Sorry about the wait on this chapter! I just couldn't manage to get the ending to flow how I wanted. Alas, it is done and I hope you enjoy it! Reviews are always encouraged and really brighten my day. I love getting your feedback and ideas.
Chapter 9
"They're bloody mad!" I exclaimed, reaching tentatively for the door and gently swinging it open.
Gazing around, I found the flooring littered with various supplies from the other ship. Forks, spoons, and mostly knives—the Interceptor lacked so much in ammunition that the rag-tag fighting crew was using cutlery! I bent down curiously to see Gibbs' canteen lying on the ground. Jack took a swig from it, but, to his dismay, realized a distinct lack of rum.
Scrambling up to the deck, we each grabbed a rope, and I, a weapon, before swinging aboard the Interceptor. Gibbs spotted us with a shout. "Jack!"
"Bloody empty." the captain grumbled, handing him the canteen as he drew his sword.
I leapt into action, disarming a pirate that moved to attack Elizabeth while Jack aided with her current adversary.
"That's not very nice." Jack said to the man before turning to my adoptive sister and asking, "Where's the medallion?"
"Wretch!" she shouted and was about to slap him when I grabbed her wrist.
"Elizabeth. He's trying to help." I soothed.
Without hesitation, she engulfed me in a hug. "Rachelle! I'm so glad you're alright!"
"Ahh. Where's dear William?" Jack interrupted our reunion, glancing at the bandage encircling her palm.
"Will?" Elizabeth and I shouted; we gazed around frantically before Elizabeth spied him trapped under a grate. "Will!"
"Elizabeth! Rachelle!" he called back desperately as water leaked into the cabin.
Barbossa's pet leapt towards him, grasping the medallion from his hand. "Monkey!" I heard Jack exclaim as the undead creature scurried away.
The pirate captain pursued the thief as Elizabeth and I tried to move the mast burying the grate. "We can't move it!" Elizabeth shouted before an undead member of Barbossa's crew pulled her towards the Pearl. "Will!"
"Elizabeth!" the two of us called after her in unison.
As I took a step to run after her, the deck beneath me collapsed, plunging me into the waterlogged cabin belowdecks. With a thud, my skull collided with a fallen support beam and stars speckled my vision. "Rachelle!" a voice called; following the sound of sloshing water, two arms heaved me higher out of the water as it continued to flood the cabin.
"Will?" I gurgled, spitting out seawater as I tried to regain my sense of equilibrium.
I struggled to remain conscious as Will rattled my shoulders urgently. "Come on," he pressed. "You need to stay awake, Rachelle. We've got to get out of here!"
I nodded slightly and followed him to the floor of the waterlogged cabin as the ship exploded into little pieces. I hoped Will knew what he was doing.
After diving below the surface to escape the blast, we burst to the surface, breathing deeply before scaling up to the deck of the Pearl. "Barbossa!" Will shouted bravely, gripping the ship's rigging as he balanced precariously on the railing.
I, on the other hand, stumbled onto the deck and wavered weakly as I heard Elizabeth breathe our names in relief. Looking around, my gaze fell on Jack, and then shifted to my father, as I collapsed to the deck. I saw Barbossa's firm stance soften momentarily before recalling why he had sentenced me to the brig at all.
The subsequent conversation fell over me as nonsensical mumblings; my head pounded viciously from its impact with the Interceptor and a prickling pain in my side trickled into my consciousness. Glancing down, I noticed blood dripping from a deep-looking slice in my abdomen, which must have resulted from the brief battle aboard the Interceptor. I groaned audibly, gripping my head as my world began to spin and everything fell out of focus. Two blurry figures shuffled over as a sharp order from Barbossa spurred the rest of the Pearl's crew into action.
"Are you alright, Rachelle?" Ragetti asked hesitantly.
The second man, who I assumed to be Pintel, punched his arm. "Of course she's not alright! She looks a bloody mess!"
I cringed, pulling my head closer to my chest as if I could block out their angry noise. The pair bickered a moment longer before Ragetti leaned over me again. He said something to his friend and I felt them lifting me as gently as a pair of undead pirates could. I soon found myself in the shade, as the two men had shuffled me over to sit under the stairs, where I would remain out of the crew's way.
Roughly an hour passed and I sat unmoving. My eyes were screwed shut in pain; my breathing, shallow and labored. Will and Barbossa, it seemed, managed to make a deal and the Pearl was en route to our next destination. My side had been left unattended as the injury went unnoticed. Soon enough, the ship slowed to a stop and a crewman lowered the anchor.
"Bring her!" Barbossa barked to the crew; moments later, I felt a rough tug on my arm as Bo'sun dragged me to the side of the ship.
A shove at my back left me stumbling out onto a plank and as I looked down at the sea, I caught a glimpse of my own reflection. My jet black hair cascaded around my face in an unkempt fashion and my tattered dress, long since ruined in the battle, was drenched in my own blood.
I glanced back at Barbossa, and then at Will, who spewed insults at the Pearl's captain. Turning around to resignedly face my fate, I made to jump into the water when, suddenly, a voice erupted from amid the crew. "Are ye really heartless enough to send the child who be like yer daughter to the depths, Hector Barbossa?"
The man in question whirled around to face the crowd and bellowed, "And who be ye to challenge me decisions?"
A figure clothed in a dark brown cloak stepped through the parting crowd of pirates. "I am the child's great-aunt."
Barbossa stared at her and, for once, didn't have a rebuttal as she outstretched her hand and pulled me back on the ship. I stumbled into her, inhaling a crisp scent of lavender as I gasped audibly at the pain ricocheting up my abdomen. Doubling over in agony, I tumbled towards the deck, but the woman's firm grip on my arm kept me upright. I raised a weak hand to my forehead as my vision blurred and I wavered on the edge of consciousness.
A man broke from the ranks of the crew of the Black Pearl and took me into his arms, allowing the woman to confront Barbossa fully. She drew herself up and stepped in his direction. Full of fury and righteousness, the woman, despite a distinctly smaller stature than the towering captain before her, seemed to be lecturing my former caretaker; the words, however, washed over me unheard.
As the Pirate Lord and the strange woman faced off, another man joined the one present in carrying me into a cabin as I continued to grow weaker. I was acutely aware of being placed on a bed as one man procured a small dagger from somewhere in the room and sliced away a section of my dress. Harsh salty air struck the wound anew, causing me to hiss in pain.
I groaned as someone came sloshing in with a bucket of what smelled like rum and began to wash the slice in my abdomen. Gritting my teeth, I finally succumbed to unconsciousness as one of the two figures placed a gentle, soothing hand on my forehead.
