Before The Dawn
Chapter XV: Of Bafflement and Dropped Pennies
By FalconWing
The woman's smile turned quickly to a grin not unlike Daniels' own as she gestured grandly towards him.
"Why, our captain, of course."
Clavell blinked and looked from Daniels to the woman – Anamaria, he thought she'd said her name was. They both sat smirking calmly and meanwhile his mind was in turmoil.
Suddenly everything made sense: the ease with which the man had settled into a commanding role, the reason he had been at the wedding in the first place, his keeping to this Code Clavell kept hearing about, the feeling he had been getting that the man was more than he was letting on. Even the odd mannerisms he displayed every time he let his guard slip – everyone knew that Jack Sparrow had peculiar affectations.
That was when it really hit him. The man sitting opposite him…the man that had been serving under him for nearly the last two months…was Captain Jack Sparrow, possibly the most infamous, well-known pirate to sail the seven seas.
He couldn't believe it. He felt like such a fool. How could he not have realized?
Clavell turned to look at Brock, but it was obvious from his markedly puzzled expression that he had not shared in the momentous comprehension, so he swiveled his head back to face Daniels.
"Yer Jack Sparrow." It wasn't a question.
The man's grin widened and he spread his hands as if to present himself to better effect. "That's Captain Jack Sparrow. And aye, the one and only." He stood up and moved over to the bulkhead and Clavell noticed that the swagger that had been missing from his walk ever since that very first meeting had returned.
Sparrow shrugged on the coat that hung over in the corner and settled a sword belt over his shoulder. Grabbing some boots that were sitting on the floor, he chucked his current ones off and pulled the new ones off. Next he opened a draw in the desk beside him and withdrew what looked like a grubby red bandana and numerous trinkets of various shapes and sizes. The bloody man didn't even seem to be aware of the fact that he had an audience and that there were three pairs of eyes watching him as he proceeded to braid and thread them into his dark locks, placing the red material around his forehead and setting a faded brown tri-cornered hat on his head at a distinctly jaunty angle.
Clavell could only watch the transformation with an equal measure of anger and fascination as he went from looking very much like your everyday sailor to a pirate captain who could rival even the greatest captains to ever sail the ocean – though an admittedly strange one.
Sparrow eyed his reflection in a plain round mirror before turning back to them. "Well, what do you think? Not a bad look, is it?" Back along with the swagger were the ridiculously flamboyant gestures that went with his words. Apparently that was normal for him.
But his words had knocked Clavell back into reality – and Brock too, it would seem, as the man had suddenly sat up straighter after spending the last five minutes, seemingly still puzzling out how second mate Daniels was suddenly Jack Sparrow. The man really wasn't all that bright and the only reason Clavell had made him mate was for his strength and relative skill with a sword.
He frowned, stood up and leaned forward angrily. "Ye lied t' me," he growled menacingly "an' I don't like it when people lie t' me."
He had forgotten about the woman, she had been sitting so still, but now she was on her feet, glaring openly at him. "While yer on the Pearl ye'd best watch was ye say about our captain," she snarled. "It was ye who kidnapped him, remember."
Her hand was hovering near her scabbard and she went to no pains to hide it. That should have reminded Brock of one important fact, but it still took one very sharp, very pointed glance from Clavell to stop him leaping into a fray with the woman. They were on the enemy's territory. Once they were back on their own ship they could blast them all to kingdom come, but until then, they would have to play it smart and play it safe.
He struggled to rein in his fury. "Ye could of jus' told us who ye were! We could've dropped ye off at Tortuga." Obviously they wouldn't have, but there was no harm in trying.
Of course Sparrow didn't buy it. He sauntered back to the table, one hand deceptively casual as it rested on the hilt of his sword. The other was fluttering carelessly around shoulder height and Clavell's gaze was drawn by the movement. "So you mean to say that if only I had stood up and said that I was Captain Jack Sparrow, you would've not only taken me at my word, but returned me to my ship offering profuse apologies and saying good day to such a promising candidate for a prolific ransom?" He snorted contemptuously. "Come on, mate. Daft I may be, but not that daft."
Sparrow couldn't have missed the woman's unimpressed appraisal and skeptically raised eyebrow, but he certainly showed no signs of acknowledging the blatant expression of doubt that appeared on her face at this last comment.
Instead the man merely grinned that incorrigible grin of his and leaned against the back of his chair, lifting one hand to study his nails as if they held the answers to all the questions in the world. "Well, now that they've got what it was that they wanted – me – feel free to toddle back to yer own ship at any given time."
The insolence of the man! Jack Sparrow or not, just this morning he had been a good deal below Clavell himself when it came to rank. And did he really think that he and Brock would scurry back to the Jolly Roger, tails between their legs, now that he was all ready to just go gallivanting back off to his own ship?
"Are ye mad?"
He leaped to his feet, the exclamation came out as more of a stunned gasp than the shout he had intended, but the words carried enough emphasis to get the point across. If Sparrow hadn't insisted that pistols should not be taken to a parley, only swords, he would have been very hard put indeed not to draw his gun and shoot the man for his maddening gall.
But Sparrow only paused in his examination of his nails and looked up. "It's been rumored, yes."
The man's infuriating calm was too much for Clavell.
Forget the pistol – his sword was in his hand before he knew it and he was rushing Sparrow. In hindsight, probably not such a good idea.
– – – – –
Anamaria was still chuckling silently to herself when Clavell made his charge. Trust Jack to wander off in the middle of a conversation and begin to reassemble his customary apparel as though the two men seated behind him glaring daggers at his back weren't there at all.
Anamaria saw Jack's brief grin before he drew his own sword and easily deflected the rushed swing directed towards him. But then she was distracted by the sudden attack of the first mate, Brock. She grasped the hilt of her cutlass and dodged the first few hacks. The man might not have any particular skill with the blade but he was big and while the swings were clumsy, there was still considerable strength behind them.
She ducked under the fourth swing and came back at him quickly, dealing him a gash on his shoulder before he managed to parry. Over his shoulder she could see Jack and Clavell as they circled. From what she could see Jack appeared to be leading Clavell towards the door and she couldn't help but let out a quiet snort in amusement; the way the harried expression on his face was at odds with the ease with which he deflected Clavell's blows he was almost certainly only looking to move the fight out of his cabin before something was knocked over, instead of the idea that there would be his own men there to assist.
Her opponent seemed to think that her snort was aimed at him and growled furiously, his wild chops becoming wilder and fiercer. She ducked and dodged but it was almost inevitable that she get hit. She hissed in pain as his sword sliced a vicious, though superficial, slash across her stomach.
She picked up the pace until her blade was nearly a blur, offering thanks all the while to whoever was listening for the frequent duel practices Jack made all the crew participate in. She dealt him a cut on his other shoulder but this one was longer and deeper and he grunted, attention momentarily distracted and she took the opportunity to follow Jack out the door that he'd vanished through during her preoccupation.
In fact, now that she thought about it, she could hear the sounds of battle outside. Apparently the appearance of the two fighting men on deck had not gone down well by either crew.
From the lack of booming crashes and splintering wood she assumed that neither side had bothered with cannons and, as she stepped back into the sunlight, she could see that she was correct. The decks of both ships were in chaos. Men from the Pearl had boarded the other ship and were battling it out over there and meanwhile, men from the other ship had boarded the Pearl and were engaged in combat.
She glanced around for Jack and Clavell but neither were in sight. It was then that Brock finally stormed his way out of the cabin and locking eyes with her, began striding purposefully towards her. She let him come to her and settled into a waiting stance with her knees bent and sword at the ready.
– – – – –
When Will and Elizabeth finally made it to the deck, everything seemed in relative order. Men went about their tasks as usual although none of their concentration was on said job. Instead it was the majestic black ship pulled up alongside that drew their attention like moths to a flame and they regarded the other ship with amazement and no small amount of fear.
The first general impression they both got was that there were no men running and screaming, no sound of swords clashing together and no sounds of pistol shots. At least not until the door to the main cabin slammed open on the Pearl and Jack emerged, re-attired in his usual garb, looking for the world like a cat who had just swallowed the canary as he effortlessly blocked the rage-filled blows thrown at him by Clavell.
The Pearl's crew were the first to jump into action. Grapples and hooks were hurled across the intervening space, weapons drawn and the men began to swing across. Strangely some of the Jolly's did this exact same thing, abandoning the defense of their own vessel to their mates as they swung across to launch a brawl on the decks of the ship that dared attack their own. It wasn't that they cared for their captain, after all. After his latest blunder they would likely forget about the ransom and just toss him overboard.
Will squeezed Elizabeth's hand and she smiled reassuringly in response and clutched the sword she had swapped the knife for when they had come upon another crew member below decks.
Then he released her hand so he could transfer his own sword into his right hand as they stepped out of their hiding place in the corner and into the fray.
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
I really am terribly sorry that this has taken so incredibly long – over two weeks I do believe. I had exams last week and what can I say? I was made to study by parents through methods of force and blackmail, thus I had no opportunity to write this. Please forgive me. I was actually going to make this longer but I really wanted to get it up so there it is. Please review and let me know your thoughts. Reviewers will be hero-worshipped for all of eternity.
I would also like to give a big thanks to Beregond'sGirl for kindly offering to beta-read for me.
Reviewer's Thanks
Oneiriad: I didn't mean to leave it so long, I swear. And I really don't like leaving you guys in the lurch. If you doubt my heartfelt sincerity just think of it this way…the longer I go without updating, the longer I go with less reviews. I really am terribly sorry. begs forgiveness
Heldin: If you do end up rolling on the floor in hysterics, doesn't your family look at you funny? My parents regard me as though I've completely lost in – which, come to think of it, I probably have.
Ivy Crane: I certainly hope their reactions don't come out anticlimactic. I'm afraid this chapter wasn't my best writing but I really wanted to get it up.
Beregond'sGirl: Eek, well I guess the 21st wasn't the few chapters later you thought it would be. Oh well. Thank you so much for beta-reading it. Golly, I had sooo many stupid mistakes in there didn't I (writing words twice, etc)? Along some me-being-thick errors. Lol. I went along with most of your suggestions – all but one or two, I think. There was one rephrasing suggestion you made that confused me a bit so I just changed it a little bit and left it be. Apart from that though, all your advice was valid and made me realize just how many errors you can make and not pick out of your own writing – though everyone does say it's harder to proof-read your own. Probably because you know what happens you end up skimming.
Quiet Infinity: Aww, I'm flattered. That's so nice. Thank you so much for your review. I assure you it is greatly appreciated.
Coolpuella: I'm sorry this wasn't up very fast at all. Two weeks!! cringes. My profuse apologies.
Chaosity: Yay, new reader!! jumps up and down excitably I really am sorry about not enough humor. I'm not very good at thinking up funny things to say myself let alone other people, but I promise to try harder as with his manner of speaking. Mostly I wrote him a bit better spoken to help distinguish his own unique way of talking from that of Clavell and his crew. It's nice to now people like the slower pace. I have problems no only with writing humor, but with a lot writing large amounts of dialogue and lots of hard and fast action. I'm also gonna try for more Will and Elizabeth before the end. And I was going to mention it in an upcoming chapter but I may as well tell you now, Elizabeth strangely enough was fed the same fare as Clavell while the others were fed the aforementioned slop. Wow, another rider. I do a bit of everything really – though not much cross country – but I do compete a bit in dressage. Now is that a long response or what? Lol.
Crazydominodragongirl: Summer? I wish. I'm sitting here freezing my butt off with all the heaters on as here in New Zealand it is currently the middle of winter. I have just finished exams however and that means only one more week of school until a set of two-week holidays. And you may be getting the feeling that it's almost over because there is only going to be about four or five more chapters left. However I am toying with the idea of a sequel or just another after-PotC story altogether.
Inu Lover (or is it now October Skye?): Yes Will's free again. I'm sure all the avid Will fans will be pleased.
Shadowcat15: Mostly Jack doesn't really care what Anamaria said. He's on home ground now anyway so he's just accepting the chance to preen a bit in the spotlight. Lol.
Peachfreak: And don't you dare make me count all the books I've read. Bloody Hell woman, I'd be doing so for the rest of my natural life, lol. And YES, I'm proud to say that the flag thing is true. I looked it up on the net and there were actually a variety of options. Unfortunately most were more confusing than that one so that's the one I chose.
Matthew: I'm afraid I don't even know what pulp fiction is so I really had no idea what you were talking about when you said about Ringo stealing Jules' wallet. I'm sure I can imagine though. Thank you so much for the review. Sorry the update took so long.
Savvyness: So sorry it took ages. And as I said to crazydominodragongirl, there will only be about nineteen or twenty chapters.
Valk: I know. It took ages even though you and a lot of other people asked me to update as quick as possible. Honestly though, this was as quick as possible but I'll offer my apologies anyway, despite my innocence – as it were.
Ellennar: I'm afraid Norrington doesn't get out just yet. The poor bloke is stuck in the brig while battle rages overhead, lol.
Opranoodlemantra (Mrs Depp, lol): Thanks for reviewing both chapters. Is it possible to go back to the mall and buy them or will you be left bereft?
Pirate Shy: Better late than never. Of course! That is one statement with which I am in complete accord when it comes to reviews. Reviews are grateful received in any shape size or form or at any time.
Gaze: Thank you for the review. I'm sorry updating took so long, though for you it's only one day later I suppose.
Thanks to everyone for reading and (hopefully) reviewing.
Love y'all…
FalconWing.
