Chapter Two: I'm Captain Sparrow
She awoke in the cells of an unfamiliar brig, water sloshing around her ankles, a cannon hole in the side of the ship near sea level, and the keys tauntingly sat on a table set two feet away from her reach. She no longer had her pistol, or her sword, cutlass and daggers, they'd all been removed. Her head hurt, she put her hand up to it, swaying a little, thinking she must have been knocked out. She knelt on the floor of the brig, in the water, looking out of the hole, her ship was nowhere in sight. She only prayed that her crew hadn't also been taken or killed, and they were sailing away to fix The Silver Bell, for she remembered some damage being done to the sails, and one cannon hole in the port side. She was the only person in the brig, so she knew her crew were either dead, or limping to the next port for repairs, and she hoped for the latter.
She didn't know if anyone was going to come down to the brig to talk to her, and she felt they should, and tell her why she'd been captured as she had not raised her flag first. So she waited, lying in the warm Caribbean water, thinking of what she had learnt at the last port.
She sat in a tavern, surrounded by pirates and townsfolk, drunk and easy bait for the whores which were about three or four to each man. She sat alone however, her hat over her eyes slightly, cuddling her mug of rum, in a corner of the tavern. Until a man came in and sat beside her.
"Ye got i'?" he asked, glancing round. She nodded.
"Aye, I got it," she said, "But pray le's go somewhere a little quie'er to do business." She finished off her rum quickly, and headed for the door, looking around to make sure her 'friend' was following, and that he wasn't being followed. "I know the perfect place," she said as she lead him off the main road into an alleyway, and then turned into another, and another, to hopefully make sure her didn't have any back-up, and if he did that they'd lost them. After a few minutes, she seemed to be satisfied. "Le's 'ave a look then." The man took a rolled up map out of a pocket and handed it out, she went to take it but he pulled it back.
"And wha' I wan' in return?" he asked. She nodded and felt about her for what he wanted in return. She took out her pistol, cocked it quickly and shot him between the eyes. He instantly fell to the ground. She looked around her, took up the map, and walked back to the main road.
Now things were somewhat different. She knows she had to have been in the brig all night because light had been streaming in through the hole in the ship for over an hour, and that was how long she had been awake.
Still no one comes and she begins to get impatient. She takes the cream colored bandana from round her head and scrubs at her hair in an attempt to clean it. On her head rising from the rising water in the brig, she finds a man standing outside the cells. He's tall, dressed like herself, except for the beads in his hair and beard, which she finds amusing, and a red bandana, a hat's sitting on the table, on top of the keys, he's obviously the Captain. He holds out her sword to her. She squeezes her hair, stands up and takes it.
"Right, love," he begins, coming a little closer. "I been hearin' things, in last port, tha' there's a map of great value floatin' around these parts, and it's landed itself into yer hands." He almost asks a question in his speech. She puts her sword down on the bench in the brig, and slides her arms through the metal bars.
"I dunno what ye're talkin' 'bout," she says. The Captain thinks for a moment.
"Alright, love. Ye don' hand it over, ye spend the entire voyage in the brig, ye hand it over, and we'll see abou' gettin' ye a cabin," he bargains. It's her turn to think, but it doesn't take her long.
"Well, Captain. I'm fine here, thank ye for yer kind offer," she says.
"Ye know, ye're a Captain of yer own ship, jus' like me, Captain o' my own ship. An' I'd like ter think tha' if ye'd have captured me, which, ye wouldn' o' done, bu' if ye did, I'd like ter think ye'd have treate' me wi' a bi' o' respec'," he says. "Now, I'm tryin' 'ere, it ain' no good fer a Captain to be locked in the brig of another ship, under the command of another Captain, savvy? I'm sure ye feel the same way, so le's be havin' the map, eh?"
"No. Anyway, the brig's quite nice, much more comfortable than on my ship, so i's like livin' in luxury 'ere, if ye ge' me meaning," she argues.
"Yeah. Alright then. I'll be down 'ere ter see ye tomorro'. An' if no one comes down wi' anything ter ea', don' bother shoutin' up because we won' 'ear ye." He pauses, "Wha's ye name?"
"Ye're keepin' me locked up, ye're not gonna feed me, I don' think I'm in any position to be tellin' ye me name, now," she replies. The Captain's silent, and then turns on his heel, and saunters out of the brig.
The next day, she's starving, and no one comes down to see her until well past noon. But when they do, it was the Captain again.
"Hello, love," he says, taking off his hat and sitting down. "Ye ready ter han' it over ye'?" She shakes her head.
"No?" he asks. "Then the nice lil cabin I got prepared fer ye won' be slep' in another nigh'."
"Well then tha's less washin' ter be done," she says. "Although I would like ter say, Captain, tha' ye might as well feed me, cos I'll be no use ter ye dead, and tha' certain, map, ye be after, it won' tell ye everythin'."
"Well in tha' case, I shall have some food sen' down fer ye, ye Grace," the Captain says, bowing low and then leaving. About an hour later another pirate comes down the stairs to the brig with a piece of stale bread and half a mug of rum. The prisoner takes it, and even thought its bad condition, eats it quickly.
The third time the Captain comes down, asking for the map, he isn't so friendly.
"Wha's yer name, love?" he asks. "Come on, we gotta call ye summat, otherwise it'll be Whore in the Brig." She stands up to the Captain.
"My name's Sage."
"Right, Sage, I'm Captain Sparrow, have ye though' any more 'bout this 'ere map?"
"Nope, haven' though' 'bout it at all, Captain," Sage replies. The Captain begins to loose his temper.
"Tha's three days, ye've refused, so if ye don' hand it over ternight, I shall 'ave all the crew come down 'ere, an' they won' jus' take the map from ye. They don' care ye're a Captain, savvy?" She nods.
"Then ye'll 'ave yer map tonigh'."
Just before night draws in, Captain Sparrow comes down to the brig, followed closely by seven or eight members of the crew. Sage holds the rolled up parchment to the Captain and he takes it, putting his hands together in thanks.
"On deck!" he orders the men from the crew, who all obediently leave the brig. "So, ye finally came ter ye senses?"
"No. I jus' though' tha' I'd rather hand ye the useless map than get raped, ye know wha' I'm sayin'?" Sage asks him as he takes the keys in his hands.
"The useless map? Well, if I find it appropriate, I'll still have yer raped, map or not, 'specially if ye don' lead us to the treasure. Bu' fer now," he unlocks the door of the brig and she follows him out and up the stairs. "I'll show ye to yer cabin."
Several flights of stairs up, they get onto the top deck, and Captain Sparrow shows Sage into the top cabin.
"This is yer cabin," she says bluntly.
"I know, nice ain' it?" Captain Sparrow asks. Sage raises her eyebrows.
"Lovely."
"There's ye bed," Captain Sparrow point to the double bed in the centre of the room.
"Tha's yer bed."
"I know."
