A/N: Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed this time. I'm glad that so many of you are enjoying the story. I've left a single little goody for those of you who have seen DMC. Those of you who have not, don't worry, it will go right over your heads…
Kungfuchick…Glad to see you're enjoying…at least the scenes without Jack/Elizabeth…lol. Thanks for reviewing mate!
Johnnycakesdepp…Anamaria and Captain Aquino…what is going on between those two, eh?
JackNanamaria…Thank you, thank you, your comments meant a lot. I have actually been writing for most of my life…short stories, novels, etc. but until I posted this fanfiction I was always too shy to really show anyone my work. This has really helped to bring me out of my shell as people here have been very encouraging. I have tried diligently to keep everyone in character, so the fact that you think I am doing a good job means very much. Thanks again!
Fredsonetrueluv…Lots of questions about Captain Aquino this time from everyone. I'm sure he will be explained soon enough…until then, drink up me hearties yo, ho!
LongingforLlangarlia…Thanks for the long review and I'm glad to see you're enjoying! I know Elizabeth can tend to be annoying, she can grate on my nerves as well, but I'm glad to see she's growing on you a bit.
Eddie…I could visualize poor Jack turning down the whore as well. Not something I'm sure he felt comfy with…
An-angel-in-hell…I agree, I'm sure Jack is never innocent :o) And yes, getting Anamaria mad has been keeping things interesting lately, hasn't it?
Captainme…Squirms under pressure…a second vote for a good explanation of how The Pearl became The Black Pearl…ummm, I'll get right on that :o)
Tami…So you didn't post a review here, but you did visit my MySpace and leave a comment. 34 chapters in one day, eh? Quite impressive and glad to see you're finally hooked! Perhaps a review on here next time mate! Enjoy! And glad to see you here!
Chapter Thirty Five
The rain came down steadily all day the next day and Jack spent the majority of it trying to locate another room for he and Elizabeth to rent out at night. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to find anywhere and that he would have to continue paying for a whore he wasn't even going to get to use. However, just before the time that the sun would have sunk over the horizon had there been a sun to light the sky, Jack found a room above The Faithful Bride tavern. He paid for four night's rent and went back out to get Elizabeth.
Had he thought there was any way he could get two rooms, he would have paid for her to have a separate place to stay, but he was lucky enough to come across the one. His boots sloshed through the rain on the muddy streets as he hurried quickly back to the room they had stayed in the night before. At this point, he was also beginning to enjoy Elizabeth's company, though he would never let on to anyone. Although she was still very upset about losing her son and her husband, some of that spunk he had seen in her when they first met was coming back. As he had seen last night, she provided him with a captive audience in listening to his outrageous and mostly fictional stories. And when it all came down, she was actually very sweet and caring as well.
His mind shifted to Anamaria. If she found out that he was spending so much time alone with the former governor's daughter, she would be angry enough to spit at him. He could hear her yelling at him now in his head. What had happened to Anamaria lately?
When they had sailed on The Black Pearl together, they had been the closest of friends. More really, when it got right down to it. She had been his first mate and the best navigator he had ever had the good fortune of sailing with. She had slept in his cabin almost every night and while every now and then they had gone their separate ways when they made port, for the most part, they had stayed together. They had been cut from practically the same mold, both understanding the other's needs and almost always being on the same page at the same time.
Then she had asked for her own ship. He supposed that was when things had slowly begun to change. They had really only seen each other when they came to port and in the beginning they had been inseparable at that point, but slowly they had gone their own way more and more. Jack couldn't hold it against her. He knew that she was desperate to prove to everyone, including herself, that she could become successful on her own since she had lost her arm and he had always felt that as long as they were sailing together he would hinder her in that. In the end, however, his selfishness always won out; he didn't want to imagine what it would be like without her.
They had started arguing more often lately and he knew that at some point they would probably split up and sail in opposite directions. Somewhere inside, he knew that was the reason he was about to embark upon this dangerous voyage that he would never have even considered before now. He was postponing their separation as long as possible.
He was inside now, tapping at the door to the room to pick up Elizabeth and when she stepped out into the hallway, she broke his train of thought. She had changed back into her dress from the evening before and it was still slightly wet and cluing ever so slightly to her form. She was carrying the small chest that he assumed contained both of their dry clothing and he took it from her, curling it under his arm.
"I thought you weren't going to find anything," she greeted him.
Jack smiled at her, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, remember?"
Elizabeth smiled back, stepping to his side. Jack put a loose arm around her and they made their way back to The Faithful Bride. Stopping to pick up a few bottles of rum first, they then proceeded upstairs. Jack unlocked the door, letting her in ahead of him and following behind her made his way to the window. The Faithful Bride looked out towards the sea and despite the heavy rain, he could make out the waves pounding across the shore in the distance.
"Go on and change out of those wet things," he said, waving a hand in the air. "I won't look."
Elizabeth quickly pulled her shift out of the chest and tugged the wet dress over her head. As soon as Jack heard the wet garment hit the floor, he turned to face her.
"You know I'm going to have to spend the next few days back and forth between The Pearl," he said.
"Jack!" He startled her so that she dropped her shift and stood before him completely naked, her mind not processing the situation fast enough to remedy it. She scrambled to pick up her clothes and noticed the pirate smiling.
"We have to get 'er ready to make sail," he commented, his eyes still squeezed tightly shut.
She slipped the shift on quickly and then crossed the room to stand before him. "You scoundrel," she said, slapping him hard on the arm.
Jack tensed and peeked through one eye before opening them both.
"You said you wouldn't look," she said angrily.
"And I did not," he defended himself.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes at him. "Are you going to tell me more pirate stories or not?"
Jack smiled a toothy grin at her. So she did like his stories! He stared back out at the murky blackness for a moment.
"Can you imagine what it must be like to be on the ocean on a night like tonight?" he asked, softly.
Elizabeth shook her head, entranced for a moment in the rain and the waves. "No, I'm glad we're safe inside."
Jack nodded. "It's definitely going to be a messy few days trying to get 'er prepared to go out in it."
"Jack, what if this happens while we're out at sea?" she asked.
Jack shook his head. "No, it'll take a while for the next big storm to build up," he comforted her. "That's why Anamaria wants to go now. The better chance we have of making it to Madagascar. Of course, we're going to have to add in the time it takes us to drop you off."
"I want to go with you," she said.
"Elizabeth, we've talked about this," Jack said.
She turned to face him. "Please," she asked, bringing her fingers up to play with one of the loose ties on his shirt.
Jack turned confused eyes towards her. Was she trying to convince him by using her charm?
"It's not safe," he said, turning his eyes back to the sea.
"I'll be fine. Will taught me how to use a sword I told you," she tried. "Please?" she said, using her dewy honey gaze to try and melt the captain's own deep chocolate stare.
He'd be damned if it was almost working too.
"Elizabeth," he asked. "Are you trying to seduce me?"
She faltered here, the tie slipping through her fingers as she fumbled for a response.
"Come on, let me tell you about what happened after I sacked Gibraltar."
Leave it to Jack to change the subject now, Elizabeth thought, following him across the room as they sat down.
"Now remember, this is after I lost The Pearl, when I was sailing with thirteen other pirate ships," Jack began, picking up the story where he had left off last night. "As we came back to Maracaibo I saw three Spanish warships on the horizon, blocking the channel that was our only way out. The odds were terribly against us and a letter was sent out, demanding our complete surrender. It was signed by Admiral Don Alonzo de Campos y Espinosa of the Spanish West Indian fleet. I suppose you've heard of him?" Jack asked.
"Yes, of course," she replied.
"The mutiny fresh on my mind, I decided to let the other captains help make the decision, even though I was the one ultimately in charge. We sent back an answer shortly after our meeting informing them we would meet them in battle.
"We spent the next few days preparing our ships. They sent over spies and we fed them information. We were outfitting a captured Cuban merchant ship as my flagship. We were mounting guns on her and carpenters were working on her hull to make her battle ready. We also led them to believe we were rigging a sloop as a fire-ship.
"We waited until the wind and tide were in our favor and made a run for freedom. My banner flew high on the main mast of the Cuban flagship and its deck was crowded with men," Jack told, gesturing with his hands to express the men who covered the deck.
"Two small frigates flanked the flagship. When we were in range, the two frigates, with all guns firing, broke their ranks and sailed to either side of his flagship, the Magdalena. My flagship continued firing and headed straight for her center. As the two ships crashed, we grappled onto the Spanish flagship and jumped overboard into a waiting canoe.
"Several seconds later my flagship exploded, bursting into flames. The winds fanned the fire and enveloped the Magdalena, destroying her in minutes. Espinosa's men jumped overboard and he tossed them planks to save them from drowning. He only jumped overboard himself at the last minute and was unfortunately picked up by his longboat.
"One of the other captains cut his anchor and sailed for the safety of the fort, running his ship aground on a sandbar. He then torched his ship to keep her from becoming one of our own.
"The third captain cut his cable and set out his sails. Something happened, not quite sure what, and he was unable to maneuver his vessel as it drifted out of the protective range of the fort's cannon. We sent eight ships in hot pursuit. She ran aground in the swamp and her crew escaped. We took the ship as our own.
"See my flagship had been the fire-ship. We made sure misinformation got back to the Spanish because we were aware of their spies. We cut fake gunports along our flagship's hull. We used logs painted black to look like extra guns, hollowing them out and filling them with explosives and short fuses. Then we treated the entire ship with a combustible mixture. We packed anything we found in town that would burn onboard. Only 12 of my men had actually sailed on my flagship and grappled onto the Magdalena. To make it seem like more we tied logs upright to the railing and dressed them like sailors with painted faces," Jack smiled broadly, clearly proud of the accomplishment.
"Next we stormed the fort, but it was far more difficult than we expected and they repelled our assault. We were trapped once again. I attempted to negotiate a truce, but Espinosa had assumed command and rejected my offer. I'm sure he felt some pressure upon thinking of going back to Spain and reporting what had happened to him, how he had practically let us get away by falling for our trick.
"I allowed the men to salvage the Magdalena for any sunken treasure while I met with the other captains to try and come up with a plan. Our prisoners let us know that only six cannon in the fort were actually operational. With our large fleet and only six cannons, we knew they couldn't sink us all. If we fled under the cover of darkness at high tide, we had a pretty good chance. I shared the treasure outright with all the men then and there to give them incentive and ordered them all to their ships.
"Later in the day, we sent canoes of armed pirates to the swamps just out of sight of the fort. The canoes then returned to the fleet empty with only the paddlers and we'd send them out again, carrying more men ashore. This led the Spanish to believe we were going to attempt a land assault on the fort. Espinosa had all of his cannons, save for one, repositioned to cover the land routes and posted guards at every angle on the fort, just as we were hoping.
"At dark, we cut all our anchors and allowed our ships to drift with the tide across the channel. We were spotted almost immediately and the single cannon pointed towards the sea was fired at us. By the time any additional cannons were repositioned, we had drifted past their firing range and had received only minimal damage to our ships.
"Now you see, each time our canoes had emerged from the swamp, the boats had still been full. All the men, except for the paddlers were simply lying flat under the canoe thwarts, giving the appearance of an empty canoe.
"We freed the prisoners the next morning and sailed back to Jamaica on a new flagship," Jack stopped there, waiting for Elizabeth's dramatic reaction.
She stared on at him with a questioning expression. "I thought that was Henry Morgan," she said softly.
"Ah!" Jack raised an eyebrow. "Same story, different version. Want to get a bite to eat downstairs?"
The pirate was already up and across the room, grabbing his hat along the way.
"Jack, I'm not properly dressed," she complained, remaining on the bed.
"Oh, that's right," he said, turning as he reached the door. "No worries then, I'll just bring something back up to you."
Jack didn't return for over an hour and Elizabeth had a sneaking suspicion that he had been doing more than just waiting for her food. Her first clue was the unmistakable smell of rum that came off his breath, followed by his happy chatter that consumed their dinner conversation. She wasn't mad, though, she enjoyed his company and his stories, regardless of the fact that most of them weren't true. She had studied pirates since she was a little girl and she knew which stories were his and which ones weren't, but it didn't matter. What did matter was that he kept her entertained and kept her mind off of Will and Thomas.
When they were finished eating, she curled up beside him on the bed and asked for another story to help her fall asleep. Jack willingly obliged although she found herself staying awake just to hear all of the details rather than trying to fall asleep.
"Go to sleep luv," he said, bringing the story to a close.
"Thank you, Jack," she said, settling down into her pillow.
He leaned over and blew out the single candle that sat on the table beside the bed and then leaned over her. She felt his beard tickle her chin as she stared into his dark eyes. He laid one single soft kiss on her lips that she received before he lay down beside her.
"Sweet dreams," he said lowly.
"Sweet dreams," she returned, as her mind began to race. What had his kiss meant? And why had she returned it?
What she didn't know was that Jack's mind was wandering as well. He wasn't at all sure why he had lowered his head and kissed her so softly. It was his second night in a row in Tortuga that he hadn't gotten laid and if anything, he supposed that would be enough to cause any man to begin to go mad.
A bit shorter than usual, but tis all I've got at the moment. A note of thanks to Gail Selinger and W. Thomas Smith Jr. from whom I took this particular version of Henry Morgan's story. I wanted to share it very much with everyone since it is my personal favorite pirate story through history at this point in my research.