Apprentice To The Sorcerer

Jack watched Blood and me with intensity. Not a moment passed that I did not feel his eyes upon me, not even at night, because at night he slept above me. If I got up to relieve myself, Jack watched me depart. Despite Jack’s nerve-wracking watchfulness, I found I could focus on my conversations with Blood. The big man had a lot of common sense and began to instruct me on surgery, saying I’d find it useful.

After a week of this silent battle of wills, I’d had enough. I’d often seen Miss Bishop watching Blood with greedy eyes. I decided to use her as a distraction. When I knocked on the cabin hatch she took one look at me and almost shut it in my face. I slid my arm in and stopped her barring me. “Hear me out,” I said softly. “Captain Blood takes note of you often, and I notice you often take note of him,” I began quickly. “Why don’t you join us on deck?”

“You won’t say terrible things to me if I do?” Miss Bishop asked, her voice trembling.

“I cannot guarantee anything but my behavior,” I answered. “You are physically safe with me; I would not harm you.”

Miss Bishop turned and grabbed her parasol. Her lips firm with resolve, she pushed past me. “Very well,” she relented. “It must be enough. God knows I wouldn’t want to be bound and raped and passed from man to man.”

“Miss Bishop,” I said, feeling tired. “That would never happen on a ship that sailed under Captain Jack Sparrow. I cannot imagine Captain Blood allowing it either. You have been exceedingly lucky to fall prey to the noblest pirates on the seven.”

“But you said-.”

“I know what I said.” I took a deep breath. “Miss Bishop, taking things for granted is dangerous. Never assume all men will behave toward you like gentlemen. I said what I said as a warning, not as fuel for your nightmares.”

Miss Bishop wouldn’t look at me. “You are the strangest creature I’ve ever met,” she said crossly.

“And you are the most irritating I’ve ever met,” I responded in kind. “But you are also the most beautiful, and Captain Blood certainly seems to share my opinion. Do you want to keep him waiting any longer?”

“No.” Miss Bishop seemed mollified by my words, finally. “I can speak to the Irishman.”


It worked like a bloody charm. Peter was only too willing to assign me independent study once Miss Bishop sashayed onto the scene. Happily, I took our notes on painkillers and retreated to the upper deck. I didn’t even look at Jack as he hovered at the helm.

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“Do you know why we’re sailing to Boston?”

I jumped to my feet at the sound of Jack’s voice coming from right behind me. Though we were still a-sea I kept my ears as open behind me as possible. I hadn’t forgotten the lesson of the barkeep. But Jack could be amazingly quiet for someone wearing all manner of jingly-jangles. I hadn’t heard a whisper until he spoke behind me.

“No, captain,” I answered cautiously. I didn’t trust his mood. He hadn’t been right toward me since Blood came aboard and I didn’t know why. My idea to throw Miss Bishop at Blood proved a good one, so it couldn’t be jealousy.

Jack walked around me, pivoting on his heel to stand directly before me. His actions stirred up a breeze of his new, scented oil. I didn’t know what it was, but it suited him completely. Dark, sensuous, heady…

“We are pursuing a treasure in Lynn Wood,” Jack said softly. “A cache of gems that would make many things possible.” He leaned back a bit, resting at an angle to me against the rail. “I have reason to believe there will be enough to make twice our number rich.”

“Meaning what exactly?” I didn’t feel like dragging it out of him tonight. Not only did I not have the patience, I almost didn’t trust being alone with him. Feeling that way about Jack disturbed me.

“Meaning, there will be enough booty to distribute with our new friends,” Jack said. “Well, new friends to everyone but you.”

“And why would you be inclined to share?” I asked, not rising to the challenge in his topic and tone.

“We shall have to carry out a great deal of rock to accomplish our mission,” Jack answered. “And that rock will have to be replaced when we finish.”

I slid my book inside my vest and walked closer to him. “If you want to know if I trust Blood for this, my answer is yes,” I said. “But he’ll have the odious Miss Bishop on his arm. We’ll have to find a way to keep her quiet.”

“I think she can be paid to silence,” Jack replied.

“It might be moot if Peter keeps putting his cock to her,” I said with a smirk.

Jack’s body jerked at my comment. “He has already bedded the woman?” he asked.

“Four days ago,” I confirmed. “She asked me for advice. Apparently she didn’t know she would bleed the first time.”

This information really seemed to throw Jack. He gave me a wide-eyed stare. “I didn’t think she would still be…” he waved a hand around, obviously lacking the right word for virgin. I doubted Jack even understood the term. He frowned, pressing his lips together. “Not with the way she kept-.”

“Throwing herself at you?” I interrupted, smirking.

“Women don’t normally find a pirate to relieve them of their virginal state,” Jack defended, proving to me he did indeed know the word. “We aren’t known for gentleness or hanging about at ‘ome.”

“A woman as ignorant about the world as Miss Bishop doesn’t give it a second thought,” I informed him. “She doesn’t know enough to realize one man isn’t the same as another. Fortunately, she got lucky. Peter wouldn’t hurt her for anything. He probably wants to marry her.”

Jack angled his head, eyeing me shrewdly. “You are a good friend of his, aren’t you Lei?”

“I got to know him very well on the Envoy,” I answered truthfully. “He’s actually a gentle man and gentleman. He didn’t get a fair trial.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Jack pointed out.

“Yes, Captain, I consider myself his friend. He put me on a path to something I never thought I could do, something that I enjoy very much. It’s because of his instruction that I came to be more than scenery on this ship.”

“You don’t know that,” Jack said quietly. “You are smart, Lei, and I would have seen that regardless.”

“I don’t doubt you,” I countered. “You did instruct me on the uses of contacts, after all,” I said with a smile.

The dying sun cast a red-gold glow on Jack’s profile. His lips turned up, full and soft looking in their smile. He crossed his arms, tilted back, and closed his eyes. “If you want to go with the Irishman, to learn more medicine, I won’t hamper you,” he said. “I prefer you to stay with me, but I can see how much you want to know, and how much he can teach you.”

I understood then.

Jack had been afraid Peter would take me into his own crew. He feared losing me. But he’d been quiet about it, possibly due to uncertainty. Now that I’d spoken to him and given him my thoughts, he’d decided to be a bigger man and let me go.

Such selflessness in a pirate, such generosity. I held power over Jack, in a way, because I could heal his crew. I treated men, made their lives more comfortable, safer. In a vocation such as ours, I indeed held sway. And here he was, telling me he understood if I wanted to take off with Peter to learn my trade.

“I’m not leaving the Pearl or her captain,” I said firmly. “This is where I belong.”

Jack widened his eyes in surprise. Slowly, he turned his head to me. “What about learning med’cin?” he asked softly.

“I’m not doing shabbily on my own, sir,” I reminded him, somewhat offended that he couldn’t remember I advanced in my own studies of medicine quite well and quite alone. “I take advantage of Peter’s presence because I can, but I do not depend upon it.”

Jack seemed to think about this. His eyes grew clouded as he gazed out over the water. “You call him Peter,” he said. “You never call me anything but sir or captain. I know you respect me, Lei, and you respect Blood. What is the difference?”

“He isn’t my captain,” I answered.

Jack gave a short laugh. “I see,” he said. “He’s just another man.”

“You can look at it that way,” I agreed cautiously. “And since he’s my friend I don’t have to be impressed over his doctorate, do I? Peter is to me what I am to Mokulu as far as medicine goes. I’m not that far behind. You, on the other hand, I can consider a mentor, and a mentor always demands the honorific.”

“And why am I a mentor, Lei?” Jack asked softly.

“You’re Captain Jack Sparrow,” I said.

Jack stared at me. Very slowly, a broad smile edged out over his lips. “Thank you, lad, I needed that,” he said. He patted my shoulder as he walked by. I watched him relieve Gibbs at the helm, happy to see the restored swagger in his step and the swing in his narrow hips.

Being a pirate apparently doesn’t mean elimination of self-doubt.