Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters

Chapter 9

Jack watched from the shadows as William and Elizabeth listened raptly to old Mittard. The older man had once been a fearsome pirate Captain, one of the few that had terrorized the Caribbean and grown old to tell the tale. Incidentally he had also been a close friend of Bill Turner and the one that had introduced him to piracy and by extension to Jack. He had not thought that the old man would still be alive, he had already seemed old when Jack and Bill first met, now he was positively ancient. But while his body looked his age, his eyes were still alive, dancing at the remembrance of days long past. The Captain of the Pearl had been listening to the story on how Bill became a pirate with a small smile on his face. He well remembered the old tale, though his friend had told him in confidence that very little of it was true, it was still something young William would appreciate.

"And that is how Bootstrap Bill Turner became a pirate on board of the Amarinta. He sailed with me for several years until he met Jack Sparrow. They hit it off immediately, and he soon left to take the place of first mate on the Black Pearl. You remember that Jackie?"

The two young people jumped at the question and quickly turned around. Jack stepped forward slightly so that they could see him. "How could I forget? You were quite reluctant to part with him, but once Bill got something in his head it was nearly impossible to dissuade him."

The older pirate laughed. "Unless you had Marie on your side."

William blinked. "You also knew my mother?"

Mittard nodded. "Of course lad, Marie grew up here in the cove, she was a fine lass, the daughter of Captain Delanir. But when the old Captain died, her mother didn't want to remain here and with the keeper's help she moved with her daughter to London. I introduced her to Bill one of the times we were in London. They fell in love quickly and got married soon after. Bill gave up pirating for a while, but the call of the sea was strong and Marie knew pirates well enough to know that Bill would go back to the sea sooner or later."

William sighed. "So she did know he was a pirate. I had always assumed he lied to her."

Mittard chuckled. "Bill loved Marie too much to lie to her, she knew perfectly well what he was up to at all times."

"Did she know my father had died?"

Mittard grew serious and looked up to the other Captain, who had remained silent the whole time. "I believe Jackie here went to tell her."

William turned once again to Jack. "You did? Despite my father's betrayal?"

Jack sighed and joined the other three at the table. He should have known this conversation would pop up at some point. "Bill Turner was a good man, and a good pirate. He did what he had to do. He could not have saved me, the whole crew was in the mutiny, the only thing Bill could have done is to die with me. I was the one that told him to keep his mouth shut and save himself, he had you and your mother to think of, and I would not have him risk his hide on a lost cause. I was furious when I heard what Bill had done, despite my very insistent instructions that he kept out of it. I also knew Marie quite well, and I felt it was my duty to inform her of what had happened to her husband."

"That must have been shortly before she died."

Jack rubbed his eyes. "Aye, she was already ill and the doctors had told her she would not survive the winter. I tried to convince her to come with me; she had nothing left in London. But Marie was stubborn. She didn't want to leave her house. In the end she made me promise to come back for you and to take you back here." He glared slightly at his young friend. "But when I got back to London she was dead and you had disappeared. You sent me on a bloody chase, trying to find out where you had gone to. It took me nearly two years to find you in Port Royal."

William looked startled at that, at the time he had not known that his mother had made any provisions for him. His neighbors had tried to keep him in their house, but he had been desperate to leave. "I'm sorry, I didn't know, my mother never told me. The Keenans, our neighbors, tried to get me to stay with them for a while, but I didn't want to be a charity case for them."

Jack glared darkly at his friend. "Considering the amount of money I gave them to keep you safe until I got there, you would have been anything but a charity case." Seeing the distress and honest surprise in William's face, Jack rubbed his brow and sighed. "It does not matter anymore."

"I'm sorry Jack, I really never knew."

The Pirate of the Pearl waved. "It's ok lad, your mother should have told you what to do. In the end nothing bad happened." He looked faintly amused. "Though I cannot imagine what your pirate family would have said about you being an honest blacksmith."

William looked curious. "You said you found me in Port Royal about two years after my mother died, but we never met until two years ago. Why?"

Jack leaned back into his chair. "You seemed happy enough there. Before I became too well know I used to come to Port Royal once or twice a year to see how you were doing. To take you away from everything you knew then seemed cruel and unnecessary. I could not really have given you a better life at that point in time."

William frowned. "You could have given me the choice."

The Captain of the Pearl rolled his eyes. "Do I need to remind you the aversion you had to Pirates, lad?"

The younger man grumbled slightly but had to concede the point. There was no way he would have gone with a Pirate back then. Mittard, who had been silent during the last part of the conversation, stretched and stood up.

"I'm going home. My old bones need their rest. Are you coming back to the main part of the cove, Jackie?"

Jack shook his head slightly. "Not yet, I'll see you around, Captain."

Mittard chuckled, putting his hat on top of his grey hair. "Give my regards to your father lad. It was good seeing you again Keeper's heir."

Jack smiled slightly. "You as well."

The Captain of the Pearl turned to his two young friends, his attention turning to Elisabeth for the first time since he had arrived. She looked a bit better than the last time he had seen her, though there were still shadows under her eyes. "You look like hell, lass."

His tone was neutral, but there was a hint of concern in his eyes. Elisabeth pressed her lips together. "Nightmares."

She didn't need to explain exactly what was disturbing her sleep, all three of them were aware of it. Jack considered commenting on it, but finally decided this was not the right place, nor the right moment. Instead he just nodded and turned to Will. "A situation has arisen, I would appreciate it if you could gather your things and come with me. I'll give you a room close to my own apartment."

Will frowned. "Has your father found out?"

Jack looked a bit startled at that. "No, no, nothing of the sort. If that was the case I would be telling you to get the hell away from here, not to come closer to the keeper's rooms."

"What is it then?"

"I need a second pair of eyes to help me watch my back. I hoped you and Elisabeth would be willing to spend some time with me just in case something goes wrong."

The woman looked hopefully at the Captain, maybe this would be the chance to redeem herself. "We'll help in any way we can, Jack."

The Captain looked at her for a moment and then sighed. "I think it's better I tell you everything before you make a decision. I do not want there to be any miscommunication this time. Maybe this way no one will get hurt." At their startled looks, he chuckled a bit bitterly. "Even I can learn from my mistakes."

About an hour later, Jack led his two friends to an old set of rooms. He opened the door with a rusty key and the three of them entered. William and Elisabeth looked around at the dusty place, the dancing light of the lanterns they were carrying only showed some covered lumps that were probably furniture.

"Sorry about the dirt, I'll have someone come tomorrow to clean it up." He pointed to two doors located at the far end of the room. "You have a lavatory over there and a sleeping room. I'll pick you up tomorrow morning for breakfast. We usually take it all together in one of the main rooms."

He left his two young friends to get settled. He was feeling exhausted, but he still needed to do a last stop. Instead of going to his rooms, he went to his father's office. The guard standing at the door nodded to him. "Is my father still up?"

"Aye, he told me to let you in when you arrived."

Jack rolled his eyes, trust his father to know something was up. "Thank you."

Teague looked up from his office table as Jack entered his study. Dropping the pen he had been using to write, he leaned back and regarded his son. "What on earth is going on?"

Jack raised an eyebrow and sank into a chair in front of his father's desk. "What makes you think something is wrong?"

"Jackie, you sent me a message telling me you would be late. You have never done this before, which makes me think you're either up to something or something has happened. So, out with it."

His son shook his head, but his small smile didn't last long. In short sentences he told his father what he had overheard. Teague's face grew stormy. When his son's words faded, he stood up and started pacing the office. "I should have killed the slimy bastard as soon as he arrived."

Jack shrugged. "We need him for the Court."

"Sod the court! I'm sure I can get someone to take over the place of the Caspian Lord. This place is crawling with Pirates!"

"Either way, it will not help us now. We must focus on what is important. The Black Thorne is dangerous father."

"Maybe, but I will not leave this up to chance anymore." Teague stalked to the door and told the guard to do search for his first mate. Five minutes later Victor had been sent to the Pearl with a few men in order to detain Barbossa and have him locked up in the deep cells of the cove. Once they were alone again, Teague sat back down behind his desk.

"So, the Black Thorne, I've not heard much about them."

Jack nodded. "I'm not surprised, the organization started about a decade ago, but it's not till the last two or three years that they got really powerful. They are basically assassins. They use any method at their disposal to fulfill their missions. They are ruthless and will not stop at anything."

"Will they stop if Barbossa is out of the way?"

Jack shrugged. "Killing you is not only related to Barbossa. The effect your death would have on their reputation alone would ensure that they go through with it. On top of it, we cannot be sure Barbossa is the only one that has paid them for the same mission."

"Nor can we know I'm the only objective. You could be an objective just as easily."

Jack glanced pensively to the darkened window. "It wouldn't be the first time."

Teague's head snapped up and he narrowed his eyes. "Explain."

Jack turned his eyes to his father. "I'm not sure who I annoyed but about three years ago, a merchant tried to kill me. I was lucky that time as some mates of mine were there to prevent anything from happening. We got the bastard to speak before disposing for him. It seemed someone had paid the Black Thorne some good money to get rid of me. I never managed to find out who had paid them, but after that there came at least four more attempts. The last one was about a year ago."

"How close have they come to really kill you?"

Jack looked at his father's clenched fists and shook his head. "Too close for my liking. Last time I barely survived. I was poisoned in Tortuga. I was lucky Mr. Cotton has had some medical training and was able to purge most of the poison, but it was touch and go for nearly two weeks."

"And they have not tried anything during the last year?"

Jack's face became a blank mask. He was not about to tell his father he had essentially been dead for a large part of the last year. "Not as far as I'm aware."

Teague frowned, he had noticed the subtle shift in his son's demeanor and it puzzled him. It seemed they had once again stumbled on whatever Jack was keeping a secret. It was really starting to annoy him. He longed to shake his son and get whatever had happened out of him, but he knew that if he pressed the matter he would never get to the bottom of everything. So, he focused on the matter at hand.

"So, we have a group of assassins that wants to kill me and possibly you. Do you think they have a chance?"

"You have told me often enough that your men are stretched too thin. Under normal circumstances they would have a real hard time to get to you. Now though, I can easily think of five or six ways to kill you, and I'm not a professional assassin."

Teague snorted. "Should it worry me that you're thinking up ways to kill me?"

Jack laughed softly. "It's in my best interest to keep you alive father, I have no wish to take over the position of keeper. I don't see myself surrounded all the time by musty old books, and trying to solve the problems of a bunch of incompetent pirates."

Teague smiled blandly. "It's not that bad, and it has its perks. But either way, you're right, I don' t see you taking my place anytime soon. So, what do you propose?"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I thought you would want to organize everything yourself."

The older Captain waved a hand, leaning back in his chair. "I have certainly some ideas, but you have more experience with them. I'm not saying I'll do whatever you decide."

The younger Captain nodded. "Well, taking on more people for your own protection is too dangerous. Anyone can be part of the Black Thorne, merchants, fishers, artisans, whores, anyone. I've sent a message to Pintel, you remember him?"

Teague nodded. "He's a member of your crew now."

Jack glanced at him, a sardonic smirk playing on his lips as he wondered whether he should correct the man. He would not describe Pintel as a member of his crew. Either way, he needed the older man alive and useful, which he wouldn't be if Teague found out he had been involved in the mutiny. "Yes, more or less. Anyway, I've asked him to gather some friends. They can take over the patrolling of the cove so that you can have back some of your most trusted men. I'm sure you can arrange them in such a way you're protected at all times."

Teague nodded in acceptance. It was after all not the first time he had faced assassination attempts. "What about you. Will you need body guards? After all, you have acquired a tendency to wander around alone."

Jack shook his head. "I have it covered. What worries me more is how to flush the Black Thorne out. We cannot have them here, father, they are too dangerous to allow them to get used to this place."

The older man nodded, but stood up. "We'll have to think on this. I'll try to get some information on them, for now it's better if we retire. It's very late and tomorrow will arrive soon enough."

Jack nodded. He was feeling exhausted, but it was unlikely he would sleep that night. The two men got to their rooms without mishap. Twenty minutes later Jack had settled down in his father's living room. All lights doused and a pistol in his hand. He had not said anything to his father, but if he was an assassin he would attempt to finish off the work as soon as possible. After all, there was less time for your victim to get wind on what was going on if there was virtually none. The only way into his father's room was through the door, so he settled in the shadows to wait.

To be continued…