Will spit the sand out of his mouth with malice. Jack was on the ground next to him, after being tossed from the side of the ship and on the to beach. Andrew and Paul walked slowly down the steps with their heads held high. Andrew obviously had much more of an air about him than his younger brother. His deformed grin showed itself as he approached the two bound men who were being lifted to their feet forcefully by the natives of the island that had accompanied them on their short voyage to their destination.

"Please… follow me, gentleman." Andrew said as he lowered his voice.

Jack and Will were shoved along the beach. The full moon gave them a misty look at their surroundings. They were being lead toward a large rock face. Will noticed only one torch, placed awkwardly close to the huge cliff. Still they kept walking, and Will's mind wandered to Elizabeth and where they had taken her or what would become of her now that they were being lead to God-knows-where.

Just after the door had shut, and the large black man left the room, Elizabeth jumped to her feet and searched the room for something to pry the wood off the window. She found nothing and dare not use her sword for fear it might bend or break…she knew she might need to wield it in the near future. Quickly she thought – nothing was coming to her. She could hear Andrew shouting orders above deck.

"Think! Think! …C'mon." she whispered harshly to herself.

Liz paced the room, she felt the ship start to lurch forward. Whatever she decided she had to do fast. Out of frusteration she kicked the desk and turned quickly to try and retain her wits. She looked back down to the floor and still found no solace in a plan to save herself and her husband. Her eyes narrowed…the rug below the desk was moved. She quickly got to her knees and threw the rest of it to the side. Below the old beaten threads was a hatch. She lifted the hook and heard the old hinges creek as if it hadn't been opened for decades. Below her was a dark room but Elizabeth stuck her head further down and let her eyes adjust. She could see the floor faintly…it couldn't be more than 5 feet down.

"But why would the ceiling be that low? She thought…

Quickly she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and climbed down through the opening in the ground. She hit the floor and surrounding her was a line of cannons. Elizabeth realized she was in the firing stations of the Pearl. She ran to the left side of the ship and tried to pull one of the cannons out of the way with the rope. It didn't budge. So she set her feet against the side, hunched down lower, and used her legs to shove the massive piece of iron out of the way. Finally it moved just enough for her to fit through the cannon's hole. She looked out and saw that Andrew's ship was only about 10 yards away. Then she glanced upwards where the voices were coming from – She could see Andrew at the helm and Paul over to the side – but she still couldn't see Will or Jack.

Elizabeth bit her lip in anticipation and proceeded to slowly climb out of the small opening. She managed to get both legs out, she turned so she was facing the ship and she held on to the window with both hands, trying to shorten the distance between her and the water. Liz slipped into the ocean with ease, hardly making any noise. Quickly but carefully she swam toward the opposite ship, still keeping an eye on the Pearl's deck.

Elizabeth decided that it would be safer to gain entry on the enemy's ship from the otherside. So she swam to the starboard side as swiftly as she could. Once she reached the other side, she saw the net wasn't fully drawn up from the deck. Elizabeth managed to snag a piece of it and pulled herself up so she could gain her footing. The net swayed as she climbed quickly to the top. She grasped the ledge of the deck and threw herself over the edge as she tumbled to the ground. Out of breath from the adrenaline running through her and the difficulty of the climb she lay there to breath for a second. Out of the corner of her eye she saw that the Pearl was moving. Immediately she got down and watched from a more secure spot. The Pearl was moving forward for a few seconds then slowly turned right and kept going straight on. Liz continued watching to make sure their direction continued unchanging. Once she was sure she stood and looked about. The ship was deserted. The helm was only a few feet away, she approached it cautiously and looked at the wheel. The engraving on the wood read: Diable au Sacree Domingo.

Elizabeth looked quizzically at the text, and although she learned French when she was a girl, she could roughly translate it as Devil of St. Domingo.

Now Elizabeth was at a loss of what to do. She knew well she couldn't man this ship by herself, and she was also well aware that not getting to Will wasn't an option. She looked to her left again and searched the horizon for The Pearl. When she spotted it a few hundred yards away it appeared to be standing still… her eyes looked harder – as she saw the outline of a shore. Her face lightened up as she realized they hadn't gone too far.

Just then she heard a faint clanking sound. A sound made by metal hitting metal, it would cease for a few seconds then pick back up again with a furious beating. She looked to the galley door, which was cracked open a few inches. Slowly she neared the door and opened it apprehensively. The first face she saw was Annamaria – the whole crew was bound and gagged, locked in the cells. Cotton's parrot had a pair of keys in his beak – beating them against the iron bars, causing the racket Elizabeth had heard above deck. Liz looked down to her feet which were drenched in water, she realized that the Pearl had done some serious damage to the Diable.

Quickly she took the keys, unlocked the doors, and cut the ropes from her pirate friends. Soon they all made it above deck to assess the situation they had gotten themselves in.

"How did you all get down there?" Elizabeth asked credulously.

Gibbs looked at her wide eyed and bewildered. "You know as much as I do." He paused and looked out to the water, seeing The Pearl in his sights. "I do know that Jack and Will are on that ship, and now they're on that island…And the Aztec Gold is with them."

"What?" Liz shot at him.

He simply nodded. "Aye. He didn't tell you?"

"No he told us!…He told us that he left it in the cave." She retorted fiercely.

"He took it. He hid it in the cargo – for fear of someone else going to the cave and finding it and getting in another situation like this."

"Why did he lie then?"

"Maybe he wanted to keep it as good of a secret as possible. Hell the crew didn't even know it was on board till Jack blurted it out one night after having one too many drinks!"

Liz sighed and folded her arms. "Well this is just a bloody picnic isn't it?"

The ship creaked and moaned as it jolted to one side. The Diable was sinking as the two friends fought about Jack's bad decision making.

"We haven't got time for any of this. Now how are we going to help them?" Anna snapped at them both.

"Shes right." Complied Elizabeth. "Do you think the ship can make it that far?"

Gibbs looked around, the looked at the young woman. "I doubt she'll make it for much longer."

"We need to patch it up!" Yelled someone in the crowd.

"We need to wait it out." Cried another crewmember.

Elizabeth turned to them all with her hands stiffly at her sides. "What we need is a new ship!"

"Will this do?" Anna's voice came from the back. The crowd of men parted to see her idea. She unveiled a small boat from under a tattered covering- obviously unused with two oars laying approvingly beside it.

Liz stared at the lifeboat with a longing gaze. "I think that'll do."