Benjy listened to the mens voices and to the thump and clatter of moving barrels. He let himself lean fully into the hold of the men on either side and began humming. "My mother told me, someday I would buy. Galleys with good oars, sail to distant shores", he sung softly. His good foot tapping on the wood. He was not good with this, but he might as well try. It was a last resort and he was pretty quickly running out of those. His luck had been rather dire lately.

"Stand up on the prow,

noble barque I steer

steady course to the haven

hew many foe-men

hew many foe-men".

On either side, he felt the men loosen their hold. The two soldiers were gazing at him dazedly. Benjy concentrated. His mermaid side was stronger after his plunge into the deep. His body having taken in more ocean magic to survive. Dimly, a fragile memory, he recalled his mother talking to him about it while he recovered. Her fingers in his hair as she traced over the new permanent scales on his cheeks with the other hand. "The ocean gave you more power to survive. She made you more like me. You were still too human to survive the dark depths where even we do not venture".

He had only tried this once before and while it worked occasionally on a singular person. It had never worked on more than that. The drawback of mermaid's songs was that unlike sirens, they could not enthral through sound. Their victims had to see them, see their eyes. Sirens could enthral from out of sight, their magic in their voices. Benjy reasoned that it was because Sirens were far more inhuman than mermaids. Mermaid lured because they looked like beautiful humans. Siren's were more fishy. Still, despite his failures in the past, he might as well give it a try.

"My mother told me

someday I will buy

galleys with good oars

sail to distant shore".

The grip on his arms, once bruising, now were so loose that he could pull away if he needed.  His two guards staring in dazed awe, as if they had seen something beautiful and scary yet could not tear away their eyes. Benjy gently pulled his arms from their hold and raised each hand to cup each man's cheek.

"Stand up on the prow,

noble barque I steer

steady course to the haven"-

There was a loud clatter as the last barrel was loaded up. He had not been singing very loudly, just loud enough for it to be disguised in the rest of the sounds. Yet in the sudden absence, his voice hung there like a cloud. Beckett whirled around and his face coloured red. "Shut him up! Make him stop sining!"

It was too late. Benjy was scrabbling away. His injured ankle throbbing in pain as he forced himself into a run. Behind him the men scrambled for their weapons as they gave chase. It seems that his mermaid was far stronger in other things than looks. If he wasn't running for his life (again. He did this far too much to be healthy) then he would be pretty proud of himself. It wasn't the best, but it was far better than he had ever managed before.

He was glad that he had waited until the inhuman crew had slipped under the waves to return to their ship before making his escape attempt. Beckett could not contact them until he got back to Davey Jones, who could not step onto land. Benjy just needed to find a good place to hide.

Feet clumsy on the cobbles, injured ankle screaming at him, he half limped and half ran through the narrow alleys and side streets only a local knew. Passages between buildings and through hidden doors. Some so narrow that his shoulders brushed against each wall as he stumbled through. His route, though rambling in an effort to distract the soldiers behind him, was aiming for one place. A safe place.

Chest heaving, he listened. The shouts of the soldiers had faded away slightly. They were no longer on his heels but a street or two away. If he did not know the secret passages then they would have caught him easily. Benjy inhaled greedily and resumed limping through the shadows of a slum street on the outskirts of town. One hand on the walls to assist him as he gazed around for a particular shack. One small shack hidden amidst others just like it. His breath caught as he found it, feeling the worn down carvings in the frame with one hand.

In the daylight it had once been a carving of a mermaid. Smugglers who had built the shack having needed something to signal other pirates. Now the carving was so faded that if you did not know it was there, it was almost impossible to see. Benjy pushed the wooden door open and it did not creak. Pirates did not want creaky hinges to give away their hiding spot, so maintenance was regular. Benjy had never felt more grateful for it in his life. He pushed the door back behind him and limped exhaustedly across the small room. It did not hold much, just a table, chair, cot and a half empty cabinet. He went straight for the cabinet and pulled the the rope hidden behind it.

A secret trap door next to the bed clicked open. Benjy let out a sigh of relief as a familiar hand pushed it up. Isaac's head appeared and the relief on his face matched the merman's. He wordlessly held out his arms and Benjy fell into them. The man catching his weight and lowering into the passage below, body warm and reassuring. The trapdoor clicked shut above them and Isaac slide the locking bolts home. He then swung Benjy's arm over his shoulder and began carrying him down the passage. Neither speaking as the larger man navigated the pitch black smuggler's passage from memory.

The passage itself led to a series of caves at the base of the cliffs. The cave network was extensive and sprawled half under the town. The only other entrances were via the seawater pools or by climbing through the small chimney like holes in the ceiling. A few other tunnels of different sizes were hidden around the town, known by all the locals and kept safe for nights like this. They were the only escape from raids.

"Benjy!" Jeanette cried out as Isaac stepped out into the torch lit rock caverns. Benjy blinked in the sudden light, eyes darting around the people huddled in groups through the caves. In this chamber there had to be about twenty of them, mostly men with mismatched weapons. Though through the large entrance into the bigger chamber beyond, he could see the shadows of women. Distantly there was the echoing of a baby crying. Soft muttering voices and children playing.

She ran to them in a flurry of green skirts and messy curls. She was rumpled from her escape but still her hands reached for Benjy's face in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Though I had to run. My ankle is killing me", he smiled as Isaac crossed over to set him down on a ledge that served as a seat.

"It's swollen", he remarked as he tugged the limb into his lap. Benjy winced as the man began poking at it. "But I don't think you've broken it again".

"Yay", he huffed. "Are you two okay?" There was a bruise on Jeanette's jaw and Isaac had bloodied knuckles.

"My husband punched out a soldier who tried to grab me", Jeanette cooed. "It was cathartic".

"I bet it was", Benjy grinned as he leaned back against the rock. "So, when do you think we can go back?"

"There's a fisherman over there", Isaac gestured towards the exit into the other caverns. "He said that Beckett is raiding all the pirate ports. He's trying to hang as many as possible and he is using Davey jones to do so".

"That's obvious", Jeanette snorted, crossing her arms.

"He's going after the pirate kings", Isaac continued. "But he doesn't know where they are".

Benjy brushed his hair back. "Shit". He tried to remember where the pirate kings met up. He had been once with Barbossa and later again with Jack. But he did not remember the way. "I should go. Warn them or something".

"They will kill you. Pirate kings. Now that Jack is dead, you are prime treasure for them", Jeanette reminded. "You have no crew, no protection. Do you even know where they are?"

"Not a clue", Benjy shrugged. "But I have a feeling that my crew will be there. Will, Elizabeth. If they know about the plan, then they would go".

"You can't go until that is healed", Isaac gestured at his ankle. "How will you get there?"

"I think I know someone who knows the way", Benjy thought aloud. "My mother is an experienced woman after all". He smiled at the thought. Isaac chuckled and shook his head while Jeanette just sighed. There was no arguing with Benjy once he was on a quest. He was a pirate after all, he could never hide from a quest for long.

unedited