"An Eagle in the Red Mirror"
By: The Riff
Prologue
"There, sir, beneath the cove! My, it does make the water glow, just like the legends said!" a gruff looking scared rower said as he and some of his fellow rowers looked toward their destination.
"I can see it from here!"
"So the legends where true!"
"I hear it's cursed gold!"
"As do I!"
"Come now, gentlemen, don't tell me ye believe in curses," the man standing at the bow of the small boat asked, giving the portion of his crew a sly grin. His men in reply chuckled and rowed on.
"Ye know the drill boyos, take whatever ye can see your ugly faces in!" their captain said as the men were already to it. He walked through them, watching his men, his crew, picking up enough glowing riches to make the monarchs of Europe blush. The grin still on his face and the look in his eyes gave one the impression that he was capturing the moment to hold dear within him for all of his days. That impression alone would give someone a hint as to the oddity of his character.
Against all typical pirate stereotypes, the captain looked not at the gold around him, but instead followed the lines of the cavern walls and came upon a seemingly secret cave, separated from and yet connected to all of the other caves. His grin grew wider when he spotted the large, smooth red stone set in the middle. Actually, his grin widened on what sat on the large, smooth stone… a golden medallion with the image of an eagle with ruby eyes on it. He picked the medallion up without trouble, looped it on a strand of leather he had brought, tied it behind his neck, and placed the medallion under his shirts so it was completely hidden. He then joined his pillaging comrades.
~25 Years Later~
Captain Jack Sparrow grumbled some obscene phrases to himself as he rowed his small, leaking, stolen boat to shore. He was a bit strapped for any form of currency so he figured it wiser to avoid the docks. Plus, he hadn't moved his still quite youthful legs much in a few hours so the kilometer walk to whatever town he had come to did him good.
Oddly, when he arrived at the town well into the dusk, he could see and smell fires blazing as they destroyed houses and liquor. At the town border he could hear the usual accompany of screaming and yelling. Not in the mood to test his sword skills and without any pistol on him he avoided much of the ruckus and headed to the dock.
As expected, there sat a large wooden ship bearing a skull flag, and mostly deserted. He averted the few guards as they watched their men at arms pillaging and destroying as they were prone to do. He ran his hand against the large painted eye on the bow of the ship and admired the grain of the wood.
The inside of the ship seemed made of a similar class of wood as the hull, and Jack admired all of it. He made his way down a few levels to the storage rooms and, after catching his still dark hair on a crate or two, hid himself inside of them. While he did this, of course, he noticed that unusual for a pirate ship, all of the cargo was neat, tidy, and well organized. He sighed and grumbled to himself.
"There must be a woman on board."
When he was sure the dog-watch would be on, Jack made his way quietly through the ship and to the deck. The ship was at sea and the distant stars lit the sky while the full moon lit the water, making the dancing of the waves visible. He assumed the ship was going through a rough time, or just being cocky, as there was only on man on patrol, and he stood at the wheel, not seeing some of the better hiding places. Jack, of course, still being as daring and reckless as he was in his youth, snuck up on the poor young lad and placed the tip of his sword to the back of the young man's neck. At the prick the young man, aged somewhere between twenty and thirty and of quite a small stature, straightened his back.
"You should be turning around now, laddy," Jack told him. The lad obeyed and looked at Jack, his displeasure apparent on his face.
"Now how about taking me to your cap-" Jack started cockily as usual but was cut short when the lad pulled his pistol and pointed it to Jack's face. Jack still had his sword at a dangerous position on the lad's body so the two were at quite the stand off.
"If you stab me, I swear I will live long enough to shoot you," the lad threatened. Jack believed him so with a quick slash with his sword flung the pistol into the water leaving the smallest of cuts on the lad's hand. Since the he had been holding the pistol with his left hand, the lad took his sword out with his right and the two began the most dangerous of dances. In one of the younger man's attacks he cut Jack's arm just above the wrist. When the lad raised his sword the two discovered the cuff of Jack's shirt wrapped around it. They both looked at it somewhat surprised.
"How'd ye do tha'?" Jack asked him curiously. The young man shrugged, ripped the cloth off, and the two again began to fight. When their swords met and pushed against each other, Jack, by far the stronger of the two, shoved his opponent backward and the lad lost his balance and fell against the railing, hitting a rather large bell on his way.
"What's tha' for?" Jack asked as the fighting resumed.
"It wakes the crew in case of an emergency. The deck will be swarming with pirates before you know it," the young man replied. Jack frowned, seemingly concerned but not drastically so.
"Bugger," was all he replied. After a few more strokes of their swords, Jack cocked his head characteristically to one side.
"Ye quite good at this."
"I've had some practice!" the youth said dashing madly to keep up with the veteran.
"It shows. But how's your footwork?" he asked. To test it Jack made an advance and made the lad lose his balance and, embarrassingly, tumble down the flight of stairs his feet had been next to.
Jack walked calmly down the steps to see the young man lying at the bottom watching him, a small gash on his right cheek. It was then for the first time Jack noted the noticeably sized scar that ran along the left side of the lad's face from eyebrow to chin. Jack squatted on the bottom step.
"Ye got to work on ye footwork matey," he told him. The young man sighed angrily, staring at him. Jack noticed his eyes fall to the exposed part of Jack's arm just as the sound of pistols cocking reached him. Jack stood up to find he and the lad surrounded by about a dozen newly woken men, all with either a pistol or a sword pointed at him.
"Fire!" one man said. And the pistol carriers prepared to.
"Wait!" the young man said standing up and looking at Jack. First the lad's eyes were directed to Jack's arm again, and then to Jack's face itself. At that moment the two men both seemed to be searching for the same thing in each other's faces, a memory. Finally the young man turned to his companions.
"Call Captain de Barros, tell him we have a legend on board…" he ordered. Jack grinned at him and sat down on the steps.
Captain Diogo de Barros was in his forties, near fifties, of a dark complexion and of no doubt mixed origins. He had a neatly trimmed beard that formed elaborate designs on his cheeks, and a hardy, safe feeling laugh. He had invited Jack to have breakfast with him and some of his officers. The room was filled with laughter.
"Capt'in Jack Sparrow! On my ship! Imagine tha'! I grew up listening to stories about you! Got out of a lot of tricky bits you 'ave!" de Barros said, a strong Portuguese accent making itself known.
"So 'ave I!"
"And I!" some of the other men chimed in. de Barros leaned in closer to Jack as he sat next to him.
"But tell me, Sparrow, stories of you 'ave been around for nearly fifty years… so, well, what I'm trying to get to is…" the captain started somewhat nervously.
"Why hav'n't I aged in twenty five years?" Jack finished for him. de Barros nodded and his officers fell quiet.
"Well, ye see gentlemen, Time is a tricky mistress, you've just got to know how ta 'andle 'er!" Jack told them and the room again was filled with laughter.
"Alright Jack! Alright Jack! Ye can keep ye secrets! It's no place for lowly pirates like us to argue with legends," de Barros told him and Jack nodded in agreement.
"But now, Jack, what about that medallion of yours? That's a bit of a thing," one of the officers said motioning with a wooden spoon to a golden medallion with the image of an eagle with ruby eyes on it that had revealed itself from under Jack's shirt.
"Oh tha'? Just a family heirloom," Jack said waving it off.
"Whose family?" another man said and they all laughed again, Jack hiding the trinket back under his shirt. With a motion of his head Jack turned to de Barros.
"But tell me, good Captain, who was the lad that fought with me? I think I may have stolen something from 'im once," Jack inquired.
"Lad? Which lad?" de Barros asked the table.
"Young Robin sir," one man replied. de Barros's eyebrows raised slightly.
"Robin, eh? A good chap, well learned," de Barros told him. Some of the other men agreed.
"What are 'is origins?" Jack asked taking a bite of the meat in front of him.
"Ah, now that's one of the more interesting stories aroun' 'ere. We were sailing along one day toward… well, I don't remember where but it really doesn't matta! We came upon to this wrecked ship, still on fire and barely afloat. We boarded, seeing if there might be anything of value, and we came upon a disastrous scene. Bodies all about, blood on everythin', 'orrible sight, 'orrible! But one man found Robin, no more than ten, layin' on the deck, battered, bruised, cut up every which way, but still alive!"
"That's where he got tha' scar!" a man added. de Barros nodded and went on.
"Well we were going to just leave 'em there when we saw the sword still tight in his grip. I 'ad never seen such a marvelous sword. So we went to tak' it, but the bloody boy had such a grip on it even 'alf dead he wouldn't le' go! So, we just took the sword with 'em attached to it! My boys 'ealed 'im up fine and he proved to be quite the lad! It seems 'is parents were the captains of the ship! Both of 'em! Imagine tha'! 'Adly, they both died in the attack. Young Robin doesn't remember much of it, just tha' 'is parents died" de Barros said. Jack now stared at the captain with an expression foreign to Jack's face. Fear.
"The ship, what was the name of th' ship?" Jack asked urgently.
"Its name? I don't remember, began with 'L' I think…."
"Locksley?" Jack said and felt the moments strain before the captain answered, ironically smiling.
"Yeah! That's it!"
"It was the Turner's ship!" a man added. de Barros nodded.
"Yup, Will and Elizabeth, they were…" de Barros started but stopped realizing the connection. He sighed towards Jack's emotionless face.
"I'm sorry mate, I forgot you knew 'em," de Barros told him. Jack waved it off.
"Forget it. It's all a part of the job, remember? I need a bit of fresh air," Jack said standing up and walking out of the room. de Barros sighed and shook his head as his officers grabbed food off Jack's abandoned plate.
Jack had remained below deck for the rest of the day, resting and eating, and mostly thinking. Will and Elizabeth would have died about fifteen years ago, if Robin had been ten. They'd been gone fifteen years and he had never known. And the poor boy, Jack actually had a bit of pity for the lad.
It was dusk when Jack surfaced and once again felt the sea air against his face and flow through his dirty matted hair. A sparse bit of the crew was on deck, and Jack began assuming the Turner boy had been alone last night because he had been the only one to bother staying awake. Either way, the lad was on deck again, tightening some of the ropes with another man.
Jack figured he should probably talk to the boy, some words of wisdom or comfort. It wasn't something Jack enjoyed doing or was very good at, but he owed it to the boy's parents to at least try. So he waited for the lad to be done with his duties. Jack did notice a lot of Will in him. Same color hair, same style, even. A lot of Elizabeth's spirit was in his eyes, Jack had noticed that the night before. Will must have taught him to use the sword, but the lad still needed to work on his footing. Will probably died before he could teach him.
When he found Robin Turner alone he walked over to him and leaned against the railing. Robin faced the sea and Jack saw the ship, watching some of the other crew closing up for the night.
"Last time I saw you, ye was about this tall," Jack said holding his hand at about mid thigh, "well, maybe this tall…" he said adjusting the height to his knee. Robin turned to him.
"Well some of us change in twenty years."
"I've 'eard that. Poor folks the lot of 'em," Jack replied. After a moment of silence Jack sighed.
"So who was it, tha' attacked ye? I'll avenge 'im for ya, if I 'aven't already…" Jack offered.
"You haven't. And you won't, they were my parents," Robin told him. Jack nodded.
"Alright lad, I'll leave 'im to ye. But I want in," Jack told him. Robin looked at him surprised.
"You're kidding me…."
"I don't kid laddie…" Jack said and then narrowed his eyebrows curiously, "well, I'm not kidding now anyway…. This may be a bit hard for ye to believe, but I 'aven't 'ad many friends in my days, but your parents were two of 'em," Jack confessed. Robin did not seem amused.
"According to my father they were your only friends…" Robin said. Jack waved his head from side to side in thought.
"Ya that's true too. So you see why I've got to avenge 'em with you," Jack replied. Robin sighed.
"I know there's no stopping you, so I won't even try to."
"Ah," Jack said raising a finger to the young man, "ye should always try laddie. But not now, of course…."
"Are you sure about this, Robin? Capt'in Boswell isn't known for being merciful to those who go looking to kill 'im," de Barros wandered as he, Robin, Jack, and a few other men were looking over a map.
"It's been fifteen years Captain, if I wait too much longer he may die by someone else's hands," Robin told him.
"Yeah, by my hands," Jack added. de Barros nodded to them.
"Boswell was last seen off the coast of New Cale, a small Scaw'ish colony-"
"Scaw'ish? In the Caribbean?" Jack questioned. de Barros nodded.
"Boswell was the cap'tin of a Scaw'ish colony ship, only one I've ever 'eard of. A few years after landing pirates attacked 'em and killed Boswell's wife and child. He's been a bit vengeful since," de Barros explained. Robin seemed a little unnerved by the news, but Jack seemed more upbeat.
"Good, so he'll understand when we kill 'em!" Jack said.
"We're about three days from New Cale, and we'll do whatever we can for ye, but you'll be mostly on your lonesome. You understand tha', right?" de Barros asked them. They both nodded.
"Don't worry Cap'in, I'll take care of your lad for ye," Jack reassured him. Robin gave him a questionable glance but decided not to say anything.
"I trust ye Jack. But, I would like to send one of my men along with ye."
"Captain that's-" Robin started but de Barros raised his hand to silence him.
"No choice 'ere. If you want to leave you're taking Richard with ye."
"Richard, but he-"
"He's a bit on the quiet side but a good strong man. He'll serve ye well Jack."
"I am much obliged," Jack told him with a bit of a nod to him. de Barros returned it. The captain stood up and walked out of the room, and his officers followed him, leaving Jack and Robin alone. Jack turned to him.
"A good man, your cap'in."
"Yes he is, and much from your beginnings I believe," Robin said rolling up the map and placing it back in its place. Jack raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Me beginnings? What do you know of my beginnings?" Jack demanded, trying to sound imposing. Robin looked at him.
"Just what my parents told me. Black Pearl and so on. Captain de Barros has his past with curses as well," Robin explained. Jack nodded, satisfied.
"So how many ways have you devised of killing this Cap'in Boswell?"
"More then you can count on your extremities," Robin replied. Jack looked at the ceiling and waving his head slightly from side to side in thought.
"I'll guess about 147," he said and Robin opened his eyes in surprise, "about how close am I?"
"You're dead on. So what? Not only are you immortal you can read minds too?" Robin asked him.
"Now first off, who said I was immortal? And second off, that's how many I've come up with since yesterday," Jack told him with a wink.
Jack was walking along the deck under the high noon sun. His head tilted upward and his eyes were closed. He ran his hand along the railing so he wouldn't run into something. The railing, however, did not tell him about the large African man who was standing in his path. Jack ran into him sure enough, stepped back, and looked up at him.
"Hey watch it ye-" Jack started but then got a better view of the man. He was completely bald, dark both by race and by the noon sun, and looked tall enough for two men. He did not seem amused.
"Uh, sorry chap, no 'ard feelings eh?" Jack said reaching up and patting the man's shoulders. The man only stared at him in response. Jack turned around and walked the other way.
Jack found Robin half asleep sitting on the steps he had fallen down previously. He was drinking something from a dirty mug. Jack sat next to him and took the mug from his hands and took a drink himself. Before he could taste it he knew it was rum. Jack emptied it and returned it to its original owner. Robin looked at the bottom of the empty mug and sighed.
"So was tha' Richard?" Jack asked, assuming the young man had been watching him.
"That's him."
"Quite a big man."
"He knows."
"So are ya nervous? Leaving your ship and all, con be frightening for some."
"Captain Jack, the only fear I have is letting my parents down," Robin replied. Jack was silent for a few moments.
"You were five last I saw you. How'd ye recognize me face after all those years?" Jack questioned.
"I didn't, not at first. It was the tattoo, then the face. How'd you get on this ship?" Robin asked in return.
"Snuck aboard during ye little raid. The security on this ship could be improved."
"Evidently. Why'd you get on this ship?" Robin then asked. Jack looked taken aback, as if the question was of a completely personal nature and not to be thought let alone asked.
"I'll 'ave ye know I needed a ride and this ship just 'appened to be in port. Na I'll take no mo' questions on the matta," Jack said folding his arms over his chest as if to enforce his command. Robin sighed.
"Look Captain Jack, if you aren't going to tell me why you haven't bloody aged in twenty years you can at least tell me what happened to your ship. You get put on an island again?" Robin asked. Jack frowned at the suggestion.
"I've just decided to expand my horizons a bit, ye know? I happen to be between ships at the moment… But now that I've met you I know we to be, see how that works out all pleasantly?" he replied. Robin sighed and to change the subject pulled out his sword and handed it to Jack. The blade itself was smooth and clean, and the hilt was pure silver with designs made out of turquoise pebbles on it. It was an admirable sword to be sure.
"My father made it. He finished it the day I was born," Robin told him. Jack looked at him curiously.
"Weren't you born on the Locksley?"
"So?" Robin asked. Jack shook his head.
"Nothin'. It's a fine sword, ye father was good at wha' he do, um, did…" Jack commented correcting himself. He handed it back to Robin and Robin placed it back in his scabbard. Jack sighed, something he found himself doing in his unusual old age.
"Ye shouldn't be calling me 'Capt'in Jack,' I 'ave no ship," he confessed.
"You'll always be 'Captain Jack,' Captain Jack," Robin reassured him. Jack chuckled slightly and slapped the lad on the back a few times.
In the morning Jack woke up with an incredible headache. He wasn't sure how he had gotten the headache, but for Jack that wasn't unusual. He could assume where he got the headache from, because it was always accompanied by an unnatural gurgling sound coming from his stomach. He rolled out of bed and as he walked into the hallway, headed for the deck, he was met by the sound of a woman's laughter. He followed it to find a rather tall woman with tied up brown curly hair, a faded green dress, a sharp nose, and close to no eyebrows. She was not pretty by any standards, but the first impression of her character was a pleasant one. She didn't notice him and the men she was enchanting didn't either so he continued on his trip upstairs. He did manage to laugh slightly at himself.
"There is a woman on board."
On deck Jack found Robin mopping. Jack walked carefully over to him and sat up on the railing, watching Robin move back and forth in front of him. Robin had noted him but paid him no mind.
"So who's the lassie? I though' women on ships were ba' luck," Jack asked.
"Miss Sally, and we were told it'd be worse luck not to have her on board," Robin replied. Jack raised an eyebrow.
"Now who told ya tha'?"
"Miss Sally…" Robin answered stopping and looking at him, and then continuing to mop the deck.
"So how do ya plan to go about findin' Capt'in Boswell? Even I've 'eard of 'is elusive tendencies," Jack asked. Robin stopped mopping again and looked at him.
"I thought I'd make it up as I went along," he answered. Jack shook his head and walked over to Robin.
"I know this'll be your first revenge laddie, so I'll let tha' slide, but don't do it again. Now I suggest we start off wit' the pubs, scrounge up some information, see who'll talk and for 'ow much," Jack told him. Robin nodded, having always been taught to actually listen to Jack if he ever offered advice.
"Alright. I've been to this port before, the best spot for information will be the 'Jug of Punch' on the North coast," Robin told him.
"Aye, I've been 'ere too. I thought it was an English pub… Anyway! I think I've a friend in these regions. Him we can ask for a few details," Jack told him, patting him on the shoulder. Jack turned to leave to go find something to eat when Robin called to him.
"Captain Jack?" the young man said. Jack turned to wait for him to continue. "Thank you. With you here, I know we're get the bastard," Robin added with a nod. Jack nodded back to him with a grin, and turned around once again. He chuckled slightly so only he knew it. Someone just thanked Captain Jack Sparrow for something. He hoped he'd live up to it, actually, he knew he would.
The night before Jack would take Robin and Richard in search of adventure and revenge, he and Captain de Barros dined together on the best meat on the ship. Jack had heard of some prisons where those who were going to be hanged were given a farewell banquet, he imagined this to be quite the same.
"On Robin's first raid wi' us, some whore came out and hit 'im with her parasol! She gav' 'im a bruise the size of my hand on 'is rear! Poor lad couldn't sit for a week! We gave 'im Hell for it, too," de Barros said with a chuckle and a few good slaps on his knee. Jack chuckled slightly at the image of the currently proud young man being whipped by a woman with an umbrella.
"Why'd ye keep him on board anyway, Capt'in? A child on a pirate ship? 'Ardly seems a wise thing to do," Jack questioned. de Barros looked from side to side, as if searching for any who may be in hiding within ear shot.
"He can read," de Barros confessed. Jack looked at the captain surprised and lowered the cup he had raised to his mouth.
"Read?" Jack asked to make sure. de Barros nodded.
"And write, and do all kind of numbers stuff, right in 'is head. 'Is mother taught 'im all kinds of things. I promised 'im tha' if he taught me crew all tha' stuff he'd be safe 'ere."
"An' he believed ye?" Jack asked surprised, figuring the child of Will and Elizabeth Turner would be a bit smarter then that. de Barros laughed again.
"Well when ye out in the middle of the ocean, 'arely conscious, an' 'alf deed, ye find yeself getting a bit trusting of ooh ever comes by!" de Barros told him. Jack nodded.
"I suppose you've a point then. But, now, capt'in to capt'in, is he ready?" Jack asked, wanting to make sure he knew what he was getting himself into. de Barros nodded.
"If ye keep 'im away from rum of any sort he'll be good to ye."
"Rum?"
"Aye, ye get too much in 'im and he'll, well, jus' don't let 'im near the stuff!" de Barros warned him. Jack nodded.
"I'll remember tha'. Ah, now, I hav' to ask Capt'in, after we kill this Boswell, would ye mind if I took the young Turner away from ye? 'Is parents trusted me mo' than me own folks ever did, and I owe 'em to look afta' the boy. Since he's been servin' ye for so long, I thought it only proper to ask ye," Jack said. de Barros raised his hand and nodded.
"It's been fifteen years, I've seen 'em come and I've seen 'em go a lot since, the Turner lad would be no different. Besides, if anyone can turn 'im into a real pirate, I can think of none other then ye to do it," de Barros said. The two then raised their glasses, and gave a toast to revenge.
Jack sat at the stern of a rowboat, going over in his mind a plan of attack. Richard sat in the middle, using his strong arms to propel the vessel through the waves to the shore off of New Cale. Robin sat at the bow, searching for any ships or persons that might cause them trouble. He also, took a few looks back at the Soldado, knowing he probably would never see it again. Richard and Jack took no such look.
Despite it being before noon, the Jug of Punch was filled with brash Scottish men and a few women who appeared to be prostitutes, but actually sold nothing of themselves. Jack entered the smoking atmosphere ahead of the other two, his veteran eyes searching the crowd for a humanized rat. In a secluded bit of the pub Jack saw a dirty, oldish man whose eyes darted around the room protectively. He also rotated a filthy glass in his hands nervously. Jack pointed to him.
"Over eyre, the one wit' the grin cap. Ee's never been in 'ere. Robin, grip ye pistol, Richard, well, just be yeself," Jack instructed leading his small band toward the nervous man.
The man had seen the three walking toward him almost before they did, but he pretended not to notice them. He was a very cautious man, very nervous, Jack could see that just from looking at him. Jack sat down across the table from the nervous, green capped man. Richard and Robin stood behind him looking dangerous. Well, Richard was looking dangerous, Robin looked kind of funny.
"Buy ye a drink?" Jack asked the man placing a silver coin on the table and spinning it with his fingers. The man looked from the coin to Jack.
"I'm fine wit' wha' I gots," the man replied. Jack nodded, his attention seemingly on the coin.
"Alright. I jus' always try to be courteous to me fellow men of the sea," Jack told him.
"Wha' ye saying?"
"I like to buy pirates drinks," Jack reworded. The nervous man became more nervous.
"I ain't a pirate, I don't know wha' ye talkin' about," he said. Jack moved his head from side to side.
"Come on, ye can't lie to me chap. You've of Capt'in Boswell's crew. Good man, good man-"
"I 'ave ta go," the nervous man said standing up. The man stopped when he noticed Robin's pistol pointed to him.
"You can spare a moment and hear what the man has to say," Robin told him. The nervous man nodded and sat back down. Jack grinned at him.
"There we go na'. So this ship of Boswell's, I've 'eard good things of it. Can it really out run any Brit's ship?" Jack asked him. The man shifted his eye from Jack to Robin's now holstered pistol. He nodded.
"Yeah, yeah it's fast. Arm'd to the head to, an' Capt'in Boswell knows 'ow to 'andle it. You'd be wise to stay awa' from it," he warned them, scratching the back of his left hand so red marks showed. Jack sighed.
"Well then, tha's a shame… Ye see, we ain't none too intelligent the three of us. But, I see ye are, so, laddie, I trus' ye can tell us where tha' fine ship o' your's is dock'd," Jack told him, placing his coin back in his pocket. The nervous man gulped and looked up at Robin and Richard again.
"I can't tell ye!" the man told them. Jack sighed.
"Well tha's just unfortunate, for us all I'm sure," Jack told him. Richard cracked his knuckles against the palms of his hand and Robin gripped the hilt of his sword.
"Alright! Off the northeast coast! 'Er sails are down bu' 'er flags 'er up!" the man confessed. Jack looked a bit perplexed.
"Sails down wit' a pirate flag raised? Sounds a bit foolish."
"We're naw pirates! Pirates are fiends sent by the devil to murder an' rape women 'en children!" the man told him angry at the accusation of being such a thing. Jack's mouth tilted downward on one side.
"Matey, if pirates were tha', my Goodfellow 'ere would have killed ye by na'. Besides, the prince o' darkness is a gentleman," Jack said, tipped his hat to the man, and lead Robin and Richard out of the Jug of Punch.
Jack cringed when someone nearby started playing some horrific tune on a bagpipe as he and his companions made their way to the docks.
"What do we do now, Captain Jack?" Robin asked him. Jack fiddled with the bead at the end of his small beard in thought.
"We find the ship first, then find some place to spend the night in this place," Jack replied. Robin ran a few steps so he was walking next to Jack instead of behind him.
"But if that man tells Capt'in Boswell we were looking for him he'll leave port!" Robin complained. Jack turned to him.
"He'll stay. He kills any pirate he finds, an' if they go lookin' for 'im, all the better than," Jack explained. Robin questioned the logic, but nodded and said no more on it.
In all truth, Jack had no idea how to get on that ship. But since he was the veteran at this, it was his burden to come up with the ideas. He hoped the night would bring him some inspiration. The three of them had rented a room in a local hotel for the night, Jack took the bed, Robin the small couch, and Richard slept on the floor, without a word of protest.
Somewhere into the night, inspiration did reach Jack, and he let out a large smile when it reached him. It would come with some difficulty, a lot of risk, and a few altercations of himself and his companions, but that's what made him smile. Revenge is only worth something when it's hard to get. With this new idea in his head, Jack snuck out of the room and returned early in the morning.
"I am sorry Captain Jack, but I was taught to trust a man only until he tries to take a blade to my head!" Robin yelled as Jack backed him into a corner of the hotel room, a pair of scissors in his hands.
"It's just for a hair cut, laddie, I'm not goin' cut ye throat or anything like it," Jack told him.
"A hair cut? Why do I need a hair cut?" Robin asked a little more than confused. Jack sighed as if his motives were obvious.
"So the nervous chap won't recognize ye!" Jack said taking advantage of Robin's confusion to step closer to him.
"What are you talking about? Captain Jack? Captain Jack!"
Richard sat on the couch with his back straight, a solemn expression on his face, and his arms folded over his chest as usual. Robin sat next to him, resting his elbows on his knees. With one of his hands he scratched the top of his head, moving his fingers through his now inch long hair that was under an orange bandana. He didn't want to know where Jack learned how to cut hair, and he really didn't want to know why. To Richard Jack had changed nothing, figuring even if he was recognized, Richard would scare the nervous man so much he wouldn't tell on him.
"You know why he's doing this, don't you? He's bloody crazy," Robin said to Richard. Richard didn't even look at him let alone respond.
"Ta da!" Jack said walking out of the bathroom with his arms open wide. He did a spin in front of his two companions. The changes Jack had made to himself included cutting off a few inches of his hair and braiding it, wearing a clean red bandana instead of his usual dirty one, and shaving off his beard. Robin was surprised by the change and if Richard was he didn't show it.
"But I liked the beard," Robin complained. Jack frowned and rubbed his now clean chin.
"Me too. I was about to take off the mustache, but I didn't hav' the heart for it," Jack told him. Robin sighed.
"So what are your plans, Captain Jack?"
"Ah!" Jack said raising his finger and walking over to them, "we're getting aboard tha' ship, blending in wit' tha' crew. Then in 'is moment of weakness, we're carve ye parent's names into his skin, so he'll bring the memory with 'im to Hell," Jack told him. Robin grinned at the plan.
"I only liked half of what you said, but it's enough for me."
The three pirates stood on the dock looking at the relatively small ship. They all looked at it with a certain bit of irony. They were about to sneak aboard a ship that's sole purpose was to eradicate them and their kind.
"She's a fine looking ship," Robin said, still scratching the top of his head. Jack nodded in agreement, and Richard did nothing at all.
"Shame we'll 'ave to blow 'er up," Jack said, his face not expressing any remorse. Robin looked at him.
"Blow her up? Can't we just steal it?"
"An' wha' do you suppose we do with the crew? Make 'em serve us?"
"We could try. We could just shoot them and take the ship, or throw them overboard. We might even be merciful and place them in a row boat, or the brig."
"And with 'em all disposed of like tha', who do you suppose would run the ship?"
"We could get it to some town I suppose. You've your connections and I have mine, even Richard must have some. We could get a crew."
"Alright, but where are we goin' to get a pirate's flag?" Jack then asked him. Robin fell silent in thought. He then sighed.
"You're right, we'll have to blow up the ship."
They had bought three giant bags of potatoes and carried them on their backs on board the ship with their heads down so their faces weren't really seen. In fact, the only trouble the three really faced was the half an hour of carrying the sacks around as they searched for the storage areas below deck. The fact that it was a small ship and the storage rooms were still hard to find made the search annoying as well as painful.
When they had finally set the bundles down and explored a majority of the vessel without given a second look by the crew, they found the man they knew to be Captain Boswell. Robin saw him first and recognized him immediately, seeing his sneering face 147 times in dreams and fantasies. Boswell was a burly man as the stereotypical Scot is. He had a brash beard but no mustache, and a dark color of hair with silvery strands making themselves comfortable and inviting friends. Despite having the profession of a vengeful murderer, the man had no physical scars and laughed as one who had no reasons to be sad. The sight of him would be enough to make any pirate detest him.
When Robin spotted him, he tapped Jack on the shoulder and pointed in Boswell's direction. Jack looked around the side of a doorframe and saw him talking to some irrelevant crewmember.
"That's him, I know his face and his voice. He ordered them killed," Robin explained. Jack nodded, cementing the image of the man into his mind forever.
"He's waiting for us to strike. He probably figures we've a boat in dock and is waitin' for us to attack 'im with it. Tha' way he comes out as a noble defender of the town," Jack speculated. Robin looked at him with admiration.
"You're good…" he said. Jack nodded, grinning.
"When ye get to be as old as I am laddie, you'll be good too. Now come on, I'm hungry," Jack said walking down the hall. Richard followed him but Robin paused before moving, a confused look on his face.
"When I'm your age I'll be dead…."
To avoid finding a room to sleep in, the three of them were up on the deck, keeping watch for, well, themselves. Actually Richard watched, Jack and Robin were asleep leaning against some barrels. Captain Boswell walked onto the deck at just about midnight and the ship was lit by the full moonlight. Richard elbowed Jack and he awoke with a snort. Jack looked at Richard, only to see the tall man looking forward as he usually did. Jack followed his gaze and saw Boswell. He shook Robin who hit Jack in the face slightly as he was startled awake. Jack frowned but said nothing, and directed Robin's gaze to Boswell. Robin's first movement was to grasp the hilt of his sword, but Jack stopped him from drawing it.
"Wait just a bit boyo," Jack whispered to him as they both stood up. Jack took a body count on the deck. Besides the three of them and Boswell, there were five men on deck. The three of them each had a loaded pistol so that would take care of three of the men, and Robin and Richard could kill the other two easily. That would leave Jack to kill Boswell, and after that, nothing mattered.
Boswell was going around and checking everything over, making sure all of the men were awake, which they now were. As Boswell walked closer to them Jack readied his pistol so Robin and Richard did the same. Boswell walked up to them and looked the three over with a bit of concern in his eyes, not knowing their faces. He opened his mouth to say something when Jack aimed and shot one of the men. Robin and Richard did the same and Jack grabbed Boswell by the head, turned him around, and placed the edge of a knife against this throat. Jack's companions attacked the other two men and killed them both, Robin throwing his overboard in addition.
Jack grabbed a chunk of Boswell's hair in his hand and pulled his head back, getting the blade closer to the man's throat. Boswell grit his teeth in pain as the blade cut a thin line of blood on his dirty neck. Robin and Richard walked over to them and Robin placed the tip of his sword on Boswell's heart.
"You killed my parents," Robin told him angrily. Boswell recognized Robin's sword more than his face.
"The Locksley lad, I thought I killed ye."
"I cannot die until you have," Robin told him and prepared to cut his heart out when a blade was place at Robin's neck. The sound of a dozen pistols cocking was heard, and both Jack and Richard felt one against the back of their head. The three looked around to find themselves surrounded by very well armed men. Boswell chuckled slightly, still having Jack's blade to his throat.
"I'd drop the sword laddie, if I were ye," Boswell told him. Robin breathed in heavily, turned his head away from Boswell, and dropped his sword. The sound of the blade and hilt hitting the wooden deck seemed deafening. Boswell chuckled as Jack lifted the knife slightly away from his neck.
"Thar ye go laddie," Boswell said. Richard slowly reached for a knife he kept in his belt, and, in a quick bout of motion, flung the blade into the neck of the man holding a pistol to Jack's head. Jack ducked in surprise, Robin bent down for his sword, and a pistol shot was fired.
Jack and Robin felt the small cut of a blade's tip on their necks and slowly stood up under them, Robin without his sword and Jack with his arms raised halfway into the air. Richard lay on the wooden deck, blood from the hole in his chest staining it. Robin cringed at the sight and Jack frowned displeased. Boswell eyed their dead companion and then looked at the two themselves. He nodded in approval.
"We knew ye was on board, we're not tha' stupid," Boswell told Jack. Jack looked at him curiously.
"Really?" he asked surprised. Boswell frowned at him angrily.
"Put 'em in the brig, we've a better way of disposing of 'em!" Boswell ordered. Jack and Robin were taken below ship to the brig at gun and knife point.
As the morning sun began to shine through a few small cracks in the boards onto the two failed pirates, only one bothered to be awake. Jack sat leaning against the iron bars, looking down at the medallion he held in his hand. No matter what, he had discovered in 25 years, the medallion was always clean, the ruby eyes were never tarnished. Jack sighed, knowing he had failed, and had probably gotten Robin killed in the process. There was no killing Jack. As long as he wore that medallion, nothing could kill him, not even time.
Jack looked up from the medallion to Robin, who was asleep on the floor in front of him. Robin looked more like his mother really then his father. He had her general facial structure and her eyes, but Robin's personality definitely reminisced of Will. Headstrong and really somewhat stupid. Jack sighed. Throughout all of the years, Will and Elizabeth were the only people to stick by him no matter what. He had always thought they were pretty crazy, now he realized they were just loyal. They had been his friends. And now he's gotten their only child killed. They were crazy.
Despite having his hands bound behind his back and having several swords and pistols aimed at him, Jack's only concern was the variety of seagulls flying over head and his new red bandana. During the past few days, Boswell had his ship out in the middle of pretty much no where with an island about a kilometer off the starboard side. Jack hadn't seen any stars so he had no idea where they could be. He and Robin were standing on the deck of the ship under the characteristically hot noon sun. Boswell stood in front of them, glaring at them with more evil and heartlessness then Jack had seen for awhile. Jack noticed the silver hilt with a turquoise design sticking out of the sheath at Boswell's side, he knew Robin had noticed it too.
Boswell walked up to the two of them and looked them up and down. He sneered and walked away. He glanced at the wooden plank that was attached to the railing, then turned to his crew.
"The old one first!" he yelled. The crew chuckled slightly and pushed the frowning Jack onto the board.
"Get ye to the end divel!" one man told him as Jack walked confidently to the end of the board. He turned with his chin held high to Boswell.
"Ye can only kill so mony pirates until ye become one yeself, Capt'in," Jack warned before doing a mediocre back dive off the plank. Robin wrestled in the hands of the men pulling him to the plank, and shoving him up onto it. He too turned to Boswell, but without the air of dignity Jack had.
"You've slaughtered children Boswell! Which of us is going to Hell?" Robin told him. Boswell frowned at him and motioned his head to some of his crew. The plank was untied and both it and Robin fell into the water.
About an hour after the plank fell, Jack found himself on the island, trying carefully to loosen the ropes that bound his hands. For a tool he had crawled over to a somewhat sharp rock. After a few good tries and a few bad ones, the ropes were loosened enough for Jack to get his hands out. The first thing he did when freed was rub his wrists and arms. He then jogged over to where he had spotted Robin washed up on shore. The young man's hands were still tied behind him and he laid on the wet sand coughing. Jack untied the ropes and helped Robin into a sitting position. He slapped him on the back a few times.
"You're okay laddie," Jack told him. Robin shoved Jack's arm away angrily and stood up and started walking, coughing into his sleeve.
"Fifteen years I've waited for this and we've ruined it!" Robin complained. Jack frowned.
"No we hav'n't," Jack corrected him. Robin turned to him in disbelief.
"What are you talking about? Richard is dead and Boswell isn't! Not to mention we're stuck on this pathetic little island which, unless you really can make paddles out of your back hair, we're stuck on! This, Captain Jack, is ruining it!" Robin told him. Jack stood up and swaggered over to him, a serious expression on his face… well, serious for Jack.
"We can get off this island," he said sternly.
"How, Captain Jack? How?" Robin questioned. Jack tapped his finger on his lips in thought.
"I don't know…" he finally confessed. Robin sighed and walked up the beach toward the trees.
"I could use some rum!" Robin yelled. Jack nodded.
"Me too," he said to himself.
That night the two had managed to get a fire going, and through Jack's vast experience stranded on islands he had found a collection of things for them to eat. It was night now, and Jack was eating a fish that Robin had caught, and Robin was soaking his bandana in the water and rubbing it against his face and hair. He still scratched his head as often as Jack scratched his chin. Robin sat down on the other side of the fire then Jack.
"So was it worth your beard?" Robin asked him. Jack finished picking his teeth with a fish bone and looked at him.
"Nope," Jack confessed. Robin nodded and ran a hand over his head.
"I've never trusted men with short hair. Something wrong about it," Robin told him. Jack nodded this time. Robin let out a loud sigh.
"So did your first mate mutiny again?" Robin asked him. Jack frowned and looked at him.
"He was a fool. He ran the ship right into the rocks. I watched from the shore," Jack confessed for no real reason. Robin nodded.
"You have bad luck with first mates, Captain Jack," Robin told him. Jack chuckled, knowing it was true.
"Well I'll tell ye this, laddie, if I ever get command of a ship again, ye can be my first mate," Jack promised. Robin looked surprised but smiled.
"I'll be keeping you to that."
The fire had died out and Jack stared up at the stars above him. Robin was asleep, Jack could hear him snoring. Robin slept a lot. By looking at the stars Jack had more of an idea of where they were. They were South of New Cale. That was about all he could tell. Stars were maps, but having an actual land map helped a lot too.
"Captain Jack!" Jack heard yelled at him. He opened his eyes and blinked as the bright sun irritated them. He looked down at Robin who was looking at him worriedly.
"Wha'?" Jack asked him somewhat confused.
"I was about to ask you the same thing!" Robin replied. Jack now looked around him. He was in the woods, sitting on the ground leaning against a tree. He could barely see the beach, where he last remembered being.
"Wha' am I doin' 'ere?" Jack asked Robin as he helped him up.
"I don't know. I woke up and you were gone. Your footprints went to the woods and I found you here. How'd you get here?" Robin explained. Jack shrugged.
"I guess I walked," he said as they walked back to their makeshift camp.
"I've heard of people who walk when they sleep and don't remember a thing. Maybe you do it," Robin suggested. Jack frowned slightly at the idea. Actually, he frowned mostly at the fact that he had woken up in places he didn't remember falling asleep in before, he just always thought it was because of rum or something. Jack chuckled slightly.
"I wonder where I was goin'," Jack said. Robin chuckled slightly.
That day the two gathered food, built a large fire, and tried to come up with ways to get off the island. Well, Robin did that, Jack looked high and low for a storage of rum. Neither were very successful at their tasks. Finally they both just settled on picking up sticks and branches for the fire. Jack was carrying a load to the fire when he suddenly had a pain in his head. He let out a yelp and dropped his bundle, gripping his head with his hands.
"Captain Jack?" Robin asked from behind him. Jack shook his head and the pain went away. He turned to his younger companion.
"I'm fine, just a bit too much sun," Jack said picking up his bunch and continued on his way. Robin frowned and followed him.
"I'm worried about you Captain Jack," he said. Jack chuckled slightly.
"I'm fine."
"Yes, I know. That's what worries me. You're over seventy years old! You shouldn't be alive let alone carrying wood! And yet you do it without harm! I think you owe me the reason why," Robin confronted him as they both threw their piles into the fire. Jack frowned at him and started walking back to the woods.
"I don't owe ye anything. It's your parents I owe, not ye. If your parents were anyone but your mother and father ye'd be dead by now," Jack told him. Now Robin frowned.
"You at least owe me my hair back!" Robin yelled after him.
Once in the woods Jack didn't stop to pick up anything, he just walked around for a while. He wasn't angry, not really, he was more like, worried. He'd have to tell Robin about the medallion eventually, but why did it seem hard? What was keeping him from just saying it? Suddenly that wave of pain came over him again and he yelled out as the world around him was consumed by bright spots of blinding pain. He couldn't see, he couldn't hear, he just felt pain. He felt himself moving, but he couldn't tell if he actually was or if he was just so dizzy from the pain in his head. He thought he heard his name being called but he wasn't sure. All that there was, was this bright red light coming toward him, and then, nothingness.
When he opened his eyes this time he found himself in cave. The first thing he noticed was the coldness of the stone, then the sound of dripping water, then the sun seeping in through holes in the rock and lighting the red stoned cavern he was in. His head didn't hurt anymore but his back did from being against the rock. Slowly he stood up and looked around him. Everything he had noticed was there were he predicted it, and there was nothing much more. The only thing he could not have guessed being there, was a portion of one of the red walls, from top to bottom, was a shiny, reflective version of the rest of the rock. The shiny part was traced with what Jack assumed to be gold. As Jack walked closer to the reflective surface, he saw someone else approaching it the same way he was. In fact, the man moved exactly as he did, only it was not him. He was a darker fellow, dressed in some elaborate red cloth with red and gold jewels adorning it. His face was covered in red and yellow stripes, and around his head he had a red ribbon much like Jack's, only his had a golden broach on it. He also had what looked like gloves hanging off his wrists. It was like looking into a mirror and seeing someone else looking back.
"'Ello?" Jack finally said. At that, the man who had been standing in Jack's position, took his own of great dignity.
"You have something of mine," the man said in a deep, knee shaking kind of voice.
"Wha' is it?" Jack asked him. The man looked down at Jack's chest. Jack followed his gaze and lifted the medallion out from under his shirt. He looked from the ruby eagle eyes to the man dressed all in red in front of him.
"You're Xipe Totec?" Jack asked him. The man nodded. Jack frowned nervously. Xipe Totec was the Aztec god of springtime and regrowth. Jack had thought stories of him had just been stories, as so many other things. But it's hard to say that to a god when you're looking right at him.
"I once walked the world as you do now, but I knew my time was upon me. So I had my best goldsmiths construct that medallion you now wear, and I sealed myself inside of it. Whoever wore it I promised to grant eternal life and youth for as long as he wore it. But my medallion was lost, until you found it. I have been with you since, inside of you, hoping once again to be free to walk the land," Xipe Totec explained. Jack listened rather interested.
"Is tha' so? Then I guess ye brought me to this cavern, eh? In 'opes of getting' me to let you out of it or somethin'," Jack said. Xipe Totec nodded. Jack moved his head quickly up and down.
"Alright then. Say I yet ye out of this thin'. Will it still preserve me?"
"For as long as you wear it," the god replied. Jack smiled.
"Alright then. How do I get ye out of this thin'?"
"With the blood of an untouched woman," Xipe Totec told him. Jack looked surprised at first, but then grinned.
"Wha' is it with ye gods and virgins?" he asked. Xipe Totec did not respond so Jack waved it off.
"'Ow much blood are we talking about, 'ere? Just a bit or life's blood?" Jack asked for clarification's sake.
"Just enough to cover the eagle's wings," the god replied. Jack nodded in approval.
"I can get ye tha'."
The fire had grown considerably since Jack had left it. A day had probably passed, and he found Robin standing on a rock with a sharpened stick in his hands, no doubt fishing. Jack walked down the beach and looked at the pile of things Robin and he had collected for survival's sake. Among the various tools Jack noticed a ceramic jug. He walked over and smelled it. Rum.
"God bless 'im," Jack said. He smiled and took a drink from it. It was weak but welcomed. By this time Robin had noticed Jack's return, had jumped off the rock into the shallow water, and up over to him.
"Where the Hell have you been! I was up most of the night looking for you!" Robin scolded. Jack frowned at the attack. He took another drink of the rum and held his hand toward Robin, his index finger extended pointed at him.
"When I saw ye last, about, oh, twenty years ago, ye had long curly 'air," Jack told him. Robin narrowed his eyebrows.
"So?"
"So? Ye also 'ad a giant blue bow in ye 'air! And a dress on! In fact, laddie, when I last saw ye, ye was a girl!" Jack told him. Robin's frown mellowed into a smile with a slight chuckle.
"I was wondering if you remembered that," she told him. Jack chuckled slightly.
"'Ave you been a man all of this time?" Jack asked and the two sat down on the beach. Robin nodded.
"Captain de Barros wanted me to teach his crew to read and write, but they didn't want the bad luck of a woman, even a little one. So he figured if everyone treated me and thought of me as a man, the bad luck might blow over. It seemed to have worked well enough," she explained. Jack nodded and looked her over once again, this time like she was a girl. She still looked like a man, though. Not pretty in anyway but more handsome, no feminine curves to speak of, and a gait in her step that would make a proper lady faint. All in all, Jack approved.
"So, since you've been a man since you've been of age, I take it ye as white as a fresh mountain snow," Jack said. Robin looked at him curiously, not quite sure of the safer answer.
"What are you getting at, Captain Jack?" she asked him confused. He shrugged.
"Just makin' conversation," he told her. She eyed him questioningly.
"I've my maidenhood in tact," she finally answered. He smiled and clapped his hands together.
"Good! Now! How's the fire comin'?" Jack asked her, looking at the barrel of smoke raising toward the sky.
"We just have to wait. I wish someone would come already," Robin said with a sigh. Jack raised another finger to her.
"If it be now, 'tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all," Jack told her. She looked at him for a moment before nodding in agreement. She had no idea what he just said, but she figured he was probably right anyhow. Jack slapped his hands on his knees and stood up.
"Do me a favor, lassie?" Jack asked her as Robin too stood up.
"Depends on what it is, Captain Jack."
"Oh it's jus' a thin' where ye follow me," Jack replied walking into the woods. Robin took one last look at the fire and followed Jack respectfully.
Jack found his way back to the cave pretty well, whether it was the medallion or his own excellent memory he wasn't sure. He had only found the beach by wandering around. Robin followed him diligently, questioning only in her mind if Jack knew where they were going. At the cave Jack led her through the red walls and over to the reflective one. Robin looked at it curiously, then turned to Jack for some kind of an explanation.
"Giv' me ye hand," Jack told her and she obeyed. He quickly removed his knife and sliced the palm of her hand. She yelled more in surprise than pain. He still had a pretty good hold on her cut hand and after placing his knife away pulled the medallion from under his shirt. He placed the eagle side of it to her palm and rotated it slightly, just to make sure it was covered.
"Captain Jack wha-" Robin started in disbelief but was cut off by the giant burst of red light coming from the medallion. Both she and Jack were thrown off their feet, Jack landing under the dripping water. Xipe Totec appeared in the reflective surface, bowed slightly to Jack, and disappeared.
Jack got to his feet smiling and slightly damp. He took out his knife again and stabbed it into his hand, much to the cringing of Robin. The blade made no mark as he retracted it. He continued smiling.
"Good, eh?" Jack asked as Robin got to her feet, clutching her wounded palm. She was not in as good a mood as Jack.
"Captain Jack, what I the name of God just happened?" she yelled at him.
"Which 'Od?" Jack asked. Robin frowned slightly, confused.
"Whichever one will make you answer me," Robin replied and Jack chuckled slightly.
"Some Aztec 'od was caught in this little dealy of mine that let me live unhurt and unaged as I 'ave. Ye blood released him, but I still get the benefits," Jack told her. Robin was still a little confused, and her mouth gaped open to show it.
"Bu- how?"
"Men at some time are masters of their fates, savvy?" Jack asked her. She sighed and simply nodded.
"Alright Captain Jack, I won't ask you anything more on it. Despite everything I know about you I'm trusting you. Now let's get back to the beach before some large hungry cat decides to make us, me, his next meal…" Robin said carefully finding her way out of the cave. Jack smiled at the reflective surface, bowed slightly, and followed his companion.
On the beach once again, Jack and Robin continued to build the fire. The heat of the sun warming the sand and the heat of the fire made them both wish for the cool breeze of a ship in motion, and the spray of the water against their skin. As the sun was setting they sat reasonably close to each other around the giant fire, both watching the flames flicker lost in their own thoughts that were oddly similar. The idea that occupied them both was Captain Boswell, or, more to the point, how they had let Will and Elizabeth down. Jack let out a sigh, but after he did so, raised his eyebrows as an odd sound reached him. He looked toward the sea and smiled.
"Ah, there we go love, about bloody time," Jack said. Robin looked to the sea as well, and smiled. They could see the silhouette of a giant ship in the water, its deck lightened by torches and candles. They also saw a rowboat headed for them. They both walked to the water's edge and watched the coming rowboat.
"Captain Jack, it's a British Navy ship," Robin told him unfortunately. Jack sighed and nodded.
"Aye, I know. Ye want to 'ide?" Jack asked. She shook her head.
"No, I'll take my chances with them. I haven't any markings of piracy on me."
"Being in my presence is enough to condemn anyone."
"You kidnapped me then. Made me dress like a man and cut my hair so no one would suspect," Robin explained. Jack nodded.
"To be direct and honest is not safe," Jack told her and she nodded in agreement.
"Ahoy!" a man on the rowboat called to them and Jack returned it.
The way the deck was lighted and how quickly Jack and Robin were pushed around it with their hands bound behind them, it gave quite the impression of Hell, complete with yelling sailors. Jack noted the captain's stripes on the young man they where pushed to their knees in front of. There was certainly a look of him that peaked Jack's curiosity.
"Oh I thank God for your presence my lord!" Robin started in a very feminine voice, with her face pointed to the ground, "this fiendish pirate did take me from my home but four nights ago, and bid me wear these clothes and cut my hair upon my life! I thank God and you for my salva-" she continued and looked up at the captain, and frowned, "oh bloody Hell it's you Edmund."
The captain smirked at her and had them both risen to their feet and their hands unbound. Jack rubbed his wrists and looked at his companion and the British captain for some sort of explanation.
"It is always a pleasure Robin. Though I must say, that style of hair does not become you," he told her.
"Robin eh? Ye know 'im?" Jack asked her. Robin nodded with a sigh.
"As do you… in part. Captain Jack, this is Captain Edmund Norrington," Robin introduced. Edmund nodded and Jack returned it, skillfully hiding his surprise.
"Good to see the Commodore finally got 'imself a woman," Jack said. Edmund frowned at first but then gave Jack a polite smile, as he was trained to do.
"He did quite nicely, thank you. I do have to ask, Sir, I know you quite well to be the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. I have killed many of your crew mates over the years, some died with dignity and others have not. Yet you, Captain Sparrow, have sustained no wounds from either steel, or iron, not even the sands of time. How have you accomplished this?" Edmund asked him. Jack raised his finger and opened his mouth to speak but didn't. So he lowered his finger, tilted his head to one side, and then found he could talk.
"Men at some time are masters of their fates, laddie," Jack replied. Robin sighed in aggravation.
"You won't be getting any more out of him," Robin explained. Edmund frowned slightly at the response but nodded in understanding anyway.
"Right, well, anyway, I trust you'll both go into the brig without difficulties. Gentlemen," Edmund said and stepped to the side. Two sailors took Jack and Robin by the arm and escorted them into the brig below deck.
"The sheets better be clean!" Jack yelled to Edmund. The captain sighed, shook his head, and ordered his men to get the sails up.