Chapter 35: It's Showtime!
The affair wasn't the biggest thing to hit the shores of Port Georgia, but it was certainly the grandest. Prince Edward, of the English Royal Family, was making a trip around the provinces of the English Empire, and Port Georgia was one of the last stops before they returned to England. Jack knew this, of course, and had decided he'd rather be damned (which he probably already was anyway) than miss a chance to perform before royalty.
The four of them waited underneath the main window of the town hall until they saw where Isabelle and Louisa were in the room. Both girls played their parts well, as Isabelle posing as the rich young wife, and Louisa her brother's slave. Louisa remained two steps behind Isabelle at all times, unless Isabelle motioned for Louisa to walk with her.
Footsteps sounded behind them, and Jack turned, sword drawn, to find the elder Will standing there. "What? You expected t' have fun without me? Ye've been away too long, Jack." Shrugging, Jack contemplated the idea, and grinned, "P'raps ye have a point. Join us, friend, an' watch your daughter act!"
Inside, Louisa was getting frustrated. She had to do something! Isabelle wasn't faring any better, but she proved that she could remember Elizabeth's lessons on being a lady. When the doors opened, and the Prince arrived, an excitement passed through the room. Now, the fun was about to begin. Both girls knew that Will and Jamie weren't too far away, and they suspected that Jack, and possibly Ranger, would be with them.
Edward walked around the room, receiving formal bows and curtsies from the others in the room, before stopping in front of Isabelle. Isabelle held back a smile as she curtsied politely, "Your Highness," she said courteously, and looked up to find Edward still smiling at her. "Your name?" he asked, and Isabelle found herself blushing. "Isabelle... Turner, Your Highness," she said, trying to keep eye contact; it was a hard thing to do, with the Prince being so commanding. "Would you care to dance, Ms. Turner?" he asked, and Isabelle nodded, "I would, Your Highness, though I must admit I am not a Miss, but a Missus, and would prefer that you call me Isabelle."
Edward smiled like a cat who got the cream, and nodded, "Of course, Isabelle, so long as you stop calling me 'Your Highness', and call me Edward." Louisa glanced towards the window, not surprised to see her brother looking in with a murderous look on his face. Louisa raised her eyebrows at him, causing him to blush and disappear again.
Outside, Will was furious. Jack, Ranger, and Will (Sr.) were involved in their own discussion, and paid no notice to Jamie and Will. "What is she doing?" Will asked Jamie, trying to keep his voice low. Jamie shrugged, a mischievous glint in his eye, "I don't know - perhaps she's gotten bored with you?" The look Will sent him proved what he'd suspected for a while - there was something between Isabelle and Will that no one had picked up on yet. "Jamie, if you continue along that train of thought, you won't have a goddamn brain left to think with," threatened Will, and Jamie laughed. "Don't worry - just tell me when the wedding is, and let me gatecrash. Isabelle told me I wasn't invited," he added, causing Will to shoot daggers at him with his eyes. "She told you?" he asked, and Jamie shook his head, "Nope, I guessed. And if you have a friend on the inside, things are a little easier to deal with. Does Dad know?"
Will nodded, "Aye, he practically forced us together, truth be told. Your father plays the role of matchmaker very well." Jamie laughed, "Aye, he seems to enjoy it too! I just don't know what *your* father thinks of the whole thing!"
Louisa knew what Will and Jamie were planning, because she'd listened in on the conversation, and so she stayed near the window where they were planning to make their entrance. She looked across the room to where Isabelle and Prince Edward were still dancing, and saw Isabelle slip his watch, and gold cufflinks into the small pocket concealed in her dress. In all consideration, Isabelle was a pickpocket, and able to charm her way into, and out of, situations faster than her father could draw a sword.
Isabelle and Edward moved, and the figure that came into sight scared Louisa more than anything. Morgan. Seemingly frozen with fear, she found it all she could do to turn her head so she couldn't see him. Jamie was the one looking through the window this time, and she knew that he was worried by the look on his face, though he couldn't see Morgan anywhere in the room. Louisa looked up, and couldn't see him, and wondered if she was seeing things.
Isabelle returned, having feigned a slight headache to stop dancing and get into position. She saw immediately that something was wrong, and glanced around the room. "What's wrong?" she asked, and Louisa managed, "Morgan... I think he's here...." Isabelle nodded towards the window when she saw Will's face, and turned her attention back to Louisa. "If he's here, he'll be taken care of. Jamie knows what he looks like, so does Will, and if either of them see him, he's as good as dead, ok?" Louisa looked at Isabelle and started laughing. "You're so much like your father, did you know that?"
Before Isabelle had a chance to say anything in reply, the doors swung open with a burst of wind. Jack had friends somewhere, and they'd given him a storm for his last bit of fun. "Good evenin', ladies, gents, oh, and Your Highness. My name is Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl, and we're here for a small donation to keep us going!" laughed Jack, looking every bit the madman. Edward looked around the room, and saw Louisa and Isabelle were off to one side, by themselves. He started to cross the room towards them, but Jack saw and pointed it out to Will (Jr.) and Jamie.
"I really don't think you'd better move, Your Highness, and especially not towards our sisters," stated Will as the two moved in between the Prince and the girls. Edward looked incredulous, "Sisters? You mean to tell me that you are all from the same family? Two of you are... dark." Jamie laughed, and looked at Will, "See? I told you the man would get confused." He looked at the Prince, and said, "No, we're not all from the same family, but you see, the *dark* girl you enjoyed dancing with is *my* sister, and the servant girl is *his* sister. And my sister, the pretty Mrs Isabelle Turner, is the wife of this young man. Now, sir, if you would like to rejoin you company, and leave us to our business, no one, especially you, will get hurt. There's no point in acting the hero now sir, considering your sleeves are not even fastened!"
Noticing for the first time that he was missing both cufflinks, along with his watch, he looked towards Isabelle, who held up the three treasures with a grin. Fuming, he turned and walked back to his advisors. Jack had a sword in one hand, and a pistol at easy reach. That, along with the grin on his face, was enough to scare any person into giving up what they owned. Ranger and Will (Sr.) moved so they were either side of Jack, and Jamie and Will escorted the two girls out the back door. There, the two headed for the beach to wait for the others, even though Louisa wanted to return to the hall. "Something's wrong in there - we've got to go back!" Isabelle shook her head, "It's not part of the plan! If we go back, there's a chance that we'll miss them completely and they'll have to wait for us!" Louisa sat down on the edge of the longboat, and looked back up to the hall.
Jack handed Jamie and Will a bag each, and the two circulated the hall, collecting watches, purses, cufflinks, and any jewellery the women had on. Each item that was put in the bag was met with a courteous 'thank you', and in the case of the younger women, a kiss on the hand. Will (Sr.) whispered to Jack, "Seems your son has your charm." Jack grinned.
Jamie suddenly went flying; a large, heavy set man was standing over him, rubbing his fist, with a grin on his face. "'Ello Cap'n. Ye be the ones 'oo paid high price for my girl, did ya? Well, it weren't enough - I want her back!"
Will (Jr.) helped Jamie up, drew swords, and faced the man. He wasn't so much tall - Will was taller by far - but he was a lot thicker, and obviously knew how to handle himself. "Don't bother yourselves with the swords, lads, it's the girl I want back. Her, an' the youngin'."
Jack raised an eyebrow, and Will (Sr.) walked forwards. "That girl you're talking about happens to be my daughter, Morgan, and if you want her back, then you'll not only go through me and my son, but you'll go through half of the crew of the Black Pearl first, not to mention the second half later. Do I make myself clear?"
Louisa wasn't happy, she was fretting, and Isabelle's cool demeanour made her feel less at ease. "They're not immortal, Isabelle! Something's going wrong, and I can't stay out here and wait for them to get here." Isabelle turned around, trying to ignore the fact that her friend was so upset. It wasn't as though she wasn't worried too, but Louisa had been hyped since she'd seen, or thought she'd seen, Morgan in the crowd. "I don't care what you say, Louisa, but until I feel as though Da's been hurt, I'm not leaving, and you're not either, if I have to tie you up and throw you in the ocean!"
She was so intent on ignoring Louisa, and looking out at the ocean that she didn't see Louisa come up behind her with an oar. Swinging lightly, though with enough force to knock her brother out, Louisa hit Isabelle on the back of the head, and ran back up towards the town hall.
Jack, loving the fact that the whole place had erupted in fighting, felt a sharp pain behind his eyes, and almost blacked out himself. "Isabelle, why do you have to be so damned accident prone?" he asked himself, rubbing his head. He knew she was alright, but would have a headache, and so he returned his attention to the battle at hand. Ranger had gone after Morgan, set on revenge, while Will (Sr.), Jamie, and Will (Jr.) had ended up amongst the throes of men trying to prove how heroic they were. Jack himself was trying to tell the Prince that he was obviously unsuited to his daughter.
"You are a barbarian! You trap young women and use them as part of your plans? How do you live with yourself?" he asked, swinging a sword with surprising precision. Jack laughed, "The 'dark' girl, as you so politely put it, is my daughter, and to tell the truth, I wanted her to stay on the land, marry a gentleman, set me up for life, that sort of thing. She happened to stow away on my ship, along with the other one who is coincidentally my partner's daughter, and they've managed to get themselves into all sorts of trouble. Oh, and for the record, you're not her type!"
The Prince seemed to take offence at Jack's words, which were of course the truth, and he swung again with anger, rather than skill. It was an easy blow to dodge, and Jack turned nimbly, bringing his own sword up and cutting the Prince's shirt open at the chest. "Don't mess with a pirate unless you know how to dance," Jack laughed, and the Prince turned red. Without saying anything, he brought his sword up and proceeded to try and remove Jack's ear from the side of his head. Jack moved so the sword flew past harmlessly, brought his own around and hit near the hilt so he successfully unarmed the Prince, and let his sword come to rest at the Prince's neck. "Like I said, *Your Highness*, my daughter is out of your reach. Go and marry a noblewoman who you can dress up and take places as a possession, and leave me and my matchmaking alone."
Louisa reached the door out of breath. The corset didn't help when one was trying to get somewhere in a hurry. She bumped into Jack, who was holding the Prince at the end of his sword, and smiled nervously. He didn't say anything, just shook his head and threw her the pistol in his belt.
Taking it with a shout of thanks, Louisa took off towards where she saw Ranger fighting Morgan. She was going to finish this, and put her demons to rest, if it killed her.
Jamie saw Louisa heading towards the window, and Morgan, and began to push his way through the crowd. Ranger was bleeding, and looked to be half dead, when Morgan held the pistol up, cocked to fire. Louisa jumped forwards, at the same time Jamie reached them, and grabbed Morgan's gun hand, wrestling it away from Ranger.
A shot went off, silencing the crowd of people. Louisa was as white as a ghost, Jamie looked stunned.
*****
A/N: a bit of a cliffhanger! I know, I'm sorry, it just seemed like a good time to make a cliff hanger. Besides, there's a show about to start on TV that I want to watch, and I can hardly see the computer screen. I'll write more tomorrow.
The affair wasn't the biggest thing to hit the shores of Port Georgia, but it was certainly the grandest. Prince Edward, of the English Royal Family, was making a trip around the provinces of the English Empire, and Port Georgia was one of the last stops before they returned to England. Jack knew this, of course, and had decided he'd rather be damned (which he probably already was anyway) than miss a chance to perform before royalty.
The four of them waited underneath the main window of the town hall until they saw where Isabelle and Louisa were in the room. Both girls played their parts well, as Isabelle posing as the rich young wife, and Louisa her brother's slave. Louisa remained two steps behind Isabelle at all times, unless Isabelle motioned for Louisa to walk with her.
Footsteps sounded behind them, and Jack turned, sword drawn, to find the elder Will standing there. "What? You expected t' have fun without me? Ye've been away too long, Jack." Shrugging, Jack contemplated the idea, and grinned, "P'raps ye have a point. Join us, friend, an' watch your daughter act!"
Inside, Louisa was getting frustrated. She had to do something! Isabelle wasn't faring any better, but she proved that she could remember Elizabeth's lessons on being a lady. When the doors opened, and the Prince arrived, an excitement passed through the room. Now, the fun was about to begin. Both girls knew that Will and Jamie weren't too far away, and they suspected that Jack, and possibly Ranger, would be with them.
Edward walked around the room, receiving formal bows and curtsies from the others in the room, before stopping in front of Isabelle. Isabelle held back a smile as she curtsied politely, "Your Highness," she said courteously, and looked up to find Edward still smiling at her. "Your name?" he asked, and Isabelle found herself blushing. "Isabelle... Turner, Your Highness," she said, trying to keep eye contact; it was a hard thing to do, with the Prince being so commanding. "Would you care to dance, Ms. Turner?" he asked, and Isabelle nodded, "I would, Your Highness, though I must admit I am not a Miss, but a Missus, and would prefer that you call me Isabelle."
Edward smiled like a cat who got the cream, and nodded, "Of course, Isabelle, so long as you stop calling me 'Your Highness', and call me Edward." Louisa glanced towards the window, not surprised to see her brother looking in with a murderous look on his face. Louisa raised her eyebrows at him, causing him to blush and disappear again.
Outside, Will was furious. Jack, Ranger, and Will (Sr.) were involved in their own discussion, and paid no notice to Jamie and Will. "What is she doing?" Will asked Jamie, trying to keep his voice low. Jamie shrugged, a mischievous glint in his eye, "I don't know - perhaps she's gotten bored with you?" The look Will sent him proved what he'd suspected for a while - there was something between Isabelle and Will that no one had picked up on yet. "Jamie, if you continue along that train of thought, you won't have a goddamn brain left to think with," threatened Will, and Jamie laughed. "Don't worry - just tell me when the wedding is, and let me gatecrash. Isabelle told me I wasn't invited," he added, causing Will to shoot daggers at him with his eyes. "She told you?" he asked, and Jamie shook his head, "Nope, I guessed. And if you have a friend on the inside, things are a little easier to deal with. Does Dad know?"
Will nodded, "Aye, he practically forced us together, truth be told. Your father plays the role of matchmaker very well." Jamie laughed, "Aye, he seems to enjoy it too! I just don't know what *your* father thinks of the whole thing!"
Louisa knew what Will and Jamie were planning, because she'd listened in on the conversation, and so she stayed near the window where they were planning to make their entrance. She looked across the room to where Isabelle and Prince Edward were still dancing, and saw Isabelle slip his watch, and gold cufflinks into the small pocket concealed in her dress. In all consideration, Isabelle was a pickpocket, and able to charm her way into, and out of, situations faster than her father could draw a sword.
Isabelle and Edward moved, and the figure that came into sight scared Louisa more than anything. Morgan. Seemingly frozen with fear, she found it all she could do to turn her head so she couldn't see him. Jamie was the one looking through the window this time, and she knew that he was worried by the look on his face, though he couldn't see Morgan anywhere in the room. Louisa looked up, and couldn't see him, and wondered if she was seeing things.
Isabelle returned, having feigned a slight headache to stop dancing and get into position. She saw immediately that something was wrong, and glanced around the room. "What's wrong?" she asked, and Louisa managed, "Morgan... I think he's here...." Isabelle nodded towards the window when she saw Will's face, and turned her attention back to Louisa. "If he's here, he'll be taken care of. Jamie knows what he looks like, so does Will, and if either of them see him, he's as good as dead, ok?" Louisa looked at Isabelle and started laughing. "You're so much like your father, did you know that?"
Before Isabelle had a chance to say anything in reply, the doors swung open with a burst of wind. Jack had friends somewhere, and they'd given him a storm for his last bit of fun. "Good evenin', ladies, gents, oh, and Your Highness. My name is Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl, and we're here for a small donation to keep us going!" laughed Jack, looking every bit the madman. Edward looked around the room, and saw Louisa and Isabelle were off to one side, by themselves. He started to cross the room towards them, but Jack saw and pointed it out to Will (Jr.) and Jamie.
"I really don't think you'd better move, Your Highness, and especially not towards our sisters," stated Will as the two moved in between the Prince and the girls. Edward looked incredulous, "Sisters? You mean to tell me that you are all from the same family? Two of you are... dark." Jamie laughed, and looked at Will, "See? I told you the man would get confused." He looked at the Prince, and said, "No, we're not all from the same family, but you see, the *dark* girl you enjoyed dancing with is *my* sister, and the servant girl is *his* sister. And my sister, the pretty Mrs Isabelle Turner, is the wife of this young man. Now, sir, if you would like to rejoin you company, and leave us to our business, no one, especially you, will get hurt. There's no point in acting the hero now sir, considering your sleeves are not even fastened!"
Noticing for the first time that he was missing both cufflinks, along with his watch, he looked towards Isabelle, who held up the three treasures with a grin. Fuming, he turned and walked back to his advisors. Jack had a sword in one hand, and a pistol at easy reach. That, along with the grin on his face, was enough to scare any person into giving up what they owned. Ranger and Will (Sr.) moved so they were either side of Jack, and Jamie and Will escorted the two girls out the back door. There, the two headed for the beach to wait for the others, even though Louisa wanted to return to the hall. "Something's wrong in there - we've got to go back!" Isabelle shook her head, "It's not part of the plan! If we go back, there's a chance that we'll miss them completely and they'll have to wait for us!" Louisa sat down on the edge of the longboat, and looked back up to the hall.
Jack handed Jamie and Will a bag each, and the two circulated the hall, collecting watches, purses, cufflinks, and any jewellery the women had on. Each item that was put in the bag was met with a courteous 'thank you', and in the case of the younger women, a kiss on the hand. Will (Sr.) whispered to Jack, "Seems your son has your charm." Jack grinned.
Jamie suddenly went flying; a large, heavy set man was standing over him, rubbing his fist, with a grin on his face. "'Ello Cap'n. Ye be the ones 'oo paid high price for my girl, did ya? Well, it weren't enough - I want her back!"
Will (Jr.) helped Jamie up, drew swords, and faced the man. He wasn't so much tall - Will was taller by far - but he was a lot thicker, and obviously knew how to handle himself. "Don't bother yourselves with the swords, lads, it's the girl I want back. Her, an' the youngin'."
Jack raised an eyebrow, and Will (Sr.) walked forwards. "That girl you're talking about happens to be my daughter, Morgan, and if you want her back, then you'll not only go through me and my son, but you'll go through half of the crew of the Black Pearl first, not to mention the second half later. Do I make myself clear?"
Louisa wasn't happy, she was fretting, and Isabelle's cool demeanour made her feel less at ease. "They're not immortal, Isabelle! Something's going wrong, and I can't stay out here and wait for them to get here." Isabelle turned around, trying to ignore the fact that her friend was so upset. It wasn't as though she wasn't worried too, but Louisa had been hyped since she'd seen, or thought she'd seen, Morgan in the crowd. "I don't care what you say, Louisa, but until I feel as though Da's been hurt, I'm not leaving, and you're not either, if I have to tie you up and throw you in the ocean!"
She was so intent on ignoring Louisa, and looking out at the ocean that she didn't see Louisa come up behind her with an oar. Swinging lightly, though with enough force to knock her brother out, Louisa hit Isabelle on the back of the head, and ran back up towards the town hall.
Jack, loving the fact that the whole place had erupted in fighting, felt a sharp pain behind his eyes, and almost blacked out himself. "Isabelle, why do you have to be so damned accident prone?" he asked himself, rubbing his head. He knew she was alright, but would have a headache, and so he returned his attention to the battle at hand. Ranger had gone after Morgan, set on revenge, while Will (Sr.), Jamie, and Will (Jr.) had ended up amongst the throes of men trying to prove how heroic they were. Jack himself was trying to tell the Prince that he was obviously unsuited to his daughter.
"You are a barbarian! You trap young women and use them as part of your plans? How do you live with yourself?" he asked, swinging a sword with surprising precision. Jack laughed, "The 'dark' girl, as you so politely put it, is my daughter, and to tell the truth, I wanted her to stay on the land, marry a gentleman, set me up for life, that sort of thing. She happened to stow away on my ship, along with the other one who is coincidentally my partner's daughter, and they've managed to get themselves into all sorts of trouble. Oh, and for the record, you're not her type!"
The Prince seemed to take offence at Jack's words, which were of course the truth, and he swung again with anger, rather than skill. It was an easy blow to dodge, and Jack turned nimbly, bringing his own sword up and cutting the Prince's shirt open at the chest. "Don't mess with a pirate unless you know how to dance," Jack laughed, and the Prince turned red. Without saying anything, he brought his sword up and proceeded to try and remove Jack's ear from the side of his head. Jack moved so the sword flew past harmlessly, brought his own around and hit near the hilt so he successfully unarmed the Prince, and let his sword come to rest at the Prince's neck. "Like I said, *Your Highness*, my daughter is out of your reach. Go and marry a noblewoman who you can dress up and take places as a possession, and leave me and my matchmaking alone."
Louisa reached the door out of breath. The corset didn't help when one was trying to get somewhere in a hurry. She bumped into Jack, who was holding the Prince at the end of his sword, and smiled nervously. He didn't say anything, just shook his head and threw her the pistol in his belt.
Taking it with a shout of thanks, Louisa took off towards where she saw Ranger fighting Morgan. She was going to finish this, and put her demons to rest, if it killed her.
Jamie saw Louisa heading towards the window, and Morgan, and began to push his way through the crowd. Ranger was bleeding, and looked to be half dead, when Morgan held the pistol up, cocked to fire. Louisa jumped forwards, at the same time Jamie reached them, and grabbed Morgan's gun hand, wrestling it away from Ranger.
A shot went off, silencing the crowd of people. Louisa was as white as a ghost, Jamie looked stunned.
*****
A/N: a bit of a cliffhanger! I know, I'm sorry, it just seemed like a good time to make a cliff hanger. Besides, there's a show about to start on TV that I want to watch, and I can hardly see the computer screen. I'll write more tomorrow.
