Apprentice To The Sorcerer

Mokulu stayed silent during my tale. We talked very quietly, very high up, for the volatile content of my story.

“You can’t imagine what it was like,” I said, shivering as I remembered that awful day. “The beast came for us, giant arms with tremendous sucker cups grabbing men one by one or three at a time with each arm. We lost twenty the moment it emerged from the water. Our masts snapped like twigs. People running, screaming, being swept away right before my eyes.” I swallowed hard. “My fiancé had gathered all the gunpowder and rum rations together. We hoisted it aloft, where the kraken’s arms seemed to be most exposed. Will rode the netting up, getting tangled in it. I couldn’t shoot while he struggled to get free.”

“He brave man too,” Mokulu said. “You love him once.”

“I did.” I sighed. “But not the way he loved me.”

“Go on wit’ your tale, Hodari,” Mokulu urged. “Do not dwell on old love.”

I drew a deep breath. “I lost the musket when the squid grabbed me. Ragetti chopped off the end of its arm as it dragged me by him. I spied the musket at the top of the poop deck and clambered for it. A boot came down on it. I looked up to see Jack had returned. He grabbed the musket and hefted it, took careful aim. Will fell free and clear, and Jack fired.” Here I paused. What had been the odds of such a well aimed bullet?

“It was a beautiful shot,” I admitted. “The blast set the kraken aflame in many of its arms. It dropped back into the sea, but we all knew it wasn’t dead. By vote we all decided to try and make it to land in the longboat.”

“What did Davy Jones want, dat he send kraken to destroy de Black Pearl?” Mokulu asked.

“He wanted Jack.” My eyes started to sting. “Jack made a deal with Jones once, and he didn’t want to pay his debt.”

“Davy Jones wanted Captain in his crew.”

“Yes. Under his command for a hundred years,” I said.

“So, how many of you get away?”

“All seven of us left, except for Jack,” I whispered. “I tricked him, got close to him, backed him up against the mizzen and manacled him to it.”

Mokulu’s eyebrows shot into the air. “You trap de captain on board his ship while de kraken attack?”

“Yes, I did,” I said. “The kraken wanted Jack, not us. But it was as if I cut my heart out and left it with him.” I could still see the way he’d looked at me. I should have known, his eyes said. “I worshipped Jack when I was a child. In my ignorance I believed he could do no wrong, had no weaknesses, that he wasn’t mortal. As time passed, he kept surprising me, showing me all his bad parts and good parts at the same time. By the time I betrayed him I’d already worked through most of what bothered me about him.”

“You still feel guilty,” Mokulu observed. “This not good. Your guilt give you away some day.”

“I’ve not done too badly,” I said, resting my head on the mast. “I like being here, I like being a part of this crew. It helps that I can feel useful. I just don’t want Jack to ever know he’s harboring the woman who betrayed him.”

“You did what you had to do.” Mokulu put his big hand on my shoulder. “I protect you, no matter what happen, but you must ask. You not man or woman; I know not my duty.”

“Thanks,” I said. “If I get in a tight spot, you’ll know.” My brother’s concern warmed me to the bottom of my somewhat cramped heart.

“Shift almost gone,” Mokulu said. “Not’ing to report.”

**************************************************************************************

“The willow bark with help her pain,” I said to Jack, looking at the woman stretched out over Jack’s bed like a slender slug. “As far as I can tell she has not cracked her skull. She should not sleep for several hours until we can see if she has trauma. Her pupils are not dilated, but I prefer to be sure.”

“That cursed chair,” Miss Bishop said weakly. “I should have seen it.”

“You’ll never get sea legs this way,” Jack commented. “And t’wasn’t the chair, t’was the bulkhead.”

“I think if we take her on deck she’ll have less of a chance of falling asleep,” I said, preferring not to think about Jack knowing how she came about her injury. No doubt Miss Prissy had stumbled about in the throes of post-coital delight and smashed her head. I wanted to make it a thorough job of it and cave her noggin in with a belaying pin.

“You’re most likely right, Lei,” Jack agreed. “If you grab a chair I’ll get her.”

My stomach heaved at Miss Bishop’s delighted coo when Jack swept her into his arms. “Ooohh, Captain Sparrow,” she sighed, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “You’re so strong!”

“Comes with the territory luv,” he replied, smirking.

This time I couldn’t help but gag. Covering my disgust with the sound of dragging the chair, I followed them out on deck. I hoped Jack was smart enough to use a sheath and he didn’t pick up some French disease from her. Worse, he could get her with child and have to marry her. But no, surely the granddaughter of a naval officer and a wealthy woman would never have to marry a pirate to be respectable!

“Let’s put you here, lass,” Jack said, setting her on her feet. I slid the chair under her so fast her knees buckled and she collapsed into it. Her arms flew out in surprise and she grabbed Jack right at his groin. He grunted and staggered backward, off balance, falling into Mr. Gibbs.

I watched open-mouthed and dumbfounded as nearly everyone on deck felt the touch of ill fortune. Gibbs staggered into a monkey-box, scattering canon shot over the deck. The balls rolled underneath feet and threw men left and right before crashing into a grog tub. The heavy hogshead smashed like a porcelain vase, sending a wave of grog over the planks. Langley, Landry, Voce, Pintel and Rodgers slipped in the mess and fell.

Voce staggered to his feet only to get hit by the boom as Faraday stumbled into the wheel. The boom took two more men out and threw them overboard.

“Man overboard!” Gibbs shouted, the cry taken up by several others. I threw out lines. Moments later several of us were hauling the men on deck. Taverson had a jellyfish wrapped around his leg and was howling in pain.

I knew not what went on behind me while I tended to the unfortunate sailor with the invertebrate attached to his body. I heard shouting, falling, cursing and crashing, followed by a silence pregnant with unease. As I rinsed Taverson’s leg with vinegar, I kept an eye out for Jack.

I’d already found my tweezers by the time I spotted him. He’d fallen in a barrel of pitch. He climbed to his feet painfully, drenched in black up to his waist. By now I felt dreadfully guilty. All of this would have never happened if not for me shoving the hateful Miss Bishop into her chair. I dearly, dearly hoped Jack hadn’t seen what I did. I had a hard time meeting his eyes.

Jack hovered behind me, dripping black, the entire time I tended to Taverson. By the time I’d picked off all the tentacles and moved on to scraping his skin of barbs, I felt I would fall to pieces. Jack waited for me to be done so he could punish me, I knew it. He had seen.

I risked a look around the deck where misfortune had a fenceless run. Most everything seemed back in order now. Miss Bishop complained of heat, Gibbs had the wheel, and Jack still stood behind me. “Lei,” he said quietly, “I would like to talk to you about something, if I could.”

My heart somewhere close to my bare feet, I followed Jack into his cabin. He shut the hatch behind us and hung up his hat. His coat, breeches and shirt were ruined, no doubt about it. I opened my mouth to apologize, but Jack shot me a warning glance that froze my tongue. He shed his coat and shirt, left them in a sodden pile by the table. His boots came off easily enough that I knew they were ruined too. I winced. Boots were terribly expensive. I might have to give up my share of booty to the captain for a good long time.

Jack began shucking his breeches next. I turned my head. I heard him open a drawer and then he walked by me, clad only in new breeches. Reaching into a cabinet, he brought out a decanter and a pair of glasses. My hopes rose slightly. If he meant to offer me a drink maybe he wasn’t too mad.

A knock came. Ragetti stuck his head in the door. “Miss Bishop wants tea,” he said, sounding serious. “Do we get ‘er what she wants or let ‘er fend for herself?”

“Take her to the galley with you,” Jack said lowly. “Go slowly. Show her where it is and make it for her. Tell her she can get it herself the next time.”

Ragetti nodded and left. As soon as the hatch shut, Jack turned to me.

For a full five seconds I thought myself doomed. Then, Jack burst out laughing. “Lei, look what you did!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms wide. “I’ve never seen such chaos before, and it’s all your doing.” He poured two glasses of liquor and gave me one, had to press it into my disbelieving hand. “Chaos is a force, you know, one that seems to like me.”

“I’m sorry for what I did,” I said, still not quite sure what he was going on about. “If I’d known all that would happen I’d have let her seat herself properly.”

Jack held up his hand. “Lei, do you really imagine you could have done all that by yourself? That one action could cause such a crafty series of accidents?”

“I thought that’s what just happened.” I took a sip of my drink and nearly gagged. This was the horrible stuff Jack had purchased in Madagascar.

“Are all doctors so atheistic?” Jack posed, looking thoughtful. I let my eyes coast all over the hard planes and chiseled valleys of his chest and arms. He looked like a savage with that dark hair, dark skin, and wiry build. His plentiful collection of tattoos merely added to the effect, as did his scars.

“Look here, Lei,” Jack said, taking up the decanter again. “Give me your hand.”

I hoped I wouldn’t faint. I resolved not to become weak and trembley when he touched me, but my efforts fell to naught. “You’re shaking, boy,” Jack exclaimed lightly. “Here, it wasn’t that bad. Drink your glass.”

I snatched my glass off the table and drained it. My shaking calmed a bit. I held out my glass again. Smiling, Jack poured a second. I drank it too.

“Steady?” Jack asked. “Good.” He poised the decanter over my hand. A few drops slid from the mouth and onto my hand, all falling to one side and dripping between my index and middle finger. “You see that? The drops all came into one line and flowed off your hand in the same path.”

“What of it?”

“Look.” Jack poured again. The baijiu dripped off in a different direction. Again, he dripped spirits on me. This time they went back to their original path between my first fingers. “This is chaos. Your hand hasn’t changed and neither has the baijiu. Chaos is everywhere and without it life would be as dull as a eunuch’s pecker in the sultan’s harem.”

“So you don’t mind if I’ve ruined your clothes and got you grabbed by the willy,” I said. “You don’t care that we lost a load of shot to the ocean and eighty six gallons of grog to the deck.”

“Trivial,” Jack laughed, waving my concern away. “I’ll wager I’m the only one who knows you unleashed Miss Bishop’s bad luck upon us all.”

“How is she to blame?” I turned my glass round and round in my hand nervously.

“Lad, surely you’ve noticed how bad things happen to Miss Bishop? How bad things happen to anyone who has contact with her?” Jack grinned. “She’s been hexed. I don’t know who did it or why, but it’s there.”

I thought of all the bad things that could happen to an already accident prone Jack Sparrow. “Aren’t you afraid she’ll taint you, sir?” I asked. “She’s with you a lot and you let her sleep in your cabin.”

“Ah, but Lei, I let her sleep in my cabin because she’s hexed.” Jack reached behind me and pointed to a little sigil drawn over the hatch. “Tia Dalma arranged it so yours truly would never have to worry about attracting danger to me crew. Not only did she take care of me own curse, she showed me how to make a barrier against it. As long as Miss Bishop is in here, she can’t harm anyone but herself.”

“So why did you allow her to go on deck? Why tell Ragetti to make her get her own tea next time? She’s a menace, sir!” I threw out my arms. “And she’s obnoxious.”

“Isn’t she?” Jack grinned again. “But Lei, what’s the fun in keeping her confined all the time?”

I stared into that irrepressible gleam of mischief in Jack’s eyes, feeling my lips curl upward very slightly. “Respectfully,” I said, “You are bad, Captain Sparrow.”

“I give you men a fairly easy life,” Jack defended haughtily. “I let you all drink as you see fit s’long as ye aren’t drunk on duty. You eat well, sleep well, and have plenty of opportunity for wine, women, and song. So what if I unleash the hand of fate upon you all? I’ve always done that.”

Jack sprawled out in a chair, holding the bottle now instead of the glass. “I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine,” he said.

“So if I’m quiet about your foreknowledge, you’ll be quiet about my sabotage upon Miss Bishop?” I stared into my empty glass. Suddenly, Jack had the neck of his bottle over it, filling it to the rim.

“Aye lad,” he said. “How about it?”

“Of course sir, but I wouldn’t tell on you anyway.”

“I know you wouldn’t.” Jack gave me a warm smile. “You’re a good boy, Lei. You obey me and you do your work. You don’t have a sister, do you?”

“If I did I would not introduce you to her,” I admitted.