Chapter 7
Authors Note: I really haven't been keeping up with stories, finals are coming up and I have to study at least a little bit, right. Although underneath the books I have my notebook... hahaha, so more chapters are written on paper than anything else. Which would you rather do? Worry about polar covalent bonds, or what Jack Sparrow's going to do next?
Jack had one very serious problem to contend with yet, Ana was a woman and women weren't normally allowed on ships. Even the Navy had a law against taking them onboard unless they were wealthy enough to afford passage, or in the rarest case if they were the daughter of an important man.
He had a ship yet to collect on, and a few men who would still be loyal to him should he make an appearance. Throw in a woman with the crew and instantaneous conflicts arose.
Pirates especially, at least the ones Jack had known, were extremely superstitious. Women were considered bad luck, there was no going around that. Gibbs wasn't with them anymore, the Pearl was out on the ocean somewhere, and they did need anther crewman...
"Jack-" they were to go to the ship, but it was a well-known fact that horses didn't travel well over water.
"Aye, love?" he recognized this place easily enough now, but it was a well- populated area and the Navy could still be out searching for them.
"Shh..." she paused straining her ears to hear through the gloom. Jack had grabbed both reins to stop the horses and sure enough they heard hoof-beats in the distance. It could have been anywhere from one to two hours away, it would take at least that long for them to find somewhere to hide.
"Over there, past the hedge and into the yard. There are other horses there, not as fine as these animals, but the Navy wont pay attention to the nags if we're careful." Jack instructed, they both urged the animals to a canter and then jumped the hedge skillfully.
What they hadn't accounted for was that the owner of the stable would be home. Not so young an old man stood in the middle of the yard pitchfork in hand.
"The blazes d'you think you're doin?" he exclaimed waving the pitchfork wildly.
"Sir, if you'd just-"Jack began with the most welcoming smile he could muster fixed on his face.
"If I'd just nothing!" he was getting louder and louder with every word. At the rate they were going the Navy wouldn't be a problem. They'd have the attention of every landowner and farmer in the area!
"I'm terribly sorry, sir, for the trouble." Ana swung down from Poseidon's back and curtsied as best she could, "The Navy's after us, and if you'd be so kind as to lend us the protection of the paddock..."
"And why would I do that?" his eyes narrowed, if the Navy was after them then that made them criminals of some sort. The man next to the lass looked every inch a pirate, and she wanted lodging?
"It'd be of utmost profit to you." Ana continued doggedly. Time was being wasted, every second drew danger even closer.
"Oh, is that so?" he lowered the pitchfork a few degrees, "What d'you have to bargain with."
"Might want to turn pirate yourself, mate." Jack grinned, "What with the bartering your trying for at any rate."
"What we have to bargain with..." Ana cut Jack a sharp look, he was going to antagonize the person they needed help from, "two new horses, yours to breed as you see fit."
"Them?" he motioned towards the obviously pure-blooded horses they had been riding. Already the greed was rising in his blue eyes, with the offspring from his own horses, he'd be a rich man by next fall.
"Aye, Poseidon and- Black." Ana noticed the brightening of his eyes, he knew what a bargain he was getting. Two of her best horses for a night in the fields.
"And who's going to be paying for'em to stay here?" as good a deal as this was, they were still two full-grown, healthy, spirited animals who would need good food and extra stalls.
"I will." Ana held out her hand, "A monthly allowance of say, forty pounds, and your promise that they wont be sold."
"Forty pounds!" the farmer said incredulously scarcely believing his luck.
"Per horse." Jack added, they could be away for a year and if the farmer decided that two were too much to look after, there would be nothing to stop him from selling.
"You've a deal." They shook hands and he showed them into the barn. Jack and Ana would hide in the loft until morning, then set out for the docks which were hardly a quarter day's walk from the barn.
"What's your name, sir?" Ana asked before he handed them up a pitcher of water.
"Arnold Yinstre." He replied, "Remember, eighty pounds a month."
"On pain of death." Jack promised crossing his heart with a hand.
"Alright, they'll be here when you get back for'em. If not, leave me a residence where I can send'em."
"Done." Ana smiled and with that Arnold closed the stable doors leaving them in silence.
Jack noticed the look of sadness on her face before her expression was wiped clean. He could well understand, everything tying her to the past was gone. Her stable was in the hands of another, her horses sold, and now she was going to leave the very country from whence she was born. It was a lot to handle in such a short time, and the sacrifices had all been made for him.
"Are you alright, love?" Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him.
"Aye, fine, Jack." She sighed and rested her head on his collarbone. "Just thinking."
"They'll be fine here." Jack promised, "We'll send saddles, bridles, the best grain, anything you think is needed."
"No, not about that." She shrugged, "They'll be fine here Yinstre knows what he's about. He won't sell them, not for the eighty pounds you promised him."
"Paltry money compared to what you'll see onboard the ship." Jack caught her hesitation on the amount of money, if it was one thing he'd learned it was that anything could be bought by a bribe.
Favors were always called in, but they could be avoided if one had enough coin to spare. His suspicions of her were right, she was a quick thinker and had no problems of talking her way out of a situation.
"Are you hiding and abetting dangerous fugitives?" they heard an aristocratic voice ask directly outside the stable, "You can be tried and hung for such an offense."
Jack and Ana shared a look, it was all up to the courage and fortitude of Arnold now, if he cracked and gave them up their adventure was over. They couldn't outright kill an officer of the Navy, not if they ever wanted to show their faces on a main dock again.
"Nay! Go ahead and check, you'll not find anything here." Arnold opened the door and Jack pulled Ana back along the far wall. There was no ladder that would betray their hiding place, Arnold had moved it when he left.
They listened as the footsteps got closer, than receded down the aisles. This officer was extremely thorough, he searched in all the stalls, the tack room, and Arnold's food bins before he was completely satisfied.
"Hold a moment." The officer turned on his heel and stared up at the loft, "What's up there?"
Jack unsheathed his dagger just in case, he looked over the edge as Ana pulled him back cursing him for a fool. She was going to smack him for being so foolish, if the officer saw them everything was for naught!
Memories assaulted Jack's mind, he saw the burning red end of a P-shaped brand, saw the end of a whip from out of the corner of his eye. He felt the hard wood biting into his knees and the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth from biting his lip so no sound would escape.
The officer had once belonged to the 'East India Trading Company' and he had been one of the most brutal of them all. The muscles in Jack's arm twisted as he remembered how inventive the man could be.
His arms had been tied above his head, the last vestiges of pain had just about gone away when they would move his shoulders and it would all come back again. The purpose of that was to try and get him to betray the location of his ship.
All the blood in his arms slowly left, tingling prickles and then finally blinding agony as all of the circulation in his arms was stopped. They cut him down when it became nearly too much to bear just so that they could do it all over again the next day.
The bright color was back in Jack's eyes, the savage feral anger that she had come to recognize whenever he was prepared for a battle. The officer he was staring at would end up dead if Jack's body language was clue.
Jack silently snarled remembering the cold metal of the sword piercing through the numb muscles of his arms. That was how he had gotten the horrendous scar on his right arm. There had been little to no blood from the wound because there was hardly enough to keep oxygen circulation in his system.
It hadn't done anything for the pain, it was the first time they had gotten a sound out of him. The first and last, their taunting had strengthened his resolve to let no East India or Navyman hear him beg, scream, or plead.
Ana pulled him back from the edge as carefully as she could. They fell into a large bale of hay, which thankfully stayed where it was and didn't make any sound. Jack looked as if he would snap, but then his eyes cleared and he stared down at her uncomprehendingly.
The stable door closed at last and Ana shoved him away angrily, "What in hell was that about, Jack Sparrow. What were you planning to do? Jump down on him from up here and cut his throat?!"
"It's what he deserves." Jack replied holding the blade up to the light, "That and more for what he did."
"What did he do then?" she demanded, "What did he do that was terrible enough for you to contemplate jumping and maybe breaking your neck in the process?"
"This." Jack pushed up the sleeve he always made sure was down, there were red criss-crossed markings as if the veins were too large for his arm. The wound no longer hurt, but it had been weeks before he could wield a sword properly.
"Oh god." She murmered taking hold of his arm underneath where the scars were, careful not to touch them she followed the injury with her eyes. It must have been excruciating, it looked as if they had opened the skin and then turned the blade.
The work was done precisely, they hadn't cut any major arteries or blood vessels, just enough to have a lesser man writhing and screaming on the floor. Had Jack not cursed them all with language bad enough to make a sailor blush, they might not have knocked him aside the head.
To quiet him the officer had commanded an officer to clout him on the back of his skull, too hard apparently because the enraged and savage pirate had fallen to the ground unconscious.
"That was him." Jack said pulling his sleeve back down roughly, 'That was the son of a dog who ordered it done. What the bloody hell he's doing in the Navy is beyond me, but his name from East India was Edgar, or his nickname, Edge."
Authors Note 2: THANK YOU JACKFAN2!! Without her this chapter would still be siting on my computer unfinished. With just one suggestion she had my mind going, working out the rest of their adventure. Really, bloody brilliant she is. I'm proud to be called part of her crew.
Authors Note: I really haven't been keeping up with stories, finals are coming up and I have to study at least a little bit, right. Although underneath the books I have my notebook... hahaha, so more chapters are written on paper than anything else. Which would you rather do? Worry about polar covalent bonds, or what Jack Sparrow's going to do next?
Jack had one very serious problem to contend with yet, Ana was a woman and women weren't normally allowed on ships. Even the Navy had a law against taking them onboard unless they were wealthy enough to afford passage, or in the rarest case if they were the daughter of an important man.
He had a ship yet to collect on, and a few men who would still be loyal to him should he make an appearance. Throw in a woman with the crew and instantaneous conflicts arose.
Pirates especially, at least the ones Jack had known, were extremely superstitious. Women were considered bad luck, there was no going around that. Gibbs wasn't with them anymore, the Pearl was out on the ocean somewhere, and they did need anther crewman...
"Jack-" they were to go to the ship, but it was a well-known fact that horses didn't travel well over water.
"Aye, love?" he recognized this place easily enough now, but it was a well- populated area and the Navy could still be out searching for them.
"Shh..." she paused straining her ears to hear through the gloom. Jack had grabbed both reins to stop the horses and sure enough they heard hoof-beats in the distance. It could have been anywhere from one to two hours away, it would take at least that long for them to find somewhere to hide.
"Over there, past the hedge and into the yard. There are other horses there, not as fine as these animals, but the Navy wont pay attention to the nags if we're careful." Jack instructed, they both urged the animals to a canter and then jumped the hedge skillfully.
What they hadn't accounted for was that the owner of the stable would be home. Not so young an old man stood in the middle of the yard pitchfork in hand.
"The blazes d'you think you're doin?" he exclaimed waving the pitchfork wildly.
"Sir, if you'd just-"Jack began with the most welcoming smile he could muster fixed on his face.
"If I'd just nothing!" he was getting louder and louder with every word. At the rate they were going the Navy wouldn't be a problem. They'd have the attention of every landowner and farmer in the area!
"I'm terribly sorry, sir, for the trouble." Ana swung down from Poseidon's back and curtsied as best she could, "The Navy's after us, and if you'd be so kind as to lend us the protection of the paddock..."
"And why would I do that?" his eyes narrowed, if the Navy was after them then that made them criminals of some sort. The man next to the lass looked every inch a pirate, and she wanted lodging?
"It'd be of utmost profit to you." Ana continued doggedly. Time was being wasted, every second drew danger even closer.
"Oh, is that so?" he lowered the pitchfork a few degrees, "What d'you have to bargain with."
"Might want to turn pirate yourself, mate." Jack grinned, "What with the bartering your trying for at any rate."
"What we have to bargain with..." Ana cut Jack a sharp look, he was going to antagonize the person they needed help from, "two new horses, yours to breed as you see fit."
"Them?" he motioned towards the obviously pure-blooded horses they had been riding. Already the greed was rising in his blue eyes, with the offspring from his own horses, he'd be a rich man by next fall.
"Aye, Poseidon and- Black." Ana noticed the brightening of his eyes, he knew what a bargain he was getting. Two of her best horses for a night in the fields.
"And who's going to be paying for'em to stay here?" as good a deal as this was, they were still two full-grown, healthy, spirited animals who would need good food and extra stalls.
"I will." Ana held out her hand, "A monthly allowance of say, forty pounds, and your promise that they wont be sold."
"Forty pounds!" the farmer said incredulously scarcely believing his luck.
"Per horse." Jack added, they could be away for a year and if the farmer decided that two were too much to look after, there would be nothing to stop him from selling.
"You've a deal." They shook hands and he showed them into the barn. Jack and Ana would hide in the loft until morning, then set out for the docks which were hardly a quarter day's walk from the barn.
"What's your name, sir?" Ana asked before he handed them up a pitcher of water.
"Arnold Yinstre." He replied, "Remember, eighty pounds a month."
"On pain of death." Jack promised crossing his heart with a hand.
"Alright, they'll be here when you get back for'em. If not, leave me a residence where I can send'em."
"Done." Ana smiled and with that Arnold closed the stable doors leaving them in silence.
Jack noticed the look of sadness on her face before her expression was wiped clean. He could well understand, everything tying her to the past was gone. Her stable was in the hands of another, her horses sold, and now she was going to leave the very country from whence she was born. It was a lot to handle in such a short time, and the sacrifices had all been made for him.
"Are you alright, love?" Jack wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him.
"Aye, fine, Jack." She sighed and rested her head on his collarbone. "Just thinking."
"They'll be fine here." Jack promised, "We'll send saddles, bridles, the best grain, anything you think is needed."
"No, not about that." She shrugged, "They'll be fine here Yinstre knows what he's about. He won't sell them, not for the eighty pounds you promised him."
"Paltry money compared to what you'll see onboard the ship." Jack caught her hesitation on the amount of money, if it was one thing he'd learned it was that anything could be bought by a bribe.
Favors were always called in, but they could be avoided if one had enough coin to spare. His suspicions of her were right, she was a quick thinker and had no problems of talking her way out of a situation.
"Are you hiding and abetting dangerous fugitives?" they heard an aristocratic voice ask directly outside the stable, "You can be tried and hung for such an offense."
Jack and Ana shared a look, it was all up to the courage and fortitude of Arnold now, if he cracked and gave them up their adventure was over. They couldn't outright kill an officer of the Navy, not if they ever wanted to show their faces on a main dock again.
"Nay! Go ahead and check, you'll not find anything here." Arnold opened the door and Jack pulled Ana back along the far wall. There was no ladder that would betray their hiding place, Arnold had moved it when he left.
They listened as the footsteps got closer, than receded down the aisles. This officer was extremely thorough, he searched in all the stalls, the tack room, and Arnold's food bins before he was completely satisfied.
"Hold a moment." The officer turned on his heel and stared up at the loft, "What's up there?"
Jack unsheathed his dagger just in case, he looked over the edge as Ana pulled him back cursing him for a fool. She was going to smack him for being so foolish, if the officer saw them everything was for naught!
Memories assaulted Jack's mind, he saw the burning red end of a P-shaped brand, saw the end of a whip from out of the corner of his eye. He felt the hard wood biting into his knees and the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth from biting his lip so no sound would escape.
The officer had once belonged to the 'East India Trading Company' and he had been one of the most brutal of them all. The muscles in Jack's arm twisted as he remembered how inventive the man could be.
His arms had been tied above his head, the last vestiges of pain had just about gone away when they would move his shoulders and it would all come back again. The purpose of that was to try and get him to betray the location of his ship.
All the blood in his arms slowly left, tingling prickles and then finally blinding agony as all of the circulation in his arms was stopped. They cut him down when it became nearly too much to bear just so that they could do it all over again the next day.
The bright color was back in Jack's eyes, the savage feral anger that she had come to recognize whenever he was prepared for a battle. The officer he was staring at would end up dead if Jack's body language was clue.
Jack silently snarled remembering the cold metal of the sword piercing through the numb muscles of his arms. That was how he had gotten the horrendous scar on his right arm. There had been little to no blood from the wound because there was hardly enough to keep oxygen circulation in his system.
It hadn't done anything for the pain, it was the first time they had gotten a sound out of him. The first and last, their taunting had strengthened his resolve to let no East India or Navyman hear him beg, scream, or plead.
Ana pulled him back from the edge as carefully as she could. They fell into a large bale of hay, which thankfully stayed where it was and didn't make any sound. Jack looked as if he would snap, but then his eyes cleared and he stared down at her uncomprehendingly.
The stable door closed at last and Ana shoved him away angrily, "What in hell was that about, Jack Sparrow. What were you planning to do? Jump down on him from up here and cut his throat?!"
"It's what he deserves." Jack replied holding the blade up to the light, "That and more for what he did."
"What did he do then?" she demanded, "What did he do that was terrible enough for you to contemplate jumping and maybe breaking your neck in the process?"
"This." Jack pushed up the sleeve he always made sure was down, there were red criss-crossed markings as if the veins were too large for his arm. The wound no longer hurt, but it had been weeks before he could wield a sword properly.
"Oh god." She murmered taking hold of his arm underneath where the scars were, careful not to touch them she followed the injury with her eyes. It must have been excruciating, it looked as if they had opened the skin and then turned the blade.
The work was done precisely, they hadn't cut any major arteries or blood vessels, just enough to have a lesser man writhing and screaming on the floor. Had Jack not cursed them all with language bad enough to make a sailor blush, they might not have knocked him aside the head.
To quiet him the officer had commanded an officer to clout him on the back of his skull, too hard apparently because the enraged and savage pirate had fallen to the ground unconscious.
"That was him." Jack said pulling his sleeve back down roughly, 'That was the son of a dog who ordered it done. What the bloody hell he's doing in the Navy is beyond me, but his name from East India was Edgar, or his nickname, Edge."
Authors Note 2: THANK YOU JACKFAN2!! Without her this chapter would still be siting on my computer unfinished. With just one suggestion she had my mind going, working out the rest of their adventure. Really, bloody brilliant she is. I'm proud to be called part of her crew.