Chapter Nine, The Bonfire
The bonfire rose nearly five feet off the ground with two men tending it and the rest sitting around talking and joking. It felt surreal to break out of the oppressive darkness of the trail onto the beach where the fire rose up into the sky lighting a good portion of the surrounding beach.
Elizabeth took Will's hand and gripped it tightly. After the experiences of the last twenty four hours neither of them were feeling entirely self confident, and the news they brought made their task all the more difficult. Together they hurried towards the fire and the men lounging around it.
"Jack needs help." There might have been better way to say it, but at least Will now held the attention of every pirate on the beach. "He couldn't make it back on his own. Ana Maria fears it wont be long before…" He cleared his throat against having to actually say the words he was thinking. "He wants to go back to the Pearl."
For a moment it seemed as though the message would be taken as a joke, but Gibbs stood up and stared inland as though he might be able to see what had happened there. "Boy, the Captain was fine just an hour ago. What are you saying happened?"
Elizabeth answered. "Ana Maria thinks he may be bleeding on the inside; she thinks he could die."
Gibbs paled. "He's still alive now?"
"Yes, we need three able men to help us bring him to the Pearl." Elizabeth stepped a tad closer to Will as in unison, all the pirates rose to their feet. Some weren't too steady, but they rose none the less. "We only need three." She insisted.
"And who would you chose Missy?" Gibbs asked. "At least this way it'll avoid us having to fight over it."
That was how they met Ana Maria along the trail. Elizabeth stared at Ana, who stared at Elizabeth, and Elizabeth couldn't help but think the worst. "Is he…"
"No." Ana waved a hand at the crew. "What's this?"
"They wouldn't stay behind." Gibbs stepped up. Having been the one to suggest the idea, he felt it only right to defend it.
"Fine." Without another wasted second, she took the lantern from Elizabeth and dashed back down the trail towards her Captain, praying it wouldn't be too late.
No one spoke as they trod along the path, and Elizabeth wondered what thoughts the pirates might be having. Honestly, she never gave them credit for deep thought, and it seemed to her that their thoughts must consist of things like rigging, and sails, and drinking, existing only as a backdrop on the big picture that was the Black Pearl and Jack Sparrow. However, how about now? Without Jack Sparrow, where would that leave the crew? Who would Captain the Pearl?
In addition, did the crew care about their Captain as a person, or for the fortune, they stood to gain while working for him aboard the Pearl? Did it even matter? Ana's pace quickened even further as they neared the spot where they'd left Jack, and then she stopped.
Elizabeth didn't stop as quickly and ended up ramming into Ana's back, and yet another pirate rammed into Elizabeth's back. Along the procession, more pirates stumbled and tripped due to the sudden halt. .
A laugh broke through the grumbling.
It was Jack. Elizabeth tried to remember if this was where she and Will left him. Though that didn't seem to matter much now though with Jack leaning against a tree and looking much better than he did a half hour earlier. Too much better.
Every muscle in Ana Maria's body tensed like a cat ready to spring. "You're not dying?"
"No, I'm not dying." He answered.
Neither was he completely recovered.. He still held an arm close against his side, he still looked pale, and breathed a bit too quickly, but he defiantly did not look to be on deaths door.
The crew stood silent watched the tension rise between Jack and Ana Maria. The woman stood very still, and then stepped forwards very slowly. Jack didn't move. "This all a game to you." She made the statement in horrified whisper. "You allowed me to think the worst to draw Bootstrap out of hiding."
"I did."
"And did it work?" Her voice stayed dangerously neutral.
"No." He still didn't move; even though he saw her body shift, saw her arm reach back in an arc. He didn't even blink.
She slapped him once before on the day he accepted her as one of his crew. He deserved it that day, and he knew he deserved it now. This time, however, she didn't slap him. As her arm came towards his face, she balled her hand into a fist. He might have had time to react, but he didn't, because he deserved this too.
The fist caught him just beside the ear, and it sent him down. He heard rather than saw (due to the lights currently dancing in his vision) several of his crew move. "I deserve that." He laughed slightly to take the seriousness out of the incident and forced himself to get beyond the bells ringing and the lights swaying to push himself up again.
Ana waited for him to face her. "You owe me a boat."
"I do." He agreed with her, and then turned to face the crew. "What do you think you're looking at you scoundrels? Not one of you here are as drunk as you ought to be! Get back to the beach!"
They all just stared, all the drama and whatever was happening between their Captain and the first mate was far to interesting to abandon so easily. "But the girl told us you'd be nearly dead sir. We came to help get you back to the Pearl."
"She forgot one important thing mate, I'm captain Jack Sparrow." They simply stared at him in bewilderment. Jack sighed and tried a different approach. "Do I look dead?"
The question only served to confuse crew further, and their attention wavered to fix on Ana who suddenly took it in her head to march off the path and away into the dark. With her gone, they turned back to their Captain.
"No sir, you don't look dead." The words came from one of the younger pirates Jack acquired somewhere in Tortuga who'd been wagered and lost by his former master in a game of dice. If Jack remembered correctly, and he wasn't entirely sure that he did, the boy had been apprenticed to a calligrapher.
"Precisely. Hence, as your astute observational talent has told you, this is precisely why we should all be headed back to the bonfire to finish what's left of the rum." Jack pointed towards the path and watched his crew turn and head in the generally correct direction. He made a mental note to count heads before setting sail in the morning so as not to lose anyone unintentionally.
Or intentionally for that matter, and that was exactly what he feared Ana Maria might try to do. Only he wouldn't be losing her, she'd be losing him. So why did the thought make him feel so lost?
"Jack?"
While he'd been daydreaming, the last of his crew wandered off leaving Will, Elizabeth, and himself alone in the small clearing. "Yeah?"
"Are you really okay?" Will asked.
"I will be."
Note: Immeasurable thanks to jackfan2, beta-reader turned co-author. I know I said this would be the last chapter, but there is one more chapter to go. Thanks to all the wonderful reviews, keep letting me know if you're out there and how I'm doing, thanks!