Sorry for the long delay between posts. For a while, I thought my grand experiment was on the verge of failure and the story would never be told. Luckily, I'm back in action once more. I have to ask, though...if you manage to read this far into the story, please leave thoughts feelings objections, downright arguments, but leave something. We writers don't get a whole lot of satisfaction from practicing our craft; feedback is one of the only ways to know we're actually reaching an audience.
So...read, enjoy, remark!
Disclaimer:
None of them belong to me with the exception of Rianna. Please don't sue me, all you'd get would be the Edy's Dibs and those are mine, I tell you! On with the story.
Jack considered himself a fairly clever man, which was why, no more than a day out of Tortuga, he suffered a dilemma. Should he, in all conscience, tell Bill and Elizabeth what he only suspected, thus admitting that he may have missed a vital clue as to Will's whereabouts, or should he keep his silence, and wait for further evidence to support his new theory? If he told them now, they would likely want to turn the ship around and track down the Devil's Dowry. On the other hand, if he kept everything close to the vest, more answers might be forthcoming in Tortuga.
He felt the decision should be a fairly simple one, all things considered. The problem was, he kept seeing the stack of sword on the deck of the Devil's Dowry, and something about the way they'd been arranged nagged at him like a rotten tooth. Someone had been sharpening those blades and aside from Angus, who he knew was not skilled with the care of swords, Jack was certain her entire crew had been on deck.
Who, then, had been doing the work? The lack of an answer frustrated him, so in a childish fit of pique, he resolved not to think about it any further, until more could be learned in Tortuga on the fate of Will Turner. Still… on the other hand, asking James about it couldn't hurt, and might get him back in the Navy man's good graces, for being left behind while the rest of them visited Bess on the Devil's Dowry. James had a clever mind, and was not as closely tied to the young blacksmith as Bill and Elizabeth were.
However, his plan to speak to the commodore about his concerns was dashed when he went looking for James only to discover him in quiet conversation with Bill. Without interrupting the pair, or even alerting them to his presence, Jack slipped off to grant them a measure of privacy.
What Jack didn't begin to consider was that once more, members of his crew were planning actions that would lead to disastrous repercussions when all was said and done. He had made it perfectly clear that under no circumstances was Elizabeth to set foot ashore in such a no-account place as Tortuga. The risks, he argued, far outweighed any measure of gain that might be had in taking her into the disreputable town. What he failed to take into account was Elizabeth possessing a will of her own, and allies to help her carry things through.
Bill was thoroughly willing to risk Jack's wrath, and whatever punishment might go along with it, if it meant redeeming himself to the spirited young woman. James, for his part, would allow Elizabeth to make no plan that did not include him; for he was heartily tired of being left behind on the ship. So the pair of them having reached an accord that Elizabeth would be well served by their guidance in her machinations had settled on small talk while they waited for her to join them. Unlikely compatriots indeed, but the alliance seemed a comfortable one.
"You know my son? Is that why you're helping Elizabeth find him?"
"I was aboard the ship the day we pulled him from the sea. He resembled nothing more threatening than a half-drowned rat."
"Jack said he's gotten very good with a sword."
"So I've heard. I never had the nerve to challenge him to a proper duel. It was easy enough to shunt the idea aside when I didn't know him so well. A blacksmith's apprentice was not a suitable opponent in a formal fencing match. It's strange...we've been so convinced of his worth, or lack of it, when he's outranked us all this time."
"I should have come for him sooner." Bill said quietly, his voice rich with a plethora of unspoken regrets. "I thought I was protecting him from Barbossa and his crew. Still…I suppose being raised poor didn't hurt him, either. He's learned the value of good hard work, leastwise."
"If you had raised him to privilege, he'd be just as spoiled and vacuous as the rest of polite society." Something in the way James worded the statement led Bill to believe that the navy man was excluding neither of them from that broad generalization. "Look at this blade he crafted for my naming to Commodore, two years ago. It is the finest sword I've ever seen in these parts." James gave Bill sufficient time to study the loving craftsmanship that had gone into making the sword. They were interrupted at last by the approach of stealthy footsteps; it was Elizabeth as they'd expected.
"I found a likely set of lad's clothes for you, Miss Elizabeth." Bill began, "But no man in his right mind could possibly mistake such a fair face for a cabin boy, if it's not too bold of me to say."
Elizabeth dimpled unexpectedly, "That's very kind of you to say, Bill. And Jack thinks you're right. However, I feel inclined to point out that nobody could rightly say if I'm a proper boy unless they get close enough, which is why I'm not leaving the ship. The two of you shall go into town in my stead. James, keep your head down and listen to Bill. I wager you don't know your way around Tortuga nearly as well as he does."
"So everyone keeps telling me. Need I remind you I've spent the greater portion of my life around villains such as populate this town?"
"I know that, James, but you don't know how to act like one. Now do as I ask, please, or I shall be forced to come up with a plan to go into town on my own. And we all know Jack wouldn't stand for that!" The two men were so relieved at her acquiescence on not going into town in person that they willingly agreed to the rest of her plan.
It began innocently enough. That in and of itself, Jack admitted to himself in reviewing the facts later, is what made it impossible to forestall the chain of events. He'd been reluctant to allow Norrington ashore, but Bill had sworn on his honor (or dishonor, depending on how one looked at things) that he'd be able to keep the navy man from landing himself feet first into trouble. Jack should have known better. An equal mix of outrage and boredom created the need for a hasty departure from Tortuga.
Anamaria elected to stay aboard the Pearl, her feelings on Elizabeth's seeming incarceration in not being allowed to go ashore made clear in no uncertain terms to Jack before he took Gibbs with him to see about re-supplying the Black Pearl before they sailed again, as well as instigating a search for more information on the whereabouts of the Sunlight Dreamer. He had no doubt that Anamaria could take care of herself. It was Elizabeth that he harbored worries for and so his refusal of her request to go ashore seemed like the right thing to do. She acquiesced far too easily, an event which should have pricked his suspicions far more quickly than it did. However, everyone he questioned later, admitted the duel was the mocha-skinned woman's idea.
"Mrs. Turner, you have shown yourself to be an able hand with the duties of the ship, but we are a pirate vessel and you haven't proven to be of any use with a blade in your hand." Whether she meant to prick Elizabeth's pride or not, that was the very effect she garnered from the governor's daughter. They all thought her soft because of her breeding and station, yet they had all failed to take into account the skill of her fiancé, or that he might have proven himself as remarkable a teacher as he was a swordsman. So, the result of Anamaria's poorly worded challenge was a point in pride for Elizabeth. She stood, setting aside the netting she had been repairing, yet another task to keep her hands busy and her mind occupied.
"You'll soon learn the folly of your words, Anamaria." She warned in a low, cool voice. Without further preamble, Elizabeth drew the sword which had been belted to her hip since the day she'd traded her maid's skirts for a pair of proper breeches. Until that point, everyone, Anamaria included, had considered it to be an outward sign of her affections for the missing blacksmith, who's personal stamp was readily apparent on the slender, deadly looking blade. The way the governor's daughter held the sword showed she had every intention of using it to its fullest potential.
Anamaria had little choice but to follow through with her ill-thought out challenge and she drew her own serviceable cutlass in preparation for defending herself, a small voice in her head whispering that she'd badly underestimated Elizabeth's potential. The problem, she realized later, was that nobody had considered Will, as upright and proper a young gentleman as was ever born, would have thrown propriety out the window when it came to his ladylove being capable of defending herself. Gently bred young women had no need to pick up sharp pointy weapons. They had their lords and husbands to defend their honor and virtue.
Elizabeth's form and stance were perfect. Anamaria recognized that immediately, though she herself was more of the pirate's school of brawling and maiming. The fight she'd begun was going to be a difficult one. Without another word, Elizabeth lunged forward on the attack, beginning the duel in earnest.
Some distance away, on a rickety dock, another element of trouble was underway. A pair of scoundrels were taking turns watching the events unfold on the deck of the Black Pearl, trading a battered old spyglass between them.
"We never shoulda betrayed old Jack Sparrow," mourned the tall fellow with hair that looked more akin to a haystack than a proper coif.
"I don't see him anywhere on deck," the other returned, shorter and with stringy long hair that could do with a proper wash.
"Let me have a look." The tall one insisted, grabbing for the telescope with a great deal of impatience.
"Here now, what's this?" the shorter man had come upon the duel being fought on deck. "Well well well. I bet we could fetch a handsome price for her if we could grab her off that blasted ship."
"Who is it, let me see!"
Pintel and Ragetti continued to watch the duel as it raged back and forth along the deck, and they deeply resented Elizabeth. Involving her in their affairs had marked the beginning of the end of the good life they had known under Barbossa's captaincy. It had never been the same since. However, they were simple men, and they knew they lacked the brains for coming up with a good plan to grab her on their own, so they resolved to speak to the miscreant they answered to now, a misplaced German by the name of Berger.
The first taste of trouble came from Bill's sudden descent to tight-lipped silence. He and James had been speaking of Will again in low voices as they walked the narrow and decrepit streets of Tortuga, bespeaking those people who still remembered Bill in a good light. Norrington had been doing his best to paint an accurate and vivid picture of Will's youth, when Bill went unexplainably quiet. James looked up toward the blacksmith's father, then followed his cold, unforgiving gaze along it's natural path to the two miscreants who stood with their heads together with a third, who was dressed in a manner as to mark himself more important than the others.
"What's wrong, Bill?" James ventured. The pair looked familiar and it finally came to him they were, or had been, among Barbossa's crew when they'd broken the curse on a night that James tried very hard not to remember. His thoughts were pulled back to the present by the slow clenching of Bill's hands into fists at his sides. And still the governor of Trinidad did not answer.
"William…what is it?" James tried again, striving to break the other man's attention from those he stared at so hatefully. He didn't wish to witness the outcome if Bill should choose action over inaction, at this point.
"I'll kill them," Bill hissed under his breath, though that didn't make the threat any less hostile, as his tone was shaded with fury. "I'll kill them both with my bare hands, if I must."
"Not unless you choose to forsake Will, who is a damned sight more important than a side dish of revenge."
"You don't understand…." Bill attempted to argue, to justify his hatred.
"I know I don't, Bill, but I can't just let you kill them, either. Perhaps if we follow them, they might lead us to some useful information. Does that suit you?"
"Alright, have it your way then," Bill returned sharply, "but we'd better hurry, or we'll lose them. They've just gone around that corner, there."
The trail led to a seedy looking building with the words The Faithful Bride painted in bright, garish letters over the door.
"What do you know of this place, Bill?" Norrington inquired quietly from a side-alley, which seemed to be more common than a proper road in this dingy smuggler's town.
"I know people are bought and sold here." Bootstrap answered, studying the front of the building. "I've never had much occasion to run with the likes of Lotter, though. I don't truck with slavery, and Jack never did…though I confess I don't know if it were Barbossa's particular bent. I wasn't with the crew long enough to find out, with him as captain. I wager if Will were sold here in Tortuga, the bloke what runs this place would know of it, if he wasn't in charge of the sale himself." Bill fell silent as a string of bedraggled girls was prodded and pushed to stand in a line out in front of the establishment, as ramshackle as it was. They were all tied together at the waist, and some of them were weeping openly.
"By God..." James swore and started forward.
"You can't help them, James." Bill laid a restraining hand on his arm. "Not here, not now, in this place."
"He's selling those girls into slavery!" the former pirate nodded glumly, casting an assessing eye once more at the trussed girls.
"Yeah, that's what it looks like, alright."
"But the one on the end is no more than a child!" there was positive fury in the commodore's voice, and Bill was sure that he would do something foolish and blow the entire purpose for their presence in Tortuga in the first place, and that was to find out where Will was and what had become of him that the plans had gone awry.
"Leave it, mate. You haven't enough coin on you to save them all." Norrington was brought up short by the reminder that he wasn't acting in official capacity and he blew out a breath as he considered.
"Perhaps not, but that child deserves a better life than the one she's bound for."
"Then I suppose we should ask Lotter what her going price is. He's the one we need to be asking about Will, too."
"Bill Turner, bless my soul!" bellowed the auctioneer upon catching sight of the pair approaching him.
"None of that, Lotter. We're not friends and never will be, you and I."
"Oh, come now, 'old friend', you would think you could be nicer to a bloke such as I." Lotter affected a pained expression, downright inconvenienced by the open dislike on Bill's face.
"We're looking for a young man," James interrupted, disgusted by the flesh peddler's smug attitude and put-on airs. In response, Lotter looked both of them up and down in a suggestive manner before chuckling and leering nastily.
"Never would've thought you'd be one for the lads, Bootstrap. I've got quite a few girls on hand, but no boys. Sold the only one I had more than a week back." he took hold of the rounded arm of the child on the end and pulled her forward, beginning a spiel that he'd clearly only recently developed. "Now this sweet little thing, she's as pure as they come and would make any man a good strumpet, starting her out so young..." he didn't get any further into his pitch before James smashed his fist into the slaver's face.
Lotter came up spitting invectives, his fingers clapped to his nose as blood flowed between them.
"You bloody bastard!" he shouted, though the expletive didn't have nearly as much affect as it might have if he weren't burbling through his broken nose. Bill had the pistol out from his belt and aimed into the twisted auctioneer's face before he could do much more than that. "Go ahead, shoot me! I'm the only one that knows what happened to your whelp, you fecking sod!" Bill pulled back the hammer on the pistol, his face a portrait of blank, cold rage. James understood in that instant that if he didn't do something to head off the violence, Bill would commit cold-blooded murder in front of him. The terrible thing was, he had to argue with himself over the merits of seeing the man dead. The bitterness of it sat upon his tongue as he spoke.
"No, Bill, this isn't the way." Lotter laughed then, a bubbling sickly sound made more grotesque by the mess of his nose.
"That's right, Bootstrap, you kill me and all of Tortuga will be down around your ears, howling for blood. Whatever you want here, you can forget it. Get out before I change my mind about letting you leave whole."
"Not until you tell me who purchased my son."
"That's privileged information, now get the hell out!"
James pulled the coin purse from his belt and hurled it at the hateful man. The resulting squeal of pain was nearly satisfaction enough for the trouble they'd already endured.
"That's for your youngest girl. We'll be taking her with us." the explanation was delivered in a low, even tone that most of his men would freely admit was enough to put the terror in them, for all that it was so quiet. James then knelt to the task of untying the girl from the rest of the group, while a few of the others begged and pleaded to be bought as well. He did his best to block them out; there was nothing that could be done for them. The little girl regarded him with dark, haunted eyes before smiling just a little.
"Are you my knight in shining armor?" The navy man looked up at her, startled by the clearly enunciated question.
"Why, yes...I suppose I am."
"Me mum always told me stories about the knights. I never thought I'd meet one." the earnest way in which she spoke gave James hope that she hadn't been too badly affected by whatever events she had witnessed that had culminated with her in this terrible place, standing at auction for the benefit of unscrupulous men. He got the last knot undone and the girl was free of the line. The next young woman regarded James with mute appeal and he looked away, ashamed of himself in his helplessness.
"And where is your mother, little one?" her small face scrunched up, as she pressed her mind to the task of sorting out the most logical explanation for a child her age.
"I don't know. I bet she got sold to someone nice like you. I haven't seen her since the ship we were on got sacked by pirates."
James was transported through time and space to the deck of the Dauntless, and Elizabeth Swann's eager young face at all the talk of pirates and hangings. He was struck with wonderment that this girl could still think pirates exciting, even after suffering at their hands. The moment was broken by Lotter, who had been distracted in counting the coins in the purse that had been flung at him. He let out a bellow that had all heads turning in their direction.
"Thieves!" James whirled, furious that the dishonesty in this squalid little town could go so far.
"We paid you!" he insisted, voice tighter yet. Lotter simply smiled, nodding with his chin at a group of approaching men, each one more vicious looking than the last.
"They won't believe you, mate. Go ahead and try to explain." he tucked the jingling purse beneath his grubby shirt and moved with a whistle back down the line of his girls. James picked the girl up by the waist, surprised at how light she was, and even more so by the inherent trust evident in her willingness to hold tight to him, slender arms sliding around his neck for a better hold.
"Don't let go." he warned her unnecessarily, before bolting with Bill not far behind.
Jack and Gibbs were still gone, finalizing arrangements for supplies for the Black Pearl, as well as trying to ferret out more information on the whereabouts of the Sunlight Dreamer. The shipcreaked quietly to herself at the dock she was moored at and dusk was settling over the port, tinting the ships and buildings alike with a shade better suited to wickedness and villainy, the growing shadows of night stealing after the burnished red. The two pirates who crept along the forward deck looked as though they belonged among the hodgepodge crew that called themselves mates of the Black Pearl, but their behavior told a different story altogether. Crouching so as to be all but invisible to the occasional deck walker, Pintel and Ragetti whispered a quiet consultation.
"I don't know why you promised Lotter we could get him the poppet." Pintel complained bitterly, "This ship is guarded better now than it ever was when Bar-..." a filthy hand was clapped over his mouth to forestall any further words.
"Don't say his name. Don't ever say his name." Ragetti was sadly desperate, terrified of the thought that speaking only the name of their former captain would summon him back from the grave he so richly deserved.
Pintel sank yellowed teeth into the fleshy part of Ragetti's palm to make him let go. If he'd spared half a thought for it, he would have chosen a different method, because Ragetti's yelp of pain carried clearly over the quiet wharf.
"Shut up, you idiot!" the stocky, balding man hissed. They scuttled behind a stack of crates that had been recently loaded and not yet distributed. They held their position for several moments to make sure they hadn't been heard. Voices called to each other from the crew deck, but they were raised in boisterous challenge over some drinking record. This was Tortuga after all and Jack was not fool enough to forbid the crew from indulging. The only sound was their ragged breathing, and Pintel got tired of smelling the garlic on Ragetti's breath before long. Soon enough, they resumed their painstaking progress toward the cabin they had seen the girl retire to as night began to fall.
"Where do you suppose Bootstrap's boy is? I haven't seen him since the ship docked."
"I don't know, maybe he's with Captain Sparrow."
"No, he isn't you idiot. We watched Jack come ashore."
"Oh, right..." Pintel rolled his eyes at his partner's clear stupidity, but he let it go. They'd deal with Will Turner if they came to him. Pintel reached out and opened the cabin door, peering around the frame carefully. He stopped rather abruptly when he came nose to point with the business end of a sword.
"You!" the startled identification came from Elizabeth, who was holding the aforementioned sword in a way which spoke volumes of her ability to use it.
"Er... 'Ello, poppet?" Pintel smiled in a sickly manner, trying to win her over. He failed to realize the familiarity would get him nowhere. Elizabeth even went so far as to prick his nose with the tip of the sword to make sure he understood where he'd gone wrong.
"If you ever call me that again, I'm going to start removing body parts. Do we have an understanding?"
"Of course, Miss Turner." a change came over her face then, and for a moment, Pintel remembered what it was like to lose someone precious to him. His thoughts were drawn back to the time his mother had died. "Where is the boy, then...where is Bootstrap's son?"
"If you don't already know, then you're of no use to me. What are you doing here, pirate?" she stressed the last word so there could be no mistaking the boundaries of the conversation as anything remotely resembling civil. Her words were harsh and her face grim, but there was still a hint of unshed tears trembling at her lashes that edged up Pintel's respect for her, even when he didn't want to care either way. Her strength was worthy of something...some recognition, but he wasn't sure he was capable of anything that noble. He gave her the one thing that was his to offer.
"I can help you find him."
"Why should I trust you? You mutinied on Captain Sparrow."
"Because, you'll need a little help. I have connections all over Tortuga. I work for a man who sells slaves. He'll know if anyone does."
"It's Jack's decision. If you want some manner of bargain, you're going to have to wait on his return." Pintel cocked his head, listening to the usual boisterous sounds of Tortuga after dark. There were the shrieks, the pistol shots...the men shouting. All of which would have been fine, except they were drawing closer to the docks.
"Alright then," he conceded, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll wait for Captain Jack. I wager he'll be along shortly. It sounds like Tortuga is up in arms over something, and trouble seems to follow Jack."
For a moment, a critical breath or two, Elizabeth was completely distracted as she listened for whatever Pintel had heard. He had to fight back the urge to take advantage of it, as he could have had her easily had the circumstances been different. But this was a show of faith, and he didn't want to ruin his chances to get back in Jack's good graces.
"Never let your guard down, girl, or someone else with less to lose will take you while you're not paying attention." Her cheeks flushed angrily at how easily he'd bested her. Then she proved just how clever she really was.
"You didn't know Will was missing when you first boarded the ship. You don't know anything about where he is. Why did you come here?" It was the one question Pintel had been hoping she wouldn't ask. Now he realized he could lie to her, probably far too easily, but Ragetti would let the cat out of the bag sooner or later, because he was a fool. So he attempted to earn a few points in his favor by laying the truth out in the open. It was a gamble he was willing to take.
"We were sent to collect you for the auctioneer. He would have paid a very handsome price for such a pretty girl as you are." her jaw tightened, the sword in her hand coming back up into a defensive posture.
"Go ashore then and find out what you can." then she lowered the sword again, though she held it in a sure grip, prepared if he tried to rush her. Pintel took her words at face value and began backing out of the cabin once more. "Oh, and Pintel?" he paused, looking up to meet her smoldering, angry eyes. "Don't come back unless you have something useful. You do that and I'll vouch for a position in this crew for you. Fail me...fail Will and I'll be the first in line to see you walk the plank. Do we have an accord, under those terms?"
Pintel nodded, grabbing the whimpering Ragetti by the arm as he passed and dragging him along.
"Yes, Miss Turner, we do."
Jack's first indication that there was trouble taking place while he and Gibbs conducted as honest a business as could be found in Tortuga was when someone stepped out of a shadowed alley and hauled him bodily back into their place of concealment.
"Easy on the goods, darling...oh, hello Bill, what are you doing here?"
"We have a big problem, Jack." Bill said, stepping to the side so Jack could see Norrington standing with the girl child.
"Looks like a small problem to me..." Jack responded with a questioning lift to one brow.
"He paid for her freedom from Lotter, but we had words over his refusal to tell us who he sold Will to." Bill raised a hand to forestall questions he could see forming before Jack could speak them. "Yes, he sold Will about two weeks ago, near as I can figure. We seem to be one step behind Jerem Raines all the way. Anyway, Lotter started shouting that we stole the girl, and now every able body in Tortuga is hunting for us. You've got to get us to the ship, somehow."
"Not asking for much, are you?"
"Jack!" In answer to the outrage beginning to color Bill's voice, Jack whistled, bringing Gibbs, who was leading a weary cart pony, on loan from the local brewer, with a wagon full of casks to a halt, to come back and investigate what was happening.
"I can't promise it'll be pleasant, mind you...and if the crew starts asking me why the rum is gone, I'm blaming the three of you. Hello, little love, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, do try and remember the captain part, nobody else bloody bothers any more."
"I'm Rianna. My father is a baron. My mother and I were trying to find him when our ship was attacked by pirates."
"Bloody marvelous, everyone has a story, isn't that so? We'll help you find your daddy one of these days, child, but first you must get into this smelly barrel." Gibbs and the other two, working quickly, had emptied three of the barrels, spilling quality rum all over the alleyway. If he thought a glass of rum being thrown to the floor was bad, seeing an entire barrel wasted pained him tenfold. Jack mourned the loss of it properly for a moment before turning his attention back to more vital matters. With the assistance of Mr. Gibbs, he hefted one of the three empty barrels and smashed it down onto the grimy cobblestones of the refuse-strewn alleyway.
Rianna was tucked away into one of the two remaining barrels with a tight-lipped Norrington and Bill occupied the other. No sooner had they got the contraband barrels strapped back into place on the wagon, when they heard the sound of an approaching mob. Jack shoved Gibbs into the wall and began haranguing him about the broken barrel. The brigands searching for the three fugitives from pirate justice paused for a moment to witness the event, before laughing and continuing on past the alley. Once they were gone, Jack motioned to Joshamee who took a seat on the wagon and hitched the pony into motion.
"Let's get them to the ship before they run out of air." Jack cautioned, hopping up onto the seat of the slowly moving wagon. "Sorry for having to yell at you like that, mate."
"It's all right, Jack. There's more at stake here than a man's pride and I've been lower a time or two."
The words that Bill used once everything had been explained to everyone's satisfaction were not fit for a woman's ears. Elizabeth was red-faced and on the verge of tears when he stormed out of the captain's cabin, fuming, and Jack had a perplexed frown on his face.
"The pair of you fought... On deck?"
"Yes, Jack."
"In plain view of every man and his monkey that might have a spyglass?"
"Yes, Jack." Her voice kept dropping lower and lower, and James' expression became even stonier. He had never seen anyone cut Elizabeth's self-confidence out from under her so neatly, not even her father had been capable of that.
"Pass along the order to raise anchor. We're leaving."
"We can't!" Elizabeth protested sharply.
"I will not tolerate those men on board my ship, Mrs. Turner." Jack retorted sharply, but there was a look in his eye that indicated he hoped she had the guts to argue back.
"And if they know where to find Will...if they know who bought him from the auctioneer? Are we to leave him to die because you dislike the messengers that bring us tidings of his whereabouts?"
Jack took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
"Very well then, Mrs. Turner. Since you see fit to dictate policy aboard my ship, I'll now be assigning you a new rank. Henceforth you shall be bosun aboard the Black Pearl and you will begin training in your new duties immediately. Dismissed!"
"But..."
"Dismissed!" Elizabeth turned and fled the cabin, fully aware that further argument wouldn't be tolerated.
Elizabeth was no fool. She was aware, perhaps too aware that she was running out of time. If the Black Pearl finished her preparations and was ready to cast off before Pintel and Ragetti got back, the wretched pair would be left behind. She had also determined that she hadn't really considered Bill's feelings when she'd made the devil's bargain with Pintel. She knew it wouldn't do to have her father-in-law angry with her and so she decided to tender an apology to Bill and ask for his forgiveness. She never got so far, since there was parroty screeching by the rail as Pintel and Ragetti hopped aboard the ship from the ladder dangling down the side. It spoke volumes about the crew's distracted state that none had been watching for their approach, though Elizabeth did have to wonder who'd had the forethought to lower the ladder in the event the disparate pair actually made their appointment with the departing ship.
Jack appeared from the captain's cabin and once more gave the command to cast off. His orders were obeyed without hesitation and he closed the distance between himself and the pirates who'd just come aboard.
"You'd better have some useful news, or you'll be swimming back to shore."
The Black Pearl's sails unfurled in the quickening breeze and Elizabeth saw the small rowboat they'd used to get to the ship drifting away in her wake. The blacksmith's wife felt just as lost and hopeless as the boat. She experienced a feeling of foreboding that knotted her stomach so tightly she had to swallow not to gag. She moved closer to where Jack was speaking to Pintel and Ragetti, but they were already finished with their discourse. The two skulked away from Jack, bearing the mannerisms of whipped dogs and the pirate captain swung around, his gaze sweeping the deck in search of her.
"What did they say?" she asked, though judging by the expression on his face, she wasn't entirely sure she wanted the answer.
"Will was sold to a pirate woman some weeks ago. They aren't certain, but descriptions match Bess Burrel. It's altogether possible he was below decks while we stood on the main deck of the Devil's Dowry asking if she knew where the Sunlight Dreamer was."
Elizabeth could feel the blood draining from her face as she fully realized the extent of what he was telling her.
"But why would she lie?"
"My past associates have a tendency to hold grudges, Elizabeth. I'm sorry Will got mixed up in her private war with me." Jack stood watching her absorb the shock and the pain and fully expected her to hit him. Much to his surprise, she didn't, though he would have begrudged her the opportunity.
"I think I'm going to be ill." Her words were quiet, verging on prim...everything one would expect from a well-bred young woman. She made a straight line for the nearest rail and was violently sick over the side. Jack drew a few sudden conclusions that pulled a reluctant chuckle from him.
"I'll be buggered. The boy's not a eunuch after all."
"What was that, captain?" It was Gibbs who came up alongside him, likely concerned over Elizabeth's apparent infirmity.
"It would seem, Mr. Gibbs, our young Mrs. Turner is with child."
Instead of giving his usual spiel to Jack about bad luck, ships and women, Gibbs looked downright worried.
"Are you certain, captain?"
"As certain as a man can be without a doctor looking her over. She hasn't been seasick once since we left Port Royal, awful strange for her to start now, don't you think?"
"It's terrible bad luck to have a woman on board, Captain... Even worse to be having a pregnant one." Jack found himself amused that Gibbs hadn't let him down after all.
He'd lost his name when he'd lost his ship, though some nagging feeling told him he'd once had both. The only other items in his possession were a loaded pistol he kept tucked into the band of ragged, sea-torn trousers and a sword that made him feel more confident, when it was in his hand. All else was lost.
The natives had taken to giving him a wide berth since he'd slaughtered the first that got too close with swordsmanship he did not recall learning. They kept their distance, yet maintained his well-being in their own strange way by making sure he had something to eat at least once a day.
They left food for him on a flat rock overlooking a deep inlet, a short hike from the place he'd chosen to make his 'home'. He sometimes went there to scan the horizon, though he couldn't rightly remember what it was he was searching for.
Logic defied their actions, though his moments of reason versus blind instinct were rare enough. He did not understand why they were keeping him alive when he had shown them nothing but violence. The voice whispering inside his head argued they were attempting to lull him into a state of trust before they killed him. He decided he would have to be wary about where and when he chose to sleep each night.
Coming up in our next chapter:
Jack and company finally catch up with Jerem Raines and the Sunlight Dreamer, they finally find out what happened to Bess...and she leads them to Will. Stay tuned!