My Treasure (Norman Reedus Pirate)

Twelve: The Camp of Savages

I glanced around at my men. We were on the island, ready to face it. My walking stick in one hand and my sword in another. I narrowed my eyes at the enormous island, and felt my side ache.

Isabelle's in there.

I hated the idea of it. I glanced over my shoulder at my crew. Only three men stayed on the ship, while I had about a dozen men with me. Isabelle took the other dozen. I could only pray that they made it to the peaceful tribe and the tribe just told them to stay the night to be safe.

"Captain, what do we do?" Jacob asked.

"We get to the peaceful tribe. We'll find them there." I declared, sounding a little too confident.

"But sir, what if they aren't there?" Jacob said, giving a good point.

"They'll be there." I countered. They had to be there.

Jacob didn't say another word, and I silently led my men into the dark, dangerous jungle.

Isabelle:

I woke up in a tight, cramped ball. I glanced around, finding myself in a cave of some sort. It smelt awful, and the space was cramped. I couldn't stand fully upright, he'll I couldn't even crouch. The only way to move was by crawling on my hands and knees. There was a light to my left, so I turned my gaze towards it. It was an extremely narrow entrance. I could make out the flicker of a torch, and the sound of laughter and foreign rambling words. I felt chills go down my spine as I saw people's feet passing.

Suddenly, one of the pairs of feet stopped in front of my tiny cave. The person crouched down and peeked into the cave. He had bronze skin, like Jack had said, and there were white stripes on his cheeks and above his eyebrows. His short black hair was a tangled mess. I scooted away, instantly not liking of the man. He smiled wickedly at me, and showed off his yellowed teeth.

Suddenly, there was loud gibberish, and it appeared to be calling the man over. Because he got back up, and walked away. I sighed, and curled up again.

Norman. I'm so sorry. I failed you.

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I was awoken from my fragile slumber by someone shouting nonsense at me. I looked up at them, scared. This time, two men were standing there, each holding what looked like knives. My eyes went wide, and I scooted as far back as I could. One of the men dropped their machete and crammed into the cave. I screamed and struggled to stay away. He grabbed my forearm, and practically dragged me out. Rocks and stones dug into my skin, giving me bruises and scratches all up my arms and. The man led me out of the cave, and held me still. The other man came up to me, wielding a knife. I whimpered, terrified that they were going to execute me right then and there. But it didn't happen. Instead, he grabbed ahold of my shirt, and ripped it by its seams. The shirt fell in tatters on the ground, and then he used the knife to slice my pants off. Now I was naked before them. But their intentions were different than I suspected.

Suddenly, there were shouts. I glanced in the diction of the shouts, amazed to see Jack racing away, his hands bound by rope in front of him. Several cannibals gave chase, and followed him into the dark undergrowth. Then, all was silent. The cannibals grunted, and continued thrusting me deeper into their camp.

The sky was a deep shade of indigo when I was taken out. I glanced around at their camp. It wasn't that enormous, but it also wasn't small. About ten huts were set up, and people were watching my progress with intense anticipation. The clearing had grey stone floors, and there were  torches set up around the camp. In the center of the camp was a large, flat stone with dried blood on it. There were banana leaves underneath it, I believed they were to soak up blood. There was also a large fire nearby, with several people dancing around it. The cannibals led me over towards a large, flat boulder, and started shouting gibberish. Another man came up, this one wielding a big, bloodied axe. I whimpered, and was lifted up. The second I was off the ground, I started withering around, trying to break out of their grasp. They growled, and pinned me onto the stone. I felt a rope being tied around each of my wrists, and soon my feet, too, were bound. I continued struggling, feeling everyone's eyes on me. I glanced at the axe bearer, trembling violently. He was cleaning off his axe, eyeing me. He licked his lips as he watched me wriggling around on the stone, desperate to live another day.

Then, the axe was clean. The man walked over to my head, and held the axe blade over my throat, I let out a scream, hoping that Jack was getting the blue cannibal tribe to help me. Or maybe he was acting like a monkey and was about to throw coconuts at the cannibal. Except, there were no coconuts.

The axe man held the axe over his head, and looked like he was ready to bring it down onto my neck and behead me. I sobbed, and slammed my eyes shut. I didn't want to see him kill me.

Norman, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. I've failed you.

Suddenly, there was a loud BANG, and I heard a dropping beside me. I glanced down, astonished to see a bullet wound in the man's chest. I glanced around frantically, just as white men charged through the trees with swords. I noticed one of them was hobbling on a walking stick, glancing around frantically. Just as his eyes landed on me, a cannibal rushed up to him, wielding a knife. The pirate withdrew his own, which had a familiar gold handle. The cannibal brought the knife down, just as the pirate brought his up. As soon as their blades clashed, there was a sudden burst from the fire. It bathed both of them in an orange light, and I recognized the pirate.

Norman shoved the cannibal's knife away, and stabbed him in the torso. The cannibal let out a gurgled cry, and fell when he ripped the knife out. He then hobbled towards me, lifting his sword. When he was beside me, he cut the ropes away. As soon as I was free, I was clinging to him, my face buried in his chest. One of his arms went around my waist, while his cheek rested on the top of my head. I sobbed, feeling the gold skull necklace pressing against my forehead.

Finally, Norman let me go and dragged me down to the ground. "Stay here." He ordered. I nodded, tears continuing to dribble out of my eyes. He gently wiped them away with his thumb, and gave my forehead a kiss. "I'll be back." But first, he quickly ripped his coat off and offered it to me. I took it, and and then he was off. Hobbling on his stick across the camp. I watched as two cannibals reached him, both wielding knives. They both stabbed as Norman simultaneously. Norman expertly ducked out of their range, and sliced at both of them with his much longer sword. He got them both in the throat, just as I noticed a third cannibal in the bushes, aiming at dart at Norman!

"Norman! The bushes!" I cried, desperate to warn him. Norman's attention immediately turned to the cannibal, and he jumped towards a hut. When he landed, I noticed that he winced, and clutched his side. His side! I had forgotten momentarily about Norman's wound! And here he was, fighting cannibals like everything was ok. Once he recovered, he pulled something out of his belt, and aimed a gold plated gun at the dart-cannibal. He fired, creating a loud bang. The cannibal fell, and Norman quickly started loading the gun again. I glanced around the battle, surprised that we had the upper hand. Throats were being slashed, and bodies were dropping to the ground.

Suddenly, one of the cannibals let out a call. And just like magic, the others fell back, running into the jungle behind their leader. The pirates glanced around, and Norman staggered to his feet. He lifted his sword above his head, and glanced around the camp.

"We're victorious!" He roared, causing a roar from the crowd. I smiled, and got to my feet, letting out a victorious cry as well. Norman smiled slightly at me, before I noticed his knees shaking. He started swaying, and he dropped his sword. He leaned heavily against the stick, and I quickly made my way over to him.

"Norman? Are you ok?" I asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. He nodded, right before collapsing onto the soft ground. I let out a scream, kneeling beside him. I rolled him onto his back, and opened his shirt. I inspected his wound, and felt upset when I saw that it was bleeding again. The crew had gathered around me, watching anxiously if their captain was alright or not.

"We need to get him to the other group." I heard Jack say. I whipped around, surprised and pleased that Jack was alive and well.

"Alright. Let's go then." I ordered. Two pirates bent down, and lifted Norman's body up. Then, with me in the lead, we headed down the path, towards the blue circle.