Aurora Borealis - Polar Lights and LOTRRanger: Thank you for your advice and comments. They are always welcome.
Author's Note: -This- means that Laura is thinking to herself. It may seem random as I get further into the story, but it occasionally gets annoying (for me), constantly saying "he said", "she said", etc. You get the idea.
2: A Loss for Words
As they reached Tortuga, Jack gave Laura a rough-draft of his plan and went with Will into the town to find his original first mate, Gibbs, and a crew. Laura stayed aboard to guard the ship and drain the rum she had previously stashed away to hide it from Jack so that he wouldn't drink all of it himself.
--
The next morning, Laura walked down to the dock where Jack, Will, and Gibbs were examining the volunteer crew.
To Laura, Jack's first mate appeared to be a grizzly, weathered old man. If it was her choice, he could have been left in Tortuga for the rest of his life, but if Jack trusted him, she would trust him.
"Feast your eyes, Captain," Gibbs bragged to Jack. "All of them, faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt. And crazy to boot."
"So this is your able-bodied crew?" Will questioned doubtfully.
"You,
sailor!" Jack summoned the crewmember with a parrot on his
shoulder.
"Cotton, sir," Gibbs confirmed.
"Mr. Cotton," Jack repeated quickly, "do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death? Mr. Cotton! Answer, man!"
"He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out, so he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how," Gibbs explained.
-You're joking, right?-
"Mr. Cotton's …parrot," Jack said as the parrot looked at him. "Same question."
"Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!" the bird cried out.
"Mostly, we figure, that means 'yes'," Gibbs said.
"O'course it does. Satisfied?" the captain asked Will.
"Well, you've proved they're mad," Will answered.
"And what's the benefit for us?" a voice from under a hat queried.
In the middle of a quiet fit of laughter, Laura's stomach knotted up. That voice seemed unpleasantly familiar. Walking over to the owner of the voice with Jack, she removed the hat, revealing Anamaria, the owner of the leaking boat they had sunk in Port Royal. As soon as the hat was removed, the woman loudly slapped Jack.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either," Will asked.
"Oh, are we meeting up with some old friends, Jack?" Laura sarcastically questioned.
Ignoring his partner's comment, Jack answered Will's question.
"No, that one I deserved."
"You two stole my boat!" Anamaria accused, pointing her finger at Jack and Laura.
"Actually," Laura put in, only to get slapped in the other woman's fury.
-Mental note. Think twice before getting between Jack and one of his old "friends"-
"borrowed. Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."
"But you didn't!" Anamaria argued.
"You'll get another one," Jack took over.
"I will," the woman confirmed.
"A better one," Will said.
"A better one," Jack repeated.
"That one," Will again put in.
"What one?" Jack asked, catching onto the trick and noticing that Will had meant the Interceptor. "That one?! Aye, that one. What say you?"
"Aye!" the crew shouted.
"No, no, no, no, no, it's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir," Gibbs complained as the crew boarded the ship, seeming to have not noticed Laura.
"It'd be far worse not to have her," the captain suggested.
"Oh, Gibbs, I'd like you to meet my female traveling companion of five years," Jack introduced, gesturing towards Laura.
-Oh, great! Another superstitious sailor!-
"It's good to finally meet you, Master Gibbs," Laura said. Then noticing Gibbs' confusion, added, "You may have heard of me: Laura Lark?"
"Oh, yes. Same here," the older man suspiciously said.
"Don't worry," she suggested. "I'm not replacing you as the captain's first mate."
He seemed relieved.
-Oh, for once, playing the polite woman actually worked instead of the my-way-or-no-way pirate move-
--
That night, they were already into the open sea when a furious storm broke upon them.
As Laura was helping Will tie down a rope, she heard him ask Gibbs,
"How can we sail to an island that nobody can find with a compass that doesn't work?"
Laura chuckled to herself since she already knew the story of that compass.
"Aye, the compass doesn't point north," Gibbs answered, "but we're not trying to find north, are we?"
Over the rumble of thunder and waves, Laura heard Gibbs advise Jack that they needed to drop canvas, only for Jack to deny it and soon explain that they were catching up to the Pearl.
Later into the night, the storm hit its peak. As one of the giant waves rushed across the deck, it caught Laura, who was tying down a cannon at the time. Feeling nothing but the crushing, cool water around her, she struggled to reach the surface, only to be battered down by more waves. Just as she was about to give up her efforts, she felt a strong arm grasp her waist and pull her back to the surface. As soon as they reached the deck, Laura knew that her first priority was to tie down the cannon before she looked to see who her rescuer was. After she secured the cannon, she grasped one of the ropes to steady herself, still coughing up water.
"Do you always get yourself into positions like that?" Will suddenly asked, standing next to her.
"No, usually I'm the one doing the saving." Turning to her clueless brother, she added, "I suppose you're the one who saved me?"
"I suppose," he answered.
"Well then, I owe my deepest thanks. I'm not exactly wanting to go to Davy Jones just yet, if ever," Laura said.
"You're welcome," Will said in turn.
Without waiting for further conversation, Laura went back to securing loose ropes and cannons.
-I still haven't forgiven you for forgetting your little twin sister and best childhood friend, Mr. Turner.-
--
By the next morning, they had successfully navigated the Interceptor into the cove at the Isla de Muerta.
"Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage," Gibbs said as their ship broke the topmast of a sunken craft underneath them.
"How is it that Jack came by that compass?" Will asked after watching Jack close it due to Cotton staring at him.
"Not a lot's known about Jack Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Muerta," Gibbs explained. "That was before I met him, back when he was Captain of the Black Pearl."
"What?" Will asked, shocked at this revelation which was new to him. "He failed to mention that."
-Not surprising-
"Well," Gibbs continued, "he plays things closer to the vest now. And a hard-learned lesson it was. See, three days out on the venture the first mate comes to him and says everything's an equal share. That should mean the location of the treasure, too, so Jack gives up the bearings. That night there was a mutiny. They marooned Jack on an island and left him to die, but not before he'd gone mad with the heat."
"Ah," Will realized. "So that's the reason for all the…", he said, while mimicking Jack's swaying movements.
-I take offence to that.-
"Reason's got nothing to do with it," Gibbs argued. "Now Will, when a man is marooned he is given a pistol with a single shot: one shot. Well it won't do much good hunting or to be rescued. But after three days of a starvin' belly and thirst, that pistol will start to look real friendly. But Jack, he escaped the island, and he still has that one shot. Oh, but he won't use it, though, save for one man. His mutinous first mate."
"Barbossa," Will suggested.
"Aye," Laura confirmed at the same time as Gibbs before continuing on. "Yes, Barbossa, who is now one of the most feared pirates on the seven seas." When the two men looked at her, openly confused, she added, "This is all old news to me. Do you think that I spent five years as Jack's partner without learning anything of him?"
She sighed in exasperation. It was not the first, second, or third time she had heard story-tellers preach the tale of Captain Jack, and it probably wouldn't be the last.
"How did Jack get off the island?" Will further questioned Gibbs.
"Well, I'll tell ye," Gibbs answered, going back his story-teller's voice. "He waded out into the shallows and there he waited three days and three nights till all manner of sea creature came and acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning, he roped himself a couple of sea turtles, lashed 'em together and made a raft."
-Roped sea turtles? Amazing how far such a tale can spread!-
"He roped a couple of sea turtles?" Will asked.
"Aye," Gibbs validated, "sea turtles."
"What did he use for rope?"
-Ha! That's a Turner for ya!-
As Gibbs was trying to find an answer, Jack came up behind them and stated,
"Human hair…from my back. Let go of the anchor!" he called to the crew.
"Young Mr. Turner, Laura, and I are to go ashore," Jack continued.
"Captain!" Gibbs called. "What if the worst should happen?"
"Keep to the code," Jack said.
"Aye, the code."
-That's less than comforting.-
--
Less than a half an hour later, the trio was in a boat and about twenty feet inside the entrance of the cave.
After seeing a skeleton with a sword stuck in its back, Will quickly asked,
"What Code is Gibbs to keep to if the worst should happen?"
"Pirate's Code," Jack answered. "Any man that falls behind…is left behind."
"No heroes amongst thieves, eh?" Will quoted.
"You know," Laura joined in, "for having such a bleak outlook on pirates, you're well on your way to becoming one. Sprung two pirates from jail, commandeered a ship of the Fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Tortuga…"
As they all looked down at the gold at the bottom of the water-filled passage, Jack finished, "…and you're completely obsessed with treasure."
"That's not true," Will defended as he helped pull the boat ashore. "I am not obsessed with treasure."
Looking over a ridge of rock, Laura saw a large gathering of pirates in the treasure room with a woman standing behind a large, nearly-filled chest. Seeing a man standing next to the woman, preaching to the pirates, Laura guessed that his smug, dark, partially evil personage was Barbossa.
"Not
all treasure is silver and gold, mate," Jack said.
After less
than a minute of listening to Barbossa, Will tried rushing into the
room beyond their lookout, only to be pulled back by his two
companions.
"Jack!" Will complained.
"Not yet," Jack whispered. "We wait for the opportune moment."
Barbossa's gruff voice could be heard even as they moved away to where they wouldn't be heard themselves.
"881 we found but despaired of ever finding the last."
"When's that?" Will questioned. "When it's of greatest profit to you?"
"May I ask you something?" Jack responded. "Have I ever given you reason not the trust me? Do us a favor; I know it's difficult for you, but please stay here and try not to do anything stupid."
After hiding most of the pirates' oars, Jack slowly walked away, believing that his companion would be right behind him. Meanwhile, Laura tried reassuring Will.
"Listen, Will. I know you seemingly only met me a few days ago," Will cocked his head at the word "seemingly", "but I have been around Jack for five years now, so I am probably one of the most qualified people to tell you this: Even if his actions at the time may seem superfluous and wrong or odd at the time, Jack has a plan…half the time. -I hope- That is why I stand by most of his decisions, including this one."
At that Will bent down to get something.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"What?"
Suddenly, Will got up and swung around with an oar destined to collide with Laura's head.
Never the type to be unconscious for long, if at all, Laura faintly heard what people were saying after about a minute of blackout, when they were loud enough:
"Who's to blame?" one of the pirates in the other room was asking. "Every decision you've made has led us from bad to worse."
-Clearly, he's talking to Barbossa.-
Finally, Laura's head stopped hurting enough for her to get up and stagger towards a just-conscious Jack around the corner.
"The medallion!" she heard Barbossa cry out as she helped Jack up to lean on the previously offending oar. "She's taken it! Get after her, you feckless pack of ingrates!"
-Will must have somehow stolen his beloved away. Definitely a Turner move.-
Heading towards the boats with Jack in tow, Laura heard the pirates, who had beaten them to the water-crafts, question the disappearance of their oars.
"Time to act casual, I suppose?" she asked her captain.
Jack grunted his approval.
"You," one of the pirates, called Ragetti, said, pointing at Jack.
"You're supposed to be dead!" another one called Pintel exclaimed.
"Am I not?" Jack idiotically asked as Laura, appearing serious, poked him to make sure he was alive. "Oh."
They both turned around to head the other way, only to be faced with more than half a dozen knives and pistols. When they tried going the way they had previously attempted, their chances of not getting poked or shot lessened greatly.
"Palulay," Jack blurted out before looking at Laura for help.
"Palu-li-la-la-lulu," Laura attempted. She clearly was not fairing any better than the captain.
Jack tried again.
"Parlili."
That didn't work either as the pirates looked at them, clearly confused. Then, Jack and Laura began going back and forth.
"Parsnip."
"Pasley."
"Par…partner."
"Partner."
Suddenly, Ragetti broke the cycle of confusion.
"Parley?" he suggested.
"Parley!" Jack cried out in relief. "That's the one. Parley! Parley!"
"Parley?" Pintel asked, clearly annoyed with Ragetti's ready-to-help attitude. "Down to the depths whatever man that thought up 'parley'!"
"That would be the French," Laura answered as she grinned at Jack.
-