The Price of ƒ я e e d o м
A PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN FANFICTION

The Price of ƒ я e e d o м © xoxoMyRealityIsFiction
Pirates of the Caribbean © Disney
Ayisha/Amenirdis © A.C. Crispin

Scene Three:
Thee Young William

Wadding onto the sandy shore, her slippers making a distinct squish-ing noise with every step, Ayisha was winded. She had to swim an indeterminable distance to get away from the commodore and his men at the dock. Her wet clothes stuck to her petite frame, her cloak feeling as if it were 10 pounds heavier than normal from all the water it soaked up; and to add to her despair, the irons still clasped around her wrists rubbed against her skin, making them raw.

Collapsing onto her hands and knees Ayisha tried to catch her breath. Her arms and legs burnt in exhaustion, wanting to do nothing more than to rest for the next week or so (give or take a few days). Forcing her tired body back onto its feet she staggered up the beach and towards the town, wrapping her cloak around her body and lifting the hood over her head. She had to find Jack. She knew that he would have somehow narrowly escaped from the commodore because of their past experience of running away. And she had to find him fast so that they could get the hell out of wherever they are (somewhere in Jamaica the last time she asked Jack).

Luckily, she blended in with most of the townsfolk because of her cloak; though she hoped that no one would notice the trail of water dripping off from her body. And still, Ayisha cautiously avoided going anywhere more than a few feet from anyone wearing red. Keeping her shackled wrists hidden underneath her cloak, as not to rouse any suspicion from passers-by, she also kept her head tilted down towards the ground so that no one would be able to have a clear view of her face.

If she were a pirate on the run, where would she go? Oh, wait – she was a pirate on the run. Damn. Finding Jack on this God-forsaken island would be harder than she thought. What if she didn't fine him in time? What if she, or he, got caught? What would she do?

Panic bubbled deep within Ayisha's stomach but she tried not to show it; though it was a failed attempt because she caught her breath beginning to get heavier and heavier, mere seconds away from a full blown panic attack. Her vision blurred, she trying to blink and shake her head to steady it, but it became so bad that she had to stop in her stroll through town to try and calm herself. She couldn't let something like this get to her. She was stronger than that! And it seems that she was just in time, too, because once she stopped - her body being hidden behind a rather large woman looking through various vegetables on a wooden stand - a group of navy soldiers jogged past her, and down some shallow stone steps. Body stiffening from her sheer luck, Ayisha tried to stay as still as possible until the navy soldiers were out of her view.

It seemed that Jack's luck was beginning to rub off on her. Thank Apedemak. [1]

A hand grabbed a hold of the bottom of her cloak and gave such a hard tug that Ayisha nearly lost her footing, her hood falling back and revealing her entire head. She gawked down at the arm sticking out from underneath the vegetable stand, seeing the many familiar golden rings the hand doted. Jack crawled out from underneath the stand and pressed a finger against his lips, signalling for her to remain quiet. Bending down to his level, Ayisha nodded in conformation and licked her dry, chapped lips. Glancing back in the direction the navy soldiers went, Ayisha then took hold of Jack's hand, pulled him out from underneath the vegetable stand, and led him down the stone steps. It was logical to go in the direction where they soldiers already checked, right? But Jack suddenly pulled her into a corner, behind the wax figure of a blacksmith, and both of them watched as more navy soldiers jogged past them

...Or maybe not...

Jack was first to poke his head out, sliding the sword out of the wax man's hand, and then slowly stepped out from their hiding place.

"Ayisha, I think ye were right in not wanting to make port," Jack muttered, sheathing the sword. Ayisha rolled her eyes and followed Jack into the blacksmith's shop. "So how about we get out of these irons, commandeer a decent ship – any ship – and we'll make our way to the next island to get a better boa– ship before sailing to Tortuga." Jack took off his hat, resting it on one of the many tools in the blacksmith shop, and slid a hammer out from a wooden shelf. "Love, you need to start calling ships, ships. You're beginning to make me confused."

Ayisha shrugged her shoulders. "I really see no difference between a boat and a ship – they both float."

Jack passed her a raised eyebrow from over his shoulder before turning around and stopping in his tracks at the sound of something clanking. Coming up from behind Jack, Ayisha saw a portly man sleeping on top of a wooden barrel, leaning against the stone wall. Creeping over to the sleeping man, Jack leaned in closer while Ayisha decided to keep her distance once the stench of sweat mixed with alcohol, and some sort of other stench reached her nose (smelling oddly similar to urine). Jack then lightly tapped the man's chest.

When the man faltered in his sleep, a snort leaving his nose, Ayisha pulled Jack back. "Are you trying to get us caught?" she whispered harshly.

"If he was going to wake up, he would have done so by now," Jack retorted, turning back to face the man and belting out a 'Whoa!' to see if the man would awake. But, to Ayisha's relief (and mild heart-attack), the man did not. Jack gave her an I-told-you-so grin, and she pursed her lips in response. Her prayers to the gods, to protect Jack, really must have been working, because it was a miracle Jack was even alive to this day after all the things he'd been through. "All right, you're up first, love."

Ayisha spread her hands apart as far as they could go and set the chain connecting the irons on top of a metal block, and Jack began striking at the chain with the hammer, but it didn't seem to be working no matter how hard he tried. This seemed to irk Jack, because he then tried to strike at his own chains but came up with the same result – they wouldn't break. Tugging at his chains, his arms gesticulating wildly in the air, Ayisha just couldn't help but snicker in amusement, causing him to glare at her, immediately shutting her up.

"If you're so smart, what do you suppose we do to get these off?" asked Jack.

Not bothered by his semi-crude comment, since it was one of Jack's ways to relive his frustrations, Ayisha looked around the shop, inspecting every detail. There had to be something in there that would remove the irons, it was the place in which they were most likely made to begin with. Her eyes caught sight of two wooden cogs that were above the donkey; her eyes then squinted in thought and then brightened once an idea popped into her head. All Ayisha had to do was point at the two wooden wheels, and Jack knew what she was thinking,

"I knew there was a reason I kept you around," he smirked, showing a few of his golden teeth, and Ayisha shook her head. Yeah, that was the reason he kept her around.

At first Jack tried to move the donkey on his own: patting it, pushing it, talking to it, but the animal wouldn't budge. Ayisha grew tired of making no progress and from the corner of her eye she spotted the fire still burning in the fireplace. Swaggering over, she picked up a metal rod, the tip a bright orange from the intense heat, and walked over to Jack, tapping him on the shoulder.

Jack faced her, and Ayisha held out the rod in a gloating manner, and Jack took it from her hands staring at the blazing tip in thought, his eyes straying over to the unmoving donkey. "Ayisha, remind me to buy ye something pretty when we get out of here." Jack grinned, pressing the burning end of the rod to the donkey's behind.

Ayisha smiled; Jack never stole anything for her – he bought. He told her that he didn't want to ruin her 'innocence' of not having done a bad deed in her entire life by him giving her something that once belonged to someone else. He wanted it to be hers and only hers. So Ayisha looked past the fact that he bought her something with stolen money.

The donkey wailed to life and began moving, the wheels above it spinning into motion. Jack and Ayisha strapped the chains around one of the gears and once the two wooden wheels connected, the links snapped off. Free of their bindings, Jack turned to Ayisha, his mouth open to say something, but was interrupted once the sound of the door opening reached their ears. Sharply facing the direction of the front entrance they saw a young man enter and close the door behind him. Jack grabbed Ayisha's hand and led her behind a stack of sacks, both crouching low to remain unseen.

Ayisha saw the young man stop the donkey, lightly petting its nose, and Ayisha crept back further into the shadows. Tripping over something, her arms flying around to try and grab something to stop her from falling; Jack was still paying attention to the young man; and Ayisha's stomach dropped at the feeling of falling.

A sharp pain to the back of her head made her world black.

– WILL –

Wipping the sand clean from his face with a wet rag Will sighed and took a moment to listen to the absolute silence in the workshop. Mr. Brown, after 'assisting' in stopping the pirate from escaping, left home to gloat about what he did to his wife. Anger boiled deep within Will as he threw the wet rag back into the bucket of water.

Mr. Brown always took the praise for Will's work, not even once thanking Will for all he had done for him since he was left under the blacksmiths care when he was a child. Though Will was grateful for what Governor Swann did for him, for he was now able to stay within reach of Elizabeth.

Will sighed again – Elizabeth, the most beautiful and amazing woman he had ever laid eyes upon. He knew that she would forever hold his heart when he first laid eyes upon her as a child when he woke up from nearly drowning in the sea while on search for his father. All they did was exchange names, yet while in between the state of consciousness and unconsciousness, he felt her soft fingers brush against his skin.

Though, he also knew that he would never be with her. She was of noble blood, and he … he was a blacksmith's apprentice (even though he was the one to do all of the work while Mr. Brown drank himself to sleep). How in God's name, did Mr. Brown work before he came along?

Dipping his hands into the bucket of water once last time, and then flicking the water off of his fingers, Will decided to do some more work before going to bed. Every time he thought of Elizabeth, the only way to get her off of his mind was to work, though it was useless because he also knew that his dreams would be plagued with images of Elizabeth.

A soft groan made Will's body go rigid. His fingers wrapped around the hilt of another one of his swords and he slowly followed the direction in which the noise came from. Behind the stack of sand bags Will's eyes nearly bulged out of his head when he caught site of a woman lying unconscious on the ground.

She must be the pirate's accomplice, he thought, remembering the announcement one of the navy soldiers made to the townsfolk; to be cautious of a rouge pirate and his accomplice. Will didn't realize that the accomplice was a woman. As Will crept closer to the woman and got a better look, he thought that she didn't look dangerous – but he had long since learnt that looks could be deceiving.

Kneeling down next to the woman's unconscious form Will pushed some loose strands of hair away from her face. She was still breathing. Licking his lips, wondering if he should report his find to the commodore, another soft groan coming from the woman made Will think otherwise. If he turned her in he knew what was in store for her, and he grimaced at the thought of a woman being hanged.

Sliding his hands and arms underneath the woman's knees and back Will lifted her into his arms (noting that she was damp) and moved her over to his bed that was in the back corner of the shop. The woman shivered in her sleep and Will touched her forehead, her skin cool against his warm hands. Unlacing the damp cloak, sliding it off from underneath her, trying to fight down the rush of blood from going to his face and neck at the sight of the woman's clothes sticking to her frame, Will squinted when he saw the irons still clasped to her wrists.

The chain link was broken but the wrists shackles remained. Going over to where he kept most of his tools Will took a ring of keys that he made for said irons and rushed back to the woman, removing the broken shackles. He then proceeded to cover her shivering body with one of his thickest blankets, giving her one last look before leaving her to rest.

He had no idea what he was doing, or why he was doing it.

– AYISHA –

They were almost there – almost to her brother, she can feel it. Ayisha could finally save him so that they may return home, and she couldn't keep the beaming smile from spreading across her face, and she then turned that said smile to the man standing next to her.

Jack Sparrow. Captain Jack Sparrow. He was handsomely well groomed: his dark-brown hair held back by a thick, black ribbon; his face clean shaven, skin a beautiful milky-white, and dressed in the standard sailor uniform that the East India Trading Company issued out to their captains. Jack Sparrow was the most beautiful pale-faced man Ayisha had ever laid eyes on since being taken from the village nearest her home.

Jack smiled back at Ayisha, his hands neatly cupped behind his back. Grateful for what he was doing, helping her save her brother, Ayisha promised that she would show him the location of her island, Kerma.

"I appreciate what you are doing for my brother and I, Captain." Ayisha shyly looked away from Jack's chocolate brown eyes and stared back out to the sea.

"Please, call me Jack." Jack stepped a bit closer to Ayisha, and she felt her face heat up.

Bashfully staring up at Jack, Ayisha gave him a small smile. "I appreciate what you are doing for my brother and I … Jack," she rephrased. "My adventures with you on-board your ship have been quite interesting. You have taught me much about the sea and I am grateful; it is quite beautiful. I have never seen what you have showed me, before. I have much to learn about how you live in this vast world."

"It is a pleasure to be teaching you, Ayisha."

Ayisha's heart fluttered at the sound of her name leaving Jack's lips and she gazed into his beautiful eyes, again.

At that time she didn't know that he was told to seduce her into telling him where the location of her home was, and by none other than her former owner, too: Cutler Beckett.

Squeezing her eyes tighter before opening them, Ayisha could feel the pounding ache in her head. Seeing a wooden ceiling, she deduced that she was probably still in the blacksmith's workshop. A clanking of tools reached her ears and she slowly turned herself over on the soft bed – wait, bed? Lifting her body up with her hands, she looked down at the wool blanket covering the lower half of her body and then continued to look at her surroundings.

The first thing that came to her mind was Jack. Where was he? Pushing the thick blanket off of her body, Ayisha noticed that her wrists were no longer bound by the broken shackles, and that she was no longer wearing her cloak.

Standing up, and off of the bed, she slowly walked away from the dark corner of the shop and saw the young man she recognized entering the shop while she and Jack were hiding. He was hammering something, his back facing her. Licking her lips, Ayisha's eyes then strayed over to the back exit of the shop, thinking that, that was the perfect time to escape – while he was busy.

Ayisha first collected her cloak in her arms and then began silently creeping over to the back door. She had to find Jack, again. Maybe he got away from the young man, but then again, Jack wouldn't leave her behind if he didn't really have a good reason. If he got away from the man he would have woken her – maybe he was captured. Her face fell. How was she going to get him out of a cell without getting caught herself?

What Ayisha didn't notice was that the hammering stopped and footsteps had come up from behind her still body, her dazed eyes still on the back door. When a deep, obviously male voice spoke, she jumped and spun around to face the young man,

"Are you all right?" He eyed her, concern clear in his dark-colored eyes.

Ayisha remained silent, a slight pout on her lips as she backed away from the man. She didn't talk to anyone besides Jack – she didn't like it when they would stare at her because of her accent. She liked it better when they thought that she was a mute of some sort. Ayisha found herself with her head tilted down and continued to stare at the young man with curiosity. Why hadn't he turned her in to the commodore?

"Can you– can you speak?" the young man questioned, taking hesitant steps towards Ayisha. She backed away. He stopped and raised his hands in the air signalling that he wasn't going to harm her. "My name is Will Turner, what is yours?"

Ayisha kept her mouth shut, her eyes not straying from the young man – Will's – eyes. She was thinking of possible ways to render him unconscious so that she might be able to run away to find Jack. It was only a matter of time before he would turn her over to the commodore, and she didn't want to hang around long enough for that to happen.

"I won't turn you in, if that's what you're thinking." Will took the words from Ayisha's mouth … well, mind. "I wouldn't want to see a woman hanged even if you are a pirate. Are you a pirate?"

Ayisha shook her head.

"Then why were you with that pirate?"

Ayisha's eyes widened; he knew where Jack was! Lips parting open and closed, scared of speaking, her words sounded meek and pathetic, "Do– do you know where Jack is?"

Will's face twisted into a confused expression. "Jack?" he asked, and Ayisha nodded. "The pirate? Is that his name? Jack?"

Ayisha nodded, eyes scanning for a possible weapon to defend herself with just in case if the young man – Will, as she kept reminding herself – changed his mind and tried to turn her in to the commodore. She highly doubted that he would help her, and let her go. Anyway if her thoughts were correct and Jack was captured.

"He was captured; I believe he is with the other pirates down at the fort, ready to be sent to the gallows." Will seemed to know what Ayisha was planning and kept moving so that he was always in front of her.

A thick aura filled the air, Ayisha straightening her posture, ignoring the bewildered look on Will's face as she stared in the direction of the main entrance of the shop. He followed her line of sight, glancing back at her in puzzlement, and hesitated in leaving her alone to check on what she was staring at. Pushing open the wooden shutter of the window, she watched as he poked his head out and slowly retreated back into the shop.

She came up from behind him and took a look out of the window herself, the fog covering most of her view. The feeling of dread filled her body once more – the reason she didn't want to make port here. If only she knew what was going to come then she would have told Jack; but alas, she could not see the future, only sense it.

"I've never seen the weather this bleak before," Will commented quietly from Ayisha's side, and she spared him a glance, knowing that he just unintentionally confirmed her dreaded feeling of something bad going to happen.

She had to find Jack.

The booming sound of cannons firing upon the island caused Ayisha's eyes to double in size. They sounded familiar...

Oh no...

It was the Pearl.

(A/N) Authors Note: [1] Apedemak, the Kermanian's main God.

As you probably noticed, I just put that this story will be a bit AU from the book. That is because I made the first few chapters to this story before the book even came out. I based it loosely off the excerpts from the book that A.C. Crispin had posted on her site, and what I read off the Pirates Wiki Page. The AU part will be mostly about Ayisha's culture. I put a little of 'The Mummy' in it - since Kermanian's are real people who left Egypt because Apedemak told them to.

DarkFireAngel00: lol. Sometimes? Tsk. Tsk.

.S Y N T H E T I Cperfection.: I have no clue how Jack really got the hat. When I tried to find out, nothing came up. So, I improvised ;) And, I'm glad you like the new version!

AddictedToJohnny: Johnny is, isn't he? AND LMAO! I, too, would turn into a home wrecker if it were for Johnny! I don't know if I'll put a flashback on how Jack stole the hat from Teague. And, I think he did take the hat before he met Ayisha. Who knows, I might do a flashback in a later chapter o:

Why Fireflies Flash: I won't delete it, I promise. And, the book is good, isn't it?

curlycue2102: I think I got the title of that movie wrong. I think it's 'Curly Sue'...man, it's been awhile since I've seen it. lol. Whoosh, I'm glad. I thought that Jack would have been a bit OOC because he's 'with' Ayisha - you know what I mean?

Firestar'sneice: Yes, Ayisha doesn't like to talk much, as I've explained in this chapter. She has been sheltered her whole life in an island no one can fine .-. Jack's a dork, but we love him that way :3

..: You're the second girl that nearly died after the deletion of this story. I'm sorry!

The Red Crayon, i love you always: Glad you love it!

Sarala23, Erika Black, Echo-ness: Love you :3 No homo xD

And, guys, send the site a e-mail, asking if they can add Ayisha, and all of your other favorite characters from the book, to the character listing! I already did, but if a few of you back me up, they might do it :D
And for those who haven't read the book, be sure to! It's really good.