Skull and Dagger

“I can’t believe you people!” Elizabeth stamped her foot in frustration, glaring back and forth between the solemn men that were hiding out in the cave with her. “They’re going to kill him!” she insisted.

She got no reply but a few meek nods.

“And who knows what’s happened to Annabelle!” she persisted.

Still no response.

“Sites?” she pleaded.

“Quite right,” Sites readily stepped up in agreement, glancing around at the defeated pirates. “You all are giving up far too easily.”

“See?” Elizabeth stood directly in front of her lover, pointing to Sites. “Even god says you should go break Frank out of prison!”

Sites got a decidedly uncomfortable look on his face. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far...” he protested.

Elizabeth ignored him. “I mean, honestly, how many guards can there be? Sure, you lost the ship, so we have no possible means for escape, but...” She stamped the ground with her foot once more. “We can’t just let them die!”

Gerard let out a weary sigh. “Lizzie,” he began regretfully, “we don’t even know where they took him...”

“We’ll find out then,” Elizabeth insisted. “We can’t give up yet! Annabelle didn’t even get to have any orgasms yet, and knowing her this is the last chance she’s got...”

“Ahem!” Sites cleared his throat.

“Sorry,” Elizabeth gave him an apologetic look before turning back to Gerard. “But, still, she’s my friend, and she’s very hopelessly in love, so we’re going to save her and Frank, and in the process we get to save your best friend, and then everyone is happy, and we all get many orga-”

“Ahem!”

“-ns,” Elizabeth quickly amended.

She got several odd looks.

“Organs. We can all learn to play the organ,” she improvised on the spot. “Because, you know, they play organs in church and all, and thus it doesn’t have anything to do with sex...” She trailed off at the pathetic-ness of that cover.

“It’s the thought that counts,” Sites assured her, giving her a reassuring little pat on the shoulder.

She brightened visibly at that. “We’ve got to at least try,” she pleaded with Gerard.

Gerard sat in contemplation for moment before finally nodding. “We’ve got nothing better to do,” he agreed.

“What?” Several cries echoed throughout the cave.

“Not gettin’ arrested...”

“Savin’ our skins...”

“If it were your necks in the noose, do you not think that Frank would come to your aid?” Sites countered to the few who had opposed the plan.

Grudging apologies were offered in return.

“If nothing else,” Gerard decided to compromise, “we might as well at least find out where they took Frank and Annabelle...”

“Fort Norbrook.”

The surprise intrusion of the voice caused over a dozen heads to turn.

Jepha, who had been subdued and silent ever since he’d ushered everyone to freedom, reluctantly spoke up again. “They’re at Fort Norbrook,” he repeated.

“How do you know?” Gerard asked curiously.

Jepha winced inwardly. “The reason this location was chosen for the trap was because it’s near Fort Norbrook,” he explained. “Lord Williams still operates it - including the prison. That’s where they’ll have been taken...unless Quinn took Annabelle, that is.”

A flash of anger darted through Elizabeth’s eyes at that. “If that rat has touched her-!” she exclaimed, throwing a threatening look in Jepha’s direction.

He winced at the thought of Elizabeth’s vengeance.

Gerard was more thoughtful, however. “We’re not going to be able to break into a fort,” he commented.

“No,” Sites agreed, pacing as an idea came to him, “but there may be another way...”

- - - - -

A satisfied smile crossed Quinn’s face as he leaned on the rail and watched the empty seas that surrounded them.

“Finally got the girl, huh?” Bert commented.

“Not yet,” Quinn shrugged, “but soon...”

Bert practically rolled his eyes in response. “You means after all that trouble you didn’t even bother to sample the wares?” he asked in disbelief.

“I’ve got all the time in the world,” Quinn insisted, a smug smile on his face. “I’ve already won. There really isn’t anything that can stop me now, is there?”

Bert merely shook his head in response. He may have been indebted to serve Quinn, but one of these days that man’s over-confidence was going to be his downfall...