Chapter 25: An honest pirate
It wasn't as though she *missed* John Rolfe, but Louisa had to admit his company was far better than that of Captain Morgan and his men. She was in a small, dimly lit room, chained to the wall. Her dress was ruined, ripped almost to tatters, leaving only her undergarments to keep her covered. She may have been used to wearing men's clothes on occasion, but it was still embarrassing to be caught wearing barely more than underwear.
Louisa struggled against the chains, but it was no use. She was chained so tightly she'd have bruising, at least, on her wrists. Her hair was loose, covering her face entirely, and she'd lost her shoes somewhere along the line. She'd been so close to rejoining her father and Jack, so close! "There ain't no point in strugglin', lady. Ye'll only hurt yeself, an' ye may not fetch the price that th' Cap'n can get for ye tonight," commented the man on watch duty. He was, from what little Louisa had seen of him, roughly the same size of the man who'd knocked out Rolfe in the alley. "What do you mean by price?" she asked, already knowing what the answer was going to be.
The guard just laughed, "Well, Rolfe couldn't pay back his... loan. Ye were in his possession, an' so ye were repossessed t' be sold. Ye dinna want anything bad t' happen t' ye young cap'n, do ye? Cause it will if ye dinna bring in the right price." The underlying laughter in the man's words had Louisa coming up short. The man had no soul - even Jack wouldn't stoop so low as to buy and sell people like animals. "You won't get away with this, my father...." She didn't have a chance to finish, as she was cut off by the man laughing. She heard the scrape of a chair over the floor, the footsteps coming closer. He pushed her hair back from her face, and Louisa realized he wasn't as big as the other man - he was about the same size as Jamie, if only wider in the shoulders.
"Ye really are a sweet lass, did ye know that?" he asked in a sickly sweet voice. Louisa looked away. Grabbing her under the chin, he turned her face back to his, tearing away the remains of her dress with his other hand until she was wearing only the thin cotton shift. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she managed to stammer. He only laughed. "An' who's gonna know 'bout whate'er I do 'ere? Ye won't be needed 'til tonight," he said, trying to maneuver her face to his in a kiss. His teeth were black, rotting, and had pieces of food between them - it made Louisa feel sick to her stomach.
His face came closer and closer, until Louisa couldn't stand the smell of his breath any longer. She took a breath, glanced down, and positioned a knee in his groin. His breath left his body, and the expression on his face would have been considered comical if it weren't for the situation. Grabbing hold of the chains above her head, she lifted herself up enough to kick him back away from her. Losing his balance on the uneven floor, he fell backwards and hit his head with a loud thud on the edge of the chair. He didn't move again.
Looking up again, Louisa realized that the chain was only looped over a metal piece jutting from the wall. Thinking quickly, she wondered if she could jump high enough to get the chain off the metal piece, and was about to test her theory when the door opened with a creak. Captain Morgan strode in, and for the first time, Louisa actually saw his face.
He was strong, anyone could have seen that. He was what most people considered pirates to be - his face was scarred even his mother would have had trouble recognizing him. He was missing one ear completely, and half of the other. There was a ragged hat on his head, which covered one side of his face, leaving Louisa wondering how he could actually see - his left eye was covered with a black patch. He walked over to Louisa and stared her in the eye, "What might ye be doin', little miss? Ye've kilt me mate, as far as I can see, an' now ye be expectin' t' get away an' lose me my money? I don't be thinkin' so," he laughed, and Louisa cringed. What else did she look like she was doing? she asked herself angrily.
"My father..." she started, but was stopped when Morgan backhanded her across the face. "Ye won't be speakin' 'less I tell ye, got it?" he yelled, and Louisa nodded, holding back the tears that threatened to spill from the shock. Morgan smiled, "Well, seein' as ye kilt yer only company, I'll leave ye t' yeself again. Ye'll be sold t'night, an' I expect that ye'll fetch a nice price. Oh, an' lovey, ye won't get that chain off the top - it's bolted," he laughed.
Louisa felt her hopes sink, and she waited until Morgan had left before letting the tears run down her face. She refused to make a sound, and so she cried silently. Not knowing what to do, she let her head fall back onto the wall, wishing for a way to sit down, to take the weight off her feet. Where was her father, Jack... her brother? They couldn't have forgotten about her!
*****
Jamie, Will, and Isabelle went back to the room to wait for their fathers. "We should tell them about the auction - if Louisa get's sold, we hardly have a chance in hell of finding her!" Isabelle said angrily, pacing around the room. Jamie leaned against the wall, watching her, and Will sat with his feet up on the edge of the small desk. It was Will who added the logic into Isabelle's ramblings. "We don't even know if she *has* ended up underground. For all we know, that Captain is doin' what he promised and takin' care of a noblewoman by keepin' her in a room somewhere where she can't be kidnapped again."
Isabelle stopped pacing only long enough to send a glare in her friend's direction. "That's why we should tell! If she did somehow manage to become 'property', there's a chance she'll be sold at an auction. 'Sides, it's the only thing we've got to do while Da an' Will look for Louisa themselves, aye?" Jamie nodded, "Aye, she has a point, Will," he said, glancing at his friend. "An' if I know my sister, she'll tell Da as though it were somethin' we did yesterday."
Will nodded, defeated, and was about to say something when Isabelle suddenly went pale, and slumped to the floor. "Isabelle! What happened?" he asked hurriedly, helping her sit up. She was still pale, and she clutched her side, breathlessly. "Da... Jamie! Somethin's happened t' Da... I know it! He's hurt!" Jamie didn't hang around for long - he was out the door and running by the time Will had Isabelle to her feet. "Are you alright?" Will asked when Isabelle winced again. She nodded, "Aye, I'm fine. It passes after a while, but it hurts like ye wouldn't believe." Will laughed, and squeezed Isabelle's hand. She smiled, though she was obviously very much in pain.
Jamie didn't take long to find his father - he had only to look for the crowd. Will was nowhere to be seen, but Jack, on the other hand, was in the process of being arrested. Blood stained the side of his shirt, but he had blood sprayed over his face that had come from someone else. He glanced at Jamie, who'd pushed through the crowd, but showed no recognition; he shook his head subtly when he saw his son about to say something.
Jamie, though he hated it, did as he was told, and looked to where a second, smaller, crowd was still standing. On the ground at the center of the circle of people lay a man. Or what was left of him, anyway. He was stabbed through the stomach with what could only have been a sword, and a gun - the same gun lying on the ground behind him - had shot him through the back of his head. "What happened?" he asked one of the men recruited to remove the body. He shook his head, "Not too sure. I was at me ship, saw the crowd runnin', an' followed. Looked like this guy," he indicated the man on the ground, "an' the one who was taken away got int'a bit o' a scuffle, th' pirate stabbed 'im, an' then someone else blew 'is 'ead off. My bet is that it were the guy th' pirate were with earlier."
Jamie thanked the man, who merely shrugged and went back to helping remove the body from the street. "Oh shit," he said, to himself more than anything, and headed towards the jail. The guards weren't exactly... willing... to let anyone see Jack, but when Jamie held up a black bag (which he'd, ah, *borrowed*, from the side of the road) and claimed to be a doctor, they let him through. "You've only got a few minutes, Doctor," said the guard who showed Jamie to the cell. Jamie nodded, "I thank you, sir. This will only take a few minutes."
The cells were different to the usual ones in prisons. They were carved entirely into the side of a hill, and had heavy metal doors, which made escape practically impossible. The plus about the doors was that Jamie could speak to his father without the guards overhearing.
Jack wasn't entirely surprised to see his son. "Ye took long enough, Jamie boy!" he complained with a grin as Jamie put the bag down. It turned out to be an actual doctor's bag, so there was an added convenience. "I had t' become a doctor - what else d'ye want?" Jamie retorted with a grin. Jack laughed, "Not so much as a bloody needle an' thread, an' yer bloody mother!" Jamie pulled open the bag, and removed a sharp stitching needle, along with a black thread. "I've got the needle an' thread, Da, but I doubt I can get Ma'ma t' come 'ere in th' near future!" Jack snatched the needle from his son before either had a chance to think.
"If ye think I'm gonna let ye near me wi' that, ye've another thing comin', Jamie boy. I've done it jus' fine fer meself in th' past, an' that's how it's gonna stay!" he said, not waiting for Jamie to make a comment. "How's Bella?" he asked as an afterthought. Jamie shrugged, "It must've hurt a fair bit - she fainted - scared Will near senseless!" Jack laughed, "Aye, well, it does that if ye ain't ready for it," he said, pulling the side of his shirt out of his belt.
Jamie waited only a moment before asking, "What happened, Da? How did ye manage t' end up in jail when ye were meant t' be lookin' for Louisa?" Jack raised his eyebrows, "Ye know, I been tryin' t' figure that bit out myself. 'Parently Louisa's been taken 'cause the young Cap'n couldn't pay a debt, an' she's gonna be sold underground at some point in the near future," he started, but Jamie stopped him. "What? How did ye find *that* out?" he asked, and Jack grinned, "Will tol' me that - he chased Louisa an' the Cap'n all o'er town 'til they disappeared inside a house, an' he did some searchin' an' this is a smugglers town. I always said ye could trust a dishonest man to be dishonest, but an honest man ye can ne'er trust t' be honest."
Jamie laughed, "An' what would *you* be, Da?" he asked; Jack looked insulted, "I'm an honest pirate," he said with a grin. "So, what happened wi' the guy in the street?" Jamie asked, changing the topic back onto the reason why Jack was in jail. "He said he'd killed me years ago," Jack started, but Jamie cut him off again, "So ye gave him the chance to?" Jack held up his hand for silence. "I didn't say that. He said he'd killed me, an' sunk th' Pearl, so I tol' him to go an' see if it weren't the Pearl anchored jus' a bit offshore. He left, an' I found Will, who told me what 'appened t' Louisa, then when we went t' find 'er big shot snuck up behind us, an' I had t' fight 'im."
Jamie sighed, shaking his head. Jack ignored him, but still kept talking, "I stabbed 'im, he stabbed me, then some guy put a gun t' the back o' his head an' pulled the trigger. It weren't 'sactly nice t' get sprayed wi' blood," he added at the end, and Jamie laughed, "I don't suppose it would be. If Lousia *has* been taken t' be sold, Da, then th' only way t' get her back is t' *buy* her back, aye?" Jack nodded, looking at his son down his nose. "Aye, I guess it would be - what did ye have in mind?" Jamie laughed, "It was Isabelle plan, an' so she gets t' take credit for it, savvy?"
Jack nodded impatiently, "Get on wi' it - what's the plan she thought up?" he asked, leaving Jamie time enough to start talking. "We went lookin' for Louisa this mornin', an' come across one o' th' underground auctions. Isabelle bought a sword, an' she paid enough to attract the guy who runs these auctions. He offered us a seat at tonight's auction - but the prices they'll be askin' are goin' t' be phenomenal. If we're goin' t' buy Louisa back, we'll have to pay a high price - Will an' I can get the money, no problem there - but then we'll 'ave t' get you out of 'ere, an' get us all t' the ship, in only a short while. You goin' to be up t' runnin'?" Jack raised his eyebrows, "What d'ya take me for, Jamie boy? An ol' man?" he asked, offended. Jamie only laughed.
It wasn't as though she *missed* John Rolfe, but Louisa had to admit his company was far better than that of Captain Morgan and his men. She was in a small, dimly lit room, chained to the wall. Her dress was ruined, ripped almost to tatters, leaving only her undergarments to keep her covered. She may have been used to wearing men's clothes on occasion, but it was still embarrassing to be caught wearing barely more than underwear.
Louisa struggled against the chains, but it was no use. She was chained so tightly she'd have bruising, at least, on her wrists. Her hair was loose, covering her face entirely, and she'd lost her shoes somewhere along the line. She'd been so close to rejoining her father and Jack, so close! "There ain't no point in strugglin', lady. Ye'll only hurt yeself, an' ye may not fetch the price that th' Cap'n can get for ye tonight," commented the man on watch duty. He was, from what little Louisa had seen of him, roughly the same size of the man who'd knocked out Rolfe in the alley. "What do you mean by price?" she asked, already knowing what the answer was going to be.
The guard just laughed, "Well, Rolfe couldn't pay back his... loan. Ye were in his possession, an' so ye were repossessed t' be sold. Ye dinna want anything bad t' happen t' ye young cap'n, do ye? Cause it will if ye dinna bring in the right price." The underlying laughter in the man's words had Louisa coming up short. The man had no soul - even Jack wouldn't stoop so low as to buy and sell people like animals. "You won't get away with this, my father...." She didn't have a chance to finish, as she was cut off by the man laughing. She heard the scrape of a chair over the floor, the footsteps coming closer. He pushed her hair back from her face, and Louisa realized he wasn't as big as the other man - he was about the same size as Jamie, if only wider in the shoulders.
"Ye really are a sweet lass, did ye know that?" he asked in a sickly sweet voice. Louisa looked away. Grabbing her under the chin, he turned her face back to his, tearing away the remains of her dress with his other hand until she was wearing only the thin cotton shift. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she managed to stammer. He only laughed. "An' who's gonna know 'bout whate'er I do 'ere? Ye won't be needed 'til tonight," he said, trying to maneuver her face to his in a kiss. His teeth were black, rotting, and had pieces of food between them - it made Louisa feel sick to her stomach.
His face came closer and closer, until Louisa couldn't stand the smell of his breath any longer. She took a breath, glanced down, and positioned a knee in his groin. His breath left his body, and the expression on his face would have been considered comical if it weren't for the situation. Grabbing hold of the chains above her head, she lifted herself up enough to kick him back away from her. Losing his balance on the uneven floor, he fell backwards and hit his head with a loud thud on the edge of the chair. He didn't move again.
Looking up again, Louisa realized that the chain was only looped over a metal piece jutting from the wall. Thinking quickly, she wondered if she could jump high enough to get the chain off the metal piece, and was about to test her theory when the door opened with a creak. Captain Morgan strode in, and for the first time, Louisa actually saw his face.
He was strong, anyone could have seen that. He was what most people considered pirates to be - his face was scarred even his mother would have had trouble recognizing him. He was missing one ear completely, and half of the other. There was a ragged hat on his head, which covered one side of his face, leaving Louisa wondering how he could actually see - his left eye was covered with a black patch. He walked over to Louisa and stared her in the eye, "What might ye be doin', little miss? Ye've kilt me mate, as far as I can see, an' now ye be expectin' t' get away an' lose me my money? I don't be thinkin' so," he laughed, and Louisa cringed. What else did she look like she was doing? she asked herself angrily.
"My father..." she started, but was stopped when Morgan backhanded her across the face. "Ye won't be speakin' 'less I tell ye, got it?" he yelled, and Louisa nodded, holding back the tears that threatened to spill from the shock. Morgan smiled, "Well, seein' as ye kilt yer only company, I'll leave ye t' yeself again. Ye'll be sold t'night, an' I expect that ye'll fetch a nice price. Oh, an' lovey, ye won't get that chain off the top - it's bolted," he laughed.
Louisa felt her hopes sink, and she waited until Morgan had left before letting the tears run down her face. She refused to make a sound, and so she cried silently. Not knowing what to do, she let her head fall back onto the wall, wishing for a way to sit down, to take the weight off her feet. Where was her father, Jack... her brother? They couldn't have forgotten about her!
*****
Jamie, Will, and Isabelle went back to the room to wait for their fathers. "We should tell them about the auction - if Louisa get's sold, we hardly have a chance in hell of finding her!" Isabelle said angrily, pacing around the room. Jamie leaned against the wall, watching her, and Will sat with his feet up on the edge of the small desk. It was Will who added the logic into Isabelle's ramblings. "We don't even know if she *has* ended up underground. For all we know, that Captain is doin' what he promised and takin' care of a noblewoman by keepin' her in a room somewhere where she can't be kidnapped again."
Isabelle stopped pacing only long enough to send a glare in her friend's direction. "That's why we should tell! If she did somehow manage to become 'property', there's a chance she'll be sold at an auction. 'Sides, it's the only thing we've got to do while Da an' Will look for Louisa themselves, aye?" Jamie nodded, "Aye, she has a point, Will," he said, glancing at his friend. "An' if I know my sister, she'll tell Da as though it were somethin' we did yesterday."
Will nodded, defeated, and was about to say something when Isabelle suddenly went pale, and slumped to the floor. "Isabelle! What happened?" he asked hurriedly, helping her sit up. She was still pale, and she clutched her side, breathlessly. "Da... Jamie! Somethin's happened t' Da... I know it! He's hurt!" Jamie didn't hang around for long - he was out the door and running by the time Will had Isabelle to her feet. "Are you alright?" Will asked when Isabelle winced again. She nodded, "Aye, I'm fine. It passes after a while, but it hurts like ye wouldn't believe." Will laughed, and squeezed Isabelle's hand. She smiled, though she was obviously very much in pain.
Jamie didn't take long to find his father - he had only to look for the crowd. Will was nowhere to be seen, but Jack, on the other hand, was in the process of being arrested. Blood stained the side of his shirt, but he had blood sprayed over his face that had come from someone else. He glanced at Jamie, who'd pushed through the crowd, but showed no recognition; he shook his head subtly when he saw his son about to say something.
Jamie, though he hated it, did as he was told, and looked to where a second, smaller, crowd was still standing. On the ground at the center of the circle of people lay a man. Or what was left of him, anyway. He was stabbed through the stomach with what could only have been a sword, and a gun - the same gun lying on the ground behind him - had shot him through the back of his head. "What happened?" he asked one of the men recruited to remove the body. He shook his head, "Not too sure. I was at me ship, saw the crowd runnin', an' followed. Looked like this guy," he indicated the man on the ground, "an' the one who was taken away got int'a bit o' a scuffle, th' pirate stabbed 'im, an' then someone else blew 'is 'ead off. My bet is that it were the guy th' pirate were with earlier."
Jamie thanked the man, who merely shrugged and went back to helping remove the body from the street. "Oh shit," he said, to himself more than anything, and headed towards the jail. The guards weren't exactly... willing... to let anyone see Jack, but when Jamie held up a black bag (which he'd, ah, *borrowed*, from the side of the road) and claimed to be a doctor, they let him through. "You've only got a few minutes, Doctor," said the guard who showed Jamie to the cell. Jamie nodded, "I thank you, sir. This will only take a few minutes."
The cells were different to the usual ones in prisons. They were carved entirely into the side of a hill, and had heavy metal doors, which made escape practically impossible. The plus about the doors was that Jamie could speak to his father without the guards overhearing.
Jack wasn't entirely surprised to see his son. "Ye took long enough, Jamie boy!" he complained with a grin as Jamie put the bag down. It turned out to be an actual doctor's bag, so there was an added convenience. "I had t' become a doctor - what else d'ye want?" Jamie retorted with a grin. Jack laughed, "Not so much as a bloody needle an' thread, an' yer bloody mother!" Jamie pulled open the bag, and removed a sharp stitching needle, along with a black thread. "I've got the needle an' thread, Da, but I doubt I can get Ma'ma t' come 'ere in th' near future!" Jack snatched the needle from his son before either had a chance to think.
"If ye think I'm gonna let ye near me wi' that, ye've another thing comin', Jamie boy. I've done it jus' fine fer meself in th' past, an' that's how it's gonna stay!" he said, not waiting for Jamie to make a comment. "How's Bella?" he asked as an afterthought. Jamie shrugged, "It must've hurt a fair bit - she fainted - scared Will near senseless!" Jack laughed, "Aye, well, it does that if ye ain't ready for it," he said, pulling the side of his shirt out of his belt.
Jamie waited only a moment before asking, "What happened, Da? How did ye manage t' end up in jail when ye were meant t' be lookin' for Louisa?" Jack raised his eyebrows, "Ye know, I been tryin' t' figure that bit out myself. 'Parently Louisa's been taken 'cause the young Cap'n couldn't pay a debt, an' she's gonna be sold underground at some point in the near future," he started, but Jamie stopped him. "What? How did ye find *that* out?" he asked, and Jack grinned, "Will tol' me that - he chased Louisa an' the Cap'n all o'er town 'til they disappeared inside a house, an' he did some searchin' an' this is a smugglers town. I always said ye could trust a dishonest man to be dishonest, but an honest man ye can ne'er trust t' be honest."
Jamie laughed, "An' what would *you* be, Da?" he asked; Jack looked insulted, "I'm an honest pirate," he said with a grin. "So, what happened wi' the guy in the street?" Jamie asked, changing the topic back onto the reason why Jack was in jail. "He said he'd killed me years ago," Jack started, but Jamie cut him off again, "So ye gave him the chance to?" Jack held up his hand for silence. "I didn't say that. He said he'd killed me, an' sunk th' Pearl, so I tol' him to go an' see if it weren't the Pearl anchored jus' a bit offshore. He left, an' I found Will, who told me what 'appened t' Louisa, then when we went t' find 'er big shot snuck up behind us, an' I had t' fight 'im."
Jamie sighed, shaking his head. Jack ignored him, but still kept talking, "I stabbed 'im, he stabbed me, then some guy put a gun t' the back o' his head an' pulled the trigger. It weren't 'sactly nice t' get sprayed wi' blood," he added at the end, and Jamie laughed, "I don't suppose it would be. If Lousia *has* been taken t' be sold, Da, then th' only way t' get her back is t' *buy* her back, aye?" Jack nodded, looking at his son down his nose. "Aye, I guess it would be - what did ye have in mind?" Jamie laughed, "It was Isabelle plan, an' so she gets t' take credit for it, savvy?"
Jack nodded impatiently, "Get on wi' it - what's the plan she thought up?" he asked, leaving Jamie time enough to start talking. "We went lookin' for Louisa this mornin', an' come across one o' th' underground auctions. Isabelle bought a sword, an' she paid enough to attract the guy who runs these auctions. He offered us a seat at tonight's auction - but the prices they'll be askin' are goin' t' be phenomenal. If we're goin' t' buy Louisa back, we'll have to pay a high price - Will an' I can get the money, no problem there - but then we'll 'ave t' get you out of 'ere, an' get us all t' the ship, in only a short while. You goin' to be up t' runnin'?" Jack raised his eyebrows, "What d'ya take me for, Jamie boy? An ol' man?" he asked, offended. Jamie only laughed.
