Fine Men, Chapter 3
A Fine Thing
by
Full headers in Chapter 1
"Jack!"
The man addressed turned from the bar with a questioning look. "William, good to see you, lad. Have some rum."
"Jack, I've got to talk to you," Will said in a hushed voice, looking around the Tortuga tavern.
Jack frowned. "What's wrong? Something with Elizabeth?"
"No, Jack, come on, we can't talk here. Let's go to the Pearl," Will insisted.
Now Jack looked distinctly concerned. With narrowed eyes he threw back the rest of his rum and chipped a coin at the bartender. "Let's go then."
As soon as they stepped foot on the ship, Jack turned to Will. "Now what's so important that I had to leave a perfectly..."
"Jack, the Victory has been destroyed," Will said urgently. Jack looked at him blankly, so Will continued. "The new British First Rate. It arrived at Port Royal last month and was on its christening sail when it was attacked."
The captain started to frown. "By whom?"
"Pirates!" Will said impatiently. "Who else? A group of three ships together. The Victory shot down two of them, but was too damaged to finish the third. After it was boarded and pillaged, the pirates sank her within sight of the Port Royal harbor."
"I imagine the commodore was quite put out," Jack commented, brow still furrowed.
"I imagine he was, considering he was on the Victory," Will said sharply.
Jack froze and his breath caught. "Is... is he..."
Will studied him suspiciously for a moment. "As far as we know, he's alive. Some the survivors of the Victory reported he was taken captive along with the other officers. That was a week ago, and we've received no ransom, no explanation."
"William," Jack said hoarsely, swallowing hard. "They're most likely dead." He flinched as soon as the words were out of his mouth.
"Jack. Elizabeth thought you would want to help find the commodore, being as how the two of you seem to have struck a truce and become unlikely friends," Will said.
Jack was silent for a long moment before nodding. "Quite right." He turned away sharply and started yelling for the crew to make themselves useful. He ordered them to get the ship underway and returned to Will.
"You'd best be off, William. I'll do my best to bring back the esteemed commodore," Jack said, all business.
"I'm coming with you, Jack. Elizabeth wanted to be here, but her father threatened to tie her to a dining room chair to keep her there. So she sent me," Will said.
Jack nodded. "Very well. Tell me where that ship was last sighted." The pirate's eyes glinted dangerously.
Will guided them to just outside Port Royal, then to the subsequent sighting locations. The Black Pearl stopped off a seaside village as Jack studied a hand-drawn map.
"Now... where would I go?" Jack murmured. He drew his finger along the sea lines until it stopped at a small outcropping off a larger island. He tapped his finger on that spot. Then he straightened.
"Gibbs!" the pirate called out. "Make for Sterret Cove!"
"Sterret Cove, Sterret Cove, burnt to the ground, Sterret Cove," the parrot squawked.
"Burnt to the ground?" Will asked.
"By Barbossa," Gibbs said, stopping next to them. "One of his first acts as Captain. No one's been there since, Jack."
"Exactly," the captain answered. He folded his arms and looked out over the sea with calculating eyes.
"Guide me true, my beloved lady," Jack murmured to the sea.
~~~~
Sterret Cove was indeed a bleak and unwelcoming place with an ashy beach, stunted, dead trees and little vegetation. The cliffs rose high, sheltering what should have been a lush bolt hole but for the devastation wreaked upon it by Barbossa.
James looked out from under the meager shelter where he was bound alongside Gillette and Groves. They sprawled on the dirt, their wrists tightly fastened to a pole driven into the ground. All they could do was watch the pirates carouse.
Closing his eyes and laying his head against the pole, James tried to rest. At least he was moderately comfortable, having been stripped of his hat, wig and jacket, all of which now adorned various pirates who danced about a roaring fire.
Gillette stirred next to him, pained by a leg injury. "How are you doing, Thomas?" James asked.
The lieutenant snorted. "I'd be better in a feather bed, James." The three men, by James's insistence, had given up on titles after their first few days of captivity.
"We'd all be better off in a feather bed. Preferably a warmed feather bed," George Groves muttered.
James snorted while Thomas laughed. They'd made a pact to keep their spirits up. They weren't dead after all. Yet. The commodore looked out over the dark beach to the black sea. Although he wouldn't admit it, he knew what, who, he was waiting for. As much as he doubted it would happen, in its own twisted logic, it did make sense.
Elizabeth would have seen the battle and heard the recount of the survivors. Unable to affect a rescue on her own, she would send beloved husband William off to find dear friend Captain Jack Sparrow, and the young man would convince the pirate—privateer, he corrected with a roll of his eyes—that he should find and rescue the poor commodore and return him hale and healthy to Port Royal.
This was assuming Elizabeth cared as much as she seemed to; and this was assuming William cared enough to do as Elizabeth demanded.
This was assuming Jack cared at least a little bit about the man who was coming to think of him as a friend. Possibly a good friend. A fine man.
James sighed and closed his eyes. He spent quite a bit of time each evening trying to decide what he really thought about him. It was hard to separate his feelings about Captain Jack Sparrow the pirate and Jack the friend.
Reopening his eyes, James knew it would be a long night, another in a string of them, where he, Thomas, and George alternately slept and told tales to keep each other from losing hope.
Little did he know there were two men not far away trying to do the same thing.
~~~~
"What if they're dead, Jack?"
The pirate looked up from the table where he was making a battle plan that would work for them to invade Sterret Cove. "Think positive, Will," Jack said shortly.
"You seem out of sorts, Jack. I would have thought this challenge would interest you," Will said.
Jack stared down at the list, his thumb moving over it. "Interest me. Yes. It interests me." He looked up at Will and a cheering look abruptly appeared on his face. "Fear not, William, we shall rescue the dashing commodore and return him to the adoring masses of Port Royal."
"Did you know he's engaged to marry?"
The captain's hand jerked and knocked over the ink well, and Jack scrambled to right it before too much ink spilled.
"Marry?" Jack asked, astounded.
"Well, I believe so. Elizabeth said he'd escorted a woman to a social event, and the woman told her later that she'd finally succeeded in capturing Commodore Norrington, where none of the other ladies had," Will explained.
Jack tipped his head to one side. He didn't look at all happy.
"Jack? You're acting awfully odd," Will said.
"Ah... just thinking, William. Thinking about our course of action. Mustn't get the commodore killed if we're to return him to his future blushing bride." There was an odd bite to Jack's voice.
Will nodded. "All right. I just hope he's not dead already."
Jack turned his back on Will and walked to the long, wide windows that looked out at the sea. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "As do I," he murmured. "As do I."
~~~~
The next morning the same sun shone on the Black Pearl and Sterret Cove, though they might as well have been across the world from each other.
"They're not going to have to kill us," George groaned. "We're going to roast instead."
James kept plodding along, helping pull the heavy driftwood they'd found down the beach. A pirate stood watch over them from a perch above, pistol ready. Not that there was anywhere to go. James squinted and looked down the beach to check on Thomas, who had been left with his bum leg to mend sail. The lieutenant appeared to be fine.
"Think of it as good exercise, George," James said distractedly as he studied as much of the camp as he could.
"James, I haven't exercised this much since I was a midshipman," George complained.
James looked back at the other sweat-soaked man. Both their uniforms were an absolute mess, torn and muddied and bloodied, their shirts partway unbuttoned. James's jacket was gone altogether, having been appropriated by one of their captors. While George's blond hair was close cut, James's dark hair had curled when first loosed to the wet, salty air, and had stayed that way, hanging around his face.
The commodore cracked a smile. "That explains the extra about your middle then."
George spluttered and kicked at James's rear end as they both laughed and pulled the wood along. James was still smiling when they got back to Thomas.
"What are you two laughing about?" Thomas asked crossly.
"James said I'm fat!" George said in an offended voice.
Thomas tipped his head to one side. "I wouldn't say fat. I'd say a little extra about the middle."
James collapsed into the sand laughing, not caring that they were drawing attention from the few sober pirates about. George sat down hard next to Thomas with his face set petulantly. The commodore snorted at seeing that face and started laughing all over again.
Thomas chuckled. "Well, James, I must say it's wonderful to see you like this, even if it is in such terrible circumstances."
"Like what?" James asked, still smiling from where he lolled in the sand.
"Like this," Thomas gestured between the three of them. "Not so stuck up."
Those exact words coming from another man's mouth echoed in James's mind. Jack. His face settled into a small, wistful smile. "We are not all so lucky to live in such a manner," he said, echoing himself.
"Why not?" George asked. "Just because you're a commodore doesn't mean you can't live your life instead of just existing in it."
The parallels sent a jolt of awareness through James. "Live my life," he murmured.
"James. We won't always have the choice," Thomas said gently. "Things like this." He gestured around them. "They happen, and the choice is taken out of our hands. Better to have made them and had joy of them."
The commodore sat up and looked around them. The pirates seemed to be ignoring them for now. He looked back at the two lieutenants sitting near him. "What choices have you made?" he asked, curious.
When Thomas and George immediately glanced to each other, James's eyes widened. Thomas blushed, even despite his high color from the sun. George looked uncomfortable.
"I see," James said, a little shell-shocked before he shook himself. "A fine choice, I must say."
Both men looked at the commodore. "A fine choice," George echoed.
James nodded and smiled faintly. "Are you happy?" he asked them.
Both men smiled, and Thomas patted George's knee discreetly.
James huffed in surprise. "Well. I suppose I'll have to think more carefully about my choices."
"I thought maybe you had a few months ago," George said.
James raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean?"
"There was a day you didn't come to the fort, and you weren't at home, either," George said. "We thought about going looking for you, but when we asked after you at the Governor's house, Mrs. Turner said you were off visiting a friend."
James remembered. It was the day he'd spent on the Black Pearl. It seemed ages ago, that single stolen day, which was now a treasured memory.
"When you came back the next day in better spirits than we'd seen you in such a long time, we'd hoped..." Thomas said.
"We'd hoped you'd found someone," George finished.
James blinked at them, inwardly shocked that he wasn't more surprised when he connected their thoughts with his own about that day. He supposed he could see why they would think that.
He had stored several images away that day, a large number of them featuring Jack. Jack mending sail and giving orders to the crew. Jack gnawing on jerky and talking about the Black Pearl with his wild gesticulations. Jack grinning as they crossed swords. Jack leaning calmly on the rail with the wind blowing through his hair, sending the trinkets braided therein to tinkling.
James shook his head slowly. "Just a good day with a friend," he murmured.
"That, too, is a fine thing," Thomas allowed.
James considered the blue sky above. "A fine thing, indeed," he said softly.
George and Thomas spoke quietly to one another as James let his mind wander right back to Jack. He wondered if the Black Pearl was on the sea today, riding the cresting waves under the hot sun. She was a gorgeous ship—were James a pirate, he would certainly covet her. Looking above, he could almost see her sailing upon the blue sky in the shape of a white cloud.
Her captain would be at the helm, the indomitable Captain Jack Sparrow, a man who had seemed to take it upon himself to transform James into a better man. James smiled softly. A fine man. A pirate reforming a commodore. No one would ever believe it.
He happened to turn his head toward the cliffs, his eyes somewhat unfocused, but movement caught his attention. James blinked several times when he saw men rappelling down the cliff. He frowned and closed his eyes, then reopened them. Yes. Men rappelling down the cliffs.
He sat up in a rush, but made himself still right away.
"James?" Thomas asked with a frown.
"Do not, and I mean absolutely do not turn around," James said quietly. "I think a rescue is in progress." He curled his hand into a fist in the sand.
George's eyes widened and he stayed resolutely face forward. "Who is it?"
James shook his head slowly until he saw a parrot fly over the camp, and he started to smile. "Pirates," he said, hardly able to believe it was true. He'd hoped...
"Pirates?" Thomas hissed.
James looked at the lieutenants apologetically while his smile continued to grow. "I apologize. Privateers," he corrected himself.
Both men stared at him blankly. James, Commodore Norrington, had a broad, silly smile on his face. About privateers.
"Do you think he's sun sick?" Thomas whispered.
"Could be," George said sadly. "What a shame."
"Funny. Very funny. Now get up so we can get more driftwood. We're going that way," James said, pointing down the beach that would lead them past the camp.
"That way? It would take us right toward..." Thomas stopped as he looked at James's lifted eyebrow. "Right you are, James. Let's go that way."
They were in front of the camp when a pirate raised the alarm and all hell broke loose.
James pushed George and Thomas behind him, urging them along. "George, get Thomas around the bend to safety," he ordered before taking off toward the nearest pirate.
"James—James!" Thomas called after him as George helped him along. "George, he's going to get himself killed!"
George glanced over his shoulder to see James neatly trip a pirate and take his sword, thumping him atop the head with the hilt and leaving the man senseless on the ground. "He's got a sword, he's fine," he said. "Let's go. I'm not losing you now."
James ran into the shambles of a camp, fighting as he went along. The real pirates swarmed all over, trying to protect themselves and their booty while the rescuing privateers focused on securing the area. He had to stop to fight one, then two pirates at once, and James growled as he took them all down fairly quickly. He was more than annoyed to have been held captive for so long, so he put that aggression to good use.
The fray closed about him and he had to fight closer and dirtier to avoid finding himself at the end of a sword. James dispatched a pirate by kicking him into the cooking fire, and another by slashing his arm badly enough the man couldn't hold his sword.
James was trying to fight his way through to a particular tent, where he knew the pirates kept their black powder and firearms. He heard pistol shot and hoped it was the privateers. But then he saw one of the bastards who'd dragged him here lift a pistol to shoot at someone across the camp, and James charged him with an angry yell, bowling him over just in time to send the bullet awry.
He had to grapple with the bigger man to get the pistol, and when the pirate tried to hit him, James smacked him across the face with the butt, knocking him unconscious. "Wish I could do that to all you bastards," James muttered as he grabbed the pistol and the sword and climbed up to join the fighting again.
Meanwhile, Will found George and Thomas on the beach.
"Where's the commodore?" Will asked.
"He went to fight," Thomas said, pointing back to the camp.
"Keep going, you two. The Pearl is aways further around the bend, and there's a longboat waiting. The men there will help you." Will took off to rejoin the fight.
"Was that Miss Swann's husband?" George asked.
"That's Mrs. Turner's husband," Thomas corrected.
"Mrs. Turner who was Miss Swann who married Mr. Turner instead of James?" George asked, just to be clear.
"Yes, exactly."
"And now Mr. Turner is here to rescue us,"
"Apparently."
"Quite a woman, Miss Swann, I mean, Mrs. Turner, to send her current husband after her ex-fiancée," George said, just to be clear.
"Not just her current husband. If Mr. Turner is here, Captain Jack Sparrow isn't far behind."
George and Thomas stopped to look at one another for a long moment, remembering the silly grin on James's face. Then they shook their heads and spoke in concert.
"Nah," George said.
"Preposterous," Thomas agreed.
"Absurd," George said.
"Unbelievable," Thomas agreed.
"Laughable," George said.
"Could never happen," Thomas agreed.
They looked at one another significantly before starting to hobble along the beach once more.
James kicked another pirate out of the way and careened into another man, and when he flung himself around, his sword was blocked—by one Mr. William Turner.
"Commodore! We've come to rescue you!" Will exclaimed.
"So I see, Mr. Turner." James paused to slash out and disarm a pirate creeping up at Will's side, then shoved the pirate back hard enough that he stumbled and smacked the back of his skull against a dead tree truck. The man slid to the ground, knocked clean out.
"Come on, the Pearl is this way," Will said, taking James's arm.
James didn't move. "Where's Jack?" he asked.
Will shrugged and waved out at the fight going on around them. "He's here somewhere, he'll meet us back at the Pearl along with everyone else."
James paused for only as long as it took to draw a breath. "Go. Go and tell the rest of the crew to pull out and make for the Black Pearl. I'll find Jack."
Will met his eyes and saw something there that surprised him. "All right, Commodore. Be careful."
Will took off once again into the dying fight while James ran toward the back of the camp. He had to fight a few more straggling pirates along the way. Then he turned a rough corner to see a vicious fight between four men—three on one.
The one dispatched two fairly well, but the third got around on him, and having his prey backed up against the cliff, the pirate slashed his sword down and knocked the similar weapon out of the one's hand. Jack's hand.
The pirate snarled evilly and raised his sword to kill Jack as the black-haired pirate-turned-privateer faced him, obviously knowing he had nowhere to go.
Then the attacking pirate gulped and scowled and looked down in disbelief at the sword point protruding from his chest. With a gurgle he fell to his knees and collapsed, leaving Jack and James staring at one another.
Slowly, Jack smiled. "James."
James tipped his head to one side. In an ironic twist, he said, "Jack. It's about time you got here."
Jack stared at him for a moment before suddenly lurching back to life. "Oh, you know, places to see, people to do and all that. Decided to have a bit of a stopover at lovely Sterret Cove, and what do I find? A handsome commodore."
James raised an eyebrow and unfurled the smile he couldn't hold back any longer. "A handsome commodore? I must protest. You've found just James."
Jack grinned. "Just James, is it?" he walked toward James and stopped not even an arm's length away. "Tis a fine thing. While I wouldn't have minded rescuing a commodore, I much prefer rescuing my James."
"Your James?"
"My Jamie?" Jack tried innocently.
James lifted his sword and gestured with it significantly.
"Ah yes, I do apologize. The lovely lady's Jamie," Jack said, something sharp hidden in his voice.
"What?" James asked in confusion, his sword lowering.
"Your lovely soon-to-be-blushing bride's Jamie," Jack clarified, tones even further clipped.
"Jack. What on God's earth are you speaking of?"
"Your fiancée, James."
"Fiancée?" James's voice was horrified.
"Yes, fiancée," Jack huffed. "I've heard all about it from William."
"Jack, I don't have a fiancée."
"Well now, according to the lovely Mrs. Turner..."
"I could really care less about what Elizabeth said. I do not have a fiancée," James insisted. And he didn't want Jack to think he did, though he didn't care to examine his reasoning behind that too carefully. At this time. Currently.
Jack looked at James speculatively. "No fiancée," he mused.
James shook his head.
"No woman waiting for you at home?"
James narrowed his eyes, but shook his head again.
"So you're mine for the duration!" Jack announced, a pleased smirk back on his face. "The Pearl awaits, dear Commodore, with rum to celebrate your arrival," he said as he flounced by.
Amazed yet again at Jack's mercurial moods, the commodore watched him as he walked by. "James."
Jack stopped and looked over his shoulder. "What was that?" he asked, surprised.
"James."
Turning around, Jack wandered back to James's side. "Just James?"
James's smile moderated into something gentler. "Yes."
Jack studied him before deciding what to say. "It's about time you got here."
James chuckled. "Oh, you know, places to see, people to do and all that. Decided to have a bit of a stopover at lovely Sterret Cove, and what do I find? A handsome pirate captain."
"That's..."
" Privateer. Yes, I know," James said.
"And don't you forget it," Jack said as he slunk through the tents, leading them out to the far side of the camp.
"Not hardly," James said under his breath. It was difficult to forget something you thought about several hours of the day.
Prev ::
Next
Leave a Comment
(If you're commenting about a specific chapter, please mention that.)
Read Comments
(Warning: May contain spoilers!)