Chapter 15:  Maps

 

“They aren’t following,” Elizabeth said with a sigh of relief.  Then reality hit her.  “Will…what…why would he?”

Jack put an arm tentatively around her shoulders.  “I don’t know, love.  But I’m sure that there’s a good explanation.  William’s a good man.”  Elizabeth leaned into Jack, tears starting to escape from her eyes.  She hardly noticed the stench of rum and sweat as Jack held her to his chest.  “There, there, love.”  Elizabeth had forgotten how sweet Jack could be at times.

“I hate to be interrupting such a tender moment.”  Jack shot a glare at the approaching Barbossa.  “But I’ll be wanting that map now, Mrs. Turner.”  Elizabeth pulled away from Jack and nodded, slowly withdrawing the rolled-up map from her sleeve.  Elizabeth held out the map and gently placed it into Barbossa’s outstretched hand, and he snatched it away, unrolling it impatiently.  His eyes widened as he looked at it, and he turned it over, and then flipped it back.

“What is this?  You trying to trick me, Mrs. Turner?”

“What?” Elizabeth exclaimed.

“This!” Barbossa grabbed Elizabeth’s wrist quite painfully and pulled her to his side.  “What is this?” he asked angrily.

The map was a burnt orange with the circles that turned to reveal the locations of different places that usually could not be found.  It looked the same to Elizabeth—that is, it did until she realized that the circles were merely drawn, not moveable.

“It’s a fake!” she gasped in shock.

“No, really, Mrs. Turner?” Barbossa said sarcastically.

“Norrington!” Jack exclaimed, bringing his fist down on the railing and then shaking it as pain shot through his hand.  “That bugger tricked us again!”

“He didn’t fool Robin.”  Elizabeth turned to Pintel, who appeared to have been speaking to Ragetti.

“She’s too smart for that,” Ragetti added when he saw Elizabeth looking at them.

“Of course!” Elizabeth exclaimed, feeling extraordinarily foolish to not realize before.  “That’s why she went back to the island!”  Elizabeth shook her head at her own stupidity in considering that Robin might actually have cared about James.  “But that means…”

“Beckett has the map,” Jack said venomously.  “And Robin…” he added under his breath.

Elizabeth appeared to be the only one who heard these last two words.  She watched Jack curiously as he looked out to the sea, his hands clenching the wooden railing as though letting go would cost him his life.  Barbossa was busy violently destroying the fake map, and the rest of the crew was hurrying to do their jobs so as to not get in the way of Barbossa’s anger; thus, Elizabeth appeared to be the only one who noticed Jack’s peculiar behavior.

“Jack,” she said quietly, coming up behind him.  “What’s…”  She was going to ask what was wrong, but then she realized what a silly question that would be.  James and Robin had betrayed them to Lord Beckett, who now had the map, and they did not know what had happened to Will.  But Elizabeth had lived through what was nearly the end of piracy, and Jack had never seemed this angry and troubled.  “Jack,” she began again.

“What?” the pirate snapped.  Elizabeth was surprised by the coldness in Jack’s voice.

“I was just…um…”  Elizabeth was suddenly hesitant to say anything, fearing that she might spark more hostility.  She had never been so glad to have a pirate grab her arm and drag her away before.  She turned to see Pintel pulling her away from Jack.

As soon as they were out of earshot of Jack, Pintel said, “You might not want to talk to him right now, poppet.  Least not about Robin.”  Pintel seemed to believe that this closed the subject, and he began to walk away.

“Wait!”  Elizabeth grabbed his arm.  “Why?”

Pintel looked strangely grieved, as though remembering something he did not want to think about.  “He and Robin were…close when she was aboard before.  You know, back before we marooned ‘im and all.”  Pintel glanced toward his one-eyed friend.  “Don’t mention ‘er to Ragetti either,” he added.

“But why?” Elizabeth insisted.  “Why is Jack so…”

“I told you.  They were close.”

Elizabeth turned to look at Jack.  “And Lord Beckett is Jack’s worst enemy…making Robin’s betrayal worse.”

“Aye.”  Pintel left and went to his friend, leaving Elizabeth to hug herself as a sudden cold breeze swept over her.  She sighed.  How she wished she was with Will now…

* * *

Admiral Norrington nodded a greeting to the man guarding the door where he was meeting Beckett for a mid-afternoon meal.  Norrington had just finished changing into his Royal Navy uniform in what was to be his room while onboard the Flying Dutchman.  The room had been rather bare, save a large map of the world clearly marking all territory claimed by the East India Company.

Norrington had been quite thankful to get out of his filthy rags and into the uniform.  However, the clothing was not as he remembered.  The uniform was very restricting and uncomfortable.  He touched his white powdered wig; he had forgotten how itchy these things were…

Norrington followed the guard into the room.  “Admiral Norrington, sir,” the man stated formally before leaving.

Lord Beckett was standing beside a rather long table that was covered with platters of food.  There was fruit, meat, bread, fish, wine…an exquisite meal had been prepared.  “Admiral Norrington.  Please, have a seat,” Beckett said, motioning to a chair along the longer side of the table.

As he sat, Norrington noted that he was facing an East India Company flag draped on the wall before him.  A reminder of whose side I’m supposed to be on? Norrington thought to himself.

Norrington was extremely uneasy being alone with Beckett.  But the man did not try to start a conversation or even look at him.  It was as though Norrington wasn’t even there, which was something Norrington was perfectly happy with.

The door opened once more, attracting the attention of both men.  “Miss…”  The guard looked momentarily flustered as he realized that he did not know the woman’s name.  Lord Beckett saved the man more embarrassment by motioning for him to show Robin in.

Norrington stood in respect as Robin slowly entered the room. She was biting her lower lip slightly, as though nervous, and holding her hands behind her back.  Norrington’s mouth dropped open as he stared at her, completely shocked by her appearance.

Robin was wearing an elegant crimson dress with extravagant gold embroidery along the neckline.  The golden decoration around the neckline drew his eyes, almost making him flush as he realized how dangerously low it plunged and how much it revealed.

Norrington forced his eyes to move from the low cut front of the dress and to Robin’s midnight hair, which appeared to be arranged in the haphazard manner it usually was, yet it seemed so much lovelier.  She was beautiful, breathtakingly so—and so much like the woman he had loved many years before.

“Jacqueline!” Lord Beckett exclaimed, drawing Norrington back to reality.  “You look positively stunning.”  Norrington had to agree.

Robin’s eyes narrowed at the use of the name Jacqueline.  Just as when Robin and Norrington had first boarded the Flying Dutchman, Norrington wondered how Beckett knew that name.  “We’ve been through this already,” said Robin.  Beckett pulled out a chair at one end of the table.  “My name is Robin,” she said firmly as she sat down.  Norrington sat down as well, still gazing intently at Robin.

“You did not find any of the jewelry to your taste?” Beckett asked, surprised.  “I believed that the gold necklace with the rubies was a perfect match.”  Beckett laid his hands on Robin’s shoulders, causing her to stiffen.  “That choker would look very flattering on you.”

“I prefer not to have objects around my neck,” Robin said coolly.  “Especially when they’re called chokers,” she added under her breath.  Beckett chuckled softly, slowing moving his hands away from her, but not before clandestinely brushing his fingers against the side of her neck.  Robin looked murderous, but she did nothing, though Norrington noticed that her fierce gaze locked onto a knife lying on the table before her.

Beckett strode around the table and sat on the other end, facing Robin.  He motioned to the food.  “Enjoy.”

Robin glanced at Norrington, who blushed when he realized Robin had caught his eyes beginning to wander down toward her chest again.  She smirked slightly before reaching out to the bowl of fruit before her, from which she took an apple before offering the bowl to Norrington.

The three were relatively silent as they passed the around the assortment of food.  Lord Beckett poured himself a glass of wine, then stood and poured for the other two, still silent.  He sat down again and picked up his glass.  “To good business,” he said quietly before taking a sip.  Norrington followed suit, and could not help but grin as Robin drank the whole glass in one gulp.  Beckett stood again and refilled her glass, placing a hand on her shoulder as he did so.  Norrington saw Robin stiffen again until Beckett removed his hand and walked back to his seat.  Beckett appeared to be about to speak again when the guard knocked lightly and opened the door.

“Captain Turner, sir,” the man announced.

Mr. Turner appeared extremely surprised to see Norrington—apparently Lord Beckett had failed to inform him that Norrington was alive and onboard the vessel.  Turner did not appear to notice Robin as he walked over to Beckett, looking rather angry.

“There was nothing there; no map, no compass,” he said in a low voice.  “And I don’t appreciate being asked to do your dirty work,” he added maliciously.

Beckett smirked.  “Thank you, Mr. Turner.  You may go.”

Turner was obviously very irritated at being ordered about, but his expression changed immediately as he turned to leave.  As he caught sight of Robin, Turner’s features softened, and a vague smile tugged at the side of his mouth.

Norrington looked around at Robin, who was now smiling softly.  She inclined her head slightly.  “William Turner.”  Looking back toward Turner and Beckett, he saw Beckett’s brow furrow in confusion, and Turner appeared to be in a sort of trance as he walked over to Robin.

“I know you,” he said quietly.

“A brilliant deduction,” Robin replied.  Norrington’s eyes flickered down to Robin’s chest as she leaned forward slightly to stand.  He tore his eyes away with some difficulty, wondering if Robin was aware of how alluring she was to him, and likely to the others in the room as well.  Robin studied Turner for a moment.  “You’ve grown,” she said with a grin.

Turner ignored this statement.  “I thought it was an angel that saved me.”

“More like a devil,” Robin said with a bright laugh.

“Mr. Turner,” Lord Beckett said sharply.  “Return to your duties.”

Turner nodded to Beckett, but before leaving, he took Robin’s hand and brought it to his lips.  “Thank you.”

“What the bloody hell was that all about?” Beckett exclaimed as soon as the door closed, his eyes narrowing.  Robin gave him an innocent look as she sat down.

“What do you mean?” Robin asked.  Norrington bit his lip to keep from laughing at the innocence in Robin’s voice.  Innocence was something that he found difficult to associate with Robin in any respect.

“You know what I mean,” Beckett said in a low voice.

Robin continued to smile.  “I saved his life awhile back.  That’s all.”  She spread some butter on a piece of bread.  “You said something about good business?”  Again, she said this in a completely nonchalant manner, but clearly this comment had more meaning than the tone implied.

Beckett smiled.  “Yes.  You were to bring me the map, Jack Sparrow, and his compass.  So far, I see no evidence that you accomplished any of these objectives.”

Robin grinned.  “Perhaps not the part with Jack.  But I didn’t come empty-handed.”  Robin seemed to shift her skirts slightly, judging by the sound Norrington heard coming from under the table, and she lifted a compass into view.  She placed it next to her plate.  She then extracted, with slight difficulty, a roll of parchment from her sleeve.  Norrington’s mouth dropped.

She had the map.

“The map and the compass.  Did you really think I would leave them in my room, Lord Beckett?” she asked with a smirk.

Lord Beckett shook his head.  “I assumed that you would not.  But just in case.”

Robin shook her head slightly.  “So?  Our bargain?”  She looked expectantly at Beckett as Norrington looked from one to the other, completely confused.  He had missed something on the island, and apparently in Singapore…and goodness knows where else…