Thanks for all the reviews! They're really keeping me going! (Replies to reviews at end of chapter!) This chapter got quite a large number of them. I really do appreciate it.
Disclaimer: I don't own it. Disney does. No disrespect is intended. I am making no money from this and write it only for my own amusement.
A Pirate's Life and Death part 6 by Ecri
The Revenge aimed its cannon at the Pearl, but instead of firing right away, the Captain called for surrender.
Anamaria scowled at the words. "Surrender?" She muttered. "Not bloody likely!" In reply to the man, she raised her cutlass, shouting orders to the crew. "Fire the cannons!"
Pirates from the Revenge began to board the Pearl, and the peculiar music of clashing swords soon filled the air.
Elizabeth could think of little besides Will, and, in her mind, these pirates stood in the way of her going to be by his side. Indeed, had they not been attacked, she would be prowling the beaches of Scratch right now.
Pulling a sword from Jack's office, she called on the skills Will had tried to pass on to her. Her months caged aboard the Marauder had seen what little she had learned deteriorate. Still, as she fought, it began to come back to her. The Pirates from the Marauder were so surprised to see a woman wielding a blade, let alone two side by side, as she stood by Anamaria, that it gave her a slight advantage.
Blow for blow and toe to toe, she fought against these men who had taken her life and turned it upside down. These men had destroyed her life! Her home! She didn't hold back, but took out her frustrations on any who dared approach her.
The sword she used, however, wasn't like the one Will had made for her. It was heavy and the shock that traveled down her arms with the force of each blow made her dizzy. Determination and anger did what skill could not and Elizabeth managed to defeat more than one of them. Whirling again to face another opponent, she barely stayed her blade when she realized it was Anamaria.
"Easy! Come on! We're going to blow the Revenge out of the water."
"How are we going to do that?" Elizabeth wondered if Anamaria had any ideas or if she'd been struck in the head one too many times. Anamaria's only reply was to grab her by the arm and drag her below decks.
**
Jack's men rushed into the hidden chamber to find Jack and Killian locked in battle. Gibbs moved swiftly to Will's side and eased the boy off the altar. Hiding him on the floor for now, Gibbs turned to the man with him. "Have the men surround Killian. The Captain doesn't want him to get away this time."
Killian ignored their arrival if he was even aware of it as he circled the irate pirate. "What did you do, wait here for me? Follow this boy around thinking to protect him?"
"Nah, no such planning involved. This was just dumb luck, Savvy? Coincidence. Just fate putting me in your way yet again!" He caught Killian's blade on his own sword and drew himself closer to the man. "Ya gotta love that! It just proves that somewhere out there there's an omnipotent creator with a damn good sense of humor!" He smiled, winked, and fought for all he was worth.
Killian didn't seem at all as perturbed as Jack would have expected. Scanning as much of the room with one eye as he could manage, while keeping the other on Killian, Jack thought frantically for a way to end the duel.
The two pirates traded blows, neither gaining any significant advantage. Jack knew Killian was better than he was, but he also knew what Will's fate would be had he not followed through on this rescue. He hadn't wanted to come here, to face this man again after what he'd seen so long ago, but he had known all along that he couldn't leave Will to this fate, either, no matter what protestations he had made to Elizabeth to the contrary.
Fate put him in Killian's way again, so fate had to have some reason. If only fate would whisper in my ear and tell me how to kill this beast, he thought as he parried another blow.
The macabre dance of two skilled swordsmen, each seeking that one moment when his opponent would falter, continued through the cave. Jack would no sooner gain an advantage, pushing Killian back, then Killian would somehow turn the advantage and drive Jack into a flurry of defensive moves.
Jack knew this had to end soon, for when he'd come into the cavern, he'd thought for a moment that he was too late and Will was already dead. It had taken a few moments for him to realize this was not the case.
Sudden rage at what Killian had managed to do to Will, and at what he had almost managed to do–might still manage to do if Jack couldn't win this battle–lent a ferocity to his blows he'd rarely achieved.
Regardless of the emotions behind his blows, Killian was still better with a blade. Jack blocked and parried a few more times, moving backwards towards the now empty altar when Killian, to Jack's astonishment, disarmed him.
Jack stared at his now empty hand and the blade now held at his throat with a look of complete confusion on his face. "How interesting! That wasn't supposed to happen." Jack stared at Killian's blade, uncomfortably close to his throat. "How about you give me my sword back and show me how you did that?"
Killian laughed a cruel laugh. "I don't think so."
"No? Well, just an idea." He swayed then almost drunkenly and his arms moved in that odd way they had as though a snake was wrapped around him and he had lost the head.
Killian stepped forward then until he stood looming over Jack. "I'm going to kill your friend and make you watch. Then, I'll take you as well, as I should have done when you were a boy!"
"I can't let you do that." Jack declared matter-of-factly.
"And what do you propose to do about it? You are unarmed."
"But not unhanded." In an instant, Jack's hand reached for the Wooden Box and tossed it at Killian, who dropped his sword and reached for the Box as though the most precious thing in the world was inside. "No!" He watched with horror as it tumbled through the air and he raced to catch it. It landed upside down, still open, in his outstretched hands.
The pulsing light spilled forward then, engulfing first Killian's hands and then his arms then growing to cover him from head to toe. It grew brighter and brighter until it suddenly winked out taking Killian with it. The now empty box clattered to the floor and shattered.
Jack stared at the spot where it had been. "How interesting." His voice was a whisper.
Gibbs was hiding behind the altar, but seeing that the supernatural display appeared to be over, called to his captain. "Captain! I've got 'im."
"Yes, Gibbs, I assumed that when I noticed he wasn't up" he gestured vaguely at the altar. "you know, on that stone slab." Jack moved to Will's side, and for a moment, the eccentric, mad pirate captain melted away revealing a desperate, compassionate man. "Oh, William, what did he do to you?"
Jack picked up Will, who moaned slightly, but still had no strength to speak of. "It's all right Will Turner. I'm taking you to your bonnie lass."
**
Elizabeth and Anamaria aimed every cannon they could at the Revenge.
"Nowwhen I give the word, fire them all at once!" Anamaria was moving from one to the other checking their fuses and being sure they were properly loaded. She grabbed a large box she could barely lift and hoisted it up into a contraption she'd cobbled together from bits and pieces lying around while Elizabeth had been busy with the cannons.
Drawing back a rope pulled a few pieces into place, and Elizabeth realized what it was. "That's a catapult!"
"Aye!" Anamaria smiled. "That it is! I knew a man once taught me how to see around corners, he called it. He could fix anything." She looked at Elizabeth. "You ready?"
Elizabeth actually smiled. "Aye!" She said enjoying the piratical sense of the moment despite herself.
"Now!" Amamaria called as she shot the large box out the porthole with the catapult. A moment later, the cannon fire began. Anamaria and Elizabeth stared at the Revenge watching their handiwork and hoping it would be enough.
A moment later, the box of gunpowder Anamaria had launched was hit by a cannonball. The resulting explosion lit the night sky as the Revenge shattered.
**
Walking through the jungle took longer than Jack wanted it to take, but they had to be sure to avoid the other three vessels. He would have been a bit more optimistic of the outcome if Will had shown some signs of life, but the boy hadn't. Twice, Jack had stopped to see if he was breathing, since he did so only shallowly and it was difficult to tell.
He was glad Killian was gone, and certainly wouldn't shed a tear over it. Killian had haunted his dreams all his life.
Flashback
After that day he'd seen the man with the devil mask kill some poor pirate, Killian had chased him again. Catching him, he'd told the boy he would take him off Scratch only if he was a good Cabin Boy. He didn't want to go with Killian, but there was no way he could survive alone on Scratch. There was no food to speak of and too many shadows.
Jack had agreed. Life as Killian's cabin boy hadn't been easy. The man was cruel at the best of times, and anytime Jack had not behaved to the Commodore's liking, he'd threaten to take the boy back to Scratch and leave him there for the demons to devour.
It hadn't been a good life.
Until one day a man named Bootstrap Bill had joined Killian's crew. It was Bootstrap then, from whom Jack had learned much of the code. Bootstrap wasn't much older than the fifteen year old Jack– maybe eight years, maybe ten–but he had been a pirate for years, and he told a good story.
It was ten years after they'd met that Jack had realized Killian was heading back to Scratch.
End Flashback
Jack intended to sneak back to the Pearl and sail away leaving Killian's ships behind. The reality, he realized, wasn't going to be that easy.
When they reached the Pearl's berth, it was under attack by Killian's fleet. The Pearl was holding its own, but three to one meant it had to be fast or it would be surrounded. Jack called to Gibbs. "Are our launches where we left 'em?"
"Aye."
"Good." He sounded much too cheerful to Gibbs. "Come on, men, to the boats!" He walked swiftly down the beach, but stopped when he realized they hadn't followed. Turning back to them, he made a gesture that started out as a typical follow me gesture but turned into something odd and hard to describe. "Come on, men, to the boats!" He repeated the words hoping perhaps they hadn't understood him.
When that didn't work, he glared at them. "Is this a mutiny? I don't care for mutineers! I've had a bad experience with them."
One of the men stepped forward. "We aren't sure we can get out of this, Captain."
"No, and you'll never find out from there, come on!" Jack gestured for the men to follow him, and was stunned when they did not.
"We'd rather wait 'til you've secured the ship and then join you." Another one of the men said.
"Cowards! By the code, if you stay here, I sail on without you." Jack stared at them, hands on hips.
"No, captain, you won't sail on without us."
"I won't?"
"No."
Jack laughed. "Why not?"
The man smiled and pointed to the man next to him who was taking his turn carrying Will. "Because we 'ave 'im! You wouldn't leave 'im behind after coming all this way just to save 'is life."
Jack's mind seemed a moment or two behind events, but once he'd pieced together what was going on, he could think of only one thing to say. "Bastard."
The man only smiled.
Jack turned to Gibbs and shook his head. "Good choice of crew there, mate." He turned to the men. "Who's on his side?"
Five men stayed with the mutineer, and the other four moved to the Captain's side. Jack nodded. Taking a step towards the mutineer, he stared stonily at the man. "I'm going to get my ship back." He gestured to Will. "If he's the slightest bit hurt–well, more hurt than he already is–when I get back, I'll kill you, even if it isn't your fault, Savvy?"
The man nodded.
Jack turned as if to go, then turned back. "It's a stupid move, you know. You'd be better off coming with us. We might not be able to come back for you."
The man laughed. "For me, no, but for the kid" he slapped Will's face harder than necessary, causing Jack to take a step back towards the man. He was held back by Gibbs who gestured at one of the other Mutineers who casually held a knife to Will's throat. Jack pulled himself roughly free and turned towards the launches, his own, loyal men following.
**
Jack and his men made it to the Pearl with amazingly little trouble. Just as they climbed aboard, the Revenge exploded in a rain of cannon fire.
Jack searched for Anamaria, finally finding her as she climbed up from below decks. "What's going on?"
"What do you mean? We're under attack!"
"I can see that, but why didn't you stay hidden?" He gestured to the boats that had obviously found them.
"We tried, but there's three of them!" Anamaria made a vague gesture. "One of them circled the island!"
Jack nodded. "How did you blow the Revenge?"
Anamaria smiled. "I'll tell you when we have time for chatter!"
Jack considered this. "Fair enough. Where's Elizabeth?"
Anamaria was about to rely, when the woman appeared from nearby dressed in some of Anamaria's clothes, a gun in her hand and a sword at her hip. "Jack! You're back!" She turned to Anamaria. "The canon are loaded again, but we're having trouble keeping their people from jumping onto our boat."
"Ship." Jack corrected automatically. "Anamaria, hard to port. Keep them away until I've had a chance to do some figuring.'
"Aye, Captain."
**
Jack would have spent more time planning if the crews of the Marauder and the Serpent had allowed it. As it was, his crew was nearly overwhelmed. Thinking fast, which sometimes got him into trouble, Jack waved his sword above his head in an attempt to look fierce.
He'd succeeded more in looking insane, but as this did more to intimidate the enemy pirates than ferocity would, he didn't notice.
Taking advantage of their brief hesitation, Jack lunged for the Captain of the Serpent, brandishing his sword at the man. "We want adamn!" He'd lost the word again! He hated this! "We want to talk!"
"Parlay." Elizabeth whispered to him.
"Right!" He shouted, excited, as he turned to face her. Turning back to the captain, he gestured to Elizabeth. "What she said. We want to parlay." Jack explained. "We don't want any trouble, but by the code, you 'ave to surrender to me. I killed 'im." Jack held up the Commodore's hat that he'd swept up in their escape for just this reason. "Now, I won't take your ships from you, but I intend to get what I came for and leave."
The Captains of the Marauder and the Serpent spoke briefly. The Captain of the Marauder turned to Jack. "The code's really moreguidelines than rules."
Jack sighed. "So I've 'eard. But in the old days it's what we lived by."
The Captain nodded slowly. "Why should I take heed of some oldand surrender to you when I've got two ships to your one?"
As Jack considered the best way to handle that, a shot rang out, making Jack and his crew jump and try to find cover. Jack peeked from behind a barrel of water to see the Captain of the Serpent fall to the deck a bullet in his brain.
Surprised, he stared at the Captain of the Serpent who held a smoking gun in his hand.
"Good shot."
The other captain nodded. "We accept your terms. By the code."
"Not that I'm not grateful, but why?"
The captain shrugged. "If you can't follow the rules, you should get off the waters!"
Jack smiled, and placed the palms of his hands together bowing slightly in his usual expression of gratitude.
The other captain smiled. "What is it you came for?"
"The boy. Will Turner."
"Go and get him. We won't interfere."
Jack turned to do that, but then turned back to the Captain. "You know, there may be something I can do for you after all." A sly smile spread across his face.
**
Captain Jack Sparrow moved quickly through the jungle and towards Will Turner. Reaching the clearing where he'd left his traitorous men, his eyes came to rest on Will. Feverish and still, the boy hadn't moved.
Frowning, he turned his attention towards the lead mutineer. "We've got the Pearl and made an agreement with the other ships. It's safe for you cowards to come aboard.
The man nodded and Jack moved towards Will scooping him up, noting he didn't make a sound or move a muscle under his own power.
As soon as Jack and Gibbs moved far enough away from the five mutinous crewmen, Jack turned, but stepped slightly to the left, making room for the captains of the Serpent and the Revenge. "This is the part where you get what's coming to you." Jack smiled as the Captain of the Serpent stepped forward chains in hand. He led forty men, all armed and all weapons trained on the hapless former pirates.
They struggled, but in the end had to give up. Gibbs approached Jack. "They're not gonna be slaves, are they?"
Jack, still smiling, started to walk back to their launches. "Nah, they're just gonna pretend for awhile then set 'em loose somewhere."
"How can you trust those men?"
"They honored the code."
Gibbs nodded, and his gaze fell on the boy in Jack's arms. "Is he going to recover?"
"Maybe. But even if he doesn't, he's about to find out what hell is like." Jack frowned at that, but there wasn't any way he could spare Turner this. The voyage back to Port Royal wouldn't be fun for the lad.
To Be Continued
Shaan Lien: Sorry about that. I don't usually write cliffhangers. Something just came over me. I hope this was fast enough. If not, the next part should be faster!
Kandra: Thanks! Yeah, I had Elizabeth set to go to Scratch, too, but I thought it would be more fun to have her and Anamaria in charge of the Pearl. I agree with your interpretation of Jack. There's more going on in that head than we know! BTW, your English seems impressive to me!
EnglishMystic: Thanks! I live for reviews! (Hint!)
Jackfan2: Thanks for the applause! Your heart's racing? Cool! I am thrilled that you like this so much! I hope you like this chapter, too.
Alexa: As you can see this isn't the last chapter. There is definitely at least one moremaybe twoand no, I wouldn't sink the Pearl! What would be the fun in that? LOL! Thanks for letting me know they all seem in character. That is always my biggest concern. I have read Tereza's LOTR fic Suffient for the Day. I adore it!
FalconStorm: Actually, the devil reference was more from the point of view of a scared kid seeing a hideous mask than from any set religion. I'm glad the flashbacks work for you. I was worried about doing it because I wasn't sure if Jack as a kid would seemwell, like Jack!
Enchanted Dreamer: Thanks! Me too! I'm glad you like it!
Artic Strawbehry: Thanks! I hope you like this part as much!
Kels: Well-written is all I hope to achieve! I'm glad you like it!
Padfoot4ever: Thanks! Always glad to see your name!
Lord Lanceahlot: Wow! Best ever? Gee! That's wonderful! I'm really flattered! Actually, ErunRua set me straight on Keelhauling. I'm thrilled that you like this fic, and if you wish you could write a fic like thisgive it a shot!
LadySandrilene2: Creepy and good! Just what I was going for! I'm sorry about the cliffhanger! I promise not to be that bad again! (Sort of!) BTW, My point with making Jack so reluctant to go to Scratch was meant to show that this was something he was truly afraid of. I didn't intend for him to seem disloyal. I tried to clean that up a bit with a line in this chapter. I hope it helped keep things in character for you.
Chris: Thanks! Next chapter I'll try to deliver sooner!
Rachel the Insane: I'm glad you love it so much. There's still at least a little more to come!