Much thanks to reviewers Arquenniel, Calenlass Greenleaf1, Smithy, shewhoshallwrite, Nicole Kazan, WillsElizabeth23, AKA Parfait, Telcontar Rulz, willlabeth0906, and master of time! I absolutely love to hear what you all think!

Anonymous Reviewer Responses:

Smithy: Thanks very much for the review! We don't get to see much of Will in this chapter but he'll return shortly. As for the baby, you'll see that its doing perfectly well. :)

WillsElizabeth23: Thanks very much for the review! I always wonder what you think of the chapter so thanks for telling me! :) Will needs somebody to care for him...I wouldn't be surprised if it was Elizabeth. ;) That might be a few chapters out though...maybe two? Jack has something up his sleeve but as we'll see, that 'card' might not get him very far. I'm so glad you're reading this! It's been a real pleasure to have you along!

AKA Parfait: Thanks very much for the review! The scene between Hawthorne and Jack was so much fun. I'm very glad it made your day! :) And yes, Will and Elizabeth are back together again and should remain that way for most of the remaining chapters.

master of time: Thanks very much for the review! Yup, Jack is 'working' with Hawthorne and he does have a trick up his sleeve. He may not have the ace he thinks he has. Will's in trouble, it's true. But with Elizabeth at his side...I wouldn't worry too much. I'm so glad you're enjoying it! As for a Will/Elizabeth seperation, they'll stick mostly together for the remaining chapters. :)

Chapter 23: Many Meetings

"Captain Hawthorne!" A lad of twelve summers darted in the house where Hawthorne had situated himself for the night to escape the rain.

Hawthorne turned, feeling highly pleased with himself in his agreement to have the vagabonds to their own dirty work. He would spend in peace, knowing that his troops and that foolish tramp would rake in wealth and power for him with each passing moment. First, however, he would have to deal with whatever idiot had foiled something again. "Yes?"

"Well, sir, Newkirk, he, that is to say, well, um, sir-"

Hawthorne rolled his eyes. Was his entire command inept? "Get it out, boy! It can't be that complicated!"

The lad gulped but his stuttering, incoherent babbling halted. "Newkirk, sir, has found new information."

"What information is that?"

"Me." A woman with a smudged but delicate face stepped from the shadows, a little smirk on her colored lips.

"And what do you have to do with anything?" Hawthorne scoffed, looking dubiously upon her.

"Oh, you'd be surprised." The woman purred coyly, stepping up next to him and letting her pale fingers trace the hem of his collar. "I know something."

"Something?"

"Yes…many something's actually. But we'll stick to just one for now, hmm?" Her face was within two inches of his. "My employer knows the whereabouts of Jack Sparrow."

"Jack Sparrow…indeed?" Hawthorne wasn't quite ready to tell her that he already had an agent to finish the job.

She flicked her eyes up to meet his and laughed prettily. "Indeed."

"What would you say if I told you I already had a man for the job?"

She didn't falter, instead toying with a strand of his hair. "I'd say that you have the wrong man."

"How would you know this?"

"I'd know because the very man you spoke with…was Captain Jack Sparrow himself." She laughed dryly at his expression. "Yes, you were fooled, my good Captain Hawthorne, fooled by the very man you sought to capture."

He jerked away from her touch and stared hard at her.

"You don't believe me." She pouted demurely and stared right back.

"Why should I?"

"Because, my darling Hawthorne," she took several steps back so that half of her form melted into the shadows, "I could have killed you twice just now." She lifted her hand to reveal a long dagger, its silver length glittering wickedly in the candle light.

Hawthorne's expression froze.

"Not only will my employer get you William Turner and Jack Sparrow but the Black Pearl and her crew. All he requires in return is the coordinates you received from Lord Powell to find this place your departure."

"What promise do I have that you will complete all that we agree on?"

She cocked her head to the side. "You don't."

"And what if I decide to burn this city to the ground without any assistance from you?"

She shrugged. "Your funeral."

"Fine, you may tell your employer that we have an accord."

"Excellent. Henry Jones is pleased to have done business with you. Besides, it would have been a pity to have to kill you with no one to see it." She blew him a quick kiss and vanished into the darkness.

"Did he agree?" Jones asked the moment Isaly appeared from a series of tunnels hidden in the earth beneath the city.

"Of course he did." Her azure eyes twinkled as she sidled up next to him, much like she had done with Hawthorne. "You didn't think I'd lost my touch, did you?"

Jones let out a bark of laughter before catching her hands in his. "The day you lose your touch will be the day Alabanza Vacia will be sacked."

"If you can turn over Sparrow, Turner and the Pearl then that day will not be today."

A storm cloud passed over Jones' expression. "Sparrow?"

Isaly nodded.

"Sparrow?!"

"Henry, it's not as bad-"

"That weasely, two-faced maggot! I'll be wearin' his lying guts for garters before this day is through! He brought those thieving redcoats here!"

"And you can have your revenge, my love. Just calm down. Sparrow thinks he has a deal with Hawthorne to find William Turner."

"We don't even know who this blasted Turner is!"

"My love, hear me out." She soothed gently, pressing a cool finger to his lips. "Sparrow knows who Turner is. Sparrow has betrayed you so nothing will stop him from betraying this Turner for his freedom. We'll let him find Turner and then we can make our move. Not only will he lead us to Turner but it will provide us with an opportunity to have Hawthorne put down his guard. While he relaxes, thinking that we are finishing the job for him, we can send some of the best men to clear out his vessel, the Waking Power, a vessel that is laden with ammunition, information, and, with the right persuasion, man power." She watched as his eyes sharpen at the prospect. "You see, Henry? This could be more than a problem dealt with. This could become of excellent profit to you."

"Indeed…"

"Mariel, not that way!" Elaine hissed, reaching out a yanking her sister from darting across a deceptively empty street. "Look," she commanded when she was satisfied Mariel wasn't going anywhere.

Mariel's eyes widened as she saw the flashes of red hidden by heavy curtains of rain about a quarter mile down the lane. "Oh." She uttered softly.

"Celia, can you see anything we might hide in?" Elaine kept her neck craned towards the cluster of redcoats.

"Nothing…no, wait. Farther up the hill. There's a little knoll. A staircase, perhaps?"

"Can we make it without being seen?" Mariel asked, afraid of the answer. Several times already that day they had spotted an ideal hiding spot but had either been unable to reach it or moments before arriving the spot had been consumed in flame before the torrential rain put it out.

"If we move fast."

"We'll take it." Elaine sighed wearily. There was no other choice for shelter but that did not mean she had to like it. "Mariel, you go first. Celia, I want you to follow her and I'll bring up the rear, agreed?"

At their assent, the trio moved into position to make the run. A curt nod later and Mariel was dashing up the hill, water splashing at her ankles.

Celia followed minutes later, passing unseen by the redcoats.

Elaine took a deep breath to steady her drumming heart before launching herself from their little niche and pounding up the street.

She could feel the blood pounding in her ears and her footsteps seemed enormous in the amount of sound they made. And all the while the knoll seemed miles away.

"Stop, you!"

The harsh call sent ice through her veins. Putting on a burst of speed she forced herself to ignore the echoes that felt as though they shook her very bones.

There was a loud crack and for a moment she could not decipher what it had been. It wasn't until the second crack sent a puff of smoke just to the right of her shattered a clay pot that she realized what was happening.

They were firing at her.

True, she had expected no less but the shock of actual reality sent her mind reeling. It also brought her to a harsh conclusion.

She couldn't join her sisters in the appointed knoll.

If they saw where she had gone they would undoubtedly follow. That would tie her younger sisters into this mess and that was unacceptable.

Swerving hard to the right and sending up a quick prayer of safety for her sisters, she began a trek through the maze-like streets of Alabanza Vacia with a load of redcoats on her heels.

It was with great forethought that Jack Sparrow threaded his way through Alabanza Vacia. Despite his careful planning he couldn't help humming happily to himself.

Rain had collected in his hat and pausing before crossing an alleyway, he neatly dumped the water out and continued on his way.

"And really bad eggs…dada da da…" he let his song drift away, "Now, if was a Turner where would I hide meself…"

Turning a corner he found himself in a tangle of petticoats, long brown hair, and wide blue eyes staring back at his. Certainly very beautiful, but not Elizabeth.

"'ello…" He managed.

A flurry of cloth and a tall, young woman stood before him, preparing to dart off.

"Oi! You! Wait!"

She paused mid-step, her gaze a mixture of apprehension and curiosity.

"You have the look of a distressing damsel…err, damsel in distress…" Jack pulled out his distinct grin, a mesh of a half-drunken gloat and an intellectual smirk.

"I cannot speak now! I must run!"

Jack puckered his lips in thought…her words sounded all funny and mushy as if someone had popped a handful of marbles in her mouth. She must have had rum recently, he concluded. What he wouldn't give for some rum right now…

His ponderings came to an abrupt halt when something cracked loudly near his ear. Shards of rock and wood showered down on them, as Jack tried to pull free the cotton clogging his wits. When he could see straight again, he caught the slight form of the girl tearing down the street.

He lurched to look where the explosion had come from and saw a troop of armed redcoats pouring down the cobblestones.

And then he was running after her.

Mariel arrived at the niche's opening breathless but unharmed. The niche turned out to be some kind of stairway. Its winding steps disappeared into a dark passage above them so that looking at its ending was impossible.

Situating herself in one of the curves in the staircase, she waited for her sisters to follow. Celia flew in steps behind her and the pair waited anxiously for Elaine.

Seconds passed.

Nothing.

Mariel, ever the impatient one, poked her head out and saw something that froze the air in her lungs.

"Mariel?" Celia felt her sister tense. "What is happening?"

She didn't answer but instead pulled herself back behind the safety of the stairwell entry.

"What is wrong?"

"Elaine…they've seen her."

For a moment, neither could move. No one had to specify who 'they' were. Both knew instinctively that Elaine was in grave danger. Not only that but they could do nothing to prevent it. It also shut off the expectation that Elaine would join them in their escape from the city. The hope that they could somehow find each another in this twisted labyrinth of streets was nigh to impossible.

They were alone in a strange city.

Suddenly and wordlessly, Mariel leapt up. She snatched her younger sister's hand and began to run up the stairs.

It was a little while before Celia could regain bearings enough to ask, "What on earth are we doing?"

"We are doing what Elaine would want us to do."

And with that the two mounted the last of the steps, unaware of what lay just around the corner.

There was a little shack to the left of the tavern and it had two slanting chimneys...or was that the vendor's hut two streets back?

Elizabeth's mind had begun to wind itself in circles. A growing pain had lodged itself quite happily in the back of her head, just nagging enough to garner her attention but not to hamper her movement.

The child within her, too, must have been able to sense the turmoil in the mother for it had not stopped shifting since she had begun to think.

No, no, that wasn't it…Elizabeth ran her fingers across her temple and took a long deep breath. I'll start at the beginning, she thought in determination.

Unfortunately, she never got the chance.

Her head shot up at the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs beneath them. She glanced wildly around them, hoping for someplace to hide. There was none, making hiding an invalid choice.

She looked over to Will. He hadn't moved and though his eyes were open she knew he simply had no more strength. Running was not an option either.

That left only one venue.

Fight.

Scooting up, Elizabeth lifted her sword in her left hand and her pistol in the right. If someone thought they could come around that corner and hurt Will they were in for a rather unpleasant surprise.

TBC...