Disclaimer: No, POTC is NOT mine… all belongs to Disney, only Disney!
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Chapter 4: A Visit from a Sparrow / pg 12 /
June 12th, Sunday continued
William Turner's face appeared at the doors and he looked around - then found Jack standing there. In a flash, the doors flew open and Will had him by the wrist in an iron-strong grip and pulled him inside. Funny - he didn't remember the boy being that fast in the past.
Elizabeth rose to her feet with a very broad smile.
"Jack! Thank the angels above!" she exclaimed. The pirate's eyes widened as she got to him, then she threw her arms around him in a hug.
After being surprised for a moment Jack gently returned it. As soon as she let go he found himself with the lad's arm over his shoulder and he was being pounded on the back rather energetically.
"Well, so much for the open hostility greeting,' Jack thought with much relief and finally smiled.
"Jack where have you been - besides the bay I mean. Didn't you get our letters? Why didn't you write? Why are you in the bay - Oh I am SOO glad to see you!" Elizabeth burst out with all at once. Will laughed, and she looked at him.
"You're lucky I'm not a jealous husband Jack," he said, but to her and Elizabeth blushed mildly.
Jack smiled mischievously and took up the lady's hand in his own callused one.
"I've been wandering the earth in search of such a rare treasure as yourself missy, and with no luck a' tall. Ye be as a fair wind after a summer squall, you know." He purred teasingly as he brushed the back of her hand with his lips. Elizabeth blushed even stronger and the pirate gave Will a wink.
"Unhand my wife, you scoundrel," the lad told him with a wide smile and Jack did so now, letting go with a grin and a deep bow, sweeping his hat off and bringing it to his heart.
"If you insist lad, if you insist," he drawled in a regretful, pouting tone, eyes bright with mirth.
Will responded by shaking his head and trying not to laugh. Laughing would only encourage the pirate to more outlandishness.
"We've wondered and have worried. Why didn't you ever write?" Elizabeth asked with true concern and Will quickly intervened.
"Elizabeth, … um … not everyone can..." he started and stopped, just short of expressing his doubts that the pirate could do either. - But Jack just smiled easily and shrugged.
"I'll swear by all the souls in Davey Jones locker, I've been waiting for one of this messenger dolphins to flop up on my deck, but we seem to keep forgetting to stop by!" he quipped. Elizabeth gave him a reproving look and he shrugged.
"Never knew what to write lass. Ran into some bad luck, then some good luck… What was I supposed to write, 'Hello - well we've gone and sacked Nassau… again? Lovely little town - lousy shots?'" he asked lightly and now Will half frowned.
"You didn't," he said, and Jack leaned back, putting his hands up in a gesture of mocking innocence, then tiled his head and gave a sly smile.
"Pirate!" he said in the same tone he had voiced long ago to give the same excuse in a certain blacksmith's shop. Will couldn't help but grin and shook his head, the image of that moment in the blacksmith shop coming vividly to mind.
"Jack, you didn't really sack Nassau, did you?" Elizabeth demanded a little sternly and he considered her for a moment then gave her his most charming smile.
"Course not, blast ye, what do you take me for?" he denied firmly with a sudden frown that lent truth to his innocence and she looked relieved and sighed.
"It was some other little place - can't even remember the name of it now," he added with a definite twinkle and sidestepped away just when she would have tried to hit him.
Will repressed a smile as he looked at her. "You asked for that one," he hardly bothered to whisper as he led the way over to a polite arrangement of chairs and they all sat down.
"Norrington said you've been a nuisance in the Caribbean overall," Will told him, now more seriously as they settled down and the pirate shrugged.
"Yeah, well, as I said, had some bad times, had some good ones. If all he terms it as was being a nuisance, I'll take that label and be satisfied." He said, rubbing at the upper quadrant of the left side of his chest and wincing mildly as he accidentally rubbed too hard over the scar he had gained there since he had last seen the couple.
Elizabeth noticed.
"I remember you had a bullet wound on the right side… You didn't get another one to match it, did you?" she asked, and he gave her a very startled look, his fist closing over the area as he suddenly bit down on his lower lip and now William frowned at him as well.
"How long ago? Who did it?" the young blacksmith asked, and the pirate gave them an almost puzzled look and then sighed. He wasn't exactly used to being asked such questions.
"I was in England the winter after I left you and your pretty lass here in Port Royal. Had some business to conduct. Didn't go exactly as I had planned," he told them, remembering the look of gleeful joy almost on the man's face as the bullet had hit him. Unconsciously he took a deep breath and resisted the impulse to cough when exhaling and rubbed lightly over the area.
"Don't suppose you have a noggin of rum lying about do you lad?" he asked as he looked around the room hopefully, and the two looked at each other.
"Ummm, no Jack." She started in an apologetic tone, then arched an eyebrow as Will rose and left the room to come back in a few moments, grinning and with a dark bottle in hand.
"William Turner!" she reproved, and he smiled with a gesture at the pirate.
"Well, I hoped he'd come back someday! Couldn't not have anything at all on hand," he said as he poured a glass and brought both over to the pirate.
Will teased, first offering the glass, then as Jack went to take it with a mildly disappointed look, the young man put the bottle in the pirates' hand and kept the glass for himself. Jack grinned widely.
"Aw - I always said you were a bright one lad, a shining star you are. Thank you much. It's well appreciated." He said and took a very large swig and looked relieved as he felt it burn its way down.
"What's this about you've been a nuisance in the Caribbean? What have you been doing? " she asked, and he shrugged.
"No more than usual, if you insist on knowing. It's what pirates do darlin', remember? Take ships? Smuggle goods…. Raid an occasional town…" he said and leaned back as he watched her struggle somewhat with that fact.
She knew perfectly well what pirates did, he couldn't help but think. Her and all her storybook tales of pirates… Only what he had come here to do this time was certainly not usual…. Not even for him.
He shook his head as for a moment he saw not the room and two young people before him, but instead the hand of the red-haired woman, holding onto a floating barrel, just out of his reach as he used one hand to cling to the line and with his other reached out for her.
Then with a blood-curdling screech, she had been suddenly and violently jerked away from the barrel and vanished under the water, where soon a reddish stain had risen. A stain every man on the ship could sea. No, they had not been able to rescue them all…. There had been other things also searching for those washed out into the sea. Things with far too many very sharp teeth.
He blinked rapidly a few times, then frowned, shoving the memory away.
'Actually, that's what I've come to discuss." He told them, suddenly leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and Elizabeth scowled.
"You've come to raid Port Royal? NOW?" she demanded, and he frowned.
"No, not now!" he reacted with quickly in strongly indignant denial.
"Jack! When? Then when? Later?" Will protested loudly, and the pirate put up both hands quickly and shook his head.
"No, no, no! Keep your knickers on boy! What do you take me for! I don't have any plans for sacking the town! Besides, most of it seems to be under the water now!" he reacted with indignantly, and they both scowled at the reminder of the so recent disaster.
For a moment the pirate seemed to give them a miffed look. Then he took another long swig from the bottle, and one more, and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender as he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes for a moment. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out, then opened his eyes to find them watching him warily.
"Jack, what happened here has been horrendous." Elizabeth reproved, and he nodded quickly.
"Aye, missy - that it has. Tis the kind of thing that either you learn to adapt to and still manage to smile now and then, or it'll haunt you forever and drive a man daft. Me - well I can at least take comfort in the fact that there are fewer forts now to be trying to put holes in my ship. It's a small compensation I know, but I'll be grateful none the less. One fort is better than 3 of them in my opinion, no matter which place it be."
"Why are you in the bay?" Will asked and the pirate captain tilted his head and considered them.
"Actually, we'd be much obliged to return a few things we found floating around out in the waters beyond."
"You found things that can be used still?" Will asked skeptically, and the pirate took another long swig and shook his head.
"People. Just some folks who managed to get themselves lost out there with little choice between resigning themselves to the depths of the fair blue sea, or being shark bait, you could say." He drawled as he settled back in the chair.
"You want to ransom them? Here?" Elizabeth asked darkly, and he gave her a clearly caught off guard look for a moment, then smiled calculatingly.
"Well if you be offering to pay….'" he countered silkily, and she scowled hugely, and he laughed.
"Missy, you need to learn to take things a little less seriously, especially ol' Jack! No, I don't want to ransom them… just put them on dry land." He said, and she looked rather apologetic yet mildly exasperated at the same time.
"It's not easy to be anything but serious with things around here lately Jack," Will offered and the one nodded as his expression suddenly sobered.
"How did they end up with you? Are these castaways you ran across somewhere in the Caribbean?" she asked in a kinder tone and he sighed with a mildly suppressed grimace and closed his eyes. He sat back and brought his hands together before his lips and bowed his head in thought.
He couldn't just outright tell them that as the appointed pirate Lord of the Caribbean he saw colors in the water that led him to places and people who might need a bit of 'pirate intervention'. Besides, he'd never felt or seen an earthquake happen before that he knew of. Purple water was never good… but he'd known there hadn't been a hurricane. Hurricanes he could actually 'feel' somehow.
It had been the wave passing the beneath the ship that had struck him the most. Nearly invisible on the surface, he had felt it pass them none the less, the wave in the water matching the violently shivering bottom of the sea, roiling up sands and changing the landscape far below the surface of the water. He opened his eyes to regard them in earnest, the outer 'mask' he wore so well suddenly absent.
"We were heading for the Windwards, sailing just south of here. Water just started to… well … look wrong is all I can say. Suddenly a series of odd waves came - and with a clear blue sky, that's not how water behaves. I turned us around to find out what the in the name of thunder was going on and where, and next thing I know we're fishing' people out of the water off Port Royal and finding pieces and parts of everything imaginable. They told us there was an earthquake, what they had seen happening to the town…" he said, hands gesturing rapidly.
"Some of em… some of them had found things that floated. Some of them… well, some the sharks found first. Or they didn't have anything to hold onto. We did the best we could with the live ones, let go to Davey Jones the ones we couldn't save. But that idiot Commodore here - well he's making it bloody impossible now!" he said and they both looked surprised.
"You found survivors that were washed out to sea? These are survivors from Port Royal? You rescued them… and now you're trying to bring them home?" Elizabeth asked softly, and Jack looked distinctly uncomfortable as he gave her a manufactured injured look.
"Well, you don't need to go putting' it like that Miz Turner! - But yes, I'd like them off my ship, please. A couple of the little treasure snipes we're about ready to put to the plank I swear. Trying to climb up in my rigging. Better at untying knots then they are at tying 'em. Candy wrappers all over creation… They're driving the lot of us half daft!" he told her with a gesture of what she felt was mostly mock annoyance.
She and Will exchanged looks of amazement.
"How many people did you find Jack?" Will asked, and he shrugged and took another long swig from the bottle.
"A tad... A tad more than a few. A bit more than a dozen. I haven't been keepin' a head count - I have a ship to manage." He said nonchalantly, mask suddenly back in place and they both smiled widely.
Suddenly the pirate found himself getting a firm hug and kiss on the cheek from the woman and he looked up at her in obvious surprise.
"I think what you did was wonderful Jack. I always knew you were a good man!" she said and he quickly shook his head as she rose, seeming rather embarrassed at her observation as he looked at Will and she returned to perch on the arm of the chair her young husband sat in.
"Do you remember what I told you about the only things that really matter in any situation?" the pirate captain asked and Will nodded.
"What a man can do and what a man can't do. Yes, I remember very well." He said and now the pirate sighed and seemed to forget the woman's outburst of affection as he frowned mildly at the bottle in his hand. When he looked at them he seemed relaxed to a great degree and now turning thoughtful.
"Sometimes lad, a man finds himself put in a situation, where it isn't so much what you accomplish that matters. Sometimes fate seems to set it up so that sure, you can look away and no one will know the difference besides yourself. Especially at night, standing at the wheel by yourself, seeing a body floating on a piece of wood, not moving. Everyone else asleep. But if you do pass by… well, it seems to me that the worst torments of hell would be reserved for those who 'could have' but chose 'not to' for no other reason than that they didn't want to be bothered." He said almost as if thinking aloud, then met their gazes steadily.
"Things I can choose - raiding, looting, pillaging... Other such assorted mayhem. That's one thing. But the choice to run a man through with your sword or stand back and take him, prisoner ... Shoot to aim for the chest and kill - or shoot to aim for an arm and wound ... Sail on past the man in the sea or stop to take him on board... Those choices are a bit different than which prize will we try for next or where will we go to spend the booty. I'd be a mighty stupid man if I said I saw no difference between those kinds of situations. Only the Lord, or fate, or destiny… call it what you will… knows why we happened to be where we were at the time, but I'll leave those choices to him I think. Would've probably been better if it was anyone else who picked them up, but I guess it was the Pearl's turn." He said, then took a sip from the bottle in his hand, considered it, and chuckled deeply.
"As Gibbs would be telling you - There are times when the rum goes straight to my head and I get way too philosophical for my own good! I don't suppose you could spare a small bite to eat?" he asked rather apologetically, and Elizabeth seemed embarrassed as she quickly rose.
"Jack I'm sorry! You must think I 'm a horrible hostess! What did you have for dinner?" she asked, and he shook his head and raised up the bottle in gesture and with his other now waved her back to her seat, shaking his head.
"Is the Pearl low on supplies?" Will asked and the one sighed mildly.
"No - We have plenty of supplies and materials - more than I care to even think of. Planned on leaving that along with our visitors if nobody minds terribly. It's been more an issue of time. Trying to keep the crew calm with everything we been running across… trying to keep our visitors calm. And trying to keep the little ones out of my holds!" he said, rubbing at his cheek.
Suddenly he sat forward and pointed a finger at the young blacksmith, the silver setting and onyx stone catching the light.
"I'll tell you who's obsessed with treasure, boy - and it isn't me OR you! It's those little bilge rats I swear! I've never been asked so many bloody questions in my whole entire life! Where did you get all that gold? Are you really the Captain? What's that rope for? Is that a gold coin in your necklace? Did you steal it? Can I steer the ship? Are you really pirates? When are we gonna get there, when are we gonna get there, when are we gonna get there..." he said, repeating the questions in imitation of a child's voice and they both burst out laughing and he smiled at them fully and shook his head and seemed satisfied, as if he had achieved what he wanted finally.
They kept imagining the scene of the illustrious captain clad in his coat and kohl, being as imperious as possible, and him being questioned by someone barely half his size. It seemed more and more hilarious. It was several long minutes before they could quit, and both gave him apologetic looks.
"Jack, I apologize really. But you sounded just like you when we were stuck on that island!" Elizabeth finally gasped, and he smiled ruefully and didn't seem to mind, but laid an arm casually over his stomach to stifle its low rumble. She noticed anyway and frowned at him.
"You really haven't eaten! Just a moment," she said and jumped up and left and this time he didn't even attempt to stop her. Will finally sighed at him.
"I'm glad you came Jack, more than you know. Have you been in the town at all?" he asked and the one shook his head with a dark look.
"No lad, in case you haven't noticed, the main part of the town that's left, is almost an island now. Only one teeny piece of land left connecting it to the rest. The two forts might be gone, but the place is crawling with Norrington's men and they still have the one left. Had a couple of bodies in the water give me a bit of a start in the dark coming over, but no, I didn't go near the town." He said regretfully and then looked surprised as Elizabeth returned already with a plate containing several rolls and pieces of fruit.
Will raised an eyebrow at her and Jack caught it, staying his hand to now only pick up one of the rolls from the plate.
"Don't be silly Jack, you must be starved," she said as she handed him the entire thing.
"I'll be eternally grateful Will was delivering a sword that day out of the town. If he'd been there… the blacksmith's shop is gone, as well as its owner. We honestly don't know what we're going to do. The tools, the forge, all of it," she said as she slipped her arm around the young mans' shoulder and he gave her hand a squeeze. Their gazes locked for a long moment and they didn't notice the pirate considering the two of them with a very alert, sober and assessing stare.
Suddenly and without warning, there came a vague rumble and then the room began to shiver physically. Will and Elizabeth leapt up instantly and fled to a corner. Jack, a little less aware of what it was, was slower to rise. From out of nowhere came three severe jolts that rattled them down to their teeth and made him stagger sideways to catch himself against a chair. It tipped over with a loud crash. Several dishes crashed loudly to the floor in the room beyond. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it all stopped.
"What in thunder was that!" the pirate demanded and the two seemed cautious as they came out, looking up at the ceiling and walls for cracks and damages.
"That is what they call a 'miniature earthquake'. Supposedly they happen a lot after a big one. We've had many of them over the last few days. More and more buildings keep falling down every time. The actual earthquake itself was much, much worse and far longer though. They say the entire port area turned to liquid ground while other places just split open, only to trap people in it when they slammed back shut seconds later, sometimes just swallowing people altogether." Will told him softly, and the pirate stared at him, seeing the horrors in his mind.
He had to wonder what he himself would have done had he been in port at the time, on solid ground. It wasn't a thought he wanted to entertain at all. Moving water was one thing, moving ground was an entirely different matter: and one he didn't much care for after the small sample he had just felt for himself.
"How long does it keep doing this?" he demanded, looking around the room warily, half expecting the shaking and shivering to start again.
"They tell us it will get less and less, and it has already. That was the first one for almost a full day now." Elizabeth said, and Will nodded.
"Now, about the passengers you'd like to return…. How long do you think it will take to leave them and whatever supplies you're willing to leave behind…" William started….
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