, for heavens sakes!"

"Oh, that was a good, twelve hours ago, perhaps. I'm going!"

"No, you're not, and neither am I."

"What?"

"If I were to fraternize with a pirate, especially one as infamous as Jack Sparrow, I could be subject to a hanging. I really don't mind that aspect, because I would die for Elizabeth, but now you're hurt, and I can't leave you alone."

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Will, I won't be alone. I've got Mary, here to take care of me. Will, go after her! Go talk to that Jack Sparrow right now, and you save your Elizabeth. Go!" Anne whispered harshly, so nobody else in the infirmary would hear.

"Go, Will, I'll heal just fine, and Elizabeth needs you more than I do. Will, bloody go!"

Will stood up straight, and hesitated for a moment of deep thought.

"I shall. I'll go now. Goodbye, Anne." Will leaned down and gingerly kissed Anne's forehead. He turned and put his jacket on, and left.

Anne let the tears she'd suppressed roll down her cheeks.

"What's wrong Anne? Is your shoulder hurting you?" Mary asked, worried.

"No. I just --- I fear Will goes to his death."

Later that afternoon, Anne heard shouts from the streets, "The Interceptor has been stolen!" And she knew that Will had sailed out on the fastest ship in the Royal Navy with a pirate whom she wasn't sure he could trust.