Bill quickly unlatched Elizabeth's shackles, then Willow's. The sleepy young girl rubbed at her eyes as her mother enveloped her in her arms. Willow, for her part, just stood there, still obviously half asleep.
Elizabeth let go of her daughter after a moment, and turned to Bill. "What now?"
He started to open his mouth when the ship lurched suddenly, and the two females were thrown to the floor. Being more accustomed to the sea and its ships, Bill only stumbled forwards a tad, then recovered.
He reached down and pulled the two women up. "What was that?" asked Elizabeth, dusting her dress off.
"They've set sail. We must be on route to Aruba now."
She swore under her breath, one of the few bad habits she had picked up from a certain sea captain. "What are we going to do now?"
"D'ya know 'ow to use a sword?" Will's father asked, retreating behind a far corner of the brig and removing a carefully hidden sword.
Elizabeth smiled. "Oh, I picked up a few things here and there."
Bill smiled back. "Willow?" he stated, turning to face his granddaughter.
"Yes?" she answered meekly. Elizabeth could see that her daughter was afraid, but she could also see the courage in her young eyes.
"You stay behind me and yar mum. We're gonna head for the longboat, cut the lines and plunge into the sea. It's gonna be a rough ride, but it'll save us."
"Ready?" he asked.
The Swann women nodded. Following Bill up the stairs, Elizabeth eyes blinked repeatedly to the light change. A few meager candles had lit the brig, so even the faint moonlight hurt her.
There was no one on deck, which immediately made Elizabeth suspicious. Rationalizing it to the fact that they had just left Tortuga, and that the men were probably drunk in the hold, she moved forwards with Bill, grabbing Willow's hand and leading her along.
They were just about at the longboat when she heard a creak behind her. Turning swiftly, she came around face to face with Captain Jonathon Barbosssa.
"Going somewhere?" he asked with that same evil grin. His men were all lined up behind him, grinning as well. She could see all of their gold teeth glitter in the moonlight, and she shuddered.
Suddenly, a tall black man reached forwards and grabbed Willow from her mother's side. The girl opened her mouth to scream, but it was abruptly cut off by a hand being shoved into her mouth.
"No!" Elizabeth yelled, raising her sword and moving towards her daughter. Faster than she could see, a gun was raised to the side of her daughter's head. Willow whimpered, and stayed completely still. Elizabeth held herself back, a sob caught in her throat.
"I wouldn't be doing that, lass." suggested Barbossa, the barrel of his gun pressed into Willow's temple.
"That's better." he said, once Elizabeth had moved back and her sword was on the ground. Bill, however, still held his.
"I'd put that down, if I were you, Bootstrap, unless you'd be wanting to see a hole in yar granddaughter's head."
Barbossa smiled once more as the shock came over Bill's face. "Ya didn't think that I would know that ya were Bill "Bootstrap" Turner, now did ya? I'm not as stupid as ya think I am."
"What do you want from us?" asked Elizabeth, concern for her daughter etched into her features.
"What do I want?" asked Barbossa rhetorically. "Well, ya see, me pretty lass, I have a plan for you two." he said, gesturing to Bill and Elizabeth.
"And what would that be?" growled Bill.
"Thar's this treasure, ya see," started Barbossa, removing his gun from Willow's head as he started to pace. "Rumored to the greatest horde ever found in these parts. Even bigger than Isla del Muerta."
Some of the men's eyes lit up at the mention of this treasure. Elizabeth, however, knew that there would be a catch. There was always a catch.
"It's on an island called l'Isle du Diable, Island of the Devil, named so by French explorers years ago." continued Barbossa, "The island is literally a death trap, volcanoes, wild animals and such." he said, gesturing with his hands. "But the treasure on it's the greatest ever seen."
"And why do you need us?" spat out Elizabeth. "Is there another curse?"
"Nay, not a curse, me lass," smiling that wicked smile. "We'd call it more of a booby trap. Ya see, the first pirates in this area, years ago, used to all horde their treasure there, causing many fights and such in the area. As such, the area around the island is littered with sunken boats, creating a shallow area around the island, where no boat can sail. Secondly, the final pirates upon the island set up a series of booby traps that no one can get through, not even the likes of Cortez. And thirdly, it's said that upon exit of the treasure chamber, should you get inside, the island will sink itself. So you see, me lass, we need someone to get through these booby traps for us."
"And why would we do that for you?" asked Elizabeth smugly.
He came close to her, close enough that she could smell the rum on his breath and could count the number of gold teeth in his mouth. She pulled away, and he smiled. "I'm glad you brought that up."
Barbossa took hold of Willow's arm, and led her over to the side off the boat. Elizabeth rushed forwards, but felt herself being grabbed by two of Barbossa's lackeys.
"On this island, inside this treasure cave, there is rumoured to be a powerful device, one built to do a single thing: to bring the dead back to life. This is what I want you to fetch."
"And what if we don't?"
"Then," started Barbossa, "You have no hope of seeing your daughter again."
With that, he gabbed Willow, shoved her onto the railing of the boat and watched with satisfaction as she tumbled into the water below.
Elizabeth screamed and ripped herself free of the men who held her. Running to the edge, she looked down into the turbulent waters below, trying to find a sign of her daughter. Finding none, she turned to Barbossa, a fiery vengeance obvious in her eyes.
"Murderous bastard!" she yelled out, running forwards. The men grabbed her once more, and she fell to the ground, sobs overtaking her small figure. Bill ran forwards and enveloped her into his arms. He looked up at his former shipmate's son, and shot him a cruel look.
"You'll pay for this this." he growled.
"Will I?" answered Barbossa, smirking down at Bill. "Take them back to the brig!" he called out to his men, as they lifted the smouldering man and sobbing women up, and them down to the hold.
Barbossa grinned at his own ingenuity, and headed back to his quarters. No one saw the black spot in the water behind them, nor the ropes that reached down to grab a small figure out of the water....
*Thanks for all the reviews guys. I hoped you liked this chapter!
~Eleia*
