Author's Note: I am so sorry! This was supposed to be up weeks ago! I have a lot of excuses (true ones!) involving notebooks left on airplanes, broken laptops, brain surgery, and newborn kittens, but I won't bore you with all that.
To my surprise, Will seems to have taken over this story. Don't know how that happened. It was meant to be Jack's. Oh well, it's almost over anyway. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed this. Please do it again!!
CHAPTER 13 – Of Labyrinths and Hats
"Bloody idiot!"
"Quiet! Keep your voice down or they'll hear you and shut the door. Then you, dear William, will be the bloody idiot."
"Sorry, sorry." Will dropped his voice down to a low whisper. "This is our chance! If we don't get out now, we never will."
"Way ahead of you," Jack tried to push himself to his feet without using his right arm or moving his torso too much. He didn't make much progress. Will wrapped his arm gently around Jack's back, careful not to hurt the pirate beyond what was inevitable, and eased him to his feet.
"Are you sure you can do this?"
"Ain't nothin' wrong with me legs," Jack looked down at his tattered pants and torn skin. "Well, at least they're better off than the rest of me."
Will let go of Jack so he could tip-toe to the cracked door and peer out. "I think the guards fell asleep." He turned back to Jack only to find the pirate Captain swaying uneasily on his feet, dangerously close to toppling back to the cold stone floor. Will quickly steadied him and supported the bulk of his weight, which thankfully wasn't much, given Will's own feeble state. To his surprise, Jack didn't even fight it. He forgot what pride he had left and leaned heavily against his friend, taking all the help he could get.
They edged the heavy door open as quietly as its rusted hinges would allow and stepped out. The guards didn't move an inch. Jack nudged one of the many empty rum bottles with his foot. "I think 'asleep' was a bit of an understatement."
Together, they crept softy forward, as quickly as they dared, trying to keep their footsteps from echoing through the hollow corridors.
This first hall was long, made longer by their creeping pace. It twisted left and right and seemed to go on forever, but Will thanked his lucky stars he hadn't had to make any directional decisions yet. Eventually, he knew, they'd come to a crossroads. And then…what if he led Jack right into their hands? 'Relax!' he told himself. 'Have some confidence!'
When they finally hit it, Will groaned far louder than he should have. It was worse than he had imagined. To the right was a staircase heading down; to the left, one going up. His little pep talk failed and his self-confidence plummeted.
"Bloody hell! There's no way to know the right path!" A hint of panic worked its way into his voice, despite his resolve to keep cool.
"If I may interject, in my experience, dungeons of that sort are typically found below ground."
"You can tell that just from being in the cell? How experienced are you?"
"Not very. But I seem to recall being pushed down far more flights of stairs than I was dragged up.
"Ah, yes. Well, then, 'up' it is." Will turned his face away from Jack as they passed through the eerie orange glow of a torch to hide the deep red blush that had covered his face. 'Of course we have to go up!! Think, Will, think. If Jack can remember how we got here after he was…well, after all he went through, then you certainly can!' Will chastised himself over and over, determined to stay calm and take control of the unfamiliar situation. 'If a half-dead pirate can find his way out of here, why can't you?'
They conquered the first staircase with surprising ease and slowly worked their way through the maze, Will feigning confidence in his abilities to lead. He could only pray they were getting closer to freedom as he half-carried Jack up yet another winding staircase.
"Bloody labyrinth, ain't it." Will jumped, wrenched away from his drifting thoughts. How long had they gone without speaking? "Kinda spooky," Jack continued, doing his best to keep the exhaustion and pain out of his voice. "Almost expect one of those Mini-Bull thingys to pop out, don't ya?"
"Mini-what? You mean the Minotaur? That was hardly a 'mini-bull', Jack. It was half-"
"Ya know what, whelp? I don't really care. I was just tryin' to make conversation, not spark a history lesson."
"Well, actually, it's not history, it's mythology. The Greeks-"
"SHH!" Jack froze and clamped a hand over Will's mouth. "Stop your bloody ramblin' and listen," he whispered. Will strained his ears and could just make out the sound of voices echoing down the hall. It was very soft, barely even audible, but clearly men's voices.
Jack took his hand off Will's mouth and nudged him in the back, urging him on. They slinked forward stealthily, listening intently as the echoes grew louder with each step. Up ahead, the hall bent right. They both peered cautiously around the corner. Jack's hand flew to Will's mouth to stifle the groan which he correctly predicted would come. They had found the source of the noise. Down the hall, on the left-hand side, a door was hanging open. The light from the room spilled out into the corridor, illuminating it better than any torch. From the sounds of things, there was a bit of a party going on.
Jack pushed Will forward again, but this time he didn't move. "Maybe we took a wrong turn. We should go back and try a different route."
"This is it, William. Down this hall, around that corner and we're free. Guarantee it. It's in the air. This is the only way out."
Jack was right. He didn't like to admit it, but he was. After breathing in the rotten, putrid, dungeon air for days, the scent of the fresh country air blended with the salt of the sea was overwhelming. The only way out was past that room.
Will closed his eyes and silently petitioned God. 'You better take care of us, Lord. If you don't, you're gonna have Jack on your hands. Trust me, he's a bit much… even for You.'
'Any minute, now. Any minute someone's gonna step out of that room and that'll be it. Game over. If they do take us alive…well, we'd be better off dead.' Will's mind raced as they crept closer and closer to the light. Ten more yards. Seven. Five. Still, they were in the clear. Three…Two…One…SAFE!!
Will made it to the other side of the door but no further. He looked back and found Jack peering into the room. "JACK!" he hissed.
"There's rum in there," he murmured.
"JACK!" Will was pleading, now.
"Right, right. I'm com-" He gasped. "My effects!" He turned to Will. "They have our things in there. Swords, pistols…my hat!"
"No, Jack! No! Let it be, we're almost out!"
"I want my hat." His voice was stronger than it had been in days. There was something to be said for determination and the love of a good hat. "I can't do it all by me onesies."
"You really are daft, aren't you?"
Will stared into those deep, chocolate brown eyes and found nothing but utter resolve. They took his pride, they took his health, but they were NOT about to take his hat! If he went in alone, he'd be killed.
Will looked into the room. Four men, all shit-faced drunk, sitting in one corner. The hat and weapons were on a table in the other corner, no more than ten feet away. It was doable – for Will, at least. "Fine. But you stay in doorway. I'll get your precious hat. I don't need you collapsing in front of four drunken enemies."
"Agreed!"
Will slithered along the wall, never taking his eyes off the men in the corner. These might have been the worst pirates he'd ever seen. 'What is it was pirates and alcohol?'
He was at the table, now, and still hadn't been noticed. Slowly, he put Jack's hat on his head and checked the pistols. Both loaded. 'They can burn the flesh off Jack's chest and beat me into oblivion, but they're stupid enough to leave the guns loaded. They truly are the worst pirates I've ever seen.'
Then he heard the click. It was unmistakable: a pistol being cocked. Four pistols being cocked, to be precise. " 'ey! Yer that kid we took wiv Sparrow! What ye doin' up 'ere?"
"Um…Leaving?' Without waiting for a response, Will fired both shots, taking out half his opponents. One just watched in a drunken stupor as his comrades hit the ground. The other took a shot at Will, but only managed to graze his arm. In a split second, Will had both swords pointed at their chests.
"Like I said, I'm leaving. Without the two of you." With that, he knocked them over the heads with the flats of the swords, letting them slide harmlessly to the ground.
'What a sight I must be,' he thought as he looked down at his bleeding arm. 'Here I am, holding two swords, wearing nothing but boots, trousers, and a pirate hat, completely bruised and now bloody, too. Thank God Elizabeth can't see me now!' For the first time in days, he was relaxed. They were free. Nothing was standing in there way.
He turned back to grin at Jack and share his joy. But what he saw wiped that silly smile right off his face.
"Lovely job. Very impressive. Shame it was all in vain."
Jack was still standing right inside the doorframe, just like Will had instructed him to. Except now, Captain Richard Lange was with him, holding a very sharp sword to his throat.
Wow, that was pretty long for me! Pathetic, but true. I'm really sorry it took so long to get this little chapter up, but I hope it was worth the wait. Or at least not a complete disappointment. Thanks to all the people who have dedicatedly been reviewing this story and please keep it up!!! I'd like to promise I'd update this soon, but that seems to jinx me. I'll try my best, though.
Oh, I stole one line in here from a Johnny Depp movie (besides 'Pirates'). If anyone can point it out, I'll give you a 4 day-old kitten!