~Chapter 5~
Elanor stayed in the secret room all day. Maybe that was for the better. Even though she was holed up in the drab cabin that smelled suspiciously of cobwebs, she could tell when the ship set sail. It was when her stomach flopped and she nearly lost her stomach. Without a bag or a deck to lean over, she deposited all her insides in a corner, hoping the ship wouldn't rock too much and cause it to drip to the middle of the floor where she slept. She had never had to live in such vile conditions, and it didn't suit her any better that Brian was not allowed to see her. The captain, however, had not said that she could not see him. So every night, when the moon was high in the sky, she took a breather of sea air, which nauseated her further but was nevertheless better than cabin air. Then she crept back into her room and snaked through the tunnel between her and Brian's rooms and watched him sleep. She got along with him just fine when he wasn't saying anything. Maybe she had been mistaken to be on this wretched, rocking ship. He didn't like her at all; he just wanted a chance to tell her his tales of old. But it was too late now. These nighttime sprees continued for three nights, until she became so indisposed with seasickness that the captain, who had sent Scaggs to check up on her, assigned one of the cabin boys to take her meals and make sure she was all right.
The first time he came in, she was lying in her newly acquired cot, willing her throat to close up and not let anything out. "Miss?" the boy said lazily. "Are you all right?"
"Fine," she groaned sardonically. Then the boy looked upon her and rubbed his eyes. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. How had an angel such as her landed on the ship he was forced to slave away on? Was this fate knocking at his door?
She looked up at him, and he gave a half-smile that was quite a feat for him. "What's your name?" she asked weakly, clutching the edge of the cot. She felt another retch coming on.
"Thomas," he answered.
She started, recognizing the name that Brian had given her, and struggled to sit up. "Thomas, is it?"
"Yes, lass. You'll be needin' anythin'?"
"Just take some of these blankets away, will you? It gets unbearably hot in here at night. Really, all day, it does."
"I don' get that hot. You think yer feverish?" He touched his hand to her forehead. It felt like someone had put ice on it to her. His hand was rough like a man's bristly chin, and he withdrew it quickly. "Yer burnin' up!"
"No, I'll be fine, thank you. Just less blankets, that's what I need."
"Are you sure? I could ask the captain to get some cold compresses for you, and we'd fix that fever straight away."
"I don't have a fever," she said firmly. "You may leave now, Thomas."
Thomas obliged, vowing silently to return that evening. He did, and she was sprawled out in her bed, eyes unfocused and mouth half-open. "Miss Elanor?" he asked tentatively. She didn't even stir. He ran from the room to the library, where the captain was perusing a book of tales that inevitably contained the one of the Gold Flame. "Miss Elanor," he panted, gesturing to the door, "she's sick. Burnin' up and unconscious, I think. Yeh've got to do something, cap'n."
The captain did not appreciate a cabin boy telling him what to do, nor did he think well of the way his lazy cabin boy seemed so concerned about his charge's condition. Nevertheless, he took a rag, dipped it in water, and followed Thomas down the passage to Elanor. She was most definitely sick. "Hold it just there, boy," he instructed Thomas, placing the rag on her forehead and rushing off to get the only doctor on board. Thomas kneeled there, waiting for the captain's return. At the touch of the cold water, Elanor closer her mouth and her eyes and lay, relaxed, on her bed. The doctor said there was nothing for it but bed rest and more of the wet rags. Thomas quickly said he'd do it, since she was his responsibility anyway. Captain Erif doubtfully agreed, thinking that now maybe Brian had some competition.
Brian had noticed the doctor and Thomas going into the library going into the library more often than they had on the first few days of the journey, but he didn't think much of it. He went about his usual duties, which were mostly being on deck and occasionally sewing up ripped sails. He went in the library so often that the captain, the doctor, or Thomas had to shoo him out. He didn't much appreciate it when it was Thomas doing the shooing, but he grudgingly obeyed, thinking that he deserved to be left on Mirage Island until the next explorers stumbled upon it.
His other duty was to find the bearings for Mirage Island. Mostly he had to solve riddles in books from the library to get vague relative locations. After gathering many of these, he presented his findings to Captain Erif, who was most impressed.
"Good job, lad, these'll do us good in the long run. I'll ask Walters if he knows of a location that fits all these descriptions." Brian had met Walters, the navigator, a few times. "He'll probably be able to tell us exactly where to go, all thanks to you."
This left Brian feeling immensely pleased. He went to stare out into the horizon, at the point where the sun would be setting that night. But then something caught his eye, at the very edge. "Captain!" he called loudly. Most of the crew looked up at him. "Captain Erif, something's approaching. Something-big."
It was big, as ships go, but not as big as the Gold Flame. Still, it transformed from a speck on the horizon to a ship with high black sails, speeding toward them at a pace unmatched by any Brian had ever seen, and he had seen many speed away from the docks at Brookvul. "Captain, you know what ship that is, don't you?"
"I hardly dare to believe it, lad. This is a nightmare."
"I believe it, sir. I told you it was true. It's.it's the Black Pearl."
And it was. At a long ways off, the giant ship with massive black sails began firing its cannons at the innocent Gold Flame. One of the sails got a huge hole in it. That's one I'll have to mend, Brian thought.
Soon the ship was upon them. Men on ropes swung from the high-master Black Pearl to the chaos on the deck of the Gold Flame. "No," the captain was saying, backing up as a stout, menacing man with a thin beard advanced on him with a sword, "the Black Pearl isn't real! For God's sake, it isn't!"
"Captain, that's a real hole in the sail! You've got to give orders!" Brian yelled as a man followed by a parrot and a woman with long, flowing black hair rushed at him, trying to corner him. He slipped away from them as he had tried to do with Captain Erif and Scaggs, so long ago it seemed, but only a few weeks had it been. He succeeded in the escape attempt this time, and dodged an old man with skin worn like leather.
"Aye, Cap'n," said Scaggs as two men much like the one Brian had dodged held him down on the deck. "Give the orders, the crew will fight back!"
"The Black Pearl isn't real!" John Erif kept saying. "It isn't real!"
Another rope swung over the Gold Flame, with a man on the end of it. He certainly looked the part of a pirate. He had long black hair, some in braids, with beads hanging from it every so often. His clothes were tattered and worn, and his hat had a hole in it. He seemed like he was perpetually drunk, and never could keep his balance much. He swaggered over to the unfortunate rival captain and said, "Hello, mate."
"No," Captain Erif breathed, hardly daring to believe it. "You're.you're not."
"He is!" Brian cried. The woman, who pinned him against the edge of the ship, immediately stifled this.
"Nice to meet you, mate," said the man. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, and we're commandeering this ship."
"No, you're not," Brian yelled. The woman laid the edge of her sword almost on his cheek to keep him silent.
"You aren't real, you know," Captain Erif said. "You're part of a fairy tale, you are. You can't commander this ship if you don't exist!"
"Mate, didn't you see the lovely hole we blew in your sails? It's as real as you or me. You all can be my prisoners. Won't that be lovely?"
"Shut up, Jack, and get to work," said the woman, not moving her sword from Brian's cheek. "This one struggles so, you'd think the ship was his and he was dying to protect it. Aye, lad?" she added, addressing Brian. He glared up at her and spit in her face. She shrieked and jumped back, allowing Brian to escape her grasp. "Catch him!" she shouted at all the idle pirates. Unfortunately, Erif's crew was much larger than that of the Black Pearl, so she was the only one running after the boy. She dropped her sword and followed him up the mast, where he perched on the crow's nest for only a moment. Then he grabbed the edge of the damaged sail and swung back down to the deck, picked up her sword, and waited. She came down too, and was immediately trapped with her own sword.
"Nice form, lad," said Jack Sparrow's voice behind him. "But you've forgotten that you're not the only one on board with a weapon." And he struck him on the back of the head with the handle of his own sword. Brian fell over, unconscious.
~*~*~*~*~
As soon as the pirate ship had blown a hole in the sail of the Gold Flame, Thomas had barricaded himself in the library and hurried through the passageway to Elanor's secret room. "Pirates," he gasped at her. She immediately sat upright. "Pirates are attacking the ship. It's the Black Pearl."
"The Black Pearl? You mean with Captain Jack Sparrow?" Elanor said disbelievingly. Brian had told her the tale many, many times, but it had seemed amazing and funny from her bedroom balcony. "Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"Brian Cochran says it is. It has black sails and everythin'," Thomas said. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she breathed. "Is Brian all right?"
From a distance, they heard screams and yells and swords clashing. Elanor uttered a little cry, and Thomas moved closer to her. She eyed him suspiciously and decided not to pursue the matter. "Thomas, what's going on? They're not taking over the ship, are they? I thought they were good pirates!"
"Even in the story, Will Turner couldn't never tell what side Jack was on, remember? He ended up on 'is side, but that doesn' mean they're not pirates anymore. They raid and plunder. I believe it's in the definition, Miss Dayton."
"We've got to do something, Thomas. We can't leave Brian and the crew out there to get killed!" Or this will all have been in vain, she told herself. If Brian was killed, there wasn't any point for this mission to even have started.
"We can' do nothin', Miss Dayton. We've just got to wait. Wait," he repeated. His voice echoed all around the secret chamber, sending chills down Elanor's spine as she waited.
Elanor stayed in the secret room all day. Maybe that was for the better. Even though she was holed up in the drab cabin that smelled suspiciously of cobwebs, she could tell when the ship set sail. It was when her stomach flopped and she nearly lost her stomach. Without a bag or a deck to lean over, she deposited all her insides in a corner, hoping the ship wouldn't rock too much and cause it to drip to the middle of the floor where she slept. She had never had to live in such vile conditions, and it didn't suit her any better that Brian was not allowed to see her. The captain, however, had not said that she could not see him. So every night, when the moon was high in the sky, she took a breather of sea air, which nauseated her further but was nevertheless better than cabin air. Then she crept back into her room and snaked through the tunnel between her and Brian's rooms and watched him sleep. She got along with him just fine when he wasn't saying anything. Maybe she had been mistaken to be on this wretched, rocking ship. He didn't like her at all; he just wanted a chance to tell her his tales of old. But it was too late now. These nighttime sprees continued for three nights, until she became so indisposed with seasickness that the captain, who had sent Scaggs to check up on her, assigned one of the cabin boys to take her meals and make sure she was all right.
The first time he came in, she was lying in her newly acquired cot, willing her throat to close up and not let anything out. "Miss?" the boy said lazily. "Are you all right?"
"Fine," she groaned sardonically. Then the boy looked upon her and rubbed his eyes. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. How had an angel such as her landed on the ship he was forced to slave away on? Was this fate knocking at his door?
She looked up at him, and he gave a half-smile that was quite a feat for him. "What's your name?" she asked weakly, clutching the edge of the cot. She felt another retch coming on.
"Thomas," he answered.
She started, recognizing the name that Brian had given her, and struggled to sit up. "Thomas, is it?"
"Yes, lass. You'll be needin' anythin'?"
"Just take some of these blankets away, will you? It gets unbearably hot in here at night. Really, all day, it does."
"I don' get that hot. You think yer feverish?" He touched his hand to her forehead. It felt like someone had put ice on it to her. His hand was rough like a man's bristly chin, and he withdrew it quickly. "Yer burnin' up!"
"No, I'll be fine, thank you. Just less blankets, that's what I need."
"Are you sure? I could ask the captain to get some cold compresses for you, and we'd fix that fever straight away."
"I don't have a fever," she said firmly. "You may leave now, Thomas."
Thomas obliged, vowing silently to return that evening. He did, and she was sprawled out in her bed, eyes unfocused and mouth half-open. "Miss Elanor?" he asked tentatively. She didn't even stir. He ran from the room to the library, where the captain was perusing a book of tales that inevitably contained the one of the Gold Flame. "Miss Elanor," he panted, gesturing to the door, "she's sick. Burnin' up and unconscious, I think. Yeh've got to do something, cap'n."
The captain did not appreciate a cabin boy telling him what to do, nor did he think well of the way his lazy cabin boy seemed so concerned about his charge's condition. Nevertheless, he took a rag, dipped it in water, and followed Thomas down the passage to Elanor. She was most definitely sick. "Hold it just there, boy," he instructed Thomas, placing the rag on her forehead and rushing off to get the only doctor on board. Thomas kneeled there, waiting for the captain's return. At the touch of the cold water, Elanor closer her mouth and her eyes and lay, relaxed, on her bed. The doctor said there was nothing for it but bed rest and more of the wet rags. Thomas quickly said he'd do it, since she was his responsibility anyway. Captain Erif doubtfully agreed, thinking that now maybe Brian had some competition.
Brian had noticed the doctor and Thomas going into the library going into the library more often than they had on the first few days of the journey, but he didn't think much of it. He went about his usual duties, which were mostly being on deck and occasionally sewing up ripped sails. He went in the library so often that the captain, the doctor, or Thomas had to shoo him out. He didn't much appreciate it when it was Thomas doing the shooing, but he grudgingly obeyed, thinking that he deserved to be left on Mirage Island until the next explorers stumbled upon it.
His other duty was to find the bearings for Mirage Island. Mostly he had to solve riddles in books from the library to get vague relative locations. After gathering many of these, he presented his findings to Captain Erif, who was most impressed.
"Good job, lad, these'll do us good in the long run. I'll ask Walters if he knows of a location that fits all these descriptions." Brian had met Walters, the navigator, a few times. "He'll probably be able to tell us exactly where to go, all thanks to you."
This left Brian feeling immensely pleased. He went to stare out into the horizon, at the point where the sun would be setting that night. But then something caught his eye, at the very edge. "Captain!" he called loudly. Most of the crew looked up at him. "Captain Erif, something's approaching. Something-big."
It was big, as ships go, but not as big as the Gold Flame. Still, it transformed from a speck on the horizon to a ship with high black sails, speeding toward them at a pace unmatched by any Brian had ever seen, and he had seen many speed away from the docks at Brookvul. "Captain, you know what ship that is, don't you?"
"I hardly dare to believe it, lad. This is a nightmare."
"I believe it, sir. I told you it was true. It's.it's the Black Pearl."
And it was. At a long ways off, the giant ship with massive black sails began firing its cannons at the innocent Gold Flame. One of the sails got a huge hole in it. That's one I'll have to mend, Brian thought.
Soon the ship was upon them. Men on ropes swung from the high-master Black Pearl to the chaos on the deck of the Gold Flame. "No," the captain was saying, backing up as a stout, menacing man with a thin beard advanced on him with a sword, "the Black Pearl isn't real! For God's sake, it isn't!"
"Captain, that's a real hole in the sail! You've got to give orders!" Brian yelled as a man followed by a parrot and a woman with long, flowing black hair rushed at him, trying to corner him. He slipped away from them as he had tried to do with Captain Erif and Scaggs, so long ago it seemed, but only a few weeks had it been. He succeeded in the escape attempt this time, and dodged an old man with skin worn like leather.
"Aye, Cap'n," said Scaggs as two men much like the one Brian had dodged held him down on the deck. "Give the orders, the crew will fight back!"
"The Black Pearl isn't real!" John Erif kept saying. "It isn't real!"
Another rope swung over the Gold Flame, with a man on the end of it. He certainly looked the part of a pirate. He had long black hair, some in braids, with beads hanging from it every so often. His clothes were tattered and worn, and his hat had a hole in it. He seemed like he was perpetually drunk, and never could keep his balance much. He swaggered over to the unfortunate rival captain and said, "Hello, mate."
"No," Captain Erif breathed, hardly daring to believe it. "You're.you're not."
"He is!" Brian cried. The woman, who pinned him against the edge of the ship, immediately stifled this.
"Nice to meet you, mate," said the man. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, and we're commandeering this ship."
"No, you're not," Brian yelled. The woman laid the edge of her sword almost on his cheek to keep him silent.
"You aren't real, you know," Captain Erif said. "You're part of a fairy tale, you are. You can't commander this ship if you don't exist!"
"Mate, didn't you see the lovely hole we blew in your sails? It's as real as you or me. You all can be my prisoners. Won't that be lovely?"
"Shut up, Jack, and get to work," said the woman, not moving her sword from Brian's cheek. "This one struggles so, you'd think the ship was his and he was dying to protect it. Aye, lad?" she added, addressing Brian. He glared up at her and spit in her face. She shrieked and jumped back, allowing Brian to escape her grasp. "Catch him!" she shouted at all the idle pirates. Unfortunately, Erif's crew was much larger than that of the Black Pearl, so she was the only one running after the boy. She dropped her sword and followed him up the mast, where he perched on the crow's nest for only a moment. Then he grabbed the edge of the damaged sail and swung back down to the deck, picked up her sword, and waited. She came down too, and was immediately trapped with her own sword.
"Nice form, lad," said Jack Sparrow's voice behind him. "But you've forgotten that you're not the only one on board with a weapon." And he struck him on the back of the head with the handle of his own sword. Brian fell over, unconscious.
~*~*~*~*~
As soon as the pirate ship had blown a hole in the sail of the Gold Flame, Thomas had barricaded himself in the library and hurried through the passageway to Elanor's secret room. "Pirates," he gasped at her. She immediately sat upright. "Pirates are attacking the ship. It's the Black Pearl."
"The Black Pearl? You mean with Captain Jack Sparrow?" Elanor said disbelievingly. Brian had told her the tale many, many times, but it had seemed amazing and funny from her bedroom balcony. "Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"Brian Cochran says it is. It has black sails and everythin'," Thomas said. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," she breathed. "Is Brian all right?"
From a distance, they heard screams and yells and swords clashing. Elanor uttered a little cry, and Thomas moved closer to her. She eyed him suspiciously and decided not to pursue the matter. "Thomas, what's going on? They're not taking over the ship, are they? I thought they were good pirates!"
"Even in the story, Will Turner couldn't never tell what side Jack was on, remember? He ended up on 'is side, but that doesn' mean they're not pirates anymore. They raid and plunder. I believe it's in the definition, Miss Dayton."
"We've got to do something, Thomas. We can't leave Brian and the crew out there to get killed!" Or this will all have been in vain, she told herself. If Brian was killed, there wasn't any point for this mission to even have started.
"We can' do nothin', Miss Dayton. We've just got to wait. Wait," he repeated. His voice echoed all around the secret chamber, sending chills down Elanor's spine as she waited.
