Soaring Scarlet: Chapter Four

Bretta swallowed nervously noticing the collective glares of the pirate crew. "Um... hello." she said meekly. The woman who had questioned Jack about Bretta's appearance took a step forward, and Bretta promptly took a step back, and found herself right up against the smooth wood of the door.

"I ain't gonna 'urt you." The woman said impatiently shaking her head. Then, unexpectedly, she offered her hand as a greeting. Bretta took it cautiously, and shook, noting the callouses of it, and knew that she was as much a part of the crew as Jack himself. "Me name's Anamaria." The small woman said. "And ye're soakin' wet. Let's get ye some real clothes."

So Bretta followed her to a little private cabin, obviously private because Ana was the only woman on the crew, and the diminutive woman found her some spare clothes, and left her to change.

Bretta set the small pile of neatly folded clothing down on the cot against the wall, and, grasping the bottom hem of her simple dress, pulled it off over her head. Next came her bodice, and then she was shivering and naked in the middle of the windowless cabin, with only a candle to light it.

"Oh God, what am I doing here?" Bretta said outloud, aware of the miserable tone to her voice, and just how pathetic she sounded. She hated it, but she couldn't help it.. She pulled Anamaria's spare clothing on quickly, examining them critically as she went.

There was a long sleeved white shirt, a bit dirty, and a lot too big. The shirt was so big that it billowed around her wrists. It took Bretta a few moments to realize that 'billowy' was the way it was supposed to be. The pants were a bit dirtier, but also a bit smaller. Not small enough, however, to stay on her slender frame and not fall down. Bretta looked around for something to help solve this problem, and her gray eyes fell upon her discarded but quickly drying dress. She picked it up, and carefully ripped a big chunk off the bottom. Tying the blue fabric around her waist, she effectively created a belt for herself. Bretta ripped another strip from her dress, much thinner this time. She tied this around her hair, keeping it out of her face. Then, when she couldn't think of how else to stall, she folded the remainder of her dress, and left it by the small cot.

She stepped tentatively towards the door, not sure if she really wanted to venture back out onto the deck, but before she could reach it, it was opened forcibly. Bretta didn't quite manage to stifle a shriek as a dirty hand latched onto her arm and pulled her out into the sunlight.

She took in the scene quickly as she was pulled against a man's chest. From her vantage point, she could see most of the Pearl's crew, being held in place by various pieces of weaponry across the main deck. Anamaria was struggling with all her might against the arms of a pirate twice her size, obviously to no avail. As Bretta realized that the Pearl had been boarded by opposing pirates and that she hadn't even heard a peep of noise, the man holding her said "Cap'n Connaught, I found this'n in th'cabin."

Bretta glanced up to the helm, and gasped involuntarily, trying to stifle it. The man was the biggest human being she had ever seen. He must have been six and a half feet tall, and probably weighed as much as the Pearl itself, but that weight wasn't fat. It was pure muscle. She knew this man, and hoped to God that he wouldn't recognize her. If he did… she knew how it would end. She hoped like hell he wasn't here for what she thought he was.

"Good." The man growled in an impossibly low voice, not bothering to even glance at her, for which she was supremely grateful. "Where's Sparrow?"

"We've got 'im Cap'n." A skinny pirate said, marching Jack forward at sword point. "Should we kill 'im?"

"Let's not be hasty, lads." Jack said cheerfully, as if he were talking about what a fine day it was to go fishing. "I'm sure that you 'n I can talk about this, Connaught." Jack reached up and tapped the brim of his hat, in a bit of a salute. Bretta wondered what he thought he was up to. Robert Connaught was not one to negotiate with.

"I'm sure we can, Sparrow." The huge man said amiably, hopping lightly down from the helm; much lighter than would be expected from a man of his size. "Where's the map to Inis Foghlaí Mara?"

Bretta felt a strong shiver of fear, but kept herself from trembling with sheer force of will. This couldn't be possible; it had to be a dream. Bretta knew an awful lot about Inis Foghlaí Mara; more than she would ever want admit to anyone. It was a little island in the middle of nowhere, named "Pirate Island" in Irish Gaelic, rumoured to be haunted by ghosts of dead pirates.. Bretta knew better. Inis Foghlaí Mara was the treasure horde of three generations of the crew of the infamous Gruagach, captained by a man by the name of Frederick O'Flaherty and his sons. Bretta's mother had been almost obsessed with the place; a suitable hobby for a mapmaker like herself.

"Haven't found it yet." Jack dismissed the question with a flick of a hand and a lazy catlike grin. "Anything else?"

"If anyone has it, you do. Where is it?" The larger captain said, stepping close enough to Jack that he could most likely feel the man's breath on his face. To Jack's credit, he didn't even tense, which must've been difficult. Bretta squirmed a bit in the thick arms of the pirate detaining her.

"Don't be an idiot. He don't 'ave it." Anamaria veritably spat from behind him, and he spun around to face her.

"And you do?" He asked, dangerously soft. Bretta knew from experience that when he was quiet like that… well, it was somewhat of a foreshadowing of danger.

"No." Ana said defiantly, thrusting her chin out rebelliously. "But I know where it 'tis."

"And I suppose you'll be leading me to it, hmmm, lass? Connaught asked, the beginnings of a perilous smile playing about his lips. "Let her go." He ordered the man holding her.

"I've conditions." Anamaria said shaking free of the man's arms, placing her hands on her hips. It was obvious she meant to seem strong, not like other women.

"Oh stop it, Anamaria." Jack told her, as if he were chastising a child for lying, sidling smoothly up beside her. "You don't know where it is. Otherwise we would've been looking already." Jack looked at her smugly, as if his logic was irrefutable.

"I don't tell you everything, Sparrow." Anamaria sneered at him with apparent derision, and Connaught cut in before they could begin to bicker.

"Children, chilren, don't fight." He smiled, a false twist of his mouth, and turned to Anamaria again. "I'll be happy to comply with your 'conditions', little lady, whatever they may be." Jack dithered a little on the sidelines, looking disgruntled at being shushed like a child.

The small woman scowled at him, an expression of utter distaste on her finely featured face. "First, don't call me 'little lady'. Second, ye're to leave the entire crew of the Black Pearl, on the Black Pearl, unharmed."

"Besides you, correct?" Connaught asked, but Bretta knew it wasn't really a question. She again noted how well spoken the big man was. He didn't have a trace of a pirate's accent; instead, a perfect British inflection. He'd worked hard at that, she knew, being a native of Ireland.

"Yeah, yeah." Ana said impatiently. "Third, I want me own cabin, and no one, neither ye or yer crew are gonna touch me, undastand?"

"I do." Connaught nodded gravely, as if this was the most important thing in the world. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Once ye got yer treasure, ye'll let me go. Alive. In a port of my choosing." Ana specified, remembering what had happened to William Turner when he failed to stipulate the means of Elizabeth Swann's release from Barbossa's crew.

"Sounds fair." Connaught said, sticking out a massive hand, an oddly amiable gesture. "Do we have an accord?"

"Aye." Ana agreed quickly, matching his grip with her own.

Bretta was in a state of shock, so the next ten minutes or so went by in a blur of colour and noise. Connaught and his crew of miscreants removed most of the valuables onboard (they were pirates after all) and transferred them to their ship, The Bloody Temptation. Just before they cast off from the Pearl, the Connaught made his conditions known. "I find out that you are following me, Sparrow, and I kill the lass."

"Be that as it were," Jack began, weaving his hands back and forth, but the huge man grunted in impatience and backhanded him, quick as a lightening bolt. The force of the blow was enough to knock Jack back half a dozen paces, hitting the mast dead on and sliding to the floor. He lay slumped limply against the water and weather worn wood, a trickle of blood slowly running from the corner of his mouth.

Bretta cursed in sympathy under her breath, but couldn't go to him until the Temptation had made sail. She didn't want to attract any attention to herself. Jack had stood up on his own by the time she got to him, with a hand to his face, muttering incoherently and wobbling back and forth. He turned to her with a waver, and mumbled something about not deserving that, but she ignored him.

"What are we going to do?" She asked him with urgency lacing her voice. This was of utmost importance, she knew. Ana could not stay on that ship, or she would die, as surely as the sun rises and sets.

"What?" Jack asked, looking at her incredulously, his face screwed up into confusion. "What d'you mean, what are we gonna do? I thought I was droppin' you in Guadeloupe in a fortnight's time."

"Well, yes. Of course." Bretta stammered, suddenly nervous, not sure how to get her point across without divulging too much about herself. "I suppose so. But I thought... I thought you would go to save Anamaria. After all, she is part of your crew."

"Not a chance, love." Jack scoffed at her derisively. "If Ana wants to keep secrets like that from her own captain, so be it. She can fend fer herself."

Bretta found herself growing irrationally angry at this stupid man that continued to see things the wrong way. "Captain Sparrow, if you do not go after that woman, she will die! And it will be on your hands, because you didn't have the brains or guts to save her!" Bretta exploded, shouting at him.

"How d'you know, lass?" Jack shouted right back at her. It was clear he wasn't going to accept her advice without some form of proof. Hellfire, that was the last thing she wanted to give him.

"Because she doesn't know where the map is!" She yelled, her tone matching his.

"She said she did!" Jack bellowed, sounding for all the world that he truly believed that all people were good and none would ever lie, cheat, or steal.

"She's lying to save you and your damned ship!" Bretta screamed, throwing her hands in the air, exasperated with the man.

Suddenly Jack quieted down, stopped yelling, as if nothing had ever happened. He leaned infinitesimally closer to her (practically impossible, since by then they were almost nose to nose, screaming at the top of their lungs). "What d'you mean, she lied?"

"There's only one person that's still alive that knows where the map to Inis Foghlaí Mara is." Bretta told him. She regretted the words immediately after they had left her lips. She never meant to take it this far. No one was ever supposed to know.

Jack stared at her for a long moment, then grabbed her arm, forcibly dragging her into his cabin, and shutting the door. Evidently, he didn't want the rest of his crew to hear what she was about to say. Then, with one word, the infamous pirate captain demanded that she reveal the secret that she had been hiding since she turned ten. "Who?" Jack asked her seriously, watching her carefully, eyes narrowed.

Bretta sighed heavily. No escaping anymore, she told herself.

"Me."

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Oh, and thank you to my wonderful reviewers. As I've said, I'm responding individually, but thank you to Pixie and PhoenixAngel11, who were both anonymous. :- )

-Abby-