Chapter 13:
A/N: Sorry that it has been so long; I was on vacation this past weekend. We went to the Key West, the southern most point in the US. AND, it's also located in the Caribbean! Ah, lovely weather, perfect. It was in the 70's the entire time we were down there, while Maryland was 10 degrees, so it was a nice break. But now I'm back! Back to the frigid ungodly nor- eastern weather!
Oh, I would also like to suggest for any of you who happen to love reading books, I just recently picked up this book called Pirates by Celia Rees. It is an excellent book so far and tells the true story of two women, Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, and how they come to being pirates on the vessel the Deliverance. A must read for those who enjoy it, the book is about 375 pages and I'm only to page 145 but it is really good! Anyway on with the story!
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By the time I was finished explaining everything to Ana, who listened intently, my clothes and hair had dried and I was a wreck, as usual. I brushed my knotted coils of jet-black hair away from my face revealing my seaweed colored eyes. Her face looked at me as the moon did the first night I had boarded the Black Pearl, blank and shocked with disbelief. I found myself at a loss for words; I never thought I would confide in her, not like this.
Little did I know then who was listening in on me, my old friend Sam. He had slipped by and stood in the corner of the room behind the barrels of gunpowder. When I finally was able to muster something to say Ana hushed me. "Justine, it is true that your predicament is ugly but look at what you can do with it. You have a chance to live your life again starting from scratch. You and your father could now catch up, talk to each other, get to know each other again."
I stood now pacing back and forth the wood floor creaking with every step I made, "I can't talk to him! What would I say? How should I act? I am not a little girl anymore I am a grown woman and I cannot be taught over again how to live my life! He wasn't there then how can he help now?" I threw myself back onto the floor and pulled my knees up to my face hiding in my pain.
Ana jumped off of the table, rubbing her shoulder, then sat down next to me. "You had asked me once if I loved him, aye?" My head turned slightly to see her face. "Well I feel I can answer that question now, I do. I love him, Justine. He is a great man; great Captain and I think you knew it. You were so eager to learn from him, to be like him. He was your Captain and he still is, nothing has changed there. But now he is also your father, and in a sense I think you were hoping for that. I think you wanted a father who was like you, someone that didn't have to obey the rules, someone who knew how to live."
I hated what she said, not because it was harsh or cruel, but because it was true. I pulled myself from the floor and slowly walked up the steps past Ana. "Reynolds, one more thing!" I stopped and waited for her to finish, "Don't be angry at him, he didn't plan on this either!" Was that supposed to excuse him from leaving my mother and I, I was enraged and I didn't want to see anyone. I closed my eyes then continued my stroll up the steps and onto top deck where I climbed up the mast and into the almost completely destroyed crows nest.
The sun was setting and the bright pastel colors painted themselves across the horizon, dancing to an unknown melody. I sat watching it; the sky was illuminated with soft blues, prancing pinks and rhythmic purples. Then something off the port side of the ship caught my attention. I twisted my body around pulling my spyglass out of my belt and gazing through it passed the jagged rocks and coral to the object of my attention.
I jumped up now, focusing the spyglass more so that I could get a better glimpse of what it was. "I'll be damned." I whispered silently to myself as I closed my spyglass and swung down a rope to the deck floor.
"What is it Reynolds?" Sparrow came stumbling down the steps from the helm.
I turned and looked at him thinking of what to say, and then the words just began flowing through me like I had them the entire time. "There's a ship off port-stern heading straight for us." I took a breath to relax myself before I went on, "It's a military ship, sir. I believe the Dauntless."
Sparrow gave me a worried look, his coal eyeliner had been smudged during the battle and his hat sat crooked on his head. But his eyes were stern and fierce. "Hide yourselves well men, when they come to this ship they will search it for any survivors, most likely to take back and hang after they interrogate them about what happened here. When they do board I want you to stealthily approach them and surround them, what say you?"
The crew answered in unison with an exasperated aye. Sparrow approached me his hands trembling slightly, "Reynolds I want you to stick near me, the Commodore is on that ship and I want to surprise him."
I watched his gaze as his eyes rolled up to his hat, "Give it here, and don't worry I won't let our crew down."
"That's my gal," my eyes narrowed into little slits and he clasped his hands together in a praying sort of way as he said, "many apologies." He took the hat from his head and handed me his coat along with the bandanna that clung loosely around his matted hair.
I quickly pulled everything on, running my fingers through my hair rapidly to make it look a mess. "Give me that, too." I pointed to a gold earring he had looped through his ear. Sparrow gave me a confused look, "You want this to work don't you?" He unclasped the earring and handed to me resentfully.
"Alright, how's it look?" I was astonished how well I fit in his jacket, but his hat was still a tad too big for my head. The leather probably had expanded from the dreadlocks and enormous amounts of hair he kept sheltered under this hat.
"You look handsome, love." He gave a mock smile and then told me to stand off to the side and explained to me what I was to do when the Commodore arrived on the broken ship.
It seemed like ages before the Dauntless pulled up next to the Sleeping Death. "Be careful men, step lightly and keep a weather eye open for any pirates that might still be aboard."
I waited for the opportune moment when the Commodore stepped right into view before exposing myself, for I was the distraction. I cleared my throat as I walked right out in front of him, his eyes widened slightly then went back to a relaxed tone, "Mr. Sparrow did your ship and crew run off without you again?" I kept the hat far down on my face hiding my green eyes as I gave the same toothy grin that sparrow always gave.
"Sir, I think you must be mistaken, I am not the person you say I am." The Commodore watched me closely as I lifted the hat from my head exposing my green eyes and the red bandanna wrapped around my forehead.
"Then where is the Captain Sparrow?" His voice changed to a more professional businessmen tone.
"You mean the Late Captain Sparrow, he's dead. I took the liberty of killing him." I slid the jacket off of my arms and tossed it onto the floor in front of him. "That is all that is left of him."
The commodore looked me over noticing now that I was most definitely not a man. "So the great Captain was finally killed, and by a woman no less. All the same you shall be taken back to Port Royal in shackles and hung there for your acts of murder."
"Murder is such a harsh word, don't you agree?" I walked slowly towards him swaying my behind as I went. I allowed my hand to run it's course down his neck and onto his belt where I pulled out his second pistol and backed up slowly keeping it facing him the entire time, "I'd prefer to call it an act of mercy myself and in some cases defense."
He laughed at me as he went on talking, "you honestly think you stand a chance against my crew, alone armed with only one pistol?"
"If there's one thing you should learn in life commodore it is to never underestimate the power of a woman, she has always been much wiser then a man! NOW!" At my shout the rest of the crew leapt into sight and surrounded the military crew.
I sighed loudly and wiped my forehead as I relaxed and slouched back into my normal posture, "Commodore do you have any idea how hard it is to act like a proper woman? It is the stupidest thing you could ever do!" My rough british accent was returning to my vocal cords.
The man just starred at me shocked at my presence as Sparrow approached him from behind, "Commodore, so nice to see you again!" The man was startled and looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"She said you were dead."
"That seems to be happening a lot lately, doesn't it Reynolds?" I rolled my eyes and walked passed the commodore picking up Sparrow's coat as I swaggered over to him.
"I did what you wanted, now if you'll excuse me I'd rather die than see you now." I handed him his coat, hat, earring, and bandana.
"Sparrow? Is that another one of your whores?" The commodore turned and faced us both with a smile.
"You were closer when you mistook me for him!" He gave me a questionable look and I answered his gaze as I made my way back to the crow's nest, "I'm his daughter, I'm pleased to meet you." I gave a small smirk then climbed up the mast.
Now that the military man was completely and utterly confused Turner took his turn at speaking. "Sir, please excuse both of their rash behavior they are not the best of friends at the moment. But we must ask your help one last time."
"What is this about Mr. Turner, and where is Miss Swann? We were sent to follow the Pearl because we had suspicion that she was on it and that's when we found this ship."
"Well sir she was with our ship, as a matter of fact she is on our ship right now." Turner jumbled his words unable to find the right ones to say so I gave the lad some help.
"Basically sir," I yelled from the crow's nest, "she's gone! Millson took our ship and her with it! He plans on killing her as a human sacrifice to resurrect my dear mother! God rest her soul!"
"REYNOLDS! Have you been through my rum stash?!?!" Sparrow squawked at me.
"I only had one bottle, that's not enough to get drunk is it? Besides, the Commodore won't believe me story anyway," I couldn't believe myself my words were slurring and I was dizzy I only had one bottle when I was angry with Ana.
"Justine get down here!" Turner began shouting at me telling me that I was going to fall again and that it was unsafe fro me to be up there.
"Oh, the wise words from the savior William Turner! Oh yes, he's such a great hero that he couldn't even save his future wife because he was too busy being caught up in a dream that he could win the love of a female pirate. But not just any female pirate, oh no, this lad had high hopes, the Captain's daughter! Meanwhile his fiancé is being carried off by the worst person possible and will undergo torture that is unheard of in a respectful society."
I began my climb down the mast shaking and trembling though I'm not sure whether it was because of the rum or if I was scared to face the world again. "How can you be sure of the torture?" The commodore's gaze was one of pleading and sympathy.
"How can I be sure? Because I was on that ship same as Ana and I didn't gain these for no reason." I pulled my shirt away from shoulder and tilted my head sideways to show the bruises and finger marks etched into my body. Then I turned to show the thin line of dried blood where Millson sliced intro my back. "That's how I can be sure."
Turner walked towards me his eyes full of vengeance, embarrassment and rage. His wild brown hair was pulled away in a ribbon and a few strands lingered in his face, I gazed at him but my eyes showed no emotion they were dull and their color was fading. "I will not do this anymore to myself. Once we have Elizabeth back on board and Millson is dead I will leave. Sparrow will take me back to England, and my life will end there." I turned to the commodore and looked him straight in the eye. It had seemed I was starting to come around slightly either that or I was too drunk to know how serious I was. 'We will find Miss Swann but we'll need your help. Talk to Sparrow about it and make a plan." With that said I left, I waltzed right off of the deck and down the steps.
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I was called back onto deck by Ana, "Justine, we're boarding the Dauntless, their going to help us.' I nodded to her and grabbed my hat and bandana from a railing pulling them on my head and the proceeding onto the other ship with her.
"Why won't you admit that you care for him?" I had assumed that she was referring to my father so I answered her coldly.
"We had already been down this road once, remember? The only thing I'll give him is the title of father the rest he can forget!"
"I was talking about William." My eyes shot up and her tan face stayed as emotionless as a rock. I did not know how to answer her so I walked off and starred down at the crystal clear water peering out at the rainbow colored fish and the amazing texture of their scales. As soon as Millson and Christopher were dead we could take Miss Swann back, Turner would marry her, Sparrow and Ana would be together on the Pearl safe and sound, the Commodore would take his ship back to Port Royal and continue his reign, and I would go back to England and work as a bar wench so that I could buy my cottage back and die peacefully in my bed. That's all that I need, but fate would see it differently.
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A/N: Everything seems in line; she has it all figured out, but will everything go as planned? Who knows? A pirate's life is as open as the sea to step in it you have to know how to swim but to get out just call upon a storm to blow you off course. Things change very quickly and without warning. So keep that in mind with the next few chapters! As I said before the story is almost finished. Please review and tell me what you think and I'll update again tomorrow! Ta!
A/N: Sorry that it has been so long; I was on vacation this past weekend. We went to the Key West, the southern most point in the US. AND, it's also located in the Caribbean! Ah, lovely weather, perfect. It was in the 70's the entire time we were down there, while Maryland was 10 degrees, so it was a nice break. But now I'm back! Back to the frigid ungodly nor- eastern weather!
Oh, I would also like to suggest for any of you who happen to love reading books, I just recently picked up this book called Pirates by Celia Rees. It is an excellent book so far and tells the true story of two women, Minerva Sharpe and Nancy Kington, and how they come to being pirates on the vessel the Deliverance. A must read for those who enjoy it, the book is about 375 pages and I'm only to page 145 but it is really good! Anyway on with the story!
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By the time I was finished explaining everything to Ana, who listened intently, my clothes and hair had dried and I was a wreck, as usual. I brushed my knotted coils of jet-black hair away from my face revealing my seaweed colored eyes. Her face looked at me as the moon did the first night I had boarded the Black Pearl, blank and shocked with disbelief. I found myself at a loss for words; I never thought I would confide in her, not like this.
Little did I know then who was listening in on me, my old friend Sam. He had slipped by and stood in the corner of the room behind the barrels of gunpowder. When I finally was able to muster something to say Ana hushed me. "Justine, it is true that your predicament is ugly but look at what you can do with it. You have a chance to live your life again starting from scratch. You and your father could now catch up, talk to each other, get to know each other again."
I stood now pacing back and forth the wood floor creaking with every step I made, "I can't talk to him! What would I say? How should I act? I am not a little girl anymore I am a grown woman and I cannot be taught over again how to live my life! He wasn't there then how can he help now?" I threw myself back onto the floor and pulled my knees up to my face hiding in my pain.
Ana jumped off of the table, rubbing her shoulder, then sat down next to me. "You had asked me once if I loved him, aye?" My head turned slightly to see her face. "Well I feel I can answer that question now, I do. I love him, Justine. He is a great man; great Captain and I think you knew it. You were so eager to learn from him, to be like him. He was your Captain and he still is, nothing has changed there. But now he is also your father, and in a sense I think you were hoping for that. I think you wanted a father who was like you, someone that didn't have to obey the rules, someone who knew how to live."
I hated what she said, not because it was harsh or cruel, but because it was true. I pulled myself from the floor and slowly walked up the steps past Ana. "Reynolds, one more thing!" I stopped and waited for her to finish, "Don't be angry at him, he didn't plan on this either!" Was that supposed to excuse him from leaving my mother and I, I was enraged and I didn't want to see anyone. I closed my eyes then continued my stroll up the steps and onto top deck where I climbed up the mast and into the almost completely destroyed crows nest.
The sun was setting and the bright pastel colors painted themselves across the horizon, dancing to an unknown melody. I sat watching it; the sky was illuminated with soft blues, prancing pinks and rhythmic purples. Then something off the port side of the ship caught my attention. I twisted my body around pulling my spyglass out of my belt and gazing through it passed the jagged rocks and coral to the object of my attention.
I jumped up now, focusing the spyglass more so that I could get a better glimpse of what it was. "I'll be damned." I whispered silently to myself as I closed my spyglass and swung down a rope to the deck floor.
"What is it Reynolds?" Sparrow came stumbling down the steps from the helm.
I turned and looked at him thinking of what to say, and then the words just began flowing through me like I had them the entire time. "There's a ship off port-stern heading straight for us." I took a breath to relax myself before I went on, "It's a military ship, sir. I believe the Dauntless."
Sparrow gave me a worried look, his coal eyeliner had been smudged during the battle and his hat sat crooked on his head. But his eyes were stern and fierce. "Hide yourselves well men, when they come to this ship they will search it for any survivors, most likely to take back and hang after they interrogate them about what happened here. When they do board I want you to stealthily approach them and surround them, what say you?"
The crew answered in unison with an exasperated aye. Sparrow approached me his hands trembling slightly, "Reynolds I want you to stick near me, the Commodore is on that ship and I want to surprise him."
I watched his gaze as his eyes rolled up to his hat, "Give it here, and don't worry I won't let our crew down."
"That's my gal," my eyes narrowed into little slits and he clasped his hands together in a praying sort of way as he said, "many apologies." He took the hat from his head and handed me his coat along with the bandanna that clung loosely around his matted hair.
I quickly pulled everything on, running my fingers through my hair rapidly to make it look a mess. "Give me that, too." I pointed to a gold earring he had looped through his ear. Sparrow gave me a confused look, "You want this to work don't you?" He unclasped the earring and handed to me resentfully.
"Alright, how's it look?" I was astonished how well I fit in his jacket, but his hat was still a tad too big for my head. The leather probably had expanded from the dreadlocks and enormous amounts of hair he kept sheltered under this hat.
"You look handsome, love." He gave a mock smile and then told me to stand off to the side and explained to me what I was to do when the Commodore arrived on the broken ship.
It seemed like ages before the Dauntless pulled up next to the Sleeping Death. "Be careful men, step lightly and keep a weather eye open for any pirates that might still be aboard."
I waited for the opportune moment when the Commodore stepped right into view before exposing myself, for I was the distraction. I cleared my throat as I walked right out in front of him, his eyes widened slightly then went back to a relaxed tone, "Mr. Sparrow did your ship and crew run off without you again?" I kept the hat far down on my face hiding my green eyes as I gave the same toothy grin that sparrow always gave.
"Sir, I think you must be mistaken, I am not the person you say I am." The Commodore watched me closely as I lifted the hat from my head exposing my green eyes and the red bandanna wrapped around my forehead.
"Then where is the Captain Sparrow?" His voice changed to a more professional businessmen tone.
"You mean the Late Captain Sparrow, he's dead. I took the liberty of killing him." I slid the jacket off of my arms and tossed it onto the floor in front of him. "That is all that is left of him."
The commodore looked me over noticing now that I was most definitely not a man. "So the great Captain was finally killed, and by a woman no less. All the same you shall be taken back to Port Royal in shackles and hung there for your acts of murder."
"Murder is such a harsh word, don't you agree?" I walked slowly towards him swaying my behind as I went. I allowed my hand to run it's course down his neck and onto his belt where I pulled out his second pistol and backed up slowly keeping it facing him the entire time, "I'd prefer to call it an act of mercy myself and in some cases defense."
He laughed at me as he went on talking, "you honestly think you stand a chance against my crew, alone armed with only one pistol?"
"If there's one thing you should learn in life commodore it is to never underestimate the power of a woman, she has always been much wiser then a man! NOW!" At my shout the rest of the crew leapt into sight and surrounded the military crew.
I sighed loudly and wiped my forehead as I relaxed and slouched back into my normal posture, "Commodore do you have any idea how hard it is to act like a proper woman? It is the stupidest thing you could ever do!" My rough british accent was returning to my vocal cords.
The man just starred at me shocked at my presence as Sparrow approached him from behind, "Commodore, so nice to see you again!" The man was startled and looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"She said you were dead."
"That seems to be happening a lot lately, doesn't it Reynolds?" I rolled my eyes and walked passed the commodore picking up Sparrow's coat as I swaggered over to him.
"I did what you wanted, now if you'll excuse me I'd rather die than see you now." I handed him his coat, hat, earring, and bandana.
"Sparrow? Is that another one of your whores?" The commodore turned and faced us both with a smile.
"You were closer when you mistook me for him!" He gave me a questionable look and I answered his gaze as I made my way back to the crow's nest, "I'm his daughter, I'm pleased to meet you." I gave a small smirk then climbed up the mast.
Now that the military man was completely and utterly confused Turner took his turn at speaking. "Sir, please excuse both of their rash behavior they are not the best of friends at the moment. But we must ask your help one last time."
"What is this about Mr. Turner, and where is Miss Swann? We were sent to follow the Pearl because we had suspicion that she was on it and that's when we found this ship."
"Well sir she was with our ship, as a matter of fact she is on our ship right now." Turner jumbled his words unable to find the right ones to say so I gave the lad some help.
"Basically sir," I yelled from the crow's nest, "she's gone! Millson took our ship and her with it! He plans on killing her as a human sacrifice to resurrect my dear mother! God rest her soul!"
"REYNOLDS! Have you been through my rum stash?!?!" Sparrow squawked at me.
"I only had one bottle, that's not enough to get drunk is it? Besides, the Commodore won't believe me story anyway," I couldn't believe myself my words were slurring and I was dizzy I only had one bottle when I was angry with Ana.
"Justine get down here!" Turner began shouting at me telling me that I was going to fall again and that it was unsafe fro me to be up there.
"Oh, the wise words from the savior William Turner! Oh yes, he's such a great hero that he couldn't even save his future wife because he was too busy being caught up in a dream that he could win the love of a female pirate. But not just any female pirate, oh no, this lad had high hopes, the Captain's daughter! Meanwhile his fiancé is being carried off by the worst person possible and will undergo torture that is unheard of in a respectful society."
I began my climb down the mast shaking and trembling though I'm not sure whether it was because of the rum or if I was scared to face the world again. "How can you be sure of the torture?" The commodore's gaze was one of pleading and sympathy.
"How can I be sure? Because I was on that ship same as Ana and I didn't gain these for no reason." I pulled my shirt away from shoulder and tilted my head sideways to show the bruises and finger marks etched into my body. Then I turned to show the thin line of dried blood where Millson sliced intro my back. "That's how I can be sure."
Turner walked towards me his eyes full of vengeance, embarrassment and rage. His wild brown hair was pulled away in a ribbon and a few strands lingered in his face, I gazed at him but my eyes showed no emotion they were dull and their color was fading. "I will not do this anymore to myself. Once we have Elizabeth back on board and Millson is dead I will leave. Sparrow will take me back to England, and my life will end there." I turned to the commodore and looked him straight in the eye. It had seemed I was starting to come around slightly either that or I was too drunk to know how serious I was. 'We will find Miss Swann but we'll need your help. Talk to Sparrow about it and make a plan." With that said I left, I waltzed right off of the deck and down the steps.
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I was called back onto deck by Ana, "Justine, we're boarding the Dauntless, their going to help us.' I nodded to her and grabbed my hat and bandana from a railing pulling them on my head and the proceeding onto the other ship with her.
"Why won't you admit that you care for him?" I had assumed that she was referring to my father so I answered her coldly.
"We had already been down this road once, remember? The only thing I'll give him is the title of father the rest he can forget!"
"I was talking about William." My eyes shot up and her tan face stayed as emotionless as a rock. I did not know how to answer her so I walked off and starred down at the crystal clear water peering out at the rainbow colored fish and the amazing texture of their scales. As soon as Millson and Christopher were dead we could take Miss Swann back, Turner would marry her, Sparrow and Ana would be together on the Pearl safe and sound, the Commodore would take his ship back to Port Royal and continue his reign, and I would go back to England and work as a bar wench so that I could buy my cottage back and die peacefully in my bed. That's all that I need, but fate would see it differently.
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A/N: Everything seems in line; she has it all figured out, but will everything go as planned? Who knows? A pirate's life is as open as the sea to step in it you have to know how to swim but to get out just call upon a storm to blow you off course. Things change very quickly and without warning. So keep that in mind with the next few chapters! As I said before the story is almost finished. Please review and tell me what you think and I'll update again tomorrow! Ta!
