Chapter Nine: Bullets and Shadows
William felt the ground rumble once more and turned to look at Sir Andrew. The young gentleman had already set down his weapons and was approaching the window, eyes wild to see what was being destroyed by the cannon blast.
Outside, the cove was occupied by two ships that Will could see. The first was narrower than most, built for a false sense of speed. The idea was that the thinner the base, the faster the ship would move, but this was not the case. Ships with that feature couldn't even hold their own in the slightest of storms, and even tiny waves could aid in their capsizing.
The other he recognized immediately, having spent plenty of time around it. It was the Black Pearl.
"Jack…" he whispered under his breath. What on earth was he doing back in Port Royal?
Outside in the hall, one of the Swann relatives finally felt the blast of the long nines and was shrieking about the attack. Sir Andrew groaned audibly and rolled his eyes.
"Rich people," he scoffed, and ran over to the Governor's swords again. He grabbed two of the most conventional looking blades and tossed one to William once more. "They'll be heading for their rooms next to salvage anything they can find, but I wouldn't linger. I would fetch that lovely bride of yours and head to the nearest safe house you can get to."
"What about you?" Will asked. For a nobleman with little experience with pirates, Sir Andrew was certainly being calm about it.
"I've a ship to catch," he replied with a small grin. "It was an honour meeting you William Turner. I just sorry we couldn't have had more time together."
He bowed lowly, even as the house creaked on its very foundation from the cannon fire below. Dust and wood shaving puffed out of the rafters onto them, but his face remained placid, as if they were parting civilly after a dinner party. Will had no idea why, but he found that he too was lowering into a bow, one that could show he had obvious respect for the person it was for.
Sir Andrew clambered out the window. Will broke into a run for the foyer.
Jack Sparrow scampered up the beach to escape the growing ferocity of the cannon's blast. He cursed himself for not having been more discrete about disembarking, but he needed to find the Wayfarer and he needed to get to it fast. Gibbs, of course, was not as forgiving as he was, and would even be less so if Jack tried to justify himself. So he stuck to running because it was what he was best at the time.
The militia was already taking action and in all the chaos, he and Gibbs slipped by unnoticed. Two pirates, even one as renowned as Jack Sparrow, were overlooked when compared to a rampaging vessel in the middle of the cove.
Seething crowds of frantic citizens shuffled here and there on the streets, making the ascent to Swann manor.
Two thoughts circled Jack Sparrow's brain as he and Gibbs moved. One was of Will. He already knew that Bootstrap had a habit of sending heirlooms to the whelp. It was very possible that he had been the recipient of the map piece, but one mystical pirate trinket was enough. Two was just downright unnatural.
The second was of Morgan. No, he wasn't expecting to find his sister at Port Royal, not after fifteen…nay, more than that…years of silence between the two. He hadn't even laid eyes on her since she was just a child. After a lifetime of spouting breasts and curves, he supposed he wouldn't even be able to recognize her.
"What's your plan than Captain?" Gibbs asked, half-serious, half-sarcastic.
He looked over his shoulder and flashed one of his dazzlers at Gibbs. He hoped it would compensate for the fact that at that particular moment, he didn't have a plan.
William rushed into the foyer. The Commodore was ushering people towards the fortress for safe housing, including Elizabeth. But she was too busy searching for him. When she found him at last through the crowds, she moved as quickly to his side as she possibly could.
"WILL!" she shouted. "WILL! We've got to move."
Grabbing his hand, she lead him towards the door, only to have Norrington stand in their way.
"Is this your family's idea of an RSVP, Turner?"
"Out of the way, Commodore," he growled, but the man stood his ground.
"You've a lot of nerve, Turner, considering your behaviour lately."
"There's no time for this," Elizabeth snapped. "Come on Will."
"No, Elizabeth. I think its high time Mr. Turner faced the demons of Port Royal head-on, considering that's what's in your blood."
"We've no time for this," she shouted.
"You're right Elizabeth. WE'VE no time. Turner on the other hand will have all the time in the world."
She stomped on his foot suddenly, digging the heel of her shoe down upon his hard, so hard in fact that it started to bleed. The Commodore grunted and leapt out of the way, giving the two enough time to rush right past him and into the streets.
They stood for a moment and just watched the scene unfold, shocked by the state of things. The streets were a mess of nobles and peasants, their arms filled with belongings before passing by once more towards the fort. Fires were growing by the beach, inching slowly up the hill to meet the wall above.
And then they saw Jack Sparrow running through the crowds, and they suddenly understood why the world had - to a certain extent - ended.
"Jack!" Will shouted.
"WILL!" the Captain shouted back, overjoyed suddenly by it all. His speed lessoned and he approached Will as nicely as he could. "So nice of you to still be alive…" Hopefully, with my map piece. "And Elizabeth…" his eyes came to fall on her rather ample bosom, an action which he was properly reprimanded for by the young aristocrat herself. He bore the red welt on his cheek with pride. "Nice of you to be alive too, Elizabeth."
She smiled sassily as another cannon ball rocked the shore.
"There's no time for this," Will said. "Come on."
"Now, now," Jack said, following after them in that familiar swagger of his. "There's plenty of time for this. I've only got one question that needs answering anyways Will and you can give me a yes or a no: do you have…"
A pistol shot exploded into the night, taking the three of them by surprise to have it fired so close in their immediate area. Sparks scattered against the pavement and people started screaming, some inarticulate while other's managed the statement, "THE PIRATES ARE ON THE ISLAND!"
Jack followed the direction of the shot quickly, but his gaze was held by Will's, whose eyes were looking away from it all. His face bore a slightly shocked expression, as if he had just been blindsided by Elizabeth's slap, but his face had visibly paled. His mouth dropped, and then his legs gave out from under him and he hit the ground.
Blood spilled out from underneath him.
Elizabeth shrieked. She lowered herself to his side, searching for a bullet wound. The task was hard, in the dark, harder still with the shooter advancing as he was. Jack pulled out his own pistol, fully loaded this time with several rounds, and took aim.
"LOWER YOUR WEAPON!" the shooter commanded. Jack disobeyed. "Lower your weapon or the woman dies with me, and then you've no one left but yourself, Jack Sparrow."
"Run…" a voice whispered from beneath her. Elizabeth looked down at Will once more. He spoke again softly, "Run now."
"Save your strength," she said.
"Do this Elizabeth, do this for me," he begged her breathlessly. She wasn't listening. "Elizabeth...years ago you dragged me from my death in the sea and never asked for anything but my kindness in return. Now it's my turn to pull you from the water's edge. So when I say run, honour me as you would a husband and run."
Jack slowly lowered his pistol, lips pursed tightly against the action. The shooter drew nearer in the dark, step by agonizing step. The bile rose quickly in Elizabeth's throat. She wanted to run, yes. Part of her was chastising herself for having stayed even as long as she had. She felt William's muscles contracting as he lifted himself into a sitting position, his hand tightening on his sword's handle.
Quick as lightning, William threw the sword into the air towards the assailant. His back was on fire, the bullet having embedded itself into his shoulder blade. And yet he managed to cry out for Elizabeth to run before falling back on the ground.
The last thing he felt was Elizabeth's hand moving over his cheek as she fled. Then the rest of the world faded to black.
Author's Notes: This chapter was supposed to be posted a while ago. Unfortunately, I've been having a little bit of trouble getting it to sound just right, but finally decided to just bite the bullet and go ahead. Sorry if it's not as good as it should be, but the rest of the story will get better! Scout's honour! I'm terribly sorry to have kept people waiting!
Reviews:
Alexwacrap: Unfortunately, the party was already crashed by the time he got there. Silly Trailblazer. However, I can promise you that it ends with a jolly good wedding crashing, courtesy of Jack Sparrow himself. Sorry to disappoint! And I hope you'll still keep reading!
Taurusbaby0509: Hope I didn't make you wait too long! I will definitely be getting faster at posting now. Thanks for reviewing!