Five. Renegade Swann
"Jack!" she said, in something between surprise, disappointment, and disgust. She shrugged away from the men who had escorted her out of her hiding place.
Yes, it was certainly her. That same fiery temper had prevented Jack from ever getting closer to her. Of course it probably hadn't helped that he had held her hostage upon their first meeting - but he had saved the girl's life, and as he had pointed out, they were even. Anyhow, all that was long gone, and she loved Will and Jack was best without anyone who needed commitment in a relationship.
"I was wondering whether you would be here," he began - considering that Will was aboard, and the two were inseparable.
"I must say that you're the last person I expected to see," she said with audible distaste.
"Now love, let's not quarrel over the past," he began.
"I'm not quarreling. You're the one who resorted to force in order to drag me out here," she pointed out irritatedly.
"Well, why were you hiding to begin with?" he wondered.
"Don't be stupid, Jack. I didn't know who had taken over the ship. For all I knew it could have been a fearsome brigand. And likely if it had been anyone other than you I would have been best to stay in the dark," she shot.
"You mean you wanted to see me?" he asked, smirking.
"No, but anyone else might actually have been threatening," Elizabeth retorted.
"I'm wounded, love," he said in a hurt voice. Shoving his dignity forefront, he continued, "Now, why don't we make our way up into the sunlight and find Will, shall we?"
"That's the first sane idea I can remember you ever having," she said.
"Thank you," he answered, not without irony.
Accompanied by several other pirates, Jack and Elizabeth made their way above deck to join Will and India.
Immediately, Elizabeth ran to Will, and he swept her into his arms.
"I'm glad to see you're safe," she commented.
"Same to you," he said.
"You know I can take care of myself," she reminded him.
He nodded with a smile. "I see you found our friend Jack," Will continued.
"Or rather, he found me," she admitted. "Well, at least, some of his men did. I could have stayed hidden if I wanted," she insisted.
"Of course you could," Jack interrupted. Will and Elizabeth continued to hold each other silently, seemingly oblivious to the ship around them.
"Who is this?" India asked.
"This is Elizabeth - Miss Swann. She's a particular friend of Will's. Not sure if they're married yet though," Jack answered.
"It's none of your business, but we aren't," Elizabeth clarified, "yet." She looked back at Will.
"Hmph," India muttered.
"I'm sure you two will get along splendidly," Jack commented, then turned to meander up to the prow of the ship.
"Where's she headed?" he casually asked the man at the helm.
"Due east," he replied, "Captain - I mean, Miss India's orders. She won't say nothing more about where we're headed or how long it will take."
"God man - er, woman ." Jack said. The last thing they needed was to be marooned. Although he wasn't sure whether any members of the crew would actually think of marooning her. She seemed to be respected for some reason. It's the hat, he thought to himself. Which reminds me .
"India, darling," he shouted. "You wouldn't happen to have me hat anywhere by any chance, would you?" he asked.
She glared at him to let him know that she was upset about him calling her darling, especially in front of everyone aboard the ship.
"No I haven't," she answered, "And if I did I wouldn't give it to you!"
"Have you known him long?" Elizabeth asked.
"No," India said, "mercifully."
"Mn." Elizabeth nodded, then confided, "He doesn't improve much even after you're used to him."
Will objected. "He saved our lives," he reminded her.
"You saved his, more like it," Elizabeth said.
"Well, yes, that too," Will admitted.
Jack was still standing beside the helm, his hands on the banister, staring out at sea. The light was fading. It had been an exhausting day, but thus far he had managed to commandeer a ship and find his old friend Will. And he was back at sea. Lord, it felt good. On the water, he felt confident. Here, there were no rules. Here, he was in control. And yet he was missing two . no, three of the things that make a pirate happy - his hat, his rum, and his woman. He would likely find none of these on this godforsaken ship. Not that he had a particular woman, but then, that was the beauty of being a pirate. There were no commitments to worry about.
After a long time, Jack turned to find that Will, India, and Elizabeth had disappeared.
"Where have they gone to now?" he asked the man at the helm.
"Likely they've retired below deck to their cabins, captain," he replied.
"Ah," Jack muttered, taking one last look at the darkening sky. He considered something for a moment, then suggested, "Don't you think it's about time you did the same?"
"Well, Miss India told me to stay here until - "
"I think it's about time you went below deck as well," repeated Jack carefully. The man took the hint and gave up the helm. Jack stepped forward and set his hands gently, lovingly on the wheel. The stars were coming out. Getting his bearings, Jack directed the ship eastward. He glanced behind the ship, at the other ship which was still following them. Captain Hawke had been Jack's rival in his earlier days, in the days before the Pearl. If Hawke was the captain of that ship . Jack shoved those memories aside and mused how he might be able to get rid of them. Then he shoved those thoughts aside as well when he realized how thirsty he was.
"Oy," Jack called to a pirate on watch duty nearby.
The man turned towards him. "What be the trouble?"
Captain, Jack thought wearily. "You're one of Will's men, aren't you?" he asked.
"That I am," he replied.
"Good," Jack beamed. "Then maybe you can answer a question."
"I can try."
Jack was about to ask whether there was any rum aboard, but at that moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned. The other man stepped back several paces, not wishing to intrude.
"Will!" Jack said with a grin. Who better to ask than the captain whether there was any drink aboard? Then, he hesitated for dread of the answer. "Have you got any rum?" The words escaped from his lips before he could stop himself, but immediately he knew that, like a brig or useful cannons, there would be no rum on Will's ship. Will had never been fond of the stuff. Captain Jack Sparrow would likely have fainted if he thought it possible that Will had ever even once been drunk.
Will, predictably, shook his head.
"Right," Jack sighed.
"Why don't you come inside, Jack?" Will said. "We were discussing what should be done about the treasure, but we wanted your opinion on something."
Jack wasn't sure whether to be angry that they had been discussing something important without him, or honoured that they had decided that his opinion was important enough to come back on deck to obtain.
"I think I'll stay up here a while longer. What was it that you wanted to ask?" Jack tried. He had just realized the amount of freedom he had regained on board a ship, and wasn't ready to be confined to a cabin quite yet. He wanted to enjoy the night.
Will opened his mouth and paused before speaking. "We - that is, India - thought we ought to stand and fight them off," he gestured with his head towards the other ship, "but Elizabeth and I think that it would be best to keep going. After all, if there's so much treasure, what harm is there in sharing it a few more ways? India doesn't seem to understand that this ship can't stand and fight. At least, not until she's re-armed. But she won't listen to reason, Jack. She ." Will broke off, and shrugged with a plea.
"What am I to do about it?" Jack asked scornfully. "Do you think that I can communicate with the girl?"
"You were always the diplomatic one, Jack. You can convince any man of anything," Will said with a touch of admiration.
Jack took the compliment with pleasure. "But that's the problem, Will. She's a woman."
Will sighed.
"Look," Jack began. "I'll be down in a moment. I just want to spend a little more time up here looking at the stars," he explained.
Will looked skyward, then nodded. "Yes, we all seem fascinated with things that are out of reach, don't we?" Will rubbed his forehead and stifled a yawn. "Anyhow. Elizabeth and I are getting tired, so if you could toss in your opinion soon we'd love to have you."
Jack nodded. "I said I'd be down and I will," he assured Will.
Uncertain, Will turned to leave. "By the way . what's your lovely boat called?" Jack asked.
"I named her the Renegade Swann," Will answered with a smile, then he returned below deck.
"Renegade Swann, hmm?" Jack murmured to himself. He gazed up at the stars. Was he fascinated by things he could never have? No, he was Captain Jack Sparrow, and as such, he always got what he wanted. And at the moment .
"No bloody rum on this bloody boat," he grumbled to himself. He glanced at the pirate from Will's crew to whom he had been speaking when Will had interrupted. Jack let out a small melancholy sigh.
The man wandered uncertainly towards him. "Sir?" he asked.
"Hmm?"
The man began in a hushed voice, "Captain Will doesn't approve of rum aboard his ship. But I know where you can find some. Come with me," the man gestured.
Jack raised his eyebrows hopefully. Maybe the night wouldn't be wasted after all. . . .
There was a healthy supply of rum stashed aboard the ship. Jack wondered faintly how long it might take him to drink his way through it. There was something almost self-mocking in his question; a quality which tried to surface when he was rested and sober that begged him to stay that way. Luckily for Captain Jack Sparrow, this state didn't arise often. And so he rarely thought of self-improvement. That sort of thing was only for other people. And rum, he asserted, raising a bottle to his mouth, was for him.
He hummed to himself: a low, uneven, gravelly sort of sound. The tune was more drunken than melodic, but no one was around to hear him so he didn't mind. Of course, he reasoned, he wouldn't care if someone did hear him.
Hmm, someone did want to talk to him about something. He tried to remember. Ah yes, the poser-pirate trio. What did they know about ships or treasure or outsmarting opponents?
"Nothing," he muttered, to reassure himself. Still .
Would he go to see what Will and India and Elizabeth wanted to talk to him about? Oh, they had likely gone to bed by now anyway. He would have to apologize in the morning, he compromised with himself.
Jack wandered through the corridor. His foot hit something in the darkness.
"Ow," it cursed.
Jack took a quick step back. "Who's there?" he demanded, startled.
"Me name's Kent," a slightly inebriated voice responded, "and ye kicked me shin!"
"I'm terribly sorry," Jack replied. "What are you doing in the middle of the hallway?"
"No bloody cabins for us," replied the man. "Miss India didn't count on having so many people aboard, I reckon."
Jack nodded though the man would not be able to see him in the darkness.
"The treasure had bloody well better be worth it," another voice commented from the darkness. Jack jumped again.
"How many of you are there?" he asked. There were murmurs down the hallway.
"About a dozen or so, I'd say," came Kent's voice again.
"All right. I'll see what I can do for you lads," Jack promised.
There were a few scattered thanks, though for the most part they sounded skeptical, tired, or drunken. Jack made to keep going down the hallway.
"Mind where yer steppin' now," Kent warned him.
"Thanks," Jack replied, and shuffled around the scattered bodies, stepping on more than he succeeded in avoiding. His apologies answered the vocal complaints from the men on the floor, but finally, he made his way past the cabinless crew.
As he continued on his way, Jack noticed an illuminated outline of a rectangle a distance down the corridor. As he got closer, he realized that the light streamed out from beneath the doorway of one of the cabins. Whoever was inside must be awake. Jack looked behind him, as if to retrace his steps, or perhaps to make sure no one was watching. He stumbled down the hallway until he reached the door, then carefully, he peered in though the keyhole. The figure of a girl faced away from him, illuminated by candlelight, and from what he could see, there was no one else in the room. He concluded, from the scattered objects, that the room must be Elizabeth's, and likewise, that the figure was Elizabeth. He might as well apologize now for not going to talk to them, he thought. Elizabeth . She was a funny girl, wanting to be on a pirate ship, and with Will. But then, most of the girls he had spent any amount of time with were a little odd that way. India certainly wasn't what he would consider normal, and Annamaria, though she was certainly a fine woman to have around, insisted belligerently on being treated as a man of the crew. "Elizabeth, Elizabeth," he murmured to himself. She was an intelligent girl, yet sassy enough to be contrary. All right, to the point of annoyance at times, and she tended to be defensive because of her upbringing as a governor's daughter. As a matter of fact, he didn't understand her much at all . but at the moment these thoughts were not clear in his head.
She was as good a man as any to speak to about the conditions on the ship, he supposed. He would see what this renegade Swann had to say.
"Jack!" she said, in something between surprise, disappointment, and disgust. She shrugged away from the men who had escorted her out of her hiding place.
Yes, it was certainly her. That same fiery temper had prevented Jack from ever getting closer to her. Of course it probably hadn't helped that he had held her hostage upon their first meeting - but he had saved the girl's life, and as he had pointed out, they were even. Anyhow, all that was long gone, and she loved Will and Jack was best without anyone who needed commitment in a relationship.
"I was wondering whether you would be here," he began - considering that Will was aboard, and the two were inseparable.
"I must say that you're the last person I expected to see," she said with audible distaste.
"Now love, let's not quarrel over the past," he began.
"I'm not quarreling. You're the one who resorted to force in order to drag me out here," she pointed out irritatedly.
"Well, why were you hiding to begin with?" he wondered.
"Don't be stupid, Jack. I didn't know who had taken over the ship. For all I knew it could have been a fearsome brigand. And likely if it had been anyone other than you I would have been best to stay in the dark," she shot.
"You mean you wanted to see me?" he asked, smirking.
"No, but anyone else might actually have been threatening," Elizabeth retorted.
"I'm wounded, love," he said in a hurt voice. Shoving his dignity forefront, he continued, "Now, why don't we make our way up into the sunlight and find Will, shall we?"
"That's the first sane idea I can remember you ever having," she said.
"Thank you," he answered, not without irony.
Accompanied by several other pirates, Jack and Elizabeth made their way above deck to join Will and India.
Immediately, Elizabeth ran to Will, and he swept her into his arms.
"I'm glad to see you're safe," she commented.
"Same to you," he said.
"You know I can take care of myself," she reminded him.
He nodded with a smile. "I see you found our friend Jack," Will continued.
"Or rather, he found me," she admitted. "Well, at least, some of his men did. I could have stayed hidden if I wanted," she insisted.
"Of course you could," Jack interrupted. Will and Elizabeth continued to hold each other silently, seemingly oblivious to the ship around them.
"Who is this?" India asked.
"This is Elizabeth - Miss Swann. She's a particular friend of Will's. Not sure if they're married yet though," Jack answered.
"It's none of your business, but we aren't," Elizabeth clarified, "yet." She looked back at Will.
"Hmph," India muttered.
"I'm sure you two will get along splendidly," Jack commented, then turned to meander up to the prow of the ship.
"Where's she headed?" he casually asked the man at the helm.
"Due east," he replied, "Captain - I mean, Miss India's orders. She won't say nothing more about where we're headed or how long it will take."
"God man - er, woman ." Jack said. The last thing they needed was to be marooned. Although he wasn't sure whether any members of the crew would actually think of marooning her. She seemed to be respected for some reason. It's the hat, he thought to himself. Which reminds me .
"India, darling," he shouted. "You wouldn't happen to have me hat anywhere by any chance, would you?" he asked.
She glared at him to let him know that she was upset about him calling her darling, especially in front of everyone aboard the ship.
"No I haven't," she answered, "And if I did I wouldn't give it to you!"
"Have you known him long?" Elizabeth asked.
"No," India said, "mercifully."
"Mn." Elizabeth nodded, then confided, "He doesn't improve much even after you're used to him."
Will objected. "He saved our lives," he reminded her.
"You saved his, more like it," Elizabeth said.
"Well, yes, that too," Will admitted.
Jack was still standing beside the helm, his hands on the banister, staring out at sea. The light was fading. It had been an exhausting day, but thus far he had managed to commandeer a ship and find his old friend Will. And he was back at sea. Lord, it felt good. On the water, he felt confident. Here, there were no rules. Here, he was in control. And yet he was missing two . no, three of the things that make a pirate happy - his hat, his rum, and his woman. He would likely find none of these on this godforsaken ship. Not that he had a particular woman, but then, that was the beauty of being a pirate. There were no commitments to worry about.
After a long time, Jack turned to find that Will, India, and Elizabeth had disappeared.
"Where have they gone to now?" he asked the man at the helm.
"Likely they've retired below deck to their cabins, captain," he replied.
"Ah," Jack muttered, taking one last look at the darkening sky. He considered something for a moment, then suggested, "Don't you think it's about time you did the same?"
"Well, Miss India told me to stay here until - "
"I think it's about time you went below deck as well," repeated Jack carefully. The man took the hint and gave up the helm. Jack stepped forward and set his hands gently, lovingly on the wheel. The stars were coming out. Getting his bearings, Jack directed the ship eastward. He glanced behind the ship, at the other ship which was still following them. Captain Hawke had been Jack's rival in his earlier days, in the days before the Pearl. If Hawke was the captain of that ship . Jack shoved those memories aside and mused how he might be able to get rid of them. Then he shoved those thoughts aside as well when he realized how thirsty he was.
"Oy," Jack called to a pirate on watch duty nearby.
The man turned towards him. "What be the trouble?"
Captain, Jack thought wearily. "You're one of Will's men, aren't you?" he asked.
"That I am," he replied.
"Good," Jack beamed. "Then maybe you can answer a question."
"I can try."
Jack was about to ask whether there was any rum aboard, but at that moment, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and turned. The other man stepped back several paces, not wishing to intrude.
"Will!" Jack said with a grin. Who better to ask than the captain whether there was any drink aboard? Then, he hesitated for dread of the answer. "Have you got any rum?" The words escaped from his lips before he could stop himself, but immediately he knew that, like a brig or useful cannons, there would be no rum on Will's ship. Will had never been fond of the stuff. Captain Jack Sparrow would likely have fainted if he thought it possible that Will had ever even once been drunk.
Will, predictably, shook his head.
"Right," Jack sighed.
"Why don't you come inside, Jack?" Will said. "We were discussing what should be done about the treasure, but we wanted your opinion on something."
Jack wasn't sure whether to be angry that they had been discussing something important without him, or honoured that they had decided that his opinion was important enough to come back on deck to obtain.
"I think I'll stay up here a while longer. What was it that you wanted to ask?" Jack tried. He had just realized the amount of freedom he had regained on board a ship, and wasn't ready to be confined to a cabin quite yet. He wanted to enjoy the night.
Will opened his mouth and paused before speaking. "We - that is, India - thought we ought to stand and fight them off," he gestured with his head towards the other ship, "but Elizabeth and I think that it would be best to keep going. After all, if there's so much treasure, what harm is there in sharing it a few more ways? India doesn't seem to understand that this ship can't stand and fight. At least, not until she's re-armed. But she won't listen to reason, Jack. She ." Will broke off, and shrugged with a plea.
"What am I to do about it?" Jack asked scornfully. "Do you think that I can communicate with the girl?"
"You were always the diplomatic one, Jack. You can convince any man of anything," Will said with a touch of admiration.
Jack took the compliment with pleasure. "But that's the problem, Will. She's a woman."
Will sighed.
"Look," Jack began. "I'll be down in a moment. I just want to spend a little more time up here looking at the stars," he explained.
Will looked skyward, then nodded. "Yes, we all seem fascinated with things that are out of reach, don't we?" Will rubbed his forehead and stifled a yawn. "Anyhow. Elizabeth and I are getting tired, so if you could toss in your opinion soon we'd love to have you."
Jack nodded. "I said I'd be down and I will," he assured Will.
Uncertain, Will turned to leave. "By the way . what's your lovely boat called?" Jack asked.
"I named her the Renegade Swann," Will answered with a smile, then he returned below deck.
"Renegade Swann, hmm?" Jack murmured to himself. He gazed up at the stars. Was he fascinated by things he could never have? No, he was Captain Jack Sparrow, and as such, he always got what he wanted. And at the moment .
"No bloody rum on this bloody boat," he grumbled to himself. He glanced at the pirate from Will's crew to whom he had been speaking when Will had interrupted. Jack let out a small melancholy sigh.
The man wandered uncertainly towards him. "Sir?" he asked.
"Hmm?"
The man began in a hushed voice, "Captain Will doesn't approve of rum aboard his ship. But I know where you can find some. Come with me," the man gestured.
Jack raised his eyebrows hopefully. Maybe the night wouldn't be wasted after all. . . .
There was a healthy supply of rum stashed aboard the ship. Jack wondered faintly how long it might take him to drink his way through it. There was something almost self-mocking in his question; a quality which tried to surface when he was rested and sober that begged him to stay that way. Luckily for Captain Jack Sparrow, this state didn't arise often. And so he rarely thought of self-improvement. That sort of thing was only for other people. And rum, he asserted, raising a bottle to his mouth, was for him.
He hummed to himself: a low, uneven, gravelly sort of sound. The tune was more drunken than melodic, but no one was around to hear him so he didn't mind. Of course, he reasoned, he wouldn't care if someone did hear him.
Hmm, someone did want to talk to him about something. He tried to remember. Ah yes, the poser-pirate trio. What did they know about ships or treasure or outsmarting opponents?
"Nothing," he muttered, to reassure himself. Still .
Would he go to see what Will and India and Elizabeth wanted to talk to him about? Oh, they had likely gone to bed by now anyway. He would have to apologize in the morning, he compromised with himself.
Jack wandered through the corridor. His foot hit something in the darkness.
"Ow," it cursed.
Jack took a quick step back. "Who's there?" he demanded, startled.
"Me name's Kent," a slightly inebriated voice responded, "and ye kicked me shin!"
"I'm terribly sorry," Jack replied. "What are you doing in the middle of the hallway?"
"No bloody cabins for us," replied the man. "Miss India didn't count on having so many people aboard, I reckon."
Jack nodded though the man would not be able to see him in the darkness.
"The treasure had bloody well better be worth it," another voice commented from the darkness. Jack jumped again.
"How many of you are there?" he asked. There were murmurs down the hallway.
"About a dozen or so, I'd say," came Kent's voice again.
"All right. I'll see what I can do for you lads," Jack promised.
There were a few scattered thanks, though for the most part they sounded skeptical, tired, or drunken. Jack made to keep going down the hallway.
"Mind where yer steppin' now," Kent warned him.
"Thanks," Jack replied, and shuffled around the scattered bodies, stepping on more than he succeeded in avoiding. His apologies answered the vocal complaints from the men on the floor, but finally, he made his way past the cabinless crew.
As he continued on his way, Jack noticed an illuminated outline of a rectangle a distance down the corridor. As he got closer, he realized that the light streamed out from beneath the doorway of one of the cabins. Whoever was inside must be awake. Jack looked behind him, as if to retrace his steps, or perhaps to make sure no one was watching. He stumbled down the hallway until he reached the door, then carefully, he peered in though the keyhole. The figure of a girl faced away from him, illuminated by candlelight, and from what he could see, there was no one else in the room. He concluded, from the scattered objects, that the room must be Elizabeth's, and likewise, that the figure was Elizabeth. He might as well apologize now for not going to talk to them, he thought. Elizabeth . She was a funny girl, wanting to be on a pirate ship, and with Will. But then, most of the girls he had spent any amount of time with were a little odd that way. India certainly wasn't what he would consider normal, and Annamaria, though she was certainly a fine woman to have around, insisted belligerently on being treated as a man of the crew. "Elizabeth, Elizabeth," he murmured to himself. She was an intelligent girl, yet sassy enough to be contrary. All right, to the point of annoyance at times, and she tended to be defensive because of her upbringing as a governor's daughter. As a matter of fact, he didn't understand her much at all . but at the moment these thoughts were not clear in his head.
She was as good a man as any to speak to about the conditions on the ship, he supposed. He would see what this renegade Swann had to say.