John Locke - Now and then

Just then, another burst of cheering emanated from the building, which meant they were down five men. Moments later, two drunken soldiers made their way around the far corner and picked up the remaining lamp. They were in their long johns and one was wearing his soldier's cap backwards. Jack hollered, "Here, let me give you a hand." He moved quickly to them, and listened as they told him about the quality of the hookers and beer inside. He interrupted their stories with his knife. George ran over and helped drag the new bodies out of view.

Four down, and two of them guards. Leaving six guards out front, and maybe two dozen soldiers inside. Plus however many were entertaining whores in the building next door.

By Jack's calculation there were probably more pirates in the Blue Dog than soldiers. Good. As he was about to begin the tricky part of his plan, he heard Pim's danger whistle.

"Rose," he whispered. "Stay down."

A soldier had made his way down the side of the building to check on the other guards. As he turned the corner, George, on his knees, swung the butt of his musket as hard as he could into the soldier's knee caps. The soldier let out a scream that died in his throat when George cut his neck. Two of the other guards at the front corner heard their comrade's scream and ran to the back of the building to investigate. George was hovering over the body, pretending to give it aid. As the soldiers approached, George turned toward them, revealing two drawn pistols, which he used to shoot them. Then he tossed the pistols to Jack for reloading, and shouted for help.

The three remaining guards raced around the building. As they approached, George shouted, "One pirate, running. He's kilt these two, but he's out of ammunition!" George pointed to the sand dunes. Two of them made for the sand dune, the third started running to warn the soldiers inside.

It wasn't necessary, since they'd all heard the gunfire. A half-dozen soldiers joined the guard out front, heard the report of an unarmed lone pirate running through the sand dunes, and rejoined the soldiers inside who were conducting the hangings. By then, Pim had shot the two on the sand dune, and George and Jack lured the remaining guard out of view and stabbed him quietly, then propped the body against the wall to make it appear he was passed out.

George stood guard out front while Jack entered the whorehouse. Moments later Jack returned and reported there were no soldiers inside. He waited for Pim's whistle. When it came, Jack went to the back of the building and told Rose it was time. She climbed out from under Jack's coat and stood below the second floor window, whose base was about sixteen feet off the ground. She lifted her arms over her head. At that moment, Jack would have given anything to see what she was going to do and how she planned to do it. But George needed help, so he reluctantly turned the corner and ran to the front of the building to provide it.

Then the sound started.

Because it was dark, and the remaining two lamps inadequate to offer Pim or the women a clear view of what transpired next, and because for the rest of their lives no one believed the pirates' version, since admittedly they were drunk or drugged at the time, and because there was only one sober person who knows exactly what happened, and since she was the one who did it-history never recorded what happened that night behind the Blue Lagoon.

But according to the captured pirates, she flew.

Rose flew.

Or at least, she lifted herself off the ground.

As she raised herself higher and higher into the warm night air behind the Blue Lagoon, she began speaking words that Jack had never heard in any of his travels. Indeed, she seemed to be speaking two or three different languages at the same time, and her voice was huge and shrill and powerful, and louder than any storm. As the sounds from her voice grew louder and louder still, the pirates covered their ears and fell to their knees and prayed for mercy. By then the sound had become a high-pitched wail, a shrieking, ear-splitting cyclone of a sound that shattered the second floor window.

Jack's superstitious men took one look at the demon-possessed child hovering twenty feet off the ground and became horror struck. It seemed to be the coming of the dead. They cried and moaned and gnashed their teeth and crossed themselves and pushed their fingers deep into their ears. Such was the chaos that every soldier on the first floor scrambled up the stairs to see what was happening. At that precise moment, while the hallway and stairs were filled with soldiers, Jack charged through the front door with George and the two began shooting. Then, according to the drunken survivors, Rose opened her eyes and they glowed reptilian yellow, with a vertical black line in the center. She switched to English and spewed forth such vile oaths and imprecations that Jack's thirty-five hardened pirates crashed through the door and charged into the soldiers with wild abandon, like deer running from a raging fire.

Finding themselves caught off guard, trampled by the fleeing pirates, the soldiers were unable to fire their weapons for lack of space to point them. With upwards of forty men on the staircase, screaming and pushing to escape, it finally crashed to the floor. By then, Pim had joined his friends and together they emptied their weapons into the enemy. When the pirates realized Jack and Pim were killing soldiers, they warmed to the task and killed their share.

A half hour later, the pirates were settled in the landing boats, waiting for their captain. To a man, they refused to look in Rose's direction, though Jack himself had vouched for her. Had they looked at Rose, they'd have seen Rugby perched on her shoulder, looking very calm.

Jack shook Pim's hand, clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Good luck to you, and your wife-to-be. I'll miss you."

Pim said, "And you as well. Godspeed!"

Jack hugged Johanna, thanked George, kept his distance from Rose, and waved to Hester. Then he and Abby Winter climbed into one of the boats and they all headed out to sea. After twenty minutes of rowing, Jack instructed them to sing pirate songs so the skeleton crew would know to come fetch them.

Within moments of boarding, Abby started in.

"What manner of conditions are these?" she said. "You men live like pigs! I've never smelled anything like it! Have you no pride?"

She approached Cook, who was busy working at his enormous pot. Scattered around him on the deck floor were dead pigeons, turtles, fish, palm hearts, pickled eggs, onions, cabbage, wine, and some ingredients she had never seen before, nor cared to see again.

"What is that dreadful stench?" she said.

"Salamagundi, miss," said Cook.

"What's that?"

"Dinner."

"Why, it smells like the bowels of a goat. Like the very breath of death!"

"Well, the smell's the best part."

"God help us all."

Cook looked at Jack. "Shall I toss her overboard for you?" he said.

"She's new. I'll get her belowdecks, get her settled in," Jack said.

Abby attempted to follow Jack down the steps into the hold, but began retching. She grabbed her mouth and reversed course and puked on the deck, five feet from Cook's pot.

"Is that your contribution to the pot, miss?" Cook said.

"Oh, you wretched, wretched beasts!" she cried.

Halfway down the steps, Jack sighed. This was why they normally didn't allow women on board ship. He climbed back up the stairs and joined her. "You feel better now?"

"What's going on here?" Abby said. "You can't tell me you live like this!"

"I can and we do."

"But you can't! I mean, you don't actually sleep at the bottom of those steps!"

"Aye, miss, we do. As you will, and gladly, when a big enough storm's afoot."