AN (3/13) - I have finished all of my icky tests and I'm on the way back to my house. About a five hour car ride. Anyway, I saw Secret Window yesterday. Spectacular and crazy all at the same time. I really connected with Johnny's character and was amused when he talked to himself. Therefore, if you haven't gone to see it yet, I recommend you see it. This crazy writer, for one, really enjoyed the twist at the end.
Chapter 16- India
Jack frowned, his facial expressions clearly one of displeasure. The situation wasn't shaping out as he thought it should. Frustrated, he tried to plead his case, as it were, once again. "Cap'n, can't we jus' wait one more week?" Jack tried keeping his tone of voice normal, not wishing to appear whiny.
Calico Jack vigorously shook his head. "We've waited far too long for Bootstrap. I need t' ge' this blasted cargo t' India, like I promised." He apologetically tapped Jack on the shoulder.
Jack masked the look of disappointment that wanted to envelope his face like fog. He grinned his characteristic look, pondering for a moment on what Calico Jack had said. Bootstrap hadn't been on the Pearl since his wedding, now over a year ago. Jack had tried stalling the rest of the crew during that period, but it was inevitable that they'd eventually leave the Caribbean. Calico Jack had gotten a spectacular deal on the cargo they were carrying. The best market was definitively British controlled India.
Jack had nothing against visiting that exotic country, but the journey would take approximately three months to go one way. The crew would probably stay there for a month or so, depending on the hospitality of the region, and the return trip would take roughly as long as the initial expedition. Jack didn't want to chance leaving the ever-tardier Bootstrap behind for so long.
He silently cursed, realizing that Bootstrap probably didn't plan to return to a life of piracy. He then put on an acquiescent facial expression. "Well, cap'n, le's get goin' t' exotic India, then."
Calico Jack grinned, his scar folding out in odd ways on his cheek. "Right." He subconsciously rubbed his now stinging cheek. The scar had been reopened during that bar room brawl last week, started by a very drunk Snide Shaine. Jack realized with a start that this was probably the reason Calico Jack was so anxious to leave. The entire crew had become restless waiting in Tortuga for Bootstrap.
Jack frowned, a sympathetic look in his eyes. "'Ow is yer cheek, cap'n?"
Calico Jack frowned and began fingering the ugly scab. "Tis fine, Jack. Jus' a bit on the sore side. Nothin' like 'ow it felt when I firs' got it."
Jack smiled. "Aye, I remember me mum tellin' tha' story."
"Yes, she would tell y' tha'. Happened right after she signed up." His dark brown eyes grew contemplative.
Jack coughed uncomfortably. "I'd love t' stay an' talk wi' ye, bu' it's my turn to take watch." He quickly fled the uncomfortable situation, not wanting to be reminded of his mother.
Jack yawned, his tanned hands griping the port side of the Pearl, digging into the dark wood. His eyes had a haze to them, as he struggled to keep awake. Jack desperately wanted to see land before caving into his fatigue. The three-month voyage hadn't been bad. Jack was just a bit sick of being in the same small area for so long.
Jack looked over as he noticed someone stand next to him. The sparkling blue eyes and red hair of Daniel greeted his eyes. "'Ello, bucko. Can't sleep?" Jack's disdain of Daniel had vastly reduced on this voyage. Daniel had finally learned not to ask anything about Jack's past. This was the spark that made Jack turn to the exuberant redhead when his loneliness couldn't be mitigated any longer. The two now had a very amiable relationship, Jack imparting much of his piratical expertise to the ever-curious Daniel.
"Not really. Cap'n said we should see land soon, an' I'm in the mood t' watch for it." He mimicked Jack's odd stance and placed his hands in the same position.
Jack yawned again, moving his jaw back and forth until it popped. He was amused when Daniel did the same motion. This "flattery" was a bit on the annoying side, but Jack would rather Daniel to mimic him than ask questions.
Daniel sighed and looked over at Jack, desperately trying to read his expressions. This attempt was fruitless, indeed, for Jack had perfected the technique of masking his emotions at an early age. "So, wha' d' you think we'll run in'o in India?"
Jack shrugged, still staring out at the ever-moving sea. "No clue, mate. I've ne'er e'en read anythin' abou' India. All I know is tha' they're occupied by England." He glanced over at Daniel and smiled, his new gold tooth filling glinting off the sunlight. He'd been punched in the head during that brawl before they'd set sail. He'd fallen face forward onto the splintered leg of a chair, which had knocked a sizable chunk out of his tooth.
"Ye can read?" Daniel asked incredulously. After Jack abruptly nodded, Daniel sighed. "I ne'er 'ad the chance t' learn."
Jack was about to make a witty reply to this comment when his eye suddenly spied a rather large speck on the horizon. He rubbed his eyes, just to be sure it wasn't some cruel trick of the mind or just an odd shadow caused by the rising sun. He smiled and pointed. "I believe we're 'ere, bucko. I'll go an' inform the cap'n. You go tell the rest o' the crew." Jack's brown eyes sparkled with excitement. Daniel hastily complied.
Jack leaned back, smiling up at the heavily accented face of the voluptuous strumpet beside him. He smiled at the raven-haired beauty, Kajal. The company available in India was particularly fine. A violet veil that matched her very revealing violet outfit seductively covered Kajal's symmetric face. Her dark eyes were surrounded and exemplified with a dark layer of kohl, making them seem to pop out. She smiled at him, her dark lipstick accentuating her full lips and displaying her perfect teeth quite nicely. Kajal had been raised to please rich British gentlemen in order to provide for her family. She sweetly laughed, her voice having a musical quality. Impulsively, she grabbed her kohl out of a small handbag. She walked up next to Jack and smiled again. "You would look nice in this, Jack."
Jack laughed and raised his eyebrow quizzically. "Me, wear kohl?" He shrugged as he contemplated that idea. "Well, I'll try anythin' once. Go ahead."
Kajal laughed and expertly applied the black substance to Jack's eyes. She grinned in pleasure as she stepped back and observed the effect. The kohl made Jack's interesting brown eyes even more noticeable. "Looks good, Jack."
Jack smiled, the kohl creating an interesting feeling on his eyes. It seemed to fit his persona. He stood and swaggered over to a large gilded mirror, gingerly avoiding the pillows strewn across the stone floor of the expensive place Jack was staying in. He grinned when he looked at the job Kajal had done. It just seemed to fit his personality. "It does, doesn' it?" he asked with a smirk. He looked over at Kajal and smiled, his eyes shining with excitement.
Jack sat up in bed abruptly. Kajal stirred next to him. He could have sworn he'd heard something outside the window in the garden. The night was heavy as Jack wildly peered around. The faint sound of numerous muffled footfalls assaulted his ear. Jack quietly stood and tiptoed over to the windowsill. His tan hands contrasted sharply with the white molding as he placed them on it. His dark brown eyes scanned around, catching sight of several shadows. He silently swore and moved away from the open window, quickly and silently dressing.
Kajal stirred and yawned, glancing up when she noticed Jack was not next to him. "What are you doing?" she softly whispered as Jack placed a finger over his lips.
Jack pointed at the window. "I believe we're surrounded, luv. Probably the Company."
Kajal frowned, her beautiful face confused. "No one knows you're a pirate, though. They know I entertain men here all the time."
Jack's eyes widened and his lower jaw dropped. "I never told ye tha', Kajal." His face was soon masked in fury. "Ye li'le strumpet! Tellin' the Company I was 'ere!"
Kajal laughed. "It was your skin or mine. The Company was going to shut my operations down and make me the concubine of the maharajah." She stood and stretched, the faint moonlight making her dark skin luminescent.
Jack swore several vulgarities at Kajal as she dressed. The gray shadows outside the windows moving forward. A large noise was heard as the flow of Company soldiers headed towards the bedchamber. Jack's eyes were full of spite as the door opened and he was surrounded by men in uniform.
Kajal smiled, placing the kohl in Jack's hands as the soldiers shackled them together. "You might need this, Jack." She leaned in closer and kissed him on the cheek. She backed away and motioned towards the door. "Take the pirate away." She sniffed haughtily and sat down on her bed.
Jack swore at the beautiful girl, straining like a dog to get out of his chains. A soldier punched him in the stomach. Jack reflexively crumpled over and yelled every obscenity in every language he could speak as the soldiers forcefully led him away.
Jack paced the inside of the cell, muttering something about women under his breath. He sighed as he reached the other side again. He could take exactly four paces across until he reached the other side. There were exactly 115 stones in the wall inside his cell. He'd counted them nearly that many times. He walked back to the other side of his cell, cursing the men who'd decided this was a good punishment.
Jack wasn't exactly sure what the hold up was. By all rights, he should be dead. Most pirates caught had to dance the hempen jig the day after. Jack had now been in his cell for a week. He sighed and sat down. There was no point in expending any energy, really. It would bring about no improvement.
Jack started fiddling with his braids. He was now wearing three. Two had various beads he'd purchased when the Pearl had moored. Before he'd met Kajal. Jack sighed and closed his eyes, unwilling to think about how much he'd grown to trust the beautiful woman until she'd stabbed him in the back.
Jack decided it would be best to think about why he was still alive. Various hypotheses had been floating around in fragments inside his head. One of them, in particular, seemed logical. The British East India Company probably did not have enough proof to condemn him. It was just the words of Kajal keeping him here. Jack couldn't help but wonder how she'd known he was a pirate. Calico Jack had required the whole crew to change into more respectable clothes, not anxious to be discovered as a pirate smuggler.
He sighed, resting his head on the rough stones of the wall. To the average person, Jack would've appeared asleep. His mind was going in circles as he sat there, contemplating how she'd done it or found out, for that manner.
The noisy footfalls of someone with heavy boots on was soon echoing in the tiny cell, bouncing across the iron bars. Jack smirked as they stopped. He watched the Company soldier with much interest as he unlocked Jack's cell. Jack abruptly stood, slightly alarming the soldier who'd thought he was asleep. The soldier's face became dreadfully serious, his blue eyes almost like cold stones or a block of ice. Jack smiled gingerly at the cool look the soldier was giving him.
"So yer lettin' me go, right?" Jack leaned in real close to the stone-like soldier. "Don' 'ave enough evidence, do ye?"
The soldier frowned. "Yes, sir, you will be going. However, not until we brand you as a pirate first. That way, if you are ever involved with any illicit behavior again, everyone will be able to prove you are a pirate." He spat the word pirate out of his mouth, a look of disgust in his eyes as he prodded Jack away.
Jack frowned and quipped, "Well, wha' if I'm innocent? Do I jus' 'ave to conceal the brand, then?"
The soldier raised his right eyebrow. "That is not my problem, sir. Besides, it will be rather hard to conceal a large P on you forehead."
Jack sarcastically smiled. "I suppose tha's true." He swallowed loudly, almost unable to push the lump of terror in his throat down. "Lead away, good sir." He looked expectantly towards the soldier.
There was the briefest hint of admiration in the man's blue eyes. He nodded and shackled Jack's hands together. He then fixed a sword into Jack's back and led the young man to the fort's smithy.
Jack's brown eyes absorbed all of the sights before him. A brutish man, about the size of an Indian elephant he'd seen last week, was stocking a hungry fire. The firelight reflected off the man's square face, giving him an eerie look. Jack shuddered as he noticed a small iron bar protruding from the ever-moving flames. He was forced to sit down on a rickety old chair. His hands were unshackled, by two new soldiers, and then tied to the coarse chair arms. His feet were also tied with a thick hemp rope, to ensure his flailing wouldn't cause a fuss to the soldiers administrating the punishment.
Jack's eyes glazed over as the large man put some gloves on. He carefully removed the bar from the fire, a cherry red P now visible on the end. Jack stared vacantly at it, surprising the guards with his passive reaction. Most people went berserk when confronted with something such as this.
The large man grinned and soon expertly had the cruel piece of metal aimed for Jack's forehead. Jack could feel the intense heat emanating from the super-heated alloy. He slightly winced as the heat drew closer, now roughly an inch away from his tanned skin.
As the large man was about to place the metal on Jack's slightly sweaty forehead, a large noise made him pull back. The three soldiers keeping an eye on the procedure turned to face the personage who'd disrupted the proceedings.
"New orders, Harper. The lieutenant doesn't want the pirate branded on the forehead. Says Kajal will refuse to work with us again if we brand the prisoner there. Use the arm, instead." The brown haired man saluted the other soldiers.
The man with the blue eyes nodded. "Very well." He quickly pulled up Jack's right sleeve and forcefully turned the tied down hand around. "Dismissed, Mulroy." The angel of mercy nodded and left.
Jack inwardly sighed with relief. A mark on the arm would be much easier to conceal. His face remained emotionless, however.
The large man brandishing the cooling metal frowned. He quickly got the brand into position after receiving a nasty look from the one called Harper.
Jack barely managed to keep himself from screaming in agony as the metal was pressed to his skin. The disgusting smell of singed skin wafted across the room. After what seemed like an hour, the brutish man pulled the brand back. The heated metal had only been in contact with Jack's lower arm for approximately a minute, but it had done its job well. A P was perfectly charred into Jack's skin. It was a disgusting mixture of both black and red, seeing as it was a small third degree burn.
Jack somehow managed to not writhe in agony as he stared at the ugly mark. The soldiers were looking at him in amazement. Of all the people they'd tortured, none had been able to not scream and cry, as a matter of fact, when the cruel heat of metal charred their skin. Harper sent Jack an odd appraising look as the rest stared at him with morbid curiosity.
Jack's arm was now throbbing as blood rushed to the injured area. He smiled, his eyes almost like mirrors, due to the glossiness that enveloped them whenever he was inside his mind. "So, I'm free t' go, then?" he asked, amused at the looks he was receiving.
Harper quickly shook himself out of his reverie. "Yes, sir, you are." He quickly untied the ropes tying Jack to the chair. The other two soldiers and the large man watched in amazement as Jack stood.
The brutish man quickly placed the brand into some water, the heat of it penetrating through his gloves. Steam hissed as the hot metal hit the tepid water. He looked over at Jack's arm and his slightly slow mind decided to ask a question. "Don't you want us to bandage that for you?" His brown eyes dully surveyed the scene before him.
Jack shook his head. "No, I'm quite alright." He lowered his sleeve over his hand, making sure the cloth did not touch the stinging skin. He chuckled and looked at Harper. "Well, sir, twas a pleasure stayin' 'ere. If ye'd excuse me, I believe me captain is waitin'." He slightly bowed and left the smithy, quickly making his way outside of the dark fort and stepping into the beautiful sunshine.
sunkist3208- I thought that I'd tie in the whole Rosalyn thing, just in case no one caught it. Anyways, thanks for the review! In addition, have some cookies, one for you and one for Bob.
WaNdA- Thank you, once again, for leaving a review! I really appreciate it. Gives me the courage to keep on writing. Have a brownie, today.
Daisy- I know how hard that was on you. I admire your immense courage. I wasn't insinuating anything about Daniel, Daisy. Don't know what I'll do while you're in Chile. Instead of a cookie, I'll have a moment of silence for Ziggy.
Chaos- Well, of course he is. I realized that when I read your review. Never fear, I'll work it in somehow. I always do. grins sheepishly Well, then, I won't pass anything out to you. Sorry I'm so slow at updating and all.
CaptainTish- Aye, just wait 'til you see what I've planned for Barbossa and Jack's rivalry. It's going to be good, I hope. Thanks for leaving another review! I'm glad you still like my story! Have a cookie, with colorful frosting.
meggumscat- Merci beaucoup, mes ami. And, you get another two cookies, just to keep things even. In addition, a smoothie. Hope that you enjoy this one.
starwarsfreakford- Glad you enjoyed them, poppet. I hope you like this one as well. We shall see, eh? Have a cookie, and once again, I'm sorry I made you a strumpet a while back.