Norrington's Darling

Parley

POV: Zuri Norrington

With the meeting adjourned, we were going to need a plan of action. Yes, we were going to war at dawn—but how? How many ships did we have, how many pirates, what could we afford to lose, at what point would we surrender? 

Elizabeth had spent years studying strategy with her father, years pouring over books and learning how wars were fought. But the wars she studied weren't exactly pirate wars, nor were they from a pirate standpoint. We pirates fought differently from the British. We were never fair and we often cheated and lied our way out of things. Doubtless we would need to pull some of these tricks to win, but Elizabeth didn't know them.

So we claimed an empty room close by Leopold's bar and Barbossa, Jack, and I spent the next two hours drilling her. We taught her the pirates' way—how we fought, how we tricked, how we faked out. Using a map and wooden props that reminded me all too much of the ones in Beckett's own map, I explained certain maneuvers we could perform on the ocean that would outwit even the smartest of sea captains.

Barbossa taught her strategy. Jack taught her cruel tricks to pull just when it seemed everything was going to be played fairly. I taught her hand-to-hand and sword combat for the inevitable moment we were boarded or we boarded them.

I pulled a twisting trick that pulled Elizabeth's sword out of her hand. I twisted my blade through the hilt of the rapier and flung it across the room. It slammed into the wall and stayed there, vibrating.

"James did all the time," Elizabeth gasped, then blushed as if she realized she shouldn't have mentioned him.

But I grinned. "Aye, he did. He taught me it and I've used it since."

"Ohhh, so that's how you best me all the time!" Jack cried.

"Enough with swordplay," Barbossa instructed. "It won't help us start the war."

"Or with getting our man inside," I agreed, wiping sweat from my neck. I sheathed my sword and pulled Elizabeth's from the wall. Handing it to her, I said, "This is your area of expertise. Pirate wars generally start when someone fires a cannon the wrong way. I'm sure the British would be much more practical."

"Beckett, certainly," Elizabeth agreed. She poured over the map laid out, examining where I had determined Beckett to place his armada. "How many ships are we facing?"

"Countless," I said. "Beckett will have called all the might he can to best us. Our only benefit is that he has no idea what moves we will make, or how numerous we are. Still, he will undoubtedly outnumber us."

Elizabeth sighed. 

"Is there anything Tia taught you that might help even the odds?" Jack asked. We had agreed Elizabeth and Barbossa could not know that I had Calypso's power within me. They would only know of what she'd taught me.

I hesitated. "Perhaps," I said, retrieving a few shells from the bag that had been Tia's. I began to lay them out. "I could try scrying, but I don't think I'll have a far enough reach." Of course I would, with Tia's power, but a show of too much power would make things start to get jumbled. "However, I might be able to look at connector threads."

"Connector threads?" Elizabeth asked.

I nodded. "Relationships build what Tia always called threads between people. Connections that aren't really ever severed, just made frayed. That's why she called them threads."

"Would ye have threads ye could follow between yourself and the British?"

I nodded. "Originally, the plan had been to do so with James aboard the Flying Dutchman, so I could trace Jones. However, I can trace Beckett and Bootstrap both. I can track the navy's progress depending on where they are in the world." I finished laying out the shells and placed two wax chips beside them. These would represent the people I sought. "However, it is dangerous. There is a possibility they could realize I am searching for them. Bootstrap is more likely to, as he is sort of dead."