Chapter Five

Gibbs sighed with longing as he gazed upon the neatly stacked, yet ever so far away, barrels of rum that had been taken from the pearl. He turned away, only for his gaze to land upon the pathetic form of Will Turner, who had fainted dead away after the tragic death of his boney lass. Gibbs was about to make another attempt at waking the boy, when he heard footsteps on the stairs. He looked to see three women descending into the hold, two near identical. The one, hair held back from her face with a light green sash tied around her head, the ends of which dangled over her right shoulder, winked mischievously at the men before jauntily striding across the hold to the tower of rum. The tails of her black weskit-which surprisingly matched the black of her breeches-swished as she walked, restrained only by the silver-edged green sash about her waist.

Her apparent twin followed with an eye roll at her sister. Most of her hair was held in a bun by an odd assortment of hat pins, with a few strategic strands left to frame her face. Her clothes were all of various shades of tan save for the blue frock coat that had obviously once belonged to a member of the king's royal navy.

The third woman ignored the path of the others, instead approaching the cage with a wicked glint in her eyes. Her scarlet hair swished over her shoulders as she leaned into the cage to appraise their haul. Her hair stood out violently against the dark brown leather of her hat and the black cotton of her shirt. A crimson satin sash wound its way around her waist, still leaving enough excess to reach past her knee. Considering the woman's somewhat lacking height, however, that was not surprising.

"What have we here?" She smirked, eyes sparkling, as she caught sight of Will.

"Any good ones Red?" the black clad women called from where she stood beside the kegs, uncorking a bottle of rum and taking a swig.

"Get yer lazy rum soaked arse over here and check for yerself!" was shouted back as Red crouched down gripping one of the bars for balance.

The woman pushed away from the keg she was leaning on, and with exaggerated gestures said, "Red, rum soaked is the way ta be." All around there was a general consent from the men. She swaggered over to Red and looked into the cage, "What is it that you find so interesting in here?" The men tensed, each itching to make the woman eat her implied insult. Gibbs caught her gaze and glared. "I certainly hope you didn't expect me teh claim yeh." She scoffed, looking him over. "yeh dunnae'ven fight well." Red shifted her weight, drawing the other two's attention to the unconscious man on the floor. "Well, well we-"

"SADIE!" was bellowed down the stairway

"I didn't do it! umm… I mean WHAT?" she yelled back up

"Put the rum down, leave the men alone and get yer arse up here!"

"No! Bring it with you!" Erin shouted down after the Captain. This was followed by a rather loud thud "OW!" Sadie handed the bottle to Maggy, her twin, who promptly upended the bottle spilling its contents onto the deck. Red squawked when her balance was lost by the sudden commotion as the men dropped to their knees reaching desperately for the lost rum.

"Why is the rum always gone?" Saddie moaned looking heart brokenly at the upturned bottle in Maggys hand.

"Saddie," Maggy growled "you know mum doesn't like it." Saddie reached for another bottle "You know Maxy would kill you if you brought up that bottle." Saddie lowered her head dejectedly and trudged towards the stars where she could see the ominous boots indicating Maxy still awaiting her atop the stairs. "To trudge: the slow, weary, depressing, yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in his life except the impulse to simply… soldier on" was said by her twin as she followed Saddie up the stairs.

Red looked over her shoulder as the two women went up. She called up after them "Maxy! send Mary down we've got one unconscious." After a few moments, another woman quickly descended the stairs. Her buckled shoes clicked crisply on the planks as she strode across the hold, her blue petticoats gathered in one hand. She wore a pale green short gown and a yellow kerchief restrained the mass amounts of thick auburn hair from complete chaos.

"You there," She said sharply nodding to Ragetti who looked at her in horror, nearly losing his eye in the process. "What happened to 'im?"

"Um… well… ye see…. Uh…" He stammered. Pintel put a hand on his arm and spoke for him.

"He bloody fainted at the sight of 'is lady love's mangled body." He grinned wickedly.

"That's it?" Mary rolled her eyes and motioned for Red to unlock the cage as she drew her pistol.

"Clear off ya scallywags, make way!" Red shouted as she opened the door, Mary on her heals. They successfully extracted Will from the cage, with minimal groping, and locked the door. Mary reached into her pocket and retrieved a small flask. She carefully dripped a small amount of liquid into his mouth. The boy groaned almost immediately, Red leaned over Mary's shoulder and both were taken by the rich chocolate-y color of his eyes. "Elizabeth!" he gasped trying to sit up, but was prevented by Mary's hand on his chest.

"Are ye alright lad?" Mary asked softly

"Where's Elizabeth?" He demanded fiercely of the women.

Mary and Red shared a look "If you mean the girl from your ship, the one that tried to attack our first mate, our Captain disposed of her." Mary said somewhat sympathetically.

"Disposed?"

"She'll have a proper pirate's burial in the mornin' lad" Red tried to explain gently. Will just stared blankly past the women. Red unlocked the cage again motioning for a younger boy with violently curly black hair pouring out from under his hat to assist them in carrying Will back into the cage, however Red quickly realized her mistake in choosing this boy when not only could he not lift Will, but managed to jar the stunned boy enough to come back to his senses for a short time. With naught but a raised eyebrow, Red beckoned Gibbs to return both boys to the cage. Gibbs, perhaps at this stunning display at inept piracy or out of concern for Will's mental state, complied obediently.

Directly above the ship's cargo hold containing the crew of the Satan's Pearl, their Captain, still unconscious and unaware of the measures being taken to insure that he remain securely fastened to a chair on the helm of the ship, slowly came to his senses.

"Cap'n!" Maxy looked up from the charts laid out upon the table. Tia Dalma nodded at Barbossa's bound form from her place sitting beside the captain's table.

"Finally comin' round is he?" She inquired setting down her compass and pencil. Maxy rounded the table to kneel down in front of Barbossa's chair. She tapped his cheek a few times, none too gently. Maxy withdrew her hand as he blinked repeatedly trying to focus his gaze. "Now what do you plan on doing with me now that you have me all fixed up like this?" he questioned, raising a suggestive eyebrow. Maxy cringed and stepped away quickly, while Saddie gagged behind her at the wheel.

"Well I plan on-"Tia Dalma began

"NO! No, not necessary!" Saddie yelled holding her hands up in a retreating gesture shuddering. "We don't need to know what you are gonna do with him, Tia Dalma. But we plan on sinking his ship."

Barbossa, however, had no response to Sadie's plans. He instead took great amusement in Maxy and Saddie's disgusted expressions. Maxy shook her head, turning to face the main deck yelled out "FIRE!" and watched triumphantly as the Satan's Pearl slowly made her way to the depths.

She turned back to Barbossa, smirking at his disbelieving look. "What did ya think? She was lyin' ta ya?" she asked smugly. Barbossa just continued to gape as the last sail disappeared beneath the surface.

Before Barbossa could recover, a shout came down from the crows nest "Cap'n! Ship on the horizon! She be flyin' the Red Ensign!"

TBC

AN:

Thanks Chuck for betaing for us, hopefully you made it better. Also in Chapter Two instead of Gieslle its Gillette like the razor… alrighty then… TTFN