Live for Today

Everyone got to their feet and suddenly Barbossa pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Jack, Elizabeth, Will and Mr Gibbs pointed a pistol each at Barbossa, Jack pointed a gun at Will, who returned the gesture, Jack pointed another gun at Elizabeth, who was already pointing a pistol at him.

They stood like that for a few moments, and then relaxed, laughing at each other, and shaking their heads, until Barbossa pointed his guns again and said, ‘Alright then. The Brethren Court is a-gathering at Shipwreck Cove, and Jack, you and I are a-going and they’ll be no arguing that point.’

‘I is arguing the point,’ said Jack, ‘There’s pirates are a-gathering, I’m pointing my ship the other way.’

‘The pirates are gathering to fight Beckett and you’re a pirate,’ said Elizabeth, pointing both her guns at Jack now, and he pointed both his back at her.

‘Fight or not, you’re not running Jack,’ said Will, now pointing both his guns at Jack, who returned one to face Will.

‘’If we don’t stand together they’ll hunt us down, one by one, til there be done left, but you,’ said Barbossa.

‘Quite like the sound of that,’ said Jack. ‘Captain Jack Sparrow: the last pirate.’

‘Aye, and you’ll be fighting Jones alone, how does that figure into your plan?’ said Barbossa, stepping forwards and pointing one gun directing in Jack’s face and other behind him at Mr Gibbs.

‘I’m still working on that,’ said Jack after a pause. ‘But I will not be going back to the Locker, mate, count on that,’ he said, and pulled the trigger, which clicked uselessly. Everyone else tried to fire but all with the same results.

‘Wet powder,’ said Mr Gibbs, annoyed.

‘So, what are we doing now?’ asked Reina, hurrying up to Jack.

‘You,’ he said, not bothering to look around, ‘are going back to Tortuga.’

‘No,’ she said, standing firm. ‘I am going to the Brethren Court. If there’s a fight to be had then I’m coming!’

‘Don’t argue with me,’ he said, turning around properly now.

‘Don’t treat me like a child,’ she demanded.

He paused, considering. ‘Fine. But if I don’t like the way things are going, you’re on the first boat back to Tortuga.’

She glared at him, but followed to where he, Will and Barbossa were now consulting the charts.

‘There’s a freshwater spring on this island,’ said Will, pointing at the charts. ‘We can resupply there, go back to shooting each other later.’

‘You lead the shore party, I’ll stay with my ship,’ said Jack, glancing at Barbossa.’

‘I’ll not be leaving my ship in your command,’ he replied.

‘Why don’t you both go ashore, and leave the ship in my command,’ suggested Will, then added, ‘temporarily.’

They agreed, but as they near the island, Jack grabbed Reina’s arm. ‘Watch him,’ he said, nodding at Will, before climbing in a row boat to head out to the island.

She nodded, and stayed at the wheel of the ship, overlooking everyone. She watched Will looking around, and picked up Jack’s telescope and looked out on the horizon. She saw another ship approaching.

‘What’s is it?’ asked Elizabeth, hurrying up to where Reina stood.

‘There’s a ship approaching,’ Reina said slowly. ‘And it looked like its from Singapore.’

‘Sao Feng?’ she asked. ‘Why’s he coming here? Is it on the way to the Brethren Court?’

‘No,’ said Reina, and glanced down at Will.

They were approaching quickly, and Reina went down to where Will stood, now having seen the ship too. ‘What is he doing here?’ she asked.

He shrugged her off as they came nearly, and pulled up alongside. Some of the pirates swung over and began taking over the ship, capturing the crew of the Pearl. Reina pulled out her sword but she felt arms behind her back, holding her still.

‘Drop your sword Reina,’ said Captain Aspen, walking forwards, he and Will the only being not being held.

‘You?’ she spat, her words dripping with hate. ‘You arranged this.’

‘No, actually, I did,’ said Will, and Reina glared at him.

Sao Feng stepped aboard, and acknowledged Will by inclining his head. ‘Captain Turner.’

Reina spat in Will’s direction, and her captor hit her in the gut. She doubled over, dropping her sword, which Aspen picked up and held in his own hands.

The shore party returned quickly, seeing the other ship, and Barbossa climbed aboard, followed by Jack.

‘Sao Feng!’ said Barbossa as he came aboard. ‘You showing up here, tis truly a remarkable coincidence.’

Sao Feng smiled, and looked around him at Jack. ‘Jack Sparrow, you paid me great insult once.’

‘That doesn’t sound like me,’ said Jack impertinently, earning him a punch in the face. He clicked is nose back into place. ‘Shall we just call it square then?’

Will stepped forward. ‘Release her,’ he said, pointing at Elizabeth. ‘She’s not part of the bargain.’

‘And what bargain be that?’ asked Barbossa, Jack still holding his nose.

‘You heard Captain Turner,’ said Sao Feng to some laughter, and Jack’s eyes widened. ‘Release her.’

‘Captain Turner?’ said Jack, shocked.

‘Aye, the perfidious rotter led a mutiny against us,’ said Mr Gibbs. Reina glared at Will, and struggled against the man holding her as her arms started to ache. Aspen was stood close to her, holding her sword, and she felt hate boil within her. He had known this was happening all along. She knew he wasn’t to be trusted.

‘He needs the Pearl,’ said Jack, annoyed. ‘Captain Turner needs the Pearl. And you felt guilty,’ he said to Elizabeth, ‘And you with your Brethren Court,’ he said to Barbossa. ‘Did no one come to save me just because they missed me?’

All of Jack’s old crew raised there hands, and Reina, standing beside them, unable to raise her hands, nodded. Jack grinned, ‘I’m standing over there with them.’

Sao Feng caught him and whispered in his ear. ‘I’m sorry Jack, but there is an old friend who want to see you first.’

‘I’m not certain I can survive any more visits from old friends,’ said Jack, smiling pathetically at Sao Feng, who turned him around.

‘Here is your chance to find out,’ he said, pointing him at the ship heading towards them on the horizon.

Jack was forced to go across to the other ship and Reina was finally let go by the man holding her. She glared at him, and then stood by Mr Gibbs. She felt alone now. Everyone had ulterior motives for saving Jack, even Will had turned against him, and she felt as though she could no longer trust anyone. Her heart ached to go back in time, to refuse to come with them, and to stay for Maisha’s wedding, and be with her friends, Sawyer and Theo, and family, Maisha and Elias. And Raul – Raul would still be alive. A tear spilled over her eye and down her cheek. Unfortunately Aspen noticed.

‘Why are you crying?’ he asked, reaching forwards to wipe her cheek, but she turned her head.

‘Get away from me,’ she whispered, refusing to face him, and he walked away.

As Beckett’s men swarmed the ship, one of them walked up to Sao Feng. ‘My men are crew enough,’ he said to this man.

‘Company ship, company crew,’ he said.

‘You agreed, the Black Pearl was to be mine,’ said Will, walking forwards to Sao Feng.

‘And so it was,’ he replied. He nodded to one of his men, who punched Will in the gut and took him away. He, Elizabeth and everyone else was chained up, and Reina held her hands out in acceptance. This was it. They were in the hands of the Company. She would be dead by morning.

The man Sao Feng had spoken to walked away, and Sao Feng grabbed him. ‘Beckett agreed. The Black Pearl was to be mine.’

‘Lord Beckett’s not going to give up the only ship that can outrun the Dutchman, is he?’ this guy, muttered, and walked away. Reina smiled bitterly. Neither Will, Sao Feng nor anyone else was taking the ship which would once have been hers. She looked around it, taking it in, saying goodbye.

A deal was being struck. Reina raised her head. Barbossa and Sao Feng were looking at Elizabeth, and Reina understood. She was being bargained, as Calypso.

‘Done,’ said Elizabeth.

‘Not done,’ said Will, affronted.

‘You got us into this mess, if this is what frees us then done!’ she said.

‘Elizabeth, they’re pirates,’ said Will, and Reina rolled her eyes.

‘I have had more than enough experience dealing with pirates,’ said Elizabeth, shoving him away.

‘Then we have an accord?’ asked Barbossa, leaning in, looking triumphant.

Elizabeth agreed, and Sao Feng nodded to his men. Aspen turned to Reina and cut the chains around her, then threw her her sword. She turned to the nearest member of the Company and stuck her sword through his gut, pulled it out and turned to another. In the melee of fighting someone fired a cannon into the Company ship, and Reina grinned.

Sao Feng and his men swung back onto their ship, and a rope came back for Aspen. He hesitated, turning back to Reina. She looked up at him after cutting down another member of the Company and raised her eyebrows. ‘What are you waiting for? It’s not like you’re wanted around here.’

He hesitated, then nodded bitterly, and swung across to Sao Feng’s ship without a backward glance. Reina saw Elizabeth with them, and she waved her goodbye, a gesture which was returned. Reina nodded and went back to killing members of the Company, each time thinking about all the pirates whose deaths she was avenging.

A cannon went off on the Company’s ship, and she heard Jack shouting, and looked up to see him flying through the air. She ran up to the back upper deck and looked overboard where the robe he’d been holding onto had gone.

‘And that was without a single drop of rum,’ she heard him say, and looked up to see him standing on the side. She grinned at him and he jumped down, and walked forwards to where Pintel and Ragetti were holding Will.

‘Send this pestilent, traitorous, cowhearted, yeasty codpiece to the brig,’ he instructed, and Will was taken away.

‘What did Beckett want?’ asked Reina, arms folded.

Jack smiled. ‘To say hello.’

‘I highly doubt that,’ she said, walking towards him. ‘What deal did you make with him? What did you tell him?’

‘Nothing,’ said Jack, walking away. ‘All hands, raise the anchor, to Shipwreck cove!’

Reina frowned, and watched Sao Feng’s ship sailing away. She hurried to the wheel and began to steer them towards Shipwreck Cove.

After a few hours Jack took over from her, and Reina, thinking that sleep would bring her no peace, went to find Tia Dalma. Something had been playing on her mind since the previous night.

‘You said Raul wasn’t going to die,’ she said when she found her. ‘You said that death only meant change, that he wasn’t actually going to be killed.’

Tia Dalma put her hand on Reina shoulder as she dissolved into tears. ‘The future changes. His actions led to his death, your dream did not foretell it. But now, your life will change. It is not your time to follow him to the next life, not yet.’

Reina nodded, trying to stop the tears. Tia Dalma touched her gently on the shoulder. ‘Him at peace.’

She sat down against a barrel of rum and woke up the next day, with her coat lying across her. She put it in the galley, and then returned to the deck, looking for Jack. She found several of the barrels that had surrounded the deck were gone.

‘What happened to all the barrels?’ she asked Jack. ‘You didn’t drink all that rum, did you?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘Young Turner was using them for some, eh, private business.’

‘What did he do?’ she asked, eyes narrowed. ‘I thought he was in the brig?’

‘Ah, he was, but the cell is broken, remember,’ said Jack nonchalantly.

‘Urgh at least fix it before you send him there,’ she said, shaking her head. Then she looked up at him. ‘You wanted him to escape, didn’t you?’

‘That I did.’

‘And where is he now?’ she asked, folding her arms.

‘Right now I suspect he is in the care of Beckett,’ Jack smiled, and walked away. Someone shouted ‘Land ahoy,’ and Reina ran to the bow and saw Shipwreck island ahead of them. She smiled with relief; everything now had to be alright.

‘Look alive and keep a weather eye,’ shouted Mr Gibbs, striding down the deck. ‘Not for nought is it called Shipwreck Island, where lies Shipwreck Cove and the town of Shipwreck.’

Reina snorted with laughter. She climbed up into the crow’s nest and began directing Jack, who was at the wheel, to lead them through the jagged rocks that were visible through the water to her.

She looked down at Barbossa, who was talking to Tia Dalma on the front upper deck. They seemed to be arguing about something. She watched as Tia Dalma walked away, and Barbossa grabbed her back, then Pintel and Ragetti led her down towards the brig. Reina frowned, but continued to direct the ship into the Cove, but with this still playing heavily on her mind.

They entered the cove through a hidden pass between the cliffs, where a huge raising gate lifted to admit the ship. When they were through they had to man the oars, and night was falling as they came in sight of the town, a magnificent structure rising out of the water, hundreds of feet high, with thousands of light twinkling in the falling darkness as they reflected off the calm waters of the cove. Reina could see many ships at the different docks, their crew leaping off and running to and fro, offloading the ship. Reina stared, amazed at this, a sight unlike anything she’d seen before.

She ran to the front of the boat and squeezed in front of Pintel and Ragetti, and heard the former voice her thought exactly, ‘Look at them all.’

‘There’s not been a gathering like this in our lifetime,’ said Barbossa, gazing at the city, swarming with more pirates than Reina had ever seen.

‘And I owe them all money,’ said Jack, joining them, and Reina laughed, filled with elation.

They docked the ship and held it fast, and Reina grabbed her stuff together and climbed overboard. Their crew joined the mass throng of pirates entering the town. They walked inside the gates and Jack and Barbossa led them up a series of steps, along many walkways and different streets, and finally to a large hall.

They opened the doors and Barbossa and Jack strode it, pulled their swords from their scabbards and thrust them into a globe situated in front of an enormous table. The room was filled with pirates, all chattering and talking, making the noise level unbearable, the pirate lords surrounded by their crews. Barbossa stood at the head of the table, and their crew behind him, Reina just at his elbow while Jack avoided people’s attention, for now.

Barbossa picked up a ball and chain and banged it on a table, where a large indent suggested to Reina that this had been done before. The noise level dropped. ‘I see you issued summons, I convene this, the fourth Brethren Court,’ announced Barbossa. To general chatter the pirate lords sat around the table, thronged by their men. ‘To confirm your lordship and your right to be heard present now yer Pieces of Eight, my fellow captains.’

Ragetti went around with a metallic bowl as the pirate lords dropped their individual pieces of rubbish into it, which counted as Pieces of Eight. Reina heard Mr Gibbs explaining this to Pintel.

‘Master Ragetti, if you will,’ said Barbossa, holding out his hand to Ragetti, who had arrived back with the Pieces of Eight.

‘I-I kept it safe for you, just like you said when you gave it to me,’ said Ragetti, looking up nervously.

‘Aye, you have, but now I need it back,’ said Barbossa, and he slapped the back of Ragetti’s head and his wooden eye fell out. Barbossa caught it and dropped it into the bowl.

‘Sparrow!’ someone shouted, and Jack fiddled with one of his dread locks, thinking things over as Ragetti approached him with the bowl, then he stepped forward. ‘Might I point out that we are still short one pirate lord and I’m as content as a cucumber to wait until Sao Feng joins us.’

‘Sao Feng is dead,’ came a voice from behind them, and Reina turned around to see Elizabeth, in traditional Singaporean dress, with Sao Feng’s crew behind her. ‘He fell to the Flying Dutchman.’

She stepped forwards and stuck her sword in the globe.

‘And made you Captain?’ asked Jack, shocked. ‘They’re just giving the bloody title away now.’

Reina saw Elizabeth’s crew, among them Aspen, follow her to the table. He looked at her and she turned back to the front, avoiding his eye, frowning to herself.

Uproar had risen again and Elizabeth tried to calm them down, and revealed that their location had been betrayed. People stopped talking and she continued. ‘Jones is under the command of Lord Beckett, they’re on their way here.’

‘Who is this betrayer?’ asked one of the lords.

‘Not likely anyone among us,’ said Barbossa.

‘Where’s Will?’ asked Elizabeth, looking around.

‘Not among us,’ said Jack, and Reina’s eyes narrowed.

Discussion began of what to do now, with everyone having different ideas of how they should deal with this problem. Elizabeth voted to fight, a suggestion laughed at by everyone assembled there, and pirate lord Mistress Ching remined them that Shipwreck cove was an impregnable fortress which could stand siege for years. Then Barbossa suggested releasing Calypso, causing fury and outrage from the pirates gathered there.

‘Shoot him,’ one shouted.

‘Cut out his tongue,’ said another.

‘Shoot him then cut out his tongue, then shoot his tongue,’ added Jack. ‘And trim that scraggly beard.’

Disagreement ensued between two lords and a fight broke out, with all the pirates there attacking each other, whilst Jack, Barbossa and Elizabeth’s crew watched in amazement.

‘This is madness,’ exclaimed Elizabeth.

‘This is politics,’ said Jack, and Reina grinned. She looked over at Elizabeth as she continued to speak but Aspen caught her gaze, and she glanced away, not wanting to hear anymore. She turned away, and Jack the monkey leapt onto her shoulder, and she stroked him absentmindedly, sitting away from the others, watching the madness ensue around her.

Barbossa stood up on the table and fired a shot from his pistol, and the brawlers paused mid-brawl and looked up in shock. ‘It was the first Court what imprisoned Calypso,’ he said as the pirates returned to their seats. ‘We shall be the ones to set her free, and in her gratitude she will see fit to grant us boons.’

Jack began talking, trying to worm his way out of this, saying that keeping all these pirates shut up together in Shipwreck Cove would result in half of them being dead in a month, as brawling such as before would undoubtedly break out, and that it was doubtful that Calypso would aid them, and would instead punish them for capturing her in the first place. ‘We are left with but one option. I agree with, and I cannot believe the words are coming out of me mouth, Captain Swann. We must fight.’

‘You’ve always run away from a fight,’ said Barbossa.

‘Have not.

‘You have so.’

‘Have not.’

‘You have so.’

‘Have not.’

‘You have so and you know it.’

‘Have not slander and caler me,’ said Jack, finishing this. ‘I have only ever embraced that oldest and noblest of pirate traditions. I submit that here, now, that is what we all must do. We must fight, to run away.’

‘Aye!’ shouted Gibbs, and many agreed, Reina included. She stood again, and joined Gibbs at the front, Jack the monkey still on her shoulder.

‘As per the code,’ said Barbossa, arms crossed, ‘an act of war, this be exactly that, can only be declared by the pirate king.’

‘You made that up,’ said Jack, pointing his finger at Barbossa.

‘Did I now?’ said Barbossa, raising his eyebrows. ‘I call on Captain Teague, keeper of the code.’

Nothing happened, and one of the pirate lords nudged his assistant, who said for him, ‘Sumbhajee proclaim this all to be folly. Hang the code. Who cares about -’ but he was stopped by a gun being fired, and a bullet to his chest.

Reina looked around and saw in the doorway a figure holding up a gun, which was smoking from the barrel. He blew the smoke away and said, ‘The code is the law.’

Jack started to look extremely uncomfortable, as this man began to walk forwards to the table. ‘You’re in my way boy,’ he said, and Jack moved to the side to let him near the table. Reina looked between the two of them as Captain Teague beckoned to the side and two men came carrying between them a colossal book, which they dropped on the table with a thud. She gazed between them as he summoned a dog holding the key to the padlock on the book, watched him open it to the right page, scan down it, and proclaim Barbossa to be right. Jack looked for himself, and Reina stared at them both, suddenly astonished. Captain Teague and Jack were practically identical

‘There’s not been a king since the first court,’ said the French pirate lord. ‘And that’s not likely to change.’

‘Not likely,’ said Captain Teague, walking away into the corner and picking up a guitar.

‘Why not?’ asked Elizabeth.

‘See the pirate king is elected by popular vote,’ said Mr Gibbs.

‘And each pirate only ever votes for hiself’ said Barbossa.

‘I call for a vote,’ said Jack, and immediately they began voting, and, as predicted, everyone voted for themselves. Reina rolled her eyes and stroked Jack’s paw, irritating flooding through her. How were they ever going to get this sorted out? Suddenly though-

‘Elizabeth Swann,’ said Jack, smiling triumphantly.

‘What?’ asked Elizabeth.

‘I know, curious, isn’t it,’ said Jack, as the noise level rose again, with all the other captains started shouting at him to vote for them instead.

‘Am I to understand that you lot will not be keeping to the code, then?’ asked Jack, and behind him a string on Captain Teague’s guitar snapped and he glared at them all.

Everyone else sat down, and Mistress Ching said, ‘Very well then. What saw you, Captain Swann, King of the Brethren Court?’

‘Prepare every vessel that floats,’ said Elizabeth. ‘At dawn, we’re at war.’

The silent pirate lord Sumbhajee stood and said in an astonishing high pitched voice that crippled Reina with laughter, ‘And so, we shall go to war!’

Cheering broke out and Reina pushed through the crowds to Elizabeth, and hugged her tightly.

‘I can’t believe it,’ she said over the uproar. ‘First that you’re a Captain, now you’re Pirate King!’

‘I know!’ said Elizabeth, grinning.

‘How did it happen?’ asked Reina, shaking her head in disbelief.

‘It’s a long story,’ said Elizabeth.

Reina looked over her shoulder and saw Jack walking towards Captain Teague. ‘Tell me later,’ she said, and hugged her again, before pushing through the crowd.

‘Jack?’ she called, and he turned around from his talk with Captain Teague.

‘Reina!’ he beamed, and put his arm around her shoulders. ‘Allow me to introduce to you Captain Teague, keeping of the code and -’

‘My grandfather,’ she finished, looking up at him in amazement.

‘Jacky,’ Captain Teague shook his head at Jack. ‘You should have said. Come here.’

He held his arms out to Reina and she stepped into them, then he held her back and looked her over, making disparaging remarks to Jack about how he wasn’t looking after her enough. She beamed in delight, especially when he said, ‘Let’s get some rum then, eh?’

Jack said he was going to go and make sure Barbossa didn’t steal his ship while he was gone, and most of the captains and their crews went off, but some stayed, and whilst Reina and Captain Teague were drinking rum and catching up, the rest of them filtered in to the hall again, which now turned into a bar.

Reina sat beside Captain Teague at the end as Jack came back, laughing as he’d told her a story about Jack when he was little. She was smiling a lot, overjoyed at the discovery of a grandfather, although that was slightly dented when she saw that her grandmother was a shrunken head, and the fact that tomorrow they were going to war. This would be over once and for all, and she would either live to sail free seas and to see her loved ones again, or die fighting for it.

Music started somewhere and many of the members of the different crews started dancing. Mr Gibbs came over to where they sat and pulled her to her feet. ‘Come on Reina, there is a distinct lack of women here; you need to do your bit.’

She told Captain Teague she’d come back to talk to him again later, and was pulled into the masses. Bottles of rum were being handed around and she took one, drinking heavily from it. She found Elizabeth and they danced together for a bit, until Elizabeth decided to take her role as Captain seriously and decided to do some planning with the rest of the pirate lords. Reina danced quickly, in circles, with each spin linking arms with someone else. Pintel and Ragetti spun her around, and she laughed, the rum and excitement going to her head. The skirts of her dress flared out as she danced, and she felt dizzy with excitement.

She collapsed in a chair after a while, as several men urged her to keep going, she begged to sit out.

‘Please, just five minutes,’ she said to them, and they promised to hold her to that, and went away. She settled into the chair, tucking her legs beneath her, watching everyone. The knowledge that she might die tomorrow didn’t faze her, death wasn’t something she’d ever been frightened of, and she knew that this was one of the best ways to go. She just wanted to make sure everything was in order.

She got up and went to find Jack. He was sitting with Elizabeth and Barbossa, discussing plans for tomorrow.

‘Jack?’ she asked, and he looked up. ‘I need to talk to you, just for a second.’

He nodded and she walked a little away, and then turned to him. ‘Jack, I need you to know that I’m sorry,’ she said, looking him straight in the eye.

He hesitated, not sure what to make of this. ‘What for?’

‘For everything,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘For being horrible to you when we first met, for all the abuse and slander I gave you, for hitting you, for shouting at you, and for the last words I ever said to you before you died,’ she said, breathing deeply. ‘I know you’re not a perfect dad, but I’m not a perfect daughter, and now you’ve led me to the adventure of a lifetime, and we’re going to fight side by side.’

‘How much have you had to drink?’ he asked, and she laughed.

‘Not nearly enough to make this bearable,’ she grinned. ‘Jack, I just wanted to tell you that – that I’m glad you’re my dad.’

He smiled, and pulled her into a hug. She hugged him back, and he kissed the top of her head.

‘Go and have fun,’ he said, stepping away. ‘I have to discuss important things now.’

She grinned and went back to where she’d been sitting before. She sat down and gazed around her.

‘Care for some company?’ she heard someone ask, and looked around to see Captain Aspen leaning over her.

Her hands clenched into fists. ‘If you must.’

He sat down, and turned his chair around to face her. ‘Reina, I know you are unhappy with me about Sao Feng taking over you ship -’

‘Gosh am I that transparent?’ she asked, rolling her eyes.

‘But I was just doing what I was commanded to do,’ he said. ‘And in the time I was in your company, I really felt bad about what I was going to do.’

She looked up, and frowned. ‘But you still did it.’

‘And look what happened,’ he said. ‘Sao Feng was betrayed just as you were, but in the end it didn’t matter, because your father kept his ship and Sao Feng went back to his.’

She nodded, and sat quietly for a while. He got up and made to walk away, but she stopped him, grabbing hold of him. ‘I realise that I never thanked you,’ she said, looking up at him.

‘Thanked me for what?’ he asked.

‘For saving my life,’ she said, and then gave a small laugh, ‘twice. Once going over the edge of the world, and then again when we were tipping the Pearl. Both time I lost my grip, and both times you grabbed me,’ she looked up into his eyes. ‘Thank you.’

He smiled, and grabbed her hand. He pulled her up and took her out of the room. She followed him, not sure where he was taking her, but feeling that slapping him right after calling him her saviour might not be the nicest thing to do.

He pulled her to somewhere quieter, and then turned to face her.

‘Reina,’ he said, and she noticed that his breathing was uneven, and then with horror realised hers was too. She tried to calm it, but his eyes made her uneasy. ‘Reina, we could probably both die tomorrow. I want to tell you something, in case I won’t be able to once this is over.’

She backed against the wall behind her for support. He placed one of his hands on the wall beside her face, and reached up with the other and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand.

‘Reina,’ he said again, trying to phrase the words in his mind. ‘I hope my feelings for you are clear. I wanted to know, on this last night we have together, if you feel the same way.’

Her breath caught in her throat, and she looked up into her eyes. Once she’d found her breath, the whispered, ‘Yes.’

He looked as though he didn’t believe her, so she nodded again, and said, ‘Yes, I do.’

He grinned and closed the space between them in a second, his hands pulling her close to him. She answered him, her hands either side of his face, and then running down his waist. He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around him, still against the wall, and he kissed her throat as she struggled for breath. He stood away from the wall, and picked her up in his arms, and carried her into a room off the corridor they were in. It was deserted, and was furbished as a living room. He closed the door and placed a chair against it to stop anyone interrupting, as she walked into the centre of the room. He followed her, sitting on the sofa and pulling her with him. She placed a leg either side of his and kissed him again, this time slower, more carefully, taking more time. He held her tightly, and then gently lay her down, and lay beside her.

‘What do you reckon, a good way to spend your last night?’ he asked, grinning.

She rolled her eyes, so much to take the piss out of, but some other time. She smiled at him, ‘Yes, catching up with my grandfather can wait.’

He paused. ‘Your grandfather?’

‘Captain Teague,’ she shrugged. ‘I’m getting used to discovering surprises like these.’

He grinned, and pulled off his shirt, kissing her again, and she promised herself she wouldn't say another unnecessary word.