Chapter 7: Turner and Barbossa and the Return to the Black Pearl

The H.M.S. Intrepid docked in the rowdy shanty-town of Tortuga. Will and Elizabeth were anxious to find Jack and Guinevere to save their precious William.

"Do you think we'll be able to find Jack here?" Elizabeth asked dubiously.

"If Jack is not here, I don't know where he'd be," Will told her.

"But he must be here," Elizabeth said with a shiver down her spine.

"I don't know, darling," Will said, "but I do know that if he is not here we shall go after him nonetheless."

"I don't like hunting down Jack like this," Elizabeth said with uncertainty, "We're setting them all up for a trap."

"We must save our boy, Elizabeth," Will told her.

"I know but at what price?" Elizabeth asked pointedly, "Can we truly sell Guin and Jack to our enemy while we roam free?"

"Jack and Guin can take care of themselves. Jack's good at taking care of himself, no doubt. Guin is a fighter. They'll look after each other," Will said dismissively.

"That's not the point," Elizabeth argued, "We are setting them up for a betrayal. You saw what King and his men did to Bootstrap and James. He could do worse to Guin and Jack. A lot worse."

"We can't worry about them right now," Will said, "We must focus on saving William first."

"Do you even know what you're saying, Will?" Elizabeth gasped, "You're saying we should just abandon Jack and Guin to their fate and let them fend for themselves. Can you live with that?"

"If I have you and William, then yes, I can," Will answered.

Elizabeth gaped at Will. How could her husband be saying such things? He was not a pirate in the likes of Jack or Barbossa. How can he choose to abandon their friends?

"I can't," Elizabeth replied glumly.

Will sighed. "Once we find William, everything will be fine."

Elizabeth nodded. "So we save William."

Will and Elizabeth gazed into each other's eyes. There was so much torment in both of them. Elizabeth felt as if her husband wasn't the same man she married. He spoke of abandoning their beloved friends to save William. That was not the Will she knew. Yet she knew she could not live if anything were to happen to her child.

"I'm going to check on James," Elizabeth said at last.

Elizabeth climbed down below decks to find Bootstrap sitting beside poor Bootstrap, who lay in a hammock with a sopping, cool washcloth on his head.

Elizabeth pulled up a chair and rested her hand on James's damp head. "How is he?"

"No better, but no worse," Bootstrap replied tonelessly.

Just then, James's eyes fluttered open. "Elizabeth?" he asked weakly.

"James!" Elizabeth gasped, "It's lovely to see your eyes again!"

"Is William all right?" James asked in a voice just barely above a whisper.

"James," Elizabeth said slowly, "He's not here. We're in Tortuga because Commodore King wants us to bring Jack and Guin to him in exchange for William."

"But he'll be all right, won't he?" James asked apprehensively.

"Please, James, you need rest," Elizabeth said attentively.

"I cannot rest knowing my friend is missing," James told her passionately.

"I know," Elizabeth told him.

"We must save him," James declared drowsily.

"We will," Elizabeth reassured him.

James closed his eyes and sleep took him once more. Elizabeth was more determined than ever to find William. Not just for her maternal sake, but also for James. She felt great remorse for the boy as he already endured so much pain for his best friend.

"We must find Jack," Elizabeth said to Bootstrap.

"Go with Will," Bootstrap told her, "I will watch over James."

Elizabeth nodded to Bootstrap and headed up the steps to rejoin Will and together they descended the gangplank into Tortuga.

"How's James?" Will asked compassionately.

"He spoke to me for a bit," Elizabeth told him, "He's not better, but not worse. He suffers every day William is gone."

"Once we find Jack he will suffer no more," Will declared confidently.

Elizabeth paused a moment, then replied. "Yes. Everything will be fine once we find Jack."

Elizabeth and Will scanned the ships moored at the docks, but the Black Pearl was nowhere to be found.

"I don't see the Pearl," Elizabeth said with a hint of apprehension.

"Let's check the Faithful Bride tavern," Will said.

Elizabeth and Will scanned the boisterous, decadent tavern for any sign of Jack or Guinevere. The smell of the rum and the sight of the crowd fighting and whooping enveloped the both of them as they entered.

"I always said this place will linger," Will said, turning his head away from the scent of rum.

"I don't see Jack or Guin," Elizabeth said.

Just then, Will spotted two familiar faces.

"Scarlet, Giselle," he greeted the red haired and blonde women, "I'm looking for Captain Jack Sparrow and his lady…wench…lady wench, Guin. Have you seen them?"

Both women grinned as if pleased to hear the name of Jack Sparrow.

"Jack Sparrow must be causing trouble again," laughed Giselle.

"Steal another woman's boat, did he?" jested Scarlet.

"Ladies, have you seen him?" Will asked.

"So sorry," Scarlet said apologetically.

"There's been no Jack Sparrow around here for ages now," Giselle said, "I'm beginning to miss doing THIS!"

Slap! Giselle's white hand flew across Will's face quicker than lightning.

"I didn't miss it at all," Will muttered, rubbing his face.

He turned to see Scarlet smiling sarcastically at him. Whack! Scarlet's hand collided Will's face faster than he could blink. Suddenly, Elizabeth let her hand fly over Scarlet's face, followed by Giselle's.

"That'd teach you to slap Will Turner!" Elizabeth said triumphantly.

"Elizabeth, apparently they don't know anything about Jack either," Will said, ushering Elizabeth away from the two wenches.

"Now what?" Elizabeth asked, "If Jack's not here, what next?"

Suddenly, a monkey screeched! Will and Elizabeth looked up to see a capuchin monkey dressed in a fine white jerkin.

"Monkey!" Will and Elizabeth cried.

The monkey sprang away, and Will and Elizabeth gave a chase after it. They followed the monkey out of the tavern and to the docks. Just then, they were reunited with Captain Barbossa and Lucia.

"Thank you, Jack," Barbossa said in pleasure to his primate accomplice.

"Thank you, Jack," Will jested.

"Barbossa, what are you doing here?" Elizabeth gasped.

"If I be right, Mrs. Turner, we be here for one man," Barbossa replied.

"Jack," Will finished.

"Aye, very good Mr. Turner," Lucia jested.

"What do you want Jack for?" Will wanted to know.

"He be pointin' the way to the infamous Fountain of Youth," Barbossa exclaimed.

Will and Elizabeth stared blankly at Barbossa.

"What know you of the Fountain of Youth?" Lucia asked.

"Not much," Elizabeth said, dumbfounded.

"I can assure ye, that there be a Fountain," Barbossa explained, "The same Fountain Ponce de León searched for himself but never found. Jack's compass leads to what you want most."

"So you want to steal Jack's compass to get to this fountain," Will concluded.

"Preferably before Sparrow does," Barbossa told him, "We must find Sparrow first. Now that we have you, Mr. and Mrs. Turner, finding him will not be a difficult task."

"But we don't know where to look," Elizabeth said.

"It's always easier to find things when you don't know where to look," Lucia said with a smug grin.

Will then brought up something he noticed. "How did you get here without the Pearl?"

Barbossa and Lucia pointed to a small, leaky boat that was now half-submerged in the docks.

"Sea-turtles," Lucia jested.

"If ye have a better means of transportation, please share it," Barbossa told them.

"And that's an order," Lucia added.

"Follow me," Will told them.

Barbossa and Lucia followed Will and Elizabeth to the H.M.S. Intrepid, still docked at the harbor.

"How does such a blacksmith and blacksmith's wife come upon such a ship as this?" Barbossa asked suspiciously.

"Pirate," Will and Elizabeth said in unison as if it explained the matter.

The group headed up the gangplank and made their course to the open sea in pursuit of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Meanwhile, Jack woke to find Guinevere was not at his side. Forgetting his senses, Jack raced up to the deck like a madman.

"Guin! Guin!" he cried to no avail.

He raced down the steps to find Juliet missing as well.

"Oh, no," Jack sighed.

"Juliet! Guin!" Jack cried hopelessly.

"Cap'n for the love of mother and child!" Gibbs gasped, "What's going on?"

"In case you're deaf, Guin and Juliet are missing," Jack explained.

"You don't think that León had anything to do with it, do ye?" Gibbs asked anxiously.

"León has everything to do with it," Jack corrected.

"Right you are, Señor Sparrow," praised a Spaniard.

Jack and Gibbs turned to find León ascending to the boat deck.

"Where are they?" Jack demanded.

"Ah, the lovely señoritas," Leon said, feigning pleasure, "They are unharmed."

"Where are they?" Jack demanded once more, his voice rising.

"Your niño is strong and defiant," Leon said with a wicked grin, "She is safely bound in the brig on my ship. Your other señora is why I've come."

León stepped down from the boat and signaled his men with his evil eyes. From behind him, his men followed suit dragging a bound and gagged Guinevere behind them. Despite her fragile condition, Guinevere did her best to fight her captors. Her fruitless attempts were met with hoots of laughter. Jack could only watch and he tried his best to mask his disgust at what had been done to his wife.

"La señora was sneaking out into the night," León explained, "I had no choice but to apprehend her and the child. Now she must be punished."

"I think that's punishment enough," Jack declared.

"Oh, not the way my men and I see it," León laughed, causing snickers from his crew, "That was pleasure. She has not been punished yet and now it is time to carry it out. Del Toro! Ramos!"

The two burly men holding Guinevere shoved her forward and forced her to her knees.

"I've enjoyed your company, Señora," León whispered smoothly in Guinevere's ear.

Then, he unsheathed a shining dagger and placed the cold steel of the blade against the warm flesh of Guinevere's throat.

"Wait!" Jack protested, "Surely there's no need to kill her now, eh? If you kill her, I'll have no reason to help you. Why do that when you still have me under your thumb, as it were?"

"So you're begging for her life?" Leon asked arrogantly.

"No, no, no," Jack said, "By all means, you can kill her. But wait until we've found the Fountain of Youth. I will be useless to you and so will she. Savvy?"

León smiled, showing his grimy teeth and removed the blade from Guinevere's throat.

"There still needs to be a punishment, Sparrow," Leon reminded him, "Tie her up and she shall be flogged until she cries out for mercy!"

"You don't want to be doing that, mate," Jack warned.

"And why not, Sparrow?" León demanded.

"She'll never cry out for mercy," Jack told them.

"She does not know my ways of persuasion," León said dismissively.

"And you do not know her," Jack replied, "Your not going to make her suffer. I promise you that."

"What do you suggest, Sparrow?" León demanded impatiently.

"I'll take her punishment," Jack declared, "She'll suffer just as much watching me endure pain."

"I like your thinking, Sparrow," León said with a cackle.

"I know," Jack muttered.

"Men, Captain Sparrow is to be flogged in place of the Señora!" León declared.

Guinevere watched in horror as Jack's shirt was torn and he was shoved against the mast and bound. If it hadn't been for the strong grip of León's men, Guinevere wouldn't have dared look at Jack as Leon's Bo' sun raised the whip. Crack! Snap! Over and over, again and again, the whip kissed and embraced the skin of Jack's back. Jack gritted his teeth and did not once cry out once. To Guinevere's heartbreak, he weakened, but did not show it. After about twenty lashes, Jack was released from his torture. León's Bo 'sun released him of his bindings and Jack was almost limp, his back decorated with many scratches.

"The punishment is given," León declared.

León then strutted up to Guinevere and held his dagger to her throat again. "I have truly enjoyed your company, Señora," he said, his voice like a serpent, "I advise you to not be as foolish again. I would hate for my cold steel to touch your flesh."

Guinevere struggled free of León's rough grasp and glared sharp daggers at him. Amused, León turned away. Leon and his men took their boat and sailed away back to their vessel, the Spanish Lady. Guinevere struggled free of her bonds and rushed to Jack's side.

"Jack! Jack!" she gasped.

"Guinevere," Jack breathed weakly, "What are you doing?"

"What are you doing, Jack?" Guinevere demanded.

"You snuck out and nearly got yourself and our girl and the little one killed," Jack said fervently.

"And what you're doing is better?" Guinevere gasped, aghast, "I was trying to get help."

"From who?" Jack demanded in frustration, "You didn't need to do that."

"Better than serving that monster," Guinevere snapped, "He took our daughter, Jack. God knows what he'll do to her."

"And who is responsible for that?" Jack retorted.

"I'm trying to save us, Jack," Guinevere replied fervently, "You got us into this mess. I'm getting us out of it."

"Why did you do this, Guin? Why didn't you tell me you were trying to escape?" Jack pleaded.

Guinevere sighed. "Never trust a pirate, Jack."

Jack gaped at his wife. She used his words against him. Jack could tell by Guinevere's eyes that what he had done wounded her. He felt like he had been stabbed through the heart at Guinevere's words.

"Aye," Jack gulped.

For the moment, that was all he could say. Gingerly, he wrapped a coat to cover Guinevere and led her away into his quarters. Jack knew he had a challenge. He swore on his wedding vows to love Guinevere for better or worse. Things had gotten worse, but he planned to better them.