Disclaimer:  They're mine, my precious, my only . . .I am immortal and was a crewman on the Pearl, thus I know these people and therefore own a portion of them . . .I used a Memory Charm on the real owners so thus they are now mine . . .um . . .can't think of any more shows/books to use at the moment . . .

AN:  It's really here!  The climax!  Bows to all who have reviewed and those who haven't but have still read (and hopefully enjoyed).  There are two ways that my muse has worked out for where the story goes from here.  One is longer and slightly darker, but I promise not too dark and not too long, and I really like the ending that I have to it.  The other is a short, sweet wrap-up.  If anyone has a preference, inform me, otherwise my inclination is to go with the longer one.

A Taste of Misery

Part 16

Jack howled in agony and lunged again at the man in front of him, no longer caring about the burning in his wrist, but his bonds held him too high off the floor for his attack to do much more than provoke the assassin.

Jack's sword, the one that Will had given him too years earlier, that Jack had kept lovingly and in perfect condition even after it betrayed him, was now dull and black with burned skin and fabric.  Nicks covered Jack's arms and legs, steadily getting deeper as Almorte relished in the agony he was causing.

After all, with the blade hot from the fire, there was no danger he would bleed to death.  The steel cauterized the wounds even as it inflicted them.

And if Jack were to die of shock, it would just rob the assassin of a few minutes fun . . .minutes that he knew were dangerous.  The assassin recognized the need to end the game, but it was overshadowed by a fierce delight in watching the man that had ruined his life scream and writhe in agony at his hands.

Caution finally won out, and he placed the sword into the fire for the final time, rubbing his wrist where the pirate had bitten him.

With his luck, it would get infected and leave yet another scar.

Pulling the sword out of the fire, he walked slowly back to his bound captive, eyeing him critically.  The man hadn't spoken an intelligible word since saying the assassin's name and identifying the room as a forge.  Bruises and cuts covered his body, but while most men would already have either passed out or passed over, the pirate seemed to become fiercer with each injury inflicted upon him.

Almorte shook his head.  It made no sense.  Almorte had never seen anything like it before.

Perhaps the man truly was mad.

Not that madness or sanity mattered for Jack Sparrow at the moment.

Almorte stalked over to his captive, careful to keep a safe distance between himself and the pirate's teeth.  Lifting the blade with his left hand, he touched it almost gently to Jack's chest, grinning slightly as the pirate's body instinctively jerked back from the hot metal.

"Is this where you were stabbed before, Jack Sparrow?"

A small voice inside his head automatically answered that the blade was two inches too high and one too far to the left, but he barely grasped what this meant, and his only verbal response was a snarl.

"Somewhere in here, I suppose.  I'll almost miss you, you know, Jack?  You provide such excellent sport."  The grin hardened as the assassin prepared to follow through on the stroke.

The heavy thud of a blade intersecting flesh sounded through the room, and both Jack and Almorte screamed.

The assassin stared at his arm in disbelief where the blade of a sword had sprouted from it.  His fingers loosened their hold on the blade and it fell to the ground, where the blade, weakened from the repeated heating and cooling, shattered.

Three people stood just inside the doorway.  One the assassin recognized as William Turner, the second as Commodore Norrington, and the third, though he didn't know her by name, had the look of a pirate about her.

Reaching with his right hand, he attempted to grasp the hilt of the sword to pull it from his arm, but the blade was too long for him to manage it.

"You really love that trick, don't you, boy?"  Will Turner merely smiled, though his eyes were hard and flat.

"He missed."  Ana-Maria glanced between the assassin and her captain, her body rigid with rage.

Norrington stepped forward, over Thomas's body, his sword grasped firmly in front of him.  "Mr. Alsworn, or whatever your name truly is, you are hereby under arrest for the murder of two soldiers of the British Navy, the attempted murder of a third, obstruction of justice, and for the ordering of and participation in the massacre at Port Jade."

"You're only postponing the inevitable, Commodore.  You'll never pin Jade on me, and the pirate will hang any—"  The assassin stopped dead as a second sword sprouted from his chest, stared at the female pirate for an instant, and fell forward, blood bubbling from his nose and mouth.  Jack moaned as the sound of the sword striking reached his ears, though his eyes were closed.

"He was trying to escape."  For a moment Norrington and Ana-Maria locked eyes before the Commodore nodded briefly.

"Jack . . ."  Will rushed over to the pirate, who stood swaying slightly, his eyes still closed.  Norrington and Ana-Maria followed.

"Oh, Jack . . ."  Will slowly reached out to the man, trying to determine how to get him down while causing him the least amount of pain.  He was ill prepared for the reaction that he got.

As his fingers brushed the bound man's arm, the pirate lunged at him, brought up short with a snarl of pain by the bonds.  Will almost fell as he leapt backwards.

"Jack, it's me.  It's Will.  Let me help you!"

The pirate showed no comprehension.

"Jack . . .look at me.  Captain!"  Ana-Maria placed herself solidly in front of the bound man.  When he turned to lunge at her, she slapped him across the face, the sound echoing eerily, before grabbing his head in both her hands.  "Jack, they're helping you.  Jack!"

Slowly the snarl dropped from his face as he stared into her eyes.

"Get him down.  Now!"  Ana-Maria snapped at the two men without breaking eye contact with her captain.

Moving quickly, the two men grabbed Jack on either side and lifted the bonds around his hands from the hook.  Norrington quickly cut them with his sword.

The pirate captain stood swaying for a moment before he crumpled to the blood-spattered floor.