Title: Of the SeaRating: PG-13
Chapter Title: 27. Surrender
Summary: ... Put down your weapons.
Timeline: Thursday, August 5, 1675
Author: Cicatrix (Maris K.)
Captain Jack Sparrow of the Black Pearl stood at the prow of his ship, staring at the vessel they were approaching. It floated desolately beneath the grey sheet that was the cloud-covered sky, its sails torn beyond repair. If its plight was real, Jack pitied her crew, drifting wherever the waves took them, waiting for death and about to boarded by pirates. There was, though, another possibility. Likely it was a trap, and the ship's holds were stuffed with food, and there was a perfect set of sails onboard. In any case, the Pearl had little water and less food, and Jack knew they had no choice but to take what they could from the crippled ship.
They'd been running low two weeks ago when Will and Elizabeth had arrived, but now things were beginning to get desperate. Jack had teased the pair earlier in the venture, asking, "Aren't you glad you came aboard so you could starve to death alongside us?" The couple had quickly and easily discarded their "civilised" manners to adopt a pirate's life. Will's gentlemanly attire was completely ruined by society's standards. His wife had traded her expensive gowns for full-legged breeches, a torn linen shirt, and Matthew's discarded sea boots.
"We gonna take 'er?" a voice came from behind, surprising the captain.
"Got no other choice, 'less starving sounds fun to you," Jack said, and was shocked by the tired sound of his own voice. He looked sidelong at Matthew, who had come up beside him and stood with a solemn expression.
"Aye, I know it well. It's just..." he trailed off, shaking his head.
"How you lost the Aurora," Jack finished for him.
"Aye. But as you say, we've no choice besides starvation."
"How'd you let her go?" Jack asked suddenly, again astounded by his own voice, the words his mouth formed as if he had no control over his vocal cords. "How could you stand on yer own ship and say 'she ain't mine' when everyone else said she was?"
Matthew smiled, the faint smile of a man attempting to share wisdom with a fool. "Ships are like women," he said after a thoughtful pause, "and whether he'll admit it or not, every man wants one to call his own. And there's always, always that one girl, or that one ship, and the second he sees her, he knows: she's the one. And from that moment on, his heart is hers, and no matter how many others he sails or sleeps with, they won't be enough. And when he gets her, that's the only ship, or woman, whichever, he'll ever need. You know how it is; you've got the Black Pearl. I sailed Aurora, but she wasn't the one. I haven't found my ship yet," and he laughed, "nor my woman... though I doubt I'll ever find the latter."
Jack was silent during this monologue, and smiled when it ended, though that smile was quick in fading. Matthew leaned quietly on the rail next to his captain, looking curiously at the man who was usually so eccentric, who now stared out to sea with an unreadable expression.
"What's your ship look like?" he asked. "I knew for years in my head before I got her exactly what the Pearl would be."
"Red sails," said Matthew simply, "I dream of red sails and a heart with crossed swords."
Jack lapsed again into silence, stared out at the sea and the broken ship.
"What's on your mind, Jack?"
You, he might have said, and all the ways in which you confuse me. Instead, he said very abruptly, as if shaken awake from a dream, "Nothing—just, nothing." No comical response came to his tongue, no quick quip to ease the tense air. What in blazing hell is wrong with me? he wondered.
Matthew snorted. "An unlikely story," he said, "but I won't forced it out of you when you're sober and unable to defend yourself."
Jack smiled wanly. "Aye," he said, "that's mighty decent of you, innit?" Then he paused, a sudden silence, looking at Matthew from under furrowed brows, "How'd you know that?"
Matthew shook his head, "It's obvious, but don't worry, no one else has noticed. Keep grinning like an idiot and no one will, either." Changing the subject, he went on seamlessly, "I'll go get the crew, we'll be coming up on 'er soon." Jack nodded and went back to staring at the sea.
"Aye," he agreed emptily, listening to Matthew's receding footsteps.
"No plunder?" several members of the crew echoed Jack's ruling incredulously.
Jack nodded, "Aye, you heard me, and 'less you fancy a British noose for jewellery, I'd recommend you do as I suggest." He smiled gold and silver at the shaking of heads. "That aside, anything edible, we take. Gold is a beautiful thing, mates, but y'can't eat it."
There were a few nervous chuckles at that, and Jack gave more specific orders. Matthew was to stay aboard with "Lizzy", and while the pair frowned at one another, they understood the reasons they were to "stand guard". One of them was pregnant, the other's husband would be... most upset if she was injured. Will and Anamaria were to search the ship for sails, while Mr. Gibbs, Quartetto, Kursar and Cotton were to retrieve the spare white sails from the Pearl and bring them to Jack when the other ship's crew was, as he put it, "properly subdued." The other twenty-four pirates were to go down to the mess and the kitchens as soon as Jack gave the order and find all the food they could to bring back to Pearl. They were all to be safely back on board as soon as Jack gave that order.
"Savvy?" Jack asked. There was a chorus of ayes, but among them a few cries of "no" were scattered.
"Cap'n," one of them, a boy named Tom Black on the edge of manhood began cautiously, "an' I mean no disrespect t'ye, but, what's with all the quick and back on board soon as ye says an' all that?"
Jack's sigh was exaggerated and Matthew cut in quickly on his behalf. "Ever 'eard of Captain Mike Raven, lost his ship the Aurora 'cos of a navy trap involving a stranded ship?" When the young man nodded, Matt gave a faint smile, though Jack thought it seemed edged with pain at having to use his own downfall as an example. "Aye," Matt went on, "so we be quick, get what we need and get gone 'fore the Royal Navy shows up to measure us fer chains."
Jack offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile to the Aurora's former captain, and then said, "A'ight. Just about on 'er, so get ready t'board. If we're lucky, we're away scot free, and not about to starve, either."
He took the helm from Anamaria, bringing the Pearl up beside the vessel, a ship by the name of the Queen's Mercy. She had not struck her colours, had done nothing, and her crew looked at the pirate ship and her jolly roger with defeated acceptance before they were even boarded. The pirates, too, were quiet, setting out planks in silence, too tired and hungry for the screams and shouts that would have been useless to instil fear in a crew too tired to be afraid.
They crossed the planks, glancing sideways cautiously, as if expecting a navy ship to appear on the horizon at any second. Jack was the last to go, with the exception of those who had gone to fetch the spare sails. As he stepped up to the centre plank, a voice stopped him.
"Jack, wait," Matthew said, though the voice was Miriam's. He approached her as Elizabeth stared at the pair curiously. Reaching into the pocket of her waistcoat, Miriam withdrew a crumpled piece of parchment. "Your hand," she said.
He captain presented his calloused palm, and Miriam recognised the scar that obscured the crease she well knew on her own palm. She pressed the paper into it, and watching Jack as he examined it with dark eyes.
"Read it... later," she said.
"You mean to be gone, don't you?" Beside them, Elizabeth felt invisible, and to them, she was.
"I do," she answered. "Time's up, remember?"
"Aye, I do." With those words, Jack took the weather-beaten tri-corn hat from his head, and with a flourish he put it on Miriam. "I want it back," he said as she pushed it up when it fell over her eyes. She stifled a small laugh.
"Course, I'll give it back when I get my effects."
"Agreed," Jack said, and grasping his hand, Miriam echoed the word. They shook hands, and with a slight bow, Jack stepped onto the plank.
"G'bye, Matt," he threw over his shoulder.
"Good luck, Captain Sparrow," she responded quietly, turning away. A single tear, unseen, rolled down her cheek, and she quickly brushed it away. After a pause, she said, not turning back to the younger woman, "Liz, come with me, I'll need your help."
Things were smooth on deck of the Queen's Mercy. With a dazed expression, the captain of the ship watched as pirates deposited a set of sails on the deck. With a grin, Jack said, "hate to leave you stranded out here starving."
Turning on heel, he left the man to stare after him as he went to the stairs that Will and Anamaria had disappeared down some minutes ago. The rest of the crew waited for his signal. Instead, Jack called down the stairs and in a goading voice, "Come out and play, gentlemen." The only response he got was a bullet that whizzed past his head. The Black Pearl's captain frowned. "Looks like the Royal Navy's thrown us a surprise party, he called, drawing his cutlass and backing away, taunting the navy into coming above deck. Silently, he cursed his luck even though he had got what he'd expected.
From her cabin on the Pearl, Miriam heard the first bullet fired, the first clashes of steel on steel. She could hear the cries of the pirates and the navy men locked in battle, and she hoped her plan would not fail.
She threw open the chest she'd brought from Tortuga, and rifled through it, tossing both books and item's of women's clothing aside.
"Do you think..." Elizabeth started anxiously behind her.
"Your husband will be fine," Miriam assured her. "I'll make sure of it."
On the deck of the crippled ship, all was chaos. The pirates fought the navy as best they could, though they were sorely out-numbered, especially when the crew of Queen's Mercy leapt into the fray. None had yet fallen, a fortunate stroke of luck as far as Jack was concerned. Shortly after Commodore Norrington had led his men up the stairs, Will and Anamaria had reappeared behind them with swords swinging, a sight that brought a grin to Jack's face as he rushed to meet swords with the commodore.
The battle, intense though it was, was short-lived. A voice, strong and feminine called out, and a single pistol shot rang in the air. All paused, not knowing to follow the orders or not. "Halt," the woman cried, "cease your fire!"
Captain Sparrow knew the voice, and prayed to whatever gods might listen that the girl knew what she was doing. When she appeared, though, he did not recognise her.
Miriam stood proudly, her head held high, and Jack willed his jaw not to drop. Heads turned and sword-arms went slack as the men stared at the strange woman who walked among them. Her face was tanned and dirty, as were her hands, one of which was wrapped around a pistol's grip. Her eyes, as dark as the ocean's depths, glinted as bright and dangerous as the cutlass she wore tucked in the belt about her waist. Her black hair was windswept and cropped short, but this was all that Jack recognised of the one he had called Matthew.
She wore a gown of fine silk, the palest shade of grey. It was embroidered with tiny while flowers, the low-cut bodice make her gender obvious for once. The gown's full skirts were trimmed with fine lace, as were its cuffs and its neckline. She did not trip over the many layers of petticoats, nor did she mince carefully along as "civilised women" might. She waded through the paralysed battlefield, very much in her element, as if she were born to it. She was more lovely than any strumpet Jack had stumbled upon in Tortuga, outshining even Elizabeth, for even hemmed in as she was, Miriam's beauty was as untamed as the ocean herself.
Jack was relieved that Norrington was as stunned as he was himself, for their bodies faced one another in combat. It was lucky for the Pearl's captain that his opponent, too, stared at the woman who approached them.
"Commodore Norrington," she said politely to one of the pair, though she offered neither bow nor curtsy. Looking at Jack, she said in a voice laced with spite any could recognise, "Captain Sparrow." Gently she beckoned them, "If you'll please follow me, gentlemen." After a pause, she called out, "And you too, William Turner, your wife is waiting for you." Will excused himself politely from his opponent, and found himself to the woman who had chaperoned him those years ago in their youth.
Jack and Will followed her without comment as she turned and walked away. Norrington paused uncertainly, asking, "Excuse me, miss, but where are we going and why?"
Without turning to face him, without even glancing over her shoulder, she said, "It's Miss Sharp, and we go to the somewhat less populated decks of the Black Pearl to discuss the terms of a surrender."
"These are the terms," she said. "Firstly, the crew of the Black Pearl will be returned to their ship. Secondly, Captain Sparrow will release his captives, Elizabeth and William Turner, and myself, Miriam Sharp, into Commodore Norrington's custody. Finally, the Black Pearl as well as crew and captain will go free without pursuit, and upon our return to Port Royal, William Turner will be pardoned for aiding the pirates because he was forced to do so against his will."
No one spoke. "Commodore Norrington, do you agree to these terms "
"I don't understand—" he began, but Miriam cut him off.
"I am afraid I cannot explain the circumstances in this company, nor can I take you aside to explain. All I can tell you is that you must get me away from these pirates so that I may speak freely, and I can only do so if this man," she looked at Jack, "is leagues away." Her voice was filled with pleading and tinged with fear. "Please, I beg of you."
"Then, I..." he paused a long while, "I agree to these terms."
"Let it be heard and witnessed: Commodore Norrington agrees to and is bound by the terms of the agreement." She looked to Will and Elizabeth, the latter of which had returned to dress befitting her station, then to Jack. "Do you, Captain Sparrow, agree to these terms?"
"Aye," he said simply.
Miriam nodded. "Heard and witnessed, then. And so let the terms of the surrender be carried out."
She bend then, picking up Jack's tri-corn hat from where it had rested on an empty barrel. She tucked it under her arm, and looking at the man she had once called captain, she said with contempt in her voice, "I have many reasons, and none of them are selfless. I'll see you hang yet, Jack Sparrow."
"Good luck with that, Miss Sharp," he said in response.
As Miriam walked away, Elizabeth whispered into her ear, "Whose surrender was it?"
To which Miriam responded, "Mine."
While the Queen's Mercy's crew replaced their torn sails with whole ones, Miriam watched the Pearl vanish over the horizon. Her heart was heavy as what had been her freedom sailed away, leaving her behind to mourn its passing. She could do nothing but think of her letter in Jack's pocket and his old and battered hat in her hand.
In fact, her letter was not in Jack's pocket at all. It was on his desk in his cabin, and he leaned over it, smoothing its creases and examining her neat script. He read aloud, in a voice barely above a whisper.
Jack:
I write this as I watch you watching the crippled ship we are approaching, and I know I will soon be gone. My heart screams betrayal because we both know it is a trap and I should convince you to let it be. But my time is over, and this is my best chance, and I have no choice but to go through with this and hope it costs you nothing, or at least, not as much as it costs me. My head is also screaming, screaming that I should not be so honest as I will be in this letter, but I feel there had been not enough honesty between us. I suppose we are pirates and should expect that, but sometimes I can't bear the lies any longer.
I will miss the Pearl. She was more my home than any of the places I've lived, more my freedom than any of the ships I've captained (and there have been many). But I suppose all things, good and back, must come to an end, and my time aboard the Black Pearl is no different.
Although I can see nothing but salt-water stretching to the ever-distant horizon, I know that dry land is in my future. I've spent nine years as a pirate, jumping from name to name, ship to ship, and I regret nothing, except one thing... I regret the end: the moment I'll plant my two feet on solid ground with my life as a pirate behind me and my life as an old maid with an illegitimate child before me. I regret the moment when you'll let me walk away.
If I told you I'll see you hang, that wasn't what I meant. What I meant was only that I'll see you, someday. I'll miss the Pearl, and I'll miss the dreams I never saw came true, the risks I never took, the ship I never found... and, maybe most importantly, I'll miss you, Jack... and Morgan. Please look after her, and yourself.
Best of luck to us both. I think we'll need it.
Yours,
Miriam.
Jack cursed quietly, folding the letter carefully and putting it in his desk's drawer.
"Bloody 'ell..." This is no time to be sober, he thought.