Note: I revised the ending of the last chapter (only the last few paragraphs) so it might be an idea to just look it over. Nothing drastic has changed but it certainly makes more sense than it did earlier.
Red Sky in Morning Chapter 4.0
Cotton sailed the long boat along the coast in search of Ana. It hurt his heart to think they'd lost their Captain to such unfortunate circumstances. If the Jack Sparrow he knew cared about anything, it was image, and to be remembered as the fierce Pirate Captain who fell off his own ship and drowned during a storm would not sit well with the man in his afterlife. Nope, that wouldn't sit well at all.
Nevertheless, if Jack Sparrow's mortal troubles were ended, then the troubles for the remaining crew of the Black Pearl were just beginning. Not a one of them, except for maybe Ana Maria, were captaining material, and he doubted Ana Maria sincerely wanted to take on that role. He kept a close eye on the girl since meeting her and he came to one conclusion, she stayed on board because of Jack. Not for the promise he made to find her a new ship, not to be a pirate on the most respected raiding ship in the waters, but because she held no ties to anywhere else she might think to set her sails. She held ties to Jack though. Cotton saw a lot, and he saw the looks the two shared when no one else was paying attention.
His parrot flew overhead and circled the long boat a couple times to get his attention before heading off back towards the east. Damn bird. Cotton picked up the oars and headed eastwards. He'd hate to lose Ana Maria now that Jack was gone, but change was the way of the sea, and good or bad he intended roll with the waves no matter what direction they pulled.
Through the mist Cotton caught sight of two shadowy figures on the sand. He crossed himself and thought a short prayer to St. Nicholas the patron saint of the sea. Jack Sparrow was far too lucky for his own good, and Cotton feared for the day that luck would turn. Be that as it may, Cotton thanked whatever power out there who thought to spare his Captain's life from yet another grim fate.
Back on the Pearl
The rain continued coming from a sky consisting of depressingly uniform gray cloud cover, and Ana felt thankful to finally be out of it. Will and Elizabeth sat huddled together on Jack's cot and watched Ana try to coax Jack into taking off his wet shirt. He sat leaning against a storage closet with a bottle of rum held firmly in his grip.
"You need to get dry."
The look he cast to his first mate would have sent a lesser man, or woman, into hiding. "I'm dry enough. This is my ship…" His rant ceased momentarily as he turned to the side and coughed up something phlegmmy. "And I'll not have you telling me what to do on my own ship." He pointed an unsteady finger at Ana. "Why don't you get yourself dry if you're so concerned about being wet?"
Not to be outdone Ana pointed her own finger right back at him. "You are a stubborn son of a mangy sea dog, with flees." She pounced at him, pulled off the wet canvas cloak, and tossed it aside to land with a wet thump in an undignified heap near the door.
Jack looked a little shocked at the suddenness of the attack, and abruptly stood up in response to defend him self. "Sea dog? At least I'm not a… a…" He swayed slightly and Ana rushed immediately to his side to wrap her arm around his chest, taking great care to slowly lower him back to the floor. "I'm not mangy." He croaked finally.
"No, you're not mangy." Ana agreed softly and placed her hand against his forehead. "What you are is burning up with fever." She coaxed the bottle of rum out of his hand and started untying his shirt, this time he didn't fight her. She maneuvered his arms out of the sleeves and tossed the shirt to the side. "Oh, Jack." The words escaped in barely a whisper as she quickly drew a warm blanket around his shoulders. The entire left side of his torso including his shoulder were discolored and swollen with bruising. "Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?"
His eyes looked glassy and disoriented when they met her own. "We hit the gunwale on the way out." Now his eyes traveled down to where Ana Maria's skillful little fingers were undoing the ties on his breeches. "I always imagined we'd get around to this sooner or later, just never thought we'd be doing it in front of an audience."
Elizabeth and Will sat quietly and watched the interplay between the Captain of the Black Pearl and his first mate with rapt interest. They both coughed and shifted under Ana's resulting glare in their direction. "It's the fever talking." She explained.
Elizabeth and Will nodded enthusiastically and didn't bother hide their grins.
"Don't be taking this too personally Jack." Ana warned as she pulled off his wet breeches and covered him with yet another dry blanket.
"You're turn." He reclaimed his rum and took a long drink. "Tis only fair, wouldn't you say?"
"My turn for what?"
"To change into dry clothing." Will offered. Everyone looked at him a moment, and Elizabeth punched his arm, but he shrugged. "Just trying to help."
The teasing didn't bother Ana Maria in the least. Did no one in this room recall she'd been living with sailors, sleeping, changing, and performing bodily functions around them since making the Pearl her home? If her heart started pounding with anxiety every time she needed to get something done, she'd have died of embarrassment long ago. So why did this time seem different?
Perhaps it was because this time she was being overtly watched. "Fine, if that's the way it's got to be." She turned to Jack and slowly untied the top knot of her vest. "Oh, but wait, my clothing is stored in the hold. Guess we'll just have to save the show for later then, won't we?" Then she left.
Elizabeth laughed out loud. So far as female role models were concerned, she supposed she could do a lot worse then the woman-pirate. A change seemed to come over Jack after Ana Maria left the room, and Elizabeth nudged Will, urging him to offer some assistance.
Will glanced at his fiancé and then back at the sick, tired, and naked under the blanket pirate, and became uncomfortably aware that he and Elizabeth were at this moment camped out on his bed. "We were afraid we lost you."
The pirate shook his head and corrected young turner on his choice of words. "Not lost, misplaced."
The rocking of the ship sent the lantern tilting on it's rope and sent oddly shaped shadows fluttering around the small room. "You should be resting."
"What's it look like I'm doing?" Jack responded and thrust the rum in Will's direction. Most of the time, Will shunned the drink out of respect of Elizabeth who did not approve of alcohol, but this time he accepted and came to sit beside his friend on the floor. Jack watched him drink and then snatched back the bottle. "It's the oddest feeling."
"What is?" Will asked.
Jack looked back towards the door Ana walked out of and squinted as though not sure of what he was seeing. Will and Elizabeth followed his gaze towards the door, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. "I don't remember. Not exactly."
Elizabeth was reminded of the night she spent with Jack on the deserted island after Barbosa made them walk the plank. His voice sounded soft now, a mixture of disappointment and anger, like it did when he admitted to being less of the legend the stories made him out to be concerning his miraculous escape.
"I mean, I remember swimming, and I remember watching for the lantern."
"About that lantern." She got up and took a place on the floor with the two men, so that she and Will sat on either side of the pirate. "How is it that it's there?"
"It's always been there."
"But how do you know of it? And who tends it?"
"A family used to live on the bay. Just a small family and there was nothing special about them, at least nothing that would draw attention. Or so you'd think." He relaxed and his tone took on a quality all talented storytellers spoke with that sounded dreamy and far away, as though he were actually seeing his story and merely describing what he saw. "Anyhow, this family fished on the bay, and they'd have a lantern set on the beach for nights the boat stayed out late. Then some smugglers came along realised that this bay would make a good place for their hideout, it being relatively unknown and out of view of the trading passage the Navy ships are so fond of. Of course that meant the family had to go, but they figured the practice of setting a lantern was a good enough idea and so kept it on."
"What happened to the family?" Elizabeth asked.
"They didn't take well to being put out of their house. But, as the smugglers couldn't have fishermen messing with their operation, there was no choice but to kill them."
The room fell quiet for a minute. Elizabeth could feel her heart sinking in her chest and didn't want to ask the next question, but couldn't help it either. "And how do you know of this?"
"I was a smuggler."
"But there aren't smugglers here now, right? So who tends the lantern?"
"No more smugglers. But the locals living further inland believe its ghosts on account of what went on here."
"And what happened to the smugglers?"
Jack's grin looked somewhat chilling in the shadowy light. "Legend is that the ghost's got 'em."
"But if you were a smuggler, wouldn't that mean that the ghosts got you too?" Will asked sceptically.
Jack shrugged. "Maybe. All I know is the bay's been deserted since then." He watched Ana Maria walk back into the cabin wearing fresh clothing but she stayed silent as Jack continued. "Beyond that, who can say?"
"Who can say what?" Ana announced her presence.
Jack grinned up at her. "They can say what ever they like so far as it's interesting; not that there's much of that going around lately."
Ana turned to Will and Elizabeth, they both looked somewhat uncomfortable with whatever Jack had been telling them. "I've put aside some hot broth and clean bedding for you in the crews quarters of the forecastle."
Understanding her intention Will stood up and helped Elizabeth to her feet. "Thank-you." He said to her then turned back to Jack with a look that meant he'd pester him for answers that made more sense later. "Get some rest." Then he placed an arm around Elizabeth and led her across the ship.
Relieved to finally be alone Ana Maria knelt beside Jack and looked him over carefully. "Let's get you in bed." She took his arm and helped pull him up to his feet. Jack swayed and held onto her for support, but he didn't let her manoeuvre him towards the bed, instead, he veered to the table and sat down on the bench.
"Bed." Ana Maria insisted.
"Trust me, sleep is the last thing I'm needing at the moment."
"Fine." She didn't know what else she could do for him. "Do whatever you want. I'll come back and check on you later."
Authors note; this update came more slowly due to a number of unfortunate accidents. I got sick, burned my hand, went to school, and in that order but I'm still sick. Blah. So, the next chapter is already underway and there should be some good luck headed in my direction soon so another update shouldn't be too long in the coming. Thanks for reading, and if you see any way that I can improve anything please give me a hint. Or just let me know you've read this far!
-Rat