Chapter the Sixth: Captive

Urenna informed Jack, after a long conversation with her father, that he would be staying in her hut. She didn't seem too happy about it, and honestly Jack couldn't really blame her. He *was* a bit of a disreputable character, if he did say so himself.

He was currently sitting in front of a low, rickety table in Urenna's hut, slurping noisily from a bowl of unidentified stew she'd given him along with a jug of water. He'd finished the water already. Urenna was sitting across from him, watching with a blank look on her face as he guzzled the nourishment hungrily.

"Lovely," Jack said after he'd finished licking the bowl clean. "My compliments to the chef." He deposited empty jug and bowl on the table and grinned at Urenna.

"Will ship really come?" she asked after a moment.

"Of course they will," Jack said, although a note of doubt crept into his voice. There wasn't really much question of whether they'd actually go looking for him, it was more of a question if they'd *find* him or not. "I'll have to set up a signal on the beach, though. Maybe you can get me some of that bamboo that you people seem to have in abundance here...I doubt anything else in this bloody wet jungle will burn."

Urenna looked at him steadily. Jack wondered if she knew enough English to understand half the things he said.  "How do you and your father know any English, eh?" he asked, suddenly curious.
"English man came to village, taught my father. He teach me," said Urenna.

English man? thought Jack, suddenly hopeful. "Where is this English man now?" he asked, leaning forwards a bit. It would be nice to have someone around who actually understood more than fifty percent of what he said.

"Dead," said Urenna flatly. "He sacrifice to Gods after he no more use to father."

"Oh," gulped Jack.

"Don't worry, father not kill you yet. He wait until he gets rum." Urenna stood up.

"What?" Jack said. "He's *still* going to kill me? I thought we agreed - my life for the rum!" exclaimed Jack
"Gods need sacrifice," said Urenna. "Gods always need sacrifice." She didn't sound too happy about it.

"Sacrifice a goat or something!" Jack stood up hurriedly. "I'm leaving," he announced. "I won't stand around to be betrayed and then sacrificed to some heathen deity!" He turned and marched out of the hut, to be met by the barrel of a musket and the head of a spear.

"Guards," Jack muttered in disgust. "Bleedin' guards. Look, I just want to go for a walk, savvy?" he said, holding his hands up, palms out. The guards just glared at him through their face paint.

He sighed and retreated back into the hut. Urenna had cleared away the remnants of his meal and stood calmly against the far wall.

"Can I have my hat back, at least?" She was still wearing it. "Let a man die with his hat on, eh?"

Urenna pulled off the hat and looked at it. "I like hat," she said, slowly and ponderously, as if she was deciding his fate. Jack stared at her. These people were *insane*.

"Right, well...It's mine. But, if - *when* my ship turns up, I'll get you a hat. A bigger one. A better one. So, can I have that one back? Please?" He widened his eyes at her.

Urenna reluctantly handed it back. He grinned and stuffed it on his head, feeling more confident already. "Thanks, love." He paced around the hut, no longer hatless.

The Jamaican woman was staring at him with a curious intensity. Jack stopped pacing and turned to her, a frown marring his dirt-stained face. "What? Never seen a pirate with his hat on before, eh?" He grinned at her, but her expression remained unchanged.

He waved a hand in front of her face. Urenna blinked and gave him an odd, undecipherable look before exiting the hut. Jack stared after her, bewildered. "Certainly a bit o' an odd bird," he muttered to himself, and sat down on Urenna's straw bed.

He must have fallen asleep at some point, for when he woke up, it was morning. The sun broke in irregular, jagged shards on the dusty floor, and it shone in Jack's eyes. He groaned and rolled off the mattress, finding the floor to be about the same consistency. He managed to plant his feet beneath him and stand up, peering around the cramped space.

Another straw bed had been dragged into the hut at some point during the night, and Urenna was sleeping on it. She was on her back, hands folded on her stomach, and she looked oddly...peaceful. Jack watched her sleep a moment - an Amazon at rest; a rare sight - and then stepped towards the open doorway.

Two guards blocked his path, this time both with spears. Still, they were unnervingly sharp. Jack sighed and held up his hands in defeat, retreating back into the hut. He sat back down on his straw bed and fiddled with his hat for a while, and then lay back and stared at the gap-filled, palm-frond ceiling.

A stirring nearby announced Urenna's awakening. Jack tilted his head and watched her get up and move to the doorway, speaking to the guards in a low voice. She turned her dark eyes on his placid, resting form and he gave a little wave. "Ello, love. How's about a little breakfast? I don't know about you, but I'm starving." He sat up. "So, what shall it be? Caterpillar? Coconuts? Caterpillars in coconuts? Quite frankly, I'm up for anything, because like I mentioned...I'm starving." His stomach gave a rumble and he flashed his gold-capped teeth. "See? Punctuation," he added.

All through this Urenna was giving him a very odd look. Poor chit really *can't* understand me half the time, Jack thought sadly. His... 'incarceration' here was made even worse by the lack of English-speaking people about.

He could only hope that the Black Pearl would come for him soon.

Pearl, *please* come for me soon, Jack thought, not for the first - or last - time.

"You come with me," Urenna said.

Ten minutes later, Jack sat in front of the bonfire in the middle of the village. The fire was little more than a pile of glowing embers, now, and Urenna told him it was only lit at night, and their food was wrapped up and stuck into the coals to be cooked. Their usual 'food' turned out to be, unsurprisingly, snake.

Jack ate coal-cooked snake and watched the villagers go about their business. They occasionally stared at him as they passed, carrying baskets or some other item, but gave him no trouble. The men seemed to be especially hostile towards him, especially when Urenna came and sat beside him. He supposed she was a bit of an 'item', what with being the Head Honcho's daughter and all. The thought that the men might be jealous of him made Jack choke on his morsel of snake.

"Why you laugh?" Urenna asked, puzzled. Jack wondered the same thing himself - how could he possibly find humour in this situation? He was going to die in fourteen - no, thirteen days.

"Honestly, darling, I have no idea," he said breezily, and took another bite of snake. He stared at the remaining meat thoughtfully as he chewed. "You know...this actually tastes quite a lot like chicken," he remarked.

"Snake is snake, not ... chicken," replied Urenna blankly.

"You people 'ave got no sense of humour, honestly. I don't know how you survive. Me, if I took everything seriously, I'd be dead by now. Seriously," he added. "I mean, look at all this." He waved his snake-on-a-stick, taking in the whole camp. "I'm a captive here, yes? I'm going to be sacrificed to your Gods, aye? Now, if I considered that sort of situation seriously, I'd shoot meself."

Urenna had stopped paying attention halfway through his little speech, and was munching steadily on her own snake. "You talk lots, Jack Savvy," she said through a mouthful of reptilian flesh.
He found this hilariously funny and laughed so loudly the two guards that followed him around all the time jumped. "Aye! You aren't the first one to have said that, love." He thought mournfully of Anamaria, and wondered if he would ever get another opportunity to have a good verbal sparring session with her. One one hand, he hoped so - but on the other, he didn't. Anamaria was incredibly difficult when she wanted to be.

And Gibbs. Jack was starting to miss Gibbs's...Well, he couldn't really think of anything overly remarkable about Gibbs, nothing that he really wanted to think about, anyway. But the person he missed the most was definitely the Black Pearl.

The Pearl. Technically, she wasn't a person - but as far as Captain Jack Sparrow was concerned, she was damned close. He sighed wistfully as he thought of his Pearl's sails unfurling, white and pure as snow; of the smooth, dark wood glistening as the morning light shone upon it, the feel of the helm beneath his calloused palms...

Urenna must have noticed his mood, for Jack became aware that she was speaking. "Jack Savvy?" she said. He looked at her.

"It's Jack *Sparrow*, love. Not Savvy. Savvy?"
"Jack Savvy?" repeated Urenna, confused.
"Never mind." Jack sighed and finished off his snake. Urenna stood, having finished hers before him.

"You come with me."
Jack scrambled to his feet and swayed after her as she made her way through the camp. "Where are we going?" He almost collided into one of his personal guards and brushed the man off before continuing after Urenna. "Eh?"
"To make signal." She turned to him, a gleam in her eye. "You do want ship to come?"

"Aye, but what good will it do? You said your father's going to kill me anyway," replied Jack miserably.
Urenna looked worried. She walked close to him and whispered in his ear. This incited a few acid looks from the guards and other men, but she ignored them. "Father not know you know he going to deceive you," she whispered. "You escape when ship comes. I help."
Jack goggled at her, bewildered. "Why?"
She stepped back from him, grinning for the first time since he had met her.

"You not bad man, Jack Savvy. That why."