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Oh there’s all kinds of people in here I just made up, but the ones that other people made up don’t belong to me and I don’t make any profit from just borrowing them so no real harm is done. Unless you count the disparagement of reputations. So don’t count them.
Family Reunion
Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Alphonse DeMaurier eyed each other across the deck of the ship, which as Jack now knew was called the Matthew. Which struck him as the oddest name for a ship he may have ever encountered. But then, DeMaurier was the oddest captain of a ship he’d ever encountered.
All the convivial feelings he’d had before, it appeared, were a direct result of his proximity to Will Turner, and now that he was floating around in the ocean, being pursued by a bloody great ship, or perhaps just because he was separated from Will, he was feeling less sanguine in general, and in particular toward the other sailor.
Either way, they were being hunted by the Dauntless, and it was only a matter of time before the Dauntless caught up, mired though it had been in the shoals, wounded though it almost was by rocks so close to the surface that even Jack had feared for the safe passage of the tiny, shallow Matthew. Dauntless it was indeed, and it had been pursuing them now for a day. Just when they were sure they’d given it the slip, white sails appeared again.
And now, as the sun was setting, Jack wondered what the coming night would bring. A night, if he’d minded his own business, he would have spent in the delectable arms of Will Turner, but was doomed to spend on the Matthew, or worse.
Alphonse grimaced at Jack. “Looks as if our experience is worth nothing out here. I am, alas, out of tricks, Captain Sparrow. If there are any remaining aces up your sleeve, I’d suggest you throw them on the table.”
Jack looked over his shoulder at the growing sails. “I’m fresh out of aces, mate. And frankly, I can’t conceive of why this ship is still on our tail. Took more than navy training to get them out of that last scrap.” It was as if the ship was being sailed by a fearless pirate crew, and in Jack’s experience, the navy didn’t pay enough for men to be that fearless. They had to be driven by something other than pay, other than loyalty to the king. On pirate ships it was treasure, or fear of a murderous captain, that made men take such outrageous chances.
There was no treasure to be found on the Matthew. So murder it must have been.
Will Turner shifted backward and banged the back of his head against a sharp outcropping of rock. A small brown hand silenced his hiss of pain over his mouth.
Little Tess, as the family called her, Kay’s eldest daughter, glared at him in the half-light of the cave. It was easy for her to be upset with his clumsiness, she could move around with ease in the cramped quarters. But Will was folded near in two, and Franklin was practically rolled into a ball in one corner.
Then her look softened, she slid her little hand in his and squeezed it gently, giving him a shy smile. “S’okay, Uncle Will,” she breathed so quietly he could barely hear it. “We won’t be stuck in here forever.”
Will had been feeling the walls of the cave grow closer with each passing moment, but her words held them back for a minute or two.
Young Frank crawled back in from the dim opening. “They’ve gone back to the ship, all of them. I counted,” the boy whispered.
Franklin unfolded himself and slithered out the two-foot high arch. “Good lad. Knew we could count on you.”
Will emerged last, rubbing the back of his head. He pulled himself through the opening and looked around the clearing. It didn’t look as if anything had been disturbed.
“No, they didn’t come up this far,” Kay said, reading his mind, as she bounced her youngest on her hip. All the emergency supplies were still stashed in the thicket where they’d left them.
“Funniest looking sailors I ever saw,” Little Frank mused as he sat on a rock and played with a long stick, drawing odd symbols in the dirt.
“How’s that, son?” Franklin asked.
The boy shrugged. “Well, all the navy I ever saw looked like you or him,” he pointed at his father and uncle. “But every one of these ones, they looked more like, well, me.”
“You mean they’re all tiny?” laughed Little Tess, who stood a head taller than her brother.
He kicked at her shins the way little brothers do. “No, silly. ‘Most every one of them looks like us. You and me and mama. Dark.”
Will looked over at Franklin. “What do you think of that?”
“Never heard of a whole crew of freed men, and there couldn’t be a whole crew of slaves…”
“Frank, what is that?” Kay interrupted, although it was clear she was speaking to the smaller Frank. She was pointing at the ground, at the series of strange marks her son had drawn; a circle with a lined slashed across it, an upside-down ‘U’ with a dot in the centre and a line above.
The boy looked up at her. “They all had them, all the sailors.”
Kay dropped to her knees and took her son by the shoulder. “Where? On their uniforms?” The boy shook his head. “Their skin?” He nodded and pointed to his own shoulder. “And you could see them? They didn’t have shirts?” Kay leapt up. “Slave brands!” she cried.
Will and Franklin winced.
“They aren’t navy!”
Will was confused, but all he could do was follow as Kay ran through the trees, baby in her arms, shouting, “Jacob! Jacob!”
Jack and Alphonse rejected the notion of fighting the Dauntless, opting for escape at a later date as the most probable course of survival. They waited patiently on the deck of the Matthew as the larger ship loomed above them.
“It has been interesting knowing you,” Alphonse said softly. “And I pray you’ll get back home safe some day, I really do.”
Jack shrugged, all brave and nonchalant now. He hadn’t had a home for so long.
Alphonse shook his head. “You’re wrong, Captain. You have a home. And he’ll come looking for you, and he’ll find you.”
Now, how had he done that? Bloody mind reading preacher.
A thick knotted rope fell with a loud thunk to the deck at Jack’s feet. He looked up and saw a navy man leaning over the edge of the deck, silhouetted by the sinking sun. How fortunes change in the course of a single day.
“Bloody hell, Al, climb the rope and let’s ‘ave a parley here, mate. I can’t wait all day. Always the laggard, you never bloody change, do ye?”
Alphonse looked up in shock. “Jacob?” he shouted.
By the time Will caught up with Kay she was standing alone in a circle of men, all dressed more raggedly than the cursed Pirates of the Black Pearl. Franklin was following but with two children in his arms and several riding his back his progress was hampered. Will had no idea what would happen next, but he did have the presence of mind to note that Kay was strangely calm about the situation, in spite of the two dozen hungry, desperate men who appeared to be threatening her. He rushed to the center of the throng and threw a protective arm around her.
But they weren’t threatening. They seemed to be waiting for something. Will turned to his left sharply when he heard murmurs in the crowd, and the men parted to let another through.
He was very tall, very handsome with high cheeks and beautiful dark eyes. His skin was gleaming brown, his hair shiny black, twisted into neat rows, and he bore himself with a regal air.
“So, if the descriptions I’ve heard are accurate, this would have to be the lovely Kay DeMaurier.” He stepped forward, bowed elegantly and took Kay’s hand in his. Kay made a little giggling sound when he kissed her hand, and now Will was thoroughly confused.
“My goodness,” she whispered. “I simply can’t believe it. You must be Matthew.”
Jack was hauled over the edge of the Dauntless’ rail by far too many pairs of strong arms and dumped onto the deck without ceremony. He looked up hazily to see Alphonse embracing the man who seemed to be in charge of the ship. He looked like a right navy sort, with the wig and the sword and the uncomfortable-looking uniform, all scrubbed clean and fresh in spite of the chase. But something about him looked familiar. Jack wracked his brain but couldn’t quite place him until the two men turned in his direction and he saw them side by side.
The navy man was the spitting image of Alphonse, only with olive skin instead of brown. Same eyes, same shape of the face. Same nose, same cheeks, and come to think of it, very same shape of mouth, but the navy man’s lips were a darker red and he had a gold tooth, visible because of his broad smile, which faded when he took in Jack.
“And what,” he asked with distaste, “is this?”
Jack stood, collecting whatever dignity he could. “I beg your pardon, Captain,” he mumbled. “I believe we’ve yet to be introduced.”
Alphonse laughed. “This is the infamous and noted Captain Jack…”
Jack rushed forward and waved his arms to silence Alphonse. He’d rather be keeping his identity secret at this juncture, thank you very much. In the confusion the rest of Jack’s name was lost and Alphonse was gesturing toward the navy man.
“This is my younger brother, Jacob.”
Jack stood still in his tracks. Another bloody DeMaurier. He should have known. He did a quick mental count. This was, as far as he knew, the last one. Why did he ever borrow that wench Anamaria’s boat in the first place? Was he doomed to suffer a plague of DeMauriers to the end of his days?
Jacob surveyed Jack with disdain. “And since when did my brother travel with ruffians of this sort?”
Jack made a little hmmph noise, drowned out a genuine laugh from Alphonse. “It’s a long story, brother, you’d best get yourself a rum, and Jack here would probably appreciate one as well.” He continued once they’d settled with a drink apiece. “The short version of the tale is this; you see, mum got married again.”
Jacob spewed out his rum, all over Jack. “To him?” he choked, gesturing toward Jack.
“God God, no. No, to his lover’s father.”
“So Jacob is fetching Alphonse back here,” Kay repeated, trying to follow the whole story from Matthew, just as Matthew was trying to follow hers.
“Yes, it was decided I would captain the slave trader’s ship, and Jacob would keep command of the Dauntless. That wreck,” he gestured toward the ship listing in the bay, “Couldn’t catch up with a row boat. It’s amazing the entire cargo wasn’t lost. Not that the traders would care, they don’t see us as people, only profit.”
Will stared wide-eyed at the men about him. Half were from the original group that had sailed from Africa months before, the others were men who had been slaves further north, and were being sent south to be re-sold, mostly for being trouble-makers, like Matthew. To useful to be killed outright, but no malleable enough for their former “owners”. What a despicable thought.
“It was by sheer chance that Jacob learned I was the leader of the slave revolt. He overheard my name from another officer, so he seized the opportunity to launch a mutiny on the Dauntless and sail to our rescue. Lucky for us; for we would have perished on the seas without his aid. I only wish Alphonse were here now,” he sighed sadly.
“He’ll be here soon,” Kay soothed, patting his arm. “Don’t fret. Once he knows you’re here he’ll be racing back.” She rose and kissed him on the forehead. “Thank heavens you’re here. We thought you were lost forever. Alphonse and I prayed together every night that somehow you would return to him. And Will here, he just found out his father is alive after years of believing him drowned. So we all have something to celebrate.” She took a deep breath, preparing herself to find food and clothes and bedding for the ragged collection of men. “There are so few of you,” she murmured.
Matthew frowned. “Many were lost during the voyage. But this isn’t the entire compliment. The women and the youngsters are on the ship in the harbour, and more men are on the Dauntless. Jacob had only a skeleton crew when he reached us. I fear, though, that our destination will be made evident. A supply ship spotted us. It’s not safe for us to stay here.”
“Then we’ll have to go elsewhere, as soon as the others return.”
Matthew turned to Will. “We? You want to throw in your lot with a group of runaway slaves?”
Will stood proudly. “No. I want to throw in my lot, as you call it, with decent people, not with the Royal Navy and slave traders. And, well, you are my family, if you are with Alphonse.”
Matthew laughed and stood with Will. “I suppose so. You would be what? My stepbrother-in-law?”
Will grinned. “I like that. I’ve gained quite a few siblings in the last few weeks. I would gladly count you among them.”
Franklin rose with them. “Perhaps we should save the family reunion for later. We have more serious things to contend with.”
And he pointed to the Interceptor II, entering the bay with the Black Pearl not far behind.
Norrington’s eyes lit with glee. The missing slave trader was found. At least he could retrieve it, and its cargo. He’d have to find the Dauntless later. At least the financial loss would not be as great as initially feared.
Then he would deal with the Black Pearl.
Anamaria grinned when she caught sight of the dilapidated ship anchored in the bay. So that was why Jacob mutinied. Made perfect sense to her. She’d have to find a way to help him keep the poor people on the slave trader free, and her family safe. Then she’d figure out a way to deal with Norrington.
Next: Chapter 38 Norrington's Prize
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