Chapter 2: 1716 Lessons in Piracy!
The „Eagle's Wing" sailed under full canvas when she veered into the wind and held a direct course towards the narrow passage leading straight into the hidden bay. Just moments before she reached the entrance to the strait outlet with its spiteful currents, she turned about and passed the dangerous position with a notedly lower speed. Right here, the rather calm waters coming from the bay met the untamed waves coming from the open ocean and, foaming and spraying, they surged back against the cliff line rising up high on both sides of the passage.
The "Wing" seemed to dance on the waves and to conquer them with playful ease, while she planed on them the same moment without getting carried away by the current. Her headings were the passage and the hidden bay...
"What's going on here!" Rosalind's voice sounded over the whole deck when she rushed out of the captain's cabin like a tropical storm. Embarrassed silence followed her question while the men were busy to concentrate on their work and tried to appear unknowing and uninvolved at the same time. "Well then, gents, as you wish! Mister Jacobsen!" Rosalind searched the whole deck with narrowed eyes to find her first mate and helmsman.
She was fuming and so the man decided it would be wise to not upset her even more: "Aye, captain!?"
"What the hell, man! Why does she sail under full canvas and who set this course?"
Jacobsen kept silent and Rosalind knew exactly he was trying to hide something from her: "Miss Rosalind! Captain! The crew is not to blame for what happened..."
"You're my right hand, Mister Jacobsen! Better start praying that we won't hit a reef or reach the shallows! Who's at the helm?"
"I..." Jacobsen hemmed and hawed...
"Well, then! Be glad, I know you all so well! Otherwise, I would feel tempted to allege that you planned a mutiny!"
Without waiting for his reply she rushed away and jumped up the few steps to the helm. There she stood rooted to the ground: At the helm, the wheel within a firm grip, stood – Jack Sparrow!
The boy was completely focussed on the helm and the ship seemed to follow each of his moves willingly. There was no strain upon his face, no effort, as if he was used to sail a ship of this size. Rosalind kept taps on him for a while, then she cleared her throat and crossed her arms in front of her chest: "I accept that you turned my daughter's head, Mister Sparrow, especially because she obviously turned yours, too, but aboard this vessel you will keep to the rules. This is my vessel which makes me captain and you the ship's boy. Did I make myself clear, lad?"
"Aye, Madam Stevens!" Jack responded.
He gazed at her and a smile found its way back to his lips: Rosalind wasn't as enraged as she wanted to make him and her crew believe and while he was still deliberating about whether he should ask her about her allowance to stay at the helm or not, she explained: "However, aboard my vessel it's also my decision which duties my ship's boy has to take over."
"Madam?"
"Don't act the fool, Jack. You know what I want to tell you! And you know what you're supposed to do to reach the aim you want to reach. Do you really think I'm not aware that you're watching me whenever I sail the 'Wing' through this passage? You're clever and that's why you're here, son..." Rosalind gave him a wink and went on: "I don't need a proof that you've been at sea before and I wasn't joking when I told you I would be willing to leave the 'Wing' to you and Caith. So, listen to me carefully: All I want you to do is to keep on watching what's going on aboard my vessel, how I lead my ship, how I deal with my crew and how I'm sailing this ship!" When Jack just stared at her without giving her a reply, she nodded and pointed at the helm: "I want you to sail her through the passage! The worst that could possibly happen to us is to end at Davy Jones' Locker, if you should forget about the reefs and the shallows, but I think it's worth to take that risk. Don't you agree?"
Rosalind watched contentedly how the boy started to fulfil her order with ardent zeal. He grasped the wheel and sailed the "Wing" through the passage at close quarters and brought her into the bay with a nearly somnambulistic safeness – past the reefs, the shallows and the fishing boats. Then, she yelled: "Mister Jacobsen! Take the helm and take her to her berth!"
"Aye, Ma'am!"
After the man took the helm, she wrapped an arm round Jack's shoulders and led him straight towards the captain's cabin. He hesitated to follow her, but she dropped down on a chair, placed her feet on the table and waved him to come in. She pointed at another chair and said: "Don't be bashful, lad! Sit down and don't act as if you're in here for the first time!" She waited until he sat vis a vis to her and went on: "I want you to listen carefully to all I'm going to tell you now! One day, you will be captain of this vessel. That's why I want you to understand what it means to be the captain of a ship. It's not the same like being out on a foray with some friends of yours, who are of the same age. You will sail with a crew of old salts when it is as far as, but keep to the rules. No one is intending to ban you from getting friends with the men you will command, but, mark my words, Jack: You are the captain! You and no one else aboard your vessel! Means to assert yourself! The men shall respect you! Which way ever you will achieve it! Believe me, you will find your way! Another thing you should never forget about is: You can always trust in yourself, you can always trust in your ship, but you will also need a crew you can trust in. So, keep in mind, what I'll tell you now. Don't listen to all those stories the men will tell you, if you want to hire a crew, just trust in your guts."
"But how will I be able to hire the right men, if I'm going on an adventure or a quest?"
"Never talk about your adventure, your quest or your planned prey before you'll set sail. Mostly, the men are much more interested in the prey or in a treasure than in anything else. Hire those men who ask questions about your ship, about your plans if you're not at sea. You're the son of Edward Teague, so, I suppose you to know about what it means to sail aboard a pirate vessel – even if you're not willing to accept the code. Place a contract with your crew, your own contract. The code is law, as you know, but I'm convinced it's much more useful, if a captain and his crew are bound by their own contract."
Rosalind removed her feet from the table and bent over to face Jack: "And there is one last thing for today, lad: Never underestimate your enemies. Let them believe you're a fool, let them feel superior. It will save your life..."
"Take this!" Patrick passed a bottle of rum over to Jack and dropped down on one of the stones lying about all around the place: "Drink, son! It's not poisoned!" He pushed his sword into the pliant ground blade first and watched the boy when he put the bottle to his lips: "Not that hesitantly! Your enemies won't mind if you're sober or if you're drunk as hell when they're going to attack you!"
Jack took a deep draft of that brown swill, gasped for air and looked at Swallow in disbelief: "What kind of brewage is this...?"
Patrick grinned: "That's rum, lad, what else? Home made, as to be considered! C'mon! Take another draft and listen to me carefully: You can always drink as much as you want to or as much as you're able to – you will come to know that this is a difference – but never forget to keep yourself under control! Tell it to yourself again and again that you always should be able to shoot, to seduce a pretty girl or to fence!"
He did not finish his last sentence when he picked up his sword with his right and when he pulled a strait dagger out of his boot with his left, using both blades to attack the boy all out of the blue.
"Oi!" Caught by surprise, Jack stumbled back, warded the first blade off, firstly, then the second, then he performed a half turn, used the swing and struck against the dagger. Patrick lost it and Jack dived through underneath the next flourish, pushed the blade aside with his own and jumped over it when Patrick aimed at his legs. With a courageous jump he reached the top of the stone Patrick sat on, before. He warded Patrick's next flourish off, again, but within the same moment the clever captain let his wrist cant. Jack stumbled forward due to his own swing and the same moment he felt Patrick's blade right at his throat. He panted for air and finally asked: "I've never seen this trick before! Where did you learn it?"
"My idea! Well and truly! And it always works! Catch your enemy by surprise – use his swing or his carelessness and then it's just one small move and you'll win. Remember this trick if necessary and it will serve you well. Trust me!"
"I hope I will be able to avoid it!" Jack shook sand and dust out of his hair and clothes and grasped for the bottle of rum which lay on the ground: "Otherwise, I could get used to it..."
"The fight or the rum?" Patrick grinned.
"The rum!"
"Right answer, son! You should never get used to fighting! Every duel, every sea-fight, every battle is different and your opponents will never play according to your rules equal if ashore or at sea. But there is one way how you'll always be able to rule the game..."
"Let them take me for a fool...?"
"Jack, don't get me wrong, but you're definitely spending too much time with Rosalind. Or shall I say with our sweet Caithleen, eh?" Patrick burst out laughing when he got aware that Jack degressed bashfully. He gave the boy a pat on his back that he jumped forward and added: "No need for bashfulness! Our little girl makes her own decisions. My pretty Rose and I have nothing to do with it. I'm good with it when I see you together and, obviously, Caith is good with staying together with you, too." From one moment to another Patrick got stern again: "You're still very young, Jack, but let me tell you this: If you'll come across the girl for whom you would sacrifice everything, even your life, you will know it. No matter your age..."
They remained silent for a while, drinking out of their bottle of rum by turns and got caught by their thoughts until Jack asked: "You neither sail for the King nor for the Brethren Court and you did not accept the code. Why is this?"
"Well, Jack, as you already had to experience on your own, life isn't always what we wish it to be. Why should I sail for the King of England although I own it to him, his justice and the ministers who fulfil his justice that I ended up as a slave at one of their colonies? Just because I dared to speak up for those no one would waste a single breath on. As it seems, I was lucky things didn't turn out worse. The plantation I worked on brunt down and I managed to escape together with three comrades. Don't ask me how, but after several days we reached the next port. We were lucky, a merchant sailor hired us to work aboard his vessel as sailors although we must have looked totally wrecked. We stayed aboard until we got attacked by a pirate. They left us a choice: Hire aboard their ship, get sold into slavery again or get disembowelled and die at sea. It was easy to make a choice, but one thing I'll never forget: No one, may he name he himself king or pirate, will ever again decide about what will happen to me. No one but me..."
"So you chose the open ocean and your freedom?"
"Aye! But, Jack, you're a clever boy. You will come to learn, soon, that even this is just an illusion. Those pirates, who sail the seven seas on their own account are a shrinking group. Our time's up, the time of those great pirates like Henry Morgan or Henry Every. Have a look around and be honest to yourself and you will come to know that the trading companies and the warships rule the seas, now. Spanish, French, English! There are not many undiscovered spots left – neither at sea nor ashore."
"But there is still the mystical, the unexplainable..."
"Treasures, curses, strange inhabitants of the sea: I never came across the unexplainable myself, but that does not mean that this will apply to you as well. After all, there is no sailor sailing the seven seas, who's not afraid of the 'Flying Dutchman' and her eerie captain. But", Patrick got up: "it's late and I want to keep myself busy with my books and charts for a while. Not to mention the rum and the tavern which will both wait for me tonight..."
The sun went down on the horizon in a breathtaking play of colours when Jack climbed up the cliffs to reach the well hidden place close to a little rivulet where he and Caithleen used to meet when they wanted to stay alone. They had chosen this place, because, normally, others rarely strayed around here, and because, particularly tonight, no one would miss them. Patrick and Rosalind went to celebrate with their men and to share the latest prey, so, no one would ever think of sleeping till the break of dawn. Enough time to spend a mild night together in the open underneath a starlit sky.
A smile appeared upon Jack's lips when he reached the venue and when he spotted Caithleen's familiar silhouette against the sinking sun. She was waiting for him. A strange but welcomed uneasiness befell him when he covered the last few steps to reach her, when he fell down on his knees behind her and when he brushed her hair from her neck. He breathed a kiss upon her shoulder and kept his breath, but the moment passed by and his uncertainty vanished as soon as Caithleen leaned back against him and took his hand.
"So you really made it?" She whispered.
"Yes, love! As you can see: Here I am. Finally! And I'm sure no one will miss me tonight." Jack grinned: "What did you tell Rosalind why you won't accompany her?"
Caithleen gazed at him all stern and said: "I told her the truth!"
Jack stared at her – totally puzzled and with his mouth dropped open: "You did what?"
"You understood very well!" Caithleen grasped him with his chin and closed his mouth shut: "C'mon, Jack, both of them know! If they wouldn't like to see us together they wouldn't let us go."
With it she bent over to him and breathed a kiss upon his lips. When she wanted to break it he wrapped his arms around her and dragged her on his lap. They looked deep into each others eyes and their lips found together within another deep and passionate kiss. Jack's hands wandered down her shoulders and her back until he let them rest upon her hips, and when he dragged her closer, she wrapped her arms round his neck and closed her eyes to surrender to this new and unique feeling of trust and warmth.
Somewhen later, Jack broke the kiss and the embrace and let his fingers slide down her cheek. He blew some curls out of her face and started to caress the tip of her ear with his lips. Caithleen shivered under this soft touch and opened her eyes. She leaned in on him again and whispered next to his ear: "Do you want it tonight..."
Jack's hands cupped her cheeks and he leaned his brow against hers before he replied: "It doesn't matter, if I am the one, who wants it. You're the one who has to want it, Caith..."
His dark eyes were shimmering within the ebbing daylight and Caithleen had no doubt that he was totally stern while leaving the decision to her. Instead of giving him a reply she buried her hands within his thick, soft strands of hair, loosed the bandana he used to wear and the untamed, dark curls fell into his face...
Caithleen smiled. As it turned out, the cute boy began to turn into a bonny young man. She kissed him again while her hands slipped under his shirt and she broke the kiss only to pull the annoying piece of cloth over his head to get rid of it. His tanned skin felt warm and tender and it shimmered like bronze in the dying daylight of the sinking sun. Jack surrendered to her touch and started to open the twines that held her shirt close. She let it happen that he stripped her shirt off and she let it also happen that he beheld her for a while. Just a narrow piece of cloth covered her youthful breasts now, and he wasn't quite sure if he should touch her or not.
Caithleen freed him from making a decision. She wrapped one of his curls round her finger and looked deep into his eyes before she asked him in a low voice: "Will it hurt...?"
"I...don't know, love..." Jack dragged her into his arms again and held her close: "Maybe a little...Maybe this time, because it's the first time...I'll try to be careful...But, Caith, I promise, I will never hurt you again, if this is over..."
He buried his head within her shoulder and she whispered: "Then, I want it, Jack..."