-
Carmen stirred. Four large pots were heating by a large fire. She had managed the stares hoped that after dinner, she could sleep.
"'Ello, Miss Carmen," Mr. Gibbs walked into the kitchen. Suddenly, he stopped and whiffed the air, "We 'asnt 'ad a good meal in years."
Carmen smiled at the man. She had thought all the pirates would of tried to hurt her, but they had not. Probably because of the map she carried in a little necklace. Carmen started to fill up the numerous plates on the table then went up onto deck. She turned up to the stairs and to the helm. Jack still at the wheel, this time with a bottle of rum.
"Jack?" His eyes moved to her.
"Evening, luv," he took a swig of his small flask, "Wha' 'ave yer been up ter?"
Carmen noticed he was drunk, or very close to it, "Dinner's ready."
Jack was more attentive now and threw his arms up, bellowing, "Crew, grubs on ter night!"
The place crowded then they sat, then they slurped, gagged and what seemed to be eating food. Anamaria was about the only one who didn't dribble, but did engage in a game of some sort of shots of rum if you answered something wrong.
Carmen decided to stay far from most of the crew. And most of the crew were in the kitchen so this was the time she could go on deck. She pushed herself past the drunk and noisy men and walked out and up the stairs.
The night was clear and the moon was full.
"Peace and quiet…" She mumbled as she sat down at the top of the stairs to the helm. She leaned back and stared at the stars. Even though she knew that she should not be on a pirate ship and should not be relaxing but she felt unusually, calm. She touched the knife that she hid under the cuff of her shirt. She couldn't help but take one from the kitchen, just in case.
"Needed a break, luv?" A low voice asked below her.
She turned around to see Jack leaning against the main mast. "Yeah, I guess so," he smiled and sat down next to her. Her mind was set on how she was going to get back and slightly on the treasure until she realised something. "Captain, how are we to find this Island?"
Jack gazed at the sea then replied, "Well, me deary. I'm not as daft as they says I am," he smiled and leaned back to look at the stars, "There's always a way to open these little charms, fer instance," he sat up again and flapped his hand in the air, "Tha' Aztec gold of Cortez. Yer needed it ta touch water. Simple as it may seem, it took nearly ten years fer them ta find it out. Savvy?".
Carmen leaned back next to him, her mind racing for an answer.
"Well, maybe its water again?" She pulled it out of her shirt and played with it in her fingers. She ran her fingers over the skull then hit the sharp edge of the barred snake teeth, piercing her finger.
"Ow!"
She dropped the pendent and stared at the cut on her finger. Jack sat up to see what had happened. She picked up the pendent and a drop fell onto the snakes head. A invisible force shot out all around them and pushed both her and Jack back. The small amount of clouds in the sky, disappeared and the moon shone down on the ground in front of them.
Slowly, silver lines appeared on the planks of wood.
"Or maybe blood", whispered Jack as he watched the lines turn into a map.
They watched as it shone brighter and then a small cracking sound pierced the silence. Parchment slowly rose out of the wood, floated into the air then landed gracefully back down. The atmosphere became normal again.
"Well, I guess our little problem is solved", Carmen said, her face lined with relief and also slight shock.
-
Several days passed as they made their journey to Emerald Island. On the fourth day she was ordered to do the washing up, and she proved difficult. As she finished drying the knives, forks, spoons and plates, she decided to get out into the sun.
"Land ahoy!", yelled Jack from the wheel as she stepped into the afternoon sun.
She slowly walked up onto the helm and stood by Jack, seeming to gaze at him in wonder. Jack furrowed his brow in confusion as she had not spoken. He turned his attention to her and sighed.
"Is there anything yer need, love?" She smiled and leaned against the rail as the heat of the sun beamed on her back. Not many of the crew were on deck. Many had gone to eat, in which Carmen had prepared an early meal. She turned around and watched as land slowly started to appear.
"Now if this is Isla de la Muerte, then how long should it take us to get to Emerald?" Carmen asked as they both gazed at the shadowy piece of land. Jack flipped out his compass and the map and stared at it for a moment. Carmen lent over and noticed the compass wasn't working. Before she could ask, Jack snapped the compass shut and turned the wheel to the right. The ship swayed to the right and Carmen nearly fell at the sudden movement.
"It woul' take us a few hours", he said as he turned back to Carmen. She nodded in reply and continued to watch him.
"Why do you wear kohl on your eyes?" The question was utterly random.
He looked at her suspiciously then rolled his eyes. "Well, it stops tha' light reflectin' off tha' ocean an' burnin' me eyes".
Carmen thought that was actually quite smart for a pirate, considering near most of the crew could not spell.
"Very clever, Captain," she said after a few minutes.
The silence between then wasn't awkward but peaceful. Slowly, the crew emerged all looking slightly slurred and full. Carmen didn't feel like cleaning. She had spent most of the last days cleaning. As she sat and watched the crew and feeling boredom taking over, an idea popped into her mind.
"Captain Jack Sparrow," she said loud and clear to catch his attention. Jack turned around and raised an eye brow.
"Yer luv?"
Carmen picked up a sword that was left upon the helm, "I want you to teach me how to use a sword."
Jack let out a chuckle, "Teach yer to use a sword?"
Carmen rolled her eyes, "Yes Jack, teach me to use a sword."
Jack laughed and yelled for Anamaria to take the wheel.
"This'll be intrestin'", Jack led Carmen onto the deck.
Carmen instantly felt the excitement and adrenaline running through her veins. Jack seemed to have a very leering look on his face.
He lifted his sword and smiled, "Let's see wha' tha' stranger knows." He ran the blade along hers, just as he had upon the first night she was on the ship.
She spun around and clashed the blade into his. Surprisingly to Jack, she knew how to hold the sword but she was not very good at defence. Soon, she was starting to slow down. Jack was now over taking her.
"Yer good," he turned around and nearly knocked the sword out of her hand, "An' fer a lass."
They continued for a while; Jack giving her tips and Carmen obeying. As much as she tried to concentrate at her best, something nagging in the back of her mind. A feeling that told her to keep looking behind her back, and not for Jack.
She fought with ease, knowing that he would not purposely hurt her. Her mind began to trail off…
She felt a sharp pain on her hand and dropped the sword.
"Yer gotta keep watch, luv," Jack put his sword down and slowly took her hand into his to inspect the damage. Carmen noticed his hands were worn with work. "Nothin' but a scratch," he smiled and rubbed the cut with a smile, "Yer'll be Alrigh'."
Carmen smiled and turned to look at the sea. "Captain, would you think that - that maybe we could be followed?"
Jack turned to where she was looking. "I wouldn' know, lass," he sighed then rested his arms on the railing; flashing some of his gold teeth as he spoke, "some pirates know 'bout tha' myth, but many wouldn' bother."
He took her hand into his and inspected the wound again, Carmen gave a small laugh, "Jack, its fine, it'll heal up soon." To her surprise, Jack lifted her hand to his nose and smelled along her hand and wrist. She stared at him
"Yer smell a lot nicer than most lasses," he said with a smile before letting her hand fall to her side. She stared at his deep eyes; so much darker than hers.
"Maybe that's because I like to take baths, unlike most of the women here", she laughed.
"I'll better get back ter the helm", he picked up his sword then made his way to the helm.
Carmen thought about this whole journey as orange and red graced the skies. She watched the waves crash against the ship. Later on, the sky became less orange and blue started to peak over the sky, she could of sworn she saw another ship in the distance. It flickered then disappeared, then flickered again then disappeared.
"Weird", she mumbled as she squinted to see it again but there was nothing there. Just the clear, cool blue of the ocean.
"Land Ahoy!" Mr Gibbs yelled from the crows nest. Carmen, who was in a daze, snapped out of it and stood up to see a small piece of land appearing. Jack took a swig of his rum and gazed at the island. It was completely different from Isla de la Muerte. Emerald Island had a soft glow to it. It had large beaches and forest covering most of it.
"An' now I see why they call it Emerald Island", Anamaria came up to the side by Carmen. Carmen stared at the island in amazement.
Soon, they were making there way to shore. Most of the crew had come, leaving only some to look after the Black Pearl.
"How long will we be staying here?" asked Carmen as they walked onto the shore and started to make a small camp in a circle of palm trees. Mr Gibbs and Cotton started a small fire while some made tents and other explored around a bit.
"Well it seems-", Jack started but was cut short as Mr Gibbs came out of a bush, laughing and holding all sorts of fruits in his arms.
"Capt'n! Capt'n! This place is a treasure mountain!" he dropped the fruit and rammed his hand into his pocket and pulled out gold coins and jewels. More cheers from the crew as they came into the clearing, all holding jewels and other valuables. Jack grinned and turned his attention back to Carmen, who also had a smile on her face.
"I thin' a while, luv", Jack said with a smile, answering her previous question.
They had been there for only a few hours, and by nightfall, they had found many things besides treasure. Gibbs had found a small, clear waterfall that had fresh water. Cotton had found several caves with gold fused into the cave walls while Carmen had found herself a nice beach that was much to her liking. She sat around the fire, happily eating peaches as the crew sang 'A Pirates life for me'.
Jack had made sure they had brought enough rum to last a few days. He had also sent a message back to the crew on the ship. She hummed to the song, but didn't know the words.
Jack was happily yelling the words.
She smiled at him. He tipped his head back as the chorus started then took another gulp of his precious rum. Several pirates walked past Carmen, and soon as they did, she got a whiff of dirt and body odour. She coughed up some of the peach and smelt herself.
"Argh!"
Only then did she realise she smelt bad, and probably didn't realise before because she was always surrounded by it. She threw the peach seed into the fire and started to walk towards Jack, who looked well off his chops, but still on his feet.
"Jack!" She called out, and moved out of the way as one of the crew members staggered towards her. He fell onto the sand in a heap, still holding his rum. Jack let out a laugh and turned to her.
"'Ello, love! Y-yer looking' quite n-nice", he slurred and scanned her body. She sighed and tilted his head up so he was looking at her face.
"Jack, I'm going to go to that little waterfall that Mr Gibbs found," he swayed slightly as she spoke, "I'll be gone for maybe an hour or less."
Jack grinned and threw the bottle aside, finding her had no interest in it anymore. "Alrigh'," he stumbled to the side then regained his stature, "Yer wan' me ter come?", he seemed to know that she was going to bathe.
"Well, sorry but no. But if I'm not back in half an hour," she smiled at him and patted him on the shoulder, "then you can come and find me and only you. I don't want other drunken pirates perving on me!" She joked and started to make her way to the waterfall.
Carmen smiled at the glistening water. You could see the bottom of the falls, and she thanked lord there was no one else with her. She stripped down to her bra and undies and stepped into one of the rock pools. She floated on her back and gazed at the stars. She could feel her neck lace dangling in the water.
"Captain Jack Sparrow…" Not knowing why the words left her lips, she sighed.
Carmen pulled herself out of her thoughts and walked out of the water; thoroughly drying herself. Just as she took off her charm and went to hook it onto a low tree branch, she heard something snap.
"Whose there?", she suddenly felt as if winter had come early.
What was a warm and relaxing place, had now turned to an eerie silence. She pulled on her shirt and slowly started to walk towards the noise.
"Hello?" she whispered. She heard the snap again and ducked under a fallen tree.
It's probably just a monkey or something…She sighed then looked up and let out a yelp.
"'Ello poppet!" A hand was snapped over her mouth and the first thing that came into her mind was the charm! She pulled away and grabbed the charm, shoved it down her bra before she was grabbed again and hit over the head.