Chapter 4

Elizabeth stared at the indefinable grey liquid on the plate and wondered whether it was actually edible. As she took the first sip of the soup though she noticed how hungry she was and guzzling everything down despite its taste. Suddenly she remembered something - a bright white flash crossed in front of her eyes and she saw herself gulping down copious amounts delicious food. She was wearing a dark velvet dress and there was a man standing behind her; he seemed so terribly familiar. He held a green apple out to her --- she was so close to remembering who he was now!

There - it was gone. Elizabeth clenched her hands in frustration. She had seemed so close to remembering everything! She started pacing the cell again, desperately trying to recall that one memory. After half an hour, which seemed like eternity, Elizabeth dropped onto the bed, too tired and discouraged to do anything else but sleep. Soon, she quickly drifted off into a light doze...

"Yo ho yo ho a pirates life for me! We pillage we plunder we rifle and root, drink up me hearties yo ho…!" She laughed lively, falling breathlessly into the sand and snuggling against someone next to her. She had never felt so free in her life. She stared into the burning flames for a moment and then up to the man she was leaning against. "Must be terrible for you to be trapped on this island…" She spoke softly, and her voice was wistful. A man – she had to admit it was a very handsome man...in an odd way - looked down at her and grinned. A couple of golden teeth glinted in the glow of the fire. She knew he was about to say something. She had to know what he would say, had to know who he was…she felt that this man was part of the key to her memory. His fingers wrapped themselves around her shoulder, he opened his mouth to speak and -

The ear piercing chiming of bells caused Elizabeth to jump from the bed instantly. The first moment she was confused, but the memory of her unfortunate situation came back to her - nothing else though. Her memory had not returned. But that dream! It had been so realistic. The man had seemed so familiar. But who was he? The island, she had been there before! Why couldn't she put everything together? The bells rang again; Elizabeth assumed it was time to change watch on the ship. What kind of ship was this anyway? She peered through the iron bars and saw a number of chests, small and big ones, as well as a piece of black fabric rolled up in the corner. She could barely make out a white bone, strongly in contrast with the black background. She gasped – kidnapped by pirates? Everything seemed to fit: the filthy man – a definite picture of the stereotypical pirate from the tales she heard. The chests: most likely filled with treasure from numerous pillaging and looting. 'This is splendid', Elizabeth sighed. 'Another riddle for me – how did I get here and why me? What am I doing here?!'
Elizabeth desperately hoped that there were people out looking for her. 'Please, let someone find me soon' she prayed silently. Being without a memory made her feel hopeless and frustrated. She wondered how long she would have to stay on this ship, what would happen to her if she did not get rescued and whether her memory would ever return again, when suddenly the thunderous 'boom' of a cannon shot echoed through the ship…

Earlier that day....

"All men to the oars", Jacks roared and his shouts awakened the crew of the Black Pearl and the deck was soon bustling with Jack's eager crewmembers. Will and Jack stood at the helm, anxiously watching the Black Pearl slowly but steadily catch up to the Arrow. Jack silently urged his ship to go faster, while hoping that Elizabeth was still alive. Will had similar thoughts. Though neither spoke, they could sense each other's tension and there was no need for words.

Finally the Arrow was in firing distance. Cannons were loaded and readied for attack.

"Aaand…FIRE!"

Will protested loudly: "What about Elizabeth? She might get hurt! Jack! What about Elizabeth?" Jack shot Will an angry glare. "Am I the captain or are you?" he hissed. But seeing Will's expression he quickly added: "Don' worry mate, she'll be jus' fine...I think I got a plan…" Will looked sceptical and scared, but there was no time for explanations, because the deserted deck of the Arrow suddenly became alive. Pirates emerged from under deck, their cursing echoed over the ocean.

"Quickly, get 'er closer!" Jack demanded, urging his crew to row faster. He needed to get to the Arrow before they started to realize what was happening and fight back. His only chance was the effect of surprise. He needed to get aboard the Arrow and get Elizabeth out…calling this a plan now seemed somewhat of an exaggeration, but from there on he would just have to rely on his intuition and luck.

Soon the Arrow was so close that Jack could see the livid faces of the Arrows' crew. Taken by surprise, their ship already had suffered several holes. Suddenly, the cannons finally loaded, the Arrow fired back.

"Damn to the blazes…! " Jack knew he had waited too long. "Stay here Will, and keep 'em busy! I'll see to Elizabeth." Ignoring Will's look of protest he quickly grabbed the rope attached to a grappling iron and gracefully sailed it over the Arrows railing. In all the commotion, noise and fighting between the two pirate groups he was able to swing across fairly unnoticed. Safely landing on the Arrow, Jack quickly secured the coil, and turned around, only to face an evil-grinning pirate. Ducking the slash of his sword, Jack twisted and jumped to the left, lifted his blade and gave him the final blow. Looking satisfied Jack sauntered on; even when he was – more or less – sober and in a rather dangerous situation he could not alter the way he walked.
Slashing left and right, all his thoughts were on Elizabeth. Assuming that she was in the brig (in a pirate ship, captives always were; Jack was fairly familiar with that…) he hurried under deck. He turned right, left, then right again, having no idea where he was going, but an indescribable sense of someone leading him the right way. To her. Suddenly he stood in front of a door and didn't hesitate to open it. Barging in, he swiftly looked around and sighed with obvious relief when he saw Elizabeth sitting on a bed, her tensely straight back to him.

"Elizabeth!" he whispered. She turned abruptly, staring at him as if she'd never seen him before.

"Elizabeth, luv, thank God. I promise, I'm gonna get ye outta here as soon as..."

"Now...are ye really sur'a that, Sparrow?" Jack spun around at the sound of the sneering voice and stared into Bo'Sun's ugly face. He grinned fakely up at him, trying to think of a retort, but before he could react Bo'Sun grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out, slamming the door shut. Jack was barely able to catch a glimpse of Elizabeth looking completely dumbfounded when the door crashed into its lock behind them.

"Ah, our lil' Sparrow again! That's lovely indeed... Let's find a nice place to tie ye up, shan't we, Sparrow?"