Chapter 8: 1718 Tortuga
„Jack,
I expect you to be still alive and to be able to read these lines in a place where you can stay alone and without interruption. If this is the case, it is true at the end of the day, and I got caught by the devil to end up at Davy Jones' Locker together with my 'Silver Stream'.
You can trust me, it is not what I wished to happen, but it is what will wait for all of us, one day. I don't expect you to understand it, not yet, but I know you will if the time is ripe. However, it is no reason to melt into tears or to spend the rest of your life mourning me. The life I led and of which you had been a part of for a few years was the life I wanted to live. You know why – for freedom, for love and for the sea.
I spare you from the idle talk about you being the son I never had. It's just a negligibility. You and your sweet Caith are more than a gift for an old salt and a pirate like me. Life was broad-minded to present you to me – both of you.
No, there is something different, I can't spare you from, lad, and I hope you will understand why I couldn't.
Jack, you are really astucious and you own a keen sense for how to rate the people surrounding you. This applies for your friends as well as for your enemies. Keep this sense, keep this feeling and use it when you're on a foray or on a new adventure.
Never let your enemies guess what's going on behind your brow. Let not even your friends know what it really is you have in mind. Just tell them as much as necessary that they will follow you on your next adventure. As long as they are all in the know about just parts of your plan there will be much less dangers for them - and also for you to become dispensable to your enemies. Sometimes, it might be possible that your plan will develop while you're right in the middle. That's even better.
But never forget one thing: Your antagonists will always be just as strong as you decide to let them. You have a keen mind and your heart is open for everything and for everyone having a meaning to you, even though your sense of justice seems to be a bit peculiar, at times. The more, if I think about the fact that you chose to live a life as a pirate at the high seas.
Never mind...
You're in the know about the most worth to know about the seven seas and the rest of our world. You're a good navigator and a much better helmsman – for sure you will be a great captain. You own everything a pirate should own and a lot which will possibly make you a legend. You're a gifted swordsman and a remarkable marksman. And you will break a lot of fair ladies' hearts throughout the years. You're young and so is Caith and no one will be able to foresee, if the bond the two of you feel bound by will be strong enough to outwear a lifetime or even more, but to me your bond seems to be much stronger than we all are able to guess, at the moment.
And there is another thing you should never forget about, no matter what might happen to you: That is you. You will always be the one you are and neither you nor anybody else will be able to change this – unless you want it.
Your way of life will lead you to a point where it will become necessary to make decisions and you can believe me they won't always please you.
You will come across antagonists, who will take you by surprise and who will take you to the edge of everything you're able to bear. The same, you will find friendship in places where you won't expect it. You will lose friends meaning the world to you and your heart will get broken more than once. This, Jack, this will be the point of time to take care of not losing its shards. You will come to know what is meant if it is time.
I'm sure you'll ask yourself, why I'm telling you all this. For sure, not to bother you or to confuse you. All I want you to do is to look at the world you're surrounded by through open eyes. Our world is wonderful, Jack, filled with marvels and beauty, and it is able to present you with it if you just want it. There is a lot you can win and the same a lot you can lose and there won't be enough time to find it all out, because our time is up. The time of all those great pirates and their adventures is over. Not for you, I hope, but I know you'll get me the way I want you to.
Jack Sparrow, you're young and clever. Stay the one you are no matter what others promise to you. Power, treasure, magic are mighty seducers, but use them with care whenever you will keep them in your hands.
Never betray those things you believe in: Your love, your freedom, your devotion.
Never let it happen that others control you. If you heed this, I know I advised you in the right way.
I'm not able to teach you much more, but if you will stay the one you are, I will be contented.
Well, although I wanted to spare you from it, nonetheless is true: I love you like my own kid, so, there is just one last wish: Promise me to stay alive.
Patrick Swallow"
Jack lowered his hand. This letter was the only thing he had left to remember his fatherly friend and he had lost count of how many times he read it since he did stumble upon it within the little cabin he and Caithleen shared aboard the "Eagle's Wing". He locked himself up within the chart room to read these last words Patrick had left for him and to mourn the loss of his friend without any disturbance. After a while, he tried to deal with the charts, half-heartedly, and with figuring up a new course, but to no avail.
Looking out of the window, he noticed that the sun went down and that it got dark outside. The night crawled up, silently and peacefully, and the pale moonlight pictured some bizarre shadows to the wall. Jack lightened some candles and even though the warm candlelight wasn't able to calm his troubled mind, it was more than welcome.
He reached out for the goblet of wine standing in front of him but did not drink. Instead, he read Patrick's letter once again.
Patrick Swallow had given him a lot of good advice throughout the three years they lived together on their enchanted little island and now, sitting all alone within the half shades of the chart room, he brought them back to his mind. One after the other. Clever and intelligent pieces of advice provided to him by a clever and intelligent man and he would try to heed them all, if possible, even if he had no idea if he would always be able to succeed in heeding them.
He let out a sigh! Alas, there would be no more questioning them, no more spending endlessly long evenings on discussions close to the fireplace of the little cottage upon the cliffs high above the bay. The peaceful life they had lived up there had come to its end only a few weeks ago...:
The "Silver Stream", Patrick's proud galleon, sank to the deep depths of the open ocean and she dragged with her the captain's dreams of leading a life aside from piracy, hare-brained adventures, foolhardy sea fights and the continuous hunt for a proper prey.
The Spanish had taken them under crossfire at close range of their island and their home and even though Swallow and his men fought up to the last plank, the Spanish took him and a handful of survivors aboard their flagship when the "Stream" burst asunder - just to hang them to the main mast the same day.
"To you, old friend..."
Jack's voice was soundless. He brought the goblet to his lips, but the wine didn't want to taste.
When the "Wing" let go the anchor within the bay of Tortuga about two days later, no one wanted to believe the staggering news concerning the loss of the "Stream" and her captain and not until Rosalind Stevens went ashore being just a shadow of her former self, all rumours and speculations fell silent.
This happened four weeks ago and ever since she never set a single step aboard the "Wing" again. She wasn't the fearnaught, any more, Jack did come to know three years ago. She did change and if she found a way out of the tavern, at all, she was no longer able to think clearly or to speak understandably. The rum began to turn her into a foggy-brained wreck.
Aboard the "Wing", Elianor suffered agonies, at the same time, while thinking about the possibility that Bill Turner could be dead as well and there was no way to calm her down as no one had seen him or had at least heard anything about him. No sign at all that he might be still stay alive. Jack felt sorry for her, but he knew just all too well that they'd have to wait with returning to their island at least as long until they could be sure about the Spanish having left those waters.
For now, they had to deal with another problem, anyway, which was about how to get the young woman back to London in time. If Rosalind wasn't willing or able to change her mind, soon, and if she wasn't willing or able to remember her duties as captain of the "Wing", it would not be out of question that Elianor's child would make its first cry aboard a pirate vessel within the bay of Tortuga.
Jack placed the goblet back on the table and got up. He wanted to talk to Caithleen who kept watch on deck, but just when he prepared to leave a knock came from the door and in stepped Jacobsen, the ship's first mate: "Ah! Here you are, lad! Caith told me I would find you below. We have to talk, Jack! Now!" With it, he closed the door behind him, carefully, as if he was keen about not to cause a sound telling anyone else where he did vanish to.
"What's this sneaking around about, Mister Jacobsen?" Jack asked dropping back into the chair while he kept taps on the skilled sailor, curiously, who seemed to inwardly step from one foot to the other.
"You really don't know?"
It was a question, Jacobson did not expect an answer to. He knew, Jack was able to guess what the considerate and farseeing first mate of the "Eagle's Wing" wanted to tell him:
It was for four weeks, by now, that they anchored within the bay of Tortuga. The "Wing" was stowed to the brim with supplies, fresh water and rum and there was no actual reason, to postpone their leave any longer. The only reasons keeping them from doing so were Rosalind and her reluctance to return aboard. About one half of the crew had left the "Wing", when they reached Tortuga, to hire aboard another ship or to sail under the command of another captain after they came to the conclusion that Rosalind might not be able, any more, to represent their interests in a proper way or because they weren't willing to suffer from the dictates, any longer, her grief and temper exerted on them. Both got more and more unbearable additionally to the amount of rum she used to befog her brain with day in and day out.
Those, who decided to stay still wanted to stay even though they, too, started to doubt their captain and as it seemed they decided to choose a new captain, tonight.
"Was it an unanimous decision, Mister Jacobsen?" Jack raised his gaze and he had no doubt about the man feeling uncomfortable within this moment.
"All of us agreed that we'd wait until you and Miss Caith would have made your decision, before we would take action. You know, Jack, the men aren't quite sure about the girl for she's Rosalind's daughter. They're afraid they cannot trust her..."
"Tell them, they can always trust in Rosalind's daughter, Mister Jacobsen." Caithleen closed the door behind her and added as she got closer: "You and the men are right! I agree as well!"
"You know, lass, we never wanted to commit a mutiny. It's just..." Jacobsen shrugged and searched for the right words.
"Just let it out. I already know the truth. No need to beat about the bush. She's not herself any more, who else but me would know this better, and that's why I agree, Mister Jacobsen. On one condition: As soon as we have taken Elianor to London, we'll return to Tortuga, immediately. I can't leave Rosalind to her fate. I have to make a try to get her out of her dark mood and I have to make a try to take her back aboard."
"Agreed, Miss!" Jacobsen sounded relieved, then he stopped short and remembered that Jack still kept silent to everything they just talked about. He cleared his throat and asked: "What about you, lad?"
Jack cocked his head and gazed at Jacobsen: "Will the decision become easier, if I'm going to tell you what's going on behind my brow? You and the crew want me to become the captain of this vessel, that's what I guessed when you tried to bring this proposal to my mind for the first time. But tell me, mate, is this really what you and the men want?" He leaned back within his chair and placed his feet on the table waiting for what would happen next.
"It is what the crew and I decided."
"Very well then, Mister Jacobsen, tell them I agree as well. But listen to me carefully, there is something I want to warn you about: As soon as Rosalind Stevens will come to remember who she really is she will name us mutineers and everything what happened here today, what we discussed and what we decided unanimously she'll name mutiny. No matter the reason for doing what we did, no matter that fact that Caith is her daughter." He locked eyes with Caithleen's and went on: "No matter that fact that we're willing to return to Tortuga to take her back aboard. If we set sail, if we leave the bay and if we take her ship to dare the crossing to England, she will never forgive us." He had a thought about it and added: "But it's idle talking. The decision is made. Take your duties as always, Mister Jacobsen. You're still the first mate. Tell the men that we will sail with the break of dawn. They shall ready the ship."
"Aye, captain!"
"You feel uneasy about this decision, don't you?" Caithleen placed herself on the edge of the table, face to face with him, and grasped the half-emptied goblet of wine: "If you don't mind...?"
He just shook his head and waited until she had emptied the goblet and placed it back on the table, before he reached for her hips and before he dragged her on his lap astride: "You're right, love, I feel uneasy about this situation and about this decision as I do about sneaking out of the bay like a thief in the night. Call it as you want to, it's nothing but a mutiny in the absence of our captain."
"What else could we do?"
"I don't know, sweet. I don't know. Just that I promised something to Pat and Bill. We have to take Elianor to London. At any rate. Aboard the 'Wing' or aboard any other vessel that floats." Jack moved his hands down her back until he reached her waist and started to pull her shirt out of her waistband bit by bit: "It's too late to think it over again, anyhow. With break of dawn we're back at sea and it's beyond our power what will happen to us from now on."
Caithleen nodded while she nestled up against him: "We lay for anchor for almost four weeks. Make a guess how long it would have lasted. Rosalind spent every night at the tavern, playing cards, drinking, trying to forget. She left her ship to her crew, did not step aboard and did not care about herself or her men and if she'll go on that way there won't be a single drop of rum left around the isle of Tortuga..."
"What's this? That cynical, love?" Jack gave her a wink tried to dispel her bitterness.
"Jack, don't think I'm a fool. I'm very well aware of the fact that we possibly won't return to Tortuga after we dropped Elianor in London and I'm also aware that Rosalind might never forgive us this betrayal." She hesitated for a moment then she cupped his cheeks with her hands and had a deep look into his eyes: "I knew from the first day on when we met that I would be forced to make a decision between living my life ashore or together with you aboard a ship."
"How did it turn out?" He cocked an eyebrow and gazed at her curiously while his hands slipped under her shirt.
"Don't act the fool, Jack. You already know. I'm here. Together with you. Aboard my mother's ship. Willing to leave everything behind to live a life at sea." She breathed a kiss upon his lips: "For a life together with you..."
"Although you're able to guess what this could mean?"
"Although I'm able to guess what it could mean." Caithleen leaned in to him and let it happen that he stripped her off her shirt and tossed it away.
"I know", he whispered: "I should probably deal with lots of other thoughts within this moment, but if I look at you, sitting on my lap just wearing this annoying piece of cloth keeping me off of your delicate breasts, I couldn't care less about Rose, the ship or even the end of the world."
Caithleen smiled and she remarked before she sealed his lips with a kiss: "I can feel, already, how less you care about the end of the world..."
Jack's eyes widened in surprise while he blushed up to his ears. The moment passed by and he buried one hand within her hairline to drag her closer and to respond to her kiss. Her lips were soft and tasted sweet upon his and he closed his eyes when she opened them to grant him the pleasure of deepening the kiss. She pressed herself against him and while he started to get rid of the bandage she used to wear, the silent sighs escaping her slightly opened lips told him that not only he enjoyed his try to seduce her - up to that moment when the chair overbalanced, turned over and let them hit the floor ungallantly and hard...
Jack and Caith beheld each other, puzzled, confused and surprised, then they burst out laughing until they ran out of breath.
Ever since Patrick's death, since the loss of the "Stream" and since Rosalind's change of behaviour, they had avoided each other, had only kissed and touched each other secretly as if it was a crime to feel joy and love while all the others felt nothing else but pain and grief.
The whole strain which had kept them in its claws for weeks vanished from one moment to the other and they forgot about the place, about the point of time and about the chaos they were surrounded by. Jack pushed the chair aside, wrapped his arms round Caithleen and rolled her round onto her back that he came to lie upon her tender body. Rested on his elbows he beheld her:
Oh yes, he desired her, here and now, not wasting one thought on the idea that someone might see or hear them. Caithleen buried her fingers within his dark strands, freed him from his bandana and let his long curls wrap her in like a soft, flowing cascade of hair. They melted into an ahungered, longing kiss and Jack's hand slid over her warm skin and slipped under the bandage fiddling around with it until he succeeded in getting it loose. His smile, while doing so, was telling and seductive in the most unashamed way Caithleen was able to remember. She wrapped her arms around him, buried her feet into the ground as comfortable as possible and pulled him down on her. She closed her eyes when he started to caress her skin and when his lips followed his skilful hands.
Her body longed for his and she wound her fingers round his hips to drag him closer...
"Captain!" The door to the chart room got torn open and Jacobsen rushed in: "Captain!"
He had a look around, confused to find the room empty. Then he spotted the clothes spread all around the room and asked after having cleared his throat: "Jack? Caith? Are you there?"
It needed another few moments until Jack's dishevelled tuft and his still sleepy face came into sight behind the map table. He blinked into the half-light and wanted to get up when it came to his mind that he wasn't wearing a single piece of cloth.
Jack bit his lower lip and grimaced. This did not belong to what ever happened throughout the bygone night. A broad grin upon his lips he finally asked: "Mister Jacobsen? What's the matter?"
"Captain?" Jacobsen gazed at him as if he wasn't willing to believe that Jack might have forgotten his order: "You wanted us to set sail with the break of dawn. It is..."
"...not already the break of dawn, isn't it?" Jack interrupted him: "Oh bugger!" He got up without minding the fact that Jacobsen did not only gaze but stare at him: "What? Anything to spot you haven't seen, already?"
"No! It's just..."
The versed sailor wasn't able to finish his sentence because the same moment Caithleen sat up letting out a painful hiss: "We will never do this on the naked floor, again, Jack Sparrow. I promise..." She shook her head in irritation when she noticed him gesticulating: "What's wrong with you? I only told you the truth. I..." And her gaze met Jacobsen's who stared at her out of wide open eyes: "Oi..."
"Pardon, Miss, Caith..." He turned round immediately.
"So it's really sunrise?" Jack hurried to search for his clothes and went on while he slipped in: "Well, let's set sail, mate, and let's weigh anchor. What are you waiting for? Shoo!"
"Aye, captain! I'm on my way!" Jacobsen turned on his heels and hastened back up to the deck.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Jack reached out to help Caithleen with getting up. He made no secret out of his pleasure to watch her searching for her pants, shirt and bandage.
"Do you really think this is necessary?" He pointed at the bandage she just wrapped round her chest: "I would be way earlier able to cause you pleasure if you would forget about this annoying piece of cloth, love. What do you think? Bargain?"
Caithleen shook her curls and held his bandana up in front of him: "Would you go without this?"
"No!" Jack wanted to grasp it, but she pulled her hand back: "Oi! Don't tease me, love! I got you... Promise..."
"Well then, Captain Sparrow, I don't want to take the risk that the crew will maroon you on a godforsaken little island the first day after they named you their captain." She laughed and handed his bandana over to him.
He reached out for it and ere she was able to avoid it she lay within his arms and he let his hands caress her back again, his gaze filled with relish: "If you'll accompany me to the deck just wearing this, love, I promise I wouldn't care about the ship, a mutiny to come or any godforsaken island round the seven seas..."
Caithleen blushed up to her hairline, but he just breathed a kiss upon her lips, wrapped his bandana round his head and went up to the deck...
Half an hour later, the "Eagle's Wing" left the bay of Tortuga and set course towards her new heading – the City of London.