Part Two: Betrayal and Stowaways

The crew was all aboard the ship, making sure no one had ransacked it or such. All were there but Jack, Will, and Elizabeth, and Keara of course, but she was not of the crew - she was with Jack and Will. No one really knew where Elizabeth was - Dara had looked everywhere, but had only been able to find Tabby with the Marcus fellow she had befriended. She went to the ship with the crew, mainly making sure they didn't leave. Actually she didn't really mind if they left, but she would prefer if they took the rest of their kind with them.

Dara sighed and looked over the side of the ship to the island. It was a beautiful day, a day meant to be enjoyed. But something loomed dark over her mind, and she could not pinpoint what it was.

In the distance she saw three people, two carrying large bags and one walking in between those two. She squinted and using her superior eyesight, saw the one in the middle was Keara! Which meant the two carrying the large bags must be.

Dara groaned, realizing what her sister had let the other two do. Tabby walked beside Dara, and saw them coming, though the ship was rather far from shore. "It's them!" Tabby said. "We should take a boat and give them a ride over here."

"Or at least ask them what they're doing."

"What do you mean?"

"I believe they stole something that was not meant to be stolen."

Tabby was silent a minute. "What did you four do when you left to explore?"

"We found a cave. In the cave there was a secret passage filled with magnificent jewels. Your captain and his first mate wanted to take them, but I could sense a curse upon them, so obviously I forbid them to take the jewels. I think those bags."

"Hold the cursed jewels," Tabby finished. "Come, let's find out."

The two took a boat to shore and looked to the men with disgust. "You didn't," Dara said, mainly keeping her eyes on Keara.

"Sister, I couldn't sense a thing. I don't know what was wrong with you, but it seemed perfectly harmless."

"Do you wonder why mother sent both of us along with them?" Dara asked. "Not because one of us alone couldn't take them - she didn't trust you to keep them from doing anything rash, you are the younger one after all, and if you wouldn't have been allowed to go you would've complained."

"That's absurd."

Tabby spoke up at this point. "Do you think there might have been something in your previous life that could have taught you to believe in curses?" Tabby yelled at Jack. She couldn't help feeling a sense of responsibility for the man, though he was years older.

"You don't understand, Tab!"

" I understand perfectly, you going to get us all ass deep in trouble because your thinking with your damn penis instead of your head!" Tabby said spitefully. Jack turned to Will.

"Just like her mother..."

"STOP SAYING THAT!" Tabby yelled. Will spoke up.

"Tabitha, you just are not thinking clearly."

"Me not thinking clearly? Who is the one that has not even talked to his fiancée since we have been here? Have you even seen what she has been up to?" Tabby yelled, then realizing she had said the wrong thing, shrunk back a little.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded.

"Nothing," she said abruptly, and quickly left. Elizabeth meant everything to her brother, and now she had almost ruined their relationship. "It's this stupid island!" She cursed out loud. She spun around to head off to the village and stay away from all these people who just couldn't understand all the trouble they were getting into.

"Look what you've done, Keara!" Dara said. "You've upset the young one!"

"Me?" Keara exclaimed. "Who came over here throwing a hissy before she even found out if we had the jewels in the bag?"

Dara was silent.

"I mean, we do have the jewels in the bag, but you could've aske - "

"Keara!" Dara shouted.

"Kinda kinky," Jack said, watching the girls argue.

Will's mind was elsewhere. "I'm going back to find Elizabeth, and to console Tab," he said to Jack.

"Right," Jack said, not paying any attention.

Will left.

Jack looked to Keara and Dara. "Ladies," he said, putting his arms around the women, "Why worry so much over something so trifle? Sure it'll make us rich, but it's just jewels. Why don't we talk about more important things, savvy?"

The girls turned to him and, furious, began tackling him. But he didn't mind.

*

Will crept through the village, trying to avoid notice. He figured both Elizabeth and Tabby would not want to be found, so he felt it quite necessary. He saw a house that had gone unnoticed to his eye before, and slunk over to it. Silently and carefully, he peered in one of the windows.

Inside he saw Elizabeth, with one of the men from the island. Her arm was around his waist, and she sat in his lap, laughing about something. Will was furious. He spun around and broke through the door.

"What in the name of all things sacred do you think you're doing?" he shouted.

Elizabeth looked surprised, but at the same time calm and collected. Like always. "I think that's obvious, Will," she said in a would-be strong voice, but Will detected a slight shake in it.

"So first you leave ol' commodore what's his face in the dust, and now you leave me," Will said. "Never satisfied, huh?"

"This is what I want," Elizabeth said, still in that firm, yet shaky voice. "I can't live at sea. I want adventure, sure, but I want safe adventure. You people, all you do is get me in trouble and I can't take that. I need to be safe. And I can be here."

"Fine," Will snapped. "You don't trust me to keep you safe. I would have. I would've guarded you until death. And you know that. But no. The first muscled loincloth man that comes along - "

"Hey!" the islander said. "Leave me out of this! I gave her a chance to go back. I knew she had you. But she chose me instead."

"And he has a name you know," Elizabeth added. "It's Ramuh."

"Well you and - Ramuh - " he said the name with disgust, "Have a nice life together."

And with that he left, furious, but with a terrible ache in his heart.

*

Tabby drowned her sorrows in ale, the only way she knew how to make the pain go away. She knew she could never have Jack, but it hurt still. That and she had to protect him; he would get into so much trouble without her.

There was a disturbance at the door, and Tabby whirled around. Will stood there with a look on his face that Tabby had never seen before. It was a mixture of anger, sadness, and of someone who had been terribly betrayed. With that one look, Tabby knew he had found out about Elizabeth and Ramuh.

"I'll have what she's having," Will said as he approached the bar.

"Not going to nag me about drinking?" Tab asked.

"Don't have the heart," Will said, and he winced as those words made him think of Elizabeth again.

"I want out of here."

"So do I," Will answered. "God forsaken island."

"Are those jewels really cursed?" Tabby asked.

"Hell if I know. Dara said they were, and she seems like the person who would know."

"Yeah."

"Want to go back to the ship?" Will asked.

"Yeah."

The two took their ale mugs, paid the bartender extra to keep the mugs, and left to return to the ship.

*

Will and Tabby got to the shore, and found no one there but Dara. "You get to keep the jewels," she said bitterly. "Your captain tried to take them back to the cave, but the secret passage will not open again. Keara and I will be traveling with you, to make sure you spend the jewels for good purposes and not ill ones. So has the elder told us. She said that would be the only way to slightly redeem ourselves for allowing this to occur."

"Great," Will said. "Stowaways."

"Shut up and get in the boat."

The three got in the boat and rowed to the Black Pearl. Everyone was waiting.

"Took you long enough," said Jack. "Where's your woman?"

"She staying here," Will said abruptly.

"Right. Annoying little girl anyway. Never woulda worked out. Well let's get moving," he said with a grin. "Hoist the sails! Lift the uh.yes that over there! And spin the spinny thing.the helm! Right!"

Will smiled at Jack's attempt to bring some cheer to the beaten crew, and they were on their way again.