Here we go, sorry so short! Thanks to all the reviewers!:
Chapter 14
"Well what do we do wit 'er?" a voice called out and Gin turned to it. The lanky man with the wooden eye.
Barbossa didn't even bother to glance at him, sheathing his sword and still examining Gin, as if he got some sort of pleasure out of it. "We keep 'er till the mornin'. And then we bargain."
"Bargain what?" Gin demanded before thinking. Luckily he didn't seem angry that she had spoken out of turn.
"Well," he began, clasping his hands behind his back and taking a step forward. She started to back up, then remembered the Gullah behind her. "We're what you might call…" He grinned at his men, "old friends of Jack Sparrow."
"I know who you are," she snapped, somehow working up the courage to give him her best aristocratic glare. If she was leverage, it would be incredibly misguided to kill her before obtaining what they desired. Then again, she was assuming they were smart enough to know this.
"'Eard of us, I see." Barbossa nodded in satisfaction.
"What do you want?" she asked, staring warily at each of them in turn.
Barbossa stepped closer again until his face was inches from hers. "I want me ship back." He looked her up and down again. "And it seems when it comes to you, the ol' cap'n has gone soft. I believe he'll readily trade the Pearl in exchange for yer life."
Gin shook her head in disagreement. "Jack won't give up his ship," she told him.
"Yer sure 'bout that?" he questioned. She took a step back, but stopped herself from moving any further. "He seems rather fond of ya."
"It makes no difference," she lied, desperately hoping that she sounded convincing. "He loves that ship."
"But not you, is that it?" He raised his eyebrows, but she held her ground, knowing he was trying to shake her.
"Captain Jack Sparrow in love?" she scoffed. "I'm simply a hostage, meant to be returned to my father in England. After he pays the ransom of course."
"Missy," Barbossa began menacingly, "ya don't fool me. Ya may have a famous name, but yer not above us, nor Jack. Ye love 'im, it's in yer eyes. So I'll tell ya what." He draped an arm across her shoulder and she cringed. "If at first we don't succeed," He glanced back in the direction of the camp, "I'll kill Jack, and you'll go to Turner and try again." He seemed to enjoy the expression this brought up on her face. "Men!" he yelled, swinging her around along with him to face them. "Get some sleep! We attack at dawn!"
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"Jack!"
"Piss off," Jack groaned, turning over on his side in an attempt to shield himself from the person disrupting his sleep.
"Wake up you bastard!" he heard Elizabeth practically scream at him.
He sat up finally, fully intending on having a few colorful words with her, lady or not, to find both her and Will standing in front of him, their expressions extremely concerned. He rose to his feet, dusting off his pants and glanced around. The whole crew surrounded him, their faces mirroring the first two, if not a little less severe in their worry. "What happened?" he asked, turning around in a full circle and inspecting the blanket he had been lying on. "Where's Ginny?"
"That's what we'd like to know," Will said as if it should have been self-evident.
"She's missing?" he demanded, growing frantic himself. He no longer blamed Elizabeth for waking him.
"Aye," he heard Gibbs say from his right. "'Lil sprite was gone when we woke up."
"Should we divide into search parties or something?" Will suggested.
"No need for that," a voice assured him. A voice far too familiar for Jack's tastes.
They all slowly pivoted toward the woods.
"You…you can't…" Elizabeth stuttered. "You can't be-"
"What?" Barbossa cut her off. "Alive? Yes, well. That curse of our works in mysterious ways Miss Swann. 'Lil Jack 'ere retrieved a coin for us." He patted the monkey sitting on his shoulder. "But I consider that beside the pint, don't you? I should think you'd probably like to be knowin' where yer little friend has run off too."
Jack stepped forward to advance on him, but Will held an arm out against his chest, stopping him, then turned back to Barbossa, holding Jack in place. "You have Gin?"
"Miss Harold?" Barbossa clarified. "Aye." He grinned. "Pretty young thing, i'n she Jack?"
This comment made Will's job of holding his friend back much harder, but he managed. "Where is she?" he asked forcefully.
"Now, now, patience is a virtue, Mr. Turner," Barbossa chastised, shaking a finger at him. "She'll be returned to ya shortly, safe an' sound."
"And how's that?" Jack insisted, growing angrier with each passing minute.
"Well seein' as I'm a pirate, I o' course want somethin' in return for safe keepin' of the lass."
"Where is she?" Jack repeated Will's command.
Barbossa didn't answer, simply gesturing behind himself toward the mass of trees. Out stepped Bo'sun from behind one of the many palms, holding Gin in front of him, no doubt to shield any bullets, regardless of the curse. He held a long, thin knife at her throat, coming dangerously close to slitting it.
"Now, then," Barbossa turned round again to face them. "Ye've seen 'er. I just want a simple trade 'ere."
"What do you want?" Will asked, glancing nervously at Bo'sun, steadily holding the knife in front of Gin's neck.
"'E wants the Pearl," Jack stated, staring at Barsossa. It wasn't a question.
"Aye," Barbossa gave a confirming nod. "Simple as that. And then she's yers." He indicated Gin.
"Kill her," Anamaria spoke up suddenly, earning herself several confused glances from her captain and crewmates. "What does it matter to us?"
"Aye," Jack approved, realizing what she was doing and desperately hoping that Gin did as well. "A hostage ain't worth me ship."
"Aha." Barbossa shifted his gaze momentarily to The Black Pearl, docked in the island's sandy bay. "Well, then," He nodded back at his Gullah minion, "if she means nothin' to ye, we'll just be killin' 'er then." Bo'sun's grip on Gin tightened and the blade of his dagger pierced a shallow cut in her skin.
Jack's sword was drawn before he even knew he had unsheathed it. He heard the click of a pistol being cocked and glanced to his right to find Will had already taken aim.
Barbossa's grin grew in satisfaction. "Thought that'd sway the vote a bit."
"The ship for the girl," Bo'sun's deep voice clarified.
Barbossa walked toward the whole crew, stopping just short of Jack and offering his hand to him. "Do we 'ave an accord?"
Jack's eyes shifted to Gin just behind his ex-first mate; she didn't dare move in Bo'sun's grasp. A single tear slid down her cheek and she managed to shake her head at him in disapproval of shaking with Barbossa. The fact that he knew she would understand if he chose his ship over her made his decision for him.
"Aye," he agreed, clasping the mutineer's hand.
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