ROPE-WALKER

By Jashi

N O T E: Ho hum, PotC isn't mine…blah blah blah, etc, etc, etc… Everybody go read "Hide Behind October" because well, if you liked Romulus, its centered around him (or at least, it will be, it's quite a flashback right now.) If you are interested to see what happened to Tades and Romulus way back when, read it. And review this fic, if you still like it. Yeah. I really was working on this for like, three weeks. Hope this makes up for it.

A phrase to describe this chapter and those following it I must take from the Harry Potter trailer I saw when I went to see RotK…

"Something wicked this way comes…"

CHAPTER NINE

The wind was picking up, and the Black Pearl glided through the water steadily. It had been almost a week and a half since they'd set out from Tortuga, and Tades was again watching the late afternoon sky from the rigging for the umpteenth time. The once clear day was growing murky with thin, wispy gray clouds.

She climbed to the pole holding the mainsail, and walked across it to retie the sail. This one especially had become loose much to often. The pirate lady reached down to inspect it, and noticed the tangles in the ropes. Sighing, she untied it and began sorting it out; absentmindedly untangled the ropes, herself momentarily becoming tangled in them. She looked at the sky with its gathering clouds again.

What is this in store fer us…a storm?

Jack came out of his office with a great slamming of the door. Tades nearly jumped out of her skin in surprise, and all of a sudden she was falling, falling, falling, speeding to the ground and she closed her eyes and waited for the bang of the deck and the smashing of the bones.

But all that came was a very nasty jerk on her leg and suddenly Tades was spinning slowly.

She looked down…the deck was a some feet lower. And when she looked forwards, she looked straight into the very amused eyes of Jack Sparrow himself.

"That, love, was a bloody brilliant trick, there. So much fer the amazin' rope-walker, eh?"

Tades glared in fury as she tried to get out of the rope tangled around her foot…that had saved her life.

"Jack---"

"That be CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow."

"All right, cap'n," she growled maliciously, twitching and struggling to get out of her odd position, "ye may…go…to hell…"

Jack simply laughed and drew his sword. With a quick snap of his wrist he cut the rope and Tades landed in a pile at his feet.

"This ship…" he chuckled mercilessly, "this ship is halfway ta hell, as far as I'm concerned."

Tades stood up and dusted herself off, and gave a smirk at the captain of the Black Pearl.

"Then…" she said quietly, her eyes conniving, and she nudged him to the rail of the Black Pearl. He raised his eyebrow.

"…then let's pit ye a bit closer then, savvy?" she whispered, and gave a mighty push.

Jack Sparrow went over straight over the railing and landed with a hearty splash. Tades smiled and walked back to the rigging, and began to climb it again.

"Hmm…" she mused aloud, "I think there's somethin' I'm supposed ta yell about now…er…I can't seem to recall what it is…hmmm….ah…oh yes, I remember now…" she grinned wickedly.

"MAN OVERBOARD!" she shouted, and then laughed as some of the crew rushed over to the side to see their captain treading in the warm Caribbean waters. Gibbs threw a rope overboard and dragged him up with some help from Cotton. Jack fell with a splat on the deck. He shook the water of his hair like a dog, and walked over to the base of the mast.

"Y'know, Tades, it's not uncommon fer a pirate captain ta kill one o' his crew, especially if they mutiny."

She grinned at him from the nest.

"Ye don't have the guts, sir."

The next couple of days were met by anxiousness from Tades. The sky was turbulent and angry looking, yet not a drop of rain fell from it, not even a distant rumble of thunder. She almost wished a storm would explode upon them, just so it would be there and she wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. Quite an odd thought, really, but ye started thinking like that when ye were on the sea long enough, she thought. You started to hope for storms, not to destroy the ship and kill the crew, but danger was enticing.

It was the fourth night she had stayed awake; the next night would be her night off, she'd sleep, and someone else would take her place. But it was not to be.

There was a divine crash of thunder and a streak of bright lightning across the sky. The winds became violent and Tades looked to the heavens and saw her answer. Then it began to rain.

The rain pounded like bullets upon them, and Jack shouted orders at the top of his lungs while trying to keep the Pearl on course. The thunder screamed its anger and the sky and ocean unleashed their murderous wrath upon the pirate ship. Tades came down from the rigging, for it was often not a good thing for anyone to be up there, even if you were very good of balance. The winds would tear anyone down from the perch, and the lightning in past times was prone to strike the mast of the ship. She slid about on the soaking wet deck, bailing out water and following Jack's incessant orders. Storms were no trivial thing. Though deep in her heart, Tades loved storms. On the first voyage of the Pearl, no one had cared if she stayed up in the rigging during even the most terrible of tempests. It was a wonderful feeling, though extremely lethal. The wind whipping about her, the rain pelting down endlessly, the brilliant flashes of lightning across the sky…all were a past memory to Tades, whose captains in the past had often yelled at her to get down from the rigging when storms came.

She came down from the rigging, and followed Jack's commands. As an hour passed, great swells of ocean water plunged onto the Black Pearl, threatening to sweep men overboard. Lightning lit up the sky, and Tades' eye caught something up high in the rigging.

The knots and pulleys holding up the mainsail were coming undone.

Tades watched quizzically, confused.

It was as though a ghost, invisible to the human eye, was undoing knots and pretty much screwing everything up. If the mainsail goes down, we're all dead, she thought, and half of it came down with that thought. Her eyes widened in fear, and her body moved before she knew what she was doing.

She began to climb the rigging desperately, rain streaming down her face, through her hair. The wind pulled the throng of leather from her hair, letting it loose as it fell, soaked with the water. She reached the pole that the mainsail hung from, and without a moment's hesitation, dashed across it. It took her little time to reach the sail's tyings, vast as they were across the pole, but as she stood there, fighting to keep her balance on the pole as the ship careened and twisted through the storm, something flitted about her.

Actually, it was several things, it seemed. It was something evil, no doubt of it, and it whizzed around Tades deliberately, trying to make her fall.

I won't fall again, not again, not ever! she cried in her mind, swatting at them and losing her balance and regaining it over and over again.

Meanwhile, the mainsail was coming down, slowly.

"Watch it!" came the cry of a voice she could not name.

Perhaps it was the wind, or the things untying ropes, but something gave a great push to Tades, and she fell backwards, now hidden from sight behind the sail.

Tades grabbed something as she fell, a rope, and ceased her descent. She was moving still, somewhat fast…I've got a main rope! she realized with a bit of glee, the mainsail wasn't falling anymore. Her weight was pulling the sail back up. A very crude and illogical way to raise the sail, but it had stopped falling, rising again. She groped about on the rope, curling her legs about it, and found another one. She pulled it, and she fell slower now. The mainsail broadened, and became stable again. But Tades could not move, for if she let go of those ropes, the mainsail would fall. She gripped the two ropes tighter, entwining her legs about them. The ropes were soaking wet, and she gritted her teeth as she held on. They were slick and hard to grasp properly.

The wind tore at her, and Tades began to be pushed to the side by the gale. A gust of wind swept through the sails and Tades was thrown into the mast.

Her head spun, but she held onto those ropes for dear life. She looked up to see the pole holding the mainsail, and saw dark wisps of wind. She then hit the mast again, and knew no more.

That morning, Tades awoke groggily.

She was still holding onto the ropes. Someone was saying her name.

"Tades, Tades, Tades. I think ye've lost yer touch; that be the second time ye've fallen this week. What are we going ta do with ye, love?" came the teasing, familiar voice.

Tades looked down and saw the face of her captain.

" 'Lo, sir."

She felt very, very tired. Her eyes were somewhat bloodshot; her hair was damp and matted. The sail was still up. That was all that mattered.

"Hold the sail for me, please, sir."

Jack obliged and took hold of the ropes she was hanging from, pulling them taut.

She began to climb up the ropes until she reached the pole. Tades dragged herself up onto it, and began to retie the ropes without another word. It took an hour, but the sail was fixed and Tades slid down the a rope to the ground.

"What made ye fall, lass?" Jack asked as she put the extra rope away.

"I don't know, sir. There was something up there, no doubt o' it."

"It looked as though somethin' pushed ye right over on the pole there."

"I don't know, Jack, if I had an answer I would've given it to ye by now," she said snappishly, and left him.

Tades slept the next night, then resumed her watch. More days passed, uneventful. The crew was getting bored. Then fog swept over them like a very thick, warm blanket, and it became quite hard to see.

Will Turner was leaning on the Pearl's rail, gazing out into the heavy mist. He stared out into the never-ending fog wistfully, and thought of Elizabeth. Something dark and looming behind the great gray shadows caught his eye for just the briefest moment, and he snapped out of his momentary reverie.

He stared again into the fog, hard and focused. After another moment, he saw the outline of the large shape again. Will took a few steps back from the rail and turned. He called to Tades, who was observing the ship from the crow's nest.

"Tades!" he called, and she looked down at him.

"Aye, Turner?"

"…Come down and see this…" he said. She cocked her head at him, puzzled, but swung down on a rope to him.

"What's botherin' ye?"

He led her over to the spot where he had been standing.

"Stand right here, and look out…right over there," he pointed off into the distance.

"Turner," she laughed, "only a fool tries to see things in fog like this."

"Come on, Tades," he pleaded, "I saw something, I know I did."

She sighed and stared bleakly out at the fog. After a few minutes, she saw the dark outline of something very large.

Her eyes widened.

"Aye, I saw that…" she trailed off. Thinking for a moment, her eyes widened again and she gasped.

"Bloody 'ell!" Tades swore, and ran off towards the bow. She bounded off and climbed onto the figurehead, then began to inch along the long pole that stretched from the figurehead out. Her feet on the figurehead's cranium, she turned back towards Will after studying the fog for a few moments.

"Stop the ship, Turner, make 'em stop!" she gasped, and then yelled louder, "Land ho! Stop!"

Will ran to the helm where Jack was steering the ship.

"Jack, stop the ship!" he cried.

"Now, why would I do that?"

But then Jack heard Tades' yell.

"Land ho! Weigh anchor! Jack, STOP THE BLOODY SHIP!"

"Alright, alright, keep your shirt on, woman," Jack mumbled, and yelled, "Weigh anchor! Hop to it, lads, we haven't all day!"

The anchor was dropped and the Black Pearl slowly lurched to a stop. Tades breathed a sigh of relief from her place on the bow. Jack came down from the helm and walked to the bow.

"Now what are ye makin' such a fuss about?"

Tades looked at him warily. "Give me somethin' ta throw, sir. I need somethin' heavy."

Jack turned on his heel and got an empty rum bottle from his office.

"Will this work?"

"Aye, toss it here."

He threw it to her. She caught it and motioned towards the wall of fog.

"Now watch, and listen."

Tades cocked her arm back and chucked the bottle. A moment later there was the piercing sound of contact and shattering glass. A grin crept upon the pirate lady's lips.

"The sea ain't solid enough to break glass, sir."

As Tades spoke these words, the curtain of fog was pulled back, and what lay before them was unveiled.

The rum bottle had hit a very large rock in the distance, not too far. But it was one of many large, jagged rocks, sticking up out of the water, so close together not even a canoe would have much chance of getting through them. They were almost like…

"…stepping stones," breathed Jack as he gazed upon the scene. Tades surveyed it with a worrying eye. The rocks reached for a very long distance, then she spied a coastline.

"Well, sir," she said, getting off the figurehead and coming back onto the solid deck, "the Island of Pain awaits."

"Right," murmured Jack as he stared fixedly at the coastline in the distance, "right."

He shook as head as though ridding himself of an image, then quickly disappeared into his office. He emerged about ten minutes later with a rucksack and a grin.

"Men," he began, ignoring the glares from Tades and Anamaria, "some of ye scoundrels will go ashore with me, while others of ye will take the Pearl 'round the Island to meet us at the other side, savvy?"

"Aye aye, sir," cried several men, and they resumed whatever they had been doing before.

"Hmmm…" Jack looked at the rest of the crew.

"Will, you can come with me…Tades…Anamaria…Gibbs, and McDermott," he motioned to a man coiling rope.

"We leave in ten minutes. Hurry up."

Will strapped his a sword of his to his belt, and picked up another one. He strapped it on as well.

Tades closed her eyes and thought.

"Let's see, Tades…" she mumbled to herself as she mentally checked off items she had on her, "Spyglass…no."

It was up in the crow's nest. She scampered up the rigging to get it. Placing it safely in her pocket, she felt for her others weapons.

"Gun one…two…yes. Powder, bullets, yes.

"Knife one, two, three, yes," she said, and felt each, the one at the waist, the other two hidden in her boot and up the sleeve.

"Where's your sword, Tades?" asked Will as he attached one two his waist, next to his own knife and gun.

She heard a snort from behind her.

"Tades is…dysfunctional with the sword," Jack snickered.

"Useless is more like it," added Gibbs.

"Shut up, 'fore I turn a gun loose on ye, lads," she glared.

The crew lowered the plank to the nearest rock, and Jack stepped off first. Tades came down next, followed by Will, then Ana. Gibbs began to walk down the ramp, but the plank…jumped…back up to the ship, throwing him to the deck. While the four waited on the rocks, the crew tried to get the plank down, but it seemed to have gotten immensely heavy. They couldn't lift it to save their lives.

"Go on, cap'n. Yer losin' daylight," said Gibbs with a shrug.

Jack nodded slowly and said, "Goodbye then, Gibbs."

Tades jumped to another rock, and another, and another, slowly making her way across the vast area of protruding rocks. The others followed, and they moved at an average pace.

The sun was just beginning to set as they reached the coastline.

"I think we can make some ground before it's gets dark…" said Jack, and reached into the rucksack he'd brought, He pulled out a map. The other three crowded behind him to peer over his shoulder.

He closed the map with a quick snap before they could get a good glimpse at it.

"We'll reach the other side fastest if we go straight down the center, savvy?"

"Aye, sir. That'd be quite easy if there was a center," Ana pointed out.

Up past the beach, there was a worn path. The path split in two at a gargantuan monument of rock. The paths wound around it, and other than their slight beginnings, you could see no more of where they led.

Choose wisely.

…^_^ To be continued…please review.