"Empress," Jack said, his eyes cold and his hand resting on his own pistol. The door opened and he stood in the bathhouse, unnoticed save for one girl maybe as much as three years younger than he was. Her hair up in loose buns, she wore a maroon sash around her petite waist. Coming up from behind her, an identical girl with long dangling black earrings and the same maroon sash stood next to her, smiling up at him.
"We saw you yesterday," the first one said. "But you did not stay."
"I like to see what I buy beforehand," he said, forcing a charming grin. The twin girls giggled.
"My name is Sukhon," the second one said. "It means pleasant scent. You want bath?"
"If you two will join me," he said. "Lovely ladies that work all day should get to spend the time in the warm water, too. What say you to that?"
Sukhon clapped her hands and removed his shoes while the other one, Suchin, crept behind him and took off his coat. Bringing it up to her nose, she breathed it in before folding it and placing it over on the side. She crossed to in front of him and pulled his shirt over his head while her sister now unfastened his belt, letting his trousers drop to the floor.
"Am I going to be the only one undressed then? I'd hate for you to ruin your clothes."
Sukhon and Suchin shared a look with each other and then bent down to undo their shoes.
"Too slow!" Jack pushed himself out of the tub, stark naked, and dove into his pile of clothes. He returned to them with his knife. Their faces paled, but their halfway shut eyes begged him to come even closer. Jack took a handful of Sichon's dress and cut a slit, slashing it right down the center. Sichon stood frozen, shivering from the shock. He followed suit with Sukhon's, enjoying the power over them so much he threw her over his shoulder and jumped back into the foamy water.
Sichon followed Jack into one of the in-ground tubs, tugging on what looked like bell pulls to release more steam. The bubbling water reached up to the girls' necks and his chest, hardly a barrier to keep them from wading over to him and snuggling into his arms.
"This is quite comfortable," Jack said. "I'm reminded of the French in their great wisdom." He turned to his left and kissed Suchin's neck up and down. "Ask me if you want to know what they call all the things I'd like to do to you." He turned over and dunked his head underwater to give Sukhon's nipple a passionate lick.
"What do they call it?" she moaned.
"It's a delightful little phrase, really…"
XXX
Truth be told, Jack's eyes felt quite heavy after his ordeal with the twin sisters, yawning every few minutes, his body mourning its spent energy. They had dried off, their hips sore from the bucking he made them resort to, complimented his skill, and ascended the rickety stairs to their quarters. Even though there had been two of them this time, Jack felt he had more control this time than he had with Lawan, purposely touching and prodding areas he had fumbled into earlier. Not that it was an unpleasant experience, bare breasts and legs pressed up against him, another girl heaving at his touch while she waited her turn for him to be inside her.
But dishonoring Sao Feng's servants was only Part One…and the fun part…of his plan.
By now, the bathhouse empties, only moonlight filled the rooms, sweeping in from the tiny windows at the top of the walls. He brought out the two bottles of rum from his coat and picked up the bottle he'd persuaded Suchin and Sukhon to open up following their tryst in the tub.
He took a breath entering the main hall, silent enough to make his footsteps earsplitting. His eyes darted from the spot on the floor where his mother fell back yesterday. Shaking his head, he walked up to the large chair, made of that grayish wood that matched the walls, matched the floor. Pulling the cork out with his teeth, he tipped the bottle over and made a golden, sweet-smelling trail from the bathhouse door to the chair, lengthening the line until all three bottles had not a drop left in them. His legs prepared for the quick turn he would have to make, tensing. Fumbling around in his other pocket for his matchbox, he at last plucked out a single match and struck it, the scratchy sound creating a small tangerine flame.
One, two, three…he flung the match onto the ground and ran through the bathhouse out the door.
Outside, he knew not to expect the whole building to succumb to a raging fire, but he looked back anyway, already smelling more smoke than before. A few people came running out of the building, screaming in their native tongue what Jack took to be "fire." Roaming over to the back side, he spent a couple of his coins on another bottle from the shop across the street and soaked outside wall with soupy rum. He lit another match and this time, the flames sprang up immediately.
"Turn around."
Sao Feng stood behind him, a sword drawn.
"So it's to be a gentlemanly duel then," Jack said, keeping an amused expression on his face. "Mustn't tell the English. They'll think they're reshaping this whole area."
Sao Feng lunged at Jack, who blocked the blow, their swords grating against each other. Jack dodged another lunge and returned one, his sword lighter each time he rose it up, focusing on severing that Piece of Eight from the man's neck.
"No! No, master!" Sao Feng stumbled backwards, out of reach of Jack's attacks. Sichon and Sukhon clung to his back and chest. "Spare that one! Do not kill him, we beg you!"
"Let go of me, servants," he ordered with a sneer. "This snake must pay."
"He is a good man!" Sukhon shrieked. "A good, good, good man and we love him!"
Jack laughed, sheathing his sword but keeping one hand on his pistol just in case.
"Since you have your hands full," he said, passing by the furious pirate, still struggling to free himself of his servants' grasps. "Oh, and by the way, both of them were very good, too."
Sao Feng's eyes widened, growling beginning to block out the sounds coming from the weeping sisters.
"What pirate are you that has dishonored me so?" he coughed, the redness growing in his face stifling his ability to speak.
"Pirate? Oh no. Just a good, good man." He reeled back to evade Sao Feng's arm growing freer and freer. "Sao Feng, cruel pirate, you shall remember this day. You shall remember this day as the day you almost beat Jack Sparrow in a duel." Turning so rapidly he almost lost his footing, he ran into the night for the harbor, the purse his mother gave him tucked away in his boot. Without bothering to ask any of the men still on the dock, Jack leapt into a junk just leaving the harbor, leaving elongated ripples on the surface of the water.
XXX
Hiding down with the geese in the junk filled Jack's life with feathers and droppings. Constantly cracking his knuckles and arching his back, he found he could stay active since the crewmen seldom came down, building his upper body by lying down and lifting the full baskets as tall as he was up and down. A few various exercises kept his legs toned and strong, ready to do whatever they needed to do to barter passage to England.
At last, the rocking of the junk halted, sending him somersaulting in the middle of his exercises. Scrambling behind a few baskets, he waited for the sandaled crewmen to come down and start lifting the cargo out. White sunlight filled the ship, providing Jack no cover for sneaking out. Half tiptoeing, half running, he jumped up onto the dock and surveyed the pier; a craggy terrain leading up to the outline of a city above the cliffs.
"Been waitin' long enough."
Jack's lips dried. Squatting to the ground, he hopped back into a docked boat. Sure enough, Captain John Teague paid the Singaporean crew and gestured to some men to begin unloading the cargo. His face withered a little more from the sun and the wind, he still kept that crimson bandana with his beads on it. Teague brought his pipe to his lips and watched the younger men carry the baskets out one at a time and cage the geese.
"Singaporean geese," Teague said to them. "It'll be like you've never had a good meal before in your life."
"John Teague," Jack said, standing so straight it made his back throb.
"Captain. Captain John Teague, but who wants to…Jackie?" His eyes widened. "Uh…what, what brings you to Shipwreck Cove? Your mum ain't here, is she?"
Jack tucked his lips into his mouth at the mentioning of his mother, distracting himself by trying to pinpoint the exact location of "Shipwreck Cove."
"Answer me, boy. What are ye doin' here?"
"Mum's dead, Teague."
For all the masculine smells and crags in his face, a passerby might have laughed at the captain's hand flying up to cover his mouth. After that, his eyes shined with a glassy quality, a single tear drizzling down his cheek. With a choking sound, he somehow donned a mask over his anguished face.
"Beautiful thief," he muttered. "I suppose someone finally caught her."
"Pirate Sao Feng," Jack growled, "whose latest escapades include dishonored maids and a bathhouse burned to the ground."
A slippery smile snuck up into his face. "That's my boy. Speaking of which, you still got me coin." Teague pulled his own pistol out and pointed it at Jack's face. "I'll not mention your other offenses if ye hand it back."
"Hand what back? I take the responsibility for defending your lover's death and after I packed up my share of your plunder, it's hard to know what particular coin you mean. There were so many of all nationalities, a bit like people really…" Jack stopped at the pistol barrel pressed against his forehead. "What was it we were discussing?"
"That lover of mine you refer to was your mother and in spite of her bloody past, she was a damn good mother to you," Teague snapped. "Did ye bring back her body?"
"Bring back the…" Jack asked, his mouth drying. "Just how much time do you think I had? I just wanted the slimy bugger to suffer."
"So ye took the time to do somethin' with his maids, burn down his property, but didn't save the body of your mother?" Teague brought his pistol back down and placed it in his holster before grabbing Jack by the shoulders and driving him backward to the point that his heels were no longer on the pier. His arms outstretched to balance himself, he could not push back on Teague. "My boy, just you hang onto that Piece of Eight for me. We'll make ye worthy of it."
"Worthy of it?"
"Ye don't know what it is, do ye?" Teague laughed. "Show it to me."
"I may be your son, Teague, but it doesn't mean I'm as dumb as I look," Jack said with a straight face. "It's safe and secure."
"Well then, you just keep it safe and secure, Jackie-boy, pirate lord."
"Pi…what?" Jack managed to enclose his arms around Teague and lean forward, securing his own footing on the pier. He broke away from him and narrowed his gaze. Pirate lord? He took a coin from a pirate lord?
"Ye never learn, do ye?" Teague laughed. "You can never tell someone ye don't know something. Ye just act like ye do until it's too late and all your plans and ideas just come and give ye a slap in the face! Ye took me Piece of Eight, Jackie, and I got to say, I admire what ye did, so I'm lettin' you keep it. Ye stay here, at this fortress, we'll make a pirate lord out of you yet. Maybe in time even get a pirate king out of ye."
"That's what they are?"
"They don't have to be. But it is the official Piece of Eight. What do ye say, Jackie? Sixteen's a bright, sharp age to be livin' at Shipwreck Cove."
"I aim to join the East India Trading Company," Jack said. "Don't look so surprised, old man. It was Mum's dying wish and you flatter yourself if you think I want to be like you just because by sheer happenstance I'm your son."
"How do I take that now?" Teague loomed over him, swaggering his hips. "After that lip and stealin' me treasure five years ago, I'm beginning to think you lack the proper respect."
"Live at a place like Shipwreck Cove. You must think me an idiot," Jack snapped, the shine in his eyes gone. "Now, I mean to get passage to England and if I have to commandeer one of your fancy pirate ships to do it, then I'll do it and there won't be a damn thing you can do about it."