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The Sacking of Port Royal
by TortugaBlack

CHAPTER 9: Aboard the Pearl

“To my cabin,” Sparrow ordered curtly and moved toward the stern, his gait in time with the roll of his ship. Behind him the young couple struggled to find the balance that came so easily to the man they followed. Just short of the quarterdeck, a set of stairs took them down to a narrow companionway where they were led to a closed door and motioned into the captain’s quarters.

Stepping into the gallery that made up a large portion of the cabin, an unexpected shiver coursed Elizabeth’s spine. In the center of the room stood the large table where only a short time before she had partaken of a meal in the presence of the Pearl’s former captain, the cursed Barbossa. Instead of the feast that had graced the table at her last visit, it now stood empty of food except for a bowl of apples placed haphazardly in the center of the great slab of aged wood.

At the far end of the table a waggoner stood open, displaying detailed maps of the cays south of Gallows Point. Scattered out from the waggoner, leaving little room for the table’s more conventional use, lay various navigational tools, some she recognized from her few sea travels, others she knew only from descriptions in the books she had read throughout her childhood. The names for each came with remembered familiarity to the various items spread out before her, the dividers, a lodestone, backstaff, and an astronomical compendium. She reached out and gently touched an aged sheet of parchment she knew to be a volvelle for calculating the tides from the phases of the moon.

Walking to the head of the table, Jack Sparrow watched Elizabeth with amusement. “Take a seat, luv, but I’d ask that you not be messing with any of my calculations.” He pointed to another high-backed, heavily carved chair. “Will.” Sitting across from each other, the couple exchanged smiles, than turned their attention to the captain of the Black Pearl.

“Over a week ago, maybe more, Commodore Norrtington and his fine ship were seen under full sail in the Straits on a north-northeast course with what was said to be more crew then needed even for a ship the size of the Dauntless.” The darkly lined eyes settled firmly on the young woman seated to his right. “Where would the commodore be off to, Miss Swann?”

Elizabeth felt the first brushings of unease as Sparrow’s gaze found and held hers. She had seen that cold unreadable look only twice, neither to be forgotten. The trickster, the clown in Jack Sparrow was gone and in their place stood a pirate, bloodied by his deeds and not asking for information, but demanding it.

Elizabeth cast a brief glance across the table where Will Turner watched her anxiously. He expects me to tell Jack where Norrington’s gone! She realized with a sudden feeling of betrayal.

“Miss Swann.” The hard edge in the voice was not to be denied.

Returning her gaze reluctantly to the man at the head of the table, Elizabeth quickly organized her thoughts, scrambling hurriedly through the information she had and wondering if any of it was likely to be a betrayal on her part if it was willingly given up.

“He and my father have gone to take possession of a new ship for the Port Royal fleet,” she offered carefully.

“In Deptfort?”

This time she hesitated too long.

“No,” Will Turner interjected into the silence. “The northern colonies. The British Navy has shipyards on James Island off the shore of the Carolinas.”

Jack Sparrow stiffened noticeably. The reason behind the Dauntless’ departure, her direction of travel, the additional crew, and the knowledge that Port Royal was lacking the services of the Interceptor had all pointed to a trip to acquire another ship for Norrington’s pirate hunts and the protection of the area. But the news that the Dauntless was bound for the northern colonies and not Europe worried him.

“Your father’s aboard?”

Elizabeth straightened. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“A formality only,” she answered without hesitation, seeing no harm in the information. “As the representative for the Island of Jamaica as well as Port Royal, he will officially undersign for the ship to serve in the Caribbean.”

Sparrow fell silent, mentally calculating the distances, currents and weather conditions likely to be encountered on the way to the newly disclosed destination of Port Royal’s man-o-war. If all were in a sailor’s favor, the Dauntless could have reached her destination and could now be on her way homeward. With so many variables it would be almost impossible to guess at her progress. But he knew Norrington would be bleeding every knot he could from the Dauntless on a race back to Port Royal, and the Interceptor’s replacement would likely be more than capable of meeting and surpassing the big man-o-war’s speed.

“Jack, Norrington’s not going to waste any time getting back,” Will interjected, voicing the pirate’s concerns aloud. “We have no way of knowing where he sails at present.”

“The Dauntless, what was her condition following the fight with Barbossa’s crew of miscreants?”

“She had damage,” Will admitted, missing the surprised concern that flashed across the features of the young woman seated across from him. “She required major iron and wood work prior to her departure.”

“When she sailed?”

“She was fit.”

“Ahhh.” Jack looked down at the table, his thoughts again on the accord he’d made with Hayes. “Another day is all we need.” Even less, he reasoned, if all went according to plan. For the attack planned on Port Royal the chances would now be far too risky if they had included sailing the Pearl into Port Royal’s harbor. Once again his instincts had served him well.

“I was unaware of her destination at the time, but the Dauntless sailed fully armed and her holds filled with powder and shot. It makes sense now. The coastal waters of the northern colonies have become the hunting grounds for pirates and profiteers from the New World. Norrington would go expecting – and prepared for – trouble,” Will commented again failing to notice the effect of his words on the governor’s daughter. She had visibly stiffened with disapproval. “He’ll be no less cautious on his return trip.”

Sparrow’s expression was one of deep concern. The information was troubling, but again he reminded himself it would be naught after another twenty-four hours. But it was information best to be had by those smart enough to respect the Dauntless and the obsession of her commander. Young Turner was right; upon his return, Norrington would have two ships under his command and their crews alert and ready for trouble. None of this could be taken any other way but seriously.

Her presence momentarily forgotten by the two men, Elizabeth Swann struggled with what she witnessed before her. Will Turner. Jack Sparrow. She looked from first one to the other. A discussion that could be considered treasonous flowed easily and with equal interest and purpose between them. Whatever Jack Sparrow was planning, Will Turner was a willing participant. Jack Sparrow was a pirate. She shifted her attention across the table towards the other and her eyes reflected her heart. This was the man she loved. The man she wanted to marry and build a life with. By his own words he had admitted that his father, himself a pirate, had sailed under Sparrow’s flag. What now was Will Turner?

Jack Sparrow ­– Captain Jack Sparrow – of the pirate galley, the Black Pearl, a no-nonsense weapon of war. Both pirate and ship a threat against everything she had been raised to hold dear. Her eyes roamed toward the man standing at the head of the table. The Pearl’s captain was an enigma to those who had not seen what lay hidden beneath the many layers of subterfuge; Elizabeth Swann had seen what lay there and it frightened her. She harbored no illusions; Jack Sparrow was a dangerous man.

Could Will Turner have any idea of the danger he seemed so willingly to embrace? What would it take to pull the man she loved into a life of piracy from which there could be no return? Her blood ran cold with the reality of it and in her mind she imagined his body hanging at Gallows Point. Was this to be the course of his life, a life she had promised to share?

She lowered her head in sorrow for the direction their lives might take if Will Turner raised another weapon against Norrington or the British Navy. He would not be forgiven again. He would be outlawed and forever denied to her. Determination straightened her shoulders. She had to talk to Will. She had to know what was being planned and his part in those plans.

She swept an angry look in the pirate’s direction. Jack Sparrow was a man who had proven he would fight for what he wanted and take what he considered his at any risk. She suspected if he wanted Will Turner to step into the position left by his father, Bootstrap Bill Turner, as his right hand, it would happen. She could already see the camaraderie growing between the two men and the thought chilled her.

The line along her jaw tightened. No, she vowed. Before Jack Sparrow won that round, he would have to face her. As if sensing her challenge, the cold unreadable gaze of the pirate settled on her and the hairs on the back of her neck rose. She had seen that look before and had unwillingly backed away from it as she had upon seeing the brutal scars boldly displayed over his hard wiry body. She toughened her resolve. “I would like to know why the information regarding the commodore and the Dauntless’ whereabouts is of importance to you, Captain Sparrow?” she interjected coldly.

“Important?” The hooded eyes, which found and locked to hers, never wavered. “The information in and of itself has no importance, Miss Swann.” The voice was a hard fist gloved in velvet. “But to disregard its possible importance would be foolish.”

“It seemed important enough to take me from my bed in the dead of night and bring Will from his.” She shifted her attention to Turner. “What does he want you to do, Will? Why are we here?”

“Miss Swann,” Jack Sparrow interrupted, still pinning her with his gaze. “You are here at Mister Turner’s request and he at mine.” He shifted his attention back to a noticeably uneasy blacksmith. “Ana Maria is waiting outside, mate, would you invite her in?”

Will nodded and got to his feet. A moment later, the Pearl’s only female crewman pushed past him to pause at the foot of the table, her slender womanly body hidden in the loose baggy breeches and rough linen shirt of a seaman. “Captain?”

Not taking his eyes from the governor’s daughter, Sparrow continued. “While you are on the Pearl, missy, you will have free run of the ship. However,” he emphasized the word carefully. “Should you be ordered below I will expect you to go at once to the cabin next to mine and stay there ­– unseen and silent – until told otherwise.” He held her gaze for a long moment before shifting his attention to the young woman standing ill at ease before him. “Ana Maria, show her to the quartermaster’s cabin and see if clothes can be found to better conceal Miss Swann’s…more desirable and womanly assets.”

Still pinned under his scrutiny, Elizabeth Swann thrust her chin out in defiance. “These clothes…” she started, then fell silent before the tremble in her voice betrayed her anger at Sparrow’s assumption of his authority over her.

“…Are finely suited for a gentleman of fashion, to be sure,” Sparrow interrupted with a flash of a smile and an admiring eye to the tightly fitted white breeches. “But a man’s clothes do not in truth make a man, luv, and those you wear are not likely to allow you to pass as one under a man’s scrutiny.”

“Elizabeth…” Will cautioned, too late sensing a flare of female temper about to erupt.

“And why am I to be hidden away, Captain? If I am a prisoner, why am I to be given a cabin and not the brig?” She silenced Turner with a disappointed glare only to be met by a frown and a shake of his head in what she interpreted as an attempt to halt her angry words. She ignored them. “I demand to know why I am aboard this vessel, Captain.”

Sparrow ducked his head in a mocking bow, but his eyes remained on hers. “You are in no position to make demands, luv.” A flash of gold and an amused flicker in the dark eyes touched on the humor of the moment, but was quickly damped. “As the daughter of Port Royal’s governor, I will grant you the choice of accepting my hospitality as a guest while aboard the Pearl – or be shown the inside of my brig and be treated as ransom. Either way, darlin’, you will follow my orders, savvy?”

Having made his point, Sparrow addressed his quartermaster, purposely ignoring the angry young woman seated to his right. “Ana Maria, when you leave, would you send Mr. Gibbs to me and after Miss Swann is properly attired, I’ll leave it to you to see that she’s made familiar with the quickest way from topside to the quartermaster’s cabin.”

“Mister Gibbs is waiting outside, Captain. He said you would be callin’ him,” Ana Maria replied.

“Mister Turner, show in Mister Gibbs. Crewman, you’re dismissed.” He flashed a quick glance in Elizabeth’s direction. “Miss Swann.”

Dismissed and sensing the serious intent in Sparrow’s demeanor should she attempt to disobey his orders, Elizabeth shot Will Turner a silent plea; he merely nodded, distracted by thoughts or worries she could only guess at. Until she had a chance to talk with him and find out what was going on, there was nothing more she could do unless she wanted to test Sparrow’s resolve. Deciding against that particular course of action, she followed Ana Maria out, stepping aside to allow Gibbs past.

Waiting until the cabin door had closed, Sparrow turned to his first mate. “I leave it to you, Mister Gibbs, to talk to every man jack of this crew and impress upon them that it’s the captain’s wishes that they not speak of Miss Swann’s presence among themselves or to any other who might come aboard the Pearl at rendezvous. Do I make myself clear, Mister Gibbs?”

“Aye, Cap’n,” Gibbs replied as if the thought of such a secret was already giving him heartburn.

“I have given Miss Swann the freedom of the ship while we are under sail. However, it will be your responsibility to see that she is berthed in the quartermaster’s cabin at the first sign of sails – be they friendly or otherwise.”

“It be a nursemaid to the governor’s daughter you be making me, Cap’n?” Gibbs complained weakly.

A touch of humor sparked in Sparrow’s solemn expression. “Mister Gibbs, knowing your concern regarding the superstitions of having another woman aboard the Pearl, I can think of none better qualified for the job.”

Dismissing the unhappy first mate, Sparrow stopped the young blacksmith who had reached the cabin door intent on following Gibbs out. “Mister Turner, are you satisfied with your lady’s accommodations and are in accord with the orders I’ve given on her behalf?”

“Yes,” Will replied hurriedly. “But I should to go to her. She’ll have questions I need to answer.”

“It will have to wait, mate. We have more pressing matters.”