To Asteria: Clever girl! That's for a teeny bit later… but it's coming.
When he wouldn't let her use the spyglass, Elizabeth just hovered over him asking irritating questions. "What sort of ship is that? Are we going to chase her? She's not a trading-"
"She's full of Navy men. Never mind the colours, that's a trick. It's pirate hunters."
"No!" Elizabeth felt a rush of adrenaline. "They've come out here just to hunt pirates?"
Barbossa looked pleased. "Aye. More often than not it's because there be some man in a wig who needs to look like he's doin his job. He sends out a ship to bring home a few pirate heads and make people proud of him." He interrupted their conversation to acknowledge Gibbs, who was waiting for orders.
"Should we catch them, sir? We could-"
"I want to be just in range of the guns. Just in range – I don't want to catch them. Take in sail if you have to. And don't ask questions," he added, overriding Gibbs's confused babbling.
Elizabeth, too, attempted to get an explanation, but was dismissed just as quickly. Her instructions were even more cryptic. Barbossa handed her his monkey and said: "Load Jack into one of the cannons."
She did it, feeling terribly guilty when the monkey clung to her, chattering for an explanation. "I don't know, little one," she answered him. "Goodbye, and good luck."
When the guns went off she winced, hearing his high-pitched screaming even over the boom of the other cannons.
As soon as his bones snapped back together again, Jack (the monkey) tore back and forth across the enemy deck, trying to do his job. He checked the floor, looked in a few boxes, peeked down in the hold, and scurried partway up the mast, just in case. But still no luck.
Finally, the smell of food lured him to the galley, and there he found what he was looking for: two bottles of rum, sitting peacefully on the table.
Jack knew what to do now. He dexterously popped open a hanging lantern and dipped his tail into the oil as he had been trained. He hated this part. It hurt.
On the other hand, he loved the part where he shoved the bottles off the table to shatter them and, with a tiny swish of his tail, set the room ablaze. He squealed delightedly and danced around in the flames, feeling immensely proud of himself, then skittered off to see if he could find any more bottles. There didn't seem to be as many here as there were on a pirate ship, but surely there would be a few in the men's hammocks.
Barbossa clicked shut his spyglass. Smoke was billowing out of the victim's hatch and the captain's cabin, and the crew had started to haul aboard pails of seawater to put out the fires. They were clearly distracted now. It was time.
"All right, Mr. Gibbs - now we catch them." Barbossa reached up to his shoulder out of habit, frowning when his hand did not encounter Jack (the monkey), and tried out different methods of fidgeting while Gibbs passed on the orders to speed up. The pirate hunters' ship was fast but not too fast, and small as well. A good thing since the And Back's crew was tiny and they were woefully short on warm bodies to wield guns and cutlasses. Barbossa laughed and made joyous "Arrrr"'s to the sky, glad to be back in the game. Now that he wasn't invincible any more he had decided not to do any actual fighting himself, but he carried his sword and four loaded pistols just in case he changed his mind.
Elizabeth was disappointed to be manning the guns because it meant she was stuck below deck while all manner of interesting sights were to be seen up top. Will, being more experienced in piratical matters, got to rush back and forth delivering orders and lending a hand wherever it was needed.
He tried to make her feel better. "You won't be down here long," he assured. "Barbossa says we can't afford to trade volleys with them because we can't risk harming the ship. He's going to have us board as soon as humanly possible. Surprise them, do it all by hand."
"Will I board?"
"You? Elizabeth. No. Of course not."
She stared at him. "Why? Just because I'm a girl?"
"Because it's captain's orders, that's why," Will said firmly. "Now get ready. We're going to come around, let loose with the guns once or twice, and then it's out with the grappling hooks. You'll go up on deck and stand by, with the captain."
"And then?"
"And then you'll do what he tells you to do. Unless he tells you to actually engage," Will amended. "In that case ignore him. Under no circumstances are you to start fighting hand-to-hand with these people, do you understand? Elizabeth, we're a long way from medicine out here-"
"Well, we'll just see what the captain says, now, won't we," Elizabeth answered primly, certain that she would be allowed a role in the upcoming battle.
"Elizabeth..." Will took her hands. "I'm not saying that just because I'm worried about you. You don't understand – this is not a game. People will die. Good people, innocent people…"
"We will ask for their surrender first?" she checked.
"It never happens that way. We'll ask but…" Will thought for a moment but there was no gentle way to say it. "We're probably going to slaughter every man aboard. Don't watch." He went back upon deck, leaving Elizabeth alone with the other gunners.
TBC.
Ok, so I lied about the blood and guts – that comes next time. The next chapter is all set to go.