Chapter the Fifth: Wild Things

For once in his life, Captain Jack Sparrow was speechless.

He'd been in situations more dangerous than this, but it was more the shock of finding out another human being lived on this godforsaken spit of land that left him a bit surprised.

The woman stepped forward, the rough-hewn spearhead now brushing against Jack's neck. He swallowed heavily and held up his hands. "Now, love, you don't really be wanting to do that," he said, in a quiet, soothing voice he might use to calm a screaming toddler.

She cocked her head like a bird, listening closely to his words. Jack sighed heavily. "Just my luck, you don't speak the Queen's English," he muttered, and then stood slowly. The woman jolted forward, pressing the spear hard against the soft flesh of his jugular.

Jack gulped again, but carefully. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said softly, keeping his hands in the air even though his arms were beginning to hurt. "I know I might look a bit dangerous, but I'm harmless, really..."
The woman looked at the ground. Jack had dropped his hat when he stood, and she was staring at it curiously like it was some sort of extremely unusual-looking animal. She kept the spear pointed at him and bent slowly, picking up the brown leather hat.

"Thank'ee very much, love," Jack said, holding out his hand expectantly. She ignored him; examining his hat and inching forward a bit, causing Jack to step back, spear against his throat.

Now she had moved into the light of the campfire, Jack could see her clearly. She was tall, almost as tall as him, and the tunic she wore came down to her knees. On her feet she wore sandals made out of some kind of rope and leather, though where she had gotten the leather on this island was a bit of a mystery to Jack. Her dark eyes surveyed his hat thoroughly, and then him and his odd-looking garb. She opened her mouth and gestured with the spear after a long moment.
"You are a pirate."

He was so shocked that she could speak English that he didn't reply for a moment. "Aye," he croaked eventually. "You speak English?"

"Yes," said the woman. She had a thick Jamaican accent. "My name Urenna. I from village in jungle."

"In the jungle?" repeated Jack, doubtfully. "People LIVE in there?"

"In village," repeated Urenna. "Deep in jungle, so bad men not find us." She hefted her spear threateningly. "Are you bad man?"

"Sometimes," said Jack, smirking, but the smirk quickly turned into a grimace as Urenna pressed the spear so hard into his flesh a drop of blood fell down his neck. "No! No, I'm not."

"You lie?" Urenna said. It was half a question, half a statement.
"No. I'm not a 'bad man'. Honestly, love." Jack cautiously stepped back, and slowly rubbed the blood away from his neck.

He tried to subtly reach for his sword, not trusting this Jamaican woman, but she thrust the spear into his face and he stopped. "All right, all right," he said, flapping his hands upwards. "I surrender." He thought for a moment. "This may sound horribly clichéd, but...how's about you take me to your leader, and we can sort this out, eh?"

Urenna was still holding Jack's hat. She looked at it and then at him. "Pirates bad men," she stated.

"Some of us, love. Not all of us," said Jack desperately. He wanted to get out of this without too many holes in his flesh. "Some of us are good men...like me," he poked himself in the chest. "Me *good* pirate. Savvy?"

"Savvy?" asked Urenna, obviously confused. Understanding dawned on her dark face after a moment. "Au! You name Savvy," she said.

"Actually, me name's Jack Sparrow - Captain Jack Sparrow, but you can call me Jack," said Jack.

"Jack Savvy," said Urenna happily. "I take you to Chief Ohini."

"Good then," said Jack. "Now can I have my hat back?"

Urenna led Jack through the jungle, pushing him in front of her and guiding him with her spear. He felt a little bit nervous, which wasn't surprising as he had a crazy Jamaican woman with a spear leading him into the dark, wet jungle.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Jack asked nervously, bumping into a tree. Urenna prodded him with the spear and he muttered to himself, navigating around the offending tree, his boots sinking a few inches into the mossy undergrowth as he walked.

"I find way out of jungle, I find way in," she said. "I live here my whole life, Jack Savvy. I know way."

"Fair enough," said Jack, "But I don't." He swore angrily as he banged into another tree and clutched his bruised face.

What enraged him the most was not being shoved around like so much spare baggage, more that she still had his hat. And she was wearing it.

It didn't suit her.
It took half an hour for Urenna to lead him through the jungle. She seemed to be following some kind of hidden path, for occasionally she would stop, examine a tree or a rock or a bush, and then change course.   Jack had no idea where exactly in the jungle they were, as Urenna never let him stop long enough to get his bearings.

After what seemed like forever, Urenna hit him with her spear and told him to stop. She let out a series of high, bird-like whistles, and listened quietly to the ensuing silence.

"What are we stopping for?" asked Jack, but she jabbed him with the spear again. He shut his mouth and listened along with her, trying not to breathe too loudly lest she abuse him with the spear once more.

All he could hear was the sound of the jungle. Urenna whistled again, almost deafening him with the almost impossibly high pitch. After a moment there came a matching whistle from ahead and above, and then ten Jamaican warriors dropped from the trees.

They surrounded Urenna and Jack, spears identical to Urenna's pointed at them - or, more specifically, pointed at Jack. He held up his hands slowly.

"Parlay?" he asked.

Urenna's village was situated in a clearing deep in the jungle. A series of huts made out of bamboo, palm leaves and other unidentifiable tropical foliage surrounded a huge bonfire. Warriors, women and children sat around it, talking, dancing, laughing and eating.

Jack looked up as he was led, bound and stripped of his effects, into the clearing. He could see the stars again.

The people gathered around the fire looked up at their entrance. The women hastily took their children inside their various huts, and the men stood, gathering up their weapons. Jack saw a musket or two among the primitive spears and knives.
"Where'd they get the guns?" Jack asked Urenna, who was walking beside him. She was still wearing his hat.
"Men come here, trade with us sometime," she said. "Good men. Not pirates." She gave him a look and Jack shrugged guiltily. He couldn't help it if he was a pirate, could he?

"So, where's this Chief Kahuna of yours?" he asked as Urenna spoke to the warriors surrounding him and they dispersed. He felt a little less nervous, but Urenna still had her spear poked at him. Jack, as a general rule, didn't really like pointy things when they were in his face.

"Chief Ohini," said Urenna flatly. "He in Chief's Hut. This way." She grabbed him and led him to the biggest hut in the village. Jack felt the men's hostile eyes on him, and noticed a few much friendlier eyes on Urenna as well.

Makes sense, he thought. She's a very...voluptuous woman.

The inside of the hut was dim and lit by candles. It contained only a rough mat and a throne of sorts, made out of what looked like some kind of dark, varnished bamboo. A man sat in the throne, eating what looked to be some sort of stew.

The man looked up at their entrance. He wore the standard warrior's loincloth, but over that he also wore a robe of richly woven, coloured fabric, and a necklace of what looked like bone. He was clearly the chief.

His eyes fell on Urenna first. "Urenna!" he exclaimed, and spoke quickly in a language Jack recognized as Jamaican but couldn't understand.

Urenna replied in the same language. Jack caught his own name mentioned a few names - well, Urenna's version of it, anyway: "Jack Savvy".

Eventually she fell silent and the Chief - Ohini, wasn't it? - surveyed Jack quietly. He opened his mouth and the words that came out were not Jamaican, but a slow, calculated English. He seemed to stew over each word for a few seconds before saying it.
"My daughter say you are pirate," he said, his rumbling voice like a growl of thunder.
"Daughter?" Jack blinked and looked at Urenna, but her expression revealed nothing. He spoke his next words slowly and carefully. "Aye, I am a pirate." He felt he ought to say something else, so he added, "Sir."

"She also say you good man, you not try to hurt her," said Chief Ohini.

"Wish I could say the same for her in respect to me," muttered Jack, rubbing his neck. He smiled quickly and added a little bow at the Chief's expression.

The big dark man seemed to be considering something. He leaned back in his throne and put down the bowl of stew he had been holding, stroking his chin absently.

"You tell," he said, "Why you here?"

"I was captured," said Jack shamefully. It was almost too much to bear, admitting HE, Captain Jack Sparrow, had been captured. Again. "By the Spanish. Bad men," he explained. "And I escaped while they were sailing past this island. I really didn't come 'ere to harm anyone, honest. I didn't even know you and your people were here, Your Holiness."

Chief Ohini surveyed him closely. "You tell truth?" he asked.
"Aye. Why would I lie?" asked Jack. This statement seemed to enrage the Chief, who straightened in his chair, his dark eyes glinting in the dim light. Urenna grimaced a bit as he shouted.
"Bad men lie! Bad men come and burn our villages, kill our men, steal our women, take our children!" He settled back into his chair, flush-faced.
"I'm not a bad man," offered Jack weakly in the face of Chief Ohini's rage. He seemed to have calmed, though, and was looking at Urenna. He spoke to her in Jamaican and she answered, glancing at Jack out of the corner of her eye.
"I was going to sacrifice you to Gods," he said, "But I not kill you."

Jack inclined his head. "Thank'ee."
"Yet," added Chief Ohini. Jack's face fell. "You have ship?"

"Aye," said Jack. "They should be coming for me any moment, really."

Ohini seemed to be considering something. "What you have on your ship?" he asked, after awhile.

"Oh, you know," said Jack breezily, "Rope. Barrels. Wood. Rum. Shippy things."

"Rum!" roared Chief Ohini. "You have rum!"

"Aye," said Jack cautiously, wondering what the man was getting at. He spoke again to Urenna and then turned back to Jack.

"I let you go if you give us rum," he said.

Jack frowned at this. Give away his precious rum? "How much rum are we talking about, here?"

Chief Ohini spoke to his daughter again and then looked back at him. "How much you have?"

"About ten barrels," lied Jack. He actually had about twenty.
"Ten barrels of rum for you life, Jack Savvy," said Chief Ohini, eyes glinting. "Good deal, yes?"

Jack thought about this for a long while. On the one hand, his life was quite valuable, but on the other hand, so was rum. He eventually took into account that he had to be *alive* to drink rum. He nodded at Chief Ohini, slowly and carefully. "I don't know 'ow long my ship will take to get here, though," he said. PLEASE get here soon, Pearl, he prayed silently.

"You stay with us while wait," said Chief Ohini. "If ship not come in ten-four days, you die."

Jack paled a bit.
Well, Gibbs, Anamaria, he thought. You've got fourteen days to show up.

And you'd better not drink all the rum on the way here, either.