Author's Note: I regret to announce this will be my last update until June. Finals are now upon me, and they require my undivided attention. I hope this round of updates will tide you over until then. Please wish me luck in my exams, and the journal write-on competition. This is an important time for us inspiring lawyers. Oh, and congratulations to all of you who figured out who our mysterious Atticus Willem is, and to those who still haven't, well…maybe this chapter will help.
Chapter Seven: Reunions
"Mind if I come aboard, Captain…Willem?" bellowed Jack. "Got to make sure you lot aren't sneaking through the Black Pearl's waters with contraband goods, eh?"
"You're welcome!" the other captain shouted back.
"Hand me a long line, Mr. Gibbs," said Jack.
Gibbs did so, but frowned at the smaller ship. "Never seen this ship before, Jack. How ye be knowin' they're to be trusted?"
"Trust me," Jack told him, then slung the line into the Lady Laurel's rigging, and swung across. He landed neatly as the rest of the ship's crew made way for him. Turning to face the Laurel's captain, he bowed yet again. "And what's a little flute like yours doing on this treacherous pass—" At that instant, he spotted the telltale gleam of mother-of-pearl and silver hanging from Will Turner's hip. "Well, well, well, what have we here?"
Will flushed and tried to hide the incriminating sword, then realized it was a futile effort and dropped his head. One of the Laurel's crew shook their heads. "Lousy pirate, this one."
Jack snorted. "I could've told you that." How, out of all the pirates in the Caribbean, Will had wound up with this one, Jack would dearly love to know, but at the moment, he had a problem. His initial intention would have been to haul Will, willing or not, back aboard the Pearl to face the wrath of his bonny lass (who was at present fuming below decks) but he now faced two daunting obstacles: Will was in possession of the white sword—Will Turner! Of all people! HA!—and in the company of this, er, Atticus Willem. No, getting Will off this ship would not be nearly so easy.
Speaking of "Atticus," the other pirate was frowning, sensing that Jack had intentions involving Will. "So, Captain Sparrow? Are you here to collect a tribute?"
The crews of both ships were watching the exchange with interest. Jack folded his arms. "As a matter of fact, yes, Captain Willem, and I do hope there won't be any trouble. I mean to confiscate the two most precious things in your possession."
Perceptive as ever, the other captain saw precisely what Jack meant. His eyes narrowed, and he walked a few paces away from the rest of the crew. Jack followed, and "Atticus" asked in a low voice, "What do you want with him?"
"Don't panic, mate, I won't hurt the lad. But he's got some unfinished business aboard my ship, and I needn't point out to you that the white sword'd be better off getting ferried by the Pearl than the…Lady Laurel, is it?"
"She's a good ship."
"I'm sure she is," Jack grinned. "But you know she's no match for the Pearl."
"What precisely is this business you have for Will?"
Jack grinned broader still. "It's not my business exactly. It's his, er, business," he said, accompanying the word with a slightly lewd gesture.
The other pirate's suspicion lessened, but he still asked, "What sort of business?"
"A nice…pretty business, with a pair of big…brown eyes," Jack elaborated slyly.
"Atticus" set his mouth in a thin line. "This business wouldn't happen to be named Elizabeth, would it?"
Jack was surprised; he hadn't expected Will to tell anyone about his bonny lass, if he believed she'd betrayed him. "Aye, that's the girl. Told you, did he?"
"In a manner of speaking. What intentions has she toward him?"
"You're hardly one to judge, old B—"
"Atticus."
"Sorry. Atticus. Anyway, let's just say the lad's made a bit of a mistake about his lady's heart, and while he may be in store for a good hiding, I doubt she'll do any permanent damage. Apart from marrying him, that is." The other captain's mouth gave an odd twist that seemed to be a half-smile, half-grimace. Jack shrugged, "At least he's proven he's not a eunuch." That remark might have gone over well with any other pirate but this one. Time to put his foot down. "Sorry, Atticus, but I must insist. The Black Pearl can get the sword back where it belongs a lot faster than your little boat, and the younger Mr. Turner owes some explanations to his fair lady."
Jack raised his eyebrows expectantly at the other captain; what Captain Jack Sparrow wanted, Captain Jack Sparrow got. Even this pirate wasn't fool enough to contend with him. Visibly gritting his teeth, "Atticus" finally nodded. "All right. Will and the sword go with you." He left it at that, but Jack could tell what else the man was thinking as clear as if he'd said it aloud.
"I'll look after him. Good lad, even if he does have a tendency to do things that are really, really stupid."
"Stupid?"
"Honest, your Will. Utterly, shockingly, hopelessly honest," Jack told him. It was explanation enough; the other captain's snort told him that. Then he glanced up at the darkening sky. "And if we're to get that sword back where it belongs before them that owns it come looking for us, we'd best be running along. Will the Lady Laurel be following?"
"You'd bloody best believe it," growled the other captain, following him back to the rest of the crew.
"All right. Will, you're with me," Jack said, tossing the long line at him. He raised his eyebrows at the other captain. "Going to take your leave of the lad?" Got something you ought to be telling him, I think.
Will cleared his throat and held out a hand to "Atticus." "I owe you my life, sir."
"Not at all, young lad," said the older man, gripping the boy's hand harder than strictly necessary. "Take care. I hope to be seeing you again once this little errand's run. Captain Sparrow can get the sword where it belongs faster than us."
"Thank you, sir. For everything." With that, Will took the long line and swung across to the Black Pearl.
"Captain Willem, sir," said Jack grandly, catching the line as Will threw it back. "Fair voyage to you."
"And you, Captain Sparrow," replied the other pirate.
Jack looked at him in bemusement, and finally hissed, "What the devil are you waiting for?"
His old friend gave a wry smile, then muttered back, "The opportune moment."
***
Aboard the Black Pearl…
"Welcome back, Mr. Turner!" said Gibbs cheerfully as Will turned to greet Jack's crew.
"Mr. Gibbs," said Will. Although it was rather nice to see the Pearl's company again, he found that it wasn't quite the same. Then again, he supposed nothing of his past life would be the same. He had lived two lives now: one with Elizabeth and one without her.
Jack swung aboard behind him. "All hands to the braces! Full sail ahead! Let's get this bloody plunder back where it belongs!" The crew scrambled to do his bidding, and Jack grinned broadly at Will, nodding to the sword. "Well, well. For someone who once had such a bleak outlook on pirates, you seem to have gone all the way to becoming one."
Will looked away, only to see Anamaria staring at him from the wheel. He turned his gaze to the sea. "It's not as if I really had a choice."
"Ohhh, don't know about that, mate. Let's see now," Jack counted thoughtfully on his fingers. "Ran away from your proper respectable trade, bought a passage on a shady vessel, led your very own sack of the richest and wickedest city in the Caribbean…" the pirate grinned broadly at Will and nodded to the white sword hanging at his hip. "And…you're still completely obsessed with treasure."
Elizabeth…
In a rush of horror, Will felt his throat tighten. He fumbled at the sword and pulled it loose from the belt still in the scabbard, thrusting it furiously toward Jack. The other pirates recoiled with curses, muttering, "Don't want to be taking that!"
Jack raised his eyebrows, and Will growled bitterly, "Take it! If you want it, take it. I don't want to hear about treasure anymore!" He just wanted to be out of sight. What a sport they would make of it if his emotions got the better of him.
With deliberate fingers, Jack reached out and plucked the sword from Will's hands. "Very well, I'll hold your booty for you for now. Not that I want it, mind you, no one with sense wants to have this thing in his hands any more than the Aztecs' gold." He wandered up to the helm, taking the wheel from a grinning Anamaria. "But you, my friend, have some unfinished business to attend to at the moment, and I expect you're going to need both your hands." He grinned past Will at the crew. "Steady as she goes!"
The crew sniggered around them, and Will sighed heavily, not in the mood for Jack's games. "You're mistaken," he said dully, coming up to stand in front of the wheel facing Jack. "The only business I have to finish is getting that thing back where it belongs. Once that's done you can put me ashore wherever you like. I have nothing to hold me anywhere."
Keeping one hand on the wheel while turning the white sword over and over with the other, Jack chuckled. "Oh no, mate, it's you that's mistaken. You've got business here, without a doubt." His black eyes flicked to something behind Will, and the grin grew broader than ever. "Don't know if I envy you or not."
The laughter died down abruptly, and with a huff of annoyance, Will turned around to see what was amusing Jack so much.
His heart froze in his chest, while his breath froze in his throat.
Standing at the top of the stairs to the quarterdeck was a woman, clad like Anamaria in boots and breeches and a man's shirt with laces added to the front to make it fit as well as could be managed, given that it was several sizes too large. The wear and tear on the garments was obvious, the work stains standing out against the white shirt and the woman's fair-but-sunburnt skin. Her brown hair was braided and pinned tightly to her head, and her large brown eyes were fixed on Will with a most peculiar expression.
He could not be certain how one might describe the look upon her face as she returned his gaze, but at the moment he was too stunned himself to do more than gape.
"Elizabeth?" he choked out, his throat preventing him from speaking louder than a whisper.
Her lips parted slightly, but she too seemed at a loss for words. She came slowly toward him, her head tilted quizzically as though sizing him up to her memories. He stared helplessly back, unable to connect the governor's daughter he had last seen laughing by the side of a handsome, wealthy nobleman with this woman sailor before him. What on Earth was she doing here?
Elizabeth stopped in front of him, staring up at his face with that utterly inscrutable expression. Neither of them noticed that the entire deck had gone silent except for the creaking and whispering of the wind in the rigging, and the washing of the waves. Elizabeth slowly raised a hand as toward his face…then hauled off and slapped him so damned hard that he staggered right into the wheel.
"You deserved that, mate," Will heard Jack say over the ringing in his ears, but he had no time to reply before a feminine roar of fury warned him of Elizabeth's approach—not in enough time to protect himself from her hand seizing his ear in a savage grip.
"Aah!" Will cried in protest as he was hauled by the ear away from the wheel.
The crew's howls of laughter were drowned out by Elizabeth's tirade, which crashed over him like a tidal wave. "William Turner, you bloody swine! I should tear your bloody ear off right this minute! How dare you abandon me without so much as a goodbye—you filthy louse! To think that I'd give you up for that—that—oooh! You never even bothered to ask me where my heart lay, you didn't trust me, you ran away like a bloody coward and left me there with those—cads! All of you, treating me like some kind of prize animal, cads, the whole lot! Do you have any idea what I've been through searching for you?! Do you?! It's so bloody easy for you men to go scampering off into pirate hives and come out unscathed—a whole bloody month I spent—oh, damn you, damn you!"
Will could do no more but reel helplessly under the onslaught, any possibility of defending himself verbally or physically hampered by the fact that Elizabeth had yet to let go of his ear—which was now beginning to feel in serious danger of being torn off. Finally, she did release him—or rather, shoved him savagely away so that he crashed into the bulkhead. Gasping and grunting and clutching his pained ear in one hand, Will squinted at Elizabeth in astonishment, striding towards him in the late afternoon sun like an avenging angel. Hands seized his shoulders and jerked him upright, and he found himself staring into her eyes, bright and wild with fury. Then all at once, her lips slammed into his with as much force as she had used to slap him before, and he was as helpless against this attack as he had been against the other. He returned her frantic kisses, baffled and buffeted like a ship on stormy seas, unable to slow his reeling mind enough to comprehend what was happening. All that he could be sure of was the taste of her lips wildly assaulting his, and her hands running up his chest to grip his shoulders…
Then she tightened her grip on him and began shaking him vigorously by the shoulders and shouting all over again. "I cannot believe you, Will Turner! After all we went through, with Barbossa and the Black Pearl and the curse and the pirates and Jack and the curse and the hanging and Barbossa, how could you trust me so little?! All the promises, all the plans we made, all the sacrifices—Will, how dare you leave me?!"
Jack was watching idly from the wheel, with Anamaria just behind him, and when he turned he saw her leaning against the bulkhead, grinning broadly and biting her lip to hold back her laughter while she stayed out of the way of the rampaging Elizabeth. "Growing on you, isn't she?"
"A bit."
Up until now, the only sounds from Miss Swann's unfortunate wayward suitor had been grunts of surprised protest and the occasional yelp of pain. Inevitably, Elizabeth's eruption wore down, and she flung Will away from her with one final, ringing slap that left him seated, stupefied, on the deck, and then she stormed back down the steps and disappeared into the hold—to the thunderous applause of the crew.
Ears ringing and in considerable pain, cheeks reddened from two immensely powerful slaps, and head shaken half off his body, Will sat stunned on the wooden boards for some time. The crew, chuckling among themselves, simply worked around him. At last, he whispered, "Jack?"
"Aye?"
"What happened? What…how did she get here?"
There was a theatric sigh from behind him, and the rigging creaked as the ship came about a few points. "One sorry suitor you've been, my friend. I discovered your bonny lass ten days ago when the Pearl made port in Tortuga."
Will's heart leapt up into his throat. "Tor-Tortuga?" he whispered. Elizabeth…there? Dear God…
Mr. Gibbs' leather flask was abruptly shoved into his line of vision. When he didn't reach for it, Gibbs grunted in annoyance and seized his hand, slapped the flask into it, and shoved it toward him. "You'll be needing that, lad, it gets better."
As Gibbs walked away, Will stumbled to his feet and went to stand next to Jack. "What was she doing in Tortuga? How did she get there?"
Jack clicked his tongue and sighed, rolling his eyes. "Bit slow on the uptake, you are." He took the flask from Will and had a swallow himself before continuing, "From what I was able to gather from her, she found out somehow that the ship you ran away on was bound for Tortuga, and so ran away herself in pursuit of you." Will felt an icy shiver run up his spine. "She bought herself a passage on a vessel of ill repute, only to get herself robbed as soon as she disembarked. Brave lass, I'll give her that, but didn't have the smarts to be discreet." Will grabbed for the flask and took a gulp of strong rum, ignoring the acid taste. He tried to hide the fact that he felt like his soul was being gouged out as Jack continued, "When I found her, girl'd been wandering the docks of Tortuga for a month, looking for you. Have to hand it to her. Don't know many society ladies who could survive as well as she did. Somehow she managed. And so I brought her back aboard the Black Pearl and heard the lady's sad story about the faithless lad who'd abandoned her because he thought she loved another. And she's been pulling her weight round here ever since."
"Oh God," Will sank back to the deck, leaning against the bulkhead with his forehead on his knees. "Oh, Jack, dear God, what have I done? I didn't know…I thought she'd be happy with him, I thought…" he couldn't speak anymore, but just groaned. He would never have imagined it possible to feel more desolate than he had when he had left Port Royal believing Elizabeth had chosen someone else. Now…I abandoned her. I never bothered to ask her face-to-face. I owed her that much. After all we'd…oh God, how could I do such a thing! Elizabeth…alone in Tortuga for a whole month…the thought was too horrible to describe. His stomach churned as questions roiled in his brain. How had she survived? If anything had—dear God, everything that had happened to her was his fault! "Oh God, I'm so sorry," he whispered.
Jack cleared his throat loudly as he stood at the wheel. "You know, don't want to meddle or anything, mate…but I don't think I'm the one you're meant to be talking to."
***
Elizabeth paced back and forth in the cabin she shared with Anamaria, torn between laughter and tears. She had no wish to deny how much she'd enjoyed giving Will Turner a hiding he would never forget—and his response had been most comical—but now that her initial fury had wound down, the reality of just how long it had been since she had seen him was sinking in, and she ached. There could be no doubt of Elizabeth's heart; she still longed for Will Turner.
The sound of footsteps broke her out of the maudlin reverie, and she waited. Most of the rest of the crew tended to thunk loudly up and down the stairs; these steps were light. She knew them, and cursed the way her heart began to race. I'm angry at him, dammit! Angry!
But her heart seemed determined to make her melt far sooner than she wanted, given the way it jumped when there was a timid little knock on the cabin door. Elizabeth pursed her lips, still struggling to keep up her expression of intense displeasure with Will after all he had put her through, and opened the door. And the sight of him there, head hanging, eyes on her for only an instant before they dropped to his feet, so utterly forlorn, nearly led her to cave in right there. Her voice was higher pitched than she'd intended. "Yes?"
Will swallowed hard, keeping his eyes lowered. "May I see you?" he asked softly. "Please?"
Oh…stop that! STOP THAT already! I am ANGRY! Silently, not trusting her voice, she opened the door wider and motioned him in. He entered without looking at her. She folded her arms and forced a continued scowl, trying not to notice his slumped shoulders. "Well?"
"I…" he stole a glance at her and swiftly looked away. "Elizabeth, I…didn't…I'm sorry!" Will blurted, looking at her with wide, anguished eyes. Oh, damn… "I'm so sorry! I thought…I was a fool, and I thought Hamilton—"
That at least she could remain angry about. "Kindly don't mention that cretin's name." Will blinked. Elizabeth hurriedly looked away from him and said, "That lout and my father conspired to importune me at every opportunity."
"I thought..."
"I know perfectly well what you thought, William Turner, and I am disgusted with you for it," she said, keeping her eyes on the cabin wall. "That you would think after all we had been through that I would turn on you for anyone, let alone that…that…ooh!" Elizabeth paced back and forth across the cabin, seething and refusing to look at him.
She could hear Will's ragged breathing, and stomped her feet harder as she walked to drown it out. It didn't help that the cabin was barely six feet wide. But the noise of her boots couldn't drown out Will's voice. "Jack said he found you in Tortuga. He said you left Port Royal that very night."
Elizabeth stopped pacing and leaned against the cabin wall again, keeping her back to him. She nodded. "I bartered a passage there on a pirate ship."
"Were you…" Will trailed off, and Elizabeth turned to look at him. His face wore a pinched look as if his insides pained him. "Elizabeth…I will not blame you if you never speak to me again. But I have to know—were you hurt? Did anything happen to you?"
How she loved the sound of his voice. But now its quiet desperation was driving her mad, and the nearness of him was causing every nerve in her body to tingle. In this closet-space she could not get any further away from him unless she crawled into one of the berths, and, well…no. A part of her wanted so vindictively to make him suffer for all she had been through in the past six weeks, but… "I wasn't hurt. There were a few frights, but that's all. I survived."
"How?"
"Does it matter?" she demanded, rounding on him. Will flinched, and her heart skipped in spite of herself. Will you stop being so…so…
"It does matter," he said suddenly, so softly she barely heard him. "Everything that happened to you matters to me. More than anything because your being trapped there at all was my fault."
"I wasn't trapped," Elizabeth said. Will blinked. She sighed, "I didn't have much money, but if I had wanted to go back home, I had several chances." She looked hard at him. "But home would be nothing to me without you."
With a noise that sounded suspiciously like a stifled sob, Will flung himself at Elizabeth and threw his arms around her, embracing her so tightly that she gasped. "I'm sorry," he breathed, kissing her furiously. "I'm so sorry. I should never have—I'm such a—I love you!"
"And I love you, Will Turner, and don't you ever, ever forget that again, or so help me I'll rip your ear off and make you walk the plank! I'll told you that night; I am yours and you will never be rid of me! Don't you ever forget that again!" Elizabeth growled at him between kisses.
"I won't," he rasped. "I won't. I promise."
There was a loud rap on the door that sent them both leaping apart. "Break it up in there and getcherselves on deck! Cap'n says game's afoot!"
***
The thick fog bank surrounding Isla de la Muerta hung like a curtain on a stage, concealing anything moving or stirring behind. Jack saw Will and Elizabeth scampering on deck and beckoned them over. "Here," he shoved the white sword at Will. "Keep an eye on it. Elizabeth, love, get on those guns with the others."
Elizabeth didn't appear to have heard him. She was watching Will strapping the white sword to his belt. "Where did you get that?" she asked.
"Long story, love, and no time to tell it now. Run along!" Jack ordered.
With a parting frown at Will, she obeyed. Will's face was flushed. "What happens when we get back to Isla de la Muerta?"
"Well, if we're lucky, we'll find the Bloodstone's bones still sticking out of the water where she first went down, throw old Copperhead's sword back into her depths, and be on our way," said Jack, checking his compass.
"And if we're unlucky?"
"Then the ship won't be there, and we're going to have to find her. And send her back to her grave with the sword." Will shuddered, but Jack saw his hand tighten on the weapon. "Don't get any ideas, lad. That's not yours to keep."
"I know, I know," sighed the boy. He looked bitterly at it. "How could Hamilton have got his hands on it?"
Jack shrugged. "Couldn't say. Elizabeth says he arrived in Port Royal a few days before you and she took off?" Will nodded. "Would've been sailing in rough weather, then. His ship might've been blown off course—a few men have found Isla de la Muerta that way. Bloodstone went down very close to the entrance of the passage. Old Fancy Pants might've stumbled across the wreck and decided to go treasure hunting, or the sword might've been where he could see it, and he snatched it. Who knows? Doesn't matter. Either way he's a fool."
The fog broke over the ship. "How close are we?" whispered Gibbs from nearby.
"Real close. Take in sail. Will, get forward." Before the boy started down the deck, Jack grabbed his arm and said, "Obsessed with treasure or not, you're not stupid in a greedy sort of way, so don't start now. When I tell you, throw that sword."
Will looked back at him, surprised by the grim tone of his voice, and swallowed hard. But then he nodded and headed down the deck. Jack grinned to himself; the kid might have taken a fancy to the white sword—connoisseur he was, and all that—but right now he was likely too preoccupied with the other treasure that had just been returned to him. And even I can't blame him for fancying that sword. Pretty weapon to be sure; I might well have contended with Copperhead for it in life. But never in death. No, sir, not in death.
Jack checked the compass; they were coming up on the Bloodstone. He motioned the crew to keep quiet while he listened. The Pearl slipped silently through the fog, the only sounds the breeze in her sails and the water washing along the hull. He squinted through the mist. But his heart was beginning to sink. The Bloodstone's bones should be rising out of the water right here, along with the remains of half a dozen other wrecks, but…the surface was smooth. The Pearl drifted closer, with every sailor aboard her scanning the ocean for any sign of the dozens of sunken ships that littered this passage into the island.
The mist lifted somewhat. And there was nothing. It was the easiest entry Jack had ever had. The rocks were still there, but the graves of all those ships and all those crews…gone. One would never know how many sailors had been claimed by this passage. There was not a sign of a ship anywhere.
The Bloodstone was gone. And so was every other wreck on the passage to Isla de la Muerta.
Up in the rigging, Mr. Cotton's parrot intoned, "Deeead men tell no taaaales…"
"Now they bloody do," Jack muttered, spitting out several curses. "Every bloody one of 'em."
Will came back toward the helm. "Jack," he whispered frantically. "What do we do now?"
"No need to whisper, lad," said Jack. "There's no one here to hear you. And now, it looks like me old mate Copperhead and I are going to have that race after all. Now we've got to find him before he finds anyone else."
"How're we going to do that?" demanded Gibbs. "Fallen sailors has the sea on their side! How're we to contend with Copperhead now?"
Jack grinned. "I'd have thought you'd realized, mate!" He leaned against the wheel. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!" There was a low groan from one of the starboard guns—had it been Anamaria or Elizabeth? Jack glowered at them both, then bellowed, "Loose the topsails, you scabberous dogs! We're hauling wind!"
Tightening the belt that secured the white sword to his person, Will ran up to the helm as Jack brought the Pearl about. "Do you really think you'll be able to catch the Bloodstone?"
"Aye, and once Copperhead realizes we've got the sword, it shan't be too much trouble to lure his Bloodstone in. But we've got to find her first."
***
Some miles behind the Black Pearl…
"Brace yourselves, lads, we're starting a larboard tack!" Dunsford shouted to the Lady Laurel's crew.
Atticus Willem did so, grimacing as he fought to push the Laurel through a strong northeasterly wind—which was determined to drive any ship in precisely the opposite direction from the one Atticus wanted to go. Even the Pearl had probably had difficulties getting through this breeze.
So naturally, it did not come as much of a surprise when the Black Pearl suddenly came streaking back from Isla de la Muerta, hauling the wind and going like the devil. She was going so damned fast that Atticus didn't have much time to do more than to lean over the deck rail to hear Jack's shout, "We were too late, Captain! Old Cooperhead's gone on a pleasure cruise! We're off to find him!"
And then they were gone, as Atticus cursed and ordered Dunsford to bring the ship about. So that was why the wind had changed. The Bloodstone had already left. Krighton jumped down from where he'd been loosing the topsails and demanded, "Why the 'ell are we chasing after the Pearl? Couldn't catch 'er if we tried, an' we're only putting usselves in the Bloodstone's path, once Copperhead realizes the Pearl's got something of his!"
"Because if he's going against Copperhead now, Captain Sparrow's going to need all the help he can get, now back up to the crow's nest and keep a good lookout. Bloodstone could be anywhere," said Atticus. Krighton obeyed, still muttering, and Atticus returned his gaze to the sea. In a low voice, he muttered, "Besides, Jack and his Pearl have still got something of mine."
***
Aboard the Black Pearl…
Jack was keeping most of the crew on watch at any time, but early the next day, he came off duty at the same time as Will and Elizabeth and ushered them both to the mess. "Better eat up, mates, once we find Copperhead, there won't be much time for material pleasures."
Will watched Elizabeth in fascination, and no small measure of apprehension. For a lady accustomed to the finest food and comforts that life had to offer, she took the drab food and grog of the Pearl's fare without even blinking. Then at one point, when she got up to refill her tankard and Jack, Cotton, and Anamaria all wanted refills as well, she grabbed all four, threading her fingers between the handles, refilling them from the barrel, and handing them back to their respective owners as if it were nothing. Anamaria saw Will's expression and started to laugh, "Aye, lad, ain't the first time she's done that. Used to it by now, I wager."
Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth sat down and took a swig of her own tankard. "That's how I survived," she told him shortly. It didn't seem like something she wanted to talk about, so Will left it, but now she was watching him. He was still wearing the white sword. "It was you who raided Port Royal, wasn't it? You and that Captain Willem."
Will nodded, afraid to look at her. "He knew about the white sword. He said you would be in danger if we didn't get it back to Isla de la Muerta."
"Was anyone hurt?" she asked quietly.
Keeping his eyes on his barely-touched plate, Will murmured, "One of the crew struck your father. I tried to—keep everyone safe. Sir Reginald put up a fight over the sword, and I…" he gulped from his own cup. The mess had gone very quiet. Will felt sick when he remembered striking Hamilton. Oh, he hated the man, hated him with all his heart, but that hadn't warranted the viciousness of the attack. But the pompousness of the man, representing everything in the world of value that Will had been denied, had driven the young man into such a fury that it had felt like the very hand of God was driving him when he had lunged at Hamilton and struck the nobleman over and over. Will had never known such a desire to cause pain. It sickened him now, to know that he was capable of such base cruelty. Even to someone who so richly deserved it. "I tried to keep him from coming to any harm. None of the servants were hurt. Nothing else in the house was taken."
He could feel her eyes on him, but he had no courage to look up. "W-Will—"
The deck bell rang wildly. Gibbs bellowed, "Sails a windward! Captain! Sails!" and they all stampeded out of the mess.
Jack nearly knocked Will down the stairs and into Elizabeth and Anamaria in his haste to join Gibbs at the helm. The man had the spyglass in his hand and pointed to the southwest. Jack grabbed the glass and peered at the dark blob on the horizon. There were many sets of sails, some looking rather askew, but more important, telltale flashes of light and puffs of smoke. "It's an engagement. All hands on deck! Man the guns!"
The crew scrambled to obey, and Jack took the wheel. "My God, it's the Dauntless!" gasped Elizabeth.
"What? Are you sure?" Will jumped down next to her.
"Aye, that's her all right," said Jack. "And that's the Bloodstone moving in for the kill."
"Why would Copperhead attack the Dauntless?"
"Who knows? Can't rightly explain what drives the sea's dead, lad. Could be the Dauntless is the first ship they came across, or could be that your bloody friend Norrington has a passenger ol' Copperhead recognizes."
"What?"
"Reginald Hamilton is aboard the Dauntless," Elizabeth told Will, making a disgusted face. "Looking for his sword."
"I—"
"Ready the guns!" bellowed Jack. "Hands to the oars!" Will dove for one of them and started rowing. "Pull!" Jack shouted. "Pull!" They were coming within range of the Bloodstone and Dauntless, and dead sailors began jumping from ship to ship, putting the Pearl in their sights. "Make ready to fire!" To Will, the sailors aboard the lost ships looked reasonably normal, if a bit more bedraggled than average. Not unlike the undead crew of Barbossa's, he observed dryly. They roared their challenges at the Black Pearl as she aced toward their flagship. "All right, lads, let's take some heat off our Naval brethren! Fire!"
Flame and smoke flashed from the cannon on both sides of Pearl, blasting into the hull of the two nearest ships. It was more than sufficient to cause the risen crew of the Bloodstone to forget all about the Dauntless. As he rowed, Will got his first good look at the famous ship. She was larger than the Pearl, made flush and heavily armed. She must have been a terror during her days on the seas, but Will could see the gash in her hull that, by some miracle that he would never have believed but for the events of two years ago, took no water. And her cannon and sails appeared to be working just fine.
Soldiers charged across the Bloodstone's deck to deal with the new threat, but some were still firing on the dauntless. "Will! Sword!" shouted Jack.
Will traded places with Gibbs on the oar, and ran up to the helm, unfastening the sword from his belt. He ran a fingertip across the smooth mother-of-pearl on its scabbard, then handed it to Jack. "What now?"
"Now, lad, we tempt the fates," said Jack, as they came alongside the Bloodstone, only just out of long line range. The pirate thrust the white sword into the air. "OY! COPPERHEAD! Looking for this?!"
There was a pirate in a large hat on the quarterdeck, definitely in the stance of a captain, and at Jack's shout, he spun around.
Will gasped, and heard several of the others in the crew do the same. Even Jack took a step backward.
Whoever this Copperhead character was, the pirate currently commanding the Bloodstone wasn't him. It was Barbossa.
To be continued…
Next time: The Lady Laurel and the Black Pearl come to the Royal Navy's rescue, and Barbossa gets to face the former shipmates he betrayed—both of 'em. We also meet the infamous Copperhead Wellings—but whose side is he on?
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