This Sunday is not only the 1000th day since I first ever saw 'The Lord of the Rings' and two days before Frodo's birthday, it's also 'Talk like a pirate' day in England! So everyone join in! Better get practicing... ARRR!

Chapter 12 – Captain Powell

They all stared at it for a moment. Then Tobias broke the silence with a word which summed up the situation very aptly, but sadly cannot be recorded here for rating reasons. Suffice it to say that had such language been used in front of Governor Swann, Elizabeth's story of them being relations of plantation owners would have been put under suspicion.

Will took command. "Mort, Helen, get up the rigging and lower the other sails! Mro, take the wheel!"

"They're coming up too fast!" said Elizabeth, looking over the side at the fast approaching ship, "They'll cut us off before we can reach the port."

Will glanced at Frankie, Alex and Gemma. "Can you three make a signal?"

All three of them beamed. "We'll need some gunpowder and, uh, your cloak," said Gemma, and eagerly grabbed it from off his back. Frankie and Alex, giggling excitedly, ran below to get one of the barrels of gunpowder. As soon as they reappeared, they scrambled quickly up the rigging after Mort and Helen.

"What are they going to do?" asked Elizabeth.

"I don't know," said Will, "And I think I prefer it that way."

"Will!" shouted Jackie down, "I can see the other ship closer now. You won't believe who it is."

"Who?" asked Will, "It's not Barbossa, is it?" he added with a laugh.

Jackie didn't laugh. She didn't even smile.

xxxx

Tanuki and Eos looked up as a pirate came down the stairs into their lower deck and towards their cell, pulling out a bunch of keys on hook as he did so. "The captain wants to talk to you," he said, shoving the key into the lock and pulling the door open. Tanuki and Eos quickly got to their feet, Tanuki's hand instinctively going for his sword before he remembered that it wasn't there. The pirate didn't come into the cell, but stood holding the door open, waiting for them to come out; which they did, albeit tentatively. As soon as they were out, he closed it behind them, then extended an arm towards the stairs and said, "This way."

As they followed the pirate between the cells and up the stairs, Tanuki kept looking around, mentally recording everything that he saw for possible escape plans. Not that their chances of escape looked all that hopeful, being on a ship surrounded by pirates in the middle of the sea, but you never knew. Tanuki liked to stay optimistic.

They came up the stairs onto the main deck of the ship, under the moonlight. Either this was the end of the same night of the attack on Rum Island or the night after; they both thought it was probably the latter, since they were both actually very hungry. They felt the eyes of all of the pirate crew, who had all stopped working as soon as they had appeared, follow them as they were led across the deck towards the main cabin on the other side of the ship.

Eos was not idle as they were walking either. She saw a flash of metal under a box on the deck; as they were almost right next to it, she stuck out her foot and tripped up Tanuki. The pirate leading them spun round as he heard Tanuki hit the deck, and glared at him. Tanuki similarly glared at Eos, who bent down to help him up. She held out one hand to help him and, as she did, under the pretence of using the other hand to push herself back up again, she slid her hand under the box; as she had suspected, there was a knife.

Palming it quickly, she got back up and held out the hand to Tanuki to help him get off his knees and back to his feet. Tanuki's eyes widened slightly as he felt the knife, but no other sign showed on his face; as Eos released his hand, she saw the blade vanishing down his sleeve. He then looked up at the pirate, who was still scowling at them for the delay caused. "You really ought to get someone up here to wipe this deck, you know," said Tanuki with a smile. The pirate didn't return it, and turned and walked towards the cabin again. Eos and Tanuki glanced at each other, and followed.

Not a single pirate moved until the one leading them opened the cabin door and stood aside as they went in. The cabin was reasonably richly decorated and bathed in the yellow glow of many candles. On one side was a desk, with a map of what seemed to be the Caribbean islands on it. Behind this, in a comfortable looking armchair, was sitting a man, who looked up as soon as they entered.

Tanuki and Eos were both surprised at the man. The only pirate captain Tanuki had encountered other than Jack was Barbossa, and had been imagining this pirate to look similar. Eos had heard tales of the evil and ugly pirates of the Caribbean. But this man didn't look like Barbossa at all. He wasn't even old – if Tanuki had to guess, he would have said he was younger than Jack. If he had spent years at sea, it did not show on his face, which was as clear and defined as many of the young men back in Bath in England. He looked as though he took care when choosing clothes, not just throwing on finery like many other pirate captains out there in an attempt to show wealth. If the pirate crew was different from most out there, their captain was most surprising of all.

"Ah! The two that the men brought back from Rum Island," said the captain, a smile on his face, getting to his feet. Tanuki and Eos felt uneasy, though they didn't know why. "I am Lucian Powell, captain of this ship, The Pursuer. Firstly, may I apologize for the quality of your lodgings? Sadly there are none better available."

"You've bloody locked us up in the brig," said Tanuki, looking the captain directly in the eye. Captain Powell's smile faded slightly for a moment, and his eyes flashed in Tanuki's direction, but in a moment the smile returned.

"As I said, none better are available. Would you like to take a seat?" He gestured at two chairs in front of the desk. Tanuki and Eos glanced at each other, and sat down. Captain Powell returned to the other side of the desk and sat back down in his chair. "Now that we are all comfortable, tell me a little about yourselves. How did you both come into possession of those gold beads?"

Eos quickly launched into a long explanation. She said that she and Tanuki were both servants at the house in Rum Island, that they had both found those bead fairies for sale in the local market, why, were they important? While she rambled on, Tanuki took the opportunity of the captain's eyes being off him to study him himself. There was no sign of a smile on his face now. As he watched Eos telling the story, there was a strange look in his eyes; almost as though he was hearing exactly what he had expected. Tanuki felt for the hilt of the knife in his sleeve.

"And what about you?" said Captain Powell, suddenly turning to Tanuki when Eos paused for breath, "You gave my crew quite a bit of a fight. Just a servant, were you?"

"Yes," said Tanuki.

Captain Powell surveyed Tanuki for a few moments. "Unusual loyalty for a servant," he said, "To fight so desperately to save a house that is not your own."

"I was hoping for a pay rise," said Tanuki.

Captain Powell laughed suddenly and loudly, making Tanuki and Eos jump. "Jack! Jack Sparrow! His influence is spreading through the Caribbean. God, I haven't seen him in months." He saw Tanuki and Eos staring at him in amazement. "What, you think I'm so stupid as to fall for this story? Old Thomas wouldn't be as stupid to allow his precious beads be sold on a market. You were given those beads. And I've spoken to the men too, you know. They told me about all the other people up at the house. You, maid, may have been working for them up at the house, but you-" He looked at Tanuki again, a strange light in his eyes, "You're on Jack Sparrow's crew, aren't you?" Tanuki didn't answer. "Aren't you?" he shouted.

"What makes you think that?" asked Tanuki.

"Because there's only one pirate out there who's such a damned fool, and his crew are all fools too. You're a fool to think you could fool me. You were with that other crew up at the house, trying to stop my crew getting the gold beads. You knew what we were after, and what's more, you were against us. Only Jack Sparrow would be so bold.

"And since you had bead fairies yourself," he said, getting to his feet and laying a hand on his sword handle – Tanuki slipped the knife down his sleeve and into his hand – "you must know where the others are. I highly doubt that you're just going to tell me, so we'll start with an easier piece of information-" He drew his cutlass suddenly and pointed it at Eos. "Where's Jack?"

Tanuki leapt to his feet and knocked the cutlass blade out the way with his knife. Before Captain Powell had recovered from the surprise, Tanuki tackled him and forced him onto the floor, and got the knife blade to Powell's throat. Eos quickly came and sat down on his legs, and pulled the cutlass away from his hands.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't," said Tanuki.

"You're on a ship surrounded by my crew," said Captain Powell, raising an eyebrow, "You don't know where you are. If you killed me, you'd get killed yourself, but if you don't, you can stay alive."

Tanuki paused. "Damn, that's good reasoning. But I never was the logical type..." He dug the knife in a little. "And right now I'm thinking killing you would be a very satisfying thing to do."

Captain Powell didn't even blink. "I don't suppose you'd consider joining my crew instead? There are plenty more benefits than that Jack Sparrow can provide. There is enough treasure in the Mordre Cave for at least four lifetimes. And those are rich lifetimes," he added, "No sailing over the seas, risking death just for cargoes of sugar and cloth."

Tanuki hesitated. With money, he might appear a more acceptable match in the eyes of Diana's parents... "No," he said, "And you know why? Sailing over the seas risking death is the best part of my life at the moment."

"I knew it," sighed Captain Powell, "You're a Disney hero, aren't you?"

"You'd better believe it."

Eos suddenly grabbed a bottle of rum off the captain's desk and smashed it over Tanuki's head. Tanuki instantly let go of the knife and fell off Powell's chest, holding onto his head. Captain Powell sat up immediately, raising one eyebrow in slight surprise at Eos.

"Never thought you were the type to attack one of your own crewmates," he said, picking the knife up where Tanuki had dropped it and throwing it away across the cabin. He got to his feet and offered a hand to Eos. She didn't take it, but scrambled to her feet by herself. Tanuki looked up at her, still holding his head. His face had a mixture of anger and confusion on it.

"Why the hell did you hit me?" he demanded.

"Because you were being an idiot," she hissed furiously, "He's right, killing him could possibly be the stupidest thing to do at the moment. Even though he's a horrible bastard," she added, glaring at the captain.

"She's right," said the captain, smiling triumphantly at Tanuki, "Optimistic, but right. She's obviously thinking that you can escape in future. Sadly, your chances are going to get increasingly slim. Do you know where we're going?" He looked from Eos to Tanuki. "A conference. A meeting of the Piratical Raiders Alliance for Treasure Seeking."

"The PRATS," said Tanuki firmly.

"You may want to watch your tongue, boy," said Captain Powell, eyes hardening, "You might miss something that could be important." Tanuki glared in silence. "You know what? I'm not going to tell you now." He whistled sharply. Immediately the door opened and two of his crew came in. "Would you be so kind as to escort these two back below decks?"

The two pirates stepped towards them silently. One took hold of Eos's arm, and the other hauled Tanuki roughly to his feet, and they propelled them out of the door. Captain Powell called, "And if they fall over this time, stab them in the back."

xxxx

MISSING: Katie's funny bone. May have been removed when she went into the Sixth form and, for some reason, decided to take 5 AS Levels instead of the usual 4, which everyone else is taking, even the insanely smart kids who got 11 As at GCSE. Also missing, Katie's good sense.

Seriously. WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THIS STORY? There were no truly random bits in that chapter... AND Eos caused Tanuki pain twice...

mronimusha – You see, you're not ACTUALLY relations. You're just PRETENDING. See? You even fooled yourself!

Im a Brandybuck – Yay, next summer! You know there's going to be two? They're going to be linked, like the Matrix 2 and 3. Wait, does that mean we can expect a cliffhanger? Will Elizabeth ask Jack, "So are you actually gay, or what?" just before the credits roll? DUN DUN DUN!

Theshiz – He's played four people??

Tanuki Yasha – My friend has recently become obsessed with ferrets, she's so jealous of you. You've talked to her, she was the one who talked to you about Invader Zim when she was round at my house. By the way, finally seen Invader Zim, and IT ROCKS! "Invader blood courses through my veins like GIANT RADIOACTIVE RUBBER PANTS! The blood controls me! Do not ignore my veins!!"

Tobias – (sniff) I wanna do classical studies. I'm stuck doing Latin. Hannibal's no fun! So what if he crossed the mountains with those elephants?? Nowadays you can do it in a cable car!! Oh well. I just learn it by myself by reading millions of different legends.

Cat Youkai – Sounds like a good one! I'll try to fit it in somewhere. Oooh, just thought of a great moment to have it. Hee hee.

Lady Shinimegami – Shankles is cool. Fantasy parties rock. Especially when you get a friend to put random fantasy-themed songs on a CD for you. Classics such as 'The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins', 'Yo ho, a pirate's life for me' and 'Away with the fairies'. And drink over a bottle of Tesco brand appleade by yourself (2 litres for 39p! May stain clothing!) And GCSEs are the tests that 16-year-olds have to take in England. Most people only take 9. I took ten. I'm mad.

Gilraen Ar-Feiniel – Shiny is cooool... shiiiiiny...

Alteng – My parents are indeed very cool. And British folklore, ummm... can't think of anything except all these different ways to find out who your husband's going to be and when you're going to get married. Gargh. Um. Oh, the thing that King Arthur will come back to life to defend England when it's truly in danger. That's all I can think of. Friday 13th, of course. Finn MacCool and his magic thumb. Yes, you read that right. A magic THUMB.

Eowyn Skywalker – PLOT?! (screams in a Legolas sort of way – you know, scarily high pitched) I really want to turn this into a play now! I could play Jack! I do already - whenever my friend and I get the chance, we get some swords out of the costume cupboard and re-enact the workshop scene. Hee. Fun.

Reasonably Crazy – Mocking's fun! (to Will) You're useless! You're useless, you useless person! You're so useless you're beyond uselessness! You're reaching beyond uselessness levels, but still you're getting more useless all the time! Two things are eternal, human stupidity and YOUR USELESSNESS! (pause) Heh heh, I made him cry!

Hyper-Elf – I spend most of my life at the cinema too. How many times did I go this summer? Ummm... between halfway through July and the end of August... eight times? That's all the times I can remember.

See y'all soon. Usual problem for long gaps between updates – I need to actually write the next chapter. But I'll get right to that.