Six: Welcome to the Caribbean

Chapter 4

"Cap'n!" Mr. Gibbs called to Jack. "There's a raft approaching on our port side. Three passengers."

Jack, who had stayed at the helm, looked over the side at the piece of wood that had clearly been part of a ship's side with three men clinging to it. "Seems like I've been running into everyone stranded at sea," Jack said to himself. "First Elizabeth, now these three." Normally, Jack wasn't all that inclined to take on other passengers; Elizabeth was an exception, being Jack's friend. He watched the raft come closer.

When the raft was in earshot, one of the men clinging to it shouted up to the Pearl for them to come aboard.

Jack surveyed them a second before replying, "Who are you?"

The man responded, "Our ship sank in the storm yesterday."

"Are you pirates, sailors? Are you with the Company?" Jack asked further.

The man doing all the talking looked at his two companions. They both shrugged like they had no idea what Jack meant. "Is there a 'none of said options' option for that?" was the answer.

That was an interesting answer. Turning to Mr. Gibbs, he said, "Bring them aboard." He was fairly confident these three were no threat to him.

"Aye, Cap'n! Bring 'em aboard!"

A rope was thrown to the raft and was caught by one of the other two, who pulled them closer to the Pearl. All three made it on board without any issues, and Jack came down to the main deck to question them. "Where are you lot from, then?" he asked.

"England," answered the same man Jack had spoken to earlier.

Jack could have guessed as much from the accent. "You got names?"

"I'm Gwaine, this is Percival, an' that's Merlin," Gwaine replied, pointing out his companions. Gwaine was of average height with longer dark hair, part of which hung in his face. He had brown eyes, and stubble that covered his chin and upper lip.

"Well,--" Jack suddenly noticed that most of the crew had stopped their activities and were staring at Gwaine and his friends. "Oi!" Jack said, turning to the crew. "Move along, back to your stations!" he called, waving his arms at them. The crew quickly dispersed, resuming whatever task they had stopped.

"I take it you'd be the captain around here, then," Gwaine commented, seeing the urgency with which the crew moved.

"Aye, glad it was obvious," Jack said. "By the way, if you three aren't pirates or sailors, what are you doing out here?"

"Yeah, we were on a bit of a trip, see, but we got a bit lost," Merlin, the smallest of the three with black hair and pale eyes, explained.

"What ship were you on?" Jack asked.

"Good question . . . do you two remember that?" Gwaine said looking to Percival and Merlin. Merlin shook his head.

It was Percival who answered. Percival was easily the tallest and biggest of the three, with light brown hair cropped close to his head. His shirt was sleeveless, exposing thick, muscled arms. "Wasn't it the Intrepid or something? HMS Intrepid?"

Jack tensed at the mention of a ship of the Royal Navy. He heard a click beside him. Elizabeth, who had been standing silently the whole time, had her pistol, cocked and ready, pointed at the ground. Jack's hand moved and rested on his pistol, tucked into the sash he always wore around his middle. "You were on a Royal Navy ship?" Jack asked carefully.

Gwaine and Percival had noticed the shift in Jack and Elizabeth's posture, and both of them reached instinctively for the pommel of a sword hanging from their hip. Jack couldn't help but notice something unusual about the swords. They were two-handed, with cross guards, something completely out of style for the times.

"Where are you from?" Jack asked again. "Answer honestly or we'll put you lot right back on that floating contraption we found you on. And where did you get swords like that?"

The three newcomers exchanged looks, as if deciding if they should trust Jack with such information. Finally, Merlin spoke up.

"Do you know the story of King Arthur and the Round Table?" he asked.

"Aye," Jack nodded. He couldn't say he knew it well, but he'd heard the story once or twice.

" Yeah, that's us," Merlin finished.

"You mean to say you lot are from the sixth century, or whatever?" Jack asked, incredulously. The three nodded. "As in time-travel?" Jack said. The three nodded again.

"Then you're Merlin? The Merlin?" Elizabeth said, staring at the skinny and rather small Merlin.  Merlin nodded, although he looked slightly confused as to why there would be another Merlin.  Elizabeth looked at Gwaine and Percival.  "Are you two Knights of the Round Table, then?"  She obviously knew the legend better than Jack.

"Yeah, we are.  Mind you, we haven't quite figured how we ended up here," Gwaine said. "All we know is there was a portal, and it pulled us through to here."

"Bit of a jump, eh?" Jack said.

Gwaine grinned. "Oh, it's not that bad. Could've ended up even years ahead of now."

Jack nodded his agreement, although not entirely sure what he was agreeing to. "Right. Well, that's all very nice, but I am captain of a ship, and I should get back to doing that. Is there a place you lot want to go, or...?"

Gwaine shrugged, tossing his hair out of his eyes with a practiced flick of his head. "Not really sure. We'll think about it." Jack nodded and strode off to survey his crew, leaving Elizabeth standing, still with her pistol drawn, though not cocked.

Merlin, always very curious, gestured at the weapon and asked, "What are those, exactly?"

Elizabeth held it up. "It's a flintlock pistol. One shot could kill you faster than you could draw your sword."

This remark earned a few moments of silence as Elizabeth tucked the gun back into her belt. Finally, Gwaine moved to lean against a canon facing Elizabeth. Normally, as Merlin and Percival could attest to, Gwaine tended to be quite a flirt with most women he met, but even he recognized that Elizabeth was not the type that would take kindly to that. Instead, Gwaine said, "I assume you know what ship this is, then. If you'd care to enlighten us . . . ?"

"You're on the Black Pearl," Elizabeth said. "Fastest ship in the Caribbean."

"Pirate ship, I gather," Merlin said frankly. Elizabeth nodded, still a bit wary of the three.

"What d'they call you?" Gwaine asked. "No one was introduced to us, I'm afraid."

"I'm Elizabeth Turner."

Gwaine nodded. "It's a pleasure. Who's the captain?"

"That," Elizabeth said, glancing over to where Jack stood chatting with Vega, " is Captain Jack Sparrow."

"That's Jack Sparrow?" Percival said.

"Yes. Hear about him on the Navy ship?" Elizabeth replied, knowing all too well of Jack's infamy with the Crown.

"Yeah. Quite the reputation he's got," Gwaine answered, sounding almost impressed. " D'you think he would mind if I wanted to find out what exactly is going on?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "No, I don't think so. If he does, it's probably not your fault, anyway. Jack isn't exactly fond of the Crown. He'd probably just be wary since he knows you were on a Navy ship."

Gwaine nodded. "That's understandable," he replied. "Coming?" he asked Percival and Merlin.

"I think you can handle it, Gwaine. You know more about disregarding rules than us," Merlin said. Percival nodded, agreeing silently with Merlin.

"Hey, come on, now. Be nice, Merlin," Gwaine grinned as he began walking over to Jack. "Got a reputation to consider, y'know."

"By now, that is your reputation," Merlin said quietly as Gwaine wandered over to where Jack and Vega stood talking. Elizabeth smirked.