The Trouble with Women

Chapter 20

Deals, Dignity and Doubts

--

"B-but I know the name of the ship! And where it's headed!"

Jack smothered his surprise at the boy's words with a quick blink. Struggling not to seem over-enthusiastic (what would everyone think of Captain Jack Sparrow then?), he cocked his head plaintively at Duncan.

"Just a moment," he spoke, raising a finger. "You say you know that name of the ship and where it's headed, ay?"

Duncan nodded fervently, staring beseechingly up at the pirate. Excited whispering from the crew filled the silence between the two. Gibbs stood firmly with Rupert still held firmly, the latter of which was scowling at the other boy.

Jack licked his lips discreetly before leaning over the slightest to address Duncan. "And…how you happened upon such…significant information, son?" he questioned critically, wondering himself if this new was simply too good to be true.

"Well, ye see, sir, I were a bit curious after what you gone and questioned me 'bout earlier, and Eugene seemed to think it were somethin' important, so next I saw the bloke with the funny accent and 'is mates, I decided to follow them, ye see?" the boy began slowly. "An' t'wasn't long after I'd spoke to you, in fact, and I snuck right in a tavern and hid 'neath a table to listen to them. Spoke of a ship, they did, and where t'was going. They recounted their whole plan, they did, right in front of me and they didn't even know it!" Duncan finished proudly.

"Aye…" Jack murmured to himself, pursing his lips slightly. "And do you care to tell ol' Jack this plan o' theirs in exchange for safe passage aboard me Pearl hmm" he asked.

Duncan swallowed visibly. "No throwin' overboard?"

Jack's lips twitched in the slightest of smiles. "Nay."

"No lashing or whipping? And no starving or bein' tossed in yer brig?" he questioned quickly, brows furrowed.

Jack shook his head, beads clinking merrily. "Safe passage, son. I'll take you anywhere you wish along my route, savvy?"

Duncan nodded. "Aye, s-savvy."

Jack couldn't help the grin that twisted his lips. "Well now, why don't you tell me all about it, then?" he implored pleasantly, near crooning.

The scruffy boy spared Jack's numerous crew only one fidgety glance before launching himself into his story. "Well, first they gone an' talked about the Frenchie you was lookin' for, sayin' how they gots her and that they were planning on sailing out in less'n an hour. This was at night, if you was wondering—" he was cut off abruptly as Jack jumped in.

"Yes, yes, that's very fine and dandy. But what I really want to hear, is where they're headed," he prompted impatiently. He had the oddest feeling that they were wasting time even as they stood there, allowing Belfast to sail further from them with every passing moment…

"Aye…well, they said they was headed to an island round the southern tip of Maddie, didn't say exactly where. To drop of the Frenchie, they said, somethin' about keeping her locked up tight or the likes…" Duncan paused a moment before continuing. "They this Eliado bloke, he goes on to tell these two bums, Louis and Bardus, new recruits, that they'll be sailing to the Cape o' good hope, they said, an' round the southern tip o' Africa and onto the Cary…Carib-Caribbean Islands."

Jack took a moment to let this information settle. Belfast and Elaido were planning on dropping Vivien off on another island for safekeeping? He realized, with some chagrin, that he wouldn't be able to follow after and retrieve the Frenchwoman simply because he had no clue where she was being taken. The only thing he could hope for was that Vivien had managed to keep herself aboard, which would save him a lot of trouble and grief in the long run.

However, there was still one piece missing…

Snapping from his reverie, Jack fixed Duncan with a wild stare. "The ship! What's the ship's name, boy?"

The boy started slightly before managing to stutter out an answer. "L-la Sangre de Mar, C-cap'n sir!"

Wonderful! Jack could have shouted aloud, but instead settled for a grin of triumph and turned swiftly.

"Anamaria!"

There was a few second's delay before an answer was heard.

"What're you squwakin' about now, Sparrow?" the mulatto woman's voice demanded, and Jack's head snapped about in time to see her descending the steps from the helm. "What did ya think you were doin', leaving the bloody helm unattended like that!" she shrieked, pushing through the gathered crewmembers to stand before Jack.

"Anamaria," he greeted her kindly.

She tilted her chin high. "What'd ya want? I was workin' before you decided to let this bloody ship drift about!" she snapped, clearly not in the best of moods.

Jack merely smiled. "Set a course south immediately. We're headed for the Cape of good hope."

Anamaria's eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch, and she seemed to read his mind. "And what'll you be doing, eh?" she queried.

"Why, love, I'll be charting the course back 'ome," he replied pleasantly before pausing. "But first…" He turned back to Duncan, his eyes staying on the boy a moment before settling on Rupert.

"Rupert, I believe you had your work to do before you caught our stowaway, here. If you'd be so kind as to continue, I'd be much obliged." He dismissed the cabin boy, who seemed baffled by his Captain's lack of gratitude. Duncan, Jack noticed, seemed to be revelling in Rupert's misery.

Jack faced Gibbs. "Joshamee, would you fetch an extra mop and bucket?"

Gibbs nodded with a grin, knowing exactly what the Captain had in mind.

Jack turned to Duncan once more, his face serious. "Do you know what we do to little stowaways besides lashing, whipping, torture, keelhauling and tossing overboard of?" he asked gravely, and suppressed a smug smile when the boy shook his head hesitantly. "Well, we give them duties lower than those of the cabin boy, and extra hours which include the cleaning of the brig."

Suddenly, Duncan didn't seem so happy to be aboard the Black Pearl, and Rupert seemed quite pleased.

Lastly, Jack faced the crew, who were mulling about the deck uselessly. Adjusting the hat atop his head with purpose, Jack began belting out orders.

"Get to it, you lazy dogs! Belay your slacking or I'll have you all at the sweeps! Let down and haul to run free! We're headed for the Cape of good hope!"

--

Louis and Bardus were not pleased.

First, they had been stripped naked and made to jump from the Black Pearl, near a crowded port town with many onlookers.

Secondly, they had watched as Beckham had been shot dead before their eyes.

Thirdly, they had been made to kidnap Jack Sparrow's already captured prisoner (which they both knew wasn't the brightest of things).

Fourthly, they hadn't yet received the money they'd been promised.

And fifth and last, they now found themselves aboard La Sangre de Mar, under the command of a Spaniard and his crazed employer, still with no money while being made to swab the decks. Apparently, the ship hadn't had a cabin boy in long while. The deck was absolutely filthy, and it seemed as though none of the crew seemed inclined to do a thing about it.

"Never should have made such a deal," Louis muttered to himself, straightening from his swabbing. Beside him, Bardus cocked an eyebrow.

"What?"

Louis snorted. "Look at us! Swabbing the decks for some madman of a pirate, no better off than we were on the Black Pearl. And I, for one, would like to know where our three hundred guineas have run off to!"

Bardus stared dumbly. "I forgot about that…"

Wrinkling his nose in distaste, Louis spat on the deck. "Of course you did! You've got a skull thicker than…than…" he trailed off, unable to find something suitably thick enough that would apply to his companion.

"Thicker 'n what?" Bardus prompted, seemingly not at all offended.

"Never you mind!" Louis scowled, and sloshed his mop savagely about in the small wooden bucket before slapping it onto the dirty wood.

The sudden, loud slamming of a hatch jolted the two mates from their work, and they looked up in time to see none other than Belfast and Antonio Elaido stomp up from below decks. Both looks furious and Belfast was so red in the face he appeared to have sunburn.

Louis and Bardus exchanged a glance before glancing about them. The rest of the Spaniard's crew seemed unfazed by the two angry men and were working as usual, in a lazy state of mind. Louis remembered that Sparrow would never have allowed such slackers aboard his ship.

The two men watched as the Captain and Belfast made their way to the forecastle, not ten yards away. They began a heated discussion, and Louis cocked an ear to hear every word.

"If she's telling the truth, do you know what that means?" Belfast was asking with a frown.

"For us, you mean?" Antonio groused.

"It means that our whole plan has to be changed. We don't have the time to dally around and get rid of Vivien, so we'll have to keep her with us!"

"That demonio. ¡Usted bromea! Don't joke with me!" the Spaniard exclaimed.

Belfast regarded him levelly. "Since when do I joke?" he paused. "We will change our course immediately and head for Cape Town as planned."

"With the woman onboard?"

"Yes. Where else would she be?" Belfast arched his bushy eyebrows at Antonio.

The Spaniard scowled. "I thinking along the lines of 'the bottom of the ocean.'"

Belfast laughed humourlessly. "She won't be visiting Davy Jones for a long time yet, Antonio. She's useful to us still."

"By attracting Jack Sparrow to use like a hound!" he spat venomously. "She can't possibly be a good thing. You remind me constantly about this infamous Capitán Jack Sparrow and his ship, so must take your warning to heart. Having your Señorita aboard is giving me a headache."

"She isn't going anywhere, Señor Elaido. Keep your complaints to yourself. I am the one who is paying you, after all."

Louis snorted softly to himself at this. At least one of us is getting paid, he thought angrily. It humoured him, however, that the small little Frenchwoman he had encountered aboard the Black Pearl was giving everyone so much trouble.

He turned his attention back to the conversation, which was ending. Belfast was half turned from the Spaniard when he turned back, face sombre.

"Oh, and Antonio?"

"¿Sí?" The Spaniard cocked an eyebrow, leaning nonchalantly on the wooden side rail.

"Don't ever lay a hand on Vivien again."

Louis watched carefully as Belfast made his way down below one more, leaving Antonio seething in his wake.

He turned to Bardus, who was similarly frozen, his brow furrowed.

"Trouble in paradise, mon ami," he grinned.

--

Jack was standing cheerfully at the helm, watching Rupert and the newest addition to his crew bicker back and forth as they swabbed the decks. He had relieved Anamaria of the wheel and now, every once in a while the mulatto would stray from her duties to smack the two boys upside the head or twist their ears while giving them a good talking too. Every intervention only worked for several minutes until one of the boys would set the other off with a misplaced comment or look.

Oh yes, Jack remembered those days well. He'd been worse than the two boys put together, endlessly causing his ma and da grief.

"Odd one that Duncan is," a voice stated, surprising him somewhat, although he didn't show it.

Jack turned to face Gibbs, keeping a firm grip on the wheel all the while. "Nay, just a tad bit misguided. I imagine he resembles myself somewhat. In manner, of course." He cast a glance at the two boys just in time to catch Rupert inconspicuously hitting Duncan on the behind with the handle of his mop. "And Master Rupert, too. Perhaps all boys are like that, eh, Gibbs?" he chuckled.

"Maybe so," the older man replied, and watched as Jack quickly lashed the wheel in place before turning fully.

"Now, what's the problem?" the Captain asked, cocking his head, baubles jingling. "And don't tell me there isn't one because you wouldn't be up here distracting me if there weren't."

Ignoring the man's babbling, Gibbs regarded Jack seriously. "Jack…Cap'n…I'm thinking you better quit while you're ahead."

The pirate Captain fixed his first mate with a careful stare. "What's that supposed to mean, I wonder?" he asked evenly, his face giving away nothing.

Gibbs suddenly seemed to be slightly uncomfortable. "Two of the crew, Jack," he told his friend and superior. "Two good fine men already dead on this venture o' yours. Three have deserted to help the enemy. I'm asking if you're willing to risk any more to get this lass back, Jack."

Jack held his ground, tilting his head back slightly to give off a look of authority. "We've been chasing after this treasure for months, now, Mister Gibbs, and you wish to quit now that we're so close to finally acquiring our reward?" he demanded.

"Well…" he now seemed to be in indecision.

Jack watched Gibbs carefully, barely catching the flash of guilt that crossed the man's face. It was about Vivien, of course. Gibbs, despite being somewhat hesitant to associate with the woman at first, had somehow let her get a hold of him. Not in a bad way, of course, but could certainly be looked as so. Jack, after all, was experiencing much of the same when it came to the petite Frenchwoman.

Anamaria, too, was fond of Vivien. Female companionship was something she rarely found, and Vivien was, perhaps, both understanding and acceptant towards the female pirate. Most of the crew had formed a small but strong attachment to Vivien, and if it concerned her fortune or not, Jack wasn't quite sure. She was a woman that was hard not to become fond of.

Jack's own fancy for Vivien had something to do with, oddly enough, her smile. Maybe even her green eyes. And damn him if he'd ever admit it, but he rather liked her as a whole. And he knew that Gibbs didn't really want to abandon the woman or her treasure. What a loss that would be…

Snapping from his reverie, Jack patted his bewildered first mate on the back before he could think up a reasonable reply. "O' course not! We'll chase down our bonny lass and she'll lead us right to the treasure! How can you resist that, mate?" he prompted, eyes wide.

Gibbs's brow was furrowed. "I…"

"Glad to see you agree." Jack jumped in once more. "Now leave me in peace, man! You're a bit of a bother this morning," he paused a moment, "As well as that, get Anamaria up here before she ends up throwing one of those boys overboard," he said, and sauntered away from the helm, leaving a defeated Gibbs in his wake.

--

Translations: (Just a few bits you may not know)

Demonio - devil

¡Usted bromea! – You joke!

Mon ami – my friend

--Cayenne Peppeer Powder