High Flier

Chapter 6 - Useful Tricks

~Pirate Rhi

Congrats to all those who guessed right, you should've received your emails with the first part of this chapter yesterday, and as promised, I'm updating today.

Padfoots Pirate - You definitely covered a lot of ground with your guesses…

Matrixie - Barney was a good guess, I mean don't ya think that he'd be the kind of guy…uh…dinosaur that'd wanna do something like that. Heh heh…

Bitten by the kitten - love yer name…anyways, here ya go. I'm continuing.

Just clarifying something that I may not have made clear in the last chapter, Dickon hadn't been following them, he just happened to be in the same town as them, and decided to use it to his advantage. I know, it's a big co-incidence, but I'm the author, and if I say it is, it is…heh heh…I love the power of being an author =)

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Alex froze. It couldn't be. No, she just wouldn't believe it. It just couldn't be true. That part of her life was over. She squeezed her eyes shut, and opened them again, hoping that it was just an illusion. But it was not.

"Ah, I see that you haven't forgotten me then." The person said.

"No, Dickon. Unfortunately your ugly face shall forever be burned into my memory." Alex snapped. "What do you want?"

"I think you know what I want. What I've always wanted from you." Dickon stepped forward, out of the shadows. His face was twisted into a menacing scowl.

"Liz." Alex said, not taking her eyes off Dickon. "I want you go to. Go back to the Pearl. Now."

The urgency in Alex's voice worried Elizabeth, but she didn't want to leave her friend with the man who almost raped her once, and was likely to actually do it now that he had a second chance.

"Liz. I'll be fine. Go. Now."

* * * * * *

Elizabeth reluctantly turned and ran from the alleyway, but she was not going back to the Pearl. She ran back down the path they'd taken, trying to remember which tavern the crew had gone into.

It was pure luck that she picked the right tavern on her first try.

Entering the small tavern, she immediately spotted the familiar tricorn hat adorning the head of Captain Jack Sparrow in the corner of the tavern.

Elizabeth scrambled through the tavern, dodging drunk patrons and overturned chairs as fast as she could.

"Jack! Jack!" she called as she got closer to the corner.

Jack looked up and put down his mug of rum, sensing the urgency in Elizabeth's voice.

"What is it?" he asked. "Where's Alex?"

Elizabeth reached the table and doubled over, resting her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

"It's Alex." She said. "And Dickon. He's got her. Jack…I think he's really going to do it this time if we don't help her."

Jack stood up in a hurry, knocking his chair over.

"Show me where they are." He said.

Elizabeth took off through the tavern again and in Alex's direction, with Jack hot on her heels.

* * * * * *

"That was very stupid, running away." Dickon said as he advanced another step towards Alex, who refused to let herself be scared of Dickon anymore.

"I did what I had to do." she hissed at him.

"So you did. But it didn't put ol' Basil in a very good mood. Me neither. I was missing my little…toy." He leaned towards Alex, causing her to unwillingly smell his foul breath.

"You will maintain your distance." Alex said, pulling out her dagger and placing the flat of the blade against Dickon's upper thigh as she had done to the pirate that had threatened her so many days before.

Dickon just laughed. A horrible sound that filled the night air. Alex's hand trembled slightly at the sound. She didn't know why he was laughing.

Her questions were soon answered, when her dagger was suddenly wrenched out of her hand and the blade was pushed lightly against her neck before she even realised what was happening.

Alex made a small gasp of surprise, which spurred Dickon on. He pushed her against the wall, still holding the dagger in place.

"No biting this time if you know what's good for you." Dickon said, pushing a little harder on the dagger as a warning.

Alex's eyes were wide and fearful as Dickon leaned forward, but he never reached her, as all of a sudden, he wasn't there anymore. He was on the ground with a hand over his eye and cheek. He was glaring angrily at Alex's rescuer.

"Jack!" Alex exclaimed as she jumped from her position squashed against the wall to taking her place next to Jack.

"'Tis not polite to take a girl when she does not want it." Jack warned Dickon. "'Specially this girl. She's mine, savvy?" at that, he put an arm around Alex's waist, pulling her towards him for good measure.

By then, Dickon had made it to his feet once again and was giving Jack a look that could kill.

"What do you want her for? She's good for nothing. She'll never be good at anything. She's a stupid, useless bitch, only good for one thing." Dickon growled.

Alex tensed as she was reminded of her dream so many nights ago, the one that she'd tried to push to the back of her mind, but it came back to her, at full force.

Jack, sensing her troubles, squeezed her hand, reassuring her.

"That she ain't. She be a good pirate and one of me crew." Jack said, giving Dickon a nasty glare. "And you will mess with her no more or else you will have Captain Jack Sparrow to deal with, savvy?"

Dickon's glaring expression did not change as Jack and Alex turned to leave. Instead, as soon as they'd turned their backs, he launched himself at Alex, still clutching her dagger in his hand.

Jack, however, was expecting something of the sort, and pulled his sword in the blink of an eye and swiped at Dickon, slashing his forearm.

Dickon stopped in what seemed like mid air and cradled his arm protectively.

"I'll get you, Sparrow. Watch your back." Dickon growled, his voice laced with pain.

"That's Captain Sparrow to you." Jack called over his shoulder as he led Alex from the alleyway.

* * * * * *

"Ye alright, luv? He didn't hurt ye, did he?" Jack asked, when they were far enough away from Dickon. He hadn't taken his arm from around Alex, and she welcomed the comfort and security that he gave her.

"I'm find now. Thank you Jack." Alex said, looking up at Jack.

"Yer welcome, luv." Jack said, catching her gaze with his own. The world seemed to stop as they maintained eye contact. Alex found herself being pulled towards Jack by some invisible force.

"Alex!"

The shout of her name snapped Alex out of her trance and she looked over to see Elizabeth running towards her.

"Thank God you're okay!" Elizabeth said, enveloping Alex in a tight hug.

Alex endured this for a moment, until all the breath was squeezed out of her.

"Uh, Liz…breathing's becoming an issue." Alex said.

Elizabeth let Alex go and smiled at her sheepishly.

"Come on, luv. We should get ye back to the Pearl." Jack said.

Alex nodded. "Okay."

* * * * * *

The three of them made their way back down to the docks, where Jack untied a dinghy, and held it in place while Elizabeth climbed in.

Alex glanced up the dock, still slightly jumpy after her earlier encounter. It was then that she noticed a whole bunch of redcoats coming down the hill to the docks at quite a speed. And they definitely looked like they were on a mission, so to speak.

"Jack." Alex said, getting Jack's attention. She motioned towards the redcoats. "I think we might have trouble coming."

Jack dropped the rope connected to the dinghy and turned to face the soldiers, one hand resting on the hilt of his sword, and the other resting casually by his side.

The half a dozen redcoats stopped on the docks in front of Jack and Alex, leaving them no escape except for jumping into the dark water below.

"Are you Jack Sparrow?" one of the redcoats at the front asked. They guessed he was the superior officer.

"Well that would depend on who's asking. And that would be Captain Jack Sparrow to you." Jack replied smartly.

"Well then, Captain Jack Sparrow, we are under orders to immediately place you and one Alexandra Hawke under arrest for engaging in piracy, among other things."

"Hold on a minute. Elaborate on 'among other things'." Jack cut in.

"Harassing and threatening a respectable citizen. Also violently attacking said citizen, as well as other innocents."

"Wait!" Alex protested as they handcuffed her and Jack. "That's a lie! Jack was only protecting me! That 'respectable citizen' was trying to bloody rape me!"

"A pirate is incapable of telling the truth at the best of times, Miss Hawke, why should we believe you now." The officer said. He turned to the other redcoats who had a firm hold on Alex and Jack. "Take them away."

Alex was prodded in the back with the end of a rifle and she started walking down the docks. As they reached the bottom of the hill, she passed by a horribly grinning Dickon, who was still holding his injured arm.

Disgusted at the sight of the man who she had hated for so long, Alex spat at his feet as she passed him.

"I told you I'd get you back." He said, widening his horrible grin. "And get you back I did. You don't mess with Dickon."

* * * * * *

Elizabeth had listened to the conversation between Alex, Jack and the redcoats from down in the water. When Alex had commented about trouble coming and Jack had dropped the rope, she had let the boat float under the dock so she hadn't been seen. It didn't sound like she was wanted anyway, but you couldn't be too careful when it came to being accused of piracy.

This was definitely one action-packed evening, she thought, sighing as she picked up the oars and started rowing towards the Pearl, once the redcoats had gone. Will had broken Jack out of jail once before, surely he would have some ideas about how to do it again.

* * * * * *

Alex was led down the narrow staircase into the jail, squished in between the guards on each side of her. The guard unlocked the jail cell and Jack was roughly thrown onto the hard stone ground, followed closely by Alex.

The door clanged shut behind them and the lock was turned with a loud thunk.

"That'll do until the Cap'n decides what to do with 'em." One of the redcoats commented to another as they exited up the stairs and closed the top door with a loud clang, which echoed through the small jail. There was only one guard left down there, and he looked like he was half-asleep anyway.

Alex balled her hand in a fist and hit the ground repeatedly. "It was Dickon who did this. That bloody creep. I should've known he'd do something like this. He takes his threats seriously."

Jack put his hand over Alex's so she'd stop bashing the stone floor. "Don't worry, luv. We'll get out of here. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, savvy?"

"Savvy." Alex answered, almost in a whisper. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a large brass key that she'd lifted off the guard as she'd been forced down the stairs. "It would also help if you had this."

Jack looked surprised. "How did ye get that?"

Alex gave him a knowing grin before stuffing the key back into her pocket so the guard wouldn't see it if he happened to wake. "You'd be surprised at the stuff you pick up at the circus."

Jack gave an approving nod before leaning back against the wall. "Now we wait until the opportune moment."

Alex nodded as she followed suit, leaning back against the wall next to Jack. He put an arm around her, and she soon dropped off to sleep, tired after the many events of the evening.

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Cuz I got nothing else to say here, I'm gonna do some shameless self promoting…go visit my website…it's pretty random, but I need more ppl to visit my page so I can win the competition with my friends…heh heh…

The site is www . geocities . com / rhiriakikinixy and if that doesn't show up, the link's also in my bio. Go to the link that says Rhi's Page…oh, and sign my guest book, kay?

Laterz

~Rhi