Scrum awoke to find Tamara staring down at him, smiling. How had he just missed kissing her? Although he was happy to see her, he was beginning to wish that she would just stop leading him to believe that he was going to get what he wanted. He had always been taught that thinking too much got you into trouble, and thinking about Tamara all the time was messing up his head.
"You sleep very deeply." She told him.
"Yeah." He said rubbing his eyes, remembering the light kiss she had placed on his forehead; wishing it had been her lips.
"Are you hungry?" She asked, sitting cross-legged on the bed that used to belong to him.
"Famished." He said, sitting up fully to face her. Tamara flashed him a brilliant smile, and giggled, "I brought you something." From behind her she pulled a plate mounded with toasted bread, butter, cheese and cold meat, "the bread may be a little cold now, but still…"
Scrum thanked her, taking the plate and wolfing down the food. Tamara watched him do so, almost as though he was a child and she was his mother. "My, you were hungry."
Actually, he hadn't been; in truth, Scrum had eaten so quickly because he knew that one of Tamara's oddities was that she became silent while people went about everyday tasks, such as eating. He wanted to talk to her.
"How are you feeling this morning?"
"Fine, thank you," she said, "though Jack has had his head over the side of the ship for most of the day. I didn't realise people could become so highly affected by alcohol." Scrum laughed at the idea of Jack vomiting all over the ship, but Tamara was looking at him seriously, "there is one thing you promised me last night."
'Kiss me' Scrum prayed in his head, 'please, please, please, just do it.' There was no way he would have kissed her first, he wasn't brave enough to hone in on someone as beautiful as her, and besides, he doubted that she would have elaborated. "What's that?"
"You said you would teach me to walk."
"Ah! That, yeah of course."
Most of the crew joined in in helping Tamara learn this basic human skill, even Angelica watched on fondly in between shooting sarcastic comments at Jack, who hadn't at all recovered from the previous night. Scrum felt proud that Tamara insisted on clinging to him the most for support, though she did offer her glances at the handsome young missionary who, as usual, had to involve himself in every activity including her. Blackbeard was not reluctant to the crew's break, in fact, he encouraged them to teach her.
It was easy enough for her to learn, and within a few hours, she had almost mastered the art of using her human legs to transport herself, and more so, it did wonders for Scrum's ego. Salaman muttered to him, "well, you are the favourite, aren't you?" even Gunner was glaring in jealousy. It seemed all of them wanted to take turns in holding her, each encouraged her and praised her, while muttering crude comments to each other. One in particular outraged Scrum; he had to remind himself to maintain control when he heard Gunner whisper to Jimmy "the only reason she needs those legs is to wrap them around my face."
"Leave it out, lads." Scrum had given them a disapproving look. By the time he had looked back, Tamara was walking ever so gracefully. Her back was perfectly straight, she moved elegantly; the only problem: she was holding on tight to Philip's hand and as she finished her steps she turned to him and beamed, as though it were him who had done all of the work. Scrum remained disheartened once again; Philip was indeed, her perfect match. How could Scrum ever compete with the handsome and intelligent missionary?
Tamara spent the next couple of days holding onto objects as she walked, but once she had become an expert, she couldn't get enough of moving around. She spun around, making herself dizzy, dancing in front of Scrum as he sat under the ships mast eating a large red apple.
"You've still got a way to go before you can be a real ballerina."
"Don't be so discouraging, Scrum." She said, stopping mid-spin to retort. Bounding up to him, she placed a hand on his leg to support herself. Scrum felt as though he were the one needing support; the heat didn't exactly help these sort of moments where she caught him off guard. She was so light that he could barely feel her using his leg to push herself up to the platform on which he sat. He felt her eyes on him for a moment before she snatched his bitten-in-to apple, "hand it over you cheeky cow." He held out his hand, not daring to try and snatch it from her.
"Only if you kiss me." She said. Scrum wasn't quite sure if he had heard her correctly, but he was sure that his jaw had dropped.
"You what?"
"Kiss me, and I'll give you the apple back."
'Just do it' Scrum told himself, inhaling deeply. The thing about her was, he couldn't tell in these situations if she was being entirely serious. In his wildest dreams he couldn't imagine why a creature as breathtaking as Tamara would kiss someone like him. He leaned towards her, becoming slightly distracted by her clearly bemused expression; but he soon forgot as he leaned closer into her. This was going to be it, he was finally going to kiss her; she was truly all he had ever wanted, and she had offered him a kiss, only a blind idiot would have said no to that.
"Fine, there you go." She said, he felt her shove the apple back into his hand. Scrum opened his eyes, "but I didn't, wait, you said to kiss you."
"I know."
"But I didn't kiss you."
"I know." She said, turning her head away from him and looking out onto the horizon, "We must be passing Mexico by now."
Scrum let the apple roll out of his hand and onto the floor. His desire for her was burning, driving him crazy, yet all she wanted to do was tease him. A surge of emotions ran through him, and he couldn't pick out which one was the most prominent. All he knew was that he wanted her more than anything, and that he was never going to have her.
"Look over there, at that ship." She pointed out into the distance. The vessel was black, with what looked to be rather tattered sails. It was definitely another pirate ship, and it took only a few seconds to realise just which one it was.
"Christ almighty!" Scrum cried, jumping down from the raised platform and running as quickly as he could below the deck.
"Jack! Jack, come here."
"Let me guess, that mermaids been at it again, she-"
"No, no not her this time." Scrum lowered his voice so that nobody could hear, "a ship is gaining on us, and I think it might be the Black Pearl."
"Interesting," Jack said, twirling one of the plaits in his beard around his finger, "the Pearl, you say?"
"What do you think Barbossa wants, Jack?"
"The same thing as Blackbeard, Scrummy. He wants the Fountain of Youth, and the little Princess that makes it work."
"Tamara?"
"No, the Quartermaster…Of course Tamara!"
Scrum laughed before composing himself, he wouldn't let Barbossa take her, he was adamant to keep her by him no matter what.
"He's not taking her." Scrum said, straightening himself up to his full height.
"This isn't about just getting off with her anymore, is it Scrummy?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
"And what if it's not?" Scrum asked rhetorically.
"Well you've got one pressing issue. The Pearl is faster than The Queen Anne's Revenge, much faster. And it's cannons aren't too shabby either, and you've yet to see the crew fight. No matter what happens mate, Barbossa will get her."
At that moment, the door burst open, and there stood Philip and Tamara. "Jack, she's gaining," Philip announced, "Scrum, I'm sorry I'll need to speak with Jack and Tamara for a moment."
"Hold on a minute, I'm not going anywhere until I know what's going on." Scrum insisted.
"Nothing is going on," Philip scoffed.
"I'm not stupid missionary, I know Barbossa is after her,"
"He's not 'after' her. Please, I just need to speak with the two of them."
"Wait, Philip; I think Scrum should stay."
"And then what? When Salaman appears we just invite him in too, do we?"
"Leave off it, missionary." Scrum gave him a dirty look.
"How can you trust him?" Philip looked at Tamara.
"How can you fully trust me Philip? You just have to."
"Scrum, really it's best if you leave."
"No," Tamara protested, "he's staying. He's already seen the Pearl."
"Actually," Jack interrupted, "I think probably everybody's noticed that…Carry on." But they didn't get a chance to, as Scrum barged past Philip and Tamara, out on to the deck.
The day wore on drearily, and there was little sign of Tamara until night, when most of the crew were asleep. Tamara was poking Scrum awake, "are you coming?" She asked.
"To where?" he rubbed his eyes.
"Come with me." She ordered, pulling him up by his arm and leading him from the cabin. It was pitch black outside, not a sound could be heard but Scrum and Tamara's whispers as she led him to the back of the ship. If it weren't for the moon and the star-lit sky, Scrum would have been blind to everything.
"You see that, over there?" Scrum had to squint at where Tamara was pointing into the distance; a tiny black dot was bobbing up and down on the ocean surface. "Philip and Jack are in there."
"What? How did they get the longboat without making any noise?"
"Very carefully."
"But why are they moving towards the Pearl?" Scrum said, baffled.
"I have to go with them, I wanted to say goodbye."
It was like Scrum had been punched in the stomach, he felt a little sick, and had to ask her to repeat what she had just said. He knew that it shouldn't have been the end of their encounter, he couldn't, he wouldn't let her go, not just yet. It were as though he depended on her, she had brought something to him that he couldn't quite describe, and being apart from her would return him to the mundane life he had previously led. Just over a week he had known her; it wasn't long enough.
"Philip told me to get into the boat to, but I said I would wake you first to ask you – and he was very reluctant to this…"
"To what?"
"Would you care to join me, I mean us?"
"What d'you mean?" Scrum was highly confused, was she saying goodbye, or was she staying?
"If you jump off this ship with me, I will lead you to the Black Pearl; to Captain Barbossa."
"And how is he any different from Blackbeard? Wait a minute, how do you know that he is any different from Blackbeard."
"Because I trust Jack Sparrow's word, Scrum, even if most don't. I know an honest man when I see one. I know Jack is crooked in his ways, but he is truthful to me…Are you coming, or not?"
Besides becoming a pirate, Scrum didn't think he had ever considered doing something so wrong in all of his life. If he left with her, Blackbeard would hunt her down and kill him too. If he stayed, he would perhaps spend the rest of his life never seeing another mermaid, and it was likely that Blackbeard would accuse him of helping her to escape.
"Is this why Philip took you below deck the other day with Jack?"
"Yes. Please, Scrum, I would like you to join me. I will take you to the Black Pearl, where things are far better. Please?" She was pouting slightly, almost begging him. Scrum felt dutiful to her.
She beamed at him, "it will be such an adventure. Hold onto me." She placed his arms around her, and walked backwards towards the very edge of the ship. Scrum looked over her shoulder and saw the blackness of the ocean roaring underneath them. Tamara, stroked his cheek gently, calming him, "it's alright," she said, "it won't hurt, I promise you." She was slowly leaning backwards, Scrum maintained his grip on her, not daring to let her fall alone. "Do you trust me?"
Scrum closed his eyes tightly, waiting for the mid-air moment, "yes."
Tamara leant backwards fully, holding onto Scrum, who yelped as he felt himself toppling in the air towards the evil-looking black sea.
