My first Norribeth story - so help me, I love that little wig!

When they went on that cruise on the crossing from England, Elizabeth and the rest of the people on the Dauntless didn't pass by the Princess (the ship that was burning in the first scene of CotBP). So this means... No Will! Nobody to distract Elizabeth from falling for ol' Norrie. Wait! Will is going to be in this story, but not for a while (if I do continue this at all). So don't worry, our little eunuch - heh - won't be completely left out. But what happened to him? You'll have to find out!

One more thing - this story is not like Changing Birds where I made it up as I went along, I've planned this one out for a while, so it should be better. Sort of-ish. Anyway, enough rambling. Please review afterwards! I need at least 2 reviews to get this story running.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Prologue

The Princess exploded in a huge burst of flames. The mast, having been hit with a fluke shot from the pirates, fell down, the sails on fire and the wood splintering like a newly cut tree. The young boy fled, on orders from his mother, jumping off ship and clinging for life onto a small raft of broken wood from what was once the hull of the ship.

Clutching the gold medallion to his chest, paddling slowly away from the wreckage, he held back his tears. His mother had not followed like she said she would. She was dead, either suffocated by the smoke, drowned, or burnt. Will was an orphan, his father dead, his mother dead, no siblings, no friends, no guardian, nobody. He was his own self.

He realized there was no chance that there was another ship floating by. A million to one, perhaps, and this was not one of those times, for sure. He was as good as dead.

He couldn't hold his tears any longer.

Pirates, he thought angrily, bitterly. Loathsome scum of the world. They'd probably been the ones to kill his father, now his mother. How much longer would it be that they wiped out the remaining family member? They don't need to, he told himself, I'm goin to die soon anyway, there'll be no point.

He stopped paddling, he was now far enough away not to be harmed by the burning wreckage. Clutching the medallion like it was the only thing keeping him alive, Will curled into a ball and cried.

-------------------------------------------------------------