Clara woke with a start, immediately trying to jerk away only to find herself unable to because she'd been tied tightly to the mast at the center of the Jolly Roger. She frowned when she heard a whistle and a laugh from somewhere nearby, glancing up to see one of the two men who'd been driving the wagon standing just a few feet from her, swinging a sword around haphazardly before coming to bring it to her chin, lifting it slightly. He smiled down at her and then glanced at the deck at her side where Killian was still out.

"Pirate's not as good at holding his sleeping potion as the lady."

"Yeah," she managed, not quite awake enough to form a witty retort. "Which one are you?" She groaned as he brought the sword back into the air and swung it roughly and then grinning back at her.

Tilting the hat atop his head, he offered, "Ron."

"Oh, good," Clara replied. "Thick one."

He pressed the sword painfully into the side of her neck and she gave a small surprised gasp when she felt it cut her skin and then she heard Rufus shout out, "Idiot, don't damage the collateral!"

Clara smiled as Ron pulled the sword back just as Killian's leg whipped out, dropping the man to the ground, but Killian stumbled as he tried to stand, head shaking against the effects of the powder and Ron was easily out of his grasp. The shock on his face was no less amusing, Clara admired, looking to Killian, who was rubbing a hand at his head. He glanced up at her, piercing eyes meeting hers and he nodded slowly, waiting until she swallowed roughly and nodded back, still feeling the stinging itch of the cut at her throat.

"So where's the bloody map?" Killian spat, pulling himself up and tilting his head towards the two other men coming to join Ron.

Rufus pulled a tattered swath of parchment from his back pocket and unfurled it, handing it over to Killian, who snatch it and glanced over it before shaking his head, "This is… there's nothing here. No one travels here."

"Why don't they?" Clara asked quietly, and he turned to give her a pained look.

Ron was chuckling as he explained, "Sea monsters, milady."

Killian's gaze whipped sharply to the man and he barked, "You don't address the lady on this ship."

Stepping forward, Ron lifted the sword and muttered, "I'll do what I'd like to the lady on this ship."

Arm reaching quickly, Killian put a ringed fist into the man's face and kicked the sword up, catching it and then pressing it to his neck as he grimaced, and when Killian pulled away, seeing the gun Rufus was lifting in his hands, he did it with a quick thin slice that elicted a hiss. "The lady is not to be touched – that is the deal."

Reggie took a shifty silent step forward and Killian offered the blade, turning back to Clara to get a better look at her neck and she smiled deviously, "Chivalry still a thing here," she teased.

He managed a smile, thumb shifting her chin, "I may be a pirate, love, but I'm not a monster."

"No," she sighed, "You're quite the conundrum."

"Says you," he laughed.

"Oi!" Rufus shouted, "Quit jabbering on like a couple of lovesick fools and get to the map."

Turning with a scowl, Killian stretched the map again and he pointed, "This area's been known to sink a ship on a good day – jagged rocks form a maze of destruction; here there are sand dunes, almost impossible to navigate, end up beached and starved to death; and on this side are some of the choppiest waters in the ocean." He glared at them. "Like I said, no one travels here."

Nodding, Rufus poked at the map with the gun and smiled, "So, Jones, what's the best way to the spot."

Rolling his eyes, he sighed, "Best way to the spot at the center of the death traps is with pixie dust and happy thoughts, mate."

They all eyed him, Reggie grinning to himself with appreciation, before Rufus raised the gun and fired off a shot in Clara's direction. Killian shouted, turning quickly and clenching his jaw when he saw the bullet embedded in the wood a foot above her head as she looked to the other man in shock – eyes widened to their limit. Whipping his head back, Killian took a step towards Rufus, stopping when the gun shifted to him, and he growled through his teeth, "It'd be best to approach slowly – should the tide be in our favor, we try the dunes; should the winds be calm enough, we can try through the spires; should the sea stand like glass, we circle around and enter with the hopes you haven't angered the gods with your threats against an innocent woman."

Rufus grinned, leaning into him, letting the scalding barrel of the pistol press into the leather at Killian's chest before he muttered, "No god ever bothered to anger himself over a whore."

The fire was instant, like lava through his veins, but so was the rough arm Reggie threw between them, swinging Killian aside with a small shake of his head and a sympathetic look to Clara, telling him quietly, "Just take us to the treasure; I'll make sure the girl is safe."

Looking to the three men on the vessel with them, he nodded shortly and shifted away from the larger man, making his way to the helm to grip tightly, swinging his boat to port and calling boldly, "You've managed to get the ship into the ocean, should I take that to mean you also know how to man one on the open seas?"

They all nodded slowly, Reggie already moving to release another set of sails as Killian looked to Clara, watching what was going on around her with an anxious set of deep breaths, as if calming herself, and he dropped his head slightly – this was why pirates didn't take on women. Clara wasn't prepared for this, he could see it in her eyes as they darted from one man to the next. Raising his hand to her, he gained Reggie's attention.

"Not safe for her to be tied to the mast like that." Then he added, "She needs to be mobile, in case of rogue wave hits, or, heaven forbid, the boat…"

Rufus stepped between them and barked, "You sink the boat, Jones, she goes down with the boat."

"I wouldn't sink the Jolly Roger," Killian told him sternly, brow furrowing angrily, "It's simply unsafe."

"Woman stays tied to the mast for now," Rufus spoke aloud, turning to give both of the other men small nods, as if it were a decision he needed to make sure they both agreed with, and then he looked to Killian, "Sail us safely, Captain."

Meeting Clara's eyes, momentarily appreciative of his attempt, he uttered a low, "Aye."