Author's Note: I grow all the more in love with this story as it progresses, and to top it off I know how the next few chapters will play out. For the most part anyway. Thinks Anyway, thank you so much for the encouragement PineAppleLint, you know, what with portraying the characters right and all. I just felt so warm and fuzzy inside after reading that. And thank you to my new reviewers, uh, hang on and let me find your names. Disappears for a moment as she shuffles through papers AHA! Daemonwolf and jadedrose01! Yes, thank you for the reviews. I felt so happy after reading your reviews as well.
Well, I guess we should get on with the chapter. Hm, or maybe I should just keep rambling on for hours on end until I drive all of you completely up the wall and you just ignore this author's note entirely…or maybe you've already done that and I'm writing to an audience that's not even there? Well, since that is probably the case, on with the next chapter then! Cheers!
Secrets of the CaribbeanWritten By: Riley Barton
[Chapter Ten]
Scarlett's grip on the bedside table tightened and her face went pale. Her heart, which was already beating faster than it should have been, quickened the pace. "You've got to be kidding," she whispered, shaking her head. "He can't still be holding a grudge after so many years!"
Jack shrugged. "Apparently he's a man that never forgets." He frowned. "Now where did they put yer clothes, love?"
Even in a dangerous situation such as this, Scarlett couldn't help giving her childhood friend a stupid look. "Hm, in the wardrobe, perhaps?" she said sarcastically.
"Right ye are!" Jack jumped forward and swung the wardrobe doors open. Tossing Scarlett her things over his shoulder, he cleared out the wardrobe.
"Gee, thanks, Jack," Scarlett grumbled, pushing aside a white frilly shirt that was definitely not hers. "You're a bunch of help."
"Jus' doin' what I can," he replied. He went to the window, his cheerful mood disappearing quicker than water running through a strainer. "Hurry up, Scarlett, it won't be long a'fore Ansgar latches onto our tails."
"Some privacy would be welcome." Scarlett glared at him from her unusual position, which had half of her body still under the covers while the other half was out.
Jack stood at the window, staring at her as if she had said pigs could fly. He slowly nodded and turned on his heel, slightly swaying to the right in the process of doing so. Scarlett didn't move from her uncomfortable position until the door closed shut behind him.
She groggily climbed the rest of the way out of the bed and began dressing as quickly as her weak body would allow. Her mind was a bit too fuzzy, and twice she caught herself trying to slip her long legs through the armholes in her torn, sleeveless shirt.
By the time she was finished Jack was pacing nervously in the upstairs hall outside her door. She stumbled out and closed the door behind her. "Ready," she said.
"About bloody time," Jack grumbled, grabbing her arm and pulling her down the stairs.
Her pounding head and weak limbs wouldn't allow this rough handling, and she found herself tripping more than enough times to count. Jack yanked the front door open and the two stepped outside, a blast of cool air wrapping around them. Scarlett shivered; her sleeveless top and tattered khaki capri's were not giving her much protection from the cold. "Shut the door," she said through chattering teeth. Jack left her side for a moment in a huff, closed the front door to the Lakewood's home, and then the two pirates disappeared into the shadows of the night.
Two tall, lanky pirates slinked through the dark night, the setting sun long gone from the sky. One hobbled along as if his ankle was broken, and the other gazed about with wide, watchful eyes. The two looked to be quite a pair from a distance. Frightening, but an interesting sight nonetheless. The pirate with the limp looked over his shoulder with his bushy eyebrows drawn together over his small, snake-like eyes.
"I think we's bein' followed, Rhett," he whispered. "Th' shadow's keep movin'."
Rhett stopped and turned around glaring at his companion. "Now lookee here, Bart, if there t'was anyone's lurkin' 'bout behind us, I would'a seen 'em!"
"Then I guess yer blind, mate," a husky voice said from behind Rhett's back, and before the pig-eyed man could protest, his throat was cut.
Bart was about to call out for help when he was tripped, falling flat on his face. He let out a muffled grunt as Jack Sparrow stepped out from the darkness and placed a booted foot at the base of the lanky pirates back, resting the sharp point of his newly-attained dagger at the man's back.
"Since I seem to be th' one in control here, how 'bout we have a lil chat, eh?"
Scarlett Bane stumbled forward, gasping for air as she held a hand to her sweaty forehead. Her eyes were bloodshot and she was breathing heavily. Even from his position on the ground Bart could see the woman was in great pain. He didn't recognize her at first, but when the man at his back told the woman, Scarlett he called her, to get back, he knew who these two people were.
Bart squirmed, stopping as the dagger point pricked his skin and drew blood. "What do ye want wit' me?" he asked.
"Answers," Jack replied," and you'll answer them truthfully, unless o' course ye'd like to be swimmin' in yer own blood."
Scarlett leaned back against the wall of an old, rundown inn with her eyes closed, only faintly hearing the forced conversation between Jack and his captive. Now, not only was she seeing double but her hearing was starting to go too. Jack's voice rose and fell away, and sometimes Scarlett thought that he had left her entirely when she wasn't able to hear him. Her head was pounding maliciously to a jungle beat that only she could hear, and she could have sworn her heart was in her throat. Stumbling to the side, she rammed her right arm against a staircase railing and she hissed in pain. She didn't know how much longer she could hold this up.
"Scarlett, we've got to move."
She could hear him, but only slightly; the steady beat in her mind was drowning Jack's voice out. She felt him wrap an arm around her waist in an attempt to hold her up, and she willingly fell into him.
"Ay, come on, love," Jack whispered. "I can't hold both our weights by meself."
The two made slow progress making their way down to the wharf, and many times they were forced to hide in the shadows and behind objects to prevent anyone from seeing them. They had yet to run in with Garret Ansgar, but how long they could keep this up was uncertain. Jack and Scarlett cut through alleyways and along the beach, any way that would lead them to the hidden inlet safe and unseen.
They had been within a few feet of the inlet's hidden entrance when they heard the sound of approaching feet from both directions; one was a slow, leisurely gait while the other was swift. Jack pulled Scarlett into the shadows underneath the wooden boardwalk overhead, disappearing from view. He set Scarlett on the sand where she could rest while he remained standing, straining to listen to the conversation going on above him on the dock.
"We found it, Captain," came an excited, shrill voice. "We found 'is ship!"
"Are you certain this ship is the one we're lookin' for?" came a gruff reply. Jack knew that voice well, as did Scarlett. Garret Ansgar.
"We're sure of it! Big black sails an' all!" Jack could almost hear the excited man's head bobbing up and down. "It's the Black Pearl alrigh'. Th' crew's getting' it ready t' sail."
"Sail? They must know we're here, and that means Sparrow and Bane do as well." Ansgar ground his boot heel into the wooden dock. "Find them, and quickly! Have Shyster and Barkley watch the Pearl. That ship will not leave Tortuga!"
Jack frowned grimly and turned back to Scarlett. "Do you think ye can run to the Pearl?" he asked her quietly. He knew it was asking a lot, but he had to stop Ansgar.
Scarlett slowly nodded, staggering to her feet. She was swaying from side to side and sweat was rolling down her face and neck. "I think I can make it," she said just above a whisper. Jack had barely heard her.
"Warn them that Ansgar is on his way. None of them know Ansgar like we do, just tell them to kill anyone they don't recognize in th' area. Gibbs can take it from there."
"Where are you going?"
"I'm goin' after Ansgar and that crony of 'is, try to slow 'em down."
Scarlett meekly nodded, licking her dry lips. "Be careful."
"I'll be fine," Jack replied. "Ye just be careful, and hurry. Take this and kill anyone that gets close." Jack passed her a pistol that he had taken off of Rhett's dead body. "Now go."
Scarlett took the pistol and staggered away into the dark. She agonizingly made her way across the remaining strip of beach and ducked through the narrow passageway that led into the inlet. There were two entrances to the inlet, this one being the hardest to find. The other was easier, and she assumed that it was that other way that Ansgar's crony had found. She slipped through, a wave of relief flowing over her as the towering frame of the Black Pearl leered above her.
Suddenly someone came from behind and wrapped their arms around her waist and neck, cutting off her oxygen supply. Her head swam wildly and black dots blinded her vision. The pistol Jack had given her dropped to the sandy beach, and the sound of a bullet shot ripped through the air as Scarlett blacked out.
Jack fingered the dagger he held in his hand as he stealthily followed Garret Ansgar through the dark, grungy streets of Tortuga. Twice he had almost been revealed by whores waiting for their next paycheck to come along, but like a cat, he had managed to avoid them like the plague.
He knew where Ansgar was going, and he knew he couldn't let the pirate captain get there. He also knew that he couldn't go much further or he might never make it back to the Pearl. Narrowing his dark eyes, he quickened his pace. He held the dagger's blade in his fingers and drew his arm back. What he hadn't been expecting was the cat to jump out of nowhere.
Startled, Jack jumped, knocking into a trash bin somewhere to his left. Ansgar quickly turned around to see what the commotion was about, and before Jack thought about what he was doing, he let the dagger fly. He didn't even stick around to see how much damage had been done.
A/N: Sorry that this chapter is short, as all of them seem to be. I just thought that the part with Scarlett was a good cliffhanger, so I thought, "what the hell?" And as PineAppleLint puts it, 'remember to do what all of you do best' and click the review button. You will feel so much happier after having left a review because you know that it makes me so happy to get one!