Pirates of the Caribbean 03 The Pirate Chase (4 page)

"Let us go," Tumen said, more quietly. If he was frightened, too--and surely he had to be--he did not show it. The pirate ignored Tumen and threw the boys to the ground. Then he tied their hands behind their backs.Next to Jack, Arabella gasped. Fitzwilliam grabbed her hand, like that was going to help anything. Jack rolled his eyes.Louis paced along the floor, his two left feet making each step irregular. "I could kill you both with just a wave of my blade," he said grimly, holding out the Sword of Cortes. Jack realized that the pirate could simply make his fellow adventurers vanish in the blink of an eye, just as he'd done to the rest of the town. "But," Louis continued, "you interfered with a heist before, and I promised that the second time you meddled
in my plans--and that would be today, in case you're wondering--that you'd die slowly and painfully. And, after all--" He leaned close to Jean and Tumen's faces. "--I'm nothing if not a man of my word."Jack sighed. "Well, I suppose this means a rescue is in order," he whispered."A rescue?" Fitzwilliam asked. "You can not mean that you intend to fight against three pirates? One of whom has a magical sword?Jack winked, smiling at Fitzwilliam."You are mad," Fitzwilliam said.Louis shouted, "First, I'll grind the insolent looks on your sweet little faces on the millstone. How does that sound?"Jean and Tumen never got a chance to answer. At that moment, Jack leaped up from behind the barrels, holding the sheath tightly and
brandishing a sword he swiped
from Fitzwilliam, which was far stronger than his own. Looking every bit as terrifying, dangerous, and legendary as he could manage, Jack Spa
rrow prepared for battle.

CHAPTER SIX

With a roar, Left-Foot Louis lunged at Jack. Jack stepped nimbly out of the way and plunged back into the swordfight he'd run from not even an hour before. This time, he reasoned, gritting his teeth as he struggled to parry Louis's thrusts, he'd do better. Then, the blade of the Sword of Cortes slashed so close to Jack that the breeze tickled his ear."You'd have done better to run while you could, mongrel," Louis boom
ed. "This here
sword? It could turn you into so much as thin air on my word.""No, it can't," Jack taunted. "Disappear me, and you disappear the sheath," Jack said, waving the sheath in front of Louis. "Then, guess what? No godlike power for poor Louis.
Savvy? “Louis
froze at the thought that he might accidentally send both Jack and the sheath away with the next move he made. Jack smiled proudly.Louis's dismay lasted only for a minute. "You're right--I can't vanish you." He slashed with the Sword again, this time cutting a button from Jack's coat. It clattered to the floor. "But the Sword of Cortes is still a sword. It can cut you to shreds just fine.""Good point," Jack said. Another swipe of the blade came
within inches of Jack's chest.
In the blur around him, he could see that Arabella was struggling to untie the ropes that bound Jean and Tumen. She looked likely to get them free at any moment. But where was Fitzwilliam?And then Fitzwilliam appeared right between Jack and Louis. He quickly grabbed the sheath out of Jack's hand, held it up to the pirate captain, and smiled. When the pirate jabbed at him, Fitzwilliam grabbed his sword back from Jack, and the blade clashed with the Sword of Cortes so sharply that sparks flew. "Perhaps," Fitzwilliam said quietly, "you would prefer dueling an equal."Louis laughed. "I would. But I'll have to make do with you."Their battle began. Jack watched as the two of them began dueling, matching each other parry for parry, stroke for stroke. He was held in as
tonishment by the speed of the
fight, at least until Arabella tugged at his sleeve. "Fitzwilliam helped ye, now help me!""Fitzy helped me? What help? I didn't need any help!" Jack said, annoyed."He saved ye, didn't he? Now help me cut through this knot!" Arabella barked."Oui, Jack," Jean said, sounding less cheerful than Jack had ever heard him before."Fitz? Saved my life!?" Jack had never heard anything so ridiculous. Still, he set about helping Arabella sever the last of the cords binding Jean and Tumen. "I didn't need saving!""Is that why your clothing is cut to ribbons?" Jean asked."Hardly ribbons. A tear. Maybe two."Tumen tossed the sliced ropes from his wrists. "Maybe ten or twelve," he said."I didn't need saving!" Jack repeated.The cla
sh of metal drew his attention
back to the fight between Left-Foot Louis and Fitzwilliam P. Dalton III. Despite Louis's being podiatrically challenged, he was a powerful sword fighter--quick with his blade, strong with his strokes. But--to Jack's amazement--Fitzwilliam was even better. He could parry every blow and predict all of Louis's moves.Must be that fancy training of his, Jack thought."Jack!" Arabella called out to him.Jack looked to his left, and there was one of Louis's angry pirate thugs. He looked quickly to his right, and there was the other. Jack stood between them. "Come and get me, mates!" The pirates lunged forward at the same time, and Jack quickly jumped up and grabbed onto a low-hanging rafter. The two pirates collided and fell to the ground. Jack dro
pped back down and kicked them
hard in their heads with the soles of his boots, knocking them unconscious. "That was easy," he said, smiling.Behind Jack, the battle between Louis and Fitzwilliam was raging. Louis suddenly surprised Fitzwilliam by lunging forward and slashing the Sword of Cortes down hard. Fitzwilliam almost got himself out of the way, so he survived the blow--but the tip of the blade cut deeply into his arm. Fitzwilliam shouted in pain. The sheath flew from his hand, and Jack lunged forward and grabbed it once more."See there?" Jack said proudly. "I told you. Who is the one among us who needs saving now?" He stepped over the unconscious thugs and picked up a large bag of flour. "Watch and learn. I'm about to save Fitzy's life. And do you think anyone will notice? No. Of cour
se not." Jack swung the bag of
flour, hard, smack into Louis's face. A cloud of white billowed out around them as the pirate staggered back three steps, then fell, stunned, to the floor.This was good. The fact that the pirate had dropped the Sword of Cortes--even
better! Jack
grabbed the Sword before Left-Foot Louis could gather his wits. Jack had his old, rusty sword in one hand and the shiniest magical sword he had ever seen in the other. This was more like it. He pointed both swords at the pirate and said, "Seems high time for some surrender."Fitzwilliam, panting for breath after his fight, wrapped a handkerchief around his bleeding arm. Though he was exhausted, no serious damage had been done. Tumen was rather matter-of-factly tying up the two unconscio
us pirates, so as to avoid any
trouble "when they woke up again. Jean's curly hair, messed by his struggle, stuck out in all directions, making him look crazy as he held his knife toward Louis as an additional warning. Every single one of the boys was grinning like mad.But Arabella wasn't smiling."You," she said."That's right." Jack straightened up proudly. "Me. The one who saved Fitz. Not the other way around."

"I could have rallied," Fitzwilliam said."Not likely," Jack replied.Arabella just whispered it again, "You." Her voice shook with loathing, which tipped Jack off to the fact that she wasn't talking to him at all. Instead, she was staring at LeftFoot Louis, her hands bunched into fists. "Do you remember me?"

"You're a
bit young for my taste, lass,"
Louis jeered. "Not to mention a bit scrawny. And a bit dirty."

"Be silent!" Fitzwilliam demanded. "You will not insult this lady."Jack looked back and forth between Arabella and the pirate. He couldn't quite figure out what was happening--but events had definitely taken a turn for the weird. Why had Arabella not revealed her connection--whatever it may be--to Louis before? "Don't bother lecturing him, Fitz," Arabella said. "He'll never learn. He'll never have the time." She grabbed the Sword of Cortes from Jack, moving so quickly that Jack didn't even realize what she was doing until the blade was in her hands. She looked angrier than ever with the Sword in her hand. Jack and the crew had never seen her like this before. It was as if she had be
come a dark shadow of herself.
In two quick strides, Arabella was standing over Left-Foot Louis. To Jack's shock, she pressed the tip of the blade to Louis's
throat. “Pirate
!" Arabella ground out between her clenched teet
h. "Ye killed me mother!"

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jack couldn't take his eyes from Arabella's face. She was filled with rage--angrier than anyone Jack had ever seen, angrier even than the legendary Captain Torrents, whose rage could stir a hurricane.* Her eyes brimmed with angry tears. Fitzwilliam took a step closer to her. "Arabella--"But Louis cut him off. "Ah,
I do know
where I have seen you before," he said to Arabella. "Tortuga. Seems I remember a loud-mouthed wench and her miserable little brat. Shut that wench's mouth, I did. Too bad I didn't shut yours.""I'll kill ye!" Arabella's whole body shook with rage, but her grip on the Sword remained firm. "I will kill ye dead, ye filthy, miserable pirate."None of the Barnacle's crew doubted that Arabella meant what she said. Within a few moments, Louis would be dead on the floor, and Arabella would be a killer. Jack had no doubt of that. He had never thought of Arabella as the murderous type, but then, he'd never known that her mother had been killed by this particular big, mean--not to mention ugly--pirate. The anger in her was something she'd been saving up ever since her m
other died. Soon it would turn
Arabella into someone Jack was certain she didn't want to be.Jack made a grab for the Sword of Cortes, but Arabella elbowed him in the ribs so that he staggered to one side. "Ye can have the Sword later, Jack!" she shouted. "But not now. Not yet.""Look, lass. Let's think about this a moment," Jack said flatly. "What say we tie him up for now, hmm? You can think it over. Plenty of time to get rid of him for good later, if you're still in the mood. The day's still young.""She will do nothing to me." Louis barked, seeming much too confident for a man who had a sword at his throat--a legendary, magical sword no less. "Haven't got the nerve for it, have you, pretty?"Arabella had the nerve for it; of that Jack had no doubt. As she l
eaned forward, press
ing the blade's point ever more sharply against the pirate's throat, Louis's smug grin began to fade."Arabella, no," Tumen whispered, but she paid him no mind. Behind him, Fitzwilliam and Jean stared, their mouths agape in shock."I've waited so long for this," she said. It sounded as though she might burst into tears. "Ye can't know how I've waited. Because ye can't know what it's like to lose someone you love. A pirate can love no one.""Bell, let's try this again. Take a step back here and reconsider, eh?" Jack stepped closer to her, friendly-like, wondering how near he'd have to be to successfully swipe the sword from her. "Remember all that Fitzy here was saying about the law in these parts? Be a shame to deprive them of the hanging of a pirate, wouldn't you say?"

"Why are y
e trying to stop me?" Arabella
cried out. "Ye hate him as much as I do! Why do ye want to save him? Everyone back away from me! Now!"The Sword of Cortes glowed. It was as if the air around the crew shivered and turned warm, rippling like a tide pool stirred by the breeze. Jack, Fitz, Jean, and Tumen all staggered backward, as if pushed--but the force moving them was completely invisible. Jean actually tumbled down until his back thudded against the wall of the mill. By the time any of them could stop skidding, they were all at least several feet from Arabella and Louis. Jack's eyes grew wide in wonder at the Sword's magic. And that magic belonged to Arabella as long as she held Cortes's blade. How much more powerful could a Sword like that become?"Listen to me," Jack said gentl
y. "Bell, put the Sword away."

"Don't call me 'Bell,'" Arabella said. Then, in a more sober voice, she continued, "You only call me that when you want something.""I call you that because I know you. I know what sort of person you are. You wouldn't kill someone in cold blood. Not like this.""That's how he killed my mother. In cold blood.""And that's why you're not going to kill him. Because you're better than he is." Jack tried taking a step toward her. The Sword's magic didn't push him back, and Arabella didn't protest. Her arm was trembling now, and her gaze was fixed on the Sword, pressed against Louis's neck.Left-Foot Louis was terrified now, whether of the magic, Arabella, or both, no one knew."Her n
ame was Laura," she whispered.
"She was so beautiful and so good. Ye remember it, do ye?" Arabella's voice shook again. "That night at the tavern--ye tried putting an arm around her, and she'd have none of it. So ye grabbed her by her hair and called her names--when me dad tried to stop ye, the thugs from the Cutlass stopped him. Broke his bones. And ye left me to watch while ye dragged her outside. None of us ever saw her again. I didn't even get to say good-bye."

"Bell," Jack murmured. He wasn't trying to get her attention; he only wanted her to remember that her friends were there beside her."After she was gone, I had to do me mum's job at the Faithful Bride, with drunken sailors cursing at me all day and all night. Me dad drank too much before she died, and after--there was n
othing left of
him. When the tavern closed each night, I had to clean up after all the drunken fools and then clean up after Dad, too. He was a good father--once--he was--" Tears were welling in Arabella's eyes again."Ye as much as killed him, too, when ye took me mum. All that time, I've been alone. And all that time, I've known who took my family away. But I look at ye now and--killing ye won't bring Mum back." She slumped, as if defeated."Bell," Jack said, "put the Sword away. We're not like him. We're not killers. We're not pirates."Arabella stumbled backward, just two steps. Her hand gripped the sword so tightly that her knuckles grew white. The great struggle within her heart showed on her face. Slowly, so slowly that it took Jack a moment to re
alize she was moving, Arabella
let her arm fall to her side. Then she breathed out a hard sigh of disappointment and release. It was over.Louis sat up.
"I told you that you wouldn't
" he said.His sneering words were cut off by Fitzwilliam, who kicked Louis squarely in the jaw.Arabella's cheeks were bright with tears, but she didn't give in to crying. Her eyes were feverish and somewhat wild. If she were the sort of girl to burst into sobs and Jack were the sort of boy to comfort a crying girl--well, Jack thought, they might have done something like that. But she kept her glare fixed on Louis as the others bound him up tightly with rope."He will go to jail," Fitzwilliam said reassuringly. "Undoubtedly he will be hanged, in accordance
with the law. The Cutlass will
be cut up into kindling and sent to Pirate Cove, and no one will again suffer because of Louis's cruelty. Not ever again, Arabella. All because of you.""Until they hang ye," Arabella said to Louis, "I will hate ye, every day. And after the hanging, maybe I'll have some peace." She laughed, a strange, broken sound. "My great--my only--wish is that my mother may find you, wherever she may be--in this world, the next, or anywhere in between. May justice be done. And let it be done by her hand."The Sword of Cortes began to glow again, and everyone in the mill knew what was happening. The air rippled as it had before. And Louis writhed and howled . . . then vanished.Jean said something in French that Jack suspected wa
sn't very polite. Tumen looked
around wildly. Fitzwilliam stamped his foot upon the place where Louis had been, but his buckled shoe hit only the floor.Jack realized it was all over. Left-Foot Louis h
ad disappeared--for good.