Chapter Six: The opportune moment
Jack awoke the next morning – or he assumed it was morning, it wasn't like his internal clock was functioning at top rate by this point – sore and in pain. He let a small groan escape from his lips as he tried to wiggle his numbing fingers. At least all the blood hadn't drained from his hands. Maybe the tight cuffs were helping in that respect. Ah... he could still mess with the locks on the chains....
"Jack?"
Jack perked when he heard Will's voice, his eyes meeting the blacksmith's. "Sleep as well as I did, lad?" the pirate asked with a grin.
"At least you haven't lost your since of humour," Will laughed.
"So'd 'e move everyone in 'ere?" Jack asked, looking from Will to Elizabeth to his mother and finally to Richard. He froze. "Where's Ana Maria?"
"He never brought her in when he brought us," Will said slowly. "I'm sorry, Jack, there was nothing we could do...."
"It's not like you can't find another one after this is all said and done," Richard grumbled from his corner, fumbling with chains that were holding him down.
"'m sorry, mate, I dunno how they are in London, but 'ere there's only one of each person," Jack said in a sarcastic tone. "Ana Maria is Ana Maria and no one else is."
His stepfather looked up at where the pirate captain hung from, his eyes dull and uncaring.
A low chuckle came from a darkened corner of the room. "Perhaps you might be right, Mr. Bruckworth, but Mr. Sparrow won't be out of 'ere when this is 'said and done' as you put it."
"Jameston," Jack hissed. "Where's she?"
"Your dear lass?" Jameston asked as he continued coming closer to his captive. "Recovering from a wonderful night last night."
Elizabeth gasped. "You monster! How DARE you even think of touching Ana Maria?!"
"Friend of yers, darling? I can make sure yer next if you don't hush it."
Will glared. "Over my dead and rotting body."
"Tha' can be arranged." Jameston turned back to Jack. "But you first, Mr. Sparrow."
"Captain," Jack corrected again. "'ow 'ard is it, Jameston?" A grin spread across his face. "Jus' because you've never 'eard it connected to yer own name doesn' mean-"
Jack knew he not only felt, but heard something break with the next blow. He coughed, feeling warm blood on his tongue and lips, but smiled his cocky grin never the less.
"What did I tell you last night about learning silence, eh, Jack? I don' wanna kill ya before I bring yer lass in 'ere. I'm not completely heartless. I'll let 'er say goodbye."
One of the men that had been hauling Jack around for the past day entered the room, Ana Maria in tow. She was wearing a dress that reminded Elizabeth of the one that Barbossa had given to her on the Black Pearl when all of the chaos had begun. Ana Maria's eyes lit up when she saw Jack. "Jack!"
He flashed her a grin. "'allo, luv."
Jameston gave her a smirk. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, we've all 'eard the stories of Captain Jack Sparrow, eh? I 'spose some of the people 'ave lived some of 'em with 'im. Wha's the one thing that kept bringin' ya back, Jack? The Pearl, eh?" He leaned close to Jack. "What would ya say if I told ya I sunk 'er?"
"I'd say yer a bloody liar. You want 'er as much as I do."
"Ah yes," Jameston answered slowly. "You'd think tha', wouldn' ya?" Jack cocked his head, his brows knitting slightly, looking for any traces of uncertainty in the man's speech. "I'd much rather see you in hell on earth before you go below."
"You wouldn'a sunk 'er," Jack responded again, still confident in his statement.
Jameston's smile faded, giving Jack the answer he needed. His Pearl was fine. Gibbs was still running her and the man standing before him hadn't so much as touched her. Oliver's annoyed expression nearly made Jack chuckle, but the pirate captain thought better against it.
"Just die," Jameston growled as he pulled a gun from his belt, aiming it at Jack.
"Thanks very much for the offer, mate," Jack answered as he felt the last bit of the latch on the chains come undone after his night of fiddling, "but I'm not quite ready to meet me maker yet. Don' think He wants me quite yet." He dropped to the ground just as the shot rang out through the room and Jack rolled.
Jameston stopped suddenly, his eyes connecting with Jack's. "How about we do this like gentlemen, Sparrow? A duel. The winner takes the Pearl and whatever goes along with it."
Jack grinned as Jameston offered him a cutlass. "Deal."
Marie watched her son carefully as the two swords collided. He was bound to have natural talent with any sword, as his father did. She convinced herself of this as she continued with her own escape from the chains. The one thing all of the pins were good for in her hair was this, and for once she was glad she had worn it up in the popular styles. The lock clicked open and she started her short scoot over to Elizabeth and Will.
The threesome watched for a moment as Jack and Jameston parried back and forth, each striking and blocking respectively, but neither gaining ground on the other. "They're equal," Elizabeth breathed.
"Yes, but if it falls to who can withstand this for the greater time, Jack's at a disadvantage," Will pointed out.
Marie's eyes held some underlying excitement in them. "Well we'll give him the advantage he need, hmm?" she asked as she offered the pin to Elizabeth.
"You're brilliant," Elizabeth grinned.
"Of course, dear."
Will chuckled. "So that's where Jack got his humbleness from."
Jack moved around a beam in the middle of the room, barely avoiding the cutlass as it hit the place where he'd just been. He grimaced as he wrapped one arm around his aching ribs.
"Yer movin' a bit slow, Jack," Jameston taunted.
"Not as slow as yer gonna been movin'," Jack answered confidently as he hit his target, slicing through Jameston's left shoulder, causing the elder man to stumble backward. "See? Don' underestimate Captain Jack Sparrow. It's bad for yer health, mate."
Jameston glared. "We're equals, Jack, you won't win."
"I've won against an immortal man, mate. Yer nothin'."
Will rubbed his wrist with his other hand and focused on the battle. "We have to get Ana Maria and Richard and then..."
"Then what?" Ana Maria asked, suddenly at his side. She motioned back to the man that had been holding her down. "'e's more interested in the fight than holdin' li'll ol' me. Stupid man."
Jameston and Jack's cutlasses clashed and they both pushed off the other, standing with only a few feet between them now. "She's sucha pretty lass," Jameston said after length. "Too bad she's not yers anymore, eh, Jack?"
Jack growled something under his breath as he rushed at the elder man. He drove the cutlass from Jameston's grasp – sending it flying across the room - and grinned. "An' you said I couldn't win. 'Course I can. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, and I don' loose to people like you."
Jameston held his hands up, as if surrendering, but then a smirk crossed his face. The gun was in his hand before Jack even saw him reach for it. "So you think, Jack Sparrow," he said as a gunshot went off in the room.
Jack's kohl lined eyes widened in pain as he stumbled and fell to his knees, agony apparent in every bit of his face.
"And so falls the great Jack Sparrow outa the 'istory books, eh?"
Jack stared up at him with contempt overpowering his pain, but then his eyes focused behind the man standing before him. He smirked as he realized what Will was doing. He saw the cutlass that Jameston had been fighting with earlier come through him, thrown from several feet away by the talented blacksmith. The elder man's eyes widened as realization donned on him and he fell to the ground, dead.
Will ran to his friend, easing him into a more comfortable position. "Did I finally get the opportune moment right, Jack?" he asked with a faint smile.
"Aye, lad, ye did."
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Thanks for reviews!!!
Kungfuchick: Is it bad to talk to your computer? Mine talks back, does yours? :grins: Yes, I do tend to update fast when I'm this into a story. I've had this line of stories (which will be continued after this one, hopefully) running through my head pretty much since I first saw PotC (and that was probably.... 2 weeks ago? Maybe.....)
Celestia Memora: Well Jack all ready broke his nose, but she could have rebroken it. :evil grin: ah... as much as I like torturing my favorite characters, I like giving evil villains bloody, horrible deaths even more
Queen of tact: Or maybe just let Will kill 'im. I'm glad I made Jameston that hateable. I'm usually not that good at creating villains. That's my friend Anna Maxwell's job, because usually we cowrite together. Probably the only villain from a fanfic that I've created that I really loved to hate was Tyler out of "The Three Beats of War, Peace, and Revolution." Now that was an evil, disturbed man........ I don't like Jameston either now. Yay! New villain to hate!
Brigitte: Norrington will come in.... sooner or later.... I think. I'll bring him in just for you, k?
Jack awoke the next morning – or he assumed it was morning, it wasn't like his internal clock was functioning at top rate by this point – sore and in pain. He let a small groan escape from his lips as he tried to wiggle his numbing fingers. At least all the blood hadn't drained from his hands. Maybe the tight cuffs were helping in that respect. Ah... he could still mess with the locks on the chains....
"Jack?"
Jack perked when he heard Will's voice, his eyes meeting the blacksmith's. "Sleep as well as I did, lad?" the pirate asked with a grin.
"At least you haven't lost your since of humour," Will laughed.
"So'd 'e move everyone in 'ere?" Jack asked, looking from Will to Elizabeth to his mother and finally to Richard. He froze. "Where's Ana Maria?"
"He never brought her in when he brought us," Will said slowly. "I'm sorry, Jack, there was nothing we could do...."
"It's not like you can't find another one after this is all said and done," Richard grumbled from his corner, fumbling with chains that were holding him down.
"'m sorry, mate, I dunno how they are in London, but 'ere there's only one of each person," Jack said in a sarcastic tone. "Ana Maria is Ana Maria and no one else is."
His stepfather looked up at where the pirate captain hung from, his eyes dull and uncaring.
A low chuckle came from a darkened corner of the room. "Perhaps you might be right, Mr. Bruckworth, but Mr. Sparrow won't be out of 'ere when this is 'said and done' as you put it."
"Jameston," Jack hissed. "Where's she?"
"Your dear lass?" Jameston asked as he continued coming closer to his captive. "Recovering from a wonderful night last night."
Elizabeth gasped. "You monster! How DARE you even think of touching Ana Maria?!"
"Friend of yers, darling? I can make sure yer next if you don't hush it."
Will glared. "Over my dead and rotting body."
"Tha' can be arranged." Jameston turned back to Jack. "But you first, Mr. Sparrow."
"Captain," Jack corrected again. "'ow 'ard is it, Jameston?" A grin spread across his face. "Jus' because you've never 'eard it connected to yer own name doesn' mean-"
Jack knew he not only felt, but heard something break with the next blow. He coughed, feeling warm blood on his tongue and lips, but smiled his cocky grin never the less.
"What did I tell you last night about learning silence, eh, Jack? I don' wanna kill ya before I bring yer lass in 'ere. I'm not completely heartless. I'll let 'er say goodbye."
One of the men that had been hauling Jack around for the past day entered the room, Ana Maria in tow. She was wearing a dress that reminded Elizabeth of the one that Barbossa had given to her on the Black Pearl when all of the chaos had begun. Ana Maria's eyes lit up when she saw Jack. "Jack!"
He flashed her a grin. "'allo, luv."
Jameston gave her a smirk. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, we've all 'eard the stories of Captain Jack Sparrow, eh? I 'spose some of the people 'ave lived some of 'em with 'im. Wha's the one thing that kept bringin' ya back, Jack? The Pearl, eh?" He leaned close to Jack. "What would ya say if I told ya I sunk 'er?"
"I'd say yer a bloody liar. You want 'er as much as I do."
"Ah yes," Jameston answered slowly. "You'd think tha', wouldn' ya?" Jack cocked his head, his brows knitting slightly, looking for any traces of uncertainty in the man's speech. "I'd much rather see you in hell on earth before you go below."
"You wouldn'a sunk 'er," Jack responded again, still confident in his statement.
Jameston's smile faded, giving Jack the answer he needed. His Pearl was fine. Gibbs was still running her and the man standing before him hadn't so much as touched her. Oliver's annoyed expression nearly made Jack chuckle, but the pirate captain thought better against it.
"Just die," Jameston growled as he pulled a gun from his belt, aiming it at Jack.
"Thanks very much for the offer, mate," Jack answered as he felt the last bit of the latch on the chains come undone after his night of fiddling, "but I'm not quite ready to meet me maker yet. Don' think He wants me quite yet." He dropped to the ground just as the shot rang out through the room and Jack rolled.
Jameston stopped suddenly, his eyes connecting with Jack's. "How about we do this like gentlemen, Sparrow? A duel. The winner takes the Pearl and whatever goes along with it."
Jack grinned as Jameston offered him a cutlass. "Deal."
Marie watched her son carefully as the two swords collided. He was bound to have natural talent with any sword, as his father did. She convinced herself of this as she continued with her own escape from the chains. The one thing all of the pins were good for in her hair was this, and for once she was glad she had worn it up in the popular styles. The lock clicked open and she started her short scoot over to Elizabeth and Will.
The threesome watched for a moment as Jack and Jameston parried back and forth, each striking and blocking respectively, but neither gaining ground on the other. "They're equal," Elizabeth breathed.
"Yes, but if it falls to who can withstand this for the greater time, Jack's at a disadvantage," Will pointed out.
Marie's eyes held some underlying excitement in them. "Well we'll give him the advantage he need, hmm?" she asked as she offered the pin to Elizabeth.
"You're brilliant," Elizabeth grinned.
"Of course, dear."
Will chuckled. "So that's where Jack got his humbleness from."
Jack moved around a beam in the middle of the room, barely avoiding the cutlass as it hit the place where he'd just been. He grimaced as he wrapped one arm around his aching ribs.
"Yer movin' a bit slow, Jack," Jameston taunted.
"Not as slow as yer gonna been movin'," Jack answered confidently as he hit his target, slicing through Jameston's left shoulder, causing the elder man to stumble backward. "See? Don' underestimate Captain Jack Sparrow. It's bad for yer health, mate."
Jameston glared. "We're equals, Jack, you won't win."
"I've won against an immortal man, mate. Yer nothin'."
Will rubbed his wrist with his other hand and focused on the battle. "We have to get Ana Maria and Richard and then..."
"Then what?" Ana Maria asked, suddenly at his side. She motioned back to the man that had been holding her down. "'e's more interested in the fight than holdin' li'll ol' me. Stupid man."
Jameston and Jack's cutlasses clashed and they both pushed off the other, standing with only a few feet between them now. "She's sucha pretty lass," Jameston said after length. "Too bad she's not yers anymore, eh, Jack?"
Jack growled something under his breath as he rushed at the elder man. He drove the cutlass from Jameston's grasp – sending it flying across the room - and grinned. "An' you said I couldn't win. 'Course I can. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, and I don' loose to people like you."
Jameston held his hands up, as if surrendering, but then a smirk crossed his face. The gun was in his hand before Jack even saw him reach for it. "So you think, Jack Sparrow," he said as a gunshot went off in the room.
Jack's kohl lined eyes widened in pain as he stumbled and fell to his knees, agony apparent in every bit of his face.
"And so falls the great Jack Sparrow outa the 'istory books, eh?"
Jack stared up at him with contempt overpowering his pain, but then his eyes focused behind the man standing before him. He smirked as he realized what Will was doing. He saw the cutlass that Jameston had been fighting with earlier come through him, thrown from several feet away by the talented blacksmith. The elder man's eyes widened as realization donned on him and he fell to the ground, dead.
Will ran to his friend, easing him into a more comfortable position. "Did I finally get the opportune moment right, Jack?" he asked with a faint smile.
"Aye, lad, ye did."
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Thanks for reviews!!!
Kungfuchick: Is it bad to talk to your computer? Mine talks back, does yours? :grins: Yes, I do tend to update fast when I'm this into a story. I've had this line of stories (which will be continued after this one, hopefully) running through my head pretty much since I first saw PotC (and that was probably.... 2 weeks ago? Maybe.....)
Celestia Memora: Well Jack all ready broke his nose, but she could have rebroken it. :evil grin: ah... as much as I like torturing my favorite characters, I like giving evil villains bloody, horrible deaths even more
Queen of tact: Or maybe just let Will kill 'im. I'm glad I made Jameston that hateable. I'm usually not that good at creating villains. That's my friend Anna Maxwell's job, because usually we cowrite together. Probably the only villain from a fanfic that I've created that I really loved to hate was Tyler out of "The Three Beats of War, Peace, and Revolution." Now that was an evil, disturbed man........ I don't like Jameston either now. Yay! New villain to hate!
Brigitte: Norrington will come in.... sooner or later.... I think. I'll bring him in just for you, k?