Chapter 9: Jack to the Rescue…Yet again
Days just seem to fly by when you're in the bottom of a ship with little light and an even smaller amount of food given to you. Kat tried to keep warm on the cold floor in the small jail room at the bottom of the Harbinger. She had nothing else but the clothes on her back and those didn't make the situation any warmer since they were soaked by the water in the cell. There was a small hole in the ship's side; it reminded Kat of a small hole in the side of the Pearl that she had plugged up only a few weeks ago. The hole on the Harbinger was too small for anyone to really notice it, but it let in enough water and cold sea air to freeze anyone held in the cells.
Kat rubbed the side of her arms with her hands, hopeful to get enough friction to partially thaw her frozen extremities. Her hands were almost numb and she had given up on getting feeling back into her feet. There was no way she was going to be able to stand the conditions for long. She really wished that she had kept the long sleeves on her shirt, instead of tearing them off like she did when she first got it. She pushed her lips together with thought about how to get out of this predicament, and then her mind slipped to other things. She thought back to the time on the Pearl right before she was forced to leave. She touched her lips and gave a little smile to herself.
"Jack," she whispered silently to herself. Was he going to notice the flaw in the accord she made with Catterine? Or was he going to leave her for dead, as she thought he would when she first met him? He was a pirate after all, and he had to follow the code, and it does state that who ever falls behind, stays left behind. No help was to come.
Kat shook her head in disbelief, 'No, Jack promised to watch out for me,' Kat looked out another small hole toward the waves of the sea, 'He promised.'
***
Jack sat in his cabin cursing himself for not fighting, for not doing something when Kat really needed him. He promised to look out for her no matter the cost, and he let her down. She was on another pirate ship, surrounded by strange pirates, and to top it all off the ship is owned and led by Catterine! There was no end to the possibilities of what they could be doing to her. Jack studied his hand for a minute and just shook his head. No plan, no rescue, nothing! Nothing has formed from the past three days that he had enclosed himself in his cabin.
He got out of his chair, flinging the papers off the desk and let them all fall to the floor. He held his head in his hand and looked down at the falling parchment and documents. In all his years that he had been a pirate he has done many accords and has found a loophole of some sort. There was always a certain soft spot in agreements that he could always exploit or work with. But this time there was nothing he could do. Helpless . . . lost . . . most would not think to call a captain these dirty words at any time, but Jack could find no other feelings but these swimming through his mind.
When casting down his eyes to the floor he saw a small piece of color among the white papers on the floor. He pushed the documents out of the way with his boot and uncovered the bandana that Kat had worn before boarding the Harbinger. He bent down, picked up the piece of cloth and held it tight in his grasp.
There had to be a reason that she had agreed to go with Catterine aboard the Harbinger. She was way too stubborn to just give up and go with another crew without a fight or plan behind it. It was hard enough to get her to trust this crew and ship after a month. Jack began to pace the length of the cabin back and forth, trying to find the fatal hole, trying to find the answer. He groaned with frustration, he has gone over the agreement time and time again and could not find one thing that could be proven wrong, or undone.
He held the loose bandana next to his temple and closed his eyes. He could still smell her hair and the faint sent of jasmine that she still kept handy in her cabin. Her voice kept coming back to him, visions of her smile and her frustrated face she made when faced with a decision she never liked, and the way her determination always shined through all her other admirable attributes. Everything filled his mind as he searched for something to use, "But she made the accord . . ."
Jack suddenly opened his eyes, "The accord . . . if she was to go at tha' moment."
A smile began to spread over his face, "Good thinkin' luv," he ran out the cabin, picking up his tri corner hat and up to the helm where Anamaria was at the wheel. He pushed her from the wheel and began to steer the ship in a totally new direction.
"Cap'n," Anamaria was surprised to see him out of his cabin, he had barricaded himself in the room for the past three days, "'Ave the urge to sail again?"
"No," Jack said turning the ship hard again to the North, "I'm on a rescue mission ye could say."
"We're goin' after Kat then?" Anamaria began to smirk and she crossed her arms.
Jack looked at her strange, "Aye."
"Ye know tha'll be dangerous, Cap'n."
"Aye, but when's it not?" he turned his head forward.
"I'll alert the crew then," she began to go down toward the main deck.
"Anamaria," Jack called still looking toward the horizon, "Why so helpful?"
She turned back to face him, "I guess ye can say tha' the little princess 'as grown on me too. I though' tha' I would be happy to see her go, but now tha' she's gone . . . nothin's the same," she nodded and began back down to the main deck to rally the crew for the rescue mission. Jack smiled and tied the blue bandana around his right hand and began to steer toward the Harbinger and Kat.
***
Kat couldn't help but shiver, the cold was never going to seize and the water never receded. If it wasn't for the small hole in the side of the boat that let the water in, in the first place to drain it back out, the water would start to fill up the room. The water more than likely would have been up to her ankles and then she would be in a worse situation then she was at the moment. How is it that one pirate is so different from the rest? Jack was at least decent enough to give her her own cabin to sleep in, where it was dry. And clothes . . . and . . . well a place where she was actually wanted.
In the few mornings that she was awake she always tried to watch the rise of the sun like she had on the Pearl, but she would never see it. The ship was heading north, more than likely heading for Port Royal, and Kat could never see it because she was placed on the other side of the ship. From the sound of it, most if not all of the Harbinger's crew were all asleep when the sun made its entrance into the sky. Leave it up to uncivilized pirates to miss out on the most beautiful daily events shown on this earth.
"Bloody pirates," Kat muttered curling herself into a little ball on the wooden bench above the floor. Her chin placed firmly on her knees and her eyes closed.
"I wouldn' be sayin' tha' 'bout pirates upon one of their ships, m' lady," Kat jumped at the sound of the voice as Captain Catterine came down from the deck and stood in front of the cell, "It ain't proper."
"Or so you say, Captain," Kat said unraveling herself from the ball, "Although it isn't very proper to take another ship's captive, captive for your own profit, stuff them in a cold, wet cell and then leave them to starve for five days."
"I didn' let ye starve. Ye had water an' bread. An' besides, I be a pirate, Miss Benikins."
"Please, don't call me that," Kat said rather harshly and glared at him.
"Wha' ye don' like bein' called Miss?"
"The Miss is fine, Captain. It is my last name that I do not agree with," she looked down at her hands which her clenched closed. She wasn't so sure if it was from the cold or from the hate that radiated from the mention of her father's name.
"An argument with yer papa I bet," he urged her to continue on.
"I don't believe that is any of your business," she stood up and walked toward the wall away from Catterine.
"As long as ye be on me ship it is," he said back.
"Well that won't be for much longer," Kat turned around with a smile on her face, "Captain Jack Sparrow will come for me."
Catterine began to laugh at her, "Tha's rich girl! Ye really think tha Jack – a pirate, mind ye- is goin' to come an' save ye?"
"I know he will. He gave his word to always be there for me," Kat leaned against the bars.
"Ye trust the word o' a pirate?"
"I did when I agreed to come on this boat."
"This is a ship, darling," he tried to correct her.
"No, the Black Pearl is a ship! This is a dingy."
"Ye dare to make insults on me ship? With wha' confidence do you have that I won' kill ye?" he looked at her sinisterly through the bars.
"Because I know that you need me to get the reward money."
"Wha' if I send a piece of ye at a time?" he brought out his small dagger and sliced it across the bars. Kat seemed unmoved by his threat. Her mind skipped back in time when she was having a similar conversation with Jack about the same reward money. "I'll tell ye somethin' girl. Pirates want one of two thin's in life: money and pleasure. So think of it this way. Jack is protecting ye either for the reward or for somethin' tha' ye may be able to provide for him later."
"Jack is not like you. He would never break his word, nor expect something like that from me. He knows that he will receive no money. He just takes care of me because . . . because . . ."
"Because he knows eventually, ye will give in. But face it, he won' be comin' for ye if yer goin' to be this hard to get back."
"That isn't true!" Kat yelled at him, "He isn't like you! He will come!"
"Are ye so sure?"
She looked away from Catterine as her brow furrowed with confusion. Lost in thought, and memories, she couldn't see Jack in any other way. He had to come for her. She saw the small dagger coming toward her arm and pulled back and saw a smirk play across Catterine's lips.
"Cap'n!" one of the younger crew members ran into the room and Catterine turned to address him, "The Black Pearl be righ' behind us!"
"I told you Captain," Kat said in a mocking tone to Catterine's back.
"Load the cannons an' prepare for a figh'!"
"No, no Captain," Catterine turned to see Kat shaking her head and finger in a disapproving fashion, "Remember our accord . . . under any and all circumstances."
"Cap'n?" the young, confused boy asked looking at his equally confused Captain.
"Keep the cannons free. We'll be seein' wha' Cap'n Sparrow be wantin'," he opened the cell door and grabbed Kat out the door, "An' ye be comin' with us."
"I wouldn't have it any other way Captain. But I must tell you, through this whole ordeal, you will not get one shot in," they both walked to the top deck where Kat got to feel the sun dance across her cold skin once again.
As they made their way across the deck to the nearest point by the Black Pearl Kat could see the bewilderment on the Harbinger's crew's faces on why they weren't firing on the Black Pearl. Kat smiled a giggled to herself as she saw a dark figure at the wheel of the ship. She knew it could only be one person, and all her doubts vanished and her hopes renewed.
"Jack," she whispered as the two ships came side to side with each other.
"So, ne're really though' I'd be seein' ye again in these waters, Jack," Catterine gripped Kat's shoulder harder making her squint, "Not since our little agreement."
"Aye, but a bit of bad news for ye Catterine. I'll be needin' the girl back," Jack gave the order to drop anchor and went down the stairs to the side of the ship.
"I doub' tha' Jack," he pulled a pistol from his cloak.
"Our agreement, Captain!" Kat reminded him, stepping in front of the pistol.
"Oh, tha' be righ'," he pushed the pistol back in his cloak, sounding a little disappointed that it was not going into use that day. At least not at the moment, "Ye be on this ship, I will not fire."
"Not exactly, Catterine," Kat stepped out of his reach and toward the railing of the ship, "I said that if I went with you at that moment you would never fire on the Pearl or her crew."
"An . . . wha's yer point missy, I don' wan' to stand 'ere all day?"
"I have fulfilled my part of the agreement. It was you who failed to state for how long or even if I was to stay on the Harbinger dingy."
Catterine's eyes flew to the deck in thought, "But ye . . ."
"I'm free to go and if you are true to your word, Catterine, you will never harm anyone on the ship or the ship itself."
"This ain't fair!"
"Who ever said trades have to be fair?" Kat stood on the railing ready to jump to the Pearl.
"But ye ain't a part o' the crew, nor on the Pearl are ye?" he pulled his pistol back out and aimed it at her, "So I'm free to shoot ye."
Jack frantically turned his head toward Kat, "Kat jump now!"
Kat did as she was told and dived into the water, drenching her clothes once again. She heard some shots taken after her and heard the bullets hit and stream through the water after her. After three shots she began to hear another gun go off and swam back up toward the surface. She poked her head above the water's surface and looked up at the situation. Jack had taken his own pistol out and was aiming it toward Catterine.
"Catterine, ye make one more move, and I swear tha' it will be the last one ye ever take," Jack growled at him.
"Come now, Jack. This missy tha' important to ye?" Catterine started to move the pistol at Kat's position in the water.
Before the point of the gun even reached her, Jack fired at Catterine and hit him square in the chest, "Yes she be."
Kat looked up at shook as Catterine fell to his knees and then to the deck of the ship. She stayed almost motionless in the water as she couldn't believe the sight that unraveled before her. She knew that Jack had killed before, and that he would probably kill again, but for her to actually see the act . . . she had never thought that she would ever see him harm another individual.
She heard a whistle from up above as a ladder was lowered down to her. She grabbed the rope ladder and started to climb a little clumsily up the netting. As she pulled herself toward the railing of the deck, Mr. Henders, the pirate with the white wig, pulled her on board the rest of the way. Kat looked back toward the deck of the other ship expecting them to load the cannons and prepare for boarding. But none of the other crew made the move.
"Isn't the Harbinger going to fire on us?"
"They can't, they are under the oath o' their captain," Henders smiled and helped her up. She leaned against the main mast as the Harbinger's crew looked on with distain. The Pearl lifted her anchor and began to sail toward the South, gaining as much sea and ocean between Port Royal and themselves as possible. Kat watched as the Harbinger very slowly began to fade away into the horizon.
Jack came over to her, "Good thinkin', Kat. Good negotiation skills."
"Thank you captain," Kat could feel herself blush and she wanted to turn away, but didn't.
"Why can' ye ever keep yer clothes dry?" he put his hands on his hips and shook his head, "Come on, we'll get ye some dry clothes."
"I always thought the code said to leave behind any who fall behind," Kat pointed out to the Captain, still trying to make sense for the rescue.
"Well, ye self told me tha' yer not exactly a pirate, so why should the code include ye?"
"But you told me that I am a part of this crew, am I not?"
"Aye, aye. Ye be a part of this crew."