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Not mine. Not entirely Disney’s either, but it’s a symbiotic sort of relationship. I use their characters. I use my characters. I don’t complain about them not having Will and Jack kiss in their movie.
I don’t let them know I’m writing this.
No Quarter
Captain Jack Sparrow climbed the rigging of the Dauntless and cursed loudly and profusely.
No one ever listened to him.
First, he’d insisted that Will sail away from the island on the Black Pearl - Will wouldn’t hear of it.
Then he’d said that everyone should sail away from the island, abandon the whole place and find a new refuge. They’d had a big enough head start. They could have gone anywhere - anywhere but where Norrington knew where to find them. But no - people were hell-bent on defending their bloody land. It was the only land that had ever been their own, and they weren’t about to abandon it.
Then he’d told Will they should go aboard the Interceptor II with Jacob and Charles. Shimura was there, and Mr. Bertram. They would be able to fight off anything that attacked. But no - Will wanted to stay closer to the stupid island, and he didn’t want to draw Nagaraj’s attention to Charles, since Nagaraj didn’t know Charles was with them.
Then Jack had said they would be better further out in the open water, but he was outvoted on that one too, so somehow the Dauntless had been pinned at the base of this bloody cliff.
And now Will was swinging up a rope with that bloody snake in hot pursuit, and Jack was trying to jump from mast to mast, to get to the stern, to kill Nagaraj.
Bloody Norrington had opened fire on the Dauntless from the deck of the Serpent Fire, and he had no clue whom the Interceptor II was engaging in battle, but it sure as hell wasn’t either of the two men who were the biggest threat.
No one had even considered the prospect of the seasoned naval officer commanding the pirate ship while the pirates boarded the Dauntless with his crew of well-trained, blood-thirsty brutes. No naval man would ever abandon his ship to take up with pirates. It was inconceivable, Jack thought. But he thought he could hear Norrington yelling at the men on deck. And he was using pirate tactics. Improbable, Jack amended his earlier thought, but not impossible.
Oh, what the hell was Will doing now? He’d swung out from the rigging and was on the cliff, scaling it at a steady pace. Trying to draw the evil man away from the ship, leave the pirates below leaderless. Will kicked some rocks down at Nagaraj to slow him down, but the Snake was still crawling up after him.
Made sense, if Will wanted to be noble and brave. Draw the most dangerous enemy away. Sacrifice himself for the greater good. But what was he doing being noble and brave? Jack didn’t want him noble and brave. Jack wanted Will safe and sound. Why had he ever let Will stay and fight?
The cannons roared below, and Jack had only a second to respond to the sickening crack of wood as the chain attached to the cannonballs wrapped itself around the mast he was climbing. Jack threw his weight toward the cliff and tucked his head under his arm. With any luck, the cliff wouldn’t smash his skull in.
Will looked down and gasped in horror when he saw the mast Jack was perched on start to fall. He held onto the jutting rock, held his breath, and watched the timber shudder and tilt toward the cliff. Jack held on, though, and when the dust settled, more rocks had fallen on Nagaraj, who had swung onto the cliff to the west of Will, below where Jack was now scrambling for a hold on the sharp rock.
“Climb!”
Will nodded in response to Jack’s yell and made his way up the sheer rock face. He could do this, he told himself; Jack had taught him how to scale a sheer cliff. He couldn’t see Jack anymore because of the way the rock jutted out. He could hear the battle far below, the shouting of men, the crack of firearms and the boom of cannons.
How had he ended up in this mess? The battle had started well enough, but then all of a sudden there’d been pirates swarming over the sides of the Dauntless. The sun was only starting to rise and on this side of the island, and everything was still gloomy and misty in the shadow of the mountains. The pirates had slipped silently through the water in narrow boats, faster than rowboats. Then Will had caught sight of Nagaraj in the midst of the battle, and as soon as Nagaraj had seen him, the chase was on.
He couldn’t tell where Nagaraj was. He could only wish the snake was in range of Marina’s rifle. She’d been picking off pirates steadily from her spot on the cliff on the other side of the channel, but the Dauntless had been pressed too close to the cliff for her to shoot the pirates on deck. Which probably was a good thing, since he doubted her aim, or rather the aim of the rifle, was good enough for bullets flying in such close quarters to be accurate.
His right foot slipped on a loose rock and he had to press his body as close as possible to the rock to maintain his balance. He turned his head just in time to see a pirate in the crow’s nest of the Serpent Fire aiming a rifle at him. And to see the same pirate fall down to the deck with a shout. Good for Marina, he thought, and continued his way up.
How high was this cliff, anyway? He looked to his right. He still couldn’t see Jack. He couldn’t see Nagaraj below, either. It looked as if the top of the cliff was nearing. He reached up and closed his hand around a jutting rock. Steady… he tried not to look down. He didn’t want to know how far below the deck of the Dauntless lay. He swung his other arm up over the edge of the cliff and felt a rough hand close over his wrist.
Will panicked, tried to pull his hand away. His left foot slipped and he almost fell, but the hand gripped him like iron and hauled him up over the edge. He teetered at the brink for a moment and fell forward onto the solid top of the cliff.
“Careful, luv, it’s a long way down.”
“Jack?”
Jack grinned down at him. “Must have been an easier climb on my side, eh?” He hauled Will to his feet. “Don’t look so upset. You know I’m a better climber than you. And I managed to kick a bit of rock down on old Nagaraj, so we’ve got a good head start.”
Will looked over the edge of the cliff. It was dizzying, how high they were.
“So, where are we going, mate?”
Will jerked his head to one side. “I think we can get over to the watch hill from over there. I didn’t really have a plan, after that. I just wanted to get Nagaraj away from the ship.”
“No plan. Again? Did you at least remember to bring your sword?”
Will tilted his hip and his sword swayed at his side. “You?”
But Jack didn’t answer because he was mesmerized by the way Will had swung his hip like that. God, but those slim hips were beautiful. And those legs, so long and lean. And those boots. Not the ones he’d been wearing when Jack fucked Will, but that didn’t matter. Any boots looked good on Will.
“Jack, as much as I appreciate you admiring my arse, don’t you think we should be worried about the battle?”
Jack nodded and they went across the cliff top, clamouring over some boulders. “How was it going?” Will asked.
Jack shrugged. “Those pirates are experienced fighters, but our men are tough, and they’ve got something important to defend. Could go either way.” He reached out to pull Will over a gap in the boulders.
“I thought I saw Matthew knocked overboard.”
“You did. But I saw Alphonse dive in after him. Sorry I didn’t see anything else, that was when Nagaraj… bloody hell.” Jack stared at the narrow tree trunk spanning the chasm before them.
“Ah, the bridge is still here,” Will said brightly.
Jack looked down at the jagged rocks fifty feet below. “You call that a bridge?”
Will nodded. He turned back to look at the edge of the cliff and saw a hand reach up over the edge. “Those rocks didn’t hold him back for long. It’s Nagaraj!” he said with genuine panic in his voice.
Jack climbed back up on the boulder to look at the cliff edge. Nagaraj’s black hair appeared over the rim. He yanked Will down to the ground before the cold, hard black eyes appeared. There was no need for him to be any more scared than he already was.
“Over you go, then, luv,” he said, and watched Will carefully mount the makeshift bridge.
Jack didn’t want to think about what would happen if Will slipped. He prayed Will was comfortable enough in the boots to balance well. He watched step after step on the thin trunk. The wood bowed a bit when Will reached the centre. It really wasn’t a big enough tree to serve as a bridge over such a long span. It must have been twelve feet across.
Jack looked over his shoulder and saw the black hair of Nagaraj over the edge of the boulders. He’d made it up the cliff. He was standing at the edge, wondering which way to turn. Jack turned back to see Will reach the solid ground on the other side. Jack had no time to be so careful. He ran straight across, feeling his boots slip on the smooth, rounded surface, but his speed made up for his lack of finesse.
He felt Will’s hand on his shoulder before he realized he’d actually shut his eyes for the journey over the tree trunk. Then Will bent and heaved the edge of the trunk over the edge of the abyss. The whole thing went crashing down to the rocks below.
“This way,” Will said and pulled Jack behind him over a sharp rise.
Jack looked back and saw Nagaraj arrive at the chasm. He watched him pace back and forth across the length of the fissure. Then he saw him stop, pick a spot, and draw his sword.
The sword glittered in the sunlight as it soared over the chasm and landed on the other side.
“Bloody hell,” he said under his breath. “Nagaraj would never leave be parted from his sword.”
“What?” Will asked.
“He means to jump after us!”
Will’s eyes widened. “He’ll never make it.”
“Just watch him.”
Nagaraj moved back, rubbed his hands on his thighs, bounced on his heels for a few seconds and then ran at the gap. He leapt high and came crashing down at the edge.
Even Jack winced. That had to have hurt.
But he didn’t fall down. He’d managed to wrap on arm around an outcropping, and was pulling himself up over the edge.
“Run!” Jack yelled.
Will pelted over the rough rocks until they came to another chasm, this one only a few feet across. He jumped it easily and scrambled up a steep slope. Jack followed, and found himself on the grassy plateau of the watch hill. There was a lantern on the ground, with a candle beside it, and a flint. There was a waterskin by the edge of the grass. There was the scarf Will had been wearing the night before when they’d come up here to sit the watch, and Jack had unwrapped the ragged cloth from Will’s neck so he could kiss him all over.
And there was Norrington standing by the path to the village, with his sword drawn and a smirk on his face.
“How the hell…?”
Norrington laughed. “You aren’t the only one who can scale a cliff, Mr. Sparrow. I merely anticipated your destination.”
“Captain Sparrow!” Jack growled.
“I don’t see your ship,” Norrington smirked. “But I’ll find it, once I’m finished with you.”
Will drew his sword and stood at Jack’s side. “I think not,” he stated boldly.
Jack brandished his own sword and angled himself at Will’s side, shoulder to shoulder, so he could keep an eye out for Nagaraj. “Really, Norrington, it would be much easier for you if you stepped aside and let us be on our way.”
“What, and miss having you where you belong, between me and your old captain? That would be a shame. And he told me such lovely stories about you…”
Jack’s hand tightened on his sword, but he kept his head. Old tactic, that one. Trying to rattle him. Wouldn’t work. No, it wouldn’t. He nudged Will toward Norrington. Better to be closer to the weaker enemy.
“Think you can beat us in a fair fight, eh? Well, be warned. We’ll be showing you no quarter,” Jack snarled.
Will jumped when an oily voice rose from the other side of Jack. “No, I think it’s me who’ll be showing no quarter.” Nagaraj rounded the last boulder and stood in front of Jack.
Will wasn’t sure whom he should be paying attention to. He decided Jack was closer, he’d have to deal with the pirate. Jack and Nagaraj stared at each other with as much malice as they could muster. Will turned his full attention to the man at the path.
Will watched in shock as Norrington raised his sword arm, and then swooped forward, falling to the grass face first.
All three men stared at the heavy club that had crashed down on Norrington’s head, held high in challenge.
Will gasped. “Elizabeth!”
Next: Chapter 93 The Blood of a Pirate
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