Chapter 2: Tortuga Rescue
The place was dark and barely any light seeped into the wooden room Katerina awoke in. She rubbed her head to find a nice sized lump underneath her now dreadful hair; at least it still held a purpose of hiding the lump from view. Her eyes didn't have to adjust much as the room was very dim, although she couldn't say the same for her legs. They felt as if they weren't on solid ground and the whole room seemed to be moving back and forth. If she had known any better she would have sworn she was on a ship. 'A ship!' she made her way, stumbling to a small, circular window to look out upon a ragged, unkempt looking harbor.
'I can't be at a harbor . . . that would mean that I am on a . . . a ship!' she looked around her a little too fast for her body to catch up to her and nearly fell to the ground. Her mind also struggled to catch up to the movements of her body which made the thinking objective even worse. She looked at the countless boxes, chests and very expensive materials. She thought that she was more than likely on a merchant ship and only needed to tell the captain that she had mistakenly fallen on the boat and needed passage back to Port Royal. As far as she saw, this port was not even close to the clean and watched haven of Port Royal. He would surely take her back if he was a true gentleman.
She began to comb the room for a door or stairs that would lead her to the deck. She may not own a ship, or even stepped foot on one, but she has read about sailing ever since she was ten and knew much about the great ships. . . . and even more about a certain type of captains who were in charge of the infamous ships. Some times when she sat on the beach she would watch the ship come in and out of port, hoping that someday she could be taken away on one, but she always thought that it would be under her own accord. She brushed her hands over the sides of the room which were too dark to see anything, just in case she missed a set of stairs or a doorknob.
At the other side of the room she finally found a small staircase and started to climb. She thought that she must have been the simplest minded woman or just hit her head too hard because the staircase just happened to be in one of the most lit part of the room. Her hand nearly glued to the side wall as she climbed one step after another, she couldn't help but wonder why a merchant ship would stop at a port like this one. She opened the door at the top of the stairs to a wide deck with no one on it. She looked to her side and found a man slouched in a chair with a flask in his right hand. She closed the door a little hiding herself from the man's view; hopeful the man wasn't awake and didn't see her. By the look of the century the ship wasn't Merchant and she definitely needed to get off of it.
Slowly she walked around the door and closed it lightly behind her. She scampered across the deck hoping not to attract any attention and thought that the rest of the crew was off and she only needed to get past the sleeping form to her freedom. At last she reached the main harbor deck and started to walk down it until she found quite a few men walking down toward her. She quickly looked around her and jumped behind one of the boxes left on the pier. The men walked quickly by her and onto the ship that she had just escaped. They all were talking in gruff voices and looked almost just as the other two that chased her into this nightmare.
'Bloody pirates,' she thought to herself.
She let a sigh of relief escape from her mouth and finally had a look down at her clothes. 'I have to find a way to get help and a decent outfit,' Katerina slipped from crate to crate, hope still burning high that she wouldn't be caught by the many other pirates running all around her. In her shameful appearance there was a great chance that two or more other pirates would start another chase and she had no energy in her legs to start another race for her life and her innocence.
She ducked into an alleyway and made it to the other side of a building facing away from the port. She tried to work with the rest of her dress that made it through the chase. It only went down to the top of her knees, which showed just too much in her opinion. The once rich looking white lace was now a dull looking, dingy beige and Katerina looked at it as it was the most disgusting thing on Earth. She rubbed the side of her arms that she had found were bear. She thought back and thought that she must have forgotten them in the carriage when she ran away from her father.
She was startled when she heard the noise and voices of people from around the corner. From the sound of the noises she believed that there must be a party and some one should be able to help her there. She ran down the empty road and happened upon a new street. What stood a head of her appalled her and she didn't want anything more then to be back home.
Women everywhere seemed to have no decency. They were pulling their skirts over the eyes of other pirates who seemed too far past drunk. The dress's tops were nearly showing everything and were nothing like the modest dresses that Katerina was hoping to find. Every one of the pirates that she had seen so far were too caught up in their own woman to even notice Katerina still stunned on the corner; which she didn't even think to be grateful for at the time.
Before Katerina could even move a step from the corner she noticed a slightly older woman start to walk toward her. Her dress was just as appalling as the other women's, but she seemed to have a little more meat to her then the other skinny girls. The woman had her red, grimy hair up in a hurried style and way too much of the new makeup plastered all over her face. She came right up to Katerina's face and looked her straight in the eyes, "What do you think you are doing?"
The woman's voice dripped with a distaste and Katerina probably could understand why, "I- I'm sorry?"
"Are you trying to take my spot or something? I would look somewhere else, hun," the woman slapped her in the face and started to push her toward the next street over, "Try this one."
Katerina was pushed toward what seemed to be the busiest part of the port and fell on her knees. She looked all around, hoping that there weren't many unoccupied pirates on this street. From her knees down she was covered with the mud from the road and her hands were now covered in the disgusting filth. Everywhere around her she saw more unoccupied pirates walking up and down the road and decided that she needed some shelter from sight or some help.
She looked up at the buildings and found what looked like a pub down the street. Hopeful to find some help she ran for it and pushed through the doors.
As soon as she opened the doors the only thing that rushed through her head, shot out of her mouth, "Oh Bloody hell!"
She looked around the drinking place she caught the attention of many men and started to feel her fear reach a new peak. The pub was full of pirates, nearly every one of them looking directly at her direction. She had caught the attention of the whole bar and looked for some person that may be at least the smallest help to her. In the far corner she saw a pirate only take a sip out of his tin cup, lift up his tri-corner hat and look in her direction. He showed no indifference at the moment and placed his cup back down at the table.
As some of the pirates began to stand up she took steps backward and started to run back toward the street that was relatively empty when she first arrived. She heard many of the men start to chase after her and their boots hitting the ground after her faltering feet still placed snuggly in her boots.
She stopped at the end of the road that she had sworn was the one she had used earlier. She must have mistaken the road or missed the alleyway that she walked through before. She hit the palm of her hand on the wall, smoothing her hand over it as if she was trying to open a secret passage. Turning around she found another group of pirates ready to take her of at least four men, and she knew what they would do to her if she couldn't find her way out of the corner she nearly painted herself into.
"Now wha' a purdy young one we have 'ere," one of the pirates said from the group.
Katerina's eyes shifted from one face to the other, wishing that the other women might try to pick off each pirate one by one to do with what they want. Couldn't they have just let her go on her way back home? Why sis the other two had to chase her? Why did she have to lose her temper again?
As the men closed in on her, a form came from the side of the building, almost looking like it came from out of nowhere. The form soon became recognizable of the pirate that was sitting in the back corner of the pub. How did he get ahead of the other pirates?
His dark clothing nearly matched perfectly with his dark hair, which instead of being in the manageable strands of hair, was in clumps and what could only be described as rolls of unruly, matted hair. Under his tri-corner hat he wore a red bandana. Both his hat and hair were adorned with shells and tiny trinkets that Katerina had never thought of or seen before.
"Ah, Sparrow," one of the pirates spat in his direction, "Are ye ever goin' to be stoppin' playin' the hero?"
"Wha' ye mean by tha'?" the pirate in front of Katerina said, flinging his arms and hands in a drunken way, "I wan' 'er to me self is all."
All the pirates started to grunt and groan in a disapproving way and the one talking to the pirates looked back at him and squinted an eye, "Ye really think we all are goin' to let ye run off with 'er?"
"If ye wan' to keep yer lives," the pirate brandished a sword and looked at the rest of them.
The others began to laugh at his attempts to defend himself, "One against us all ain't goin' to do much, Jack. Even if ye be the capn' of the Black Pearl."
"May be not," Jack looked behind the group as if he had spotted something, "But maybe tha' will."
He pointed behind the group and they all looked behind them, wondering what he was pointing at. The pirate captain turned around and grabbed Katerina around the wrist and ran past the group and into the alley Katerina had used earlier. She watched his hat and coat blow with the wind passing them as they ran. She couldn't help but notice his almost humorous run presented in front of her. If they weren't in the present situation she would have laughed at the pirate captain.
As they made it to the other side of the building the once crowded ports by the ships seemed deserted. Katerina looked around and watched for any other pirates coming their way while trying to catch her breath. She held her chest with her hand and looked over at the other pirate looking back through the alley watching for any signs that the other pirates were following.
"Thank you," Katerina said managing to put both disgust and actual thankfulness in the statement.
"No problem, luv," the captain turned toward her and gave her a small bow. She was expecting a deeper bow, but thinking that he had been drinking all night he wouldn't want to bow too low, "Captain Jack Sparrow, the mos' infamous pirate all over these parts."
"Jack Sparrow . . ." Katerina looked at him through suspicious eyes, "Why would you go through the trouble of saving me from the others?"
"For a reward, o' course," Jack pushed his hand flat palmed toward her.
She looked at the hand with a confused look, "What do you mean reward? I have no money!"
"Then there is another way to pay it, luv," he started to stoke the side of her arm which was now bare.
She slapped him across the face, something that he was quite used to, but didn't quite expect from some one he had just saved, "Well, tha' is the last time I go a risk me neck for a girl. Usually I gets some kin' of reward, especially when the girls are very grateful."
"Well . . . I'm sorry you thought that way Captain Sparrow, but I do not pay to be saved, nor did I ask for you assistance," he looked up at her, both knowing that she wouldn't have lasted without him saving her, "Although I am very grateful for it, even though you are a pirate."
"An' tha' be a problem?" he said seeming as though he was offended by the remark. He looked down the road and started on his way, still swinging his arms in a flamboyant type of way.
"Where are you going?" she ran after him, trying to grab her skirt up from not tripping over it, forgetting that it was now torn to her knees.
"Back to me ship," he said not looking back at her.
"You're not going to try and . . . well . . . you know?"
"Not to be crude or anythin', kitten. But you look nothin' like the type that I usually . . . um, require."
"So you aren't going to rape me?" she looked at him up and down strangely, "You don't happen to be a eunuch are you?"
"O' course not!" he stopped in his tracks putting his hands on his hips.
"Well then, aren't you going to take me with you?"
"Now why would I want to do tha', luv?" he said turning on his heels and nearly falling to his side. He caught himself and tried to focus on her with his hand in the air.
"Because you saved me, and as far as I am concerned you are responsible for me," she said looking at him in a disapproving fashion. She could not believe this captain, even if he was a pirate. She detested the whole lot of pirates, but she needed a way home and the only way that she could get back home was on a boat. It seemed at the time that this Captain Sparrow was the only one able to get her back.
"I doub' tha' very much," he looked at her again, "Ye aren't a usual Tortuga call girl, are ye?"
Katerina opened her mouth wide, "I am no call girl at all!"
"Then I 'ave no use for ye."
Katerina thought quickly thinking that if she could at least get on the ship there may be chance. Her eyes sparkled as she started to act.
"You can not just abandon me out here! My father and I are known as two of the highest and richest people near Port Royal and-" she slapped her mouth closed as a smile began to grow on Jack's face.
"Richest people, eh?" he took her by the wrist again, "I think I may 'ave a spot for ye on me ship after all."
"I thought as much," Katerina sighed and let the captain drag her toward his ship Jack never really noticed her small smile.
As they reached the deck, Katerina saw no men on board and thought that they had all gone to town, either for more rum or their fill of women. As she stepped with Jack to a door which he opened to find a small room with a not so comfortable looking bed, "So how long until we get back to Port Royal?"
"Who said we be goin' straight to Port Royal?" Jack looked down at her, "I'm ransoming ye, not letting ye have a leisure cruise on me ship back home," he pushed her into the room and closed and locked the door before she could get back up.
"Oh . . . just great from one pirate ship to the next!" she got on her feet and began to pound on the door ferociously, "You hear me Jack Sparrow?!"
"Captain! Captain Jack Sparrow," he sung from the other side of the door, nearly half way down the hall they passed through.
"Let me out! Now! I demand it!" she kicked at the door with her already worn boots, "I demand that you let me out and give me a clean outfit! You cannot treat me like this!"
"Where is tha' writtin'?" he said, his voice nearly gone.
Katerina heard another door open and close and she sat back on the bed, "Dreadful, monstrous pirates! Nothing better to do, but hang the lot of them!" She forgot about the debt that she had toward Jack and let the disgust for his whole kind fill her mind. She would find a way out and back to her home near Port Royal no matter what it took.