Wild Waters (4 page)

B
ack at the beginning of his adventure with the Shadow Gold, Jack had helped a runaway slave named Gombo escape from New Orleans by giving him passage on the
Pearl
. Gombo had later left the ship to captain his own crew, but Jack hadn’t expected to find him here—certainly not at the other end of his sword!

The tall pirate captain gave Jack a stern look. “It’s Gentleman Jocard now,” he said. “Not Gombo anymore. You must remember that.”

Then suddenly he broke into a wide smile. “Hello, Jack.”

“
Captain
Jack,” Jack reminded him, delighted to see his old friend. “How are you? Sick of captaining your own ship by now, eh?” he asked hopefully, sheathing his sword. “You must be ready to come back and be our cook again. Well, tell you what, agree to a pay cut—half your wages, say—and I’ll think about it, savvy?”

“What wages?” Jean asked ruefully, rubbing a lump that was forming on his head. Jack winced guiltily.

“Thanks for the offer, Jack,” Jocard said, amused, “but I’m afraid life aboard the
Ranger
suits me very well.”

All the pirates jumped as loud thumping noises echoed through the room. Jack glanced around at his pirates. Teague and Grandmama were at either end of the table, still brandishing their weapons. Barbossa was staggering to his feet with a furious expression, cod soup dripping from his hair and blood dripping from his nose. Uh-oh, Jack thought, noticing the fierce glare Barbossa was directing at Jack’s boots.

And Carolina was standing with her back to the wall, sword in hand, facing three of Jocard’s pirates. She glanced around as Jack did, frowning quizzically.

Someone was missing…
two
someones.

THUMP, THUMP, THUMP!

“Help!” cried a muffled voice.

Carolina strode over to a door in the side wall and threw it open, revealing a small closet—and Diego and Marcella!

Marcella had her arms around a flustered Diego, while he was struggling to get away. He’d realized his mistake moments after the door closed. In the dark, he’d grabbed the wrong girl! Of course, there was no telling Marcella that; she was convinced that he was her savior.

“Wait!” Diego cried, seeing Carolina. “I didn’t—this isn’t what it looks like! It was an accident!”

Carolina gave him a disgusted look and strode over to stand beside Jack, resolutely turning her back on Diego.

“Oh, it’s
you
,” Marcella said, spotting Jocard. She disentangled herself from Diego and sauntered into the room, fluffing her hair. “What an unpleasant surprise. I thought we’d finally gotten rid of you.”

“If I had known
you’d
be here,” Jocard said to her, folding his arms, “I never would have come.”

“Now there’s a sentiment I can agree with,” Jack said heartily.

Marcella stuck out her tongue at Jocard.

“Gentleman Jocard,” Teague said thoughtfully. He twirled his sword in his fingers, clearly not willing to sheath it yet. “I’ve heard much of you. In only a few short months, I hear, you have become one of the most prosperous and respected pirates in the waters around Libertalia.”

Jocard gave a small bow of acknowledgment, and Marcella rolled her eyes. “Ooooh, aren’t you
fancy
,” she snipped. “La la la, sooooo good at being a
pirate
, like
that’s
anything to brag about.”

“At least I am good at something,” Jocard said gravely, “unlike certain people, who are good for nothing but whining and eating nine times their weight in food.”

Marcella gasped with outrage. “Diego!” she cried. “Defend me!”

“Ahem,” Teague said, clearing his throat. “If I may interrupt this touching reunion—would anyone mind explaining
why
you were attacking
my
mansion?”

Jocard gestured to his pirates, motioning for them to stand down. Daggers vanished under shirts and into boots; Jack saw at least two men slip their weapons into their hats. Suddenly the room seemed a lot less troublesome. Jack jumped off the table and wiped yams off his boots onto the carpet, until Grandmama gave him a beady-eyed stare and he stopped, trying to look innocent.

“I heard that you were entertaining a Pirate Lord,” Jocard said to Captain Teague. “I assumed it was King Samuel…but I am most pleased to discover that I was wrong.” The corners of his mouth twitched as he glanced at Jack. “Of all the Pirate Lords—I must admit you were the last I would have expected to find here, Jack.”

“Oh, me, too, mate,” Jack said fervently. “Would love to be a thousand miles from here, if I could. No offense,” he said to Teague, who shrugged.

“So,” Jack went on, studying Jocard’s fierce, proud expression. “You have a problem with King Samuel, eh?”

All the pirates in Jocard’s crew scowled, and Jocard’s face darkened. “He must be stopped,” the captain said in a low, passionate voice. Something in his tone hinted at a personal vendetta, but when he didn’t elaborate, Jack decided not to press it.

“Well,” he said, “it just so happens that we’re looking for this Samuel fellow ourselves.” Jack tapped his nose, thinking.

“We should look for him together!” Carolina burst out. “And fight him together! We can stop him, I know we can!”

“I say!” Jack gave her an outraged look. “What did I say about who the captain is around here? It’s me, that’s who! I give the orders, savvy?”

“Yes, I know,” Carolina said. “But—”

“Ah, ah, ah!” Jack said. “No buts! Shush! I have a fantastic idea!” He turned to Jocard. “We should fight King Samuel together! Strength in numbers, eh?”

Carolina sighed.

“You with all your brawny pirates,” Jack went on, “and me with my brains and cunning and savoir faire and exceptional fashion sense. I think this could work.”

“No way!” Marcella complained. “This coldhearted
pirate
abandoned us! I don’t want to work with him! Make him go away!”

“Interesting,” Jocard said, ignoring her. “Pirates working together—most unorthodox.”

As they were speaking, Teague drew his chair out from the table and sat down, flinging his coattails out behind him regally. He lifted his eyebrow at the food on the table, most of it now clearly covered in Jack’s bootprints, and rang the small silver bell again. As servants hurried in quietly to clear the table, Teague folded his hands in front of him and regarded Jack and Jocard.

“What you are proposing is very unwise,” Teague said darkly. “King Samuel is impossible to defeat. Don’t you think I would have done it myself otherwise?”

“Not necessarily,” Grandmama said from the other end of the table. She grabbed a hunk of beef off one of the untrampled platters before the servants took it away and started gnawing on it with gusto. “You’re not as daring as you used to be, my boy. Now, if
I
were still running things, no one else would
dare
call themselves king around here!”

Teague gave her an unpleasant look and turned back to Jack. “If you do this,” he said, “and if you fail, which I am certain you will, King Samuel will seek revenge on all the pirates here. I guarantee he will attack Libertalia and destroy it. I have no love for Samuel myself, but at least right now we have an uneasy truce. We leave each other alone. You break that truce—and many will suffer for it.”

“Many
are
suffering!” Jocard cried, slamming his hand on the table. “Every day King Samuel allows more and more of our people to be sold into slavery. We cannot stand by and let him go on like this!”

“Besides,” Jack pointed out, “he is a pirate, remember. Which means he could change his mind at any moment and come charging over here with his slave-trading ships ready and waiting for new cargo.”

“Exactly,” Jocard said. “We overthrow Samuel, and then a better Pirate Lord of the Atlantic Ocean can ensure the safety of Libertalia for a long time to come.”

Teague snorted. “Easier said than done. King Samuel’s fortress is south of here, on the western side of Madagascar, on a cliff high above the sea.

It is impossible to scale. A thicket of warships waits in the bay below, and cannons line the shore. You’ll never even get close enough to shout a feeble threat before you find yourselves at the bottom of the sea. I’m certainly not joining you on this foolhardy mission.”

“Tut, tut,” Jack said, waving one hand dismissively. “Leave all the planning to me! I’ll do the thinking, Jocard will do the fighting. Sounds perfectly fair.”

“Hmmm,” Jocard responded. He stroked his beard and studied Jack. “We shall see. Let’s meet again tomorrow night, on my ship. That should give you enough time to come up with this ‘plan’ you mention, and then I shall decide how I feel about it. Deal?” He reached out his hand, and Jack, grinning, shook it.

“Deal!” he said.

“No deal!” Marcella shouted, but no one paid any attention to her.

“We are
doomed
,” Teague muttered darkly from his chair.

But Jack wasn’t worried. After all, overthrowing King Samuel wasn’t exactly his real priority. All he needed was a plan that would distract Samuel long enough for Jack to get inside the fortress and grab the vial of Shadow Gold. He told himself he didn’t particularly care what happened to Samuel or Libertalia afterwards. The Shadow Gold was the most important thing if Jack Sparrow was to survive to fight again another day.

Besides, he knew just who to ask for a crafty idea—Alex, the man who had sailed with the scheming Shadow Lord himself. Surely there was something in the Shadow Lord’s bag of tricks that Jack could use against King Samuel.

Or if not…Jack just had to hope that his own brains were more than a match for any other Pirate Lord!

I
t was an odd group that assembled on Libertalia’s dock two mornings later. The sun shone brightly in an azure blue sky, burning away the early morning clouds. On one side of the dock, the
Pearl
was swarming with activity as pirates and retired pirates climbed all over it, hammering and swabbing and putting everything to rights again. Once word got out that the captain, Jack Sparrow, might or might not be related to Libertalia’s own lord, Captain Teague, Billy had had no trouble finding skilled men who were eager to help fix up the ship. He told Jack they would be ready to sail again in just one day.

“Ah, we’ll be back by then,” Jack said, clapping his old friend on the shoulder. “I mean, how long can it take to walk across an island, sneak into a king’s fort, steal a vial, and overthrow him? Right? Right.”

Billy looked glumly dubious, but he didn’t argue. He was willing to stay with the ship waiting for Jack, but if word came back that Samuel had defeated him, Billy was also more than willing to take the
Pearl
and sail on back to North Carolina without him. He missed his wife and son, whom Jack had promised to return him to months ago. At this point, he knew he had no choice but to sail on…he just had to hope he’d get home again at the end of Jack’s latest wild adventure.

“You know,
I
could stay with the ship instead of Billy,” Barbossa offered slyly. “He’d be a great asset to you in this battle, and you can certainly trust me with the
Pearl
.…”

“Nonsense!” Jack cried, and Barbossa frowned, worried for a moment that Jack knew how untrustworthy Barbossa really was. But then Jack went on: “You’re a great asset, too, Hector. I mean, not amazing or anything, but don’t sell yourself short; I bet you can take out at
least
one pirate with that pistol of yours. Or scare ’em off with your face! Ha! And away we go!” He swung down to the dock on a long rope, missing the ferocious glare Barbossa sent after him.

Barbossa’s nose this morning was enormous and purple as a result of the battle in the dark. He’d covered it with a hideous bandage, but it gave him an even more menacing look than usual. Not to mention that he could not seem to get the smell of cod out of his hair. The first mate fumed. He knew exactly which pirate he wanted to take out with his pistol…as soon as he had a chance.

Carolina was already on the dock, stretching. She felt tense and uncomfortable from two nights of sleeping on a regular bed again. Teague was a hospitable host, and his food was much better than what they got on the
Pearl
, but Carolina had a hard time sleeping without the creak of the hammocks and the swaying of the boat. She longed to be back at sea again as soon as possible.

The only upside to being on land was that it was easier to get away from Diego and Marcella. Whenever Diego came looking for her, she could escape into the jungle around Teague’s mansion and just walk for hours. Madagascar was full of strange animals and plants she’d never seen before; it was also one of the most beautiful places she’d ever been. She could see why the pirates had chosen it for their secret utopian hideout.

Marcella sashayed past, batting her eyelashes at herself in that silver mirror again. Carolina was so sick of that mirror. She wished she could grab it and throw it into the bay. But then Marcella would pitch a fit and Carolina would have to hear about it for the rest of the voyage, so it wasn’t worth it.

On the other side of the dock, an old, practically rotting ship bobbed alongside the gleaming
Ranger
, Jocard’s vessel. This was a key part of Jack’s clever plan (
extremely
clever, if he did say so himself, even if it was based on tales Alex had told him of the Shadow Lord’s methods). Jocard’s first mate, Marcus, would sail around the island on the
Ranger
, towing the old ship behind him. Then the
Ranger
would hide, and a skeleton crew of a few brave men—the best swimmers on Jocard’s crew—would sail the old ship at Samuel’s fortress as if they were attacking it. This decoy would draw the attention of the fort’s defenders…while the real threat snuck up on them from an entirely different direction.

Jocard shook his head, looking over the ragtag bunch of pirates who followed Jack. He squinted particularly suspiciously at Catastrophe Shane, who had already tripped over his boots and nearly fallen into the bay four times.

“This will never work,” Jocard rumbled. “Real pirates don’t attack from land. No one’s ever tried to get to Samuel’s fort through the jungle before—and that’s for a reason. It’s impossible!”

“Precisely why he won’t be expecting it,” Jack said jauntily. “Nothing’s impossible, Jocard! Except getting Grandmama to shut up, of course. Thank heaven we’re finally getting away from her!”

“Ahahaha!” Jack jumped as the old lady’s cackle echoed over the bay. Grandmama stumped onto the dock with her cane, dressed in the strangest old-fashioned pirate outfit any of them had ever seen. An oversize lime green frock coat came down to her knees. A bright purple bandanna peeked out from under a floppy black hat. Dark blue pants were bunched up and wrinkled over black leather boots. Her long white shirt was bursting with lacy frills, and the small ruby gleamed from her false teeth.

“Getting away from me, eh?” she crowed, poking Jack’s stomach with the end of her cane. “Is that what you think? Not on your life, sonny boy! I’m comin’ with you, I am! You need a real pirate on this mission, you do!”

“Oh, yes?” Jack said. “You mean you? Someone who’s just as likely to stab me in the back as any of the folks we’re fighting?”

“Exactly,” Grandmama said. “A real pirate!”

“No.” Jack groaned. “You can’t come with us! We’ll be hiking through miles of jungle! It’s no trip for a—er, for a—” The baleful glare on Grandmama’s face warned him off finishing that sentence. “For an exceptionally fit and attractive old pirate?” he tried instead.

A clatter of boots sounded on the
Ranger
’s gangplank, and they turned to see a strikingly tall woman striding toward them. Her bronze skin glowed and her long, dark hair was thick and lustrous as Carolina’s. She beamed at Jocard with perfect white teeth.

“Ah, Sarah,” Jocard said. “Jack, I want you to meet my betrothed. Sarah is going to lead us through the jungle, as she grew up around these parts and knows the area well. She comes from a wealthy Portuguese family—it will be a fortunate alliance for me indeed.” He put his arm around Sarah and she tipped her hat to Jack’s crew with a superior smile.

“Betrothed!” Marcella gasped from behind Carolina. “Her! Betrothed! To you!” She shook her head, recovering from the shock. “What, someone actually agreed to marry
you
?” she sniped at Jocard. Before he could answer, she hurried on. “Well, that’s just fine! Nobody even cares! I don’t know why you’re even telling us, because it’s not like anyone wants to know! You’ll make a stupid husband anyway!”

Carolina stared at Marcella in surprise, and Sarah obviously was about to make a cutting retort, when Grandmama suddenly threw off her coat, let out a bloodcurdling scream, hurtled across the dock, and tackled Sarah.

Everyone yelled in alarm as the two women plummeted over the side and into the water. An enormous splash soaked all the pirates on the dock.

“Sarah!” Jocard shouted. “Quick! Somebody help her!”

“Grandmama!” Jack shouted. “Quick! Somebody drown her!”

It was hard to see what was happening with all the splashing and shrieking coming from the bay, but it looked like Grandmama was trying to drag Sarah under and tear out her hair at the same time.

Sarah was fighting back furiously, knocking the old lady’s hat off and struggling to get away. She managed to lunge toward the dock, but then Grandmama caught her arm and sank her teeth into Sarah’s wrist.

“OW!” Sarah howled, lashing out with her legs. She kicked Grandmama square in the stomach and knocked her loose, but before she could grab Jocard’s outstretched hand, Grand-mama wrapped her bony arms around Sarah’s waist, heaved in a deep breath, and dragged her below the surface of the water.

“What is the meaning of this?” Jocard roared, throwing off his coat and boots. But a few others were ahead of him: splash after splash sounded as Diego, Marcus, and Carolina all dove into the water to intervene.

It was a ferocious (and very wet) battle, but finally Carolina and Diego were able to haul Grandmama away from Sarah long enough for Marcus to heave Jocard’s fiancée back onto the dock. Sarah stood next to Jocard, dripping and panting with exhaustion, and they both glared down at Grandmama, who was still kicking and flailing in the water even though Carolina and Diego had a firm grip on each of her arms.

“You’re a madwoman!” Sarah yelled. Her voice was rich and deep with a Portuguese accent. “Why would you attack a total stranger? What is wrong with you?”

“HAH!” Grandmama shouted, then sputtered as a wave of water swamped over her head. “I know you! I never forget a face, Teresa!

You think you can sneak past me! Hah!”

Sarah looked utterly baffled. “I have no idea who this ‘Teresa’ is,” she said to Jocard, pulling her long wet hair back and wringing it out. “This old woman must be senile.”

“I’ll show you senile!” Grandmama howled, nearly punching Diego in the nose as she waved her fists around. “I remember the day we met! It was right after you gave birth to that blackguard Samuel! I saw what a wretched little monster he’d be—I saw it in his eyes the minute he was born! And having a mother like you didn’t help!”

The pirates on the dock exchanged puzzled and amused glances.

“Um, Grandmama,” Jack said politely, “far be it from me to contradict you…but this Samuel fellow is at least thirty-five years old. There’s no way our new friend Sarah here could be his mother.”

“What?” Grandmama stopped splashing for a moment and took a long look at Sarah.

The Portuguese woman tossed her head. “All right, yes. My family is distantly related to the mother of this ‘King Samuel.’ But she was thrown out of the family long ago and died while Samuel was young. I have never met her, and none of my relatives ever speak of her.”

“It’s true,” Jocard said with a nod. “Sarah told me all this already. She has spent time in Samuel’s fort—which is what makes her the perfect guide for our invasion.”

“Oh,” Grandmama said. “I see. Very well, then.” She wrenched her arms out of Carolina and Diego’s grasps and adjusted her bandanna. In a moment she had climbed back onto the dock with her strong, wrinkled arms and was standing in a puddle of water, glaring defiantly around at everyone. “Well?” she snapped. “Don’t we have a fortress to attack? Come on, you lazy layabouts!” She snatched her coat from where she’d dropped it and marched off toward the jungle, head held high.

“Well,” Jean said, helping Carolina and Diego up as the other pirates hurried after Grandmama, “that was certainly exciting.”

“Every day with Grandmama is a new adventure,” Jack said with a toothy grin. “Just don’t ever touch her cane, or you’ll end up much better acquainted with it than you would like. Consider yourselves warned.” He made an ominous, wide-eyed face, and then galloped after the others.

Carolina noticed that Marcella had gone ahead with the pirates instead of waiting for Diego, even though she had insisted on coming along because she “couldn’t be parted for a minute from my dear Diego!” She looked down at her wet friend with a thoughtful expression.

Diego shook his head and sighed. “I just hope the rest of the mission is nowhere near as ‘exciting’ as this!”

“Oh, sure,” Jean said. “What are the chances of that?”

N
ot far away, across a stretch of sparkling blue ocean, the pale figure of Benedict Huntington strode across the deck of the
Peacock
, tapping a long hunting crop against his white trousers. One sailor didn’t scurry out of his way fast enough, and Benedict struck him across the face with the crop, sending the man away howling.

“McTavish!” Benedict shouted. His first mate, a wiry man covered in freckles from head to toe, came running from the wheel and saluted. Roland McTavish was smart and capable and a good navigator, but most important, he was an excellent toady. He knew better than anyone how to say “Yes, sir!” and “Absolutely, sir!” and “What a marvelous idea, sir!” to Captain Huntington, which was how he had lasted so long in his position.

“Yes, sir!” he barked.

“Make sail for the fort of King Samuel,” Benedict said, handing Roland a rolled-up chart. “It’s on the western coast of Madagascar.”

“Aye-aye, sir!” McTavish said with another salute. “May I ask a question, sir?”

Benedict’s cold, pale blue eyes bored into his. “Only if it doesn’t annoy me.”

McTavish gulped. “Just wondering, sir—why it is we’re not going to Libertalia anymore?”

With a smirk on his face, Benedict patted his vest pocket. “Let’s just say I have inside information about where the pirates will be next—and it’s King Samuel’s fort. Understand?”

“Absolutely, sir!” McTavish saw Benedict’s wife coming and hurriedly backed away. Barbara scared him even more than Benedict; he had frequent nightmares in which she decided to slit the throats of the entire crew on a whim. The horrible thing was, he believed she could easily do it in real life.

“So,” Barbara said, watching Roland trot off, “what are you going to tell Samuel when we get there?”

“That I have lucrative business ideas to discuss with him about our mutual interests in the trade routes around the Indian Ocean,” Benedict said smoothly.

Barbara’s perfect eyebrows went up. “You’re not going to tell him about the attack coming from inland?”

His smile made him look like an albino cobra planning his next meal. “And miss the opportunity to watch pirates tear each other apart? By no means. Nor do I want to explain where my information is coming from. But most of all, I want Jack Sparrow to get inside the fort.”

“You do?” Barbara said, surprised. “But what about the letter from the Shadow Lord? Didn’t he specifically ask you to keep the two Pirate Lords apart?”

“Ah, don’t you worry about that. Jack Sparrow will be dead long before he reaches King Samuel.” Benedict licked his lips hungrily. “I want to be there waiting for him.” His voice dropped to a chilling growl. “I want to kill him myself.”