Chapter 8: Leverage

Jack paused briefly and purposefully on the threshold.

The cabin was small and plainly organized, much of its space occupied by a fine wooden table in the middle of the room. Shafts of sunlight slanted in through the stern windows, the light caught in a glint of silver off a simple ring that lay innocently on the table together with some papers, quills, maps and navigational instruments, and a leather-bound book. A heavy chair was pushed back as its owner stood up.

Grinning, Jack stepped into the room. "Hello, Captain."

A young, fair-haired lad strode forward, pulling his leather hat low over his deep green eyes. Jack was surprised by the youth of the man before him, though the emotion was subtly concealed. It was difficult to imagine that this individual held command over an entire crew of dangerous, unruly pirates, for he could not be more than a few years older than Anamaria. The lad must be capable indeed. Furthermore, he came across as decent, nearly respectable — he could certainly use a few baubles in his hair, Jack thought.

Tylor decided to introduce himself. "Captain Tylor."

"Captain Jack Sparrow. And would that be your first name, or your last?"

Tylor ignored the question. He watched uneasily while Jack walked over to the table, running one hand along the elaborate carvings on its edge. "What brings you aboard the Avenger, Captain Sparrow?"

"Nice desk you have here," Jack commented, unceremoniously plopping down in a chair.

Tylor calmly seated himself opposite the intruder. Warily he asked, "What do you want?"

At last Jack seemed to settle down. Leaning back, he folded his arms and met Tylor's cool gaze. "If I'd made the unwise decision of answering that question we'd both face the inconvenient prospect of my continued presence aboard this ship by nightfall, savvy?"

Tylor did not react. Jack Sparrow was known for his crafty ways. Despite his slightly mad, outlandish appearance, which could be no more than a façade, Tylor knew better than to let his guard down in front of this man. He did not doubt that Sparrow would be able to manipulate the most unfavorable situations to his advantage. Who would know if this was just another trick up his sleeve?

"Nonetheless, out of the various desirable items currently in your possession… there is one I came here for." Jack bent forward conspirationally. In a low voice he said, "The idol of Isla de Ron."

"Jack has his ways, missy."

Back on the decks of the Black Pearl, Gibbs and Elizabeth were having a discussion regarding Jack's plan to 'swing over to the Avenger, exchange a few civilized words with the captain, pick up the idol on the way out, return to the Pearl'. It seemed to Anamaria, however, that the conversation was coming precariously close to evolving into a heated argument, at least on Elizabeth's part.

"Dubious and unorthodox ones, yes," Elizabeth was saying, skepticism evident in her voice. "I hardly believe the captain of the Avenger is going to hand over the idol simply because Jack requests so."

When Gibbs only shrugged and took a gulp from his canteen, she burst out indignantly, "Shouldn't we sneak aboard and search for it, or raid their ship, or something?"

Gibbs chuckled. "If I didn't know better I would've thought pirate was in your blood, lass."

"We have nothing to negotiate with, nothing they want!"

Elizabeth's words were immediately followed by a sudden scream that came from below decks. Anamaria was on her feet at once, sprinting down the stairs with Gibbs and Elizabeth directly on her heels.

They found Will in a distressing state, curled up in a dark corner with his hands over his head. Sweaty and pale-faced, he was shivering violently, eyes tightly shut against whatever horrors tormented him.

"Oh, God, how could anyone not have noticed…?"

Elizabeth rushed forward and, dropping to her knees beside him, she raised a hand to his cheek, shocked to find that his skin felt cold as ice. "Will! Will, look at me, please…"

Will let out a moan.

"I'm here, Will, it's me, it's Elizabeth. Everything's going to be fine…" Tears of anxiety and fear pricked at her eyes. "Will, look at me…"

Slowly, Will's eyelids fluttered open. For one heart-stopping instant he simply stared at Elizabeth with wild, terror-filled eyes, clenching her wrist in a death grip. Then, his harsh, ragged breathing slowed, although fright clearly showed on his face.

"Elizabeth…"

Trying to ignore the fearful pounding of her heart in her ears, Elizabeth forced a weak smile.

"Missed me?"

That brought a truer smile to her lips. Will had not let go of her arm, but his voice was stronger now. Already some of the color was returning to his face, the shivering beginning to subside. Placing a tender kiss on his forehead, she asked, "What happened?"

A few members of the crew barged in at that moment, likely wondering the very question Elizabeth had just asked. Bill was amongst them, his expression extremely worried.

Will managed to get to his feet shakily. "'M fine."

"Best get back to work, then." Anamaria gave the pirates a significant glare, and they filed out of the room. To Will she said, "I'll see to the rest of the crew. They probably want to know what happened." Briskly she walked out, Gibbs trailing behind her.

Bill, who had remained behind, took a few tentative steps towards Will. "Are you…really alright?"

"Aye." Will turned away slightly, breaking the eye contact. Nodding acceptingly, Bill left the room.

"You could've asked him to stay," Elizabeth said softly. Will met her gaze sharply, defensive, but what anger he was about to direct towards her drained away once he saw the melancholic look on her face.

When he spoke again the words came out in a sad whisper. "No, I couldn't have."

Elizabeth understood. She pulled Will into a gentle embrace. "I didn't miss you," she told him in a playful tone, "not so soon after you'd just gone." After they broke apart she looked at him more seriously. "What exactly happened, Will?"

"I'm not too sure, either. I, uh, had a dream even though I didn't fall asleep, if that makes any sense to you."

"Maybe you fainted?"

"Maybe. I don't know, I can't remember. But the dream…" Will drew a deep breath before continuing. "I saw people dying. Burning. Drowning. Some even killing each other."

It had all been frighteningly real. Bodies writhing in agony, engulfed by the merciless flames; helpless individuals being swept away and dragged down under by the currents; but what was most disconcerting was the pure, animalistic bloodlust in the eyes of those slaying down their comrades.

"Will?"

Elizabeth was looking very concerned. He gave her a faint smile. "It was only a dream."

"We should get back on deck. I think Jack has returned."

Will knew she was unconvinced, but he was glad that she did not probe further, for he had seen something else… something he had no intention of telling Elizabeth or anyone else entirely. In the dream, there had been one person standing aside from the dying people, unharmed, watching from a distance with completely black, unblinking eyes as Death took them all.

It had been a ghostly shadow of his father.

"Yep, we reached an accord. Continue on to San Juan. We'll have a bit of waiting to do there, though." On receiving Jack's instructions, Anamaria nodded shortly and made her way towards the helm.

"What did you agree to trade for it?" Elizabeth had come out on deck with Will, whom the pirate captain noticed was looking rather paler than usual.

"You look bloody awful," Jack informed Will with careless lack of tact, then turned to Elizabeth with a frown. "What did you do to him?"

Elizabeth spoke before Will had the chance to explain anything. "I'll tell you if you tell us about the agreement you reached with the captain of the Avenger."

"We meet at San Juan, we make the exchange, we leave."

"That still leaves us the problem of you not telling us what is going to be traded for the idol," countered Will.

Jack waved an airy hand. "Well, as you said, that's your problem, not mine."

"What are you using, Jack?" Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. "As leverage."

A strange look crossed Jack's face, but it was quickly replaced by his trademark grin. "Leverage? Who mentioned anything about leverage?"

So he was intending to hide it from them, then. Elizabeth knew there would be no point in pressing the matter, seeing as Jack was perfectly capable of evading answering all her questions.

"Will still looks bloody awful."

"As do you. But he shall soon recover from the scare he's had." Throwing Jack a critical, disparaging look, she smirked and added haughtily, "I would be much more concerned if what Will suffered from was a combination of arrogance and a dreadful sense of fashion."

Elizabeth Swann.

When Jack Sparrow had mentioned her name, Tylor's reaction had mostly been bafflement. More than several stories about the girl involved a certain notorious pirate, but Sparrow was supposed to have saved her life, was he not? Not just once, but twice, from what he had heard. Yet… the man had actually agreed to trade her freedom in exchange for the idol. In fact, he was the one who had proposed so. "Custody of the governor's daughter would allow you to extort more gold than whatever measly sum you've been offered, mate," he had said, lounging in his seat, completely relaxed and seemingly indifferent to the girl's fate. And Tylor had to wonder what lengths Jack Sparrow would go to for his own purposes.

"Captain? What do you plan to do when we reach San Juan?"

Tylor faced the bo'sun, and evenly replied, "I shall be going ashore with Scoft. Inform Kobe, Daniels, Feltzer and Miller that they are to come along."

"So many people, Cap'n?"

"Aye. After all, we have a captive to take on board."

TBC

A/N: To anyone reading this,

I SHALL NOT BE DAUNTED BY THE DISAPPOINTING LACK OF REVIEWS!

That said, I'm still holding on to the hope that someday, someone would send me a nice little review regarding my work, which would definitely brighten up my day, or even a not so nice review, which I'd be thankful for anyway. All these serve as a great form of encouragement to the writer, y'know, even if it doesn't seem like much.

And yes, school has started. I won't have so much time to write anymore, but there's no way I'm going to drop this story. Also, I'm not too sure about this chapter, but I hope it's not bad. I would say that there's been way too little Jack, actually. (Aww.) However, the next one's where the action's gonna come in.

I think I've rambled too much. I must say, though, that Good Charlotte's new song The River rocks! Love the guitars in it. You can hear the song on their official website, it's great. Okay, now I'm really rambling. Plus I have no idea why I'm still not mugging for math.

Just one last thing: Anything you want me to improve on, just holler!