Disclaimer: Intelligence would tell you that after the Oscar
disappointment, I would rather own Lord of the Rings than Pirates of the
Caribbean...but I'm not all that smart...am I? Unfortunately, I can't lay
claim to either...which makes me pathetically poor as well as stupid...
Note: I'm glad I can put that chapter behind me...its all set up for the end which I am anxious to write, and was needed to usher in what is to come...wow, I think I'm getting better at being cryptic. So, I hope you don't hate me for not ending it sooner, but I'm almost done, so bear with me. I love you guys, thanks for reviewing!
Here's To Freedom (Chapter 26)
"Gentlemen, please!" Clark wailed, pressing his face against the woven iron chamber door in a final attempt to reason with the brutes that had dragged him into the dark, dank hull. "You simply cannot do this! I will die down here!"
Shawn rolled his eyes and replied, "Will ye' stop bein' so melodramatic! The hold is nothin' to get yer knickers in a twist over!" Looking over at the other crewmen who had helped secure the whining blighter in his cell, they shared a good laugh, unable to believe how ridiculously this grown man was behaving.
His eyes widened and misted over with tears. "But I do not possess the robust nature of a pirate! I'm quite used to dry air and wide, open spaces after two and twenty years; the moisture will be the very death of me!" Clark could already feel the liquid filling his lungs, trying to slowly suffocate him until he could breathe no more; self preservation was the only thing keeping him going, on his endless pursuit of freedom.
Reaching the end of his already short supply of patience, Shawn took a calming breath before withdrawing his pistol, cocking it, and holding it to the gleaming white cravat at Clark's neck. "Eaton, open that trap of yours one more time and I'll give you a hole in your chest to go with the one in your head."
Clark gasped at the violence, and promise, in the buccaneer's statement, and nodded slowly, watching the man lower his weapon out of the corner of his eye. Peering through the darkness, he surveyed his surroundings. "Um, Excuse me?" he said meekly.
Quicker than lightening, the gun was in Clark's face again and the eyes of the man holding it went dark with fury. "This had better be good, you!" he said, his voice quivering with suppressed rage.
"Would it be, um, possible to get a chair in here, my good man? Father would go absolutely out of his head if I soiled my new breeches."
As the men around him burst into another bout of hysterical laughter, Shawn's mouth dropped open and he simply stared at the boy in disbelief. Shaking his head and muttering to himself, he whirled around, jamming the pistol back into his belt strap, and stormed up to the main deck. "I tell ye, I don't get paid enough for this!"
* * * *
"Now, Miss..."
"Miss Natalie Swann, Cap'n," Conlon offered from the opposite side of the deck where he stood, examining the rope pulls on the mast. In truth, he was only hanging about to make sure the girl was alright. Of course he was a fearsome pirate, but he was a man first, and no man would have the heart to leave her alone with the captain.
The woman rolled her eyes at his interjection and hollered, "Conlon, will you go find something to do instead of lollygagging about in the works, trying my patience!" She could see him opening his mouth to protest, but one final glare in his general direction stopped his words cold and had him scurrying down into the hull in no time.
Finally.
Turning back to the girl, she put forward a smile and said, "I must be apologizing, Miss Swann. This is hardly the most comfortable of situations to be a part of in the first place, and Conlon, as you can plainly see, is a bit high strung."
Natalie wasn't entirely sure how to respond to the woman's words. She would lose either way, and she knew all too well that this wasn't Jack calling the shots. In fact, from all outward appearances, this captain looked as though she'd be absolutely tickled to toss her overboard at any moment, with more bullet holes than a chunk of Swiss, just for good measure.
Carefully, she responded, her voice soft and humble as she made her move. "I understand, Captain."
"Oh, would you look at me now? It seems as though I've misplaced me manners!" Offering her hand with a curious glint in her hazy green eyes, she introduced herself. "Miss Swann, my name is Brenna Gannon and I am the captain of this here vessel."
With a small smile, Natalie shook her hand and replied, "Considering the circumstances, it is a pleasure to meet you, Captain. Your name is quite lovely. Irish, is it?"
Her eyes clouded with anger at Natalie's words. "Is there a problem with my being Irish, Miss Swann? I really thought that a woman of your stature would have the common decency to look past the ethnic troubles preceding us."
"No, no, Captain, I assure you I didn't mean to be offensive!" she said quickly, hoping to dig herself out of the pit of quicksand that she had stumbled into, before the livid woman swallowed her whole, "I was being entirely sincere. One of my dearest friends is Irish and I was only wondering if your name has an alternative meaning. I find the Gaelic translations fascinating."
She eyed Natalie suspiciously, raising an eyebrow as she looked for any sign of falsehood. "Well, if you really are in the way of wondering, 'Brenna' means 'raven maid' and my family name means "fair complexion'."
With a smile, she looked wistfully out to the open sea on the Aibrean Maidin's starboard side and elaborated on her brusque reply. "We come from this small village on Ardmore Bay and it's usually too foggy for the sun to break through. Even being out on this blasted boat hasn't worn my skin at all." Chuckling to herself, she turned to Natalie and added, "I fear we all are destined to look half-dead for eternity."
"It sounds amazing," Natalie said with a sigh, "If the fine condition of this ship and her crew are any indication, I should very much like to go to Ireland someday."
"Well, Miss, that is a very gracious compliment you're bestowing on the people who kidnapped you," Brenna observed. This woman had to be lying through her teeth, she concluded. Either that or she was daft.
Natalie shook her head, and replied sadly, "If you only knew what I was coming from, you wouldn't say that."
The captain furrowed her perfectly arched brow and eyed the melancholy that had crept into the girl's demeanor, most suddenly. "Miss Swann, surely life as the Governor's daughter can't be all that bad. I suppose it's far better than the miserable existences that the many unfortunate souls of this world are forced to endure."
"On that point, I would have to agree, but being wealthy and titled isn't as grand as it sounds. Most days, I would simply do anything to be just like everyone else." Shaking her head, Natalie smiled and lifted her eyes to those of the captain and murmured, "So, I think that is quite enough of that. If you can, would you mind telling me why I am here anyway?"
Brenna sighed and thought carefully before finally deciding how she could phrase her response. "No," she said, bluntly, before continuing on with her explanation, "I can only assure you that it is nothing personal against you or your father and apologize profusely. Well, I think that you had best be on your way to the hold now."
Calmly, Natalie nodded and thanked the woman before turning to leave. She hadn't the slightest idea what in the devil she had to thank her for, besides a cramped cell and a sleepless night, but if it hastened her return to the people she cared for, Brenna was about to become her dearest friend.
* * * *
"What do you mean, she's been taken, William?" Jack asked through clenched teeth, whirling around to face the blacksmith. As his eyes, brimming with a potent combination of fury and fear, fell upon those of his friend, he took a deep breath to calm himself. Bitter words and shouting would do nothing but harm, wasting precious minutes that needed to be spent sorting the whole mess out.
With a slow nod of his head, the captain continued, his voice trembling with barely contained anxiety. "I just saw her, not twenty minutes ago. If what you are warbling about has to do with Natalie's rather sudden betrothal to Commodore Norrington, you will be pleased to discover that I already know and I send my best wishes."
"What in God's name are you babbling about?" Will asked, a humorous tone creeping into his words at the absurdities being uttered by his friend. "She is to marry Clark, not the Commodore. I'm afraid you have been overindulging again, Jack."
Will's nonchalant dismissal almost drove him to the fringes of his self-control, and he balled his quivering hands into fists to keep from throttling the man in front of him. "I just saw Rico Suave rescue Natalie from her dreadful betrothal to Eaton by forging one of his own with her. I was sitting in the Goddamn window! I saw the whole thing..." His voice trailed off as he remembered the feelings he'd experienced as the scene played out before his eyes. To his recollection, it was strikingly similar to being kicked in the head after a two-day rum binge.
"Oh no..." the smithy murmured, realizing that he hadn't even had the chance to arrive at the party before being summoned away on this make-shift rescue mission; Jack was telling the truth. Now it was going to be even more difficult to bring the man around enough to want to save the love who had turned from him.
Will shook his head and proceeded with caution, knowing that Jack wouldn't take this well. His initial response was proof of it. "Well, just after you left, a few pirates showed up and took Natalie and Clark Eaton hostage. I followed them for a little while and they boarded this ship, the Aib...Ayb..."
"The Aibrean Maidin?" he asked as thinly veiled panic coated his words.
"Yes! That's it, the Aibrean Maidin! Anyway, Elizabeth went on to the palace to speak with her father and the commodore and see if they will send a ship after her, but by that time they will be long gone. Jack..." Will said.
The cold, stoic pirate in him wanted to sail off into the sunset, screaming obscenities back at the woman who had so thoroughly forgotten about him and, in turn, smashed his black heart to bits, without a second glance. After all, her beloved military hero would have the whole damn fleet after her by sunup, so there really wasn't much of a point.
But of course, part of his callous, unfeeling pirate-self had taken up and left in recent weeks, allowing room for Jack, the hopelessly romantic moron, who would sacrifice everything for some woman, to take up residence in the vacant half and commandeer his inebriated brain. And right now, that Jack was screaming inside.
Natalie wasn't just SOME woman...she was quite possibly THE woman; the woman that he was meant to spend the rest of his life with...the woman who he simply couldn't live without. Even if she had moved on without him, that didn't stop him from caring enough to watch out for her.
Casting his eyes over Will's shoulder, he shouted his orders to the crew. "Hurry along, men! Get her ready to make way! We sail at first light."
Brushing past the gaping young man, Jack, wordlessly, made his way to the helm. He knew all to well the stories of the Aibrean Maidin and its notoriously feline she-captain. There was only one place that the hot- headed Irish siren would be taking her, and if Jack could warrant a guess, he knew that this wasn't going to be just another kidnapping: they were out for blood.
* * * *
*Almost 5 pages on Word exactly...I've been excruciatingly busy as of late, so I apologize for not posting this sooner...I hope you like where I'm going with this...Thanks guys! 3 Meems
Note: I'm glad I can put that chapter behind me...its all set up for the end which I am anxious to write, and was needed to usher in what is to come...wow, I think I'm getting better at being cryptic. So, I hope you don't hate me for not ending it sooner, but I'm almost done, so bear with me. I love you guys, thanks for reviewing!
Here's To Freedom (Chapter 26)
"Gentlemen, please!" Clark wailed, pressing his face against the woven iron chamber door in a final attempt to reason with the brutes that had dragged him into the dark, dank hull. "You simply cannot do this! I will die down here!"
Shawn rolled his eyes and replied, "Will ye' stop bein' so melodramatic! The hold is nothin' to get yer knickers in a twist over!" Looking over at the other crewmen who had helped secure the whining blighter in his cell, they shared a good laugh, unable to believe how ridiculously this grown man was behaving.
His eyes widened and misted over with tears. "But I do not possess the robust nature of a pirate! I'm quite used to dry air and wide, open spaces after two and twenty years; the moisture will be the very death of me!" Clark could already feel the liquid filling his lungs, trying to slowly suffocate him until he could breathe no more; self preservation was the only thing keeping him going, on his endless pursuit of freedom.
Reaching the end of his already short supply of patience, Shawn took a calming breath before withdrawing his pistol, cocking it, and holding it to the gleaming white cravat at Clark's neck. "Eaton, open that trap of yours one more time and I'll give you a hole in your chest to go with the one in your head."
Clark gasped at the violence, and promise, in the buccaneer's statement, and nodded slowly, watching the man lower his weapon out of the corner of his eye. Peering through the darkness, he surveyed his surroundings. "Um, Excuse me?" he said meekly.
Quicker than lightening, the gun was in Clark's face again and the eyes of the man holding it went dark with fury. "This had better be good, you!" he said, his voice quivering with suppressed rage.
"Would it be, um, possible to get a chair in here, my good man? Father would go absolutely out of his head if I soiled my new breeches."
As the men around him burst into another bout of hysterical laughter, Shawn's mouth dropped open and he simply stared at the boy in disbelief. Shaking his head and muttering to himself, he whirled around, jamming the pistol back into his belt strap, and stormed up to the main deck. "I tell ye, I don't get paid enough for this!"
* * * *
"Now, Miss..."
"Miss Natalie Swann, Cap'n," Conlon offered from the opposite side of the deck where he stood, examining the rope pulls on the mast. In truth, he was only hanging about to make sure the girl was alright. Of course he was a fearsome pirate, but he was a man first, and no man would have the heart to leave her alone with the captain.
The woman rolled her eyes at his interjection and hollered, "Conlon, will you go find something to do instead of lollygagging about in the works, trying my patience!" She could see him opening his mouth to protest, but one final glare in his general direction stopped his words cold and had him scurrying down into the hull in no time.
Finally.
Turning back to the girl, she put forward a smile and said, "I must be apologizing, Miss Swann. This is hardly the most comfortable of situations to be a part of in the first place, and Conlon, as you can plainly see, is a bit high strung."
Natalie wasn't entirely sure how to respond to the woman's words. She would lose either way, and she knew all too well that this wasn't Jack calling the shots. In fact, from all outward appearances, this captain looked as though she'd be absolutely tickled to toss her overboard at any moment, with more bullet holes than a chunk of Swiss, just for good measure.
Carefully, she responded, her voice soft and humble as she made her move. "I understand, Captain."
"Oh, would you look at me now? It seems as though I've misplaced me manners!" Offering her hand with a curious glint in her hazy green eyes, she introduced herself. "Miss Swann, my name is Brenna Gannon and I am the captain of this here vessel."
With a small smile, Natalie shook her hand and replied, "Considering the circumstances, it is a pleasure to meet you, Captain. Your name is quite lovely. Irish, is it?"
Her eyes clouded with anger at Natalie's words. "Is there a problem with my being Irish, Miss Swann? I really thought that a woman of your stature would have the common decency to look past the ethnic troubles preceding us."
"No, no, Captain, I assure you I didn't mean to be offensive!" she said quickly, hoping to dig herself out of the pit of quicksand that she had stumbled into, before the livid woman swallowed her whole, "I was being entirely sincere. One of my dearest friends is Irish and I was only wondering if your name has an alternative meaning. I find the Gaelic translations fascinating."
She eyed Natalie suspiciously, raising an eyebrow as she looked for any sign of falsehood. "Well, if you really are in the way of wondering, 'Brenna' means 'raven maid' and my family name means "fair complexion'."
With a smile, she looked wistfully out to the open sea on the Aibrean Maidin's starboard side and elaborated on her brusque reply. "We come from this small village on Ardmore Bay and it's usually too foggy for the sun to break through. Even being out on this blasted boat hasn't worn my skin at all." Chuckling to herself, she turned to Natalie and added, "I fear we all are destined to look half-dead for eternity."
"It sounds amazing," Natalie said with a sigh, "If the fine condition of this ship and her crew are any indication, I should very much like to go to Ireland someday."
"Well, Miss, that is a very gracious compliment you're bestowing on the people who kidnapped you," Brenna observed. This woman had to be lying through her teeth, she concluded. Either that or she was daft.
Natalie shook her head, and replied sadly, "If you only knew what I was coming from, you wouldn't say that."
The captain furrowed her perfectly arched brow and eyed the melancholy that had crept into the girl's demeanor, most suddenly. "Miss Swann, surely life as the Governor's daughter can't be all that bad. I suppose it's far better than the miserable existences that the many unfortunate souls of this world are forced to endure."
"On that point, I would have to agree, but being wealthy and titled isn't as grand as it sounds. Most days, I would simply do anything to be just like everyone else." Shaking her head, Natalie smiled and lifted her eyes to those of the captain and murmured, "So, I think that is quite enough of that. If you can, would you mind telling me why I am here anyway?"
Brenna sighed and thought carefully before finally deciding how she could phrase her response. "No," she said, bluntly, before continuing on with her explanation, "I can only assure you that it is nothing personal against you or your father and apologize profusely. Well, I think that you had best be on your way to the hold now."
Calmly, Natalie nodded and thanked the woman before turning to leave. She hadn't the slightest idea what in the devil she had to thank her for, besides a cramped cell and a sleepless night, but if it hastened her return to the people she cared for, Brenna was about to become her dearest friend.
* * * *
"What do you mean, she's been taken, William?" Jack asked through clenched teeth, whirling around to face the blacksmith. As his eyes, brimming with a potent combination of fury and fear, fell upon those of his friend, he took a deep breath to calm himself. Bitter words and shouting would do nothing but harm, wasting precious minutes that needed to be spent sorting the whole mess out.
With a slow nod of his head, the captain continued, his voice trembling with barely contained anxiety. "I just saw her, not twenty minutes ago. If what you are warbling about has to do with Natalie's rather sudden betrothal to Commodore Norrington, you will be pleased to discover that I already know and I send my best wishes."
"What in God's name are you babbling about?" Will asked, a humorous tone creeping into his words at the absurdities being uttered by his friend. "She is to marry Clark, not the Commodore. I'm afraid you have been overindulging again, Jack."
Will's nonchalant dismissal almost drove him to the fringes of his self-control, and he balled his quivering hands into fists to keep from throttling the man in front of him. "I just saw Rico Suave rescue Natalie from her dreadful betrothal to Eaton by forging one of his own with her. I was sitting in the Goddamn window! I saw the whole thing..." His voice trailed off as he remembered the feelings he'd experienced as the scene played out before his eyes. To his recollection, it was strikingly similar to being kicked in the head after a two-day rum binge.
"Oh no..." the smithy murmured, realizing that he hadn't even had the chance to arrive at the party before being summoned away on this make-shift rescue mission; Jack was telling the truth. Now it was going to be even more difficult to bring the man around enough to want to save the love who had turned from him.
Will shook his head and proceeded with caution, knowing that Jack wouldn't take this well. His initial response was proof of it. "Well, just after you left, a few pirates showed up and took Natalie and Clark Eaton hostage. I followed them for a little while and they boarded this ship, the Aib...Ayb..."
"The Aibrean Maidin?" he asked as thinly veiled panic coated his words.
"Yes! That's it, the Aibrean Maidin! Anyway, Elizabeth went on to the palace to speak with her father and the commodore and see if they will send a ship after her, but by that time they will be long gone. Jack..." Will said.
The cold, stoic pirate in him wanted to sail off into the sunset, screaming obscenities back at the woman who had so thoroughly forgotten about him and, in turn, smashed his black heart to bits, without a second glance. After all, her beloved military hero would have the whole damn fleet after her by sunup, so there really wasn't much of a point.
But of course, part of his callous, unfeeling pirate-self had taken up and left in recent weeks, allowing room for Jack, the hopelessly romantic moron, who would sacrifice everything for some woman, to take up residence in the vacant half and commandeer his inebriated brain. And right now, that Jack was screaming inside.
Natalie wasn't just SOME woman...she was quite possibly THE woman; the woman that he was meant to spend the rest of his life with...the woman who he simply couldn't live without. Even if she had moved on without him, that didn't stop him from caring enough to watch out for her.
Casting his eyes over Will's shoulder, he shouted his orders to the crew. "Hurry along, men! Get her ready to make way! We sail at first light."
Brushing past the gaping young man, Jack, wordlessly, made his way to the helm. He knew all to well the stories of the Aibrean Maidin and its notoriously feline she-captain. There was only one place that the hot- headed Irish siren would be taking her, and if Jack could warrant a guess, he knew that this wasn't going to be just another kidnapping: they were out for blood.
* * * *
*Almost 5 pages on Word exactly...I've been excruciatingly busy as of late, so I apologize for not posting this sooner...I hope you like where I'm going with this...Thanks guys! 3 Meems