Author's Note: YEE! Another update from…yours truly!  This one's dedicated to Allie…YES, ALLIE! FINALLY DEDICATING TO YOU! XD

Pirates of the Caribbean : The Wrath of Cortez
Ch. 6 – Back on Rum Island

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            "Ahoy, ahoy!"  The voice seemed strangely far away as the Pearl closed in on it.  Jack, Anamaria, and Bootstrap went about tending to the rigging as Elizabeth leaned against the railing.  The person standing on the beach wasn't Will.  She already knew.  The sound of his voice, the way he stood; none of Will's traits matched up with those of the stranger standing on the small spit of land.

            Upon noting Elizabeth's disappointment, Jack swaggered over to her and swung an arm around her shoulder.  "Don' worry, luv!"  Elizabeth gave him a skeptical look.  "Maybe that marooned sailor there can give us a bit o' direction, aye?  Then we'll get yer luv an' bring ye both back to Tortuga for a bit o' rum, savvy?"

            Elizabeth rolled her eyes in response.  "Jack, we're not going to-"

            "-An' ye make a fine drunk, lass!  R'member when we was both on that there island an'-"
            "JACK! I will not be getting drunk, nor do I wish to remember that night!"

            "But luv…"  Jack put on his best pout face, but Elizabeth just rolled her eyes again and started into the rowboat that would take them ashore.  Jack swaggered over as well, peeking over the edge before hopping in next to Anamaria. "All ready, luvs?"

            "Oh, wait, Jack-" Elizabeth was cut off, however, as Jack pulled a small dagger from its sheath and flat out sliced the ropes to the small boat, so they quickly fell into the sea, water splashing up over the sides of the boat and soaking all of them after the quick fall.

            "Nevermind." Elizabeth grumbled, smoothing out her borrowed breeches and wringing out her hair as Anamaria snickered.
            "Yer out at sea, lass. Ye've got t'get used to the water!" Anamaria relaxed in the boat as Jack began to row.

            "Well...yes, I know. But we could have very well reeled ourselves down!"

            "Yer sailin' with Cap'n Jack, sweets! Would ye've expected anythin' less?"

            "Well…no…"

            "There. My point exactly."

            Once they finally got ashore, Elizabeth studied the stranded salt over.  His hair was nappy, yet pulled back into a loose ponytail, and his clothes were tattered and torn from many days at sea.  Of course, after surveying him over more carefully, she noticed that his hands were bound together.

            "Might ye free a stranded soul?" Elizabeth reached forward, but Jack grabbed her wrist.

            "Stop. Tis a trap."

            "A trap?!" Elizabeth gasped. "But…Jack, this poor man is stranded…and he's tied up!" The man nodded earnestly.

            "Aye, so he is…" Jack quickly whipped the man's pistol out of it's holster ("'EY! Tha's mine!") and flipped open the barrel, dumping out a pile of bullets onto the sand as Anamaria gasped.

            "This man's not stranded! I know quite well, mates… any guesses why?" Anamaria went about tackling the man to the ground, sword to his neck, while Elizabeth wrinkled her forehead in thought.

            "Because…because…" All the sudden it hit her and she let out a small gasp. "Because when a pirate is marooned-"

            "He only gets one shot." Elizabeth spun around and gasped at the site of Commodore Norrington himself, who was chuckling upon finishing Elizabeth's sentence for her.

            Jack turned around as well, speaking through gritted teeth. "What are you doing here?!"

            Norrington ignored Jack, grabbing Elizabeth by the arm and studying her over. "Elizabeth, darling, what happened to your clothes?"

            She gritted her teeth. "It's none of your business."

            "But of course it is! You are still the governors daughter…and as Commodore, I've been sent to see to it that you are returned home safely, and that your captor is killed.

            "My captor?!" Jack stepped forward, preparing to draw his sword.

            "Now jus' you wait, Norrington! If anyone's bein' a captor, it's Lizzie 'ere!  She's the one who came after me in Tortuga t'help me rescue the whelp!"

            Norrington scowled. "Is this true, Elizabeth?" Elizabeth stepped back with a scowl of her own, rubbing her arm where he had grabbed her.

            "Yes…! It is! And besides that, Commodore, I am a grown woman, and fully old enough to make my own-"

            "But with a governor for a father, we both still must abide by his orders. Now come with me." Anamaria now rose, leaving the "stranded" man lying on the ground unconscious.

            "She doesn' have to take orders from you, ye filthy maggot!"

            Norrington glared. "She is a lady, much unlike yourself, and is to take orders as such. Now get on the boat." He directed his last statement to Elizabeth, who stood her ground.

            "No."

            "Get on the boat!"

            "NO!"

            Norrington lunged forward to grab her, but Jack was quicker.  He slipped between the two, wielding his sword at Norrington and prepared to fight. "Don't ye' dare lay a hand on her!"

            Norrington lifted his chin, pulling out his own sword. "I do not take advice from pirates."

            "It wasn't advice." Jack growled, getting in Norrington's face. "It was an order."  Norrington immediately swung his sword, but Jack jumped out of the way quickly to the sound of metal on metal as his weapon met Norringtons. Instantly, the air was alive with metallic notes as the two dueled, fighting to the death as they danced across the sand, leaving scattered footprints and broken shells behind them.

            It was a war of the worlds, a competition between the best of the best.  Norrington was obviously well known for his fencing skills, and Jack- well, he was just the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. No further ado and no excessive explanation required.  But it was definitely the duel of all duels.  Anamaria and Elizabeth watched silently from the shade of a palm, the unconscious imposter of a sailor at their feet as they gazed upon the match.

            Finally, after it seemed as if all hell had broken loose and the men had fought for ages, Jack had Norrington backed to the furthest edge of a large rock, only a step away from falling to the shallows of Davy Jones' Locker.

            "Don't you dare touch 'er, mate, or I'll be sure you'll end up where ye belong!" Jack hissed at Norrington, pushing his sword forward just a bit more to cause the commodore to have to step closer to the edge.

            "I am a Commodore! You are a mere captain! As if I would take orders from-"

            Jack merely sighed. "Don' say I didn' warn ye, mate…" he then gave his sword a good thrust, sending it into Norringtons shoulder and pushing the man over the side of the rock into the water. The sea below the large boulder churned red for a good moment, and Jack new that at any minute the sharks would be coming. "Anamaria!" He called, returning to the group. "Skewer our new little friend, would ye lass?" Anamaria arched an eyebrow.

            "Skewer?"
            "Aye. Kill 'im! Toss 'im to the sharks! Off a cliff! Break a rum bottle o'er 'is 'ead or somethin'! But we can' have 'im runnin' around with us!" Jack then proceeded to wander toward the other side of the island to check the old rum stash, just in case.

            "Who…is he?" Elizabeth blinked down at the stranded man as Anamaria shrugged.

            "Not the faintest clue. But 'e's going to die."

            "Oh…that's a shame."

            "Not really. Any'ay. Any las' words from ye, lassie?"

            "Erm…well…good riddance to him, if he was with Norrington!"

            "Aye, that-"

            "And he bloody well deserves it, and-"

            "And…?"

            "Oh, can I do it?"

            "Wait…what?" Anamaria's eyes widened with shock.

            "Oh let me kill him! Please?" Elizabeth pleaded with Anamaria, obviously yearning for some sort of adventure.

            "Oh I suppose…" She handed the girl a sword, watching as Elizabeth gave the man a good stab in the chest before handing it back.  Jack returned a moment later, surveying the scene.

            "Ah! Ana! I see ye've taken care of 'im already!"

            "Actually, Elizabeth did…"

            "Oh, tha's a good one! Come now, back to the boat…"

            Elizabeth merely snickered to herself as she followed a confused Anamaria and a rambling Jack to the small rowboat.  Sure, she'd never dreamed she'd ever kill a man; but when the man was one of her former suitors…well, she didn't think she needed a legitimate reason.