Once in port, Jack
sauntered off to one of the more rowdy pubs of the city-The
Bride-while Elsa and Danielle went out among the crowded streets of
Tortuga. Elsa sauntered ahead, guiding Danielle in and out of areas
full of wenches and pirates, peddlers and merchants of every kind.
"Don't you just love Tortuga?"
Elsa said, somewhat sarcastically.
"I
hate it actually," Danielle admitted.
"Note the sarcasm in my voice, Turner. But I don't hate
Tortuga...I just dislike it to an extreme. But it is an interesting
little town nonetheless."
They
walked/pushed their way through the streets for a little ways until
Danielle decided to voice her opinion.
"We're lost, aren't we Jack?"
"No!" Elsa said stubbornly, trying to hide her obvious
mistake.
"We're lost!"
Danielle shrieked.
"Will!"
Elsa reprimanded, rounding on Danielle quickly and putting a hand
over her friend's mouth. "I know we're lost!" she hissed
softly. "But you never-I repeat-never admit you're lost in
Tortuga!"
"Why?" Danielle
asked, wrenching away Elsa's hand.
"Because-"
Before she could
explain though, three men made their way towards them.
"Because of that right there," Elsa whispered, a hand on
her sword. "Sword, Will."
"I
don't have one."
The men came
closer. Three pirates, with one thing on their mind.
"Dammit," Elsa cursed. "Okay, get behind me and don't
look at them. Pretend you're doing something-anything-else."
Slightly confused and extremely worried, Danielle hid behind Elsa and
pretended like she was examining the mud on the ground.
"Good evenin' ladies," one of the men slurred.
"Lovely...they're alcohol induced as well. My lucky night,"
Elsa thought.
"Gentlemen," she
acknowledged them calmly, moving towards a crowd of people walking
the other way.
The men followed.
"We couldn't help but overhearin' that ye were lost," said
another one of them. "We could be of assistance." He
winked.
"No, no, sirs, I'm afraid
you didn't hear the whole conversation. What I had happened was we
just lost sight of my father for a moment, but now I see him so we'll
have to be going now." She walked a little quicker now, pushing
a silent Danielle in front of her.
"Your
father?" asked one of them nervously.
"She's lying," muttered the other one. "Go 'round
back," he directed.
The tallest one
of the three made his way silently behind the girls, another slightly
to the right, so Danielle and Elsa were surrounded.
"Screw being nice and innocent," Elsa thought. Now was time
for action. "Be ready to punch anything that gets close to you,
save me," she whispered to Danielle.
Elsa drew her sword and announced, "Gentlemen, we are not whores
and we do not intend on spending the night with you, I'm sorry."
Her sword glinted in the street's lamplight. "I'll have to ask
you to leave and leave now. Or there will be consequences." Her
eyes flashed dangerously.
"Now,
now, Poppet," chuckled one of them. "We didn't mean any
harm. Put that away."
"I
will-if you leave," she smiled.
"Now, luv-"
"Don't you
dare 'luv' me. I'll have you know my father will run you through. Oh
my goodness and look who it is! Daddy!" she cried happily and
looked over one of the men's shoulders.
The men, partly because they were highly intoxicated, automatically
looked behind them.
"Run!"
Elsa whispered to Danielle.
"Run
where?"
"Anywhere! Just go
ahead of me!"
"No! I'll get us
even more lost!"
"Fine!"
Elsa cried exasperated and began to run through the streets as best
she could without plowing through people.
Shouts soon followed them.
"Oy!
They're gettin' away!"
"After
'em!"
The men pursued, but luckily,
Danielle and Elsa had a good head start. Before long, Elsa spotted an
alley way. It wasn't a completely dead end-only a short wall at the
end. The girls would have no trouble getting over, but the men in
their intoxicated state-as mentioned-would. She ducked behind the
building's wall and stood panting, waiting for Danielle.
"We got one of 'em!" Elsa heard one of the men laugh. A
scream followed.
Elsa's stomach flipped
and her heart stopped. "No," she whispered.
Another scream, and a call of "Jack!" Then more muffled
screams.
Elsa ran out into the street
and just caught sight of them three pirates dragging Danielle into a
secluded alley across the way.
Elsa
followed them quietly, not wanting any of them to know she had caught
on...
She flattened herself against the
wall, listening for her moment.
"Now
hold still," she heard one of the men say.
"Don't hurt her," Elsa winced silently.
Danielle whimpered and tried to scream, but apparently she had been
gagged, because nothing was coming out.
Elsa looked around quickly. She had an idea! The first man that
passed down the opposite street luckily had a hat on-a three cornered
hat. Very piratical. Very perfect.
"Sir!" she yelled.
As the man turned around, Elsa snuck around the other side of him and
stole the heat from his head, and then quickly made her way back to
the alley.
She placed the hat on her
head-trying to ignore the sounds being made a short distance from
her-and pulled out her pistol and sword. She pulled a piece of
charcoal from her pocket and quickly smudged it under her eyes, then
above her lips and on her chin.
"Has
to work," she thought.
She cleared
her throat and lowered her voice tremendously, added an accent,
adjusted her bandana and newly acquired hat, then leapt into the
alley.
"Take your filthy hands off
that girl! Give up now, or you'll all have bullet holes in those
empty heads of yours!" she yelled, firing shots from her gun.
"Move or die, savvy?"
"Good
God above! Captain Jack Sparrow!" they yelled.
"Let's get the bloody hell outta here!"
"The girl?"
"Forget the
girl you idiot! Run!"
Elsa moved
aside as the men hurried past and fired a last shot at the heels of
their boots for good measure.
After the
men were gone, she rushed over to Danielle.
"Can you walk?" she whispered hurriedly, untying Danielle's
gag.
"Yeah," Danielle said, a
little mesmerized. She got up from the ground and tried to walk, but
fell forward.
"I can't. I'm sorry
Jack," Danielle said, beginning to cry.
"Don't you dare cry!" Elsa said, her voice again 'Jack'.
Suddenly and much to the total surprise
of Danielle, Elsa picked up Danielle in her arms and literally flew
out of that alley way and down the street, until she practically made
it back to the docks.
She found a
deserted inn where only the innkeeper was asleep on the bar.
Elsa dropped Danielle rather ungracefully into a chair and collapsed
on the ground, not bothering to get a chair for herself. She lay
there, face down, not even caring if anyone walked in to see her.
After a minute or so of panting
furiously, Danielle decided she wanted to say something.
"Jack-" but before she could finish, she burst into tears.
Elsa rolled on her back-still on the
floor-and looked up at Danielle, the charcoal still smudged under her
eyes, above her lips and on her chin. Then, she laughed.
Hysterically. And wouldn't stop.
Danielle
sniffed and looked at her friend confused.
Taking a breath, and trying not to laugh anymore she said, "I
can't believe that just happened."
"You-how did you...? Why?" Danielle stuttered.
"Let me guess-How and why did I carry you from the alley to this
bar from practically the opposite end of the island?" Elsa
questioned. "Because: you're my best friend in the world. And if
you're in trouble, by God, I'm gonna help you, savvy?"
"Uh huh," Danielle nodded smiling.
"Now stop the crying, there's no reason to cry. We're alive
aren't we?"
"And safe!"
Danielle squeaked and hugged Elsa really hard.
"Right," Elsa "sort of" lied. Let's face
it-you're never safe in Totuga. She started smudging the charcoal off
of her face and said, "Never let me do the charcoal thing
again."
"But it looks so-"
"Please, for the love of rum, don't
say anything."
