Apprentice To The Sorcerer

“But d’you think we done the right thing?” Ragetti persisted. Pintel gave him a disgusted look.

“You questionin’ the captain?”

“Naw, I just wanted to know if you thought we done the righ’ thing!” Ragetti shook his head. “S’against the code to steal from h’each uther but God don’t like murderin’.”

“Depends on which god ya ask, don’t it?” Mokulu grunted. “You sayin’ I not have right to do it? When it were me he stole from?”

“I’m not sayin’ that either,” Ragetti protested, throwing his hands in the air. “Never mind, damn and blast it!”

“A religious pirate,” Pintel muttered in repulsion. “Next e’ll tell me I got to stop whorin.”

The rum went around again. I took my share, staring down at my cards. I hadn’t the faintest idea how to play. All I could tell was that it appeared to be a vying game that involved twenty cards and four players. A few minutes of bluffing and minor squabbling ensued before I could see how everyone showed their hands. I tossed my five down and walked back to my hammock.

Ragetti followed me. “D’you fink you could look at me eye?” he asked anxiously. I motioned him to sit on the floor and waited while he popped out his wooden eye. “It’s all sore inside,” he complained.

Little wonder, that, I thought. He’d rubbed something dirty and abrasive into his eye socket. I took out the bowl the cook gave me and leaned his head over it. He sat very still while I flushed the cavity. Black specks and old blood fell into the water. Since I didn’t know what else to do, I washed off his eye and put it back in. “Don’t handle it dirty,” I said. The dirt gets in there and that is what makes it sore.”

“Feels better,” he said, rolling the eye around. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Before I could put my kit away I had a line of men at my hammock. One man had a badly set broken arm. I found myself having to break it over again to put it right. Pintel let me put a brace on the arm before hauling the man off to his hammock.

Two hours passed in which I cleaned wounds, set broken fingers, looked at rashes, examined teeth, and listened to complaints of various pains. My little medicine kit emptied, I settled back down. Somewhere I would have to get more supplies.

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“Gibbs tells me you have need of medical supplies,” Jack’s slightly slurred voice said in my ear. I only just managed not to scream out of fear. As far as I knew I was the only one on the poop deck. The misty shroud over open sea made the blackness a thing one could taste.

“Yes, Captain Sparrow,” I said, forcing myself to relax and turn to face him. He didn’t appear drunk, but he wasn’t entirely sober. He’d been rubbing at his face. Some of the hairs on his right eyebrow had turned to cover the scar there. The female in me wanted to reach out and smooth the hair back. “I’m sorry,” I blurted out, making as if to move past him. “Its late and I shouldn’t be on deck.”

Jack’s fingers tightened around my bicep, halting me. “I never gave such an edict,” he said softly. “Stay out here and have a drink with your captain. I promise not to ask you about your family.”

Slowly, we moved to the railing. Jack put his back to them, sliding down until he hit boards. I sat beside him at his gesture. In moments I had a bottle in my hand. “Do you ever drink anything but rum?” I asked.

“Water, when I must,” he answered. “But I put rum in that too.”

I smiled. Jack drew back. “I got a smile for the truth, let it be noted,” he said solemnly, slurringly. “Of course you couldn’t be a lass but a clever lad.”

“Sorry sir,” I said. “But we were in port yesterday.”

“So why didn’t I partake of the ladies?” Jack asked my question for me. He took his bottle back and drank deeply. I watched his slender throat move, fascinated by the definition in his body. I could easily see certain tendons like the ones in my books, but usually they were hidden. He probably needed to drink more water and less rum.

“It is a logical question,” I defended my nosiness. Secretly, I felt very pleased Jack hadn’t gone whoring.

“You didn’t partake of the ladies either,” he pointed out, thrusting the rum back at me. “Drink. I refuse to spill my guts to a man who can’t drink with me.”

I made a show of drinking every bit as heavily as he had. I could do it. I’d built up a tolerance and kept it merely for the sake of fitting in. Problem was, I hadn’t eaten much over the day. If I didn’t slow down I’d be loose-lipped and my secret would be out. Then I’d be hanging from the yardarm, possibly, or at the very least sailed back to Port Royal or anywhere he could get rid of me quickly. I didn’t want that. I found myself liking life aboard his ship.

“Don’t want ladies,” I said, gasping, giving him the drink. “Get a disease that way.”

“Something I have thankfully avoided,” Jack said in a serious tone. “Strikes down many a man though.” He set the bottle between us. Reaching into his coat, he pulled out a little white shark tooth. “Finished today,” he said proudly, holding the tooth out for me to view.

I almost swallowed my tongue. In tiniest black scratches on white, my portrait showed. The moonlight had strength enough that I couldn’t deny the likeness. “Beautiful,” I heard myself say.

“It’s for a friend,” Jack said, tucking the scrimshaw away again. “Sort of an apology.”

“The blacksmith,” I ventured, picking up the rum again.

“The same,” Jack confirmed.

“You ran off with his girl?” I knew that wasn’t the case but I had to say something.

Jack snorted. “Not bloody likely mate. His girl wasn’t the sort to run off with anyone. I have no doubt her loyalties are firm when finally decided.”

“So where is she?” I drank deeply. Sweat broke out on my forehead.

“At sea, I think,” Jack answered. He took the bottle back. “She had the heart for it.”

I watched him drink, waiting for him to swallow so I could ask my next question. “Well,” I said. “What would you have to apologize for if you didn’t kidnap or kill her?”

Jack smiled, but the smile didn’t touch his eyes. “I tainted her.” He shifted a bit, looked out over the lonesome deck. “At least I tried to. She didn’t know she wanted more until I told her she did. Wouldn’t owe up to it. Taught all her life to be proper and heed social niceties.”

“I can see how you might change that, with all due respect,” I said, struggling with a smile.

“Any pirate could have though,” Jack said suddenly. He drank again, but not as heavily. “Any pirate could have walked in and broadened her horizons, savvy? My blacksmith friend thinks it was all a matter of seduction, which it was, but not the kind he thinks it was.”

I felt saddened that Will believed my quest for freedom so cheaply taken. I stared down at the boards, fighting girlish tears. Blindly, I took the bottle back. The second swallow choked me and I spluttered. Jack reclaimed his rum.

“So,” I said, still slightly strangled. “You mean to give him the portrait as a peace offering?”

“He’ll not take it, but yes,” Jack answered. “I feel sorry for the lad. I would never have him marry his lady love but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand which way his wind blows.”

I looked at him. “All the stories about you make you out to be ruthless,” I declared. “I’m glad you aren’t, sir.” It was all I could think to say.

“Me too, coincidentally,” Jack replied with a small laugh. “Being a pirate doesn’t mean you have to shed blood for the sake of it. Did you think you were going to join a crew of cutthroats?”

“I didn’t know, did I?” I leaned back against the railing, feeling relaxed. “But not all seawater looks the same. I wanted to sail free. Sailing on merchant ships isn’t freedom.”

“I’ll vouch for you there,” Jack mumbled. He brought a lemon out of his pocket, biting down into it without a care.

I tried my best to watch him eat it, appalled yet fascinated by his actions, but I could not do it. It pushed my limits to listen to him suck every last bit of juice from the sour thing. I ventured to ask if it might make him sick to eat an entire lemon. He gave me a blank look.

“No better way to clean your teeth or prevent scurvy,” Jack said. “Point of fact, it keeps the gold looking bright too,” he added, deliberately showing me one of his precious eye-teeth. “You ever get a tooth knocked out, replace it with gold. Keeps your other teeth from moving and provides kitty in a desperate time.”

“I’ll remember that,” I said solemnly, never intending to take him up on his advice.

“You do that, Lei,” he said. “I think I’m off to sleep.”

“Here?” I looked around, urged to do so by some illogical force.

“Don’t think I c’n make it back.” Jack smiled. “And you can’t carry me, can you?”

“No, but I can wake another swab to do it,” I said. “You shouldn’t be sleeping out here, Captain Sparrow. It isn’t good for you.”

“You’re the doctor,” Jack said. “Be off with you then. Send Mokulu up.”

Relieved, I turned to obey.

“Lad?”

I looked back. “Yes?”

“You’re a good boy. I don’t regret taking you on.” Jack closed his eyes.

“Thank you sir,” I answered, but I knew he already slept.