Chapter 15
Authors Notes: New day, new chapters! I was dying last night trying to figure out what should happen next. Raurgh! The mystery surrounding Cilfre. didn't get any sleep last night anyway. *yawn* It'll figure itself out in the end.
"Cilfre!" Turak welcomed him aboard the Bloods' Revenge, "What have you there?"
"G'morning, Captain." Cilfre swept off his hat and bowed, "I found the woman pirate sleeping in an alley. Figured that you'd want her back."
"So you accomplished what my first mate couldn't. Well done!" Turak was all joviality now. "Take her below and show her to the quarters from last time."
"Right away, sir." Cilfre pulled her gently but Anamaria made sure to put up restraint and even called for Jack once.
It would be much easier if Turak thought her weak, scared, and the simple woman he'd thought before. Not only would it give her the edge but throw her attackers off, too. Then, by screaming for Jack she would make sure that it was well known to all that he was gone.
"Try not to draw more attention to yourself." Cilfre said as he locked her in the cell. "They've gotten your point now. Someone will no doubt come for you later. Be ready."
"Of course." Anamaria said and stared at the door once he'd left. Better to know what's coming rather than be stabbed in the back.
* * *
"Jack, you have to stop pacing." Elizabeth was worried too, but the sight of Jack crossing from one end of the room to the other, back and forth, only escalated her fear.
"Have I not?" he raised a brow and then went back to walking. "Will?" he pivoted with his old grace and fluidity. Unsheathing a sword he met Will's automatic attack.
Jack Sparrow was certainly one of a kind. He'd emerged from vicious torture that affected both body and mind. Now he was set to go on a tirade against a seemingly invincible pirate captain, not only five days since he was first brought here. Recovery seemed to be going well, only long silences and troubled eyes betrayed how delicate his condition still was.
It was amazing to her how fast he'd improved, the injuries he'd sustained would have put a weaker man to bed for at least three weeks. He was able to walk on his own now and if he had a problem he hadn't said anything.
"How long have you known Cilfre?" Will asked as they rested briefly.
"Not long," Jack held his breath a minute and then released it slowly.
"Then why do you trust him?" It wasn't like Jack to do something foolish, in fact his main phrase had been, 'don't do anything. . . stupid.' He remembered, however trusting someone he hadn't known for very long, to Will that seemed a little unwise.
"I don't." Jack propped the sword point down on the ground and leaned on it carefully.
"Then why is Anamaria with him?" Will prompted.
"William Turner?" an impatient knock sounded at the door. "I have a message of the utmost urgency."
Elizabeth hurried to open the door and Commodore Norrington stepped inside scanning the room until his eyes fell on Jack.
"Where's Anamaria?" he asked.
"She stepped out for a bit of fresh air, what's your purpose in asking?" Jack sheathed the sword and regarded the Commodore out of freshly outlined black eyes.
"Very well, so long as she didn't go with a man named Cilfre." He wiped his brow with a crisp white handkerchief.
"Actually. . ." Will hastened to say anything, "she did."
"What!" Norrington's eyes again went to Jack. "Do you mean to tell me that she's with the second worst criminal vagrant in the Caribbean Sea?"
Cilfre also known as the Ravager, was wanted on three islands and the rules if anyone recognized him were shoot first, shoot again to make sure he's dead, then alert the authorities.
"The Ravager?" Elizabeth's eyes were wide in shock, "Did you know, Jack?"
"I knew who he was, aye. But he refers to Turak now and he won't do anything to her until I show up. That's why he was in such an all-fire hurry to get back to the ship with her. She's safe until I go down there soon as night falls, savvy?"
"You risked her life for petty revenge?" Elizabeth raged, "Why not just let him go?"
"Petty revenge?" Jack asked quietly, his tone made Will blink in disbelief. It was the first time he'd actually seen this side of him before. His voice was still civil but ice cold. "He tore me insides out, outsides in, let them heal and then did it all over again. He threatened to kill Anamaria, flay her bare back until the bones showed, and then break each bone one by one. He told me that I would watch it all and be so desperate as to beg for me own death. Petty revenge you say? Anamaria's onboard with that madman and you think I would have let that happen unless I was absolutely sure she would be safe? Nay, I would have given in on the table and let him cut my organs out until he finally got around to tearing my heart through before I'd let that happen."
The Commodore cleared his throat and looked down at the floor. Never had he heard such anguish and pain in one man's voice. It was then he knew that he would lend whatever aid he could to help bring both the Ravager and Turak down to the bottom of the ocean.
"You have use of the Dauntless and the Interceptor should you have need of it. They're fully armed, there are also pistols, cutlasses, and rifles stored onboard. We set sail at seven and the fight against Cilfre begins at half past. If you are aboard you're welcome, if you're not then we'll no doubt see you there." He left the shop then without a backwards glance.
"I always did like him." Jack commented once the door slammed shut.
"Jack. . ." Elizabeth wrung her hands and bit her lip.
"Not important, you're as worried about her as I am. The Commodore's done what's right by him and we've naught left to do but get ready for seven."
* * *
"You know we won't kill you yet." Turak grinned lethally from where he stood outside of her cell. "Nay, we'll wait until that bloody pirate steps up onboard. Then we'll feed him to the sharks."
No! She screamed again in her mind, they hadn't opened the cell door but they were slowly breaking her defenses with their words. Cilfre was a scurvy yellow-bellied coward, he didn't have the courage to stand up to Jack like a man and fight honorably. Instead they planned to catch him unawares and kill him without a moments notice. More than anything she wished they could start the day over again, she would have stayed by Jack's side and given Cilfre what he deserved. A long sword and a quick end.
Men with no honor lived with their cowardice for as long as they lived, feeding off of men as timid as they. They hid behind it with brutality and violence only preying on those weaker then them though. If they only opened the cell she'd show them the force of a woman's wrath. It was obvious that none had stood against them before, it was high time someone did.
"You can't kill Jack." She regarded them with eyes blazing hot as fire. "He knows your plan. You won't fool him as easily as that."
"Actually. . ." Cilfre pulled out his pistol and shined it with a rag, "We will and do you know why? Because that bumbling drunken oaf has no idea that I've been on Turak's side all along. He has no idea that once he touches the deck of Bloods' Revenge, you'll be the last thing he sees. Only so sorry for you, darling, you won't be alive to see him."
Anamaria kept chanting phrases of nonsensical meaning in her mind. Jack was Captain of the Black Pearl, he was the best pirate captain of the sea. He would know it was all a trap, he have to know. Please, please, Jack be safe.
Authors Note: I'm so sorry to all of you that liked Cilfre. I couldn't go and be predictable about it now though, could I? The whole story line was planned out and ready to be typed but then the thought occurred to me, that's not how Jack Sparrow would want it. Theres no chance for him to get Turak back, and for Cilfre to be on the good side the whole time? No, theres no chance. So I hope you liked it and be prepared for the next chapter. I think tomorrow, sorry!! But I have history homework to finish. we're not even learning about piracy in the 1700's. No, we're learning about the stupid Reconstruction Era. It's pointless. Freaking Rockefeller and Carnegie. Now if they were pirates, or pirate ship names. . .