Hi everyone! Well, I've written about five more chapters so I guess I'm not as close to getting done this story as I thought! Oh well, I'm still having a lot of fun writing it and I really don't want to finish. If I could go on forever with it I would but that's impossibly long so...keep reading and reviewing, I love your reviews!
Chapter nineteen: pleaded negotiations
Will was pushed into a small clearing and roughly halted, his legs kicked out from beneath him so he ended up on his knees. Beside him, Bill had already adopted their new twin positions with ease and watched the proceedings around him as though he were board and not in complete and utter danger.
Will finally got a good look at the crewmembers that the three captains had at their disposal. There was a rough, large, burly crew standing off to the sides, menacing swords flashing in the dim light of the clearing, jeers floating across the sandy grass to them on the light breeze. These were probably Marco's crew because the other two he knew.
The pirates in the middle of the clearing all grouped up and watching everyone around them had joined them on the beach for the party...how many nights ago had that been? Not many but it felt like another lifetime. The Will then and the Will now were two different people and, as he gazed at the other crew he couldn't help but gasp, his preoccupied brain trying to understand the sight before him.
Pintel and Ragetti were struggling with heavy boxes as the remaining ex-crew of the Black Pearl looked on, laughing. Pintel dropped a case under the base of a tree trunk and was knocked over Ragetti who tripped over a protruding root. The other two crews scowled as raucous laughter filled the clearing and even Will, though under dire circumstances, couldn't help but smile.
"Quit fooling around!" Barbossa snapped, his yellow eyes roving the circle of pirates as the mysterious song pounded in their ears. "It's time." This got everyone's attention.
"How are we planning on finding the bottle. There are four and Sparrow was too daft to figure out which. The stories say that they can kill so we have to be sparing." Mulan growled, watching Pintel and Ragetti through narrowed eyes.
"True." Marco replied, his eyes on Will and Bill. Will felt his heart leap into his stomach. He couldn't let them get the bottle but he couldn't have them kill Bill or him for it! He wanted to see Elizabeth again, to hold her and stroke her hair and whisper in her ear. He wanted to some day hold their baby in his arms...would he or she look like him?
"I say we let one of them do it first. If they die, the other will try. If they both die before we reach the right bottle, we take someone else." Barbossa smiled at Pintel who shuddered and stepped back. "Deal?"
"Deal." Mulan said, stepping forward and grabbing a handful of Will's hair. Will hissed as the man yanked back his head and, squinting against the sunlight hitting his face through the swaying palm tree, he saw Mulan smile. "This one can go first. Can't you William?" He yanked him to his feet.
Behind them there was a shuffling sound and then a groan from Bill. Will tried to turn but the pressure on his hair and neck was mounting. "Awe Bill, sit tight. You'll join your son soon enough." Barbossa's voice said in a soft tone that sent chills up and down Will's spine. "Bring him to."
"Please, Mr. Sparrow, let me look at you." Christian said, hurrying behind Jack who, though tied, was still managing to walk quicker then the doctor. "You seemed to have a small break down and I just have to take a look at your pupils."
"My what?" Jack asked over his shoulder. Christian knew that the pirate knew what he was talking about but decided to play along with his bid for stupidity.
"Your pupils, captain. They're the little round black things in your eyes." Jack smiled and looked over his shoulder; almost running into Norrington who had to step aside so the wandering pirate didn't kill him.
"I have what in my eyes? Look, no matter what part of my body it's on, it is my body and there for none of your business..." Jack didn't see where he was going and ran head long into a tree. Sliding down the trunk to sit on the forest floor, Christian took his moment. He seized Jack's face as the pirate still tried to regain his baring and peered into his dark eyes.
"Thank you Mr. Sparrow for being so co-operative." Christian smiled, standing and extending his hand to pull Jack up as well. When the pirate was up and had brushed himself off, Christian turned to the Commodore. "He's fine."
"Told you." Jack muttered, staggering left into a young navy man, clutching his head where he'd hit the tree. "If you'd take these bloody things off me, I'd be fine. Can't walk or anything with my damn hands sown together." Norrington smiled blandly and shook his head, continuing to walk.
"Here..." Christian extended a hand to help Jack but the man growled and wobbled off to catch up the Commodore. Anamaria smiled as Christian and he smiled back revealing the most beautiful smile she'd ever seen...and she knew Jack! "Is he always that stubborn?"
"You don't know the stories of Jack Sparrow?" She asked as they walked slowly together near the back of the group. Christian shrugged.
"Mostly the ones with him dressed as a woman. Those intrigue me." Anamaria laughed lightly. "You have the most...wonderful laugh miss. You should use it more. It's so feminine. You don't hear a laugh quite like it anymore. Mostly people try to stifle it." Anamaria blushed and tried to become interested in the trees but her eyes kept returning to the doctor. He had the greenest, deepest eyes.
"I do to...usually." Anamaria said, shrugging. "I live on a ship with many other men. I have to hide who I truly am." Christian looked at with some sort of pity.
"I'm sorry to hear that." He said. "I love your laugh. It's a shame that the other men neither care to hear it or...am I just assuming they know about it?"
"They don't. I don't laugh." Christian sighed. "And you doctor? What made you come on this venture?"
"Adventure." Christian said plainly, smiling and watching Gibbs. "Pirates. I always wanted to be a pirate...when I was little of course. Now I just wish to study my practice in a small mainland town. Maybe in Britain."
"I don't think it was the light." Anamaria said suddenly, staring hard at his face. "You still look young to me. How old are you?"
"Old enough." Christian said, grinning mischievously at her. "Why? Interested?" Anamaria didn't answer. For once in a long time, she wasn't thinking of Jack. She was to entranced by the young man beside her.
Will was led to the alter, Bill being held back by a few of the stronger members of Marko's crew. Will didn't fight or really retaliate at all because he couldn't think or feel. Damn his brain! It seemed to have completely shut down on him.
The large man untied him with the swipe of his knife and pushed him forward so he smacked into the alter and winced as pain shot through his body. What was he going to do? He'd be dead if he didn't pick up the bottle and he could very well be dead if he did. The singing around him was dying away, weather all around him or just in his mind but the bottle seemed to be calling to him.
"Will...Will...touch me, pick me up. I know you want me." The voice purred in his ear from all around him as the feeling of being watched intensified. As his hand moved to touch the bottle, there was another voice...a male voice. It cried out his name but he only registered it for a second before his hand closed over the smooth surface of the red bottle. Will couldn't feel his body anymore...something was pushing him aside and though he could see through his eyes, he was no longer in control over his actions. A smile crossed his lips and he turned, drawing his sword as the thing possessed him.
But, it wasn't a thing...it was a her. A warrior. And she hated men.
Jack held up a hand to stop the party before he even heard the voices. He could just sense them. Leaning over, he whispered to the Commodore, "They're not to far from here. Just you, my two men, and me. Leave the rest behind." Norrington shook his head. "Fine , bring Gillette then. We'd hate for him to miss out on this." Norrington watched him for a moment before standing and addressing his men, telling them the plan. When he was done, Norrington, Anamaria, Gibbs, Gillette and Jack pushed their way quietly through the trees, moving until they could see and hear the pirates in the clearing.
They got down on their stomachs and shimmied forward until they had a clear view between the many bodies, into the heart of the clearing. Will was there, approaching the alter. Jack watched him intensely. His face was white and he looked like he was about to throw up.
"Undo these." Jack whispered to the Commodore, holding up his wrists to show the shackles. "Please."
"What did you say?" Norrington asked. Jack didn't have time for this! Will was about to touch the bloody bottles and bloody Norrington has to ask bloody stupid questions to which he bloody well knew the answer! Jack huffed impatiently.
"I said the P word now do it!" He extended his hands but the Commodore shook his head.
"No, you are bound..."
"Under the queen and can't be released for a long while...yada yada yada...I know. Please, just let me go! Where am I going to run? Seriously!" Norrington shook his head and turned back to the proceedings. "Look." Jack said in a low and slightly board voice. "I know your no match for me and I know you know that you're no match for me. I also know that you know that I know that you know your no match for me so..." Norrington turned his gaze back to Jack who was getting desperate but tried not to show it. "I know you feel more powerful and balanced if I can't move me hands but, in a fight, you'll need me." Jack indicated the pirates around the clearing and tried not to stare at his old mutinous crew, a few of which were scratching their asses...or other's asses.
"We'll see." Norrington replied, turning back to the clearing. Making up his mind, Jack sprung up and began walking through the trees, around the clearing and to the other side. "Sparrow!" Norrington hissed, not daring to raise his voice lest they be caught. "You'll get us all killed!"
Jack moved from tree to tree, trying to stay quiet and not let the chains rattle to awfully much. It was rather hard but the mixed noise of the females singing and the movements of the crews was sufficient cover Jack found.
He managed to get right behind Bill who was being held captive by two big blokes. Trying to get his attention with out attracting the attention of others was impossible so Jack instead crouched down and watched through a gap between Bill and his captor as Will approached the alter. He was reaching out to touch the bottle!
"Will." Jack whispered, "Don't. Don't touch it!" Will was extending his hands, his fingers were almost around the glass bottle. "Will...don't! Will!"
Will grabbed the bottle and lifted it off the stone plinth. "No! Will!" Jack hadn't meant to scream it but he did. Will slowly turned, bottle in hand and looked around the clearing, his eyes sliding from brown to black, encompassing his whole eyeball. Slightly startled and caught, Jack sprung up as the first of the pirates realized he was there and began their attack. Having no guns or swords, Jack ran. Behind him, the battle had begun.
Next chapter will be danger and despair...
DragonHunter200: Hi again! It's okay about the favorite line thingy...I'll just cry for a while...okay, I'm done. LOL. Nicholas was already dead. He died a while ago, it was her memory. Could you bring yourself to slap Jack? Honest truth man, could you bring yourself to do it? Yeah, I got a new hundred-dollar bill today (they remind the old ones because the stores won't take them now, to easy to make fake copies) and it was so cool! They have holographs now on sides so you can have a rainbow colored 100 and hey have little poems on them under cool pictures. The new one has a satellite and I think it has a picture of the Canadarm. It's really cool and, in the light, you can see the prime minister as a ghost but smaller! It's neat and there's even a bar that says 100 and it feels like velvet kinda...and it has brail. It's neat! Yeah, all those coins are getting pathetic! We have one dollar loonies and two dollar toonies and now...what? I get excited about money.
Alteng: I never thought about a civilized tension between them. It was kinda cool to hear you say that. Yeah, Jack always finds a way to get out of situations. Who do I intend to bring back with the potion? Maybe...I can't say. It's to good and it'll be big! Really BIG! I actually had the idea of the song and the bottles from the sirens so, your on the right track. Norrington knows something? What's Starblazers?
PussInBootsAndMonkeyzNamedJack: Wow, long name. Yep, it's still being updated! And I will not give up on it until I put Fin at the end. I won't try and trick you wither by making it look like I'm done and I'm sorry if I do. I hope you like this story though, please keep reading.
Gaze: You don't watch Canadian Idol? Man, Jacob Hoggard was awesome! If you like Punk Rock alternative, then you'd love him. Another girl? Was it maybe...oh, I can't remember many of them. If you told me what she looked like I'd be able to say who she was. Yeah, I'll have to go to Toronto sometime. Actually, it was on my list of places to go before I die. I think it was Toronto that had that pile up or road block or something, and the one busy highway is really empty. That was today so...I saw it on Canada AM this morning. Have you ever been to Saskatchewan? Saskatoon is great (in some ways) not as big as Toronto though. Morliana is the princess from India who went to the Fated Partings to get away from an evil man named Perdolin. She had these elixirs and when the ship sank she died and her spirit was trapped in one of the bottles. I explained it before but I may not have said it thoroughly enough. Sorry.
