Chapter 8:  A Major Setback

 

Norrington was watching Elizabeth curiously.  She had been pacing over the same small distance behind the wheel of the Black Pearl for nearly an hour.  When he had attempted to discover what was bothering her, she had been quite sharp with him, saying that it was none of his business.  She had apologized a moment later, but she still asked to be left alone.  Norrington kindly obeyed her wishes; however, he still continued to observe her from a distance.

“I see you have yet to take my advice.”

Norrington jumped in surprise, turning to see Robin approaching him.   She laughed.  “Sorry to interrupt your fantasy, Admiral,” she said mockingly, leaning against the railing beside him, her long, black hair blowing about her face in the ocean breeze.  Norrington turned away from her, looking back up toward Elizabeth, who had not stopped pacing.  For a moment, he believed that the woman’s cool gaze was aimed toward him, only to realize that she was glaring at Robin.  “Lizzie doesn’t like me much, does she?” Robin commented casually.

Norrington smirked slightly.  “No, she doesn’t.”  He turned to her, very tempted to add something about him not liking her either.  He wished he had said it before he was captured by Robin’s eyes.

“I doubt many people on board this ship like me much anyway,” she said with a shrug.  “Not that I blame them.  If I wasn’t me, I would probably hate me.”  Norrington took a moment to comprehend this statement as he again watched Elizabeth.  “Surely you have something better to do with your time,” Robin said in annoyance.

Norrington turned back to her and grinned.  “Jealous?” he joked.

Robin’s eyes widened slightly.  “Concerned,” she said fiercely, glaring sternly at him.

“Jacqueline!”  The one-eyed pirate approached them.  Robin sighed and shook her head at the sound of her “former” name.  “Can I talk to you?”  His one eye looked Norrington over.  “In private-like?” he added hesitantly.  Robin nodded and walked toward the bow of the ship with him.

Norrington once again turned to Elizabeth, who was now watching Robin and Ragetti with obvious suspicion.  Elizabeth walked over to Barbossa and began to speak to him in a low voice.  Turning to look back at Robin, he saw Ragetti whispering rather urgently in Robin’s ear.  Norrington was now getting the distinct impression that he was missing something important as he looked at the whispering pairs.

Barbossa smiled at Robin’s back in a way that made Norrington feel very nervous and fear for her.  Robin suddenly spun around, as though she felt Barbossa’s gaze.  Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she looked from the Captain to Elizabeth.  Robin turned her eyes to Ragetti, who looked down at his hands and mutter something under his breath.

“Been feeding him your lies, have you, Lizzie?” Robin said, walking past Norrington and toward Barbossa and Elizabeth.  “And he actually believes them?”  Robin shook her head and clicked her tongue disappointedly.  “I thought you were wiser than that, Hector.”  Barbossa glared at her.

“I never said anything of the sort,” Barbossa replied.  “Bring me Jack Sparrow!” he ordered to two pirates standing nearby, who scrambled down the wooden steps in their rush to obey.

Barbossa walked down the steps as well, closely followed by Elizabeth, who gave Norrington an encouraging smile.  Though this made his heart leap, he somehow found that he was not reassured by it.  He was still unaware of what was happening…and everyone else seemed to know.

Jack appeared rather annoyed as he was brought aboard deck.  “I was just having a lovely dream that involved loads of rum,” he mumbled in irritation.  “Did you really have to wake me up?

“You’d wake up anyways once you hit the cold water, Jack.”  Jack’s eyes suddenly focused.  Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open slightly in shock—whatever she had thought was about to happen, this was not it.  Norrington saw Robin smirk slightly as a pirate readied the plank.

“Now, Jack, off you go,” Barbossa said with a leer.  Jack the Monkey screeched from his perch on the captain’s shoulder.

“Captain Barbossa,” Elizabeth protested.

Barbossa spun around and grabbed Elizabeth by the upper arm.  She gasped in shock and tried unsuccessfully to pull away.  “You too, Mrs. Turner!”  He pushed her roughly towards the plank.

Norrington was unable to hold his tongue after this.  “Now, hold on!” Norrington exclaimed, taking a few quick steps towards Barbossa.  Robin grabbed his arm tightly and held him back.

“Do you want to get marooned, too?” she hissed angrily through her teeth.  Norrington jerked his arm out of Robin’s grasp and glared at Barbossa, but said nothing.

Barbossa chuckled before turning to Jack and Elizabeth.  “Off you go,” he said with a grin.  A pirate poked Jack in the back with his cutlass, forcing him onto the plank.

“Can’t we talk this over?” Jack asked desperately, glancing towards the far off island.  “Change of scenery, I see,” he muttered.

“Yes, it seems too easy for you to get off the other island,” Barbossa said, sounding irritated.  “Now, if you’ll take your rightful place as governor of that isle…”  Jack looked around in desperation, looking for some way to escape.  “Jack…” Barbossa said warningly.  Barbossa pushed Elizabeth onto the plank with him, nearly forcing Jack to dive into the ocean.  The two grabbed each other, balancing on the plank and glaring at Barbossa, who laughed.

Norrington again found himself unable to control his tongue.  “You can’t do this to Elizabeth!” Norrington objected.

“Shut up, Admiral!” Robin whispered harshly behind him.

“I suppose you would like to join her?” Barbossa said, showing his yellow teeth.  Norrington could feel Robin’s eyes glaring into his back.  Barbossa looked at Robin.  “My dear,” he said, motioning to the plank.

Robin stepped forward into Norrington’s view.  “You’d better mean I get the pleasure of pushing Lizzie off the plank,” she said threateningly.

Barbossa laughed.  “You do, but then you and the Admiral get to join her and her former captain,” Barbossa said.  “I’m afraid that, as much as I appreciate your information on the mutiny and…certain members of the crew…”  He trailed off, glancing towards the two on the plank.  Jack was giving Robin an extremely perplexed look.

“You what?” the pirate managed to say.

“But I trust you even less,” Barbossa finished.  He motioned toward the plank with his cutlass.  “Well, Robin?”

Robin took a menacing step towards Barbossa.  “You don’t want to be doing that, mate,” she said, drawing her sword as Norrington put his hand on the hilt of his own sword.

“You wouldn’t really be so foolish, Robin,” Barbossa said, voicing the thoughts that were currently running through Norrington’s mind.  Robin glanced at Norrington.  He heard a faint growl of frustration come from her throat.

“No matter,” Robin said, sheathing her blade.  She grinned knowingly at Barbossa.  “You still won’t be captain of the Pearl for long, Barbossa.”  Barbossa’s eyes narrowed.

* * *

The four sat on the beach, their soaked clothes just beginning to dry in the sun.  “Well,” Jack said with a sigh, breaking the silence.  “This is a major setback.”

“Major setback?” Elizabeth exclaimed incredulously.  “You’re gotten us marooned—again!”

“Not me, love,” Jack claimed, lying back in the warm sand.  “Where are you running off to?” Jack suddenly asked Robin.

Robin turned with a very fake smile.  “I was just going to look for some food.”

Elizabeth stood.  “You told Barbossa that we were part of a mutiny that didn’t even exist!” she said angrily.

“Actually—,” Robin began.

“She started the bloody mutiny in the first place!” Jack finished, glaring at Robin, who chuckled nervously.

Elizabeth’s mouth dropped open.  “You rat!” she exclaimed, pulling out her gun and aiming it at Robin.  “You evil…”

“I believe the word you’re looking for is ‘pirate,’” Robin said with a grin.  “You were simply…in the way, Lizzie.  As was dear Jack,” Robin said, nodding to Jack.  “It was nothing personal, Jack.”  This last comment seemed to only make Elizabeth angrier.  “But as you can see, not everything went according to plan,” Robin added, motioning to their environment.

“And you!” Elizabeth yelled, turning her pistol towards Norrington.  “What part did you play?”

Norrington found that he could not speak.  The hatred in Elizabeth’s eyes was more than he could bear.  He shook his head silently.

“He had nothing to do with it,” Robin interjected.  Elizabeth aimed at Robin again.  Norrington looked at Robin in surprise.  She was actually helping him.

“Good,” Elizabeth said after a moment, and she pulled the trigger.

All others present gasped in surprise and horror when Elizabeth fired the weapon.  But the gun did not fire, and Robin was uninjured.  “I don’t believe it,” Elizabeth muttered.  Robin smiled.

“Wet powder,” she commented.  “I’ll go get some food, now,” she said, giving a slight bow.  “If you will excuse me.”

As Robin walked away, Elizabeth suddenly rounded on Jack.  “Why did you listen to her?”  Jack looked at her as innocently as he could.  “I can’t believe I am marooned with you again!”

“I’ll help,” Norrington said, unheard by either of them as he hurriedly got to his feet and followed Robin, leaving Elizabeth and Jack behind to bicker.

Robin turned around as Norrington approached.  “What are you doing here?” she asked disgustedly.  Then she grinned.  “Getting away from that madwoman back there?”

“Elizabeth is not—she has every right to be angry!” Norrington said, his eyes narrowing.  “How could you do this to her?”  Robin rolled her eyes.  “She deserves better than this!”

“Oh, and I don’t?” Robin said, turning and halting directly in his path.  “I deserve to be trapped here on this island with no one but enemies for company?”

“To be honest, yes,” Norrington answered angrily.  He waited to see the barrel of a gun in this face, or to get slapped or…something.  But Robin merely stood in front of him in silence, the anger slowly fading from her eyes.

She sighed and dropped her gaze from his.  “I know.”

Norrington was sure that he must have heard Robin incorrectly.  She turned away and began walking again, looking around at all the trees, hoping to see something edible.  Norrington opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to decide what to say to her.  As she pulled further ahead of him, she looked back.  “Coming, Admiral?”