Not All Treasure Is Silver and Gold

“This sucks…” Robin hissed under her breath; softly so the other person in the room didn’t hear her. That other person being none other than Elizabeth Swann.

Robin again found herself at the Governor’s estate, this time accompanying Miss Swann in her bed chambers, reminded that she was a maid and it was her duty. Robin had rolled her eyes; she was definitely not going to brown nose, not in this lifetime or the next, however she may have got there.

Robin was currently brushing her hair out with her fingers, it was the only part of her that completely dried off but it was a tangled mess. Robin’s clothes weren’t soaked but they were still moist and clinging to her skin uncomfortably. Elizabeth had offered her a maid’s outfit, but outright Robin refused.

Robin sat on the arm of a chair, swinging her bare feet lazily, her boots were drying off by her feet. She was watching Elizabeth, who paced around the room, examining the medallion no longer hanging around Robin’s neck.

“It’s curious that I had a dream about this very necklace last night and you happen to be wearing it once more.” She spoke softly, as if her father might be listening.

Robin pulled her hair back and tied it into a ponytail with the black elastic band she always kept on her right wrist for safe keeping. “What it is, is a weird coincidence.” She replied coolly.

“Is it?” Elizabeth’s voice raised, and she finally looked away from the medallion and at Robin, “I just – I have this strange feeling that something bad – something drastically terrible would happen today.”

Robin stifled a laugh at her dramatic tone, “You mean like falling a hundred feet and nearly drowning to death?”

A faint explosive noise sounded and silenced them for a moment.

“Was that canon fire?” Elizabeth blinked at the open window.

Robin sighed heavily and leaned down to grab her socks, “Of course, how could I forget.” She muttered whilst tugging her socks on before looking up at Elizabeth. To her surprise, Elizabeth Swann was nowhere in sight and the bedroom door was wide open.

“Elizabeth?”

A loud gun shot was Robin’s reply.

“Crap.” Robin hurriedly tugged her boots on and nearly tripped over her own feet getting to the door only to be faced with Elizabeth again.

“They’re right behind me!” She yelped frantically, closing the door before leaning against it. “What do we do?!”

“Um…” Robin eyed the open window before jogging towards it, “You think we could make a jump for it out the window?” Robin could faintly hear gun fire off in the distance towards the town. She glanced down the balcony to see how far the ground was. “Or we could climb down. I’ve done it before, it’s not that hard.” Robin thought back to all the times she snuck out of her mother’s house and smiled faintly before turning back to Elizabeth. “It’s your call.”

Elizabeth gawked back at Robin as she strode closer towards the window. Elizabeth peered out the window towards the ground, “After earlier today, I have a distinct fear of heights.”

Robin rolled her eyes, “You don’t have a fear of heights, you have a fear of falling.”

Elizabeth backed away and motioned towards the closet, “We should hide.”

Robin scoffed, “As if they don’t already know we’re in here!”

“They won’t if you keep your voice down.” Elizabeth hissed at her. Robin’s eyes glowed a deep blue in anger.

“They will because that” she pointed to the medallion still clutched in Elizabeth’s hand, “calls to them like a freaking dog whistle!”

Elizabeth couldn’t have looked more confused, “What an absurd thing to say, what does that even mean?”

Her questions took Robin aback before she realized what she had said. “Well, it’s gold. And isn’t that what all pirates are after? A pot of gold?”

Elizabeth quirked her brow, “No, that’s leprechauns. Pirates are after buried treasure.”

“Aye.”

The third voice made the two girls jump in surprise, their attention going to the door, which was now open. And standing in the door frame were the pirates Ragetti and Pintel.

“But this time the treasure is not so buried.” Pintel smirked at the girl’s appalled states, “Hello poppets.”

Quicker than Robin thought she was capable, Elizabeth grabbed hold of the bed pan sticking out from under her sheets and thrust it at the pirates. The blow hardly did anything until she released the hot coals onto them and they recoiled to the floor.

“C’mon!” Robin shouted to Elizabeth. The 18 year old was already straddling the balcony railing as soon as Elizabeth reached the window. “Just follow my lead.”

“I’m in a gown! How am I –”

“We don’t have time to argue!” Robin glanced over her shoulder to the ground below. “Just c’mon –!” When Robin returned her gaze to Elizabeth, to her horror, Ragetti and Pintel were behind Elizabeth, popping out of nowhere.

Pintel grabbed Elizabeth firmly, using the essence of surprise to drag her back. Elizabeth let out a horrified scream.

Robin motioned to flip her leg back over onto the balcony but Ragetti scared her still with his creepy leer. “Where you going, girly?” He sniggered, like what he said was so amusing.

Robin flipped her leg over opposite side of the balcony to put a barrier between her and the pirate. She had to admit, a gross looking man cornering her put her in a scary position.

“Not with you.” Robin said defiantly, taking a weary glance towards the ground several feet away.

Ragetti laughed, “Well o’course not. You don’t have the gold.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a pistol and pointed it directly at her face.

“Say good bye, Miss.”

Without a second thought, Robin let herself fall down just as she heard a loud bang. Her arms scraped stone as she reached out to grab the edge of the balcony. Only scraping some skin, she grabbed hold of the edge, the rest of her body dangling.

Robin let out a whimper of fright and looked up towards the balcony. Ragetti was gone, obviously not knowing his next victim didn’t fall to her death.

She cursed through clenched teeth and attempted to pull herself further up to get back on the balcony. With what little strength she had, she managed a better grip. “Elizabeth!” Robin shouted, “I need help!”

Robin swung her legs to the side, kicking at the wall and attempting to give her bottom half more leverage. It wasn’t working.

She grunted in frustration, the scrapes on her skin stung with pain, her palms sweated in fear. Robin glanced towards the ground. She cried out to the heavens, focusing her gaze to the stars. It was strange how they glinted brightly, almost happily whilst she could still hear the screaming of the town’s people.

Robin glanced towards the ground again. It was a seven or so foot drop to the flat landscape. But something pulled her gaze towards the ground and what she saw gave her the strength to shuffle her hands to pull her sideways, closer to the wall.

“Aim for the bushes.” She muttered to herself, her hands moving slowly. “Aim for the bushes.”

Once Robin was sure she was right above the bushes, she looked up to the sky and took a shaky breath.

And let go.

Screaming throughout the two second fall, Robin landed bum first into a swarm of pointy twigs and leaves. Her whole body relaxed momentarily, “Oh thank God.”

Then Robin realized her situation and hopped off the bushes, ungracefully landing on her side and made a beeline for the town. She figured Elizabeth would no longer be in the estate from the many times she’d seen the movie and instead ran around the estate towards where she was sure she’d find Will.

Robin could still hear the chaos the pirates were making, so she wasn’t surprised when she was actually able to get a good look at it.

People were shoving past her, trying to run away from the calamity going on. So many unfamiliar faces blurred by, but not a single one was familiar. Which wasn’t surprising since she’d barely spent what felt like twelve hours in the magical land of Port Royal.

“Will!” Robin attempted to shout over all the noise surrounding her. She rolled her eyes at the fact that her voice would barely be heard over two feet. “Will Turner!” Robin tried again, her eyes searching the passing faces. What she should’ve remembered, from her many times watching the movie, was to look down.

Robin’s boots collided with something soft yet firm. Her eyes widened as she glanced to her feet and saw her boot was tucked under the side of a young man’s torso. “Will!” She crouched over him, rolling him over face up. That face of his was definitely one that belonged to the handsome William Turner.

His legs jerked and Robin thought he was waking up but upon further inspection she saw that the passing people weren’t even bothering to step over the blacksmith. Robin sighed, “I’m gonna have to carry you somewhere aren’t I?” She told him. She chortled a laugh, considering William was obviously passed out and not capable of replying, but the laugh immediately receded as she maneuvered herself to pick him up from under his armpits.

Robin half carried, half dragged William to the side towards a small little shop. She had to shout many times at the passing Port Royal people to ‘get the hell out of the way’! Once Will was in the clear, she dropped him, making sure his head didn’t hit the scuffed wooden floors they were now on. Robin took a deep breath. Her adrenaline rush from the balcony was wearing away and she felt the exhaustion coming. Her cerulean eyes glanced down at Will. “I need to get you to the blacksmith.” She muttered as she stared around at her surroundings.

The people of Port Royal seemed to have run away to wherever it was they were headed and she could distinctly hear hollering coming from afar. No doubt the buccaneers of The Black Pearl. After a few minutes, soldiers would wiz by, obviously not taking any note of her or Will.

Robin continued to let her eyes wander around, taking in her surroundings until she saw something that had her grinning and shaking her head. She jogged over to the object that caught her eye and rolled it over to where William was, this time not having to shout at people along the way. The object was a wheelbarrow.

Robin needed a lot more strength than she had to lift Will into the barrow, so she again dragged him, tipping the barrow over and sliding the grown man in. She pushed onto the handles to put the wheelbarrow right side up and pushed. With a loud sigh, the wheelbarrow moved without Robin having to put too much strain on her muscles. She maneuvered the wheelbarrow in the direction of the blacksmith, which she could clearly see a few yards away. The wheelbarrow shook from the uneven ground and Robin glanced down to make sure the unconscious man was alright.

A smile formed at the corner of her mouth. William’s large body couldn’t have looked more out of place in the wheelbarrow. His legs were dangling out of the curved inside and his head rested on his shoulder. Even sleeping, he had a wrinkle of distress upon his forehead. Robin paused to move a piece of hair out of his face. After doing so her eyes caught sight of her scraped hand and arm and Robin again frowned. “How could all of this possibly be a dream?” She murmured before grasping the handles and pushing towards the blacksmith.

With a kick at the door and another shove forward, she and William were in the sanctuary that is the blacksmith. Just as she had done before, she tipped the wheelbarrow over so she could drag William Turner out and onto a flat surface. Searching around quickly, she grabbed a few cloths, folded them together and tucked them under Will’s head. After seeing him look a little more at peace, she sighed and leaned against the wall.

Glancing out the window, Robin could see a few more Port Royal militias pass by before she could get a clear view of the bright moon that shone light into the blacksmith. Her eyelids became heavy and with a last whisper of, “What am I doing here?” they fell and in doing so, Robin too fell into a deep sleep.