03x04 - XXII.

[bunniefuu]

Teach: I'm prepared to prosecute a defense of the harbor and repel the navy from here definitively if you agree to join me in sailing away from here for good.

I stole it from you, the Urca gold.

Whatever happens out here, one thing is certain... you and I would be a hell of a lot better off as partners than as rivals.

I will have a launch ferry me to the sand alone, and I will make the pardon address.

It shouldn't be you. If you send someone known to the men on that beach, it might work.

Be it proclaimed that any man on this island who will renounce piracy will be offered a full and unqualified pardon. All of you, that is, but one.

There shall be a bounty of £10,000 sterling for the capture of Charles Vane, dead or alive.

Flint: Since we've been becalmed, our rate of drift has suggested we had a good chance of making landfall on one of these islands.

(Seagulls calling)

(Waves crashing)

(Birds chirping)

(Man shouting commands)

(Grunting)

(Indistinct chatter)

(Groans)

Does it hurt?

Less so.

You know, fresh water helps.

The men have been asking questions.

Soon we'll need an answer.

What's next for us?

I've been thinking about our engagement with Captain Hornigold.

He offered pardons to our entire crew.

He had no way of knowing how many men we even had, which suggests he had the number covered by a wide margin.

And once someone's given him 100, what's to say they haven't given him 200?

500? More?

Go on.

And Billy said something to me.

Said that someone else likely procured those pardons for Hornigold.

I started wondering.

If you're Whitehall and you have it in your head you want to finally retake Nassau from the pirates, isn't the opening move in that att*ck the introduction of a universal pardon?

You been putting this together all this time and never saying anything to me about it?

Well, you and I haven't exactly been on the warmest of terms lately.

No, I... I suppose not.

Well, then it's clear.

The men must be prepared to return to an embattled Nassau.

They must know we're about to join a fight to resist a British incursion.

It's likely over already.

The fight. If there was one at all.

It's likely it didn't last long.

(Gasps)

The pardons will be tempting, but our men resisted.

Our men resisted because you and I told them to.

For whatever reason, when you and I speak with one voice, we seem to be able to compel them to any end.

But Nassau will not be able to maintain that sort of resolve.

Not without you or I there to help instill it.

How can you be so sure about this?

(Men murmuring)

(Men muttering)

When I assembled my staff of advisors for this enterprise, I spared no expense.

Some of the most promising sons of the most prominent families in London.

Brilliant minds. Full of ambition.

In this moment, I think it fair to say I wouldn't trade you for any 10 of them.

You're very kind.

No, I'm very accountable.

By daybreak tomorrow, I'm told more than half of the pirates will have accepted the King's pardon and we will be ready to move my flag onto the island.

In the 30 days that follow,

I will need to accomplish 90 days worth of progress just to keep schedule.

I will need someone by my side at all times to aid in seeing it done.

A senior counselor serving without portfolio.

At the moment, I believe you represent the best candidate for it.

(Chuckles) Because I suggested sending Hornigold to the beach?

Because you're smart without needing anyone to explain to you how to be.

And because you're not afraid of being thought to be wrong when you know that you're right.

Won't the promising sons resent my presence in such a senior capacity?

I'm fairly certain I don't care.

Do you?

No.

Good.

Then you're hired.

Let us begin.

(Pounding on door)

Man: £10,000 they're paying for Vane's head, Jack.

Now, I know you ain't got no need for the money, but for f*ck's sake, don't be greedy.

You and I have known each other for years.

It's the least you could do for a friend.

Who is he?

Man: Look, sooner or later, there's gonna be 100 more men out here, Jack, and this ain't gonna be your decision anymore.

(Men shouting)

Open it.

You recognize him?

Man: What the f*ck, Jack?

Paul something or other.

Man: Come on, Jack. Let us in.

Why just you?

Island full of murdering, thieving fucks and you were the only one they can't forgive?

How does that make any sense?

I don't know.

But whatever the reason, the men behind that door will soon be joined by hundreds more seeking the bounty.

In an hour.

We'll be besieged.

The men have cast their lots.

They are resolved that you convince Captain Vane to depart the fort.

They believe that turning him over might convince the British commander to allow them to keep the fort and the gold.

Safe to say the fight to defend Nassau is off to an inauspicious beginning.

Teach is still on the bay.

There may yet be a way to salvage some defense.

It's over.

It's over.

Now all that remains is that we escape this place and survive.

All the doors are covered by men seeking the bounty.

And I have to imagine the tunnel exits are being watched as well, given Hornigold's familiarity with them.

Then I suggest we manufacture a new exit.

♪

(Men chatting)

(Birds chirping)

(Groaning)

You all right?

No.

Who are they?

Maroons. Escaped slaves.

They must have a camp upriver.

Judging by their numbers, a large one.

Billy: They must have spied the ship from a distance.

From up in the hills there.

Dooley: We've taken slaves onto the crew before.

Freed a lot of them. Won't that put us in good stead with them?

We've sold more than we've freed, and they know it.

And even if we hadn't, they'd assume we did.

(Groans)

Pick up your man.

It's all right.

sh*t.

Ah!

(Indistinct chatter)

(Blows horn)

(Horn blows)

(Men whooping)

(Dog barking)

(Indistinct murmuring)

(Shouts in foreign language)

Which is your captain?

I am.

What is your name?

Flint.

Which one is your quartermaster?

I am.

(Rooster crows)

You speak for your men?

Yes?

Then I speak with you.

How did you find this place?

We were defeated in battle.

Thrown by a storm onto your shore.

There was no design in it.

Who else knew your position?

Who else knows where to find you?

No one.

We're alone.

I give you my word.

Were you me, would you wager the lives of all those in your care on the word of a pirate?

That one.

(Shouting in foreign language)

Dooley: Where are they taking him?

Flint: They'll interrogate us one by one, make sure our stories jibe.

And then what?

Man: For those that survive the first purge, it'll be hard labor.

Though not like any you've ever known.

But of the kind they've known.

Cruel and violent.

Whatever methods they've seen done to their own kind, they feel resolved to repeat it upon those they deem complicit.

Who are you?

My name is Ben Gunn.

I'm the last of 13 crewmen on a sl*ve trader captured whilst careening on the windward side of the island.

I've learned 12 hard lessons from that woman.

Each with the same end.

That sooner or later, death awaits any man who lays eyes on this place.

And that before it arrives, she is determined to make you fear it.

We need to get out of here.

Rapidly.

(Indistinct chatter)

Where the f*ck have you been?

Just putting some things in order.

You said you'd put him out, Jack.

Quite right. Quick goodbye. Last cigar. Surely you don't mind.

Anne: Did you do it?

Yeah.

Fuse is lit.

In a few minutes, that wall is going to be a lot shorter.

Finding it hard to believe there is near enough material in that magazine to cause the sort of damage you seem to think it will.

Believe it.

I have lost years of my life these last months trying to rebuild this place.

I'll be goddamned if the new governor is going to inherit the fruits of all that labor.

Not whole, at any rate.

Now, when it happens, we should have a clear path over the rubble.

We'll cover your escape to the jetty.

It's not going to be easy.

The whole island is seeking that bounty.

My escape?

You plan to stay?

Teach respects you.

You'll sail with him without looking over your shoulder the whole time wondering whether he's gonna back someone else to take your place.

But me, I have no interest in living as a target of his.

Jack, you know there's no way I'd ever let that happen.

Nor would I be a ward of yours.

I've made something for myself here.

I'll make it again somehow, but I've come too far to go back.

You'll take the pardon, I presume.

Who knows? I haven't got that far yet.

But wherever we land, Anne and I will be taken care of.

Taken care of? How?

You set aside some of the gold?

She did.

How much?

Mmm.

Quit f*cking around. Put him out.

Right, just a moment.

f*cking never liked you.

(Men shouting)

What?

I was just gonna say, "I'll see you soon," but that would probably be a lie, wouldn't it?

Probably.

(Hands clasp)

Godspeed, Charles.

f*ck you, Jack.

(Indistinct chatter)

Commodore reports no change in their posture, but he believes it's only a matter of time until we can expect their surrender.

Teach and his men will never take the pardons.

His crew will be filled with fanatics.

Even fanatics need to eat.

With the beach secured and no escape possible, they have no means to replenish supplies.

Time is against them.

You haven't asked.

About the status of Captain Vane.

I understand that there are a great many elements to this operation, of which Charles is just one.

I trust that if there's any development on that issue you will let me know.

Good.

Then may I ask what it is that's causing you to make that face?

My appointment as your advisor.

I understand that you don't care what reaction your people may have to it, but your people, I'm afraid, are only half the issue.

I have enemies on that island.

Enemies who may be far less likely to accede to your authority, seeing me beside you offering my counsel.

I have no idea what the future may hold for me here, but I believe your success is key to it.

The last thing I would want to do is undermine you.

(expl*si*n)

(Men shouting)

(Bell ringing)

(Murmuring)

Jesus Christ.

Mr. Dufresne, pass word to the men.

Captain Vane is very likely at large.

Remind them of the prize that awaits his captor, please.

(Speaking foreign language)

Gunn: She's everything here.

Priestess, governess, w*rlord.

They say there's a king, her husband, that he exists abroad, salvaging those rare items necessary for life here, but impossible to produce.

I've seen no evidence of him.

Here her word is supreme.

She's not to be underestimated.

What about the other one?

Down there.

Gunn: Daughter, I believe.

From the deference she's shown,

I imagine she's next in line.

Why?

If we do nothing, they likely k*ll us.

If we attempt to escape, they likely k*ll us or the forest does it for them.

Oughtn't we be searching for a third option with a better ending?

Like what?

I think they want us to think they're all of one mind here.

But in a place like this, how can that be?

There is a sympathetic ear out there.

We just need to find it.

(Horse whinnies)

(Indistinct chatter)

♪

(Grunting)

(Groans)

(Panting)

(g*nsh*t)

(g*nsh*t)

(Groans)

(Body thumps)

Pass word to the commodore.

Resistance within the fort has been defeated.

The fort wall already breached, there was little chance to resist.

And the gold?

What will I say was the effect of the blast on our efforts to retrieve it?

Jesus, I don't know.

Tell him... tell him it didn't help matters.

Man: Name, please.

Man 2: William Tennyson.

Man: Where were you born?

Please prepare a document for Mr. Scott.

Of course, sir.

Good to see you, friend.

Glad you'll be joining our efforts.

If this is what Nassau is to be, I see no value in resisting what is clearly inevitable.

Hardly a ringing endorsement.

I admit, I have my reservations with the new regime, but I sleep better on this side of the pardon than I did on the other.

So how can I be of help to you?

Funny you should ask. I've just returned from the fort.

Damage is extensive.

I know you were tasked with restoring it the first time.

And I would be happy to do so again.

Don't be too eager.

Captain Rackham's sl*ve laborers are nowhere to be found.

They escaped?

Someone must have left the pen unlocked.

They overran a handful of guards.

Well, perhaps I can help in finding them and bringing them back.

You'd do that?

I oversaw them for weeks. They know me.

They might be persuaded to return knowing that they would be treated fairly, rather than risk being caught by, uh... less-understanding redcoats.

Can we slip through the east channel when the tide rises?

They've maneuvered a frigate around the Hog.

They'd rake any ship that emerged on the other side.

Don't think there's any way we can challenge that blockade directly, do you?

Not exactly.

We're working on something, though, to even the odds a bit.

But there's something else that you should know first.

What?

Is she on deck?

Yes, sir.

There's good reason, it would seem, that you were the only one to whom they refused a pardon.

The Delicia, quarterdeck.

♪

(All speaking foreign language)

It's been hours.

Imagine they're through interrogating us.

Well, they've tortured the same story out of four different men now.

I imagine that'll convince them of the truth of it.

Ben says this is how it went with his crew.

k*lled a handful to show they could and then the chains and hard labor.

If they put them to work, how did they all die?

Trying to escape.

Escape?

How far did they get?

Not far, most of them.

Overseer sh*t all but half a dozen before they made it to the tree line.

Four of those six that made it into the woods d*ed within a few hours... traps, dead ends, hunted down.

The other one made it a full two days before they recaptured him.

Him?

Couldn't find a way out.

But if he made it that long, maybe he knows enough to piece together a plan.

I hate to be the one to say this, but is it possible we've missed the point of that story?

They all d*ed.

So why are we entertaining this?

It may be flawed, but it's a plan.

Gives him focus.

Keeps his mind off the fact that there might not be a better plan.

Why would we want to take that away from him?

I see no way out of this.

No matter what I do, it leads to the same outcome.

And I wonder if it wouldn't be best just to accept that I have no choice in the matter.

You're curious again.

Ready to follow me through a door that is somehow less frightening knowing I await you on the other side.

I miss you.

I miss you, too.

When we arrive out there...

I am to leave you behind?

Yes.

What if I were to stay?

Anne: I hear Brussels is nice.

Paris, maybe.

Though I don't speak French.

Whatever the f*ck it is they speak in Brussels.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, f*cking hell, Jack.

Is it really as bad as all that?

Tomorrow we can be on our way to anywhere in the world with enough money to live however we like.

Even where we was when we started.

Some people might even call that success.

f*ck those people.

We got the world right now.

Any part of it we choose.

We were so close to accomplishing something that would have written our names into history.

There's no piece of the world for sale that can replace that.

It ain't good and it ain't fair.

But it is what it is.

We need to leave Nassau behind us.

(Crickets chirping)

(Gasps)

Up.

Go, please.

Do you know who I am?

You're her daughter.

I understand from your men that you were defeated in battle.

Then you were offered pardons for all your men.

Is that true?

Yes.

But you refused. All of you.

To a man you refused to be pardoned. Why?

Why did we refuse the pardons?

Every man has his own reasons.

Some remember the injustice of the merchant service and are too angry to ever to return to it.

Some hate England too much to ever call themselves English again.

And some, I suppose, feel Nassau's been theirs for so long, they have no interest in signing a document that would surrender it to the king.

No.

There are 1,000 men and women here.

Among them there is no shortage of anger or hate or fear.

Perhaps you have noticed.

They have suffered cruelties you cannot possibly imagine.

Sisters separated from brothers.

Husbands from their wives.

Mothers from their sons.

No one has greater cause to swear England an enemy and desire vengeance against her as we do.

Yet I believe if we were offered the same choice as yours faced, a chance to be made free in the eyes of the law, it would not have been so roundly rejected.

I'm asking you why you think that is.

I'm very much aware my men's lives hang in the balance.

So I would like to give you the answer you're looking for, but I don't think you're going to want to hear it.

Perhaps you are mistaken in this moment as to which of the two of us is in need of protection.

Answer the question.

Your men are filled with anger towards England, as are mine, but my captain wanted England to see that anger and make them fear it.

And for whatever reason, your mother would prefer your men fear England.

I see.

Take him back, please.

You asked the question. I answered.

Wait a minute. Wait... wait... wait a minute.

I think you see our interests are more closely aligned than your mother does.

I have two dozen men in a cage out there of the opinion that she intends to k*ll us all sooner than later.

And you're going to do nothing about it?

(Grunts)

Teach: You done this before?

Vane: No, you?

No.

I suppose she's due some credit.

Dragged off to London in shackles and returns in a governor's service.

And convinces him to turn the whole of the world against you.

I don't doubt your anger towards her, but I have to ask... if, in the course of our maneuver, we are forced to choose between escape and her death, where are you?

She was on that deck for a reason.

So I'd see her.

To provoke me into making a mistake.

What matters most is achieving our goal.

To exit this bay with the fleet intact and to move on from this place.

Charles Vane sees past his anger to achieve the greater end.

How did that happen?

I was taught a lesson once.

It's been effective.

Taught by whom?

Her.

Man: It's ready.

They are without option now.

Sooner or later they'll realize their only escape is to surrender Captain Vane and stand down.

Gentlemen.

Eleanor: I should be going.

What would they say?

Who?

Your enemies on the island.

You seem concerned about what I'm gonna hear them say about you.

Maybe it would be better to hear it now while all else is quiet.

They would say I'm untrustworthy.

That I would turn on anyone at any time, no matter how close they were to me... no matter who it hurt or how severely.

That, given my history, only a fool would allow me to get close to them again.

Would they be right?

You tamed this place once.

Despite what anyone may say of you, and I desire your counsel, despite what anyone may say of you.

So let us move forward, despite what anyone, whether from your world or from mine, may say of you.

(Knocks on door)

What is it?

Chamberlain: She's under a white banner. Gunports closed.

How the hell did she get so close?

She was hidden behind their line.

By the time she emerged, she was fully underway.

She's subject to our full broadside.

She's either surrendering, or we have her dead to rights.

Slip the anchor cables.

Break our line over the approach of a schooner?

I think you overestimate...

While there is still time, cut the g*dd*mn cables.

(Whistles)

♪

Man: Fire ship!

Bloody hell. Cut the anchor cables! Get us underway.

Cut the anchor! Cut the anchor cables!

Starboard batteries, fire!

Fire! Fire!

(Men shouting)

(Cannonballs whizzing)

Captain, our fleet is underway.

(Men shouting)

(Cannons f*ring)

Too high.

You're aiming too high. Forget the rigging.

Aim at his hull.

At the waterline.

Man: Aim for the waterline!

g*n crews, redirect to the waterline!

Redirect to the waterline!

Fire!

Fire!

Lieutenant! Get her inside! Go! Go!

(Men screaming)

(Shouting continues)

♪

(Frogs croaking)

(Dog barking)

(Panting)

I was right.

There is conflict amongst them.

I don't know how deep it runs, but it is there to be exploited.

The daughter?

This seems to be a significantly more promising option than charging into a trap-laden forest.

I'm not sure why I needed to say that out loud.

Where are you?

Earlier I told you that I was certain that the pardons would eliminate all resistance in Nassau and you asked me how I was so certain.

It's because I helped build them.

Peter Ashe, Miranda, her husband, and I, we worked to obtain a universal pardon and introduce it to Nassau to eliminate piracy and restore colonial rule there.

I moved away from those things.

Inch by inch, I forgot it all.

And now, in this cage, in the belly of this thing that has swallowed us whole...

I wonder... if the civilization of Nassau isn't exactly what I tried to achieve all those years ago.

If resisting it doesn't set me in opposition to everything I once understood to be good and right.

To forgive.

To make order of chaos.

I wonder if the pardons are the victory and that the most enlightened thing that I can do is sit still.

Accept what appears to be inevitable and let this be the end of Captain Flint.

No.

No, no, no. Nothing is inevitable here.

I'm showing you a way in which we can survive this.

You're new to this, being responsible for men's lives.

But I know what the woman who leads this place is facing right now.

The weight of her people's welfare on her shoulders.

She will not let us leave this place alive.

She simply won't permit it.

We'll all face certain death with our own kind of lie.

Billy's is that he can fight his way out of it.

Yours is that you can talk your way past it.

But for me...

I don't know that I have any more lies left in me.

I know all you want is to protect us, to protect me, but what you intend to do tomorrow toward that end, I think it is a grave mistake and I'm asking you once more to please reconsider.

Madi.

We share a common enemy.

Does that not make us friends?

Madi!

The men in that cage are deceitful men.

They will say things that will sound appealing to you, especially to you.

But you must not let them sway you.

Your father and I built this place to separate ourselves from their world.

But we rely on the things that father sends back from their world.

We're not that separate from them.

We are separate enough that we have no need to see them.

To steal from them. To fight with them.

To know their chains again.

I have worked so hard to ensure that you've never had to see those things.

But I have seen those things.

And I will hold them at bay for as long as I'm able to.

For every day that we avoid colliding into their world is a day children are born here, is a day families exist here.

I'm in no hurry to see that end.

Nor should you be.

Come.

That separation rests entirely on our existence remaining a secret.

The pirates, for as long as they draw breath, could and would for a profit compromise that secret.

So they must be eliminated.

Why not consult father?

You can get a message to him.

He knows these men. He sailed with them.

He might have something to say about k*lling them.

Your father aids us from his position in Nassau.

He might have lived among these men. He may have fought beside these men. He may have even called some of these men friends. But when it comes to the safety of the people in this place, your father knows the final decision is mine.

You know where you're going, yes?

Yes.

When you reach the beach, make no attempt into the trees.

They will find you and guide you through.

Once you reach the camp, my wife will see you are taken care of.

Thank you.

Man: Who's there?

Go. Now. Go!

It's all right.

Stop. The rest of you, disembark now.

I will explain to Captain Hornigold.

Please, come with me.

Lower your weapons. Now!

No! No!

(g*nf*re)

No, no, no!

(Man groaning)

(Labored breathing)

(Groaning)