Shadows, Sails and Pirate Tales

Shadows, Sails and Pirate Tales

The sea was suspiciously calm yet a storm cloud thundered from in the distance. Bernadette Swann, a petite child sat quietly on the deck of a ship, picking at the lace frill of her petticoat. She was travelling with her father and older sister Elizabeth, not that anyone noticed she was there - Nobody had noticed her since her mother's passing. Bernadette was but the shadow of a vibrant, beautiful sister, who was quickly becoming the lady her father had hoped for. Dearest Elizabeth was the apple of her father's eye - being the first born child and exceedingly beautiful - that Bernadette often felt ignored. After all, when her mother had been alive, she was doted on, her mother's favourite rivalling her father's affection for Elizabeth.
Bernadette listened to her sister sing of pirates, a short melody which was now sure to plague her mind for the rest of the journey. Not that she was scared, pirates are exciting! But the melody told of the fightful things a pirate could do to one, if they were so unfortunate to meet.

Shifting her position slightly, Bernadette watched as Joshamee Gibbs passed her and placed his hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. Her sister jumped, spinning around to glare at the older man. She giggled at the expression painted on her sister's face - the relief to realise it was only a crew member's hand, and not a pirate's. Elizabeth shot a disapproving look at Bernadette.. God forbid she must have a laugh at dear Elizabeth's expense.

"Quiet missy," Gibbs said, turning and staring out to sea, "Cursed pirates sail these waters. You don't wanna bring 'em down on us now, do you?"

Bernadette stood and shuffled out of the way as Lieutenant Norrington and Governor Swann appeared. She knew she would be reprimanded for sitting on the dirty floor in her clean gown – it was always a complaint of her father's. “Bernadette!” he would say, “ Can you not sit upon a chair? Ladies do not lounge across floors. Copy your sister and behave appropriately.” Both men walked past her, without even acknowledging her existence, and moved quickly towards Elizabeth.

"Mr Gibbs, that will do," Norrington said, glaring at the man. No doubt he was thinking an array of nasty thoughts about poor Mr Gibbs.

Mr Gibbs turned around to face the young man, raising an eyebrow. "It's bad luck to be singing about pirates with us mired in this unnatural fog."

Muttering about the bad look women aboard ships would bring, he moved past Norrington and Governor Swann to the crew's quarters.

"What's wrong with women?" Bernadette demanded, scowling. Was a woman not as able as man? After all, women bring children into the world, and a man relies upon them for the continuation of mankind! She huffed and crossed her arms as she was ignored by everybody. Not a surprise, but Bernadette still felt she should at least be noticed.

Bernadette and Elizabeth shared a confused glance when Lieutenant Norrington said that pirates deserve a "Short drop and a sudden stop".

Their gaze was caught by Mr Gibbs miming being hanged and Elizabeth gasped in horror. Bernadette pulled a face – the thought of one being hanged was almost too gruesome to imagine!

"I am so glad that Bernadette doesn't share Elizabeth's apparent fascination with pirates," Governor Swann told Norrington, when he saw his youngest daughter's disgusted look.

"Actually, I think that pirates are exciting," Bernadette said to the two men.

"Honestly Bernadette, you do not have to do everything that Elizabeth does," her father said.

"I'm not," she protested, "And my name is Dette. Bernadette is too proper."

"But, darling, Bernadette is a name for ladies," Governor Swann insisted, "Dette is not a name."

"I'm not a lady! I'm a pirate!" Dette shouted, scowling at her father.

His face changed to one full of anger as he hissed, "We will speak about this later, Bernadette."

Bernadette watched her father walk away with Lieutenant Norrington, anger bubbling within her. Why should it matter how she acted or what she called herself? He'd never notice any change she might make anyway. Pulling herself away from her grumpy thoughts, she looked over at her sister.

Elizabeth's shocked gasp immediately caught her attention and she quickly ran to her side, almost colliding with the banister in the process.

"What is it?" she asked.

Following Elizabeth's gaze, she looked into the water and saw a boy floating on a piece of wood. He seemed to be soaked through, his black hair stuck to his face and eyes firmly shut.

"Father!" she shouted.

"There's a boy in the water!" Elizabeth yelled, pointing at him.

Most of the crew ran to see where Elizabeth was pointing; nothing this exciting ever happened aboard the ship and the crew would most certainly make the most of it.

"Man overboard!" yelled Norrington, before ordering the crew to haul him aboard.

As the boy was being pulled from the sea by members of the crew, Bernadette heard Mr Gibbs whisper, "Mary, Mother of God," with his eyes fixed on something out at sea.

She turned to see what he was looking at and let out a gasp when her eyes met the sight of a burning ship on the water. Splinters of wood littered the water's surface, debris floating around in all directions. Flames licked at the remains of the ship – it was sure to go under soon, the damage it had sustained would not allow it to stay afloat much longer.

Mr Gibbs began insisting that pirates must have been responsible for the intense damage inflicted on the ship, scanning the rest of the ocean for a receding boat, or any other sign of a pirate presence.

Norrington turned and ordered his men to ready a boat and investigate the ship, to see if any more survivors could be found, whilst Governor Swann told Elizabeth to take care of the boy who was pulled from the water.

Bernadette followed her sister over to the boy and watched as she touched his face. Both girls jumped as the boy gasped and grabbed Elizabeth's arm.

"It's ok," Elizabeth reassured him, "My name's Elizabeth Swann."

"Will Turner," he gasped in reply.

"I'm watching over you, Will," Elizabeth smiled, as Will's head dropped back and he fell unconscious once again.

Elizabeth reached for the medallion around Will's neck and gently took it. She turned it over in her hands and Bernadette gasped. The shiny gold medallion held the insignia of piracy - a skull.

"He's a pirate," she grinned.

"Has he said anything?" asked Lieutenant Norrington, from behind them.

Both girls jumped and turned around, Elizabeth hiding the medallion behind her back as she did so. They were lucky that the rush of activity on the boat had prevented any attention being focused on them. If anyone were to find that medallion, who knew what could have happened to the boy.

"His name's William Turner, that's all I found out," Elizabeth told him.

As Norrington turned and walked away, both of the girls returned their attention to the medallion. A fluttering of black fabric caused them both to look out to sea; a ship with ripped black sails moved gracefully across the water. Elizabeth scrunched her eyes up in fear, yet Dette's eyes widened and her mouth fell into a small shocked expression. She slowly began to smile as the dawn of realisation hit her... Pirates.