A faint splashing made Rose slowly open her eyes. Her head pounded and she had a horrible taste in her mouth. She could not recall falling asleep, but since she just had woken up, supposedly she must have.

What had splashed? A fish maybe? It was still rather dark, but the sky had a rosy hue. Sunrise was not far off.

She felt a warm form beside her. Jack. He had nestled close, either in his sleep or before. She had meant to let him scandalize her – only a little, of course, a kiss or two perhaps – but then sleep had caught her instead. Maybe that was for the better. Now when she was sober she realized how stupid it would be to get herself involved in that sort of thing under the circumstances. It would only be awkward afterwards.

Another splash sounded, a bit closer now. It reminded her of something, but her head hurt too much to think. Had they invented aspirin in the eighteenth century? She was fairly certain they had not.

When she heard the sound a third time she finally realized what it was; rowing strokes.

She touched Jack's arm, shaking him slightly. Placing a finger over his mouth, she whispered: "Someone's coming."

His eyes popped open and he sat upright, looking alert and sharp, peering around in the twilight. If he was hungover he hid it well.

Before he had time to react further, the boat rocked as someone began to climb on board. Jack was on his feet in a second, brusquely kicking Elizabeth in passing. "Up!" he yelled, and ran to the starboard side where a man just came over the railing, a long sword between his teeth.

Jack had drawn his own sword and soon Rose heard repeated clangs and clashes from their intense fencing. Another man was coming after the first one, but Elizabeth went for him, meeting his sword with practiced ease.

Rose felt very useless and backed away to the boat's port side, but that proved a bad idea as three men climbed up from another dinghy. How many were these people?

One of them caught Rose with ease, unarmed as she was, twisting her arms behind her back. She screamed in shock and pain.

"Hello poppet. Missed me?" he purred in her ear. It was the sailor who tried to molest her before! Clearly the others were his friends. Had he come back to finish what he began?

She tried to wring herself free, but the man was much too strong and drew his gun again.

"Stop fussing."

Meanwhile, his companions crossed the deck to attack Jack and Elizabeth. Thankfully Jack had managed to push his first opponent overboard and could take on the new foe, but that relief did not last long. Rose's captor swiftly tied her arms together behind her back and went to join his friends, making Jack and Elizabeth outnumbered by two.

The deck had become a jumble of people and swords, fighting all over the place, ducking back and forth under the boom of the mast. Every so often someone bumped into Rose or stumbled over Hector. The air was filled with sounds; the clang of steel against steel, the pig's shrill squeals of pain and fright, grunts of effort from the combatants and the odd growled curse.

Just as Elizabeth struck the sword from her foe's hand and kicked him hard in the groin, Jack's first defeated man clambered back aboard, soaking wet and very angry, joining the ruckus with a murderous growl. Jack and Elizabeth had to fight two opponents each again, and Elizabeth was hard-pressed, they had driven her all the way to the stern and she was bleeding from a nick on her ear.

Would they lose? Surely they could not be defeated by these ruffians! Or?

Rose could not do anything but wait and watch, for even if she had not been bound she was no fighter. She had never felt more helpless before.

It was clear Jack was the better fencer of the men. Again he pushed one opponent overboard – who happened to be the man that had tied Rose up – and sliced his leg so badly he became immobilized. Jack jumped to Elizabeth's aid and engaged one of her antagonists while she disarmed the other with a swift underhand strike. The ruffian drew a long dagger instead and continued his assault, but with her sword she had the better reach and it was clear she gained on him.

Things were beginning to look brighter and Rose held her breath anxiously. Then she felt the Barnacle rock as yet another man climbed aboard from a new dinghy, and her stomach plummeted. Not more enemies just when they were winning!

The new man turned towards her with a grin and then she recognized him. It was Gibbs! What was he doing here? But it did not matter, they certainly could use his help.

Gibbs quickly joined Elizabeth, coming at her attacker from behind and surprising him enough to beat the dagger out of his hand. It sailed over the railing in a wide arc and disappeared under the water with a definite splash. The now unarmed man slowly raised his hands in surrender.

Only one enemy was still fighting, but Jack was driving him before his sword with an almost unnatural ease. The man was sweating profusely, defending himself with ever more desperate strikes.

"Go! Go Jack!" Rose cheered, not able to keep silent.

As the combatants came her way, Elizabeth almost daintily stuck her leg out, tripping the villain so he fell headlong onto the deck. "Yield." She pointed her sword at the man's neck.

Rose was just going to cheer at their victory when she felt a wet arm pull her back and the cold metal of a pistol touch her temple. Her captor had climbed back up! She had forgotten about him.

"Drop your weapons or the poppet gets a head shorter," he growled.

"I don't think so." Jack had drawn a gun of his own. "Unlike yours, this baby has not taken a bath." He grinned.

The man seemed to realize the truth of that and put down his useless weapon, but instead of yielding he pulled Rose in front of him, using her as a human shield. He climbed the railing, forcefully dragging Rose along, and jumped down on the dinghy below. She hit the wooden vessel hard, pain searing through her bound arms.

Jack leaned over the railing above them. "Jump Rose!" he called, pointing at the surrounding water.

She stared at him and then quickly scampered overboard. The man grabbed her shirt to stop her, but when she kept going the fabric ripped and she was free.

Just before she disappeared below the cool surface Rose heard a loud bang. Had the man's pistol worked after all? Then came a howl of pain and relief filled her – it was her captor who had been shot, not her!

Thankfully Rose still wore the men's clothes Elizabeth had bought her. With her legs unencumbered by a dress she quickly soared to the surface, but staying afloat with hands tied behind her back was difficult. She struggled with all her might, desperate not to drown a second time.

Just when she was starting to panic, Jack elegantly dived into the water, popping up next to her. Too exhausted even to thank him, Rose gratefully leaned on his strong arm as he towed her to the Barnacle, where Gibbs helped her up.

As Gibbs untied Rose, Elizabeth and Jack gathered the intruders and put them back into their dinghies. Jack bestowed them with many elaborate and inventive threats about what would happen to certain body parts of theirs if he ever saw their ugly faces again.

It was a sorry group that rowed away. Two were relatively unharmed but had lost their weapons, the third had a profusely bleeding ankle where Jack had partly damaged his hamstring and the fourth was clutching his crotch, still whimpering in pain from Elizabeth's stout boot. The fifth, he who had caught Rose, was in the worst shape. He had been leaning out from the dinghy to grab her when Jack shot him squarely in the buttocks. He would probably survive, but as Jack put it, it would be some time before he ever went after a lady again.

"A million dollar wound," said Gibbs, chuckling. "Well shot, Jack."

Rose could not hold back a spiteful grin at the man's predicament, but then she felt a twinge of worry. "Won't they come back?"

"I doubt it. I think they realized we were more than they could handle." Elizabeth looked smug.

"You were brilliant, Liz," said Rose admiringly. "The way you fenced with two men like that!"

"Hrmph." Jack frowned.

"You were not too bad either." She grinned at his hurt expression. "Alright, you were pretty amazing. Thanks for the advice, I think I was too shocked to think properly. I would never have thought of jumping out." She impulsively gave him a wet hug, which he awkwardly returned.

"So, why are you here Gibbs?" asked Elizabeth.

"I figured I was tired of farming, so I sold my house and the rest of the pigs. Your adventure sounded more interesting."

"This calls for a celebration." Jack had somehow managed to find a rum bottle in the disorganized clutter after the fight. "Welcome to the quest, Mr Gibbs!"

A/N:

I stole that 'shot in the buttocks' and calling it 'a million dollar wound' from another movie hehe. Anyone who can guess which one?

If you enjoy the story, don't forget to let me know. I love interacting with my readers. ♡

Image Credits:

Screenshot from the Pirate of the Caribbean movies.