A/N: I do not own POTC or any of its characters. I only own the storyline and my original characters.
A/N II: There is a poem by a rather infamous poet in this chapter and though I do not want to give away who it is, I do want to let you know that it contains foul language so please, take that into account. If that kind of thing bothers you, please do not read it. Just skip over the poem. I have attributed it to the author so that should save me from any copyright infringement.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Neptune's Curse
Chapter Ten
It had been a week since they had been attacked by the EIC so Addy was no longer on the receiving end of as many petrified stares as she had been right after she had saved their hides.
Honestly, she thought, you do something nice for people and everybody runs away scared.
Addy was just taking down the rest of the laundry. She folded the last shirt and wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her forearm. It had been a long, hot day and she was exhausted. What was worse was that there was no wind to speak of. So not only did they have to suffer under the glare of the blinding sun without a breeze to cool them down, The Black Pearl had not moved since the winds had died earlier that morning.
As she walked down to the main deck with her basket, she noticed most of the men were just lying there in the small bits of shade that the sails provided. She huffed in slight annoyance. She knew that with the ship stuck there wasn't much in the way of work to be done. But she still had to go about her chores. And she knew that the cook should already be hard at work preparing supper. Instead he was passed out over a barrel with an empty rum bottle at his feet.
At least after this I will be done for the day, was her encouragement to keep moving.
Taking a deep breath, though with the heat it provided no real relief, she hoisted the basket of clothing onto her shoulder and tiptoed through the web of sweaty limbs to the captain's cabin. Inside she found Jack. She expected him to be passed out as well, since the cabin was extremely stuffy, but instead he was deep in thought, a heavy book sitting open in his lap. It was an ancient tome and looked like one of her brother's precious law books, but in terrible condition. The leather cover was torn and on the back she could make out several water stains.
Jack did not even notice her come in and it made her wonder what was so interesting about the text that had him so enthralled. His shoulders were hunched and his arms cradled the open book as if it was a newborn babe. His eyes were wide as he nibbled on his bottom lip. Oh what Addy would have done to be the one nibbling on his full lips.
She shook her head quickly, trying to rid her mind of such thoughts.
"Captain," she asked, placing the basket next to the wardrobe that he kept all of his clothes in.
"Hm?" he hummed in reply.
"What is it that you are reading?"
He did not look up at her, instead he said, "Why don't you put away that laundry and then I'll read aloud to you?"
It felt like an odd request to Addy. But she was curious and that almost always got the better of her. So she quickly placed the folded clothes in their appropriate drawers and came to stand next to him.
"Why don't you grab that cloth over there and shine my boots as I read to you?"
It sounded like a suggestion, but his tone made it a command.
She brought the cloth over and waited for him to hand her his boots. A minute later he looked up at her.
"Is there a problem?" he asked.
"Aren't you going to take off your boots so I can shine them?" and he almost laughed at the irritation in her voice.
"How about you polish them while they're still on my feet?"
Her nose crinkled slightly, confused at what exactly was going on. But she figured it wasn't the worst thing she'd been made to do while on board a ship, so she kneeled down and started to polish the boots.
Jack then began to read to her about Neptune's treasure. She knew he had a pretty extensive library, for a pirate on a pirate ship that is, and he had obviously recently located this in his collection because now that she was closer, she could see the thick veil of dust upon it.
The book was mostly about the legend of Neptune: the treasure, rumours about where the god hid it, what it contained and what riches it held for the man . . . or woman . . . lucky enough to find it. Much of it seemed farfetched to Addy, but then again a girl who can turn her legs into a fish's tail would be incredible to many others. So she suspended her disbelief as she listened and shined her captain's boots.
Jack took a sip from his rum so he could look over the book at Addy. He saw her there, on her knees, and he held back a groan. Having her at that height in front of him gave him all sorts of dirty ideas. Suddenly his pants felt tighter and he looked down into his lap. Sure enough, his manhood stood proudly, trying to poke through the fabric of his breeches.
Addy became aware of his elongated pause and as she went to look up at him, she too caught a glance at what was going on between his legs. Her eyes widened and her mouth went slack. The book's size hid her shock from Jack.
She looked away sharply, down to his boots. They were almost done but she knew she could not stay to finish them.
As Jack returned to reading she suddenly popped up.
"I'm sorry, Captain," she said a bit too loudly, "I forgot I promised to help the cook peel the potatoes for tonight's supper."
And she all but ran from the cabin.
It had been a lie and Jack knew it. They had no more potatoes on board. The cook had just complained to Jack about that this morning. His mouth fell into a sly grin.
The next night, after dinner, Jack called her into his cabin. She found him sitting in the chair, reading the book from the day before.
"Come, sit at my feet," he said innocently enough.
She was wary of the request but obeyed him and once he was satisfied, he began to read aloud to her. She had to say the myths and legends of the sea fascinated her. Some of the stories she'd been told. After all, she was part of a seafaring family and sailors live to tell tales of the murky depths. But the book was so detailed and in her mind she could paint what the sea nymphs looked like and sounded like, what the sea gods looked like in their mortal form. Jack's voice was soothing and she closed her eyes to enhance the sensation. She could feel his voice vibrate through her and it gave her a small thrill.
Her eyes flew open when she felt her hat taken from her head and she saw it tossed into the corner.
"That's better," she heard from above and Addy looked up to meet his stare.
She had rarely removed her hat around him. Though she did have her hair in a horsetail, she thought that the hat gave her an extra layer of disguise. She panicked but when he just continued to read on, she relaxed slightly. However a hand on her head, fingers slowly running through her hair, made her nervous once again.
But it was a different kind of nervous. His gentle ministrations were doing something sinful to the regions below the ties of her breeches. She looked over to see she was not the only one who was feeling aroused. The tell-tale tent in Jack's lap gave him away.
She pretended to not have noticed and he pretended not to see her notice though another one of his sly smiles crept onto his face and she could hear it in his voice. Her cheeks turned a deep rouge but after several minutes of listening to him read and letting him "pet" her, her pallor returned to normal.
The evening ended when he finished with that particular tale and they both went separately to their own beds with nothing but naughty thoughts on their minds.
This became a nightly ritual over the next couple of weeks and both had come to enjoy their time together. Why Jack was ending each day by reading to her was a mystery to Addy, but she knew she did not want it to stop.
But at the end of the third week, Jack announced to the crew that they would be docking in St. John's in Antigua to restock supplies. Addy knew that Jack would be spending his nights in port. Suddenly she felt very jealous of each and every whore Jack would bed during his time ashore.
But Jack was in a similar boat. He still did not know if Addy had ever been bedded before. For all he knew, each time they made port she could have been running around the island, shagging men left and right. So to ensure that would not happen, he instructed Gibbs to request Addy stay behind to take a watch shift while the rest of the men were in town.
"Don't you think the lad's a bit young for somethin' like that?" Gibbs asked concerned. He had a feeling his captain was up to something.
"I think the lad is more than capable," he replied smugly.
Gibbs shrugged it off and went to inform Addy of her new duty for the next few days.
She sat on top of a barrel by the main mast. There was no one else in sight and so far everything had been quiet.
Addy let go of a bored and annoyed sigh. She had taken on the watch when she was on Danny's crew a few times. But he had been her lover then and had always stayed behind with her to "keep her company." It had worked out well for them when they wanted absolute privacy. And even though he occupied the captain's cabin, a ship was a very hard place to find any sort of solitude. Now all Addy had to occupy her mind was the book Jack had read to her almost every night.
She missed that ritual tonight, even if his constant arousal that he seemed to get from petting her confused her greatly. But for Addy, it was still exciting. The fact that the greatest womanizer on the Seven Seas found her sexually attractive, even when he believed her to be a man, was titillating. She just hoped that they would stock up quickly this time around so they could weigh anchor and everything would go back to normal.
But Addy realized that she had to come to terms with the fact that this was not her normal life. This was not what she would be doing for the rest of her days. As soon as they rescued her family and found that treasure, she would be returned to her old life. She just hoped that Danny had kept her ship occupied with trade missions so that it would continue to bring in income. She would not marry to be taken care of.
But she had no idea that Danny's mission was no longer trade, but finding her.
"The New World?" Danny asked for a third time.
"Yes, that's what I said," replied an irritated Madame Clio.
Elizabeth sat there silently. She still was unsure of how they had come to find the seer. They had been wandering around St. Georges in Grenada one minute and the next, a colorful hut had seemingly appeared in front of them.
"So they are on their way to the New World to find her father and brother . . . and then they are going to look for the treasure? What kind of pirate is this Jack Sparrow?"
"Captain -" Elizabeth butted in. She now realized that that had become a reflex.
"Sorry," Danny rolled his eyes, "What kind of pirate is this Captain Jack Sparrow?"
Madame Clio just smiled but it did not reach her eyes. She could see that this man could be the monkey wrench in Addy's destiny. Obviously he cared for the young woman, but it wasn't brotherly love that motivated him. When it came to any other person she would have left it alone. After all, you cannot choose whom you love. But Addy was special. She was not meant to end up with a mere mortal and Madame Clio was going to make sure that that did not happen.
When he received no answer, Danny spoke again, "Few people have gone to the New World and lived to tell the tale."
"Jack Sparrow has," Madame Clio said.
"Of course he has," Danny sighed.
"Well then, we better get going if we want to get there before I give birth to this baby -"
"Are you going to name him 'William' after his father?" Madame Clio asked.
Elizabeth recoiled, "How did you know my husband's name?"
"Everyone knows the successor to Davy Jones where I'm from."
"And where is that?" Elizabeth asked.
"Where we are all from, my dear," Madame Clio started, "the sea."
Elizabeth became silent once again, staring at the woman.
"You remind me very much of someone, but I can't put my finger on it . . ."
Clio just smiled. She knew to whom Elizabeth was referring to: The Goddess Calypso, Clio's sister.
Danny became uncomfortable with the tension that was rising in the small hut.
"As you said, Lizzie, we should get going if we want to make it to the New World and back to Port Royal in time for you to give birth," Danny stood and placed a hand on his companion's shoulder.
Elizabeth's eyes narrowed once more and then she stood up quickly.
"Right," she said.
"Thank you for all of your help, Madame Clio," Danny bowed slightly towards her.
And with that, he and Elizabeth left.
When they got far enough away, Elizabeth turned and looked back to find the hut they had just exited missing from the street. For some reason she was not surprised.
"Why do I have a feeling that she was not telling us the truth?" she asked.
"I get that feeling too, Lizzie," he replied darkly, "but it's all we have to go on."
Madame Clio actually had been good enough to tell the pair the truth about where Addy and Jack were headed, but she did not give them the benefit of a smooth departure or sailing circumstances and for the next few days, The Defiance and her crew suffered wind damage and took on too much water to stay on course. They were forced to dock at the next port in St. Vincent. There they realized that with the excessive destruction, it was uncertain when or if their journey to save Addy would continue.
When they had left St. John's, Jack's nightly reading to Addy resumed. On the night they had finished the book, Jack asked her to go pick out a new one from his collection. She spent at least twenty minutes going through each title until she settled on a rather curious book. What attracted her to it was the gold writing on the green spine. She also noticed that though it looked to be one of the newer additions to his library, it was worn almost as well as the books that were obviously much older.
She pulled it out from it's place and looked at the cover, A collection of poems by John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. Without peeking inside, she walked back over to the chair and handed it to Jack.
Even from the side she could see his smile grow large and wicked.
"Well this is an interesting choice," he took the book and held it delicately in his hands.
"It looks to be one of your favorites," she replied, confused by his demeanor.
"Oh it is, it is. But you may be a bit young for such material."
Her eyes hardened, challenging him wordlessly.
"Alright, alright," he held up in his hands, one of them holding the book in question, in surrender, "but don't say I did not warn you."
She took her place at his feet and he placed his hand on her head as he began to read.
"The Imperfect Enjoyment," he opened.
"Naked she lay, clasped in my longing arms,
I filled with love, and she all over charms;
Both equally inspired with eager fire,
Melting through kindness, flaming in desire.
With arms, legs, lips close clinging to embrace,
She clips me to her breast, and sucks me to her face -"
Jack looked down to see Addy's face was flush, but she maintained her composure.
"Her nimble tongue, Love's lesser lightening, played
Within my mouth, and to my thoughts conveyed
Swift orders that I should prepare to throw
The all-dissolving thunderbolt below.
My fluttering soul, sprung with the painted kiss,
Hangs hovering o'er her balmy brinks of bliss.
But whilst her busy hand would guide that part
Which should convey my soul up to her heart,
In liquid raptures I dissolve all o'er,
Melt into sperm, and spend at every pore.
A touch from any part of her had done't:
Her hand, her foot, her very look's a -"
Jack paused. For dramatic effect or out of nervousness, he could not decide.
"- cunt."
He could feel her stiffen next to him. He looked down but she had already composed herself into the picture of indifference. He continued.
"Smiling, she chides in a kind murmuring noise,
And from her body wipes the clammy joys,
When, with a thousand kisses wandering o'er
My panting bosom, 'Is there then no more?'
She cries. 'All this to love and rapture's due;
Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?'
But I, the most forlorn, lost man alive,
To show my wished obedience vainly strive:
I sigh, alas! and kiss, but cannot swive.
Eager desires confound my first intent,
Succeeding shame does more success prevent,
And rage at last confirms me impotent.
Ev'n her fair hand, which might bid heat return
To frozen age, and make cold hermits burn,
Applied to my dead cinder, warms no more
Than fire to ashes could past flames restore.
Trembling, confused, despairing, limber, dry,
A wishing, weak, unmoving lump I lie.
This dart of love, whose piercing point, oft tried,
With virgin blood ten thousand maids have dyed;
Which nature still directed with such art
That it through every cunt -"
She stiffened again, but he continued, lowering his voice for effect.
"—reached every heart
Stiffly resolved, 'twould carelessly invade
Woman or man, nor aught its fury stayed:
Where'er it pierced, a cunt -"
No reaction. He looked down to see her mouth was slightly open and her eyes had dilated.
"- it found or made
Now languid lies in this unhappy hour,
Shrunk up and sapless like a withered flower.
Thou treacherous, base deserter of my flame,
False to my passion, fatal to my fame,
Through what mistaken magic dost thou prove
So true to lewdness, so untrue to love?
What oyster-cinder-beggar-common whore
Didst thou e'er fail in all thy life before?
When vice, disease, and scandal lead the way,
With what officious haste dost thou obey!
Like a rude, roaring hector in the streets
Who scuffles, cuffs, and justles all he meets,
But if his king or country claim his aid,
The rakehell villain shrinks and hides his head;
Ev'n so thy brutal valour is displayed,
Breaks every stew, does each small whore invade,
But when great Love the onset does command,
Base recreant to thy prince, thou dar'st not stand.
Worst part of me, and henceforth hated most,
Through all the town a common fucking-post,
On whom each whore relieves her tingling cunt
As hogs do rub themselves on gates and grunt,
May'st thou to ravenous chancres be a prey,
Or in consuming weepings waste away;
May strangury and stone thy days attend;
May'st thou ne'er piss, who did refuse to spend
When all my joys did on false thee depend.
And may ten thousand abler pricks agree
To do the wronged Corinna right for thee."
He closed the small book, "So, what did you think of that?"
She knew he was testing her but she thought it was because of her "age." If she had known it was because he knew she was a woman, she would have ripped the book from his hands and thrown it overboard. Or she might have shagged him where he sat, she wasn't sure. But because she did not know, she felt she only had one recourse.
She took the book from him and turned to the next page. She shoved it back into his hands.
"Keep reading," was all she said.
His chin tilted down towards his chest so that he was looking at her through his thick eyelashes.
"As you wish," he replied.
A/N: A huge thanks to Linalove for inspiring me for this chapter. Also big thanks to Kit-cat99, ssn, Guest, Guest, 60443, kaelynredfern (OnyxTears), your fan 1 (Guest) and Sabina-Sofia for their encouragement. Again, the muse is fed by reviews so the more I get, the faster I'm inspired to write.
Thanks!
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