In the Hands of Fate I: Curse of the Black Pearl

Chapter five

Chapter five

"Keep a sharp eye," Jack warned as he brought the man (Gibbs, if I recall Jack saying) a tankard of rum.

The usual fighting was going on, but it didn't interest me nearly as much as Will. Perhaps it was the fact that I spent the first twenty or so years of my life as the daughter of a pirate. I shuffled back a bit as a couple of brawlers came my way.

"Now, what's the nature of this venture yourn?" I overheard Gibbs as he asked.

I was wondering that a bit myself.

"I'm going after the Black Pearl," Jack answered. Figures.

Gibbs choked on his drink.

"I know where it's going to be, an' I'm gonna take it," Jack continued.

"Jack," Gibbs said incredulously, "it's a fool's errand. You know better than me the tails of the Black Pearl."

"And I know better than him," I mumbled.

"What?" Will questioned.

"Nothing." I turned back to the conversation.

"That's why I know what Barbossa is up to. All I need is a crew," Jack stated.

Yeah, and some common sense.

"From what I hear of Captain Barbossa, he's not a man to suffer fools, nor strike a bargain with one."

Sounds about right.

"Well, I'd say it a very good thing I'm not a fool then, aye?"

"Prove me wrong," Gibbs spat, "What makes you think Barbossa will give up his ship to you?"

"Let's just say it's a matter of leverage, aye?"

From the corner of my eye I saw Will turn to look at Jack and Gibbs. I wonder how much he's heard.

It was silent for a short moment.

"The woman or the kid?"

"That is the only daughter of Hector Barbossa himself, not of much importance." I grit my teeth at this. Who was Jack to say I wasn't important? "And the whelp is the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner. His only child, savvy?"

"Is he, now?" came Gibbs' whispered question. "'Leverage,' says you. 'I think I feel a change in the wind,' says I. I'll find us a crew. There's bound to be some sailors on this rock as crazy as you."

"One can only hope. Take what you can."

"Give nothing back."

...

Music played softly out on the ship.

"Just some celebratin'," my father mumbled as he led me up the gangplank.

"What for?" I wondered.

"We've, er, come across some treasure." He looked at me sheepishly, like he was caught in a lie by his mother.

"You mean you stole it," I stated seriously, "From whom?"

"No one of importance, my dear Luna." He pulled me up into his arms and away from the celebrations. "Now let's get you settled into a room of your own shall we?"

"What if the find out that I'm a gypsy, a female one at that? Not very many people are accepting of my kind."

He smiled at me. "We're pirates, Luna, none of us care."