Hard labours

Captain Hook didn't return to his cell immediately. Once Vidia and Chipper had tied him to the railing, he had had to stay there until Queen Clarion and the Ministers could come. After the attack it was obviously more important to analyze the situation to know if the giant pirates would repeat the attack than to take care of a single pirate who wasn't even twenty centimeters tall and who's only sin had been an unsuccessful attempt to escape, so it took them a while to go attend this matter. The fairies left to help tidy everything, except for Zarina, who stayed to keep an eye on him. This was probably his last opportunity to do something before the Queen sentenced him with a 24 hours imprisonment, so he gave it a try.

"I guess it's too late to ask for forgiveness, isn't it?"

Zarina dropped what she was doing and looked at him with a suspicious look.

"Yes, definitely. Anyway I don't think you would really mean it.", said she, returning to store the pixie dust inside the house.

"Come on! The way I behaved… it's not what you think."

"Ah, no? Then you weren't trying to steal the blue powder when you attacked the Hollow with your whole crew?"

"I'm not talking about that time, I'm talking about two years ago. I…"

This time Zarina left her work aside and turned to stand before him.

"Ok, ok, stop it! James, you are wasting your time. If I really thought you could change, you would already have the blue powder. I don't trust you the slightest and if you are still here it's only because of the Queen."

"Is that so?", responded he with an evil smile. "And then why did you save me, sweetie?"

For a moment it seemed like Zarina was going to blush, but then her smile became evil too.

"Oh because, you see, being crushed under a pirate's shoe didn't seem enough punishment to me. And now that you have tried to run away, I'm sure the Queen will start to think of you differently."

"So that's what you were up to. I thought you were being strangely kind."

"Well, I've had time enough to plan a good revenge. But don't worry, I'm thinking of helping you this time."

"And why this honor?", said he ironically. Zarina approached him even more, so he could hear her threatening words. Now their faces were nearly touching. If they hadn't been so concentrated in the verbal battle, they could have heard each other's heartbeats.

"Because the punishment for running away is not even half as great as what I have planned for you. I'm sure you'll be able to escape from this one but, let's be serious, we both know that sooner or later you'll try something again and, at that time, I'll be there to catch you."

"So that's the game we'll be playing?"

"It would seem so."

Luckily for them their conversation was interrupted, because their heartbeats were starting to run a little bit too fast. The Queen and the Ministers, followed by Fairy Mary and some of Zarina's friends showed up in the terrace. She went with her friends and they all became quiet to listen to what Clarion had to say.

"James Hook, when you arrived to this place we made a pact. We accepted to let you out of your cell, if you behaved. But today's attempt to run away can't be considered as a form of good behavior and, as a consequence, we will apply the appropriated punishment. We first thought of a 24 hours imprisonment" James looked at Zarina, because it seemed the right time to interfere, but she didn't say anything. "but there's a lot of work to do this days, and it would be a waste to lock up any kind of help. That's why we condemn you to hard labour, and we will keep the two months term. That is, of course, if your guardian agrees." She looked at Zarina and, to James surprise, she nodded. "Ok then, it is settled. Fairy Mary will be the in charge of finding the most appropriated and hard duties for you." And once this was said, she and the Ministers returned to their respective jobs.

"I thought you were going to defend me.", said James to Zarina when she approached him.

"And that's what I did. Believe me, hard labour is nothing compared to not being able to come out of your cell. In fact, I think you should be grateful." That she said with a mocking smile.

"That's cheating! You clearly have the advantage here. Couldn't you give me a tiny help?" He tried to put up his most innocent look, but Zarina didn't fall for it.

"Don't worry, I'm sure that with your intelligence and your wisdom you'll be able to figure something out." And she returned with her friends. Now that the game had truly started it was going to be difficult, but at least she was willing to play. Too bad for her, no one had ever won him at this before, he hadn't become captain for granted. He watched Zarina talk with her friends, as his excitement started to raise.

Silver and Glimmer had gone to the floors below to help, and their other friends would be returning from Mainland two days from then, but Tinkerbell and Vidia were still in the terrace with Zarina. They were worried.

"Zarina, are you sure about this?", said Tinkerbell lowering her voice. "Wouldn't it be safest if we locked him up in his cell?"

"You already heard the Queen, he'll be more profitable this way."

"Don't fool us.", replied Vidia with a harsh look. "You know that if you had told her she would have done whatever you had asked, so why are you helping him? Don't tell me he's tricked you again with his sweet words."

"Of course not!", exclaimed Zarina a little bit annoyed. "Girls, I have to do this. This time I'll be the one to beat him up, I'll be the one to win."

"And are you sure that this will make you happy?", asked Tinkerbell. Zarina didn't seem convinced, but she was stubborn.

"I need to do this Tink."

"Fine, fine!", interrupted Vidia. "But don't come crying to us when everything goes wrong, 'cause it will."

"Vidia, don't be so harsh on her." Tinkerbell looked at Zarina in the eyes, so serious it didn't seem her. "Just promise me you'll be careful."

"I know what I'm doing Tink, I swear.", she said, and then she smiled cheerfully. "Actually, I plan on having a lot of fun with this!" She winked an eye at them and grabbed one of the pixie dust bags to store it. Her friends sighted but her cheerfulness was contagious so they followed her happily.

After they disappeared inside the house Fairy Mary, who had accompanied the Queen downstairs, appeared with two more tinkers James had never seen before.

"Ok, take him. We have a lot of work to do and we must start as soon as possible."

"Wha… hey, hey! Wait a moment.", interrupted he. "It's almost midnight! Do you plan on making me work all night?"

"We have to fix it all in case the pirates attack again, everyone is helping and you are not an exception. Nobody sleeps tonight!"

The two tinkers, a fairy and a sparrow men, took him by the arms and transported him all the way down to the tinkers meadow. They didn't even use the stairs, and the pirate had to admit he felt a little dizzy because of the height. They then put him down and waited for Clank to arrive. He brought Cheese, the mouse, with him. The animal was carrying a cart full of strange pieces.

"Here comes your first task. Cheese is too busy today helping with the carts, so you are going to do half of his job.", said Fairy Mary as if it were the most natural thing.

"Do you mean I'll have to carry this around?", responded him with a scared face.

"Hard labours, remember?"

He couldn't believe it, but they all seemed so convinced that he came to the conclusion that protesting would only lead to an even more exhausting task, so he swallowed his bad mood and went to replace the mouse.

"Come Cheese.", said Clank. "There's still work to do."

The two tinkers who were still with them tied him to the cart and then they left. Fairy Mary stood beside him to explain what he had to do.

"See those fairies over there? They are building new catapults and repairing the ones which broke. You have to take the pieces from the storehouse and bring them to the repairers. When you are finished, you do it again and again until I say. Got it?"

James nodded and the fairy left him alone. Not that he could run away tied as he was. He tried lifting the cart, only to check that it was as heavy as he had imagined, maybe more. But there wasn't anything he could do, so he went all the way to the repairers with an incredible effort. The fairies took the pieces very fast, they didn't even say thanks, everyone was too busy. So he returned to the storehouse to have his cart refilled.

The light fairies had put little torches all over the place and, although there was a lot of work, all the fairies seemed happy, it was obvious that they liked working together. The atmosphere was nice, but James almost couldn't raise his head to look at it because of the heavy load he had on his shoulders. He was starting to think that the imprisonment would have been better. After the first five trips he started to get used to it, but when the twentieth had ended, he couldn't take one more step. But no one had told him to stop, so he continued until he became like a somnambulist and his body kept working on his own. The hours passed by and he continued to take the pieces from here to there, and the fairies kept asking for more. At some point of the night Zarina appeared next to him. He only noticed her when she started to talk, but he didn't leave his trance.

"Wow! I see you have started your hard labour.", said she with mocking tone. She didn't obtain a response, so she insisted. "Are you angry at me? Or is it that you are so exhausted that you can't talk?"

"I'm… not… exhausted…", managed to replay he.

"I see, I see," She was too noisy, he couldn't properly concentrate in the road. "I'm sure you are having a lot of fun with the game," He wasn't, this sucked and she didn't even let him do it properly. "but I don't see how you are going to win if you continue to act like a zombie." She was laughing at him and he couldn't even respond. But it didn't matter, he was just too exhausted, too sleepy…

"Anyway, you already had your brake a while ago, so you shouldn't be so tired."

"I…" He had to stop to catch his breath in order to reply. "I haven't had any break…"

"Wait, do you mean you've been working five hours none-stop?"

At that precise moment the pirate collapsed in front of her. She watched him laying on the grown but she didn't react until a bunch of fairies gathered around her.

"What's happening here? Why has everyone stopped they work… Oh my!", exclaimed Fairy Mary arriving to where Zarina was. "I forgot about him! Don't tell me he's been working for…"

"Five hours.", said Tinkerbell, who had also come to see what had happened.

"Yes,", said Zarina. "it seems we overdid it a little." She then kneeled and, passing his arm around her shoulder, she lifted him. "Don't worry, I'll take him to his cell." Fairy Mary nodded and they all returned to work.

James regained consciousness as Zarina left him on his bed. He wanted to say something but he was just too tired.

"It seems you really earned your sleep tonight." He looked at her but he didn't respond, although the ironical commentary should have made him angry.

"Don't worry, next time you'll have a break. It would be too boring if you where always too tired to talk." She closed the door from the outside and then she took a last look inside. "Sweet dreams, James." And she left.

The pirate closed his eyes and tried to think, but it was too troublesome. He didn't even cover himself with the leaves. The fatigue from running away, the nerves in his confrontation with Zarina, the tiredness of carrying the cart, they all piled up on him, and he fell into a deep sleep without dreams.