Six

- Turner's spirited lass -

The room was small, furnished with only a rickety table and a couple of equally ramshackle chairs, and lit only by a battered oil lamp with an extremely dirty shade.

Ignoring the two unprepared pirates for the time being, Jack sauntered to the corner of the room where Elizabeth Turner sat, wrists and ankles bound to the chair and a dislodged gag around her neck. She wore loose and baggy men's clothes to disguise her sex but obviously it didn't work. Tangled and disheveled strands of burnished gold fell from her tight braid and a dark bruise marred her pale beautiful face. But her dark eyes remained strong and undaunted.

"Tho' it might be ye, lass, I heard shriekin' bloody murder outside th' window. Took quite a shiner there, luv."

"Get me out of this, Jack." Elizabeth demanded. She scowled at the two pirates. "So I can gut those two properly."

"Shiver me timbers. Wha' has dear William be teachin' ye, lass?" Jack paused, seeing the look of pain crossing Elizabeth's face at the mention of her husband's name. Right then and there, Jack knew something had happened to William Turner. "No worries. Ol' Jack will resolve 'his," he said in a low voice.

He spun round with a flourish and slumped elegantly into the closest empty chair. He propped his feet up on the rickety table, folded his hands across his stomach and eyed the two nervous pirates.

They were a sorry sight, even for pirates - worse than unkempt and unwashed, with too-ragged clothes and bare cutlasses that bore pitted and dulled surfaces. They had obviously fallen on hard times, which was good for Jack – it put him in better bargaining position.

"Well?" he prompted. "I hav'n't all day."

The two pirates exchanged glances. Then the one on the left spoke, "show us tha' ye'r who ye said ye ar'."

Jack rolled his eyes but obligingly rolled up his sleeve to show off his distinctive tattoo – a sparrow flying across a sunburst.

"I'm Cole an' he's Mole," the pirate introduced.

"Cole an' Mole," Jack was amused. What mother would actually name their sons Cole and Mole? "Last I heard ye're under Black Sam Avery."

"Were," Cole corrected. "We 'cided to go into business ourselves."

"We wan' th' Cortez's gold," Mole said without preamble. "An' we're willin' to trade her fer th' gold."

"Th' gold is cursed. Why do ye want it?"

Mole stared at him. "Ye jest. Surely th' great Captain Jack Sparrow could see th' usefulness of havin' such a treasure."

Actually Jack could but he wanted to know if these two dimwitted scallywags did as well. "Enlighten me."

"Anytime we go on a raid, we take a piece of the gold. No one can kill us an' when it's all done, we simply put it back again an' voila, free to enjoy our plunder."

"Tho' tha' might be it," Jack said. "But there's just one problem, mates."

Cole frowned. "Wha's tha'?"

"Captain Jack Sparrow doesn't wan' to parley."

In a quicksilver movement, Jack had pulled out his two pistols and opened fire. He hit Cole pointblank but his other shot missed Mole. Yelping, the pirate bolted for the window. Jack was after him in an instance, his cutlass swinging out in a wide arch and bit deep into Mole's shoulder.

Mole screamed in pain. He twisted round, one shaking hand aiming his own pistol at Jack who immediately jumped out of his line of fire in the nick of time. The shot went awry and buried itself in the wall. But it was a distraction; Mole had no intention of staying to fight.

Jack lunged for the window, just to see the wounded pirate escaping through the alley and into the crowded streets of Tortuga. Knowing it was useless to give chase, Jack turned away.

"C'mon, lass. We hav' to go." He swiftly cut Elizabeth from her bonds. "Pr'tty harebrained idea they got, if ye ask me, usin' ye as barg'ining tool."

"Lame jackass," Elizabeth growled. Rubbing her raw wrists, she followed Jack to the window. She paused by Cole's dead body and gave it a good kick. "That's for calling me a tavern whore."

Jack snickered. "Aye, tha's th' spirit, lass."

Elizabeth gifted him with a tight smile and slipped out of the window after him.

Knowing full well it just wouldn't do to parade the daughter of a British governor in a pirate port, Jack brought Elizabeth back to the Black Pearl. He settled her in his cabin with a flask of wine and a full meal, and took his first good look at her since he rescued her from the pirates' clutches.

"Ye look awful, lass." And she did look worse for wear – pale, thinner than he had remembered, with dark circles under her eyes. It could been the long journey from Port Royal to Tortuga, or the stress of a genteel lady having to travel by herself unescorted, but Jack thought it was more than that. Worry clung to Elizabeth like a second skin, an anxious fear and near-desperation he could sense beneath her poised manners. Turner's spirited wife was very close to the edge and hanging there by nails and teeth. "So wha' brings ye to th' luv'ly port of Tortuga, Mrs Turner?"

"It's Will."

"I tho' jus' as much."

"He's gone mad."

"Can't say tha's a bad thing."

"I'm serious, Jack Sparrow! He needs your help."

"Do ye beli've he's mad?"

"No! Of course not! That's why I'm here, looking for you. You're the only one who can prove his sanity!"

"Best ye start at th' beg'nnin', lass."

Elizabeth took a deep breath and said, "It began more than a fortnight ago. Might have been longer than that but it only became dire then. At first it started off as just dreams, dreams that woke him in the middle of the night. Dreams that obviously bothered him because he would not go back to sleep but stay awake till dawn. When I ask him about his dreams, he would not tell me. But he was troubled by his dreams I could see it. Then one night, the dreams got worse."

She paused, her expression tightening at the memory…

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