A Pirate's Night
a Pirates of the Carribean story
by tarotgal
The ship rocked madly from side to side, tossed upon the waves like a toy boat rather than the fastest ship in the fleet. It did not make Will feel sea sick in the least, rather provided a comforting motion much like a mother rocking her child to sleep. Perhaps that was a bit too romantic a description, considering what was doing the violent rocking this time, but that was how it seemed to him below deck. It was the third thunderstorm in four days, not as bad as the first two but still a danger to them all. Will felt that he had still not quite dried thoroughly after the first. But he also felt that he could be of some use up on the deck. When he had tried to make his way up, however, a strong hand pressed down on the top of his head, like a heavy hat. It had been Mr.Gibbs, with a firm look in his eye that told Will to climb back down the ladder. Apparently Jack had given him strict instructions to keep Will down below. Will had protested, but in the end the hatches were bolted shut with him below and the rest of the crew up above, securing the rigging and bracing the masts. Which is how he came to be sitting alone in the galley, waiting out the storm and trying not to nod off to sleep, though it was the middle of the night.
Will Turner sat at the small scrubbed wooden table. The bench was hard beneath his rump asthe ship tossed him from one side to the other, making him slide up and down it and bounce at each landing. He had a thick, gray woolen blanket around his shoulders to keep warm as he sat in his pants and long-sleeved undershirt only. They were the only things he had which were dry enough to wear. He was hunched forward in his seat, leaning over the mug which was held tightly with both hands around it so it would not spill as the ship rocked. Every so often, hewould lift the mug to his face and breathe in the steam, or take a sip of the contents to make himself feel just a little bit warmer.
Nursing his drink also unfortunately meant time to think, and he tried desperately to take his mind off the ship's current danger. This was easier said than done for he was cold and wet from being above deck all evening in the rain. But at least being topside and doing work kept his mind from wandering as it was now. Hefound himself longing for the red hot fires of his blacksmith shop. It was chilly, out at sea, when the salty winds rushed by and picked up your sails. When the ship turned sharply and the icy waves lapped up against the deck. When the moon shone down from above as just a sliver from where you stood in the darkness. Jack had told them all to be wary of the moonlight, but Will could not begin to understand what that meant, and attributed it to more of Jack's mindless mutterings that were meant to throw them all off course when it came to his intentions. Will's intentions, on the other hand, had never been more clearly made. Even as he stared down at the rippling surface of his drink, he saw not his own reflection, but the glow of Elizabeth's beautiful face.
A loud bang made him jump and nearly spill the drink. Several pairs of heavy footstepsechoed in the main hull, just outside the galley. But before they reached him, a stream of water poured in, covering the floor with at least an inch of water. Will lifted up his feet and pulled the blanket tighter around himself to keep the ends from touching the floor. The flood was only an inch deep, and the boots all splashed heavily about in it. Willlooked up from his drink to see none other than Captain Jack Sparrow, drenched from wide boot to thick braids, enter. Will sniffled softly and rubbed his hand beneath his nose, then cleared his throat before calling out, "How is the ship? Is everybody all right?"
Jack nodded and grabbed an apple from the store of food. He tossed it back and forth from one hand to the other, looking past it but trusting his hands to keep it safe. With his usual laid-back slur, "Ship's all right. Storm's passed. And all hands are accounted for." The pirate sat opposite Will on the table, and literally sat on the table itself rather than the bench, which he instead rested his feet upon. "Looking a little sick still I see," he commented, dark eyes working their way over Will.
Will sniffled again, a bit louder, then turned his head quickly to sneeze freely, "EKKShuhhh! Sniff! IHKShahhh! Sniff, sniff!"
"And sounding it too," added Jack.
Will rubbed his nose against the blanket where it covered his shoulder and looked back atJack. "I still should have been up there."
"Oh, aye," Jack replied, looking down at him, hardly fazed by the amount of sneezing. "Ofcourse you could have gone up there. But you wouldn't have done us much good, sneezing your head off like this and all. Wouldn't have been able to trust you to stay on your feet so much as help, savvy?"
Will didn't bother to contradict him. He knew that to be true, no matter how much he did not want it to be. He lifted his hand towards his face, only getting halfway there in time. "ehhh...EHKTChahh! IHK-Chushhh!" He sniffled strongly and rubbed his nose against the rough blanket. His nose was feeling sore to the touch, and he hated to think of how he must look, sitting there all sniffling and freezing. His only saving grace was that Elizabeth was not there to see him like this. "IHTChhhhh!" Wearily, he lifted the mug, inhaling the bit of steam that remained, and taking a small sip.
Jack reached over and grabbed the mug of drink. He took a swig, then spat out the mouthful in disgust. "Arugh! This is nothing but hot water!" he exclaimed, tossing it over to the tub used as a sink without spilling much, though it would make no difference with the water already covering the floor.
"There wasn't any tea," Will replied with a shrug and another wet sniffle.
"Of course there wasn't any bloody tea!" Jack exclaimed, hopping down from his perch on the table with a splash. "We're pirates. Pirates don't drink tea!" He mimed the action to show its absurdity, pretending to drink daintily out of an invisible teacup, pinky extended. Then he tossed the invisible cup over his shoulder and in the same sweeping, continuous motion, retrieved a new mug from the cupboard. He leaned against the counter and opened another cupboard, revealing a large wooden barrel. From it, he drew a mug full of golden brown spirit, then slid the mug across the table to Will. "There you have it. A good, thick ale will dull the pain it will, Will." His head tilted lazily to one side then back again, thinking over hisstatement, then nodding as it met with his approval.
Narrowing his eyes slightly, Will picked it up and sniffed at it. The strong stench made his face screw up. But he felt a hand pat hard at his back, urging him on, and he decided he might at least try it. It couldn't be any worse than drinking hot water, at any rate. A moment later, he utterly regretted taking the sip. It burned his mouth, and made him cough so much he could barely swallow. It wasn't as though he had never had a drink before, but he wasn't at the top of his game right now, either. He put the mug down immediately, coughing into a fist. With another shiver, he tightened the blanket around himself and stared down at the mug of ale to avoid having to look at Jack, who was chuckling at his reaction.
"Hey, Mate," Jack said with an uncharacteristic bout of softness. "Maybe you should go back to bed? Storm's over," he said with a flourish of his hand, as though to indicate the absence of thunder and the gentler rocking the boat was now undergoing. He settled back on the table and swiped the mug. He finished off a good bit of it before sliding it back to Will, who caught it only to keep it from falling on the floor. Will had absolutely no intention to actually drink any more of it.
"Thank you, but I'm fine," he firmly replied with another wet sniffle. But then Will buriedhis face against his arm and the blanket. "huh-EKShuhhh! EHCHUH-shhhh!" Helifted his head, still wearing a sneezey expression. There was a third sneeze there, biding its time, freezing him in place. He heard the familiar chuckling of the pirate and footsteps in the hall, and he buried his face in the folds of the blanket once again. "heh-ehhh...eh-hur-CHUMPHHH!" His attempt at stifling the sneeze had been pathetic, considering its force, and his pale face shown with bright red cheeks as he lifted his head to see his company.
Jack was still there, and still laughing at Will's misery. But half of the crew was there as well. Anamaria was stood staring, and Cotton with his parrot, and Gibbs who was laughing just as heartily at Will, hand at his belly. The parrot squawked a loud "Batten down the hatches!"
Will looked up, narrowing his eyes at Cotton who must clearly know that the parrot made nosense what-so-ever. Caught between sinking down to make himself as small as possible with the hope they would let him alone and leaving, he decided to leave. At least in his bed he could sneeze and not have a half a dozen eyes upon him. "I think, sniff, sniff, I will go rest after all," he muttered. Leaving the mug on the table where it was, he tightened the blanket around himself again and headed into the main hold, which the table extended into, anyway. As they were not hauling cargo and the cannons, food supplies, and gunpowder barrels did not take up much room, they had the luxury of a table. The main passage up to the deck was located there.
"Good. You do that now," Jack said after him, stealing back the mug and finishing it off.Behind him, Will heard more laughter, and everyone jostling about with comments about getting ale for everyone and only being able to dry out after getting thoroughly wet.
The forecastle was located at the far end of the main hull, which was where the rest of the crew slept. It seemed that almost everyone who wasn't in the galley was in the crew cabin, changing out of wet clothes and into whatever dry ones they could find, else just slipping naked into their bunks for a little sleep before their next shift. But Will headed up the main ladder before reaching the forecastle, pushing up the door and emerging onto the deck.
It was deathly cold and terribly dark for the small sliver of moon was hidden behind stormclouds. Rain was still coming down in buckets, causing the few remaining crew members to bail water out as much as do their other jobs. One stood at the helm, holding a real compass in order to follow Jack's directions without Jack having to relinquish his own.
Several of them were securing the rigging and singing as they worked. There was no shantyman to lead them, but for that work they didn't need one. They simply sang to keep themselves entertained. Will caught snatches of the song as he passed, but most of it was drowned out by the wind. What he did manage to hear didn't make him feel much better about the crew he was trusting to help him rescue Elizabeth.
We're rascals.... scou... and knaves.
Drink up... Yo Ho!
...devils... really bad eggs!
Drink... me 'earties...
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! ...pirate's life for me!The entrance down to the aft cabin was at the far back of the ship, and Will did not have a very pleasant journey of it, being swept off his feet a few times. He reached the stair, looking wind-swept and feeling completely soaked. His hair was darker than usual and dripping, his face even paler, and his body shivering with terrible chill. He closed the hatches to the cabin behind him to keep it dry and climbed down.
The aft cabin was spacious compared to the galley. There was a small wooden table in the center at which the ship's business could be conducted. However with Jack as captain, the only sort of business he conducted was shouting out orders and steering the ship with one eye on his compass, the other eye on the seas, and a hand on the wheel. The cabin was also home to a navigation stand beside the stairs, which could contain all manner of charts and maps and measuring devices or, as was the case now, an extra supply of grog. The room also sported theonly windows on the ship, providing the cabin's inhabitants with a glance out at the current weather and state of the waves.
The current inhabitants had decided their positions with quite a bit of arguing and someamount of logic, though it seemed a game of musical chairs would have been easier. To his left as he descended into the room was the captain's cabin, a small room really big enough only for a bed and chest of drawers but with a door and walls for privacy. When Jack slept, which was not often, he slept there. However, the bed was never made and the chest was always empty as he kept what few belongings he had on his person at all times. While Gibbs was technically the first mate, Anamaria was given the first mate's cabin, which mirrored the captain's apart from being a foot or two smaller on several sides. It sat in the right front corner of the room, with its own walls and a door as well. Anamaria had been promised the ship, after all, and even though they were pirates, they had a sense of decency to allow the only woman on board a bit of privacy. She may have been a pirate, but that did not mean she wasn't a lady. The rest of the room was open, and in each of the other two corners stood quarter-berth bunks. One of these was given to Gibbs, to make up for the loss of giving up his cabin, and the other had been given to Will, who had insisted upon the adventure in the first place and didn't exactly fit in with the crew.
Will dropped the now wet blanket onto the floor and shuffled over to his bed. He stripped off his shirt and boots, and climbed in. Since developing the head cold, he had kept handkerchiefs beneath his pillow, for the sneezes seemed worst at night when everything else was a bit quieter. Pulling one out, he sniffled wetly and tried to hold the sneezey feeling in his nose back until the handkerchief was folded and ready. Then, "ehhHUTChuhhh! Hetchahhhh! EHKTchhhhh! Sniff! Sniff!" He blew his nose to great relief, and closed his eyes with an intense shiver. Though his mattress was not the hardest thing in the world and the blankets were nice and thick, both were cold against his body still. But before he had even had a chance to stopshivering, he was asleep.
Somehow, someway, he was watching Elizabeth. She was huddled between crates on the deck of a dark ship, pirates coming at her from all sides. They climbed over the crates, swung down from the miles of rigging, and snuck up from behind. Will found himself lunging for her, longing to take her away and hold her safely in his arms. But as he reached out, her image vanished, and it was all he could do to grab hold of a rope and steady himself.
He was on the deck of the Interceptor once again, being swept this way and that in thetorrent of rain and wind once again. The storm resembled the one from two nights back, when he had first come down with this cold of his. And he found himself soaked, shivering, and sniffling all over again as he tried to jump in and help any way he could. The main top gallant sail had been torn to bits by the wind as they had tried to secure it, and pieces had tangled in the rest of the workings of the ship. Will ran about, freeing pieces of the cloth from the rigging and belaying pins. The sail itself would need replacing and though they had the spare canvas on board for that, there was no time to put it up now. Extra canvas was a necessity when the ship was expected to run its fastest with all eleven sails. There was a danger, too, in climbing up the masts now, as thunder echoed in their ears, drowning outorders, and lightning flashed too close. Will's sneezes and coughs slowed him down considerable, making him rub at his nose when he should have been tightening knots. He even missed a rope that was thrown to him because of an especially powerful sneeze that knocked him off balance and against the side of the ship. As he sniffled and straightened up, he cast a glance upwards. All that could be seen above though the pouring rain was dark sails and black clouds. His eyes focused on the masts for a moment, trying to distinguish where they stopped and where the clouds started.
But before he could draw any sort of conclusion, there was another crack of thunder overhead so loud it shook the whole ship, which was already tossing and turning violently in the waves. And at the same instant, a bolt of lightning tore from the sky, striking the mast. This he did not remember from a few nights back, though it felt eerily familiar. The mast split and the wood and nearby sails burst into flame. The fire spread quickly, despite the dampness of the ship and the constant rain. Will shouted and pointed, trying to get the others to notice, but everyone was preoccupied with something else and could not spare a moment for the fire. It seemed impossible, but none of them seemed to even see it. Flames fell onto the deck, and the men scurried past without so much as a glance. The fire ate away quickly at the ship, and it was all Will could do to jump overboard and grab hold of a piece of wood that had already broken away from the ship. He was still trying to shout warnings when he passed out from the heat and smoke.
When he came to, the rain had stopped again, and he looked up into the eyes of a young Elizabeth. It was Elizabeth as he had met hermany years ago when they were both children. He had wanted to kiss her then as badly as he did now, looking up into her eyes and her kind face. But another face appeared over her shoulder, that one not the least bit pleasant. It was a man with a large-rimmed black hat and sallow skin that clung to his skull as if he had not eaten for years. And when the man smiled, his teeth were a mismatch of colors making up the most disgusting, disheartening grin of all time. A thin, body hand settled on Elizabeth's shoulder and tightened, pulling her back, away from Will. Will reached out again for her, but it was too late.
Will woke with a start, sitting straight up in his bed. His heart thumped so loudly hethought it might explode, and he pressed his palm against his chest as though to try and calm it. His breathing was fast as well, though in heavy wheezes that hurt both on the coming in and the going back out. He summoned the sense to run a tongue over his lips to wet them and tried to control himself. His hand moved from chest to nose, wiping roughly at the runs there. But he found himself to be wetter than anticipated. He realized, after a moment, that he was drenched in sweat, from clothes to bed sheets. A touch to his forehead couldn't gauge anything for certain, be it seemed as though his fever had broken. With a sigh, he sniffled and turned his head.
He found not the expected empty cabin in his field of vision, but instead the face of JackSparrow staring right back at him with a wide grin. Will jumped in surprise, with a loud shout. And at the sudden noise, Jack tumbled back, off balance, with an equally loud shout of his own. "Whoa! Steady there, Mate!" said Jack, bobbing back up in a flowing motion to kneel beside the bed on one knee.
Will rummaged around the tangled sheets and blanket for a handkerchief. His nose, apart from running, was tickling again and his nostrils twitched gently as he buried them in the folds. "ehh-HEHKTchhhh! IHKTChhuhhh!" After a firm rub, he lowered the handkerchief in frustration. "What are you doing here?!" asked Will harshly.
Dramatically, Jack put both hands to his heart. "Well I could be here out o' the kindness of me heart. And then how would ye feel for speaking to me in such an accusatory manor?" He tilted his head, looking innocent, beads jangling about in his hair. Will was not taken in by this, and simply continued looking a long, hard stare. Jack sighed. "Truth is, you were screaming your bloody head off and if I didn't think I'd get even a wink of sleep if you didn't shut up, savvy?" He reached beneath Will's bed and pulled out a bottle of rum he had hidden there. After pulling the cork out with his teeth and spitting it out across the room, he took a large gulp and sighed again. He offered it to Will, who refused. "Ah, your loss then."
His loss. Will closed his eyes, replaying the images of the dream over in his head, even as they became fuzzy to his memory. There had been a storm... and a fire... and Elizabeth. How utterly shocked he had been when just days before she had confessed to dreaming about him. If she had only known that he dreamed of her every momentof the day and night, awake or asleep.
"EHCH-huhhh! IHTChhhhhhh!" He quickly recovered his nose and mouth with the handkerchief and turned his head. "EHHChushhhh... AHTChushhhh!" This time he blew his nose softly and coughed to clear his throat before lowering the handkerchief.
Silence passed for a few glorious moments, in which Will tried to determine the best way to ask Jack to leave. But then, "So what was it you were dreaming about then?" Jack asked, his usual slur even more pronounced with the assistance of the rum.
Will had no intention of divulging the personal details of his dream, but said enough tosatisfy Jack. "The storm two nights back."
"Ah, aye, I see..." said Jack, nodding his head continually, the beads and jewelry among his hair jangling all the more. "And that explains why you were calling out to the fair young Miss Swan, does it?" His head still nodded, though the change in his eyes showed he knew the truth, even if Will refused to admit it. "Hey, don't hang the jib there, Mate," Jack said about Will's frown, letting his fist lightly cuff Will's chin. "We're closer than you think. And as long as no one does anything stupid," he gave Will an especially sharp look, "We'll be sailing back to port this time next week with Elizabeth in our very capable hands." He wiggled all his fingers for show, the bits of moonlight that shown in through the window glanced off his rings with small flashes.
Will nodded and eased himself back down against the bed, suddenly feeling too weak to sit up any longer. He pulled out a fresh handkerchief as he felt more sneezes coming on. "ihhh...IH-HEHTChhhhhh! IHKshushhhhh!" With a bit of a shiver from the sneezes, he pulled the covers up to his shoulders. He only hoped Jack was right about their adventure.
"Aye, that's a good lad," Jack murmured, watching Will. Then he attempted to stand up, but fell back down on the floor. His head cracked against the back of the ship, feet came up to square off with his shoulders then fell back down again.
Will had heard an old saying about drunkenness, which seemed to apply to Jack in full. No matter how much a man drinks, he's not actually drunk until he can't stand up. Will tossed over his extra blanket, and it fell over Jack's front, covering him roughly. The pirate captain smacked his lips and, without opening his eyes, curled up on the floor of the cabin, wrapping the blanket around himself and wrapping himself around the bottle of rum.
Will smirked and closed his eyes as well, falling asleep to the sound of Gibbs' loud snores, which were nothing at all compared to those of his master the blacksmith's.
The morning sun rose on a calm sea. The rain had finally passed, and there was nothing but clear skies ahead of them. Too anxious to sleep when the prospect of catching up with their quarry rested on his mind, Will spent his morning on deck. He sat upon the quarter deck, his legs dangling over the side, leaning forward against one of the wooden posts that held up the rail around the area. He had a blanket around his shoulders again, though this time he was fully dressed underneath. Hishair was straight, stiff with seawater, and he seemed less pale, though there was a pinkish tint to the end of his nose. While he had not thought the blanket necessary, he was most grateful to have thought to bring it along for though the rains had stopped, the speed at which the vessel sailed made for a very chilled temperature on deck. He sat with a handkerchief resting on his thigh for easy access, and another mug of hot water clutched in his hands. And he sat looking forward to the ship, across its long deck to the bow.
His cold was notably better this morning, after a bit of a night's rest. His fever wasindeed down, perhaps gone entirely, and he could feel his strength returning. All that was left was a tickle in his throat which made it sore and caused some coughing, and the tickle in his nose which made it run and caused considerable sneezing. "heh-IHKtchmphh!EHTShhumph! IHKTChumphh!" He had snatched up the handkerchief just in time, covering his nose and mouth and muffling some of the sound.
"Hup to it all ye lobcocks!" came Jack's voice over the crash of the waves as the Interceptor tore through them. Will looked back over his shoulder to see Jack at the wheel, gazing up at the sail the crew was attempting to replace.
"Get it secure now!" Called Gibbs, as though echoing the captain's orders. "Drunken Sailor!" he then shouted as everyone grabbed a hold of the lead rope. Chanting in unison, the crew members at the rope began belting out the song. On the down beats they pulled back hard on the rope and on the up beats they reached forward and took another handful of rope.
What do you do wi' a drunken sailor,
What do you do wi' a drunken sailor,
What do you do wi' a drunken sailor,
Earla in the morning?Way hay and up she rises,
Way hay and up she rises,
Way hay and up she rises,
Earla in the morning!Will smiled, sniffled, and lowered his handkerchief back onto his leg. They seemed acheerful lot, despite the damage that had been done and the fact that they really had no idea what they were sailing into. Perhaps their cheerfulness could be attributed to the ale, but Will had a feeling that even dry and sober Jack had a mighty wit to him. As he watched them hoist the new sail into place and it flapped out to catch the wind, Will found a renewed sense of purpose. Pirating was in his blood and whether he wanted to admit it or not, he really didbelieve he could rescue Elizabeth with their help.
"ihhh...IKSHmphhh! EHKtchumphh! Sniff, sniff!" He blew his nose, and lowered the handkerchief again. Then he felt something heavy weight down his head, and looked up to see Jack smiling down at him, a hand still on the wheel. Will reached up, feeling what he assumed to be Jack's hat since the pirate smiling down at him had merely the red cloth amidst his hair.
"Get yourself a hat," Jack advised with a grin. "Keeps you from catchin' cold so easily.Keeps you warm on mornings like this when the sun hides behind the clouds and the rains have cooled the waters." His golden teeth sparkled as he grinned. "Savvy?"
Will sniffed as loudly as he could and handed the hat back. "I don't mean to make this a lifestyle."
Jack slapped the hat back on his head, tugging it firmly into place and tossing locks of hair back over his shoulder. "Oh, maybe you don't think so now." Then, more softly, he finished, "But just ye wait." And he sang along to the sea shanty as the rest of the crew picked it up as well, cycling through what seemed to be at least thirty verses. Jack added another few verses of his own, one of which Will could have killed him over considering it had to do with a blacksmith. But in time Even Will found himself humming along as he sat, warming himself around the steaming mug.
Disney owns the concept and the song 'Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me)' and the PotC movie, the concept, and its characters. Nobody really owns pirates, however and I think they’d be a bit angry if you tried. A/N: The songs I quoted from are not mine (hence the quoting), they are 'Yo Ho( A Pirate’s Life for Me)' and 'Drunken Sailor.' The Interceptor’s specs are taken from a slightly more modern version of the Lady Washington which played her in the film. If you want a visual to follow along with, check out http://ladywashington.linsect.com/ .Vocab /slang/terms are taken from a number of sources including http://www.maritimepirates.com/jargon.html and http://www.roguescove.org/info/saltytalk/section4.html. Thanks: Many thanks to everyone who filled me in on details like names- it’s hard to write for a fandom where I’ve only seen the movie once or twice. So thanks much for the encouragement and support!