DISCLAIMER THINGY: I don't own Jack Sparrow, but I do think he's one of the
most interesting characters ever created! This is my version of who I think
he was at age 14... and the events that turned him into the pirate we all
know and love...
THIS STORY IS A prequel to my other fanfic, "Jack Sparrow and the Music Box". I am trying to keep the stories independent of each other, but they do share several of the same characters and their twisting plots are strongly intertwined. You don't need to read the one to understand the other.... But, it won't bother me at all if ye decide to read both! :)
JACK OF ALL TRADES CHAPTER 1: YOUNG SPARROW
Jack takes an exhausted breath and laughs. He collapses around a high branch of one of the trees among Bristol's woods and waits patiently for the British soldiers to catch up.
This is Jack's most favorite game... And besides, he feels he is doing his country a great service by keeping her men in tip-top form.
He climbs higher up into the tree until he can see the English coastline, glittering in the noonday sun like an ethereal jewel. A boyish spark of hope runs through him as he searches the horizon. His father's ship, The Black Pearl, is scheduled to return any day from its duty to the Royal Navy... And Jack can hardly wait for it to, once again, make safe berth.
He hears footsteps on the crisp autumn ground below and holds perfectly still, so as not to be seen.
"The boy came this way I tell ye!" An officer by the name of Reese announces loudly, making sure that his prey can hear.
His ungainly companion, Officer Shepherd, reluctantly trails behind."But there's no where to hide in these woods... The thistle is too sharp and the trees are too thin."
"He's here to be sure, my friend." Reese continues. "I guarantee it. He ends up here every time."
Jack frowns at the comment. It is simply untrue. Last time, he hid in a completely different tree, in a completely different part of the forest.
"And why are we after the boy again?" Shepherd asks, growing restless.
Reese spins around and places his hands squarely on the other officer's shoulders. "For fun," he smiles. "Simply for fun. Every week Lady Hammish's prized milking cow mysteriously disappears from her pasture, and every week we are given the most urgent order to chase after the bloke who took 'er!"
The new officer does not hesitate to let his irritation show. "If you want someone to chase after... I saw the most fetching little lass selling dried flowers at the market yesterday..."
"The one near the fish vendor?"
"Quite right!" Shepherd growls huskily. "So, you know of whom I speak?"
Reese lowers his eyebrows in disapproval. "That I do... She's my sister!
The officer cowers at his mistake, then brightens up with newfound hope. "Now seeing that you know her name, might I enquire of it?"
A tiny snap of a twig interrupt the conversation, and both soldiers straighten to attention at the sound. Jack holds his breath, and begins his scientific experiment of meditating his way into invisibility.
The men diligently search the green canopy with their eyes. They pass over the nearly obvious location of the boy several times before giving up and looking back at each other.
It worked! Jack grins with delight, hardly able to contain his excitement.
"How are you so certain that he is around here?" Shepherd huffs.
"Because," Reese raises his eyebrows as he answers, "these woods are the childhood haunt of Jack Sparriff.... When he and I were lads, we use to hide out here and build ships and swords, out of bark and twine..."
Shepherd runs Sparriff's name across his lips several times as he thinks, then his eyes grow wide. "You mean Sea Sparrow? We're chasin' Sea Sparrow's boy?"
Reese nods enthusiastically. "And where do you imagine the son of the legendary Sea Sparrow would be hiding, if he chose to hide in sparse woods such as these?"
Officer Shepherd pauses again to think, then slowly lifts his head to scan through limbs and leaves, once more.
Convinced that his experiment is a success, Jack stops his deep concentration and opens his eyes.
As the shadows from above shift ever so slightly, Shepherd finally spots a scrawny, messy haired figure wrapped like a koala bear, around a heavy branch. "There you are, you buggar!" Shepherd shouts. "Come down out of there before I pick you off with my musket!"
Jack laughs hysterically and only climbs higher. "Sir, unless you toss up a musket for me as well, that would not be a very fair fight, now would it. If you really want me, come and get me!"
The officer's ego pushes him to accept the challenge. He tosses his polished effects to the ground, unbuttons his red waistcoat with a huff and attacks the tree trunk like a mad squirrel.
Reese chuckles in amusement as he watches his partner advance several feet up into the air, only to slide right back down again.
Jack descends to the previous branch and waves at Shepherd to get his attention. "Dig the sides of your boots into the trunk. Lean back a little and you'll get better leverage."
Shepherd does as he is instructed and is able to lift himself to the first crux of the tree. He gives a wide grin of accomplishment.
Jack smiles back. "Don't get outside much, do ya mate." He then proceeds to pick up a beetle from the bark near his hand and lets it parachute down to the officer's face.
Shepherd bleats in horror as the insect lands in between his eyes. He loses his footing as he swats wildly, and falls nearly fifteen feet to the earth with a backbreaking thud. "Damned blighter!" he moans in anguish. "Thanks to you, I shall be out of commission for a month!" The officer reaches for his musket and aims it at Jack's head.
"No!" Reese panics. "The lad is just playin' with you. No harm was meant..."
"Sea Sparrow's son or not," Shepherd growls. "I will not have my naval career ruined by a bloody street urchin!"
Realizing the seriousness in the officer's tone, Jack climbs up as far as the branches have strength to hold his weight. He hears a loud pop from below and, a second later, feels the ground punch the air out of his lungs.
Reese runs over to his young friend and gasps as he watches the leaves under Jack's body turn from a dry brown to a bright, sticky red. "Shepherd! You bloody idiot!" Reese shouts. "The boy was just havin' some fun!"
"As am I..." Shepherd returns coldly. "I could have just as easily blown his brains out..."
The ruddy glow in Jack's skin changes to a sallow grey. He grabs Reese by the shirt collar and tries to sit up, but the officer forces him to lie back down.
"No sense of good sport with that bloke, I tell ye..." Jack quirks. A faint toll of a ship's bell rings from Bristol's harbor and Jack smiles weakly. "I know that bell.... It's The Pearl!"
Then everything goes black.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Jack?..... Jack?..... Can ye hear me, son?" his mother calls softly. "Ye need to try to drink some of this before Doctor Mayne begins.... It will dull the pain a bit."
Jack lifts his head and takes a slight sip from the tin cup being held to his mouth and grimaces with disgust. "What are ye tryin' to do to me, Mum?.... blast me bloody socks off?"
"Watch yur tongue!" Mother scolds. "It's straight rum.... So, go on, drink her up..."
"But you said..."
"I know, I said I'd kill ye with me bare hands if I ever caught ye with this stuff... But ye seem to be doin' a fine job nearly getting killed on yur own."
Jack watches in confusion as Doctor Mayne kneels at the side of the straw bed, with a glowing hot knife in hand. "What happened?"
Doctor Mayne twists his face at the boy to hide his amusement at having to make yet another house call on Jack's behalf. "You've managed to get yourself shot.... again..." he answers. "Only this time the musket ball has lodged itself in your upper arm... right against your humerus bone."
"Ahhh.... so that is why I find this whole situation funny?" Jack laughs at his own quick wit.
"When I am digging that thing out of your flesh," the doctor reproves seriously, "it will not be funny at all, lad."
Young Sparriff shuts his mouth and lies back down as the doctor ties a tight tourniquet above the wound. The doctor waits until the knife has cooled a bit more... then slices a straight, but deep incision into Jack's arm.
Jack's vision becomes blurry as he fights back tears and tries to keep the pain from leaving his body as a shrill cry. He hears the front door of his home slowly creak open, then close again. Heavy footsteps tread to the fireplace and a load of firewood is dropped to the ground.
"I told ye to wait until I got back, " a deep voice calls.
The doctor shakes his head. "I've only just started, Mister Sparriff. It's gonna take me a while to get this pellet out..." The knife grates against the white of Jack's exposed bone and he whimpers uncontrollably.
"Quiet, Boy..." Sea Sparrow comforts his son as he kneels down. He runs a hand over Jacks head and smiles as the sweat around Jack's face causes his short black hair to curl out in an indecisive muss.
"Father!" Jack wheezes. "I heard the Pearl! I recognized her bell! I have been practicing climbing the trees in the woods.... just as you told me to. I bet I could climb to the top of the Pearl's mast nearly as quickly as you by now!"
"Shhh... just concentrate on the matter at hand..."
"And Father!" Jack manages through clenched teeth. "I read the journal you gave me from Australia... and I have figured out their skill for becoming invisible!"
"Ahhh..." his father purrs, happy to be home. "Young Sparrow... My boy, how I've missed ye..."
THIS STORY IS A prequel to my other fanfic, "Jack Sparrow and the Music Box". I am trying to keep the stories independent of each other, but they do share several of the same characters and their twisting plots are strongly intertwined. You don't need to read the one to understand the other.... But, it won't bother me at all if ye decide to read both! :)
JACK OF ALL TRADES CHAPTER 1: YOUNG SPARROW
Jack takes an exhausted breath and laughs. He collapses around a high branch of one of the trees among Bristol's woods and waits patiently for the British soldiers to catch up.
This is Jack's most favorite game... And besides, he feels he is doing his country a great service by keeping her men in tip-top form.
He climbs higher up into the tree until he can see the English coastline, glittering in the noonday sun like an ethereal jewel. A boyish spark of hope runs through him as he searches the horizon. His father's ship, The Black Pearl, is scheduled to return any day from its duty to the Royal Navy... And Jack can hardly wait for it to, once again, make safe berth.
He hears footsteps on the crisp autumn ground below and holds perfectly still, so as not to be seen.
"The boy came this way I tell ye!" An officer by the name of Reese announces loudly, making sure that his prey can hear.
His ungainly companion, Officer Shepherd, reluctantly trails behind."But there's no where to hide in these woods... The thistle is too sharp and the trees are too thin."
"He's here to be sure, my friend." Reese continues. "I guarantee it. He ends up here every time."
Jack frowns at the comment. It is simply untrue. Last time, he hid in a completely different tree, in a completely different part of the forest.
"And why are we after the boy again?" Shepherd asks, growing restless.
Reese spins around and places his hands squarely on the other officer's shoulders. "For fun," he smiles. "Simply for fun. Every week Lady Hammish's prized milking cow mysteriously disappears from her pasture, and every week we are given the most urgent order to chase after the bloke who took 'er!"
The new officer does not hesitate to let his irritation show. "If you want someone to chase after... I saw the most fetching little lass selling dried flowers at the market yesterday..."
"The one near the fish vendor?"
"Quite right!" Shepherd growls huskily. "So, you know of whom I speak?"
Reese lowers his eyebrows in disapproval. "That I do... She's my sister!
The officer cowers at his mistake, then brightens up with newfound hope. "Now seeing that you know her name, might I enquire of it?"
A tiny snap of a twig interrupt the conversation, and both soldiers straighten to attention at the sound. Jack holds his breath, and begins his scientific experiment of meditating his way into invisibility.
The men diligently search the green canopy with their eyes. They pass over the nearly obvious location of the boy several times before giving up and looking back at each other.
It worked! Jack grins with delight, hardly able to contain his excitement.
"How are you so certain that he is around here?" Shepherd huffs.
"Because," Reese raises his eyebrows as he answers, "these woods are the childhood haunt of Jack Sparriff.... When he and I were lads, we use to hide out here and build ships and swords, out of bark and twine..."
Shepherd runs Sparriff's name across his lips several times as he thinks, then his eyes grow wide. "You mean Sea Sparrow? We're chasin' Sea Sparrow's boy?"
Reese nods enthusiastically. "And where do you imagine the son of the legendary Sea Sparrow would be hiding, if he chose to hide in sparse woods such as these?"
Officer Shepherd pauses again to think, then slowly lifts his head to scan through limbs and leaves, once more.
Convinced that his experiment is a success, Jack stops his deep concentration and opens his eyes.
As the shadows from above shift ever so slightly, Shepherd finally spots a scrawny, messy haired figure wrapped like a koala bear, around a heavy branch. "There you are, you buggar!" Shepherd shouts. "Come down out of there before I pick you off with my musket!"
Jack laughs hysterically and only climbs higher. "Sir, unless you toss up a musket for me as well, that would not be a very fair fight, now would it. If you really want me, come and get me!"
The officer's ego pushes him to accept the challenge. He tosses his polished effects to the ground, unbuttons his red waistcoat with a huff and attacks the tree trunk like a mad squirrel.
Reese chuckles in amusement as he watches his partner advance several feet up into the air, only to slide right back down again.
Jack descends to the previous branch and waves at Shepherd to get his attention. "Dig the sides of your boots into the trunk. Lean back a little and you'll get better leverage."
Shepherd does as he is instructed and is able to lift himself to the first crux of the tree. He gives a wide grin of accomplishment.
Jack smiles back. "Don't get outside much, do ya mate." He then proceeds to pick up a beetle from the bark near his hand and lets it parachute down to the officer's face.
Shepherd bleats in horror as the insect lands in between his eyes. He loses his footing as he swats wildly, and falls nearly fifteen feet to the earth with a backbreaking thud. "Damned blighter!" he moans in anguish. "Thanks to you, I shall be out of commission for a month!" The officer reaches for his musket and aims it at Jack's head.
"No!" Reese panics. "The lad is just playin' with you. No harm was meant..."
"Sea Sparrow's son or not," Shepherd growls. "I will not have my naval career ruined by a bloody street urchin!"
Realizing the seriousness in the officer's tone, Jack climbs up as far as the branches have strength to hold his weight. He hears a loud pop from below and, a second later, feels the ground punch the air out of his lungs.
Reese runs over to his young friend and gasps as he watches the leaves under Jack's body turn from a dry brown to a bright, sticky red. "Shepherd! You bloody idiot!" Reese shouts. "The boy was just havin' some fun!"
"As am I..." Shepherd returns coldly. "I could have just as easily blown his brains out..."
The ruddy glow in Jack's skin changes to a sallow grey. He grabs Reese by the shirt collar and tries to sit up, but the officer forces him to lie back down.
"No sense of good sport with that bloke, I tell ye..." Jack quirks. A faint toll of a ship's bell rings from Bristol's harbor and Jack smiles weakly. "I know that bell.... It's The Pearl!"
Then everything goes black.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
"Jack?..... Jack?..... Can ye hear me, son?" his mother calls softly. "Ye need to try to drink some of this before Doctor Mayne begins.... It will dull the pain a bit."
Jack lifts his head and takes a slight sip from the tin cup being held to his mouth and grimaces with disgust. "What are ye tryin' to do to me, Mum?.... blast me bloody socks off?"
"Watch yur tongue!" Mother scolds. "It's straight rum.... So, go on, drink her up..."
"But you said..."
"I know, I said I'd kill ye with me bare hands if I ever caught ye with this stuff... But ye seem to be doin' a fine job nearly getting killed on yur own."
Jack watches in confusion as Doctor Mayne kneels at the side of the straw bed, with a glowing hot knife in hand. "What happened?"
Doctor Mayne twists his face at the boy to hide his amusement at having to make yet another house call on Jack's behalf. "You've managed to get yourself shot.... again..." he answers. "Only this time the musket ball has lodged itself in your upper arm... right against your humerus bone."
"Ahhh.... so that is why I find this whole situation funny?" Jack laughs at his own quick wit.
"When I am digging that thing out of your flesh," the doctor reproves seriously, "it will not be funny at all, lad."
Young Sparriff shuts his mouth and lies back down as the doctor ties a tight tourniquet above the wound. The doctor waits until the knife has cooled a bit more... then slices a straight, but deep incision into Jack's arm.
Jack's vision becomes blurry as he fights back tears and tries to keep the pain from leaving his body as a shrill cry. He hears the front door of his home slowly creak open, then close again. Heavy footsteps tread to the fireplace and a load of firewood is dropped to the ground.
"I told ye to wait until I got back, " a deep voice calls.
The doctor shakes his head. "I've only just started, Mister Sparriff. It's gonna take me a while to get this pellet out..." The knife grates against the white of Jack's exposed bone and he whimpers uncontrollably.
"Quiet, Boy..." Sea Sparrow comforts his son as he kneels down. He runs a hand over Jacks head and smiles as the sweat around Jack's face causes his short black hair to curl out in an indecisive muss.
"Father!" Jack wheezes. "I heard the Pearl! I recognized her bell! I have been practicing climbing the trees in the woods.... just as you told me to. I bet I could climb to the top of the Pearl's mast nearly as quickly as you by now!"
"Shhh... just concentrate on the matter at hand..."
"And Father!" Jack manages through clenched teeth. "I read the journal you gave me from Australia... and I have figured out their skill for becoming invisible!"
"Ahhh..." his father purrs, happy to be home. "Young Sparrow... My boy, how I've missed ye..."