Star of the Sea
Time
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He would not succumb to the past, Jack wrenched his thoughts away from the memories,
intending to return firmly to the now, there was no gain in revisiting old
pain, but his fingers brushed over the scars again before resolutely he jerked
them away. Reaching for the rum but instead stopping short as the candlelight
caught the green gem set in heavy gold that he wore,
he stared at the emerald on his finger. He still wore it. She still wore the
necklace. Of that he was certain, there had been times when he had felt that
tiny heartbeat thudding through his very soul and he had known that she had
been where he was and it had not been long before. There was still memory of
her in the place and the stones had connected, to remind him.
In those first days, first weeks, first months he had searched for her, all the
way from
again. Driving the crew night and day, watching them grow more and more
bewildered and unsettled even Gibbs realising that
while she had left Jack with the
was more than any of them had thought possible, and then he too became
passionate about finding her. Suddenly realizing that it was
no spell that his Captain was under at all. Just wanting Jack to be as
he had been, and if that meant her being a part of it, well he could accept it.
But they had not found her that year or the year after. And in the many ports
that they had visited Jack had heard whispers of happenings that would have
been the sort of thing that Tia Dalma
would have been hip deep in, and he had known that she had been there too. Not
that normal people would ever have known what had happened, oblivious they
would have scurried about their ordinary little lives but he had heard snippets
from more than one. Little whispers here and there that he
had put together, finally understanding the importance of the task and why she
had been called away.
He had been sure then that he would find her, or she would find
True to his word he had been back to see Tia
answers and always told that her task was not yet done. And then there would be
something that Tia would ask of him, always. He had
considered refusing just to spite her, but in the end he had undertaken her
request without much resistance, men should never be bought and sold, no matter
what colour or god they might worship. Freedom was
something that no man had the right to take from another. It was those tasks
that had caused him to cross paths with Cutler Beckett of the East India
Trading Company; neither of them had walked unaltered from that meeting. Jack
now had a puckered scar on his forearm, branded for pirate and Beckett had been
made a fool of and more, something he would not forget easily of that Jack was
certain. Another enemy but then he already had many.
And in the years that had passed, he had lost the Pearl and found her again,
been dead yet alive, having sent his trusted friends and crew away so he could
go on some mad quest to the Isle de Muerta, a quest
that had almost been the end of him, would have been if he had not been
betrayed. Funny how life worked. Marooned on that
godforsaken island he had thought then that she would somehow have come for
him, that she would have been there to save him, but the rumrunners had done
that. And then next time young William, Gibbs and Anna Maria had taken care of
the saving and they had got the
was odd how things had worked out; William had sailed with him when the lad had
finally left
until he had met Jack’s sister Bella, just the past month the pair had got
their own ship, a sister to the
the command of Captain Turner, well most of the time. A smirk as Jack thought
of how Bella was still as stubborn as always, he could only imagine the
confusion of the crew when she got involved in giving orders.
So life had gone on, no longer did he search or wait for her, he did as he had
always done but he had not forgotten his words to Tia
Dalma, he would see Maia
free, even if she no longer wished to come back to him he had made a promise.
It had been several years since he had last made his way up that winding river,
absently he itched his finger, scratching around the
emerald ring, he felt that it was time to sail that way again.
“Ello Jack….” The voice intruded into his thoughts
and he glanced up at the women who stood before him “you fancy some company”
“Scarlet” he rose with a flourish “stunning as ever….” He reached for he arm
“what say you we take a walk?”
A simper from painted lips and a nod, and the Captain and the painted woman
disappeared into the night.
*
“This way” Maia put a finger to her lips, gesturing
for quiet as the first of the saved made their way through the moss-covered
trees. They would be safe here; Tia would take care
of them. She glanced back down the river, no lights from the ship were visible
but she knew they were there, they had timed it well, the darkest hour of the
night had seen their attack and the slaves had been quickly freed, the more
hale carrying the weak, all of them making their way to safety, only the dead
remaining on the stinking ship that had taken them from their homes.
She stood and watched as they filed past, accepting with good grace the hands
that caressed her arms, the thanks, no longer weeping like those first few
times, able to see the hope now not just the loss. She had lost count of the
souls that had crept past her in the dead of night but they remembered her. She
had been in other places and other ports and men and women had come up to her,
offering her anything that they had, wanting to acknowledge their freedom. She
told herself that it had been worth it, that this task and the others that had
been laid before her had been worth what she had lost. That they outweighed
what she had left.
Her hand closed over the emerald that rested beneath her shirt, he was far away
from her, the stone was quiet beneath her hand. There
had been times that he had been near, that tiny heartbeat had thudded against
her heart and she had wanted to turn back, to run to him, but each time she had
been reminded and each time she had remained loyal. She just wondered when she
would be free, if she ever would.
They had completed what had been set in motion so many years before. It was
done. Few knew the reality, even fewer would believe, but it was finished, for
this lifetime at least. Then she had expected to have been freed, but it was
not to be, instead Tia had laid other duties at her
feet. All important, all right but they were duties that others could have
performed. There was some reason to it, there must be, but she could not find
it, could not find the truth within the words that Calypso spoke each time that
she had asked if she was now free to return to him, to Jack Sparrow.
Long years had passed, she worried that he might have found another love,
lovers did not concern her, he would have loved other women, that was who he
was, she too had found some sort of relief in the arms of strangers. Men that
she would never see again, a physical release that meant nothing and she knew
that he would have done the same, women were drawn to
him that she had always known. She just hoped that he had not forgotten her.
Tonight she had asked her teacher again if she could leave and again she had
been ignored, only more instructions as to what she was too do next, plans of
attack, Tia’s spies were everywhere, there was
another ship to be intercepted, more souls to be freed. She wondered when this
horrific trade would end, if it would ever end and that thought frightened her,
they were doing what they could but for everyone that was saved how many more
were destined to a life of horror. She straightened her shoulders, it was a worthy
task, she would honour her
promises.
But still she turned and looked towards the sea, towards
still thought of her. Closing her eyes to hear his voice
speaking in her memory, so real that she could almost taste his kisses.
reality. Big eyes in a hollow face staring at her, the thanks a wordless
murmur and she nodded tears welling in her eyes as she touched the head of the
babe that rested in the woman’s arms.
“Go Tia will take care of you.”