Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

Tangled Threads - A Story of Pirates	By : KiwiGirl Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > General Views: 4819 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Thank you everyone for the comments�.Gem
you are a gem�and Liz and brooke
is lovely to have you reading.�

Chapter Six - Memories and mountains

��been easier back when the world was flat..�..damn
mountains�� Jack was grumbling, kicking at rocks in his annoyance as they
crested the summit �Pirate, yes pirate, that is what I am �.not an explorer,
but a bloody pirate!!� The first yellow fingers of dawn were colouring the sky, the climb had been hot and sweaty with
many muffled curses from the both of them. They had toiled skywards for over an
hour stumbling over rocks and tree roots in that peculiar half light of early
morning, the darkest hour before dawn Jack had heard it called and he nodded in
agreement as he stood and surveyed the black sea below. It was still too dark
to make out much more than the shadowy islands beneath them, so they sat facing
the ocean, talking in the muffled voices that men use before the rest of the
world is awake. Jack pulled a flask from his pocket and unscrewing the top took
a long swig.

�Here William your throat must be dry� he handed the battered old container to
Will who grinned.

�Gibbs had a flask like this I seem to recall.�

�Aye he did� Jack flashed a smile �tis a little
memento of my time imprisoned on my own ship whilst my friends attacked.�

Will, nodded remembering the day that Jack spoke of and the desperate battle
that had seen cutlery, tin cups and even Gibb�s old hipflask used as
ammunition. He took a few gulps before handing the rum back to Jack. Soon very
soon, they should be able to see if their disquiet was justified. With excruciating
slowness the sky became lighter and they squinted trying to make out the
smaller island that was their intended destination.

Jack spoke first his voice hushed as he stared at what lay in the sheltered bay
of the island below them �Hells teeth, a right little English home away from
home down there.�

Will shook his head in disbelief and murmured, �We would have had not a chance�

�Aye� Jack agreed and flexed his fingers in frustration �What is wrong with the
man, he should be back in his stone fort, powder on his wig, waltzing with the
ladies but no here he is making my life miserable.�

�Why so many here, surely not waiting for us� Will was counting how many ships
were anchored in the sheltered cove on the far side of the island, he looked at
Jack �have you done anything else recently to irritate the English Navy,
anything you may have forgotten to tell me about?�

�Nothing new, anyway all I did was steal his ship you were the one that stole
his girl� Jack looked sideways at Will unsure if this was still a sensitive
subject, his mate had never really talked about Elizabeth. Will had just
arrived in Tortuga looking for Jack,
his only words on the matter being that she hadn�t liked pirates that much
after all. Then he had got rotten drunk. Jack had never seen him drink like
that before and had never seen him in that state since; he had followed the lad
from tavern to tavern finally dragging him back to the Pearl when the boy had
passed out. Jack had seen the pain in the lad�s eyes, he had known that the rum
would only serve to give a sore head to go with the aching heart but he had had
watched over him nonetheless. Jack had felt that pain once or twice in his
life, grog did not cure it, nothing did but time but the lad would have to
figure that out for himself. Will did not look up or
even mutter an answer so Jack turned back to look at the sea choosing to leave
well enough alone.

�We can�t just up anchor and sail away, as soon as we are clear of the island
they will be spotting us and we will be having to run
for it.� His soft words broke into whatever memories Will was lost in.

�We are going to have to wait until it is dark� Will nodded, in tune with where
Jack�s thoughts were going..

�So we have to get the Pearl tucked away
somewhat� Jack was pulling the map out of his pocket unrolling it he traced a
finger around the outline of the island that they were on. �There is a cave
here� he stabbed a be ringed finger at it �just outcrops of rock in front of
it, but is the only place that we can get in the shadows and hope for the best�
He looked up at Will �of course if they catch us there our goose is well and
truly cooked.�

�We best hope that they don�t� were Will�s only words as they began a stumbling
sliding descent, needing to get to the ship before the sun rose proper and the
soldiers began to move about.

�Hurry, hurry, my ancient grandmother bless her soul� Jack raised his eyes to
the heavens �could paddle faster than you laggards� he was standing in the prow
urging the men that rowed the long boat to go faster, faster. The sun was
rising; they needed to make all haste. As they were pulled up onto the Pearl
Will and Jack vaulted the rails and hit the deck at a run, there was no time
for general announcements just whispered instructions and muffled curses as
every man on board raced to raise sail. It was only minutes but it seemed like
hours before they were hard up against the cave mouth, the water was deep
beneath them and jumbled rocks did give them some cover, but if anyone was
searching� Jack shuddered at the thought. Best not to be thinking about things
like that.

�I am needing your luck now my luvly
girl� he whispered as his hand rested lightly on the rail �you have never
failed me yet and me and the boys we need it more than ever this time�. He was
sure that he felt her shudder just slightly beneath his hand, maybe he was just
getting fanciful, but he patted her again and whispered, �thank you�

*

The minutes dragged by every one seeming like an hour. Jack had given the crew
instructions to stay as still as possible, to have weapons handy but keep them
sheathed lest sunlight shining off steel betray them. They huddled in the
shadows, some of them had thought that they would get some sleep and had gone
below only to reappear some short while later. If spotted it was preferable to
fight on the deck and die in battle rather than be captured sleeping and hung
by the neck until dead. Therefore, they waited, the crew playing cards half
heartedly, none of the usual joking or bickering all eyes constantly drawn to
the mouth of the bay.

The morning slowly crawled into afternoon the only distraction coming just
after noon when the cook
Joshua went below decks to fix something for lunch. He was in a foul mood,
usually only leaving his galley when there was a good fight on he had been sitting grimly at the railing most of the
morning one hand resting on his sword, in the other a gigantic meat cleaver.
Lunch was not up to his usual standard consisting only of bread, cheese and
smoked sausage and he was very brusque when he dumped several trays of food on
the deck, muttering that he was going to start preparing dinner and the devil
take the English if they saw fit to interrupt him.

Jack had spent the day lounging on the deck; he had been dozing in the sun a picture
of relaxed nonchalance, the crew kept glancing at him looking for signs of
nervousness or an indication that he was going to decide to make a run for it.
But he seemed perfectly happy to while the day away lying on his back, his coat
as a pillow, old three cornered hat tilted over his face. Will rested not far
from him, he had been writing in a cloth bound book, occasionally stopping to
study the sky or to speak quietly with Jack. He seemed as unperturbed as their
Captain did, and although the crew were tense they
figured that if Jack wasn�t worried, well the Captain had seen them out of some
tight places before, he must have a plan.

�Is it dark yet?� Jack mumbled from under his hat.

�No only late afternoon Jack� Will replied looking
over at his captain. Jack groaned and pushed the hat from his face.

�I swear Will when we get out of this I am going straight to the nearest port,
finding the first tavern and drinking it dry.�

�Aye, I will be right behind you� Will nodded �as will the crew I am thinking�

Jack did not bother to look around at his men, long experience had taught him
that even when the things went most alarmingly awry if you looked like you knew
what you were doing and it was all part of the plan, that the men would follow
and follow with confidence. It was amazing how often a crazy scheme had turned
into a pirate legend.

�No one cracking?� he asked quietly

�A few fidgets from some of the younger ones� Will answered in a low voice �but
they seem to have settled since you started napping, that snoring was perhaps a
little unnecessary.�

Jack grinned suddenly and rubbed his hand through his hair �overacting you
think?�

Will nodded his head and chuckled �maybe just a
little.�

Jack laughed leaning back on his elbows, looking at the afternoon sky with a
critical eye, it was starting to cloud over, and the wind was picking up �well
it seems that someone may be looking over us with a kindly eye, looks like the
wind is rising.�

Will had stopped scribbling and was now considering his notes �here Jack� he
passed the book over �I was thinking that we might be needing
a diversion.�

Jack studied Will�s sketches a delighted smirk slowly appearing �it is either
madness or brilliance, I like it.�
- 5
- 6
- 7
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Tangled Threads - A Story of Pirates