To williz: Thank you for encouraging a rather rampant imagination, sometimes it's very nice to be told that I'm as good as I can only hope I am. I have, thus far, made a real effort to maintain a balance of action, story and characterization and your words tell me truly that I've managed quite well. Thank you.
To orlikeiraluv: Wish granted.
To Araminta Ditch: While the lack of reviews was discouraging to my pride, my creative energies haven't paid it a bit of mind. You see, this is really all a grand experiment for me. I have taken a world that I'm wildly in love with (Yes, Will Turner is my god, I confess) and have attempted to smith a story to follow events that took place in the movie. I'm aware that they are already well underway with filming the sequels, there are two, but this is my version of what happens next. If I can finish this story, logic follows that I could write any story I wanted to, and it's my intention to break into professional writing at some point in the future. Encouragement like yours and williz give me the hope that I can do this, and I'm greatly thankful for it.
The story is not dead, though it may be some time before the next update comes. As I've mentioned before, I haven't got a lot of time to write, so steal what dribs and drabs I can while at work and at play.
DISCLAIMER: They don't belong to me, I'm just borrowing them. I'm not doing this for money, so please don't sue me! On with the story!
Watching Jack maneuver the Black Pearl across the path of the smaller ship, Elizabeth began to understand her flawed grasp of tactics. The ship's momentum brought them out fifty yards ahead of the Sunlight Dreamer's path and there was no way for the smaller ship to cut away from their present course quickly enough to avoid the broadside salvo from the Pearl. The roar of cannon fire deafened her and while she was intelligent enough to admit she was afraid, the unmistakable rush of excitement was difficult to deny. Jack had already given his orders. When the time came to board the Sunlight Dreamer she was to lock herself in the captain's cabin. He would tolerate no harm to her or the unborn child. Without being aware of what she was doing, she spread her hand over the flat of her belly, missing Will so much she could barely stand it.
They had sailed from Tortuga nearly a fortnight before, trying to backtrack Bess Burrel's course in the hopes that the 'fastest ship in the Caribbean' could eventually run her to ground. There had been no sign of the Devil's Dowry, but dumb luck had put the Sunlight Dreamer in their sights. Jack was in a mood to punish Jerem Rains and Bill was backing him up as though the two men had never been at odds.
The main mast on the Sunlight Dreamer toppled over with the ponderous, creaking groan of tearing wood and Elizabeth remembered with startling clarity when she and the rest of the crew had been on the wrong end of the Pearl's guns.
Will had been there, then, though he had been trapped belowdecks by the fallen spar of what had once been the Interceptor's main mast. The navy ship had not survived the encounter and Elizabeth realized with a vicious stab of glee that Jerem Raines was losing his ship just as quickly. The Sunlight Dreamer slowed perceptibly, having lost the bulk of her sail to carry her forward. Already, Jack's men were preparing grappling hooks to board the doomed vessel with all due speed. Jack began bellowing orders and she knew that it would serve her well to be shut away before he had time to divert his attention to her. She all but danced down the quarterdeck, hard pressed to restrain her own desire for a good, rousing fight. She made the conscious decision to put her child…Will's child ahead of her need for vengeance. Especially if he…No! She would not allow herself to think such grim thoughts. He'd been in trouble like this before; they both had and everything had turned out all right in the end. She would not entertain the idea, no matter how brief, that it would be any different this time. She would tell Will about the baby and they would prepare for parenthood together. And so it was that she was fully resolved to wait out the conflict she could hear even locked away in Jack's cabin when trouble found her.
Jerem Raines was no fool. He knew that his ship was lost to him. He felt no remorse whatsoever over the fates of his crew, they had been an ill-fitting lot from the beginning, hired for their skills and not the measure of their personalities. What he absolutely could not tolerate, however, was the thought that he would lose everything to someone like Jack Sparrow. It was with such seething thoughts that he made his way cautiously past knots of combatants toward where the captain's quarters traditionally were on any ship. He could pick the lock and wait inside and when Jack returned from sinking the Sunlight Dreamer he would be at the mercy of Jerem Raines. The crew would be forced to do as he wished, for their loyalties to Sparrow were far more sturdy than his crew could claim toward him. It didn't matter, he refused to lose so cheaply. The lock came open easily enough and he slipped into the opulent chamber beyond, relocking the door so that Jack wouldn't suspect his danger until it was too late. It was then that he heard a voice behind him, trembling on the edge of outrage.
"I can't begin to guess who you are, or what you think you are doing in here, but I guarantee you'll regret ever stepping through that door."
Jerem turned to get a look at his challenger, and was startled by the beauty of the woman before him. Honey-golden hair tumbled over one shoulder where it was pinned back and though she wore men's trousers, there could be no mistaking the womanly curves beneath the rough cloth.
"Ah, you must be Mr. Turner's lady, aren't you? I must confess, I liked you better when I saw you unclothed, the night we took your young man." Raines had no way of knowing he couldn't possibly have chosen his words more poorly. Such carefully constructed insults, when directed at well-bred young women usually reduced them to embarrassment and sometimes even tears. This gave him an arguably unfair advantage which he never hesitated to take.
Elizabeth lost her head, then. It was not from any sense of humiliation, but rather from the stark, clear cut knowledge that this man was responsible for taking Will from her. She rushed him, sword leading and temper past managing, an attack that he easily sidestepped at the last moment, much like a Spanish bullfighter. He snapped a hand down over her wrist as she stumbled from the unexpected lack of a target, her momentum carrying her forward and allowing him to pull her around in a sharp spin while she was still off-balance. Before she knew it, her back was pressed tightly against the front of his body, her sword hand pulled across her chest and pinned to her opposite side. He increased the pressure on her wrist until she gave a low cry of pain and dropped the sword with a sharp clatter to the floor. He chuckled into her ear and she froze in the circle of his arms. Her heart beat rapidly and several times she made swiftly halted attempts to bolt free of his grip.
"That's it, darlin'. Just be steady and Captain Jerem will show you what a real man is made of, not that boy you chose to wed and bed." Elizabeth gasped as he gave her breast a solid squeeze and then dropped his hand lower, to work at untangling the laces that held her breeches up. She'd been working to calm herself, remembering Will's patient instructions regarding combat with a great deal of effort on her part. She was relatively clear-headed when she struck, reaching back to pull the dagger from his belt and slam it home in his leg in one smooth, lightning fast stroke. Will had taught her that, too, and she was glad of it now. The roar of pain from the man who had intended to rape her was gratifying, though she wasn't expecting the backhanded blow to her head as she tried to dodge out of the way. She'd been hoping he'd be too distracted with the knife in his thigh to try to harm her further. She fell to the floor, catching herself on hands and knees, but it also put her within reach of her sword once more and she quickly scooped it up and whirled to defend herself from the cursing pirate who was charging her with his own weapon raised. Their swords met with a clash of steel on steel and she gave ground, doing her best to wear him down.
"You slattern whore!" he bellowed, bringing his sword down in a savage cross-cut that she easily parried, sharp eyes watching his every movement to judge the effect her measured strike had on his ability to maintain the fight. The only problem was, he was still between her and the door. He continued to advance on her, his thrusts and parries becoming more wildly erratic as his wound began to take its toll.
"How did you trick Will?" her voice was steady now, unshakeable. "How did you kidnap my husband, you coward?" His answer was a ragged laugh.
"Coward, am I? We'll see who's the coward when I'm through with you, girl!" but his threat was just posturing, as he weakened from the injury she'd already given him. First blood was undeniably hers to call. His breeches, which had been pale, were darkening with the flow of blood where he'd pulled the offending metal from his leg. Elizabeth jumped when there came a sudden pounding on the door.
"Elizabeth!" it was Jack, sounding the most…sober she'd ever had reason to recall. She tried to circle around Jerem, but he was still alert enough to pose problems in that direction, lifting his sword to keep her at bay.
"Wait, Jack." There came another voice, James this time, characteristically the voice of reason even in the heat of battle. "Where is your key?"
"Bugger the key! I heard shouting; she's not alone in there!"
"I'm alright." Elizabeth called out, though there was no way she could get past Jerem, letting them know she was unharmed seemed to be a wise course, as Jack would probably break down his own door to come to her rescue. There was a hasty discussion on the other side and the sound of a key sliding home in the lock, before the door creaked open, allowing Jack and those in his company to enter.
"Raines!" it was Bill, catching sight of her opponent as he stepped past the threshold. "I'll kill you if you've lade a hand on my daughter-in-law!" Jerem rolled his eyes defiantly.
"Will you shut up? I know for a fact that she's not married to your whelp just yet, since I kidnapped the proper priest and replaced him with a man of my own crew to botch things up nice and good."
"He laid two on me, actually," Elizabeth interjected at this point. But before Bill could do more than step forward threateningly, she waved him off. "I've already more than repaid the insult, Bill, though it would be a great service to me if you'd remove this man from my sight. He makes me ill just to look at him."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Jack again, endearingly more concerned for her welfare than the fate of the man who had sunk to his knees on the floor, clutching at his leg in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Pintel, as usual in places he had no business being, had come in behind the commanding crew to see what was happening, but he had paused, staring at the ring on Jerem's hand in seeming fascination. Elizabeth followed his gaze, a slight frown marring her brow. The ring seemed familiar to her somehow, but the stone at its center was as green as poison. She could almost feel herself drawn to it, the vaguest hints of something smoky moving in its depths, pulling her ever inward. It was Jack clearing his throat to get her attention that called her back.
"What? Oh…yes, I'm fine."
"Where did you get that ring?" Pintel asked suddenly, speaking up when everyone least expected him to. The tension in his voice was somewhat alarming and it cut through any lingering fascination she had with the emerald.
Jerem sneered at him, despite his pain, defiant to the last. Pintel moved closer to him, almost as though he'd take the man's hand just to get a better look.
"How long have you had that ring, man? Was it always green?" he pressed on, intent on finding his answers, oblivious to the effect his line of questioning might have on the rest of those present in the cabin. Jack was watching him with a look of mild confusion…par for the course, actually. James was watching Jerem to make sure he didn't try anything despite his wound, but there was an expectant air about the navy man as he waited for the pirate to speak.
"I got it from the boy, when we grabbed him from Port Royal," Jerem answered finally with a nasty smirk. There was in him the beginning of a clue that something was definitely behind the other man's questions. "And it was green as envy when I took it from him." He turned to regard Bill, to gauge the effect of his words even as he sank down from a crouch to a seated position on the deck. He was feeling a bit light-headed despite this last minute triumph over the general morale of those gathered. "Why…is it cursed, or something?" Bill moved then, his expression hard.
"Get the ring. I don't care if you have to cut his hand off, but get the ring." There could be no mistaking how serious the order was, which is why nobody was surprised to hear the jewelry in question hitting the floor with a heavy clink.
"Take your damned ring then. I hope it kills him." Jerem spat.
"James, go find that doctor from Jerem's crew that offered us his services, would you? I want Captain Raines here to have plenty of time to reconsider his words."
It was only then that the sea chest Elizabeth was fairly sure had until now only held clothes came open in front of their astonished eyes and Rianna crawled out.
"Is the fighting over, then?" With a low cry, Elizabeth dropped to her knees and pulled the little girl into her arms. Yet the look she turned on the assembled men, both friends and enemy alike was unforgiving.
"Get out, all of you!"
"But Elizabeth…" it was Bill braving her censure.
"Now!" Behind Bill, everyone else filed out, James roughly hauling Jerem along by one arm and yet the man who would be her father-in-law lingered.
"Alright then, but we need to talk, and soon." She could guess his intent easily.
"To what purpose, Bill? What good will it do Will for me to know what manner of curse he is under?" Rianna buried her face in Elizabeth's shoulder, whimpering at the heat in the young woman's words. "We don't even know if he's still alive!" Bill had to admit defeat.
"Have it your way then, but you mustn't give up hope, Elizabeth. Will is going to need your strength when we find him. And I know we will. It's only a matter of time."
He'd been told to stay out from under foot by the captain when it became clear they weren't going to be able to outrun the black-sailed ship fast approaching out of the west. It was wreathed in a cloak of fog that told more clearly than the tattered sails upon a longer look that something wasn't quite right about their pursuer. The boy huddled beneath the steps leading up to the main deck and the steering column, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees.
There was an edge of terror dogging the men as they bustled about the ship, struggling inexpertly to load cannons they'd never had the practice of using. The cabin boy recalled one of the sailors mentioning the foreboding ease of the voyage thus far. It seemed their luck had run out at last. He stayed where he was, because he'd been more or less ordered to it, making an attempt to creep further behind the barrels that had been stowed beneath the stairs until he saw the identifying marks on the sides. Gunpowder, and plenty of it.
He'd begun to reconsider the wisdom of his chosen hiding place when the booming sound of a cannon being fired echoed through the thickening fog blanketing the sea around them. The boy shivered as the unnatural chill cut straight to his bones. Another boom, this one more distant answered their first shot, only to be followed by the splintering crash of tearing wood. His mind went numb to the sounds of battle until he saw the swaggering, hedonistic captain of the pirate ship. He cried out, lurching to his feet in terror.
"Barbossa!" the nameless one came awake with the chill of his memories still lingering about him and he struggled to make sense of the snatch of recollection while reason still lay within him. Barbossa had tried to kill him, though he couldn't remember why. No…the dark certainty within his mind asserted that Barbossa had killed him. It was why the natives feared and respected him, because he was of the spirit, not the flesh. Incapable of keeping his thoughts in a straight line, the nameless one was helpless to do anything but agree. He would avenge himself against the captain of the Black Pearl, no matter what it took.
"Mr. Turner…he'd be your young man, wouldn't he?" The question startled Elizabeth out of her reverie, coming as it did from the surgeon they'd absorbed from Raines' ill-fated crew.
"Yes," she admitted. Though there was certainly no real need to point out the obvious, she couldn't find a reason to lie to the man, either.
"I attended to him for the duration of his stay aboard the Sunlight Dreamer."
"He needed a doctor, then?" her question was to the point, having gathered that much without prompting.
"Yes, he did. He ran a strange fever the entire time that I couldn't break, no matter what I tried."
"That was all…a fever? Your captain said he left a mark on Will. What was he talking about?"
"Ah, that. Raines is a vain man and not fit to be any man's captain. He took it into his head to test the boy, since there have been tales traded between crews ever since Sparrow got his beloved ship back. Raines wanted a challenge and he got more than he bargained for, even with the boy being ill. We were supposed to take Turner directly to his father, but Raines changed everything when your young man cut his face."
"He got what he deserved, then." Her voice was fierce, crackling with anger all over again.
"If Raines had just told him where we were taking him, none of this would have happened." Jones seemed upset by the turn of events, but Elizabeth could well imagine how helpless he had been to force Raines to adhere to the original plan.
"Wait. Are you suggesting Raines knew the relationship between Will and Governor Teague?"
"Everyone knew. He was so damned pleased that he managed to cheat your father into paying him again for a job he'd already been paid to do."
"Thank you for telling me." Elizabeth stepped away from the rail, her stride determined and purposeful, and her expression implacable. She had to do something. She had to find some way to release the anger bubbling up inside and Raines was her most available target.
She strode between Pintel and Ragetti, who were doing guard duty outside the cell-like cabin that held their injured prisoner. They seemed disinclined to get in her way perhaps the first wise decision they'd ever made in their lives.
"You had the opportunity to tell Will where you were taking him, yet you didn't. How can you be so cruel and still call yourself a gentleman?" Raines was lying on a small cot within the room and his initial surprise at seeing her in his erstwhile jail was quickly smothered by an overbearing sense of smugness.
"I enjoyed making him crawl," he sneered at her, self-satisfaction dripping from every word. "Why should he have better than I by accident of birth?" Elizabeth let out a wordless cry of rage and began slapping him, sharp blows across the face. And then Jack was there, pulling her back by the waist, but she couldn't make out what he was saying for the hateful jibes Jerem Raines was spewing.
"That's it, Sparrow, get your little lightskirts off me."
"Shut your mouth, Raines, before I shut it for you. Stop it, Elizabeth! This isn't good for you or the baby."
"Tell me something, Lizzie, is the brat in your belly the boy's or has Sparrow been filling in for him?" Elizabeth was lifted completely from her feet and set back down somewhere in the vicinity of the door. Jack was gentle about it, but it was probably better than the alternative, because she'd already slipped Jack's pistol from his sash to kill the bastard where he lay. She realized dimly that Jack merely wanted a clear path to Raines himself and was beset with a sharp stab of disappointment.
"Elizabeth, I'll handle this. You have duties to attend to on deck."
"What, does she have to service the crew for the day?" Raines just couldn't keep his mouth shut, but Elizabeth was trying desperately to block him out.
"Yes, Jack." She had no idea what he meant to do, but she held his pistol out to him. He took it back with a surprised look, perhaps he'd never even missed it. She fled, then. It was either that or weep in front of the man who had taken so much from her.
After she was gone, Jack and Raines stared at each other.
"One more unkind word to her and I will make you suffer in ways only I can devise." Jack's face was deadly serious, an element rarely witnessed by anyone.
"You don't frighten me, Sparrow."
"Maybe I don't, but I'll find a way somehow. She's suffered enough from your greed. Leave her alone. I'll not risk her losing the babe she carries, if it's all she has left of Will Turner because of you."
Jerem grinned slyly, cruelly. It seemed to be the only emotion he was truly in touch with, by Jack's estimation.
"You haven't told her what Bloody Bess does with the young men she buys, have you?"
"No I have not. And if I have anything to say about it, she need never find out. I'm through with you, Raines. You and I are done."
"May I beg a boon of you, Captain Sparrow?" Jerem's conciliatory tone should have warned Jack, but still he granted his permission with a nod.
"Would you tell me if she's any good in bed, mate?" Jerem never saw Jack swing on him, but he certainly felt the blow that sent him spiraling into unconsciousness.
In the month and more they had been searching for the Devil's Dowry a great many things had occurred on the Black Pearl. Jack had offloaded those men if Jerem's crew that proved too fractious to cooperate with a more lenient hand at the tiller. Jerem had been moved to the holding cell in the belly of the ship with James as his only voluntary keeper. Elizabeth was forced to return to the wearing of skirts as her waistline thickened and she took to carrying the cursed ring in her pocket. After Pintel had told her what he knew of the ring, it was the only clue they had pertaining to Will's continued existence. The stone remained a hateful green, and so she held onto hope. Elizabeth also, though the only other person of the crew who knew was Anamaria, had felt Will's child stir within her. And then there were the dreams…nightmares, really. Nightly she found herself lost in a tropical forest always being chased by something she couldn't see.
Supplies were dwindling and plans were being made to return to Port Royal to restock the ship. Elizabeth dreaded going back, though she couldn't argue against the fact that it was the closest port to their current heading. Everyone knew her there, and tongues would wag. She and Anamaria had taken to Rianna as surrogate mothers, but they both had an unspoken agreement the ship was no place for a girl child to grow up.
It was Mr. Gibbs and his fear of the supernatural that brought them their final stroke of luck. His sharp eyes picked up a fog bank hanging off the coast of a small island with lush undergrowth and what appeared to be a slipshod home constructed on the one cleared beach. Jack, against further protests from the quartermaster, ordered them to drop anchor and put a couple of jollyboats ashore.
The fog drifted in tatters around the boat that Elizabeth sat in and it seemed to cling to her skin and settle in to chill her through and through. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself to try and keep warm. She wasn't even sure why Jack had let her come. It's not as if an obviously pregnant woman would be of any assistance in the event of trouble. She began to think that maybe Jack knew more than he was letting on.
The fog swirled and eddied around them, though there was no wind to move it. Slowly, the sound of a woman's shriek echoing hollowly became more apparent, more audible, and Elizabeth looked around them, trying to figure out where it was coming from as Jack steadily applied himself to the oars. She couldn't tell if it were rage or pain behind the sound. Jack had gone pale beneath his habitual kohl and that more than anything brought home the knowledge that she wasn't hearing things.
"Hold tight to the gunwales." He suggested, even as the sea not far from the bow of their small boat began to churn and roll. The wailing grew louder, given voice by an inhuman throat. Water streamed from the figure that rose from beneath the surface. And though her back was to them, there could be no mistaking her for Elizabeth.
"It's her!" she fumbled for the pistol Jack had given her and pulled the trigger back, fully prepared to shoot Bess Burrel in the back if she had to. The woman had risen from the depths much as a dolphin would broach for air. The key difference was the ease in which Bess defied the elements by standing amidst the wavelets that lapped at the side of the boat.
"Don't, Elizabeth. It won't do you any good." Jack warned, reaching out to stay her hand. Bess turned on the water to regard her with green eyes as cold and unyielding as the stone of the ring that lay within her pocket even now.
"Go ahead, girl. Your lover already took his shot, for all the good it did him." Her skin was still unmarred, though seaweed had begun to grow in her hair, mute evidence that even the denizens of the sea would not touch her flesh. Bess pulled down the already low front of her bodice slightly to reveal the perfectly round hole drilled through her chest. And while there was no sign of blood, Elizabeth could see right through her, the snap realization turning her stomach alarmingly. She squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head to the sound of Bess Burrel's laughter.
"Where is he, Bess?' Jack interrupted. Bess gave a careless little shrug as she hopped lightly from the surface of the water into the boat with them and sat primly smoothing her waterlogged skirts.
"I wouldn't know, Jack Sparrow. He murdered my men, stole my ship and left me here to rot." Her look, turned on him, was one of studied innocence and Jack simply wasn't buying.
"You always were a poor liar, Bess." He interrupted her coy act with blunt truth. "You'd already marked him, or you couldn't possibly be speaking to us now." Elizabeth's mind raced, trying to piece together the things she knew, to figure out where Jack was going with it. Bess pouted, foiled in her attempt to sway a bargain more to her benefit.
"Very well. Yes, I know how to find him, but I will not give him up so easily, Jack. You have three choices, as far as I can see. The first is that you refuse me. Angus will die and so does your lad because I will tell you nothing and the sea is vast…so vast." Jack waved a hand to silence Elizabeth's protests before they could be properly launched.
"I'm not nibbling yet, go on."
"Ah, but you do it so well, Jack." Another shrug to indicate she expected him to argue, even if the compliment was true, before she continued on. "Your second choice…ah, yes. You take me aboard your ship, I take you to the young man, and you let me complete the ritual. I'll happily share the boy with his lover for the duration."
"No!" the denial was Elizabeth's, firm and intractable.
"No?" Bess raised a brow. "Suit yourselves." Emerald eyes flickered over the blacksmith's young wife before she gave forth with a deeply affected sigh. She pulled a comb from her skirts and began to straighten the tangled mess of her hair. "Yes, I suspect it would be difficult to play house with daddy off with another woman. He is quite attractive, your young man. I can see why you don't want to share." She turned her attention to James, then.
"My third offer might be more palatable for you. Find a suitable replacement for him. The navy man would do nicely. I'd take special pleasure in using him to preserve Angus for another while longer." The hate in her voice was unmistakable and James squirmed slightly under the heat of her gaze. And then her attention was back on Jack. "Or you, Jack. Would you give yourself for the happiness of the children?"
"I have Jerem Raines aboard my ship. I'm wondering, Bess…if he mightn't better suit your needs?"
"Jack, you never change, do you? Always willing to sacrifice others before yourself." Jack had the grace to look offended at her accusation. "Very well, Raines is a fop, but he'll serve nicely indeed. Let us go and get Angus from shore. The sooner we're aboard your ship, the sooner I will take you to the boy, may the devil take you all." Jack laughed then, his expression heavy with ironic humor.
"Why should he want us, Bess? He already has you."
It was well into the night when the increase in noise registered on the lost one's awareness. He rose from the mossy ground that had served as his bed since waking on the island and armed himself with sword and pistol before beginning a trek through the forest to find the source of apparent jubilation.
As he continued along his chosen path, he became increasingly convinced the native tribe must be gathered at the rock where they served his food. The intrusion to what had become his personal domain upset him considerably, bringing the dark awareness awake inside his head.
What is it?
"I don't know, it sounds like they're celebrating something." There were moments such as this where he wondered if he and the maliciousness were really one and the same, but he could find no proof to refute the possibility.
Let's go and find out what they're so happy about, shall we? At least they were in agreement on that particular point. He slipped through the jungle, having developed a knack for leaving no trace of his passage in the time he'd been on the island. He stopped once he could see the clearing around the rock from a higher vantage point. There were so many dark-skinned bodies occupying what had once been an open space that it was difficult to say how many had gathered there. What riveted his attention, instead, were the black sails rising from the deck of the ship which had been anchored out in the small bay; a ship that had haunted his nightmares for as long as he could recall. The ship was, apparently, the cause for the natives' celebration.
He narrowed sharp eyes, searching the gathering for one he was certain to recognize. There. The red bandanna and dangling gewgaws drew the eye rather quickly and without really considering what he was doing, the nameless one slipped from his place of concealment to confront the tormentor of his past. He expected hostility when the other caught sight of him, he was unprepared for what he got.
"Will!" there was relief and even some measure of joy in his enemy's expression as he babbled on. "Mother's love, we've been worried sick about you, boy!"
Don't let him speak! The voice within all but shrieked at him. He's trying to trick you into trusting him! Will, for that must be his name, lifted the loaded pistol and trained it on the garrulous pirate before him. The natives became agitated, chattering back and forth in their strange tongue, disturbed by the threat to their chief. Jack answered them in kind, making gestures to calm them. Once they were appeased, he turned back to Will.
"It's time to come back with us, Will. Elizabeth has been worried sick about you. She has something she needs to tell you." A spark of sweet memory kindled within Will and he took an uncertain step forward, confusion clear on his face. He could almost see her in his mind's eye. The brief feeling of trust was wiped out by the raging presence within his mind, however. Still…he must be certain he had the right person.
"You…are the captain of the Black Pearl?" the name of the ship leapt unbidden to his mind as he lowered the pistol slightly, his resolve wavering.
"Yes! I'm Captain Jack Spar…" Jack never finished the introduction as the pistol came back up with startling speed. Jack could see the grim determination in Will's expression as he pulled the trigger. So much for his assurances to the natives that he could talk the boy out of hurting anyone.
"I bloody well didn't deserve that." Jack gasped, before slumping to the ground. Will Turner, wild-eyed and unreasoning wheeled and fled the clearing while everyone still stood around gaping in astonishment at what he'd just done.
"We are not so different, you and I." Bess spoke with warm tones, almost fondness, and Elizabeth turned to regard her with a look of stunned incredulity that spoke volumes on what she might choose to say in return.
"You look at me as though I am mad," Bess continued, "And yet…I see a lot of myself in you. There is no knowing what you would do for love of William, is there? As for me…I gave my life to warn my love, and my soul to save him. Could you honestly say you would not do the same?"
"I don't know." Elizabeth answered honestly, giving it due consideration. She had already risked much, not the least of which were her reputation and her life. She thought of the vile man locked in the hold who would have forced her into intimacies that she had only shared with Will on the presumption she was free for the taking. It didn't matter that James was there to guard propriety, she was with child and as yet, not honestly wed. It was enough to bring her nearly to tears to realize that she was, indeed, trading another man's life to save Will. She could marshal no argument that would paint her in a positive light, so she wisely said nothing at all.
Their conversation was cut short by the stormy entrance of Anamaria, who moved to the large downy bed and began stripping it bare. She pulled fresh bedding from one of the many chests in the room, fuming all the while, her brisk motions driven by an economical use of obvious fury.
"What's wrong, Anamaria?" Elizabeth hesitated to ask, since the dark-skinned first mate's temper was legendary aboard the ship.
"What is wrong?" Anamaria snapped the question as though she were chewing on bits of glass, adding a note of incredulity to it somehow. "Jack found your bloody husband on the island, just as she said we would…" The mocha-skinned beauty shot a venomous look toward Bess. "And then he got shot for his troubles!" Elizabeth's first thought was not for Jack's well-being…but for Will and whatever had happened that resulted in a shooting. Of course, this resulted in a full-blown sense of guilt, because Jack had very nearly sailed the entire Caribbean trying to find him…for her. Luckily, Anamaria seemed to understand what froze her on the spot, torn as to what she should do or say.
"I'll take care of Jack. You go and find your man before someone gets killed. He's got the local tribe stirred up, because they made Jack their chief some time back and they're upset that he shot him."
It didn't take further prompting to get Elizabeth rushing from the cabin in her haste to find Will before one of the angry natives did.
Jack let out a full-throated yell and immediately began thrashing away from Jones and his surgical tools.
"When I asked for rum, I didn't mean pour it on my bloody shoulder!" he shouted into the man's face. Jones lifted a brow and turned a meaningful look toward Anamaria, since she'd agreed to assist him in attending to Jack.
"Is he always this charming a patient?"
"Usually worse," she disagreed. Jack made a disgusted sound.
"Stop talking about me like I'm not even in the room. Where is Elizabeth, I need to tell her what happened."
"I already told her…"
"Oh, good."
"She's gone to fetch Will back."
"What! No, no, no, no! That's not good…that's not good at all. You have to bring her back at once. He'll kill her."
"I'll send Bill and James," Anamaria assured, stepping to the door even as she mentally kicked herself for sending Elizabeth into danger, no matter how unwittingly. "They'll see her safely back." She had believed that if anyone could bring the boy back without further incidents, it would have been Elizabeth. Now she had another car to add to her already numerous worries, which only served to make her more waspish yet.
"Damn you, Will Turner, and all the trouble you've caused!" she muttered on her way to find the boy's father.
Elizabeth was running through the dense jungle growth at that very moment. The thick vegetation threatened to yank her from her feet with every step and she could almost convince herself that this was yet another in the string of nightmares that had plagued her aboard the ship if it weren't for the nagging stitch in her side that had begun to steal her breath. She didn't dare pause to recover herself even for a moment, because the crashing sound that followed her were far too close for comfort.
Her carefully contrived plan to bring Will back to the ship had come undone when he came upon her unexpected, brandishing the sword in his hand with deadly intent. One look at his face, at the feral, territorial expression that dominated all else and bolting had seemed the best option. There had been no trace of recognition. The only advantage she had right now was that she was smaller and more easily capable of slipping between the densely packed trees, even in her pregnant state. However, she was losing ground. The problem was the growing steepness of the terrain she was attempting to navigate.
She burst into a clearing illuminated only by the full moon and her eyes picked out a ledge, really nothing more than a deeper darkness in a jutting wall. It seemed like just the place to hide. Rallying her strength, she dashed across the open ground and leapt for the outcropping of rock, hauling herself up as quickly as she could.
Elizabeth had almost made it when a rough hand grabbed her by the ankle and gave a sharp yank, pulling her back toward the ground as her fingers scrabbled for better purchase. She twisted as she fell, successful in cushioning her landing to protect the child she carried within her. She kicked at him, scoring a lucky blow to his jaw, but still he managed to pin her beneath him, his face mere inches from hers. Every detail of him was painfully familiar to her, but there was enough moonlight in the little glad that she could detect no trace of familiarity in his angry, dark brown eyes.
"Who are you? Why won't you leave me alone?"
Elizabeth struggled to regain her breath, even as she feared what he might do at the wrong answer.
"Will…it's me, Elizabeth." She hated the trembling, pleading note she could hear in her voice, but there was little else she could do. "Don't you remember me?" He looked at her, studying her face and for an instant the barest glimmer of recognizance swam to the surface and she knew he knew who she was.
"Elizabeth?" he looked confused as though trying to figure out what she was doing in such a strange place. The moment was far too fleeting, and her Will was replaced once more by the unreasoning anger of his madness.
"I won't be fooled!" he raised the sword as though to strike, when suddenly he cried out and dropped it, clawing at his back in desperation. He levered himself off her and staggered a few steps, before dropping to his knees. Elizabeth didn't understand what was happening until she saw the tribesmen appearing on the edge of the tree line, some with thin reed pipes still pressed to their mouths. Dawning horror had her shouting her denial even as she scrambled over to where Will had fallen. There were several needle-thin darts sticking from his back and she pulled them free and threw them as far as she could. He was unconscious already, but still breathing, though she knew it might not be much longer if the natives had poisoned him. Bitterly, she began to cry. They had come all this way to save him, only to lose him now.
Someone was speaking to her and she looked up with surprise to see Bill and James standing there. Bill was attempting to get her away from Will, but the irrational fear that she would never see him again gripped her and she refused to let him go.
"No! He's dying!"
"No, Elizabeth, he's only sleeping so that we might get him to the ship without any more fighting." Bill was looking at Will with a bittersweet expression on his face. There was joy at finally seeing Will fully grown, mingled with the terrible knowledge that what was happening to his son could be laid at his feet. He blamed himself, even if no one else would. James had gathered Elizabeth into his arms and was trying to calm crying that bordered on the hysterical once the initial shock of what had happened had worn thin.
"He doesn't know who I am." She kept repeating, and that tore Bill apart, too. What parent could claim to love their child and still do something so terrible as this? He turned and directed the hunters who had come with them to transport Will back to the ship even as James lifted Elizabeth up to carry her there himself. Bill followed close behind, subdued into silence by vicious self-loathing.
Author's note: The chapter title Aegri Somnia translates from Latin as the dreams of a sick man. I felt it was rather apropriate given that Will isn't quite sane any more. We'll be developing more of that as we go, as well as revealing the identity of the angry voice inside his head. Lord, I feel much as though I've given birth, these last two chapters have taken some time and effort to get out. Please be patient with me, dear readers, I promise there is more to come!