Revenge of the Fox
Chapter 14
The call of a watchman warned the women that their journey on the smuggler's ship was at an end. The forward movement of the ship slowed, then stopped as the smaller craft was tied up to the larger one. Two taciturn sailors came for them not long afterward, escorting them up on deck, and then up the rope ladder to the larger ship. Reynard was waiting for them. "Ah, Miss Swann and Miss Simone. I trust you had a pleasant journey?"
"Tolerably so," Antonia lied politely.
"Excellent," he smiled. "Then please allow me to have you escorted below." As they were led from the deck, Annamaria glanced back at the smuggler's ship. Captain Hale was standing on deck, staring after them.
--
It was near dawn when the small boat containing Jack and Joseph reached the Black Pearl. Will, Norrington and Gibbs were waiting. Jack addressed Gibbs first. "Are we ready to sail?"
"Aye, Cap'n," he replied.
"Good. Weigh anchor and get out of here. The Commodore and Mr. Turner told you the destination, aye?"
"The Bahamas," Gibbs answered.
"Aye. I'll be in my cabin. I'm sure these gentlemen, "he gestured to Will and Norrington, "would like a word with me. Then I'll need some sleep before I take the helm. Joseph is also excused from his duties until he is rested."
No more was said until the four men were sitting at the table in the Captain's cabin. Jack rubbed his eyes. "I don't think I've ever been to so many whorehouses in the same night before in my life." Then he grinned. "Of course in the past whenever I went to a whorehouse I wasn't there just to talk!" Since no one in the room was in a particularly humorous mood, the joke didn't go over very well.
Joseph spoke up. "It appears that Reynard has a ship called the Vixen. Apparently some young nobleman in England hired him on as first mate. Reynard put together the crew, and he chose men who were loyal to him, not to the nobleman. They mutinied at some point during the crossing, and Reynard took command of the ship, which he renamed. The original name was Fortune's Lady, or something similar."
Will glanced at him. It was unusual for Joseph to speak up without being requested to. He tended to watch and listen instead.
Jack leaned back in his chair and continued the story. "Before coming to Tortuga, Reynard apparently stopped at several of the islands in the Bahamas. Crooked Island, Cat Island, Eleuthera, San Andreas and New Providence were all visited. I have the uneasy suspicion that he's planning on sending us all over the place for the pure pleasure of seeing us chase all over the Caribbean for no apparent reason. I sincerely doubt that the women are on Crooked Island, but I don't know what other course of action to take at the moment. There is probably some sort of clue there on where we're supposed to go next. Possibly when we get there we will be able to find out some additional information, such as we found out here."
Will spoke next. "Would it be faster to go to one of the other islands that Reynard visited rather than Crooked Island?"
"It might," Jack replied. "The only issue is whether or not whatever we find on Crooked Island is vital to whatever we need to do to play this little game Reynard has cooked up."
Norrington's voice was several degrees below freezing. "I dislike playing games."
"I'm fond enough of games of my own making," Jack answered. "I'm not so fond being the butt of other men's games. As yet, however, I don't know enough about this one to figure out how to cheat at it."
--
When Gwen awoke, she realized that the ship was no longer anchored, but was at sea. Someone had been in the room while she slept, she noticed with a quick shiver. A small trunk was on the floor near the door, and the water in the washbasin was warm. After a quick examination of the contents of the trunk, she washed, then pulled out a gown. The dark blue linen dress wasn't low cut as the black velvet gown she'd been wearing and was a more suitable gown for daytime wear. The trunk, obviously some woman's luggage for a voyage, had everything necessary for a woman's toilette, so Gwen was able to dress her hair in her usual style, a braided chignon on the back of her head; simple, elegant and out of the way.
Gwen tried the door and found it to be unlocked. Opening it, she ventured up to the main deck. Aside from a few sidelong glances, the sailors going about their business ignored her. She spotted Reynard at the helm, and ascended to the quarterdeck. "Good morning, Captain Reynard."
He looked over at her. "Good morning, my dear. I trust you slept well?"
"Yes, thank you." Gwen noted the position of the sun and the coastline to starboard. "We are traveling northeast toward the Windward Passage, then?"
Reynard looked amused. "Quite right."
Gwen smiled. "I've learned a thing or two after living aboard ship for two years. Since we're underway, I assume that Miss Swann and Miss Simone are now aboard?" At Reynard's consenting nod, she continued. "May I see them?"
"You may, however I prefer you not speak with them alone." He gestured to one of the seamen nearby. "Stevens will accompany you."
Gwen hid her dismay at the restriction, but smiled charmingly at Stevens. "Thank you, sir." She inclined her head at Reynard and turned to head below. It took only a few minutes to get to the brig, and she saw that the two cells opposite Elizabeth's were now occupied by Annamaria and Antonia.
Elizabeth was the first to see her. "Gwen, thank God you're all right! I was so worried when you never came back down last night!"
"I'm fine, Elizabeth. Captain Reynard has assigned me a cabin for the time being." She turned to Annamaria and Antonia. "Are you two all right? How did you get here?"
Annamaria answered, glancing at Stevens, who leaned against the wall by the stairs and watched them unsmilingly. "Smuggler's ship. Why aren't you in the brig like us, Gwen?"
Gwen smiled. This was going to be difficult with an audience. "Captain Reynard has taken a bit of a fancy to me, Anna, so I'll be staying on the next deck up."
As expected, anger and disgust warred with disbelief in Annamaria's eyes. "In the Captain's cabin, then?"
"Not at all," said Gwen, her voice growing cooler. "I have terms that must be met first, which the Captain is well aware of."
"Terms?" Annamaria asked in a spiteful voice. "What sort of terms?"
"Shiver me timbers, Anna, you look as witless as a parrot." Gwen said dryly. "Don't try to intimidate me, since you're in that cell and I'm not. I'm negotiating for your freedom; yours, Elizabeth's and Tonia's."
"What about Jack?" Annamaria snapped.
Gwen shrugged carelessly. "He is a bonny lad, isn't he? If Reynard's plan works, Jack will be dead. I have to look to my own future, you know."
Antonia started to speak but Annamaria cut her off. "I'll handle this, Tonia." She turned to Gwen again and said nastily, "Any port in a storm, Gwen?"
"By Davy Jones' locker, darling, I have to do what I can."
"If you betray Jack Sparrow, I'll be waiting for you, so watch your back," said Annamaria menacingly.
Gwen dismissed the threat with a flip of her hand. "Next watch, Anna, next watch." She looked briefly at Elizabeth and Antonia. "Ladies." With a mocking little curtsey, she turned and went up the stairs, followed by the silent Stevens.
After a moment of silence, Anna's face relaxed and she sank down on her cot. "Thank God, thank God!"
Antonia looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "What on earth are you talking about! I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes! Who would have though that Gwen Sparrow could act like that!"
Elizabeth broke in. "She WAS acting, Tonia. There was more to that then met the eye." She looked at Annamaria. "I understood some of that, but not all. Please translate for me."
Annamaria smiled at Antonia. "Do you remember the older man in the Pearl's crew with the blue parrot?"
Antonia looked confused, "I guess so, but what does that have to do with it?"
Anna smiled again. "When she first started talking, I didn't understand what she was doing either, which is the reason for the comment about me being witless as a parrot."
Elizabeth said, "Mr. Cotton is mute, so his parrot speaks for him. Unfortunately the parrot doesn't speak very clearly - it's almost like a code, really."
Annamaria nodded. "'Shiver me timbers' means 'you missed something'. She was telling me that I was on the wrong track thinking she was betraying Jack. 'He's a bonny lad' is close to what the parrot says whenever Cotton thinks two people ought to get together. There Gwen meant that she was still committed to Jack, although she was pretending to consider becoming involved with Reynard. 'Any port in a storm' translates roughly to 'I've got what I want'. I was asking her if she truly was going to betray the Pearl. The reference to Davy Jones' locker means 'no'. My comment that I'd be waiting, meant just that - I'll be waiting to hear back from her on what we should do. Her reply 'next watch' meant she'd get back to me." Annamaria smiled at Antonia again. "So you see, Tonia, Gwen and I understood each other perfectly, and her guard thinks - and will no doubt report back to Reynard - that we said something completely different."
"What did she mean about negotiating for our freedom," Antonia asked.
Elizabeth answered that one. "It means that if this situation is truly beyond her control and she can't do anything to keep Reynard from killing our men, then she really will sacrifice whatever she has to, to save the three of us."
Antonia scowled. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Neither do I," said Elizabeth. "So if it comes to that, then we need to come up with a way to rescue her in turn."
The call of a watchman warned the women that their journey on the smuggler's ship was at an end. The forward movement of the ship slowed, then stopped as the smaller craft was tied up to the larger one. Two taciturn sailors came for them not long afterward, escorting them up on deck, and then up the rope ladder to the larger ship. Reynard was waiting for them. "Ah, Miss Swann and Miss Simone. I trust you had a pleasant journey?"
"Tolerably so," Antonia lied politely.
"Excellent," he smiled. "Then please allow me to have you escorted below." As they were led from the deck, Annamaria glanced back at the smuggler's ship. Captain Hale was standing on deck, staring after them.
--
It was near dawn when the small boat containing Jack and Joseph reached the Black Pearl. Will, Norrington and Gibbs were waiting. Jack addressed Gibbs first. "Are we ready to sail?"
"Aye, Cap'n," he replied.
"Good. Weigh anchor and get out of here. The Commodore and Mr. Turner told you the destination, aye?"
"The Bahamas," Gibbs answered.
"Aye. I'll be in my cabin. I'm sure these gentlemen, "he gestured to Will and Norrington, "would like a word with me. Then I'll need some sleep before I take the helm. Joseph is also excused from his duties until he is rested."
No more was said until the four men were sitting at the table in the Captain's cabin. Jack rubbed his eyes. "I don't think I've ever been to so many whorehouses in the same night before in my life." Then he grinned. "Of course in the past whenever I went to a whorehouse I wasn't there just to talk!" Since no one in the room was in a particularly humorous mood, the joke didn't go over very well.
Joseph spoke up. "It appears that Reynard has a ship called the Vixen. Apparently some young nobleman in England hired him on as first mate. Reynard put together the crew, and he chose men who were loyal to him, not to the nobleman. They mutinied at some point during the crossing, and Reynard took command of the ship, which he renamed. The original name was Fortune's Lady, or something similar."
Will glanced at him. It was unusual for Joseph to speak up without being requested to. He tended to watch and listen instead.
Jack leaned back in his chair and continued the story. "Before coming to Tortuga, Reynard apparently stopped at several of the islands in the Bahamas. Crooked Island, Cat Island, Eleuthera, San Andreas and New Providence were all visited. I have the uneasy suspicion that he's planning on sending us all over the place for the pure pleasure of seeing us chase all over the Caribbean for no apparent reason. I sincerely doubt that the women are on Crooked Island, but I don't know what other course of action to take at the moment. There is probably some sort of clue there on where we're supposed to go next. Possibly when we get there we will be able to find out some additional information, such as we found out here."
Will spoke next. "Would it be faster to go to one of the other islands that Reynard visited rather than Crooked Island?"
"It might," Jack replied. "The only issue is whether or not whatever we find on Crooked Island is vital to whatever we need to do to play this little game Reynard has cooked up."
Norrington's voice was several degrees below freezing. "I dislike playing games."
"I'm fond enough of games of my own making," Jack answered. "I'm not so fond being the butt of other men's games. As yet, however, I don't know enough about this one to figure out how to cheat at it."
--
When Gwen awoke, she realized that the ship was no longer anchored, but was at sea. Someone had been in the room while she slept, she noticed with a quick shiver. A small trunk was on the floor near the door, and the water in the washbasin was warm. After a quick examination of the contents of the trunk, she washed, then pulled out a gown. The dark blue linen dress wasn't low cut as the black velvet gown she'd been wearing and was a more suitable gown for daytime wear. The trunk, obviously some woman's luggage for a voyage, had everything necessary for a woman's toilette, so Gwen was able to dress her hair in her usual style, a braided chignon on the back of her head; simple, elegant and out of the way.
Gwen tried the door and found it to be unlocked. Opening it, she ventured up to the main deck. Aside from a few sidelong glances, the sailors going about their business ignored her. She spotted Reynard at the helm, and ascended to the quarterdeck. "Good morning, Captain Reynard."
He looked over at her. "Good morning, my dear. I trust you slept well?"
"Yes, thank you." Gwen noted the position of the sun and the coastline to starboard. "We are traveling northeast toward the Windward Passage, then?"
Reynard looked amused. "Quite right."
Gwen smiled. "I've learned a thing or two after living aboard ship for two years. Since we're underway, I assume that Miss Swann and Miss Simone are now aboard?" At Reynard's consenting nod, she continued. "May I see them?"
"You may, however I prefer you not speak with them alone." He gestured to one of the seamen nearby. "Stevens will accompany you."
Gwen hid her dismay at the restriction, but smiled charmingly at Stevens. "Thank you, sir." She inclined her head at Reynard and turned to head below. It took only a few minutes to get to the brig, and she saw that the two cells opposite Elizabeth's were now occupied by Annamaria and Antonia.
Elizabeth was the first to see her. "Gwen, thank God you're all right! I was so worried when you never came back down last night!"
"I'm fine, Elizabeth. Captain Reynard has assigned me a cabin for the time being." She turned to Annamaria and Antonia. "Are you two all right? How did you get here?"
Annamaria answered, glancing at Stevens, who leaned against the wall by the stairs and watched them unsmilingly. "Smuggler's ship. Why aren't you in the brig like us, Gwen?"
Gwen smiled. This was going to be difficult with an audience. "Captain Reynard has taken a bit of a fancy to me, Anna, so I'll be staying on the next deck up."
As expected, anger and disgust warred with disbelief in Annamaria's eyes. "In the Captain's cabin, then?"
"Not at all," said Gwen, her voice growing cooler. "I have terms that must be met first, which the Captain is well aware of."
"Terms?" Annamaria asked in a spiteful voice. "What sort of terms?"
"Shiver me timbers, Anna, you look as witless as a parrot." Gwen said dryly. "Don't try to intimidate me, since you're in that cell and I'm not. I'm negotiating for your freedom; yours, Elizabeth's and Tonia's."
"What about Jack?" Annamaria snapped.
Gwen shrugged carelessly. "He is a bonny lad, isn't he? If Reynard's plan works, Jack will be dead. I have to look to my own future, you know."
Antonia started to speak but Annamaria cut her off. "I'll handle this, Tonia." She turned to Gwen again and said nastily, "Any port in a storm, Gwen?"
"By Davy Jones' locker, darling, I have to do what I can."
"If you betray Jack Sparrow, I'll be waiting for you, so watch your back," said Annamaria menacingly.
Gwen dismissed the threat with a flip of her hand. "Next watch, Anna, next watch." She looked briefly at Elizabeth and Antonia. "Ladies." With a mocking little curtsey, she turned and went up the stairs, followed by the silent Stevens.
After a moment of silence, Anna's face relaxed and she sank down on her cot. "Thank God, thank God!"
Antonia looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "What on earth are you talking about! I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes! Who would have though that Gwen Sparrow could act like that!"
Elizabeth broke in. "She WAS acting, Tonia. There was more to that then met the eye." She looked at Annamaria. "I understood some of that, but not all. Please translate for me."
Annamaria smiled at Antonia. "Do you remember the older man in the Pearl's crew with the blue parrot?"
Antonia looked confused, "I guess so, but what does that have to do with it?"
Anna smiled again. "When she first started talking, I didn't understand what she was doing either, which is the reason for the comment about me being witless as a parrot."
Elizabeth said, "Mr. Cotton is mute, so his parrot speaks for him. Unfortunately the parrot doesn't speak very clearly - it's almost like a code, really."
Annamaria nodded. "'Shiver me timbers' means 'you missed something'. She was telling me that I was on the wrong track thinking she was betraying Jack. 'He's a bonny lad' is close to what the parrot says whenever Cotton thinks two people ought to get together. There Gwen meant that she was still committed to Jack, although she was pretending to consider becoming involved with Reynard. 'Any port in a storm' translates roughly to 'I've got what I want'. I was asking her if she truly was going to betray the Pearl. The reference to Davy Jones' locker means 'no'. My comment that I'd be waiting, meant just that - I'll be waiting to hear back from her on what we should do. Her reply 'next watch' meant she'd get back to me." Annamaria smiled at Antonia again. "So you see, Tonia, Gwen and I understood each other perfectly, and her guard thinks - and will no doubt report back to Reynard - that we said something completely different."
"What did she mean about negotiating for our freedom," Antonia asked.
Elizabeth answered that one. "It means that if this situation is truly beyond her control and she can't do anything to keep Reynard from killing our men, then she really will sacrifice whatever she has to, to save the three of us."
Antonia scowled. "I don't like the sound of that."
"Neither do I," said Elizabeth. "So if it comes to that, then we need to come up with a way to rescue her in turn."
