Chapter 8
A few minutes later, Emma emerged from her quarters, changed into a new dress, and headed directly to where Jack stood at the helm. There were many things she wanted to talk to him about. "You're up just in time, love; the sun is just beginning to come up."
"Captain Sparrow-" but he immediately interrupted her.
"Call me Jack, love."
Emma rolled her eyes, but Jack didn't notice because he was intently watching the horizon. "Jack, we need to talk."
"I know. Do you want to talk about your dream? Was it about that good for nothing scum who tried to kidnap you last night?" he asked, looking directly into her eyes, he saw a sadness in them that hadn't been there when they met two days before.
"No," Emma said simply, looking away, towards the horizon where the sun's rays were starting to cast an orange hue at the edge of the sky, where it met the water.
Neither said anything for a moment, and then Jack asked, "What was it, love? You can tell me."
Emma still said nothing for a minute or two. Then she took a deep breath, and began to tell Jack all about her dream. When she got to the point at which she'd woken up, she continued with what happened after that horrible ordeal. "My grandfather and I, as well as a few other crew members were found by a merchant ship owned by Mr. Thomas, who lives where my mother's family lives, where I live now. My grandfather and the other sailors that were rescued died on the way back to New Derbyshire. They all sustained horrible wounds from those blood-thirsty pirates. They never found any of the other crew," Emma said, wiping tears out of her eyes, "or my brother."
Jack stood in silence next to her; his heart ached at her despair. He didn't know why, but he couldn't stand the thought of her feeling any pain. "Emma, I'm so sorry. Really and truly, I am. I have much to tell you, but first I need to know exactly what happened last night. You need to tell me everything that good for nothing scum said, savvy?"
Emma recounted the whole ordeal. Then Jack said, "All of this is going to be a very long story. There is much I need to explain to you." He leaned against the railing, and Emma did the same. "Do you know anything of the Isle of Clandestine?"
"No."
"Almost no one does. There are only four people who even know it exists. It is an isle about two weeks journey from New Derbyshire. The isle isn't more than two miles long, it's one in a large group of islands which are inhabited, but Clandestine is the smallest, and it's hidden by many of the other islands."
"What does this island have to do with anything Jack?"
"Everything. It holds unfathomable amounts of treasure," then he looked directly at her again, "your father's treasure." Emma's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped. "Ah, are you starting to understand why it's so important? The only people who know this island exists and that it holds more treasure than any man could want are your father, me, your grandmother, and Rupert Douglas. The only people who actually know where it is are Douglas and you."
"What does this island have to do with anything Jack?"
"Everything. It holds unfathomable amounts of treasure," then he looked directly at her again, "your father's treasure." Emma's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped. "Ah, are you starting to understand why it's so important? The only people who know this island exists and that it holds more treasure than any man could want are your father, me, your grandmother, and Rupert Douglas. The only people who actually know where it is are Douglas and you."
"Me? I certainly have no idea; I didn't even know it existed before now!"
Jack pulled something out from his coats inner pocket. Emma gasped, it was the journal her grandmother had given her two nights before. "Picked it up when I brought your clothes."
"Jack, how did you know about all this, and when did you get my things?"
"Well, I will tell you how, its part of this story I'm telling you. Now, when I got them. Last night, just as you were leaving to go to the bonfire and ball."
"When I came back to get my dance card the window was open, and it hadn't been before."
"Precisely, knew you would figure it out. I had to open the window to throw things out. I could sneak in and out of the house fine all by me onesies, but multiple trips with a load of clothes and things, that's a tad more difficult," he smiled. "Now, I'm sure that the map is in that journal somewhere. It was your father's journal, and he wrote everything in there."
Emma opened the journal and began to flip through its pages. "He wouldn't have simply written it on one of the pages." she mumbled. One of the pages was book marked by a silky ribbon with a ring on the end. There was only one thing on that particular page, a song Emma's father had sung to his children when they were small, before he sailed a lot. Jack read it aloud over her shoulder, "That's a wonderful lullaby."
Emma read it over a couple of times, recalling sweet childhood memories of her father singing to her and her brother.
In my heart there always lies
A remembrance of your sweet eyes
And I know that you're watching over me
Even when I'm on the sea
I've this feeling that we'll be
Sharing dreams 'neath the same bright stars
For I love you, and ah me,
I ne'er will happy be
'Till when again ye be back in my arms
She looked closer at the writing. Some of the letters in the song slanted incorrectly, quite a few of them, in fact. She looked at the letters, and then realized how obvious it was. No one would think about reading the simple song twice, and therefore never notice the slightly incorrect slant. The letters formed a phrase. "Treasures are found within," she whispered. "Treasures are found within! That's it! It's brilliant! Jack, do you have a knife?" He handed it to her with a questioning look. She took it and opened the book to its back cover. She slipped the knife around the inner layer of the cover. Hidden between the layers of the cover were two pieces of almost translucent paper.
"That type of paper comes from Singapore," Jack said, amazed at what Emma had found. Emma unfolded the papers. One was a map; the other was a letter, addressed to her. "It's right here," she smiled at him. "He would never have written something simple and plain in his journal where anyone could take it and find the map," she laughed.
"You are the brilliant one!" Jack beamed at her. "I couldn't sleep last night, not because of the noise you made," Emma looked a little guilty, and he added, "don't worry, I wouldn't have heard you if I hadn't been wide awake. I kept thinking about what Douglas said."
"About how he would never stop hunting me?"
"Yes, so what we're going to do is we're going to sail out to afore mentioned island, kill Douglas and then we're done with him, savvy?"
"What? Jack, it's not that I don't appreciate your concern, but why do you care so much?"
"Well, because I want the treasure, of course."
"Jack, don't lie to me. I know that's not the real reason. The first mate's quarters are furnished more expensively than the governor's mansion. Tell me the real reason."
"A pirate always wants more treasure," he surmised, and though she nodded in agreement he knew she was unconvinced. "Are you this brilliant all the time?" Jack frowned slightly.
"Jack."
He sighed, "I suppose you are. I don't know if you'll want to hear this. This all starts a very long time ago. You're father was a pirate," he said very fast and held his breath.
"I already know."
"You do?"
"My grandmother started to tell me about my father just before I met you, and I figured it out from the little bit of information she told me then."
"You are bloody brilliant. So then, you're father pillaged, plundered, and cached his heart out. I met him when I was a young lad, only nine. I learned everything about being a pirate from him; he was like a dad to me. He talked about his family at home all the time and I suppose he took such a liking to me because I was only a few years older than his real son.
"But his luck began to run dry for a bit, and we joined the crew of the Black Pearl, that's how we met Rupert Douglas, but back then he was Jess McAndrews. We'd been with the Pearl and its crew a few years, we were in a big battle with another pirate ship, and our captain was killed. The crew then decided to make me the captain. I was only fifteen then, but I was the quickest with the sword, and really bright, and all the crew liked me, and they thought that a youngin' such as meself wouldn't have any ideas of cheatin' 'em or lyin' to 'em, and a fair captain always gives fair shares of any booty. They were almost right with their assumptions. I could have cheated 'em anytime I wanted to, but I never did, thought about it, but then your dad would always keep me straight. He's a good man, your dad." Jack then gave a short laugh, "In truth, I wasn't even as good a swordsman as the crew thought I was, but it's all about the illusion, see? It's finding the opportune moment."
"Then me mutinous first mate, Barbossa, convinced the rest of the crew that I was worthy of bein' marooned. So they marooned me, and your dad and Jess were the only ones who had somethin' to say about it. Jess kept his comments quiet, but your dad was an honest man, and honest men tend to do incredibly stupid things. He got after Barbossa and the rest, told 'em what they did wasn't right, that they deserved to be cursed- "
"Cursed?" Emma asked.
"Aye. On the Isle de Muerta, there is a chest with a terrible treasure; it holds a curse set upon it by the Aztec gods to punish Cortes for his unquenchable greed. Any man who takes a single gold coin of it will be cursed, food will turn to ash in his mouth, lust will never be satisfied, and so they're not alive, but they can't die, though they want to. This is actually the treasure we were on our way to collect when Barbossa betrayed me, come to think of it, which turned out alright, because I never shared in the curse," he laughed. Emma smiled, and he continued.
"So, your dad said they deserved the curse, and so he sent a medallion off to his son, and Barbossa decided they'd best put a stop to all your dad's noble deeds. So, they tied his bootstraps to cannon and dropped him off the side, leaving him to Davy Jones' Locker," Emma gasped, horrified, and put a hand to her mouth. Jack took her hand away and said, "Emma, your dad used a piece of the gold for his own means. He was cursed as well. He couldn't die." Emma's jaw dropped. "You're only brilliant when you don't let your emotions get in the way," Jack continued to hold onto Emma's hand, though neither of them noticed this. "So, since he couldn't die, he simply walked along the bottom of the ocean until he reached some land. Then he got himself another boat and went back to pillaging, he ran across Jess McAndrews in a pub one night, and they became partners. They'd pillage for a while, then take a stop off at Tortuga for a few months and their crew would go their own way for about five or six weeks, which would give your dad time to go and store his treasure back at the Isle of Clandestine, stop off and visit your grandmother to find out about you and then get back to Tortuga."
"He came to New Derbyshire and he never saw me? Ever?" Emma felt so hurt and betrayed.
Jack looked into her eyes, "he did it to keep you safe, love. There are things a man can do and things a man can't do, and if he wanted to make sure that you were always safe, he couldn't risk anyone seeing him with you." A look of understanding came over her face.
"Now, we're about to the end of the story, because I don't really know what happened, but Jess felt at one point that he'd been cheated by your dad. He tried to convince the crew of his faults, but the crew knew Jess was in the wrong, so they dropped him off at the next place they docked the ship. Now, two nights ago, I went to the tavern, and in he came, and he told me all this, and he told me that before they dropped him off, he got into your dad's cabin and somehow managed to make a copy of the map, and he's been trying to figure out how to get the treasure for the last year or a little more, and all he needs now is the key. As of about a week ago, he finally figured out what the key was, as well as where it was located, and then he came straight for it.
Emma thought for a moment, and then her eyes widened as the realization dawned on her. "It's the ring, is it not?"
"Aye, 'tis the ring. Sheer brilliance of both you and your father. Now, listen to this next part love. Jess McAndrews' original plan was to only find you and steal the ring, for he figured you'd be wearing it. However, he heard around town that it wouldn't be horrible for him to bring you along as well. That's basically all that I can tell you." Jack turned from gazing at the horizon and looked Emma straight in the eyes.
"So Jack, why did you decide to rescue me? Why is it worth your while? Why would you go to the trouble?"
"Because," he said, smiling and turning back to the horizon, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, it's what I do, savvy?"
Emma raised her eyebrows skeptically. "I can see you're not going to tell me why."
"Don't you trust me?" He asked her.
"Obviously, Captain, or I wouldn't have permitted you to hold my hand for as long as you have." She smiled as Jack quickly dropped her hand and averted his gaze. She could've sworn his ears turned slightly pink as well. "Thank you for saving my life, Jack," she said and quickly kissed his cheek and hurried away before he got over the shock.
Jack placed a hand on his cheek where Emma had just kissed him. Though Jack had been slapped numerous times, on no other occasion was he left with such an impression, indeed, he stood motionless for a few minutes, and couldn't even think of what he should do. What was going on with him? Captain Jack Sparrow did not hold a woman's hand. He may have shared his bed with many a woman, but he had never held a woman's hand before, not with the tenderness with which he'd held the hand of Emma. He'd had no thoughts of seducing her, he'd just wanted to make her feel safe, to comfort her. Captain Jack Sparrow did not blush, let alone at a few simple words. He did not have silly infatuations, and, most importantly, Captain Jack Sparrow did not go around saving damsels in distress or fall in love with said damsels. What was he thinking? He did not fall in love, period.
A few minutes later, Emma emerged from her quarters, changed into a new dress, and headed directly to where Jack stood at the helm. There were many things she wanted to talk to him about. "You're up just in time, love; the sun is just beginning to come up."
"Captain Sparrow-" but he immediately interrupted her.
"Call me Jack, love."
Emma rolled her eyes, but Jack didn't notice because he was intently watching the horizon. "Jack, we need to talk."
"I know. Do you want to talk about your dream? Was it about that good for nothing scum who tried to kidnap you last night?" he asked, looking directly into her eyes, he saw a sadness in them that hadn't been there when they met two days before.
"No," Emma said simply, looking away, towards the horizon where the sun's rays were starting to cast an orange hue at the edge of the sky, where it met the water.
Neither said anything for a moment, and then Jack asked, "What was it, love? You can tell me."
Emma still said nothing for a minute or two. Then she took a deep breath, and began to tell Jack all about her dream. When she got to the point at which she'd woken up, she continued with what happened after that horrible ordeal. "My grandfather and I, as well as a few other crew members were found by a merchant ship owned by Mr. Thomas, who lives where my mother's family lives, where I live now. My grandfather and the other sailors that were rescued died on the way back to New Derbyshire. They all sustained horrible wounds from those blood-thirsty pirates. They never found any of the other crew," Emma said, wiping tears out of her eyes, "or my brother."
Jack stood in silence next to her; his heart ached at her despair. He didn't know why, but he couldn't stand the thought of her feeling any pain. "Emma, I'm so sorry. Really and truly, I am. I have much to tell you, but first I need to know exactly what happened last night. You need to tell me everything that good for nothing scum said, savvy?"
Emma recounted the whole ordeal. Then Jack said, "All of this is going to be a very long story. There is much I need to explain to you." He leaned against the railing, and Emma did the same. "Do you know anything of the Isle of Clandestine?"
"No."
"Almost no one does. There are only four people who even know it exists. It is an isle about two weeks journey from New Derbyshire. The isle isn't more than two miles long, it's one in a large group of islands which are inhabited, but Clandestine is the smallest, and it's hidden by many of the other islands."
"What does this island have to do with anything Jack?"
"Everything. It holds unfathomable amounts of treasure," then he looked directly at her again, "your father's treasure." Emma's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped. "Ah, are you starting to understand why it's so important? The only people who know this island exists and that it holds more treasure than any man could want are your father, me, your grandmother, and Rupert Douglas. The only people who actually know where it is are Douglas and you."
"What does this island have to do with anything Jack?"
"Everything. It holds unfathomable amounts of treasure," then he looked directly at her again, "your father's treasure." Emma's eyes widened, and her mouth dropped. "Ah, are you starting to understand why it's so important? The only people who know this island exists and that it holds more treasure than any man could want are your father, me, your grandmother, and Rupert Douglas. The only people who actually know where it is are Douglas and you."
"Me? I certainly have no idea; I didn't even know it existed before now!"
Jack pulled something out from his coats inner pocket. Emma gasped, it was the journal her grandmother had given her two nights before. "Picked it up when I brought your clothes."
"Jack, how did you know about all this, and when did you get my things?"
"Well, I will tell you how, its part of this story I'm telling you. Now, when I got them. Last night, just as you were leaving to go to the bonfire and ball."
"When I came back to get my dance card the window was open, and it hadn't been before."
"Precisely, knew you would figure it out. I had to open the window to throw things out. I could sneak in and out of the house fine all by me onesies, but multiple trips with a load of clothes and things, that's a tad more difficult," he smiled. "Now, I'm sure that the map is in that journal somewhere. It was your father's journal, and he wrote everything in there."
Emma opened the journal and began to flip through its pages. "He wouldn't have simply written it on one of the pages." she mumbled. One of the pages was book marked by a silky ribbon with a ring on the end. There was only one thing on that particular page, a song Emma's father had sung to his children when they were small, before he sailed a lot. Jack read it aloud over her shoulder, "That's a wonderful lullaby."
Emma read it over a couple of times, recalling sweet childhood memories of her father singing to her and her brother.
In my heart there always lies
A remembrance of your sweet eyes
And I know that you're watching over me
Even when I'm on the sea
I've this feeling that we'll be
Sharing dreams 'neath the same bright stars
For I love you, and ah me,
I ne'er will happy be
'Till when again ye be back in my arms
She looked closer at the writing. Some of the letters in the song slanted incorrectly, quite a few of them, in fact. She looked at the letters, and then realized how obvious it was. No one would think about reading the simple song twice, and therefore never notice the slightly incorrect slant. The letters formed a phrase. "Treasures are found within," she whispered. "Treasures are found within! That's it! It's brilliant! Jack, do you have a knife?" He handed it to her with a questioning look. She took it and opened the book to its back cover. She slipped the knife around the inner layer of the cover. Hidden between the layers of the cover were two pieces of almost translucent paper.
"That type of paper comes from Singapore," Jack said, amazed at what Emma had found. Emma unfolded the papers. One was a map; the other was a letter, addressed to her. "It's right here," she smiled at him. "He would never have written something simple and plain in his journal where anyone could take it and find the map," she laughed.
"You are the brilliant one!" Jack beamed at her. "I couldn't sleep last night, not because of the noise you made," Emma looked a little guilty, and he added, "don't worry, I wouldn't have heard you if I hadn't been wide awake. I kept thinking about what Douglas said."
"About how he would never stop hunting me?"
"Yes, so what we're going to do is we're going to sail out to afore mentioned island, kill Douglas and then we're done with him, savvy?"
"What? Jack, it's not that I don't appreciate your concern, but why do you care so much?"
"Well, because I want the treasure, of course."
"Jack, don't lie to me. I know that's not the real reason. The first mate's quarters are furnished more expensively than the governor's mansion. Tell me the real reason."
"A pirate always wants more treasure," he surmised, and though she nodded in agreement he knew she was unconvinced. "Are you this brilliant all the time?" Jack frowned slightly.
"Jack."
He sighed, "I suppose you are. I don't know if you'll want to hear this. This all starts a very long time ago. You're father was a pirate," he said very fast and held his breath.
"I already know."
"You do?"
"My grandmother started to tell me about my father just before I met you, and I figured it out from the little bit of information she told me then."
"You are bloody brilliant. So then, you're father pillaged, plundered, and cached his heart out. I met him when I was a young lad, only nine. I learned everything about being a pirate from him; he was like a dad to me. He talked about his family at home all the time and I suppose he took such a liking to me because I was only a few years older than his real son.
"But his luck began to run dry for a bit, and we joined the crew of the Black Pearl, that's how we met Rupert Douglas, but back then he was Jess McAndrews. We'd been with the Pearl and its crew a few years, we were in a big battle with another pirate ship, and our captain was killed. The crew then decided to make me the captain. I was only fifteen then, but I was the quickest with the sword, and really bright, and all the crew liked me, and they thought that a youngin' such as meself wouldn't have any ideas of cheatin' 'em or lyin' to 'em, and a fair captain always gives fair shares of any booty. They were almost right with their assumptions. I could have cheated 'em anytime I wanted to, but I never did, thought about it, but then your dad would always keep me straight. He's a good man, your dad." Jack then gave a short laugh, "In truth, I wasn't even as good a swordsman as the crew thought I was, but it's all about the illusion, see? It's finding the opportune moment."
"Then me mutinous first mate, Barbossa, convinced the rest of the crew that I was worthy of bein' marooned. So they marooned me, and your dad and Jess were the only ones who had somethin' to say about it. Jess kept his comments quiet, but your dad was an honest man, and honest men tend to do incredibly stupid things. He got after Barbossa and the rest, told 'em what they did wasn't right, that they deserved to be cursed- "
"Cursed?" Emma asked.
"Aye. On the Isle de Muerta, there is a chest with a terrible treasure; it holds a curse set upon it by the Aztec gods to punish Cortes for his unquenchable greed. Any man who takes a single gold coin of it will be cursed, food will turn to ash in his mouth, lust will never be satisfied, and so they're not alive, but they can't die, though they want to. This is actually the treasure we were on our way to collect when Barbossa betrayed me, come to think of it, which turned out alright, because I never shared in the curse," he laughed. Emma smiled, and he continued.
"So, your dad said they deserved the curse, and so he sent a medallion off to his son, and Barbossa decided they'd best put a stop to all your dad's noble deeds. So, they tied his bootstraps to cannon and dropped him off the side, leaving him to Davy Jones' Locker," Emma gasped, horrified, and put a hand to her mouth. Jack took her hand away and said, "Emma, your dad used a piece of the gold for his own means. He was cursed as well. He couldn't die." Emma's jaw dropped. "You're only brilliant when you don't let your emotions get in the way," Jack continued to hold onto Emma's hand, though neither of them noticed this. "So, since he couldn't die, he simply walked along the bottom of the ocean until he reached some land. Then he got himself another boat and went back to pillaging, he ran across Jess McAndrews in a pub one night, and they became partners. They'd pillage for a while, then take a stop off at Tortuga for a few months and their crew would go their own way for about five or six weeks, which would give your dad time to go and store his treasure back at the Isle of Clandestine, stop off and visit your grandmother to find out about you and then get back to Tortuga."
"He came to New Derbyshire and he never saw me? Ever?" Emma felt so hurt and betrayed.
Jack looked into her eyes, "he did it to keep you safe, love. There are things a man can do and things a man can't do, and if he wanted to make sure that you were always safe, he couldn't risk anyone seeing him with you." A look of understanding came over her face.
"Now, we're about to the end of the story, because I don't really know what happened, but Jess felt at one point that he'd been cheated by your dad. He tried to convince the crew of his faults, but the crew knew Jess was in the wrong, so they dropped him off at the next place they docked the ship. Now, two nights ago, I went to the tavern, and in he came, and he told me all this, and he told me that before they dropped him off, he got into your dad's cabin and somehow managed to make a copy of the map, and he's been trying to figure out how to get the treasure for the last year or a little more, and all he needs now is the key. As of about a week ago, he finally figured out what the key was, as well as where it was located, and then he came straight for it.
Emma thought for a moment, and then her eyes widened as the realization dawned on her. "It's the ring, is it not?"
"Aye, 'tis the ring. Sheer brilliance of both you and your father. Now, listen to this next part love. Jess McAndrews' original plan was to only find you and steal the ring, for he figured you'd be wearing it. However, he heard around town that it wouldn't be horrible for him to bring you along as well. That's basically all that I can tell you." Jack turned from gazing at the horizon and looked Emma straight in the eyes.
"So Jack, why did you decide to rescue me? Why is it worth your while? Why would you go to the trouble?"
"Because," he said, smiling and turning back to the horizon, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, it's what I do, savvy?"
Emma raised her eyebrows skeptically. "I can see you're not going to tell me why."
"Don't you trust me?" He asked her.
"Obviously, Captain, or I wouldn't have permitted you to hold my hand for as long as you have." She smiled as Jack quickly dropped her hand and averted his gaze. She could've sworn his ears turned slightly pink as well. "Thank you for saving my life, Jack," she said and quickly kissed his cheek and hurried away before he got over the shock.
Jack placed a hand on his cheek where Emma had just kissed him. Though Jack had been slapped numerous times, on no other occasion was he left with such an impression, indeed, he stood motionless for a few minutes, and couldn't even think of what he should do. What was going on with him? Captain Jack Sparrow did not hold a woman's hand. He may have shared his bed with many a woman, but he had never held a woman's hand before, not with the tenderness with which he'd held the hand of Emma. He'd had no thoughts of seducing her, he'd just wanted to make her feel safe, to comfort her. Captain Jack Sparrow did not blush, let alone at a few simple words. He did not have silly infatuations, and, most importantly, Captain Jack Sparrow did not go around saving damsels in distress or fall in love with said damsels. What was he thinking? He did not fall in love, period.