Chapter Nine

Elizabeth's cook made a fine tea – the first decent tea Corinne had had since she'd left London. They sat around the small table, discussing some irrelevant topic.

Finally, after a lull in the conversation, Nikole spoke up. "Alright Elizabeth," she said with a grin, "Let's get on with the real reason you invited me for tea. What is it?"

Elizabeth smiled in return, but it faded. "The pirate who brought Corinne back was Jack. And he's going to be hanged tomorrow."

The former's face whitened. "Jack?"

"Yes. He was captured while bringing Corinne back into the harbor."

Corinne herself turned slightly green when she thought of it. Apparently, Jack knew more than just Elizabeth and Will.

"I wonder if you could...persuade James to perhaps...look the other way tonight, when Will pays a visit?"

Nikole understood, and she nodded. "I believe I can do that. He'll do almost anything for me, I expect. Besides, Jack is an old friend...I will do everything in my power – or the Commodore's – to set him free." Her eyes gleamed with an unspoken plan...Corinne knew she was to do something impulsive.

Elizabeth laid a hand on her arm. "Thank you, so much."

Corinne only hoped that Nikole's powers of persuasion worked well, indeed.

Later that afternoon, Nikole returned, looking paler than she had before. She stepped into the house, looking around and biting her lip.

"Jack is going to disappear tonight...and so are the sentries who guard his cell. He says that there will be only record that Jack was sprung sometime during the night, possibly during the changing of the watch."

"Are you all right, Nikole?" Elizabeth was genuinely concerned. "You look whiter than usual."

"I...I promised the Commodore that I would marry him if he would do this for me."

Her best friend's eyes widened, and Corinne was shocked, herself.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Elizabeth asked. "I did the same thing myself, and was forced to go back on my word...for love."

"I...I'm sure. I do love James, uncompromising though he may be. I feel certain that this is my path, though I may be following it earlier than was planned. And I would marry James Norrington a thousand times to save Jack once."

"So...what are we to do?" Corinne asked. She was anxious to get started.

"James said that he would make sure the guards are gone tonight. He said that a small boat would be waiting at the water's edge. And he said 'Godspeed'."

A faint smile tugged at the corners of Elizabeth's mouth. "James is a good man...I'm sorry that I let him down."

Nikole returned the smile. "You didn't let him down; he still thinks very highly of you. He considers it God's will that you two were never married...because we fell in love shortly after."

Elizabeth nodded; she was glad that Commodore Norrington had found himself a woman who loved him and would be content to become the wife of a fine, upstanding British officer.

When Will returned home from work that evening, Elizabeth told him the news. They prepared to leave at once.

Corinne descended the stairs just as Will opened the front door. The three of them quietly crept down the street and waited outside the Governor's house for Nikole to exit. She joined them and the party of four headed for the jail. Will scouted the area out to make sure that the guards were nowhere in sight, and then they entered the small prison.

Jack was lying quietly on the straw, and he stood at their approach. He grinned widely.

"Elizabeth...Will...so good to see you again. And Nikole – I guess we're square now, aren't we?"

She returned the grin. "Yes, Jack."

"Well, am I out of here, or are you just visiting in the dead of night for your own pleasure?"

Will grabbed a nearby bench and placed its leg on the cell bars. He pulled down, and with a great clang, the door came off. Jack stepped out and stretched. "Good to be pulled out of there again. Now, I should hope to be off..."

"There's a boat waiting at the shoreline," Will offered.

Jack bowed slightly to Will, tipped his battered hat to the women, and strode out the door. They followed, and he turned. "Much obliged," he said.

Corinne walked up to him. "Jack...I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you-"

Jack didn't let her finish, but grabbed her by the arms and kissed her firmly on the mouth. When he stepped away, he saw Corinne's flushed cheeks and her flabbergasted expression. He grinned.

"No trouble at all, luv," he remarked, and began striding away again.

Corinne turned to the others, and saw that they weren't exactly looking at her. She blushed. "Nikole, is there enough supplies in that boat for two people?"

The Commodore's fiancée smiled. "I should think so."

"Then for all you know," she grinned, "the captain of the Jupiter was telling the truth."

And she ran to catch up to Jack.

It was a nice boat; Jack would give them that. It didn't compare to the Pearl...but then again, nothing would ever compare to it.

Corinne was looking in the hold to see what the Commodore had put in it. There was some smoked ham, salt pork, biscuits, hardtack, and plenty of water and rum. Jack hoisted the sails and caught an evening breeze. They were soon making good headway, and she turned to wave to the three left on the beach.

"Well, I suppose I'm lost at sea," she said aloud. Jack turned around from his position at the bow.

"Not a bad person to be lost at sea with, eh?" he said, grinning.

She returned the smile. "Just as long as we don't run out of rum."