Elizabeth Swann's Sister

22. Running Away Again and Thomas Nearly Wee's Himself

I made my way up to the fort, where I saw Norrington and his men looking at a map situated on the table, father was standing behind him, his hands resting behind his back, he seemed to be in some sort of daze, staring into nothing. Will was there too, standing on the opposite side of the table, holding a hatchet within his hand, "That's not good enough!". He shouted at Norrington whilst slamming the hachet, directly into the middle of the map.

They never saw me, as they were all paying attention to what Will had just done. Norrington turned to look at Will, whilst pulling the hachet from out of the map and walking over to give it back to him. "Mr Turner, you are not a military man, you are not a sailor, you are a blacksmith, and this is not the moment for rash actions!, do not make the mistake of thinking you are the only man here who cares for both of the girls". Right then he turned sharply and looked directly at me, Will followed his gaze and stood there in shock looking at me up and down.

"Miss Swann!,". Norrington breathed out, as though he had seen a ghost and that all the air, out of his lungs had been knocked out all at once. Everyone except father, by this time turned to look at me, Norrington removed his military jacket and placed it around me, his grip on my shoulders was like a animal trap had snapped on them. He walked me over towards my father, who was still looking out towards the fort with his hands behind his back. "Governor Swann". Norrington said to him, whilst still holding my shoulders tightly.

Father turned to face Norrington, before his eyes fell upon me, he lunged forward so fast, I flinched with shock at his actions, he pulled me into a tight hug, snatching me out of Norrington's grip. The hug was so tight, that wearing stays was more comfortable, however, I was so tired and just pleased to see familiar faces around me, instead of disgusting pirates, that I forgot about the pain and just sunk into my fathers hug, I closed my eyes, trying to hold back the tears. "Oh my darling Anne, where have you been, I've been so worried". Father said to me whilst crying on my shoulder.

He pulled away from me and held my hands within his, he looked me in the face, before he turned his attention to my bandaged head. He must have noticed how soaked the rag was with my blood and how it was all over my dress. "Oh my goodness Anne, what on earth has happened to you, SOMEONE, FETCH A DOCTOR IMMEDIATELY!". Father said to me, before he started shouting orders at Norrington's men. One of Norrington's men went scurrying off to find a doctor on my fathers request. "Father, I'm completely fine, it's nothing really, just a scratch, it must just give the illusion that there is lots of blood due to the heat". I lied to him.

"Come along now Miss Swann, you aren't fooling anyone and you certainly aren't fooling me, being a highly trained navy commander that I am, means I am also medically trained and I can tell you now that, that cut upon your head is not just a scratch as you say, for it too bleed so heavily it must be a deep wound". Norrington said to me. I looked down at my feet when Norrington said this too me, my lie had been found out, and there's me thinking I could have them fooled for a long time, perhaps I was wrong, I thought to myself.

"Perhaps your right Commodore, it is indeed not just a scratch". I said in a mumbled tone that I was sure only I could hear and know one else. "Anne my dear how did you sustain such a wound?". Father asked me whilst lifting my chin with his hand to make me look at him. "I,I,I, I got it from fighting with some pirate's". I stuttered to him, looking at the ground, frightened as to what he might say or do next.

"What!, you did what!, did they hurt you anywhere else, they didn't do anything else to you did they!". He raised his voice to me, whilst gripping my arms tightly, within his hands. "No father honest, I was trying to save Elizabeth from their filthy grasp, but one of them tried to shoot me, so I ducked to avoid the bullet and I fell to the floor, by then they were dragging poor Lizzie out of the door, so I tried to grab one of their ankles, to trip them and stop them, but I wasn't strong enough, so one of them hit me over the head with their sword". I said to my father whilst looking over to the Commodore.

"Oh Anne! WHERE IS THAT BLASTED DOCTOR!". Father said to me whilst pulling me in for an even tighter hug, trying to hold back the tears and continuing to shout out loud at Norrington's men, another one scurried away to try and find the first man who went in search for a doctor. "So you had a good look at these vile creatures did you?". Norrington asked me. "Yes, one of them was semi bald, short and fat, with yellow eyes, he kept on calling me and Elizabeth poppet, the other was tall and skinny with scraggly hair, and he also had a false eye in his right eye". I told him.

"Very well, Thank you for that information Miss Swann, this shall become useful when we come to rescuing your sister". He said to me, whilst holding eye contact with me for quite some time, he gave a small smile to me, kind of like a smirk but it was less harsh and I returned the smile back to him. Father had finally let go off me and walked me over towards a seat and sat me down, fussing over me to make sure that I was alright, before the doctor came.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Will standing at the edge of the doorway, he made eye contact with me and started to nod his head to the side towards the door. I understood what he had meant by his actions, so I slowly took of Norrington's coat from around my shoulders, and placed it upon the chair, slowly lifted myself up from the chair whilst looking over to my father, the Commodore and his men, all of them seemed to paying attention back towards the map. I crept across the room, behind Mullroy and Murtogg, Will took hold of my hand and we ran out of the fort, I think I had a idea of where we were headed. "ANNE! ANNE!, MISS SWANN COME BACK HERE!, ANNE DARLING, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!, WHERE ARE YOU GOING!, MISS SWANN COME BACK HERE AT ONCE!". Norrington and my father must have seen me run out with Will, as they were both shouting things at me at the same time, that some of it was hard to make it out.

I didn't stop to turn around, I just kept a hold of Will's hand and we ran as fast as we could out of the fort. "Let me guess we are off to see a cunning pirate am I right?". I asked Will when we stopped running when we were out of plain sight. "Yes indeed we are Miss Swann, if anyone knows of where your sister is he will". Will told me. "Why did you drag me along for, what use am I going to be on your quest?". I asked him again. "Well, would you rather, sit there and watch Norrington ponder over his map, whilst a doctor prods and pokes you, or would you rather come on an adventure, to see the world and sail the sea, not in search of treasure but something more precious, your sister".

"Awww you really do like her don't you Will". I said to him, "Yes, I would do anything for her, Anne, I love her, I have loved her since the first time we met, all those years ago". "Awww, Will that is so sweet, and yes is the answer to your question, I would love to come along on your quest with you, there is just one thing?". I told him. "And what is that dearest Anne?". He asked me. "Can Thomas come too?". I asked. "It's just, I know he would love to get out and see the world, that has always been one of his greatest desires and I would feel dreadful, if I was to come on this journey with you to save my sister without him". "Very well Anne you can invite Thomas, but he must promise one thing, he can not tell a soul of this to anyone, as we will all be hanging by the noose, if they knew we were civilising with a pirates". I didn't say anything I just nodded in response.

We got to the middle of the town, we found Thomas and we told him of the plan, he was so excited I thought he may have weed his pants. "This is so exciting, I can't believe we are actually going to sail the sea and even better sail it with a pirate!". Thomas whispered to me, whilst we all walked towards the jail. "Yes it is, but there is one thing you must promise us and that is, that you can not tell a soul of what we are about to do, not even after when we come back, that's if we do come back alive". I mumbled that last bit, as I didn't want Thomas to become frightened. "You must take this tale of adventure to your grave understood?". I asked him, I held out my pinky finger for him to link. "Understood loud and clear". He said to me whilst returning the link on our pinkies.