PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE AFRICAN STAR
By ErinRua
CHAPTER 26
Elizabeth flinched awake from a sleep she had not known she fell into, blinking muzzy-headed into darkness and stars. Confusion about her wakefulness warred with the awareness that in her bed of forest loam she felt damp as a snake. She pushed herself to her elbows, fingers pulling leaves from her hair on one side. Next to her Bess sat framed against the night sky like an ebony statue.
"What is it?" Elizabeth whispered.
"Somet'ing," returned Bess' alto reply. "Like t'under from de sea."
As if in response a thudding rumble shuddered from the dark and Elizabeth realized this had been what awakened her. With a gasp she scrambled to her knees.
"Cannons! They're here!"
The women seized their meager belongings - sandals, the water gourd, one precious orange - and Bess led the way. Upwards through thickly-slapping leaves they clambered and in moments the darkness of the jungle gave way before the silver light of a newly-risen half moon. From their vantage point they could see dots of amber light in Biltmore's estate, below, and beyond that the darkling shimmer of the harbor. There like a nightmare vision drifted a great black ship and as they watched, sooty fire flared along her sides. A beat later the battering boom of distant cannon fire reached them.
"Dis our chance - go!"
With all the haste that night and the jungle permitted the two fugitives scrambled down from the heights. As trees thinned the moonlight filtered through, but shadow still laid tricks for the eye and traps for the unwary step.
"They won't know where the other girls are," Elizabeth hissed as they clambered over the rounded boulders of a stony streambed. "We'll have to show them - we might have to provide a distraction if they have trouble getting in."
Bess' face turned towards her only briefly. "What distraction dat be?"
"I don't know - careful, that rock is loose! But we'll think of something. Come on!"
***
Blade skated against blade as Will parried a savage stroke and riposted inside the man's guard. A steely flash and the man cried out, the sword wrenched from his hand to fly skittering across the paving stones.
"Yield now!" cried Will and the tip of his sword quivered before his opponent's face.
"No mas - por favor -."
Two hands rose in surrender and Will struck past them - knuckles cracking the man's chin and dropping him senseless. Hurdling over the unconscious form Will leapt to the next foe, but Original John was there first. The big man seized collar and belt in either hand and with a mighty heave sent his captive screeching through shattering windowpanes. All around them bodies grappled and blows thudded as the crew of the Black Pearl boiled across the courtyard, driving the defenders back. Atop the walls Sir John Biltmore bellowed to his men, but his cannons could not be turned inwards and it seemed his fury would be in vain.
A dozen pirates had won their way onto the wall, and as Will looked they tipped a cannon from its carriage with a heavy crash. Some of the beleaguered defenders were drawing back along the wall, coalescing towards Biltmore's unmistakable figure. Below, against the ruddy flicker of sputtering flames Sparrow's lean silhouette stood framed in fine defiance.
"Surrender now, ye scurvy dogs," he shouted. "And we'll spare your miserable lives! Lay down your arms; the Black Pearl does not want your blood!"
All around the courtyard, Biltmore's men faced the pirate crew's snarling menace and their battered courage faltered. Several men began throwing down their arms to cry for quarter, as the demand for surrender was echoed by Sparrow's crew.
However, from the walls Biltmore roared in fury. "I'LL BE DAMNED BEFORE I CONCEDE TO THE LIKES OF YOU!"
Gaily Sparrow shouted back, "You'll be shakin' hands with the devil if you don't!"
The pirates cheered raucously, but Will held only one thought. Elizabeth waited - Elizabeth was here - that certainty drove him like a following gale, and he struck aside resistance without slowing. Where would she be?
The manor house loomed darkly by moonlight, daunting in its enormity, and Will slid to a halt in the shadows beside the stable. Where now? Desperation crowded in his teeth as he panted for breath. The crew of the Pearl was surging forward again, shouts ringing, blows thudding. As he watched more of Biltmore's men dropped weapons and flung up their hands in defeat.
Another granadoe exploded and blew a nearby cart into a fiery geyser of splinters and hay. He ducked as something impacted the wall above his head, and glanced to see the two Johns likewise straightening from the blast behind him.
"Wot was that?" asked Original John.
"What d' ye mean what was that?" Irish John glared at the big man. "'T'was was a granadoe, ye great gom."
"No …." A ham-sized hand pointed to the stone stable beside them. "In there. Somethin' … squeaked."
Will and Irish John stared at the huge pirate. He shrugged.
"I 'eard somethin' in there."
"A bleedin' mouse," scoffed Irish John.
Yet as Will's gaze swept the length of the building, his brow furrowed in sudden thought. It was a typical stable in construction, long and low with a gabled tile roof and arched stone doorways framing white doors. However, it was not typical to keep a stable shut up tight in the heat of a tropical night.
"It doesn't smell like horse, either," he muttered. Then he took three quick strides to the main door. "Locked."
The rattle of metal against wood punctuated his words. Original John reached to grip the heavy wood sealing a nearby window.
"Shutters nailed up, too," he echoed.
"John!" cried Will and swung his sword towards a shuttered stable window. "Break that open!"
No sooner had he spoken than the screech of tortured nails rent the air. Original John's great shoulders bowed as he heaved with all his strength. Then with a splintering crack the shutter gave way and clattered in pieces to the ground. Iron bars stood in the black opening beyond.
Will leaped to the window and seized the bars with his free hand, but he saw only darkness within. Stale odors wafted forth, not the clean scent of horse and hay, and the hairs on his neck prickled.
In anxious dread he asked, "Is anyone there?"
Silence. Or was it silence? Almost it seemed the shadows …. breathed.
Renewed shouting burst forth across the courtyard and he glanced back to see Sparrow running with sword in hand for the nearest stone stairs. The pirate captain's teeth were bared in savage glee as he bounded upwards two steps at a time, his whole concentration focused on his men who fought their way towards Sir John Biltmore's embattled position.
"Please," cried Will into the stable's empty hush. "You must speak! I'm here to get you out!"
There - a sound! Will's knuckles were white on the cold iron as he pressed his face towards the sighing darkness within.
"Please - Elizabeth Swann. Has anyone seen Elizabeth Swann? Is she here?"
"Elizabeth?"
A thin, quavering female voice had spoken and something rustled inside the barn's hollowness. Voices whispered now, many feminine whispers and someone stifled a cough. A pale shape appeared at the window and moonlight revealed a sweet young woman's face with wide blue eyes. Cupids-bow lips graced rounded cheeks that should have shown dimples and laughter, not the blank fear that stared back at Will now.
"She was here," the girl said softly. "But she escaped. What's happening?"
"Escaped!" Will lurched against the bars as if he could wrench them loose by main strength. "Where? When?"
"As soon as the ship stopped here. She and Bess … they jumped overboard and ran away. Are you Will Turner?"
"Yes! Where did she run?"
"I don't know - they swam, and then they must have run off in the jungle."
***
Dark branches caught and snagged as Elizabeth pushed though the jungle growth, towards the looming, rearmost wall of Sir John's hacienda and the tumult of explosions and shouts and cries within. Oddly, a ruddy light flickered through the leaves and suddenly they were looking at a small open gate. She stopped in sudden caution. Glancing back, she saw Bess slowly wagging her head in a gesture of negation, and Elizabeth frowned as she nodded in return. This was too simple, too inviting.
Sure enough, an instant later a long shadow spilled through the gateway and a sentry appeared, musket gripped in both hands as he peered out into the night. What could he be looking for outside, when the uproar of battle went on inside the compound he ostensibly guarded?
The answer came in the next moment, with the pattering drumbeat of many running feet. Elizabeth flung herself back into leafy shadows with Bess beside her, and they dropped into hiding not a moment too soon. From the darkness poured a torrent of armed men, and the gate sentry gave a glad shout. Through the opening they streamed in grimly unswerving speed and Elizabeth felt her heart sink.
"This does not look good," she whispered.
Moments later the men were gone, but to the women's astonishment the gate remained open. A wary look around, and they rose once more. On sandaled feet they flitted through the gate, glancing up in apprehension, but it appeared the sentry had run on to the battle with his fellows. Beyond the buildings the shouts and booms of struggle were rising to a new crescendo. Dark buildings stood along a sloping lane and the reek of smoke wafted to them as they darted from shadow to shadow. A sudden patter of feet sent the fugitives dodging for cover beneath a set of stairs, and elsewhere cannons thundered again.
Breathing through her mouth in an effort to remain silent, Elizabeth laid a hand to her thundering heart and swallowed hard. Beside her Bess' eyes gleamed in the dark as she peered warily out.
"We need a plan," Elizabeth whispered. "Something to even the odds for us." Her eyes narrowed as she looked at her companion. "Those guns and cannons need ammunition."
"Yes."
"If they have no more ammunition, they can't be used to fight."
"Yes."
"And if the ammunition is ruined in a very loud and noticeable way … I think that would be a splendid diversion for freeing slaves, don't you?"
Silence. Then; "You know how to ruin de gun things?"
The moon painted Elizabeth's teeth in pearly white as she leaned towards Bess and smiled. "Boom," was all she said.
Bess blinked. Then she smiled, too. A moment later they continued their furtive way deeper into Sir John Biltmore's realm.
***
Will sagged with his fist still gripping the bars and lifted his face to the black night sky, sooty now with drifting smoke. More womanly tones whispered inside the stable, a hushed mumble of so many poor souls, but Elizabeth was not one of them. To come so far and somehow fail … Elizabeth was out there, lost … and suddenly he felt the weight of all Cuba pressing upon him, leaving him ever so small and powerless.
"JACK SPARROW!" rang Biltmore's great shout behind them. "You've sown the wind, Sparrow. Now reap the whirlwind!"
Then a roar went up and Irish John screeched, "Saints above!" With hard hands he shoved Will stumbling. "Let's get out of here!"
Will staggered and froze as from the darkness poured a howling torrent of new men with swords and pistols and muskets. Scores of men - a hundred - and the crew of the Black Pearl seemed to collapse back in upon themselves, towards Joshamee Gibbs and Anamaria now shouting for rally and retreat. Will lunged back to the barred window once more.
"How many of you are there?" he demanded. "What is your name?"
"I'm Sarah. Eight of us came with Elizabeth, but there are sixty-two of us captive here."
"Sixty two!"
"Will!" shouted Irish John. "There's no TIME!"
"Yes!" cried the girl's voice within. "He's been collecting women for months. Now go! Tell someone, but go!"
"Wait -." But Will's words were cut short when Original John grabbed him around the middle and swept him off his feet, sword and all. "John, you great idiot - STOP - Sarah, we'll be back! I swear it!"
His feet struck paving with a thud and he obeyed the heavy shove that compelled him to run. Everywhere pirates were scrambling and leaping into retreat. Somewhere across the courtyard Anamaria's clear shout soared above the chaos like a bo'sun's whistle.
"Black Pearl to me! Black Pearl to me!"
As he ran and jumped briefly to the fountain's stone rim, Will spied Anamaria amongst the tangled knot of the Pearl's gathering crew. Her black hair flew about her face and Gibbs was sturdy as an oak beside as he struck a lunging attacker down - but where was Jack? Will looked up - and in shock saw Sparrow still atop the wall. As several pirates fled to safety behind him Jack fought on, fierce and desperate and absolutely out-numbered by the dozen or more men now pressing towards him. There was no pretense of style or form as he slashed his cutlass about him like a harvester amidst wheat.
No time for thought, no time for anything but a frantic leap into a dead run that in three seconds put Will pelting up the stairs. His shoes rapped hard stone as he bent and seized a cannon ball from beside a shattered gun carriage. Two strides and a powerful underhand hurled the iron sphere rumbling and a man shrieked as his ankle buckled beneath him.
"HA!" cried Will and seized another ball.
A surging heave from the shoulder and four pounds of iron smote another man over the edge, but by then Will was already at Jack's side. Metal screeched metal as he brutally parried a blow that would have taken Sparrow at the waist, and he spared no thought for the man who plummeted from his answering strike with a choking cry.
"Will!" cried Jack cheerfully. "So good of you to join me!" Then the moment for speech was past.
Blade and blade, side by side, pirate and blacksmith waged a calculated retreat. Without thought or word they fought as if they had practiced this mortal synchronicity every day of their lives. Beat and beat again their swords clashed out the measures of a steely dance, until in that narrow place Biltmore's men remembered caution and advanced along the wall more slowly. However, below them the courtyard boiled with the flood of Biltmore's reinforcements and the crew of the Pearl had vanished into the night.
Abruptly Jack announced, "Time to go!"
Flinging a glance over his shoulder Will saw men surging towards the foot of the stairs behind them, cutting off their only avenue of escape.
"That might be easier said than done."
"Nonsense, me boy." Jack's thin black moustache framed a white grin. "We use the oldest trick in the book - jump!"
Turning, Sparrow bounded into the shattered notch in the outermost wall where a cannon lay dismounted. There he faced their foes and swung his cutlass in a broad, mocking salute.
"As fun as this has been, gentlemen, I really must bid you good night. Oh, and Sir John? We'll speak again. Ta!"
And with that Jack Sparrow simply dropped off the edge and disappeared. Suddenly faced with Biltmore's entire garrison hungrily eyeing his solitary self, Will sprang up into the embrasure as well. Only the weaving tip of his blade held the growling throng at bay, and that would end at any instant.
Then his heart kicked into a chunk of ice as, across the heads of his enemies, he met the fuming glare of Sir John Biltmore himself - and saw his recognition returned. Here was the vile creature who had stolen Elizabeth Swann. Here was the brute who had cast a beautiful girl's body overboard like so much refuse. Here was the killer who had murdered Matty Whitlock and destroyed the Lady Elizabeth.
However, Will could not think of anything clever or intimidating to say. Thus he simply held the man's stare, his dark eyes never wavering as he brought his own sword before his face in salutation - and promise.
"GET HIM!" Biltmore roared.
As his men surged forward with a howl Will prayed, stepped back, and vanished.
***
"It's getting quieter, now." Eyes wide in the darkness, Elizabeth wished she could see through the buildings that stood between her and the battle in the courtyard.
Bess paused beside her, also listening, and Elizabeth shook her head. "Something is wrong. Battles should get louder, not quieter."
Bess' deeper tones whispered back, "Be careful. Mebbe de wrong people winnin', eh?"
Elizabeth did not want to think that, but as they crept on the growing hush within the compound was very odd. The cannon fire had utterly ceased and only an occasional pop of musketry was heard. Shouts rang out every so often, but now they were the voices of men calling orders or questions, not the chaos of fighting. A cold hand seemed to clench her stomach and she tried not to think what this new calm could mean.
At a gap between buildings, the slope of the hillside upon which the hacienda lay was such that they could see over the front walls to the centre of the harbor. A half moon hung above the headland, and beneath stood the silhouette of the Black Pearl upon a shimmering silver carpet of sea.
The Black Pearl, aye, but Elizabeth halted as she realized there was motion on board. The dark sails were moving … the pirate ship was slowly turning to catch the wind.
"No …"
"Dey leavin'?"
Despair like an avalanche slid crushing upon Elizabeth's heart and she pressed quick fingers to her lips. From the walls overlooking the harbor a ragged cheer went up as Biltmore's men realized the same harsh fact. The Black Pearl was indeed leaving; Jack Sparrow was retreating and with them went Will Turner and Elizabeth's last hope. The breath she drew to quench the threat of tears scalded bitterly in her throat.
"Bloody pirates."
Then she clenched her teeth tightly as her eyes caught on a distant figure striding atop the walls. Tall and heavy with the weight of his own arrogance, even at this distance and in this poor light there was no mistaking Sir John Biltmore.
"Then we'll just have to do it all ourselves, Bess."
"What you t'ink we do, den?"
In the darkness Bess was little more than a dark shape, with moonlight gleaming on the curve of cheek and forehead and reflecting tiny points of light in her black eyes. Facing her, Elizabeth pursed her lips in brief thought and then her head came up.
"This will be our only chance," she said hurriedly. "They are focused on what just happened and won't be looking for trouble from within. If we create a big enough diversion, maybe it will confuse them for a few moments." Taking a quick breath she added, "We just need enough time to get everyone out the gate. Once we're in the jungle -."
"Nobody can find us," Bess finished with a grim little smile.
"Exactly. Wait, I have an idea!"
The building beside them was a blacksmith shop judging by the hot-metal smells emanating from it, and Elizabeth pushed open the rickety door with greatest caution. Nothing greeted her but darkness, hollow silence and the dull glow of nearly-dead coals in the forge. Silently she slipped inside, feeling her way past work benches, anvils and racks of tools. The forge was her goal, though once she stifled a yelp when her shin connected with something unyielding and iron.
Faint heat breathed from the sleeping forge along with metallic scents that reminded her with wrenching force of Will. Oh, how she wished to look up and see his handsome face limned golden in the light of friendly coals, his dark eyes shining with that warm, sweet smile that was only and always for her. The tears again burned unshed as her fingers gently touched a stranger's well-worn shaping hammer.
Abruptly she jerked herself back to the moment. A swift glance revealed various dim shapes and her fumbling hand closed around a metal dipper. Intended for pouring molten metals into a mold, it would certainly suffice for carrying hot coals. Seizing a set of tongs she stirred the bed of embers to find the brightest ones and hastily scooped several into the dipper. Leaning cautiously she blew them into brighter life, much as she would blow on a hot spoonful of soup.
"Hurry!" Bess' hiss from the door was startling as a stiff finger in the ribs.
With a last glance around, Elizabeth fled from the shop. "Come on! We won't have long."
The door thudded gently closed and they were gone.
***
TBC …
A/N: I promise I won't leave you hanging for long! I'm actually writing up ahead on Chapters 30 through 32, now, frantically tweaking, polishing and perfecting - and that, dear readers, will soon bring us to The End. But I want it to be a proper end that leaves you all grinning, so I will continue pacing my posts so as not to leave any long delays. I shall, however, post the next chapter within the next couple days. My intent is to keep 'em coming every 2 or 3 days until the conclusion.
To new readers who have come aboard - Thank You! I can't express how cheering and wonderful it is to hear new voices from the ether! SarrChasm, thank you for kind critical comments, as well. I'll be making a couple repairs based on your pointers, soon. Thanks again, everyone! Knowing you are there has kept the wind in my creative sails. :-)