The Lost Ingots of Tagus
by Aldesina
Chapter 6: The Plan is Revealed
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Disclaimer.....As you are probably all very well aware, I do not own anything, if I did I would be rolling in it, since I am not, and I do NOT own the story I am poor, and can only write fanfiction about it. Ah sigh, oh well, on with the story
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Dragoness
When Diablo left Will and Elizabeth's room she made her way back over to the captain's board.
"You wanted to see me?" Bootstrap Bill looked over to her and nodded, all signs of tipsiness were banished.
"I'm sure you're aware there are three ships following us?"
Diablo nodded
"The HMS Interceptor, The HMS Dauntless and of course the lovely Black Pearl"
"Jack is on his way, and now we have four armed boats in case the Portuguese decide to attack us."
"It's not going to be easy trying to convince those Brits to lower their precious flag." Bootstrap snorted, pouring both himself and Diablo a goblet full of wine.
"Sit" She sat next to him studying her captain.
"You do realize Diablo, that if this goes through there won't be any need for me to be a Pirate anymore?" He took a sip of wine "I'm fifty years old, it's about time that I retire" He looked over at the young Asian women next to him, her skin glowed a burnished gold in the soft candlelight.
"You know the ship would be yours after this do you not?" Diablo shook her head,
"I'll keep it for you, in your stead." Bootstrap shook his head, he's known the girl for more then a decade yet she still kept parts of herself closed and constantly out of reach. He still had no idea how a girl like her knew about weapons, gunpowder, ships, yet had manners to suggest that her parents were educated wealthy people. Not to mention that wickedly scary sense of practicality.
"I plan to have one of the crew go aboard one of their ships as a message of good will. I will also need that crew member to tell them of the circumstances and about the Portuguese, I really need for someone to convince them that this is a good plan of action, and that that gold really doesn't belong to the Portuguese"
Diablo snorted at her captain
"Not like they know where it's located anyway
"We also have to watch out for that flesh merchant."
"Hessian" Diablo hissed
"Yes" Bootstrap looked at the young girl whose facial expression hardened into one of anger "Are you sure you want to be the one who goes with them? They are an all male crew and…"
"And their commodore won't let them lay a hand on me." Diablo smirked ruefully
"Well at least, he won't condone that kind of funny business" Bootstrap looked at her thoughtfully for a second then nodded in agreement.
"Aye, that he won't" He looked at her again, watching the muscles in her face relax into that blank expression again
"Have you contacted your parents yet?" Diablo looked away from her captain, he asked her that every few months or so, especially since he was once a parent that had lost his children.
"It would cause them trouble if I were found alive."
"But it would ease their grief"
She looked at him and gave the same response that she always gave to this question
"Perhaps one day."
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tap tap tap
Will awoke to the slight sound of tapping, that's odd, what could be tapping in his room? He sat up suddenly looking around confusedly; he blinked as his mind slowly reminded him of the events that happened yesterday, the wedding that was not completed, the kidnapping, Diablo, and his father. Will looked at the sleeping beauty next to him; his fiancé who he had yet to marry was sleeping soundly next to him as if there wasn't a care in the world. He smiled smoothing a lock of her hair back and gently kissing her brow. She smiled in her sleep. Will however did have cares and worries, the man was his father, there was precious little doubt about that. But there still remains the question as to why they were captured, and where they were headed. Also on his mind was Diablo. Even though his father was a good man, there weren't many captains that were willing to take on an extra mouth to feed whether he felt pity for the girl or not. Although, she does seem to pull her own weight on the ship, and in the raids as well. Not only that the crew seemed to respect and hold Diablo in high regard. Still, it must not have always been this way. And he didn't buy for one minute that the crew seriously believed Diablo was their captain's daughter. They followed her out of respect and took that façade for another unknown reason. To protect her maybe? That would be a first, and a surprise as well.
tap tap tap
Will turned his head toward that noise; it was coming from the door
"Just a moment!" he called out. The tapping stopped.
Will got up and put on his breeches and shirt and checked his appearance over in the mirror to make sure he was presentable before he walked over and opened the door
"Morning" Diablo greeted him Will blinked at her
"What time is it?"
"It's almost the afternoon, but not quite yet, I brought over some food and a bit of clothing, I thought it would be more prudent for you to change out of your wedding finery." Will shook his head at her, he had completely forgotten about that, he grimaced as he looked at his jacket, it was completely ruined.
"Am I to always see you with a plate of food? Is it my father's or your intentions to stuff us fatter then pigs?" Will smiled at Diablo's bemused expression.
"The fatter you are the slower you move, the slower you move, the easier it is to control you."
Will laughed
"Please tell me that you are joking." Diablo merely winked at him and set the food on the table, she took the top part of the bundle of clothes and handed it to Will
"These are your father's, you two are about the same build and size so hopefully these will fit you" She held up a pair of pants, a shirt and a jacket to go over it.
"I would have gotten you two shoes as well but I think you'll just have to make do for now, at least until we dock, then we can get you some" Diablo looked Will over
"Actually, I think we only have to worry about Elizabeth's footwear, you seem to be doing fine in those boots of yours.
"Where did you get Elizabeth's clothing?"
"They're mine from when I was younger, thinner and shorter." Diablo grimaced "My teenage years." She held up the clothes for Elizabeth which consisted of a side spilt riding skirt, blouse and short tunic to go over it
"She's quite a bit skinner then me, I hope these aren't too big"
"You're not that fat." Diablo sighed. Leave it to the Turners to be painfully blunt
"Thanks so very much"
Elizabeth chose that moment to stir and crack an eye open
"Will"
"Yes love?" He asked crossing over to her side
"I had the oddest dream last night, we were getting married and it got interrupted by pirates whose captain was your father" Will smiled at her and Diablo rolled her eyes, she obviously hadn't been spotted yet. "Not only that there was this strange girl with a devil's name, she was your adopted sister and was actually really nice to us, and made sure we were very well fed" Elizabeth blinked "She was also really, really good with knives and killed an awful lot of people when she was at Port Royal"
"Oh I just couldn't help with that, it was either them or me"
"Holy shit, it wasn't a dream!" Elizabeth sat up quickly
"Ow" and promptly bumped her head into Will's chin, they both rubbed their respective injuries frowning. Diablo smirked at them as she finished pouring them each a glass of juice.
"I'll just leave the two of you be while I go rouse the captain, he'll be wanting to see you after you eat and change, do you think you'll be able to find your way over to his cabin?"
"I think we can manage" Will said
"Good" and she left them to their morning preparations
Elizabeth rolled out of bed and stretched, she was wearing her wedding shift, it was slightly more comfortable and it was the under dress that was beneath her wedding gown. She blushed when she looked at Will, he had only been sleeping in his drawers, luckily he was dressed now, she suspected that he did that because Diablo came to deliver their breakfast. She giggled slightly remembering the feeling of Will's arms around her last night, it was not their wedding night, and Will wanted everything to be proper, but he didn't seem to mind sharing her bed at all.
"What did she bring us to eat this time?"
"How did you know she brought food?"
"I smelled it, that's what woke me up." Elizabeth said smiling
"She also bought us clothes, said that it wouldn't do for us to be wandering around in our wedding finery."
"Oh," Elizabeth wrinkled her nose at this "No offense to Diablo, but I hope that they're clean."
Will frowned at that, it seemed to have slipped his mind for the moment that those were pirate's clothes that they were being offered, and they probably haven't been cleaned in months. He walked over to the desk, picked up the shirt Diablo had left for him and sniffed it vaguely, it smelled like lavender? He started to get changed into the proffered shirt pants and jacket.
"Lavender." He said to Elizabeth in wonder. Elizabeth walked over to her fiancé and took the shirt from him sniffing gently.
"Well that's a refreshing surprise"
"What pirate goes through the effort of packing his clothes in lavender so they don't become moth eaten?" Elizabeth asked looking at the clothes in wonder
"I'm beginning to think that Diablo is not a pirate at all" Will said. Elizabeth looked at the clothes that she was offered, they too, were lightly scented with lavender.
"What do you suppose she is then? If she's not a pirate then what is she doing with your father on a pirate ship, and we already saw at Port Royal that she does her share of pillaging and killing." Elizabeth shook out the clothes and began to change into them. They fit her quite well with the exception that the skirt was too long and the sleeves fell past her fingertips. Will sat down to eat what Diablo brought them contemplating what his beloved had just said
"No, she didn't"
"Oh come on Will, are you trying to tell me you missed it when she shot that man, or when she gutted that other officer, come to think of it I think that was Lieutenant Grooves!"
"No, that wasn't, Lieutenant Grooves was next to me, and got no where close to Diablo. I'm not saying that she didn't kill, I'm saying it was different from the other crew members."
Elizabeth frowned and took a seat next to him snatching up an apple she cocked her head to one side.
"You're right she didn't attack until she had other orders from your father, and they certainly weren't to steal."
"She came specifically for you."
"Do you think she's a mercenary?" Elizabeth asked with her eyes wide, "Or maybe an assassin?"
"Then why bother with the story about her stowing away on your father's ship?"
tap tap tap
Both Elizabeth and Will started at the rapping at their door
"Come in" Will called, he took Elizabeth's hand and squeezed it lightly
In came Will's father in pretty much the same outfit that he wore the day before and a cleanly shaven face. He smiled at the couple seated at the table.
"Ahhh, Diablo brought your breakfast, I was wondering where mine was this morning, good to know at least one of us is getting fed."
"You would have been fed too had you stayed in your cabin long enough." A voice from behind him called. There was a disgruntled looked Diablo holding yet another tray with food
"I'm beginning to feel like a bloody barmaid"
"Ahh but my dear you'd gut anyone who call you that except for yourself of course." Diablo snorted
"That's a given."
Bootstrap Bill walked up to the table and sat himself down with Diablo following him. She set the tray down and turned to leave
"Diablo!" Elizabeth called. The older women turned to look at the younger one
"Thank you for the clothes, they fit rather well." Diablo nodded, and then noticed the sleeves
"I'll get you a needle and thread and you can hem that skirt and those sleeves"
Elizabeth nodded
"Thank you" Diablo turned again
"Um wait"
"Yes?" Diablo asked piercing Elizabeth with a glare. Will looked at his wife and spoke on her behalf
"Elizabeth and I were just wondering if, well, we were still kind of curious about your past"
"Oh that," Bootstrap waved his hand dismissedly "Even I don't know the entire truth about that girl's past"
"Yes now that we've established that I have a foggy past may I leave?"
"Yes go on, set the course for our destination." Bootstrap said as he grabbed some bread. Will turned to look at his father, as Diablo walked out shutting the door behind her.
"And where might that be?"
"Tortuga."
"Whatever are we going there for?"
"I have to meet someone there, and I never miss a date."
"Who are you meeting?" Elizabeth asked.
"Jack" This caused the young couple to smile Bootstrap looked at this worriedly
"Diablo told you didn't she?" They nodded. Bootstrap rolled his eyes, "Sometimes that girl really knows how to take the spark out of a relationship, or at least out of a good intrigue." Bootstrap scratched his chin "Although sometimes that girl knows how to lay a good intrigue out herself as well."
"You mean about her past?" Elizabeth asked
"No, I mean with the Commodore."
"What?!" Both Will and Elizabeth glanced at the older Turner man.
"Trying to kill him is not laying out an intrigue."
"Who says she tried to kill him?"
"But… but…"
"If she was trying to kill him, she would have simply shot him, instead she knocked him out twice. I dare say she has a thing for him."
Both Will and Elizabeth looked as if they were about to spit out the food they just swallowed. Bootstrap Bill who didn't seem to notice their expressions kept talking.
"I wouldn't be surprised if she truly was interested, he looks about her age, or at least he would without that blasted flour paste wig of his and he's a respectable man who seems relatively well off. I wouldn't be surprised if she took a shine to him, nope not at all, besides I heard from Smith the line she left him, something about enjoying the view his face was providing her. HA! I would have loved to see that stiff's face at that!"
It was only then that he noticed the shocked and disturbed faces of the other occupants of the room
"I say," Bootstrap said looking at them with alarm "Is there something wrong with the food?"
"Diablo flirted with the Commodore?" Elizabeth asked aghast.
"Norrington's going to shot her dead the next time he sees her" Will said.
"Now what do you have against Diablo?" Bootstrap asked.
"Nothing, but to Norrington she's just another pirate, another male pirate that happened to have flirted with him."
"Yes, but that male getup she has is very helpful, it fools a lot of people."
"It fooled us" Elizabeth said.
"And I'm betting it fooled Commodore Norrington as well." Will shook his head
"Although I suppose it's good that the Commodore has an admirer" Elizabeth said
"You mean someone he might be able to have a chance to marry this time?" Bootstrap said slyly.
This caused both his son and his soon to be daughter in law to look at him sharply.
"How did you?"
"I've heard the rumors, about a brave but poor blacksmith who slaved away at the bellows each day making swords so he could make enough money to woo the governor's daughter, and then one day the girl was stolen away by pirates, so the poor blacksmith went to the navy and tried to get them to help him rescue his love, but the evil commodore refused him and sent him away. So he stole a ship and went to find his love battling pirates and monsters along the way. When he did rescue her he had to face the most evil pirate of all, and he defeated him because of his love for the young governor's daughter. But alas even after returning her home he couldn't marry her because of her engagement to the evil commodore, but love had it's way and they eloped somewhere far away from the evil commodore. And now the young blacksmith and his wife are hidden far away in a town where the evil commodore can't find them, making swords and lots of money living happily every after" Bootstrap grinned at the horrified expressions on their faces "I just never thought that the brave virtuous blacksmith would be my son and the lovely governor's daughter, my daughter in law to be."
"Well it certainly didn't happen that way" Elizabeth said "They left out Barbossa, and Jack, and we didn't elope, my father would have thrown a fit if we did"
"And Commodore Norrington actually backed out of his engagement gracefully, like a gentleman" Will added.
"Like a pansy" Bootstrap Bill interjected "He'd better fight for Diablo, if he doesn't she certainly would be most disappointed"
"But she has nothing to be disappointed about" Will said.
"They don't even have a relationship" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Still" Bootstrap insisted, it could happen "The girl's almost thirty anyway, she should start thinking about settling down."
"Who should start thinking about settling down?" The three people seated at the table turned their heads toward the door. Diablo was there casually cleaning one of her daggers and leaning against the door's frame.
"Just how long have you been there girl?" Bootstrap Bill asked.
"Since you said I had a thing for the Commodore" Diablo said while continuing to polish her blade. She made her way into the room slowly, shutting the door behind her with a thud and walking around to the table, she handed a needle and some thread to Elizabeth.
"Do you?" Bootstrap asked her pointedly Diablo seemed to consider this as she sheathed her dagger somewhere hidden on her person
"He seems to be fun"
"Fun?" Will asked, he was extremely bewildered. For the past decade and a half that he spent at Port Royal he had never once heard the Commodore be referred to as fun.
"You must be joking" Elizabeth said.
"Now my dear, fun as it seems to you, it's not prudent to toy with someone like the Commodore, he'll probably try to hang you.
"He's probably chasing us right now."
"Ahh good, Then Jack's most likely sailing along with them on the Black Pearl."
Diablo shook her head at her captain.
"How did you arrive at the subject of the commodore anyway, weren't you going to tell them how you acquired this ship and all about your past, and not my love life?"
"Yes but it's so rare that you actually find someone that catches your eye. Usually you catch their eye and then you, well, you take out their eye"
"I do not" Diablo said rolling her eyes "I merely shoot them"
Elizabeth and Will stared at her
"Well I guess we know why you're not married" This earned a snort from the older Turner man, and a head shake from the younger
"Elizabeth really"
"Oh trust me," Diablo said with a wave of her knife, it had somehow miraculously appeared again "If those things were hitting on you, you would have shot them too." Bootstrap guffawed in his goblet of wine. Yes he remembered what a couple of those poor young blokes looked like
"There was one that wasn't all that bad my dear, he was young, about your age and thought you were the town sword smith's daughter, he wanted to court you didn't he?"
"Well to his credit he didn't get shot."
"Tell me dad, what happened after you bought that ship?" Will said diverting the subject matter. Right now he felt bad for the commodore if Diablo really took an interest in him, forget the commodore shooting her, he was the one that was going to get shot.
"Well like I said I had bought the ship, it was not quite as grand as this one now, but I had my hopes, I had a good crew and I set sail in the day after I bought the ship. It was in good condition but it was nothing like the Pearl so I set about trying to garner more money so I could afford a better ship, I would need one if I wanted to get across the ocean to see you and your mum again. So I started to visit different ports that lined the shores. It was going fine until one afternoon I discovered a little stowaway that was eating the food and not doing her share to keep the ship"
Diablo waved
"That would have been me"
"At first it just looked like a scruffy little boy, until she stood up and I got a good look at her and realized it was that girl at the flesh market, the one that killed those guards! At first I was tempted to toss her over board, but then again it's hard to find anyone who was that skilled with weapons at any age so I asked if she spoke English." Bootstrap smiled "Oh yes, she spoke the language, and knew every curse, insult and barb including some that I had never heard of as well. So I asked her if she would like to remain on the ship. She seemed to consider and then asked me what the consequences were. Consequences!" Bootstrap threw back his head and laughed "Can you imagine a ten year old…"
"Twelve year old…"
"Twelve year old even negotiating the terms of her survival, I swear I had the hardest time not bursting out in laughter, and she looked so serious that I think if I did those daggers of hers would have appeared again. So I didn't and we negotiated. This was a good ten years ago. A couple of months later we docked at a large port up near the thirteen colonies and I was able to ask around for news and see if I got any mail." Bootstrap smiled "I still had message places set up at certain docks from my ole merchant days. I got the news there that Milady had passed away, and you were on a merchant ship headed for the Caribbean" Bootstrap wringed his hands and took out a handkerchief from inside his coat pocket squeezing it and twisting it around his fingers. "I set sail at once for the Caribbean, I barely had enough supplies to make it and I had absolutely no money at all. When I got there I asked for news of your ship." Bootstrap paused and swallowed. He paused again and looked up at his son "They told me it sank five years ago and whoever my informant was, he was about six years late with his information."
Diablo took this time to leave sensing that the captain might want to be alone with his family for a while. She got up, patted the captain on the shoulder and left the quiet cabin shutting the door firmly behind her.
"How's the Capt getting along with his son?" Diablo turned and was faced with the questioning faces of Rubens and Smith
"Well enough" She said
"How are the new cannons?" The Dragoness did more then just raid Elizabeth and Will's wedding, they also took the opportunity to steal a few cannons off the ships docked at Port Royal.
"We've got three more stationed on both the port and starboard sides, three more lining the stern and two more at the stem, we're ready for anyone and anything at this rate." Smith said
"Yes, as long as we don't run into a hundred cannon warship." Diablo said ruefully
"You mean the British ones?"
"But they only surround the Brits, they aren't anywhere near the Caribbean"
"Who do you think is in control of the Caribbean right now?" Diablo asked. That stopped the two pirates.
"The Brits" she offered.
"Fuck"
"Shit"
"And I suppose they're coming after us now" Rubens asked scowling.
"Does the Captain know?" Smith asked.
"He's counting on it" Diablo said as she made her way to the helm where Marlow; ship's second mate was steering"
"What's the Capt counting on?" He asked/
"The Black Pearl, The Interceptor and The Dauntless following us." Diablo said picking up a telescope and looking through it ahead of her, they were almost at Tortuga, and at this pace would make port at dawn the next morning.
Marlow whistled.
"Those are three ships that you do not want perusing you."
"Oh but we do. I'm going to assume that Jack will be coming up first to meet us in Tortuga, and those two British ships will probably be over at Gongolan Island waiting for Jack's word so they can come and capture us." Diablo narrowed her eyes "Which is not going to happen." She looked over at the three men surrounding her, they were hand picked by her and the captain and everyone else on this crew were handpicked either by her or one of them, they were unquestionably the most loyal crew anyone could ask for. But then again they the four of them weren't exactly pirates.
Marlow had been an assassin employed by his country and then left to die when he was captured. Bootstrap Bill had happened to be sacking the port where Marlow was kept and he had the luck of running into Diablo when she went up to the fort to pick out a few things for the Captain. She found him stretched out in the dungeons half dead and mad with fever. She ordered two of her men to free him and bring him onto the ship. She nursed him back to health and swore him in. Bootstrap had wanted Marlow and Diablo to get married, they both decided to ignore him. When asked why she helped him later on she simply said
"Intuition"
Rubens and Smith were found together, they were brothers by blood and in a band of rebels that attempted to destroy as many British forts along the Irish Isles as possible. However during the night of one raid they were caught and sentenced to hang. Bootstrap Bill heard about their hanging and ordered Diablo to get them, she did, and they have been with Bootstrap ever since. And when asked why he decided to save two Irish rebels from the British noose he said
"Oh, just a gut feeling."
Diablo looked at the three of them again.
"I'm not going to be here for a few days; actually I might not even be here for a few weeks." The three of them looked at her startled.
"I'm going to need you to look after the captain and make sure his children come to no harm, they seem to trust me now and will listen to you if you say you're under my orders."
"You're going aboard their ship as a sign of good will aren't you?" Marlow asked. Diablo turned the telescope around her hands looking down at the way the glass and metal caught the light
"Yes"
"Why not send one of us?" Rubens asked.
"No offense lass but you're going to be one woman against countless men," Smith said "How are we to be sure they'll be honorable?"
"You don't really think that stiff nosed snob of a commodore is going to protect you do you Diablo?" Marlow asked outraged.
"I can protect myself darling, no need for the good commodore to lift his perfectly manicured finger."
"But...." came three very heated arguments.
"Gentlemen!" They stopped. She never called them that. "Tortuga will be upon us at dawn, I don't have to tell you what necessary arrangements have to be made do I?" She looked at them staring them each in the eye as though daring them to utter another objection
"Get on then." The three of them turned back to work and Diablo headed to her cabin for a little bit of rest and to pack. It was going to be a very difficult month.
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Author's note;
And I think I'll end it here, for those that might have guessed, YES the main pairing is Norrington and Diablo. But she's a pirate! Well, not quite. Hehehehe. And no Ingots are not Portuguese gold, but gold of a different place. And how does Bootstrap know about this gold in the first place? Well you're gonna have to stick around and find out. Review Please!
Byes!