Once again I apologize for the loooong delay. This time I don't want to jinx myself by saying the next chapter should be out soon, but…. *looks around furtively*…. It should! And you know the drill…read it, review it pretty please. Yarr.
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Norrington made an peremptory gesture for the spyglass and Jack handed it over, then ordered the red flag hoisted.
"No quarter, Captain?" Ana Maria looked surprised.
Norrington beat him to it. "If they win, they'll kill us all no matter what flag they're sailing under. We might as well try and scare them a bit. Besides," he added under his breath, "If we do slaughter them at least we'll have been honest about it."
Jack smiled but it seemed his mind was elsewhere. Ana Maria picked up on it immediately, and touched him on the shoulder. "Captain?"
"All right, you two, here's the plan," Jack said roughly, dragging himself back down to earth. "Their ship is no match for us in a firefight and I'm sure they know it – they'll have to board us and kill us by hand if they really intend to make off with the Pearl. Don't repel them."
"You mean we're to let them board us?" Ana Maria demanded. "Are you sure?"
"I think Jack thinks he has a plan," Norrington suggested doubtfully.
"Aye. Listen here," Jack said, lowering his voice. "It's likely we won't be able to keep them off, so we might as well prepare ahead of time. Assume they'll board. Goal number one is, of course, to take them prisoner or at least kill them. If that fails, I'll have to resort to drastic measures." He turned to Ana Maria. "You know – the one with the powder magazine."
"Ah." She frowned. "And I suppose I'll be the one to…"
"Would you trust any of the others?" Jack interrupted.
"No. I'll go prepare." She leaped lightly down the stairs and was gone, leaving Norrington staring after her in puzzlement.
"Where is she going?"
"Never mind about her, Bloody, just listen up. This trick is very effective but only if the whole crew does exactly as I say. When I jump up on deck and climb that barrel over there – see? – we'll all know it's time. We've done this before. When you see me up there you've got to immediately stop shouting, stop firing guns, try – without getting yourself killed – try to keep your fighting as quiet as possible. I'll be shouting. I'll say I rigged the Pearl to explode so they can't have her. Echo what I'm saying and head for the railings."
"We all pretend we're trying to go overboard," Norrington continued, nodding his comprehension. "Then those pirates will think the ship is about to blow, and they'll run for it, back to their own ship or even just into the ocean."
"Precisely." Jack grinned. "But that's only an escape in case things start to look dark. Ideally, we'll catch them all aboard here, take whatever prisoners we can, and keep their ship."
"They think we're fighting to the death – you're flying the red flag…" Norrington started, then grinned as understanding dawned. "I see. Since our prisoners will be expecting execution, an offer to join the crew will seem like a gift from God."
"Aye. And what's the only way to make a man eat half a jellyfish?"
"Threaten him with the whole." Norrington shook his head. "Jack, you're mad."
"Aye." Jack handed Norrington the spyglass. "Keep an eye on them while I explain things to the crew."
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Expecting the Neptune's Favor to limp close enough for boarding, despite all the damage she took, Norrington had adapted some siege defenses he knew for the current situation. As a result, nearly half the boarders didn't even get a chance to stand up on deck before they were shot down or knocked straight back into the sea.
Still, there were too many of them. The Pearl's crew was no match for them in hand-to-hand combat, and it wasn't long before Norrington decided time was up.
He fought his way over to the captain. "Jack! Your men are dropping. Use your trick – we're never going to win this," Norrington panted. "These pirates are berserk and they just won't surrender."
Jack nodded reluctantly and slipped away. A moment later, Norrington saw him climb to his special place, sound a big bell, and start shouting.
They could just barely make out his words. "Oy! Crew! Over, mates, get over – I've lit the fuse! Run! I've lit it!"
The others soon took it up. "The powder magazine! He's lit it – it'll blow! Run! Run!"
The word spread. Now, the idea of battle was abandoned for a more general sort of chaos, as pirates on both sides were shoving one another out of the way in an effort to throw themselves over the side before the Pearl exploded. Some of the boarders tried to swing themselves back to the Neptune's Favor, while others just took the nearest route and dove into the sea.
Most of the Pearl's crew, in on the secret, stayed put and only pretended to dash for the railings. Within minutes the ship was cleared of invaders, except a few who were vastly outnumbered and persuaded at gunpoint to drop their weapons.
Although injured and exhausted, Norrington watched the whole maneuver with amusement. Trust Jack to think of an outlandish plan that sows complete chaos and for no good reason, he thought. Now they would be right back where they'd started – shouting obscenities at each other from their two separate ships.
His thoughts were interrupted by a tap on his shoulder. "I think I saw her jump," Jack was saying. Norrington tried vainly to see what he was pointing to. "I'm going in after her, you hear? Get out of here now. If I don't come back, you're in charge, mate, all right?" He was tying a rope around his waist.
"Saw who?"
"Ana Maria – who else? I should never have let her…"
"Jack, what are you-" But there was no point in asking; it was quite clear what Jack was going to do. He stepped up and dove overboard gracefully, leaving Norrington utterly confused.
Well, when in doubt, there were always his orders, weren't there? He bellowed to the crew to let out more sail, hoping Jack had let everybody know that he was to be obeyed.
"Done, sir," Gibbs spoke up immediately. "Everyone knows what to do – Jack told us what might happen. We've got just enough time to get clear of this mess… Unless we should wait for him?"
"No," Norrington said instantly. "There's no good hanging about when he's said to go."
The Pearl lurched and heaved. Norrington hung on, staring overboard and willing Jack to resurface. He glanced at the rope Jack had tied to the railing and was astonished to find it slack. How on earth? Could Jack possibly be swimming fast enough to avoid being dragged? Especially hanging on to Ana Maria?
No, of course not. Jack must have untied it from himself and was swimming free. So much for safety precautions. Norrington watched the rope trail the ship like a long, tranquil sea-snake, winding a path through all the corpses and debris…
He tore his eyes away at last and faced the crew. "Jack went after Ana Maria and I don't see either of them," he said shortly. "Why are we slowing? Did I tell you to-"
"We're far enough away now, sir," Gibbs said, lowering his eyes, "so I thought perhaps we should wait a few minutes…just to see, you know? He might be all right."
Impatient with the sailor's poor judgment, Norrington snapped, "We can't stop here – those pirates will come after us once they see that our ship hasn't blown up-"
BOOM!
A deafening explosion cut his words short. Norrington yelped in panic, then whirled around to see what the devil had happened…
The Neptune's Favor had been totally obliterated, and was now floating in small burning pieces all across the ocean. "What the bloody hell-" Norrington's eyes widened as the truth came to him. "It was Ana Maria – she went and lit their powder magazine, didn't she, while we were all fighting?"
"Aye." One of the other sailors took off his cap. "Such a brave lass."
Norrington could hardly believe that Jack had neglected to share such an important part of the plan with him. Struggling to find something to distract him from a sense of betrayal, he finally settled on, "He let…he let a woman do that? He sent his woman over to certain death-"
"You can't ever win at cards if you're not willing to risk anything, mate." The crew drew in a collective gasp at the airy, ghostly answer, and raced over to the railing.
And there was Jack. He had scaled his rope almost all the way to the top, but since one hand was kept occupied by the unconscious woman draped over his shoulders, he couldn't quite navigate the railing successfully. Norrington stared, mouth wide open, as everyone helped take Ana Maria from the captain and lay her on deck.
As they crowded around her, trying to decide whether she was breathing or not, Norrington noticed that Jack still hadn't climbed all the way over. He leaned down to offer his hand, then thought better of it and just dragged Jack over with both arms.
"Thanks, mate," Jack whispered, eyes fluttering closed.
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Jack awoke to a flurry of repair work and well-intentioned butchery that the crew was calling "medical attention." Wincing at the screams and the damage to his poor ship, he dragged himself upright and tried to find someplace comfortable to sit. An overturned crate, nearly unbloodied, served the purpose well.
Somebody soon came to sit beside him. "What in heaven's name possessed you to send Ana Maria out to do that?"
"Ease up a bit, Bloody," Jack said wearily, resting his head in his hands. "Look at me, all right? I've been punished enough." He looked up after a moment, with his most winning look of suffering sensitivity, but Norrington only snorted.
"Well, at least we see that you're back to normal." He sighed. "Ana Maria will be all right, too…if she survives the operation, that is. I think they're trying to sew something closed, but my stomach couldn't take any more and I left the room."
Jack shrugged. "She can take care of herself. What about you – have they fixed you up yet?"
"In a manner of speaking." Norrington's sleeve had been cut off at the elbow and he pulled up what was left to reveal a haphazard mess of black stitches that covered a gash down his triceps. "I already prayed."
"Prayed?"
He looked heavenward and recited, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," then rolled his sleeve back down with a wry smile. "I think he thought he was helping."
"How did it happen? Wait – let me guess." Jack threw his arm up as though protecting his face from a blow from the side.
"Yes."
"Ah. The dreaded elbow-parry. Bad policy, Bloody, very bad, and it always leaves a scar…but don't worry – practically every pirate's got one."
"Splendid," Norrington mock-snarled, then got down to business. "But what now?"
"Well, we don't have to worry about them coming after us for revenge," Jack said brightly. "And we have a few prisoners who can tell us where they kept their loot. But on a slightly lower note, we do have to worry about taking the next ship, and doing a better job of it. Get something to eat, come into the cabin and we'll talk."
As he stood and walked away, Norrington noticed that the dripping from his clothes and hair wasn't all water. "Jack, you're losing blood," he called.
Jack whirled around and shrugged theatrically. "I've got plenty."
Norrington only just managed to resist adding, Jack, you're losing your mind. Although, come to think about it, perhaps he was losing his mind, too. It occurred to him much later that he hadn't objected – not once – to any of Jack's we's.
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TBC.
Luckily the plot doesn't call for much more naval fighting. It's easy to envision stupid things Jack might think of, but hard to put them in naval/piratespeak. Anyway…Review this for me, willya? Let me know you're still interested, and I'll bust me bottom to write faster. Yarr.