Part 5
"This is madness!" Will whispered angrily as he and Jack crouched in the bushes to the left of a set of huge iron gates.
"Aye," Jack pointed out, his eyes still scanning the gravel driveway in front of them, "Or possibly brains and you'd be surprised how often those two-"
He abruptly stopped as he caught Will's warning look out of the corner of his eye.
"It'll be fine," he assured, "Let's go."
Being surprisingly nimble for a man who usually staggered everywhere Jack hurried towards the gate and vaulted over it, checking back only once to ensure that Will was following him. Safely on the other side, he lead the pair of them straight over to the building, keeping as low as possible and stopping with his back to the wall. He then motioned for Will to follow as he snuck round the side.
From the brief glimpse he had of it, Will decided the Governor's Mansion of Tortuga was an impressive building indeed. As fine as the one Elizabeth lived in back at Port Royal. He just hoped it wasn't as heavily guarded. Though considering where it was situated he expected it was and more.
On the left side of the house, Jack motioned for them to stop just short of a dark window. He pulled a small metal object from his pocket, checked around once more to make sure he wasn't being watched and went to work on the lock holding the window shut. Will had to bite his tongue to stop himself from protesting once more, feeling distinctly uncomfortably with the whole idea.
After a few moments of work, a click signalled the unlocking of the window and Jack slid it open. He stood back and motioned for Will to enter.
"Why do I have to go first?" the younger man, whispered in protest.
"'Ow am I meant to watch yer back if I'm in front of ye?" Jack reasoned, holding his hands out in a supposedly innocent manner.
Will glared at him.
"Look," Jack pressed, "The quicker we get my crew back, the quicker we get on our way, savvy?"
Will sighed, having a feeling Jack was going to try and use that excuse to get away with a few more things before this night was out. But what could he do? The man was right.
Climbing carefully up to perch on the frame, he was dismayed to see that the room was pitch black inside. The trees surrounding this side of the house were blocking out the moonlight - which he guessed was why Jack had chosen this point of entry even though it made it impossible for Will to see what he was walking in to. He looked back at Jack, the concern showing on his face.
"It's alright," Jack insisted with a careless wave, "It's just the servant's quarters."
"How do you know?" Will asked, surprised.
Jack rolled his eyes, "I've been here before, okay?"
And with that, impatient with all the delays, Jack shoved him through the window.
Will tumbled forward from his precarious perch on the window sill, thankfully landing on something large and soft before bouncing off to hit the wooden floor with a thud. A startled cry was heard, quickly followed by a dull thump. Will looked back, his eyes gradually becoming accustom to the dark, to see Jack clambering through behind him and struggling to pick up a large unconscious woman who had been sleeping in the bed Will had landed on.
"What did you do?!" Will asked, as loudly as he dare.
"It was self defence," Jack explained, as though Will was the one being unreasonable, "She's a big lass. She'll be alright. Now give me a hand."
Having no choice Will assisted Jack in hauling the woman to a nearby closet, which they locked just in case, Jack assuring him that someone would find her by the morning.
The pirate then lead the way to the door and, after spending a long moment listening with his ear pressed to the wood, he opened it a crack checked along the corridor outside before pulling Will out after him.
Whereas most normal men would have done their utmost to stay hidden, Jack strutted along as though he owned the place. Turning left at the end of the corridor, they strolled into the grand entrance hall that mainly consisted of an enormous staircase that lead up to the first floor landing. The place was very opulently decorated with treasure plundered over the years the family had lived here. Paintings and tapestries hung on the wall in gold frames. Ornate golden tables to the left and right of the hall held vases and statues all of which were exquisite in their detail and craftsmanship. There were also a few glass cases containing jewellery. It all looked very fine, but it gave Will the feeling that the owner was out to impress. Bragging almost. The Governor was clearly a rich man and wasn't afraid to express it.
Another feeling struck him too. Considering this had apparently been the home of the Marley family for a century, it didn't feel very homely.
Jack crossed straight to the table, inspecting the pieces with a pirate's eye.
"Very nice, very nice," he said appreciatively, as he picked up a particularly fine vase, "This is a new addition. The old Governor's certainly got taste."
Will wasn't interested in what Jack was holding however, he was instead curiously looking at a bronze statue depicting a woman releasing a bird. It was the spitting image of the figurehead of the Black Pearl.
He was about to enquire to Jack about it, when footsteps were heard from the landing above. The pirate motioned for Will to follow him as he went round to the right side of the staircase and to a door, hidden so well in the wooden panelling that you wouldn't have seen it unless you knew what you were looking for.
The room inside was dimly lit by one candle that cast an ominous shadows over the contents. To Will it appeared to be some sort of practice or training room, for swords of all sorts of design and origin littered the walls. In the centre of a large clear area in the middle of the room was the stuffed epitaph of a man. The white linen it was made of had clearly been repaired in more than one place, as though it had been ferociously practiced on once too often.
Having not the time to consider it further, Will turned back to where Jack was peering through the tinniest crack he had left in the door. Will joined him to watch as two burly men headed towards the front door, muttering something about 'patrol' and the Governor being in a foul mood of late. Once they had disappeared outside, he distinctly heard Jack count to ten before he stepped back out into the hall again.
As they shut the door quietly behind them, neither saw the figure step out from the shadows in the corner of the room where it had been hiding.
"Where to now?" Will asked, the seriousness of their predicament having weighed itself upon him once more.
"Upstairs," Jack answered smartly, "If I know the Governor - and I do - we need to head straight to the main office. Finds it 'ard to get away from the job, see?"
Will was about to ask Jack how he knew so much about the Governor when the main doors behind them creaked open once more and the two men re-entered.
"...can't believe you forgot your bloody pistol," one of them was saying to the other. He trailed off however when he saw the pirate and the blacksmith who did not have time to hide.
"Oi!" the second man shouted after a moment of staring at them incredulously.
With lightening speed, Jack plucked one of the vases off a nearby table and threw it at them. One of the men instinctively went to catch it, knocking back into his companion and they both fell to the floor.
Jack and Will, meanwhile made a break for it, the pirate not leading them up the stairs as Will would have expected but instead back the way they came. As he headed past the room they had entered through it also became clear that Jack did not intend for them simply to escape either. It soon became apparent what his thinking was though as a smaller set of back stairs came into view. Unfortunately at that very moment another man was walking down them.
He gave chase as Jack and Will entered the nearest door to their left, which turned out to be the kitchen. The maid and the cook shrieked in alarm as Jack and Will managed to run round and put the large oak table between themselves and what was clearly another one of the Governor's Men.
For want of a better weapon - having had all his effects confiscated during his arrest - Jack grabbed down the nearest pot that was hanging over his head and brandished it as threateningly as he could. The guard just grinned a foul toothed grin and pulled his sword. Jack's eyes widened and in an act of desperation he threw the pot with all his force at the guard.
There was a loud clang and the grin remained on the man's face as he fell backwards, unconscious.
Jack and Will shared a look and a shrug before continuing on their flight.
"Terribly sorry ladies," Will said, in apology to the two servants as he passed, picking up the sheets the maid had dropped and handing them back to her.
Out of the kitchen, they once more headed to the back stairs, hearing cries from behind them as the two guards from the main hall recovered. Sprinting up one flight, they emerged in a hallway, similar to the last but much more finely decorated. They ran down it and turned to head onto the second floor landing.
"The Governor's office is just here," Jack explained.
Unfortunately, so were three of the Governor's Men, who ran up the main staircase with renewed vigour when they caught sight of the two.
Turning on their heels, Jack and Will ran back into the corridor heading once again for the back stairs. As they arrived, they could see the two guards from the main entrance running up towards them and so had no choice but head up to the second floor.
Again, they ran down an identical looking corridor and out onto the landing. Will peered over the banister to look below as more men came running up the main staircase towards them. The sound of pounding footsteps from the corridor behind them also increased at a rapid pace.
"We're trapped!" Will said, turning on Jack.
He was about to berate him once more for his idiotic plan, when Jack ran round the far side of the landing. Knowing not what else to do, Will followed.
"Give me yer knife," Jack said quickly, holding out his hand for it.
Will handed it to him without question, hoping that the insanity that was one of Jack's plans was going to save both their necks.
Jack leaned over the banister and cut some slits in the large tapestry that was secured below them, stretched right down to the ground floor. Handing back the knife, Jack indicated one of the sections he had cut a slit into.
"Grab that and jump," he ordered, Will.
"You are mad!" the young blacksmith exclaimed, shaking his head.
He had no time to protest any further however as the two sets of guards pursuing them arrived on the landing simultaneously. Sharing a look with Jack - deciding that if they didn't die he was certainly going to kill him - the pair of them vaulted over the banister.
Fortunately for them both, the material of the tapestry was thin enough to tear under their weight, but thick enough to slow their descent so that they hit the floor with a painful bump as opposed to a fatal thud.
"Quick," Will said, as he picked himself up, realising that they had landed right outside of the practice room they had hidden in just before, "We should get some weapons."
At least then they would stand a chance when the guards inevitably caught up with them again. They should have thought of it earlier actually. In fact, they should have brought more with them than just Will's knife. But that was Captain Jack Sparrow's planning for you.
Jack nodded in agreement and immediately reached out to open the door. He was beaten to it however as it swung open from inside and he found himself face to point with a very sharp blade.
