Author's note: My thanks to all my reviewers. Lyn, welcome and thank you. (As to Mallory's survival you'll just have to keep reading :)
I meant to note on the previous chapter while historically everything that happened w/ Captain Kidd would technically belong in 1696 for story chronology purposes I'm pretending it occurred in 1694. (Hey if Braveheart can get away with having Mel getting a four year old pregnant I should be able to get a way with a couple of measly years, right? The author listens carefully and hears only the 17 year cicadas.) In reality Kidd sailed in Sept 1696, returned in Nov 1698, and was quite probably the only English captain ever sentenced to death for killing a common seaman actively engaged in a mutiny in 1701. If I tweak the timeline a bit with 1694 as the start, Dec 1696 for the capture, and 1699 for the execution it all falls nicely into place. Neither Mallory nor Jack is in any position to help their old friend since Sparrow lost the Pearl (for my purposes) in Dec 1696. By 1698 when Mallory at least could help Kidd would be out of his reach in London. Kidd's trial was a seventeenth century sensation to match the OJ trial a few years ago complete with royal scandals, noble intrigues, and an accused who kept insisting no matter what evidence was presented that HE WAS NOT A PIRATE!! (Speaking of evidence the Admiralty hid some that would have cast doubt on his conviction and might have even cleared him.) This would nicely account for Elizabeth's passion for pirates in 1699 since everyone was still talking about the trial and if they came from London they would have sailed right past Kidd's body on display in its cage.
DH: Double yay for reviews!!
Historical Note: see above and bottom Blood of Avalon Chapter 6: A Villain and a Hero"Who'd get around te what?" Jack asked before picking up one of the assorted items that were raining down at Mallory. "Thank you" he muttered to no one "been looking for this."
Mallory answered while catching a bottle and nimbly dodging a rock "Pearl is less than best pleased with me."
"Don't" he snapped "those are" glass scattered across the decking as he managed to catch only four out of five "breakable" he finished. "It really wasn't my fault, lass. I wasn't given a choice in the matter."
"Choice in what?" Jack asked the flickering of the ship's lanterns casting strange shadows on his face.
"Leaving Pearl to Barbossa" Mallory replied as he continued his strange dance, catching some items midair and merely avoiding others. "Please, Pearl" he implored "Do you think this was ever what I wanted?" He raised his eyes cautiously as the assault ceased.
Elizabeth frowned "The Pearl is Jack's ship, right?"
"Always" Mallory replied with utter conviction.
"And he's the one that lost her to Barbossa? And forced you to agree that he would get her back without your help?"
Jack looked distinctly displeased at the reminder
"Yes" Mallory was still watching warily.
"Then why is she angry with you?" Elizabeth asked looking both confused and still angry herself.
Mallory sighed "Milady, if Cennan had gone to your father and demanded that he, and he alone, would rescue you and then took nearly ten years to accomplish said rescue what would have to say to your father when you next met?"
"Nothing pleasant" Elizabeth allowed with a hint of a smile.
"In that you and Pearl are, I assure you, in complete accord" Mallory replied and winced "That's not fair." He shook his head "You don't understand." A pause "Think what you like, then" in defeat.
"What is all this stuff?" she asked picking up what could only be the walking stick/bow that he had used to save my father.
"All the items I never had an opportunity to retrieve plus some of the ballast out of the hold" he replied with a rueful glance at the broken glass. He used the edge of a tray to brush the glass over the side and was about to sit when Anna-Maria marched over and slapped him.
"Sparrow's over there" he said pointing to Jack helpfully. She cracked him across the other cheek in reply. Jack's eyebrows went up and he grinned merrily. Seeing someone else getting slapped must be a pleasant change of pace.
"What was that for?" Mallory asked coldly. Apparently he didn't take getting slapped with the same resignation as Jack. Jack straightened up, smile fading, and tried to catch Anna-Maria's eye.
"You took me home!" she hissed back "I thought I could trust you."
"You're lucky I didn't turn you over my knee to boot. You were a spoiled brat when you were fourteen and you're still a spoiled brat now." This time he caught her hand "You raise your hand to me again Miss Baldran." Elizabeth gasped at the name which meant absolutely nothing to me "and a broken arm will be the gentlest reply you can expect."
Anna-Maria tilted her chin up proudly "Ye don't know what it's like te be smothered by a father that thinks ye're made o glass."
Mallory's response was the bitterest excuse for a laugh I've ever heard.
"Given that every interaction I've ever had with my sire was calculated to break either body or soul, no, Miss, I don't know. I don't have a clue what it's like to have parents who want only the absolute best for their children. Who consider their child as something other than either a rival or a tool." Mallory rebutted in a tone icier than any winter day I could remember. "What I do know is that man who could once have summoned a thousand of the Brethren of the Coast came to me on the edge of tears because he couldn't save his little girl from the mess she'd willingly leapt into. If it wasn't for the affection I had for your parents I would quite cheerfully have left you to sort it out on your own. And I can guarantee if I had you wouldn't be alive right now. I took you where you were too stupid to realize you belonged." He took a step back and gave her the same 'something unpleasant from under a rock' look he'd given the hinges all those years ago. "You still don't have the slightest notion what kind of trouble you were in or the ramifications to your father's position. All poor little Miss Baldran and not a thought in your head for anyone else" he spat on the deck at her feet.
Anna-Maria tossed her head even higher.
"Don't tempt me to summon a rain cloud. You're likely to drown." Mallory's voice had more lacerating edges than the glass he'd just swept into the sea.
"If you think" she started to wave a finger under his nose but Jack caught her arms. She shrugged him off and slapped him "You keep your hands off me, Jack Sparrow."
"Captain Jack Sparrow" he reminded her in a surprisingly stern tone "ye've duties te attend, now." He'd maneuvered himself between Anna-Maria and Mallory. I didn't know this man. This was the Mallory that frightened my father and Gibbs. The one I hadn't really seen the least indication of in the three months we'd spent together. Mallory took another step back at least willing to let the matter lie but Anna-Maria continued over Jack's shoulder "That I'm going to go crawling back to my father begging forgiveness you're as daft as Jack always claimed you where."
"Oh, you're far too late for that Miss Baldran" Mallory riposted.
Both she and Jack paused "What do ye mean by that?" Jack asked quietly.
"Your father died in 1704" he replied in the same cold, high handed tone making no attempt to soften the blow.
Jack reacted first "Not Lorencillo" he scoffed. And then you could see acceptance in his eyes and he blinked hard before producing a bottle of rum.
"Gents, and ladies" he said with a nod to Elizabeth "A toast te the finest bloody pirate te ever sail the Caribbean, God rest his soul. To De Griffe" he took a long pull and passed it to Anna-Maria who gulped numbly and, surprisingly, passed it to Mallory who took a sip before handing it to my father.
I didn't know the name Baldran but no one lived in the Caribbean long without hearing the name De Griffe. De Griffe – the mulatto slave who had become not just a pirate Captain or even a Commodor, but the closest thing the pirates had to an Admiral. A man even his enemies spoke of with respect and awe. He even eventually stopped being a pirate and became a Sieur, a knight, of France and the Lieutenant du Roi. Then abruptly he laid down his sword, left the sea, and retired to his sugar plantation with his mad Breton wife and their daughters in 1699. If Anna-Maria was a couple of years older than Elizabeth and I the timing would be right for Anna-Maria to be the cause of his mysterious withdraw. I gave Anna-Maria another look and decided she must have her mother's temper. Stories about De Griffe always grew bigger with the telling. I'd never believed the one about his wife. According to the tales in 1684 when De Griffe was in port celebrating one of his many victories he had made a less than genteel comment about a woman walking past. Enraged Marie-Anne Dieu-le-Veut had pulled a pistol and cutlass on the pirate king and his men and demanded an apology. Impressed with her courage he offered to marry her instead. The next day when she came down the aisle instead of a fan and parasol she had a bandoleer of pistols and cutlass to accent her wedding gown. Apparently the courage De Griffe had so prized in his wife had been unwelcome in his daughter. I put my hand on Elizabeth's and prayed that we'd have better fortune with our daughter than Mallory and De Griffe had with their children. Mallory had been too lax, De Griffe too restrictive. I felt a flutter of fear that such otherwise competent men had failed.
It was a much more subdued Anna-Maria who asked "Et ma mere?"
"If you want to see your mother alive you will go back to Cap Francois, very soon."
"You can't do anything for her then?" Jack asked.
Mallory shook his head "I can't turn back the hands of time and" there was a profound weariness in his sigh "some diseases I can heal easily, some with difficulty, and some I actually make worse. There isn't a thing I can do for Marie but kill her quicker. "
Anna-Maria turned to go but Jack grabbed her arm and tucked her into his chest. So, Elizabeth was right. I hoped, probably in vain, that she'd have forgotten that particular argument.
She pushed him away "Not in front o the crew."
"Bugger'em" Jack rebutted "Let 'em find their own strumpets."
She slapped him gently "Watch yer tongue, Captain Jack Sparrow." She pushed away "I've duties te attend te."
"They can wait luv."
"I'd rather be busy."
He stepped aside, turned to Mallory the instant she was out of earshot, and snapped "Ye might have been kinder."
"Marie doesn't have enough time for me to be kind" he replied as he returned to that earlier coolly formal tone.
Jack stiffened and then flipped open his compass and shouted some orders before turning back "Nice te know ye weren't really going te break her arm."
"I don't make idle threats, Sparrow, and you know it."
Governor Swann cleared his throat nervously before squeaking "That isn't a terribly gentlemanly way to treat a lady."
"Ah, the good Governor always so concerned with propriety" Governor Swann backed all the way up against the rail as Mallory's attention turned to him "so concerned, in fact, that you were willing to shoot a man for the horrible crime of saving your daughter's life. Your gratitude, Sir, leaves a great deal to be desired. And I hardly think that a man who made his fortune through embezzlement and graft has any business condemning pirates."
The Governor's mouth just worked while Jack appraised him with what appeared to be admiration, Elizabeth looked aghast, and my father gave me a 'told ye so' glance. So much for Mallory's help in smoothing over things between my father and father-in-law.
"You couldn't possibly have proof" he finally sputtered.
"I have more proof than you had about Captain Jack Sparrow. Bound by the law, indeed" he scoffed "You could have let Sparrow off in at least three different ways without even raising an eyebrow back in London. You wanted Captain Sparrow on those gallows and I must confess I wonder why but know this Governor Swann when you had Sparrow on those gallows I crafted a series of curses. Those against your daughter and Cennan, Zander, and the Pearl's current crew I allowed to dissipate uncast. But not the ones against you and they hang over you like a sword. Should Captain Jack Sparrow come to the least harm because of you when death finally claims you you will embrace it like a lover." His eyes were cat-slitted and glowing, not just catching and reflecting light but glittering with their own malevolence.
Governor Swann's eyes rolled back up in his head and he vanished backwards over the rail in a faint.
"So that's where she gets in from" Jack commented as Elizabeth flew to the rail and a wave rolled a soggy, sputtering Governor Swann back over the rail.
"As to my lack of chivalry" Mallory continued as if the interruption had never occurred and the Governor left puddles on the deck "Anna-Maria has demanded to be treated as one of the men. I'm just giving the lady what she requested."
"You had no right" Elizabeth snapped as she stepped between Mallory and her father. I started to rise but Jack pushed me back down. He was right. There was no anger directed at Elizabeth, amusement maybe, but no anger.
"No right? On the contrary, milady, I have every right. By the Brehon treaty the right to live upon the British Isles was ceded to humans while the Ellyllon moved permanently into the Cynfyd. We were, I assure you, NOT conquered. And we retained the right to rule all of our former Outland territories. Not desiring to be forever entangled in your petty disputes House Rigion was appointed to rule as stewards in our stead. Anyone who claims a throne in Scotland, Ireland, England, Wales, Brittany without Rigion blood is a usurper. And there hasn't been a Rigion on any of those thrones since the last one fell on the field of Camlan in 517." He paused and looked at her expectantly.
"Camlan?" her eyes widened "You can't mean Arthur?"
"Wisdom, in her six-pillared hall, would be impressed with milady" it wasn't quite flirting and it wasn't quite flattery. I was at a loss as to what to call his manner with her. Elizabeth's eyes narrowed clearly not as easily charmed or trusting as earlier. "Artorius Rex, actually if you wish to be completely accurate."
"So he really does sleep in Avalon, waiting to return" you could hear the excitement in her voice. Elizabeth and her heroes, you would think having discovered that pirates weren't what she thought she'd have pulled her head out of the clouds.
"Anoeth byd beddi Artorius – the grave of Arthur is a mystery. Or at least that is the folk wisdom" he sighed "It is my cheerless duty to inform you that the sleep of Arthur in Avalon is the sleep of the dead. He rests in his father, Myrddin Emrys', tomb on the Tewi Stryd, the Silent Street."
"But Uther was Athur's father" she protested.
"As milady knows, tales often told change in the telling. I have stood before my cousin's sepulcher and he was indeed the son of 'Merlin' whose true name was Emrys ap Weldig Prince of Avalon, and a lady of the Rigion."
"And Excalibur?"
"Caladrwlch" Mallory replied.
"What?"
"The name Excalibur is the invention of some troubadour who didn't care for the sword's real name – Calarwlch."
I could empathize with the minstrel.
"But we're roving too far a field, milady, fascinating though the topic may be. My point was in the absence of either a Rigion King or the King of Avalon by Blood right I hold ultimate authority over all those who have any allegiance to the British Isles. Given the circumstances I am hardly in a position, nor in truth, do I wish to deal with every dishonest, petty bureaucrat I encounter" oh, but the Governor didn't care for that "but when a man who has sworn to uphold both law and justice then uses his position against my kin"
"I hate te interrupt" Jack broke in "but I'm beginning te get the impression She doesn't have me best interests in mind."
Governor Swann glanced up, saw the Sea above him just outside the rail, and promptly fainted again. His wig went askew as he slumped backward and covered his face.
"Boddhain sefyll" Mallory requested. I never would have believed water could glare. She vanished.
"Why is She so angry with me?" Jack asked in confusion.
"Her opinion of you took a severe downward turn in San Juan de Ulua and hasn't ever really been the same since."
Jack put a hand on Mallory's chest "Sorry about that."
Mallory shrugged nonchalantly but he took a step backward as well "No lasting harm done, Sparrow. I recovered long before you did. At least it wasn't a complete loss we found out you aren't magically defenseless. You don't know how it worried me, Sparrow, that a mardaeth or a cythraul, or a score of the King's guard, or, Dragons forbid, a difaenaid would find you while they were hunting me."
"Don't tell me you're glad I nearly killed you."
"I confess I would have preferred that you had chosen a different target particularly with that move. It is one of the more lethal ones in my repertoire. There aren't many, even among the more powerful cyfae, capable of surviving it." He was still detachedly polite. I had crept up to the Governor's mansion once to spy on Elizabeth and the other rich kids with their tutor, the tone was the same. I had yet to see the slightest trace of the laughing eyes I remembered so well.
Mallory continued "The aberath I forged aboard the Dominant is fading rapidly and you are coming into your own full strength. It will not be much longer ere the King of Avalon realizes you survived."
Jack, Elizabeth, and I all frowned. He hadn't said 'discovers you exist' but 'realizes you survived' which could only mean at some point the King of Avalon had known about Jack. It was frustrating. Even when we were given information it only created more questions. Why would the King have thought Jack was dead? Where did Jack come from? And if I was curious it had to be a torment to Jack to be so close to answers and not have them. Speaking of answers I was willing to bet that mysterious journal of his had to have quite a few. Elizabeth's eyes narrowed and I followed her gaze to Mallory's chest. Apparently we were starting to think alike. I could see the wheels turning just lying here. Somehow I didn't think he would find the theft of his diary amusing though Elizabeth would certainly consider it an appropriate revenge. I made a mental note to have Jack present when it happened and when Mallory found out.
Mallory was still speaking "Now that you are Captain of the Black Pearl again, no magical creature, myself included, can come aboard without your express permission."
"O course, you" Jack began only to be instantly cut off by Mallory.
"Don't" he snapped angrily "don't give me carte blanche. Don't trust me either, it isn't safe."
"Ye teach me everything I know worth knowing, ye build me the best ship on the sea, I nearly kill you and you nearly die for me and I'm not te trust ye? I know I'm an ungrateful sot but when a man gets every bone in his body broken for ye it tends te make ye think he might have yer best interests in mind."
"198 actually, they missed 10, though there were actually 397 individual breaks. Someone apparently took a profound dislike to my left humerus. I had no idea it could be broken 23 times. It was quite a challenge to restore, particularly since the pieces became so badly displaced when Gibbs and Norrington heaved me over the rail."
'How in God's name could anyone talk so dispassionately about being battered into a pulp?' I marveled to myself.
Elizabeth, Jack, and Gibbs all started to speak at once but it was Gibbs that caught Mallory's attention.
He swallowed and straightened "I'm right sorry for that, that I sent ye living over the rail."
"Why should you be sorry? That was, in fact, the plan from the beginning" he paused "well actually you weren't supposed to notice that I was alive but then you assumed I drowned so it all worked out in the end. At least for the aberath" he gave Gibbs another of his sweeping bows "but you have both my immeasurable regrets and my profound apologies for what followed. I gravely miscalculated Bledri's response and the Dominant's crew paid the price. I am sorry that I couldn't save more than a handful of you and that you have spent eight years thinking you killed me. Which reminds me" he pulled something off his finger and tossed it to Gibbs.
Gibbs caught the ring and slipped it back on his own finger shaking his head. "I stand aside and watch all that and ye apologize te me?"
"You did, Mr. Gibbs, exactly what I wanted you to do. Well except for being guilt ridden, though you became a somewhat loyal friend to Sparrow because of it. Did you have to sail off without him at Isla de Muerta? I could live another eight hundred odd years quite contentedly without ever needing to see Sparrow on yet another scaffold."
'How often has Jack ended up on the gallows without actually being hung?' I wondered and 'how long do Penthalions live? And how old was Mallory anyway?'
"If it wasn't impossible for one of my kind he'd have turned me gray years ago" Mallory muttered.
I'd never actually considered before what it had to be like to be Jack's father, good God what a nightmare! Are Elven princes were eligible for sainthood? Because Jack's survival had to be both a miracle of biblical proportions and a testament to Mallory's depth of patience. I like Jack. I really, truly do. I risked my life to get him off that scaffold and I'd do it again. He is a good man and, in all honesty, he is, well, fun, and mad, and brilliant but to be responsible for him?! Forget the seventy-seven years in the oubliette – Jack should have driven Mallory mad just by being Jack.
"So ye never actually intended te die?" Jack asked with an odd intensity.
"Not then, no."
Again that flicker of worry in Jack's eyes. The same one as when he'd learned he really did hear the Wind. I wondered what the Wind had told him.
Mallory had continued speaking "I'd toyed with the idea of faking an aberath on a number of occasions but never before had I deemed the various rewards worth the risk. It's never a safe thing to slow dance that closely with death but I gambled that I was capable of surviving more punishment than Bledri could stomach or Cavendish could inflict. At least I didn't miscalculate there. I really, truly should have known Zander would do something foolishly noble, 'Norringtons' are like that. All stiff formality and then they go and do something stupid. But Bledri was the surprise. I misjudged him, again." His voice went softer and higher "Odd that in the end I did him nearly as much harm as my sire and grandsire when that was never my intent."
Gibbs surprised everyone by laying a hand on Mallory's arm "He laid the blame fer all o it squarely at yer father's feet. All he ever had for ye was a respect that bordered on awe. He thought ye were a marvel."
"Which neatly proves that Bledri was far too easily impressed" Mallory replied before sidling back.
"All he could was do curl up with that bottle o his and rave about yer courage. Called ye a walking miracle. Claimed ye shouldn't have been able te sting three words tegether in a sensible order any more and yet there ye'd sat willing and ready te charge back inte the fray."
"I'm less than sure I've ever strung three words in an intelligent manner, Mr. Gibbs" he was rapidly retreating back into his formal mode. "Nor does it change the fact that I robbed him of his gobaith - of his hope. I was his only chance at anything resembling justice for his family and I deceived and manipulated him into thinking he was an accomplice in my death."
"It wasn't his family he was mourning fer on the Dominant." Gibbs observed.
I don't know if Gibbs had actually meant for it to be comforting or if it had simply slipped out but he scored a direct hit below the waterline. Grief and guilt flashed through those eyes before he closed them. When they reopened a moment later they were again completely shuttered.
There was an awkward pause and then Elizabeth sniped "I'm surprised you returned to San Juan de Ulua, or did you finally recover your nerve?"
Everyone within hearing except Mallory blinked at her like she'd lost her mind.
He merely gave her a sardonic smile and said "Milady will have to try harder than that."
"You have no shame that you abandoned those men to die?" she riposted.
"I might if I had done so, but in 1567 I was encouraging Mary Queen of Scots to commit political suicide, starting a war in France, keeping William the Silent alive, and fermenting a major rebellion in the Netherlands, all in all I was far too busy for a Caribbean vacation. And in 1572 when the real Francis Drake was abandoning yet another ally I was trying to save as many Huguenots from the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacres as I could. If you wish to insult me for my behavior as Francis Drake you'll have to start after Rathlin in 1575 and end with the Armada in 1588."
Elizabeth frowned in confusion while I did some quick math. He had to be over one-hundred and sixty-three, absolute minimum, and that was if he was only twenty in 1567.
"I don't understand."
"I was a changeling, a highwayman of lives instead of riches. Sometimes only briefly borrowing while they were elsewhere but more commonly I took the place of the dead. The majority men I had murdered myself."
Elizabeth blanched "That's horrible."
"Those I slew to take the place of were themselves killers, one and all. I gave every one of them a chance to fight back. I suggest you have a long talk with your father-in-law about what really goes on behind the glittering mask of the court. I make no claim of being any better but I was certainly no worse than most of the courtiers among whom I was raised." He canted his head "And, yes, it is horrible. I never once declared myself a hero." He caught her eye "You should know by now that it is a dangerous thing to become over familiar with a hero, to be able to see where the shiny armor wears thin."
Elizabeth stared back "Better to know the truth than to live one's life in an illusion."
"On the contrary, I can think of any number of illusions I once held that I would gladly trade for the truths I now know" Mallory countered. He sighed and dropped his eyes. I was surprised that Elizabeth had won that contest. Not she doesn't have a will like steel, but still, to quote Jack, very interesting.
"Don't ask, lass, for what you don't want to know. Tonight of all nights I am likely to tell the very bloody truth" he said wearily.
Elizabeth looked suddenly unsure "I've never heard of Rathlin."
"I rather wish I could say the same" his eyes were suddenly far away. "It's an island on the northern tip of Ireland." He folded himself up on the rail in a rather precarious position but I suppose it wouldn't really matter if he fell off into the Sea. "You would pick what I've long considered one of my greatest errors in judgment. Bess decided that the Irish nobility were a threat to the stability of the realm and in 1573 she sent Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex to Ireland to 'subdue' Ulster. The only problem was old Walt was double dealing with intentions of using Ireland as a base of operations to attack England with the backing of Spain. So Bess convinced me to 'fix' the problem for her, permanently, and to actually complete Devereux's original assignment. Killing him was easy and then I made a fatal mistake. I'm such an arrogant fool, oh, not me, not trechu. I never did bloody listen." He sighed and I wished vainly for an El'lan dictionary but he had mercy on us and explained. "There's more to being a changeling than just weaving a convincing glamour. You perforce take on some of the character and memories of the person you replace. Trechu – to be baffled if you're being literal to lose oneself in someone else's mind if you're a changeling. I wonder if I would done it or not without that. I'd like to think not but I might have anyway. It was a perfectly legitimate military target after all."
He was rambling and his left hand drifted up and made an odd tugging motion in the empty air beside his head. Then I realized – pointed ears – he was pulling on an ear tip I couldn't see.
"The Irish were using the island to bring Scottish mercenaries across. It made perfect sense to reduce the garrison and replace it with an English one."
Reduce – I shivered at the word knowing it for what it was, a polite military term for the slaughter of an entire garrison.
"Francis Drake provided the ships, I provided the troops and we began our attack on the 22nd of July." He rocked on the rail as he sang…
By the side of the Sea restless and deep
The sun shone at midnight – I was not asleep
One lone survivor lies bleeding – I kneel
And into her heart I rammed the steal
Cover in blood I sank down shame
With no one but myself to blame.
Rathlin - stripped bare as a bone
The blood of the children calls from the stones
A castle of sorrow perched on a hill
I dream of you still."
The words faded and he just stared off into the distance
"But this was a military target" the Governor surprised us all by saying "You had every right to attack a hostile garrison and subdue those wild Irishmen."
Mallory turned those blank green eyes on him and canted his head "Why do you English think you have the right to rule Ireland when you don't even have the right to rule England? You are the uncivilized invaders. You talk of King Arthur and Myrddin but it was the English that they fought. By what right do you drive more of the Old Blood from their father's father's homes? By what madness did I ever assist? And it isn't the reduction of the military garrison that troubles my sleep, Governor, but the fact that I didn't end it there. The Earl wanted revenge on Sorley Boye MacDonnell and I gave him what he never would have managed on his own. You see Rathlin wasn't just a garrison it was also a refuge for the wives and wains of the clansmen and the repository of much of the clan's wealth which is why that gutless worm Drake agreed to allow us to use his ships. It's also how he died. I ordered him to stay aboard but he wanted first pick of the plunder and got himself shot in the back running from another fight."
He was pulling on both ears now.
"I didn't stop with the garrison. Three days" he muttered "it took three days to find them all in the cracks and crevices of the island. 372 women and children. I can't even claim it was done in the heat of battle before we embarked I sent a magic telescope to Sorley Boye just to make sure he could watch. Oh, but I was my father's son that day. When I flew back to London to discuss other matters Bess decided to abandon the Ulster Plan. Elizabeth Regina Glorianna" he leapt off the rail and gave another sweeping bow "God save us all from the Queen." He continued mockingly in a woman's voice "Despite the fact, Enchiridion, that you've just slaughtered over six hundred souls in my name I'm going to render the whole sordid thing pointless. And regardless of the fact that it wasn't you that borrowed the funds you'll restore my lost 87,000 pounds sterling by taking Captain Drake's place and plundering New Spain." He went back to his Mallory voice "Which in all honesty sounded like a better idea than anything involving Bess's trice benighted plans in Ireland." He went silent staring out across the deck and over the horizon again.
"Enchiridion" Mallory's eyes shifted to Jack who waved his hands even more flamboyantly than usual as he mused "from the Greek, as I recall, but it has two meanings – instructor, or dagger. Which was she calling you?"
"I was both Bess's assassin and advisor from 1553 until our last quarrel over, oddly enough, Ireland and Walt's son Robert in 1599. He was betraying her in Ireland and planning to take her throne and to rule in her name. I offered to solve both problems" He almost smiled "Never would have suspected a sixty-six year old woman in court garb could make a full body tackle. After which she reminded me that she'd made me swear never to go to Ireland again for her sake. And I barked back I was an ally not a vassal and she had no right to presume and it rather melted down from there." Another twitch of the lips "And poor Aine. Everyone else saw the glamour I flung up but she saw the aged Queen of England and the Elven prince rolling around in the rushes screaming over three score years of frustration at each other in a fight the likes of which we hadn't had since we were both seven at Hatfield. I left lest I kill her. And for four years I proudly ignored every entreaty. She turned England upside down but as even those who can use magic to track me will vouch I'm not easy to find when I don't wish to be. We didn't speak again until February 12th 1603 just before her own death and my recall to Avalon for my defod. She ambushed me since she knew exactly where I'd be, where I always use to be this night."
That was the second time he'd made a reference to tonight being something special. And something about 1603 didn't sound right but I couldn't quite put my finger on why.
"She didn't have to die then, she forced death to claim her" he continued abstractedly. "She refused to let me be the one to say goodbye. She said she didn't want to live when all her friends were gone. It's odd, we'd know each other nearly all our lives, raised together, practically cradled together, stanch allies against the whole bloody world for decades but wary children of the court that we were until that night we never, ever said friend. It is a strange thing to watch someone go from cradle to grave when you barely change yourself. Those who were babes when I was went to their graves old and gray ere I was recalled, while I was detained in Avalon another whole generation was born and died, and now those who were not yet born when I returned will soon have children of their own. And I? I am not, even yet, grown." He slipped down off the rail and approached Elizabeth who froze in apprehension but stood her ground. God, but I love her courage even when it frightens me that she'll be hurt.
"So little time, you are here only a few brief moments, like falling stars streaking across the heavens in blazing glory only to burn away to ash. Ash and dust blown on the winds of fate. You're like the flowers that bloom so beautifully only to fade in a few brief days and so terribly, tragically, fragile." He had cupped her chin in his hands and his voice shook "Like butterflies all delicate gossamer. Like the falling leaves and the withering grass you pass me by, forever leaving me behind."
And then she demonstrated reason why I love her so, her compassion. Only minutes ago Mallory had threatened her father. She didn't know all that Mallory had done for me and still raised a hand to comfort him.
He flinched and flushed clearly embarrassed before stepping gracefully back. "Your pardon for my overly familiar behavior. It is my Diwrnod chan y Arwylo, the Vigil for the Dead. A time to mourn those taken by time, to seek the forgiveness of those I failed to save, and to honor those I have slain."
He was playing with an ear tip again. Oh, I'd forgotten about his comment to Jack on Isla de Muerta about hearing the dead. Small wonder he was edgy.
"Under normal circumstances I spend this night alone in some secluded cove."
"I'm sorry" I hadn't meant to interrupt something clearly both sacred and private.
"I came with the full knowledge that I was likely to make an indiscrete fool of myself until I was recovered enough to fly again. Given the choice between being a fool for a few hours and adding you to those for whom the Vigil is held I heartily prefer the former." He ruffled my hair but still didn't manage a smile. At least I knew now it wasn't me – just rotten timing. Timing – my God! He did this on the same day, every year, ashore. If Queen Elizabeth could lay an ambush for him what was to stop something else? And I could still remember him telling me "A fight isn't just won by a strong sword arm…
He tapped my forehead "It's won here. The best swordsman can be beaten if he's distracted – focus is vital." Then he laid a hand over my heart "And it's won here with hope and determination. If you go into a fight defeated you will be regardless of the skill of your opponent."
"But you told me to fight with the head forget the heart."
"Because you were fighting with nothing else. Balance is all. The body must be strong, the mind focused, the heart determined. The first challenge in any fight is never your opponent but yourself."
Focused and determined were not words I would use to describe him tonight. He'd lose even against a lesser opponent. The absolute last place he belonged was in any kind of fight.
He had continued talking "Besides what kind of fairy godfather would I be if I let you squander a perfectly good happily ever after?"
"Do I still get three wishes?" I asked trying to lighten the mood just a little.
"No" he was playing with an ear tip again. "And I think once I am ready for another long flight I should leave. I am poor company this night."
"But I haven't had my rematch yet" I blurted desperately.
"Rematch?" Jack's eyes narrowed "So ye're the one that taught the whelp te fight. I knew I recognized some o those moves as being yers."
"I told you you were going to be something quite special" there was pride in that voice. He was proud of me. I could feel myself flushing under that compliment. After hearing what I had today I had no idea really if he was a villain or a hero but his approval felt very good all the same.
My father looked surprised "You taught Will how to fight?"
"He taught me everything I know about both making and using swords" my heart said hero even if my head wasn't sure.
Governor Swann's courage had obviously recovered sufficiently for him to rejoin the conversation "But Master Brown"
"Shouldn't have been entrusted with a hound let alone an apprentice" Mallory snapped. It was beginning to look like I was going to need someone to save my father-in-law from Mallory never mind my father. "But you were too eager to get young Turner away from your daughter to see that."
"Did you know Anne Boleyn?" I wondered how much was honest interest on Elizabeth's part and how much was just to distract Mallory.
"Being only three, I was present solely for the torture sessions and executions so I fear my impressions of Mistress Anne are somewhat skewed."
Well that brought what conversation there was to a crashing halt. Elizabeth opened her mouth twice before finally settling on "Why were you attending torture sessions and executions at three?"
"Because that is what my grandsire demanded" he had returned to that cool distant tone "I wasn't saved because of any paternal interest. I was always meant to slay and supplant my sire. To that end I was given into the tutelage of the Brwnyllys Thomas Cromwell with the understanding that he could use my abilities in any way he saw fit provided that I was trained both as an assassin and an inquisitor. Cromwell, always eager to advance, had no intentions of waiting to put me to work. I was already better at glamours than most of my kind ever become hence I was the perfect spy. My time was divided between the royal nursery in Hatfield, spying in the court at Whitehall, Hampton, or Nonsuch after its construction, and learning the darkest side of human nature in the Tower or Fleet Prison. I took out my first mark at five and by the time of Cromwell's own execution in 1540 I had more kills to my credit than most human assassins survive to claim." He canted his head "But we were discussing Mistress Anne. I was far too young to have any illusions but I did learn a number of valuable lessons in spite of the fact that I barely knew English. First, indignatio principis mors est" His eyes flickered to Jack who rolled his own before translating "The anger of the king means death."
Mallory inclined his head and snapped his forefinger "Second there is no justice in the law when there is no justice in the king." Another finger broke. "Even in dewy youth I knew the trial was a farce. She and the five men executed as her lovers were innocent of every charge brought against them with the possible exception of laughing at the king's compositions, which is hardly a reason to lose one's head. The judges knew it, the king knew it, the spectators knew it, the prosecutors knew it, and the executioners knew it. Third, betrayal is the currency of the court" Another crack "George Boleyn's own wife perjured herself and accused her husband of an 'unnatural' affection for his sister. And he was by no means the only good man on that scaffold. Fourth, there is no loyalty. Courtiers are like sharks let them catch the scent of blood and they'll gladly rip you apart regardless of yesterday's promise of friendship. Every smile hides a dagger. Every favor has strings and nothing comes for free."
It hurt to watch because he was tearing Elizabeth's illusions to shreds. I knew she daydreamed when we were young about being a princess, dreams of glittering balls and fine silks. Dreams that no mere blacksmith would ever be able to fulfill. For a long time that had kept me from ever speaking what was in my heart because I could, never, ever, give her that. But it had never occurred to either of us that all those glittering stories might hide a far darker truth.
'Fifth, if you want to break a musician, threaten his fingers." And he snapped the final finger on his left hand.
"Why are you doing that?" she whispered staring at his mangled hand.
"To prove a point, milady, the body is a tool of the will. I was taught long ago to use it as such. I wasn't only taught how to be a torturer but how to endure it without breaking. The oubliette was a mark of my sire's desperation when I proved more resilient than anticipated." He turned from Elizabeth to Jack "You mustn't trust me. I'd love to stand here and boldly swear, Captain Jack Sparrow, that I'd never betray you and I'd never use you. But I'm a courtier, born and bred. Eight thousand years of breeding and a life time of training. I can't vouch that backed into the right corner that I." He closed his eyes and swallowed "Just be wary." The bones snapped back into place "Because long experience has taught me there isn't much I won't use or betray under the right circumstances."
"I thought you said Mannwan taught you justice, honor, and loyalty" this time I was the one who scored a direct hit. You could see him flinch.
"Thank you, Cennan, for illustrating my point so beautifully. He did try. He tried quite hard. And then he died on a Tortugan beach by my own hand." He had turned away and now spoke to the sea.
My God, I hadn't put the pieces together. It seemed like so long ago that Jack had mentioned that name in passing when I'd been trying to remember to breath.
"Why?" I whispered.
When he turned back around he could have given Commodor Norrington lessons on reserved decorum.
"I must confess I am somewhat curious as to how you came by your injuries. They don't fit well with what Wind told me of the situation." Suddenly the Jamaican beach that was etched into my memory appeared before us. "Now as I understand it, the French were here. Correct?" Jack, my father, and I nodded "And you were here. Also correct?" More nods. "Then how exactly were you shot from up hill and slightly behind?"
My first thought was 'I knew it wasn't stupid!' My second was to wonder who had shot me and why?
Mallory dispelled the illusion and said simply "Confess."
I had a sudden, overwhelming desire to tell every secret thing Mum never found out about. I swallowed them back with difficulty.
"Which one of you shot William Turner?" he asked as calmly as if he was ordering tea "Step forth and confess."
"I did" a pirate with long red-blond hair said as he stepped forward. I didn't recognize him. He must have joined Jack's crew after the Isla de Muerta escapade.
"Peter?" Jack sounded thoughtful "What was in it for ye?"
Peter glared at him without answering. He pulled a pistol and aimed it at Mallory's head. Mallory never flinched.
"Drop it and answer the question" Mallory ordered without even raising a brow.
The pistol thudded onto the deck "Money. What are ye doing te me?!" He screamed before starting to pull a dagger.
"Hold and throw down." Every weapon he was hiding was scattered across the deck.
"It's called Gorchymyn. It means 'the Command' and is the mark of the Blood of House Penthalion. We are first and foremost tyrants and for as long as I choose you are the puppet and I am the puppet master. Who offered you money to shoot William Turner? And what were your orders?"
You could taste the hate burning in Peter's eyes when he stared at Mallory "An agent of the Duke of Marlborough. I was te kill the boy first and then the father."
"And then?" Peter trembled trying to fight but he spoke anyway.
"And then I was going te turn this bunch over te the Royal Navy and collect the bounty as a tidy profit."
Mallory turned to the crew "And now that you've heard his treachery from his own mouth what is the verdict?"
"Guilty" from every crewman in earshot.
"And the sentence?"
"Death."
Mallory picked a knife up off the deck and handed it to him "Walk to the rail, slit your throat, and enjoy your stay in Davey Jone's locker." And while we all looked on like stunned sheep he did just that.
"So" Jack, not surprisingly, was the first to recover his wits (or maybe just his tongue) "was there a reason for that little display o power? Not that it isn't a neat and tidy way o taking care o matters, as it were."
"Neat and tidy" Mallory had folded his arms across his chest and looked vaguely ill. "I suppose it is. It's also the worst kind of rape possible, an invasion not just of body but if done at its fullest measure of mind and soul as well. I have used it only twice, once as gently as possible on Bill and tonight."
"When?" my father was on his feet in a flash. Mallory retreated several steps "In San Juan de Ulua, how do you think you knew where to find Sparrow? It wasn't just your own skill that allowed you to overcome your opponents so handily. Why do you think you went to the docks and not back to the hotel as you intended? I rode you though the town."
He pulled a pistol out of his out of his sash and pointed it at Mallory "Ye bloody aristocrat, ye used me."
"Yes, I did. There was no way I could have reached Sparrow in time after a dienddio and he didn't have time for us to argue over it." Mallory never flinched.
He thumbed back the trigger. How on earth had we gone from 'I owe him too much to let him die alone' to 'I'm going to kill him myself'? And then he looked at the scars on his hands, uncocked the gun, and tucked it back into his sash.
"Would ye have let me fire?"
"Yes" Mallory's reply was flat and unadorned.
"And if I put a bloody bullet between your eyes would it have killed ye?"
"I don't know, probably, but possibly not. I've never let anyone shoot me in the head before."
"But ye'd have let me?"
"Yes."
"Why?" my father looked shaken by that admission.
Mallory canted his head "Because what I did to you was wrong."
I remembered as a boy thinking that Mallory drew his lines in the oddest places. He'd lie, he'd cheat, he'd steal, he'd murder but he wouldn't, evidently, defend himself over some wrong that until tonight my father had never even realized had been done.
"But that doesn't answer Sparrow or Cennan's questions. There is a saying among my kind 'wide of breadth is shallow of depth' meaning that as a general rule an Ellyllon able to perform many different kinds of 'magic' will have no appreciable power with any of them. I break this rule rather thoroughly by having both the greatest breadth ever in a House known for its great scope and I am if not the greatest ever born certainly the greatest living in several endeavors. In contrast the current King is the weakest member of House Penthalion to survive angheuol in generations but" his arms had gone from being merely crossed to wrapped tightly around his chest. "He has only a single talent that he wields to devastating effect. He can't cast a curse, create a glamour, speak to Water, Wind, Earth or Fire, Time is as beyond his call as it is mine, and he is certainly no Healer. But none of that matters because he is the Master of Gorchymyn and the greatest tyrant ever known, as it stands in Avalon not even the rivers run free. All he has to do is command an Ellyllon or cyfae with the talent he needs. He requires no Power of his own so long as he possesses a voice." All his attention was on Jack "With the Gorchymyn there is no second place. One commands - the other obeys. And within range of my sire's voice I am utterly lost. I would drink down death like water before I ever willingly become again a tool in my sire's arsenal but if by some mischance I am taken alive His first act will be to turn me on you. That is why I built the power to resist me into the Pearl and that is the greatest reason why you must never trust me. The King of Avalon was riding Mannwan that night in Tortuga. I nearly lost that fight trying to break His hold. I'm no edlych at Gorchymyn myself, in all the world only two can command me, but even with an ocean between He and Mannwan I could not win" there were no tears in his eyes but his voice was full of them "Please forgive that I failed you" he whispered to the wind.
"Mannwan didn't seem te think ye failed" Jack commented as he wrapped Mallory's unresisting fingers around a bottle of rum.
Mallory tried to pass it back "I wouldn't dream of depriving you, Sparrow."
Jack shoved it back "There's a time and a place for a good drunk and you are definitely at the opportune moment."
"I can't get drunk on rum, Sparrow, and the bilge water tastes better but I thank you for the offer all the same."
Jack's eyes narrowed "You cheated!"
Mallory shrugged and said "Prince" in exactly the same tone that Jack had once said pirate. He canted his head "So you did see the fight. I'm never quite sure what you do and don't See and Hear."
"Ymwroli, tywysogion am ein gobaith?" Jack asked. He sighed when Mallory didn't translate "I've been wondering for thirteen years."
"Be of good courage, Prince of our Hope" Mallory was looking back out over the sea again. "I am the only being to ever escape the clutches of the current King that has made me quite the hero in Avalon. The glorious Prince who will set all the wrongs right" another bitter laugh slipped out. "Apparently I'm to slip past the Atalfa, single handedly breach the Citadel, overcome the guards, slay the King without getting caught in a Gorchymyn, restore freedom and justice, rule with grace and benefice to all, reunite the Ellyllon with the cyfea, and avoid getting slaughtered in the process. I was never thatgood, the Christian God isn't that good."
Defeated, he sounded utterly defeated as he leaned over the rail facing the sea with his back to us all. The Sea reached out but he jerked back and snapped something in what I assumed was El'lan. The Sea slapped him.
His tone was instantly contrite and he gave her another of his sweeping bows. Playing court, I suddenly realized as I watched him speak to the Sea. He played court to Elizabeth, not with the kind of deep sincerity he was currently lavishing on the Sea, but still the same, if of a lesser degree.
He sighed, sounding like a man burdened with the world, and turned back to face us. "I would have gladly given an arm to have Mannwan at my side and called him cheaply bought but it was a choice between returning to Avalon in chains or killing him. Your translation, Sparrow, would be 'Peace, little promised one. Be of good courage, Prince of our Hope. Stand strong and true. You have been my Prince and my friend. I thank you for granting me the freedom of death for I could not have bourn the shame. It was my pleasure to train you. My honor rests with you. Farewell." He closed his eyes "Maddewch I mi canys mi cael methu."
Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably before speaking "If you can't break his" she stumbled over the unfamiliar word "Gorchymyn then why the oubliette?"
"I can't countermand a direct order but as milady learned with Barbossa every bargain has loop-holes as does every Gorchymyn. I am no edlych. If I had received the same orders Peter did I would have found enough leeway to kill my tormentor and take the ship. For over a year I was clever enough that he actually didn't even know he had dominance and for nearly another I twisted every command on its head. And then I paid the price for my defiance. Given the seething resentment against Him in Avalon He could hardly afford to allow the least hint that He could be defied to leak out. Relatively speaking the oubliette really wasn't all that bad." He shivered a little "There are worse things."
His head snapped up as Elizabeth made a move towards him.
"I do not require your pity, human." My God, the pride in those eyes, unbending, unyielding how dare you feel sorry for me pride. "I would think I've already established that I was no innocent victim. I may not have walked into Avalon with the intention of putting a dagger in His heart but if I survive to do so he will be the sixth King I've killed. My sire has good cause to fear me. Had I been raised in Avalon I would have been barely out of the nursery – instead I was the most accomplished killer in the land. No Ellyllon alive but I has even seen a battle and I've fought in more than you've lived years. In a land that hasn't been touched by war in over two thousand years I would be the sole experience general or admiral. I have the full backing of Sea, Wind, and Fire and before my Earth mastery was lacerated I at least had its grudging consent if not overwhelming approval. I was and remain a force to be reckoned with."
Elizabeth frowned "You weren't going to kill him?"
"In 1603?" he shook his head.
1603, 1603 – why did that number bother me so?
"Because a dead elf wanted me to? For all I knew, milady, my sire had good cause to kill his father. I hadn't been in Avalon since my angheuol and no one saw fit to inform me of the realities of the situation I strolled rather blithely into. Oh, I was far too experienced not to know just how much trouble I was in but by then I was inside the Citadel and it was far too late."
"While I wouldn't want te give him any suggestions but why didn't he just kill ye and have done with?" Jack asked.
"Because I'm too useful to discard" those arms went even tighter "If, if he could ensure my complete obedience I'm worth any score of others. I would secure Him on the throne in a manner that would make even the contemplation of a revolt ludicrous. And I'm everything He isn't, everything He thinks He should have been. I've seen a great deal of hate, envy, and greed in my life but none of it rivals what's in my sire's eyes when He looks at me. He'll never stop until either I'm broken or one of us is dead."
I tuned out the conversation, fascinating as it was (I'm sure Elizabeth will fill me in later) because 1603 just kept nagging at me. It's Feb 12th, 1710. According to Jack over 13 years since he lost the Pearl and he and Mallory were together over 13 years. That means Jack and Mallory met in 1683 which I think matches what Elizabeth said earlier about Captain Morgan. If he went to Avalon in 1603 and met Jack in 1683 THAT'S ONLY EIGHTY YEARS! 77 years in the oubliette and it was at least 1605 before he went in. Jack was, by his own estimate seven in 1683. There wasn't time for…Mallory isn't Jack's father. He can't be. I scoured my memory of Gibb's words. Mallory had cut Bledri off cold every time he tried to get the earthy details about Jack. We'd assumed that was because Mallory was protecting his lady's honor. What if the truth was he just didn't know them? He'd said earlier that he deceived and manipulated Bledri perhaps not just about his death but also his reasons for it? He called Jack kin not son, not ever son. Because he wasn't. So who was? I wanted that journal. I wanted it badly, but how to get it? I was yanked out of my thoughts by Jack's raised voice.
"And get off my bloody ship" he snapped at Mallory.
"As you like, Captain Sparrow" for having just been thrown out Mallory looked damned pleased. I gave my father a 'do something' glance but he was still blinking in shock. Speaking of shock how the hell had an argument reached this point so quickly? Before I could say anything he streaked upward only to be met at the crow's nest by a flash of blinding light that tossed him back onto the deck with bone crushing force. The last thing I saw before my own vision faded was Jack whirling in surprise…
(Yes – I am evil :).
Historical note: Laurens Baldran/De Griffe/De Graffe was indeed a force to be reckoned with from the late 1670's to the late 1690's. He was courted by every major European power in the Caribbean because of the sway he held among the Brethren of the Coast. He was also one of the few pirates that regularly traveled with a squadron of 3-7 sub-captains on their own vessels. A true pirate Commodor if you like. Contemporary English, Dutch, and French documents never give a description of De Griffe and 20 yrs after his death he is suddenly after yrs of silence on the matter a blue eyed blond. The Spanish on the other hand categorically state that he was a mulatto of Dutch/African extraction. He was captured and enslaved by the Spanish as a young man and married a woman on the plantation. He was later separated from this wife and resold as a galley slave. He escaped and joined the Brethren of the Coast. Modern historians debate his actual race because of the confusing descriptions but first, the Spanish consistently call him a slave, not indentured servant, second the word 'griffe' was a slang term for mulatto. Why proudly let people call you what amounts to a racial slur if it isn't true? Third after his death unlike Morgan and Kidd his importance is downplayed why if he was just another pirate? One of the British and French plantation owners greatest fears was a slave uprising. A mulatto who became rich, successful, and famous would certainly be an inspiration to other slaves to try and follow in his footsteps hence a 'white washing' would make sense. How much of the story of his gusty Breton wife is true and how much isn't I don't know but it's straight out of pirate legend w/o any embellishment. They had at least two daughters. When I stumbled across him while doing my research for this story I was wondering what to do (if anything) with Anna-Maria. As soon as I saw his wife's name – Marie-Anne I knew.
Sadly Rathlin really did happen :( It is unknown if Drake went ashore or not but he definitely provided the transportation. I doubt Walter Devereux was double dealing but I needed an excuse for Mallory to take his place. Drake was known in later life for his fearless courage but did in fact ditch his kinsman Hawkins right in the middle of a fight at San Jaun de Ulua in 1567 and another ally in 1572 to save his own hide.