A/N: Hey everybody, I'm back. I just had to get the rest of my senior year stuff out of the way. I'm almost free of high school and with that, I will have free time. And that means more writing time. Which means more chapters for you, as long as I can get my college life together. Well, here is chapter six. Enjoy. .
Chapter Six: Pirate Fights
Jack crouched down beside Will watching the door bend inward and then relax with every push the pirates give it from the outside. It was strange; it was as if the door was breathing. The young blacksmith held his rifle in hand and made sure that his sword was still at his side, it needed be there if he ended up having to use it in close combat. Jack looked over at Will and saw such intensity burning in his eyes, such focus. He understood nonetheless. Elizabeth and the kids were in danger if he didn't stop the pirates from advancing. So was Kat.
"Wha' do ye think will 'appen once they tear down tha' door?" Jack asked turning his attention back on the breathing door.
"I've never seen these in pirates in action, so I do not know what to expect as of yet," William said aiming his rifle at the door as some wood splintered off and flew to the side of the room.
Norrington sat down on the other side of Jack loading his own pistol and rifle, "The women and children have all gone into the back caverns. Although it took quite a lot of persuasion to get your female pirate back."
"Tha's Anamaria for you," Jack smiled to himself, "She don't know the concept 'o 'no' and 'borrowed without permission'."
"Yes, well I hope she can stand her ground if we cannot do any damage up here," Norrington watched as Jack's smile faded and his face turned serious.
"Will, ye better be righ' 'bout one thin'," Jack paused a little as he loaded his pistol and cocked it back, "Ye better be sure tha' those tunnels are safe. If I find tha' they have a flaw and Kat be in any danger-"
"Would you think I would let Elizabeth and the children back there if I thought they did?"
Jack nodded his head, "Sorry, mate. It tha's me protective side showin'."
"I understand," Will nodded his head. Suddenly the loud pummeling against the heavy door stopped and the opening hall was quiet. The men looked around at each other waiting for an explanation. It seemed that no one had one. Will was about to stand when Jack took hold of his sleeve and brought him back down and shook his head. Other men around the room began to stand up and relax a bit, Norrington being one of the first.
"Well, that was a very ill attempt to break in here," he brushed off the sleeve of his jacket and looked at the door disappointed, "They stopped too soon."
"Get back down, ye idiot!" Jack barked, pulling Norrington back down next to him as a stray bullet from a crack in the door whizzed by his head, knocking off his commodore hat.
"I thought that they had left," Norrington choked trying to find the hole in which they were shooting from.
"They ain't goin' to leave unless it is with me head," Jack commented and looked Norrington in the eyes, "Listen 'ere, Commodore. Try- at least one time in yer life- to think like a pirate. It may jus' save yer skin."
Norrington would have normally put his nose up at such a suggestion, but thought better of it and nodded his head. A few more shots rang out from the door and everyone kept down. Jack still had his eyes on the door, waiting.
'Jus' five more shots to go.'
Kat was running behind the group of women with Anamaria and Charlie. Charlie was still thought of as a child in the eyes of the other men and by Norrington, so he had to go with Kat and the others. Anamaria looked back over her shoulder ever once in a while, trying to make heads or tales and why there was no shooting yet. Kat kept her head and eyes toward the front of the group, but kept her ears open. If there was a first shot, she would hear it.
"Where are the shots?" Charlie whispered to Kat, "Shouldn't there be shots?"
"First things first, Charlie," Kat said, "Never shoot unless they shoot, but also make sure you're the faster draw. You do not want to be so quick to assume that they are hostile and cannot be bargained with. But you do not want to be the dead body on the floor, so only once you see the barrel begin to raise do you shoot first."
"Where is that written?"
"There be a bit 'o common sense in tha', Charlie," Anamaria said facing forward once again, "There's somethin' wrong, Kat. Ye know this be a bad crew. They will be hostile. Why isn't there any shootin'?"
Suddenly a shot rang through the cavern and Kat squinted, "Happy, Anamaria?"
"Not really."
Shots began to ring out ever so often, although there were no shots back from what Kat could tell. Soon enough Kat understood, "Three more shots to go."
Anamaria looked at Kat and smiled a bit, "The 'ol door trick, ey?"
"Why aren't we shooting back, may I ask?" Norrington shouted over one of the shots.
"It wouldn't do any good," Jack relied calmly looking through the barrel of his pistol and reloading it again, "Behind tha' door, they be protected well."
"What do you propose we do then?" Norrington tried to sound smart.
"We wait for one more shot," Jack raised his pistol, "Then we begin to shot like mad."
"Why-"
One last shot rang through the air and a rush of pirates run into the room. Shots rained down on the three of them from all sides. Jack gave a smug look at Norrington and then began to shoot over the top of their small shield. Will soon followed suit and began to mow down the pirates before them. Norrington shook his head, checked his firearm and began to fire like mad, as instructed. Will shot a few of the on coming pirates down and then reloaded. Once he looked back over the side he saw the same pirates he had just shot down stand back up and yell.
"What kind of pirates-?" Will began to shout through the shots and began to shoot down the same pirates again. A bullet shot down the pirate to the side of him. Will looked to his side and ducked back down with Jack.
"The cursed kind, William," Jack grumbled and looked over Will's shoulder at Norrington.
"What?" Will looked over at Norrington who just ducked out of the way of another bullet, "You didn't destroy the chest?!"
"Can we have this discussion at another time, Turner?" Norrington offered while shooting over the side, "They are advancing after all."
Will looked as more pirates began to file into the entrance hall and trample the many decorations that were put up for Olivia's birthday. He put his rifle at his side and began to growl in Norrington's direction, "Believe me Norrington, we will talk later about this."
"Now wha' we be doin', gentlemen?" Jack asked looking at Will and Norrington for guidance, "There be no way we will win this battle."
"We have to fall back… for now," Will said.
He stood on his knees and whistled into the cavern. After a few seconds some more whistles were heard over the shots. Will nodded to the two others and began to run back. Jack went next, watching as the soldiers shot millions of bullets at the pirates while the civilians went toward the back caverns. The soldiers began to catch on and began to follow the civilian men. Norrington was one of the last soldiers to fall back toward the caverns. As the last soldiers passed under the back arch Will went to the side and lit some powder that Jack had over looked before.
Jack noticed as the wick began to quickly make its way toward the bottom of the arch. Will passed Jack and kept walking a little faster than normal. Norrington stood by, waiting for more of the pirates to show. Jack started to run past him, flailing his arms as he went.
"I would move, Norrington," Jack said as he passed the commodore. Norrington caught the message and began running beside the pirate captain. Soon the whole cavern shook with the blast. Jack and Norrington flew forward toward the other men.
Kat heard and felt the blast and took the step toward the other direction, "Jack!"
"Kat," Anamaria caught her arm and shook her head 'no' and nodded toward the children, "We need to keep goin'."
Kat nodded and took and unsure look in the direction they were fleeing from, "Let's keep going."
"Wasn't expectin' tha'," Jack said after the tunnel stopped shaking. He looked up to see Will's hand sticking out toward him.
"Neither were they," Will smiled, helping him up, "Let's get back to the women. The rocks will keep them at bay for a little while."
"Now where do we get out 'o 'ere?" Jack asked looking around.
"There is another way. No worries, Jack. I planned well enough ahead for such an occasion."
"Ye mean jus' in case a band 'o cursed pirates come back to Port Royal lookin' fer yer pal, Jack?" Jack smiled while walking next to Will and watching the others stand up from the shock.
All of his crew that stayed in the tunnel with him lived through the ordeal, with most of them having the past history of fighting cursed crews. Some had injures, none were too threatening. Gibbs was hit in the foot by a stray bullet by the look of it and Mr. Henders was shot in the side of the arm. The injured men were being dragged in; some of them were unknowingly dead by the men they were being dragged by. Most of the dead were soldiers- Norrington's men- which in all honesty, Jack wasn't surprised by. The civilian men in Port Royal did better than the newly trained, young soldiers. As many of the injured were being cleaned Jack went over to access the injuries to his first mate and crewmember.
"How ye doin' there, Gibbs?" Jack asked leaning on the rock above where Gibbs was resting, "Stray bullet graze ye?"
"Stay bullet, nothin', Cap'n," Gibbs muttered and nodded toward a still shaking young soldier, "'E decided to load his firearm while it was aimin' toward me foot. It ain't the best experience, I'll tell ye tha' much."
Jack chuckled a bit under his breath and patted Gibbs on the back, "Hang in there, Gibbs."
Jack rejoined Will and they started to walk over to the cavern where they let the women retreat with the children. They let the injured and others walk ahead of them while they kept an eye on Norrington. Norrington kept his 'imposing' figure and huge stride while trying to stay tall as he walked down the cavern right in front of Will and Jack.
"It's as if he has no remorse for neglecting his duties," Will grumbled, "Is he even sorry?"
"Aye. He doesn't show it, but he does regret. To put Liz and the children through tha' much terror and pain… He would never wan' tha' to 'appen to them. Or even to ye. He jus' didn' believe us."
"Well, thanks to his misjudgment we are in this mess."
"And he knows it. We jus' 'ave to figure out that to do 'bout it."
"Right," Will nodded and was silent about it.
Kat watched as wounded after wounded was brought through into the room, with injures as serious as a head shot to as miniscule as a twisted ankle. Women ran up to their men, making sure that they could take away any of the pain that the men have been put through. Kat turned to her side to see Athena glare at her for a moment before walking over to help one of the injured men with his leg. The connection to Athena will never be friendly, but it has to remain somewhat mutual for all things to work. Especially when they had to live in a hole for a couple of weeks side by side.
Kat turned her attention back to the door as others began piling in. Anamaria soon found her place beside her and waited for the captain to show himself. They both saw Gibbs and Mr. Henders, glad to hear that they were going to be fine, but what worried her was the fact that Jack was not with them.
"Kat," Anamaria spoke up, "I'll take care 'o Gibbs and Henders. Go find Jack."
Kat nodded and started to turn away from her until Anamaria grabbed her sleeve, "An' I got to talk with ye 'bout Charlie."
"Is he alright?" Kat asked.
"Aye, Charlie be fine. I jus' got to talk with ye 'bout some details."
Kat again nodded and found her place back in front of the doorway, scanning for her husband and absent mindedly fiddled with her wedding ring on her left finger. Elizabeth also sought for some news of her husband who hadn't shown his face of yet in the room either. She had asked a few of the other women, but they were too distraught in their own men's injures that they couldn't take part in hers. She soon found her self at Kat's side and grabbing her hand for comfort. Both women looked at the doorway and found three figures straggle in behind everyone.
Norrington received a glare from Will and turned to Jack, "How may I ask, did you know that they were going to attack when they did?"
"Good 'ol pirate trick, Norrington," Jack smiled and did a little hand gesture, "The bigger the door, the more shots it takes to the weak points till ye can take it down. Meanwhile, it's a good defense against the shots being fired at ye, savvy? A trick 'ol Catterine once taugh' me."
"Catterine?" Will asked while both he and Norrington looked incredulously at Jack before Will was tackled by his wife who hit him with all the force she could muster.
"My God, Will," she hugged him tighter, "Don't ever come in last again! Do you hear me? You scared me to death!"
"Calm down, Liz," Will chuckled a bit, "I battled dead pirates before. I can do it again."
"Dead pirates?" Elizabeth backed up a little away from Will's face and turned toward Norrington, "You didn't destroy the chest?"
Norrington took a huge sigh and walked to the other side of the room. Jack pinched the bridge of his nose and chuckled under his breath.
"It seems tha' we are in the need for a good battle strategy, eh Turner?" Jack asked with his eyes closed.
"It is a brilliant deduction, captain," Jack heard a voice whisper into his ear and a pair of lips brush against his cheeks. He opened his eyes to find Kat looking at him with hands on her hips.
"Ello there, luv," Jack smiled.
"I won't go into the whole 'don't come in last' speech since Elizabeth all ready demonstrated, but please take into consideration that I worry immensely about you," Kat tugged on the collar of Jack's jacket and kissed him softly on the lips, "Savvy?"
"Worry noted, luv," Jack smiled and put an arm around Kat's waist as he turned to Will.
Will gave him a confused look and was about to say something until Olivia hobbled around his legs and lunged toward Jack, almost ending up face first into the dirt. Jack grabbed her at the armpits before she fell completely to the ground and heaved her up so she could sit on his shoulders. She giggled a bit as he began to bounce her up and down and turn from left to right. She grabbed a hold of his head as they went and pushed his hat over his eyes.
"Uncle Jack is funny," she squealed and leaned over to try and look at him in his face, "You fight the pirates well, Uncle Jack?"
"As well as I could, luv," Jack tipped his hat a little from his eyes and lifted the little girl from his shoulders and just held her in his arms for a moment.
"They should know better than to miss with Jack Sparrow!" she exclaimed and put her hands on her hips to show the finality of her statement.
Kat smiled and took Olivia from Jack's arms, "Now please don't start to inflate his sense of self, Olivia."
"She ain't inflatin' me 'sense 'o self' if she be telling the truth, luv," Jack said tapping Olivia on the nose.
"Sparrow," Will said in a little worried tone. Jack turned toward him a little surprised. He had never hard Will refer to him by his last name and finally saw the seriousness written on his face and also turned somber.
"Turner."
"What was that about Catterine teaching you something?" Kat turned to her husband and put Olivia back on her crutches.
"Olivia, why don't you go get mommy and the commodore," Kat watched her hobble off into the crowd in search of her mother and the newly reinstated commodore, then Kat raised head and turned to the others, "I believe we have much to discuss."
"Aye," Jack said and headed toward one of the smaller compartments within the cavern.
All four of them sat in wait for Harriet and Norrington, knowing that they both would want to be present for the explanation. Jack began to pace back and forth in the compartment trying to put his words in proper working order. Will and Elizabeth sat by side on the chairs placed closest to the doors holding each other's hands. The children were being watched by Anamaria, Gibbs and Henders as they recuperated in one of the other compartments. Kat sat on one of the rock formations opposite Will and Elizabeth and watched them as Liz still whispered about how she was worried while the fight was going on. Kat smiled a little to herself as she remembered her heart going five times what it should have been a few dozen moments ago as she waited for Jack to appear.
She turned her head toward Jack who was still pacing a bit and muttering a few things to himself to make sure they didn't sound too crazy. But with the crowd he was going to be talking to, she doubted that anyone was going to argue… except maybe Norrington. She took a breath in and then squinted her eyes closed as she felt another pain in her stomach like she felt earlier that day after she got out of bed. She put one hand over her stomach as another one braced against the wall and pulled her knees toward her. She pushed the excess air out from her mouth and gripped the bottom of her shirt as the pain began to recede a little.
"Kat?" she opened her eyes to find Jack staring back at her, "Ye all righ'?"
"Fine," Kat gave a little smile and let her hands relax, "Just some cramping, I guess. All that worrying doesn't help."
"No, it don't," Jack gave his own little smile and sat down next to her.
She crawled over to him and took a seat on his lap, making it a little easier for him to keep a good hold on her. She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she looked over at Liz and saw that she was examining her closely. When she noticed that Kat was looking at her she gave a smile and returned her attention back to Will.
Soon enough, Norrington and Harriet came into the room and shut the makeshift door behind them. The few candles that were lit around the room gave enough light to illuminate the room and everyone saw clearly. Norrington looked at Jack and Kat and gave a little scoff while finding his seat in the back of the room. Harriet found a seat closer to Jack and Kat and they stayed in silence for a few moments.
"So… is this the part where you all scold me and kick me out to die among the ruffians outside?" Norrington crossed his arms and looked over at Jack.
Jack chuckled a bit and shifted a bit to let Kat sit to the side of him and not on him, "As much as I would like tha' to 'appen, Norrington, I 'ave a few confessions of me own to get off me chest. Thin's tha' even Kat 'ere doesn't know 'bout."
At this Norrington leaned forward and studied Jack. Kat looked at Jack's face and squinted her eyes a little to register what he had just said. He hadn't told her something. That wasn't something that either of them liked to admit- or even do for that matter. They told each other everything. Even after Kat had killed her father, she still told Jack her whole back history, not leaving out a single detail. Now, something was untold when it really needed to be.
"I at one time had been part 'o The Harbinger's crew," Jack breathed and looked up at the ceiling of the cavern. The others looked at him with surprise while he stood up and began to pace the room once again, "Catterine… was a- I guess ye can say a reason fer me wantin' to become a pirate. He was a part of me port tha' I was from. Then he turned pirate and wanted a crew. I signed up as soon as he saw me old enough and I became a pirate too."
"There is something else I can thank him for," Norrington grumbled. Kat gave him a death glare from the other side of the room and mouthed a warning 'shut your mouth' before he settled back down.
Jack continued paying no attention to Norrington, "We were very close, Catterine and I. But then thins change and I get me own ship. I stole the Pearl from a rival pirate captain 'o Catterine's. I 'ad to kill him 'o course, then I took his ship with a few of the Harbinger's crew with me. Soon the Pearl became me own ship and Catterine and I parted ways. We kept in touch with letters and I began to get me own crew. Unfortunately, I didn't 'ave the common sense to pick a good first mate. Soon after establishin' meself I got another package from Catterine…"
Jack turned back to the others and showed them his black compass that led him to Isle de Muerta. Will stood up, but kept his eyes focused on the compass.
"Catterine knew about the gold," Will mumbled.
"And no doubt told his crew 'bout it. Includin' the new captain," Jack said letting another blow of air escape his lungs, "Apparently he saw a mutiny comin' when I didn't. All though, I 'ave always believed tha' he was trying to get me back. He was always jealous."
"Of what?" Norrington asked, genuinely wanting to know.
"I always 'ad the better luck with the ladies," Jack chuckled until he caught Kat's expression, "Er… sorry, luv."
"So they all knew about the gold," Kat started to think of the problem and pushed the punishment for Jack in the back of her mind for a moment, "Maybe they already knew where it was."
"Wha'?" Jack asked looking confused.
"Maybe Catterine did want to get you back for something," Kat looked up at Jack and stood up, "They must have known about the curse. What if he planned it so that you would go after the gold and you would be cursed. You would live through a lifetime of punishment and never be the wiser to him."
"But wha' did he want to punish me fer?"
"The Pearl?" Kat offered.
"Wha' 'bout it?"
"Think about it, Jack. It was the ship of a rival captain. Imagine the hate that built in Catterine to know that you killed him and Catterine didn't get the chance. You took the ship- the prize- while he had to settle for the less extravagant Harbinger. Maybe it wasn't 'the women'. I think he wanted the Pearl for himself, and you took it from him."
Jack thought for a moment and looked at Kat again, "Tha' would explain the bad blood. After the curse was lifted he did everythin' in his power to destroy me. I always though' it was somethin' tha' Barbossa did."
"So now we have a bigger problem, Jack," Will spoke up, "These pirates knew about the curse and put it on themselves to get you back for killing Catterine."
"And probably for the Pearl," Elizabeth interjected, "They must have heard Catterine talk about it more than once."
Kat took an even breath and looked into one of the candles, "So the question is… How do we kill pirates who want to be cursed?"
