I apolgize for the lateness of this chapter. I couldn't get to my internet connection. Be warned. When your carpet cleaner tells you it'll take one day for the carpets to dry, it'll be more like three. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!
Thank you to Smithy, Telcontar Rulz, master of time, and Wills_Elizabeth23 for your sweet notes!! :) I really appreciate your understanding!
And now, the "super-long" chapter you've been waiting so patiently for...
Chapter 29: Hope Dawns
Silence reigned over the ship with chilling dominance. The spell was tightly woven across the decks, freezing soldiers and pirates alike. The dull static of the storm faded in shock.
Elizabeth was the one to finally shatter the stillness with a wordless cry of horror. Cold fingers fumbled to catch her shoulders but she barreled past them, collapsing in a shivering heap at Will's side.
A pair of red-coated guards stumbled after her, boots sliding in the rain. They didn't get much farther than a few feet before the ship rounded a large crevice. The rain and mist clouded most of the sea but dark sails created a black void several hundred yards away.
Jack's sharp eyes immediately recognized the three-mast sails and the sleek hull. A rescue was on its way then…perhaps he could aid them as the great Captain Jack Sparrow was never actually in need of a rescue.
Fortunately, none of the soldiers noticed as they were rather preoccupied preparing the Waking Power to make way in the storm. And that was a weakness he would exploit with utmost pleasure.
A quick scan of the deck revealed his inventory of possible escape plans. However, he stopped rather abruptly at mid-deck because for the second time that day Jack saw something odd.
A stout barrel resting near the main mast, of rather non-descript wood and plain metal bands holding the barrel together, had a swath of dark fabric peaking out from the lid.
And again, he wondered if it was some sort of bizarre tradition.
But when the fabric twitched as if someone was tugging on it, the blossoming of a plan grew in his mind.
"Oi! You two!" Jack hollered at the two head officers, wriggling his elbows in his guard's grasp and burrowing his way past the French girls.
"What?" A soldier snapped.
Jack drew back an inch at the ferocity. Bloody redcoats. Always so uptight. A bit more rum in their diet might improve manners and attitudes. But whatever the case, he had a plan to carry out. "The barrels are twitching."
Another eloquent, "What?"
He merely pointed.
Their eyes went round. "Marines!" The one with the taller hat called and a moment later a ring of redcoats had appeared from various stations across the deck. "Inspect those barrels there."
"Aye, aye, sir." The redcoats readied their muskets and went in with their sharp bayonets lifted. A quick jab later, and the cloth stopped twitching.
One marine opened a barrel on the edge. His stubbly face instantly turned a most interesting shade of green. He turned away to lean over the rail and his companion faced the officer.
"Pirates, sir. They must have stowed away."
"Indeed." The officer's own face was pasty. "Search the ship. Kill any that you find."
"Well, that's not very nice." Jack commented dryly.
The officer's narrowed blue eyes turned on him. "You are not in a position to comment, I should think."
"Why not? I'm the captain of a ship. You haven't captained anything but a toy boat when you were a lad."
The officer's spine snapped straight. "I have been with His Majesty's Navy for ten years. I know how to sail a ship."
"A dingy maybe. But a frigate like this one?" Jack cocked his head to the side.
The pirate watched in amusement as the redcoat's lips formed two thin lines. "You, sir, will wait out the remainder of the voyage in the brig."
"Ah! Callin' me 'sir' already. You catch on faster than the average whelp!" Jack grinned. Redcoats did not like it when he grinned. That he didn't understand. The same grin made the barmaids in Tortuga give him an extra pint of rum.
"Take him away." The officer ordered tersely.
His two guards pulled at his arms and as they did so he neatly placed one of his sea-boots in one guard's way. As quick as a flash of lighting, the soldier went down hard.
"Come on Jeffers. Get your feet underneath ya. We've still got the wenches to get down in the brig." The other soldier complained.
Jeffers scowled up at Jack. "He tripped me, the maggot!" In his anger, he caught the edge of the previously twitching barrel and as he pushed his weight up, the barrel tipped.
The body tumbled out on the deck, bloody and still.
"Aww, Jeffers! Can't you get your oaf self up without ruining everything? Now we'll have to clean up the mess."
"It's not my fault, Archie. It's the maggot!" Jeffers defended himself hotly.
Jack merely watched as the two soldiers continued their argument, content to pilfer Archie's knife. However, a harsh cry into the night sent a shiver of concern through his mind.
"Ship ho! Port side!"
A nameless soldier cried out orders. However, the words were carried away on a torrent of thunder. All of the prisoners were both forgotten as panic shot through the veins of the soldiers lining the decks.
Yet Jack, Jack felt a coy smile glide over his mouth, finally free to greet her properly. "Hullo, love…" his words were silky and soft, the tone of a man who had found a beloved friend.
And like a predator, she drew close, massive sails looming over the Waking Power and cannons bellowing a returned greeting. Men crowed at her foredecks, preparing weapons for the ensuing conflict.
The air whistled as wet ropes flew forward and dug deeply into the wooden sides to lash the two vessels together in a deadly embrace. Sea water sprayed up the hull, shooting over the decks and showering the soldiers scrambling to find means of defense.
A great groan shook the ships from top to bottom as they finally crashed together and then a shudder as they settled into a current.
Jack's eyes drank in the sight of his beautiful ship and her crew only yards away. But all warmth in his veins vanished at the image of Isaly standing at the helm of his precious Pearl.
Her face was hard with determination, fingers clenched about the railing, shoulders hunched, and eyes domineering as they gazed on the overturned barrel and the corpse spilled over the deck.
Jack didn't like that look at all. It was the sort of look one gave a maggot before one squished it, avenging the spoiling of perfectly acceptable food. And such a look was not to be directed at him, or rather the ship he stood on.
Therefore, he shoved his way past them all and careened out into the middle of the deck, waving his hands about—which was quite difficult as his hands were still firmly bound together. "No, no! That's my ship!"
Isaly's lips quirked into a wicked charade of a grin.
Oh…a different negotiating tactic then. Jack cleared his throat and held up a finger. "How 'bout a trade? This ship for the Pearl."
"Take her!"
"I'll take that as a consideration." Jack slithered back as Archie and Jeffers advanced on him. The duo turned into a more immediate threat, brandishing their muskets in an attempt to halt his movement.
"Mates, le's think about this logically. What's a little pirate compared to a ship prepared to blow the bajeezes out of you?"
Unfortunately, the two soldiers blatantly ignored him and, in a decisive move, caught his shoulders. They yanked him towards the hold without the slightest hesitation and Jack thought idly that perhaps he might rethink a bit of his plan.
Their movement was halted rather abruptly as they approached the stairwell a redcoat slumped to the deck, bleeding from a long slit across his throat. Behind him, a brutish pirate grinned, his blade still wet from the fresh kill.
"The alarm!" Archie hollered.
Jeffers loosed his grasp on Jack to fire a shot at the pirate but it did him little good as the stairs soon swarmed with Jones' men who pushed up and out onto the deck, furious and baying for victory.
The Waking Power erupted into chaos as pirates, armed with cutlasses and long daggers, swarmed across the railings from the Pearl and swept onto the Waking Power's slick decks to aid their trapped mates.
Jack slid away, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the soldiers trying desperately to hold back the multi-colored tide. Pulling free the knife he'd 'borrowed' from Archie, he cut the ropes around his wrists, with no small amount of effort, and sauntered towards the other end of the deck.
A quick glance back showed no pursuit, only the redcoats, holding their own rather impressively, battling the pirates. He turned back to continue his plan when suddenly a pirate swung out in front of him.
"'ello, Sparra! Jonesie will be glad to see you!"
"Terribly sorry to disappoint but I've got-"
"I wasn't askin'." The pirate snarled, pulling free a cutlass.
Jack watched as the giant pirate toppled to the deck, shards of glass scattered around his head. "I wasn't either," he commented dryly and then he turned to the helpful glass 'shatterer'.
It was the French girl. Eliase, Elina, Elisan. She smiled and nodded like she'd done him some favor. Obviously, she needed to witness his daring feats.
And then he thought of something. "Where's the whelp?"
Elizabeth's heart could have been a kettle drum for the way it raced within her chest. Her fingers had long ago gone numb from the cold as they brushed Will's face in attempt to wake him.
He had gone slack, and his skin was cold and gray. If not for the slight flutter of a heartbeat she would have thought him gone already.
In the chaos of the attack her two guards had been called away, leaving her alone. She had managed to push Will to a corner of the ship and had found a discharged musket on the way. Now she huddled at the rail with her unconscious husband, exhausted and miserable. Hoping to get his wounds to cease bleeding, she was trying to tear the jacket from an unmoving marine on deck when a hand fell heavily on her shoulder.
Catching up the empty musket, she whirled and, instead of a stern marine's face, saw Jack staring back at her. "Jack!"
"Aye, love." He pressed get a knife handle into her hand. "Get in the dingy." And then he was gone, disappeared back into the crowds.
Her eyes tried to relocate him only for a moment before she used the knife to cut the horrid ropes from her wrists. The cords fell away to the deck and she glanced about for the dingy Jack had spoken about.
About fifteen yards away, tightly lashed down with canvas and thick sea rope, was a dingy large enough for twenty men. Getting it free and into the sea without being detected wouldn't be an easy task, although it was partially hidden by crates and barrels. However, she didn't see any other options to get Will to safety and a doctor.
Threading her arm under his shoulders, Elizabeth tried to pull Will to a sitting position but with her wide girth she could barely stand herself. Breathing heavily and praying that they would remain undetected, she caught the wide cuffs of his overcoat and tugged.
Miraculously, he moved an inch, and then another.
Yet with each passing moment she grew more and more strained. This couldn't continue. She simply did not have the strength to carry him to the dingy. But deep in her heart she knew she couldn't merely give up. Feeling the burning edge of tears growing, she gave a heave and he moved a touch farther.
A flash of skirts caught her attention and, in that moment, her hope returned. "Elaine, Celia, Mariel!" she cried as loudly as she dared.
Their faces searched the swarming deck from the safety of a collapsed sail and, when they saw her, the same hope she felt burning in her heart lit up their eyes. They were by her side moments later, slinking along the edge of the deck so as to avoid the battle around the hold.
"The dinghy. We have to get to the dinghy." Elizabeth's words were punctuated with gasping breaths.
They nodded and wordlessly gathered around Will. Together they pulled and tugged Will the last few yards. The canvas was torn off and Will was dumped inside. They were adjusting the ropes to lower the boat over the side when finally the cry went out.
Pirates and redcoats both rushed to halt their progress. Elizabeth lifted the musket and swung it round to connect with an earsplitting crack to a pirate's face. Wielding the heavy weapon like a broadsword she smacked the second man in the gut, the breath in his lungs disappearing in a whoosh. The Woods girls, too, were not defenseless, and put themselves to good use whacking their adversaries with the oars.
However, four women against a larger group of better equipped men are poor odds. Elizabeth knew that their time was limited.
"Oi! Pucker-faces!"
All turned to see Jack standing on the foredeck.
"You will all remember this…"
Elizabeth's mind was racing. Jack didn't say that unless he was leaving…Moving faster than she ever had in her life, she caught the ropes, heaved hard and watched as the dinghy swung out over the rail's side, suspended solely but a series of pulleys and ropes tied off on the deck.
"…as the day that you almost…" Jack hollered, slowly walking towards the rail as the pirates and redcoats simultaneously slunk towards him, Jones in front.
Elizabeth gave the three Woods girls a push towards the boat and they complied with her silent gestures. She had just set foot on the dinghy's wooden floor when the pirates realized what Jack was trying to accomplish.
"…killed Captain Jack Sparrow!"
"Get them!"
Elizabeth threw herself in the boat and suddenly they were pitching down, the ropes limp and useless. They landed in the ocean with a hard jolt and sea water sprayed about them as the vessel bucked on the waves.
The next moments were filled with harsh breathing, the crack of musket fire that peppered the water around them, and the roar of the storm. As they were shoved farther and farther away from the Waking Power with the tide the musket fire ceased and within moments only the large white sails could been seen through the rain and fog.
"…killed Captain Jack Sparrow!" Jack finished his farewell, caught a rope he'd located especially for this purpose, and leapt off the side just as Jones got within striking distance.
The angered bellow of a thwarted man followed him as he whipped through the cold, wet air. He landed heavily, nearly losing his footing on the slick decks. But with a slight adjustment to his battered tri-corn, he clomped up towards the helm, pausing only to dislodge a thick wooden pin from the sail anchors.
Isaly was leaning against the rail with white-knuckled hands, but when his boots thumped onto the deck she whirled, her soaked blond hair snapping about her face.
"Sparrow! You ruined everything!" She yanked a pistol from her waistband and pointed it directly at his nose.
"That, love, depends on the definition of ruin."
Her lips thinned in anger and her finger pressed down the trigger. The gun's flint snapped forward with a wet 'thunk'.
"You, unlike your English counterparts, didn't keep your power dry." Jack informed her saucily.
She snarled and threw the useless weapon down, pulling free instead a long knife.
He anticipated the move and caught her wrist. "I believe this is my ship." He brought up the wooden pin, thumped her hard in the side, and watched as she flew over the rail, tumbling into the ocean below.
At last, he faced his Pearl. And a very relieved Gibbs, with the crew huddled behind him.
"Cap'n."
Smirking, he gazed out at the tumultuous sea beyond the Waking Power and Alabanza Vacia. "Hoist the sails, Mr. Gibbs. We've got us a whelp and his bonnie lass to find."
TBC...
