Okay, I have to post this really quick, because my dad's making me go to
bed... 20 minutes ago. So the review thank yous will have to wait until
next chapter. Sorry! But we'd just like to thank Molly for her constructive
criticism. And for coming back to say she liked it. In our defense, it was
written at 5:30 in the morning after no sleep. And typed three hours later.
I would also like to wish Kat a happy sixteenth birthday! Okay, so technically it's tomorrow. Well, in half an hour. But still. I'm going to post another chapter tomorrow as a birthday present, so everyone be sure to leave a review saying happy birthday!
*Ahem* This chapter is dedicated to bratprincess, because she found my story!!!! I love you!!!! And she's my new best friend. (This is Alaina, by the way)
And, of course, it wouldn't be complete without a Jack quote. This one has no reference to the chapter. It's just the first random one I found, because my dad's going to start yelling soon.
""No one. He's no one. A distant cousin of my aunt's nephew twice removed. Lovely singing voice, though. Eunuch."
She had been bound again, and then tied to the wall by her wrist shackles. A guard had been placed outside her cell; a large, dirty, grotesque, foul- smelling man, who had ordered her gagged after she refused to stop singing 'A Pirate's Life' for seven hours straight, even after she altered several of the lines to include him and the rest of 'Mara's literally stinking crew!'.
'It's amazing,' Jade said to herself, silently of course, due to the gag. 'You'd almost think Mara was trying to make me homesick for the Pearl and my father. Pity it's working.'
Glaring at her guard, who was currently sitting and staring at her through the bars, a bottle of rum clutched in one grubby hand, exactly as he had been for the past two and a half hours, Jade attempted to hum through the dirty rag in her mouth. Instead of the bright and cheery tune she had hoped to create, all that emerged was a strangled choke.
"You oughta stop that miss, if you die, Mara won't be able ta use ya."
Rolling her eyes, Jade's quick response was smothered by the gag, leaving her silent once more- and desperate for a full breath of air.
"Come now, surely this small creature is not such a monster as to require a gag and such rough bindings." Gliding out of the shadows, Nathan Mara approached the iron bars that formed Jade's cage. "Unlock the door."
Garren stood up, the large ring of keys jingling by his flabby side. "Sir, are ya certain? She's not a normal woman."
Elegantly, Mara's left eyebrow rose in a perfect arch. "Are you saying you don't believe me capable of being in closed quarters with a female- pirate or no?"
"Certainly not sir, I was just sayin'-"
"Open the door Garren."
"Sir-" Leaning forward conspiratorially, Garren glanced nervously at Jade. "Sir, they say she's not really human. That's she's the daughter of the devil hisself."
His expressionless gaze drinking in the pitiful sight of the girl before him, Mara could barely bring himself to answer. "They are right. She is. Now open this door."
Grumbling, Garren fitted the key and, the lock turning over with a horrendously high pitched squeal, the sound of salt-water encrusted metal scraping again more salt-water encrusted metal. Wincing, he drew back, rushing to the stairs when Mara relieved him of duty. Left alone, the two pirates in the brig stared at each other, waiting for their foe to move, to break the stillness that had settled over them. When Mara finally stepped forward, Jade was so caught up in her mental victory dance over winning what was, in her mind, a great battle, she barely realized his intention until his proximity was near enough to worry her. If there had been any space between her and the wall, Jade would have filled it quickly. As it was, she has bound too tightly to move.
"You have not drawn back. That is good, you hide your fear. I will change that little girl, I will tell you a story that will break your heart, and then, when you see your precious father next, you will beg me to kill him, if only because you are ashamed of what he did. Perhaps you will cast yourself into the sea, as she did."
Rolling her eyes, Jade found herself questioning Mara's sanity. This man made Captain Jack Sparrow look almost sane. Almost.
Working quickly, his hands deft, Mara had Jade untied in less then a minute. "Follow me." He intoned turning and walking quickly out of the brig. The fact that he put her behind him unnerved Jade. One of her father's strongest rules was that you should always be able to see the location of you enemy/prisoner/possible rum thief.
'So Mara is either insane or stupid. Neither of those sounds very good to me.' Jade thought as she watched him.
"Now."
The order came from the direction of the stairs, and without giving it further thought, Jade moved toward it.
'After all, between standing around in a metal cage, being tied to the wall with rope, to be used as bait for my father, or being thrown into the ocean, I'll take being thrown into the ocean.' As she walked by the pile of rope on the floor, Jade grabbed one from the top. 'If I do get thrown overboard I may need this.' Shoving the coil under her shirt, the smallest Sparrow left her cage, wondering how difficult it would be to make a raft out of sea turtles.
*
Mara had led her to a small cabin. While it was small, cramped, held only one small cot and had a distinct lack of windows, it was decidedly better than being tied to the wall of a cell.
"Please, sit down." Mara motioned her to the bed. Jade stared at him suspiciously. "Please, I insist." Taking her by the arm, he forcibly made her sit down. Mara posted himself by the door, which he had shut and locked behind him upon their arrival. This man was really beginning to worry Jade. You generally don't lock yourself in a closed room with a prisoner, especially when they aren't bound in any form. Jade had come to the conclusion that this man was both insane AND stupid: definitely not a good combination. Insane she could deal with- fifteen years with her father had given her good experience. And stupid was nothing. But the two of them together was another story.
"Um, just, you know, out of curiosity, can I ask you a question?"
Mara looked at her. "Curiosity killed the cat, you do realize."
Jade though Mara was trying to be threatening, but she wasn't completely sure. She decided to go with her best approach. "I'm not a cat, so I s'pose I'll be all right." Mara sneered at her without saying anything. Jade was silent for a few moments, and then, taking his silence as an affirmative, continued with her question. "Why are you being so nice to me? I mean, generally you don't give prisoners free reign over their own cabin. Although, truth be told, it is a rather shoddy cabin."
"I was brought up to respect women, no matter what... path they may choose in life." It was obvious that he didn't think much of Jade's chosen 'path'. "A trait I don't think your father ever has, or will, possess." If Captain Nathan Mara expected Jade to protest on her father's behalf, he hid his surprise well. She thought about it a moment, and then nodded.
"That's true. Although, to be fair, there aren't many people he DOES respect. I can count the number of people on my fingers, and I think at least one is dead." Mara stared at his prisoner with something bordering on respect. Her fear remained hidden. She kept her feelings completely masked.
Mara started speaking conversationally. "Tesora, has your father ever spoken to you of a women named Isabella?" Jade's eyes unfocused, as she ran through names in her mind.
"Um, Isadora... Isobelle..... There was a Gertrude once, but I don't think there was any Isabella."
"Typical. Isabella Mara was my sister. She was beautiful, the fairest creature in all of Italy."
"Oh, Italy," Jade broke in. "I thought I recognized your accent." Mara glared at her and she shut up.
"Isabella was my sister. She was beautiful, and our family loved her dearly." Jade desperately wanted to break in with a scathing remark about memory loss at that point, but decided the better of it. "We lived in a grand estate, overlooking the sea. During the warm spring and summer days, she would walk down to the beachfront, gathering seashells, and just admiring the view. It was there, on a warm spring day, that a shadow passed over all our hearts."
Jade rolled her eyes. "Lemme guess. She met my father."
"How perceptive, my dear."
"It wasn't exactly the shock of the year."
"Well, perhaps this will shock you. You think you know your father so well. You know NOTHING of him." His sudden charge of aggressiveness had surprised Jade, and she looked at him quickly. "Your father corrupted my baby sister with pretty words. She spent the next five days sneaking down to meet him without any of us knowing. He tricked her with his charm." Jade had difficulty imagining her father capable of charming anything that wasn't drunk and paid to be 'charmed' but she let it go. "Then, he did the worst thing imaginable. He engaged in marital relations with her."
"You mean sex?" Jade offered helpfully. Mara grew angry.
"I am fully aware of how you grew up. But in a respectable home belonging to a respectable society, this was completely unheard of. And what he did after... Their relations carried on for nearly a month. And then he left. He told her with his pretty words that he was a sailor, and couldn't bear to separated from the ocean, to remain in one place so long, that he had to leave, and couldn't return."
"Pity he didn't take that into account with me," Jade muttered.
"He left her. For three months she refused to leave the house. Not out of though of her loss of respect, but out of pining for that sickening father of yours. She sat on the balcony for three months, returning inside only after we pleaded with her. She barely ate, she barely slept. For three months she remained like that, broken, a shell of her former, laughing self. Then winter came on the first of November. The wind changed that day, a cold bitter rain, and with a start she realized that her darling captain wasn't returning for her, would never return for her. I will never forget that day. I went out to call her for dinner, but she was not there. I searched the whole house, alerting my mother and father. Eventually we learned from a servant that she had left for a day by the sea. We all knew instinctively that something was wrong. Her body washed up on shore later that day. She had sacrificed herself for your precious father." Captain Nathan Mara stopped his story and stared expectantly at Jade, who was staring at her hands. She looked up at him.
"Is that it, then?"
For just a moment, his composure slipped and the captain looked startled. "What do you mean, 'is that it'?"
"Is that it? Is that your whole story? You said I'd beg for you to kill my father when I heard it and while there are times I'm rather disgusted with him, that's hardly one of them."
"He killed my sister!"
"Meanin' no disrespect, she killed herself. He told her he couldn't stay. She didn't have to go an' throw herself into the sea. Was a bloody stupid thing to do if ye ask me."
Mara just stared at her for a moment. "Come here," he ordered. Reluctantly, Jade stood up, walking towards him. He took his hand and drew it along her cheek. "You know, my dear, you remind me of my sister. Her same dark hair, the same complexion. Perhaps I might keep you around for awhile after we... disposed of your father."
There was no doubt in Jade's mind what to do next. She kneed him sharply in the groin and pushed back.
"Look, I don't know how close you were with your sister. But there's a whole ocean between you and me, savvy? Or there will be, when my dad gets here and kicks yer bloody arse."
"If that's the way you wish it." Mara left the room, taking the lantern and locking it soundly behind him, and left Jade alone in the dark.
"Bloody hell."
I would also like to wish Kat a happy sixteenth birthday! Okay, so technically it's tomorrow. Well, in half an hour. But still. I'm going to post another chapter tomorrow as a birthday present, so everyone be sure to leave a review saying happy birthday!
*Ahem* This chapter is dedicated to bratprincess, because she found my story!!!! I love you!!!! And she's my new best friend. (This is Alaina, by the way)
And, of course, it wouldn't be complete without a Jack quote. This one has no reference to the chapter. It's just the first random one I found, because my dad's going to start yelling soon.
""No one. He's no one. A distant cousin of my aunt's nephew twice removed. Lovely singing voice, though. Eunuch."
She had been bound again, and then tied to the wall by her wrist shackles. A guard had been placed outside her cell; a large, dirty, grotesque, foul- smelling man, who had ordered her gagged after she refused to stop singing 'A Pirate's Life' for seven hours straight, even after she altered several of the lines to include him and the rest of 'Mara's literally stinking crew!'.
'It's amazing,' Jade said to herself, silently of course, due to the gag. 'You'd almost think Mara was trying to make me homesick for the Pearl and my father. Pity it's working.'
Glaring at her guard, who was currently sitting and staring at her through the bars, a bottle of rum clutched in one grubby hand, exactly as he had been for the past two and a half hours, Jade attempted to hum through the dirty rag in her mouth. Instead of the bright and cheery tune she had hoped to create, all that emerged was a strangled choke.
"You oughta stop that miss, if you die, Mara won't be able ta use ya."
Rolling her eyes, Jade's quick response was smothered by the gag, leaving her silent once more- and desperate for a full breath of air.
"Come now, surely this small creature is not such a monster as to require a gag and such rough bindings." Gliding out of the shadows, Nathan Mara approached the iron bars that formed Jade's cage. "Unlock the door."
Garren stood up, the large ring of keys jingling by his flabby side. "Sir, are ya certain? She's not a normal woman."
Elegantly, Mara's left eyebrow rose in a perfect arch. "Are you saying you don't believe me capable of being in closed quarters with a female- pirate or no?"
"Certainly not sir, I was just sayin'-"
"Open the door Garren."
"Sir-" Leaning forward conspiratorially, Garren glanced nervously at Jade. "Sir, they say she's not really human. That's she's the daughter of the devil hisself."
His expressionless gaze drinking in the pitiful sight of the girl before him, Mara could barely bring himself to answer. "They are right. She is. Now open this door."
Grumbling, Garren fitted the key and, the lock turning over with a horrendously high pitched squeal, the sound of salt-water encrusted metal scraping again more salt-water encrusted metal. Wincing, he drew back, rushing to the stairs when Mara relieved him of duty. Left alone, the two pirates in the brig stared at each other, waiting for their foe to move, to break the stillness that had settled over them. When Mara finally stepped forward, Jade was so caught up in her mental victory dance over winning what was, in her mind, a great battle, she barely realized his intention until his proximity was near enough to worry her. If there had been any space between her and the wall, Jade would have filled it quickly. As it was, she has bound too tightly to move.
"You have not drawn back. That is good, you hide your fear. I will change that little girl, I will tell you a story that will break your heart, and then, when you see your precious father next, you will beg me to kill him, if only because you are ashamed of what he did. Perhaps you will cast yourself into the sea, as she did."
Rolling her eyes, Jade found herself questioning Mara's sanity. This man made Captain Jack Sparrow look almost sane. Almost.
Working quickly, his hands deft, Mara had Jade untied in less then a minute. "Follow me." He intoned turning and walking quickly out of the brig. The fact that he put her behind him unnerved Jade. One of her father's strongest rules was that you should always be able to see the location of you enemy/prisoner/possible rum thief.
'So Mara is either insane or stupid. Neither of those sounds very good to me.' Jade thought as she watched him.
"Now."
The order came from the direction of the stairs, and without giving it further thought, Jade moved toward it.
'After all, between standing around in a metal cage, being tied to the wall with rope, to be used as bait for my father, or being thrown into the ocean, I'll take being thrown into the ocean.' As she walked by the pile of rope on the floor, Jade grabbed one from the top. 'If I do get thrown overboard I may need this.' Shoving the coil under her shirt, the smallest Sparrow left her cage, wondering how difficult it would be to make a raft out of sea turtles.
*
Mara had led her to a small cabin. While it was small, cramped, held only one small cot and had a distinct lack of windows, it was decidedly better than being tied to the wall of a cell.
"Please, sit down." Mara motioned her to the bed. Jade stared at him suspiciously. "Please, I insist." Taking her by the arm, he forcibly made her sit down. Mara posted himself by the door, which he had shut and locked behind him upon their arrival. This man was really beginning to worry Jade. You generally don't lock yourself in a closed room with a prisoner, especially when they aren't bound in any form. Jade had come to the conclusion that this man was both insane AND stupid: definitely not a good combination. Insane she could deal with- fifteen years with her father had given her good experience. And stupid was nothing. But the two of them together was another story.
"Um, just, you know, out of curiosity, can I ask you a question?"
Mara looked at her. "Curiosity killed the cat, you do realize."
Jade though Mara was trying to be threatening, but she wasn't completely sure. She decided to go with her best approach. "I'm not a cat, so I s'pose I'll be all right." Mara sneered at her without saying anything. Jade was silent for a few moments, and then, taking his silence as an affirmative, continued with her question. "Why are you being so nice to me? I mean, generally you don't give prisoners free reign over their own cabin. Although, truth be told, it is a rather shoddy cabin."
"I was brought up to respect women, no matter what... path they may choose in life." It was obvious that he didn't think much of Jade's chosen 'path'. "A trait I don't think your father ever has, or will, possess." If Captain Nathan Mara expected Jade to protest on her father's behalf, he hid his surprise well. She thought about it a moment, and then nodded.
"That's true. Although, to be fair, there aren't many people he DOES respect. I can count the number of people on my fingers, and I think at least one is dead." Mara stared at his prisoner with something bordering on respect. Her fear remained hidden. She kept her feelings completely masked.
Mara started speaking conversationally. "Tesora, has your father ever spoken to you of a women named Isabella?" Jade's eyes unfocused, as she ran through names in her mind.
"Um, Isadora... Isobelle..... There was a Gertrude once, but I don't think there was any Isabella."
"Typical. Isabella Mara was my sister. She was beautiful, the fairest creature in all of Italy."
"Oh, Italy," Jade broke in. "I thought I recognized your accent." Mara glared at her and she shut up.
"Isabella was my sister. She was beautiful, and our family loved her dearly." Jade desperately wanted to break in with a scathing remark about memory loss at that point, but decided the better of it. "We lived in a grand estate, overlooking the sea. During the warm spring and summer days, she would walk down to the beachfront, gathering seashells, and just admiring the view. It was there, on a warm spring day, that a shadow passed over all our hearts."
Jade rolled her eyes. "Lemme guess. She met my father."
"How perceptive, my dear."
"It wasn't exactly the shock of the year."
"Well, perhaps this will shock you. You think you know your father so well. You know NOTHING of him." His sudden charge of aggressiveness had surprised Jade, and she looked at him quickly. "Your father corrupted my baby sister with pretty words. She spent the next five days sneaking down to meet him without any of us knowing. He tricked her with his charm." Jade had difficulty imagining her father capable of charming anything that wasn't drunk and paid to be 'charmed' but she let it go. "Then, he did the worst thing imaginable. He engaged in marital relations with her."
"You mean sex?" Jade offered helpfully. Mara grew angry.
"I am fully aware of how you grew up. But in a respectable home belonging to a respectable society, this was completely unheard of. And what he did after... Their relations carried on for nearly a month. And then he left. He told her with his pretty words that he was a sailor, and couldn't bear to separated from the ocean, to remain in one place so long, that he had to leave, and couldn't return."
"Pity he didn't take that into account with me," Jade muttered.
"He left her. For three months she refused to leave the house. Not out of though of her loss of respect, but out of pining for that sickening father of yours. She sat on the balcony for three months, returning inside only after we pleaded with her. She barely ate, she barely slept. For three months she remained like that, broken, a shell of her former, laughing self. Then winter came on the first of November. The wind changed that day, a cold bitter rain, and with a start she realized that her darling captain wasn't returning for her, would never return for her. I will never forget that day. I went out to call her for dinner, but she was not there. I searched the whole house, alerting my mother and father. Eventually we learned from a servant that she had left for a day by the sea. We all knew instinctively that something was wrong. Her body washed up on shore later that day. She had sacrificed herself for your precious father." Captain Nathan Mara stopped his story and stared expectantly at Jade, who was staring at her hands. She looked up at him.
"Is that it, then?"
For just a moment, his composure slipped and the captain looked startled. "What do you mean, 'is that it'?"
"Is that it? Is that your whole story? You said I'd beg for you to kill my father when I heard it and while there are times I'm rather disgusted with him, that's hardly one of them."
"He killed my sister!"
"Meanin' no disrespect, she killed herself. He told her he couldn't stay. She didn't have to go an' throw herself into the sea. Was a bloody stupid thing to do if ye ask me."
Mara just stared at her for a moment. "Come here," he ordered. Reluctantly, Jade stood up, walking towards him. He took his hand and drew it along her cheek. "You know, my dear, you remind me of my sister. Her same dark hair, the same complexion. Perhaps I might keep you around for awhile after we... disposed of your father."
There was no doubt in Jade's mind what to do next. She kneed him sharply in the groin and pushed back.
"Look, I don't know how close you were with your sister. But there's a whole ocean between you and me, savvy? Or there will be, when my dad gets here and kicks yer bloody arse."
"If that's the way you wish it." Mara left the room, taking the lantern and locking it soundly behind him, and left Jade alone in the dark.
"Bloody hell."