Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom

by A. C. Crispin

  “What fault do you dislike the most about him?” Ayisha asked, after taking a sip.

  Esmeralda nibbled her lower lip. “There are so many. Let me think for a moment.” She sipped wine, then said, “I suppose I would have to say the fact that I can’t trust him. I would never make myself vulnerable by counting on him to keep his word.”

  “You don’t trust him?” Ayisha was surprised; she trusted Jack. Was she wrong to do so?

  “No, I don’t. Oh, you can count on him in certain situations. If I had to fight a ship-to-ship battle against three or four adversaries, I would want Jack as the captain of the ship that was fighting alongside me. If I had to invade a fortress, and I wanted to make sure I’d get out alive, I’d have him at my side. If sword-wielding enemies surrounded me, I’d want him at my back. As long as Jack’s own precious hide is at risk, you could ask for no better comrade in battle. He’s a clever and experienced fighter—when he’s cornered. That maneuver he tried with Borya verged on brilliance, for example.”

  “Except that it didn’t work.”

  “True. But if it had, it would have been brilliant.”

  “So in what instances would you not trust him?”

  “If he asked me to lend him money, and I gave it to him, I’d do so knowing I’d never see it again. He’d promise to pay it back, and he’d mean it—but he’d never do it. I wouldn’t give him valuable jewelry of mine and trust him to return it to me six months later. He’d likely get into some kind of scrape and have to sell or pawn it. He’d be sorry, but it would be gone.” Esmeralda smiled a bit grimly. “And if he ever asked me to marry him, I would refuse him.”

  Ayisha’s eyes widened. She’d wondered if the two were…promised. Hearing that they weren’t made her heart stutter. “You would? Why?”

  “Because he’d never show up at the altar. No woman is ever going to tie Jack Sparrow down to home and hearth. He’s not that kind of man.”

  Ayisha nodded. That one definitely rang true. “The sea is his woman. I don’t think a flesh and blood one could ever replace it in his heart.”

  Esmeralda gave the princess a glance of mingled surprise and respect. “Very sagely put, Ayisha. And true as true can be.”

  The lady pirate poured more wine. They sipped in silence for several minutes. Finally the princess asked quietly, “Have you ever wished he would ask you to marry him?”

  “I did, for a while, when I first knew him. Then I realized that if by some chance I dragged him to the altar, he wouldn’t stay. Or, if somehow I forced him to stay, he wouldn’t be Jack any more. Who wants a sparrow with broken wings?”

  Ayisha giggled. “That was clever, Esmeralda. As well as sage.”

  “It was, wasn’t it?” The Spanish pirate giggled in her turn.

  The princess looked over at her companion. “But you’re in love with him, Esmeralda. Aren’t you?”

  “How could I not be? Jack charms every woman he encounters. He can’t seem to help it. He does care for me in return, I know he does.” She sipped her wine. “But I know pirates, so I don’t expect more than he can give. True pirates aren’t like other men.”

  “But Jack isn’t a pirate.”

  “He was.”

  “I had figured that out,” Ayisha said. “But he’s not anymore.”

  “Don’t you believe that for a second, Ayisha. Jack will always be a pirate. When he says he’s not one, it’s like…” Esmeralda thought for a moment. “It’s like someone who makes a dress out of muslin, and then convinces herself that it’s silk. From a sufficient distance, you might not be able to tell, but the moment you got up close, you’d realize the truth. And all the while she’d be telling you the dress is silk.”

  “I see what you mean,” Ayisha said. “I haven’t known Jack as long as you, Esmeralda. And I acknowledge that you are right in many things, but someone I respect said that Jack is a good man. I think he was right. Even Jack may not know it, but I believe he is.”

  “My grandfather, who raised me, said something similar,” Esmeralda murmured, thoughtfully. “Perhaps I’ve become a bit cynical.” She sipped her wine. “We’ve been talking about Jack’s faults, but he does have some good qualities.”

  “Aside from being a good man to have at your back in a fight, what are they?”

  “He’s a good captain. Knows ships. Knows the sea.” Esmeralda thought for a moment. “He’s funny. He always makes me laugh. That’s probably what has saved him from getting shot.” She poured more wine for both of them. “And, last but not least, Jack certainly knows how to show a woman a good time. A really good time.”

  Ayisha frowned, puzzled. “What do you mean? I’ve never heard that phrase before.”

  Esmeralda looked away, and cleared her throat. She didn’t reply, then Ayisha saw color rising in her cheeks.

  Ayisha felt herself color, too. “Oh,” she said, in a small voice. “That.”

  Esmeralda glanced at the princess’s expression, then finished her wine. “Yes, that,” she said, finally. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize that you haven’t…hadn’t…”

  Ayisha shook her head. “No,” she said, softly and a little sadly.

  Esmeralda had spilled her wine. She traced circles in the blood-red liquid with her forefinger. “You’ll make the right decision,” she said, “or, rather, the decision that’s right for you. You’ll know if—or when—it’s the right time.”

  Ayisha nodded silently.

  Jack stood at the railing of the Wicked Wench, watching as Esmeralda’s sailor rowed Venganza’s boat toward him. The middle watch had just begun.

  Ayisha had been gone a long time. Jack had grown increasingly nervous, wondering what the devil the two of them were doing over there for such a long time. Having what Esmeralda called “woman talk,” he supposed.

  As the boat neared the Wicked Wench, Jack heard female voices, then a burst of laughter, then more giggles. He frowned. He’d wondered if there might be some sort of fight going on, but it sounded as though the two women were getting along famously. He didn’t know whether to be glad about that, or disappointed.

  Finally the ship’s boat bumped against the Wicked Wench’s hull. Jack smiled as he saw Ayisha come over the side, then smiled again as Esmeralda joined her.

  Ayisha seemed to be carrying a pair of shoes. She had her shawl tied around her shoulders. Jack strolled across the deck toward the women. “Good evening, ladies!” he said, being his most charming self.

  The princess and Esmeralda looked at him, then at each other, and burst into fits of giggles. Jack halted in dismay. “What’s going on?” he asked, warily.

  “Nothing,” Esmeralda said. “We had a lovely, lovely evening, didn’t we, Ayisha?”

  “Oh, we certainly did!” Ayisha said. Jack realized that she’d slurred a bit. And, come to think of it, so had Esmeralda.

  He stared at the women, nonplussed. “You’re both tipsy!” he blurted.

  Esmeralda looked at Ayisha, and they both nearly collapsed, laughing.

  When they finally were able to control themselves, they said good night, then hugged each other. Ayisha started toward the ladder leading down to the main deck.

  Esmeralda waved airily at Jack, and headed for his cabin.

  Jack hesitated, pulled in both directions, but finally decided Ayisha, being younger, made a better candidate for further questioning. He caught up with her at the ladder leading down to the main deck. “Better let me go first, love,” he said. “You don’t want to fall.”

  “Thank you, Jack,” she said, and let him go first.

  When she reached the bottom, Jack escorted her to the “door” of her “cabin.” “Good night, love,” he said, trying to figure out how to ask her what he wanted to know.

  “Good night, Jack,” she replied.

  “Oh, Ayisha?”

  “Mmmm hmmm?”

  “What did you two talk about tonight? You were gone a long time.”

  She smiled at him. “You know!” she replied, and slipped in
to her cabin, leaving him standing there, outside.

  Jack trudged back up the ladder to his cabin. Since Ayisha wasn’t talking, he was determined to question Esmeralda. But he found the lady pirate was already sound asleep in his bunk.

  There are things man was never meant to know, he decided, and went to bed himself.

  The next morning, Jack talked Esmeralda into fencing with him before she left for Venganza. It was good to have a really skilled opponent. Fencing with the lady pirate brought back a lot of things he’d learned, but hadn’t practiced enough. “You’ve been practicing, Jack,” she said approvingly, as they finished.

  After they finished with their session, Esmeralda kissed him goodbye, then went back to Venganza. She would sail northwest with him for the next two days, to make sure the temporary repairs were holding. After that, he’d proceed on his own to Savannah.

  He reached Savannah with all temporary repairs still in place, then sought out the EITC office there. After showing his bill of lading for his cargo, and explaining what had happened, the EITC office sent an inspector out to check over his ship and cargo.

  After they removed the ruined barrels of sugar, the men in the EITC shipyard set to work on the Wicked Wench. When all of the holed hull planking had been replaced, the shipyard also repaired any jobs that had been too difficult for Jack’s ship’s carpenter to tackle.

  Ten days after he’d docked at Savannah, Jack sailed out again, freshly restocked with food, water, black powder, and ammunition. But instead of heading due north, to stay on the Triangle, Jack headed almost due east toward Bermuda, following the pointing of Tia Dalma’s compass.

  Now it’s time for you and me to have a nice little chat, Christophe, Jack thought, clicking the compass shut. Just a friendly little chat.…

  About fifty miles south of Bermuda, Jack located his quarry. He sailed the Wicked Wench toward La Vipère, then hove-to about a mile away from the brigantine. He’d purchased black silk and white silk in Savannah. While on the voyage, he gave Ayisha the fabric, and pictures of two flags, asking her if she would please sew them for him. Putting aside the dress she’d been making, she’d stitched them up promptly.

  Before he climbed into the dinghy, Jack ordered a puzzled Chamba to hoist the larger of the two flags Ayisha had made. It was the black Jolly Roger. The idea of a ship the size of the Wicked Wench, crewed by pirates that were almost as ruthless as he was, ought to give Christophe pause.

  As soon as the dinghy floated free from his ship, Jack stuck the second of the two flags, which he’d mounted on a stick, upright in the little craft’s bow. Then he began rowing. The skin between his shoulder blades twitched, as he imagined muskets being trained on his back from La Vipère’s deck. But he rowed smoothly and steadily. His plan would work, he was sure of it. It was always a safe wager that a pirate would give in to greed, where treasure was concerned.

  His small flag snapped in the breeze as he rowed along. It was identical to the one now flying from the top of his mast—except that it was reversed. The skull and crossbones on his flag were black, against a white silk background. The flag wasn’t used all that much these days; many pirates just used a white flag. But to Jack, raised with all the traditional lore by the Keeper of the Code, the white flag meant “surrender.”

  He wasn’t surrendering. He was there for a parlay. Jack just hoped that Christophe knew what the white flag with the reversed symbol traditionally meant to pirates.

  Jack rowed, not looking at La Vipère, until he was within shouting range. Then he turned the dinghy so he faced the brigantine, and shipped his oars, letting the dinghy coast to a halt. The ocean was, luckily, relatively calm. Cupping his hands around his mouth, Jack shouted to the figures he could see on deck, “Ahoy! Captain Jack Sparrow here. Tell Captain de Rapièr that I request a parlay.”

  He hadn’t brought his spyglass. Jack peered out from beneath the brim of his hat, but he couldn’t see Christophe among the figures gathered by the rail. Finally a shout came back across the water. “Ahoy! Captain Christophe grants permission for Jack Sparrow to come aboard, under protection of parlay.”

  Jack shook his head back and forth, and cupped his hands again. “No,” he shouted. “Inform Captain de Rapièr that my terms for parlay are that he come out to meet me in a boat, unarmed. I am unarmed,” he lied. Unless Christophe was extremely observant, he’d never see the slight bulge of Jack’s pistol beneath Jack’s best coat. Ayisha had sewed straps and a slender pocket into the lining of the coat that suspended it so cleverly that it was almost undetectable.

  The man was back on the railing. “Captain Christophe says he will receive you aboard his vessel, Jack Sparrow.”

  Jack was getting tired of shouting. “That’s Captain Jack Sparrow, mate! You tell Captain de Rapièr this: ‘Jack Sparrow says he has the other two, and it takes all three to open the door.’ Tell him he has five minutes to get over here in his boat, or I’m heading out.”

  Jack counted seconds in his head. He’d reached two hundred and forty when he heard the splash of the boat being lowered. A faint smile touched his mouth, but he didn’t even bother to look up as his erstwhile friend rowed over.

  “Bonjour, mon ami!” Christophe said, as he reached Jack’s boat and shipped his oars. “Congratulations: they tell me you are now captain of that lovely big ship over there. It is a pleasure to see you doing so well. I must say, that is a very nice coat, Jacques.”

  Jack looked up, and had to control his reaction. He knew Christophe was almost forty now, but he was startled by what a difference a mere five years had made.

  Christophe’s features were still handsome, but it was as though some artist had wiped a cloth over them, blurring them a bit. He was still clean-shaven, but there were pouches beneath his eyes that hadn’t been there before, and a softness below his chin and jawline that was new. His nose looked redder, as though he’d been drinking more.

  Jack cleared his throat. He did not respond to Christophe’s friendly greeting, or to the hand the man was holding out.

  “Christophe, I know you’ve been searching for Zerzura, to no purpose. And now you know that it takes not one, but three talismans to open the door to the labyrinth.” Jack paused. “I’m the answer to your prayers, Christophe. I can get us to Zerzura, and then I can get us into the labyrinth. I have made contact with a native Zerzuran who has agreed to serve as our guide. What Captain Ward wrote turns out to be true. The labyrinth really is a maze, and it’s filled with monsters and traps for the unwary, both real and illusion. My guide can get us through to the Heart. All that’s required for you to get in on this venture is that you still have the pharaoah’s bracelet, and that you must agree to the conditions I set. Do you still have the bracelet?”

  “Yes, Jacques, I still have it,” the rogue pirate said. “But, Jacques, cannot we go to my cabin and discuss this? Here we are, sitting in boats in the water. That is not the way friends talk.”

  “Christophe, get this straight. This time around it’s my way—or no way. Savvy?”

  “I confess I am surprised to see you, Jacques. Borya told me he had discovered that you were alive. A friendly warning, Jacques. He is hunting for you, and he means you harm.”

  Jack shrugged. “I’m not afraid of Borya. Do you agree to my conditions?”

  Christophe couldn’t conceal his surprise at Jack’s dismissal of the Russian rogue pirate’s enmity. But after a moment he shrugged, then said, “It is only fair that we be equal partners in such a venture, Jacques. I must—”

  Jack interrupted the rogue by picking up his oars. “Very well, Christophe. If you don’t want to do things my way on this venture, I’m leaving. I don’t have time to play games. Farewell.” He unshipped his oars, and took a stroke.

  “Stop, Jacques!” Christophe shouted.

  Jack halted, then shipped his oars again, and waited. In a moment Christophe had pulled up beside him. Jack looked at him.

  “Very well,” said Christophe. “I will agree to your condi
tions. I have already told you I have the bracelet. What else do you want?”

  Jack ticked off his requirements on his fingers as he spoke. “One. Your bracelet stays on Kerma when you leave. Two. You are the only person aboard your ship who is permitted to leave your ship once we reach Zerzura. I have to keep the goodwill of my native guide, so I am not having any of your cutthroats going into the city and harming any of the citizens. To ensure that your men behave and don’t try to break our agreement, I plan to post armed men on my vessel to watch yours all the time, savvy?”

  Christophe sat quietly, listening.

  “Three. You don’t get bearings for how to get to Kerma. I know how to get there, so instead you will follow me there. Should a storm separate us, we’ll meet at St. Jago, in the Cape Verdes. If I get there before you do, I will wait for ten days. If you’re not there by then, I’ll take my chances at blowing the door open with powder.

  “Four. Neither you nor your crew is to come aboard my vessel for any reason, ever. Those are my conditions. If you abide by them, you’ll get your chance in the labyrinth, to get as much as you can carry. I’ll give you three minutes to decide whether you want in on this, under my terms.”

  Jack looked away from the rogue pirate and casually glanced under his seat. There was a bottle of rum there. Picking it up, he opened it, and had raised it halfway to his mouth when Christophe said, brusquely, “Yes. I accept those terms.”

  Jack nodded, then recorked the rum. “Very well. I’ll give you half an hour to get your ship ready to sail east. Then I’m setting out. I’ll see you in the harbor of Zerzura.”

  Unshipping his oars, Jack began rowing back toward the Wicked Wench, without a backward glance.

  Ayisha spent the weeks of the voyage east toward Kerma sewing. She made clothes for herself, her brother, and Tarek, in the style of her homeland, using the bolt of white linen that Esmeralda had given her. She also sewed herself some new dresses from the printed cotton, trimming them with lace she crocheted herself, plus braid and buttons Jack had purchased for her in Savannah.