Sea Change

Sea Change Chapter Fifteen

Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… *sends class=SpellE>Wataris and Tims with pillows for a nap *style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Readers/Reviewers: Thank you so much for your
patience with my updating! *blush* I’m slow.

“Gel, I’m class=SpellE>startin’ to think yer more of a
curse than we knew,” Gibbs growled, advancing slowly on Myrtle.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> His fingers curled unwittingly into fists at
his side, his eyes narrowing as he backed the girl into a corner.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

“Gibbs,
stand down,” she said shakily, trying for brave but failing miserably.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “I don’t know what the ship was, I swear it!”

“You seemed
awful sure it were spawned from Hell,” a voice behind Gibbs piped up, one who
had heard her muttered imprecations at the approach of the black vessel.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “You seem to bring us ill luck! Throw her
overboard!”

Myrtle
whimpered as the cry went up all over the boat, the one sailor’s words catching
on and carrying from man to man. She
pressed against the rough wood of the hull, splinters digging into her fingers
as she frantically tried to formulate a plan.
“Please,” she finally squeaked. “I
did not call this thing down on us! It’s
not my doing!”

Gibbs held
up his hand, stilling most of the voices clamoring for Myrtle’s swift trip to
Davy Jones’ locker. “Yer
a witch, that’s not a secret among the men… You traffic with the dark arts,
lass… But I’ve seen me fair share of the unusual and magical in my years ‘board
ship. These islands, they’re full of
such things. Sailin’
with Jack ‘long the Spanish main, down the Barbary coast…”
he trailed off, his face becoming set in lines of intense pain and anger.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “I’ve never killed a woman,” he told her
softly, “but ye might be the first.”

Myrtle
scarcely dared to breathe as Gibbs turned away and began barking orders at the
men to bring them about. The Navy ships
were dancing just out of gun range and would surely fire on them should they
approach port. She did not have time to
begin to wonder how Gibbs would evade these trained men before two young crew
members, barely older than her, appeared at her side.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> “What are you doing?” she screeched as each
one took an elbow and began pulling her towards the middle of the boat. “Mister
Gibbs! Help!”

“class=SpellE>Yer goin’ overboard, missy, but
not in the way the men would most like to see,” Gibbs shouted back, not even
looking at her. “Ye get the sole life
boat.”

The men
were shouting at her, names so vile that it made her cries clot in her throat.
Someone threw a bucket of mop water at her, and more things joined the rain of
refuse as the two crewmen bundled her into the leaky life boat.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> She yelped as the small craft was lowered
towards the blue-black sea, the water so deep that the shorebound
clarity was lost, making it a pool of inky nightmares as her frantic mind spewed
forth ideas of what was waiting, begging for her tender flesh to be thrown
overboard. The pulleys creaked with
disuse as the lifeboat was lowered, dust flying off the ropes as the cries and
refuse followed her. _I never knew the
sea smelled so sharp, _ part of her mind fretted, the salty tang of the water
nothing like the vaguely fishy, oily smell on the ship or the tumultuous wash
of aromas that had danced through the port, the salty sweet sea water only a
slip of an idea amidst the trade goods and ships.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> A sudden clanking sound from above made
Myrtle jerk her head back, trying to see what was happening, then suddenly she
was falling. A thin scream left her
lips, searing her throat, and then she was in the water, the boat rocking
violently. They had cut the ropes
lowering her down and just let the boat fall, she realized, trying desperately
to stay inside the shabby wooden craft.
Sea water splashed over the sides and she could hear the men calling
down curses on her as the wake of the Pearl
made her rock again. Myrtle screamed,
unable to stop herself, and slid down in the boat, wishing to wake up, wishing
it would all be over soon.

“What the… Jackson!style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Bring us about! They’ve thrown something
overboard, something large!” class=SpellE>Norrington snapped his spyglass shut, frowning at the
retreating Pearl.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>

“It looks
like a lifeboat, sir!” one of the men called out, peering narrowly at the
bobbing object in the water. “An’ it
looks like someone’s in it!”

“That’s
usually the protocol for using a lifeboat, isn’t it?”style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Norrington sniped. “Put
someone in it and lower it overboard?
Likely, this is some idiotic plot to get Sparrow aboard our ship.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Get us within firing range and bring out the
short toms.”

“The…but
sir, won’t that… won’t that kill whoever’s in the boat?” Jackson
asked, his thin voice creaking reedily.

“That,” class=SpellE>Norrington smiled, “is the point.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Whoever is in that boat is a pirate.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> We can either rid the world of the menace now
or waste the governor’s time by doing this the usual way.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> Which will it be?”style='mso-spacerun:yes'> He raised a brow at the young man, barely old
enough to shave. “The governor has
enough to deal with. We’re saving him
trouble.”

“Yes… yes,
sir,” Jackson sighed, his face
greenish white as he turned to ready the guns.

class=SpellE>Norrington peered once more at the bobbing lifeboat, the
white shape within shifting and seemingly flailing within the confines of the
craft. He did not know what the pirates
were up to but he would be sure they never tried to put one past the Royal Navy
again.