CHAPTER ELEVEN

KIDNAPPED

The crew of the Black Pearl celebrated their victory that night with extra rum and song and dance. Nicholas sat in a chair with a frown on his face, ignoring everyone else and cradling his injured arm, but the rest of the crew congratulated Samantha on her two dead shots that afternoon, making her feel like a real pirate. Nicholas had thanked her, but he didn't seem to grateful, especially when his father asked him what had happened to his arm and told him that it was a good thing Samantha knew what she was doing. He was still in his bloodstained shirt, as if he were wearing it in testament to his injury, like he were the one to be congratulated, and not Samantha.

Most of the men from the Navigator who were still alive had been taken and put in the brig, but some had gotten away, and ran with their ship, as far from the Black Pearl as possible, or so Jack, Samantha and the rest of the crew thought.

They dropped anchor and kept the ship at rest for the night, to patch up the few small holes and check for any other damage, and everyone slept that night, with bellies full of food and rum, tired from the evening of dancing and chatting. What they didn't notice was the two men that crept on board before dawn, two of the surviving Navigator pirates. They had come for revenge, and they took Samantha. Being careful not to wake anyone else. The first one, Pierre, clapped a hand over her mouth, hushing her when her eyes fluttered open in shock and fright. He kept his hand there until they were in the small dingy that the second man, Raoul, rowed to the same ship that had attacked them that afternoon. They pulled her on board and brought her to the captain, Thomas Franklin, a man notorious on the Atlantic Ocean, but not normally in the Spanish Main.

"Well well, what do we have here?" he asked. Samantha glared at him and lowered her gaze. He reached out and touched her cheek in mock affection. "My dear, no need to be afraid."

"I'm not afraid of you." Samantha said angrily, slapping his hand away.

"Well, it won't be long." he laughed. "Not long at all... What is your name?"

"I won't tell!" she protested.

"Oh, you'll tell alright." said another man, pulling a knife from his side.

"Put that thing away!" the captain said. The man reluctantly returned the knife to where it had come from and crossed his arms.

"What do you want with me?" Samantha asked.

"We want you to take us to the Black Pearl's secret little treasure island. Isla De Muerta." the captain said, stroking her hair. "So let's have your name dearie." Samantha glanced around cautiously and decided it couldn't do any harm.

"Samantha." she said.

"Samantha. Lovely name." he said. "Pierre, show Samantha here to her quarters."

"Aye, sir." Pierre grabbed Samantha's arm and pulled her below decks to a small room, dark but for one small lantern whose flame was only visible through a small clean spot where no soot covered the glass. There was only a hammock in the room and nothing else. "Make yourself at home." Pierre sneered, slamming the door and locking her in.

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"Nicholas, have you seen Samantha?" Bootstrap Bill asked the morning after their victory over the Navigator. "I can't seem to find her."

"Nay, I haven't. But then again, I wasn't looking for her either." Nicholas said.

"She saved your life."

"I know that. And I thanked her twice. I save my father's neck every other day and I don't get any thanks." he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm rather busy at the moment. I don't have time to go looking for annoyances." Nicholas turned his back on Bootstrap and looked at his compass.

It was another three hours before they realized something was terribly wrong. They had looked everywhere, and Samantha was nowhere to be found.

"Perhaps we should turn back." Nicholas said.

"We know where they're headed, Isla De Muerta. Why else would they have taken Samantha? They think she knows the way. We can catch up, attack their ship and get her back, there's no use in going back to Tortuga, savvy?" Jack said.

"Commodore, there's no supplies left after the battle, what we didn't lose we used up celebrating. We need food, and we need to fix the mast on the El Tigre. We must go back."