Chapter 12

The governor had been sleeping soundly, so soundly that he hadn't heard a thing when the old, weathered pirate with a blue and gold macaw on his shoulder, climbed in through the windows of his chamber and shackled both his hands to the headboard. He only awoke when his mouth was being stuffed with a piece of cotton to prevent him from speaking, and even at that he barely got a glimpse of the person who did this. He saw a shadow, mostly, and a bird. They both moved swiftly and quietly and now he would lie tied to his bed until he would be discovered in the morning. Immediately his thoughts went to Elizabeth, was she alright, were they tormenting her or perhaps kidnapping her...or worse. He couldn't bare to think of what they would do to a beautiful girl who came from such wealth, quality and power and his thoughts were too much for a man his age to handle. He passed out from worry and shock and would not awake until morning with the Admiral standing over him, calling him by name and delivering some rather unpleasant news.

Admiral Norrington and Lieutenant Turner were very much wide awake and guarding the fort while the Governor slept shackled to his bed. No pirate was going to ransack their town and William Turner was willing to fight to the death to ensure that. He had been raised as a blacksmith but had also done military training at this very fort, he very much wanted to impress and marry the Governor's beautiful daughter and no pirate was going to take that away from him. For half the night things stayed calm, a distant storm growing ever closer, thunder rumbling in the distance growing louder with each flash of lightning. It was in one of these flashes that they spotted the longboat approaching the Interceptor, it's occupants grabbing at the ropes and obviously attempting to steal said ship.

While Norrington assembled the men and provided them with instructions, Will headed down to the docks, alone. Running through the darkened streets of Port Royal, he didn't see the two pirates who had Elizabeth Swann at their mercy, nor did he see the other ship that was shadowed against the horizon, waiting to take a certain governor's daughter away to a new life. All he saw, was a group of pirates preparing to steal a ship of the fleet...the fastest ship of the fleet actually, and not once did it occur to him that these pirates came from a much larger ship. The same ship that was their for his beloved Miss Swann.

By the time he reached the dock the Interceptor was on it's way out of the harbour, although it was dark he could make out silhouettes of people on board, as well as a few voices which drifted mockingly back to shore. One of the voices was that of a woman and it sounded as if the others aboard were calling her captain, a stunning revelation for the young Lieutenant, he had never heard of a female captain before. He stopped at the end of the dock and fired his rifle towards the departing vessel but it was of no use, the ship continued to quietly glide away from him at an amazing speed. She really was the fastest ship of the fleet.

Norrington and his men arrived at the dock shortly after the Interceptor was out of firing range, the two of them stood and watched knowing there was little they could do.

"First light we set sail on the Dauntless" ordered the Admiral.

"Shouldn't we leave now? If we hurry we can catch them and..."Will replied enthusiastically.

Norrington rolled his eyes at the inexperienced young Lieutenant and pointed out to him an obvious fact that he had overlooked in his plan.

"Lieutenant Turner, any action on our part now would only hinder our efforts. The Dauntless is a much larger ship which must be navigated through the shoals just offshore, a risky venture even in ideal conditions. The Interceptor has no food and very little supplies onboard, which means she'll have to stock up before she goes anywhere of any great distance. The nearest island is Tortuga but she won't be there until morning at the earliest, it'll take her awhile to stock up, you can't just sail into a port using a ship of the fleet without drawing attention to yourself, not even in Tortuga. They'll have to anchor offshore and take the longboats in, which will give us plenty of time to reach her...safely."

Will, disappointed that he's being prevented from taking immediate action, nods and walks away, Norrington watches after him and remembers a time when his own youthful exhuberance matched that of Lieutenant Turner's. The boy would learn though, he'd have to learn or risk being killed with such a gung-ho attitude. In matters of piracy and lawlessness, patience and well thought out actions must always be used.

Neither Admiral Norrington nor Lieutenant Turner ever caught a single glance of the black-sailed ship floating on the horizon. The Interceptor was too much of a diversion for them to look outwards to the horizon and even if they did happen to glance upwards, it would have been almost impossible to see the dark ship against the starless sky. The lightning flashes and rolls of thunder began to subside as they returned to the fort, it looked like the storm would be missing them afterall. Will stood at the edge of the battlement and frowned as he noticed the clouds were actually retreating towards the horizon now, instead of moving inland as before.

'A change in the wind" he mumbled to himself.

"What was that, Lieutenant?" Norrington asked of him.

"Just noting how the weather is suddenly changing. The storm appears to be moving away from us."

"Yes. A good thing too. Soon it will be light and we'll set sail immediately. Before we go, we should stop by the governor's mansion to ensure his safety, although I'm quite confident none of the pirates got any further inland than the docks. Come along, Lieutenant."

Reaching the mansion Norrington knocked on the door but got no response, he thought it strange that nobody would answer as usually the servants are awake quite early to prepare the household's breakfast. The Admiral took it upon himself to open the door and let both himself and Lieutenant Turner in. Scanning the foyer, nothing was immediately wrong or out of place, but a brief glance into the dining room and he could see that a closet door had been left wide open in a usually impeccably orderly room. He frowned and called out for anyone but got no response, quickly the two men headed up the stairs to Weatherby Swann's chambers and upon opening the door was greeted with the passed out form of the governor.

"I'll check on Elizabeth!" said Will, with urgency in his voice.

As he approaches her chamber door he notices that it's open just slightly, frowning he gently taps on the door as he calls out.

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth are you alright?"

He slowly pushes open the door and begins to enter 'Elizabe..."

Inside the room now, he see's that she is gone but there's no sign of a struggle, although looking towards her bureau he notices that the drawer has been left open just slightly. He walks over and looks in, something golden catches his eye and he reaches in and picks it up.

"Elizabeth" he whispers to the empty room.

He returns to the governor's chamber where Admiral Norrington has just now been able to awaken Weatherby Swann.

"They've taken her! They've taken Elizabeth!" he cries.

Both Norrington and Governor Swann look up at him alarmed.

"Are you quite certain, Lieutenant?" Norrington warned, not wanting to upset the governor any more than he was.

"And how do you know? If you have any information concerning my daughter, please share it!" Governor Swann pleaded.

Will opens his hand and reveals the gold pirate's medallion that flashes as it sits in the first rays of morning sunlight sprayed across his hand, all three men turn their gaze to the window and out to sea.