Disclaimer - Same as the Prologue. Just click the back button and save
yourself the trouble of suing me.
AN: Sorry this one took so long, guys, but it's been a busy week. Next week is Hell Week for the fall comedy so I'm going to be even busier...sigh.....
Chapter 7 - Battle
"So there I was, trapped in a sinking ship, water rising faster and faster, and this damned little monkey danglin' the medallion in front of my face - "
Will's narrative was interrupted by the first mate bursting into the room. He rounded on the grizzled little man.
"Bloody hell, man, don't you knock?"
The man didn't reply, but grabbed Will by the arm and dragged him out of the cabin. The three White girls, who had been listening to his tale, were left staring in his wake.
The first mate pulled Will to the rail of the ship and pointed at the horizon.
"There. D'ye see those sails?"
Will felt his heart leap into his throat. He saw them, all right. They were black.
"Aye," he said, carefully keeping his voice noncommittal.
"D'ye recognize the ship?"
"Aye, I do. You would too if you sailed these waters more. That's the Black Pearl, mate, under the command of Captain Jack Sparrow, unless I miss my guess." Will had to fight to keep a note of triumph from his voice. The first mate watched his face carefully.
"Would she have any cause to attack us?"
"Oh, no, mate." Will said sarcastically. "That is, unless she has been to Port St. Andrews recently. Jack is a very close friend of the Governor, I believe. He wouldn't take too kindly to finding his girls on this ship."
"Can she catch us?" Worry colored the man's voice. Will could no longer keep from grinning.
"Without a doubt. She's the fastest ship in the Caribbean."
"So perhaps we should dispose of the evidence."
Will gasped, glaring at him.
"You wouldn't DARE." he grated. The first mate pursed his lips.
"No, unfortunately. M'lord would have my head. But seeing as they are obviously friends of yours, I think I will get you out of the way."
And that's how Will found himself thrown into his cabin, his hands tied to one of the bedposts with a sturdy rope. Soon the three girls were bound to the other posts in much the same way.
"Damn. Should have kept my mouth shut." Will said dolefully. He examined the knots with a critical eye. Mary wasn't so subtle; she began to rip into them with her teeth. Carol looked at Will curiously from across the bed.
"What happened?"
"They spotted a ship on the horizon. It's the Black Pearl, and it seems she's out to rescue you three from my bloody clutches." he replied, a hint of irony in his soft voice.
Carol stared at him blankly. "The Pearl? Why would she come after us?"
"Carol, don't you remember what Father said? The Pearl was due to dock the day of the attack. They probably arrived just after we left."
The thought was a comforting one. So was the thought that the first mate had been scared enough to tie them up and prepare for battle. Will smiled as another thought occurred to him.
"Perhaps Captain Sparrow even figured that something was wrong." The girls looked at him, intrigued. "Jack is a very old friend of mine. It's possible he saw that this whole escapade was out of character for me."
"Do you really think he would have noticed something like that? You are a pirate, after all." Gina said.
"You don't know Jack, lass. He's the smartest, shrewdest man I've ever met. If anyone was likely to figure this mess out, it's him."
Mary gave up her attack on the ropes, spitting fibers out of her mouth.
"Yech. This is getting me nowhere fast." She glared distastefully at the seawater-drenched rope. "Stupid thing shrank."
All four went reeling as an explosion rocked the ship. Will spread his stance and set his shoulder against Gina, who had been thrown into him. She scrambled to get her feet under her as he helped her as best he could, thanking his lucky stars that seaboard beds had to be nailed down anyway.
"Looks like the fighting's begun." Mary whispered, her face pale. Carol nodded.
"It's lucky that this cabin is so far astern. We're less likely to be hit." she replied quietly, listening to the yells of the crew. Strangely enough, Will began to chuckle.
"You three amaze me. You're in a very dangerous, frightening situation, but you take it in stride." His eyes were glowing with what could only be called pride. Mary, Carol and Gina colored slightly, embarrassed. "I wasn't so calm on my first seaboard battle. I was panicking." Will's eyes glazed over, remembering. "Of course, HER danger helped me to keep myself together..." Suddenly his gazed snapped back to Gina.
"Tell me, how do you get on with your father? Does he treat you well?"
Gina's gaze was startled and incredulous. "Uh...well...he can be a bit silly at times. But we love him, and he is always more than kind to us."
"He is a very loving father." Carol added. Mary nodded in agreement. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh." Will looked a bit abashed. "I haven't seen him in so long, you see...I always wondered if he would be a good father."
Another crash shook the ship. This time it was Will who was thrown into Gina, but she was ready. She pushed him back to his feet with a force that was surprising for such a proper girl, and Will took note of it. They all heard a symphony of crashes, thuds, clangs, cheers and screams.
"Sounds as if they're boardin'." Will said in an undertone. "It won't be long now." His gaze shifted to the tall cabinet against the opposite wall. "If only I could get to my swords..."
The four were silent for a long moment, listening as the battle raged on. Suddenly a deep, clear voice rang out above the din.
"WILLIAM TURNER!! WHERE ARE YE, YA BLOODY WHELP?!"
Will's face lit up and he pivoted around the bedpost to face the door, ignoring the bite of the twisted ropes. He took a deep breath.
"JACK!! JACK SPARROW!!!" he yelled, loud as he could.
After a moment, there was a banging on the door. Loud, colorful cursing was heard, and Will's grin widened. A gunshot rang out and Mary had to duck as the locking mechanism flew smoking across the room. The doors banged open and Captain Jack Sparrow strode in with a look that spelled murder across his features. He caught Will's gaze.
It had been almost ten years since Will had clapped eyes on Jack Sparrow. There were a few more lines in his weather-beaten skin, more trinkets tied into his long, messy, now gray-streaked hair. Nothing else had changed. From the kohl rimming his dark eyes to his heavy brown sea-boots, he looked exactly the way Will remembered him. Jack was appraising him as well, taking in the bags under his eyes, the red marks around his bound wrists and the look he was giving his oldest friend. Jack's features melted from anger to exasperation.
"CAPTAIN Jack, if y' please." he quipped as he swaggered up to Will and regarded him with a characteristic smirk. "Hell's bells, boy, must I always get you out of trouble?" He pulled out his boarding cutlass and sliced easily though Will's bonds. Will ripped himself free, rubbing his chaffed wrists. He immediately made for the sword cabinet.
"You know, it's YOUR fault I became a pirate in the first place, my friend." Will tossed over his shoulder as he opened the cabinet.
Jack, meanwhile, had settled his appraising eye on Mary, who could do naught but stare at him. Jack Sparrow was even more infamous than Will Turner, and much more extravagant.
"You're one of White's girls, eh?" His eyes roamed up and down her length in a most unsettling manner. "I see now why he keeps you little pretties locked away from scalawags like meself." he said with a wink, coming a bit closer than was necessary as he cut her down. Mary was, for the first time in her life, speechless. Not even Will had had that kind of effect on her. Jack waggled his eyebrows at her as he went to cut Carol's bonds.
"Ah. You'd be the one that Tiger's been making eyes at."
"Who?" Carol asked, hardly daring to hope.
"Tiger. Thomas. Tomcat. Me firs' mate. Red-streaked hair, yellow eyes, big hat with a big ugly plume?"
"Oh." Carol's mind found its way back to the ridiculously large brown-and- orange feather that had been in her mysterious pirate's hat. "Yes, it was rather ugly."
"Don't let him hear you say that." Jack replied with a grin.
The sounds of battle had been getting very loud. Suddenly the door burst open and the fight came into the room.
"Speak of the devil..."
Sure enough, Tiger was there, fighting like the animal for which he was named. His white fencer's shirt was ripped, the oversized hat usually on his head was missing and his hair was escaping from the bandanna that was meant to hold it in place. In his hands were twin sabers which he was wielding with deadly efficiency. Unfortunately, he was sorely outnumbered and barely holding his own.
Will and Jack saw his plight and immediately jumped into the fray, forgetting that Gina was still trapped against the bedpost. She screamed and tried unsuccessfully to get out of the way.
Carol backed up against the wall, trying to stay out of the way. Mary, forever the adventurer, wove around the battle to the cabinet, intent on getting something to cut her sister free. She wasn't fast enough, however. The voice of the first mate rang out over the din.
"Kill them! Forget your orders, just KILL THEM!!"
Will growled and redoubled his efforts, hacking his way through the mass to his enemy. Unfortunately, Tiger and Jack were having trouble pushing the battle away from the girls. One man pinned Jack to a wall and another managed to knock Tiger over. While they were recovering a lone man slipped past and made for Gina, tied helpless to the bed. He reared back and Gina screamed, turning her face and shutting her eyes tightly. She felt the impact, but no pain, no bloody warmth.
Am I dead? she thought. She opened her eyes.
"Carol?" The word came out in a disbelieving whisper.
Carol was standing in front of her, her long, brown hair tumbling down her back. Slowly, she slumped to the floor. A large, red stain was spreading over her left shoulder, spilling over the hand that had been clapped to the wound. Gina looked up in time to see her other sister stab the offender in the back with a long dagger. Her face stony, Mary cut Gina down with the bloody knife. She stepped over Carol and took up a fighting stance in front of her, dripping dagger in hand, her face daring anyone stupid enough to come near her. Gina dropped down next to her fallen sister and took her into her lap.
"Caroline Jacklyn, you are a very foolish girl." she commented with a teary smile.
"Am...I...dead?" Carol asked, echoing Gina's earlier thought.
"I doubt it. I don't think he hit anything vital. His sword didn't even go through."
"No...it broke off...when it hit...my shoulder blade." Carol gingerly removed her hand, revealing the spur of metal stuck in her shoulder. "Badly...made...weapon."
"Oh, dear..." Gina said, staring at the gruesome sight. "Well, at least it's slowing the blood flow..."
"Move, lass."
Jack pushed Mary aside and knelt next to the two girls. He examined the wound quickly.
"Remove the metal and bind the wound. That sword was not very clean."
He stood back up and ran back to Tiger's side. Between the two of them, they managed to push the onslaught, now greatly diminished, out the door. Jack slammed the doors behind him, leaving Tiger and the girls in the cabin. Tiger jammed the doors shut with a stray piece of wood and hurried to Carol's side. He began to untie his headscarf.
"That was brave of ye, lass." he said in a low, soothing voice. She grinned painfully.
"What...are sisters...for?" she replied. He surprised her by picking up her hand and holding it. His other hand wrapped around the metal in her shoulder. He yanked.
"AHHHHHHH!!" Carol screamed, squeezing his hand for all she was worth as pain coursed through her. He tossed the bloody steel to the side and began binding her shoulder with his headscarf.
"My apologies. If I had warned ye, ye would've tensed up."
"It's...alright..." she said breathlessly as she slumped back against her sister's breast. He watched her face as he tended to her, to make sure he wasn't adding to her pain. She chanced to look up, and their eyes met. Her breath caught in her throat.
His eyes were high and slanted, with long lashed and large pupils. But it was the color that got her attention - a brilliant golden amber, somewhere between the color of honey and the color of flame. With his strange eyes and his long, brown-and-red striped hair, he looked like an ancient tribal cat-god.
Oh. she thought. That's why they call him Tiger.
She was unwilling to break his gaze. He seemed so fascinated by her... Finally she looked away, down at her shoulder. It was all she could do to hold back a foolish smile.
The scarf tied around her shoulder was tawny cotton, dyed with ragged black tiger stripes.
--------------------------- ----------------------------- ------------------ -------
AN: YAY!! My longest chapter to date!!!! Over 2,400 words!! *does a happy dance* And look, I have over 20 reviews!! Yay again! *Another happy dance* Thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!!
E-chan: P-dude? *confused look* Who be dat? And I did go the index, and you're right, there are like 10 E-chans or variations thereof. Which sucks. E-mail me if you need name ideas.
Malley: Look, I wrote more! And it's really long, too!!
u-ne-korn: It wouldn't matter, even if I had finished it previously. I'd still revise it all the time. I can't stand writing that's more than two weeks old, it annoys me.
*Tiger* What's wrong with me? *cries*
*Jack* I am owned by no bloody wench, savvy?!
Um, well, if you don't want Tiger then...how about a cookie? *hands u-ne- korn a big yummy cookie*
Tazz: Here ya go! And I love the way your story's been developing! Keep at it!
Linda: Read the rest, silly!!
Look look look look look look look look!! THESE people reveiwed!! YOU should too!! I want thirty reviews!! Savvy?!
AN: Sorry this one took so long, guys, but it's been a busy week. Next week is Hell Week for the fall comedy so I'm going to be even busier...sigh.....
Chapter 7 - Battle
"So there I was, trapped in a sinking ship, water rising faster and faster, and this damned little monkey danglin' the medallion in front of my face - "
Will's narrative was interrupted by the first mate bursting into the room. He rounded on the grizzled little man.
"Bloody hell, man, don't you knock?"
The man didn't reply, but grabbed Will by the arm and dragged him out of the cabin. The three White girls, who had been listening to his tale, were left staring in his wake.
The first mate pulled Will to the rail of the ship and pointed at the horizon.
"There. D'ye see those sails?"
Will felt his heart leap into his throat. He saw them, all right. They were black.
"Aye," he said, carefully keeping his voice noncommittal.
"D'ye recognize the ship?"
"Aye, I do. You would too if you sailed these waters more. That's the Black Pearl, mate, under the command of Captain Jack Sparrow, unless I miss my guess." Will had to fight to keep a note of triumph from his voice. The first mate watched his face carefully.
"Would she have any cause to attack us?"
"Oh, no, mate." Will said sarcastically. "That is, unless she has been to Port St. Andrews recently. Jack is a very close friend of the Governor, I believe. He wouldn't take too kindly to finding his girls on this ship."
"Can she catch us?" Worry colored the man's voice. Will could no longer keep from grinning.
"Without a doubt. She's the fastest ship in the Caribbean."
"So perhaps we should dispose of the evidence."
Will gasped, glaring at him.
"You wouldn't DARE." he grated. The first mate pursed his lips.
"No, unfortunately. M'lord would have my head. But seeing as they are obviously friends of yours, I think I will get you out of the way."
And that's how Will found himself thrown into his cabin, his hands tied to one of the bedposts with a sturdy rope. Soon the three girls were bound to the other posts in much the same way.
"Damn. Should have kept my mouth shut." Will said dolefully. He examined the knots with a critical eye. Mary wasn't so subtle; she began to rip into them with her teeth. Carol looked at Will curiously from across the bed.
"What happened?"
"They spotted a ship on the horizon. It's the Black Pearl, and it seems she's out to rescue you three from my bloody clutches." he replied, a hint of irony in his soft voice.
Carol stared at him blankly. "The Pearl? Why would she come after us?"
"Carol, don't you remember what Father said? The Pearl was due to dock the day of the attack. They probably arrived just after we left."
The thought was a comforting one. So was the thought that the first mate had been scared enough to tie them up and prepare for battle. Will smiled as another thought occurred to him.
"Perhaps Captain Sparrow even figured that something was wrong." The girls looked at him, intrigued. "Jack is a very old friend of mine. It's possible he saw that this whole escapade was out of character for me."
"Do you really think he would have noticed something like that? You are a pirate, after all." Gina said.
"You don't know Jack, lass. He's the smartest, shrewdest man I've ever met. If anyone was likely to figure this mess out, it's him."
Mary gave up her attack on the ropes, spitting fibers out of her mouth.
"Yech. This is getting me nowhere fast." She glared distastefully at the seawater-drenched rope. "Stupid thing shrank."
All four went reeling as an explosion rocked the ship. Will spread his stance and set his shoulder against Gina, who had been thrown into him. She scrambled to get her feet under her as he helped her as best he could, thanking his lucky stars that seaboard beds had to be nailed down anyway.
"Looks like the fighting's begun." Mary whispered, her face pale. Carol nodded.
"It's lucky that this cabin is so far astern. We're less likely to be hit." she replied quietly, listening to the yells of the crew. Strangely enough, Will began to chuckle.
"You three amaze me. You're in a very dangerous, frightening situation, but you take it in stride." His eyes were glowing with what could only be called pride. Mary, Carol and Gina colored slightly, embarrassed. "I wasn't so calm on my first seaboard battle. I was panicking." Will's eyes glazed over, remembering. "Of course, HER danger helped me to keep myself together..." Suddenly his gazed snapped back to Gina.
"Tell me, how do you get on with your father? Does he treat you well?"
Gina's gaze was startled and incredulous. "Uh...well...he can be a bit silly at times. But we love him, and he is always more than kind to us."
"He is a very loving father." Carol added. Mary nodded in agreement. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh." Will looked a bit abashed. "I haven't seen him in so long, you see...I always wondered if he would be a good father."
Another crash shook the ship. This time it was Will who was thrown into Gina, but she was ready. She pushed him back to his feet with a force that was surprising for such a proper girl, and Will took note of it. They all heard a symphony of crashes, thuds, clangs, cheers and screams.
"Sounds as if they're boardin'." Will said in an undertone. "It won't be long now." His gaze shifted to the tall cabinet against the opposite wall. "If only I could get to my swords..."
The four were silent for a long moment, listening as the battle raged on. Suddenly a deep, clear voice rang out above the din.
"WILLIAM TURNER!! WHERE ARE YE, YA BLOODY WHELP?!"
Will's face lit up and he pivoted around the bedpost to face the door, ignoring the bite of the twisted ropes. He took a deep breath.
"JACK!! JACK SPARROW!!!" he yelled, loud as he could.
After a moment, there was a banging on the door. Loud, colorful cursing was heard, and Will's grin widened. A gunshot rang out and Mary had to duck as the locking mechanism flew smoking across the room. The doors banged open and Captain Jack Sparrow strode in with a look that spelled murder across his features. He caught Will's gaze.
It had been almost ten years since Will had clapped eyes on Jack Sparrow. There were a few more lines in his weather-beaten skin, more trinkets tied into his long, messy, now gray-streaked hair. Nothing else had changed. From the kohl rimming his dark eyes to his heavy brown sea-boots, he looked exactly the way Will remembered him. Jack was appraising him as well, taking in the bags under his eyes, the red marks around his bound wrists and the look he was giving his oldest friend. Jack's features melted from anger to exasperation.
"CAPTAIN Jack, if y' please." he quipped as he swaggered up to Will and regarded him with a characteristic smirk. "Hell's bells, boy, must I always get you out of trouble?" He pulled out his boarding cutlass and sliced easily though Will's bonds. Will ripped himself free, rubbing his chaffed wrists. He immediately made for the sword cabinet.
"You know, it's YOUR fault I became a pirate in the first place, my friend." Will tossed over his shoulder as he opened the cabinet.
Jack, meanwhile, had settled his appraising eye on Mary, who could do naught but stare at him. Jack Sparrow was even more infamous than Will Turner, and much more extravagant.
"You're one of White's girls, eh?" His eyes roamed up and down her length in a most unsettling manner. "I see now why he keeps you little pretties locked away from scalawags like meself." he said with a wink, coming a bit closer than was necessary as he cut her down. Mary was, for the first time in her life, speechless. Not even Will had had that kind of effect on her. Jack waggled his eyebrows at her as he went to cut Carol's bonds.
"Ah. You'd be the one that Tiger's been making eyes at."
"Who?" Carol asked, hardly daring to hope.
"Tiger. Thomas. Tomcat. Me firs' mate. Red-streaked hair, yellow eyes, big hat with a big ugly plume?"
"Oh." Carol's mind found its way back to the ridiculously large brown-and- orange feather that had been in her mysterious pirate's hat. "Yes, it was rather ugly."
"Don't let him hear you say that." Jack replied with a grin.
The sounds of battle had been getting very loud. Suddenly the door burst open and the fight came into the room.
"Speak of the devil..."
Sure enough, Tiger was there, fighting like the animal for which he was named. His white fencer's shirt was ripped, the oversized hat usually on his head was missing and his hair was escaping from the bandanna that was meant to hold it in place. In his hands were twin sabers which he was wielding with deadly efficiency. Unfortunately, he was sorely outnumbered and barely holding his own.
Will and Jack saw his plight and immediately jumped into the fray, forgetting that Gina was still trapped against the bedpost. She screamed and tried unsuccessfully to get out of the way.
Carol backed up against the wall, trying to stay out of the way. Mary, forever the adventurer, wove around the battle to the cabinet, intent on getting something to cut her sister free. She wasn't fast enough, however. The voice of the first mate rang out over the din.
"Kill them! Forget your orders, just KILL THEM!!"
Will growled and redoubled his efforts, hacking his way through the mass to his enemy. Unfortunately, Tiger and Jack were having trouble pushing the battle away from the girls. One man pinned Jack to a wall and another managed to knock Tiger over. While they were recovering a lone man slipped past and made for Gina, tied helpless to the bed. He reared back and Gina screamed, turning her face and shutting her eyes tightly. She felt the impact, but no pain, no bloody warmth.
Am I dead? she thought. She opened her eyes.
"Carol?" The word came out in a disbelieving whisper.
Carol was standing in front of her, her long, brown hair tumbling down her back. Slowly, she slumped to the floor. A large, red stain was spreading over her left shoulder, spilling over the hand that had been clapped to the wound. Gina looked up in time to see her other sister stab the offender in the back with a long dagger. Her face stony, Mary cut Gina down with the bloody knife. She stepped over Carol and took up a fighting stance in front of her, dripping dagger in hand, her face daring anyone stupid enough to come near her. Gina dropped down next to her fallen sister and took her into her lap.
"Caroline Jacklyn, you are a very foolish girl." she commented with a teary smile.
"Am...I...dead?" Carol asked, echoing Gina's earlier thought.
"I doubt it. I don't think he hit anything vital. His sword didn't even go through."
"No...it broke off...when it hit...my shoulder blade." Carol gingerly removed her hand, revealing the spur of metal stuck in her shoulder. "Badly...made...weapon."
"Oh, dear..." Gina said, staring at the gruesome sight. "Well, at least it's slowing the blood flow..."
"Move, lass."
Jack pushed Mary aside and knelt next to the two girls. He examined the wound quickly.
"Remove the metal and bind the wound. That sword was not very clean."
He stood back up and ran back to Tiger's side. Between the two of them, they managed to push the onslaught, now greatly diminished, out the door. Jack slammed the doors behind him, leaving Tiger and the girls in the cabin. Tiger jammed the doors shut with a stray piece of wood and hurried to Carol's side. He began to untie his headscarf.
"That was brave of ye, lass." he said in a low, soothing voice. She grinned painfully.
"What...are sisters...for?" she replied. He surprised her by picking up her hand and holding it. His other hand wrapped around the metal in her shoulder. He yanked.
"AHHHHHHH!!" Carol screamed, squeezing his hand for all she was worth as pain coursed through her. He tossed the bloody steel to the side and began binding her shoulder with his headscarf.
"My apologies. If I had warned ye, ye would've tensed up."
"It's...alright..." she said breathlessly as she slumped back against her sister's breast. He watched her face as he tended to her, to make sure he wasn't adding to her pain. She chanced to look up, and their eyes met. Her breath caught in her throat.
His eyes were high and slanted, with long lashed and large pupils. But it was the color that got her attention - a brilliant golden amber, somewhere between the color of honey and the color of flame. With his strange eyes and his long, brown-and-red striped hair, he looked like an ancient tribal cat-god.
Oh. she thought. That's why they call him Tiger.
She was unwilling to break his gaze. He seemed so fascinated by her... Finally she looked away, down at her shoulder. It was all she could do to hold back a foolish smile.
The scarf tied around her shoulder was tawny cotton, dyed with ragged black tiger stripes.
--------------------------- ----------------------------- ------------------ -------
AN: YAY!! My longest chapter to date!!!! Over 2,400 words!! *does a happy dance* And look, I have over 20 reviews!! Yay again! *Another happy dance* Thank you thank you thank you thank you THANK YOU!!
E-chan: P-dude? *confused look* Who be dat? And I did go the index, and you're right, there are like 10 E-chans or variations thereof. Which sucks. E-mail me if you need name ideas.
Malley: Look, I wrote more! And it's really long, too!!
u-ne-korn: It wouldn't matter, even if I had finished it previously. I'd still revise it all the time. I can't stand writing that's more than two weeks old, it annoys me.
*Tiger* What's wrong with me? *cries*
*Jack* I am owned by no bloody wench, savvy?!
Um, well, if you don't want Tiger then...how about a cookie? *hands u-ne- korn a big yummy cookie*
Tazz: Here ya go! And I love the way your story's been developing! Keep at it!
Linda: Read the rest, silly!!
Look look look look look look look look!! THESE people reveiwed!! YOU should too!! I want thirty reviews!! Savvy?!