Chapter Two, The Storm
"We have a storm coming, and there's not going to be enough time to take you back to Port Royal."
"Where then are we going?" Elizabeth asked.
Ana turned her eyes back towards the ill boding sky and hoped the uncertainty in her voice would stay hidden. "The Captain knows of a safe harbour."
"Where?"
"It doesn't have a name, not any more than the name of the family living there." She explained. "It shouldn't take long for the storm to pass us by."
"What kind of storm are we talking about?"
Ana shrugged. "Who can know?"
"What does Jack think?"
"What Jack thinks is beyond what the rest of us can never comprehend." Ana couldn't hide the frustration in her voice. There were other bays in which they could shield themselves from the storm and it made no sense to her to set anchor where they weren't welcome.
The cabin door opened and Will climbed up on deck, and prompted a retelling of the conversation thus far. "We've been through storms before, what's so different this time?"
Jack sauntered up and eyed the three of them suspiciously enough that Ana felt goose bumps rise on her back. "One: We're close to shore and if the wind turns I don't want to break the Pearl's keel on the reef. Two: avoiding that requires either finding a bay to weather the storm, or sailing right into it." He stared straight at Ana as though Elizabeth and Will weren't even there.
Ana opened her mouth to argue but Jack bounded forward and held a finger to her lips. Now he turned to his young guests. "What the lovely Ana Maria would like to ask is, why this bay?" Ana batted his hand away with her fist and he answered her with an irritating gold-toothed smile. "Why not? We're here, they bay is here, might as well take advantage of the opportunities at our disposal." For a moment he turned back and met Ana's accusing glare.
Will watched the growing tension between the two and felt distinctly uncomfortable. "I need to get back to my shop."
"And in one piece, of course." Jack added. "You see Will, you're young but I thought ye might have figured this out by now, land has a tendency to remain in one place. Well, aside from earthquakes, hurricanes, and fire, and you can never really forecast when one of those will take place, unless of course if you set it on your own, which you can't do with earthquakes and hurricanes and we aren't expecting one of those anyhow. So other than some fool thinking it profitable enough, which it isn't, to burn down a blacksmith shop my guess is it'll still be there when ye return."
"What's its name?" Elizabeth pressed.
"What's whose name?" Jack asked.
"Of the bay we'll be hiding in."
"Not hiding, luv, taking refuge."
"But who lives there?"
"No one." His eyes yet again shifted towards Ana in a silent warning. "No one of interest."
The crew spent the morning checking and reinforcing the ties securing the cargo in place. Everything on deck either got tied down or moved to a more stable location in the bulkhead. Elizabeth watched the sailors and Will working to prepare the ship for what ever the storm might bring and felt somewhat useless in the midst of activity. Ana did as much work as any of the men, and yet when Elizabeth offered to help the suggestions went more along the lines of staying out of the way. In the end, she simply watched the storm as it drew ever closer. The winds picked up and low dark clouds obliterated most of the light with lightning flashing intermittently in the distance. Elizabeth worried they might not reach the bay in time.
When the rain came, Elizabeth stared at the coming swath with unfeigned interest as it rolled through the water advancing on the ship with incredible speed. One second she felt only the slight mist of humidity and then a steady downpour enveloped everything at once. The sea turned grey and frothy under it's onslaught and…
"Time to get below where's it's dry, missy."
A hand fastened around her arm and pulled her towards the Captain's cabin. Elizabeth struggled and managed to twist out of the grip easily enough. She turned towards Gibbs and practically growled at him. "Don't you dare tell me what to do!"
He back off as though worried she may attack. "Just following orders." He cleared his throat and looked around for reinforcements but found no one willing to acknowledge his plight. "The Captain told me to get you someplace dry."
The Captain currently stood near the prow, staring intently into the distance. Where only minutes before everyone could easily see the faint outline of land, now the thick curtain of rain masked everything lying beyond and the approaching darkness of night only diminished visibility further. She stomped across the deck towards Jack, but before she could say anything, he turned to her and grinned.
Her breath caught in her throat for a moment. The pirate still looked more than a little haggard from whatever ordeal took place in Passion's Cove. Neither she nor Will learned the entire truth of that story, but from what they gathered, Jack had been poisoned and was still dealing with the aftermath of the sickness it caused. Initially she intended to tell him off for presuming that she needed to be coddled, and now? She felt guilty for adding to the strain already placed on him by the hazardous weather.
"Is there anything I can do to help?"
The grin faltered briefly at the unexpected turn of tempers, but resurfaced as his eyes darted quickly down to her chest then back to Gibbs. "You're distracting my crew Miss Swann."
She looked down and felt a rush of nausea roll through her stomach. The men's clothing she wore covered her adequately while dry, but now the white cotton shirt somehow changed colour from beige to nearly transparent as it clung to the outline of her breasts. Gibbs stood closest and so she turned on him.
"Give me your vest."
He glanced at his captain instead, but Jack merely nodded. "It would be in your best interest to listen to the girl, mate. She might tear it right off your back if you don't." Gibbs complied and handed her his dark green vest, which Elizabeth quickly pulled on and tied closed. By the time she looked back up, Jack already had his attention concentrated back out to the water.
"What are you looking for?" She stepped up beside him and looked in the same direction.
"That." He answered finally and pointed out towards a dim light barely visible through the rain. He made his way back to the quarterdeck to take the helm and adjusted the ship in the direction of the newfound light. Gibbs took the opportunity to make himself useful elsewhere; he'd tried his best to get the girl out of the rain and could not succeed so he didn't see why he should punish himself further. If she didn't have the sense to get dry, then what fault was it of his?
"How is it you have a guiding light when no one lives there?"
"I said no one of interest." The light seemed to grow and fade with the strength of the storm. "The wind is throwing us off but we'll catch the spot I need soon enough." Jack muttered.
The activity on the main deck didn't slacken with the rain. There always seemed to be something falling, shifting, or needing to be retied. Will worked with Ana Maria adjusting the knots to be ready to drop canvas as soon as they reached the desired location. After the first attempt, there were no more suggestions to Elizabeth to seclude herself below decks, and now she spent her time divided between watching the light in the distance and watching the Captain of the Pearl fight an ever-losing battle against exhaustion.
As night settled the order finally came, Jack bellowed to Gibbs who bellowed to Ana, "Drop the canvas!" The great sails of the ship fell slack, and all hands worked to secure and bind them down to the masts. At the same time, Jack ran to release the rope securing the anchor, allowing extra rope for the swelling waves. The wind and waves proved to be less violent in the bay than at sea but the ship still rocked dangerously enough to make footing difficult. There were ropes tied at intervals around the deck for gripping, and now Elizabeth noticed Jack increasingly relied on them to keep from falling.
But she didn't say anything. It was her suspicion that a word from her telling him to rest would be just as appreciated as the word from him telling her to get dry. In any case, Jack Sparrow took care of himself for plenty of years before Elizabeth came on the scene and she assumed he'd be taking care of himself long after she left. Just another suspicion. He now headed towards the mast to help Gibbs with the ropes and Elizabeth followed at a fair distance. So long as she kept out of the way no one could tell her to hide below deck, and she intended to continue with that line of strategy as long as possible.
That was how she caught sight of the torn rigging before anyone else did. Staying behind held some advantage for watching and the slight movement caught her eye. The ropes securing a line of barrels along the gunwale were wearing from the strain and one in particular looked to be worn almost threadbare and ready to snap. It was one of those moments where things seem to move in acceleration while you can't seem to move at all. She watched the barrel shift to the side, and the rope snapped. The barrel teetered with the next wave, and tragedy almost passed as it teetered starboard into the water. The next swell sent the ship rocking to portside and the barrel took this to be a better idea. Unfortunately, this new direction took the barrel plunging directly towards where Jack and Gibbs worked on the lines by the main mast.
Reaction took place before conscious thought and reasoning had a chance to catch up. If she thought about it she might have yelled a particular phrase like, "Move!" Or "Watch out!" but those word required more time to form then her brain allowed and all that came out was a hurriedly screeched, "Jack!"
The scream brought about the exact opposite reaction than the one desired; the men stopped and looked in her direction. Unfortunately, they remained in direct line of the barrel and now looked away from the source of danger. The next instinct to overcome Elizabeth's sense of better judgement prompted her to run towards them. What she hoped to accomplish, other then to add herself to the barrels soon to be victims, seemed to encompass some kind of remarkable rescue.
Unlikely.
Both men looked completely baffled by the mad woman rushing their way but only Gibbs did the intelligent thing by stepping aside. Jack finally caught onto her warning, though too late, and turned just as the barrel bore down on him. She felt his arm wrap around her waist as she slammed into his side, then the barrel finally collided and shoved Jack and her backwards with the momentum. She felt rope against one hand as she almost caught hold of the ship, but rather then hold, the rope burned across her palm as it slid through her fingers. She felt several tugs as Jack struggled to catch hold, but nothing stopped them, not even crashing into and over the gunwale, until she felt the sudden cold smack of hitting water.
The world lost all meaning of up and down as the waves crashed over her head and the salty water burned her lungs. Hands gripped her arms and dragged her up to where she finally managed to break through the waves and take her first real breath. The sound of the waves and surrounding darkness overwhelmed her senses. The dim light of the Pearl looked impossibly far away after having just fallen off it but it was the only land mark she could discern, so that was where she swam towards.
Before she could get too far she felt a pull on her shirt dragging her in the other direction.
"The waves'll crush us against the hull. Swim for the shore." Jack yelled as he turned and pointed towards the much dimmer light marking land.
She couldn't do it, but she didn't waste her breath arguing. Jack kept a hold of her shirt pulling her in his own direction until Elizabeth managed to push him off and swim on her own.
Other then the brief flashes from the lighting, darkness encompassed everything away from the light of the Pearl and Elizabeth soon found herself swimming alone. With the waves and the rain it was impossible to judge how far they had left to go before reaching the distant hope of light on shore. It would be so easy to just stop fighting and give into the power of the waves dragging her under, but she kept her eyes locked on the light ahead, and focused her thoughts towards the goal of giving Jack a good thrashing for leaving her behind.
After what seemed like hours, her feet touched the sand bar. The struggle continued with the waves constantly sucking back on her legs, but with her feet touching ground, the hardest part was over. Now on land, the light shined through the rain like a beacon of salvation from the lantern hanging on a pike rising six feet above the sand. She couldn't see if there was any shelter close by and she didn't care. The lantern was her destination and she made it.
But she was alone.
Authors note: what do you think so far? Please leave a review if only to let me know that you've read this far, and if you've got the time please offer suggestions on how to improve my writing. Thanks very much.
-Rat