You can say what you like for Port Royal, but the fact remains: it's still a city. There are still whores and drunkards and murderers, you just need to know where to look for them. Our streets are as dirty as any other. The higher up the hill you get, the nicer it is, but otherwise… There's a reason I stick to the beach. Clean and quiet, as I may have mentioned once or twice before.
You keep a lady like Evangeline Avi by your side, though, and you do pretty well. No-one pays us any mind as we saunter along, my wrist tucked into the crook of her arm (a little uncomfortably, actually, because she's so tall and I'm so short) and her umbrella held lightly over our heads. She looks untroubled, and I guess there's no reason to look otherwise.
You know. Apart from the fact that she just confessed to a complete stranger that her father is a pirate.
Finally I just can't stand it anymore. "So is it true?" I blurt. "About your father?"
Oh, now she looks around cautiously. I didn't even say anything about pirates! "Yes." Mutter, mutter. "But try to keep quiet, yeah?"
Pulling a face while she's not watching. Luckily for me, she doesn't see, and keeps chatting away.
"It's a long story. D'you want to hear it?"
Oh please. Do enlighten me. "Yes, my lady."
"Whatever you've heard about me is probably true," she says simply. "My mother is Angelica Avi, and my father is Jack Sparrow. Bastard, obviously."
Jack Sparrow, Jack Sparrow… Scanning my mind. Nope. No recognition of that name. Though it does take me a moment to realize that the bastard she's talking about is herself, not her father.
"When I was born, my mother left me in the convent she met my father in." I stare. She grins. "I never said I was a moral bastard."
Right. Of course. Carry on.
"I grew up there, and when I was fifteen she returned and adopted me, claiming I was her daughter. She told me later that this was a lie, but then that was a lie too." I must look confused, because she elaborates. "I really am her daughter. She just told me I wasn't. Making sense so far?"
"I think so. My lady."
"Great. Anyway, I sailed with her and her privateer lot for months. It wasn't exactly fun, mind you. Sitting around all day, drinking tea and eating biscuits in stupid dresses…" She shakes her head. Makes you wonder what she's doing here at all, really. "One day we were in Barbados, restocking after a storm. I overheard my mother talking to a man in her study."
Here she gives me a careful look. "Do you believe in the supernatural, Kalepi?"
Do I? Oh, the things I could tell you about the supernatural. "To a degree, my lady."
Lady Evangeline gives a big sigh that makes her curls flutter about her face. "My father," she says carefully. "Has been involved in a fair few supernatural incidents. A fe months before she adopted me, my parents were involved in another one. Their first meeting since my birth."
Another pause. Get on with it! "In searching for Jack- for revenge, obviously- Angelica found her father." Another cautious glance around the street. "And that would be Blackbeard."
Sharp intake of breath. Even I know that name. The most feared pirate on the seven seas- and I'm standing with his granddaughter! If I had a family I would be telling them this story for years to come.
"When they found the Fountain of Youth, Jack killed Blackbeard and marooned Angelica. Because he loves her but he pretends to hate her because he's an idiot." Tough family life. "She found her way back to civilization eventually and became a privateer with the goal of killing Jack, and another pirate who had a hand in killing my grandfather. Captain Barbossa."
Nope, I don't know that one either. But do continue. I find your family history impossibly fascinating.
"Anyway, jumping forward a few months, it was Barbossa who was speaking to my mother in her cabin when I found them. He told her about another magical artifact, not far from the now destroyed Fountain of Youth. The Hourglass of Tears."
God, all these dramatic names. I've said it before and I'll say it again: pirates have an awful lot more originality than the British navy does. Or the British anything, for that matter.
"Using a mermaid tear, once a century anyone could change one event in their past." Evangeline, still plugging on. So what, you're telling me that mermaids are real now too? Well I never. Life is just passing me by. "Angelica was lucky. She wanted to undo the day she met Jack, and therefore undo my birth." She glances at me. "So all at once I discovered who my real parents were and also figured out what I had to do. I persuaded Angelica to take us to Tortuga, the pirate port, and told her that I would sneak aboard Jack's ship and lead her to the Hourglass. I told Jack my true agenda: I wanted to find my own mermaid tear and undo the day Angelica heard about the Hourglass. In spite of all their shortcomings, I did love my mother."
Past tense there. How strange.
"Well. Apart from a rough father-daughter reunion, things went pretty well. We clashed with Angelica's group at the Hourglass, as planned, and I let Angelica think I was working with her but then I turned and used the distraction to use the Hourglass for myself. Oh- at the time I had a half-mermaid tear and a real one. I told Angelica I would take care of the mermaid tears so she wouldn't have to waste time, but my intention was to give her the half-mermaid one and use the real one for myself. In the end I threw the real one at her head to keep her from killing Jack and let her keep the fake one, so she destroyed the Hourglass for the next century anyway."
So basically: neither of her parents wanted her, but she put her life on the line to save one of them. That's what I'm hearing, anyway.
"I left with the pirates. I thought Jack was going to kill me, but… he spared me. He planted me here as his spy, and if Angelica lifts a finger against either of us he'll tell the whole world about her ancestry and her past." She smiles brightly at me. "So it all turned out rather well, don't you think?"
At this point we're beginning to rise into the nicer parts of town. But only barely. Why, here he is himself: exhibit A of the finer civilians of Port Royal. That is, Brown the Blacksmith. A filthy, grubby man, who makes it his business to be drunk around the clock. I hear his employs talented youths to do his work in the forge for him every few years, but the last one disappeared before my time. Went off to save his girlfriend and never came back, or something. Heart-breaking, truly.
Not that Brown cared much. Staggering towards us now, a bottle of low quality rum in his hand. (Nothing like Lady Evangeline's, in the way that it is both grubby and empty.) He sees me and a light flares in his eyes.
Oh no.
"You!" Voice like nails rattling in a pot, with extra slur on the side. "Filthy immigrant, with all your magical mumbo-jumbo and your curse-"
He trips, and almost falls flat on his face. Ha ha. At the same time, though, his words strike fear into my heart. How can he possibly know-? But maybe he doesn't. He might not know anything. I pretend to cast curses on people, sometimes, just to make them leave me alone. Maybe he just heard about that.
Maybe not.
"He's a demon, m'lady!" he bellows. Back on his feet, unfortunately. "You'll want to keep filth like him far away from you, mark m'words-"
"Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary." Good Lord. She may be smiling, but that voice could freeze the sun. What happened to the bubbly twelve year old on the beach? "I know how to pick my company, and find Kalepi most satisfactory."
"Kalepi?" Pause. He looks rather bewildered. "Sounds like 'kelp'."
Oh, for God's sake-
Wah! Look out! Diving to the side as he lunges, swinging his bottle down at my head. Landing face down in the dirty stones, and he's stumbling closer, I can hear him- oh, God, oh God- I can smell the smoke, I can feel the flames- oh, not here, not now-
"Hoi! Maggot-face! I'll have you think twice before even trying to hit any friend of mine."
Hello. Who's this? Not Lady Evangeline, surely. But rolling onto my back, and there's Brown, lying dazed on his back- serves him right, the useless lump of lard- and… Well. This is a sight. Lady Evangeline Avi standing over him, one heel digging into his chest, her hat discarded. She brandishes her umbrella like a deadly weapon- and by the looks of things, she's brandished a fair few of deadly weapons before.
By God. It doesn't look like she was lying when she said she sailed with pirates.
The smoke and the fire retreats. I take a deep breath, and process the events of the last few moments. Brown attacked me. And Lady Evangeline Avi attacked him- in defence of me. Did I really hear her call me her friend? I've not know her an hour. She must be crazy. Or maybe I'm crazy. Because there is no way this can seriously be happening.
A blast of air to the face, and Evangeline is crouched in front of me, her dresses settling down about her once more. (Standing over Brown like she was before, you could see that her boots are proper working ones. Men's boots, not a lady's heels. Her dress hides them well.)
"Are you alright?" Big eyes, full of concern. "Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine." Whoops. A little harsher than I meant to. She gets the message, and backs off, now alarmed. I stare at her for a long time before speaking again. "Why are you being so nice to me?"
She opens her mouth to answer-
Thwoooomp!
A whistle of air, the sound of explosive impact and destruction, mass screaming. Evangeline's face brightens.
"Dad's here!"
Oh God. Typical pirate. Comes to find his daughter, and just has to raid the place while he's at it. What if the noise sets me off? What if I lose control in a crossfire? I don't want to die, not like that. I want to die as myself. Not that.
Can't think about that now, though. Lady Evangeline's on her feet, paying absolutely no mind to Brown and jamming her hat back down on her head. Wonder why she bothers? Her rum bottle's gone: further investigation reveals she cracked it over Brown's head. Must have taken a fair bit of strength to do that.
Who is this woman?
"Come on, Kalepi!" Calling from the end of an alley, now. How did she get there so quickly? "You'll only be safe if they see you with me!"
Oh. That's reassuring. I don't think there is such thing as safety, with this woman.
Still. If she's telling the truth, she's probably right. So I follow. When I catch up, she grabs my hand again and we walk the way we did before. It's laughable: the city falls apart all around us, and we walk as if nothing's wrong. At least, it'd be funny from an observer's point of view. All I can see is terrified women screaming past, confused children crying for their mothers, men running to their deaths. Shops explode. Cannon balls whistle through the air and tear everything apart. Already corpses lie in the street, and Evangeline picks past them delicately as I stumble along, hanging off her like a stray piece of weed caught on the barnacles of a ship.
The beach is no better. The Navy is busy assembling themselves, firing at- I don't believe it. A black ship with black sails, bobbing in the harbour. The Black Pearl! I never thought I'd see it, let alone in action. Its cannons are ablaze, its colours flap in the wind. Evangeline stops, plucks her hat from her head and waves it high in the air. I can't see from here, but it looks as if a walking carrot waves back and disappears below decks.
"That's Rocky," she explains. She makes no move to advance further down the beach. Which is wise, seeing as if we did we'd be shot to pieces. "Ship's cook. I had to work with him for a while."
Well isn't that fascinating. I think my mind is still struggling to catch up with everything that's happened. Am I being kidnapped? I haven't exactly tried to resist. And it's not like normal laws apply to an escaped slave like me.
"Where are you taking me?" My voice sounds small amongst all the terror and carnage. "What are you going to do with me?"
Evangeline gives me a warm, gentle smile. "I'm going to do everything I can to keep you safe, Kalepi. I promise."
Yes. Well. I don't think being held on a beach with soldiers and pirates firing on all sides counts as being kept safe.
But what do I have to lose?