White and Black Pearls 1 - Seven Pearls

Chapter Seven


Wiping the sweat from his brow, Will sat up and looked over at his father. “Is Jack the center of this entire story?” he asked with a little impatience in his voice. He considered the man something akin to a little less than maybe a friend, but he also had his own reasons for disliking hearing about Jack Sparrow’s romantic life.

Bootstrap shook his head. “No, only a part of it. The next part of the story happens upon the Dutchman.”

That was a little more tolerable. Back then, Jack had no dealings with the Dutchman, so he shouldn’t play any role in this part of the story. Will could tolerate listening to it with more patience if he didn’t have to think so much about Jack. “Is this while you were part of the crew?”

“No, before that. But this part I heard directly from one of the crewmen that saw it all while I served under Davy Jones.” Bootstrap Bill shuffled over to one side and pulled a bottle of rum out from a nearby box, removing the cork and offering some to his son. When Will turned it down with a polite raise of his hand, Bill took a swig for himself to wet his lips before going on with his tale. “You know how I met Jack; I was a member of his crew when Barbossa was first mate. This is before that. You know that Jack made a bargain with Davy Jones to raise the Wicked Wench out of the depths for thirteen years in exchange for his soul, but you don’t know why.” He took another swig of rum. “Jack was the captain of the Wicked Wench for a short time, before she went down. The reasons why… I can only speculate. I’ve heard all kinds of tales, no two alike, so I won’t try and guess which one is true. What I know for a fact is that the Wicked Wench sank.”

Will’s interest had been snagged once more. He could not for the life of him imagine Jack suffering through his precious father’s ship going down – his own ship by that point – very well. The only other time Jack had given the abandon ship call and watched the vessel he was captain of get dragged down to the sandy floors below, Jack had died along with it.

“She came upon the Dutchman now and again before the Wench sank,” Bootstrap continued. “Mostly it seemed like she was just visiting Davy Jones. She would stand at his side as he stared out over the ocean, or she would disappear with him into his quarters where they would talk together for hours. Something akin to what she did with Jack’s father, I would wager. Davy Jones treated her with the same respect Captain Teague did, if not more. He did not raise a harsh voice to her and he never raised a hand to her, though she never seemed to say or do anything to warrant such a thing. But the relationship wasn’t to be mistaken for friendship. There was no indication of that… more of just an amiable passing companionship. The crew at the time had no idea what it was that bound the two of them together, but for as long as the Flying Dutchman flew its sails with Davy Jones as captain, there was always Celestiana as an unspoken presence alongside it.” Another swig of rum warmed Bill’s insides as he settled back down and relaxed in his seat. “But…” He lifted the bottle and looked at the sloshing alcohol inside, crashing in tiny waves against the frosted glass. “There came a day when her appearance finally caused Davy Jones upset.”


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