Author's Note: Hello and welcome to chapter twenty-two of "Rubicon". I think this is probably the most tragic chapter in this story, though I promise you, Anne will not die! I would like to thank everyone who read and commented on the last chapter, Faith-Catherine, OllieOfFreeOxen, ElfLuver13, Tiera-Tarie, and Astraeas Dreams. Thank you all! I have no beta for this fic, so any grammatical or spelling errors that appear are my fault and my fault alone. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Pirates of the Caribbean.
September 15, 1731
Log,
It is night, late night. Past midnight perhaps or so I guess. I cannot sleep, nor do I wish to. Instead, I sit in my office and watch the shadows that rise up off the harbor. They seem to shriek, though I know it to be only a trick of the wild wind that rushes over Port Royal. Sails batter about and flap like many-winged gulls. I cannot sleep but for the commotion of it all…and the heartbreak.
Oh, I should go to Anne, but she will not have me. She has been broken, poor woman, my poor wife and death is nigh, so the doctor has said. He is with her now along with the maid Agnes. May they bring her more comfort than I ever could.
What a tragedy.
Even now I feel tears upon my cheeks, though I hurry to brush them away. I try to muster some sense of reality and place it upon this parchment before me, something defined and permanent. But I have few words to detail the dreadful series of events. It is a curse, I am convinced, a curse that has descended upon me. Or so dear Anne said when I last spoke with her.
I shall try to recount what I can, in hopes that I might look back upon this some years from now, when I know nothing more but smiles and laughter and the green of England. It happened thusly.
Having set the ships in order in the harbor and taken leave of Jones, I returned to my office for a short while last night. But I could not stay long, nor could I keep myself away from Anne. I worried after her, as she danced and dined and entertained the guests at our home.
Impulsively, I set off on my own, leaving my office on foot. It is not so great a distance from my house to the building by the docks and I walked rather quickly, with the light of a faint moon above.
No one was about. Save one slumbering drunkard who slept inside a doorway. Music I could hear, grand music that brushed the warm air and lightened my heart. At last, I came up the drive and passed by an array of stately carriages and horses. I do not know if any of the servants standing about recognized me, but they said nothing and let me pass.
Into the house I went, pulling my hat far down over my brow. I felt the need for secrecy and feared questions. No, I only wished to see Anne.
I navigated the foyer easily enough and came to the foot of the staircase. It was dark in the upstairs corridor, I noticed. Only the good Lord knows why I felt such a strong need to look in upon my little son. That was the only stroke of good fortune I had.
Not one of the guests noticed my ascent up the steps and I walked quietly, lest I should disturb the rest of my little child. When I came to the corridor, however, I heard some noise. A gasp and a cry and something that made my blood run cold.
Without a thought, I pushed open the door and stepped inside the nursery. Faint moonlight fell through the window, just enough to light the chamber and reveal Anne, lying upon the floor. Norrington stood by her side and he knelt down at once, trying to help her up. But Anne only groaned and fell against his knee.
"What have you done?" the man growled. I realized two other women stood in the room; Elizabeth Swann and the witch.
I felt ill…and enraged.
"I had no knowing, James," Elizabeth Swann whispered. She looked like a ruffian in her boy's clothing. "None at all."
The witch suddenly stepped forward and stood over Anne, with a curious leer upon her painted lips.
"That be Beckett's woman," she said. Her hand hovered in the air, as if she wanted to touch Anne but could not bring herself to. "Poor creature."
Then Anne screamed and Norrington had his arms around her shoulders. "Help!" she cried. "Oh! The baby has come too soon!"
Something awoke within me then and I charged into the room.
"Marines!" I bellowed. "Where are the marines? Arrest them!"
My cry was heeded and almost an entire company pounded up the stairs. They seized Swann and the witch rather roughly, though not before the villains had something to say.
"Scum!" Elizabeth spat in my face. "Rot in Hell, Beckett, along with your wife."
I wanted to slap her, but managed to restrain myself. To my surprise, the witch scolded Swann.
"Don't be damning none to hell," she said in a gentle voice. "Lest none that are innocent."
And they were led from the room.
I knelt by Anne's side and glared at Norrington. He was staring at me with wide, terrified eyes as Anne writhed in his grasp.
"Benighted fool!" I said and pushed the man away. "Send for the doctor, at once!"
He left, flying out of the room as though the devil himself were at his heels. There was a commotion downstairs and servants came to the door.
"Send the guests away," I ordered, scooping poor Anne into my arms. She wept in pain. I carried her at once to our chamber and laid her upon the bed. The doctor arrived shortly after, along with the maid Agnes.
I stayed as he examined Anne. Fear made my gut churn and I thought I should retch.
"She labors already," Doctor Hall said at last. Agnes clapped her hands to her mouth. "It is too soon, too soon."
"Too soon! Too soon!" Anne moaned. "Dear God, the babe!"
"We must do what we can," Doctor Hall said.
Norrington came in then and when he caught sight of Anne, his face went white.
"The prisoners have been taken to the Fort," he said. "What would have me do with them?" His voice shook so that I could barely understand him.
Before I could speak, however, Doctor Hall stood.
"My lord, go along and see to business," he said. "There is nothing you can do here, nothing at all. I will send word if anything changes."
I hesitated, but the Doctor was insistent, along with Norrington.
"You will only serve to get underfoot," Hall continued. Norrington took me by the arm.
"I cannot leave her," I said weakly and looked to Anne. She seemed beyond me then, her eyes shut tight and her hands fisted in the sheets. Dear God, my poor wife.
"Take him, Admiral," Hall said and I was dragged from the room. I cannot condemn the Doctor for his actions. It was for the best, of course, that I should leave, though my mind seemed to tell me otherwise at the time.
Shaking off Norrington, I went to the Fort and for a brief moment, anger overrode my fear. Norrington said nothing along the way and as soon as we had arrived, I ordered him to fetch both the prisoners.
They were brought into an office while I paced before the desk, unable to sit still for the briefest moment. Elizabeth Swann entered first, as sharp and brazen as ever. She promptly spit upon my boots.
I remembered Anne then, lying on the floor in pain. My hand cut across her face.
She did not cry out or even recoil, which infuriated me all the more. Norrington stood in the corner and his fists were clenched.
"Out!" I ordered and he left. Several marines remained.
The witch stood beside Swann. Her name is Tia Dalma, or so I was informed and I found I could not look her in the eye. She seemed to see things I would rather keep hidden and as I probed Swann with questions, I felt as though I in turn was being interrogated.
"Where is Sparrow?" I asked first. Swann raised a brow.
"He is dead. I thought you should know that at the very least."
"Not dead," I said. "We have had reports."
She shrugged.
"Where is the Pearl," I asked next.
"Sunk," she said.
"Not sunk," I replied. "We have had reports."
Another shrug.
The witch began to hum quietly to herself, a tune that made me tremble and sweat. I had heard that tune before…and I had seen her before.
In my dreams, that is. Oh God, I have gone mad.
"Why have you come to Port Royal?" I asked. I could no longer stand, my legs shook and I sat in a chair behind the desk.
"To see my father," Swann said. But there was a lie behind her eyes which I caught.
"He is dead," I replied, hoping that I finally had the upper hand. Now she trembled.
"Never mind that now," Tia Dalma said. She patted Swann on the arm, as much as her shackles would allow. "He isn't dead."
"Silence!" I shouted. But she turned to look at me with all-seeing eyes.
"And your wife, it's consumed her."
I was one my feet in an instant then, all restrain abandoned and forgotten. "I know what you are!" I screamed. "I have seen you! I know the tricks you play. Too long have you haunted my wife and I!"
And as I was shouting, I heard another cry. A woman screamed in the hall. The sound took my legs from me once more and I fell into the chair. Agnes, the maid, burst into the room with two soldiers behind her.
"Dead! Dead!" she screeched. Tears fell down her cheeks.
"Anne?" I asked brokenly. Agnes shook her head.
"The baby, stillborn!"
My world collapsed. Agnes fell to the floor and began to pray aloud.
"Lord Beckett?" And then Norrington was at the door. I turned away so they would not see me cry.
"Take the prisoners away," I said and my voice no longer seemed to be mine, but some separate entity that now inhabited me. "I must go to my wife."
As soon as Swann and the witch had been led from the room, I fled the Fort. Through the streets I ran, until I was pounding up the drive of my own house. The door was ajar and a servant stood outside, holding a candle.
"My lord," he tried to speak to me but I pushed him away. Up the stairs I went and into our chamber where Anne lay on bloodied sheets.
Doctor Hall stepped aside for me and Anne looked up. Her face had nearly no life in it.
"Anne," I was sobbing then.
"Please, Cutler," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "You must destroy it."
"What?" I stared at her. Had delirium taken her already?
"The heart," she continued. "Please, it has destroyed us. Be done with it."
And then her head lolled to the side and she slept. I remember little of what happened afterwards. Doctor Hall tried to speak to me, but I could not hear what he said. I left Anne's bed and the chamber and the house, too much of a coward to be by my wife's side.
I do not want to see her die.
I returned to my office and here I sit, waiting. What has it all been for, I wonder? Another day has passed. The sun has risen and set. And what has it all been for?
My thoughts are with Anne and now I think to go to her. I must have some strength, for I must…
I hear cannon fire…
Lord Cutler Beckett