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Elizabeth plunged into the ocean; I could hear the splash from where I stood on the battlements. As everyone rushed to see what had happened, I dashed instead down the stairs as fast as possible, kicking off my shoes as I flew out of the fort. I scampered through the lower town, reaching the docks not but two minutes later; a man ripped open her corset with the dagger in his fist and air flew into her lungs. She twisted around, coughing up water onto the deck, as I rushed to her side.
"Elizabeth, are you alright?"
She nodded weakly as I helped her stand. Turning to the man who had helped her, I said, "Thank you for saving my sister, sir. I will see to it that you are paid handsomely for your services."
"You're quite welcome, love." he replied with a slight grin, but his grin faltered when he spotted a medallion hanging around her neck. "Where did you get that?"
Suddenly, swords were unsheathed with a ring of steel as Commodore Norrington and his men flocked around the man. "On your feet." he ordered.
"Elizabeth, are you alright?" our father said as he rushed over and wrapped her in his jacket.
"Yes, I'm fine." she replied weakly as I got a good look at her rescuer.
Long, brown dreadlocks hung loosely from his head, restrained only by a faded red bandana, with one or two groups of beads hanging in clusters. He wore a white, puffy shirt and a blue vest over it, cinched by a cloth around his waist. His pants were a dirty brown, as were his worn leather boots, and a great number of rings decorated his fingers. His eyes were a deep brown and I stared captivatingly into them for a few moments before he looked away. There was an aura of familiarity around him, but I couldn't recall from where I recognized the man.
Governor Swann noticed one of the guards holding her corset, who then pointed at her rescuer. "Shoot him!" the governor commanded.
"Father! Commodore, do you really intend to kill my rescuer?" Elizabeth protested.
"I believe thanks are in order." Norrington said, offering to shake his hand, but pulling up his sleeve to reveal a 'P' on the other man's arm. "Had a brush with the East India Trading company, did we, pirate?"
My heart skipped a beat. Pirate. My sister's rescuer was a pirate. I stared at him, unable to speak a word. The man looked down sadly, as if the brand brought back painful memories, and I saw Elizabeth glancing down at our own wrists, as if imagining the pain of being branded herself.
"Hang him." the governor ordered.
"Keep your guns on him, men. Gillette, fetch some irons." I caught sight of a tattoo on the man's arm as Norrington spoke of it and memories of my past came flooding back to me. "Well, well? Jack Sparrow, isn't it?"
"Captain Jack Sparrow." I muttered at the same time the pirate stated, "Captain Jack Sparrow, if you please, sir."
"Well, I don't see your ship, Captain." the Commodore mocked.
"I'm in the market as it were." Sparrow replied conversationally.
"He said he'd come to commandeer one." the guard holding the corset said.
"Told ya he was telling the truth." the other guard muttered to him before handing the pirate's effects over to Norrington. "These are his, sir."
"No additional shot nor powder. A compass that doesn't point north. And I half expected it to be made of wood." Commodore Norrington commented as he examined the belongings. "You are without a doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of."
"But you have heard of me." the pirate smiled back as he was pulled along and put in chains.
"Commodore, I really must protest." Elizabeth and I said in unison as we stepped protectively in front of Jack Sparrow.
"Carefully, Lieutenant." Norrington said, ignoring our comments.
"Pirate or not this man saved my life." my sister stated forcefully.
"One good deed is not enough to redeem a man of a lifetime of wickedness."
"Though it seems enough to condemn him." Sparrow mumbled.
"Indeed." Norrington stated as Gillette stepped away from the prisoner.
"Finally." the pirate captain nearly exclaimed as he threw his irons around my neck.
"No, don't shoot!" my father shouted, panicking as the soldiers pointed their guns at us.
"I knew you'd warm up to me. Commodore Norrington," he said mockingly, "my effects, please, and my hat. Commodore! And… I don't think I caught your name, love."
"Miss Rachelle Swann…" I murmured, my body held so close to his that I could feel his heart beating a steady rhythm.
"Miss Swann, if you'd be so kind. Come, come, dear. We don't have all day. Now if you'd be very kind."
I strapped his sword around his waist and muttered, "Consider this your payment for saving my sister. Once you escape here, find the blacksmith's shop. I'll be there as soon as I can. The man will be dead drunk and his apprentice shouldn't be there for about an hour. I'll get there as soon as I can to help you get free from your irons."
"Careful with the goods." he winced as I cinched his sword tightly around his waist.
Placing his hat on his head, I said loudly, "You're despicable."
"Sticks and stones, love. I saved your sister's life, you save mine, we're square. Gentlemen, my ladies, you will always remember this as the day that you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow!"
He shoved me back towards the soldiers, kicked a lever, and was launched into the air, only to land on a beam above our heads. "Now will you shoot him?" Governor Swann exclaimed.
"Open fire!" Norrington commanded.
Indeed, Jack Sparrow was fired upon, but every bullet missed. And I thought these were the pride of the King's Navy. "On his heels!" the Commodore shouted as the pirate threw his chains around a rope and slid down to the ground. "Gillette, Mr. Sparrow has a dawn appointment with the gallows. I would hate for him to miss it."
Governor Swann held me close as the soldiers set off through the town in pursuit of the illustrious Captain Jack Sparrow. "Rachelle, are you alright?" he asked, fawning over me as though I'd nearly died.
"I'm fine, Father. It's Elizabeth who we should be ensuring is unharmed." I replied. "She is the one who fell from the battlements after all."
