Chapter 39:  Calypso

 

Jack Sparrow disembarked the Black Pearl, ignoring the splendor of Shipwreck Cove.  Jack was both angry and confused about what Robin had said to him.  Maybe she was correct—maybe caring really did cause nothing but pain.  It certainly seemed true at the moment.

Jack and Elizabeth had argued over whether or not it would be overly awkward to have a Pirate Lord arrive in chains.  Jack had finally managed to win the debate, and thus Robin was not even in shackles.  Granted, it probably would have been much safer and wiser to have gone along with Elizabeth’s proposal.  Glancing back at his daughter, Jack noted that she seemed completely unimpressed with the port.  She made eye contact with Jack and then quickly turned away, busying herself with feeding Jack the Monkey a peanut.

Jack was still trying to take in everything that his daughter had said to him.  It was so difficult for him to accept.  He had never considered not caring for Robin.  It seemed impossible that Jackie...his darling daughter, Jackie…had become who she claimed to be.

Something that Jack was also still trying to comprehend was Elizabeth’s attitude towards him of late.  Obviously he had not always been completely honest and all that, but he had done anything recently that warranted the suspicious glares and the cold shoulder she had been giving him of late.

All the women around him were acting very peculiar…

Then Jack remembered that Elizabeth had spoken privately with Robin before Jack had.  Glancing from one woman to the other, Jack felt suddenly paranoid.  Perhaps it was just a coincidence.  But Jack knew better than that—there were no true coincidences.  The two hated each other, but Jack had made deals and worked with his enemies before.  And Elizabeth was not looking at Robin with quite as much hatred as was usual.  Confirming Jack’s fears, Robin walked up behind Elizabeth, and the two began speaking quietly.

The two women walked up to Jack, greeting him with silent nods.  The three Pirate Lords then made their way to where the Brethren Court was meeting.

Upon arriving in the chamber, Jack quickly skimmed the room and noticed that Ammand the Corsair appeared to be the only Pirate Lord not present.  Everyone in the room looked at Robin with suspicion and interest, as she was the only Pirate Lord present who had not attended the fourth meeting of the Brethren Court.

“Found him,” a gruff voice muttered.  “He’s drunk, but conscious.”  The inebriated Ammand was helped into a chair.  Ammand muttered something about not wanting to be there before all eyes turned to Elizabeth, gazing at her expectantly.

Elizabeth shifted her weight nervously, uncomfortable with the sudden attention.  “Well…here I convene this the fifth Brethren Court,” she began.  “The song has been sung—it appears that the East India Trading Company is once again threatening our survival.”

“And once again,” Jack interjected, “We will defeat them.”

Elizabeth took a deep breath.  “Yes, we may have to fight,” she said.  Jack was surprised by the hesitancy in her voice.  Elizabeth had been the one who had wished to go to war during the fourth meeting of the Brethren Court.  Jack noticed Elizabeth throw a quick glance sideways at Robin.

“If we do go to war,” Mistress Ching said, “We need you, the Pirate King, to declare it.”  Despite her blindness, or perhaps because of this handicap, Ching appeared to have noticed the doubt in Elizabeth’s voice as well.

Gentleman Jocard, who was seated beside the blind Pirate Lord of the Pacific Ocean, spoke up.  “But is Captain Swann still the Pirate King?”

“It’s Turner, actually,” Elizabeth said under her breath, unheard by all but Jack and Robin.

“After all, we appear to have a new member of the Court,” Jocard continued, motioning to Robin and nodding his head to her slightly in greeting.

“I don’t think that the Code would require another vote for the Pirate King,” Jack said quickly.

“But it may,” the Frenchman Capitaine Chevalle pointed out, much to Jack’s annoyance.

Elizabeth appeared strangely nonchalant about this threat to her power.  She had always had a fascination with pirates, even before meeting one—perhaps she knew what the Code said on this matter.  “I call on Captain Teague, the Keeper of the Code.”

Jack flinched and glanced at Robin, thinking on how his father was unaware that he had a grandchild.  The sound of heavy boots resounded as Captain Teague walked down the steps and into the chamber.  Two older pirates carrying a very large book followed Teague as he approached the table around which the Court sat.  Jack’s father whistled, and a dog ran over, carrying a key.

There was absolute silence as Teague read through the books, searching for the answer to their predicament; apparently he had been eavesdropping on the meeting.  “Jocard is correct,” Teague said after a few minutes.  “Anytime there is a new member at a meeting of the Brethren Court, a new vote for Pirate King must be taken.  My apologies, Captain Turner.”

Much of the Court sighed, assuming that Jack was planning on voting for Elizabeth as he had before—which was quite true.  Jack wanted to finally and completely destroy the East India Company before the Company destroyed the Court, and Elizabeth was the only member of the Court who would likely declare war.

“Capitaine Chevalle, the penniless Frenchman!” Chevalle began.

“Ammand the Corsair,” Ammand muttered.

“Sumbhajee votes for Sumbhajee,” one of the aides of the silent Pirate Lord announced.

“Mistress Ching!”

“Gentleman Jocard.”

“Villanueva!”

There was a brief pause as the voting came to Robin as she gently stroked Jack the Monkey’s head and appeared to be deep in thought.

She wouldn’t, Jack thought as he looked from his daughter to his father.

“Captain Jacqueline Robin…Sparrow,” she voted, glancing at Jack.

“Oh, God…” Jack muttered.  He avoided making eye contact with all in the room; he could feel the many pairs of eyes looking at him.

“Jack?” Elizabeth breathed, her mouth dropping open as she gaped at him in shock.

“He didn’t tell you about me, either?” Robin said quietly with a small smirk.  “Goodness, the man keeps quite a lot from you.”  Jack glared at his daughter.  “Your vote, Jack,” Robin said with a sweet smile, petting Jack the Monkey’s head.

“Elizabeth Turner,” Jack mumbled, wishing that he could disappear.  He accidentally caught the eyes of his father and found himself unable to look away from Teague’s questioning gaze.

Elizabeth was the only one left to vote.  Of course she would be voting for herself, so Jack at least had no reason to worry about that.  “Captain…”  She paused, glancing at Jack and then Robin.  “Captain Robin Sparrow.”

“What?” Robin exclaimed, turning sharply to Elizabeth.

“What?” Jack echoed as the Court erupted in surprised protests.  But Robin was working for the enemy, possibly at least.  Robin had never actually confirmed anything about that.  But his daughter, the Pirate King?

“The Code is Law,” Captain Teague said quietly, and the Court fell silent.

Robin smiled awkwardly as everyone stared at her silently.  “Um…”  She glanced at Elizabeth suspiciously again.  “Right.  We shall go to war.”

The Court erupted in cheers.  Jack knew that few of the Court actually agreed with his daughter, but they were all trying to gain favor with their new King.  Captain Teague walked around the table and over to Jack.  “Oh, bugger…” Jack said under his breath, stepping away from the table to meet him.

“What relation is the new Pirate King to ye?” he asked.

Jack grinned nervously.  “She’s my daughter.”

Teague nodded, smiling softly.  “I thought as much.”  He looked over Jack’s shoulder at Robin.  “She’s beautiful.”  He looked back at Jack.  “Dare I ask who the mother was?”

Jack coughed.  “You may not want to know.”  Jack turned to glance at Robin.

“With a child comes responsibility, Jackie.”  Jack could not help but wince at the sound of his own pet name for his daughter.  “Though it looks like I’m a little late to tell you about that.”  Jack smiled grimly.  “Do you trust her, Jack?” Teague asked suddenly.

“No,” Jack answered quietly.  “I don’t.”

“Apparently Captain Turner does,” Teague said, looking at the former Pirate Captain with interest.  “Friends, are they?”

Jack let out a sharp laugh.  “Captain Turner distrusts Robin more than anyone.”

“Then why should she name her Pirate King?”

Jack frowned, trying to find an answer.

And he could not.

What was Elizabeth up to?

* * *

James Norrington’s heart pounded with apprehension as he approached Lord Beckett’s cabin.  The penknife was concealed in his coat sleeve, but it was also easily accessible to him.  He saw light under the man’s door, indicating that Beckett was still awake.  The guard standing outside the door nodded to the Admiral and knocked lightly on the door.

“Come,” Beckett’s cold voice said from inside.

The guard opened the door.  “Admiral Norrington, sir.”

Norrington inclined his head to the guard before he passed through the door.  Lord Beckett was seated at his desk, appearing to sign some sort of form.  Norrington quickly skimmed the surface of the desk and noted that there was a penknife within Beckett’s reach.  “Good evening, Lord Beckett.”

“What brings you here at this hour, Admiral?” Beckett asked, writing something else down on another piece of parchment.  “Nightmares?”

“In part, sir.”  Norrington’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, wondering what Beckett was scribbling so furiously.  At least it meant he would be distracted…  “I take it that you are also unable to sleep, sir.”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“I’m sorry, sir.”  Norrington took a step closer to the desk.  “Shall I pour a glass of wine for you, sir?”

“Pour one for yourself as well—it can help,” Beckett said as he continued to write furiously.

Norrington watched Beckett out of the corner of his eye as he opened the bottle of wine.  It would all be too easy.  When he handed Beckett the wine, he could retrieve the penknife from his sleeve and slit the man’s throat before the lord had a chance to react.  He just had to time it right.

“Curious, isn’t it?” Beckett remarked quietly.

Norrington paused.  “What is, Lord Beckett?”

Beckett was continuing to write, and now appeared to be drawing some sort of diagram.  “That you and I should fall in love with someone so completely unlike us.”  Norrington’s brow furrowed slightly as he poured the second glass of wine and continued to listen to Lord Beckett.  “For all men are drawn to her, just as to the sea,” Beckett said quietly, turning to gaze at Norrington.  “Perilous though they both may be.”

“Is that some sort of riddle, sir?” Norrington asked after a moment of Beckett’s icy eyes piercing him.

Beckett stood, picking up the parchment on which he had been writing fiercely and bringing it over to Norrington.  “It’s the truth.”  Norrington’s heart was nearly beating out of his chest.  Beckett had walked out of range of the possible weapon on the desk—Norrington had only to act quickly and the man would be dead.

But Norrington let the moment pass.  Curiosity was getting the better of him as he pondered what Beckett was talking about.  Norrington took the paper that Lord Beckett was holding out to him.  Glancing down at it, he saw that Beckett had laid out the plans for the battle against the pirates.  Norrington looked up at him in surprise and opened his mouth to ask why Beckett was giving this to him now, but Beckett shook his head slightly.  Norrington’s brow furrowed.

“The sea called and I answered.  There’s no going back.  But you should answer her call.”

Norrington was beginning to wonder if Beckett was delusional.  “Lord Beckett, are you all—?”  But his question was cut short when Norrington froze as he saw movement behind Beckett.  The form of a woman came into the candlelight from a dark corner of the room, but for some reason Norrington was unable to completely focus on her, as though she was only half there.

Beckett turned slowly, sidestepping in front of Norrington, almost as though attempting to hide the papers in Norrington’s hands.  “What do you want, Calypso?”

Norrington’s eyes widened in shock.  Calypso was the goddess of the sea in legend—but Norrington had never really believed that she existed.  The woman stepped forward, becoming more defined as she did so.

“You sound as though you no longer wish to be our ally,” she said warningly, her speech rather difficult to understand.

“Ally, you say?” Beckett repeated quietly.  “That’s an interesting way of saying pawn.”

Calypso stepped forward again, glancing up at Norrington.  “You…”  She took another step forward, gazing curiously at Norrington.  “You were dead.”

“You didn’t bring him back,” Beckett muttered under his breath.  “Not like me…”

“And I can send you back to the dark abyss with a mere thought,” Calypso said harshly.  “Remember that.”

Norrington’s mind raced.  Calypso had brought Beckett back, apparently in order to gain control of the East India Company, which would indicate that she also desired to use the Company as a means to destroy the pirates.  But then how had Norrington returned from the dead?

“Cutler, you don’t have to do this—you don’t have to follow orders!  You can fight them!”

“You are very much mistaken.”

So that is what Jacqueline had been talking about—she somehow knew that Lord Beckett and the Company were under Calypso’s control.  When Jacqueline had pleaded for him to let her and her father free, Beckett refused.  He had been saving his own skin—and perhaps the skins of all who worked for the East India Trading Company.

Beckett had offered Jacqueline the only safe way out for both of them—a marriage.  Jacqueline would then be on the opposite side, not the side of the pirates, and thus would not be a subject of wrath from the goddess Calypso, as it appeared she desired the pirates’ destruction.  Beckett had done all he could to save Jacqueline’s life.

But Jacqueline had refused.  And Jacqueline had known what would happen.  Her death was not anyone’s fault—not any mortal’s fault, at least.

“You were going to defy us,” Calypso said, stepping forward again.  Norrington noted her use of the word “us.”  Were there more of her kind?  More gods with her goal?  “And you were going to use him as a tool.”

Norrington wrapped his hand tightly around the papers in his hand.  Beckett had known what Norrington had come to his quarters to do.  Even if Norrington had slain him, the papers with the plans would have remained, and Norrington could still warn Jacqueline.  But that also likely meant that Beckett believed that he was doomed already.

“You wish to join the Brethren?” Calypso asked Norrington.  Without waiting for an answer, she continued.  “I will not stop you.”  Norrington watched the goddess carefully.  “After all, the Brethren Court will soon be destroyed.  But you may not even survive that long,” she added forebodingly.  Norrington wondered if Calypso was merely trying to frighten him, or if she foresaw something dreadful happening to him in the future.  “Go!” she ordered.

Norrington quickly put the papers into his jacket as discretely as he could before walking to the door, giving the goddess a wide berth and never turning his back to her.  But Calypso appeared to be paying absolutely no attention to the Admiral as she stepped even closer to Beckett, who appeared to be using all his willpower to keep from stepping back.

“We had a deal,” Calypso said.  “You broke it.”  Calypso suddenly reached out and grabbed Beckett’s wrist.  “And now you will pay for your treachery.”

Norrington was unable to look away as Beckett’s hand began to decay.  Beckett’s eyes widened and he tried to pull away, his face contorting in pain.  His clothing was now beginning to decompose, his sleeve disintegrating to reveal that his arm was now little more than rotten flesh and bone.  Beckett gasped, “Calypso, please!”

“You have defied us one time too many,” Calypso said quietly, and Beckett fell to his knees as death began overtaking him.  He looked up at Norrington, his eyes begging for him to get away.  Norrington found the handle of the door behind him, finally tearing his eyes away from the sight and running toward the deck as fast as his legs would carry him, hardly noticing that the guard outside Beckett’s quarters was dead.

Norrington began getting a jollyboat ready to leave the ship, which was difficult with his shaking hands.  Calypso may be the goddess of the sea, but she was currently preoccupied and would hopefully keep her word and not stop him.  A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

Norrington leapt back and drew the penknife from his sleeve, ready to strike.  Will Turner held up his hands, eyeing the penknife apprehensively.  “Easy, mate.”

Slowly lowering the penknife, Norrington asked, “What do you want?”

“You’re stealing a boat,” Turner remarked nonchalantly.  He glanced behind him and towards Beckett’s cabin.  “Did you kill him?”

Norrington shook his head.  “Not me,” he answered, wincing as the image of the decaying Lord Beckett came to mind.  “No—she did.”  Turner’s brow furrowed.  “Calypso,” Norrington clarified.  “She’s been in control of him—I don’t know how long,” Norrington realized.  “But I have to warn the Brethren Court.  They have no idea…”

Turner nodded as he began to help Norrington get the boat ready.  “Do me a favor.”  Turner took a deep breath.  “Tell Elizabeth that I love her.”

“Elizabeth?” Norrington repeated under his breath.

“She’s the King of the Brethren Court,” Turner said.  Norrington arched an eyebrow curiously.  “I know, I think she should be Queen, too,” Turner said with a small smile.

Norrington got into the boat.  “I’ll tell her,” he said quietly.

Turner smiled.  “Thank you.  And good luck, Admiral.”

Norrington took Jack’s compass from his jacket and prepared for what would be a long, tiring trip.