Sorry it's taken so long… busy here. And characters arguing… I find that even when it's not his chapter, Jack won't stop talking. Bloody pirates.
Many thanks for the readers and reviewers. Wishing you every good thingy.
Boom.
Will was running downhill through the forest when he heard the sound, reached out instinctively and grabbed a tree to stop himself. If he didn't have a blacksmith's arms, he might have broken a wrist.
With grace worthy of Jack Sparrow he kept moving, spun around the tree so he was facing back in the direction he came.
Boom.
He gulped a breath, fighting his body's first two impulses, which were to run back to the bay and to run ahead toward the road so he wouldn't get caught by anyone attacking.
BOOM.
"There. I know those guns." He shook his head and listened again. "But who was shooting on her?"
Frozen with indecision, Will pulled out the map and stared until his eyes adjusted to the dim light. According to the simple drawing, the road was quite near, and he should be able to find better transportation at one of the sprawling plantations for the miles inland.
BOOM. BOOM.
He looked up toward the bay again as the sounds echoed over the water, then stared in agony into the dark forest. What now? Cursing under his breath, he glanced up at the stars and turned back toward the road. His father trusted him to do what had to be done… at least he could return the favor. The nobility he wore so casually led him on. He had to do the right thing.
In two minutes he was on a well worn dirt road, heading northwest. For half a mile the wild forest crowded in on both sides, until it suddenly gave way to cultivation on the right. Will paused at the edge of the trees to look out across the moonlit field of sugar cane stretching off into the distance. He glanced back toward the bay once more and strained to hear. Nothing. Not even the muffled echoes of a fight. Whatever had been happening back at the ships was over. In frustration he almost cursed aloud when a much closer sound made the words catch in his throat. Ducking down next to the last of the trees, he waited.
Hollow thudding resolved into hoof beats, overlaid with the dim jingle of harness. Someone was riding up the road from behind him.
Behind me? According to the map this road goes straight to the water…his expression hardened as he glanced up and down the road. With a silent dash, he crossed over into the heavier forest on the other side. Someone was expecting me.
The rhythmic walk of the horse was slowing as it grew closer, and Will managed to slip a bit farther back into the sheltering trees. He flattened his back against a trunk and waited as the sound of the walking got slower and slower, until it stopped near the beginning of the cane field. Frowning, Will peered cautiously around the tree.
The moonlight barely illuminated the man on horseback, but Will could almost sense his discomfort as he looked around furtively. Clearly he expected to find someone or something on this stretch of road. When the man quietly dismounted, Will's hand crept to the hilt of his sword, his palms almost tingling in anticipation of a fight – but after looking around briefly, the man simply dropped the reins in the road and began walking back toward the water. Will stood silently for several minutes, unbelieving, but finally curiosity got the best of him. Moving cautiously, the blacksmith worked his way back until the horse was within view. After waiting at least five minutes, he stepped out onto the road.
The horse lifted its head and looked at him, then dropped back down to munching the grass at the edge of the wood. It sniffed once toward the sugar cane, ambled in that direction. Will looked up and down the road again, listening with all his being, and walked across the road. It didn't take an expert to see it was a fine animal.
"Well, friend," Will said, patting the side of the horse's neck. "Looks like I'm supposed to take you, and this road." He looked back down toward the bay and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "I'm sure you'll understand if I decline." Moving quietly, he ran up the road alongside the sugar field and ducked into it, his legs complaining as he hunched over, speeding through the shoulder-high crop.
The lady of the island woke in the dark, sat up with a frown. Jack was gone. She glanced briefly around the small hut, even though she already knew he wasn't inside. She rose, dressed, and through her concern smiled at herself in mild amusement. 'Coqui.' He is different indeed, this pirate. Unexpected. With a sigh she got up and walked out into the island night.
Placing her hand on the trunk of a large tree near the hut, she closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded and began walking toward the beach they had visited the morning before. As she slipped silently through the forest, tiny green frogs echoed the name as if the spirits of the trees were trying to get her attention… co-kee, co-kee…
At the end of the first cane field was a large outbuilding, including the stables. Slipping in quietly through the doors to the fields, Will took the first horse he found, a grey mare that was clearly more accustomed to pulling a plow than to being ridden. Fortunately, her bridle was still on, and he didn't have to deal with finding tack in the dark. Swinging up onto her bareback, he pulled her somewhat reluctantly out into the fields.
By the time he had convinced the good-natured beast that this was all perfectly normal, the moon was up and giving him good light, even at three-quarters full. Taking out the map again, he urged the mare across the fields, keeping off the road entirely. Once or twice he thought he saw a group of darkly dressed riders in the distance, making their way quietly down the road. Smiling to himself, he took the mare farther afield, and kept her at a brisk walk through the rough landscape. Four hours later he could see the lights of the estate, and the sky was dimming its way toward dawn.
It was the very model of a despondent pirate that sat on the beach, hugging his knees to his chest as he leaned back against the trunk of a large tree. He stared out at the sea, his eyebrows pinched in a concerned frown. Wincing slightly, he rubbed across his healing chest with his right hand. When the woman sat down beside him he didn't react, but quietly moved over for her to join him without changing his focus.
For a few minutes they sat silently, her hand over his.
"Your wound bothers you?"
"Dunno, love. Something's not right." He frowned again, his eyes never leaving the horizon.
The woman he called Coqui followed his gaze out across the slate blue sea. Purple-gray bars of cloud were lit from behind with metallic rose as the sun attempted to make its way into the reluctant morning. "Your Pearl?" Jack said nothing. "She calls you."
The pirate's lips drew into a tight line. "Can you hear her, then?"
She ran a hand lightly over his hair. "The sea is not mine." For the first time he turned, looked into her dark eyes. Compassion without pity looked back at him. "Do you know where she is?"
"How could I, love? You think I…" he frowned, then nearly smiled as he exhaled a laugh and looked down at the sand. "You probably think I can."
"There is no thinking involved, Zulee."
Dark eyes lifted as a sparkle of a smile escaped. Jack shifted to put his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer. "Alright, m'lady. I shan't argue with you."
She continued to look at his profile as he stared back out to sea, his smile fading slowly. "Can you see what has happened to her?"
For a long moment he said nothing, his frown ticking across his face. He shook his head. "Nothing good, but…"
"Yes?"
He rubbed his free hand over his eyes, speaking reluctantly. "She's hurt. But she's still afloat."
"Ah." The woman smiled, seemed to relax somewhat. "Like her master."
"Thanks." Will slipped off the mare and slapped her side. "Go home. And be quiet about it." The horse turned to stare at him oddly for a moment, then ambled off the way they had come. Making sure that she was heading away from the road, he scrambled along the landscaped edges of the estate Esperanza, feeling it safer, for some reason, to stay hidden as long as he could.
Even though he was supposedly welcome and expected at the manor house by the Spanish and French ambassadors, Will still remembered overhearing his father and Jack talking about it that first night in the kitchen, after he had carried his sleeping wife upstairs and paused on the landing.
"So. You think it's on the up and up?"
"Something feels a bit strange about it, Jack."
"Truer words were ne'er spoken, old friend." There was a pause broken only by the clink of glass and the sound of liquid pouring.
"You don't suspect Swann, do you?"
"Nah, the guv's alright. But I don't trust 'Sir Robert' as far as I can throw him, and my arm's pretty good these days."
His father had chuckled at that. "Aye. He seems an easy one to mislead, if you get my drift."
"Aye."
Elizabeth had stirred sleepily in his arms, then, and he carried her from the landing into their bedroom.
The conversation had stuck with him through two ambushes. Someone was out for something other than the peaceful resolution of the increasing navel hostilities between Spain and Britain. Technically a pirate, he couldn't complain about breaking the rules… but now it was personal. Whoever it was had attacked their ships and – he paused hopefully in his thought – nearly killed Jack, certainly caused some damage if any of the shots he'd heard from the bay were true. Shaking his head, he brought his focus back to the estate.
As he crept closer to the servant's entrance, he could see that dawn was bringing much activity in the form of food being delivered, along with any number of serving people coming in. Will glanced around quickly. No one seemed to be looking in his direction. He shrugged, walked out of the bushes, took a barrel off of a wagon and walked with it into the manor house.
Once inside, Will followed the general flow of servants toward a large dining room, busied himself with moving a chair, and slipped out another door to find himself in a long hallway. Ducking into a side room as he heard a noise, he shook his head. Do you have a plan here, Turner, or are you just sightseeing? He was about move back into the hallway, try to find someone who might know where the ambassadors were when footsteps sounding down the hall forced him to move farther into the room. He looked around quickly.
It was a library, huge bookshelves lining three walls. Large windows with heavy velvet drapery were spaced among them. As the sound of the footsteps grew closer, Will looked in desperation, saw that there were seats in two of the windows. Leaping to the nearer one, he stood against the frame and pulled the green velvet far enough over to cover him.
Two men entered the room. They spoke English, one of them with a cultured French accent. "Yes, Milord Ambassador, we're quite sure now."
"Then the trap, it has worked?"
"We believe so, Milord." Will felt his hand move to his sword, unbidden. A trap. So they were after Jack-
"These Spanish rebels, they have seen the last of our patience."
"Yes, well, Milord, the center of their operations was found on San Juan, and the force they sent here has been captured. I think you've broken their backs. Hopefully the sacrifices were not too great."
What?
"We must sometimes sacrifice precious things for more precious security."
"Indeed, Milord. I do hope the Spanish ambassador understands that as well."
"It matters little to me. Our days of cooperation are near an end."
"I understand. It is fortunate that we were able to orchestrate the delivery of the gems to draw them out –"
Will leapt out from behind the velvet, his sword drawn. The British envoy did not have time to call for the guards or draw his own weapon before the point of Will's blade was at his throat. "'Fortunate you could orchestrate the delivery'? You sick bastard-"
"Boy." The French ambassador stepped closer, and Will dropped back to cover them both. "Lower your weapon."
"A friend could be dead because of your little charade." His blade hovered closer. "Give me one good reason." It was difficult to tell if he meant a reason to spare him or kill him.
The ambassador sighed and walked a few steps away, seemingly unconcerned. "Since you are clearly not of Spain, I must assume you are one of the pirates that were contracted, no?"
Will frowned, unsettled by the man's cavalier attitude. "Perhaps."
The man laughed. "Yes, a pirate. Never admit, of course." His expression suddenly became serious. "The gems. You have them?"
The British officer was curious as well. "Our men were looking for you on the road… to escort you."
Glancing back and forth between the ambassador and the envoy, Will saw something in their expressions he wouldn't have expected. They didn't know everything that had happened. And they were the ones who had placed the men on the road, probably to take the gems and then blame the rebels… His brain raced, and curiously, he found himself reluctant to tell them everything… at least all the truth. Perhaps I've more pirate blood than I thought. Or I've just been around Jack too long… "We were attacked. Twice."
"Yes, yes, we know. Unfortunate, but it did bring the scum to the surface."
Will held back his temper as his eyes narrowed. "We were boarded and robbed when we were above San Juan."
The ambassador frowned. "You did not save the gems?"
"We took all precautions. But there was a traitor onboard." The British envoy's expression wavered for a moment, but Will caught it anyway. His sword lifted. "You knew. You… planted the traitor on my father's ship!"
The envoy backed away. "It was necessary." His eyes darted toward the ambassador with rodent-like speed. "And you must admit, Ambassador, that the plan worked."
The ambassador dropped his cane absently across Will's sword to lower it, clearly accustomed to being obeyed. "Yes, yes, of course." His expression told another story. "It is unfortunate to have lost them… but perhaps, they can be recovered. It will give us good reason to pursue these rebels to the last…"
Will shook his head. Jack may be dead, and they're playing at politics. We could all have been killed, and it would have been an unfortunate sacrifice… He sheathed his sword, although his hand remained pointedly on the hilt.
"Well, then, gentlemen. If all has gone as you planned, I'll return to my ship. My father wanted you to know what had happened."
"Wait, boy."
Will turned.
"You are sure the gems were taken by the rebels?"
His noble features were unmoved as he gave an idle shrug. "Who else, milord?" Leaning into a frown, he paused. "Although they didn't seem to be working as one, if you understand me. Perhaps even the rebels have rebels?" Tapping his fingers to his forehead in salute, Will swept from the room. He started running as soon as he was out of the manor, and didn't stop until he was safe in the depths of the forest.
Leaning against a tree, catching his breath, Will unsheathed his sword. It was one he had made himself, to Governor Swann's specifications. It was difficult to balance, but the Governor had been quite clear. Will wondered why he had insisted it went with them on this trip. Now he knew.
Holding the ornate hilt in his hand, he turned it carefully like so and then like so; the pommel came off with a metallic shnk. Tipping the blade upwards, a small roll of silk slid out of the hollow space and into his palm.
Weighing the gems in his hand for a moment, Will shook his head and slipped them back into hiding, closed the compartment. He stared back the way he had come, and his eyes narrowed.
Perhaps it was the pirate blood, perhaps it was anger, or the need for some kind of vengeance on Jack's behalf. He was sure of only one thing.
He had done nothing wrong. Their kind didn't deserve the Sun and Moon.