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Author's Note: For those of you who have read this before, I've been fleshing out and editing. I hope you enjoy the expanded Love of a Dragon. I will be expanding chapter by chapter.
For new readers, I know I'm vague about Dragon's beginnings at first. It's intentional. I'll get there. BTW this is not historically accurate. If it helps history sticklers: pretend it's in a parallel universe, it might as well be for all the reality it contains anyway. I mean there are pirates, there is an ocean, there are Spartans, and ships and all, but really that's about where it ends.
Summary: [Jack/OC & Will/OC] The Black Pearl is a refuge to many seeking freedom and escape. Including Dragon who dreams of freedom above all else. Her struggle to keep her freedom will force her to battle her past, her heart, and a world that never seems to have a soft place to fall.
The Love of a Dragon
Chapter 1: Enter the Dragon
Dragon had never cared much for any part of her life in Sparta. As long as she could remember, the only thing she wanted was the one thing she couldn't get: freedom. In fact, the only things that ever cared about were those that brought her closer to freedom. As a child, Dragon liked to sneak out to play with the children in the village instead of being stuck in the palace with lessons and political functions. She loathed being generally fussed over by people who didn't know a thing about her beyond her station and weren't interested to learn either. Now, she snuck out just to roam the streets alone and gaze longingly at the horizon. None of it was enough. Dragon was staring through an invisible barrier to a world she wanted, but couldn't be a part of. She'd just run away, but she knew she'd need to put more distance between herself and Sparta than a few villages. They'd just hunt her down and bring her back. Anyone who learned who she was or recognized her would turn her back to the palace guards hoping for a reward anyway. She'd need real distance and that she couldn't get on her own. Dragon needed allies and that was something it was nearly impossible for someone like her to get.
But perhaps, tonight was the night. A quick pattern of flashing light in an alleyway off to the left of her field of vision signaled her that her old friends had returned. Glancing covertly around to make sure they were alone, Dragon threw a rope ladder down off the edge of the building and climbed down to her friend as quickly as she could. Once at her feet stood on the stone street, she made a sound like an owl in the night. When the return cry reached her ears, Dragon moved toward the alleyway. As she neared the entrance, a lovely and exotic woman with smoky chocolate skin stepped out of the shadows.
Dragon's face broke into a grin and they hugged hard and quick. "By all of Olympus, it's good to see you again old friend. Anna Maria, I got your message, is your ship here with you?"
"Aye, the Pearl is here Dragon, but don' let the Captain hear you referring to the ship as mine, or he'll shanghai us both." Anna Maria chuckled. "I told him you had a way to help us borrow some supplies from your Uncle and maybe some spoils of war?"
"I am happy to assist you all with borrowing from my Uncle's stores and the treasury, but in exchange I want a place on the ship."
"What skills do you offer?"
"Cook, healer, and I'm skilled at sea and in a fight and I'm good at fixing things."
"We could use a healer and someone who can cook for that matter. I'll talk to the Captain, but I'd say your chances are good."
"How will you let me know?"
"I'll send a message by carrier pigeon again."
"If the Captain agrees, tell him to wait three days until the Feast of Warriors and tell him to keep on his ship well away from the harbor from the next two nights while the Spartans warriors in training complete their rites of passage."
"What sort of rite of passage?"
"They sneak out of the barracks and kill a slave or foreigner and return without being detected. They're highly skilled and wouldn't balk at the idea of swimming a little towards their prey, it would only add to the sport."
Anna Maria shuddered. "Understood."
"Also, I will determine what can and what cannot be taken and my word will be final or I'll raise the alarm."
Anna Maria widened her eyes. "Do you think it wise to threaten pirates?"
"To hell with wise! My ancestor's treasures are in some of those treasure rooms and I will not have anyone making off with it." Dragon growled. "Captain Sparrow can take it or leave it."
Anna Maria smiled. "I'm quite sure he'll take it. It's not like we'd get much from here otherwise."
Dragon smiled back, showing all her teeth in an expression that had helped birth her nickname. "No, you wouldn't get anywhere near it."
Anna Maria nodded. "I'll tell the Captain and see what he says. I'll have a reply out tomorrow. Watch for it."
Dragon nodded and they hugged briefly before Anna Maria headed back to the ship and Dragon clamored up the rope ladder.
Dragon slept fitfully that night, anxious for what might lie ahead. She finally calmed herself by imagining herself on the ship, climbing the rigging, sewing sailcloth, and making stew for the crew. She fell asleep keeping watch from the crow's nest and sailed on a sea of endless stars and sky until dawn.
The next day, Dragon paced her room anxiously. She was confined to her quarters during these days when the new Spartan warriors undertook their final tests of cunning, which helped Dragon hide her agitation. She ate her meals without tasting them, she gave automatic responses to questions without realizing she spoke. By the time, the message arrived at twilight, she was in the process of wearing a trench in her stone floor. At the sound of the bird's soft cooing, she stopped her pacing and moved to the window. Carefully coaxing the bird into her hand, Dragon removed the small scroll and placed the bird in a small gold cage by her desk and closed the door. After feeding the pigeon and getting it water, she carefully unrolled the tiny parchment and read: "Captain Jack Sparrow had decided to honor your request and stipulations. Bring yourself and what possessions you can carry to the docks at sunset on the day of the Feast of Warriors and we shall await your instructions to procure supplies. Yours in friendship always, Anna Maria."
Dragon tucked the note into her tunic and smiled, excitement and nerves flooding though her. So, it was finally happening. She would get to leave Sparta and more importantly the rule of her usurper Uncle and his plans to use her to secure his throne. Dragon spent the rest of her time that night and the next day, determining what she could not bear to leave behind and what she needed for her new endeavor and packing it into two sacks. She chose a few books on healing and an old cookbook, two wooden practice swords, her mother's bronze arm band of her station and her father's sword of rule. As eldest child, she was destined to carry the sword until her younger brother, Stavros came of age or she wed. Now with her brother banished and her Uncle planning to use her to secure the throne, it was time to escape and protect the throne. Without the sword of rule, no one would be honored fully as King. This way, the throne would be kept safe for her brother. Hopefully, she would find her brother on her travels and tell him what was happening in his absence and help him reclaim the throne with his queen, Rhea.
Dragon wrote a quick reply to Anna and tied it to the pigeon's leg before releasing it. As she watched it disappear out of sight, she mused how strange it was for a woman soon to be wed to be so profoundly lonely, but under her circumstance, she supposed it made perfect sense.
Dragon dressed carefully for her escape: pants of woven flax softened, dyed dark brown and a long tunic shirt of the same material in a soft cream. Over the tunic, she wore a bodice with a deep neckline in a deep Mediterranean blue and a matching hooded cape. Fastening her comfortable boots, made waterproof with lanolin, she glanced cautiously at the door. She was usually present at the Feast of Warriors, but claiming her woman's time had come upon her for the month, she was allowed to stay in her rooms without suspicion. Still, no point being careless. Dragon slipped sheathed daggers in each boot, in her bodice up the back and down the front, up the sides, and into leather gauntlets on her forearms. She was excited to join the pirates, but had no desire to be caught unawares or to be used by anyone for any purpose outside of her own design ever again. Satisfied, she strapped a sword to her side so they wouldn't think her a naïve fool or a vulnerable one. She tucked the trappings of her royalty into a secret stone compartment in the floor under her bed and picked up her bags.
An hour before sunset, after the Festivities had begun, Dragon set out from the palace. Using the rope ladder once again, she climbed out her window and onto the nearby roof, and then from there she moved the ladder to the palace wall. There were virtually no guards and the ones on duty were all relatively drunk. Dragon shook her head sadly as she ducked behind a pillar while two guards staggered past her; the palace would never have been so ill-guarded in her father's day. But if her father still ruled, she would not be sneaking out either. There was the rub. She dodged two more patrols before she reached the city and from there it was an easy matter to sneak to the docks. Everyone in the city was celebrating and paying no attention to Dragon moving through their midst like a shark through so many sardines. She felt light on her feet and her celebratory air helped her blend in even as her face was cloaked. She went over the names Anna Maria had given her, anxious to make a good impression. She felt good being out of the palace, unconfined, unrestrained. Dragon stared up at the sky that looked like frozen flames. Soon, when darkness came, there would be only a sliver of moon in the sky. It would be perfect night for secrets and thievery and vengeance. Stealing from her uncle, Cronus, would be highly enjoyable vengeance indeed.
She stepped into an alleyway and picked up a handful of dust from the ground and patted it on her face and hands so she didn't look too clean and therefore too wealthy. The pirates mustn't suspect her origins.
Dragon felt the presence of her many blades and felt excited at being able to become a warrior and a free woman living at last on her own terms. She was so full of confidence and the words she would speak to secure a place on the ship as long as she wanted it. She imagined herself speaking to a middle aged man, roughish, but fair, a sort of fatherly figure to the ship of men who wanted to live without rules they weren't a part of making. She would be cool and sure of tongue and movement and he would be impressed with her confidence. Nevertheless, when she met the captain of her new home, she was unprepared for her reaction to him.
As the city's business disappeared behind her, she ceased her musings about her new Captain and focused her full attention on her surroundings. Sensing no danger, she moved forward cautiously and quietly to the docks where she had agreed to meet Anna Maria and the Captain of the Black Pearl.
When Dragon reached the end of the deserted dock, her senses picked up on several figures sitting around playing at cards at the end of the pier where she agreed to meet Anna Maria. The smell of rum and salt water and rotting dock planking filled her nostrils and as she got closer something else, something spicy and exotic. Her skin began to hum. Dragon called out the owl's cry and found its reply coming from the card playing gathering. She moved closer and they stood, illuminated warmly in the glowing sunset, Anna Maria, and two men with caramel skin and black hair she did not know. One of the men had long, wavy hair and was dressed similarly to Anna Maria, black pants, boots, a white shirt, bound at the waist with a belt and dark eyes. The second was clearly the Captain. He wore a cornered hat and a long sweeping collared coat, over pants and a white shirt cinched with a red and white striped sash and two overlapping belts holstering a pistol, and a long curved saber. Though his clothes were frayed and well-worn, they bore the unmistakable mark of a man used to calling the shots. His black hair hung in long twisted dreadlocks around his head and small beads and glittering gold trinkets hung from in his hair and beard. Black kohl rimmed his dark eyes, full of danger and mischief and predatory, like a wolf's gaze.
When Anna Maria introduced Dragon to Captain Jack Sparrow, suffice to say that her blood lit up like a ship covered with kerosene. She smiled and stared too much, but she managed to hold her ground, gazing freely, much to his delight.
"Good evening, my dear. I am Captain Jack Sparrow of The Black Pearl and you are?" He asked, his voice rolling out around her like his intoxicating scent.
"My friends call me Dragon, I think that's enough for us don't you?" Dragon replied, trying to sound more saucy than breathy.
"Aye, it's more than enough for the likes of us. On my ship, you will be known as Dragon. This is Thomas," he indicated the other man, "And I believe you already know Anna Maria."
"Yes I do sir. Then you accept my offer?" Dragon replied cautiously.
"Welcome aboard." He replied gesturing to the Black Pearl. Dragon stared at the beautiful lines and sleek, yet powerful figure she cut in the water. The Pearl was gilt with the fading light of the sun, laden with the lucrative and tantalizing promises of the unknown. It was love at first sight.
Dragon wiped some of the grit from her face, as if to make a better first impression. She tucked her stray, matted hair behind her ears and tucked her tattered shirt into her pants that had enough holes to argue their ability to be called pants anymore. "She's beautiful." Dragon murmured breathlessly. "What's her name?"
"The Black Pearl" the Captain replied. He was so enthralled himself, he was almost completely oblivious to her unusual reaction. Almost. "We best get back to her, to make plans for this evening."
"Yes. Let's go get her." Dragon replied, a ravenous fire in her eyes. She took Jack's hand to get into the long boat tied to the pier and sat down, compensating for the motion of the boat automatically as only one accustomed to the sea could do. Her eyes never left The Pearl.
Anna Maria was surprised when the captain offered to help Dragon on to the boat and she was even more surprised Dragon not only allowed it, but also didn't even notice the gesture. Dragon seemed to be in a trance, utterly mesmerized by The Pearl.
When they reached the side of the ship, Jack climbed up the side first and onto the Pearl, but to Anna Maria's further shock, he helped Dragon up the side and over the railing. He then proceeded to show her the ship, like a Commodore giving a tour to foreign dignitaries.
Jack was surprised at his own behavior, but something about Dragon's bearing and her obvious love at first sight for his beloved ship, made him feel like he should reveal his ship to her in a manner that encouraged savoring as she seemed wont to do. Dragon's quarters were comfortable as she would be the ship's doctor and the quarters attached to the infirmary had been designed for a more corpulent person than she. They weren't larger than Jack's of course, but larger than Anna Maria's and they were the only three with private quarters.
"Dragon, Anna Maria assures me you will handle both the duties of ship's doctor and cook while on board my ship." Jack looked at her amused, but assessing her.
Dragon nodded, smiling and full of her infatuation with the Pearl. "I would be happy to Captain."
"I think you'll do nicely."
Dragon put her things in her room, removing a map and a key from her bag and then closing the door. Jack handed her a small key to her room.
"Only you, Anna, and I have locked rooms and I have keys to all of them. Captain's prerogative," he replied to her raised eye brow. "I promise not to enter uninvited except in case of dire emergency."
"Good," Dragon replied, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Now come to my quarters, we have business to discuss." He gestured to the door back out onto the ship and Dragon followed. Anna Maria, Thomas, and Mr. Gibbs followed with three others to the captain's comfortable quarters. They sat around the large table and began to plan out their plundering of Cronus's treasury.
Dragon, rolled out the floor plan of the city and palace. "We will enter the way merchant ships do. One small team of five will come with me to the treasury, the rest will steal anything you have of use from the store houses." She slid a small piece of paper across the table. "These are the symbols for food, medical supplies, and other raw supplies. You'll want to grab sufficient amounts of any of these to restock the ship and to sell. Anna Maria has been shown where silks and so forth are stored, so she should go with the team raiding the storehouse. Captain, I trust you'll know best who should come with me to the treasury."
Jack smiled wickedly. "Yes, I do. You, me, Thomas, Johns, and Marty. We'll sneak in and then we shall leave it to your discretion what to take."
Dragon, held his eyes. "Thank you Captain. I have personal grievances with Cronus. I will our thievery to hurt him and not the true king."
"So this is a vengeance gig?" Gibbs cut in.
"Does it matter? Isn't that how you regained the Pearl?" Dragon pointed out. "Cronus committed unspeakable acts against my family. The true King was quite kind to us. It's not all that complicated really."
Jack nodded, knowing she was holding much back, but feeling inexplicably like she would not betray them. He reminded himself that he mustn't make assumptions based on her obvious feelings for his ship.
"Let's get underway."
An hour or so later, the Black Pearl was gliding towards the store houses. Anna Maria and Dragon went out ahead on long boats to open the doors. The Pearl slid inside and the crew disembarked and began, under Anna Maria's steel gaze to load the ship.
"Take some of everything, but not so much, we'll be easily caught." She ordered.
Dragon waited by the door into the palace, her key in hand. Jack, Thomas, Johns, and Marty came up to her quickly and followed her into the palace. "I'll go first, just follow me and keep quiet," She ordered. She couldn't help it. Here in her palace, she was queen to be.
They encountered no guards until they reached the treasure vaults. There, Dragon saw six guards on duty. She motioned them to stop and whispered. "I'm going to take care of these guards. Just stay here or you'll blow this." Dragon pulled a large bottle of wine she had doctored out of a bag she had slung over her shoulder and moved ahead, with her cloak hiding her simple clothes.
Praying the guards wouldn't address her formally and give her away, she moved up to them, swaying her hips. "I bring wine from the party above my fine warriors!" She greeted. She knew these men well enough, Cronus's men all. It made the moment that much sweeter. "Lady Dragon! Wine, you spoil us!"
"Not at all. Let's drink a toast to our newest additions to the rank of warrior!" She grinned broadly and pretended to take a deep swig before passing it around. Within a matter of minutes, they all slumped over.
Dragon, went around the corner and gestured for them to follow her. Jack looked at her curiously.
"My father was among their ranks." She explained. "They were fools to drink on duty. Cronus will punish them, but they're his loyal men anyway." Dragon didn't add that she hardly cared because of that. "I'll unlock the treasury used for Cronus's plunder, follow me."
She unlocked one of the gold painted doors and let them into a room floor to ceiling with gold. They all started to goggle, but Dragon, nudged them inside. She looked the treasure over carefully and noted, with much relief, that there was nothing in here that meant much to her or anyone else. This was Turkish treasure mostly and she liked Turks about as much as she liked Cronus. "Take whatever you want from in here and let's hurry incase a relief guard is coming."
The pirates cheerfully raided the room, Dragon included and when their bags were as full as they could carry, Thomas, Jack, and Johns took their bags to the ship and came back for a second load. When they returned for a second time, Dragon and Marty left with them. Dragon sealed the treasure room back up and followed them. The guards still slept soundly. Smiling, she headed back to the ship. Jack was giving orders to get underway and Dragon handed her treasure sack to Pintell to take onboard. All the torches were re-extinguished. Then using ropes and a pulley system already in place in the slip, they gently pushed the Black Pearl out of the storehouse and to the open sea. Dragon hurried to help everyone on board until it was just her and Anna Maria pushing the ropes. When the Pearl was out of the slip, Dragon and Anna Maria closed the doors and slipped out the side door, locking it. The Pearl was starting to get under way, and sailing just parallel to them, but about twelve feet from them. Dragon and Anna Maria looked at each other and grinned. They moved back several paces and then ran as fast as they could to the end of the ledge and leapt, arms and legs out to catch the rigging. Dragon, felt the ropes start to slid under her hand and grabbed a hold. Once Dragon had a hand and foot in she turned to look for Anna Maria. Anna Marie, was barely holding on. Dragon moved across to Anna Maria like a lemur. Reaching down, Dragon grabbed Anna's belt and pulled her up and closer to her.
"Hold on there, Anna Maria, I've got you." Dragon called to her. "You used to be so good at that."
Anna Maria laughed, exhausted. "It's been a long time since I've done that. Thanks."
They moved down the rigging carefully. The crew looked rather impressed by the time they reached the bottom. Dragon looked around and chuckled. "You weren't joking about not having done that in awhile."
Jack had Gibbs take the wheel and swaggered over to them. "Well young Dragon, you and Anna Maria have developed and excellent rapport rather quickly for two women who just met a few days ago."
"It's a female thing sir," Dragon replied. "Being the only two on this ship bonded us rather quickly."
Jack nodded slowly. "Yes, well I hope you'll show such daring and attention to detail in all our endeavors Dragon. Well done."
"I will sir. But you should know. If Cronus was not ruling Sparta, we would never have been able to pull that off even with my help."
"Never the less your help was invaluable and you saved Anna Maria from falling off the rigging. I am appreciative. Why don't you head below and help secure the supplies, so you can determine what you need to make breakfast?"
"Aye sir." Dragon replied, grinning.
She'd done it. She'd secured her freedom, gotten a little revenge, and endeared herself to her new Captain and crew. She was on her way now.