Hey! Finally at the movie! Man, I love hearing from DragonHunter200 but I
would love more reviews please! I've opened it up to anyone so even if you
don't have an account, you can review. Love you all! This is probably the
most boring chapter but, it's okay. It's boring because you know the whole
plot of the movie but, please read it anyway! If you're a large POTC fan,
you'll like it, trust me. I've added some of my own making and some from
the movie, all with Jack! And, if you like Lily and Rosa, you'll be happy
to know they are almost back! I can't wait!
Ch. 16 The Curse of the Black Pearl
The boat was sinking, damn bloody thing! Jack tried to bail it out but it was a losing cause, he'd be in Port Royal soon, something he had not expected to do...guess he was wrong, it had made it. As he neared the town, a gruesome sight caught his eyes. Three pirates hung from nooses, their bodies swinging in the breeze, a sign hanging between them, Pirates, Ye be warned. Swiping his hat off his head, Jack saluted them.
The town was nice, Jack thought, as he stood on the topmast of Anamaria's ship, which was now completely submerged though miraculously still moving toward the dock. As it hit the planks, Jack stepped off it and walked swiftly past the harbormaster who called out. Turning, Jack tipsily walked back.
"It's a shilling to tie up your boat to the dock." Jack looked at the sunken ship, and sighed. Still the same, this place had never changed, it was still piss expensive to do anything. "And I shall need to know your name." Oh, that's all he needed.
Jack rummaged around in his coat pocket, pulled out three shillings and set them on the harbormaster's book. "What do you say to three shillings, and we forget the name?" He asked, heart pounding. The harbormaster gave him a weird look and the small black boy, who stood beside him, gaped at Jack with his mouth hanging open wide. Jack could see the cogs working in the greedy man's head.
"Welcome to Port Royal, Mr. Smith." Jack made a gracious gesture and walked off, grabbing the man's small money pouch as he went. If he was stupid enough to leave it lying around, he was stupid enough to lose it.
Jack didn't have to walk long before he spotted the perfect little ship, anchored just on the shore off a small dock near a bridge. He'd been right; this was way to easy. All the guard must be at the new Commodore's promotion. Jack glanced around and made his way down a small slope to the ship, passing two lazing guards as he went. Unfortunately, they saw him.
They both blocked him, guns up in the air to show him they were there. "This dock is off limits to civilians." He said importantly. Jack smiled. These two looked rather unintelligent. Maybe he could confuse them somehow. Thinking on his feet, he squinted.
"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know. If I see one, I shall inform you immediately." He tried to walk forward but was blocked. Faking ignorance, Jack continued, "Apparently there's some sort of high toned and fancy to do up at the fort, eh? How could it be that two upstanding gentleman such as yourselves, did not merit an invitation?"
The man who had talked to him earlier answered uncomfortably, "Someone has to make sure this dock stays off limits to civilians." Jack smiled; these guys were too easy.
"It's a fine goal to be sure but it seems to me that a..." He moved forward and the two men blocked him. Ignoring them, he gestured to a large ship way out in the water. "A ship like that makes this one here a bit superfluous really."
The man answered again and Jack wondered if the other had a tongue. "Oh, the Dauntless is the power in these waters, true enough, but there's no ship that can match the Interceptor for speed." He looked at Jack impressed and Jack faked a look of concentration, trying to find a way to bog these men's brains so he could get past them and grab that ship. The tales of Barbossa and his beloved Pearl fluttered to him at that moment.
"I heard of one, supposed to be fast – nigh un-catchable..." He paused for effect. "The Black Pearl" The one man snorted.
"Well, there's no real ship as can match the Interceptor." The other man finally piped up, much to Jack's surprise.
"The Black Pearl is a real ship." He said. The first man looked at him funny.
"No, no it's not."
"Yes, it is, I've seen it." He replied.
"You've seen it?" The first man asked skeptically. The second man nodded.
"Yes."
"You haven't seen it." Jack rolled his eyes.
"Yes, I have."
"You've seen a ship with black sails, that's crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil, that hell itself spat him back out?" He glared at his friend.
"No." The other said finally.
"No." He looked at Jack again but the other piped up.
"But I have seen a ship with black sails." As they argued, Jack slipped away unseen and made his quick progress to the small ship nearby, the Interceptor. Finally, he was away from those brainless oafs. They'd been giving him a headache he thought only Anamaria's shrill voice could do. As he climbed aboard and stood at the wheel, a shout carried up to him and the two men climbed on board, guns and bayonets raised.
"Hey! You! Get away from there." The second man said. Jack lifted his hand from the wheel.
"You don't have permission to be aboard there, mate." The first man said. Jack sighed. Would he ever catch a break?
"I'm sorry, it's just - it's such a pretty boat. Ship." Jack corrected himself at the last second, Anamaria's small sunken boat weighing on his mind. The two men didn't look impressed.
"What's your name?" The one man asked. Jack smiled.
"Smith, or Smithy if you like."
"What's your purpose in Port Royal Mr. Smith?" The first man asked.
"Yeah, no lies." The second man growled.
Jack sighed and stepped away from the wheel.
"Well, then, I confess, it is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer my weasely black guts out!" They looked at him suspiciously.
The second man looked at him angrily. "I said no lies!" He said, a small whine in his voice. His companion gave him a weird look.
"I think he was telling the truth." He said.
"If he were telling the truth he wouldn't have told us." He said in a voice that clearly made him feel superior. Jack smiled inwardly. The men looked at him funny and Jack almost laughed. They were so clueless. "You gentleman seem to be really intelligent." Jack said simply, leaning on the railing. "So, I trust you to keep me secret."
"Secret?" Asked the first man. Jack decided he was the brains in this tiny outfit, or lack there of. The other was the mouse and, he did have a small mousy look about him. "We have to take you in, to the..." Jack cut him off.
"Have you no heart?" Jack asked. The men looked at him funny as he adopted a sorry, sad voice. "This boat...ship" Damn Anamaria. "I need it for...for...the...natives." Mouse and Brains moved forward a few steps as Jack got his idea. He'd tell them a sad story and either they'd let him have the ship or he'd bore them enough to get the upper hand and throw them over board. "I was maroo...shipwrecked on a small island in the middle of the ocean because of a storm of...pirates. They attacked us." Lowering his eyes, Jack said sadly, "Most of my crew was killed."
"I swam to the island and the natives took me in. There was a terrible disease effecting them. They were dying off one by one and the chief...he was an awful man who beat them and killed them and did nothing about the sicknesses. I killed them and then they made me their chief."
Suddenly there was a loud splash near by and the three of them looked around to see a small rippling pool bubbling at the bottom of the cliff beneath the fort. Yells of 'Elizabeth' echoed down to them as they stood in the boat. Evidently a woman had fallen to the water below.
Jack moved to the edge of the Interceptor with Mouse and Brains and watched as the bubbles and rippling foam ceased. "Will you be saving her then?" He asked Mouse. The man shook his head. "I can't swim." He answered. Brains also shook his head. Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing, no wonder they put these two idiots on minor patrol duty. Quickly, Jack stripped off his cloths, belts and anything that would pull him under, throwing them into the arms of the two useless men standing beside him. "Pride of the King's Navy you are." He muttered. "Do not lose these." Jack was apprehensive about leaving his stuff, especially gun and single shot, with these two soldiers who probably couldn't even find their asses with a torch in the daylight. Hopping up on the side of the ship, Jack dived into the ocean and swam as hard and fast as he could to the dark shape at the ocean's sandy floor. The woman was beautiful, even in the dim light, he could tell. Grabbing her, Jack kicked to the surface where there was sunlight and air...he needed air. Breaking the water's thick layer, Jack tried to take a breath but was immediately pulled under again. It was the dress. He faced the woman, prayed she wasn't going to kill him when he got her back, and ripped open the snaps, wiggling her limply from the dress. Now that they were free, he swam, dragging her to the dock where Mouse and Brains stood waiting. He handed her to Mouse.
"She's not breathing." He said. Jack shoved him aside, grabbed his dagger and slit open her corset. Almost instantly she coughed up a mouthful of water, spluttering and taking in scared deep breaths. Jack threw the corset into the air and Mouse caught it. "I never would have thought of that." Brains said. Jack ignored the running feet on the docks coming closer and closer. Probably people to see what they could do to help.
"Clearly you've never been to Singapore." He said, remembering the time he'd stopped there with the Seeker and his crew. A glint of gold on a chain around the woman's neck caught his eye and he picked it up, studying it. It looked like Aztec gold. "Where did you get that?" He asked. Before she could answer there was a sword at his neck, under his chin and a somewhat familiar voice. "On your feet." The cold voice said. Jack looked up, following the cool blade to a hand, then an arm and then the face of a man around his age, with a white wig on and a crisp uniform...he looked slightly familiar. Jack did as he was told, standing tipsily as a man beside the armed one grabbed the woman from the ground.
"Elizabeth, are you alright?" The old man asked. The girl nodded as the man wrapped Jack's coat around her shoulders. Jack had to admit the color suited her. "Yes, I'm fine." Elizabeth answered. Jack thought it was amusing, her saying this while she stood there, in her underclothes, soaking and half drowned.
Mouse was still holding Elizabeth's wreaked corset and dropped it instantly, pointing at Jack. The old man looked furious. "Shoot him." He said. Jack was about to say something when the woman grabbed him.
"Father! Commodore!" She turned to the man with the sword to Jack's neck. "Do you really intend to kill my rescuer?" The commodore looked thoughtful for a moment, he clearly loved this woman and she seemed to have a great influence on him...they must be married, poor guy.
The man finally let the sword drop and extended his hand to Jack. "I believe thanks are in order." Jack hesitated as his shoulder suddenly started to hurt...who was this guy? Slowly, he reached out and grasped the commodore's hand. As quick as lightning, the man lifted the sleeve of Jack's shirt, revealing the 'P' branded on his wrist. "Had a brush with East India Trading Company did we? Pirate." Caught, Jack cursed himself mentally. The older man stared at him. "Hang him." He said viciously. Jack thought that kind of odd, this man must really hate pirates...he was going to shoot Jack before when all the evidence had pointed to Jack taking advantage of his daughter...hanging was slow and painful, that would be a worse punishment. Oh well... The commodore jumped into action. "Keep your guns on him men, Gillette, fetch some irons." The commodore pulled Jack's sleeve up farther and looked at the Sparrow tattoo above the branded 'P'. "Well, well...Jack Sparrow isn't it?" Jack pulled away. "Captain, if you please sir." He answered. The commodore looked around mockingly. "Well, I don't see your ship anywhere...Captain." Jack smirked at the man still trying to place him.
"I'm in the market, as it were." He replied. The Commodore raised an eyebrow and seemed about to speak before Mouse leapt in.
"He said he'd come to commandeer one." He said importantly. Jack glared at him until Brain also came froward with Jack's effects. "Told you he was telling the truth, these are his sir." And he stood there as the Commodore lifted each item up at a time and looked at it. First he went for the pistol and Jack's only shot. "No additional shots nor gun powder," He said unimpressed, "A compass that doesn't point north." He smiled serenely finally unsheathing the sword. "And I half expected it to be made of wood." Jack kept his face in a pleasant expression while wondering what rod got up this guy's ass to make him so uptight. "You are without doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of." Jack tried to find a glimmer of something in this statement. Finally it hit him, something to irritate this man further. It was just like being back on the Lister with Ian.
"But you have heard of me." He said. The Commodore grabbed his chain and pulled him away, the woman he'd saved, Elizabeth or something, yammering away behind him.
Jack's head felt light and his stomach turned as he sat up and found himself in a small cell...cell...bars...he was caught. Damn! Two men stood behind the cell's confines, their red coats gleaming even in the dim light and they laughed as he struggled up, dizzy from a bump on the back of his skull. Someone had hit him...the whelp? No, he had been in front of Jack. It had to be that drunken sot. It had certainly been an interesting day. He'd escaped, threatening the daughter of the governor and the love of the Commodore, gone to a black smith shop, broken free and been knocked out by a half blind, half crippled old man while fighting a kid. Old Jack was loosing his touch. One of the soldiers came over and hung off the bars laughing stupidly. "You're going to be hanged tomorrow, you know that?" He laughed. "Commodore Norrington wasn't to impressed wit you." Commodore Norrington? Somewhere deep back in his mind, Jack remembered words..."Lieutenant Norrington's a boob". "I think his name was James Norbert or Norton. Norrington, that's it. Some kid named James Norrington." The bastard was the same one who'd shot him in the shoulder when he'd been on the crew of the Catherine.
Jack perched himself on a rocky ledge in the corner and ignored the guard, pulling his tiered hat low over his eyes. It was going to be a very long night and the men in the next cell were so annoying....
Jack's eyes widened as a large cannon ball from the Pearl zoomed up at the fort and jumped out of the way as it hit the wall of the next cell, bits of gray stone flying everywhere, the force knocking the hat from his head. When he looked up, the prisoners were crawling through the wall to freedom.
"My sympathies, friend." Said the last man, crawling out after the others. "You've no manner of luck at all." And with that he was gone. Jack came up to the bars where there was a small hole, and leaned his head against the window. There had to be something he could do. Anything...
"Come on doggy." He whispered. The bone! It was lying in the other cell, close to his! Jack spun around and kneeled on the dusty ground, reaching through the bars for the bone. It was just out of his reach. "Come on, come one!" He growled stretching further and accomplishing nothing but a pulled muscle. There had to be some way.
There was some pieces of rock here and there, that wouldn't work...unless...Jack pulled his sash off from around his waist and tied the end to a piece of rock. Leaning again through the bars, Jack managed to hook the rock on the other side of the bone and carefully he dragged it closer until it was within his grasp.
Flushed at his triumph, Jack grabbed the bone, retied the sash and reached through the cell again, trying to entice the dog in the corner.
He whistled to get the flea bitten bag of lard's attention. Man, he hated dogs. "Come on, doggy. It's just you and me now. Just you and ol' Jack. Come on. Come on, good boy. That a good boy, come on!" The dog was actually starting to get closer. Maybe he'd like dogs it actually worked but...maybe not. What ever. "Bit closer, bit closer. That's it, that's it, doggy. Come on you filthy, slimy, mangy cur." Suddenly there was a large crash up the landing and the dog took off like a shot, the keys with him. Jack growled, his grip on the bone tightening. "No, no, no, no, no, I didn't mean it! I didn't..." There was another crash and a guard rolled backwards down the stairs and lay at the bottom, unmoving.
Two men appeared at the bottom...two he recognize...recognized to well. "This ain't the armory." Said the white one of the two. Jack had to admit, they both looked pretty bad...well...worse then before. Twigg, the one who had just spoken, was such an idiot...Jack stood to his full height and leaned against the bars in a casual way, wondering if they'd notice him.
"Well, well, well..." Said the black one, Koehler, noticing Jack suddenly in the cell and motioning to his friend. "Look what we have here Twigg – Captain Jack Sparrow."
They began to walk closer, Twigg spitting on the ground at Jack's feet. Jack made a minor disgusting face and tried to see the spit on the ground outside his cell, wishing it were in here and he out there. "Last time I saw you, you were all alone, on a godforsaken island, shrinking into the distance." He grinned a mouthful of rotting teeth and continued, "His fortunes aren't improved much."
"Worry about your own fortunes, gentlemen. The deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers." Koehler suddenly drew back his mouth in a silent snarl and reached through the moonlit bars, his hand clenching Jack's throat.
The hand felt different around Jack's throat, tattered...cold...thin...to many different parts. Oh god, it didn't feel like a hand at all. And the arm connecting to it wasn't an arm. Looking down, Jack's stomach clenched and bile rose in his throat as his mind tried to take in what he was seeing. There was no skin or muscle on the arm but tattered bones and bits of cloth. "So there is a curse. That's interesting." Jack managed to say. Koehler glared at him a slightly sickened look on his face, "You know nothing of hell." With a jerk, he let go and stalked off with Twigg, back up the stairs, past the dead guard and to the air above. Jack watched them out of sight and leaned on the bars, holding the bone he'd been trying to persuade that stupid dog with, up to his eye level. The curse was real? It was all real... "That's very interesting." There was a plan forming in his head. He just needed a way out.
The guards had checked on him later, to make sure he was still in his iron cage. They'd made comments, laughed and joked but Jack could see it in there eyes. They were tired; angry and most of all...scared. The fear dripped from them like sweat and Jack loved that odor, especially off a navy man.
The bone, he'd tucked away in the far corner and hid everytime someone had come down, no though, with the help of a hidden dagger the guards had not found – Jack had to smile – He'd made the bone sharp enough to use as a key and he fit it into the lock, jiggling it around.
Sudden footsteps on the stairs startled him but he wasn't able to pull the jammed bone from the keyhole. Leaving it there and hoping whoever it was wouldn't notice, Jack lay down and stayed still, pretending to sleep while watching the stairs with his eyes partially open.
It was the blacksmith whelp from the shop. "You! Sparrow." The boy said, standing in front of the door. Jack knew he'd never get him to leave so decided to play along.
"Aye?" He growled faintly.
"You are familiar with that ship...the Black Pearl." It was not a question. Jack opened his eyes.
"I've heard of it." He answered, a slight headache starting behind his left eye. This kid looked so...so...
"Where does it make berth?" Jack was slightly startled.
"Where does it make berth?" He repeated, sitting up on his elbows to better get a look at the kid. He had longer stringy brown hair, brown eyes and a lean frame. He looked so much like... "Have you not heard the stories?" The whelp looked at him blankly and Jack sighed. "Captain Barbossa, and his crew of miscreants," Jack felt a strong desire to kill someone. "Sail from the dreaded Isla de Muerta. It's an island that cannot be found except...by those who already know where it is."
The boy looked thoughtful. "The ships real enough therefore it's anchorage must be a real place." A new determination crossed him. "Where is it?" Jack could have laughed aloud. This kid thought he could take out Barbossa when Jack had been planning it for years? What an absolute idiot. Kinda like...
Jack studied his nails to annoy the kid. "Why ask me?"
"Because you're a pirate." He answered. Jack smiled at him and let his hand fall.
"And you want to turn pirate yourself, is that it?" He asked. The boy suddenly looked angry.
"Never!" He snapped, turning his eyes to the ground. He reminded Jack so much of... "They took Miss Swann." Jack perked up, now this was news. And he'd gotten the impression that this kid was a little...homosexual. A girl! That changed everything.
"Oh, so it is that you've found a girl!" Jack said happily. "I see. Well, if you're going to brave all, hasten to her rescue and so win fair lady's heart...you'll have to do it alone mate. I see no profit in it for me."
"I can get you out of here." The boy said. Jack was listening now. Maybe he'd help him after all but first...
"How's that, the key's run off." Jack said, gesturing vaguely towards the direction where the dog had gone. Maybe he could get this kid to spill it and dump him, get out by himself and...
"I helped build these cells. These are half pin-barrel hinges." The boy went across the room and pulled up the bench, bringing it back to the cell door and placing it just so he'd be able to lift the door. Jack had enough schooling to see where this was going and didn't need the boy's next words of explication. "With the right leverage and the proper application of strength...the door will lift free."
Jack suddenly realized who this whelp reminded him of. The memory of leaning against a doorframe suddenly came to him...the crew quarters of the Catherine...the mutiny.
'I'm sorry Jack, you know I have to.' Bill. "What's your name?"
"Will Turner." 'Turner. William Turner but everyone just calls me Bill'
"That would be short for William I imagine. Good strong name." Jack paused, thinking. I could use this to his advantage if this boy was who he said he was. "No doubt named for your father, eh?" He knew enough of the stories to know that Barbossa was looking for someone, the last of the blood to be repaid to lift a curse he hadn't believed in until the other night. Will Turner's blood...
"Yes." The boy, Will, answered. Jack nodded.
"Uh-huh." He muttered, still thinking. Finally jumped to his feet and said, "Well, Mr. Turner, I've changed me mind. You spring me from this cell and I swear, on pain of death, I will take you to the Black Pearl and your bonny lass." Reaching through the cell's iron bars, Jack held out his hand to Will. "Do we have an accord?"
Will grasped his hand tightly and they shook. "Agreed." Jack smiled and pulled away.
"Agreed." He said happily, "Get me out!" With a loud crunching noise and a few clangs Jack was sure could have woken the whole fort, the door was off and he was stepping out, intent on the far wall and his gun.
"Hurry, someone will have heard that." Will said desperately. Jack ignored him. He wasn't worried; this kid was an excellent swordsman.
"Not with out my effects." He said. Will didn't look impressed.
"Why bother with that?" He asked as Jack took down his stuff and gave it a hurried check, cursing the British Royal Navy for putting there paws on it...and that stupid Norrington to. "You could have escaped if you'd been willing to use it."
"Are you advising me that was a mistake?" Jack asked, cocking his gun and aiming it at the whelp. Will looked a little worried and backed off. "When you've only got one shot it's best to wait for the opportune moment. That wasn't it. Nor is this."
They'd taken a ship! Jack stood at the wheel as they entered the harbor of Tortuga; the bright lights from the town a welcome sight. Maybe he'd take a break with Giselle or Scarlet...nah, better not. He was close now, he could feel it.
They docked, him and the Turner kid, and set off into the town. Jack decided he'd better explain the rules of Tortuga to Will seeing as the kid was such a stick he'd probably never been to a bar before, let alone the roughest town in the world...well, maybe not the world.
"Tortuga." Jack sighed deeply. He took a walking stick from a drunk and led Will out into the main square. A horse rushed by at the other end, a wagon attached, the driver gone and two people kissing in the back. There were screams and shouts and shots...life was great. "More importantly, it is indeed a sad life that has never breathed the sweet, proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy." He stopped and leaned closer to Will so the young man could hear him. "What do you think?"
Will didn't look impressed. "It'll linger." He said. Jack rolled his eyes.
"I'll tell you mate, if every town were like this one...no man would ever feel unwanted." He indicated all the whores running around, chasing men while dragging others. A red haired woman in a line near a tavern caught his eye. She was standing under a sign that Jack hardly glanced at. Something about buying a whore for a bride. "Scarlet!" Leaving Will, Jack made his way across the courtyard and towards the line. For some reason, she wasn't too happy.
Smack! Jack wheeled, facing Will. Maybe she'd found out about Giselle or...was friends with Anamaria...maybe it was because he hadn't said goodbye. Will was looking at him funny. "I don't think I deserved that." He said. Turning back and hoping he'd get an explanation, he found Giselle standing there to. "Giselle." She'd give him sympathy.
"Who was she?" She asked. Jack was about to reply when his face was hit harder...more force...same cheek. Will raised an eyebrow.
"I may have deserved that." Straightening, Jack led Will down a side street, trying not to touch his smarting cheek and let Will know how much it actually hurt. Pissed, Jack yelled, "We should leave this wretched pit as soon as possible."
"With a crew?" Will asked. Jack, lost in thought about what had just happened with the girls, didn't answer right away.
"Ah, yes. Well, it just so happens that you know the man who knows the finest sailors in all Tortuga." Jack threw the cane backwards and walked into the bar.
The bar tender was different; a small thin man with wrinkled skin and flyaway gray hair. Jack approached. "I'm looking for Gibbs." He said. The bartender ignored him so Jack wrapped on the counter top. "I said..."
"I know what ye said boy." The barman yelled. "Who be ye first."
"Tell me where he is." Jack growled. The barman raised an eyebrow.
"I don't tell strangers where sleeping men lye, now go away." The man turned and Jack smiled, turning to Will.
"The stables." He said.
Jack walked across the dock with Gibbs, Will behind them, his eyes roving the line of men wanting to join his crew. They were a sorry lot, no doubt. "Feast your eyes Captain." Gibbs said proudly. "All of them faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt. And crazy to boot." Jack smiled slightly, crazy would be what he needed now that the curse proved true.
"So this is your able-bodied crew?" Will asked skeptically. Jack ignored him.
"You sailor!" He said loudly and in a commanding voice that left no one in doubt who was the captain. Jack was standing in front of an older man with a parrot on his shoulder.
"Cotton, sir." Gibbs piped up, coming to stand beside him.
"Mr. Cotton, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" Jack asked, getting closer and closer to the man with each word so, by the end they were barely and inch apart. The man stayed quiet and blank faced as though he didn't speak English.
"Ah, he's a mute sir." Gibbs said quickly making Jack feel like a fool for talking so long. He hid it though and looked at Gibbs, feeling Will's presence right behind him. "Poor devil had his tongue cut out so he trained the parrot to talk for him..." Cotton opened his mouth wide and showed Jack his toung-less mouth making Jack cringe and close his eyes, sick. "No one's yet figured how."
Going to walk away, Jack decided to test this whole Parrot thing. "Mr. Cotton's...parrot, same question."
"Wind in the sails, wind in the sails." The creature squawked. Jack stared at it.
"Mostly we figure that means 'yes'." Gibbs said. Jack gave him an annoyed look.
"Oh course it does." He said. Then turning to the whelp, he added, "Satisfied?" Will didn't look it.
"Well, you've proven they're mad." He said. Jack could have laughed. Between the toungless man and the other one who was half the size of Jack, he was pretty right. Jack was about to reply when a female voice called out.
"And what's the benefit for us?" It asked shrilly. Jack knew that voice oh, to well...Staring down the line of crewmembers, his eyes came to rest on a female figure with a floppy hat pulled low over her face. Walking forward slowly and hoping he was wrong, Jack approached, reached out and slowly lifted the hat. His worst fears were confirmed as a black face met his...anger, pure, undiluted anger. He could see it bubbling beneath the surface and if she could have shot daggers from her eyes, Jack would be a dead man.
"Anamaria." He said before a hand cut across his cheek and he spun for the third time in two days to stare at Will.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either." He said, and Jack was pissed to see a small smile on his face. Jack shook his head.
"No, that one I deserved." He said, turning.
"You stole my boat!" She yelled. Jack wasn't going to take this...stupid thing had hardly made it to port Royal and there fore hadn't been a very good...bargain.
"Actually..." He began but only received another stinging slap that made his eyes water. "Borrowed!" He yelled, "Borrowed with out permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you!" Anamaria's face turned angrier.
"But you didn't!" She yelled. Jack backed off, cowering.
"You'll get another one!" He said. Anamaria raised her hand threateningly.
"I will?" She asked. Jack was thinking as the boy behind him piped up.
"A better one." Jack was so relieved he could have kissed him.
"A better one." He repeated, playing off Will. Maybe he wasn't such a whelp after all.
"That one." Will said. Jack shook himself mentally...no, he was still a whelp. Turning, he glared at Will.
"What one?" Will pointed to the Interceptor. "That one?" Will nodded and Jack knew he was defeated. Turning back to the angry woman, he agreed. "Aye, that one. What say you?"
Anamaria seemed to think about it for a moment and finally shouted, "Aye." Everyone joined in and then began to run around, getting ready to leave. Anamaria came closer and Jack backed off as she grabbed her hat, rammed it on her head and walked away.
"No, no, no, no, no." Gibbs said fearfully, glancing over at Anamaria's retreating form. "It's frightful bad luck to bring a woman on board, sir." He said. Jack looked up at the sky as dark clouds began to form. He could feel the drop in temperature and the moisture in the air...a storm...a bad one. He'd need all hands.
"It'll be far worse not to have her." He said simply, turning around and walking back towards his crew leaving a bewildered Will and Gibbs.
"What code is Gibbs to keep to if the worst should happen?" Will asked behind him as Jack rowed into the cave, sweat beading on his forehead. Ten years ago this had been his dream, the Isla de Muerta. He was here, and a long journey it had been. The map...his mother...his father. Jeez, he hadn't thought of them in a long time.
"Pirate's code." Jack said simply, rowing harder and wishing Will would hold the lantern a little higher. He wasn't sure how far in he'd have to go. "Any man who falls behind, is left behind."
"No hero's amongst thieves eh?" Will asked. Jack rolled his eyes and wished it were Bill and not Will sitting behind him. Maybe then there would be a little quiet.
"You know, for having such a bleak out look on pirates, your well on your way to becoming one." Jack said. "You sprung a man from jail, commandeered a ship of the fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Tortuga and..." He peered over the side of the boat with Will at the fabulous jewels and gold at the bottom, shimmering in the water. "Your completely obsessed with treasure." They hit the shore and Jack jumped out, pulling the boat with him.
"That's not true." Will said as Jack climbed up a small mound and peered over the edge. He could see the whole crew of the Black Pearl out there and, Barbossa at the far end with the girl he'd threatened a few days before. Elizabeth. "I'm not obsessed with treasure." Jack looked down at him.
"Not all treasure is silver and gold mate." He said. Will peered over the edge of the mound to and saw his drool doll.
"Elizabeth." He breathed.
Barbossa was speaking but Jack was hardly listening. Will may be good at fighting but not good enough to take all these men. He'd have to wait for the right time.
"For ten years we've been tested and tried, and each man jack of you here has proved his mettle a hundred times over and a hundred times again!" Barbossa said. The men cheered.
"Suffered, I have." Ragetti called out to scattered nods. Jack rolled his eyes, they were so clueless. If they wanted to be tried and tested they should walk in his shoes for just one day.
"Punished, we were. The lot of us - disproportionate to our crimes!" Jack could beg to differ. They deserved any bad thing they got for leaving him on that island to die, dirty, rotten, stupid gits. He'd love to kill everyone of them. Clenching his fists, Jack stayed still. "Here it is!" He kicked the chest's lid off and it hit the ground with a loud stone thud. "The cursed treasure of Cortés himself." Jack straightened, his eyes on the chest and it's contents. That was the treasure? "Every last piece that went astray, we have returned...save for this." He pointed to the medallion around Elizabeth's neck and the men cheered louder. That was the final piece, the one to lift the curse. If he could just get near enough to Barbossa so when the curse was lifted he could use his shot... Will moved.
"Jack!" Will hissed, trying to climb up the mound and on to the other side, knocking Jack from his thoughts. Jack grabbed him and pulled him down. "Not yet!" Jack hissed back. "We wait for the opportune moment." Barbossa's voice sounded so far away but Jack listened as he took off down a side passage and made his way to the main cave. Maybe there would be something he could do there. "881 we found but despaired over the last..." Barbossa was still ranting. Man, that guy could talk.
"When's that, When it's the greatest profit to you?" Will asked. Jack stopped. "May I ask you something?" He asked, turning to look at the annoying kid. "Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?" He'd begun his intimidation tactic again and moved close to the boy's face. "Do us a favor – I know it's difficult for you, but please stay here and try not to do anything stupid." He turned then and walked away.
Jack crouched low and listened, smiling slightly at the part about Barbossa eating a whole bushel of apples when the curse was gone. Jack had forgotten how much the man like those damn things. "Begun by blood...by blood undone."
A sudden noise behind him made him turn. He barely had time to register what was about to happen when there was a sharp pain and he blacked out. Will had hit him over the head with an oar.
The world was dark when he came to, there was some shouting and sounds of scurrying feet. Jack opened his eyes and rolled over, struggling to his feet and grabbing the forgotten oar for support. "Damn whelp!" Jack growled, spinning around, totally disoriented. 'Any man who falls behind is left behind', he had to get back to the ship before they left and he was killed or worse, marooned.
The passage was dark, he wasn't sure weather it was from a concussion or just the cave walls but everything was weird, off center and glistening...there were people ahead but he didn't see them until they were right in front of him. One he recognized.
Ragetti, and he looked surprised. "You!" He sounded surprised. Jack remembered that that eye had been taken out during the mutiny and dimly got satisfaction out of it. His mind though whirled with dizziness.
"You're supposed to be dead!" Pintel said. Jack looked down and ran a hand over himself. "Am I not?" He asked. Realizing this wasn't hell, Jack decided he'd better go. "Oh!" He turned only to have his way blocked by more men and pistols. Turning, the other men had their pistols out to. "Parlulay...palu-li-la-lulu, parlili...parsnip, pasley, par...partner, partner..." Jack's mind wasn't working. He needed to remember the word to be taken to the captain; the only way to save his life but his head was spinning. It was like, in a dream, where you try to do something but you can't...he couldn't make his mouth work right. Damn! What was the word! Ragetti's face lit up. "Parlay?" He asked. Jack smiled and snapped his fingers. "That's the one!" He yelled, all the while thinking how stupid these men were and wondering why he ever let them on his crew. It was all Bill's fault, Jack decided, he should have slapped me more. "Parlay! Parlay!"
"Parlay?" Pintel asked. He looked angrily over at Ragetti, "Damn to the depths whatever mutton head thought up parlay!"
"French, Latin based of course." Jack said, trying to confuse them. "Inventors of Mayonnaise." Pintel smiled. "I like Mayonnaise." Some of the other men nodded. Jack was happy to see they weren't angry anymore but rather looking elated.
"Shame about the French, really." He continued. "Obsessed with raisins, humiliated grapes really. Think about it." Jack made a motion with his hands to show something shrinking.
The men looked thoroughly confused now and Pintel said, "I don't know." "Terrific singers, the French. Eunuchs, all of them." One of the other men made a face, "That's not right." He said. "I used to date a eunuch." Pintel said. Jack didn't think that was something to spill around other men but shrugged it off.
"I'll get me coat." He turned to go back up the passage but Pintel's voice stopped him in his tracks. Dread filled his stomach. "You're wearing your coat!" He said. Jack looked down at his body and saw the coat. To bad they'd caught on. Maybe they were smarter then he thought but...he seriously doubted it. Turning, Jack looked back at the men.
"So I am." He said.
"How the blazes did you get off that island?" Barbossa asked angrily, glaring at Jack in pure loathing. Jack leaned on his oar, headache still pounding in his head. He hid it though with a smile. "When you marooned me on that god-forsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing mate." Jack said, a cocky tone clear in his voice. Barbossa, he could see, was running through the mutiny in his head as though trying to find his flaw. Jack decided to put him out of his misery. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."
"Ah, well. I won't be making that mistake again. Gents, you all remember Captain Jack Sparrow?" The men nodded and made threatening sounds. They seemed to be closing in. "Kill him." In unison the men, as though expecting this, pulled out their weapons.
"The girl's blood didn't work, did it?" Jack asked, playing with the only valuable information he had. Barbossa stopped in his tracks.
"Hold your fire!" He yelled. Grumbling, the men lowered their weapons. He turned to look at Jack, his eyes pits of fury. "You know whose blood we need." Jack didn't even hesitate.
"I know whose blood you need." Barbossa walked closer.
"Who?" He asked. Jack shook his head, still smiling. Barbossa grabbed his collar and growled, face inches from Jack's. "Who's."
"No. I won't tell you the name. Not until the right moment but, I swear to you, you will know." Barbossa let him go and Jack continued. "The thing is, I can't be sure of your intentions, mate. We need to strike a bargain before I can trust you." Barbossa pulled out his gun and aimed it at Jack's forehead, walking forward so the cold metal was on his skin.
"How 'bout I kill you now and there will be no accord." Barbossa said. Jack shook his head slowly and reached up, pulling the gun from his forehead.
"Then you'll never know." He wasn't giving up Will's name. Not to Barbossa. He'd find some other way.
Damn, stupid island! Jack walked slowly up the beach and sat down in the soft sand, not caring where Elizabeth went. Because of Will they were here...he was here...again, with a stupid girl all because of stupid Will. If he could have kept his big, stupid mouth shut, they wouldn't be in this stupid mess, about to die! Damn Barbossa, Damn the Pearl, Damn Gibbs...Damn the whole stupid world...well, maybe he had been hasty...no to damning the Pearl, it was his baby.
Jack pulled off his boots and emptied them of water, glancing at the horizon where there was no sign of the Black Pearl any more. He was starting to think she was more trouble then she was worth. Hell, Elizabeth was more trouble then she was worth. There would be no Lister to save him this time. This was finally the end of Jack Sparrow, not a Captain, not a hero...just a broken and beaten man. Damn Will. Damn Bootstrap for making such a stupid child!
Jack sat back for a while, letting the sun warm and dry him until he pulled out his gun and started checking it over, fearful the last dunk in the ocean had wreaked it. There was some sand on the side. He wiped that off and pulled out the bullet, keeping the corner of his eye on Elizabeth who had finally decided to grace him with her presence. Apparently she'd been walking around the island.
"It's really not all that big, is it?" He asked. Elizabeth turned to look at him.
Seeing the gun, she obviously thought he was going to kill her because she said, "If you're going to shoot me, please do you with out delay." Jack sat up straight and looked up at her, squinting against the sun. Why would she think he'd waist a perfectly good bullet when he was tempted to kill himself.
"Is there a problem between us, Miss Swann?" She suddenly looked angry.
"You were going to tell Barbossa about Will in exchange for a ship." He was angry. Jack could have smacked her.
"We could use a ship!" He pointed out. "The fact is, I was not going to tell Barbossa about bloody Will in exchange for a ship because, as long as he didn't know about bloody Will, I had something to bargain with. Which now, no one has! Thanks to bloody, stupid Will." Jack got up, intending to get away from annoying, yappy, Miss 'I know everything, because I'm so smart' Swann.
"Oh." Elizabeth said. Jack mimicked her and put his gun back in his sash. She looked like she had more to say so he waited. "He still risked his life to save ours."
"Ah!" Jack yelled, turning away and heading up the beach as quickly as he could. He really didn't want another lecture, not after being thrown off a ship. To his dismay, Elizabeth followed. Man, he needed a drink.
"So, we have to do something to rescue him!" What, did she think he was a magician who could just conjure a raft and a dolphin to pull it out of thin air? Or maybe she thought he'd hidden a ship on this island I mean, it is just so big. Jack turned and made frantic shooing motions.
"Off you go then, tell me how that turns out." He'd reached the safety of the palm trees and walked purposefully towards the rum-runner- one. Hopefully the Lister hadn't cleared it out.
"But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So we can escape the same way you did then!" Jack spun around, wanting to shut her up.
"To what point and purpose, young missy? The Black Pearl is gone. And unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice...unlikely." Jack looked at her breasts. They were way too small. "Young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."
Jack turned, thinking that he should find the rum post-haste because yappy was driving him mad. Knowing it was about middle of the glade they were in, he found a nice tree and set to work on 'the mad pirate', counting steps and tapping the tree for show. Maybe she'd fall interested and shut up...he should have known better.
"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow! You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company!" Jack found the trapdoor and began jumping up and down on it, until Elizabeth jumped in front of him and grabbed his shoulders, holding him down. "You sacked Nassau Port with out even firing a shot." Jack could have laughed. He didn't fire a shot but he sure got fired at. He'd made that more interesting in re-tellings though. "Are you the pirate I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?"
Jack grabbed her shoulders and walked her a few steps backwards, off the trap door. He had to tell her. For once in his life, he'd have to be open and honest to a complete stranger. "Last time..." He hesitated, then plunged on, scared that if he stopped he'd never get going. "Last time I was here a grand total of three days, alright?" He turned around and opened the rum-cellar, climbing down and calling up trough the hole, "Last time the rumrunners used this island as a cache, came by and was able to barter passage off. From the look of things, they've long been out of business. Probably have you're bloody friend Norrington to thank for that."
When he was up and had closed the door, Elizabeth, he noticed, looked pissed. "So...that's the secret, grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow?" She spit his name like poison. "You spent three days, on a beach, drinking rum."
Jack held up the bottles. "Welcome to the Caribbean, luv." He slurred before walking off towards the beach. Like he thought, Elizabeth followed. When they reached the beach, she again got in front of him so he couldn't avoid her.
"So. Is there any truth to the other stories?" She asked. Jack glared at her. Setting down the bottles, he watched her for a full minute before answering.
"Truth?" He asked. Slowly he lifted his right sleeve showing her the branded 'P' under the sparrow tattoo. Next it was the long scar on his arm from saving the bloody crew of the Seeker. After that it was the two bullet wounds that had landed him in Tortuga for a few months. "No truth at all." He sat down leaving a stunned Elizabeth standing still, looking at him.
"We can stay alive a month, maybe more, keep a weather eye open for passing ships...there's a chance to survive." He didn't give her much confidence with the tone of his voice.
"What about Will?" She asked. Jack was so sick and tired of hearing about Will...bloody whelp was probably already dead. "We have to do something." Jack nodded.
"Your absolutely right." He said, rolling a bottle to her down the beach. It came to a stop at her feet and Jack uncorked his own, drinking deeply. Miguel's stuff still tasted awful, after all these years.
They'd been rescued. Jack still couldn't believe it as he stood at the side of the Dauntless, watching the forsaken ships' pieces move past as the Dauntless came closer and closer to the dreaded Isle. The stupid girl's bloody obsession had done it, burning the rum was a good idea but he'd never admit to it. He had too much pride.
Elizabeth came over to him, standing at the rail a small ways away. Thinking that Commodore Boobington wouldn't like his girl and future wife talking to a pirate, he stayed silent until she spoke. It didn't take long, as usual. "You didn't tell him about the curse." She said quietly. It was almost as if she were afraid of him...she should be.
"I noticed neither did you. For the same reason I imagine." He answered.
"He wouldn't have risked it." Elizabeth stated the obvious. Jack smiled.
"Could have gotten him drunk." He looked over at her, taking in the commodore's extra cloths that had replaced her under dress. She looked good, not as dirty. He was hinting with the 'drunk' part about how she had taken advantage of him and maybe they could do the same with the commodore. The man was such a stiff it would probably only take one to knock him flat. "Don't get me wrong luv." He said, noting the look on her face. "I admire a person who's willing to do what ever is necessary." Elizabeth smiled weakly.
"You're a smart man Jack." She said simply. Jack's smile vanished. What, did she think he was stupid before? "But I don't entirely trust you." Jack walked forward.
"Peas in a pod, darling." He said. Suddenly her gaze shifted over his shoulder and he turned to see Norrington standing behind him. Jumping back, he watched as Norrington played with the compass. Finally he threw it at him.
"With me, Sparrow." With one last look at Elizabeth, Jack headed off towards the wheel...they were at the island. Finally...the pieces would fall into proper play...it was time for a checkmate.
Jack walked through the crowd of pirates, pushing roughly and trying not to touch any of them...he might get contaminated. "Excuse me, beg your pardon...excuse me." Barbossa had the young whelp leaned over the chest of Aztec gold, a knife in his hand. He was droning on with that damn stupid speech about 'begun by blood, by blood undone'. He must have practiced those lines in front of a mirror, over and over again...they needed work, really.
"Jack!" Will called out, surprised when he spotted the pirate captain. Jack didn't answer but continued to wend his way through the crowd.
"S'not possible." Barbossa said, amazed. Jack stopped for a second and smiled.
"Not probable." He answered. There was a hand on his shoulder, that big black bloke...what was his name again? Didn't really matter, he was as ugly as the others and very dead to.
"Where's Elizabeth?" Will asked. Jack would have said, 'I think with my comment to Norrington about his future wife's safety, she's hopefully been locked away and can't intrude' but he settled for something else.
"She's safe," (or as safe as she could be) "Just as I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington just like she promised and you get to die for her just like you promised so, we're all men of our word, really...except for Elizabeth who, is in fact a woman."
"Shut up, your next." Barbossa threatened. Jack felt the hand on his shoulder tighten as Barbossa began to prepare himself to cut Will's neck.
"You don't want to be doing that, mate." Jack said. Barbossa stopped and looked up.
"No, I really think I do." He answered.
"Your funeral." Jack answered, talking randomly. Maybe Barbossa, nosy git that he was, would ask why and Jack could give up the goods on Norrington. Maybe, if he were lucky, he could have all the men go to the Dauntless and he would be able to lift the curse, kill Barbossa and his men, and have the Navy finished as well. He'd be free then.
Nosiness never took long. "Why don't I want to be doing it?" He asked.
"Well, because..." The hand was still on his shoulder. He swatted at it like it was a bug and, when it had let go, he continued. "Because, the HMS Dauntless, pride of the king's navy, is floating just off shore...waiting for you." The men around him began muttering. Either they believed him and were worried, or were planning to kill him. Either way, it was a promising sign. At least, for once, they were listening to him.
"Hear me out, mate." Jack continued. "You order your men to row out to the Dauntless, they do what they do best." The men laughed. "Robert's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt...there you are with two ships. The makings of your very own fleet." He could see he was getting Barbossa's greedy interest. "Course, you'll want to take the grandest as your flag ship and who's to argue? But what of the Pearl? Name me captain, I'll sail under your colors, I'll give you ten percent of my plunder and you...get to introduce yourself as Commodore...Barbossa, savvy?"
Barbossa thought about it for a moment. "I suppose in exchange you want me not to kill the whelp?"
Jack shook his head, "No, no, not at all, by all means kill the whelp. Just not yet. Wait to lift the curse until the opportune moment. For instance..." He reached into the chest and took out some medallions, feeling the unnatural warmth of them beneath his fingers. "After you've killed Norrington's men. Every...last...one." He spoke slowly, weighing the words as they rolled off his tongue, throwing a coin into the chest with his words. With out Barbossa seeing, as the men laughed, however, Jack slowly slipped one into his sash.
"You've been planning this from the beginning." Will decided now to pipe up with his unexpected and unwanted comment. "Ever since you learned my name." Jack mock thought about it for a moment.
"Yeah." He answered.
"I want fifty percent of your plunder." Barbossa growled.
"Fifteen." Jack argued.
"Forty."
"Twenty-five." Jack made it sound as though the matter was over. "And I'll by you a hat, a really big one." That's right, stroke that ego. Now for the finishing touch. "Commodore."
"We have an accord." Barbossa and Jack shook.
"All hands to the boats!" Jack yelled. No one moved. Looking over at Barbossa, he gave a small bow and his prayer move. "Apologies, you give the orders."
"Gents! Take a walk." Jack looked up, surprised. Where his ears deceiving him?
"Not to the boats?"
Jack stayed silent, waiting and listening, not quite knowing when to act. He needed an opening, needed the air to be thinner and more clear of the suspicion that weighed down on him from Barbossa who had kept a few men back. Jack had noticed the crewmen who had been loyal to him, along with Bill, were missing. What had happened to the others, he was unsure. Most likely dead.
His chance had come. One man had his back to him, skipping stones, the others were pissing around and even Barbossa was relaxed. It would be soon. "I must admit, I thought I had ye figured but it turns out yer a hard man to predict." Barbossa said as Jack looked at the underside of a golden statue, unsure weather it was male or female. It was really ugly.
"Me? I'm dishonest." Jack said, starting to set Barbossa up for an attack, preparing himself mentally for what he had to do. The other men should be out at the Dauntless by now. "And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest, honestly. It's the honest one's you want to watch out for because you never know when they're going to do something incredibly..." He stopped behind the pirate skipping stones and pointedly watched Will. "Stupid." Quick as lightning, Jack kicked him over, pulling out his sword and throwing it to Will.
After a small fight, Barbossa growled, "Yer off the edge of the map, mate. Here there be monsters."
He didn't know how Elizabeth had shown up but didn't really care. A small bit of cold had begun to creep up on him and he was still a little sick at being impaled. He may be a walking corpse but that had still hurt. Jack stopped and raised his gun as Barbossa looked away; pointing his at Elizabeth who was in the water. Will had the medallion, it was now or never. He watched Will for a sign and shot just as it looked like the whelp was about to drop it. Barbossa froze.
"Ten years you carry that pistol and now you waste yer shot." He said mockingly. Jack didn't respond, he didn't even lower his gun. He couldn't believe it...it was over...it was done. He was now the owner of his ship and Barbossa, after ten years, was dead.
"He didn't waste it." Will said. He dropped the medallions into the chest. Barbossa dropped his sword and pulled open his jacket as a red stain slowly began to form over his heart, the blood pumping out with every beat. Jack had never missed.
"I feel..." He looked up at Jack through pained eyes, eyes full of recognition but at the same time, confusion. He knew he was dying but couldn't...wouldn't believe it. There was also something else it there...happiness...relief. Jack, well, he felt pity...but it was only slight. "Cold." Then he fell...dead.
"Jack Sparrow..." Blah, Blah, Blah. Jack stood there, board out of his mind as the hangman read out his crimes. Would he ever shut up? If he read them all out they'd be there all day and Jack would have found a way to escape. "Be it known that you have..." Suddenly it struck him.
"Captain...Captain Jack Sparrow." He said, faintly annoyed. God, they were hanging him, the least they could do was get his name right.
"For your willful commission of crimes against the crown. Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature." Sinister! Sinister his ass, it was called survival. "The most egregious of these to be cited herewith – piracy –" True. "Smuggling –" Jack had to think a moment, he'd never smuggled, in less you counted...oh yeah! With the Lister and that one time with the Seeker! He'd completely forgotten. He hadn't thought they'd known. "Impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy..." To get them out of jail...should have left Dick in there to rot but Dana... "Impersonating a cleric of the Church of England." Jack smiled, that poor man...probably more hurt by being knocked out and left in his starkies then anything.
"Oh yeah..." Jack smiled at the memory and looked over at the hangman who scowled.
"Sailing under false colors..." What the hell did that mean? Black and white were real colors! Maybe though, he meant the British flag he'd fly to draw ships closer. "Arson." That was untrue, that fire was an accident. "Kidnapping." When? Elizabeth? He'd taken her for what, a minute? Oh, maybe that woman, the one who had been praying. That he could understand "Looting..." Who didn't do that, honestly? He'd been shot in Nassau; they couldn't use that as a plausible situation. "Poaching..." When? Oh yeah... "Brigandage..." okay, they had him there. "Pilfering..." And there. "Depravity..." What man was not innocent of that? Come on. "And general lawlessness." Of course, Pirate! "And for these crimes, you have been sentenced to be, on this day, hung by the neck until dead." That was the general idea. "May god have mercy on your soul." Yeah right, when had god ever shown mercy?
The hangman came over and placed the noose around Jack's neck. He felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach and looked out at the crowd. Elizabeth, looking lovely in a new dress...and no visible corset, was standing there with her father and the pompous jerk Borrington. She was watching something in the corner of the courtyard as the drums began to play fast...counting down.
He had a fleeting glimpse of Will rushing forward before the drums stopped and he felt his body plunge downward. There was something under his feet and though he was still hanging, he was able to breathe slightly. The bloody whelp had used that stupid sword trick and saved him...who would have thought?
Will was fighting with the hangman and the flimsy sword was giving away. Jack suddenly blessed and cursed Will, this sword, though his lifesaver sucked badly, it was bending too much and he couldn't stay on it. With a jerk, the rope was loose and Jack cried out as he fell through the open trap door and onto the ground below. The sword he used to cut the ropes on his hands and he stripped off the one at his neck, throwing the other end to Will.
He wasn't really interested in the moves he was making, left, right, cross, duck, roll...shit. They were surrounded but...what would he have done? Jump off the side of the fort? Wait...
Norrington walked forward. "I thought we'd have to endure some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt but not from you." Jack hid slightly behind Will, annoyed at the fricken feather in his large hat.
Governor Swann also came forward, looking at Will, hurt. "On our return to Port Royal, I granted you clemency." Oh yeah, Jack had helped save the little girl from death to and he'd gotten the noose, nice. "And this is how you repay me? By throwing in your lot with him? He's a pirate!"
"And a good man." Will answered. Jack smiled and turned to the soldiers behind him. 'That's me.' He mouthed, pointing at himself. "If all I achieved here is that the hangman will earn two pairs of boots instead of one, so be it. At least my conscience will be clear." Jack could have clamped his hand over the poor kid's mouth and told him not to encourage them but his mind was to numb with shock at what the kid was saying. Wow, worthy of Bill.
"You forget your place, Turner." Norrington hissed.
"It's right here...between you and Jack." Will answered. Suddenly Elizabeth walked forward and planted herself right next to Will. Jack knew she had guts but...
"As is mine." The governor freaked.
"Elizabeth! Lower your weapons! For goodness'sake, put them down!" The men lowered their weapons.
"So this is where your heart truly lies, then?" Norrington asked, looked at Elizabeth. Jack had been slightly hung over at the time but, he distinctly remembered being on the Dauntless and Elizabeth accepting Norrington's proposal. Tough break but, as Norrington had shot him...hunted him...hung him and threatened him in every way possible, he wasn't too sad.
"It is." As Elizabeth said this, Jack looked up and noticed a parrot...Cotton's parrot. The Pearl.
"Well!" He said, everyone looking at him in surprise. "I'm actually feeling good about all this." He used his intimidation tactic on Mr. Look at the rodent on my head, Swann. "We've all arrived at a very special place, eh? Spiritually...Ecumenically...Grammatically." No one noticed he was actually pick pocketing the man. Next he went over to Norrington. "I want you to know I was rooting for you, mate." There was nothing in his pockets. Where did he keep it? "Know that." Thinking he didn't want to find out, Jack moved on, running up the stairs to the cliff face and the side of the fort. Halfway up, he stopped. "Elizabeth..." He started. He was about to apologize but couldn't, not with all these witnesses. "It would never have worked between us, darling. I'm sorry." He looked at Will, trying to say thank you but, again...witnesses. "Will...nice hat."
The soldiers were on his heels. "Friends!" He was walking backwards. "This is the day that you will always remember as the day that..." He wasn't able to finish as he hit the ledge and lost his balance, toppling into the sea.
When he surfaced again, there were shouts and stuff. He was able to make out one, "Sail, ho!" Turning and treading water, Jack saw black sails and a black ship coming around the corner. He swam, occasionally glancing up at the fort where people still stood watching. Norrington, though an idiot, was a good man. Jack, he knew, had one fair and square this round...he wouldn't give up, but he'd at least give him a day's head start. What a sucker.
The Black Pearl looked so large and grand from below as Jack came to a stop at her base and grabbed a soggy rope. With a quick jolt, he was propelled out of the water and brought to rest on the deck, slightly dizzy...wet and the sun was way to bright. Gibbs stood over him.
"I thought you were supposed to keep to the code." He said. Gibbs smiled as the midget joined them. Poor guy.
"We figured they were more actual...guidelines." He reached out and helped Jack to his feet. Cotton stood near by and held out Jack's hat, which he took gratefully.
"Thank you." Jack said, cramming it onto his head. Anamaria, who stood dark and beautiful at the wheel, walked over and took his long heavy coat from another crewman, draping it over his shoulders and leaning in close.
"Captain Sparrow...the Black Pearl is yours." Jack couldn't discern all his thoughts and emotions as he walked to the wheel and ran callused hands up and down the beautiful wood. So much had happened in the past few days...ten years, it seemed so long. Everyone was watching him.
"On deck you scabrous dogs! Man the braces! Let down and haul to run free!" Everyone was going about their duties. "Now...bring me that horizon." He took out the compass. He'd need swag now that he had a big enough ship to get Fritz...Isla de Muerta had a ton. The song Elizabeth taught him came to his mind. "And really bad eggs..." He adjusted the wheel. "Drink up me 'earties, yo ho!"
Done! What did you think? Please tell me! Please! Well, now that the movie is done, we can get on to more revenge. Tune in nest week...it'll be great!
DragonHunter200: You really have to write them down or you don't sleep? That's really creepy...I have that with water though. I have to have a large glass of water before bed or I can't sleep. Weird eh? You may think I'm crazy...everyone does...but I'm working on another potc and a harry potter. I don't know if you like harry potter but...school's almost over for me! Yeah, summer! Anyways...Sorry bout your eye phobia but...you know. This'll really kill you, we almost had to dissect a cow eyeball in bio but, luckily, we didn't. we ran out of time because of our pig dissection. Ana's tough and mean...she was going to give up Liz to barbossie. Oh well, that wouldn't have been that bad...lol. What do you think happened to bonnetti? I really didn't think about it all that much. My calf does play fetch. His name is areis. His only problem is bringing the stick back. Yup, Canada is full of weid things like that. You really only see most of it in small town Saskatchewan though.
Ch. 16 The Curse of the Black Pearl
The boat was sinking, damn bloody thing! Jack tried to bail it out but it was a losing cause, he'd be in Port Royal soon, something he had not expected to do...guess he was wrong, it had made it. As he neared the town, a gruesome sight caught his eyes. Three pirates hung from nooses, their bodies swinging in the breeze, a sign hanging between them, Pirates, Ye be warned. Swiping his hat off his head, Jack saluted them.
The town was nice, Jack thought, as he stood on the topmast of Anamaria's ship, which was now completely submerged though miraculously still moving toward the dock. As it hit the planks, Jack stepped off it and walked swiftly past the harbormaster who called out. Turning, Jack tipsily walked back.
"It's a shilling to tie up your boat to the dock." Jack looked at the sunken ship, and sighed. Still the same, this place had never changed, it was still piss expensive to do anything. "And I shall need to know your name." Oh, that's all he needed.
Jack rummaged around in his coat pocket, pulled out three shillings and set them on the harbormaster's book. "What do you say to three shillings, and we forget the name?" He asked, heart pounding. The harbormaster gave him a weird look and the small black boy, who stood beside him, gaped at Jack with his mouth hanging open wide. Jack could see the cogs working in the greedy man's head.
"Welcome to Port Royal, Mr. Smith." Jack made a gracious gesture and walked off, grabbing the man's small money pouch as he went. If he was stupid enough to leave it lying around, he was stupid enough to lose it.
Jack didn't have to walk long before he spotted the perfect little ship, anchored just on the shore off a small dock near a bridge. He'd been right; this was way to easy. All the guard must be at the new Commodore's promotion. Jack glanced around and made his way down a small slope to the ship, passing two lazing guards as he went. Unfortunately, they saw him.
They both blocked him, guns up in the air to show him they were there. "This dock is off limits to civilians." He said importantly. Jack smiled. These two looked rather unintelligent. Maybe he could confuse them somehow. Thinking on his feet, he squinted.
"I'm terribly sorry, I didn't know. If I see one, I shall inform you immediately." He tried to walk forward but was blocked. Faking ignorance, Jack continued, "Apparently there's some sort of high toned and fancy to do up at the fort, eh? How could it be that two upstanding gentleman such as yourselves, did not merit an invitation?"
The man who had talked to him earlier answered uncomfortably, "Someone has to make sure this dock stays off limits to civilians." Jack smiled; these guys were too easy.
"It's a fine goal to be sure but it seems to me that a..." He moved forward and the two men blocked him. Ignoring them, he gestured to a large ship way out in the water. "A ship like that makes this one here a bit superfluous really."
The man answered again and Jack wondered if the other had a tongue. "Oh, the Dauntless is the power in these waters, true enough, but there's no ship that can match the Interceptor for speed." He looked at Jack impressed and Jack faked a look of concentration, trying to find a way to bog these men's brains so he could get past them and grab that ship. The tales of Barbossa and his beloved Pearl fluttered to him at that moment.
"I heard of one, supposed to be fast – nigh un-catchable..." He paused for effect. "The Black Pearl" The one man snorted.
"Well, there's no real ship as can match the Interceptor." The other man finally piped up, much to Jack's surprise.
"The Black Pearl is a real ship." He said. The first man looked at him funny.
"No, no it's not."
"Yes, it is, I've seen it." He replied.
"You've seen it?" The first man asked skeptically. The second man nodded.
"Yes."
"You haven't seen it." Jack rolled his eyes.
"Yes, I have."
"You've seen a ship with black sails, that's crewed by the damned and captained by a man so evil, that hell itself spat him back out?" He glared at his friend.
"No." The other said finally.
"No." He looked at Jack again but the other piped up.
"But I have seen a ship with black sails." As they argued, Jack slipped away unseen and made his quick progress to the small ship nearby, the Interceptor. Finally, he was away from those brainless oafs. They'd been giving him a headache he thought only Anamaria's shrill voice could do. As he climbed aboard and stood at the wheel, a shout carried up to him and the two men climbed on board, guns and bayonets raised.
"Hey! You! Get away from there." The second man said. Jack lifted his hand from the wheel.
"You don't have permission to be aboard there, mate." The first man said. Jack sighed. Would he ever catch a break?
"I'm sorry, it's just - it's such a pretty boat. Ship." Jack corrected himself at the last second, Anamaria's small sunken boat weighing on his mind. The two men didn't look impressed.
"What's your name?" The one man asked. Jack smiled.
"Smith, or Smithy if you like."
"What's your purpose in Port Royal Mr. Smith?" The first man asked.
"Yeah, no lies." The second man growled.
Jack sighed and stepped away from the wheel.
"Well, then, I confess, it is my intention to commandeer one of these ships, pick up a crew in Tortuga, raid, pillage, plunder and otherwise pilfer my weasely black guts out!" They looked at him suspiciously.
The second man looked at him angrily. "I said no lies!" He said, a small whine in his voice. His companion gave him a weird look.
"I think he was telling the truth." He said.
"If he were telling the truth he wouldn't have told us." He said in a voice that clearly made him feel superior. Jack smiled inwardly. The men looked at him funny and Jack almost laughed. They were so clueless. "You gentleman seem to be really intelligent." Jack said simply, leaning on the railing. "So, I trust you to keep me secret."
"Secret?" Asked the first man. Jack decided he was the brains in this tiny outfit, or lack there of. The other was the mouse and, he did have a small mousy look about him. "We have to take you in, to the..." Jack cut him off.
"Have you no heart?" Jack asked. The men looked at him funny as he adopted a sorry, sad voice. "This boat...ship" Damn Anamaria. "I need it for...for...the...natives." Mouse and Brains moved forward a few steps as Jack got his idea. He'd tell them a sad story and either they'd let him have the ship or he'd bore them enough to get the upper hand and throw them over board. "I was maroo...shipwrecked on a small island in the middle of the ocean because of a storm of...pirates. They attacked us." Lowering his eyes, Jack said sadly, "Most of my crew was killed."
"I swam to the island and the natives took me in. There was a terrible disease effecting them. They were dying off one by one and the chief...he was an awful man who beat them and killed them and did nothing about the sicknesses. I killed them and then they made me their chief."
Suddenly there was a loud splash near by and the three of them looked around to see a small rippling pool bubbling at the bottom of the cliff beneath the fort. Yells of 'Elizabeth' echoed down to them as they stood in the boat. Evidently a woman had fallen to the water below.
Jack moved to the edge of the Interceptor with Mouse and Brains and watched as the bubbles and rippling foam ceased. "Will you be saving her then?" He asked Mouse. The man shook his head. "I can't swim." He answered. Brains also shook his head. Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing, no wonder they put these two idiots on minor patrol duty. Quickly, Jack stripped off his cloths, belts and anything that would pull him under, throwing them into the arms of the two useless men standing beside him. "Pride of the King's Navy you are." He muttered. "Do not lose these." Jack was apprehensive about leaving his stuff, especially gun and single shot, with these two soldiers who probably couldn't even find their asses with a torch in the daylight. Hopping up on the side of the ship, Jack dived into the ocean and swam as hard and fast as he could to the dark shape at the ocean's sandy floor. The woman was beautiful, even in the dim light, he could tell. Grabbing her, Jack kicked to the surface where there was sunlight and air...he needed air. Breaking the water's thick layer, Jack tried to take a breath but was immediately pulled under again. It was the dress. He faced the woman, prayed she wasn't going to kill him when he got her back, and ripped open the snaps, wiggling her limply from the dress. Now that they were free, he swam, dragging her to the dock where Mouse and Brains stood waiting. He handed her to Mouse.
"She's not breathing." He said. Jack shoved him aside, grabbed his dagger and slit open her corset. Almost instantly she coughed up a mouthful of water, spluttering and taking in scared deep breaths. Jack threw the corset into the air and Mouse caught it. "I never would have thought of that." Brains said. Jack ignored the running feet on the docks coming closer and closer. Probably people to see what they could do to help.
"Clearly you've never been to Singapore." He said, remembering the time he'd stopped there with the Seeker and his crew. A glint of gold on a chain around the woman's neck caught his eye and he picked it up, studying it. It looked like Aztec gold. "Where did you get that?" He asked. Before she could answer there was a sword at his neck, under his chin and a somewhat familiar voice. "On your feet." The cold voice said. Jack looked up, following the cool blade to a hand, then an arm and then the face of a man around his age, with a white wig on and a crisp uniform...he looked slightly familiar. Jack did as he was told, standing tipsily as a man beside the armed one grabbed the woman from the ground.
"Elizabeth, are you alright?" The old man asked. The girl nodded as the man wrapped Jack's coat around her shoulders. Jack had to admit the color suited her. "Yes, I'm fine." Elizabeth answered. Jack thought it was amusing, her saying this while she stood there, in her underclothes, soaking and half drowned.
Mouse was still holding Elizabeth's wreaked corset and dropped it instantly, pointing at Jack. The old man looked furious. "Shoot him." He said. Jack was about to say something when the woman grabbed him.
"Father! Commodore!" She turned to the man with the sword to Jack's neck. "Do you really intend to kill my rescuer?" The commodore looked thoughtful for a moment, he clearly loved this woman and she seemed to have a great influence on him...they must be married, poor guy.
The man finally let the sword drop and extended his hand to Jack. "I believe thanks are in order." Jack hesitated as his shoulder suddenly started to hurt...who was this guy? Slowly, he reached out and grasped the commodore's hand. As quick as lightning, the man lifted the sleeve of Jack's shirt, revealing the 'P' branded on his wrist. "Had a brush with East India Trading Company did we? Pirate." Caught, Jack cursed himself mentally. The older man stared at him. "Hang him." He said viciously. Jack thought that kind of odd, this man must really hate pirates...he was going to shoot Jack before when all the evidence had pointed to Jack taking advantage of his daughter...hanging was slow and painful, that would be a worse punishment. Oh well... The commodore jumped into action. "Keep your guns on him men, Gillette, fetch some irons." The commodore pulled Jack's sleeve up farther and looked at the Sparrow tattoo above the branded 'P'. "Well, well...Jack Sparrow isn't it?" Jack pulled away. "Captain, if you please sir." He answered. The commodore looked around mockingly. "Well, I don't see your ship anywhere...Captain." Jack smirked at the man still trying to place him.
"I'm in the market, as it were." He replied. The Commodore raised an eyebrow and seemed about to speak before Mouse leapt in.
"He said he'd come to commandeer one." He said importantly. Jack glared at him until Brain also came froward with Jack's effects. "Told you he was telling the truth, these are his sir." And he stood there as the Commodore lifted each item up at a time and looked at it. First he went for the pistol and Jack's only shot. "No additional shots nor gun powder," He said unimpressed, "A compass that doesn't point north." He smiled serenely finally unsheathing the sword. "And I half expected it to be made of wood." Jack kept his face in a pleasant expression while wondering what rod got up this guy's ass to make him so uptight. "You are without doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of." Jack tried to find a glimmer of something in this statement. Finally it hit him, something to irritate this man further. It was just like being back on the Lister with Ian.
"But you have heard of me." He said. The Commodore grabbed his chain and pulled him away, the woman he'd saved, Elizabeth or something, yammering away behind him.
Jack's head felt light and his stomach turned as he sat up and found himself in a small cell...cell...bars...he was caught. Damn! Two men stood behind the cell's confines, their red coats gleaming even in the dim light and they laughed as he struggled up, dizzy from a bump on the back of his skull. Someone had hit him...the whelp? No, he had been in front of Jack. It had to be that drunken sot. It had certainly been an interesting day. He'd escaped, threatening the daughter of the governor and the love of the Commodore, gone to a black smith shop, broken free and been knocked out by a half blind, half crippled old man while fighting a kid. Old Jack was loosing his touch. One of the soldiers came over and hung off the bars laughing stupidly. "You're going to be hanged tomorrow, you know that?" He laughed. "Commodore Norrington wasn't to impressed wit you." Commodore Norrington? Somewhere deep back in his mind, Jack remembered words..."Lieutenant Norrington's a boob". "I think his name was James Norbert or Norton. Norrington, that's it. Some kid named James Norrington." The bastard was the same one who'd shot him in the shoulder when he'd been on the crew of the Catherine.
Jack perched himself on a rocky ledge in the corner and ignored the guard, pulling his tiered hat low over his eyes. It was going to be a very long night and the men in the next cell were so annoying....
Jack's eyes widened as a large cannon ball from the Pearl zoomed up at the fort and jumped out of the way as it hit the wall of the next cell, bits of gray stone flying everywhere, the force knocking the hat from his head. When he looked up, the prisoners were crawling through the wall to freedom.
"My sympathies, friend." Said the last man, crawling out after the others. "You've no manner of luck at all." And with that he was gone. Jack came up to the bars where there was a small hole, and leaned his head against the window. There had to be something he could do. Anything...
"Come on doggy." He whispered. The bone! It was lying in the other cell, close to his! Jack spun around and kneeled on the dusty ground, reaching through the bars for the bone. It was just out of his reach. "Come on, come one!" He growled stretching further and accomplishing nothing but a pulled muscle. There had to be some way.
There was some pieces of rock here and there, that wouldn't work...unless...Jack pulled his sash off from around his waist and tied the end to a piece of rock. Leaning again through the bars, Jack managed to hook the rock on the other side of the bone and carefully he dragged it closer until it was within his grasp.
Flushed at his triumph, Jack grabbed the bone, retied the sash and reached through the cell again, trying to entice the dog in the corner.
He whistled to get the flea bitten bag of lard's attention. Man, he hated dogs. "Come on, doggy. It's just you and me now. Just you and ol' Jack. Come on. Come on, good boy. That a good boy, come on!" The dog was actually starting to get closer. Maybe he'd like dogs it actually worked but...maybe not. What ever. "Bit closer, bit closer. That's it, that's it, doggy. Come on you filthy, slimy, mangy cur." Suddenly there was a large crash up the landing and the dog took off like a shot, the keys with him. Jack growled, his grip on the bone tightening. "No, no, no, no, no, I didn't mean it! I didn't..." There was another crash and a guard rolled backwards down the stairs and lay at the bottom, unmoving.
Two men appeared at the bottom...two he recognize...recognized to well. "This ain't the armory." Said the white one of the two. Jack had to admit, they both looked pretty bad...well...worse then before. Twigg, the one who had just spoken, was such an idiot...Jack stood to his full height and leaned against the bars in a casual way, wondering if they'd notice him.
"Well, well, well..." Said the black one, Koehler, noticing Jack suddenly in the cell and motioning to his friend. "Look what we have here Twigg – Captain Jack Sparrow."
They began to walk closer, Twigg spitting on the ground at Jack's feet. Jack made a minor disgusting face and tried to see the spit on the ground outside his cell, wishing it were in here and he out there. "Last time I saw you, you were all alone, on a godforsaken island, shrinking into the distance." He grinned a mouthful of rotting teeth and continued, "His fortunes aren't improved much."
"Worry about your own fortunes, gentlemen. The deepest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers and mutineers." Koehler suddenly drew back his mouth in a silent snarl and reached through the moonlit bars, his hand clenching Jack's throat.
The hand felt different around Jack's throat, tattered...cold...thin...to many different parts. Oh god, it didn't feel like a hand at all. And the arm connecting to it wasn't an arm. Looking down, Jack's stomach clenched and bile rose in his throat as his mind tried to take in what he was seeing. There was no skin or muscle on the arm but tattered bones and bits of cloth. "So there is a curse. That's interesting." Jack managed to say. Koehler glared at him a slightly sickened look on his face, "You know nothing of hell." With a jerk, he let go and stalked off with Twigg, back up the stairs, past the dead guard and to the air above. Jack watched them out of sight and leaned on the bars, holding the bone he'd been trying to persuade that stupid dog with, up to his eye level. The curse was real? It was all real... "That's very interesting." There was a plan forming in his head. He just needed a way out.
The guards had checked on him later, to make sure he was still in his iron cage. They'd made comments, laughed and joked but Jack could see it in there eyes. They were tired; angry and most of all...scared. The fear dripped from them like sweat and Jack loved that odor, especially off a navy man.
The bone, he'd tucked away in the far corner and hid everytime someone had come down, no though, with the help of a hidden dagger the guards had not found – Jack had to smile – He'd made the bone sharp enough to use as a key and he fit it into the lock, jiggling it around.
Sudden footsteps on the stairs startled him but he wasn't able to pull the jammed bone from the keyhole. Leaving it there and hoping whoever it was wouldn't notice, Jack lay down and stayed still, pretending to sleep while watching the stairs with his eyes partially open.
It was the blacksmith whelp from the shop. "You! Sparrow." The boy said, standing in front of the door. Jack knew he'd never get him to leave so decided to play along.
"Aye?" He growled faintly.
"You are familiar with that ship...the Black Pearl." It was not a question. Jack opened his eyes.
"I've heard of it." He answered, a slight headache starting behind his left eye. This kid looked so...so...
"Where does it make berth?" Jack was slightly startled.
"Where does it make berth?" He repeated, sitting up on his elbows to better get a look at the kid. He had longer stringy brown hair, brown eyes and a lean frame. He looked so much like... "Have you not heard the stories?" The whelp looked at him blankly and Jack sighed. "Captain Barbossa, and his crew of miscreants," Jack felt a strong desire to kill someone. "Sail from the dreaded Isla de Muerta. It's an island that cannot be found except...by those who already know where it is."
The boy looked thoughtful. "The ships real enough therefore it's anchorage must be a real place." A new determination crossed him. "Where is it?" Jack could have laughed aloud. This kid thought he could take out Barbossa when Jack had been planning it for years? What an absolute idiot. Kinda like...
Jack studied his nails to annoy the kid. "Why ask me?"
"Because you're a pirate." He answered. Jack smiled at him and let his hand fall.
"And you want to turn pirate yourself, is that it?" He asked. The boy suddenly looked angry.
"Never!" He snapped, turning his eyes to the ground. He reminded Jack so much of... "They took Miss Swann." Jack perked up, now this was news. And he'd gotten the impression that this kid was a little...homosexual. A girl! That changed everything.
"Oh, so it is that you've found a girl!" Jack said happily. "I see. Well, if you're going to brave all, hasten to her rescue and so win fair lady's heart...you'll have to do it alone mate. I see no profit in it for me."
"I can get you out of here." The boy said. Jack was listening now. Maybe he'd help him after all but first...
"How's that, the key's run off." Jack said, gesturing vaguely towards the direction where the dog had gone. Maybe he could get this kid to spill it and dump him, get out by himself and...
"I helped build these cells. These are half pin-barrel hinges." The boy went across the room and pulled up the bench, bringing it back to the cell door and placing it just so he'd be able to lift the door. Jack had enough schooling to see where this was going and didn't need the boy's next words of explication. "With the right leverage and the proper application of strength...the door will lift free."
Jack suddenly realized who this whelp reminded him of. The memory of leaning against a doorframe suddenly came to him...the crew quarters of the Catherine...the mutiny.
'I'm sorry Jack, you know I have to.' Bill. "What's your name?"
"Will Turner." 'Turner. William Turner but everyone just calls me Bill'
"That would be short for William I imagine. Good strong name." Jack paused, thinking. I could use this to his advantage if this boy was who he said he was. "No doubt named for your father, eh?" He knew enough of the stories to know that Barbossa was looking for someone, the last of the blood to be repaid to lift a curse he hadn't believed in until the other night. Will Turner's blood...
"Yes." The boy, Will, answered. Jack nodded.
"Uh-huh." He muttered, still thinking. Finally jumped to his feet and said, "Well, Mr. Turner, I've changed me mind. You spring me from this cell and I swear, on pain of death, I will take you to the Black Pearl and your bonny lass." Reaching through the cell's iron bars, Jack held out his hand to Will. "Do we have an accord?"
Will grasped his hand tightly and they shook. "Agreed." Jack smiled and pulled away.
"Agreed." He said happily, "Get me out!" With a loud crunching noise and a few clangs Jack was sure could have woken the whole fort, the door was off and he was stepping out, intent on the far wall and his gun.
"Hurry, someone will have heard that." Will said desperately. Jack ignored him. He wasn't worried; this kid was an excellent swordsman.
"Not with out my effects." He said. Will didn't look impressed.
"Why bother with that?" He asked as Jack took down his stuff and gave it a hurried check, cursing the British Royal Navy for putting there paws on it...and that stupid Norrington to. "You could have escaped if you'd been willing to use it."
"Are you advising me that was a mistake?" Jack asked, cocking his gun and aiming it at the whelp. Will looked a little worried and backed off. "When you've only got one shot it's best to wait for the opportune moment. That wasn't it. Nor is this."
They'd taken a ship! Jack stood at the wheel as they entered the harbor of Tortuga; the bright lights from the town a welcome sight. Maybe he'd take a break with Giselle or Scarlet...nah, better not. He was close now, he could feel it.
They docked, him and the Turner kid, and set off into the town. Jack decided he'd better explain the rules of Tortuga to Will seeing as the kid was such a stick he'd probably never been to a bar before, let alone the roughest town in the world...well, maybe not the world.
"Tortuga." Jack sighed deeply. He took a walking stick from a drunk and led Will out into the main square. A horse rushed by at the other end, a wagon attached, the driver gone and two people kissing in the back. There were screams and shouts and shots...life was great. "More importantly, it is indeed a sad life that has never breathed the sweet, proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy." He stopped and leaned closer to Will so the young man could hear him. "What do you think?"
Will didn't look impressed. "It'll linger." He said. Jack rolled his eyes.
"I'll tell you mate, if every town were like this one...no man would ever feel unwanted." He indicated all the whores running around, chasing men while dragging others. A red haired woman in a line near a tavern caught his eye. She was standing under a sign that Jack hardly glanced at. Something about buying a whore for a bride. "Scarlet!" Leaving Will, Jack made his way across the courtyard and towards the line. For some reason, she wasn't too happy.
Smack! Jack wheeled, facing Will. Maybe she'd found out about Giselle or...was friends with Anamaria...maybe it was because he hadn't said goodbye. Will was looking at him funny. "I don't think I deserved that." He said. Turning back and hoping he'd get an explanation, he found Giselle standing there to. "Giselle." She'd give him sympathy.
"Who was she?" She asked. Jack was about to reply when his face was hit harder...more force...same cheek. Will raised an eyebrow.
"I may have deserved that." Straightening, Jack led Will down a side street, trying not to touch his smarting cheek and let Will know how much it actually hurt. Pissed, Jack yelled, "We should leave this wretched pit as soon as possible."
"With a crew?" Will asked. Jack, lost in thought about what had just happened with the girls, didn't answer right away.
"Ah, yes. Well, it just so happens that you know the man who knows the finest sailors in all Tortuga." Jack threw the cane backwards and walked into the bar.
The bar tender was different; a small thin man with wrinkled skin and flyaway gray hair. Jack approached. "I'm looking for Gibbs." He said. The bartender ignored him so Jack wrapped on the counter top. "I said..."
"I know what ye said boy." The barman yelled. "Who be ye first."
"Tell me where he is." Jack growled. The barman raised an eyebrow.
"I don't tell strangers where sleeping men lye, now go away." The man turned and Jack smiled, turning to Will.
"The stables." He said.
Jack walked across the dock with Gibbs, Will behind them, his eyes roving the line of men wanting to join his crew. They were a sorry lot, no doubt. "Feast your eyes Captain." Gibbs said proudly. "All of them faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt. And crazy to boot." Jack smiled slightly, crazy would be what he needed now that the curse proved true.
"So this is your able-bodied crew?" Will asked skeptically. Jack ignored him.
"You sailor!" He said loudly and in a commanding voice that left no one in doubt who was the captain. Jack was standing in front of an older man with a parrot on his shoulder.
"Cotton, sir." Gibbs piped up, coming to stand beside him.
"Mr. Cotton, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" Jack asked, getting closer and closer to the man with each word so, by the end they were barely and inch apart. The man stayed quiet and blank faced as though he didn't speak English.
"Ah, he's a mute sir." Gibbs said quickly making Jack feel like a fool for talking so long. He hid it though and looked at Gibbs, feeling Will's presence right behind him. "Poor devil had his tongue cut out so he trained the parrot to talk for him..." Cotton opened his mouth wide and showed Jack his toung-less mouth making Jack cringe and close his eyes, sick. "No one's yet figured how."
Going to walk away, Jack decided to test this whole Parrot thing. "Mr. Cotton's...parrot, same question."
"Wind in the sails, wind in the sails." The creature squawked. Jack stared at it.
"Mostly we figure that means 'yes'." Gibbs said. Jack gave him an annoyed look.
"Oh course it does." He said. Then turning to the whelp, he added, "Satisfied?" Will didn't look it.
"Well, you've proven they're mad." He said. Jack could have laughed. Between the toungless man and the other one who was half the size of Jack, he was pretty right. Jack was about to reply when a female voice called out.
"And what's the benefit for us?" It asked shrilly. Jack knew that voice oh, to well...Staring down the line of crewmembers, his eyes came to rest on a female figure with a floppy hat pulled low over her face. Walking forward slowly and hoping he was wrong, Jack approached, reached out and slowly lifted the hat. His worst fears were confirmed as a black face met his...anger, pure, undiluted anger. He could see it bubbling beneath the surface and if she could have shot daggers from her eyes, Jack would be a dead man.
"Anamaria." He said before a hand cut across his cheek and he spun for the third time in two days to stare at Will.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either." He said, and Jack was pissed to see a small smile on his face. Jack shook his head.
"No, that one I deserved." He said, turning.
"You stole my boat!" She yelled. Jack wasn't going to take this...stupid thing had hardly made it to port Royal and there fore hadn't been a very good...bargain.
"Actually..." He began but only received another stinging slap that made his eyes water. "Borrowed!" He yelled, "Borrowed with out permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you!" Anamaria's face turned angrier.
"But you didn't!" She yelled. Jack backed off, cowering.
"You'll get another one!" He said. Anamaria raised her hand threateningly.
"I will?" She asked. Jack was thinking as the boy behind him piped up.
"A better one." Jack was so relieved he could have kissed him.
"A better one." He repeated, playing off Will. Maybe he wasn't such a whelp after all.
"That one." Will said. Jack shook himself mentally...no, he was still a whelp. Turning, he glared at Will.
"What one?" Will pointed to the Interceptor. "That one?" Will nodded and Jack knew he was defeated. Turning back to the angry woman, he agreed. "Aye, that one. What say you?"
Anamaria seemed to think about it for a moment and finally shouted, "Aye." Everyone joined in and then began to run around, getting ready to leave. Anamaria came closer and Jack backed off as she grabbed her hat, rammed it on her head and walked away.
"No, no, no, no, no." Gibbs said fearfully, glancing over at Anamaria's retreating form. "It's frightful bad luck to bring a woman on board, sir." He said. Jack looked up at the sky as dark clouds began to form. He could feel the drop in temperature and the moisture in the air...a storm...a bad one. He'd need all hands.
"It'll be far worse not to have her." He said simply, turning around and walking back towards his crew leaving a bewildered Will and Gibbs.
"What code is Gibbs to keep to if the worst should happen?" Will asked behind him as Jack rowed into the cave, sweat beading on his forehead. Ten years ago this had been his dream, the Isla de Muerta. He was here, and a long journey it had been. The map...his mother...his father. Jeez, he hadn't thought of them in a long time.
"Pirate's code." Jack said simply, rowing harder and wishing Will would hold the lantern a little higher. He wasn't sure how far in he'd have to go. "Any man who falls behind, is left behind."
"No hero's amongst thieves eh?" Will asked. Jack rolled his eyes and wished it were Bill and not Will sitting behind him. Maybe then there would be a little quiet.
"You know, for having such a bleak out look on pirates, your well on your way to becoming one." Jack said. "You sprung a man from jail, commandeered a ship of the fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Tortuga and..." He peered over the side of the boat with Will at the fabulous jewels and gold at the bottom, shimmering in the water. "Your completely obsessed with treasure." They hit the shore and Jack jumped out, pulling the boat with him.
"That's not true." Will said as Jack climbed up a small mound and peered over the edge. He could see the whole crew of the Black Pearl out there and, Barbossa at the far end with the girl he'd threatened a few days before. Elizabeth. "I'm not obsessed with treasure." Jack looked down at him.
"Not all treasure is silver and gold mate." He said. Will peered over the edge of the mound to and saw his drool doll.
"Elizabeth." He breathed.
Barbossa was speaking but Jack was hardly listening. Will may be good at fighting but not good enough to take all these men. He'd have to wait for the right time.
"For ten years we've been tested and tried, and each man jack of you here has proved his mettle a hundred times over and a hundred times again!" Barbossa said. The men cheered.
"Suffered, I have." Ragetti called out to scattered nods. Jack rolled his eyes, they were so clueless. If they wanted to be tried and tested they should walk in his shoes for just one day.
"Punished, we were. The lot of us - disproportionate to our crimes!" Jack could beg to differ. They deserved any bad thing they got for leaving him on that island to die, dirty, rotten, stupid gits. He'd love to kill everyone of them. Clenching his fists, Jack stayed still. "Here it is!" He kicked the chest's lid off and it hit the ground with a loud stone thud. "The cursed treasure of Cortés himself." Jack straightened, his eyes on the chest and it's contents. That was the treasure? "Every last piece that went astray, we have returned...save for this." He pointed to the medallion around Elizabeth's neck and the men cheered louder. That was the final piece, the one to lift the curse. If he could just get near enough to Barbossa so when the curse was lifted he could use his shot... Will moved.
"Jack!" Will hissed, trying to climb up the mound and on to the other side, knocking Jack from his thoughts. Jack grabbed him and pulled him down. "Not yet!" Jack hissed back. "We wait for the opportune moment." Barbossa's voice sounded so far away but Jack listened as he took off down a side passage and made his way to the main cave. Maybe there would be something he could do there. "881 we found but despaired over the last..." Barbossa was still ranting. Man, that guy could talk.
"When's that, When it's the greatest profit to you?" Will asked. Jack stopped. "May I ask you something?" He asked, turning to look at the annoying kid. "Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?" He'd begun his intimidation tactic again and moved close to the boy's face. "Do us a favor – I know it's difficult for you, but please stay here and try not to do anything stupid." He turned then and walked away.
Jack crouched low and listened, smiling slightly at the part about Barbossa eating a whole bushel of apples when the curse was gone. Jack had forgotten how much the man like those damn things. "Begun by blood...by blood undone."
A sudden noise behind him made him turn. He barely had time to register what was about to happen when there was a sharp pain and he blacked out. Will had hit him over the head with an oar.
The world was dark when he came to, there was some shouting and sounds of scurrying feet. Jack opened his eyes and rolled over, struggling to his feet and grabbing the forgotten oar for support. "Damn whelp!" Jack growled, spinning around, totally disoriented. 'Any man who falls behind is left behind', he had to get back to the ship before they left and he was killed or worse, marooned.
The passage was dark, he wasn't sure weather it was from a concussion or just the cave walls but everything was weird, off center and glistening...there were people ahead but he didn't see them until they were right in front of him. One he recognized.
Ragetti, and he looked surprised. "You!" He sounded surprised. Jack remembered that that eye had been taken out during the mutiny and dimly got satisfaction out of it. His mind though whirled with dizziness.
"You're supposed to be dead!" Pintel said. Jack looked down and ran a hand over himself. "Am I not?" He asked. Realizing this wasn't hell, Jack decided he'd better go. "Oh!" He turned only to have his way blocked by more men and pistols. Turning, the other men had their pistols out to. "Parlulay...palu-li-la-lulu, parlili...parsnip, pasley, par...partner, partner..." Jack's mind wasn't working. He needed to remember the word to be taken to the captain; the only way to save his life but his head was spinning. It was like, in a dream, where you try to do something but you can't...he couldn't make his mouth work right. Damn! What was the word! Ragetti's face lit up. "Parlay?" He asked. Jack smiled and snapped his fingers. "That's the one!" He yelled, all the while thinking how stupid these men were and wondering why he ever let them on his crew. It was all Bill's fault, Jack decided, he should have slapped me more. "Parlay! Parlay!"
"Parlay?" Pintel asked. He looked angrily over at Ragetti, "Damn to the depths whatever mutton head thought up parlay!"
"French, Latin based of course." Jack said, trying to confuse them. "Inventors of Mayonnaise." Pintel smiled. "I like Mayonnaise." Some of the other men nodded. Jack was happy to see they weren't angry anymore but rather looking elated.
"Shame about the French, really." He continued. "Obsessed with raisins, humiliated grapes really. Think about it." Jack made a motion with his hands to show something shrinking.
The men looked thoroughly confused now and Pintel said, "I don't know." "Terrific singers, the French. Eunuchs, all of them." One of the other men made a face, "That's not right." He said. "I used to date a eunuch." Pintel said. Jack didn't think that was something to spill around other men but shrugged it off.
"I'll get me coat." He turned to go back up the passage but Pintel's voice stopped him in his tracks. Dread filled his stomach. "You're wearing your coat!" He said. Jack looked down at his body and saw the coat. To bad they'd caught on. Maybe they were smarter then he thought but...he seriously doubted it. Turning, Jack looked back at the men.
"So I am." He said.
"How the blazes did you get off that island?" Barbossa asked angrily, glaring at Jack in pure loathing. Jack leaned on his oar, headache still pounding in his head. He hid it though with a smile. "When you marooned me on that god-forsaken spit of land, you forgot one very important thing mate." Jack said, a cocky tone clear in his voice. Barbossa, he could see, was running through the mutiny in his head as though trying to find his flaw. Jack decided to put him out of his misery. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow."
"Ah, well. I won't be making that mistake again. Gents, you all remember Captain Jack Sparrow?" The men nodded and made threatening sounds. They seemed to be closing in. "Kill him." In unison the men, as though expecting this, pulled out their weapons.
"The girl's blood didn't work, did it?" Jack asked, playing with the only valuable information he had. Barbossa stopped in his tracks.
"Hold your fire!" He yelled. Grumbling, the men lowered their weapons. He turned to look at Jack, his eyes pits of fury. "You know whose blood we need." Jack didn't even hesitate.
"I know whose blood you need." Barbossa walked closer.
"Who?" He asked. Jack shook his head, still smiling. Barbossa grabbed his collar and growled, face inches from Jack's. "Who's."
"No. I won't tell you the name. Not until the right moment but, I swear to you, you will know." Barbossa let him go and Jack continued. "The thing is, I can't be sure of your intentions, mate. We need to strike a bargain before I can trust you." Barbossa pulled out his gun and aimed it at Jack's forehead, walking forward so the cold metal was on his skin.
"How 'bout I kill you now and there will be no accord." Barbossa said. Jack shook his head slowly and reached up, pulling the gun from his forehead.
"Then you'll never know." He wasn't giving up Will's name. Not to Barbossa. He'd find some other way.
Damn, stupid island! Jack walked slowly up the beach and sat down in the soft sand, not caring where Elizabeth went. Because of Will they were here...he was here...again, with a stupid girl all because of stupid Will. If he could have kept his big, stupid mouth shut, they wouldn't be in this stupid mess, about to die! Damn Barbossa, Damn the Pearl, Damn Gibbs...Damn the whole stupid world...well, maybe he had been hasty...no to damning the Pearl, it was his baby.
Jack pulled off his boots and emptied them of water, glancing at the horizon where there was no sign of the Black Pearl any more. He was starting to think she was more trouble then she was worth. Hell, Elizabeth was more trouble then she was worth. There would be no Lister to save him this time. This was finally the end of Jack Sparrow, not a Captain, not a hero...just a broken and beaten man. Damn Will. Damn Bootstrap for making such a stupid child!
Jack sat back for a while, letting the sun warm and dry him until he pulled out his gun and started checking it over, fearful the last dunk in the ocean had wreaked it. There was some sand on the side. He wiped that off and pulled out the bullet, keeping the corner of his eye on Elizabeth who had finally decided to grace him with her presence. Apparently she'd been walking around the island.
"It's really not all that big, is it?" He asked. Elizabeth turned to look at him.
Seeing the gun, she obviously thought he was going to kill her because she said, "If you're going to shoot me, please do you with out delay." Jack sat up straight and looked up at her, squinting against the sun. Why would she think he'd waist a perfectly good bullet when he was tempted to kill himself.
"Is there a problem between us, Miss Swann?" She suddenly looked angry.
"You were going to tell Barbossa about Will in exchange for a ship." He was angry. Jack could have smacked her.
"We could use a ship!" He pointed out. "The fact is, I was not going to tell Barbossa about bloody Will in exchange for a ship because, as long as he didn't know about bloody Will, I had something to bargain with. Which now, no one has! Thanks to bloody, stupid Will." Jack got up, intending to get away from annoying, yappy, Miss 'I know everything, because I'm so smart' Swann.
"Oh." Elizabeth said. Jack mimicked her and put his gun back in his sash. She looked like she had more to say so he waited. "He still risked his life to save ours."
"Ah!" Jack yelled, turning away and heading up the beach as quickly as he could. He really didn't want another lecture, not after being thrown off a ship. To his dismay, Elizabeth followed. Man, he needed a drink.
"So, we have to do something to rescue him!" What, did she think he was a magician who could just conjure a raft and a dolphin to pull it out of thin air? Or maybe she thought he'd hidden a ship on this island I mean, it is just so big. Jack turned and made frantic shooing motions.
"Off you go then, tell me how that turns out." He'd reached the safety of the palm trees and walked purposefully towards the rum-runner- one. Hopefully the Lister hadn't cleared it out.
"But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So we can escape the same way you did then!" Jack spun around, wanting to shut her up.
"To what point and purpose, young missy? The Black Pearl is gone. And unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice...unlikely." Jack looked at her breasts. They were way too small. "Young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."
Jack turned, thinking that he should find the rum post-haste because yappy was driving him mad. Knowing it was about middle of the glade they were in, he found a nice tree and set to work on 'the mad pirate', counting steps and tapping the tree for show. Maybe she'd fall interested and shut up...he should have known better.
"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow! You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company!" Jack found the trapdoor and began jumping up and down on it, until Elizabeth jumped in front of him and grabbed his shoulders, holding him down. "You sacked Nassau Port with out even firing a shot." Jack could have laughed. He didn't fire a shot but he sure got fired at. He'd made that more interesting in re-tellings though. "Are you the pirate I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?"
Jack grabbed her shoulders and walked her a few steps backwards, off the trap door. He had to tell her. For once in his life, he'd have to be open and honest to a complete stranger. "Last time..." He hesitated, then plunged on, scared that if he stopped he'd never get going. "Last time I was here a grand total of three days, alright?" He turned around and opened the rum-cellar, climbing down and calling up trough the hole, "Last time the rumrunners used this island as a cache, came by and was able to barter passage off. From the look of things, they've long been out of business. Probably have you're bloody friend Norrington to thank for that."
When he was up and had closed the door, Elizabeth, he noticed, looked pissed. "So...that's the secret, grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow?" She spit his name like poison. "You spent three days, on a beach, drinking rum."
Jack held up the bottles. "Welcome to the Caribbean, luv." He slurred before walking off towards the beach. Like he thought, Elizabeth followed. When they reached the beach, she again got in front of him so he couldn't avoid her.
"So. Is there any truth to the other stories?" She asked. Jack glared at her. Setting down the bottles, he watched her for a full minute before answering.
"Truth?" He asked. Slowly he lifted his right sleeve showing her the branded 'P' under the sparrow tattoo. Next it was the long scar on his arm from saving the bloody crew of the Seeker. After that it was the two bullet wounds that had landed him in Tortuga for a few months. "No truth at all." He sat down leaving a stunned Elizabeth standing still, looking at him.
"We can stay alive a month, maybe more, keep a weather eye open for passing ships...there's a chance to survive." He didn't give her much confidence with the tone of his voice.
"What about Will?" She asked. Jack was so sick and tired of hearing about Will...bloody whelp was probably already dead. "We have to do something." Jack nodded.
"Your absolutely right." He said, rolling a bottle to her down the beach. It came to a stop at her feet and Jack uncorked his own, drinking deeply. Miguel's stuff still tasted awful, after all these years.
They'd been rescued. Jack still couldn't believe it as he stood at the side of the Dauntless, watching the forsaken ships' pieces move past as the Dauntless came closer and closer to the dreaded Isle. The stupid girl's bloody obsession had done it, burning the rum was a good idea but he'd never admit to it. He had too much pride.
Elizabeth came over to him, standing at the rail a small ways away. Thinking that Commodore Boobington wouldn't like his girl and future wife talking to a pirate, he stayed silent until she spoke. It didn't take long, as usual. "You didn't tell him about the curse." She said quietly. It was almost as if she were afraid of him...she should be.
"I noticed neither did you. For the same reason I imagine." He answered.
"He wouldn't have risked it." Elizabeth stated the obvious. Jack smiled.
"Could have gotten him drunk." He looked over at her, taking in the commodore's extra cloths that had replaced her under dress. She looked good, not as dirty. He was hinting with the 'drunk' part about how she had taken advantage of him and maybe they could do the same with the commodore. The man was such a stiff it would probably only take one to knock him flat. "Don't get me wrong luv." He said, noting the look on her face. "I admire a person who's willing to do what ever is necessary." Elizabeth smiled weakly.
"You're a smart man Jack." She said simply. Jack's smile vanished. What, did she think he was stupid before? "But I don't entirely trust you." Jack walked forward.
"Peas in a pod, darling." He said. Suddenly her gaze shifted over his shoulder and he turned to see Norrington standing behind him. Jumping back, he watched as Norrington played with the compass. Finally he threw it at him.
"With me, Sparrow." With one last look at Elizabeth, Jack headed off towards the wheel...they were at the island. Finally...the pieces would fall into proper play...it was time for a checkmate.
Jack walked through the crowd of pirates, pushing roughly and trying not to touch any of them...he might get contaminated. "Excuse me, beg your pardon...excuse me." Barbossa had the young whelp leaned over the chest of Aztec gold, a knife in his hand. He was droning on with that damn stupid speech about 'begun by blood, by blood undone'. He must have practiced those lines in front of a mirror, over and over again...they needed work, really.
"Jack!" Will called out, surprised when he spotted the pirate captain. Jack didn't answer but continued to wend his way through the crowd.
"S'not possible." Barbossa said, amazed. Jack stopped for a second and smiled.
"Not probable." He answered. There was a hand on his shoulder, that big black bloke...what was his name again? Didn't really matter, he was as ugly as the others and very dead to.
"Where's Elizabeth?" Will asked. Jack would have said, 'I think with my comment to Norrington about his future wife's safety, she's hopefully been locked away and can't intrude' but he settled for something else.
"She's safe," (or as safe as she could be) "Just as I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington just like she promised and you get to die for her just like you promised so, we're all men of our word, really...except for Elizabeth who, is in fact a woman."
"Shut up, your next." Barbossa threatened. Jack felt the hand on his shoulder tighten as Barbossa began to prepare himself to cut Will's neck.
"You don't want to be doing that, mate." Jack said. Barbossa stopped and looked up.
"No, I really think I do." He answered.
"Your funeral." Jack answered, talking randomly. Maybe Barbossa, nosy git that he was, would ask why and Jack could give up the goods on Norrington. Maybe, if he were lucky, he could have all the men go to the Dauntless and he would be able to lift the curse, kill Barbossa and his men, and have the Navy finished as well. He'd be free then.
Nosiness never took long. "Why don't I want to be doing it?" He asked.
"Well, because..." The hand was still on his shoulder. He swatted at it like it was a bug and, when it had let go, he continued. "Because, the HMS Dauntless, pride of the king's navy, is floating just off shore...waiting for you." The men around him began muttering. Either they believed him and were worried, or were planning to kill him. Either way, it was a promising sign. At least, for once, they were listening to him.
"Hear me out, mate." Jack continued. "You order your men to row out to the Dauntless, they do what they do best." The men laughed. "Robert's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt...there you are with two ships. The makings of your very own fleet." He could see he was getting Barbossa's greedy interest. "Course, you'll want to take the grandest as your flag ship and who's to argue? But what of the Pearl? Name me captain, I'll sail under your colors, I'll give you ten percent of my plunder and you...get to introduce yourself as Commodore...Barbossa, savvy?"
Barbossa thought about it for a moment. "I suppose in exchange you want me not to kill the whelp?"
Jack shook his head, "No, no, not at all, by all means kill the whelp. Just not yet. Wait to lift the curse until the opportune moment. For instance..." He reached into the chest and took out some medallions, feeling the unnatural warmth of them beneath his fingers. "After you've killed Norrington's men. Every...last...one." He spoke slowly, weighing the words as they rolled off his tongue, throwing a coin into the chest with his words. With out Barbossa seeing, as the men laughed, however, Jack slowly slipped one into his sash.
"You've been planning this from the beginning." Will decided now to pipe up with his unexpected and unwanted comment. "Ever since you learned my name." Jack mock thought about it for a moment.
"Yeah." He answered.
"I want fifty percent of your plunder." Barbossa growled.
"Fifteen." Jack argued.
"Forty."
"Twenty-five." Jack made it sound as though the matter was over. "And I'll by you a hat, a really big one." That's right, stroke that ego. Now for the finishing touch. "Commodore."
"We have an accord." Barbossa and Jack shook.
"All hands to the boats!" Jack yelled. No one moved. Looking over at Barbossa, he gave a small bow and his prayer move. "Apologies, you give the orders."
"Gents! Take a walk." Jack looked up, surprised. Where his ears deceiving him?
"Not to the boats?"
Jack stayed silent, waiting and listening, not quite knowing when to act. He needed an opening, needed the air to be thinner and more clear of the suspicion that weighed down on him from Barbossa who had kept a few men back. Jack had noticed the crewmen who had been loyal to him, along with Bill, were missing. What had happened to the others, he was unsure. Most likely dead.
His chance had come. One man had his back to him, skipping stones, the others were pissing around and even Barbossa was relaxed. It would be soon. "I must admit, I thought I had ye figured but it turns out yer a hard man to predict." Barbossa said as Jack looked at the underside of a golden statue, unsure weather it was male or female. It was really ugly.
"Me? I'm dishonest." Jack said, starting to set Barbossa up for an attack, preparing himself mentally for what he had to do. The other men should be out at the Dauntless by now. "And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest, honestly. It's the honest one's you want to watch out for because you never know when they're going to do something incredibly..." He stopped behind the pirate skipping stones and pointedly watched Will. "Stupid." Quick as lightning, Jack kicked him over, pulling out his sword and throwing it to Will.
After a small fight, Barbossa growled, "Yer off the edge of the map, mate. Here there be monsters."
He didn't know how Elizabeth had shown up but didn't really care. A small bit of cold had begun to creep up on him and he was still a little sick at being impaled. He may be a walking corpse but that had still hurt. Jack stopped and raised his gun as Barbossa looked away; pointing his at Elizabeth who was in the water. Will had the medallion, it was now or never. He watched Will for a sign and shot just as it looked like the whelp was about to drop it. Barbossa froze.
"Ten years you carry that pistol and now you waste yer shot." He said mockingly. Jack didn't respond, he didn't even lower his gun. He couldn't believe it...it was over...it was done. He was now the owner of his ship and Barbossa, after ten years, was dead.
"He didn't waste it." Will said. He dropped the medallions into the chest. Barbossa dropped his sword and pulled open his jacket as a red stain slowly began to form over his heart, the blood pumping out with every beat. Jack had never missed.
"I feel..." He looked up at Jack through pained eyes, eyes full of recognition but at the same time, confusion. He knew he was dying but couldn't...wouldn't believe it. There was also something else it there...happiness...relief. Jack, well, he felt pity...but it was only slight. "Cold." Then he fell...dead.
"Jack Sparrow..." Blah, Blah, Blah. Jack stood there, board out of his mind as the hangman read out his crimes. Would he ever shut up? If he read them all out they'd be there all day and Jack would have found a way to escape. "Be it known that you have..." Suddenly it struck him.
"Captain...Captain Jack Sparrow." He said, faintly annoyed. God, they were hanging him, the least they could do was get his name right.
"For your willful commission of crimes against the crown. Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature." Sinister! Sinister his ass, it was called survival. "The most egregious of these to be cited herewith – piracy –" True. "Smuggling –" Jack had to think a moment, he'd never smuggled, in less you counted...oh yeah! With the Lister and that one time with the Seeker! He'd completely forgotten. He hadn't thought they'd known. "Impersonating an officer of the Spanish Royal Navy..." To get them out of jail...should have left Dick in there to rot but Dana... "Impersonating a cleric of the Church of England." Jack smiled, that poor man...probably more hurt by being knocked out and left in his starkies then anything.
"Oh yeah..." Jack smiled at the memory and looked over at the hangman who scowled.
"Sailing under false colors..." What the hell did that mean? Black and white were real colors! Maybe though, he meant the British flag he'd fly to draw ships closer. "Arson." That was untrue, that fire was an accident. "Kidnapping." When? Elizabeth? He'd taken her for what, a minute? Oh, maybe that woman, the one who had been praying. That he could understand "Looting..." Who didn't do that, honestly? He'd been shot in Nassau; they couldn't use that as a plausible situation. "Poaching..." When? Oh yeah... "Brigandage..." okay, they had him there. "Pilfering..." And there. "Depravity..." What man was not innocent of that? Come on. "And general lawlessness." Of course, Pirate! "And for these crimes, you have been sentenced to be, on this day, hung by the neck until dead." That was the general idea. "May god have mercy on your soul." Yeah right, when had god ever shown mercy?
The hangman came over and placed the noose around Jack's neck. He felt butterflies in the pit of his stomach and looked out at the crowd. Elizabeth, looking lovely in a new dress...and no visible corset, was standing there with her father and the pompous jerk Borrington. She was watching something in the corner of the courtyard as the drums began to play fast...counting down.
He had a fleeting glimpse of Will rushing forward before the drums stopped and he felt his body plunge downward. There was something under his feet and though he was still hanging, he was able to breathe slightly. The bloody whelp had used that stupid sword trick and saved him...who would have thought?
Will was fighting with the hangman and the flimsy sword was giving away. Jack suddenly blessed and cursed Will, this sword, though his lifesaver sucked badly, it was bending too much and he couldn't stay on it. With a jerk, the rope was loose and Jack cried out as he fell through the open trap door and onto the ground below. The sword he used to cut the ropes on his hands and he stripped off the one at his neck, throwing the other end to Will.
He wasn't really interested in the moves he was making, left, right, cross, duck, roll...shit. They were surrounded but...what would he have done? Jump off the side of the fort? Wait...
Norrington walked forward. "I thought we'd have to endure some manner of ill-conceived escape attempt but not from you." Jack hid slightly behind Will, annoyed at the fricken feather in his large hat.
Governor Swann also came forward, looking at Will, hurt. "On our return to Port Royal, I granted you clemency." Oh yeah, Jack had helped save the little girl from death to and he'd gotten the noose, nice. "And this is how you repay me? By throwing in your lot with him? He's a pirate!"
"And a good man." Will answered. Jack smiled and turned to the soldiers behind him. 'That's me.' He mouthed, pointing at himself. "If all I achieved here is that the hangman will earn two pairs of boots instead of one, so be it. At least my conscience will be clear." Jack could have clamped his hand over the poor kid's mouth and told him not to encourage them but his mind was to numb with shock at what the kid was saying. Wow, worthy of Bill.
"You forget your place, Turner." Norrington hissed.
"It's right here...between you and Jack." Will answered. Suddenly Elizabeth walked forward and planted herself right next to Will. Jack knew she had guts but...
"As is mine." The governor freaked.
"Elizabeth! Lower your weapons! For goodness'sake, put them down!" The men lowered their weapons.
"So this is where your heart truly lies, then?" Norrington asked, looked at Elizabeth. Jack had been slightly hung over at the time but, he distinctly remembered being on the Dauntless and Elizabeth accepting Norrington's proposal. Tough break but, as Norrington had shot him...hunted him...hung him and threatened him in every way possible, he wasn't too sad.
"It is." As Elizabeth said this, Jack looked up and noticed a parrot...Cotton's parrot. The Pearl.
"Well!" He said, everyone looking at him in surprise. "I'm actually feeling good about all this." He used his intimidation tactic on Mr. Look at the rodent on my head, Swann. "We've all arrived at a very special place, eh? Spiritually...Ecumenically...Grammatically." No one noticed he was actually pick pocketing the man. Next he went over to Norrington. "I want you to know I was rooting for you, mate." There was nothing in his pockets. Where did he keep it? "Know that." Thinking he didn't want to find out, Jack moved on, running up the stairs to the cliff face and the side of the fort. Halfway up, he stopped. "Elizabeth..." He started. He was about to apologize but couldn't, not with all these witnesses. "It would never have worked between us, darling. I'm sorry." He looked at Will, trying to say thank you but, again...witnesses. "Will...nice hat."
The soldiers were on his heels. "Friends!" He was walking backwards. "This is the day that you will always remember as the day that..." He wasn't able to finish as he hit the ledge and lost his balance, toppling into the sea.
When he surfaced again, there were shouts and stuff. He was able to make out one, "Sail, ho!" Turning and treading water, Jack saw black sails and a black ship coming around the corner. He swam, occasionally glancing up at the fort where people still stood watching. Norrington, though an idiot, was a good man. Jack, he knew, had one fair and square this round...he wouldn't give up, but he'd at least give him a day's head start. What a sucker.
The Black Pearl looked so large and grand from below as Jack came to a stop at her base and grabbed a soggy rope. With a quick jolt, he was propelled out of the water and brought to rest on the deck, slightly dizzy...wet and the sun was way to bright. Gibbs stood over him.
"I thought you were supposed to keep to the code." He said. Gibbs smiled as the midget joined them. Poor guy.
"We figured they were more actual...guidelines." He reached out and helped Jack to his feet. Cotton stood near by and held out Jack's hat, which he took gratefully.
"Thank you." Jack said, cramming it onto his head. Anamaria, who stood dark and beautiful at the wheel, walked over and took his long heavy coat from another crewman, draping it over his shoulders and leaning in close.
"Captain Sparrow...the Black Pearl is yours." Jack couldn't discern all his thoughts and emotions as he walked to the wheel and ran callused hands up and down the beautiful wood. So much had happened in the past few days...ten years, it seemed so long. Everyone was watching him.
"On deck you scabrous dogs! Man the braces! Let down and haul to run free!" Everyone was going about their duties. "Now...bring me that horizon." He took out the compass. He'd need swag now that he had a big enough ship to get Fritz...Isla de Muerta had a ton. The song Elizabeth taught him came to his mind. "And really bad eggs..." He adjusted the wheel. "Drink up me 'earties, yo ho!"
Done! What did you think? Please tell me! Please! Well, now that the movie is done, we can get on to more revenge. Tune in nest week...it'll be great!
DragonHunter200: You really have to write them down or you don't sleep? That's really creepy...I have that with water though. I have to have a large glass of water before bed or I can't sleep. Weird eh? You may think I'm crazy...everyone does...but I'm working on another potc and a harry potter. I don't know if you like harry potter but...school's almost over for me! Yeah, summer! Anyways...Sorry bout your eye phobia but...you know. This'll really kill you, we almost had to dissect a cow eyeball in bio but, luckily, we didn't. we ran out of time because of our pig dissection. Ana's tough and mean...she was going to give up Liz to barbossie. Oh well, that wouldn't have been that bad...lol. What do you think happened to bonnetti? I really didn't think about it all that much. My calf does play fetch. His name is areis. His only problem is bringing the stick back. Yup, Canada is full of weid things like that. You really only see most of it in small town Saskatchewan though.