Author's Note: Yes, I know that it's been ages but I'm citing writer's block for this
absence. Although, to reassure those of you who actually like reading this story, I
have already written the rough draft of the next chapter. All that's left to do is
type it up nice and prettyful. Oh, and the regular disclaimer applies to this
chapter.
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W.W.T.
The hilltop was the highest on the island. Covered in green grass and
wildflowers, it was also one of the prettiest spots in Kingston. There was entirely
too much hiking involved for the genteel folk, so they hardly came up here and it
was too far from the docks and sea for the sailors and their girls to visit. So,
despite its picturesque beauty, only a few tireless nutters, like Bill Turner, made
the trek to the top of the hill.
And of course, he made the trip very often, coming up here at least once a
week. The people walking past the hill would see a small figure on top, perched
on an outcropping of granite, who stared for many long hours at the sea. It was
his place to think, a secret place hidden in plain sight.
So, now that his best friend had come to visit, he simply had to share this
place with her. Elizabeth had muttered unkind things about dresses and
landlubbers who required them all the way up the hill, but the view from the top
had silenced even her.
Bill smiled, as she stood, speechless at the scene before her, with her dark
hair and grey dress whipping about in the wind. He watched as her blue eyes
struggled to take in everything at once, identifying the places he had already
shown her, and then sweeping back to the ocean.
"It's like being in the crow's nest…only a bit higher," she said, her voice
like a little girl's with a new toy, full of wonder and awe. "You can see
everything. And look, all the people are so small….and there's the Pearl."
"I come up here when I want to think. I found it in our first week on the
island. You know, I spent hours up here, at first, trying to see if you and Uncle
Jack would be coming back." Bill gave a sheepish smile.
He felt Elizabeth put a comforting hand on his arm.
"If it makes you feel any better," she said, "I sat in the crow's nest for
days and moped…and every time we passed an island, I would go looking for
you, in case you lived there."
"Well, we're both pretty pathetic pirates, aren't we? Moping around just
because we weren't going to see each other for a few years…" Bill said,
effectively shattering the dreary mood threatening the afternoon.
"Well, even pirates are entitled to a little emotion now and then."
Elizabeth responded with a smile and a raised eyebrow.
"Of course they are, even if they will deny it endlessly after the moment
has passed." Bill countered, starting to grin.
"Which reminds me, Da's been getting a lot of flack from the crew because
he's being to soft too openly. They think that the fear that the Black Pearl
used to cause is being counteracted by the fact that everyone survives one of his
raids."
"But they don't give you any trouble, do they? The people you pillage? I
didn't think that Uncle Jack would be soft on people who resisted his efforts."
"That's just the thing, they hardly fight back during sea battles now. And
in the last two towns we plundered, it was as though they were willing to let us
sail off with the gold as long as we didn't bother them. It's very odd."
"But that doesn't make any sense," Bill said, his arms waving a bit as he
tried to reason it out while he talked. "You've been raiding merchant ships lately,
according to the sailors' gossip, and all merchants are notoriously greedy.
There's no way that they'd willingly let their goods be stolen. And gold is
essential to every town's survival, why would they just let you have it? It doesn't
make any sense."
Elizabeth seated herself on a patch of grass shaded by a large rock,
tucking her legs and skirt under her. "Well, we are practically the only pirate
ship left in these parts, a lot of the others raid the Americas now. There are better
pickings there, especially because most of the colonists don't really have a way of
chasing down retreating ships. Maybe the towns around here give up easily
because they don't want us to …hmm, use excessive force? I don't really know. It
doesn't make much sense to me either."
Bill sat down beside her, leaning against the rock and stretching his legs in
front of him. The breeze ruffled his brown hair and rippled through the grass
beside them.
"Well, I'm sure Uncle Jack will figure it out. If he discusses it with Mum and—"
He was cut off by the rumbling of his stomach and with a short laugh he
stood up, brushing off the back of his breeches.
"I guess that means it's time for lunch," Elizabeth said as she stood up and
retied a grey bonnet over her now windswept curls.
Bill held out a hand to help her as they made their way downhill to the
lunch waiting for them at the Turner's blacksmith shop.
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Author's Note cont.: I know this wasn't much, but the story will start moving along in the next few chapters.
And I don't know what happened to the spacing in this chapter, but was being weird.
Jeanida-Myrishi:I'm glad you're enjoying it so far. As you can see, I did write more, just not very soon, sorry.
Victoria: You really think it's true to the characters? Thanks, I was worried about that
Elias Mason Mikkorey: I'm glad you got aroud to reading it and that you like it.