Chapter Two-Sparrow
Captain Jack Sparrow sat looking up through the small window in the ceiling of his prison cell. No matter how many times he landed in prison he never got used to the feeling. He sat leaning against the dank, mold covered stone wall with his legs bent in front of him, absentmindedly picking a tiny scrap of the rancid meat he had been given by the guards from one of his many gold teeth. Whenever he heard one of the guards coming down the dungeon like corridor, he slipped the knife he had been using back into his boot until they passed.
"Fat stupid oafs," the pirate muttered to himself. Anyone who was stupid enough to take a pirate into custody and not check every square inch of him for weapons deserved whatever he would get when Jack finally managed to break out. It was inevitable; really, this prison was just presenting slightly more of a problem than the others he had been in before. He couldn't pick the lock with his knife, and the idiot dog that he had almost gotten to bring him the keys had run off when someone opened a door in another part of the prison. This really was turning out to be quite tiresome. He really shouldn't even be here, considering the authorities found him doing a good deed, for once. He had snuck onto the new royal flagship, the Interceptor, just to have a look about the place, when he saw this girl fall into the water. Denying all his natural instincts, he dove in a fished her out and was immediately put in irons. The girl was pulled away so quickly that Jack didn't even get to take a decent look at her before he was on his way to jail. Mores the pity, he always enjoyed a lady, as opposed to his customary wenches. Little did Jack know that soon he would indeed see the girl he rescued, even if he wouldn't recognize her, for it was none other than Elizabeth Swann, who had been attending the promotion ceremony of the now Commodore Norrington nearby with her father. Catherine had no desire to attend and had managed to stay away under the pretext of a terrible headache, but Elizabeth had been forced to go because Norrington was the man Governor Swann had been eyeing for his younger daughter's hand, a fact which Elizabeth was not aware of.
Jack would see not only Elizabeth but both of the beautiful Swann sisters very shortly at his trial.
"Useless, this trial," thought Jack to himself. "They're only goin' ter 'ang me anyway. Ridiculous 'ow these civilized gits 'ave to maintain all their stupid rules." The pirate abandoned thoughts of the ineffectualness of his trial and resumed picking his teeth and pondering his escape.
At the very same moment Captain Jack Sparrow was devising a plan of escape, Catherine and Elizabeth Swann were eating their midday meal at the Governor's Mansion hurriedly so as not to be late for the trial. As they sat at the mahogany table picking at silver plates of delicately cooked fish, the two sisters wondered as to why they were being allowed to attend something as risqué as the trial of an infamous pirate when they weren't even allowed to walk out of the front gates of their own house.
"I wonder if this trial has anything to do with the man who pulled me out of the harbor," Elizabeth remarked as she swirled the wine in her glass.
"Perhaps. That would be a possible reason we are being so graciously permitted to attend," replied Catherine with more than a hint of cynicism. "Yes, that would make sense. That's clever of you Tess, I didn't even think of that." Catherine flashed her sister a playful grin. Just as she was about to flick a piece of fish across the table, the girls' dowdy, tightlipped old governess Mrs. Croft came to fetch them to the courthouse.
An hour later, the Swann sisters were glad of their early departure from the Mansion. As the stuffy courtroom began to fill with people, Catherine and Elizabeth were grateful to Mrs. Croft for getting them there early enough to find seats in front of one of the few windows, even if they had to endure their governess' strict presence for a few minutes longer than was necessary. Catherine dabbed her forehead with her handkerchief as an ocean breeze played across the back of her graceful neck, sticky with sweat, and filled her nostrils with the salty scent of the sea. She spotted Will who was sitting on the floor with the commoners who came to watch the trial and he immediately began making faces at her. She stuck her tongue out at him, getting herself scolded by Mrs. Croft. As Will was winking at Elizabeth who was pretending not to notice, but giving him sly looks from behind her fan anyway, Catherine wondered why Will's father was not present. At that precise moment the members of the court entered, interrupting her train of thought. She leaned forward until she was sitting on the very edge of her seat as the usual official statements were made, filled with anticipation of the moment the prisoner would appear. Just when she thought she could not bear the excitement any longer, the door at the back of the room opened and two guards emerged, the pirate in irons walking in calmly behind them. It was at that moment that Catherine Swann first laid eyes on Captain Jack Sparrow.
Catherine's breath caught in her throat as she looked on the man standing in front of the court. He was nothing at all like the mean- looking grizzled old rogue she had imagined; Jack Sparrow was young, maybe thirty, with worn leather boots that came up almost to his knee, faded brown trousers, a billowing shirt that had once been white and was worn untied at the collar revealing a strong neck and a sliver of a muscular, brown chest. He wore a plain leather vest over the shirt, as well as numerous wide leather straps which were all connected to a beaten belt with a large gold buckle that had several empty slots and holsters which would normally be occupied by all sorts of weaponry. He had long brown hair that fell, knotted, to the bottom of his shoulder blades. His hair was adorned with an assortment of beads, a few gold coins, a long, thin bone, and a large red scarf he wore tied across his forehead. His beard, which grew from only the tip of his chin, hung before his neck in two beaded braids, accompanied by a short, very dashing(so Catherine thought) mustache, framing out a pair of full lips which seemed almost out of place on his strong, handsome face. Along with the gold in his hair, a few shining gold hoops hung from his ears. His skin was a deep shade of tan, browned by the sun, and complemented his extremely dark eyes which were the deep, rich brown of unrefined coffee and were full of exuberance and life. It was this fiery set of eyes that Catherine could not stop staring at as Jack Sparrow took his place on the raised platform of the accused, eyes that seemed to laugh mockingly at the situation their owner had found himself in.
The pirate did not seem distressed in the least by the severity of the situation; in fact he seemed jovially indifferent. He stood looking up at the court as if to say "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"So, that's a pirate! He's not at all what we had pictured. He doesn't seem very distraught, does he Cate.Cate?" Elizabeth looked at her sister expecting an answer and instead saw her staring intently ahead, her mouth slightly open as if in amazement and a strange light in her eyes that Elizabeth had never seen before. She followed her elder sister's gaze to find it locked onto the person of Captain Jack Sparrow. Elizabeth quickly turned her head back towards Catherine, surprised amusement in her expression. "Well we certainly didn't predict this!"
"What?" said Catherine distantly, still looking at the pirate.
"Be careful, Cate, Father wouldn't like this in the least." With that Elizabeth turned back to the trial. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Are you or are you not the infamous pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow?"
"Yes."
"Have you been leading the recent attacks on the people of Jamaica?"
"Which people?"
"You know perfectly well which people."
"Obviously I don't."
"Certain wealthy families."
"Not that I recall."
"You realize you may very well be hanged for this if you continue to refuse to cooperate?"
"O' course I do, what do ye take me for, an idiot?" At this the crowd burst into laughter.
"I will not take any more of your insolence, boy!" At this last statement the pirate's care free demeanor disappeared rapidly. He leaned menacingly over the railing of the platform, glaring at his accuser. The crowd hushed as a low, threatening voice said "I wouldn't say that again if I was you."
"Do you dare to threaten the Governor, a member of this court and the representative of the King on this island!?!" Sparrow grinned, his gold teeth flashing, and let out a low, guttural laugh.
"Why should I be afraid of you or the King? I'm Cap'n Jack Sparrow!"
The court house fell silent at the sheer nerve of this statement, the only sound being the soft fluttering of the ladies' fans. The faces of the members of the court were grave. They eyes of the prosecutor, who was none other than Governor Swann himself, were filled with loathing.
"The court will take a moment to discuss its decision."
"Took ye long enough," muttered Jack as he turned away from the dais. Care free again, he stuck out his elbows, propped his arms on one corner of the railing surrounding him and kicked his feet up to rest on the other, hanging there as if in a hammock. He whistled as he looked over the crowd, all of whom were either discussing his shocking remarks or simply gaping stupidly at him. He chuckled to himself at the easily amused colonists, when suddenly his laughter stopped as his eyes came to rest on a woman. Jack looked on the only woman in the stifling room not fanning herself, watched as a tendril of auburn hair fell loose from her pinned curls and waved in the breeze from the nearby window, gleaming red in the sunlight. His eyes traveled across her beautiful face and stopped on her own, spirited eyes which were, to his surprise, fixed solidly on his own face. He watched her, puzzled at the way she was looking at him, neither shocked, disgusted, or hatefully. There was something in the way she looked at him that made it impossible for Jack to turn away. Elizabeth looked back and forth from her sister to the pirate and on their unbreakable gaze.
"No, Father wouldn't like this at all."
The two were brought back to the courtroom as the members of the court prepared to present their decision. No one except for Catherine expressed any shock or alarm when it was declared that Captain Jack Sparrow would be hanged the very next day.
Captain Jack Sparrow sat looking up through the small window in the ceiling of his prison cell. No matter how many times he landed in prison he never got used to the feeling. He sat leaning against the dank, mold covered stone wall with his legs bent in front of him, absentmindedly picking a tiny scrap of the rancid meat he had been given by the guards from one of his many gold teeth. Whenever he heard one of the guards coming down the dungeon like corridor, he slipped the knife he had been using back into his boot until they passed.
"Fat stupid oafs," the pirate muttered to himself. Anyone who was stupid enough to take a pirate into custody and not check every square inch of him for weapons deserved whatever he would get when Jack finally managed to break out. It was inevitable; really, this prison was just presenting slightly more of a problem than the others he had been in before. He couldn't pick the lock with his knife, and the idiot dog that he had almost gotten to bring him the keys had run off when someone opened a door in another part of the prison. This really was turning out to be quite tiresome. He really shouldn't even be here, considering the authorities found him doing a good deed, for once. He had snuck onto the new royal flagship, the Interceptor, just to have a look about the place, when he saw this girl fall into the water. Denying all his natural instincts, he dove in a fished her out and was immediately put in irons. The girl was pulled away so quickly that Jack didn't even get to take a decent look at her before he was on his way to jail. Mores the pity, he always enjoyed a lady, as opposed to his customary wenches. Little did Jack know that soon he would indeed see the girl he rescued, even if he wouldn't recognize her, for it was none other than Elizabeth Swann, who had been attending the promotion ceremony of the now Commodore Norrington nearby with her father. Catherine had no desire to attend and had managed to stay away under the pretext of a terrible headache, but Elizabeth had been forced to go because Norrington was the man Governor Swann had been eyeing for his younger daughter's hand, a fact which Elizabeth was not aware of.
Jack would see not only Elizabeth but both of the beautiful Swann sisters very shortly at his trial.
"Useless, this trial," thought Jack to himself. "They're only goin' ter 'ang me anyway. Ridiculous 'ow these civilized gits 'ave to maintain all their stupid rules." The pirate abandoned thoughts of the ineffectualness of his trial and resumed picking his teeth and pondering his escape.
At the very same moment Captain Jack Sparrow was devising a plan of escape, Catherine and Elizabeth Swann were eating their midday meal at the Governor's Mansion hurriedly so as not to be late for the trial. As they sat at the mahogany table picking at silver plates of delicately cooked fish, the two sisters wondered as to why they were being allowed to attend something as risqué as the trial of an infamous pirate when they weren't even allowed to walk out of the front gates of their own house.
"I wonder if this trial has anything to do with the man who pulled me out of the harbor," Elizabeth remarked as she swirled the wine in her glass.
"Perhaps. That would be a possible reason we are being so graciously permitted to attend," replied Catherine with more than a hint of cynicism. "Yes, that would make sense. That's clever of you Tess, I didn't even think of that." Catherine flashed her sister a playful grin. Just as she was about to flick a piece of fish across the table, the girls' dowdy, tightlipped old governess Mrs. Croft came to fetch them to the courthouse.
An hour later, the Swann sisters were glad of their early departure from the Mansion. As the stuffy courtroom began to fill with people, Catherine and Elizabeth were grateful to Mrs. Croft for getting them there early enough to find seats in front of one of the few windows, even if they had to endure their governess' strict presence for a few minutes longer than was necessary. Catherine dabbed her forehead with her handkerchief as an ocean breeze played across the back of her graceful neck, sticky with sweat, and filled her nostrils with the salty scent of the sea. She spotted Will who was sitting on the floor with the commoners who came to watch the trial and he immediately began making faces at her. She stuck her tongue out at him, getting herself scolded by Mrs. Croft. As Will was winking at Elizabeth who was pretending not to notice, but giving him sly looks from behind her fan anyway, Catherine wondered why Will's father was not present. At that precise moment the members of the court entered, interrupting her train of thought. She leaned forward until she was sitting on the very edge of her seat as the usual official statements were made, filled with anticipation of the moment the prisoner would appear. Just when she thought she could not bear the excitement any longer, the door at the back of the room opened and two guards emerged, the pirate in irons walking in calmly behind them. It was at that moment that Catherine Swann first laid eyes on Captain Jack Sparrow.
Catherine's breath caught in her throat as she looked on the man standing in front of the court. He was nothing at all like the mean- looking grizzled old rogue she had imagined; Jack Sparrow was young, maybe thirty, with worn leather boots that came up almost to his knee, faded brown trousers, a billowing shirt that had once been white and was worn untied at the collar revealing a strong neck and a sliver of a muscular, brown chest. He wore a plain leather vest over the shirt, as well as numerous wide leather straps which were all connected to a beaten belt with a large gold buckle that had several empty slots and holsters which would normally be occupied by all sorts of weaponry. He had long brown hair that fell, knotted, to the bottom of his shoulder blades. His hair was adorned with an assortment of beads, a few gold coins, a long, thin bone, and a large red scarf he wore tied across his forehead. His beard, which grew from only the tip of his chin, hung before his neck in two beaded braids, accompanied by a short, very dashing(so Catherine thought) mustache, framing out a pair of full lips which seemed almost out of place on his strong, handsome face. Along with the gold in his hair, a few shining gold hoops hung from his ears. His skin was a deep shade of tan, browned by the sun, and complemented his extremely dark eyes which were the deep, rich brown of unrefined coffee and were full of exuberance and life. It was this fiery set of eyes that Catherine could not stop staring at as Jack Sparrow took his place on the raised platform of the accused, eyes that seemed to laugh mockingly at the situation their owner had found himself in.
The pirate did not seem distressed in the least by the severity of the situation; in fact he seemed jovially indifferent. He stood looking up at the court as if to say "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"So, that's a pirate! He's not at all what we had pictured. He doesn't seem very distraught, does he Cate.Cate?" Elizabeth looked at her sister expecting an answer and instead saw her staring intently ahead, her mouth slightly open as if in amazement and a strange light in her eyes that Elizabeth had never seen before. She followed her elder sister's gaze to find it locked onto the person of Captain Jack Sparrow. Elizabeth quickly turned her head back towards Catherine, surprised amusement in her expression. "Well we certainly didn't predict this!"
"What?" said Catherine distantly, still looking at the pirate.
"Be careful, Cate, Father wouldn't like this in the least." With that Elizabeth turned back to the trial. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Are you or are you not the infamous pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow?"
"Yes."
"Have you been leading the recent attacks on the people of Jamaica?"
"Which people?"
"You know perfectly well which people."
"Obviously I don't."
"Certain wealthy families."
"Not that I recall."
"You realize you may very well be hanged for this if you continue to refuse to cooperate?"
"O' course I do, what do ye take me for, an idiot?" At this the crowd burst into laughter.
"I will not take any more of your insolence, boy!" At this last statement the pirate's care free demeanor disappeared rapidly. He leaned menacingly over the railing of the platform, glaring at his accuser. The crowd hushed as a low, threatening voice said "I wouldn't say that again if I was you."
"Do you dare to threaten the Governor, a member of this court and the representative of the King on this island!?!" Sparrow grinned, his gold teeth flashing, and let out a low, guttural laugh.
"Why should I be afraid of you or the King? I'm Cap'n Jack Sparrow!"
The court house fell silent at the sheer nerve of this statement, the only sound being the soft fluttering of the ladies' fans. The faces of the members of the court were grave. They eyes of the prosecutor, who was none other than Governor Swann himself, were filled with loathing.
"The court will take a moment to discuss its decision."
"Took ye long enough," muttered Jack as he turned away from the dais. Care free again, he stuck out his elbows, propped his arms on one corner of the railing surrounding him and kicked his feet up to rest on the other, hanging there as if in a hammock. He whistled as he looked over the crowd, all of whom were either discussing his shocking remarks or simply gaping stupidly at him. He chuckled to himself at the easily amused colonists, when suddenly his laughter stopped as his eyes came to rest on a woman. Jack looked on the only woman in the stifling room not fanning herself, watched as a tendril of auburn hair fell loose from her pinned curls and waved in the breeze from the nearby window, gleaming red in the sunlight. His eyes traveled across her beautiful face and stopped on her own, spirited eyes which were, to his surprise, fixed solidly on his own face. He watched her, puzzled at the way she was looking at him, neither shocked, disgusted, or hatefully. There was something in the way she looked at him that made it impossible for Jack to turn away. Elizabeth looked back and forth from her sister to the pirate and on their unbreakable gaze.
"No, Father wouldn't like this at all."
The two were brought back to the courtroom as the members of the court prepared to present their decision. No one except for Catherine expressed any shock or alarm when it was declared that Captain Jack Sparrow would be hanged the very next day.