~ Chapter Ten: Tribal Law ~
Disclaimer: I do not own POTC or any of its character. I also do not own Irene Norrington as she is Serena Coyote's character. I only own Jesline, Babako, Nightseer's Island, Island of Forest Hymn, and other places the Black Pearl will soon be visiting.
Jesline awoke to the sound of light snoring. She looked for the source and found Jack at his desk sleeping in his chair. His hat was drawn over his eyes and his legs propped on top of his desk. Jesline gazed at him for a few moments, but then turned her attention outside. It was a beautiful morning. The first she had seen in a long time. The Devil always made sure that Jesline was locked in her "room" before dawn and released at dusk.
Jesline got out of the bed and went over to the chair where her cloak and weapons were.
She took her sword and strapped it around her waist along with her dagger. Her other dagger she put in left boot. She then placed her cloak, bow and quiver in the drawer where Jack had placed her weapons before. She did not lock it, though, for she would need her bow when they reached the Island of Forest Hymn. The only problem was she could not use it for she needed the Light of Semphago to cast into the eternal light.
Jesline was about to leave the cabin when she decided to wake the Captain. He would need to know a few things about Forest Hymn. And besides he had slept long enough in her mind. So Jesline decided that she would wake him in the most pleasant of ways.
Jesline walked over to him and sat on the desk, facing Jack, waiting. She leaned forward and removed his hat and placed it on the desktop. Still he did not wake. Jesline leaned forward again and brushed his black locks away form his face. 'He is handsome', she thought. Even touching him, Jack would not wake. 'So much for pleasantries' Jesline thought. So Jesline thought of another way. A very useful way.
She walked over to bookshelf and found the thickest and largest book she could find. The book she picked was called 'Writings of the World' by Laura Shedrick. Jesline found this book interesting and wanted to see what this Miss Shedrick had wrote. So she went over to the desk and lifted the book high above her head. She waited to see if Jack would wake, but no response so she slammed the book down on top of the desk hard. The noise woke Jack up instantly.
"Bloody everlasting hell!" he yelled. Jesline opened the book and began to turn the pages one after the other, until she found a particular writing that sparked her interest. Jack looked at Jesline angrily.
"What the hell did you do that for?" he asked in an angry voice.
"You just need to know a few things about Forest Hymn. What I tell you, you must tell your crew." she responded. Jesline was smiling at Jack in amusement.
"Really?" he said, putting his hat on.
"Um hm." Jesline said, reading from the book.
"And what do I need to know, Jesline?"
"That when we reach the island you and the crew need to stay on the beach of the island. I will go into the forest and get you safe passage from Trikao. When I return, then we'll see."
"Why would have to talk with Trikao?" Jack asked.
"Because he is the chief of the Hymbako Tribe." Jesline stated. She was still reading from the book when she mumbled, "If only it were true." She then stood up and looked Jack in the face, seriousness and warning etched into her face.
"Do not disobey me on this Jack. I'm warning you now, Jack, if you do your life and the lives of your crew will pay for your stupidity." Jesline said. With that she left, leaving Jack somewhat surprised and angry. He was about to go after her when he noticed the book still open on his desk. Jack went to close it and put it way when he read what she was reading. The page was titled, 'Choices'. It said that 'everyone has choice and no one can take that power away from them. That if you let them then you allow them to have power over you.' Jack heard what Jesline mumbled and knew that she was talking about the passage. 'But what did she mean? Everyone does have a choice, ever her. It doesn't make sense.' Jack thought to himself. He decided that he would get to the bottom of this as soon as they had safe passage through Forest Hymn. Jesline would tell him one way or another. Jack was no longer going to let Jesline keep him in the dark about her old life.
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"My lord, the Black Pearl has disappeared again. We cannot find her." said Redcliff. He was worried that maybe, somehow she had regained her control. That the Devil was weakening.
"Do not worry, my dark servant. We do not need her yet. We'll wait until the Pearl reappears and when that happens we shall make our move. In the mean time, Redcliff, I want you to follow this ship. It will lead us to the Pearl, and my sweet dark angel." The Devil said, laughing silently to himself. Everything was going according to plan, and soon Jesline would be his, for all eternity.
************************************************************************
It was night, the stars were twinkling in the sky and the moon was high and bright in the midnight sky. Jack was at the helm. He couldn't sleep so he decided to steer the ship, his beautiful ship. Jack heard light footsteps coming towards him and he looked to see that it was Jesline. She was beautiful. So beautiful that it seemed unnatural as if it were a mask.
Jesline stood beside Jack and looked out into the dark glowing ocean.
"Beautiful night, is it not?" she asked.
"Yes beautiful. Jesline, tell me about the Light of Semphago." Jack said, curious about the item she spoke of earlier.
"The Light of Semphago is an arrow. A very rare arrow. In fact only one was made. It was created by Semphago himself. He was a hymnbaki and he married a foreigner, Ericka. They traveled often and usually came back with new friends. But every time they came back they would have to go to the chief and gain the new foreigners safe passage through the Island of Forest Hymn. Soon this became tiring for the chief, Semphago, and Ericka. So the chief decided that Semphago and Ericka would make two object and use them so that they would not have to speak with the chief. The objects would show to every hymnbaki that the foreigners were friends and not enemies.
So Semphago made an arrow. It was made out of a very rare tree on the Forest Hymn, that in sunlight it glows sliver. The arrow head was made of a metal that would never scratch or stain. The feathers are white with a yellow strip that runs in the middle. These feathers came from a bird that only inhabits the Island of Forest Hymn." Jesline said, occasionally looking at Jack when she spoke.
"It sounds like to me that everything the arrow was made up of was rare objects or things." Jack said.
"It had to be. The Chief ordered that the objects they made had to be very rare or things that could only be found on the island. It was to prevent from any foreigners copying the objects to enter the island."
"What of Ericka? What did she make?"
"A necklace. The stone was, bashu, the blue stone of island. It glows when it near the island. The stone is wrapped with tresa. A tree silk strand, very much like a spiders web. The tresa is connected to the finest rope of Forest Hymn. Strong yet soft with beads woven into the rope. It is called Ericka's Stone."
Jack looked out into the ocean, thinking hard. She seemed to know a lot about these objects, how was that?
"You seem to know a lot about these objects, Jesline. Care to tell me why?"
"Every person who has been to the Island of Forest Hymn knows about these objects."
Jack did not respond to Jesline's statement. He knew differently, somehow he knew differently.
"Can you be so sure, Jesline?" Jack asked, suspicion in his voice.
"Enough, Jack. Soon when you are at the island you will see." Jesline said. She gazed at the endless ocean. It was so peaceful out here and so beautiful. Such a way to live, out in the sea, no rules to follow, only your own, and freedom. But freedom was far from Jesline that she forgot what it even felt like.
"Jesline, there is something I want to talk to you about."
"What?"
"Do you remember when I asked you what made you different from the killers of the cobra ship and you said that they had a choice, what did you mean, luv?"
Jesline took a deep breath. She felt it was time to tell him, but not too much. Jesline looked Jack in the eye and said, "They had a choice to kill or not, no one forced them. But me? I've been forced. Choice was never my power, never my freedom. The Devil forced me to kill. To kill those pirates for him. I feel so trapped and I cannot break free."
Jack suddenly had a memory when he heard the word trapped.
~*~*~*~ Memory *~*~*~*
"Jack, I want to give you something." Stonerose said. She walked toward Jack, who was standing at the helm.
"What, luv?" Jack asked. Looking at the object in her hand. It was beautiful.
"This." Stonerose handed Jack the object and he saw it was an arrow. A silver arrow.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's an arrow. Nothing more. But if you give it to the trapped lion who will shoot it into the eternal light it will grant you safe passage." Jack took the object and examined it closer. It was all made out of objects he had never seen before. The body made of a tree wood, the arrow head made of a mysterious metal, and the feathers from a bird that he had not seen before. The arrow was by far, rare and beautiful beyond all measures.
"The arrow, Jack is called the Light of Semphago. But you must hide it, and only seek it out when you hear the word trapped from the lion's lips. Do you understand?" Stonerose said, eyeing Jack carefully.
Jack felt something wash over him and he instantly went into his cabin, Stonerose took over the helm, and Jack hid the arrow in a book on his bookshelf.
~*~*~* Present ~*~*~*
"Jack? Jack are you all right?" Jesline asked. She watched as he relived a memory long forgotten.
Jack quickly left the helm to his cabin. Jesline took the wheel and steered the ship, confused at Jack's sudden departure, but then she heard him come back. She turned around and saw that he was holding something. Jack held it out to her and Jesline took it. It was the arrow. The Light of Semphago.
"But how?" she asked.
"An old friend gave it to me. She said that only the trapped lion can shoot it into the eternal light. I'm safe in saying that trapped lion is you, Jesline. Your tattoo is a big enough clue, luv."
Jesline was overwhelmed. The Light of Semphago had disappeared nineteen years ago, when she was taken by the Devil and her guardian murdered. No one knew it was, except that who ever took it put it in good hands. But who?
Jesline quickly pushed the thought from her mind. She would ask Jack later who gave it to him, but for now she had to wait for the island.
"Land ho!" Jacob shouted from the crow's nest.
Jesline looked out to the island and saw that they had come to Island of Forest Hymn. It was thickly covered in forest and mountains. There was little of beach, but it was there. Jesline went to the Captain's cabin and grabbed her bow. The sun was beginning to rise.
Jesline went to the bow of the ship, placed her arrow on her bow, aimed, and shot it directly at the sun. Flying through the air it looked like a shooting star. It was very bright and it gleamed in rainbow colors.
"How does the Chief see the arrow? What does it hit?" Jack asked.
"There is a tree in the middle of the village. The way the sunrises, if you shoot the arrow at the right time it will hit the tree and alert the village to our presences."
"Oh." Jack said. He wonder if it was a good thing or a bad thing for the village to know that they were on the Island of Forest Hymn.
"Shall we go to shore, luv?" Jack asked with a smile on his face.
"No. We wait."
"Wait for what?"
"The Chief's wife, Lasana. She will take us to the Hymbako Village."
Author's Note ~ The book "Writings of the World" by Laura Shedrick, I made that up. It is not a real book. As you know Serena Coyote and I are doing a crossover on our stories and Serena's character, Irene Norrington, will appear in Chapter Twelve: "You Saved Me." and will be in the rest of the story from then on. In the reviews, I got flamed, sort of, but do not mind it because I don't mind it. In fact, it gave me energy to hurry up and write this chapter and the other chapters for you. One more thing, I recommend that you read "Second Chances" by Serena Coyote. It's an excellent story, and she just updated, so read it. It's wonderful. Ta ta for now!
Semphago ~ (Sim-pa-go) Lasana ~ (La-san-na) Trikao ~ (Tra-ki-o) Hymbako ~ (Him-bak-o) hymbaki ~ (him-bak-e)
Disclaimer: I do not own POTC or any of its character. I also do not own Irene Norrington as she is Serena Coyote's character. I only own Jesline, Babako, Nightseer's Island, Island of Forest Hymn, and other places the Black Pearl will soon be visiting.
Jesline awoke to the sound of light snoring. She looked for the source and found Jack at his desk sleeping in his chair. His hat was drawn over his eyes and his legs propped on top of his desk. Jesline gazed at him for a few moments, but then turned her attention outside. It was a beautiful morning. The first she had seen in a long time. The Devil always made sure that Jesline was locked in her "room" before dawn and released at dusk.
Jesline got out of the bed and went over to the chair where her cloak and weapons were.
She took her sword and strapped it around her waist along with her dagger. Her other dagger she put in left boot. She then placed her cloak, bow and quiver in the drawer where Jack had placed her weapons before. She did not lock it, though, for she would need her bow when they reached the Island of Forest Hymn. The only problem was she could not use it for she needed the Light of Semphago to cast into the eternal light.
Jesline was about to leave the cabin when she decided to wake the Captain. He would need to know a few things about Forest Hymn. And besides he had slept long enough in her mind. So Jesline decided that she would wake him in the most pleasant of ways.
Jesline walked over to him and sat on the desk, facing Jack, waiting. She leaned forward and removed his hat and placed it on the desktop. Still he did not wake. Jesline leaned forward again and brushed his black locks away form his face. 'He is handsome', she thought. Even touching him, Jack would not wake. 'So much for pleasantries' Jesline thought. So Jesline thought of another way. A very useful way.
She walked over to bookshelf and found the thickest and largest book she could find. The book she picked was called 'Writings of the World' by Laura Shedrick. Jesline found this book interesting and wanted to see what this Miss Shedrick had wrote. So she went over to the desk and lifted the book high above her head. She waited to see if Jack would wake, but no response so she slammed the book down on top of the desk hard. The noise woke Jack up instantly.
"Bloody everlasting hell!" he yelled. Jesline opened the book and began to turn the pages one after the other, until she found a particular writing that sparked her interest. Jack looked at Jesline angrily.
"What the hell did you do that for?" he asked in an angry voice.
"You just need to know a few things about Forest Hymn. What I tell you, you must tell your crew." she responded. Jesline was smiling at Jack in amusement.
"Really?" he said, putting his hat on.
"Um hm." Jesline said, reading from the book.
"And what do I need to know, Jesline?"
"That when we reach the island you and the crew need to stay on the beach of the island. I will go into the forest and get you safe passage from Trikao. When I return, then we'll see."
"Why would have to talk with Trikao?" Jack asked.
"Because he is the chief of the Hymbako Tribe." Jesline stated. She was still reading from the book when she mumbled, "If only it were true." She then stood up and looked Jack in the face, seriousness and warning etched into her face.
"Do not disobey me on this Jack. I'm warning you now, Jack, if you do your life and the lives of your crew will pay for your stupidity." Jesline said. With that she left, leaving Jack somewhat surprised and angry. He was about to go after her when he noticed the book still open on his desk. Jack went to close it and put it way when he read what she was reading. The page was titled, 'Choices'. It said that 'everyone has choice and no one can take that power away from them. That if you let them then you allow them to have power over you.' Jack heard what Jesline mumbled and knew that she was talking about the passage. 'But what did she mean? Everyone does have a choice, ever her. It doesn't make sense.' Jack thought to himself. He decided that he would get to the bottom of this as soon as they had safe passage through Forest Hymn. Jesline would tell him one way or another. Jack was no longer going to let Jesline keep him in the dark about her old life.
************************************************************************
"My lord, the Black Pearl has disappeared again. We cannot find her." said Redcliff. He was worried that maybe, somehow she had regained her control. That the Devil was weakening.
"Do not worry, my dark servant. We do not need her yet. We'll wait until the Pearl reappears and when that happens we shall make our move. In the mean time, Redcliff, I want you to follow this ship. It will lead us to the Pearl, and my sweet dark angel." The Devil said, laughing silently to himself. Everything was going according to plan, and soon Jesline would be his, for all eternity.
************************************************************************
It was night, the stars were twinkling in the sky and the moon was high and bright in the midnight sky. Jack was at the helm. He couldn't sleep so he decided to steer the ship, his beautiful ship. Jack heard light footsteps coming towards him and he looked to see that it was Jesline. She was beautiful. So beautiful that it seemed unnatural as if it were a mask.
Jesline stood beside Jack and looked out into the dark glowing ocean.
"Beautiful night, is it not?" she asked.
"Yes beautiful. Jesline, tell me about the Light of Semphago." Jack said, curious about the item she spoke of earlier.
"The Light of Semphago is an arrow. A very rare arrow. In fact only one was made. It was created by Semphago himself. He was a hymnbaki and he married a foreigner, Ericka. They traveled often and usually came back with new friends. But every time they came back they would have to go to the chief and gain the new foreigners safe passage through the Island of Forest Hymn. Soon this became tiring for the chief, Semphago, and Ericka. So the chief decided that Semphago and Ericka would make two object and use them so that they would not have to speak with the chief. The objects would show to every hymnbaki that the foreigners were friends and not enemies.
So Semphago made an arrow. It was made out of a very rare tree on the Forest Hymn, that in sunlight it glows sliver. The arrow head was made of a metal that would never scratch or stain. The feathers are white with a yellow strip that runs in the middle. These feathers came from a bird that only inhabits the Island of Forest Hymn." Jesline said, occasionally looking at Jack when she spoke.
"It sounds like to me that everything the arrow was made up of was rare objects or things." Jack said.
"It had to be. The Chief ordered that the objects they made had to be very rare or things that could only be found on the island. It was to prevent from any foreigners copying the objects to enter the island."
"What of Ericka? What did she make?"
"A necklace. The stone was, bashu, the blue stone of island. It glows when it near the island. The stone is wrapped with tresa. A tree silk strand, very much like a spiders web. The tresa is connected to the finest rope of Forest Hymn. Strong yet soft with beads woven into the rope. It is called Ericka's Stone."
Jack looked out into the ocean, thinking hard. She seemed to know a lot about these objects, how was that?
"You seem to know a lot about these objects, Jesline. Care to tell me why?"
"Every person who has been to the Island of Forest Hymn knows about these objects."
Jack did not respond to Jesline's statement. He knew differently, somehow he knew differently.
"Can you be so sure, Jesline?" Jack asked, suspicion in his voice.
"Enough, Jack. Soon when you are at the island you will see." Jesline said. She gazed at the endless ocean. It was so peaceful out here and so beautiful. Such a way to live, out in the sea, no rules to follow, only your own, and freedom. But freedom was far from Jesline that she forgot what it even felt like.
"Jesline, there is something I want to talk to you about."
"What?"
"Do you remember when I asked you what made you different from the killers of the cobra ship and you said that they had a choice, what did you mean, luv?"
Jesline took a deep breath. She felt it was time to tell him, but not too much. Jesline looked Jack in the eye and said, "They had a choice to kill or not, no one forced them. But me? I've been forced. Choice was never my power, never my freedom. The Devil forced me to kill. To kill those pirates for him. I feel so trapped and I cannot break free."
Jack suddenly had a memory when he heard the word trapped.
~*~*~*~ Memory *~*~*~*
"Jack, I want to give you something." Stonerose said. She walked toward Jack, who was standing at the helm.
"What, luv?" Jack asked. Looking at the object in her hand. It was beautiful.
"This." Stonerose handed Jack the object and he saw it was an arrow. A silver arrow.
"What is it?" he asked.
"It's an arrow. Nothing more. But if you give it to the trapped lion who will shoot it into the eternal light it will grant you safe passage." Jack took the object and examined it closer. It was all made out of objects he had never seen before. The body made of a tree wood, the arrow head made of a mysterious metal, and the feathers from a bird that he had not seen before. The arrow was by far, rare and beautiful beyond all measures.
"The arrow, Jack is called the Light of Semphago. But you must hide it, and only seek it out when you hear the word trapped from the lion's lips. Do you understand?" Stonerose said, eyeing Jack carefully.
Jack felt something wash over him and he instantly went into his cabin, Stonerose took over the helm, and Jack hid the arrow in a book on his bookshelf.
~*~*~* Present ~*~*~*
"Jack? Jack are you all right?" Jesline asked. She watched as he relived a memory long forgotten.
Jack quickly left the helm to his cabin. Jesline took the wheel and steered the ship, confused at Jack's sudden departure, but then she heard him come back. She turned around and saw that he was holding something. Jack held it out to her and Jesline took it. It was the arrow. The Light of Semphago.
"But how?" she asked.
"An old friend gave it to me. She said that only the trapped lion can shoot it into the eternal light. I'm safe in saying that trapped lion is you, Jesline. Your tattoo is a big enough clue, luv."
Jesline was overwhelmed. The Light of Semphago had disappeared nineteen years ago, when she was taken by the Devil and her guardian murdered. No one knew it was, except that who ever took it put it in good hands. But who?
Jesline quickly pushed the thought from her mind. She would ask Jack later who gave it to him, but for now she had to wait for the island.
"Land ho!" Jacob shouted from the crow's nest.
Jesline looked out to the island and saw that they had come to Island of Forest Hymn. It was thickly covered in forest and mountains. There was little of beach, but it was there. Jesline went to the Captain's cabin and grabbed her bow. The sun was beginning to rise.
Jesline went to the bow of the ship, placed her arrow on her bow, aimed, and shot it directly at the sun. Flying through the air it looked like a shooting star. It was very bright and it gleamed in rainbow colors.
"How does the Chief see the arrow? What does it hit?" Jack asked.
"There is a tree in the middle of the village. The way the sunrises, if you shoot the arrow at the right time it will hit the tree and alert the village to our presences."
"Oh." Jack said. He wonder if it was a good thing or a bad thing for the village to know that they were on the Island of Forest Hymn.
"Shall we go to shore, luv?" Jack asked with a smile on his face.
"No. We wait."
"Wait for what?"
"The Chief's wife, Lasana. She will take us to the Hymbako Village."
Author's Note ~ The book "Writings of the World" by Laura Shedrick, I made that up. It is not a real book. As you know Serena Coyote and I are doing a crossover on our stories and Serena's character, Irene Norrington, will appear in Chapter Twelve: "You Saved Me." and will be in the rest of the story from then on. In the reviews, I got flamed, sort of, but do not mind it because I don't mind it. In fact, it gave me energy to hurry up and write this chapter and the other chapters for you. One more thing, I recommend that you read "Second Chances" by Serena Coyote. It's an excellent story, and she just updated, so read it. It's wonderful. Ta ta for now!
Semphago ~ (Sim-pa-go) Lasana ~ (La-san-na) Trikao ~ (Tra-ki-o) Hymbako ~ (Him-bak-o) hymbaki ~ (him-bak-e)