Pirates of the Caribbean: The Pirate's Pearl

By Romania Black

Once again, thanks for all the reviews! Especially ClumsyElf and SparrowInFlight! Also to everyone else who's enjoying the story!!! I'll try to get another chapter up soon!

Sincerely,

Romania Black

Chapter Seven

Jack led the way outside and down the dirt road in front of them, his swagger increasing slightly as they went downhill. Annabelle grabbed the bottom of her green dress and picked it up as she tried to follow him the best she could. Rather than take the normal path she had taken to get to the house, the one that led through town, Jack quickly shifted his pace to the right and went down a different route. This one was not even a road of its own, but rather a stamped out grassy path that was barely noticable if you hadn't to begin with.

"Why are we going this way?" Annabelle asked confused, avoiding the briar rose thorns that were around them.

"Never you mind, Missie," Jack replied, swatting away at a tree branch his braids were tangled in.

Annabelle followed and yelped occasionally as she was stung by thorns and thistles. Pushing a lock of her brown hair back, she gave Jack an exasperated look, "I thought you sailed here," She said as she ducked under a branch Jack had swung away from himself, "Doesn't that mean you need a ship to get out of here?" She said, not waiting for him to answer.

Jack mumbled something along the lines of, "I'm glad you pick up on things," But Annabelle didn't wait to hear him before she continued.

"Why aren't we going to the docks?" She asked, as they reached a clearing in the bushes. They were now out on the ledge of a sandy dune.

"Well, if the ship was at the docks we'd have to go there," Jack said smiling and looked out over the hill. Annabelle followed suite and gasped to herself.

Out in the shallows, perhaps fifty yards off the beach, was a long wooden ship that was anchored in the water, its white billowy sails tucked away while it was sitting there. Annabelle could make out crew members looking at them towards the beach, and a blue and yellow parrot was flying overhead. Annabelle looked to Jack,

"You told Miss Turner that you didn't have your ship back yet," She remarked, seeing the smile on Jack's face.

The captain quickly frowned down at her, as if she'd insulted him, "That," He pointed to the ship on the beach, "Is not my ship." He started to descend the hill, reaching back to grab Annabelle's waist and hoist her down the sand dune with him. "My ship is a magnificent vessel with large black sails, and is the fastest in the Caribbean, missie." He said with admirable pride.

"Then why do you have that ship?" Annabelle asked as they descended the sandy hill.

"Another pirate stole mine," Jack said, a bitterness to his voice. "It took me forever, but I managed to scrap the remaining pieces of that ship of Miss Elizabeth's to help me buy that ship," He pointed to the one in the shallows. As they reached the bottom of the hill, Jack shrugged, "It's not much, but better than a dinghy and it makes good time with a fair wind." He walked quickly out to the beach, Annabelle trailing clumisly behind him.

Annabelle noticed a small row boat coming to shore to get them. The two inside the boat did not look the friendliest of all pirates she'd ever seen. One was a bit chubby and wore a broad leather belt and was almost bald, save for the whisps of graying hair on either side of his face. The other looked rather bumbling, tall and lanky thin with sandy blonde hair and a reddish tan tone to his skin. Annabelle noticed he had intense blue eyes, though one looked odd. As if it wasn't real. As they climbed into the small row boat, the two gave a startled glance to Jack.

"What's with the little poppet?" The heavier one said with a raspy voice, eyeing Annabelle with dark eyes.

"She's a temporary stowaway," Jack said, as if not wanting to say more than he had to, positioning himself in the boat.

"What 'appened on the island, Captain?" The thinner pirate asked with a meek voice.

"I got what we came for," Jack said mysteriously, eyeing the two pirates. "That should be good enough for you." It was obvious he wasn't comfortable with the two. "Master Whats-your-face," He turned to the thinner one, "You and Master other-man row us back to the ship," He ordered, slightly sour, "And as soon as you can preferably."

"Aye, Captain," The thinner one replied, as they both picked up oars and started to row.

Jack turned back towards the land, and stared down at his compass, rubbing his index finger across the top of the shiny wood, almost as if in a trance of his own. Annabelle looked toward the other two pirates and noticed they were staring at her rather suspiciously. She scooted forward in her seat and gave them a curtious nod.

"'Ello," She said softly, unsure of what to say.

The thin one outstretched a hand, taking it off the oar, "Pleasure, miss," He said rather goofily, "Name's Ragetti." He offered, "This is Pintel," He motioned towards the heavier man beside him, who looked at him crossly in return. "I take it you want to be a pirate?" Ragetti asked Annabelle with a grin.

"I--I don't know," She answered, a little startled. She then tried to find a way to change the subject, "Is...something the matter with your eye?" She asked, then realized how rude she sounded, and squeezed her eyes shut, but it was too late to take it back.

"Me eye?" Ragetti smiled even more and there was a loud POP! sound that filled the air. Annabelle felt something round and smooth in her hand, and when she opened her eyes, she realized that it was a glass eyeball in her palm.

Annabelle was many things, but not a coward or someone that scared easily. Realization hit her, "Oh! You only have one eye, that's why this looks so odd!" She smiled and handed it back to him, trying not to look directly at his face; afraid she'd focus on the empty eye socket.

There was another POP! and then she looked up to the thin pirate, who was grinning, "Used to 'ave a wooden eye, I did." He said proudly, "After we found Jack again, and joined him, we made a bit o' profit at Tortuga and me boughts myself an eye, 'smade of glass and all." He grinned. Annabelle grinned back; the one pirate scared her, but Ragetti was quite friendly.

"Thank you for the lovely history lesson, Master Ragetti," Jack suddenly intervened, his eyes staring ahead of them sharply, "But I do believe we're coming up on the ship." Sure enough, straight ahead was the side of the ship, with a long rope dangling to them.

Ragetti and Pintel shimmied up the rope first, wasting no time to get aboard the ship. Jack stood up and grabbed a hold of Annabelle's waist. "Hold on, love," He said quietly, as he gripped the rope and they were hoisted up to the deck. Annabelle held on tightly to Jack's waist and leather belt as she scanned the side of the ship. The words The White Gunner was scawled in faint paint on the top side of the ship. Annabelle read the words quickly as they reached the top deck and Jack landed smoothly onto its surface.

There were many other pirates on the ship now, more than Annabelle could count at once, some looked as if from as far away as Singapore, the land her mother said her father had visited once. Annabelle let go of Jack and fell to her feet on the ground.

Jack staggered as he situated his large leather hat, and was met quickly by a shorter gruff man with white hair and bright eyes. He gave Jack a relieved look, "Took you longer than usual, Captain," He said in a deep, throaty voice. Annabelle imagined it would be a good voice to hear stories from.

"Considering who I was dealing with," Jack thought for a moment and grinned grimly, "Yes."

He walked past the man, causing Annabelle to be revealed behind him. The gruff man gave her a quick look and spun around to Jack, his face full of panic. "Jack! Captain!" He corrected himself, running to the mast, where Jack Sparrow was resting his hand on the wheel.

"What Gibbs?" Jack asked, not surprised.

"There's a woman aboard the ship!" The man called Gibbs said in a panicked voice.

The Captain looked around the ship, glanced at Annabelle, and looked back to Gibbs. "I see no woman."

Gibbs gave Jack a cold look, "I meant the girl, Jack." he explained.

"Oh, her," The captain nodded vaguely, as if seeing Annabelle for the first time, "She's with us." He turned back to the wheel.

"Captain," Gibbs coughed a bit loudly, "women," he paused and glanced at Annabelle, "And girls are frightful bad luck on a ship."

Jack looked around, a little distress in his eyes, "Where we're going, bad luck could do us some good," He mumbled, half to himself.

"And just where," Gibbs inquired, sweat beading on his forehead, "Are we going to?" He gave Jack a nervous stare.

The Captain's eyes gleemed, though his brow was slightly furrowed, "Set our course for Northwest," He paused, as Gibbs eyes grew wider, "We're going to see Jean."