Adrift

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I appreciate the patience you've shown in waiting for this chapter, my faithful readers! Things are getting tense now, don't you think? Thank you for taking the time to review. If you want to give me a comment but don't want to do so in such a public way, I'd love to hear from you via email as well. Drop me a line at bonnyblonde@gmail.com and let me know what you think. In the meantime, however, here is Chapter 20 for your consideration. :)

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Hector’s rage was far past the point where the mere destruction of property or the thunderous uttering of threats could express its depth. Indeed, his growing thirst for bloodshed and the need for violent retribution brought forth a cold calmness that made him appear outwardly serene. Those who knew him best, though, understood that he’d reached a stage when he was truly at his most dangerous.

The men had grown quiet in the shadow of what they’d sensed was a coming storm and even Jack had become introspective and sombre in his company. As the Corazón Perdido headed steadily north along the Gulf coast, the crew refrained from engaging in their usual cheerful banter and needling remarks. Instead, they moved with near-military precision as they checked the rigging and trimmed the sails to account for the wind speed. She was to be a vessel of pleasure no longer, but of war…the furniture and other leisurely accoutrements had been left behind on Wisteria, and weapons of no small fire power loaded aboard in their stead.

Earlier in the day, Hector had ordered those of his men stationed aboard the Penzance to retrieve the mirror from Elizabeth’s lab and return with it to the island. Now that he had the cursed object in his possession, he had something with which to negotiate Elizabeth’s release – should it come to that. He’d not engage the foe in battle, not until he knew for sure that the girl was safe. If she was anything but alive and whole when he found her, there would be no escape from his fury for those responsible.

Hector stood on the bow, steady eyes scanning the horizon for a sign of the enemy and his hair whipping the air behind him. There was no knowing where the traitor Norrington had taken her, of course; there were a thousand tiny harbours and inlets that might have been used for hiding spots. Certain he was, though, that they’d not have strayed too far. It was their belief, as it had been Jack’s, that the mirror remained undisturbed on the ocean floor amongst in the wreckage of the Pearl. Once they’d ascertained the bearings of the site, they’d want to be within a quick trip of their prize.

It didn’t bear thinking about what her captors might have already done to her in order to discover the location of the item, and so he tried mightily to force it from his mind as best he could. Of course, she’d not be in danger at all if Hector had not turned his back upon both her and his duty in order to nurse his hurts, so the blame for her fate rested with him as much as her unknown captors. They’d not act, though, until they had what they were after, and so he held tightly to the chance of redemption. Whether she loved him or not, he’d not fail her again.

Jack came up beside him and grabbed hold of the forestay to steady himself against the waves. “Tried to call them on the cell phone again but they’re not of a mind to answer. Guess they figure they have all they need and are no longer in need of my services, as it were.”

Hector didn’t acknowledge Jack at first, gathering his thoughts as he was. “If she’d given them what it is they be wantin’, we’d have found them by now,” he finally answered. “Even had they managed to slip past us, the sentries at either the wreck or the lab would have gotten word to us.”

“And so what’s your plan, Hector? We sail up and down the coast, and hope against hope that we spot their little slip of a boat? And then what? They threaten to kill her if we don’t hand the portal over, we threaten to blow them from the water if they don’t hand her over, and we sit staring at one another across the waves and waiting for someone to blink.”

Hector turned his icy gaze to Jack. “Supposin’, Jack, ye finally let me in on yer secret and tell me what it is that I’m supposed to be tradin’ fer ‘Lizabeth’s life. A portal – that much I get. But a portal to where? And what makes it so bleedin’ important to them…or to ye, for that matter?”

Jack looked off towards the horizon, pondering his answer. Hard it was to tell what he was thinking with the black lenses of his sunglasses hiding his eyes, but it was clear he struggled with what to reveal and what to hold back. “Doesn’t matter just to me, but to both of us. All of us that Calypso saved that night. If they get their hands on it, everything changes.”

“Well, everythin’s crystal clear now,” Hector answered unsmiling, unable to keep himself from rolling his eyes in exasperation. “Care to elaborate fer those of us not gifted with second sight?”

Jack removed the shades from his eyes and looked unflinchingly back at him. “If you could go back in time, Barbossa, what would you alter? What would you undo as had been done, and so change the course of your life?”

Hector squinted back at Jack, wondering at his game. What would he do, given the chance? Claw back ten lost years, just as a beginning...but would he still take the Pearl and maroon Jack Sparrow, only to steer clear of the cursed treasure? If not for the curse, he’d never have known of Elizabeth Swann...perhaps it would have been better for all involved had that been the case. But for the curse and his death, though, and then the resurrection at the hands of the witch goddess, he’d not have ushered in century after century. Not have had half the adventure he had, nor made his mark upon the modern world.

Would he have the courage to take a step back, not knowing what new story would be written for Hector Barbossa by the fates? What single thing would he change – could he change – that wouldn’t unmake what history he did cherish?

He shook his head. It was useless to speculate on such and could drive a man mad in the trying. Why take such a chance, only to end up dead and gone for good? He wasn’t ready for that yet. “Don’t know what yer on about,” Hector muttered, twisting away to again turn his attention to the waters before them. “Yer talkin’ nonsense.”

Jack sighed sadly. “You disappoint me, mate. You an’ me, we’d know better than most that there’s nothing really outside the realm of possibility. Worse yet, there are others who know it too...and know what it is they need to accomplish exactly that. Go back in time and fashion circumstances so as to adjust the past and thus the future. But not just theirs...all of ours.”

“Say it plain already, would ye? Weary I grow of hearin’ ye speak in riddles.”

Jack moved up close behind Hector and leaned in as though making some intimate confession. “Let’s say that instead of being you an’ me,” he whispered, “we’re a disgraced English lord and a half-insane, formerly-human ship’s captain, reborn and well-aware of our august past. Humiliated we were, and worst part is, we know it now and not being able to do anything about it...well, it’s more than we can bear.”

“Cutler Beckett...and Davy Jones!” Hector whipped round, grabbing Jack by his shirtfront. “That’s who has ‘Lizabeth?!” A cold stone of fear settled in his gut. As ruthless as Hector had ever been, both Beckett and Jones had augmented their cruelty with a remorseless brutality that far surpassed his own. He was willing to wager their methods had remained largely the same, reincarnated or not.

Jack frowned and pried Hector’s fingers away. “Glad you share my concern. Think for a moment with the head you’ve upon your shoulders – if there’s any blood left above your waist – and consider what might happen should those two use the portal and go back far enough.”

“The Brethren would be defeated...” Hector said, the full import of the item becoming clear, or so he thought.

Jack huffed. “There’d not be a battle at all, would there? You, me, our men...all of us would be dead on the deck of the Pearl, soon as Sao Feng turned us over. There’d be no negotiation; no back-handed bargains struck that would guarantee our escape. Beckett would make short work of the lot of us with a noose thrown over the yardarm and one by one, every pirate on his way to Shipwreck Cove would be picked off by either Jones or one of His Majesty’s ships. And Elizabeth...well, she’d be bent over the gunwale in front of Beckett and the entire Royal Navy, or facing a hanging herself. Most likely one would follow the other, knowing Beckett.”

“And Calypso would remain bound in her bones, so’s to satisfy ol’ Davy Jones...” Hector grimaced, finally understanding. In having him save Elizabeth, Calypso was working in her own best interests. He’d known there was some grand scheme in play, but he’d not understood his role quite so clearly as he did now. Pawns on a chess board, they were, and little more. All that mattered to Calypso was that she remained free, a goddess unfettered, and beyond that their lives were of no consequence. Hector bristled at the manipulations but saw no alternative to playing out his role and fulfilling the vows he’d taken. Being used in such a way shouldn’t have come as a surprise at all; she’d only brought him back the first time to serve her own needs and this occasion was certainly no different. But knowing didn’t make him feel less sullied.

“Aye,” confirmed Jack grimly, “you’re on to it. Now, I don’t know about you, but I rather enjoy being alive and am in no rush to see all this come to an end. And so if I can serve the goddess and in so doing, preserve my own skin...well, you can see where we can’t just be handing over the mirror. Whether it costs Lizzie her life or not.”

Disbelief and anger swelled in Hector’s chest. “Yer askin’ me to sacrifice ‘Lizabeth to save meself?”

“No, that’s not it at all. By all means...save your strumpet, be the hero. But I am telling you, Barbossa,” snarled Jack, menace glinting in his black eyes, “that should you not be successful in doing so, I’ll take a rather dim view of any attempt to trade away the mirror and so my immortal life for her very mortal one. Me an’ Calypso are of one mind on that point. We must keep the portal from Beckett and Jones at all costs.”

Hector step towards Jack and fixed him with an icy glare. “Ye think it wise to force me hand, do ye?”

“Died once courtesy of Miss Swann. Don’t plan on doing it again. But what I will do,” he said, brightening noticeably, “is to help you to see her back, safe and sound. And she can return to being horrified by the thought that she ever let you touch her, and you can resume moping about like a dog as has been beaten. And while you are so occupied, I can return to the West Coast in my beautiful new ship!”

Jack beamed gaily at him and Hector’s hand shook as he used every ounce of restraint he possessed not to lay the other man out on deck with a blow to the face. “I’ll not be havin’ this argument with ye again. The Corazón is mine and I’m not of a mind to hand ‘er over.”

Shrugging, Jack gave him a greasy grin. “It’ll all come out in the wash, won’t it? In the meantime, I figure we should quit playing about and find the girl.”

“And have ye a cunning plan to accomplish that very task? ‘Cause ye seem to think me methods be lacking.” Hector retorted, once again marvelling how just when his humour seemed to be at its blackest, Jack Sparrow could find a way to make it darker yet.

“Well, I’d just do whatever it was that you did the last time. Because in so doing, you were able to find the lass and when you got there, there she was.”

Hector felt the muscles at the base of his neck start to tighten. “Last time...?”

Jack sighed and looked to the heavens as though hoping for divine intervention for Hector’s outstanding obliviousness. “Must I spell it out for you? How did you find Elizabeth in the first place? Doubt that Calypso provided you directions, and that little bit of Sao Feng’s map I left you all those years back certainly wouldn’t have pointed the way. And I know you don’t have the compass – I bartered that long ago. So let’s hear it!”

“The goddess told me...” Hector trailed off. He didn’t want to tell Jack, truth be told. Not because Jack wouldn’t believe what he had to say, but because it would give him yet something else to laugh about, and Hector wasn’t exactly in the mood for more of Jack’s jocularity.

“Yeesssss?” Jack drawled, waving his hand as though prompting Barbossa to continue.

“Last time, Elizabeth had somethin’ with her from the Pearl. Somethin’ as belonged to me...a ring as was me father’s. Calypso said t’would act as a beacon if only I would...” He grunted in frustration and rubbed at his face.

“Good lord, man...how painful can it be?! It would act as a beacon if you would...what?” Jack’s teeth were clenched in frustration.

“If I’d listen to me heart! There ye are! Does that satisfy?” Hector barked, staring Jack down and daring him to make mockery of what he was reluctantly revealing. “Told me, didn’t she, that if I closed me eyes and thought on ‘Lizabeth hard enough, me heart would point the way as sure as any compass, magical or not!”

Jack’s eyes widened in surprise and he looked taken aback. “And that worked?”

Hector narrowed his gaze, not trusting in the other’s muted reaction. “Aye, it did. Just knew where to go...could see in mind’s eye the name of her ship and the danger as lurked."

“Huh,” replied Jack, his brow knitting. "That's interesting."

“That’s all ye have to say?” Hector said suspiciously.

“Not sure what to say,” said Jack, eyeing him with such scrutiny as made Hector entirely uncomfortable. “If you had that strong a bond with her, and well before she’d had the unfortunate occasion to share your bed...that must mean you and she...back then...that is...”

Jack closed his mouth as if he was unsure he should continue, or perhaps just demonstrating his unwillingness to do so. Hector didn’t think he’d ever seen Jack Sparrow at a loss for words and it was somewhat disconcerting. “Out with it!” he snapped.

“No, it ain’t worth remarking upon,” said Jack, shaking his head. “Let me ask you this, though. If it worked then to...’listen to your heart’...is there any reason it wouldn’t work now?”

Hector thought on it for a moment. “Can’t work again. She left the ring aboard her own ship fer safe keepin’.” His brief hope faded before it had truly blossomed. Afraid of losing it, Elizabeth had locked it away in the safe on the Morgan LeFay before she’d taken her first dive to view the Pearl. “Ain’t gonna help us from there.”

“Does she have anything else belonging to you? Some token bit of shine you gave her that she might have kept?” Jack prodded.

“I’d not given her anythin’ she felt was worth keepin’,” he answered wearily. There had been no trinkets exchanged, no small or sentimental gifts. There had been the Blackhearts leather cut, true enough, but that he’d seen in her stateroom on the Corazón and knew she’d not taken it with her when they’d set off for shore the night before. That oversight...if that had been what it was, in fact...wounded him deeper still.

“Still,” pondered Jack, fiddling with his moustache as he thought, “with women, you never can tell. Might have lifted some small souvenir from you without your even knowing it.”

“If ye had seen her face when she remembered me,” Hector said quietly, “ye’d not think that.”

“Try anyway,” said Jack resolutely.

“I’ll not embarrass meself just to be provin’ ye wrong. Best we keep a sharp eye out and wait fer them to make a move.” Hector crossed his arms, better to let Jack know he’d not be swayed in his decision.

“I can see now what it is as brought the two of you together,” said Jack, snorting and throwing up his hands. “Never knew two more stubborn people; always know you’re right, even when you’re far from it as you can be. What’ll it hurt to make one bloody attempt, hmm?”

“Fine!” Hector hissed. “Fine, if’n it’ll get ye to shut yer yap once an’ fer all! But yer to back off and leave me to the task. I’ll not perform like a trained monkey fer yer amusement!” Jack laughed and opened his mouth to remark but Hector stopped him short, pointing a threatening finger in his face. “And don’t ye even start on that!”

Fighting to hide a smirk, Jack held his arms up as if in surrender and backed away from the bow. Hector watched him until Jack had retreated as far as amidships and had left him with what he judged to be sufficient privacy. Feeling nothing if not ridiculous, Hector turned to face forwards again and closed his eyes. He spread his arms out at his sides and took a deep breath, picturing Elizabeth in his mind.

The first time he’d tried to find her, he’d pictured the Elizabeth of old. To him, she had been the spoiled child that had stomped her little foot on the deck of the Pearl and insisted that the most feared pirate captain of the time bow to her demands. She was the china doll, decked out in the wine-coloured finery who had gorged herself on the feast spread before her in his quarters. She had been the terrifying warrior who’d fought off Jones’ crew and Beckett’s sailors alike…and finally, she was the weary but beautiful woman, leaving to start a life ashore as Turner’s wife.

But this time...this time he brought forth the memories of his Elizabeth, insofar as he’d ever had to right to call her his. Her embrace and her tears in the garage where he’d first shown her his bike…the tender way she’d touched him when he’d been shot, the fear of loss etched onto her face…the heat of her desire and the scent of their shared passion. He tried to fill himself with her presence, pushing out all other thoughts and sending out a call across the ether, willing his heart to find hers.

Hector half expected Jack to call out and make some remark at his expense, but there was no sound from either Jack or the men crewing the ship. Or maybe there was, and it was lost on him as he stood unwavering against the buffeting winds. Either way, there was no answering call from across the waves as the minutes slipped by...no internal light flared to guide his search. Slowly he lowered his arms, his spirit sinking as he did so. It had been a long shot at best; he’d known that before he tried. Damn Sparrow for ever making him believe it could work. And damn himself for entertaining a fool’s hope.

Just about to step down from the bow, he felt something move deep inside him. It was so faint that it was barely there at all and at first he wasn’t certain that it wasn’t just wishful thinking on his part. He turned back to face the horizon and closed his eyes again, raising his face into the fine ocean mist. Yes, there it was again...like the tug upon a fishing line, right in the centre of his chest.

“I know yer there, girl, but I need some more,” he whispered, letting his mind paint her portrait in broad, bold strokes once more. Another small tug and then another...and then it was a steady pull, but with a pulse, as though her heart was beating a message to his. His spirit was buoyed...she hadn’t left him behind entirely. She had something as called to him. Elizabeth had kept a part of him with her, even knowing who he was. Even knowing what he’d been.

Hector listened to the call for another moment, making sure in his mind that he understood where he had to go. Once he was certain, he abandoned his post and ran full tilt back to the pilot house, with Jack fast on his heels and trying to get his attention.

He swept into the cabin and yanked charts from the cubbyholes until he found the one he needed, spreading it before him. He laughed out loud once he realized her destination before turning and unceremoniously shoved his crewman from the helm so he could set the right coordinates.

Jack stepped up close and grabbed him by the arm. “Did it work? Did you find her?” he asked, a mixture of awe and disbelief on his youthful face.

Hector grinned back at him as he spun the wheel. “Aye, we’ve got her. We’ve found 'Lizabeth. And the saints help them as dared to take her from me.”

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Hector to the rescue! But does Elizabeth need saving? Oh, whatever will happen??!!!