Chapter 23
Even though both James and Jack had already calmed down, it was obvious that on the way to Jamaica again the tension could almost be cut with a knife, and everyone was quite a bit more nervous than usual.
One of the reasons the crew was concerned was that neither of them seemed like they wanted to talk about whatever they had in mind… Needless to say, it was a stressful journey for everyone and they were glad when they finally reached land. Despite what could be felt in the air, Jack ordered his crew to take out the prisoners from the ship and ordered the officers to pull out the goods they had recovered.
As they discharged everything, James went to give the papers of the pirates who had been captured to the Commodore, who was waiting for them, while Jack filled in others for the loot they had recovered, signing them and giving them to the Commodore just as James finished.
"Well…" this one mentioned "You have been efficient. Well done." Both of them nodded at that "Captain, you can come by my office later for your share of money."
Jack sighed a little, somewhat pleased that he could at least pay the crew and not have to deal with mutiny or anything. James, on the other hand, was just relieved that they only had to deal with Vane and the admiral, and how to expose the latter.
As he told the other officers where to take the prisoners, he saw out of the corner of his eye how Jack was already leaving the place and his breath hitched. He glanced at the rest of the crew and Miriam, who seemed content to be away from the water, and he looked where Jack was disappearing. Making a quick decision, he stopped Gillette for a second.
"Gillette, excuse me, could you take Miriam over to my place, please?" he asked, his eyes darting down the street where Jack had just disappeared.
Gillette sighed, knowing to some degree what James was referring to "Of course, James, don't worry… But be careful, alright?"
"I'll be." he smiled a little "Thanks, Andrew."
He sprinted in less than a second towards the street Jack had taken and was thankful to his luck that he could see him right near the end, rushing towards him until he could grab the shoulder of the other by a mere fraction.
Jack, however, was startled and he could see that he had drawn a knife before relaxing his shoulders a bit, though he still pierced James with his dark eyes.
"What?" Jack asked in the end, moving his shoulder away from the grip "Can't I just go and have some rum in peace without ye wanderin' around me?"
James rolled his eyes, annoyed by the other's attitude, but told himself that he should have more control and took a deep breath.
"We need to talk, Jack."
Familiarity with him was still strange, but James knew that if they really had to get to any point, it was better to put manners aside…
"About what?" Jack huffed, going on through the path, though not as fast, and James followed behind him "We don't need to discuss somethin' that we won't agree on at any time."
"I would prefer to talk about it, Jack." he stated, frowning, as he followed him inside a tavern.
"Alright." this one said and the innkeeper passed just in that moment to take note on their orders, disappearing. Jack leaned over the counter in his stool "Let's talk and end with this fast."
"Jack…" James almost begged, sighing "I don't want to be your enemy or argue with you more than necessary."
Jack only looked at him, studying him, and seemed to nod, as if he was apologizing. James took that as encouragement and decided to let go what he thought.
"I know we have… many different opinions and I can't force you, or myself, to change your mind or anything, I'm not asking for that." Jack raised an eyebrow a bit "The only thing I ask is trust, Jack." This one looked surprised "I know we're working together for the same goals, but the fact is… We're not trusting each other more than necessary and probably it will affect us in capturing those two. If we don't learn to do that, it'll be the same than Vane and the admiral are doing and I refuse to be all the time looking behind me, waiting to be stabbed on the back at any moment."
Jack opened and closed his mouth several times, but seemed quiet. He had to silently agree with him, which didn't sit right with him… They were so different; a pirate and someone from the Navy, freedom against the rules… However, he had to admit that he actually enjoyed James' company.
"Then, what do ye propose? It's not like we're goin' to magically trust one another, right?"Jack said, snorting a bit.
The innkeeper passed in front of them, leaving the drinks and these ones grabbed the mugs.
"Not magically, no." James admitted "But we could meet more. Play cards, chess, go to some taverns… Interact. We've been living together for some months and, not counting our common goal, we haven't spoken at all."
Jack took a deep breath but nodded, knowing that he was right and that it was a good way to develop their strange friendship… or whatever it was.
"I can't promise anything, though." Jack warned "I haven't trust someone since I met Gibbs."
James seemed to want to ask why, but thought better of it, as it didn't seem like a good idea to ask him about his reasons about trust. However, James wasn't blind and knew that something had happened to him… Whether it was before the Davy Jones' locker, after, or a bit of everything, he couldn't know.
"I'll do my best to earn it then." James declared, clinking their mugs, leaning toward the other and drinking a little.
Jack looked a bit surprised, but there was a small glint in his gaze that indicated that he had enjoyed his confident statement.
When they finished their drink and paid, they returned to James' house, finding the cook with Miriam in the kitchen.
"Oh sir, good afternoon." the cook greeted with a smile "The governor stopped by when you were away. He wanted to invite you to a debutante ball for his daughter this Friday." she commented and turned to look at Jack "I think that he was also searching for you… Captain."
"What's up with all this obsession at so many parties?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
James sighed, tired "It's the season… Let's hope that he already has someone in mind; I have no desires of a relationship in this moment."
"Not a good enough station?" Jack joked a bit.
"Not enough time." he corrected with a warning look. He breathed deeply "It can be an opportunity to watch the admiral and try to get proofs, in any case."
"There had to be something good." Jack shrugged "Not counting the alcohol, of course."
James just shook his head.
• ──────────── ✾──────────── •
The next day began with the preparation of the gallows for the pirates, as they were to be executed at noon.
As Jack had said, he didn't ask the governor for anything, but he did ask if it would be possible to visit Villanueva one last time, to which the governor agreed. Along with Groves and James, Jack descended the stairs where the prisoners were being held and went to the cell where Villanueva and five others of his crew were.
"You didn't get anything, right, Sparrow?" Villanueva huffed once Jack was in front of him.
Jack had to be given credit for reacting only with a shrug "I'm sorry, mate." he just commented "He was quite annoyed for the treasures ye had stolen."
"Please…" Villanueva snarked at that "Besides, I doubt that he was just annoyed for the loot that we had obtained from that English ship."
Jack looked at him, raising his eyebrows "Actually, British do tend to get upset pretty quickly when they lose some cargo…"
Villanueva rolled his eyes "I meant that there was something else in one of those chests that might be what he was really looking for."
At this, Jack almost feared what might be in a chest that would be of interest to a governor. Villanueva just snorted, as if he was struggling with himself and, looking from side to side as if he was checking that the other two were far enough away from them, he approached the bars, clinging firmly to them. Jack leaned forward with a careful step.
"Inside the chest, there was a book that claimed to contain the location of many treasures, including the two valuable chalices from Ponce de León's ship that are related to the Fountain of Youth." he whispered, with a mischievous look and then he clicked his tongue "Sadly, I doubt any man can read that thing… Not only because of the language, but also because it doesn't have any sense. Truly a waste, if you want my opinion."
"Duly noted, Villanueva." Jack mentioned with a tense smile "And… I hope that it'll end fast for all of ye. It has been a pleasure."
He made a little bow, his eyes glinting a bit.
"Likewise, Sparrow. And watch your back, English cannot be trusted." he only replied.
"Almost no one can be trusted these days." Jack snorted.
Slowly, he turned and headed back up the stairs, followed closely behind by James and Groves.
Noon came fast and, when they were all hanged, Jack couldn't help but go to the nearest tavern to drink heavily, Villanueva's death on his mind. Even though he knew the reasons, even understanding the law, even knowing that Villanueva had been more bloodthirsty than him… He couldn't help but think that the gallows had been his fate more than once and that this could have been his end.
Back on his ship, he decided to be kind and began to write a letter that he might one day give to someone who would be able to send it to its destination.
• ──────────── ✾──────────── •
Before James and Jack would have liked it, the day of the debutante ball arrived. It was too early, for they had just begun to know each other and, after what had happened to the crew of the Frightening Victory, they were still on shaky ground. To this was added that they were planning on how to travel to Shipwreck Island to visit Elizabeth without suspicion. Obviously, that was ending in some tension between them that left them tired.
Despite their unstable friendship, they had decided to go to the governor's house together and had had fun with some of their acquaintances, especially Groves, Gillette and Gibbs, who knew more about the topic of the admiral and Vane, since they had decided that it was better tell some trusted people.
The ball was mostly quite boring and they had just been lucky that the governor had only introduced his daughter, struck up a polite conversation, and then left them alone.
Around eight o'clock, after everyone had eaten, they saw the admiral walking in brief steps and slowly into a corridor with another man. Carefully, both James and Jack withdrew from where they had been and followed as silently as they could, so that the other two would not hear or see them.
They had ended up in front of a room similar to the one of last time and approached the closed door, trying to hear the conversation.
"I would have expected you to be in Singapore by now, Vane." They heard from, as they imagined, the admiral.
"I sent someone of my crew in who I trust, you don't need to worry about that." the other replied, almost with contempt "Besides, I want to get involved in getting my revenge against Sparrow and his other buddy that was with him."
"I think you don't understand that I need that stone, Vane. We made a deal." the admiral mentioned, apparently irritated.
"And I think that you simply don't trust me, dear friend. The stone will be here, I made sure of that when I contacted Liu the first time."
"You can't blame me for not trusting you." the other said "From my point of view, you're too focused on getting your insignificant revenge."
"Insignificant?" Vane almost spat "Everything but that. Besides, it's just that I've already gotten some revenge from the other person who ruined me that night. It would be fair."
The admiral seethed at that "Whatever you do, don't do it on English territory… I won't hide you, Vane, and I won't put myself in danger. I'm not going down with you."
"I can say the same, buddy." It almost seemed as he was lifting an invisible glass "By the way, you were a good friend of Cutler Beckett, correct?" There was a slight pause "Well, I wanted to know if he mentioned something on how he had wanted to find Davy Jones' heart."
There was a long pause at that "You know that Davy Jones is dead, right?" the admiral asked.
"Obviously… It was… Call it curiosity, if you want." Vane seemed to smirk at that.
"Well… he mentioned something about needing a compass that was in Sparrow's possession, but there's not a lot of explanation in that part." the admiral answered and it almost looked as if he was shrugging "And what could be different about his compass, in any case?"
"No idea, buddy." Vane replied easily "Well, thanks for the little information and be careful… I'll have the stone in two months. We'll see each other in the cave that is on the beach, at ten at night."
"Good, I hope you'll be there. My patience has a limit, Vane. Now, if you'll excuse me…"
Wide-eyed, James grabbed Jack and practically led him to an empty corner of the hall, trying to adhere to the shadows and breathe as little as possible.
The door to the room closed and they got a bit panicked when they heard their footsteps going to where they were.
Jack was almost tempted to move in order to hide more, but luckily the footsteps were moving away down the other adjacent corridor, which they could see if they leaned a little and they saw the two men disappear from their sight.
It took a few minutes for Jack to let out a sigh when nothing could be heard anymore and he was no longer so tense on his shoulders. James also seemed to relax.
"... One of these days… I think I'll have an attack." James mentioned, taking gulps of air.
"Well… It seems that we'll be two." Jack joked a bit, trying to recover his breath.
"It was madness and we almost got caught." James huffed and shook his head "We have to inform the governor that we'll be able to capture the person responsible in two months. There is no need to say that it's the admiral," he commented before Jack could say something "but we do have to tell him that we can capture him and stop his activities."
Jack nodded, agreeing on that "We also need to reach Shipwreck Island kind of fast." Jack mentioned "If what Vane said was true, he got some revenge on Elizabeth… And then there's this whole thing about Will's heart and my compass."
"There's not enough time for everything, right?" James asked, almost worried "We can't be in two places at once."
"Nah, mate… We need to trust in one another in this." he let out a little laugh "That will be fun… I need to trust that you're going to capture them with your little friends and you need to trust that I'll return."
James glanced at him, trying to assess him. He knew he was right… If they really wanted to cover all the ground, they needed to separate and trust each other, not an easy thing to do with the past they shared… And it was obvious that Jack wasn't going to take the first step… Either from past experiences or because he didn't trust James.
He took a deep breath "I trust you, Jack." And he realized that he wasn't lying and it was… Alarming, to say the least. He looked up when he saw that Jack was staring at him, astonished "The question is… Can you trust me?"