Chapter 29 Something old and something new

"Elanor." Jack's voice sounded strangely detached and strained but level enoug, too level to give her any real warning.
"Yes?" she continued putting the spilled items into her backpack without looking up.
" Have you or your ghost any idea why this rock is looking at me?"

A comment about rum and pirates hovered on her tongue for a moment, then she remembered that Jack had had nothing to drink but water since yesterday, and even on rum she had yet to see him drunk enough to hallucinate. A second comment about inappropriate teasing also occurred but died as she looked up into his face; he was unsmiling, staring past her and expressionless other than for the fact that his eyes were black with anxiety and wide as soup plates. Whatever it was that was bothering him he was serious about it.

Elanor froze, letting her backpack fall softly to the floor before edging her hand slowly towards her tasar as she carefully turned to face the same direction. From the far side of the rock a long slim neck topped with two even slimmer antenna had risen, each antenna was finished with a white, opaque, eye.

She swallowed hard and then drew a deep breath,
"None whatsoever," she replied slowly, more grateful than she could explain that her voice came out as level as his.
Jack shifted stance a little, drawing himself u,p his chest rising sharply as he pulled in a deep and shuddering breath,
"Been followed by rocks before, but not looked at by them. So why is this one lookin'?"
Elanor moved slightly closer to him her hand still hovering at her belt, and the milky eyes seemed to adjust focus to include her in their gaze,
"It's looking at me too, if it helps," she said.
"Should it .........help?"
"I don't know. Depends on what happened the last time you were followed by a rock."

She knew they were both talking to buy time to assimilate what was happening, to give their reeling brains some opportunity to relocate common sense, but at the moment it didn't seem to be helping much.

Jack tilted his head slightly as if to match the stare,
"They turned into crabs and carried me ship away. Tia Dalma's doin' I expect, but she's not here so that won't be happening this time."
Elanor tried to recall whom Tia Dalma was but for the moment all she could really think about was the sight in front of her,
"No I suppose not, " the words came almost of themselves.
'I should have expected something like this' she thought as she watched and was watched back. Ariadne couldn't detect life in here but she had warned that the rock was too thick for the heat signature to be seen and that field detection was unreliable at this distance. The creature in the upper levels should have been warning enough, and if she and Jack were of interest up there then they would be of equal interest to whatever life was down here. It had been careless to stay still for so long, to let their guard down so completely. Now they might have to pay for it.

They had settled here nearly half an hour ago, at least she thought they had but suddenly she wasn't entirely sure. They had been weary, light headed from the blanket like air and the scent of vegetation now she came to think about it, and, though she had insisted that they make sure there was nothing obviously threatening about the rock and it's surrounding before they had sat down, she had not thought to monitor it once they had. Careless.

But there had been nothing to warn them. It was true that she had been surprised when Jack mentioned the rock, but she had dismissed her initial concerns as unwarranted when it appeared to be just what Jack described it, a rounded and smooth black boulder. Not the same sort of rock as the one they had climbed down but there had been no reason to assume it was anything more than it seemed. So they had made themselves as comfortable as they could in the cloying air, shrugging off the packs and extracting one of the small meals Ariadne had insisted they bring with them, washing it down with an energy drink. Jack had grimaced at the taste of that and expressed his usual preference for rum, but he had done no more than smile and shrug when she replied that she expected that he would prefer rum, but that they didn't have any, and that life was a bitch.

"Why are you so set on finding this fountain anyway?" she had asked as they ate.
He'd shot her a rather warning, 'hands off', kind of look from under lowered brows, but he had answered.
"Told you. Locker. Not goin' back there. So it's this or live on land, and I've no desire to leave the sea."
"But you said Jones is gone. It was his locker so why would you assume that you'll end up there? Surely its gone with him?"
He'd stared at her for a moment or two longer then shrugged and looked back down at his food,
"True enough but there's no sayin' that I won't either. Jones was a malevolent miscreant, betrayed Calypso, the goddess who gave him immortality, so no sayin' what he could have done to me. Or what power it might still have over me." He tiled his head and looked at her sideways, a somewhat defensive expression creeping into his eyes, "That being so I'll avoid the possibility if it's all the same to you."

They were silent for a while after that, how long she wasn't sure for she was finding it hard to concentrate on anything other than the feel of the air. That whispering sound of something that might, somewhere, be a breeze. In the back of her mind memories were stirring, unpleasant memories that had been shaken out from under the blanket of repression by the stench of the plant back there. It had been such a long time ago now, but not long enough, there never would be a long enough to forget the stench of death and the weight of the corpses piled on top of her. She didn't recall it often these days, other things had claimed its place at the top of her list of nightmares, but when it returned to her it did so in force. Now the clammy air reminded her of the suffocating heap, and the heat prickling her skin recalled the terrible panic of the endless wait for silence and the time it had taken her to push her way out. As she stared at the leaves of the tree in front of her she could almost see the iris pattern of the dead eyes that had seemed to gaze into her own whenever she opened them. Hour upon hour of that stare had burned it forever in the darker parts of her minds eye.

Not for the first time she wondered what Jack would make of her own hall of horrors, for she was sure that his was larger and darker than he let on; she had seen the shadow of unwelcome memory in his eyes and recognised it from her mirror.

Her reverie, if that's what it was, was broken by Jack's voice, and his earnest expression surprised her as much as his words.
"You can go back and wait by the ropes if you'd prefer, or even go back above if you wish it. You insisted on coming down here but I'll go on alone if you are no longer happy to take the risk. We don't know what's ahead, I've seen plenty of strange things in me time but you and your ghost might have lived a more peaceful kind of life. I'll not ask you to go where you do not want to go."
She gave herself a small shake and shook her head, pushing back the memory and summoning a faint smile. A peaceful life? If he only knew! Not that she had any intention of letting him know, no more than she had any intention of abandoning him to whatever it was down here.
"No. I committed myself to this, I'll see it through."
Jack nodded quickly and looked away, but not before she had seen something she thought was relief in his eyes.

***

Jack was aware of an easing of the tension within himself as she replied, and wondered about it; he'd do it alone if he had to but there was no denying he wanted her at his back. Why had he made the offer to let her return above he wondered? He didn't want her to go, he really didn't, but he had felt impelled to state the choice, for there was something about the look in her eyes as she stared at that tree that had shaken him. Something that had suddenly made him wonder what it was that she was seeing.

This was a strange place, an uncomfortable place, and a place that tricked you by looking familiar only to reveal that it was not. Worse thing about it was how it seemed to remind you of other times and places, things you didn't want to think about but somehow couldn't help doing so. Like the waxy sheen on that large leaf for example, why should it remind him of Davy Jones? But it did, and for a while he hadn't been able to work out how, then suddenly he was back on the Pearl on a dark deck with all the lanterns out, and he realised that that leaf had the colour and sheen of Jones ink as they signed the bargain for the trade of souls.

In general he tried to avoid thinking about that moment, for the memory hurt nearly as much as the Kraken and the Locker. That was the moment when Captain Jack Sparrow had first lost himself, the first moment of feeling sullied and unusual. A feeling he had not known before and one that he had hated so very much, though the hatred of it had not eased the burning desire, the desperate need, to beat Jones and keep himself and the Pearl above the seas. A feeling that had persisted until the decision in the long boat, the moment he made the choice to return to the Pearl knowing that in doing so he was accepting his fate, for both himself and his ship.

Memory unwound even as he struggled to push it back into the darkness. Suddenly everything, the smell of the air, the tang of the food and the colour of the moss around the stone on which they were sitting reminded him of that moment and what had led to it.

William had chosen to go aboard the Dutchman it was true; it had been his plan and not a gentle or cunning one. A plan that Barbossa would have approved of and his own choice. Jack had left William to chose the approach and the whelp had boarded the Dutchman not with evasion in mind but with the open intention of simple brutality, 'I'll cut down any that get in my way' he'd said, and meant it. Jack had believed that he would for he had little doubt that William would destroy the world for Elizabeth. Whose fault was it that he had failed to carry it through? But deep within himself he knew that William had framed that plan while not in full possession of the facts.

'That was William's own doing,' a defiant spark protested. But he knew that to be sophistry for he also knew now, as he had then, that he had been playing Will's weaknesses. Yet he had taken the risk, sure that Bootstrap and his name would keep the whelp alive even if Jones caught him, for he had no doubts of the degree of Bootstraps guilt or of the malice Jones bore him. He had been sure that he would be able to play that back against the Dutchman's captain, but he had failed to get Will back after all. Or had he? Had he even given any thought at all to the idea of Will being caught until that moment when he stepped over the side? He was no longer sure, but he did know that he had been willing to risk William for a chance, relying on Bootstrap to keep the whelp safe even though he had known the rigours of life under Jones command.

The defiant voice spoke up again. 'But if he had put aside his obsession with his own need and Elizabeth's need and considered mine too he might have been more cautious.' Jack sighed and took another half hearted swig of the drink, wishing with all his heart that it were rum. Such conversations with oneself should never be undertaken while sober, them being somewhat hard to forget then.

There was some truth in it to be sure, if William had considered what the compass and the key might mean for Jack, if he had thought beyond what he wanted to accomplish at all, then he might have asked why Jack couldn't or wouldn't go himself, and then things would have been different. Or would they? Would he have told him? Maybe. Maybe not. Truth was that a man would do almost anything to avoid his final judgement, and he could no longer be sure what he might have done. Not that it mattered a whit for it had not occurred to Will to ask, which was pretty much askin' to be used when you thought about it. But William had the selfish single mindedness of the young and he had not then learned the harsher lessons of need and survival; he had assumed Jack to be a good man and for William that meant Jack would do what he wanted him to do and with no thought for himself or his own needs.

As he saw the darkness in Elanor's eyes he thought he saw the echo of the darkness that must have been in William's as he realised his mistake and his fate.

The words had come out without thought, and, though he prayed that she would say no even as he spoke, he knew that he would not take them back. William's destiny had been the Dutchman, and by Jack's hand it seemed, but in the end it had been a gain and not a loss. Things could not be changed but they could be learned from, and put behind you. There would be no more losing himself.

Now as he looked into those oddly curious eyes he was glad that he had offered her the choice.

***

"So you are Mr Groves."
Governor Thynne leaned back in his chair and settled his elaborate coat skirts more comfortably. The man was taller, thinner and paler than Governor Swann had been, but the elaborate clothes and the long grey wig were similar, his coat was grey silk laced with silver and his waistcoat was scarlet woven with silver thread. So too was the benevolent look that could suddenly sharpen into shrewdness, the pale blue eyes going from the dreamy tint of morning skies to the chilly tones of old ice in the flicker of an eyelid. The long fingers that had come to rest on the chair arms were pale and elegant and the rings that adorned them would certainly have been coveted by Jack Sparrow, one of them even looked similar to those the pirate habitually wore.

Groves swallowed and bowed slightly,
"I am sir."
The Governor nodded giving him a slow smile that might have seemed friendly if you ignored the hard look that accompanied it. He waved both Groves and Hathaway to a chair,
"Thank you for attending the service gentlemen," he said, " it was well done I think, and should keep some of the gossip at bay. Not all of course, people will still talk and there is no way to stop them." He shot the young navy man a slightly unkind look, "unless we plan to hang the ones Beckett didn't get. But now that the necessary forms have been observed I think it is time that you, Mr Groves, tell me a little more of what happened to my predecessor and his daughter."
He raised his hand to forestall any comment,
"I know what the King knows of course, and I know what was in Governor Swann's official record of events. I have seen all the warrants,"
He caught Groves barely repressed shudder and hid a smile, casting a quick look towards Norrington who was standing at the window,
"I have also seen some of James Norrington's letters."
He allowed a faint stress on the 'some' but neither Norrington nor Hathaway reacted with as much as a flickering eyelid.

Thynne turned his attention back to Groves, noting the thinness of him beneath the elaborate uniform and the shadows around his eyes; the haunted look suggested that closeness to Beckett had not corrupted him completely and that his sleep was infrequent. Perhaps his recovering conscience was pressing him hard. But this was no time for considering his sensibilities, he had done what he had done and now he must account for that; it seemed that he was not a happy man, but nor should he be.

"Why did no one question's Beckett's actions?" he asked mildly, "Did anyone seriously think that such a number of deaths were proportionate for the capture of one pirate, or that the crown would want such carnage in pursuit of man it was planned to pardon? What exactly did you think that Jack Sparrow was that he would be considered worth so many deaths?"
Groves shrugged helplessly,
"Beckett declared a state of emergency sir, and Governor Swann did not challenge it or his authority. We none of us knew about the letters of marque. I only heard of them from the Admiral when Beckett was dead. As for the rest, well he had the King's authority, why else would Governor Swann have signed the warrants?"
Thynne considered that for a moment, reflecting on the risks that thoughtless obedience could bring in such circumstances. Groves of course would try hard not to see the faults of a superior officer, and both Swann and James Norrington had been that.

"And why did you all sign on with the company?" he said softly.
Groves almost wrung his hands,
"We had no choice sir! Beckett had the right to requisition all ships, the Dauntless was gone and Beckett told us that he had authority to use navy crews until such time as the admiralty could send a new force to the Caribbean. The Governor also told us that the admiralty had put us all on half pay and that it would be paid by the Company until the new force arrived, he said that Beckett had the authority to pay the balance if we signed on with his armada."
Thynne sighed to himself, Beckett had a good, if devious, brain and he understood that money would blunt many a good man's sensibilities when the alternative was poverty, and half pay wages were not generous. But Weatherby had been right, without his authority the scheme could not have prospered. He pushed the unwelcome thought aside as Groves began speaking again,
"As for Jones and the heart, we knew nothing of that until after the song had been sung. By which time we had all taken too much for granted and there seemed to be no turning back."
An even greater urgency entered his voice,
We believed that it was piracy were fighting sir."

Thynne nodded, but then frowned.
"Why did you think that the King would suddenly allow such actions when the Navy had not asked for them? Or been given them in all the years that they secured these seas and while piracy was a greater threat than today? Why would he give such power to Beckett when he had not given it to his navy or his Governor?"
Groves looked down at the floor,
"I cannot speak for others sir, but I confess that I never thought of that." He shrugged wearily, "It seemed so simple sir, brutal perhaps, but simple, and obvious. Lord Beckett was acting for the law and the common good, doing what must be done. Why else would he do it?"
"Had James Norrington not acted for the common good in the years he served here then?"
Thynne's voice was silk smooth and whispoer soft but carried a thin blade of steel within it.
Groves felt Hathaway shift in his chair and swallowed nosily,
"Yes sir." He raised troubled eyes to the man opposite him, "It seems obvious now, and I don't know how we didn't see it. But it seemed equally obvious at the time.

'And in so complicated a world the greatest fool and the biggest villain is so often the simple man to whom such things as the common good and the law are obvious.' Thynne thought as he tilted his head and smiled at Groves.

The Governor drew a deep breath,
"Very well. What did you know of Elizabeth Swann Mr Groves? What do you know of her now?"
Groves paled even further and gripped his hands tightly in his lap,
"At the time, not much at all. None of us were in the Company's employment when she was last seen in Port Royale. We heard rumours of the warrant for her death for releasing Sparrow, but no one really believed it. There were stories that she had been put into prison but no one gave much credence to that either. She was the Governor's daughter, and this is not the middle ages sir!"
He straightened his back and stared ahead of him,
"By the time I was employed back at the fort she was already gone. At first I thought she had returned to England and then I heard rumour that she and William Turner had been dispatched to make contact with Sparrow. The there were other rumours that Turner alone had been dispatched and she had run away to be with him."
He looked at the Governor again,
"It all seemed so far fetched sir that I didn't know what to believe. Miss Swann was a spirited girl, but she was just that, a girl, and gently bred. She was accustomed to servants to do her bidding and good food on her table and fine clothes to wear; she was a lady of breeding sir, how could she make her way in Sparrow's world?"
At the window Norrington shifted uneasily but said nothing, perhaps thinking of the marriage there might have been, the wife she might have been, if things had been just a little different.
The Governor smiled a small cold smile,
"How indeed."

Groves sighed,
"They say that Turner taught her to use a sword after she was abducted, and that may be the case, but it takes more than being able to hold a sword to survive alone in such a world."
He looked down at his hands again,
" Sparrow would have protected her I think, he is an odd sort of pirate and he did her no harm the last time he had her in his power. But how would she have found him?"
The Governor flipped a depreciating hand,
"Sparrow might well have protected her, better than you did it seems. Perhaps she expected that he would. That being the case maybe she took passage on a ship?"

He watched Groves closely as he spoke but he saw no sign of anything other than confusion in the man's face,
"But then she would have gone to England sir, and we would have known."
"Then perhaps she didn't travel as a passenger."
"Then how did she travel sir, as crew? With respect sir that is most unlikely, even had she been able to get aboard a ship she could not have maintained the pretence for long for she didn't know how to sail and girl or not she was too tall to work as a cabin boy."
Groves hands twisted in his lap as the Governor shrugged,
"I didn't know what to think sir. The truth is I didn't think much about it at all, she was gone, maybe to England maybe not. The war against the pirates was all that seemed to matter. But then James Norrington returned and told me that she had found Sparrow at Tortuga, though he didn't know how she had got there. When we took the Black Pearl I heard that she was still aboard it; but that she was carried off by the pirate Sao Feng. He had done some deal with Beckett and I don't know if she was part of that or not, however it seems certain that she died when his ship was attacked."
He swallowed hard, the muscles in his throat visibly tight,
"Believe me sir when I say that the knowledge of what must have happened to her before she died, what she must have suffered, tortures me."

"As it does us all Mr Groves, surely that act betrays what Beckett was more clearly than any other," Norrington said, "that a young girl should have been used in such a bargain." his voice trailed away.
Groves looked towards the admiral,
"The Commodore did not know of it sir, I would swear that on my life. He didn't speak much about her, but I know that he did not begrudge her the choice she made and he would have done anything in his power to save her."
There was silence for a moment, then Hathaway shifted in his chair and joined the conversation,
"As you see it seems that the unfortunate Miss Swann and her fiancé, William Turner, cannot be of any help to us in the matter of Sparrow."
"What of Mr Turner?" The Governor asked with a frown.
Hathaway smiled fiantly and indicated that Groves should continue his story.

"William Turner was on the Black Pearl when we lost it. Sparrow disabled the Endeavour and we could not follow quickly enough. There was rumour that he betrayed them and led us to the pirates lair, but he was handed back to the pirates when Sparrow was surrendered to Jones."
The Governor's frown deepened.
"So they betrayed him? Sparrow I mean. That might work in our favour."
"So it seems sir. William Turner returned to the Black Pearl but he was later seen to board the Flying Dutchman. No one got off that ship alive sir, other than Sparrow that is, and possibly one of the Chinese pirates. The rest were either killed in the battle or drowned when she went down. Turner would have shared that fate."

The Govenor thought about that for a moment then nodded,
"Which brings us to Jones. Did you ever see him Mr Groves?"
The man opposite drew a deep breath and his hands gripped his thighs tightly, the tendons standing proud beneath the tanned skin
"Not close to sir, though he was on board the Endeavour on one occasion the night before the battle. I saw him in passing as did several of the men. Most men would not look at him sir, and I confess I had no desire to go any closer."
Thynne nodded, and settled more comfortably into his chair, he had the man in the palm of his hand now and they could cut to the chase,
"So tell me what you know Mr Groves, tell me what you saw of this unholy myth made me how you think that we will deal with him. For deal with him we must. The genie is out of the bottle Mr Groves tell me how we put it back before we have a real war on our hands."

***

Jack saw Elanor straighten out of the corner of his eye, he felt rather than saw her shift position slightly to get a better look at whatever it was. Now that she was paying attention too some measure of his fear eased, and he took a hold on himself, staring at the creature to try and judge its mood. He let his eyes drift as far as possible without moving his head. It didn't seem that the neck had appeared from the rock as such, now that he looked more closely rather from the other side of it. The flesh was grey and smooth, but ridged with bands of a lighter colour, and there were no other features that she could see other than those two eyestalks. Certainly there was no mouth, and, in his experience, teeth required a mouth, and no teeth meant they had a chance.

"Part of the rock do you think?" he asked quietly.
"Or maybe come from under it," she replied softly.
"No mouth."
"No, nor ears. A burrower then, a worm of some form perhaps."
Jack looked at the several feet of neck and raised his eyebrows,
"Bloody big worm!"
"No reason why it shouldn't be. Not here, I told you there might be other forms of life, kinds that no one has ever seen."
"Well if this is an example of them I hope the rest stay well away."
"They won't. Still want to go and find this fountain?"
"Yes! Things like this around I'm goin' to need it. So where do we go from here?"
"We could try just backing away, see if it's interested enough to try and get us to stay."
"Don't like how you put it luv, but I see what you are getting at. If we aren't food then maybe it won't care if we go."
"Unless it wants to play with us."
"Well it can keep any playin' to its own kind!"
"How are you planning on making it?"
"By running very fast luv, very fast indeed. Up a tree if needs be."
"Might be worse up there."
"True, but never say die, eh? Get ready to run, just make sure we do it in the same direction."
"Which is?"

Jack moved his head slightly, the white eyes didn't seem that interested in the movement, the gaze, if that is what it could be called, remaining fixed and unwavering. Slowly he raised his hand and pointed to a line of thin vegetation to their left,
"That way."
"OK, but let's just stay still a while, then see if we can catch it by surprise."
"I'm with you on that." He said quietly staring back at the pale eyes. "I've a nasty feelin' that the beastie might be bigger then it looks, and where's the rest of it I wonder?"
"Under the rock I expect. That's probably why I didn't see it at first, this thing moving uncovered it. But why didn't we feel it?"
Jack repressed a shudder remembering something else that came from below,
"Aye, well, that's for later, for now let's just get us away before the rest of it breaks free."

The minutes stretched like hours as they stood and stared back at the watching eyes, then finally Elanor drew a deeper breath and barked,
"Run!"

Jack had been ready and they both jumped back at the same time, he bent and scooped up his backpack as she sprinted passed him, allowing them to avoid collision as they headed towards the trees. There was no sound from behind them but suddenly the ground was rippling, trees bending with the movement and sending boughs slapping against each other. They tried to speed up but the the trees didn't seem to come any closer.

Suddenly there was a mound in front of them, small at first but growing every second, more boulders appearing from within it and tumbled towards them. Yet the ground seemed calm again, no heaving to explain the rising obstruction, just a cloud of what looked to be dust hovering low over the surface. The dust seemed to swirl more franatically for a moment and the leaves danced as if in a rising wind, and then the creature's tail was in front of them, that same banded grey and smooth like the head, but all along its length was a triple line of tubes, the centre row topped with what looked to be circular spines, the out rows still seeping soil and dust.

Wide eyed they both stared at the barrier between them and escape, before looking at each other and moving closer together.
"Not looking isn't going to change it." Elanor said shakily.
"I know that. Doesn't mean we need to look before we have to though."
"Longer we leave it the harder it might be to escape."
Jack drew a deep breath,
"No denying that I suppose."
Elanor reached out and caught his wrist,
"On three then, we turn around and face whatever it is."
"Aye, on three."
"One. Two. Three."
In a single movement they turned.

For a moment they stood in frozen silence then Jack groaned,
"I don't believe it!"