Chapter 10

Legolas opened his eyes, then blinked erratically a few times before his vision came into focus. Something hard was digging into his wrists, and he was kneeling on a wooden surface. When he sat up straighter to avoid putting so much pressure on his wrists, the elf discovered that the objects that had been irritating him were chains holding him to a wall at his back. The next thing to come to his attention was that his head hurt, and then it all came back. Elizabeth's treachery. The sale of his own blood. Gibbs in the dusky street outside the tavern. Waiting in agony for something to happen. Being knocked onto his back. And that was the last thing he could remember.

Legolas looked up. There was no one in the hold with him, and he could feel the ship moving. Then all hope is lost…we are at sea.

Suddenly, a throb of pain shot through Legolas's head. He leaned forward and retched on the floor, ridding his stomach of what little was left in it.

When he sat back up again, doing his best to wipe off his mouth on his shoulder, Governor Swann stood towering over him from outside of the brig. James and John stood in the background, the former with a bloody cloth on the back of his head. Governor Swann clicked his tongue as if at a naughty little child, though it was clear that he was concealing a potent wrath.

"My dear Master Elf, you will be no good to us if you continue to get yourself battered so."

Legolas struggled to his feet, having trouble without the use of his hands, then raised one eyebrow and said, "Then stop battering me."

Governor Swann chose to ignore the remark and went on as if it had never been spoken. "I fear that because your actions have made you unfit for showcasing at this time, we will have to remain at sea for some weeks before our next stop." He began to walk away from the cell, and John unlocked the door.

"Why should I care?" Legolas asked stubbornly. It was then that he got his first clear view of the cell across from his own. Wait…Alaina is gone! She's safe with Jack now. Which means… "You've lost your leverage," he said out loud in a low, dangerous voice. Just then John entered the cell, intending to take more blood, so Legolas delivered a swift kick to the man's stomach. He knew it was hopeless - he was alone on a ship filled with enemies in the middle of the sea, with only limited mobility and injuries of his own already. But he could no longer just stand and take this. "Stay back, all of you."

Anger burned hot in Governor Swann's face. "If, then, we cannot use you, we will dispose of you."

Legolas was surprised at the passivity he felt towards the revelation that he might soon die. "So be it. At least you would be hanged for murder."

A horrible, thoughtful gleam entered the Governor's eyes. "Or perhaps…it will be you who is hanged. Yes…" He whispered something to James, who went quickly over to the hatch and yelled, "Turn the ship towards Port Royal!"

Elizabeth was glad that the journey back to Port Royal took much less time than the one to Tortuga. That time, they had purposely gone slowly so as to have time to collect enough of the elf's blood. Elizabeth was not a sailor and felt she never would be one, even enamored as she had been with pirates in her younger days. It was simply too cramped and dirty aboard a ship - she longed for the open cleanliness of the mansion back home.

Before the Lady Emilisa had even reached her dock, Elizabeth could see soldiers running to meet the ship. It was to be expected of course: the Governor of Port Royal, his daughter, and his daughter's fiancé had been missing for over a fortnight. Elizabeth's heart leapt as she saw Commodore James Norrington standing at the head of the group, looking absolutely dashing in his fine wig and uniform. She herself was not looking quite so wonderful in a pre-ripped and muddied dress and with dirt purposely smudged across her face. Also, she had had one of the sailors hit her in the face earlier so that a nice-sized bruise now blossomed across one cheekbone.

Almost before the gangway was in place, Elizabeth was off the ship. She caught Norrington off guard when she threw her arms around his neck and began to cry into his gold-trimmed jacket, sobbing, "Oh James, I'm so sorry…it was so horrible, so horrible…" She slowly looked up at his face, moving her hands to the lapels of his jacket as she did so. Then, "I thought I might never see you again," she said quietly. She stared into his eyes, giving him a chance to take in her bruised and battered countenance. She could tell that he wanted to take her in his arms, but was not entirely sure of what was going on. So, in her most pathetic-sounding voice, Elizabeth said, "You were right to be suspicious of Will. He tried to kill us."

"Elizabeth…" the Commodore murmured. He put a hand on either said of her head and brought his mouth down to hers. He poured all this love, all his worry, all his happiness at this strange but wonderful event into his kiss, and Elizabeth answered with years of longing and waiting in hers. Finally, when they finished, Norrington demanded, "Where is Turner? I swear to you, Elizabeth, I will have him at the gallows within a day's time for what he has done to you." It was at this point that he became aware again of the various soldiers around him, and also of the fact that Governor Swann and disembarked from the ship.

"We have him in the hold," said the Governor. "My men managed to subdue him just in time. He is no more than a cornered animal now. But be careful, Commodore: once you enter his cell he will do anything he can to hurt you."

Norrington nodded. "I have seen what that man will do when he is desperate." He began to turn away, but Elizabeth stopped him with a light hand on his shoulder.

"You should know that he is not the man we thought he was. It was a disguise. He is changed now." She gave him a quick hug, whispering in his ear, "I love you, James. And I should love to be your wife, for real this time."

Norrington smiled and turned away, issuing orders to his men. Thus, he did not notice when Governor Swann said quietly to his daughter, "I am proud of you fro pulling through with this scheme, my dear. And now all will be as it should, yet with some added wealth." Elizabeth smiled as the two watched Norrington and his men haul a once again unconscious elf onto the deck of the Lady Emilisa, and thence to the jail.

Legolas sat alone in the dark jail cell, coincidentally the very one that he had helped Jack escape from in what now seemed another lifetime. It was the middle of the night now, hours since he had first woken up here. At dawn, he was to be brought to the gallows.

At the moment, he was remembering a time shortly after the end of the War of the Ring when he had spoken to his companions of his new-found Sea longing. He recalled the song he had made up then, which had begun:

To the Sea, to the Sea! The white gulls are crying,

The wind is blowing, and the white foam is flying.

He felt that he would give anything right now to be sailing away on a grey ship to Valinor, sailing on the wide and rolling Sea instead of hunching here in a gloomy jail awaiting his death. But he was here, and nothing could change that fact.