Oldest Story in the Book
Chapter 23
Author's Note: Still holding on.
As they stepped up onto the deck a large black mass flapped past them to settle on the rail next to them.
"Bugger off!" Jack ordered the bird. It tilted its head to examine him with one beady little eye. With that Jack went immediately to the helm to speak with Gibbs and AnnaMaria as the others meandered onto the deck.
"What is that?" Elizabeth asked.
"A raven," Pearl said, looking at it out of the corner of her eye.
"Nevermore," the raven announced.
"It says nevermore?" Elizabeth asked.
"All it says is nevermore," Pearl said.
"That's a bit spooky," Will said.
"Gibbs says it isn't natural," Emmie said. "But then Jack points out that they are sailing on a ship that was inhabited by undead pirates. If they could manage that a raven shouldn't cause any harm."
It took flight to follow them toward the rail. "Git or you go the way of the parrot," Pearl threatened.
"Nevermore," the raven croaked.
"What happened to the parrot?" Norrington asked as they moved more fully into the morning sun.
"Well, no one ever proved it was her," Emmie said with a nod toward Pearl, who seemed to have gone temporarily deaf, "but it was found nailed to the mast. She's the only one good enough with daggers to catch it on the fly. So Jack bought the raven to replace it."
The Turners meandered over to the rail, Will behind Elizabeth with his arms around her as they stared out at the sea and the ship still sitting on the horizon. "Those two almost make me believe," Pearl sighed as Norrington and Emmie followed her to a spot a little way down the rail.
"Believe what?" Norrington asked.
Pearl looked up at him, smiled indulgently, patted his cheek, and moved to talk to Jack.
"She'll never say it." Norrington turned away from Pearl's retreating form to find his daughter leaning on her elbows against the rail, watching the sea. "She loves you, but she'll never say it. You shouldn't push too hard."
He moved to lean on the rail next to her. "But what else can I do?"
"Prod," she answered. "Don't push too hard or she'll push back. But you can prod a bit."
Norrington snorted. "How do you tell the difference?"
Emmie smiled up at him. "Aunt Maggie would say it's a distinction any proper noble should know."
"She would also say that I shouldn't worry so much over 'proper.'"
"That she would," Emmie agreed. "I know it's hard, with Mama, but you have to remember that she wants this badly as you do. She just hides it better."
He sighed heavily. "I shouldn't be doing this right now." He fingered the sword strapped tight to his belt. "Ethan's out there. I should be worried about him."
Emmie shook her head. "The ship's sailing fast at it can. You can't do anything until it gets there. May as well distract yourself until you can do something about it. No use worrying needlessly." Emmie shifted where she stood, fingering her own sword. "If it makes you feel any better, you're in good company. You should have seen Mama when she heard. She was half mad by the time we got to Port. Come to think of it, Jack an I haven't been overly calm. We're worried as well. We'll do everything we can to speed things up, and keep out sanity in the mean time."
He smiled, putting an arm around his daughter. He was startled by how right it felt to have the girl pulled close. He had never been much for physical contact. "How did you get so smart?"
"Good upbringings," she said with a laugh. "Both of them."
"Come back here, you bloody jackal!" All parties turned to look at Jack. He stood on the deck, a snickering Pearl next to him, glaring at the raven which now had position of his hat. "I'll cut your bloody beak off and use it for cannon fodder! I'll make a bloody pillow out of you! Roast raven all around!"
The bird, for its part, sat on the mast, chocking its head to stare down at the noisy human.
When it tired of Jack's ranting it turned, waddled carefully over to the rigging securing the crossbar to the mast with the hat still clutched in its beak, and carefully placed the hat amidst the ropes. It teetered a moment, before the bird began pecking it more firmly into place.
"Oy! Stop that!" Jack cried, flapping his arms at the creature as Pearl burst into peals of laughter.
The bird turned its attention to him long enough to reply, "Nevermore," then returned to bending the hat into a shape that better suited its purpose.
"Go get me hat," Jack ordered Pearl.
She stopped laughing to glare at him. "Not likely. I like my eyeballs in my head, thanks ever so much. You get your hat."
"I'm the captain. I don't have to go crawling through the bloody rigging."
Pearl shrugged. The hat now secure the raven was in it, turning itself in circles and fluffing its feathers. "Emmie?" Jack asked.
"Not likely."
Apparently satisfied with the new arrangement the raven vacated the hat to hop down the bar a bit, pull a piece of string from a thick rope, then hop back to put it into the hat. "Now it's stripping the rigging!" Jack cried as it repeated the move.
"Yeah. You should stop it," Pearl remarked. "You know, if it's nesting it must be female. Why don't you just charm it, Captain Sparrow?"
Jack paused as if considering, then shook his head. "Not certain it works across species, luv. Oy! Rose, c'mere."
Rose, who had been walking by, obediently paused to come over to them. "Aye, Captain?"
"Do us a favor. Scurry up the rigging and get me hat."
Rose looked up at the raven dutifully stuffing rope bits into the hat. It paused to look down at Rose. "Nevermore."
"I'm with it," Rose said as the raven hopped off after more rope.
"Her," Pearl corrected.
Rose shrugged. "Hey David?"
"What is it?" the boy asked as he tied off the rope he was tugging at to come talk to them.
"Get the Captain's hat," she ordered.
"How'd it get up there?" he asked, staring up at the empty had. The raven was off in search of more nesting material.
"Don't matter. Just get it," Rose ordered.
"Why don't you get it?" he asked.
"'Cause I told you to."
"I don't care who does it. I just want my bloody hat!" Jack broke in.
"In that case, leave it to me," David said, suddenly eager, quickly scaling the rope to grab the leather hat. "Hey, why are there rope bits in here?"
Suddenly aware of the thief the bird returned in an indignant, squawking ball of feathers. Throwing up his hands to defend his eyes David dropped the hat. Moving quickly Jack caught it, put it on, and began strutting across the deck.
Rose chuckled as David awkwardly climbed down, carefully fending off the bird. When he reached the deck the raven gave up, moving to perch on a rope. David watched it with misgiving, wiping blood from a gash in his cheek. "You knew that was going to happen," David accused.
"Why do you think I wasn't up there?" Rose asked with a grin as she flounced off.
"Come here," Pearl ordered with a sigh. "Let me see you." She carefully examined the abrasions, but finally nodded. "You're good. Lucky boy. Your eyes are untouched." She tilted his head down to lay a motherly kiss on his forehead. "Back to work."
"You sure? I feel a little light headed. Maybe I should take a nap or-"
"Work, you scurvy pirate," Pearl ordered, giving him a glare.
David obeyed as Pearl moved to stand next to her daughter. She stared out at the approaching ship. "It'll be half an hour before Marden catches up to us. We should get to the island before noon. If all goes well your son can have lunch on the Pearl and we'll pull into a port by sunset.
Emmie snorted. "When was the last time all went well?"
Pearl sighed, messaging her forehead, suddenly looking older and more tired than she had in years. "Please, none of that. The wind is with us. I'm trying to take it as a good sign."
Emmie nodded agreeably, then glanced toward the Turners. "Half an hour, huh?"
Pearl grinned. "You have been around your grandfather far too long. You've picked up his flair for the dramatic."
As if to prove the point Jack ran by, waving his hat at the attacking raven. "I'm going to flambee you, you undersized turkey!" he cried.
"Jack, just put your hat below deck," Pearl called.
Jack turned to consider her for a moment, a moment the raven took to swoop at the hat and squawk, "Nevermore."
"Fine. Just until we get rid of this bloody devil!" Jack cried as he stalked below deck.
"You know, I think Nikko's been training a parrot," Pearl remarked.
"Now that you mention it, I think she was," Emmie said. "Wasn't she trying to get it to invite Jack to its bed?"
"Slightly less benign than that," Pearl answered. "May make things interesting."
"This sounds like a bad idea," Norrington remarked as twin grins broke across the women's faces.
"Bad for Jack," Pearl said.
"Hilarious for the rest of us," Emmie said. "So you think half an hour is long enough?"
"If not you can always pick it up again later," Pearl assured her daughter.
"Pick up what?" Norrington asked.
"You'll see," Pearl answered. "Go on, hon. Show that pretty boy what a little proper piratical training can do. I could use the distraction."
Emmie grinned, turning toward the Turners. "Hey, Papa?"
Norrington felt a stab of jealousy. He was her father, after all. He wondered passingly if it made Elizabeth jealous to hear Emmie call Pearl 'Mama.' Most likely not. Elizabeth carried the title of 'Mother,' and Emmie put all of the feeling she had in that word. He was just someone she knew in a passing sort of way and had attached the title of 'Father' to because she felt she should. And that hurt as well.
Will looked up. "Yes Emmie?"
"We have half an hour until Marden catches up. What do you say to a quick lesson?" Her hand rested on the new sword strapped to her hip.
"I suppose I could teach you a thing or two in that time," Will remarked, turning away from Elizabeth.
"Let's just wait and see who teaches who, shall we?" Emmie asked as she stepped toward him.
Will's eyebrows rose as he moved to meet her. "Is that a fact?"
"Hey, Emmie's gonna fight!" a nearby pirate called.
The call was echoed by others as they gathered around the two, who drew their swords and began to circle.
Pearl grabbed Elizabeth and quickly pulled her toward the front of the crowd, Norrington following. "Have to move quickly if you want a good seat in this crowd," she informed her.
"Oy! What's this? Get back to work or we'll be usin' you as a model for the Jolly Roger!" Jack roared as he returned to find his ship completely unmanned.
"Oh, have a heart, Cap'n," Gibbs said. "It ain't every day we get to see our daughter kick the stuffin' out o' the man acknowledged as the best sword in the Caribbean."
"'Our daughter'?" Norrington repeated.
"Told you that's how they think of her," Pearl told him. "They helped her learn everything she knows. Little protective of her too."
Jack eyed the circling opponents, chocking his head and nodding to Gibbs. "Suppose I see your point." He elbowed his way to a better view next to Annamaria. Poking her with an index finger he ordered, "Go mind the wheel."
"Bugger off. It can stay tied for a bit."
Jack narrowed his eyes to glare down at her. "Mayhaps you didn't hear me properly. This is your CAPTAIN giving you an ORDER to go mind the wheel."
AnnaMaria straightened more fully to look up at him. "Terribly sorry, Sir. What I obviously meant was you may bugger off, Captain, Sir," she told him. With a final salute she turned back to the circling people.
Jack stared open-mouthed down at her for a moment, then shrugged. "I suppose it's all right for a bit."
"How does he keep control of his ship if they won't follow his orders?" Norrington whispered to Pearl.
"They do, when it's important. They respect him, Edward. Enough even to disagree and know he'll take them seriously."
Norrington opened his mouth to retort but a flash of movement caught his eye.
Will had made the first move, an easy jab toward her side. Emmie turned it away just as easily. "Don't be insulting," she ordered.
"Just warming up," Will replied with a smile.
Pearl sighed. "That smile should be labeled a lethal weapon."
"You're telling me," Elizabeth said.
"Honestly, I don't know how you ever get out of the bedroom," Pearl said.
"It's hard, some days."
"Please, for the love of my sanity, stop there," Norrington said.
"Oh, Edward, I think you could do with a great deal less sanity," Pearl said.
He opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by clashing swords. Emmie had pushed forward to take aim at his right side, sweeping up toward his head as they crew cheered.
When Will returned the sentiment they jeered, then cheered as Emmie turned it aside. "I don't know who to cheer for," Elizabeth remarked. "Do I encourage my daughter or my husband?"
"Since the pirates are liable to lynch you if you don't cheer for Emmie, I'd suggest her," Pearl said.
Emmie came in again, going for his left, letting him turn aside the blow toward his side and bringing it up toward his head so quickly he had to duck to avoid the blade. "You've been practicing," Will remarked.
"I've been training with some of the best," Emmie corrected.
"Where did you find people to train her out here?" Elizabeth asked.
"Oh, you know, around. Cargo vessels, passenger ships. They sail too."
"Pearl!" Norrington cried. "You've been kidnaping people so they can train my daughter?"
Pearl blinked innocently up at him. "Kidnaped? Heavens no. Offered them safe passage to their destination in return for a few lessons."
"And if they refused the pleasure?" Elizabeth asked.
"Ah, deluxe accommodations in the brig until they came around," Pearl answered.
"That's what I thought," Elizabeth sighed.
"It isn't so bad as it sounds. They were never in danger. Hid below every time there was a battle. Bloody cowards, the lot of them. They actually grew quite fond of us toward the end. Never did one report us."
"Well, that much is true," Norrington remarked, remembering the sword master he'd had come in for Ethan's benefit. He said he'd been waylaid and never said exactly how. He'd been anxious to get started, so he had dropped it. He had turned out to be one of Ethan's best teachers. Hopefully the lessons were serving him well. Hopefully he didn't need them. Hopefully he was still alive-
He forced his attention back to his daughter before him, pressing the tears back out of his eyes. Pearl brushed his arm, giving him an understanding look. "He's fine," she whispered to him. "Maggie would tell us if he weren't. Trust me, he's fine."
The words were oddly comforting. Deep in his heart, he found, he did believe his son was alive and well, and that he would know if he weren't. With that in mind, and Emmie's suggestions that he not dwell on what he couldn't change from earlier in the day, he focused on the two before him.
Over the next half hour Will and Emmie fought their way across the deck, the crew following to cheer them on. As the Caribbean sun rose they began to sweat. Norrington couldn't help but notice that Pearl and Elizabeth spent more time than was strictly proper with eyes glued on Will's wet, opaque shirt. "You don't have anything to be jealous of," Pearl pointed out when he brought it up. "You're just as well defined. If you would run around in see-through shirts I'd stare at you as well. But since you aren't I have to settle for Will."
"Settle?" Elizabeth asked.
"Believe me, when I'm forced to observe something that pretty and unable to sprint across the deck and take advantage of it I'm settling."
Apparently satisfied, if not complimented, by this explanation Elizabeth returned her attention to the fight.
After half an hour, as Marden's ship drew close, Jack whistled shrilly. The combatants halted, the rest of the crew turning their attention to him. "Fun as this has been, Marden's getting close and I'd prefer not to plow into him. We can settle this later."
As the crew drifted to their stations Will and Emmie put their swords away and shook hands. "You were holding back," Will accused.
"Only because you were," Emmie returned as she skipped off to help the crew.
Author's Note: Okay, more humor and angst. They'll get to the island...someday I promise. My life has been a bit of a challenge lately, so you can cheer me up by reviewing. I can't promise you it will get the next chapter out because things are so crazy I can't promise anything just now, but I do promise they will be appreciated.