Chapter Nine

“Women pirates you is looking for, eh?” Ruby squinted her eyes in the direction of Rosie. “Well I have heard that a whole rabble of them took up alternative employment in the Faithful Bride.” Will and Jack snorted into their third or fourth drafts causing Kate to raise an eyebrow. Ruby continued regardless, “On account of so many pirate ships being run to ground, so to speak.”

Unwilling to let it pass Kate enquired further, a smirk played on Jack’s lips before he sat back against the bench. “The Faithful Bride. There should be a poster in every window, luv. Whilst strolling our malodorous streets, be certain to stop in at The Faithful Bride for a half-decent rum and the best suck in town. Add to that it is apparently overrun by women fresh from a life at sea… Madame Angeline will be doing a swift trade, if I am not mistaken.” Kate coloured just a bit, Jack on his home ground, if he were to have one that was solid, seemed to bring out the very best or the very worst in him, depending on how you looked at it.

Rosie was grinning as she started to rise, “So I should go there then. Perhaps, Will, you would come with me? Show me the way at least?”

“Oh, he doesn’t want to go in there, love,” Ruby was shaking her head most enthusiastically, catching Rosie’s arm in her broad hands.

Her pronouncement brought the same questioning look from Jack and Will, and it was the latter who screwed up his face to ask, “I don’t?”

“No, most definitely. Tell him, Jack.”

Jack started to explain, his hands beginning sentences his mouth didn’t quite seem able to finish, before Ruby rolled her eyes and said it for him. “The French pox, all over it is. It’ll be running rife through there, mark my words.” Rosie couldn’t help it, a rise of a chuckle from the sight of Jack and Will stumbling over words that were all mixed up—“but”, “mouths”, “tongues”, and “Kate is sitting next to me.” Ruby sat forward with a smile, “Straight up the hill, lovely girl, you should be safe enough there, full of women at this time of day.”

“Perfect then, thank you, Ruby,” and with a wink Rosie grinned at Will, bending down to whisper, “See you back here later. Maybe I will pick up… some tips” to which he might just have groaned and sunk down into his seat.

****

In the Governor’s apartment in Port Royal the evening candles were being lit on the enormous crystal chandelier which hung centrepiece in the dining room, figures in black and white darted silently through the room stopping to polish a speck off the silverware or to adjust the fold of the tablecloth. The heavy Caribbean air carried the distant tinkle of the harpsichord and the bass tones of a laughing guffaw from Standish as the small group approached the dining hall.

“Come, come my friend, sit down. I have invited the Commodore to dine with us so that he can hear this plan of yours, get us all on the same wave as it were.” He stopped to allow for Standish’s appreciative bellow before continuing, “We have already begun a campaign to rid these waters of pirates. Our navy is out there as we speak showing no mercy to any that interfere with our shipping lines, and it has been very successful, even though I say so myself. I am, however, intrigued by your suggestions that we may in fact secure the capture of the leaders of these filthy thieves.”

With something of a flourish Standish bowed to the Governor and flicked out the perfectly starched white napkin. This was more like it…what he had expected and doubtless deserved. Standish gave a smug nod to Peawick who sat rather nervously on the edge of the over-padded satin cushioned seat at the other side of the enormous table.

The harder eyes of the Commodore fixed onto Standish. Being a navy man he had heard of this bumptious captain and his unfortunate incident. An imperceptible smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, “I am anxious to hear of your plan, Captain. Preparations will need to be made if we are not to be made fools of...again.” The smallest barb in his voice had a single prickle of sweat sting between the shoulder blades of Captain Standish, but he puffed out his chest all the same.

“I would hope a man of your experience would know how to organise an ambush, Commodore? Now if you will, this is my plan: Have your men round up every man, woman, and child on this island who has sympathies with these pirates, anyone who has bought the rum or cloth or food stolen by them. You do not need to be discriminating, Commodore, the more the merrier, so they say. Stuff your jails full of the scum.” A large glass of wine preceded the twist of a smile, “Then we start to hang them on the battlements…simple and yet effective,” he evidently believed he had delivered a idea worthy of Galileo himself.

The Commodore frowned, “We hang them…on the battlements…?”

There was an uneasy shifting of feet, and Peawick seemed to find the pattern of cut glass suddenly fascinating. But this was just what Standish had wanted—the chance to show his brilliance, his mother had told him that he only had needed a chance to shine. “Have you ever seen a shark, Commodore?”

“I don’t see…”

“They follow the smell of blood, come swarming from miles around at the smallest hint of it in the water carried on the tide. Think, Commodore, about how fast the news will spread to where those pirate bastards are hiding, and that is without accounting for the messengers I will send straight to Tortuga with a clear challenge, ‘20 more to hang every day…Damnation make that 40!…until you come and give yourselves up!’”

The Governor smiled, the premise of the plan fitting well with his own logic. “Round it up to 50, why not? As long as it brings those bitches here too, what do we care?”

“Indeed, Governor! In fact they shall swing the highest.”

The light from the chandelier caught a slice of glass, and Standish was about propose a toast when the Commodore interrupted, “What makes you think that any pirate will come to save the townspeople of Port Royal? Surely they are all blaggards without a shred of honour and morality! You yourself have said, Governor, that Read and Bonny are an affront to human decency! What makes you think that your challenge will be answered?”

Oh, he was enjoying this. Standish sighed in his most dismissive way, “Two words, Commodore…Jack Sparrow.”

***

If his ears were burning Jack didn’t show it, perhaps the tingle there didn’t quite match up to the tingle someplace else. With Kate in his lap his fingers could reach about anywhere he pleased, little nips and stroking kisses along her shoulder had her just where he wanted, wiggling her hips right back into his, and he might have lost focus but for a pulling on his arm. Evidently a man who had no need of a dentist was intent on speaking with him.

“Captain Sparrow, I needs a word in your shell like.”

Jack looked the man up and down and winced a little, the prospect of swapping the steady swirl of his hips against Kate’s as and the excruciating anticipation that was slowly bringing this evening to new heights for the company of this man was hardly appealing. He had already brushed off Turner several times who, with those doe eyes of his, had earnestly tried to have some sort of serious conversation with him. They were in bloody Tortuga, for God’s sake, it could wait. This man, however, smelt of something other than of being too long at sea, so Jack put down his drink. Time to wake up to what he could feel, the air of Tortuga was rank with it, and whatever else he had learned, saying “hello” to that thing with sharp teeth was far better than turning your back on it. It smelt like fear.

“It’s important…we wants to know what you are going to do about it. Seems the navy has been poking around some of the stores…” his voice lowered to a whisper causing Jack to rather reluctantly lean a little closer, “…burned them out! Our livelihoods been ruined, so they have, but worse than that, they are swarming the place. There’s not a merchant ship through the waters that hasn’t got a gun boat with it, we got no chance. The Sea Serpent was taken just 2 days ago off Nassau, every last one of them hanged by the gibbets!” Jack winced and shuddered, nodding to his new drinking partner as he topped off the tankard with the sort of rum this man would not usually have the pleasure of.

Kate looked a little wistfully at the door. She had seen precious little of Tortuga save the inside of this tavern. It seemed, though, that the town was intent on visiting her all the same. When Rosie spilled through the door, a citizen evidently by character if not by birthplace, Kate wasn’t sure if she heard Will moan or curse beside her, she just knew that she drew breath herself.

A blonde with more than her share of curves had her arms and her hands draped over Rosie’s shoulders, the swell in their lips testament to the bruising kisses they had pressed on each other as they stumbled down the hill. Rosie searched the room for Will, a huge smile greeting his slightly stunned grin. “I think I found a crew,” an excited patter as Rosie slid into the bench next to him, “more than one that is.” A slight flush crossed her cheeks and her hand reached to pull the woman down beside her laughing, “Chantelle here thought she would come see me back safe…you know…on account of the place being stuffed to the gunnels with thieves, robbers, and worst still, pirates!”

The slight stiffening of Kate beside him had Will break the moment. “Then I have Chantelle to thank for delivering you back,” and with something of a flourish her took her hand, a light touch of his lips to her fingers.

Chantelle couldn’t resist an over-exaggerated swooning smile, “Aye, well, she did turn down a paid job or two, and the offer of a bed for the night. Said she had a man to come back to...I had to come and see fer myself! There’s not many as would warrant turning down either.” It was Rosie’s turn to blush and she muttered that there was certainly truth in that before swallowing hard.

“Drink to celebrate then, eh? What do you say, Kate? A toast to the finding of women pirates!” The slight hesitancy in Kate’s “salud” was not lost on Rosie as she threw back another tooth-rotting cupful and slid her hand over Will’s thigh. She had other things on her mind. The most immediate of which was how to get back to the Pearl in one piece.

Dodging flying brawls that spilt at every turnout into the street, Rosie discovered, was quite the skill to practice, well that and avoiding the approach of women intent on reintroducing themselves. Will whispered “sorry” for at least the twelfth time as yet another one approached, tall and statuesque with a slightly overly generous mouth that spoke sex and suck all on its own. “Claudette…Rosie…Rosie...Claudette. Fortuitous to see you again, but I really must be on me way, business to attend to…” a quick grin and an unsuccessful attempt to sidestep, unfortunately underestimating the woman’s tenacity.

“Well, so have I, William Turner, and you always come to me first!” With no regard to Rosie at all, the woman’s hands slipped around his body.

Will screwed up his face, “You know, you are completely right...normally that would be the case...of course…but as it happens on this occasion...”

“This time he is coming with me, and I mean that in every possible way you can imagine,” Rosie held Claudette’s slightly stunned gaze and unhooked her long polished nails from his shirt. With a quick grin, they turned and marched further down the cobbled road.

“Masterfully done, lass, but since the woman has a fearsome temper, it is best we make haste.” Rosie’s head went back as her laughter rang out, their steps nevertheless falling into pace together.

“Dangerous place this Tortuga, and that’s before you even get to the women.”

****

There was nothing but black still in the sky when a shout rang over the decks of the Black Pearl, “CAPTAIN! CAPTAIN SPARROW!”

“Poseidon’s plums! If it weren’t for that business of banging the seabed to raise the Kraken, I might get more peace with old Davy Jones.” Jack reluctantly pulled his breeches on, the cold cloth make him shiver, and reluctant as he was to leave the warm sex-cozy tumbled sheets of his dark wood bed, he stepped out to see the sorriest wretch he was ever likely to see being hauled up the steps to the quarterdeck.

Gibbs, looking worse for wear after a night where he hadn’t stopped with the rum, was not much of an improvement, but he had apparently hauled the wretch to the Pearl. “You have to hear this for yourself, Captain.”

“This had better be good, Gibbs…” Already the predawn mist was settling on his bare skin, chilling him to the bone, and Captain Sparrow felt a shot of premonition streak up his spine.

“I am afraid not, Captain. In fact it is very very bad…”

The wretch could hardly speak for losing breath. “Get him some rum!” Jack ordered, and, with a rather distasteful look, sat the man down on the stair next to him.

“It’s all over Tortuga, Captain, well at least it will be by afternoon when the town wakes up.” Gibbs handed over his hip flask. “The Governor of Port Royal has issued a proclamation. All those that supports pirates, by which he means has more sympathy with those that supplies them rather than those that tax them, are to be hung...until such a time as all pirates surrender.”

“A hundred a day to be hanged!” the wretch looked wide eyes straight up at Jack, holding out the flask to be refilled.

Jack’s next question was interrupted by the arrival of Will on deck, closely followed by Rosie struggling to pull on her shirt. “Something’s up!”

“Very astute, Turner…this errr… man here has news from Port Royal.” Turning back, Jack handed back the refilled flask, “If you don’t mind me asking, naturally manners would dictate that I wouldn’t normally question a man’s motives nor indeed his sanity directly, but it seems the time for delicacy has past. Where exactly did you come by this rather less than heart warming news?”

The man fished in his pockets with slightly shaky fingers. “ I came from Port Royal last night, Captain, in a boat, just as the redcoats marched into every tavern in the town pulling men, women, and anyone else they could find off and back to the cells.”

Jack’s eyes narrowed, “And why might I ask was such a fine figure of respectability as yourself allowed to escape said cells?”

The wretch was shaking visibly now, “Because I promised to bring you this…”

Jack Sparrow didn’t let his eyes leave the man’s face as he took and opened the parchment now in his hands. As he started to read Rosie watched the lines of his jaw tense and his fingers tighten, not even the arrival of Kate distracted him from the meticulous study of every last dot and line contained in the one single paragraph. At last he looked up, this time directly at Will and then Kate.

“It is signed by Governor Lawes. It is a copy of a death warrant for the citizens of Port Royal, at least any that bear us no ill will, and it calls on those pirates still operating in the Caribbean to surrender to Standish immediately. The penalty for failure to do so is the enforcing of said warrant, ” his voice that could charm the crows out of the nest, deep now with anger.

Kate was first to react. “He wouldn’t! He can’t! That is illegal…Lawes! That bastard! This is all about revenge, it is utterly unlawful!”

“That maybe true, luv, but I have evidence to the contrary in my hands right now.”

Will could feel Rosie beside him, suddenly wide awake and swaying slightly. “Jack there is something I have been meaning to tell you…well I wasn’t sure if it had any bearing until now.”

“Spit it out, Will” Jack’s mind was already racing through the plans that needed to be made, but he forced himself to listen.

“This Standish…the one that attacked Anne’s ship,” he could feel Rosie let out a small cry at the side of him and reached to steady her, brown eyes searched her face for permission but found just shock, “there’s something else about him, a reason why he went after Anne’s ship…Rosie here.”

 Jack’s brow furrowed, it really was too early for all this, and he circled his hands to indicate that elaboration was the thing that he needed. It came from Rosie’s slightly smaller than usual voice. She held her head up in front of him, and try as she might, and despite that she had only been to school a few times, she couldn’t shake that feeling of standing in front of the teacher, a mix of fear and defiance as she spoke her mind and her history. Jack’s glance to Kate said it all—the egos and pricks of men dictated their fates, all of them. Standish and Lawes were the perfect pair, they might have been brothers weaned at the same teat of privilege and impunity.

At last he turned to Will a light touch on Rosie’s shoulder that almost broke her. “Did you have a plan as to when you were to tell me this?”

Will squinted back, just a little test of the water, “You ever tried interrupting yourself, Jack?”

There was a small silence while Jack ran through some memories, a little pout or a nod here and there, before he smiled, “Many times, Will my lad, and it has never worked yet...as these scars will attest!” the evidence all to clear on his bare chest. “Now, I feel a idea forming. Kate, come with me into my cabin, unfortunately to apply your brilliant brain instead of your fingers. Gibbs, get us ready to sail…and Will I will need you after you have seen to it that Rosie here has stopped shivering, a task for which I hear you are most suited,” a wink and Jack Sparrow was off, his hands already forming a whole plan of action.

“Captain’s orders,” Will’s arms circled round the shoulders that were held tense against the cold and her tears.

“This is my fault, Will.”

She felt herself being swung round to face him, he had to bend to catch her eyes. Will Turner, he was just bigger somehow than his quiet voice and his gentle hands would have you believe, and Rosie felt him tip her chin. “No Rosie, it is more than you, me, maybe even more than Jack.” An attempt at a smile from them both and she let him lead her back to his cabin. His knees were against hers, cross-legged on the bunk, blunt fingers curling into her hair and thumbs touching her cheeks “Don’t cry…Oh come on lass now, don’t cry.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? Tell me it was Standish that nearly sunk us?”

His mouth pressed against her forehead and she reached to slip her hands under his shirt to that smooth strong chest, the warmth of his body felt like the only thing she had.

“I thought it was just a coincidence…and if it wasn’t then I could sort it out somehow.” His hands held her head as he lifted it up to kiss her, the slightest shake of her head to his offer that needed no words.

“There is no such thing as coincidence, Will. They are ALWAYS out to get us.”

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