You Can't Always Get What You Want
Chapter Three
A/N: I apologize once again for horrible geography, what passes for nautical knowledge, and grammatical errors. This little baby's going in for editing once I get her up, so she'll come out new and beautiful. Yay!
Disclaimer: Disney is the king of the heap and I have my little spot at the bottom.
"Ah, there it is! Tortuga!" Gibbs exclaimed the next morning as the Pearl drew near to the small sheltered place. "Looks a mite crowded at port, though. We'll not be able to anchor in the shallows." He added, taking out a spyglass and adjusting it accordingly. "What should we do, Captain?"
"Take a longboat, and five others. Get out there and stake out a berth that's deep enough. If you can't, come back and we'll just set anchor here." Jack advised, turning to face the rear of the ship. "Anamaria!" He called , surprised when both she and Biddy showed up in front of him. They had been checking anchor chain, and both looked a little sooty. Biddy looked nothing like the clean, well groomed child that had come aboard the ship. She was soot blackened, dirt streaked, and dressed in ridiculously large clothing. But her expression remained somewhat the same, though the soaking from the previous day had apparently given her attitude some adjustment since she had been working with no complaint.
"Yes, Captain?" Anamaria asked, brushing sweat from her eyes.
"I want you to head out with Gibbs and go scouting in Tortuga for me. I can take care of the little girl," he added with a confident smile. Biddy looked worriedly from Jack to Anamaria before her hands locked fiercely on the woman's arm. After all, having spent the majority of her time aboard with Anamaria, Biddy had come to trust her more than the rest. She didn't want to stay with the man who had thrown her overboard, he might do it again just for fun if she was left behind with him and the others....
"Don't go! Don't leave me here! Please?" She asked plaintively, her face imploring. Anamaria blinked at her, a bit surprised at the tone the child was using. It was so much different than her normal two tones of voice, squeaky whining or disgust. Sincere, she thought, like Biddy really didn't want her to go. But orders were orders, and she DID miss Tortuga a lot.
"Captain's orders." She shrugged at Biddy, gently extracting her arm from the child's hold. "One thing you learn aboard a ship, always obey the captain. When they say jump, you better jump or you'll find no leg to jump with." Giving Anamaria a look that displayed a sense of utter betrayal, Biddy's face reassembled in her usual scowl.
"Better hurry," Jack advised Anamaria and the reappearing Gibbs. "Sky's looking a bit gray. Might rain, seas'll be rough in the longboat."
"Aye." Gibbs nodded, beckoning to the other three men as Anamaria leaped into the longboat. "Little devil ain't comin' too, is she?" He asked low in Anamaria's ear as they descended to the water.
"No, she's aboard. I worry about her, left alone with Jack." Anamaria said, glancing apprehensively back up at the Pearl.
"Yeah, he might do something stupid like throw her overboard again. Last thing we need when her family catches up to us is to tell them she's dinin' with Davy Jones." Gibbs muttered as he rowed.
"Well, they don't know we have her." Anamaria reasoned. "And she's been much better since she got back aboard, so I don't know. He's just not good at dealing with her, doesn't really understand that she's a child and not used to things like us. Damn all, Gibbs, a ship is NO place for a little rich girl. Especially not a ship like the Pearl."
"You got that right," he agreed, adding, "but now all we have to think about is rowing for Tortuga afore the water gets rougher!"
Arvide and Emmeline spent a restless night at the fort. Worried about Biddy's safety, the man rose every few minutes to peer out the lookout window and scan the sea. No sign of any ships. It left him free to imagine just exactly what could have or might be happening currently to his only daughter. Perhaps if he hadn't spoiled her so heavily, or protected her so much, this wouldn't be happening to him now. But he couldn't help it, she was all he had left.
He had come to Grenada twelve years ago with his wife Bedelia, his young daughter Margaret, and a dose of ambition. But Margaret got sick soon after they arrived, a wasting sickness that took almost six months to claim her. He and Bedelia took their losses and threw themselves heavily into their spice farming. They planted the crops, exported them, and rode out every day together. Eventually, Bedelia found herself again with child, to the delight of both of them. It was not to be joyous, however.
Dying shortly after giving birth to a big, healthy baby girl, Bedelia left Arvide a tormented man for a long time. Hiring a nurse to take care of little Biddy, his gaining prestige on Grenada meant nothing to him. He vowed to cherish and protect his little daughter, to give her everything she could want for a good life. And now what had it gotten him? Big trouble, that was what. It looked like another one was passing out of his life. But he'd fight like hell before letting her out of his grasp for good.
Thinking he heard the sound of men shouting and the rush of water against a ship, he rose expectantly. But it was only the ceaseless slap of water against the north side rocks. Returning to his seat beside a sleeping Emmeline, he rubbed his temples tiredly and resumed his thoughts. Biddy, he thought silently, if you come back I promise to be a better father. No more gifts to replace my presence, I'm going to be there. Just please, come back.
The weather turned nasty as the remainder of the crew waited aboard the Pearl. Clouds clashed against one another as Mother Nature inflicted her whimsical storm upon the sea. No rain yet, but the water was sure getting stirred up. "Batten down the hatches, this might be a bad one." Jack advised, adding "and we might not make Tortuga proper before it comes."
A low rumble branched out across the waves, promising thunder and lightning. Biddy, who had been watching the crew scrambling over the ship and stowing things, froze. Her feet, which had been idly thumping against the empty barrel she was sitting on, stilled in their motion. Her heart stopped for a moment as her hand flew to her mouth. But maybe she was imagining what she had heard. A large crate was being rolled by her, maybe that was it. It couldn't be...
Another rumble of thunder caused her to leap down onto the deck, her breath in her throat and unable to escape into the air. She needed to get to a safe place, with a large table to hide under. Thinking of Jack's desk, she bolted once more for the captain's quarters.
Jack, feeling pretty good about the whole situation, didn't even notice Biddy leave. He was watching the longboat's rocky progress to Tortuga harbor, glad that for once Biddy wasn't complaining, crying, or making a nuisance of herself. Childcare was easy, he reckoned, if you knew what you were doing. And Jack knew what he was doing ALL the time. It came with the territory. But he began to grow suspicious after a few moments. It was too quiet, he didn't even hear her feet hitting the barrel. Turning to check on her, he muttered a string of curses when she wasn't there.
"Lookin' for the girl, cap'n?" Pib asked as he and a fellow crew member moved kegs. "Ease up, Ladbroc! I need to tell the cap'n something!" He called to his partner as though the man were a yard away.
"Yeah, where'd the little horror run off to now?" Jack asked unenthusiastically.
"To your quarters, cap'n." Pib said before again shouting at Ladbroc, this time to resume walking.
"Oh hell," Jack said in exasperation, dashing to his quarters. If only there was some way to lock them from the inside. She'd better not be messing with his important papers. Upon entering the room, he listened for the tell tale sound of crying or the sight of papers flying everywhere. There was nothing. He couldn't see her anywhere, either. Maybe he'd check down in the brig. Pib might have misjudged where she was headed. After all, Pib HAD been the one to say that a magical talking dolphin stole all the rum once. Jack had believed him then, but now he had his doubts, about Biddy's location as well as the magical rum stealing dolphin.
But then from down near the floor came the sounds of ragged breathing. Bending low to hear them, Jack crawled on his hands and knees toward the sound, able to hear it better when closer to the floor. It was originating under his desk. "Come on out of there." He said in what he hoped was a non-threatening (he didn't need any more tears) but firm voice. Biddy, curled tightly against the farthest corner of the desk, only stared at him. Her eyes seemed to swallow her pudgy cheeks, they were so wide, the whites forming a panicky ring around the iris. Her face was incredibly pale, lips pressed tightly together as hair fell onto her face.
A flash of lightning illuminated the desk for a moment, causing Biddy to shake even more, as though with a horrible palsy. Her hands dug into her knees, and her little arms were tense with the strain of holding them close to her body. She wasn't crying for once, and Jack saw that as a bad sign. Biddy was too petrified to cry at all. She looked miserably at Jack, wishing with all her heart that she was back home at Ridgecroft, and safe. The thunder was much scarier aboard the rocking ship. The next clap of it, sounding as though a large boulder had been thrown on deck, made her start. Instinctively seeking someone to comfort her, she made a scuttling dash to Jack, and before he knew it her clammy arms were around his neck and she was whimpering and attempting to hide against him.
Surprise didn't begin to describe what Jack felt. He was completely at a loss. If he moved her away, she might start to bawl, but Biddy hugging him threw him off balance. He had never been hugged by a little child and it was an unnerving experience. But he could also tell that she was incredibly afraid from the way she shook against him. "Alright, enough of that," he said after a few moments, trying to pry her away. "Stop now, what's it that's scaring you? The thunder?"
Biddy only nodded mutely, her tongue feeling like a quaking, crouching rodent in her mouth. She couldn't make any sounds, not so much as a whimper. Lightning, and then the roar that followed caused the little girl to leap into Jack's lap and bury her face against his shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut. Her arms went around his middle this time as though he were a stuffed animal, and she sniffled. It felt better now that someone was with her, the thunder wasn't so scary. Even if it WAS this particular person.
Jack, reconciled to the fact that she wouldn't let go of him until the thunder stopped, awkwardly patted her back, trying to think of something reassuring to tell her. Perhaps if she felt better, she might let go. "You know, it's not the thunder you have to worry about. It's the lightning. Thunder's just a noise, the lightning would fry you. If it got in here, it would completely..." Feeling her arms constrict his ribcage gave him the feeling that this wasn't the most calming of sentences. "Look, you want to learn a trick?" But she merely held on without responding one way or the other. "Count. Count the spaces between the time you see the lightning and the time you hear the thunder. It works." Lightning flashed, and Jack managed to count even though it felt as though her hold had bruised his lungs. "One piece of eight, two pieces of eight, three pieces of eight..."
As he counted, he felt her grip loosen just enough to let him remember what air intake felt like. When the thunder clapped, she gulped and shut her eyes tight again. But Jack only kept counting. Soon, she found herself joining him, her voice almost inaudible at first. But then, she began to get the hang of it and her counting took over from the need to latch onto something. However, a lightning flash that seemed to nearly touch the window followed by a deafening rumble of thunder set them back to square one.
Jack sighed heavily. He couldn't sit on the floor all day playing games and comforting this child, he had a ship to run. She really needed to calm down, she was completely on edge. He felt bad for her despite himself. Then he remembered what always did the trick for him when he felt pressure getting too great to handle or fear welling up inside of him. Granted, neither happened very often, but when they did he knew what to do. Getting up proved to be a challenge, Biddy would not let go, her arms moving back to circle around his neck. Reminded uncomfortably of a noose, Jack staggered to his feet. Walking VERY slowly out of his room, the weight of the child more like a yoke now than a noose, he headed for the helm. Pulling the hatch that Biddy had stumbled upon, he took a bottle out and looked at it reflectively.
"What....what's that?" Biddy managed to choke out, looking at the bottle with some trepidation.
"Rum cures all. Don't worry, you'll feel better after just a sip. Works for me when I need it." He added, pulling out the cork and putting the bottle in front of Biddy's face. She took a cautious sniff before letting go of Jack's neck with one hand to take the bottle. Her remaining hand dug into his skin and he flinched heavily, trying to set her down. Taking a sip of the rum, she screwed up her face a bit.
"Tastes like medicine." She sputtered, swallowing it. Jack took the bottle from her and swigged it down to half.
"Take another sip, then, go on. It IS medicine. My mum gave it to me when I fussed, and look how I turned out!" He added, handing her back the bottle and managing at last to make her let go of him entirely. Cautiously, Biddy took another drink. It tasted better this time, she decided, not as stern as it had. Sort of warm, nice. She could feel her insides relaxing, and the blaze of lightning wasn't nearly so horrifying. She DID feel better. The last of the rum disappeared as she swigged it down, almost as fast as Jack had downed the first of it.
"You gave her.....WHAT??!" Anamaria asked as Jack passed the snoring Biddy into her hold. Stepping into the boat after doing so, he merely shrugged.
"Rum. It's legitimate medicine, you know. And she needed it, she had a death grip on me." He added, pointing to the marks on his neck. "She was terrified of that thunder, I thought she could use a little forgetting."
"Let me get this straight," Anamaria said slowly as she fought against the protesting waves with her oars. "You gave a seven year old child rum? Because she was scared?"
She had come back alone in one of the longboats, and informed Jack he could anchor the Pearl and the men could take the other longboats and dock at Tortuga. Ever the cautious fellow, Jack detoured his ship to a seldom ventured into cove, laying anchor there as a hiding spot. He had no other alternative, since not even the parrot had wanted to stand guard this time.
"Yeah. So?" Jack asked, shrugging. Anamaria, giving up on this venture, only sighed. "You know," Jack added reflectively, "it made her a lot easier to deal with. In fact, when she was scared she was easy to deal with too." After almost two entire bottles of rum, Biddy had staggered around on deck giggling senselessly until her knees gave out and she plunked on the deck. She promptly fell asleep after that, Jack looking pleased that she was over her fear. And so that was how Anamaria had found them.
"You suggest we send a drunk and possibly petrified little girl back to her parents?" Anamaria asked, trying to keep near the other boats rowing for Tortuga's dock. Biddy moaned quietly in her sleep, thrashing against her nightmares.
"If her parents don't come looking for her, she IS going to the nearest island with people on it." Jack said, glancing down at the stirring child. "Nothing's worth all the worry of her. She doesn't stay put, she's constantly into something, causes way too many distractions..."
But something about the way she had hung onto him when she had been afraid made Jack think twice. She wasn't always a terrible little monster, just most of the time. Maybe he'd try hard to find her parents, instead of his initial plan to gag her and leave her in the nearest possible inn. Biddy at least deserved to find the people who were responsible for her. Maybe he'd ask for reimbursements, since he and the crew had to deal with all her noise. And for the two bottles of rum she had chugged down. Especially for that.
But now, waking up, Biddy was moaning louder and thrashing more violently. Her unfocused eyes opened, and they sparkled with what might well be fever. Clutching onto the side of the rocking boat, the motion made her powerfully sick, and she threw up over the side. Anamaria kept looking straight ahead as she rowed.
"We're going to the Silver Badger, there's room there for the whole crew, and even her. Gibbs, Kursar, Coulster, and Muggins headed off back the way we came in a different boat to see if anyone's combing the area for a little girl. If they are, Gibbs said he'll bring them straight here to Tortuga. All we have to do is wait." Anamaria said smugly as the boat pulled near the farthest dock. Several moments later, two other longboats pulled in.
"I'd say I love you, but I've been given enough scratches by a female today." Jack observed, earning a not altogether playful shove backwards before Anamaria tried getting Biddy to sit up again. Wiping her mouth, the girl looked blearily first at Jack and then at Anamaria.
"Swab the deck!" Mr. Cotton's parrot called out into the drizzly Tortuga air from another boat.
"He's right, you know," Jack said solemnly as he took stock of the crew emptying from the longboats and assembling on the deck, "we should try to enjoy this. It's Tortuga again! Look sharp, lads, we're here as a base camp." He said sternly, furrowing his brow at the crew. They looked at him in disbelief and he laughed heartily. "Alright, I kid, I kid. Go on, hit the taverns, wreak havoc and all." He waved dismissively, then tried to slip away as well while Anamaria struggled to keep Biddy standing upright.
"No, you don't!" She called over her shoulder. "You, Captain Sparrow are going to help me get her into the inn."
"But you're perfectly capable of doing it, aren't you? Strong enough and all." Jack tried to reason with her, slowly backing up as he did so. "Just a peek around, and I'll be back to help out."
"Nuh uh. If you bail on me now, so help me I'll hunt you through the streets and when I catch you, I'll skin you and use your hide for a fore-and-aft sail." Biddy looked at Jack and dimly tried to walk over to him. "Lord knows why, but I think she wants to walk with you," Anamaria added, gladly assisting the girl. "Alright, that's it, take Captain Sparrow's hand, and he'll help us get to the inn." She consoled the child with a malicious smirk for Jack as she did.
Glaring blackly at Anamaria, Jack nonetheless accepted Biddy's clammy hand clenched in his. If they moved quickly he might have some saving grace. He didn't need these big, often brutish pirates to see him strolling along the street hand in hand with a little child. Very embarrassing. Pulling his hat down over his face as much as possible, he tried to walk fast. Biddy couldn't keep pace, she stumbled and nearly fell. He would have carried her for speed's sake, but he remembered vividly her throwing up earlier and decided that he didn't want to take a chance of her throwing up all over him.
"Awww, lookit there!" A voice exclaimed before three rather bawdy women surrounded Jack, Anamaria, and Biddy. "She's adorable!" The first one crooned at the girl.
"I love that nose, too! It's so round and shiny!" The second one remarked. Biddy, dirty moist hair clinging to her pale face and dark circles under her frightened eyes, merely hung onto Jack's hand, and reached for Anamaria with the other hand. In her muddy vision, these women looked eerily like descending monsters, and they smelled like heavy, cloying incense. She shrank back further when the third pinched her cheek.
"Such CUTE little freckled cheeks!" The woman exclaimed, before eyeing first Anamaria and then Jack, and looking back down at Biddy. "Is she....yours?" The woman asked in obvious confusion.
"No!" Jack and Anamaria said together quickly. "She's a stowaway, we're looking to return her back to her parents, but she's staying here until then." Jack added, trying to twist his hand away from Biddy's grip which had gotten steadily more insistent.
"The poor dear!" All three exclaimed, fawning over Biddy more.
"Don't be fooled." Anamaria said grimly, "she's a living nightmare. She's just drunk right now, we're going to the Silver Badger to wait out her claimers."
"DRUNK!" The first woman gasped. "How positively terrible, that's no way to treat a child. You should leave her with us, she'll be safe and we'll get her to the Silver Badger before nightfall. You'll both be free to have a go at...at whatever it is you'd do if you didn't have her with you." Anamaria looked at Jack, before both looked down at Biddy. Something about leaving her with these strange women didn't feel right to Anamaria. So she spoke before Jack could, knowing he would agree to their proposal. "Very kind of you, but we're perfectly fine. She's also sick, been throwing up." She added, to which the women recoiled before leaving altogether.
"Why'd you do that, Anamaria? Tell them no, I mean." Jack asked curiously as they continued on, Biddy stumbling incoherently between them. "You wanted to get her off our hands, didn't you?"
"Well, we need to make sure she's with us if they come back with Duggleby, and if she's with those women, she's not going to come back, is she? They don't exactly look like anyone's mother." Jack merely gave her an infuriatingly knowing grin. "Would you have said yes?" She asked in irritation.
"Probably. But I don't need to see the inside of a jail cell any more in my lifetime, so maybe you're right about keeping her with us." He added, gesturing off handedly towards a small, gritty building. "There we are, the lovely Silver Badger." They entered, the three of them earning strange looks from the people not buried in their drink glasses or punching each other senseless. Jack waded through the folks lost in revelry and headed for the man standing (barricading, really) at the foot of the stairs. Biddy trailed uncomplainingly behind him, miraculously avoiding being knocked over as she kept her vise grip on his wrist.
Approaching the tired looking inn-keeper, Jack leaned against the wall and ignored the look the fellow gave Biddy. "Look, you're the one we see about staying here, right?" He asked, trying to act like he didn't notice there was a small person trying to hide behind him.
"No children, too rough for 'em here. Get her outta here." The innkeeper said gruffly, pointing one knobbly thumb towards the door.
"Since when does a Tortugan innkeeper care about children?" Jack asked, a bit baffled.
"We don't need a little monster in here, got it? Your crew told me about the hell that spawn's raising on your ship and I don't want it in my inn! Boomer Shmenkar doesn't need bad business!" He shouted, his face a livid red.
"Well, she's not doing it NOW." Jack reasoned, bodily lifting Biddy to show the man her harmlessness. "See? She'll be like this until they come to get her." He gave her a little shake and she merely stared at Shmenkar with blank eyes.
"Fine, fine. Up the stairs and find what you can, not any further help then that." Innkeeper Shmenkar waved distractedly before turning his attention to two men fighting over a buxom woman who tossed her light curls flirtingly as she watched them. Jack, too turned his attention to the fight, more trying to catch the eye of the prize than to watch the fighters. But he felt another yank at his sleeve and sighed.
"What did he say?" Anamaria asked once she had pried Jack's attention from the other activities, namely the prize that was now winking at Jack.
"Up the stairs, the girl can, stay if she doesn't make trouble. Take her and she'll go with you," Jack muttered distractedly, trying to turn his head back and return the wink. Anamaria grabbed his jaw this time and yanked his head around to face her.
"No. YOU come with us. When she falls asleep..." Anamaria looked down at Biddy and then whispered the rest in Jack's ear so the girl wouldn't get wind of it, "when she falls asleep you can go. She got attached to you, God knows why."
"Why're you whispering?" Jack asked loudly, glancing from Biddy who was now clinging to his arm with both hands to Anamaria.
"BeCAUSE," she whispered again, "she IS a person, she can understand what we say. If she hears me tell you to leave, she'll never go to sleep!" Jack looked even more puzzled and Anamaria sighed. "Just don't say anything and come with us, okay?" At Jack's emphatic nod, Anamaria gently touched Biddy on the shoulder. The girl, who was trying to hide as she watched the fight, snapped around and looked wide eyed at Anamaria. The woman marveled at the change in Biddy from a loud obnoxious brat to...well....whatever she was now.
In the small room above the main floor of the inn, sounds of fighting thrummed up through the floorboards. A light sleeper could turn insomniac in Tortuga, and this particular room proved that well. Every time a chair was broken or a punch thrown, the chest of drawers and beds rattled heavily. Biddy climbed with no complaint onto one of the beds and pulled one of the blankets absently to her chin. She seemed almost like a zombie, saying nothing and making no noise. "I think she's sick." Jack pontificated.
"Gee, really? Maybe it was the rum, you think?" Anamaria practically growled.
"It's never the rum!" Jack countered heatedly. "Musta been the boat ride, sea sick and such." Anamaria only glared at him a moment before she looked critically at Biddy.
"You gonna be sick again?" She asked, almost gently, as she felt Biddy's cheeks. They weren't overly hot or cold, a very good thing indeed. The last thing they needed was for the missing child of a well to do tycoon to get sick in the bargain of being found among wanted pirates. But Biddy didn't look exactly healthy, either. Just sort of shocked into silence.
"No," Biddy croaked. "Just a little scared. This place is scary."
"It's not scary, it's Tortuga!" Jack exclaimed as he struck a pose, trying his best to be cheerful. When both females fixed him with twin looks of annoyance, he muttered and dropped his hands. "Well, I tried, didn't I?"
"It's alright, we've got people out looking for your father right now. We just have to stay here until he comes." Anamaria continued. "But you should sleep." She added, sitting beside a hunkered-down Biddy.
"I can't, I'm afraid." She said simply, clutching the blanket draped over her with both hands. Anamaria shrugged helplessly as she pondered what to do. The girl needed to sleep or she WOULD get sick, was the woman's estimation. Rising, she saw with amusement that when she got up Biddy's hand shot out for Jack's wrist, and after only a moment of trying to pull away, he resigned himself to being held onto again. Meandering around the small room, Anamaria opened a drawer to find a discarded petticoat and a threadbare hairbrush.
"Captain Sparrow, c'mere." Anamaria said after a moment of thought. Jack tried to oblige, but sat down again promptly.
"No, I think you need to come here," he corrected, pointing obtrusively to Biddy. Anamaria did so, and whispered her plan to Jack. He nodded, a bit doubtful but willing to try anyway. That girl down on the first floor didn't look occupied at the moment....
Anamaria grabbed the small brush and sat down beside Biddy again. The girl looked apprehensively up at her when Anamaria motioned her to sit forward, doing so with cautious slowness. Anamaria began to attack Biddy's grungy, extremely knotted hair with the brush, trying her best not to yank any hair out. It had been awhile since she had brushed anyone's hair, including her own. After a few moments, she motioned to Jack and he began to tell another of his stories.
"There was this time I actually had an entire Fort surrendering to me, didn't have to fire a single shot. Of course, Gibbs and I DID have to dress up like women for a stint and there was that nasty business with the imported cheese to go through..." After an hour or so, Biddy's hair was no less filthy and no less tangled, but the motion of the brush against her hair had soothed her considerably. She was laughing at the story and half leaning into Anamaria, her eyes lidded with sleep as she smiled.
"So you really DID steal the Ambassador's terrier?" She asked between bouts of laughter, and at Jack's nod, she began positively howling with mirth.
"Ay! You, boy! Don' forget abou' the carriages! An' LOSE THAT PIPE!" The surly head groom Oleg shouted to the stable boy before climbing into the loft. The stable boy nodded, rolling his eyes as he clenched his teeth on his pipe to stifle a shouted response He didn't bloody need any more reminding about the bloody carriages. He'd COVER them already.
After he had watered the last of the guest's horses, he made a great show of covering the carriages with oilcloth. The head groom glared down at him once, at which time he quickly stashed the pipe under the oilcloth of the current carriage, his last. After which, the stable boy made his way tiredly to bed. He had forgotten about the pipe under the oilcloth. The lit pipe smoldered, creating a smoking tent. The exhausted men didn't hear the anxious snorts of the four horses until all the animals began to kick their stalls to splinters in panic. When all four had gotten loose, the stable boy heard them burst through the barn door and out into the night. "Horse thieves!" He muttered to himself. He hurriedly woke the head groom and, without a thought as to the carriage now earnestly emitting smoke, both dashed after the terrified cart horses.
The people in the inn were far too wrapped up in their affairs to pick out the sounds of escaping horses, and no one came to investigate the odd sounds. By now the oilcloth had caught fire, the blaze licking hungrily at the dry wood, creeping with sickening speed to all corners of the Silver Badger stables. Soon the flames had found a new food, the piles of straw in the stalls, and the large pile of hay in the loft. They began to inch their way towards the main building, the smoke leaking in through cracks in the door connecting the stables to the inn.
"Eh, I'll leave in a bit," Jack decided, Biddy having switched from Anamaria's shoulder to his. "Don't want to risk waking her up again and all that." Anamaria merely smirked and tugged a pillow out from under Biddy. The little girl only sighed quietly and settled back against Jack. "She's alright, I guess." He said grudgingly, almost unaware of the fact that his arm was asleep from Biddy's weight against it. "But I'll be glad when she's gone."
All three were sleeping quietly shortly after midnight. If any of them smelled the smoke drifting sinisterly in through the bottom floor, it was only in their dreams.
Chapter Three
A/N: I apologize once again for horrible geography, what passes for nautical knowledge, and grammatical errors. This little baby's going in for editing once I get her up, so she'll come out new and beautiful. Yay!
Disclaimer: Disney is the king of the heap and I have my little spot at the bottom.
"Ah, there it is! Tortuga!" Gibbs exclaimed the next morning as the Pearl drew near to the small sheltered place. "Looks a mite crowded at port, though. We'll not be able to anchor in the shallows." He added, taking out a spyglass and adjusting it accordingly. "What should we do, Captain?"
"Take a longboat, and five others. Get out there and stake out a berth that's deep enough. If you can't, come back and we'll just set anchor here." Jack advised, turning to face the rear of the ship. "Anamaria!" He called , surprised when both she and Biddy showed up in front of him. They had been checking anchor chain, and both looked a little sooty. Biddy looked nothing like the clean, well groomed child that had come aboard the ship. She was soot blackened, dirt streaked, and dressed in ridiculously large clothing. But her expression remained somewhat the same, though the soaking from the previous day had apparently given her attitude some adjustment since she had been working with no complaint.
"Yes, Captain?" Anamaria asked, brushing sweat from her eyes.
"I want you to head out with Gibbs and go scouting in Tortuga for me. I can take care of the little girl," he added with a confident smile. Biddy looked worriedly from Jack to Anamaria before her hands locked fiercely on the woman's arm. After all, having spent the majority of her time aboard with Anamaria, Biddy had come to trust her more than the rest. She didn't want to stay with the man who had thrown her overboard, he might do it again just for fun if she was left behind with him and the others....
"Don't go! Don't leave me here! Please?" She asked plaintively, her face imploring. Anamaria blinked at her, a bit surprised at the tone the child was using. It was so much different than her normal two tones of voice, squeaky whining or disgust. Sincere, she thought, like Biddy really didn't want her to go. But orders were orders, and she DID miss Tortuga a lot.
"Captain's orders." She shrugged at Biddy, gently extracting her arm from the child's hold. "One thing you learn aboard a ship, always obey the captain. When they say jump, you better jump or you'll find no leg to jump with." Giving Anamaria a look that displayed a sense of utter betrayal, Biddy's face reassembled in her usual scowl.
"Better hurry," Jack advised Anamaria and the reappearing Gibbs. "Sky's looking a bit gray. Might rain, seas'll be rough in the longboat."
"Aye." Gibbs nodded, beckoning to the other three men as Anamaria leaped into the longboat. "Little devil ain't comin' too, is she?" He asked low in Anamaria's ear as they descended to the water.
"No, she's aboard. I worry about her, left alone with Jack." Anamaria said, glancing apprehensively back up at the Pearl.
"Yeah, he might do something stupid like throw her overboard again. Last thing we need when her family catches up to us is to tell them she's dinin' with Davy Jones." Gibbs muttered as he rowed.
"Well, they don't know we have her." Anamaria reasoned. "And she's been much better since she got back aboard, so I don't know. He's just not good at dealing with her, doesn't really understand that she's a child and not used to things like us. Damn all, Gibbs, a ship is NO place for a little rich girl. Especially not a ship like the Pearl."
"You got that right," he agreed, adding, "but now all we have to think about is rowing for Tortuga afore the water gets rougher!"
Arvide and Emmeline spent a restless night at the fort. Worried about Biddy's safety, the man rose every few minutes to peer out the lookout window and scan the sea. No sign of any ships. It left him free to imagine just exactly what could have or might be happening currently to his only daughter. Perhaps if he hadn't spoiled her so heavily, or protected her so much, this wouldn't be happening to him now. But he couldn't help it, she was all he had left.
He had come to Grenada twelve years ago with his wife Bedelia, his young daughter Margaret, and a dose of ambition. But Margaret got sick soon after they arrived, a wasting sickness that took almost six months to claim her. He and Bedelia took their losses and threw themselves heavily into their spice farming. They planted the crops, exported them, and rode out every day together. Eventually, Bedelia found herself again with child, to the delight of both of them. It was not to be joyous, however.
Dying shortly after giving birth to a big, healthy baby girl, Bedelia left Arvide a tormented man for a long time. Hiring a nurse to take care of little Biddy, his gaining prestige on Grenada meant nothing to him. He vowed to cherish and protect his little daughter, to give her everything she could want for a good life. And now what had it gotten him? Big trouble, that was what. It looked like another one was passing out of his life. But he'd fight like hell before letting her out of his grasp for good.
Thinking he heard the sound of men shouting and the rush of water against a ship, he rose expectantly. But it was only the ceaseless slap of water against the north side rocks. Returning to his seat beside a sleeping Emmeline, he rubbed his temples tiredly and resumed his thoughts. Biddy, he thought silently, if you come back I promise to be a better father. No more gifts to replace my presence, I'm going to be there. Just please, come back.
The weather turned nasty as the remainder of the crew waited aboard the Pearl. Clouds clashed against one another as Mother Nature inflicted her whimsical storm upon the sea. No rain yet, but the water was sure getting stirred up. "Batten down the hatches, this might be a bad one." Jack advised, adding "and we might not make Tortuga proper before it comes."
A low rumble branched out across the waves, promising thunder and lightning. Biddy, who had been watching the crew scrambling over the ship and stowing things, froze. Her feet, which had been idly thumping against the empty barrel she was sitting on, stilled in their motion. Her heart stopped for a moment as her hand flew to her mouth. But maybe she was imagining what she had heard. A large crate was being rolled by her, maybe that was it. It couldn't be...
Another rumble of thunder caused her to leap down onto the deck, her breath in her throat and unable to escape into the air. She needed to get to a safe place, with a large table to hide under. Thinking of Jack's desk, she bolted once more for the captain's quarters.
Jack, feeling pretty good about the whole situation, didn't even notice Biddy leave. He was watching the longboat's rocky progress to Tortuga harbor, glad that for once Biddy wasn't complaining, crying, or making a nuisance of herself. Childcare was easy, he reckoned, if you knew what you were doing. And Jack knew what he was doing ALL the time. It came with the territory. But he began to grow suspicious after a few moments. It was too quiet, he didn't even hear her feet hitting the barrel. Turning to check on her, he muttered a string of curses when she wasn't there.
"Lookin' for the girl, cap'n?" Pib asked as he and a fellow crew member moved kegs. "Ease up, Ladbroc! I need to tell the cap'n something!" He called to his partner as though the man were a yard away.
"Yeah, where'd the little horror run off to now?" Jack asked unenthusiastically.
"To your quarters, cap'n." Pib said before again shouting at Ladbroc, this time to resume walking.
"Oh hell," Jack said in exasperation, dashing to his quarters. If only there was some way to lock them from the inside. She'd better not be messing with his important papers. Upon entering the room, he listened for the tell tale sound of crying or the sight of papers flying everywhere. There was nothing. He couldn't see her anywhere, either. Maybe he'd check down in the brig. Pib might have misjudged where she was headed. After all, Pib HAD been the one to say that a magical talking dolphin stole all the rum once. Jack had believed him then, but now he had his doubts, about Biddy's location as well as the magical rum stealing dolphin.
But then from down near the floor came the sounds of ragged breathing. Bending low to hear them, Jack crawled on his hands and knees toward the sound, able to hear it better when closer to the floor. It was originating under his desk. "Come on out of there." He said in what he hoped was a non-threatening (he didn't need any more tears) but firm voice. Biddy, curled tightly against the farthest corner of the desk, only stared at him. Her eyes seemed to swallow her pudgy cheeks, they were so wide, the whites forming a panicky ring around the iris. Her face was incredibly pale, lips pressed tightly together as hair fell onto her face.
A flash of lightning illuminated the desk for a moment, causing Biddy to shake even more, as though with a horrible palsy. Her hands dug into her knees, and her little arms were tense with the strain of holding them close to her body. She wasn't crying for once, and Jack saw that as a bad sign. Biddy was too petrified to cry at all. She looked miserably at Jack, wishing with all her heart that she was back home at Ridgecroft, and safe. The thunder was much scarier aboard the rocking ship. The next clap of it, sounding as though a large boulder had been thrown on deck, made her start. Instinctively seeking someone to comfort her, she made a scuttling dash to Jack, and before he knew it her clammy arms were around his neck and she was whimpering and attempting to hide against him.
Surprise didn't begin to describe what Jack felt. He was completely at a loss. If he moved her away, she might start to bawl, but Biddy hugging him threw him off balance. He had never been hugged by a little child and it was an unnerving experience. But he could also tell that she was incredibly afraid from the way she shook against him. "Alright, enough of that," he said after a few moments, trying to pry her away. "Stop now, what's it that's scaring you? The thunder?"
Biddy only nodded mutely, her tongue feeling like a quaking, crouching rodent in her mouth. She couldn't make any sounds, not so much as a whimper. Lightning, and then the roar that followed caused the little girl to leap into Jack's lap and bury her face against his shoulder, squeezing her eyes shut. Her arms went around his middle this time as though he were a stuffed animal, and she sniffled. It felt better now that someone was with her, the thunder wasn't so scary. Even if it WAS this particular person.
Jack, reconciled to the fact that she wouldn't let go of him until the thunder stopped, awkwardly patted her back, trying to think of something reassuring to tell her. Perhaps if she felt better, she might let go. "You know, it's not the thunder you have to worry about. It's the lightning. Thunder's just a noise, the lightning would fry you. If it got in here, it would completely..." Feeling her arms constrict his ribcage gave him the feeling that this wasn't the most calming of sentences. "Look, you want to learn a trick?" But she merely held on without responding one way or the other. "Count. Count the spaces between the time you see the lightning and the time you hear the thunder. It works." Lightning flashed, and Jack managed to count even though it felt as though her hold had bruised his lungs. "One piece of eight, two pieces of eight, three pieces of eight..."
As he counted, he felt her grip loosen just enough to let him remember what air intake felt like. When the thunder clapped, she gulped and shut her eyes tight again. But Jack only kept counting. Soon, she found herself joining him, her voice almost inaudible at first. But then, she began to get the hang of it and her counting took over from the need to latch onto something. However, a lightning flash that seemed to nearly touch the window followed by a deafening rumble of thunder set them back to square one.
Jack sighed heavily. He couldn't sit on the floor all day playing games and comforting this child, he had a ship to run. She really needed to calm down, she was completely on edge. He felt bad for her despite himself. Then he remembered what always did the trick for him when he felt pressure getting too great to handle or fear welling up inside of him. Granted, neither happened very often, but when they did he knew what to do. Getting up proved to be a challenge, Biddy would not let go, her arms moving back to circle around his neck. Reminded uncomfortably of a noose, Jack staggered to his feet. Walking VERY slowly out of his room, the weight of the child more like a yoke now than a noose, he headed for the helm. Pulling the hatch that Biddy had stumbled upon, he took a bottle out and looked at it reflectively.
"What....what's that?" Biddy managed to choke out, looking at the bottle with some trepidation.
"Rum cures all. Don't worry, you'll feel better after just a sip. Works for me when I need it." He added, pulling out the cork and putting the bottle in front of Biddy's face. She took a cautious sniff before letting go of Jack's neck with one hand to take the bottle. Her remaining hand dug into his skin and he flinched heavily, trying to set her down. Taking a sip of the rum, she screwed up her face a bit.
"Tastes like medicine." She sputtered, swallowing it. Jack took the bottle from her and swigged it down to half.
"Take another sip, then, go on. It IS medicine. My mum gave it to me when I fussed, and look how I turned out!" He added, handing her back the bottle and managing at last to make her let go of him entirely. Cautiously, Biddy took another drink. It tasted better this time, she decided, not as stern as it had. Sort of warm, nice. She could feel her insides relaxing, and the blaze of lightning wasn't nearly so horrifying. She DID feel better. The last of the rum disappeared as she swigged it down, almost as fast as Jack had downed the first of it.
"You gave her.....WHAT??!" Anamaria asked as Jack passed the snoring Biddy into her hold. Stepping into the boat after doing so, he merely shrugged.
"Rum. It's legitimate medicine, you know. And she needed it, she had a death grip on me." He added, pointing to the marks on his neck. "She was terrified of that thunder, I thought she could use a little forgetting."
"Let me get this straight," Anamaria said slowly as she fought against the protesting waves with her oars. "You gave a seven year old child rum? Because she was scared?"
She had come back alone in one of the longboats, and informed Jack he could anchor the Pearl and the men could take the other longboats and dock at Tortuga. Ever the cautious fellow, Jack detoured his ship to a seldom ventured into cove, laying anchor there as a hiding spot. He had no other alternative, since not even the parrot had wanted to stand guard this time.
"Yeah. So?" Jack asked, shrugging. Anamaria, giving up on this venture, only sighed. "You know," Jack added reflectively, "it made her a lot easier to deal with. In fact, when she was scared she was easy to deal with too." After almost two entire bottles of rum, Biddy had staggered around on deck giggling senselessly until her knees gave out and she plunked on the deck. She promptly fell asleep after that, Jack looking pleased that she was over her fear. And so that was how Anamaria had found them.
"You suggest we send a drunk and possibly petrified little girl back to her parents?" Anamaria asked, trying to keep near the other boats rowing for Tortuga's dock. Biddy moaned quietly in her sleep, thrashing against her nightmares.
"If her parents don't come looking for her, she IS going to the nearest island with people on it." Jack said, glancing down at the stirring child. "Nothing's worth all the worry of her. She doesn't stay put, she's constantly into something, causes way too many distractions..."
But something about the way she had hung onto him when she had been afraid made Jack think twice. She wasn't always a terrible little monster, just most of the time. Maybe he'd try hard to find her parents, instead of his initial plan to gag her and leave her in the nearest possible inn. Biddy at least deserved to find the people who were responsible for her. Maybe he'd ask for reimbursements, since he and the crew had to deal with all her noise. And for the two bottles of rum she had chugged down. Especially for that.
But now, waking up, Biddy was moaning louder and thrashing more violently. Her unfocused eyes opened, and they sparkled with what might well be fever. Clutching onto the side of the rocking boat, the motion made her powerfully sick, and she threw up over the side. Anamaria kept looking straight ahead as she rowed.
"We're going to the Silver Badger, there's room there for the whole crew, and even her. Gibbs, Kursar, Coulster, and Muggins headed off back the way we came in a different boat to see if anyone's combing the area for a little girl. If they are, Gibbs said he'll bring them straight here to Tortuga. All we have to do is wait." Anamaria said smugly as the boat pulled near the farthest dock. Several moments later, two other longboats pulled in.
"I'd say I love you, but I've been given enough scratches by a female today." Jack observed, earning a not altogether playful shove backwards before Anamaria tried getting Biddy to sit up again. Wiping her mouth, the girl looked blearily first at Jack and then at Anamaria.
"Swab the deck!" Mr. Cotton's parrot called out into the drizzly Tortuga air from another boat.
"He's right, you know," Jack said solemnly as he took stock of the crew emptying from the longboats and assembling on the deck, "we should try to enjoy this. It's Tortuga again! Look sharp, lads, we're here as a base camp." He said sternly, furrowing his brow at the crew. They looked at him in disbelief and he laughed heartily. "Alright, I kid, I kid. Go on, hit the taverns, wreak havoc and all." He waved dismissively, then tried to slip away as well while Anamaria struggled to keep Biddy standing upright.
"No, you don't!" She called over her shoulder. "You, Captain Sparrow are going to help me get her into the inn."
"But you're perfectly capable of doing it, aren't you? Strong enough and all." Jack tried to reason with her, slowly backing up as he did so. "Just a peek around, and I'll be back to help out."
"Nuh uh. If you bail on me now, so help me I'll hunt you through the streets and when I catch you, I'll skin you and use your hide for a fore-and-aft sail." Biddy looked at Jack and dimly tried to walk over to him. "Lord knows why, but I think she wants to walk with you," Anamaria added, gladly assisting the girl. "Alright, that's it, take Captain Sparrow's hand, and he'll help us get to the inn." She consoled the child with a malicious smirk for Jack as she did.
Glaring blackly at Anamaria, Jack nonetheless accepted Biddy's clammy hand clenched in his. If they moved quickly he might have some saving grace. He didn't need these big, often brutish pirates to see him strolling along the street hand in hand with a little child. Very embarrassing. Pulling his hat down over his face as much as possible, he tried to walk fast. Biddy couldn't keep pace, she stumbled and nearly fell. He would have carried her for speed's sake, but he remembered vividly her throwing up earlier and decided that he didn't want to take a chance of her throwing up all over him.
"Awww, lookit there!" A voice exclaimed before three rather bawdy women surrounded Jack, Anamaria, and Biddy. "She's adorable!" The first one crooned at the girl.
"I love that nose, too! It's so round and shiny!" The second one remarked. Biddy, dirty moist hair clinging to her pale face and dark circles under her frightened eyes, merely hung onto Jack's hand, and reached for Anamaria with the other hand. In her muddy vision, these women looked eerily like descending monsters, and they smelled like heavy, cloying incense. She shrank back further when the third pinched her cheek.
"Such CUTE little freckled cheeks!" The woman exclaimed, before eyeing first Anamaria and then Jack, and looking back down at Biddy. "Is she....yours?" The woman asked in obvious confusion.
"No!" Jack and Anamaria said together quickly. "She's a stowaway, we're looking to return her back to her parents, but she's staying here until then." Jack added, trying to twist his hand away from Biddy's grip which had gotten steadily more insistent.
"The poor dear!" All three exclaimed, fawning over Biddy more.
"Don't be fooled." Anamaria said grimly, "she's a living nightmare. She's just drunk right now, we're going to the Silver Badger to wait out her claimers."
"DRUNK!" The first woman gasped. "How positively terrible, that's no way to treat a child. You should leave her with us, she'll be safe and we'll get her to the Silver Badger before nightfall. You'll both be free to have a go at...at whatever it is you'd do if you didn't have her with you." Anamaria looked at Jack, before both looked down at Biddy. Something about leaving her with these strange women didn't feel right to Anamaria. So she spoke before Jack could, knowing he would agree to their proposal. "Very kind of you, but we're perfectly fine. She's also sick, been throwing up." She added, to which the women recoiled before leaving altogether.
"Why'd you do that, Anamaria? Tell them no, I mean." Jack asked curiously as they continued on, Biddy stumbling incoherently between them. "You wanted to get her off our hands, didn't you?"
"Well, we need to make sure she's with us if they come back with Duggleby, and if she's with those women, she's not going to come back, is she? They don't exactly look like anyone's mother." Jack merely gave her an infuriatingly knowing grin. "Would you have said yes?" She asked in irritation.
"Probably. But I don't need to see the inside of a jail cell any more in my lifetime, so maybe you're right about keeping her with us." He added, gesturing off handedly towards a small, gritty building. "There we are, the lovely Silver Badger." They entered, the three of them earning strange looks from the people not buried in their drink glasses or punching each other senseless. Jack waded through the folks lost in revelry and headed for the man standing (barricading, really) at the foot of the stairs. Biddy trailed uncomplainingly behind him, miraculously avoiding being knocked over as she kept her vise grip on his wrist.
Approaching the tired looking inn-keeper, Jack leaned against the wall and ignored the look the fellow gave Biddy. "Look, you're the one we see about staying here, right?" He asked, trying to act like he didn't notice there was a small person trying to hide behind him.
"No children, too rough for 'em here. Get her outta here." The innkeeper said gruffly, pointing one knobbly thumb towards the door.
"Since when does a Tortugan innkeeper care about children?" Jack asked, a bit baffled.
"We don't need a little monster in here, got it? Your crew told me about the hell that spawn's raising on your ship and I don't want it in my inn! Boomer Shmenkar doesn't need bad business!" He shouted, his face a livid red.
"Well, she's not doing it NOW." Jack reasoned, bodily lifting Biddy to show the man her harmlessness. "See? She'll be like this until they come to get her." He gave her a little shake and she merely stared at Shmenkar with blank eyes.
"Fine, fine. Up the stairs and find what you can, not any further help then that." Innkeeper Shmenkar waved distractedly before turning his attention to two men fighting over a buxom woman who tossed her light curls flirtingly as she watched them. Jack, too turned his attention to the fight, more trying to catch the eye of the prize than to watch the fighters. But he felt another yank at his sleeve and sighed.
"What did he say?" Anamaria asked once she had pried Jack's attention from the other activities, namely the prize that was now winking at Jack.
"Up the stairs, the girl can, stay if she doesn't make trouble. Take her and she'll go with you," Jack muttered distractedly, trying to turn his head back and return the wink. Anamaria grabbed his jaw this time and yanked his head around to face her.
"No. YOU come with us. When she falls asleep..." Anamaria looked down at Biddy and then whispered the rest in Jack's ear so the girl wouldn't get wind of it, "when she falls asleep you can go. She got attached to you, God knows why."
"Why're you whispering?" Jack asked loudly, glancing from Biddy who was now clinging to his arm with both hands to Anamaria.
"BeCAUSE," she whispered again, "she IS a person, she can understand what we say. If she hears me tell you to leave, she'll never go to sleep!" Jack looked even more puzzled and Anamaria sighed. "Just don't say anything and come with us, okay?" At Jack's emphatic nod, Anamaria gently touched Biddy on the shoulder. The girl, who was trying to hide as she watched the fight, snapped around and looked wide eyed at Anamaria. The woman marveled at the change in Biddy from a loud obnoxious brat to...well....whatever she was now.
In the small room above the main floor of the inn, sounds of fighting thrummed up through the floorboards. A light sleeper could turn insomniac in Tortuga, and this particular room proved that well. Every time a chair was broken or a punch thrown, the chest of drawers and beds rattled heavily. Biddy climbed with no complaint onto one of the beds and pulled one of the blankets absently to her chin. She seemed almost like a zombie, saying nothing and making no noise. "I think she's sick." Jack pontificated.
"Gee, really? Maybe it was the rum, you think?" Anamaria practically growled.
"It's never the rum!" Jack countered heatedly. "Musta been the boat ride, sea sick and such." Anamaria only glared at him a moment before she looked critically at Biddy.
"You gonna be sick again?" She asked, almost gently, as she felt Biddy's cheeks. They weren't overly hot or cold, a very good thing indeed. The last thing they needed was for the missing child of a well to do tycoon to get sick in the bargain of being found among wanted pirates. But Biddy didn't look exactly healthy, either. Just sort of shocked into silence.
"No," Biddy croaked. "Just a little scared. This place is scary."
"It's not scary, it's Tortuga!" Jack exclaimed as he struck a pose, trying his best to be cheerful. When both females fixed him with twin looks of annoyance, he muttered and dropped his hands. "Well, I tried, didn't I?"
"It's alright, we've got people out looking for your father right now. We just have to stay here until he comes." Anamaria continued. "But you should sleep." She added, sitting beside a hunkered-down Biddy.
"I can't, I'm afraid." She said simply, clutching the blanket draped over her with both hands. Anamaria shrugged helplessly as she pondered what to do. The girl needed to sleep or she WOULD get sick, was the woman's estimation. Rising, she saw with amusement that when she got up Biddy's hand shot out for Jack's wrist, and after only a moment of trying to pull away, he resigned himself to being held onto again. Meandering around the small room, Anamaria opened a drawer to find a discarded petticoat and a threadbare hairbrush.
"Captain Sparrow, c'mere." Anamaria said after a moment of thought. Jack tried to oblige, but sat down again promptly.
"No, I think you need to come here," he corrected, pointing obtrusively to Biddy. Anamaria did so, and whispered her plan to Jack. He nodded, a bit doubtful but willing to try anyway. That girl down on the first floor didn't look occupied at the moment....
Anamaria grabbed the small brush and sat down beside Biddy again. The girl looked apprehensively up at her when Anamaria motioned her to sit forward, doing so with cautious slowness. Anamaria began to attack Biddy's grungy, extremely knotted hair with the brush, trying her best not to yank any hair out. It had been awhile since she had brushed anyone's hair, including her own. After a few moments, she motioned to Jack and he began to tell another of his stories.
"There was this time I actually had an entire Fort surrendering to me, didn't have to fire a single shot. Of course, Gibbs and I DID have to dress up like women for a stint and there was that nasty business with the imported cheese to go through..." After an hour or so, Biddy's hair was no less filthy and no less tangled, but the motion of the brush against her hair had soothed her considerably. She was laughing at the story and half leaning into Anamaria, her eyes lidded with sleep as she smiled.
"So you really DID steal the Ambassador's terrier?" She asked between bouts of laughter, and at Jack's nod, she began positively howling with mirth.
"Ay! You, boy! Don' forget abou' the carriages! An' LOSE THAT PIPE!" The surly head groom Oleg shouted to the stable boy before climbing into the loft. The stable boy nodded, rolling his eyes as he clenched his teeth on his pipe to stifle a shouted response He didn't bloody need any more reminding about the bloody carriages. He'd COVER them already.
After he had watered the last of the guest's horses, he made a great show of covering the carriages with oilcloth. The head groom glared down at him once, at which time he quickly stashed the pipe under the oilcloth of the current carriage, his last. After which, the stable boy made his way tiredly to bed. He had forgotten about the pipe under the oilcloth. The lit pipe smoldered, creating a smoking tent. The exhausted men didn't hear the anxious snorts of the four horses until all the animals began to kick their stalls to splinters in panic. When all four had gotten loose, the stable boy heard them burst through the barn door and out into the night. "Horse thieves!" He muttered to himself. He hurriedly woke the head groom and, without a thought as to the carriage now earnestly emitting smoke, both dashed after the terrified cart horses.
The people in the inn were far too wrapped up in their affairs to pick out the sounds of escaping horses, and no one came to investigate the odd sounds. By now the oilcloth had caught fire, the blaze licking hungrily at the dry wood, creeping with sickening speed to all corners of the Silver Badger stables. Soon the flames had found a new food, the piles of straw in the stalls, and the large pile of hay in the loft. They began to inch their way towards the main building, the smoke leaking in through cracks in the door connecting the stables to the inn.
"Eh, I'll leave in a bit," Jack decided, Biddy having switched from Anamaria's shoulder to his. "Don't want to risk waking her up again and all that." Anamaria merely smirked and tugged a pillow out from under Biddy. The little girl only sighed quietly and settled back against Jack. "She's alright, I guess." He said grudgingly, almost unaware of the fact that his arm was asleep from Biddy's weight against it. "But I'll be glad when she's gone."
All three were sleeping quietly shortly after midnight. If any of them smelled the smoke drifting sinisterly in through the bottom floor, it was only in their dreams.
