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Ch 4

They reached Dugs town in the dead of the night, just as Jack had wanted to. The red bandana clad Pirate peeked over a bush to take in the sight before him.

Men were everywhere, even at the late hour that it was. Some were sprawled out in a drunken slumber that Jack knew all too well. Many were just stalking down the dirt streets, their shadows long and forbidding as they passed underneath the torchlight. But most were heard inside the nearby bar, yelling and fighting.

Elizabeth's head joined Jacks in the shadows behind the bush. She wasn't particularly impressed by the sight. "It just looks like a bunch of drunken men to me. Hardly a challenge." Jack sent her a look that told her otherwise.

"Now, I am going to lead the way into the bar. You, stay close to me. We go in, I bargain with the most drunk sea man we can find, we are in, we get out, done. Simple and quick. Just the way it should be. Savvy?" He glanced over at Elizabeth in the shadows as she nodded at him. He took in her simple lads clothing. Panic struck him.

When he had left her half a mile away from Dugs town to go in and get her clothes, an errand he didn't appreciate in the least, he had hoped to hide the fact that she was, indeed a woman. But to him, the loose fitting clothes he brought to her just made her look beautiful in a rugged, Pirate lass sort of way. He didn't voice this opinion and hoped that the other men wouldn't notice.

"We keep to the shadows," he added, not convinced that the other men would fall for his ruse. Elizabeth nodded to him, her face determined. Jack couldn't help but smile. She drove him wild when she looked like that.

Elizabeth's eyes came to meet his and she was surprised to see a smile there. It was a rare thing to see Jack truly smiling and it showing in his eyes. For some reason, one Elizabeth just couldn't figure out, a blush crept up her neck as he held her gaze. She wanted to both look away and sit there forever. If she had to tell the truth, she was not excited in the least for this little venture they were about to embark on. She could already smell the sweat and beer scent of the barbaric men in the bar. But as she looked into Jack's eyes, she realized, with terror that there was no one that she trusted more in a situation like this. She mentally scolded herself for it was the oldest rule; Never Trust a Pirate.

With great effort, Jack peeled his eyes away from Elizabeth's brown ones, not before he made a mental note of how her eyes danced in the torchlight. With a grunt, he stood, crashing out from behind the bush and into the dirt street, Elizabeth close behind. She kept a steady hand on her sword Jack noticed with approval. It wasn't long before a man, hunched in a corner alley, spotted them.

"Aye there pirate man. Ahoy! S'a nice night aint it!" The skinny man stepped out of the darkness with obvious difficulty do to his drunken state. Jack nodded to him but kept walking. The man didn't get the hint. "How 'bout you lad? S' a nice night aint it?" Elizabeth turned to the man and nodded. The drunk gave her a nearly toothless grin and started singing.

Elizabeth shook herself slightly. No matter how often she had encounters with men like that, she swore she would never get used to it. She still hated rum for the state it put people in but she had to admit, ever since her night with Jack on the island, tasting a little bit of rum here and there, dancing in the firelight with him as he drank himself silly in her company, rum seemed a little less evil than she was always taught it was.

'I still hate it' she thought to herself as they continued their way, growing ever closer to the bar. As carefree as Jack had been that night, as fun as he had been, she hated that most of his actions were against his will, blurred by the haze of a man in a drunken stupor. She had taken a certain amount of pleasure in the fact that he trusted her enough to allow himself to get that drunk while with her. She had never seen him so drunk before, nor had she ever since. It amazed her that, while he was rarely without his rum bottle, he was never taken off guard.

Jack approached the door of the bar and stepped in. The atmosphere was much like that of Tortuga only there was not a woman in sight and the men were drinking with another purpose; to drown out the world. These were desperate, despicable men. Jack couldn't help it as he cast another glance over his shoulder at Elizabeth. Her eyes took in the sight. If she was scared she didn't show it. Only he could tell her discomfort. He had learned that when she was nervous or scared, her eyes seemed larger than usual, quicker.

With a renewed reason to get out quick, he marched himself up to a man alone at a table. Elizabeth noticed that his swagger seemed a bit stronger. "Jack. Are you sure that he..." she whispered to him, worried about the man he was approaching.

Jack seemed not to hear her as he spoke to the man at the table. "What say you to a bargain?"

The chapters get even longer and more exciting I promise. :)