Liberty,Equality,Fraternity - by Cunien
Thanks to everyone who's picked this story back up and is reviewing. I love you all to heaven and back!
Please forgive obvious typos and mistakes - I'm not the most observant person. I've tried to make it reasonably accurate, historically, but as there is no definite date for PotC and the Caribbean was changing so rapidly at this time, it's probably a little bit off. I've taken a lot of liberties with Nassau, and more specifically it's ability to grow sugar cane...but there we go. It's fiction! I also don't pretend to know much about this at all. I'm just freewheeling here people! Whee!
Warnings: As a series - Mild swearing, not so mild racism and slavery. Also violence and torture, mostly aimed at Jack - Don't worry your pretty little head about it - Jack's as tough as old boots!
Chapter 16 - Showdown.
"We commandeered two Naval vessels Jack! You should have been there!"
"Yes, that's lovely Bill.." I muttered, steering them down the hill. The shortcut we'd taken had brought us closer to the burning fields. From here the port looked an awful long way away, and who knew what nasties lurked in between the town and us?
More specifically, where was Gabriel? I had an awful, creepy-crawly feeling that was tickling up all the hairs on the back of my neck.
"I'm confused. Are you one of his crew?" asked Megan. I resented been referred to as a 'him'.
"Yes. But don't you think the uniform suits me?"
Megan giggled. I gagged. Well ain't that nice, ladies and gentleman? She'll act all lady-like whenever I tried it on, but here she is, flirting away with one of my crew!
I was just about to say something to the same effect when a shot rang out and whipped my hat clean off.
"Down!" I yelled, dropping to the floor and dragging Bill and Megan with me.
"Are you hurt?" hissed Bill urgently from beside me.
"Not I. You two?"
"I'm fine," Megan whispered.
"Will - pistol?"
"No shot." He jerked his head to where the additional shot had rolled down the slope, far out of reach.
"Nice bluff." I commented: when we'd met a few minutes back he'd pointed the pistol at me, and I'd not for a second wondered if it was loaded. Mind you, that's not the sort of thing you question when you're looking down the barrel of a gun.
"Thanks," said Bill.
"You two speak in tongues!" muttered Megan, "But more importantly, what are we going to do!"
I was scanning around for a miracle, hoping I'd recognise one if I saw it, when a second shot hit the dirt right next to my head.
"Bugger it all!" I screamed, getting up and running like a madman. The Grinding house was mercifully near, if I could just...
More shots ran out, and I prayed threefold that they didn't hit me, Megan or Bill. I also hoped to God that they were close behind me.
Tripping through the doors of the building, I whipped round to make sure the others were following me. Luckily, they were quick enough to realise that we were going with the 'run like hell' plan, and were right behind me. I slammed the great doors shut as soon as they skidded in, and we sagged against them, wheezing. Megan gasped a little: her feet were bare and bleeding from our dash towards the house. I was just about to ask her if she was alright when a third shot blasted a hole through the door. Again, right next to my head.
Swearing, I joined Bill and Megan who were running towards the machinery on the Grinding House floor. The grinder and the various monstrous machines were gnashing away - they were started up early each morning - though there was no one in sight. I hoped that any slaves in the building had left: I had a feeling things would not go smoothly from here on in.
"Plan?" asked Bill, catching his breath.
"Always," I lied, racking my brains. "There's only one way out, and Gabriel's got that covered. I think he's alone." I tugged at my lip thoughtfully.
"So we have to wait for him to come in. You two find somewhere to hide near the doors, I'll keep him busy and you leg it down to the port."
"I won't leave you here!" cried Bill earnestly. Like his son, Bootstrap Bill did earnest like no one else.
Megan sighed. "Against my better judgement...neither will I," she conceded. I could barely hear her over the loud machinery, but even so I could make out the quiet determination in her voice.
"You two," I said, turning on the commanding voice I used on board the Pearl, "are my crew. I am your Captain." I grabbed Megan's wrist and shoved her at Bill. "Keep her safe. That's a bloody order."
Bill snaked a hand around Megan's waist and urged her towards the doors. He looked around once, frowning deeply at me.
"I have unfinished business with our friend," I called.
They disappeared into the shadows near the door, and I only hoped they'd find a good enough place to hide, and slip out before Gabriel noticed them.
And then I waited.
It wasn't long before the heavy door creaked menacingly, and the early morning light flashed dully on the barrel of a gun as Gabriel stalked through the door. From where I stood in the shadows, I was hidden completely from Gabriel's view.
"I know you have no weapon," he called over the loud machinery. "I know there are three of you, yes. But one of you is a scrap of a boy, the other a useless little girl. And the third, well, you're not exactly a prize fighter, are you Jack? A slippery little bastard, maybe. But in what world could you possibly beat me?"
He advanced carefully through the Grinding House, scanning from side to side.
"Megan knows full well what condition you're in - God knows you've bled in front of us enough times - but does your brave rescuer? Shall we tell him that you're beaten and half starved? Like a rabid dog that needs to be put down? You're hardly in a state to put up a decent fight."
I didn't answer. Instead, I quietly worked my way around in the shadows, watching him and willing Megan and Bill to run while Gabriel was occupied with his fine speechifying.
"And while we're on the subject of your good friend, since when has the British Navy come to the aid of Jack Sparrow?" Gabriel laughed loudly. "But of course! Pirates, the lot of you! Well, well. The Crown will not be happy when it realises it's been had over by the likes of you! I wonder if they'll even bother with a trial, or will it be the gallows a -"
I'd had enough of his chattering on. While he'd been talking away, I'd picked my way around to the right. I threw myself at him with what I'd like to think was blood-curdling war cry, and knocked him down.
There we scuffled on the straw scattered ground. The pistol was thrown off into the shadows, leaving two men and their fists to the fight. I managed a good few punches, and received a few for my trouble, but mostly the two of us rolled around, desperately trying to get the upper hand.
I was just hoping that Bill and Megan had enough sense to leave now, when a noise in the doorway drew my attention for a split second. Gabriel's palm came up and slammed into my nose, sending me reeling backwards as the blood began to flow down my face.
I gave Gabriel no time to pounce on me, and sagged up the wooden stairs onto the platform above. This may not seem the wisest course of action, but my only thought at the time was to draw Gabriel, and his attention, away from the doorway.
Unfortunately, things were not unfolding as planned.
I had no idea if Megan and Bill had already fled, or if they simply were not near the door, because if they were there I knew they wouldn't be stupid enough to let Gabriel's man in.
"Is everything all right sir?" the man asked, sprinting towards where we had been fighting. In the meantime my dear friend had edged over and found the pistol, and without a second's pause, he shot his man squarely in the chest. The man went down with a wet thump, and as the echoes died I swore I heard a stifled scream from somewhere in the shadows.
Gabriel quickly bent and retrieved the man's fully loaded pistol, and discarded his own. He also unbuckled the dead man's sword, and made his way up the stairs towards me.
Now, Gabriel had been right earlier: I was not really in prime condition for a scuffle, and the punches I'd received had done no good either. I staggered backwards along the platform. Without warning the sharp smell of burning hit me. The fire from the fields had spread to the building, and was rippling quickly through the lower reaches. When it reached the vats and the grinders it would make an almighty bang, that I knew.
I prayed to the Lord, Mary, Jesus and all the little saints that I'd be long gone when that happened.
"Here," Gabriel said, throwing the dead man's sword at me. I tried to catch it but was rather slower than I'd hoped I'd be, and the pommel walloped me hard in the face. I was only glad it was the blunt end, and not the other way round.
"Please, don't think I'm giving you a chance. It will just be so much more humiliating for you to die knowing you were armed the same as I," Gabriel explained, drawing his own sword.
"Where are your little friends? The boy and the whore of yours? I should have known you'd worm your way into her too. But you're all alone now, aren't you? They slipped out the door when we fought, didn't they?"
"That was the plan," I said, spitting out a mouthful of blood, and attempting to keep the sword in my hand as steady as I could.
"Couldn't keep her, could you? She was so pleased when I came along. Pleased to finally be with a real man. You know, someone who could really satisfy her," I grinned.
Gabriel narrowed his eyes, and I knew that I was dancing with death right here.
"The things she said, when we were alone those nights." I licked my lips and quirked my eyebrows at him. "And you're right: I'm bloodied and beaten and half starved, and I know as well as anyone that I could do with a good scrub. But she still wanted me. Chose me over you." I laughed raucously at him.
"Oh..that must sting you."
Gabriel ran at me with a cry, and our blades clashed sparks. I was weak and bleeding, and the smoke now thick in the air made me dizzy and short of breath, but there was no way in hell I was going to die at the hands of this bastard. After all, I had to stay alive long enough for Megan to slaughter me for saying all those lovely things about her.
Steadily though, he drove me back towards the machinery on the platform. Far below us, the teeth of the grinder gnashed relentlessly. Just as I was beginning to seriously contemplate jumping in and dying on my own terms, or being run through by the most hellish bastard that ever walked the earth, I saw movement in the shadows.
Megan. Megan, the stupid, foolish, brainless girl was still here. And Bill, the dim witted, idiotic, simpleminded dolt had stayed along with her.
So much for Captain's orders, eh?
I was so full of anger - and maybe the desire not to be slaughtered in front of the woman I loved - that I came at Gabriel with new strength. Our blades met again and again in a fury, until they caught - pushing together, our weight threw both blades out of our hands. The skittered across the floor, out of reach.
Before I could move Gabriel had drawn his pistol. I threw myself at him -trying to knock it from his hands, I suppose, though I don't think I would have done the same again. He grabbed the back of my head, and I desperately tried to get a hold on the pistol, when an almighty bang rang through the air.
We stood there, motionless, clutching each other. I saw in his eyes a desperate hatred. I clutched at his shirt, and then his legs as I fell down to my knees. Hot blood spilled from my mouth.
TBC...