Pirate's Life and Death part 19
By Ecri
The nights were long and the tang of the salt air had long since passed beyond notice, but Will Turner, staring up at the stars, could not help but note that he had achieved a contentment he could not have foreseen. He still worried dearly over Elizabeth and Jack, and what could have caused them to abandon him so many months ago, but he had found something on this voyage he did not know was missing; himself. It was a surprising thing to awake one morning and to realize you were comfortable in your own skin having never noticed that you had not been before.
What had been the cause, Will did not know, but he had become more adept, more skilled, more confidentmore.
He no longer doubted that he would find Elizabeth and Jack. It was a foregone conclusion. He could not have said when, of course, but it didn't matter. He would not abandon his search should it cost him all the years of his life. In the meantime, however, he would learn as much as he was capable of learning. He had mastered every skill the other sailors aboard the Queen had tried to teach him, and he had asked, and been granted permission by the captain, to read the books in the captain's library. He had devoured as many as he was able, at first seeing it only as a means to an end. If he could come out of this trip well read, after all, might he not fit into Elizabeth's society more readily? He now chided himself for such a silly notion. He was not put on this earth to win the respect of men and women he himself could not respect. He was not here to pander to the wealthy in the hopes that they would allow him into their society.
They should seek him out! They should, when in need of a blacksmith, seek his time and his talent. If he were to learn anything, then, he would study those things that truly intrigued him. He read books on shipbuilding and on navigation and on history. He learned what he could about swordmakingthe captain had a number of texts from other countries, and it fascinated Will at the differences in the development of each culture's craft, and Will saw more than one notion that set him to wishing he had a forge aboard the Queen.
He pondered the thought that had kept him from his bunk tonight. It was his dreams, or, rather, the lack of them. He had not dreamed in some time. The haunting visions of his youth of pirates and burning ships, and floating out at sea with no one to rescue him, had long ago given way to dreams of Barbossa cutting Elizabeth's throat instead of her hand as he watched, hidden with Jack and too late to help her. These had, in turn given way to dreams of being trapped in sinking boats, and fighting undead swordsmen, and finally, to the persistent recurring nightmare with his father dying on the bottom of the ocean as Will lifted the curse that had kept him alive.
The dreams had not come to him since he'd boarded the Queen, and whether because of the hard work, the salt sea air, the gentle rocking of the vessel in the gentle waves, or some other reason he had not yet guessed, the dreams were replaced. Dreamless sleep, restful and restoring, was all he got now. He smiled as the stars winked and twinkled down upon him. They had at last left him.
Why he found this disconcerting, he could not say, but he had of late dreaded that they were not gone, but merely hidden from him. Perhaps they would return, and perhaps they would worsen. It was enough to keep him from his bed tonight.
It was also enough to make him examine why he dreamed them. He was no coward, though he'd once thought of himself as one. After all, he'd lived most of his life in fear of telling the woman he loved how he felt. The knowledge that he'd hidden behind society's rules and all but abandoned any hope–save the slimmest–of being with her.
It wasn't until recently that he'd begun to realize that his life had not been the life of a coward. He had thought his decision to leave England in search of his father had been a cowardly abandonment of the only home he'd ever known, regardless of the fact that it was either leave, starve on the streets, or go to the local orphanage.
Now he knew it had been a courageous thing to set out on a ship on the vague hope his father was not only alive, but also somewhere along the route he was taking.
Then, he had somehow made a life for himself in Port Royal. He had apprenticed and learned a trade. He had fought Barbossa's men when they'd invaded the town, and he had trailed after them when he'd learned they'd taken Elizabeth, even eliciting the aid of a pirate and breaking more than one law while he was at it.
He had fought the undead. He had finally spoken to Elizabeth of his feelings for her, and he had fought to save a good man from the hangman's noose.
This recent adventure had certainly proven to be a test of courage as well, and though he was ashamed that he'd given up when he'd found himself alone watching the Black Pearl sail away, he had, in the end, pulled himself together.
So, if he were no coward, why was he afraid to go to sleep?
Nick dragged Turner's son out of the door of the cabin, careful to keep the knife at the lad's throat. He called out through the door. "Sparrow! Turner!"
He waited, listening as the commotion outside the door told him the Captain and his lackey were being called.
"What is it, Nick?" Jack asked through the door.
"How close are we to the island, Jack?" He tightened his hold on his hostage, though none could see it.
"We're almost there, Nick."
Nick fumed at the tone of Jack's voice. It told him the Captain was laughing at him, too, and he could still hear the sniggering of the others.
Reason left him and he tore open the door moving out into the sun, his eyes blinking from the bright light, but his hold on both his hostage and his knife still firm and certain.
"I want a guarantee, Jack. When we get there, I want all the treasure you've hoarded over the years, and I want this ship." Nick saw the way Jack was staring at his hostage and an evil grin spread across his face. "You won't get 'im back, Jack, until I get what I want."
Jack nodded, and Nick grinned at the odd look on the man's face. He'd gone pale and wide-eyed, and Nick was certain it had just occurred to the pirate that Nick was serious and that Nick was the better man. He laughed out loud so sweet was the taste of his long-awaited revenge.
Jack just nodded again, and, Nick noticed, when Elizabeth, also pale and wide-eyed opened her mouth to scream, "But Jack, that's not"
Jack stepped towards the young woman, and spoke over her words, obviously, Nick knew, realizing that Nick would not hesitate to kill her as well.
Jack, one hand firm on Elizabeth's arm, never took his eyes off Nick. He backed away slowly bringing Elizabeth with him. "We'll be there soon, Nick. Why not let the boy have a bit of water?"
Nick laughed again. "I'll just hold him here!"
Jack headed slowly back towards the upper deck. "I'll be up there, steering the Pearl if ye need me."
Nick nodded, fire in his eyes and the tip of his knife drawing a thin line of blood on his captive's throat.
Jack didn't say a word to Elizabeth. He continued to drag her away from Nick, his mind furiously working at the problem that had only now presented itself. That was not Will in Nick's hands. It wasn't Will. Two questions blazed in his mind: Who was it, and more importantly, where was Will? Unfortunately, the answer to the second question was painfully obvious. They'd left him behind.
Why his stomach flipped at the thought, and why his hand, as he released Elizabeth, shook, Jack refused to consider. The price of this trip, already unacceptable, had just doubled at the very least.
Elizabeth was yammering at him, and slowly Jack drew his attention back to her. "I know it's not Will, but Nick doesn't. The less he knows, the better for the lad he's holding."
Elizabeth nodded, but her eyes were enraged. "We have to go back! Anything could have happened to Will by now!"
"Tell me something I don't know, Love." Jack kept steering the ship on her intended course.
"Soturn around!"
Jack shook his head. "Can't. Nick won't allow it, and I need time to think."
"Think? Jack"
"Not another word, lass." He turned to William as the older man came nearer to him.
"Are you two sayin' that ain't my boy?" At Jack's reluctant nod, William could only clench his fists at his side. "So, 'e's led us across the sea with a strangerleavin' my boy aloneJack, we 'ave to do somethin'."
Jack stared at Nick, then, slowly a smile spread across his face. "Right."
Elizabeth stared at Jack. That look on his face could only mean that he had a plan. She didn't know whether to be happy or scared. Her mind focused on Will, alone and no doubt thinking they'd left him behind by choiceshe choked back the sorrow that threatened to spill out of her. "Jack, we can't just stand here"
"No, we can't at that, now can we?" He grinned at her. "I've got a plan"
Elizabeth's attention had been drawn away from Jack as she sensed movement off to the Captain's right. Looking out across the ocean, she saw a ship fast approaching them. "Jack"
He looked where she pointed and she could see he recognized it as well, if not better than she did. It was another pirate ship. They'd all been so occupied with Nick's little drama the other ship had gotten a drop on them.
He turned to William. "Tell the others to prepare for a fight."
William nodded and went off to do it as Jack turned back to Elizabeth. "Love, ye ought to hide below"
She bristled at the words. "What? I'm perfectly capable"
"Ye are, and I won't argue it, but that ship isn't likely to be full of gentleman. You and Anamaria"
"Are you sending her below as well?"
"Well, now"
"I thought not."
He sighed. "Elizabeth, please"
Her words surprised him. "I'll go, but I won't stay there if I think I can do more up here."
He nodded. "That's fine. I might be able to talk 'em down from attacking anyway. They'll want our cargoif I can convince 'em we 'aven't got much, they'll go."
"Would you believe a captain who told you he didn't have much?"
"Course not," He smiled again. "But then it wouldn't be as well told as I'm goin' to tell it."
The Bloody Mary sailed closer and closer to the ship in the distance. Her captain, though realizing he was about to attack a fellow pirate, justified the action by the poor take he and the crew had had lately and by the fact that if he didn't provide his men with some target, he'd be facing a murderous crew.
He wasted no time issuing the order to take the ship, and he watched in grim satisfaction as the nines began to fire. He saw several cannonballs hit their mark, and he could see many of the pirates aboard the Black Pearl begin to race about the deck. The Black Pearlrecognizing the name gave the captain pause. She was supposedly a cursed vessel. Perhaps this wasn't the best of ideas
Still, there didn't seem to be anything particularly ominous about the ship or her crew. In his concern over the reputation of the Black Pearl, it never occurred to him that there could be another threat nearby.
Jack cursed his luck as he issued orders to his men. Avoiding being boarded was something every pirate ship knew how to do, but he wasn't usually so late in identifying the danger. Nick had occupied too much of his time recently and Jack cursed again.
How had he not seen that Nick did not hold young Will? How had he fallen for the ruseor was it a ruse? Did Nick believe this young man was William Turner, Jr.? There could be no other explanation. Why else would he allow the other man to be seen?
Will had to be safe. There was no reason to believe otherwise. That, of course, did not explain the frustration he felt, the anger at himself, that Will was not here, that he'd been left behind to face an uncertain future. How had the younger Turner survived all this time? They'd been at sea for months now. Could Will have managed
He stopped that line of thought. He had other concerns. For one, they were being boarded. For another, a crazy man still held a hostage aboard his ship. There was a lot to rectify before he could begin to worry about finding Will.
His crew were putting up a good fight, and even Nick seemed to get in the act once or twice. Jack could not look as Nick decapitated one hapless pirate, nor could he stomach the thoughts such a sight brought to mind. Had Nick fought with Will, killing him before realizing he could have used the younger man as a hostage, and then, in true Pirate fashion, taking advantage of the situation by finding a substitute? Could Will be dead all this time?
Anger surged through the Pirate Captain at such a thought. He had vowed to help Will find his father, and, now that William Senior was aboard the Pearl, getting to know Elizabeth Swann, he refused to entertain the thought that Will was dead. He shoved the thought far away from him. As he turned to deflect the blow from a sword aimed at his head. He would find Will. He would find him even if the young man had finally turned pirate and sailed the seven seas.
Elizabeth listened to the sound of fighting frustration forcing her fists clenched tightly. It was more than she could bear. Will was missing, his father alive, a crazy man held a faux Will hostage, and now they were being attacked! A pirate ship attacked by a pirate shipit was not to be believed!
She fingered the dagger she held. She would defend herself from any who tried to harm her. She had to find Will, after all. She had to survive this and find him.
Her determination gave her a ferocity that her fighting might not have had otherwise, and, when pirates made their way to her hiding place, she lashed out, injuring any who dared come near her.
With each slash, each hit on the flesh of an enemy, she thought of Will. Injured, dying, or perhaps whole and well, but believing he'd been abandonedimages tumbled through her mind. She wished only to see Will again, to be held by him again. How could she face the future otherwise?
All such thoughts were driven from her mind by the immediate need to survive. She concentrated on each strike of her blade. She scrambled out of the way of blows meant to disarm her–or worse. She made her way slowly toward the stairs, knowing that above deck she had a much better chance to survive, if only because she would be less outnumbered.
She dodged under one man's extended sword arm, and batted away the sword of the man behind him with a quick slash of the dagger she held. Then she raced toward the door hoping there wouldn't be someone standing in her way when she finally reemerged above deck.
She came up short as she tried not to plow into Anamaria who was holding off three men with a dagger and a sword. Elizabeth stood ready to help her, and Anamaria accepted her help. The women fought side by side as the smoke from cannon fire spread thickly over both ships.
Jack fought like a pirate possessed. He was defending his ship, to be sure, his Pearl, but this battle was so much more than that. Nick was past insanity now, Jack knew. The other man had taken to shooting anyone who came near the Captain's Quarters whether it be one of Jack's crew or one of the invaders. Nick laughed maniacally. What little he said coherently, convinced Jack that there was little left of the man he and William Turner senior had known.
He didn't waste time wondering what had happened or how it had happened or if there was something he could have done about it. He had the rest of his life to torture himself with those thoughts. What most concerned him now was how to disarm and subdue Nick so he could figure out what had happened to Will. He swung his blade in a high arc, and, with a ferocious yell, attacked a pirate who seemed to be getting the best of William.
Once the man was down, William gave him a nod of thanks. Jack returned it, and as he looked away, he saw a sight that chilled his blood. There was another pirate ship approaching. It was under full sail and making incredible time. Light, maneuverable, and with a deck seemingly surging with pirates.
Was that ship coming to aid the Black Pearl or the Bloody Mary? It could of course be a ship coming for its own purposes. Hover nearby as two ships fought it out, then attack the winner. One crew fresh, rested and ready to fight, and the other tired, bloody and barely standingit was easy to guess which would win.
He looked heavenward, but even Jack Sparrow dared not expect help from that source. He fought on, hoping only that there'd be something of him left to find out what had happened to Will.
Will Turner had enjoyed his time aboard the Queen of Spades, but as the days wore on he began to realize he was heading for a moment of truth, and he had not a clue how he would react. His work aboard ship was hard, but satisfying, much like his work as a blacksmith. He knew, however, that he couldn't keep kidding himself. At some point a pirate ship would have to engage in the act of piracy. These men who seemed hard-working, dedicated, andwould someday, perhaps soon, attack a passing ship, and steal all it carried, quite possibly killing crew and passengers alike.
Could he do such a thing?
He didn't turn away from the question at once like he once had. He knew now that life was not so black and white, so cut and dried, as once he'd thought it was. There were a lot of things to consider, and though it had taken him a long time to realize it, and a longer time to admit it, a man could be both a good man and a pirate.
What he wondered now was could a man be a good man and a good pirate.
He finished coiling the spare ropes when the signal sounded. "Ship, ho!"
A ship had been spotted, and Will, just like the others, raced to see where it was and what it was doing. The cry changed to 'ships, ho' just as Will spotted the two pirate ships. One was being boarded and the other was putting up a good fight. He squinted. The shape of one of those ships was very familiar. It wasthe Black Pearl!
Will's heart tried to beat its way out of his chest. He had found it! Almost accidentally, but he had found it! With any luck at all, Elizabeth was aboardElizabeth! She could be dead, or dying. He couldn't tell how long the Pearl had been under attack, but it did not take long to be run through or shot.
He saw Trilby running past him, and reached out to grab the man by the arm. "What are the orders?" Will asked, his voice trembling at the thought that they'd be ordered to attack the Pearl.
"Captain says 'e ain't decided yet."
Will nodded and let Trilby go. He would plead with the Captain to rescue the Pearl.
It was an easy enough plan, but he didn't really know what to say. He wanted nothing more than to swim the chasm that separated him from Elizabeth, but he owed a loyalty to the crew of the Queen as well, didn't he? Even if he managed to convince the Captain to help Jack and the others, Will knew he would not be able to join Elizabeth. He'd joined the crew here. There was a bond that he had to honora promise to serve this ship and this crewa debt to Trilby if to no one else, because it was he who had persuaded the captain to take him on.
Without Trilby, he might never have seriously considered becoming a pirate. It wasn't an idea that came naturally to him, yet it had seemed the answer to his dilemma at the time. Could he truly embrace all that this choice entailed?
He stared at the Black Pearl as the Queen approached it. He didn't have long to decide.
Jack had managed to defeat several attackers, but when he whirled around to face a threat he'd sensed at his back, he came face to face with Nick. He swallowed, but his sword did not waver. "We don't need to do this, mate."
Nick scoffed. "We do. I'm takin' whatever's yours and whatever's Bill's. Startin' wi' yer life!"
With those words he leaped forward trying to plunge his sword to the hilt into Jack's chest. Jack, taking a step back, parried wildly, throwing Nick to the side.
Jack thought furiously, but there seemed to be little recourse. He had to fight his old friend. His crew fought fiercely, but victory seemed no nearer. Jack kept his attention on Nick. It would do him little good to be distracted by the unwanted sight of one of the others being run through.
He thought he heard the sound of Anamaria's voice, but he blocked that from his mind as well. Everything within him told him to find her, to fight by her side, but he wasn't able now, and she really didn't need his protection. Of course, that didn't stop him from wanting to offer it. He only hoped that there was a way out of this for both of them. He wanted her to knowhe had to tell her
Nick's blow nearly took his head as cleanly as a hatchet would have, and only Jack's instincts had kept him alive.
Jack, furious at nearly being caught like that, threw himself into the battle. He smelled smoke, but didn't allow it to distract him. He heard a cry of surprise, pain, or both, and refused to allow himself to wonder whose voice it had been.
He parried Nick's next blow and then went on the offensive. Nick was backing away, and Jack took advantage. He continued to move forward, but Nick, with the strength of the insane, kicked and pulled Jack's leg out from under him. Crumbling to the deck, Jack managed to keep his blade up, but he was unable to shrug off Nick's next attack. He rolled to his left, hoping to buy enough time to climb to his feet, but it didn't work. Nick was there. He rolled back to his right, but again, Nick cut him off. Nick's blade sliced through his arm then, and blood flowed freely from the wound. He ignored the pain and the sticky wetness of the blood. The smell was one thing he did not have to escape, for the scent of blood wafted off his decks as his own crew and the other pirates left bloody corpses behind.
It was as he raised his blade, his arm dripping crimson stains upon the deck and seeming to take his capacity for clear thought with it, that Jack realized he could not win this fight.
Nick stepped forward a menacing grimace on his face and with one swift blow, disarmed Jack Sparrow. He laughed maniacally for a moment. "That'll be the end of that, Captain Sparrow!"
Jack's eyes fastened on Nick's, but he did not cower, nor fall back, nor try to crawl away. Instead, with an overwhelming calm perhaps brought on by the loss of blood and perhaps brought on by the realization that he'd certainly cheated death more times in the past than to begrudge losing this final battle, Jack Sparrow prepared for the killing blow.
To Be Continued