Chapter 13:  The Duel

 

Norrington moaned as he opened his eyes.  A hand flew to cover his face as sunlight blinded him.  He then put his hand to his forehead, trying to make his head stop throbbing.  He had drunk far too much rum the night before, and he was now paying dearly for it.

Norrington suddenly became aware of a warm body against him.  In fact, his right arm seemed to be wrapped around the body.  Norrington lifted his head a little and looked down to see that his arm was wrapped around the shoulders of a woman with long wavy black hair.  Her head was lying on his chest, and she had a hand lying on his stomach.  Laying his head back down, Norrington looked up at the sky.

And then it hit him.

Norrington’s eyes widened as he quickly moved from under Robin’s head and retracted his arm, staring at the woman in horror.  He looked down at his body, making sure that he was fully clothed, his heart pounding.  Robin moaned as she sat up, woken by Norrington’s sudden movements.  She put her head in her hands for a few moments before looking around, squinting slightly in the bright sun.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, seeing the horrified way Norrington was gazing at her.  Norrington stood and brushed sand off of his body, still shaking from the shock of waking up with Robin.  Robin tried to stand as well, but she fell back down.  “Headache…” she moaned, putting her head in her hands again.  Looking up at Norrington, she asked, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing!” he exclaimed as he looked away, his cheeks darkening.

Robin looked quizzically at him.  “What did I say last night?” she asked, putting a hand to her forehead.

Norrington could not remember everything that had occurred the night before, but perhaps he remembered more than Robin did.  “You…you don’t remember?”  Robin narrowed her eyes suspiciously at this statement.  When Norrington did not continue, Robin’s eyes suddenly widened in horror, and her hand went to the neckline of her shirt, which she traced with a single finger as she quickly surveyed her body.

“We didn’t…” she began in alarm.  Her eyes grew ever wider when Norrington still said nothing.  “Mon Dieu!”

“No, no…I don’t think that…”

“You don’t think?” Robin exclaimed, standing and swaying slightly, but this time she managed to stay on her feet.  She put her hand to her head again.  “Mon Dieu,” she repeated.

“Nothing happened!”

“You think,” Robin pointed out.

The two suddenly silenced as they heard a moan.  They turned to where the others were sleeping a short distance away.  Jack had an arm around Elizabeth, who was groaning as she sat up.  She looked at the arm in disgust and threw it off of her, waking Jack abruptly.  “Oi, whatsit?” he mumbled in confusion.

Elizabeth walked over toward Norrington and Robin, a hand to her head and apparently also suffering from the amount of alcohol she had consumed the night before.  “The rum was a bad idea,” Elizabeth muttered.  Norrington glanced at Robin, who appeared to be fully in agreement as she shot a glare at Norrington.  Elizabeth did not appear to notice this as she walked to the ocean’s edge and began splashing the salty water on her face to help her wake up.

“I suppose we should start looking for that map again,” Jack said groggily, getting out his compass as he stood.  He swayed drunkenly as he opened it.

“We don’t need that,” Elizabeth said suddenly.  She looked at Norrington sadly.  “James, why didn’t you tell us?”

Norrington’s heart skipped a beat.  He had completely forgotten about the map…the map he had discovered after his fight and kiss with Robin.  Norrington was silent for a moment before he bent down to take off his boot and retrieve the map.

“There’s no need.”  Elizabeth pulled the rolled-up parchment from her sleeve.  Norrington straightened up slowly, guilt beginning to overcome him as Elizabeth continued to gaze at him in disappointment.  “Why did you hide this from us?  We could have been back aboard the Pearl by now.”

Robin spoke up for him.  “He knows that Barbossa doesn’t intend to let me…and most likely him…live once we return to the Black Pearl…that is, unless we are the ones who give him the map.”  She smiled, or more like smirked, at Norrington after she said this.

A blade suddenly appeared at Elizabeth’s throat.  “Robin!” Norrington exclaimed in horror.  The pirate ignored him.

“Give me the map, Lizzie,” Robin demanded, holding out her free hand.

Elizabeth glared at Robin hatefully before ducking away from the cutlass long enough to draw her own sword, and the two women stood, swords crossed as though prepared to duel.  “No,” Elizabeth replied simply.  Robin’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

Jack put his compass back on his belt, looking from one woman to the other as though calculating whose side he should come in on, if a side at all.  Norrington slowly drew his cutlass.  Elizabeth smiled sweetly at him as Norrington pointed his blade toward Robin.  Robin arched an eyebrow, a small reminder that Norrington could not betray her.  He felt like a stake was being driven through his heart as he turned his blade toward Elizabeth, who stared at him in shock.

“We need that map, Elizabeth,” Norrington said quietly.  “I promise I won’t let her touch it.  Just give it to me.”  He held out his hand.  Elizabeth continued to stare at him in surprise and horror.

“Sorry, mate.”  Jack drew his sword and put it near Norrington’s neck.  “But I can’t let you get that.  Last time you got hold of something important, it ended up on Beckett’s desk.”  Norrington winced slightly at this memory.  Ragetti suddenly came up behind Elizabeth and put a cutlass at her back as Pintel pointed a sword at Norrington, taking a different side than his friend.

If the situation had not been so dire, it would have been quite comical.  The six even exchanged amused glances as they considered what was happening.  But when Elizabeth attempted to stow the map back up her sleeve, Robin suddenly attacked her.  Elizabeth had no time to try and hide the map as Robin came at her, sword flashing brilliantly in the sunlight.  Robin no longer showed any of the disorientation she had had moments before.  Norrington found himself watching her, extremely impressed.  But he had little time to watch the women duel.

As soon as the men all recovered from a few moments of watching the two women battle fiercely, Jack took a swing at Norrington, who barely managed to deflect it before he had to defend himself against Pintel as well.

Jack left Pintel to duel Norrington alone after a while, and the opponents stopped hacking at each other long enough to see that Robin had succeeded in obtaining the map from Elizabeth.  Now she and Ragetti were engaged in a duel with Elizabeth and Jack.

Robin cursed as Jack managed to grab the map away from her.  In the flurry of bodies and swords, Norrington somehow found himself holding the map.  He was then completely encircled by allies and enemies fighting for the parchment in his hand.  He saw blood dripping down Robin’s arm, and Jack nearly escaped death as Elizabeth stabbed blindly behind her, seeming to aim for Ragetti.  The entire situation still seemed utterly absurd to him.

Norrington backed into someone and turned around sharply, ready to attack whoever it was, but was surprised to see that his sword was crossed with Robin’s.  Robin appeared vaguely annoyed, but before turning her back on him, Norrington could swear that he saw her wink at him.

Norrington turned back around and found that he was now facing Elizabeth, who was giving him an extremely disappointed look again.  He had betrayed her…again.  He held back when she attacked, only defending himself as needed and not trying to harm her or be aggressive in any manner.  The map was suddenly snatched from his hand, and Norrington glanced behind him to see Pintel now holding the map.

“This is ridiculous,” he muttered to himself.

Robin took it from Pintel, but quickly lost it to Elizabeth.  Norrington was surprised when Robin did not even try to take it back.  She was staring past the entire fight, seeming completely oblivious to what was going on around her.  Poor Ragetti was fighting desperately to keep her from being impaled.

“Everyone?” Robin said quietly.  Norrington followed her gaze.  He had to turn back to duel Jack before he got a real look, but he had seen a ship approaching the island—and it was not the Black Pearl.  “Stop it!” Robin shouted to get everyone’s attention.

When no one listened to her, Robin pulled out her pistol and shot into the air, causing everyone around her to draw his or her own pistol and point it at another.  Most of them aimed at Robin, who sighed exasperatedly when she saw three guns aiming at her.  “We have company!”

Now that everyone had stopped trying to kill everyone else, Norrington had a chance to look out onto the ocean.  The Black Pearl was headed toward the island, but another ship was closer—a great ship with dark sails, but it was not the same as the Pearl.  Norrington felt a wave of dread wash over him.

He had been aboard that ship before.  He had served onboard as Lord Beckett’s pawn.  Always the pawn he thought in anger.  But the feeling of dismay was for much more than that—James Norrington had died on that ship.