Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 15 of Tortured. I want to thank those who have left reviews. It really does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this story and this series. I hope to have my other series dealing with Pirates of the Caribbean will be out with new chapters soon. I hope that you guys enjoy this next chapter. Without further ado Chapter 15. ENJOY!

Chapter 15

Rose sat in her chair resting her head on her fist looking over to Barbossa who was trying to regain the order of the court.

Barbassa stepped up on the table. "It was the first Court what imprisoned Calypso! We shall be the ones to set her free! And, in her gratitude, she will see fit to grant us boons!"

"Or at least grant 'em to the one of us who summoned the rest of us and connived all of us to set her free." Jack explained.

Barbossa glared at Jack as the other pirates eyed him suspiciously.

"It's not impossible. Is it so improbable?"

"If you have a better alternative, please, share."

"Cuttlefish. Nasty little buggers. Pen 'em up together, and they'll devour each other without a second thought. So, yes, we could hole up here, well-provisioned and well-armed, and half of us will be dead within the month, and half of the other half dead the month after that. Or, we can release Calypso, and we can pray she'll be in a merciful mood. But can we pretend that she is anything other than a woman scorned, like which fury hell hath no? No, we cannot. Res ipso loquitur, tabula in naufragi, we are left with only one option. I agree with - Captain Swann: we must fight."

"You've always run away from a fight!"

"Slander and calumny! I have only ever embraced that oldest, noblest of all pirate traditions. My fellow mariners and shellbacks, I submit that here, now, that is what we all must do. We must fight to run away!"

"Aye!" Gibbs shouted.

"Here, here!" Joccard said.

"And what be target of this fight, eh?" Mistress Ching questioned looking around the room.

"Lord Cutler Beckett." James said finally voicing himself for the first time in a while. He was nervous of the whole thing of speaking up.

"Beckett is nought but a cog. Kill him, another takes his place. Like Jones, the East India Trading Company is immortal. It has no body to kick nor soul to damn." Chavette said shaking his head.

"Ah, but Jones does have a body, doesn't he? Such as it is." Jack pointed out.

"Yes! And should we kick it hard enough and long enough …" Jocard said before getting cut off.

"If the Dutchman has no captain … what matters the Dutchman?" Ammand questioned

Barbossa banged the cannon ball to get the attention of the room once again. "As per the Code ... an act of war, and this be exactly that, can only be declared by the Pirate King."

Jack looked at Barbossa. "You made that up."

"Did I now? I call on Captain Teague, Keeper of the Code!" Barbossa grinned seeing Jack's expression.

"Sri Sumbhajee proclaims this be folly. We are not beholden to those ancient, outdated set of laws! Hang the Code! Are we not free to -"

A pistol shot rang out and Akshay stiffened before falling over dead.

Rose looked over to see Captain Teague standing there with a smoking pistol in his hand.

"The Code is the law." Teague said his hand on the butt of his second pistol, he stared at Sumbhajee.

Sumbhajee gestured to Pusan to step into Ashay's place.

"Sri Sambhajee explains that a great misunderstanding has occurred, and avers that indeed the Code is the Law."

Jack stood between Teague and the table.

"You're in my way, boy."

Jack turned to look at him before stepping aside as two pirates carried a Lock manuscript into the room.

"The Code!" Pintel said in awe.

"As set forth by Morgan and Bartholomew!"

Teague whistled and a dog ran into the room with a key ring in his mouth.

"That can't be the same pooch, can it?"

"Sea turtles, mate." Teague said taking the key and unlocked the book before opening it. He licked his fingers and began to go through the book. "... compensation ... left leg, above knee ... shooting customs agents … rum drinks ... ah." He looked up from the book. "Barbossa is right." He goes to the shut the book but Jack stopped him.

Jack read the passage himself. "It be the duties of the King to declare war, parley with shared

adversaries, co-ordinate forces ..." Fancy that."

Rose pursed her lips together in worry. So there was to be a king. It would just have to come down to figuring out how to do it.

"There's not been a King since the first court, and that's not likely to change." Chivalle said shaking his head.

"Why not?" Elizabeth asked confused.

"See, the king is elected by popular vote -" Gibbs explained.

"And each pirate only ever votes for hisself." Barbossa said smugly.

"I call for a vote!" Jack called out.

"I vote for Ammand the Corsair." He said with a raise of his hand.

"Capitaine Chevalle, the penniless Frenchman."

"Sri Sumbhajee declares for Sri Sumbhajee." Pursan said.

"Mistress Ching."

"Gentleman Jocard."

"Rose Swann."

"Barbossa."

"Vallenueva."

"Rose Swann." Jack said firmly placing his vote with the elder Swann sister.

Rose turned her attention to Jack with wide eyes.

"Done."

Arguing from the other pirates shouted across the room.

"Ah. Am I to understand, then, that we will not keep to code?" Jack questioned looking at the group.

One of Teague's mandolin strings break.

The lords exchanged glances to each other.

"Very well. What say you, Captain Swann, King of the Brethren Court?" Mistress Ching questioned looking at the blonde haired young woman.

Rose bit her lip softly before squaring her shoulders.

James watched with a nervous look. His finacee was entering into a world something dangerous and he was worried about what was to happen. It scared him to know that they were going to do something dangerous. But he was willing to fight.

"Prepare every vessel that can float. At dawn, we are at war." Rose said firmly.

"And so we shall go to war!"

"War!"

Rose slowly moved back from the meeting knowing that it had come to an end.

Elizabeth looked at her older sister. "Are you sure that you want to do this?"

Rose let out a breath. "We don't have much of a choice in the matter. If we don't do anything everyone will fall to Beckett and that is the last thing that we want."

Elizabeth nodded her head. "Where did you find him?" She asked gesturing to James who was looking around nervously.

"He was on the Dutchman." Rose said softly crossing her arms.

"He betrayed us?"

"He realized what he has done and is working to fix it." Rose said softly. "He doesn't expect forgiveness for what he had done…"

"But he deserves it." Elizabeth said softly. "I'm sure that he was trying to do the right thing."

"He did the right thing by freeing us…"

Elizabeth nodded her head slowly. "That sounds like he did the right thing in the end."

"He did."

"And you still love him."

"More than he will ever know."

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This is the end of Chapter 15. I hope that you enjoyed this latest chapter of Tortured. I tried my best to write this chapter out. We now have Rose as King of the Breathern Court. I can't wait to write how James feels about this whole thing. I hope that this chapter turned out well. The sisters are reunited once again. Please leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter. Reviews help me keep going when it comes to writing out chapters. I hope to have the next part out soon. Until next time.