"This is taking too long!" Norrington shouted to his crew, who were all staring at him. Jack stood behind Norrington, his hands folded together.
"They are doing the best that they can." Jack coughed as he looked to his ship which was behind them by a hundred yards or so.
"Well it isn't good enough!" He yelled to no one in particular, or maybe to Jack.
Jack wiggled his jaw, letting his eyes drop to his boots, "Then we'll switch to my ship."
James Norrington looked back to the pirate. "Do you think that I'd let you go on ahead without me? My ship isn't nearly as fast as yours..."
Jack rolled his eyes out of annoyance. "Then come with me onto my ship."
"A pirate ship? Me, the commodore, on a pirate ship?"
"But a fast pirate ship."
He seemed unsure of this as he looked down to his crew once again. "David Riley! Come here!" A man who looked to be about twenty six, with dark brown hair and pale brown eyes quickly ran up the steps. He stood infront of Norrington, and saluted him.
"Yes, Captain?"
"You are the first mate, so you'll be in charge of the ship. Make way back to..."
"Port Royal." Finished Jack with a grin on his face.
"Back to Port Royal."
David looked between the two of them, "Then?"
"Then ready the men at the fort incase of a pirate attack."
"An attack on the port, sir?" He asked, quirking his eyebrows.
"Possible. We don't want to cause a stir in the town though, so don't let word slip from the fort. No one else can know. Not anyone's mother, father, wife, kids or any one else." Norrington told him sternly.
David frowned as looked down to the deck.
"Did you hear me?"
"Y-yes." David lifted his eyes back up to Norrington as he gave a single nod and said in a firm way, "Yes, sir. I'm to take charge of the ship, go back to Port Royal and ready the men incase for a pirate attack... But not a word can be said to the townspeople until it is certain."
"Yes." Norrington nodded then looked over his shoulder to Jack.
"Stop the ship..." Jack said quietly, "We'll wait until the Pearl arrives, then get on and continue on our way."
Norrington looked back to David, "Drop the anchor."
"Yes, sir." David breathed and he saluted again, then turned, walking down the steps shouting for the men to drop anchor.
X.x
David stood behind the wheel of the ship, his hands resting on it softly as he watched the black pearl quickly growing smaller and smaller. He took a deep breath and looked down to the wheel with a soft smile on his face. He was left in control of the ship. Half of him was glad, the other half nervous that he'd make a mistake in the plans. It was simple enough though... Go to the port, warn the men. There was a chance that Jonathan wouldn't even attack the Port.
He put a hand through his hair, pushing it out of his face then reached into his pocket for the compass. Taking it out, he gazed down to it. For a minute or so, he only stared at it, then threw the wheel of the ship to the left. The arrow of the compass now pointed in the right direction. Good. This shouldn't be difficult... So why did he have a nervous, worried feeling in the pit of his stomach? He felt as if something would go wrong when he least expected it to. Then what? Would he, and he alone, be the downfall of the ship? The Port? The life of the commodore's nephew and his wife?
This was a burden. A heavy burden. James Norrington stepped off of the ship no more than thirty minutes ago, and David was already sick with worry. One of his hands slipped off of the wheel. His palms were sweaty, so he wiped them on his pants. No. He had to look confident in himself, for the rest of the crew that where now under his command. Their lives in his hands.
His brown eyes took a swift glance over the deck. Everybody was doing their jobs. No one was questioning him, or fighting with each other, or giving him the least bit of trouble. Maybe he was worrying over nothing at all. Maybe it was in his mind... But as many times as he tried to convince himself that everything would be fine, it didn't work... He couldn't shake the feeling that something awful was going to happen.
Again he glanced down to the compass, turning the wheel softly to the right. They should be at Port Royal in two or three hours. The sounds of footsteps running tore him from his thoughts.
"What is it?"
"Up ahead. A ship in distress." He handed David a telescope and pointed to the front of the ship, "About thirty-five yards...Straight in front of the ship."
David wet his lips as he walked to the side of the ship, so the sails wouldn't be in his way. Slowly he lifted the telescope to his eye and peered through it. There were faint shouts coming from the ship, a small bit of black smoke rising into the air.
"Well?"
David opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, looking back into the telescope. He turned the wheel even more to the right so they'd miss the ship.
"Are we going to help?"
"No." He said firmly.
The crew member gaped at him, "Sir?"
"I don't think they are in distress."
"But-"
"But nothing. We aren't helping them."
"There could be women on the ship though!"
David turned the wheel further away from the ship, shaking his head. "No... We aren't going."
He scowled then suddenly pushed David away from the wheel. David, caught off guard, fell to the deck and stared up at him.
"What are you doing?!" David demanded, but he walked towards him, then put his foot against David's chest pushing him down the steps to the lower deck. Below him, he felt the ship turn drastically as he stared up into the sky. He felt hands on his shoulders pulling him up. The ship was only about fifteen yards away... The smoke faded away, the ship was starting to move towards them as he saw a black flag rise up. A pirate ship.
Jonathan's ship.
It seemed to take no time at all before the whooping of the pirates could be heard, echoing all around them, breaking the once peaceful silence. They were swinging over onto the ship, the shots of guns echoed all around David.
He looked to his left. The member that had knocked him down the steps fell to the deck, shot in the stomach. He was twitching uncontrollably. David quickly kneeled as his side, putting his hand over the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. It didn't work. The blood wouldn't stop coming. David looked to his face, he was gasping for breath. But slowly, after a few moments... He stopped. He wasn't gasping to breath, his body wasn't twitching. His eyes were glassy.
David took his hand away and looked at it. It was covered in blood. David's thoughts were dazed and clouded, the sounds around him were shouts, yells, screams, gun fire, the sounds of swords clanking against other swords. Everything seemed to be moving either very quickly, or very, very slowly. It was hard to tell.
David wiped the blood on his red jacket as he tightly closed his eyes. This was the awful thing that would happen. The feeling he had just a while ago. Slowly he opened his eyes, and looked down to the crew member's face. David didn't know his name, and was now sorry that he never took the time to ask. His eyes were still opened though, blankly staring into the sky. The brilliant blue sky. He ran his other hand down over his eyes, closing them softly. "May you forever rest in peace..." Was all he could mutter before someone pulled him up by the collar of his jacket.
He turned to look the pirate captain in the face. The one that the navy had been after for so long...
Jonathen tilted his head to the side, "Where's your captain?"
"I am in charge of this ship."
"Well you did a poor job of taking care of it." He said with a smirk, looking around to the bodies that were laying motionless on the deck. "Just so you know... Six of your men have been taken hostage."
David said nothing.
"Where's Sparrow?" John asked.
"Where's Thomas? Where's his wife?"
"Thomas and Camille? There on my ship, of course. Right there." He said, glancing to the ship.
"Let them go."
"Maybe. Where's Sparrow?"
"Will you let them go if I tell you?"
"Of course. Where is Jack Sparrow?"
"On his own ship."
"Where are they headed?"
"...After you." David said quietly.
"Well here I am... How far away are they, do you think?"
"I don't know."
"Then you are of no use to me." Jonathan told him, pulling the gun out of his belt, raising it level with David's chest. "Good night, lad." John said with a nod, before he pulled the trigger.