The Painter Of Port Royal

Chapter 3

Lydia rested her hands on the wooden railings of the ship. She had to admit she felt such a calming sensation standing aboard the ship. The aqua waves rolled by her as they glistened in the sun. It was hot onboard but Lydia was a lot cooler standing only in her under-dress than if she brought her green dress aboard. Feeling at the beige material, Lydia wished she would have changed, maybe that would stop the odd stares she received from Jack every so often.

The pirate stood at the helm observing the sea. He had been on hundreds of ships, and this one was no different, but he'd never crewed a ship with only two other people, one of which he knew never been onboard before. Like a child staring at the wonders of a new toy store, Lydia's eyes glued onto the endless ocean and he was confused on why she couldn't remember her past. He knew what it was but she seemed to not know at all.

Will leaped up the stairs making his way to the pirate. Seeing Will, Lydia drew away from where she was standing, moving next to the helm.

"When I was a lad living in England my mother raised me herself," Will began suddenly "After she died, I came out here looking for my father."

Lydia knew this story back to back, Will telling it so many times back in Port Royal and she wondered why he'd bring it up now. Surely the pirate wouldn't be interested in Will's backstory. And Lydia was right as the pirate turned to leant his back on the helm, slouching as he did.

"Is that so?" He mocked.

"My father, Will Turner, at the jail, it was only after you learned my name you agreed to help," Will said "Since that's what I wanted I didn't press the matter... I'm not a simpleton, Jack, you knew my father."

Will was right and Lydia was shocked to see Jack roll his eyes at him. She folded her arms and glared at the pirate, forcing a smile onto his face.

"First off I agreed to join after hearing her name," she twirled his finger at Lydia "and your name was just an added bonus. So yeah I knew him. Probably one of the only people who knew him as William Turner, everyone else just called him Bootstrap, or Bootstrap Bill."

Will stepped forward as Jack's eyes gleamed at Lydia. Tension between them were beginning to grow as Will did not even cast and eye on her, just to the pirate that seemed all too pleased with himself. Lydia bit her lip in realisation on just what Jack had suggested. That Will's dad was a pirate. She'd never had any hints to this before, mostly due to Will despising them his whole life but she did feel it made sense. After all her and Will had definitely committed some form of piracy for breaking a man, a pirate, out of jail and then stealing a Navy ship. However she still had no clue why he was fascinated by her name. Maybe I am a pirate too she thought.

"Bootstrap?" Will asked.

"Good man, good pirate, I swear you look just like him," Jack smirked looking to Lydia with an "I promise he does" look on his face.

Jack appeared to have brushed past his speech of Will's dad being a pirate, much to Will's distain, and he looked at the pair in waiting. Like a kettle, Will seemed to only get hotter and hotter by the minute, disgusted by his comment yet he still wasn't interested in the fact that Jack clearly stated he joined them because of Lydia. Lydia herself seemed to gloss over that fact as she was much to shaken from the two men in an almost stand off.

"It's not true," Will shook his head, "He was a merchant sailor, a good respectable man who obeyed the law."

"He was a bloody pirate, a scallywag!" Jack jeered.

Will grabbed for his sword and pulled it out to face the pirate, making Lydia jump. This was exactly what Lydia was worried about. They had no time to contemplate what their parents did or were, especially when the woman Will loves is god knows where. Stepping closer to jack Lydia tried and failed to get Will to stand down but he wasn't giving up.