Pirates of the Caribbean
Legend of the Dragon's Claw
By Amos Whirly
Chapter Five: Enemies in Black
Jack and Will stood on the porch in silence, watching the townspeople walk past on the street. Will sipped a cup of tea absently, and Jack gnawed on an apple with a gleam in his eyes.
"We could sneak in as maids," Jack suggested. "All I'd need is a real good look at the dagger."
"Jack," Will turned to him, "have you even really seen the dagger's hilt up close?"
"Well," Jack crossed his arms, "not—really."
"I thought not," Will remarked. "I looked at the markings before you got us thrown out. They look totally foreign. I don't think there's any way to interpret them at all."
"Well, what about the pictures?" Jack tossed his apple core into the street.
"Pictures?"
"McClintock said he'd had pictures
made of the dagger. If we could get our
hands on those, then we wouldn't have to have the dagger itself. Savvy?"
"Jack, you never give up, do you?"
"Never."
Will sighed and sat down on the edge of the porch.
"How's about we go back at sundown, sneak in, and snatch a peek at those pictures?" Jack edged closer to him. "What say you?"
"All you want to do is look, Jack?" Will looked hard at him. "That's all? No pilfering? No pirating? No plundering?"
"Just peeking, mate."
Will looked away.
"All right."
"We can get in the back way easy enough," Jack began to scheme. "I scoped it out on the way in. If we wear something inconspicuous, no one should know the difference. And no, Elizabeth can't handle the costumes this time."
The sun set over the horizon slowly, a fiery orb plunging beneath the surface of the Atlantic. It shone red-gold beams of light over Port Royal, lengthening the shadows of the palm trees.
Will and Jack moved quietly through the streets, neither daring to speak a word. Very few people were moving around the city, and they were able to walk the distance from Will's house to McClintock's mansion virtually unnoticed.
This time they both wore dark pants and boots. Jack wore the same white blouse as before, but he was wearing his bandana and his hat. Will wore a gray blouse with a dark vest.
When they arrived at McClintock's mansion, they knelt in the shadows across the street.
"So what now?" Will asked.
"There should be a servant's door around the rear," Jack answered, sneaking toward the house and creeping around the edge.
Elizabeth stood by the large, open window in her and Will's bedroom, letting the cool evening breeze breathe through her thick hair. She gazed at the darkening sky and sighed heavily.
"Mum?"
She turned toward the voice.
Tori was gazing up at her from the doorway.
"Yes, darling?"
"Where's Papa and Mr. Smith?"
"They've gone for a walk, dear."
"Oh," Tori looked down.
"What's that sad face for?" Elizabeth laughed and caught the girl in her arms, hugging her close.
"Couldn't I have gone with them?"
"Oh, Tori, darling," Elizabeth kissed the girl's forehead. "Papa and Mr. Smith had something important to do."
Tori nodded.
"Come now," Elizabeth hugged the girl tighter. "Let's read a book, shall we?"
"Really, Mum? What about Little Will?"
"He's asleep," Elizabeth glanced fondly at the little cradle in the corner.
"Aye, n' he'd sleep through anything!"
"That's right," Elizabeth grinned and nuzzled her nose against her daughter's nose. "What shall we read then?"
Elizabeth moved out of the bedroom and started down the hall.
Behind them, the bedroom curtains swayed in the breeze, billowing open as a figure clad in black slipped through the window and into the shadows of the bedroom.
"Here," Jack shoved a mop into Will's hands.
"What am I supposed to do with this?"
"It's a mop, Will," Jack smirked. "Figure it out, eh?"
Will turned his head as a footstep sounded nearby. Jack grabbed him, and they both jumped into the closet, shutting the door quietly behind them.
"This is madness, Jack," Will hissed.
"Sh!" Jack hushed, peering through a crack in the door.
The butler from their previous visit bustled in front of the door carrying a dinner tray.
"All right," Jack mumbled as soon as the butler disappeared from sight, "through this room and to the left is the hallway we came down when McClintock was taking us to the dagger. If you remember, Will, that dagger was sitting on a stand."
"Aye?"
"Did you see the drawer under it?"
"No," Will answered, gripping the mop with white-knuckled fingers. "Do you think that's where the pictures will be?"
"Makes sense, doesn't it?"
"Sounds too obvious to me."
"McClintock's a Scot," Jack scoffed. "How complicated can he be?"
"Now or never, Jack."
"Aye," Jack pushed the door open, and the two of them ran out.
Elizabeth's eyes shifted as something crashed in the kitchen. She furrowed her brow and glanced down at Tori who was still gazing at the open page of the fairytale book in Elizabeth's hands.
"Stay here, Tori," Elizabeth kissed the girl's cheek and stood.
"Where you going, Mum?"
"I have to check something in the kitchen," Elizabeth patted Tori's head.
Tori settled herself in the corner of the upholstered chair and hugged the book close, saying, "Hurry, Mum! We're just at the good part!"
Elizabeth smiled and walked toward the kitchen.
She stopped outside the doorway, though and peered into the shadows.
Why didn't you bring a candle, stupid? she asked herself, taking a step closer to the darkened room.
The toe of her left slipper landed on the threshold of the kitchen.
"Hello?" she asked softly. "Is someone there?"
An eerie silence had settled over the house. Elizabeth swore she could hear the movement of the flames on the candlewicks.
Something moved in the darkness of the kitchen. Or had she imagined it?
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Mum?" Tori asked from across the room.
Elizabeth took a step backward, and the light from the living room, unobstructed by her backside, sparkled off something silvery in the shadows—
Something exploded.
The force of the blast blew Will and Jack off their feet and through a wall! They rolled in a storm of lath and plaster, pieces of the roof raining down around them like hailstones. Screams of the servants reverberated off the walls. Flames lapped hungrily at the dried wood on the floors and the fine carpets in the halls.
Jack was cursing about something. Will struggled to his feet and gripped his arm in pain, a large gash starting at the inside of his elbow and cutting a jagged, bloody trail to the top of his wrist.
"Jack!" he shouted over the roaring of the fires.
"Aye," Jack mumbled, stumbling up and shaking his head violently.
His shirt was bloody.
"Are you all right?"
"Fine," Jack did not look at him. "Dagger. Now."
He raced back into the hallway. Will spat and ran after him.
They ran as fast as their legs could carry them, but Jack came to a halt immediately when they set foot in the dagger room. Will stopped next to him.
"You!" the man in the room shouted.
"McClintock," Will whispered.
McClintock stood at the center of the room, clutching the Dragon's Claw in his right hand. Blood poured from his nose and mouth, and a bloody wound on his leg stained his pants scarlet.
"I shoulda known you'd come for it!" he ranted. "Bloody peasants!"
His eyes were wild.
"McClintock," Will took a step forward.
Jack stopped him.
"Ha!" McClintock gurgled, spitting blood on the floor. "It's mine! And someday I'll find the treasure that goes with—" He stopped in mid-sentence, his angry expression melting away as his eyes began to dim.
Will and Jack watched as he fell forward.
McClintock crashed into the floor at Will and Jack's feet, a large throwing knife buried in his back.
Will and Jack exchanged a glance, and Jack lunged for the body, grabbing the dagger out of McClintock's hand just as the flames spread to the curtains in the room.
"Wait!" Will shouted.
He grabbed the stand from the center of the room and nodded at Jack.
The bolted out of the room together and raced down the hallway, feeling the heat of the fire all around them. They burst into the anteroom at the front of the house. Will caught his breath.
The butler and three servants lay dead on the floor.
Decapitated.
"Oo," Jack narrowed one eye as he tucked the dagger into his belt. "Gone and lost their heads I see."
"That's not funny, Jack!" Will shouted, yanking the drawer on the stand open and pulling the envelope inside out. "We have to get out of here before Norrington arrives. We'll be blamed for all of this."
"I'm wondering who blew this tomb up," Jack commented as he and Will headed quickly for the back door. "And who put that knife in McClintock's back. I mean, after all, that's not a very gentlemanly—" Jack suddenly pitched forward and fell.
Will whirled around to see a knife shooting through the air—!
He ducked to the right, and the knife buried in the wall. Jack was scrambling up, grasping awkwardly at his back with an expression of intense pain on his face. Will saw the knife in Jack's shoulder and stopped him from grabbing it.
"Leave it in," Will grabbed Jack's shoulder. "We have to get out of here!"
Jack allowed Will to help him up, and they kept running. Will grimaced as another knife whistled over his right shoulder.
"Just keep running, Jack!"
Will's left foot hit something hard, and he plunged forward. His left arm hit Jack's lower back, and both of them tumbled to the dirt outside McClintock's mansion.
Will rolled over just in time to see a black figure lunging at him!
She barely missed the blade.
Elizabeth saw the sword just before it thrust out of the darkness of the kitchen, and she barely moved out of the way in time! She dodged it with a cry and whirled around, grabbing a tall lantern from the corner and turning back the kitchen.
Out of the shadows stepped a sinister figure dressed totally in black, a shining sword in one hand.
"Mum!" Tori screeched from the chair.
"Tori, go!" Elizabeth ordered.
Tori scrambled out of the chair and ran for the door, but she shrieked.
Elizabeth turned her head. Another figure in black had appeared and was holding Tori off the ground.
The figure from the kitchen suddenly lunged. Elizabeth blocked his first thrust with the pole and whirled around, smacking the base into the man's head. He reeled slightly but lunged again.
"Mum!" Tori cried again.
He rolled out of the way and ducked under a whistling sword, and he snatched a stick off the ground, jerking it above his head. The blade cut cleanly through the stick. Will threw one half at his attacker and dodged another blow. He swung around and jabbed the stick into his attacker's midsection.
The assailant grunted in pain and drove his elbow into Will's jaw. Will grabbed at the man's belt as he fell backward, ripping it off. As he fell, his eyes saw a green sheath on the belt. He snatched it out of the air and brought it quickly above his head to stop the sword again.
The blade hit the sheath with a clang, and the attacker stopped with a gasp of shock. Will acted quickly, punching the man hard in the ribcage. The man stumbled backward, and Jack jumped on him with a punch so vicious it sent the man reeling. He recovered quickly, though, and kicked Jack's legs out from under him.
The man grabbed the Dragon's Claw out of Jack's belt with a fluid movement, but Jack kicked the man's knee as he feel. The man tumbled in the dirt and scrambled to his feet.
Will and Jack approached him. He narrowed his black eyes at them, clenched his fist around the hilt of the Dragon's Claw. He shouted at them in a foreign language, pointed at Will, and ran into the shadows.
Will and Jack stood in silence for a moment before they both gazed at the sheath in Will's hand.
It was crafted of jade and ivory in the same style as the Dragon's Claw.
"It goes with your eyes, mate," Jack offered a weary smile.
Will did not return it as his eyes swept the line of the city.
"What's that?" he nodded to the north.
Jack traced his eyes.
"Smoke," Jack muttered.
"I know it's smoke," Will whispered as his fingers clenched the sheath.
He suddenly began to run, a cold knot of fear welling in the pit of his stomach. Will ran faster than he had ever run in his life. He felt his legs giving out, but he pushed them harder.
And he stopped in horror as he approached the burning house.
His house.
Terror seized his heart in an ice-cold grip, and, even though he knew better, he bolted toward the front door. He burst into the burning house, choking on the smoke that filled the living room and blinded his eyes. He stumbled around, desperately searching for anything alive.
He stumbled over something and glanced down through the black haze.
"Elizabeth!"
The slight woman was crumpled on the floor. Without thinking, Will gathered her in his arms and hurried for the door. He stumbled down the steps and into the dirt street. Neighbors had already gathered.
"Will."
"Hang on, darling," he propped her up in his arms.
"Willie. Little Will. Still inside."
Will felt like cursing. He lay his wife down and raced back into the burning house toward his bedroom.
Jack stumbled onto the scene and limped to where he saw Elizabeth laying.
"Elizabeth?" he knelt next to her and took her hand. "Elizabeth?"
"Jack," she gazed blankly up at him. "Tori. They took Tori."
Will tripped on the threshold of his bedroom door and fought through the smoke to where Little Will's cradle rested. He reached inside and felt the child within. He grabbed the baby in his arms and held him close, turning for the door just as the main support of the ceiling crumbled. Fiery timbers crashed all around him. He turned and raced for the window, leaping out just as the bedroom ceiling fell in.
Jack gaped in terror as Will's house collapsed, but he breathed a sigh of relief as Will rushed around the other side of the house, clutching a wailing bundle in his arms.
Will fell next to his wife, breathing hard. Neighbors were bustling around, not really sure what they should do.
"Is he all right?" Jack glanced at the baby.
"Fine," Will handed the crying child to Jack. "He's fine. Not burnt at all."
Jack looked panicked as Will lay the infant in his arms, but Will did not notice. Will gathered Elizabeth in his arms again.
"Where's Tori, Elizabeth? Tell me she wasn't inside."
"She's gone," Elizabeth struggled to say.
Will started as he felt something warm against his side.
"Elizabeth—Jack!"
Her side was covered in blood. Her skirts were soaked in it.
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth, what happened? Tell me what happened!"
"They—They—" she struggled. "They wore black."
She slumped against Will's chest and did not move.