Elizabeth heard the sharp signal of the watchman up at the Fort - the striking of the bell to announce the turning of the hour.
She turned her tear-stained face out of the window in mild incredulity.
"Goodness me, is it already eleven?" she asked herself softly. She listened as the watchman continued to strike ten more peals, almost as if in response to her question.
"It is late then."
It mattered little to her. Her mind, still a quandary of confusion, had driven her into such a state that she had been forced to divert her thoughts deliberately to something else. Unfortunately, there hadn't been much else to turn to.
After Will had left, a sort of gloomy silence had settled over the house. Elizabeth had stayed put in her room feeling quite depressed and helpless; she felt rather envious of her husband who at least had his shop as a place of retreat. She supposed that it was all fair in the end since she had the house, but she was always in the house and it was becoming tiresome.
Estrella had come up after a while with more tea for Elizabeth, and to ask whether or not Henry should be put to bed. Elizabeth had been grateful for the maids' attention to her, but the feeling was soon embittered by the recollection of the banknote and the supplier thereof.
It was an intervention on the part of Mr. Swann that should not have been made or suggested. Elizabeth realized that Estrella would have to go, and despite her ire at her father, she both hoped for and feared the maid's departure. A little voice at the back of her mind tried to smooth the whole episode over, whispering for her to let Estrella stay under the providing hand of the ex-Governor. Elizabeth was so frightened that she might actually give in to this temptation that she would have sent the maid immediately from the house had it not been indecent to put her out on the streets at night. The transition would have to be made slowly, and in order to begin it Elizabeth had decided to put baby Henry to bed herself.
That had been three hours ago.
The fire in the grate, simmering in vain for a long while, had finally succumbed to its fate and lay dying now among a few smoldering embers. The air was close in the bedroom, sending perpetual waves of nausea through Elizabeth's head as she lay curled up in the big armchair.
As the last ring of the watchman's bell faded away, the fire gave one last desperate spark. Elizabeth turned, groggy-eyed and tousled, to it, just in time to see it die completely. Taking this as a subtle hint of nature in order to get her out of the room, she dragged herself wearily from her chair and staggered to the door.
The hallway was dark and completely silent. Elizabeth rubbed her eyes and inhaled the air, marveling at the change in atmosphere and wondering how she had managed to survive in the smoky bedroom from whence she had come. Peeping over the banister, she detected a glimmering light from underneath the closed door of the kitchen at the foot of the stairs and guessed that Estrella was waiting up for her and Will.
No doubt reading in front of the fire, Elizabeth thought, Well it won't hurt for her to read much longer.
She turned away from the railing and continued down the way to Henry's room in order to check on him.
---
In the alley in front of the house, the same men who had left Will's shop only moments before now stood in a close group. Not a word was passed between them as they watched Caleb reach into his pocket and pull out the shiny set of keys that had so formerly belonged to the unfortunate blacksmith. The men smiled each in turn, their eyes sparking maliciously in expectation.
Quietly, Caleb inserted one of the keys into the door. He turned it with painful slowness, grimacing with concentration as he endeavored to prevent any noises from issuing from the grating iron lock. His posse held their breaths as he completed a quarter turn. There was a slight click as the bolt receded in the door, and Caleb exhaled in relief.
As subtle as the door had been, Estrella had heard it. Laying down her paper - the gossip page of the village Gazette - she got up from her rocker and padded over to the kitchen door for another listen.
Then again. Another noise: this time, it was a slight creaking sound. Estrella wondered if it was Elizabeth. She listened for a second more, but no other sound met her ears as a follow up to the previous. It couldn't be Elizabeth. She would have come into the kitchen by now if it had indeed been she whom Estrella had heard.
"Hello?" the maid called timidly. "Master Will? Miss Elizabeth?"
---
Elizabeth bent fondly over the sleeping figure of her son in the crib and planted a soft kiss on his hair.
Still sleeping, she thought in relief.
Henry pursed his eyebrows in his dreams, but did not wake. Elizabeth noticed Henry's blanket crumpled in a discarded heap at his feet. With a small sigh and a look of motherly knowing, she picked up the article and laid it gently back over the baby.
Such innocence, she reflected. He cannot know or care of the strife of his parents.
In a manner, she envied him.
Feeling a little more contented though, after the picture of such naïve slumber, Elizabeth went silently out into the hall and closed the door to Henry's room carefully so as not to wake him. She smiled a little as she turned around.
Like a scream in her ears, her heart convulsed as she found herself face to face with one of the ugliest men she had ever seen. Wicked eyes glared at her from the tattooed, weather-beaten face surrounded by tangles of dirty hair.
"'Ello, Pretty," the figure sneered.
Elizabeth tried to scream but a large, evil smelling hand was thrust over her mouth before she could finish the attempt. Men were all around her, hidden by cloaks and hats, pressing in at her wrists and body. She felt the rough scrape of rope at her arms and the hand on her face was loosened ever so slightly.
In the mess of things, she didn't even stop to think.
With a wild twist, Elizabeth jerked free of her captors and went sailing around the banister onto the stairs. The men leapt after her, but she went fast, taking two steps at a time.
There were more pirates waiting for her at the foot of the staircase. She saw a group of them in the kitchen, holding a struggling Estrella - the maid was gagged, and her face was deathly white. Elizabeth gasped in terror and the pirates began to rush at her.
In desperation, she whipped around only to remember that they were chasing her from that direction as well. Time seemed to slow and Elizabeth saw only motions and shapes as her mind went helplessly blank. She cast one final glance at Estrella in the kitchen.
I'm sorry, she mouthed to the maid, though she didn't know quite why.
From behind, Elizabeth felt her captors catch up with her. That hand was once again slapped over her mouth and nose as the men slipped a thick cord around her wrists. The pirates grouped about her. She kicked them, and writhed furiously, but it was of no avail.
Caleb, leaning cockily against the doorframe of the kitchen, was watching the ordeal with a look of mild amusement.
"She's a feisty one all right," called one of the pirates with a grin. Caleb nodded.
"Yeah, but we can't 'av 'er be'havin' like this on the way to the ship or we'll be an hour in comin'," he pointed out. He reached into his waistcoat pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and a small bottle.
"Are we to use that?" Derk called from the kitchen where he kept a firm grip on Estrella's left arm.
Caleb nodded again and poured a little of the liquid from the bottle out into the center of the handkerchief. From her place on the stairs, Elizabeth looked up at him. Her eyes flashed wildly as he brought the handkerchief close to her. With one last frantic effort, she aimed her foot and kicked Caleb in the shin as hard as she could manage.
Caleb cried out in shock.
"Damn you," he swore angrily. Ignoring the handkerchief in his palm, he raised his other arm and backhanded Elizabeth over the side of her face.
Her vision went blank and she knew no more.
"Out cold," Caleb grimaced, cradling his shin. "That'll teach her."
"Aye," murmured one of the pirates. "But won't the Cap'n have yer neck far it?"
Caleb glared at the man, and the latter fell silent.
The pirates lifted Elizabeth's limp body and dragged her off the stairs and down the entryway out of the house. Estrella was squirming wildly in the kitchen, and she was emitting shrieking noises as loud as she could over the gag in her mouth.
"What should we do with this one?" Derk asked anxiously.
Caleb scanned the hall quickly and his eyes lit on another door, which he opened. It led to the cellar.
"Put 'er in 'ere," he commanded. The pirates dragged Estrella forward to the cellar door and Calebs' feet.
He bent down and looked into her scared face.
"If you scream," he told her calmly, "We'll kill your mistress." Estrella's eyes went as round as saucers and immediately she became submissive. The pirates hurled her down the small flight of steps into the cold basement and slammed the door, leaving her in complete darkness.
"Lock it," Caleb said. He tossed the keys to Derk who promptly obeyed.
The group filed out into the night bearing Elizabeth's body. Around them, Port Royal was still quiet. No one had woken to the rescue, because there had been no sounds to alert them. Caleb chuckled at his accomplishment and beckoned for his men to follow him. There were boats on the shore, waiting for them to come. They had to go silently, and Caleb knew that there wasn't much time.
In the harbor, Wilde's ship was lingering in ominous expectation for the prize that they brought.