FOUR: A La Snitch

Tortuga; an endless mine of information. However sourceless and gossipy that information may be, if you could rake through the lies, a lot could be dug up about the criminal underworld. Lester Mann would know this—he wasn't the most lawful of people, after all. He picked through information carefully, taking every hint with a pinch of salt, but taking it nonetheless. He and a small team had been raking Tortuga for any information on a man of a certain description... and bingo, he had come up green a few times.

Elizabeth was wrong. Tortuga wasn't as safe as she thought it was—not when even the lords were playing dirty...

Apparently, Beckett—or a man who looked very much like Beckett—had been sighted quite a few times. He'd stayed for nearly two weeks with, and he couldn't believe he was hearing this, a woman. A woman who had a baby. Hmm... Lester felt that Leonard would be very interested indeed to know this.

Beckett had also, apparently, paid a visit to the witch-doctor Thera Mercy. And that was who he was going to visit now. Blending in rather easily, the dark-haired man slipped through alleys, around corners, keeping his eyes narrowed, but watchful. Muggers were commonplace here; what they didn't know was that he had a pistol, and several knives hidden upon his person. Finally, he arrived at the right place.

"Thera Mercy?" he snapped out professionally; there was some rustling behind the beaded curtain, the only other exit from the 'waiting room', and he heard footsteps slowly approaching.

"Yes, sir?" Thera came through the beaded door with a flourish, setting a dreamy, green gaze towards him—though Lester was certain that he saw her eyes flicker around his person, most probably looking for any signs of money, anything she could filch. Lester was a world-weary man; he knew that many witch-doctors tried to trick their clients out of their clothes (by means that Beckett had unfortunately discovered), and stole everything they owned while they slept, or at least were... occupied.

"I'm here to ask about a man who I've heard came here, about two weeks ago, perhaps more," he narrowed his eyes, "Curly blonde hair, small in stature, fair skin, most likely an upper-class accent... ring any bells?" He would be happy to go into further description, if need be.

"Yes... I remember him," Thera said, a touch weakly. How could she forget? "What's it to you?" Her soft, witch-doctoring voice was dropped for a much more bland accent.

"I'm looking for him," Lester knew that he could threaten her for information, but he didn't feel that the need would arise with someone as weak as Thera Mercy... which he doubted was her real name, but an adopted one. "What did he tell you his name was?"

"Hunter," Thera replied, though she was slightly suspicious, she wouldn't be unhappy to hand the man over... he hadn't been very polite to her, after all.

Hunter. That was all the proof he needed—the man that had been seen here in Tortuga, with a woman, and had been spotted leaving in a dinghy named the Dead Mallard (the theft of which a local had complained to him about for at least twenty minutes) with the pirate Jack Sparrow (who apparently was indebted to a lot of people here) was Cutler Beckett. He was almost certain of it. Hunter—it fit.

Jack Sparrow, eh? And the woman... he'd asked for a description, but she just seemed like the average bint to him. He wondered what on earth Beckett would be doing with them... though a bunch of little ragged boys (who you may remember running past Beckett as he stood by the Dead Mallard) had told him that they had seen the 'dreadlocked one' knocking Beckett out with a plank. Apparently, they had found it very amusing.

"We was playin' ball," a gap-toothed one had said, scratching his scraggly hair (undoubtedly infected with headlice), "And we saw the curly-'aired one bein' knocked out by the dreadlocked one. It was real funny!"

Lester Mann decided to get back to Lord Leonard now; he felt he had sufficient information from Tortuga...

--

Though Elizabeth got away with it, the guards had to insist on searching both Jack and Beckett; Beckett met this with a scowl, but gritted his teeth and allowed it anyway, feeling very undignified. Elizabeth wondered if Tai Huang would recognize him—she thought it unlikely. You don't see someone new and think, their face looks like my old enemy whom I murdered, you think more along the lines of, who's that?

The new hideout was very different to the old one, under the care of Sao Feng. Much more... orderly, she supposed, but perhaps that wasn't the right word for it. Pirates weren't really the types for orderly. She walked past various guards, and other Chinese men talking and arguing with each other; through to a large room that had various, tattered charts on walls, a few finely-dressed women and friends sitting, talking and suchlike. The entire base was cast in half-darkness, lit only by candles and a few lanterns. Tai Huang had risen at hearing the news of Elizabeth's arrival, and walked forwards to greet her.

He had changed in looks... slightly. Though his clothes were undoubtedly finer, it didn't look like he had seen fit to wash. Pirates, all the same. Undoubtedly, Sao's previous wealth had been distributed; and he had passed a lot on to his successor, which everyone took to be Tai. He had lost the woven straw hat and the studded leather and hide attire, and instead was dressed in much more traditional clothing, though not as fine as Sao's—Sao Feng had taken great pains to keep his appearance as fearsome, powerful and rich as possible, but Tai didn't seem the type to care.

"Elizabeth Turner," he swept his arms out in a friendly gesture, smiling slightly, "What brings you so far east?" In the light of hundreds of candles, some of then scented from what Elizabeth could smell, she could see him examining her. He spared a glance for Jack and Beckett, who were behind her, but didn't comment.

"Captain Tai Huang," Elizabeth smiled and bowed slightly, seeing it as polite; she glanced over her shoulder, and saw the rest of the crew do the same, apart from Jack and Beckett... Jack too proud, and Beckett too indignant. "I come asking a favour."

"I will most probably grant it for you, as you have honoured me greatly," Tai said, to which Elizabeth smiled weakly. Yes, she had felt that giving Tai the position of Pirate Lord of the South China Seas would make him rather indebted to her. "What is the favour?" She could hear him hoping it wouldn't be too costly or difficult.

"I ask of you to let me have a ship and a crew in your fleet—I wish to sail again, and under your colours seems to be the correct place for me," Elizabeth hoped she had phrased that rightly. She was not usually one for such politeness, after leaving her life of upper-class snobbery, but she felt that she owed it to Tai Huang. She felt almost at home... he was a Pirate Lord, but after living much of his life lower class, he lacked that 'fear factor' that Sao had mastered... though that didn't make him any less of a pirate. Elizabeth was certain that he knew his stuff, else Sao wouldn't have named him his second in command.

"Of course," Tai answered, probably rather relieved that it wasn't anything hugely major—Elizabeth remembered asking the same of Sao Feng... but she felt much more at ease with Tai. Though they'd had a slightly... rocky start, his promotion had certainly helped to build them as strong allies. "I will have one of the junks prepared to sail," he said.

A lot of the people in the room had stopped to eavesdrop on their little conversation, however, they began talking idly again once more. It was almost like some sort of meeting of the... well, it looked to be upper-class Chinese pirates. No doubt Tai had been fast in sealing deals and making allies, just as Sao Feng had.

"Thank you, Tai," Elizabeth smiled at him, "You have my gratitude." She realized that she was speaking in her Pirate King voice again, despite the fact that she wasn't one. She supposed that she would never get unused to that.

"It is the least that I can do for you... and after all, I seem to owe you a ship, after you gave me the Empress," Tai raised an eyebrow. She hadn't, as such, given him the Empress... simply decided to move away from piracy, and thus handing over her position—and everything with it—to Tai Huang. Which quite probably was the reason for his kindness, and willingness to help her.

"You deserve your position," Elizabeth said, hoping that this wasn't crossing the line between flattery to sucking up. She was planning on keeping on good terms with Tai Huang.

"May I ask what you are planning on doing with a ship and crew?" Tai asked. Elizabeth noticed how he stood much taller now; it was something that every Pirate Lord learned to do. They had reputations to protect, and had to keep fearsome at all times. She was certain that Tai's fleet were terrorizing the South China Seas—and possibly more—as they spoke.

"We're going on an adventure," Elizabeth replied simply. Somewhere behind her, Jack grinned broadly.

--

The boat that had been given to them was named the Red Kite, and was a lovely vessel—perhaps nowhere near the splendour of the Empress, but that had been Sao Feng's personal junk, and was reserved for Pirate Lords and other high-ups... such as Tai Huang. She looked around her new vessel, smiling happily. It felt good to be on a ship again. Then, she turned to Beckett.

"You've been awfully monosyllabic," she said to him. He looked towards her, scathingly.

"That's because I hate you," he replied. It was simple enough, but somewhat hard for Elizabeth to grasp. She tried a smile, to see if he was joking, but he didn't smile back. She frowned at him, and then put her hands on her hips and looked at him properly.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, shaking her head.

"I'm... not... talking to you," Beckett explained, as if to a five-year-old, and then he pressed his lips together and walked off across the deck. Elizabeth shook her head, at a complete loss.

Beckett's in a huff with me! she thought, rolling her eyes, how... childish!

She couldn't deny missing his comments, though... as snarky and pointed as they could be. Huh—hopefully, he'll stop his acting up soon, Elizabeth thought, raising her eyebrows. Lords... such divas!

NB: GAAAAHHHHH!

In other words, thank you for being so patient with me. I have been working my ends off on three case studies, but now that the second one is nearing completion, I have much more time. I have written the story quite a few chapters ahead, but I just haven't had the time to update... I'm really sorry. Hope you all don't mind. And I'm glad to have new readers, too!

Extract from next chapter: "What happened to Sao's map?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the splintered edges.