A Pirate's Life for Me

Chapter 10 Full Circle

Annalise flinched as she fired her rifle, not used to the recoil, as Elizabeth ducked down beside her, her rifle now empty. Gibbs, Will, and Anamaria fired away beside them as Annalise aimed and fired again, taking out a pirate with her lost shot before she ducked down as well.

"We could use a few more ideas, lasses." Gibbs shouted as they fired again and again, and Elizabeth glanced at her sister, who just looked back helplessly.

"Your turn!" Elizabeth shouted at Gibbs, who growled: "We need us a devil's dowry."

"We'll give them her." Anamaria growled, pointing her pistol right at Elizabeth's head just as Will ran out of shots.

The three friends from Port Royal froze, Will staring at Elizabeth while Annalise stared at Elizabeth's neck.

"She's not what they're after." Will whispered, while Annalise murmured in horror: "Where is it?"

Elizabeth touched her neck, remembering what was missing, and she whispered in equal horror to her sister: "The medallion."

Will turned and dashed for the lower deck, going off to search for the medallion, while Elizabeth and Annalise hurried to grab another rifle from the stash. They'd just begun firing again, Annalise taking out a pirate on the Pearl's crow nest, when suddenly a cannonball from the other side came whizzing by and struck their own mast.

She looked up in horror as their mast tethered before it fell over, a few of their crew falling from it as it did.

"Watch out!" She cried to their crew as the mast fell.

They all ducked, but luckily – or not – the mast tipped over and fell directly onto the Pearl. She watched as the pirates on the other side all scrambled to get out of the way, before her eyes focused on one figure who seemed unbothered. She stared as Barbossa took one casual step forward, placing himself directly beneath the Interceptor's sails as the mast fell onto the Pearl, and leaving him untouched.

"They're coming aboard." Annalise muttered as she saw the Pearl's crew gathering once more, carrying grapples.

"They're coming aboard!" She shouted, and Elizabeth, Gibbs, and Anamaria also took up the cry to warn the crew, and they all braced themselves once more as the Pearl's crew threw their grapples.

They fired for all they were worth to stop the pirates trying to board, but there was only so much you could do against a crew that couldn't be killed. Annalise fired at the pirates as they came swinging on board, but even though all her shots hit a mark and the pirate came tumbling down, he soon got up and began shouting and fighting their crew.

"Lizzy!" Annalise cried in warning, and Elizabeth turned to whack the pirate who'd been sneaking up behind her with her rifle.

Annalise meanwhile drew her sword, engaging in a duel with another pirate as she tried to fend off another. She'd just knocked the sword out of the one pirate's hand and whacked him in the temple with the butt of her sword, thereby knocking him out, when the other one tried to stab her as he saw an opening.

Suddenly, hand reached out and grabbed the pirate's wrist, stopping him, and Annalise whirled around to see Jack standing there.

"That's not very nice." Jack told the pirate, and Annalise used the moment to smack the pirate in the face with the butt of her sword, causing the pirate to topple over the ship's railings and fall into the sea.

"Jack?" Annalise gasped, and he demanded, utterly serious for once: "Where's the medallion?"

She blinked, then gasped: "Lizzy!"

He frowned, but she turned and dashed over to her sister, who was fighting two pirates on her own. She whacked the first pirate across the head – having found that knocking them out worked better than trying to stab them – while Elizabeth punched the other one in the face.