Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't updated this in a while, but I've been busy,
what with going camping and acting in plays which I'd only got the script
for a week beforehand and only had three hours rehearsal. I got to wear a
cape! And act being on a sea voyage with the POTC soundtrack playing! Very
cool. I also got to spread my madness to the world! (Well, Faversham,
anyway. Actually, the people in Faversham who have nothing better to do on
a Saturday night than come and watch my drama club.) I did a news report on
the death of Humpty Dumpty, like my story 'Was Humpty pushed?', and people
laughed! Yay! Anyway, here's the next chapter!
Chapter 6 – The rescue begins
By nightfall the Black Pearl had sailed into Rum Island harbour. For the rest of that afternoon Jack, Will and the rest of the old crew had taught the 'newbies', as Jack had dubbed them, how to sword fight. They were yet to discover why Eowyn made 'vwoom'ing noises when fighting, but, as Will pointed out, they'd never quite understood Mako's talent for throwing spoons either.
Looking up into the town, it was pretty obvious that the pirates had already arrived. Fires were burning all over town, and about every five seconds the fire would reach an area with rum and there would be a small explosion. Jack flinched at every one.
"Now," said Jack, taking charge before Will could, "Who knows where Diana, Hanna and Eos live?"
"Maybe there?" said Terreis, pointing up to a massive house on the seafront. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, and Will's mouth fell open.
"No! They live up there!" said Jackie, pointing up to an even bigger house halfway up a hill inland.
"What?" said Will in shock.
"No, that's still the wrong house," said Frankie, "THAT'S their house." Everyone on the boat raised their eyes to the top of the hill, where a house was perched. Elderberry didn't know what surprised her most; the size of the house, or the fact that Elizabeth could still look yet more surprised.
"It's even bigger than your house, Elizabeth!" said Jack, "Looks like you went after the wrong debutante, Will."
"I hope you're not meaning Diana," said Tanuki, glaring.
"Oh, that's right! Diana's your girlfriend, isn't she?" said Gemma.
"I'm sure you won't forget your old crew when you finally leave piracy, will you Tanuki? Eh? Eh?" said Jack hopefully.
"Would you prefer gold or rum?" sighed Tanuki, "Diana's parents made their money from the rum trade."
Jack's eyes widened. "Both?"
"Uh, hello?" said Mro, "Three girls, on the point of being captured by some very nasty pirates? Two of which are available?"
"Right, right," said Jack, shaking himself out of a daydream, "Well, I did try to come up with some complicated plan, but they're not really my forte. So we run up there, try to stop the pirates capturing those three. Split into three teams, one for each girl."
There was a bit of bustle, but in the end they'd organized themselves. Team Diana, comprised of Tanuki, Gemma, Terreis, Liza, Jackie and Jack Cole, and led by Will; Team Hanna, comprised of Frankie, Bulma, Elderberry, Tobias and Mro, and led by Elizabeth and Anamaria; and team Eos, comprised of Alex, Eowyn, Liz, Kathryn, Mort and Helen, and led by Jack. They split up as they entered the harbour, agreeing that they would meet up back at the ship, and points would be awarded for efficiency and any rum recovered at the same time (Jack's suggestion). The prize for the team with the most points was yet to be decided.
"Remember," said Jack, as the crew lined up to collect new swords from Will (the ones he 'commandeered' from the blacksmiths in Port Royal) "Should you get into trouble, what's the magic word?"
"Parley!" they all chorused.
"And what do you say to the captain?"
"Are you interested in long-term liability insurance?"
"Very good."
***
"Diana, would you come away from the window?" said Hanna for what seemed the millionth time, "If Tanuki was coming to kidnap you, he wouldn't come up the front drive, would he?"
"It's not my fault, my room doesn't face the back garden," said Diana grumpily.
Suddenly their maid, Eos, came running in. "There's pirates!" she said fearfully, "There's pirates, they've just landed in the harbour! They're heading this way!"
"Nice pirates?" said Diana hopefully. Eos shook her head. "Damn. Now where did I put my sword?"
Hanna pulled out the box from under the bed and pulled out the two swords that Will had given them on their last adventure. "Should I get the oil and wood as well?" she asked hopefully.
"I don't know whether you'll need to bother setting things alight, Miss Hanna, the pirates are doing that anyway," said Eos, looking out the window.
They heard raucous shouting, raucous singing, raucous cursing – basically, they were a rather raucous ruckus – coming up the drive. Suddenly it stopped, and they heard someone pounding on the door. "I'll get it!" said Hanna cheerfully.
"Uh, I wouldn't if I were you," said Diana. She quickly passed a sword to Eos as well and they crept quietly out onto the landing. Luckily their servants seemed to be more sensible than the ones in Elizabeth's house, and had already run out the back door instead of answering the front one. Quickly they ran along the landing to a room facing the back garden.
"What would Elizabeth do in this situation?" asked Hanna.
"Probably run to confront them, then change her mind and run the other way, and then be captured," said Diana.
"Which means we should try and run away, then turn and fight if we have to," agreed Hanna. They reached the window and were about to climb out of it when they heard voices in the garden.
"There's more pirates down there!" whispered Eos. They all backed away from the window, but then they heard the front door breaking in. "What do we do now?"
Hanna was still looking out the window. These pirates seemed slightly odd. "Team Hanna!" one of them was hissing and clicking her fingers in the air, "Over here!"
"No, you don't get their attention like THAT," argued another one of them, "You're supposed to have set up a signalling system. Like an owl call or something."
"I can't DO bird calls," argued the other one back. The rest of them had assembled by now and were watching this with interest.
"Look! Isn't that Hanna up there?" said one of the boys in the group, pointing up at the window. The two apparent leaders stopped bickering and looked up.
"Yes, it is! Hanna, climb down on that vine there!" called one of them, who Hanna recognized as Elizabeth with slight surprise.
"Are you kidding? Vines can't support a person's weight," argued the other, who was Anamaria, she now saw.
"Well, what do YOU suggest?" sighed Elizabeth.
"Don't take that tone with me-"
Mro and Tobias looked at each other as those two continued to argue and rolled their eyes. Waving over Elderberry and Bulma, the girls gave them a leg up onto the tree nearest the house. Mro took out a rope with a hook on the end of it and threw it at the house so that it smashed through a window on the floor above; testing it, Mro then swung off the branch straight onto Hanna's windowsill.
"You've learnt a thing or two from Will," said Hanna, impressed, as he steadied himself and held out an arm to her.
"Hey, I invented that," said Mro with injured tones. Hanging onto her, he swung back to the branch again and passed her to Tobias, who handed her down to Bulma and Elderberry.
"Do we save the others as well?" asked Frankie confusedly, "Or do Jack and Will's teams have to do that?"
"Tough question," said Bulma. The Wob-Wob squeaked in agreement. Bulma had fashioned it a little pirate headscarf within five minutes of being onboard the Black Pearl. "Does anyone know where Jack and Will are?"
"I think Will was going around the backstreets, and Jack via the pub," said Elderberry.
Meanwhile, inside, Diana and Eos heard the pirates searching downstairs and some of them coming up the stairs. "Lucky my parents are out on the trading trip," said Diana, "No offence to them, but they wouldn't be much use right now."
"And they may wonder where their daughter learnt how to sword fight," smiled Eos. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming down the corridor towards the room they were in. "Quick, through that door!" she whispered, pointing at the door linking to the adjoining room. "Do you have any idea what this is about?"
"None at all," said Diana bewilderedly, "I mean, there's the Big Pink Pretty albeit Cursed Diamond, but Elizabeth's got that. Why would they come here? Do they look cursed?"
Eos glanced out one of the windows they were running past at one of the groups of pirates going through the town. "Not particularly," she said, "Maybe these ones aren't cursed."
"Whoa," said Diana, "Now there's a thought. Non-cursed pirates."
While they were talking they'd run the length of the corridor through the adjoining rooms. The pirates in the house didn't seem aware that they were there just yet, and they were hoping to keep it that way as long as possible.
***
Shock horror! Are the pirates not cursed, but just ordinary pirates? Bet no- one saw that coming!
Im a Brandybuck – Orli is no longer number one for me right now either. Legolas is still pretty high (emphasis on pretty, ba-dum-bum-TISH) but I think that currently number one is Dorian Gray from 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', closely followed by Shane West (also in LXG) and Anakin Skywalker in 'Star Wars'. I need to see ROTK again before Legolas asserts himself in my list... less than a month! Woooo!
Gilraen Ar-Feiniel – There aren't any more coming just yet, but there might be some soon. I'll try to write some in if I can, but I don't want to have too many non-Canon characters. As Jack says, eighteen is quite enough...
Theshiz – You're in this one! And excitement is a'coming! Tanuki is all heroic! He'll be competing with Will Turner in the Disney hero stakes soon...
One of your many fans – Oh, weird in a good sense, definitely.
Pirate-strumpet – Something that has charms in it... a charm box? Hmm, Mr Cotton or Barbossa? Tricky question... All right, strange reviewers who read all my callouts as well as the story, if you had to choose between Barbossa and Mr Cotton, how would you kill yourselves?
Terreis – Any suggestions for Jack and Will flirtations are gratefully received. There's only so many cheesy chat-up lines out there. And as for Jack saying that he liked you, remember how Will kissed Mako at the end of the first one? These things can be arranged...
Cat Youkai – Actually, I really wanted to e-mail you about this, but I didn't have your e-mail – do you still want to be in this? If so, send me the form. Because you were such a cool character in the first one.
Hyper-Elf – Hmm. That is a good suggestion. Wob-Wob eating the enemy ship... should prove exciting...
Alteng – Sorry. It's just so easy to pick on Will. And his blacksmith's ability. I like him really, he's adorable, just so easy to tease. And I have no idea whether Bulma is aiming to be her, but never mind...
La chica mysteriosa – I don't know if I got that or not. I don't think I did. Sorry.
Reasonably Crazy – Yes! I have seen 'Finding Nemo' now, at last! Hehehe, the seagulls. They were my favourite characters, actually. And there's no way they're stupid... they're wise, they're cunning, and they're EVIL. And they may return soon.
Elderberry – Agreed. Definitely. Poor Jack and Will don't know what they're letting themselves in for.
Liz – Thanks! I hope you do!
Bulma Greenleaf – (eyes Wob-Wobs nervously) Sharp teeth? Sharp little teeth?
Lady Shinimegami – Oooh. Chocolate Jack Sparrow. I think I'll take that with chocolate sprinkles. Mmmm. And poor guys on the boat. At least one of them's going to have to end up with a girl at the end.
Aaserene – Thanks!
Beloved Fool – Oh yes, simply marvellous weather. Wonderful British summer.
Bev Baudelaire – Hopefully there will be another sequel, if I can come up with another good idea for an adventure. Suggestions? If not, send in the form, and I'll see if I might be able to fit you in somewhere.
Jedi from Rohan and Elf with a Lightsaber – Why did fanfiction remove you? And hi Jedi from Rohan, you're another person with a cool name! I hope you like these stories too!
Tanuki Yasha – Thanks! I consider it... REVIEW'D! (dramatic chord) Surrounded by girls again, but don't worry, you have Diana to protect you. Even though it's meant to be vice versa vis-à-vis pirates. Hey, cool! Vice versa vis-à- vis! Alliteration! Go me!
Chapter 6 – The rescue begins
By nightfall the Black Pearl had sailed into Rum Island harbour. For the rest of that afternoon Jack, Will and the rest of the old crew had taught the 'newbies', as Jack had dubbed them, how to sword fight. They were yet to discover why Eowyn made 'vwoom'ing noises when fighting, but, as Will pointed out, they'd never quite understood Mako's talent for throwing spoons either.
Looking up into the town, it was pretty obvious that the pirates had already arrived. Fires were burning all over town, and about every five seconds the fire would reach an area with rum and there would be a small explosion. Jack flinched at every one.
"Now," said Jack, taking charge before Will could, "Who knows where Diana, Hanna and Eos live?"
"Maybe there?" said Terreis, pointing up to a massive house on the seafront. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows, and Will's mouth fell open.
"No! They live up there!" said Jackie, pointing up to an even bigger house halfway up a hill inland.
"What?" said Will in shock.
"No, that's still the wrong house," said Frankie, "THAT'S their house." Everyone on the boat raised their eyes to the top of the hill, where a house was perched. Elderberry didn't know what surprised her most; the size of the house, or the fact that Elizabeth could still look yet more surprised.
"It's even bigger than your house, Elizabeth!" said Jack, "Looks like you went after the wrong debutante, Will."
"I hope you're not meaning Diana," said Tanuki, glaring.
"Oh, that's right! Diana's your girlfriend, isn't she?" said Gemma.
"I'm sure you won't forget your old crew when you finally leave piracy, will you Tanuki? Eh? Eh?" said Jack hopefully.
"Would you prefer gold or rum?" sighed Tanuki, "Diana's parents made their money from the rum trade."
Jack's eyes widened. "Both?"
"Uh, hello?" said Mro, "Three girls, on the point of being captured by some very nasty pirates? Two of which are available?"
"Right, right," said Jack, shaking himself out of a daydream, "Well, I did try to come up with some complicated plan, but they're not really my forte. So we run up there, try to stop the pirates capturing those three. Split into three teams, one for each girl."
There was a bit of bustle, but in the end they'd organized themselves. Team Diana, comprised of Tanuki, Gemma, Terreis, Liza, Jackie and Jack Cole, and led by Will; Team Hanna, comprised of Frankie, Bulma, Elderberry, Tobias and Mro, and led by Elizabeth and Anamaria; and team Eos, comprised of Alex, Eowyn, Liz, Kathryn, Mort and Helen, and led by Jack. They split up as they entered the harbour, agreeing that they would meet up back at the ship, and points would be awarded for efficiency and any rum recovered at the same time (Jack's suggestion). The prize for the team with the most points was yet to be decided.
"Remember," said Jack, as the crew lined up to collect new swords from Will (the ones he 'commandeered' from the blacksmiths in Port Royal) "Should you get into trouble, what's the magic word?"
"Parley!" they all chorused.
"And what do you say to the captain?"
"Are you interested in long-term liability insurance?"
"Very good."
***
"Diana, would you come away from the window?" said Hanna for what seemed the millionth time, "If Tanuki was coming to kidnap you, he wouldn't come up the front drive, would he?"
"It's not my fault, my room doesn't face the back garden," said Diana grumpily.
Suddenly their maid, Eos, came running in. "There's pirates!" she said fearfully, "There's pirates, they've just landed in the harbour! They're heading this way!"
"Nice pirates?" said Diana hopefully. Eos shook her head. "Damn. Now where did I put my sword?"
Hanna pulled out the box from under the bed and pulled out the two swords that Will had given them on their last adventure. "Should I get the oil and wood as well?" she asked hopefully.
"I don't know whether you'll need to bother setting things alight, Miss Hanna, the pirates are doing that anyway," said Eos, looking out the window.
They heard raucous shouting, raucous singing, raucous cursing – basically, they were a rather raucous ruckus – coming up the drive. Suddenly it stopped, and they heard someone pounding on the door. "I'll get it!" said Hanna cheerfully.
"Uh, I wouldn't if I were you," said Diana. She quickly passed a sword to Eos as well and they crept quietly out onto the landing. Luckily their servants seemed to be more sensible than the ones in Elizabeth's house, and had already run out the back door instead of answering the front one. Quickly they ran along the landing to a room facing the back garden.
"What would Elizabeth do in this situation?" asked Hanna.
"Probably run to confront them, then change her mind and run the other way, and then be captured," said Diana.
"Which means we should try and run away, then turn and fight if we have to," agreed Hanna. They reached the window and were about to climb out of it when they heard voices in the garden.
"There's more pirates down there!" whispered Eos. They all backed away from the window, but then they heard the front door breaking in. "What do we do now?"
Hanna was still looking out the window. These pirates seemed slightly odd. "Team Hanna!" one of them was hissing and clicking her fingers in the air, "Over here!"
"No, you don't get their attention like THAT," argued another one of them, "You're supposed to have set up a signalling system. Like an owl call or something."
"I can't DO bird calls," argued the other one back. The rest of them had assembled by now and were watching this with interest.
"Look! Isn't that Hanna up there?" said one of the boys in the group, pointing up at the window. The two apparent leaders stopped bickering and looked up.
"Yes, it is! Hanna, climb down on that vine there!" called one of them, who Hanna recognized as Elizabeth with slight surprise.
"Are you kidding? Vines can't support a person's weight," argued the other, who was Anamaria, she now saw.
"Well, what do YOU suggest?" sighed Elizabeth.
"Don't take that tone with me-"
Mro and Tobias looked at each other as those two continued to argue and rolled their eyes. Waving over Elderberry and Bulma, the girls gave them a leg up onto the tree nearest the house. Mro took out a rope with a hook on the end of it and threw it at the house so that it smashed through a window on the floor above; testing it, Mro then swung off the branch straight onto Hanna's windowsill.
"You've learnt a thing or two from Will," said Hanna, impressed, as he steadied himself and held out an arm to her.
"Hey, I invented that," said Mro with injured tones. Hanging onto her, he swung back to the branch again and passed her to Tobias, who handed her down to Bulma and Elderberry.
"Do we save the others as well?" asked Frankie confusedly, "Or do Jack and Will's teams have to do that?"
"Tough question," said Bulma. The Wob-Wob squeaked in agreement. Bulma had fashioned it a little pirate headscarf within five minutes of being onboard the Black Pearl. "Does anyone know where Jack and Will are?"
"I think Will was going around the backstreets, and Jack via the pub," said Elderberry.
Meanwhile, inside, Diana and Eos heard the pirates searching downstairs and some of them coming up the stairs. "Lucky my parents are out on the trading trip," said Diana, "No offence to them, but they wouldn't be much use right now."
"And they may wonder where their daughter learnt how to sword fight," smiled Eos. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming down the corridor towards the room they were in. "Quick, through that door!" she whispered, pointing at the door linking to the adjoining room. "Do you have any idea what this is about?"
"None at all," said Diana bewilderedly, "I mean, there's the Big Pink Pretty albeit Cursed Diamond, but Elizabeth's got that. Why would they come here? Do they look cursed?"
Eos glanced out one of the windows they were running past at one of the groups of pirates going through the town. "Not particularly," she said, "Maybe these ones aren't cursed."
"Whoa," said Diana, "Now there's a thought. Non-cursed pirates."
While they were talking they'd run the length of the corridor through the adjoining rooms. The pirates in the house didn't seem aware that they were there just yet, and they were hoping to keep it that way as long as possible.
***
Shock horror! Are the pirates not cursed, but just ordinary pirates? Bet no- one saw that coming!
Im a Brandybuck – Orli is no longer number one for me right now either. Legolas is still pretty high (emphasis on pretty, ba-dum-bum-TISH) but I think that currently number one is Dorian Gray from 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', closely followed by Shane West (also in LXG) and Anakin Skywalker in 'Star Wars'. I need to see ROTK again before Legolas asserts himself in my list... less than a month! Woooo!
Gilraen Ar-Feiniel – There aren't any more coming just yet, but there might be some soon. I'll try to write some in if I can, but I don't want to have too many non-Canon characters. As Jack says, eighteen is quite enough...
Theshiz – You're in this one! And excitement is a'coming! Tanuki is all heroic! He'll be competing with Will Turner in the Disney hero stakes soon...
One of your many fans – Oh, weird in a good sense, definitely.
Pirate-strumpet – Something that has charms in it... a charm box? Hmm, Mr Cotton or Barbossa? Tricky question... All right, strange reviewers who read all my callouts as well as the story, if you had to choose between Barbossa and Mr Cotton, how would you kill yourselves?
Terreis – Any suggestions for Jack and Will flirtations are gratefully received. There's only so many cheesy chat-up lines out there. And as for Jack saying that he liked you, remember how Will kissed Mako at the end of the first one? These things can be arranged...
Cat Youkai – Actually, I really wanted to e-mail you about this, but I didn't have your e-mail – do you still want to be in this? If so, send me the form. Because you were such a cool character in the first one.
Hyper-Elf – Hmm. That is a good suggestion. Wob-Wob eating the enemy ship... should prove exciting...
Alteng – Sorry. It's just so easy to pick on Will. And his blacksmith's ability. I like him really, he's adorable, just so easy to tease. And I have no idea whether Bulma is aiming to be her, but never mind...
La chica mysteriosa – I don't know if I got that or not. I don't think I did. Sorry.
Reasonably Crazy – Yes! I have seen 'Finding Nemo' now, at last! Hehehe, the seagulls. They were my favourite characters, actually. And there's no way they're stupid... they're wise, they're cunning, and they're EVIL. And they may return soon.
Elderberry – Agreed. Definitely. Poor Jack and Will don't know what they're letting themselves in for.
Liz – Thanks! I hope you do!
Bulma Greenleaf – (eyes Wob-Wobs nervously) Sharp teeth? Sharp little teeth?
Lady Shinimegami – Oooh. Chocolate Jack Sparrow. I think I'll take that with chocolate sprinkles. Mmmm. And poor guys on the boat. At least one of them's going to have to end up with a girl at the end.
Aaserene – Thanks!
Beloved Fool – Oh yes, simply marvellous weather. Wonderful British summer.
Bev Baudelaire – Hopefully there will be another sequel, if I can come up with another good idea for an adventure. Suggestions? If not, send in the form, and I'll see if I might be able to fit you in somewhere.
Jedi from Rohan and Elf with a Lightsaber – Why did fanfiction remove you? And hi Jedi from Rohan, you're another person with a cool name! I hope you like these stories too!
Tanuki Yasha – Thanks! I consider it... REVIEW'D! (dramatic chord) Surrounded by girls again, but don't worry, you have Diana to protect you. Even though it's meant to be vice versa vis-à-vis pirates. Hey, cool! Vice versa vis-à- vis! Alliteration! Go me!