Hellooooo! Thank you to AmericaLiberty for your kind review and for sticking with this story :) This chapter is leading up to a very eventful chapter 16 so please review and tell me what you think!

Chapter 15

"Rise and shine Jim!" The squire said loudly, clapping the groggy boy on the shoulder. Jim rubbed his eyes and sat up with difficulty.

"Sorry. I must have – what time is it?" He mumbled and the squire waved a hand,

"Not a problem Jim, not a problem. Oh I'd say around midday." He answered, his voice reaching a new level of joviality even for him.

Jim narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to work out why he was being so jolly and why the rest of the crew were looking at him with sympathetic smiles.

Then he remembered: Scarlett.

It really had happened...she really had betrayed him.

It took momentous effort to stand up and look the others in the eyes but he needed to do something.

"What can I do, Captain?" He asked.

The captain, for his part, knew enough to see that the boy needed to be kept busy even if he was not the most sympathetic of men.

"Well we need new water supplies so you can get on with that. The buckets are in the corner." He answered in his normal, commanding tone. Jim nodded gratefully and picked up 4 buckets, almost running outside in order to escape their pity.

In the last few hours Scarlett had gone through pretty much every emotion a person can feel in rapid succession, but more and more as she thought through all that had happened, the emotion she landed on was anger instead of hurt or fear.

How dare he just toss their promises aside like so much rotting fruit? How could he? If it had been her nothing on hell or earth would have stopped her from going to him, not death nor pain nor any other horrible thing. What is more, she thought, seething, she would NOT have believed some claptrap about him from anyone, she had more faith than that.

She wanted to hit something – preferably him – but could not. So she did the next best thing.

"Silver?" She called, breathing heavily but holding her head high. "Untie me for God's sake; I'm with you."

The physical work was bringing Jim back to himself little by little. It almost felt like each full bucket he deposited was a weight off of his shoulders, little by little he felt the strain and release deplete his anger and hurt.

He was on his last bucket when he heard tramping footsteps and low voices and spun around to see the pirates walking up the hill that led to the stockade. Silver was at the front of the group waving a makeshift white flag and beside him (Jim's heart wrenched) was Scarlett – beautiful as ever.

Jim's knuckles tightened around the handle and then he dropped it, ignoring the spill and running frantically into the stockade.

"The pirates are here." He said quickly and the men exchanged looks and then set about arming themselves. "They're bearing a flag of truce." He continued but they only carried on strapping their weapons to themselves.

"Better safe than sorry, Jim. If it comes to it we're fighting for our lives." The doctor said and Jim nodded slowly, images of Scarlett running from gunfire flashing through his head, he bit his lip, a bullet hitting her – his bullet? Someone elses? What does it matter. Her falling, bleeding to the floor.

Scarlett dead.

"Stop it." Jim muttered to himself, determinedly grabbing a pistol from the table and slotting it into his belt. "She's nothing to you anymore."

"I don't think this is a good idea." Scarlett said breathlessly for what must have been the ten, thousandth time, but Silver just ignored her.

"They'll shoot us!" She said, tugging on his sleeve but he pushed her aside.

"Not if we shoot them first."

Scarlett rolled her eyes, pushing her hair back from her eyes. In truth she did not think that they would kill them whilst they were flying a flag of truce, she just didn't want to see Jim. She knew all too well that as soon as she set eyes on him all her anger she'd worked so hard to obtain would vanish and be replaced by sadness again and that she could not handle.

Not again.

Another glance at Silver told her he was not about to give in any time soon so she sighed.

"Fine. Your funeral." He glared at her and then went back to waving the flag. "Well not even that, you wont even get a funeral. You'll just be shot dead on this god-forsaken island and who's to commit you to God or lay flowers on your lifeless body? Nobody that's who. And especially not me. But go ahead! Do whatever you think is best, I'll try not to say I told you so. Not that you'll be able to hear me anyway -"
"Shut yer trap." Silver growled and she fell into a smug silence, watching him work up a sweat.

The pirates reached the gate that enclosed the stockade and stopped, the two parties stood in silence looking at each other, then the Captain broke the silence.

"What do you want?" He yelled and Silver took a step forward, holding the flag up.

"Flag of truce!" He called.

"Yes we can see that." The Captain replied dryly and Silver lowered the flag.

"Look, I've come to make a deal with ye and I'd be obliged if you'd hear me out." Silver said, shading his eyes with his hand.

The Captain looked around to see half of his group shaking their heads and half nodding, Jim however stood still, his eyes fixed on something – he guessed Scarlett.

Sure enough she was all Jim could look at, she stood with her head down next to Silver, it was all Jim could do not to punch something, damn right she should hang her head.

"Alright Silver state your terms." The Captain said and Silver pushed the flag at Scarlett who took it slowly, never once looking up.

Jim found himself even being angry at her refusal to raise her head, it seemed like she was toying with him by denying him the chance to see her shame.

Silver limped up the remainder of the hill until he was standing before the Captain.

"Alright, Jim lad?" He greeted Jim as if everything was normal. He didn't reply but felt the others move closer to him.

"So go on then, what is it that you want?" The Captain asked shortly and Silver grinned, fanning himself with his hat.

"Aye Cap'n, certainly. Might we want to discuss this inside?" He said, oozing fake charm.

"No." Was the Captain's stern reply and the grin faded from Silver's face, leaving a harsh scowl in it's place.

"I want the map." Silver growled, his steely eyes fixed on the Captain who had begun to laugh.

"And what in the world makes you think we'd give it to you?"

"Oh maybe the fact that we've got the ship." Silver replied.

"And I suppose you're proposing a swap?"

"I'm proposin' safe passage fer ye and yer men." Silver said, shrugging. "Seems fair enough to us."

Jim looked around disbelievingly and was met by equally baffled expressions.

"What kind of deal's that? You really expect us to take your word for it?" The Captain asked incredulously and Silver looked taken aback.

"Well -"
"No chance Silver. Now get out." The Captain ordered and Silver's face darkened, making him look terrifying. Jim stepped back slightly, unable to look at the man he had once been like a Father to him. Caught between him and the girl who had once meant everything to him he really had nowhere to look but at his boots.

Seeing that the Captain was not going to budge Silver wheeled around and began to tramp powerfully towards his men, he got to the gate and turned back, making sure the Captain was looking when he shouted "FIRE!".