Lightning flashed brilliantly across the sky, illuminating the two ships as
they struggled through the crashing waves. Pitching and tossing through
valleys and across crests, they plunged through the storm, both captains at
the helm as they fought to retain control of their ships.
Aboard the Red Dragon, Will Turner held tightly to his wheel, listening as the old lady creaked and groaned under the forces exerting such pressures on her. The crew stumbled all around him, securing this rope, fastening that sail, endeavouring with every ounce of strength in their bodies to remain on board. Any man lost overboard tonight would stay lost, they knew.
In the great cabin, Elizabeth braced herself in the bunk, her son cradled tightly to her. His little face was screwed up in misery as he screamed out his dislike of what was happening. As the ship tossed about on the billowy waves, Elizabeth huddled against a bulkhead, forcing a smile for the tiny boy.
'Shhh, Matthew, shhh,' she crooned softly. 'My brave boy doesn't need to cry. There's nothing to be afraid of . . .'
On deck above her there came an almighty crash, and her heart leapt into her mouth. She could not shake the constant fear that Will was lost or injured, and she in here, relatively safe from the dangers of the storm. Matthew's cries filled her ears, and she returned her attention to him, trying to soothe the terrified child as her own heart thumped an irregular rhythm of age old fears within her.
Waves swept across the deck, knocking men's feet out from under them and soaking them through with the icy saltwater they spent their lives trying to tame. Will scrambled to his feet, shouting for Hopkins to come to him as he struggled to return the rudder to its original position. The old first mate slid over to him, his bare feet seeking non-existent purchase on the slippery deck.
'Drop canvas!' Will shouted over the howling of the wind. 'We'll ride this one out!'
Hopkins nodded, turning to repeat the order as the crew scrambled into the rigging to obey. He turned back to his youthful captain, wiping the water from his face with a gnarled hand.
'What of the Pearl, cap'n?' he roared.
Will peered through the wind and rain to where the Black Pearl could just be seen, plunging down into the valleys between waves with a ferocity matched only be the storm.
'We'll find her when the storm blows out!' he told his first mate, trying to quell the fears within him that she may not be in sight when such a time came.
Hopkins read this on his captain's face, reaching out to grip the younger man's arm through the sodden sleeve. Will nodded, taking the reassurance gladly as his crew fought to follow his order against the will of the elements. He could only hope Jack didn't mean to fight all night.
*~*~*
The sailors of the Black Pearl pulled together, pooling their strength as they weathered the storm with practised distaste. The cold was biting, the wind icy against their wet clothes, but they would not give up until the order was given. The fact that most of them felt the order should already have been given was beside the point. No one dared to approach the captain after witnessing Marin's outburst earlier that day.
James clung to the main mast, his feet scrabbling for purchase on the ropes below him. The rain and spray obscured his vision, the wind threatening to pull him from his precarious perch at any moment. It was with great relief that he hooked his feet into the rigging, relaxing his death grip on the wooden spar that had been all that stood between him and the ocean's embrace.
As he slid and slipped down the soaked ropes, he found Marin at his side, tendrils of her hair plastered to her face and neck as it was whipped about in the storm. She gave him a terse smile, keeping pace with him as they descended to the deck amid the crashing and howling.
'Don't you think we should be dropping canvas by now?' he asked her, shouting to be heard.
She nodded, shrugging as she gestured towards Jack.
'He's not about to, though,' she replied, falling down under the weight of a wave that crashed over them.
Gibbs slithered past, reaching down to lift her to her feet as James staggered backwards with the roll of the ship. His grizzled face was set in an angry mask.
'Yer husband's a damned fool at times,' he told her, making sure she had her feet before letting go. 'He says she can hold a while longer, but I don't think she can! There's too much risk of losing a mast if we stay on like this!'
Marin's eyes widened.
'But Jack loves the Pearl, he'd never do anything that would put her in harm's way!' she protested.
Gibbs gave her a long look, grasping at a rope to keep his feet as the ship pitched forward once again.
'Aye, when he's thinking straight!' he said, stumbling away to help the others as they struggled to ease the pressure on the mast.
Marin turned to James, frowning in confusion.
'What did he mean, when he's thinking straight?' she demanded.
Her cousin shrugged, looking pointedly over at where Jack stood firm at the helm, somehow keeping his feet despite the instability of the deck. Marin followed his gaze, and saw for herself the anger glittering in her husband's eyes. She knew he would never put the Pearl in danger, not if he was in his right mind. She grimaced guiltily as she realised that it was her fault he wasn't thinking like a captain.
Squaring her shoulders, she stumbled towards him, falling to her knees beneath yet another wave as it crashed over the deck. Shivering, her lips blue from the cold, she staggered to his side, forcing him to look at her as she placed her frozen hand over his.
'We have to drop canvas!' she shouted to him. 'She can't take much more of this!'
Sure enough, as if to emphasise her point, the Pearl gave an almighty creak, as though her timbers were being bent against one another as she fought to keep both sea and wind out. Jack glanced down at her, seeming to see right through her as she tried to keep her balance.
'Please, Jack!' Marin pleaded. 'This isn't about us, it's about the Pearl! You're driving her too hard!'
He looked away, this time up into the rigging where his crew struggled with ropes and sailcloth. Tears mixed with rainwater and salt-spray as Marin gripped his shirt.
'Jack!'
His gaze came back to her, and very deliberately he touched his cheek where she had slapped him only hours before. Shame filled her as he nodded curtly.
'She can hold a bit longer,' he said, almost too quietly for her to hear. 'Go below, you're frozen.'
Marin shook her head.
'No, I'm staying out here with you!' she insisted.
Jack lifted his free hand to cup her cheek, warming her frozen skin for just a moment.
'Help James then,' he shouted over the roar of the ocean. 'Don't go into the rigging!'
Nodding obediently, Marin scrambled to join her cousin where he stood feverishly securing ropes to timbers before his strength gave out. A huge wave crashed over the ship, momentarily engulfing her in bitterly cold water. When she could open her eyes, she found herself lying against the side, wet through, and James was nowhere in sight.
She hauled herself to her feet, staring in horror into the waves below where she could see a forlorn figure battling against the waves as he struggled to keep his head above the water. A scream tore from her throat as she comprehended the danger to her cousin, the only link to Elias she had left.
Hands pulled her roughly away from the side, and she looked up in time to see Jack dive down into the heaving water, a rope secured about his waist. He swam resolutely to James' side, wrapping the rope about the flailing man. As the crew hauled on the rope, another wave knocked them off their feet, obscuring their sight of everything. James struggled on board, and the rope was thrown out into the water for Jack to grab a hold of.
Marin hauled her cousin down to his cabin, pressing hard on his chest to clear his lungs of water. He coughed, turning onto his side to throw up as the shock of his experience hit him mercilessly. Gently rubbing his back, Marin waited until he had stopped shaking, wrapping a blanket about his shivering form as he leant gratefully into her embrace. She manhandled him, none too gently, into his bunk, rubbing his legs to restore at least some feeling into them. James gripped her hand tightly, turning his face to the bulkhead to quell the sickness that welled up within him. As he mastered his nausea, the pressure on her hand decreased, and he let go.
'Go back on deck,' he croaked. 'You're needed.'
She frowned, rubbing his knuckles gently as she took in his pale face.
'Are you sure you don't want me to stay?' she asked him, ignoring for a moment the worries that plagued her about Jack.
He shook his head with a faint smile.
'You wouldn't be all here anyway,' he laughed hoarsely, shooing her away and out onto the deck.
Gibbs met her before she could venture out into the storm once more.
'There's no call for ye to be venturing out once more tonight, lass,' he told her, dripping copious amounts of water onto the dry decking. 'Stay below and tend to young Jim. He'll need ye when he wakes.'
Marin nodded, distracted by other thoughts.
'Where's Jack?'
Gibbs didn't meet her eyes, glancing out at the weather with a grimace.
'We've dropped canvas,' he said. 'Should ride out the storm easily now.'
'Yes, but where's Jack?' Marin asked him.
He coughed awkwardly, looking her over in concern.
'You should get changed, lass, you'll catch your death -'
Marin grasped his shoulders, forcing him to look at her.
'Gibbs, tell me,' she said firmly. 'Where's my husband?'
The look in his eyes was enough to crush her heart. Cold numbing pain swept through her as he held her gaze, reaching out to hold her upright as the ship rolled and pitched with the storm.
'I'm so sorry, Marin,' the old sailor said softly, and she believed he was. 'We couldn't find him. He's gone.'
She stared at him, trying hard to understand what he was saying. He couldn't be, he couldn't be gone. She needed him . . . Gibbs' voice cut through her thoughts.
'Marin? Are ye alright?'
She glanced up, unseeing as he watched her.
'Gone?' she asked quietly, small and alone in this suddenly cold world. Gibbs barely had time to reach out and catch her as her eyes rolled back in her head, her slender body slumping into his arms as she fell forwards in a dead faint.
And outside, and all around them, the seas raged, and the storm blew, and a single man floated helpless between them, powerless to save himself from the ocean's embrace.
Aboard the Red Dragon, Will Turner held tightly to his wheel, listening as the old lady creaked and groaned under the forces exerting such pressures on her. The crew stumbled all around him, securing this rope, fastening that sail, endeavouring with every ounce of strength in their bodies to remain on board. Any man lost overboard tonight would stay lost, they knew.
In the great cabin, Elizabeth braced herself in the bunk, her son cradled tightly to her. His little face was screwed up in misery as he screamed out his dislike of what was happening. As the ship tossed about on the billowy waves, Elizabeth huddled against a bulkhead, forcing a smile for the tiny boy.
'Shhh, Matthew, shhh,' she crooned softly. 'My brave boy doesn't need to cry. There's nothing to be afraid of . . .'
On deck above her there came an almighty crash, and her heart leapt into her mouth. She could not shake the constant fear that Will was lost or injured, and she in here, relatively safe from the dangers of the storm. Matthew's cries filled her ears, and she returned her attention to him, trying to soothe the terrified child as her own heart thumped an irregular rhythm of age old fears within her.
Waves swept across the deck, knocking men's feet out from under them and soaking them through with the icy saltwater they spent their lives trying to tame. Will scrambled to his feet, shouting for Hopkins to come to him as he struggled to return the rudder to its original position. The old first mate slid over to him, his bare feet seeking non-existent purchase on the slippery deck.
'Drop canvas!' Will shouted over the howling of the wind. 'We'll ride this one out!'
Hopkins nodded, turning to repeat the order as the crew scrambled into the rigging to obey. He turned back to his youthful captain, wiping the water from his face with a gnarled hand.
'What of the Pearl, cap'n?' he roared.
Will peered through the wind and rain to where the Black Pearl could just be seen, plunging down into the valleys between waves with a ferocity matched only be the storm.
'We'll find her when the storm blows out!' he told his first mate, trying to quell the fears within him that she may not be in sight when such a time came.
Hopkins read this on his captain's face, reaching out to grip the younger man's arm through the sodden sleeve. Will nodded, taking the reassurance gladly as his crew fought to follow his order against the will of the elements. He could only hope Jack didn't mean to fight all night.
*~*~*
The sailors of the Black Pearl pulled together, pooling their strength as they weathered the storm with practised distaste. The cold was biting, the wind icy against their wet clothes, but they would not give up until the order was given. The fact that most of them felt the order should already have been given was beside the point. No one dared to approach the captain after witnessing Marin's outburst earlier that day.
James clung to the main mast, his feet scrabbling for purchase on the ropes below him. The rain and spray obscured his vision, the wind threatening to pull him from his precarious perch at any moment. It was with great relief that he hooked his feet into the rigging, relaxing his death grip on the wooden spar that had been all that stood between him and the ocean's embrace.
As he slid and slipped down the soaked ropes, he found Marin at his side, tendrils of her hair plastered to her face and neck as it was whipped about in the storm. She gave him a terse smile, keeping pace with him as they descended to the deck amid the crashing and howling.
'Don't you think we should be dropping canvas by now?' he asked her, shouting to be heard.
She nodded, shrugging as she gestured towards Jack.
'He's not about to, though,' she replied, falling down under the weight of a wave that crashed over them.
Gibbs slithered past, reaching down to lift her to her feet as James staggered backwards with the roll of the ship. His grizzled face was set in an angry mask.
'Yer husband's a damned fool at times,' he told her, making sure she had her feet before letting go. 'He says she can hold a while longer, but I don't think she can! There's too much risk of losing a mast if we stay on like this!'
Marin's eyes widened.
'But Jack loves the Pearl, he'd never do anything that would put her in harm's way!' she protested.
Gibbs gave her a long look, grasping at a rope to keep his feet as the ship pitched forward once again.
'Aye, when he's thinking straight!' he said, stumbling away to help the others as they struggled to ease the pressure on the mast.
Marin turned to James, frowning in confusion.
'What did he mean, when he's thinking straight?' she demanded.
Her cousin shrugged, looking pointedly over at where Jack stood firm at the helm, somehow keeping his feet despite the instability of the deck. Marin followed his gaze, and saw for herself the anger glittering in her husband's eyes. She knew he would never put the Pearl in danger, not if he was in his right mind. She grimaced guiltily as she realised that it was her fault he wasn't thinking like a captain.
Squaring her shoulders, she stumbled towards him, falling to her knees beneath yet another wave as it crashed over the deck. Shivering, her lips blue from the cold, she staggered to his side, forcing him to look at her as she placed her frozen hand over his.
'We have to drop canvas!' she shouted to him. 'She can't take much more of this!'
Sure enough, as if to emphasise her point, the Pearl gave an almighty creak, as though her timbers were being bent against one another as she fought to keep both sea and wind out. Jack glanced down at her, seeming to see right through her as she tried to keep her balance.
'Please, Jack!' Marin pleaded. 'This isn't about us, it's about the Pearl! You're driving her too hard!'
He looked away, this time up into the rigging where his crew struggled with ropes and sailcloth. Tears mixed with rainwater and salt-spray as Marin gripped his shirt.
'Jack!'
His gaze came back to her, and very deliberately he touched his cheek where she had slapped him only hours before. Shame filled her as he nodded curtly.
'She can hold a bit longer,' he said, almost too quietly for her to hear. 'Go below, you're frozen.'
Marin shook her head.
'No, I'm staying out here with you!' she insisted.
Jack lifted his free hand to cup her cheek, warming her frozen skin for just a moment.
'Help James then,' he shouted over the roar of the ocean. 'Don't go into the rigging!'
Nodding obediently, Marin scrambled to join her cousin where he stood feverishly securing ropes to timbers before his strength gave out. A huge wave crashed over the ship, momentarily engulfing her in bitterly cold water. When she could open her eyes, she found herself lying against the side, wet through, and James was nowhere in sight.
She hauled herself to her feet, staring in horror into the waves below where she could see a forlorn figure battling against the waves as he struggled to keep his head above the water. A scream tore from her throat as she comprehended the danger to her cousin, the only link to Elias she had left.
Hands pulled her roughly away from the side, and she looked up in time to see Jack dive down into the heaving water, a rope secured about his waist. He swam resolutely to James' side, wrapping the rope about the flailing man. As the crew hauled on the rope, another wave knocked them off their feet, obscuring their sight of everything. James struggled on board, and the rope was thrown out into the water for Jack to grab a hold of.
Marin hauled her cousin down to his cabin, pressing hard on his chest to clear his lungs of water. He coughed, turning onto his side to throw up as the shock of his experience hit him mercilessly. Gently rubbing his back, Marin waited until he had stopped shaking, wrapping a blanket about his shivering form as he leant gratefully into her embrace. She manhandled him, none too gently, into his bunk, rubbing his legs to restore at least some feeling into them. James gripped her hand tightly, turning his face to the bulkhead to quell the sickness that welled up within him. As he mastered his nausea, the pressure on her hand decreased, and he let go.
'Go back on deck,' he croaked. 'You're needed.'
She frowned, rubbing his knuckles gently as she took in his pale face.
'Are you sure you don't want me to stay?' she asked him, ignoring for a moment the worries that plagued her about Jack.
He shook his head with a faint smile.
'You wouldn't be all here anyway,' he laughed hoarsely, shooing her away and out onto the deck.
Gibbs met her before she could venture out into the storm once more.
'There's no call for ye to be venturing out once more tonight, lass,' he told her, dripping copious amounts of water onto the dry decking. 'Stay below and tend to young Jim. He'll need ye when he wakes.'
Marin nodded, distracted by other thoughts.
'Where's Jack?'
Gibbs didn't meet her eyes, glancing out at the weather with a grimace.
'We've dropped canvas,' he said. 'Should ride out the storm easily now.'
'Yes, but where's Jack?' Marin asked him.
He coughed awkwardly, looking her over in concern.
'You should get changed, lass, you'll catch your death -'
Marin grasped his shoulders, forcing him to look at her.
'Gibbs, tell me,' she said firmly. 'Where's my husband?'
The look in his eyes was enough to crush her heart. Cold numbing pain swept through her as he held her gaze, reaching out to hold her upright as the ship rolled and pitched with the storm.
'I'm so sorry, Marin,' the old sailor said softly, and she believed he was. 'We couldn't find him. He's gone.'
She stared at him, trying hard to understand what he was saying. He couldn't be, he couldn't be gone. She needed him . . . Gibbs' voice cut through her thoughts.
'Marin? Are ye alright?'
She glanced up, unseeing as he watched her.
'Gone?' she asked quietly, small and alone in this suddenly cold world. Gibbs barely had time to reach out and catch her as her eyes rolled back in her head, her slender body slumping into his arms as she fell forwards in a dead faint.
And outside, and all around them, the seas raged, and the storm blew, and a single man floated helpless between them, powerless to save himself from the ocean's embrace.