AN (10/12): Just so you know, I'm starting to get discouraged about writing this...so, leave me a review! I want to know how many people actually read this.
AN (10/20): Sorry for the delay...I had a busy weekend full of homework and FBLA conferences. I promise to update again this Sunday (unless I die from all of my end of term homework first).
Chapter 15: Caves
It wasn't an unpleasant kiss, nor was it something that romantics of the day wrote about and the very elite bored women read, if they could read. It lacked conviction, fire, and passion. Yet, when Jack pulled his head away from Rebekah's, there seemed to be a fire burning in her eyes in response to the kiss, as though some sort of dream had come true. Jack personally felt like he'd just kissed a repentant child on the cheek or something, rather than a woman. He wasn't attracted to Rebekah in that way at all.
Rebekah seemed to have a hard time talking as sanity gradually returned to her coconut-husk brown eyes. Finally, she spewed out, "What was that for?"
"To calm ye down," Jack replied easily, faking the sound of want in his voice. He didn't want to let her down too hard. While he spoke the truth, he also happened to be leaving a significant part out-so that she would stop hurting him and over-reacting.
"Oh," Rebekah replied shortly, a slightly hurt look in her eyes as she started twisting hair around her index finger. She smiled faintly, wondering if she should kiss him back or something. "It was nice," she said dreamily.
Jack had to look away to keep from rolling his dark brown eyes at the girl. Nice? Well, no, it really hadn't been. He'd been kissing a fish or something. If she thought that was nice, she should experience one of his famous kisses that made women around the Caribbean love and hate his name. Obviously, she hadn't been kissed often. "I suppose," Jack replied vaguely, stepping a few inches away from her. Why had he been so stupid? Now the girl would never stop obsessing about him.
Rebekah seemed to be wounded, based on the look in her eyes. Was she not good enough for him? "Jack...what do you think about me?" she asked softly, reaching over and stroking his cheek.
Jack thought about all the possible answers he could reply with that didn't result with a slap. Of course, none of them were truthful. "Yer very intelligent, Rebekah. A fine woman. Kind of girl tha' I wouldn' mind seein' a friend marry." He was trying to be as clear as possible without hurting her feelings. It wouldn't be good if she refused to help him find the gold.
"Oh," Rebekah replied lightly. All of her previous hysteria seemed to have disappeared. "Do you mean that?"
Women could be so demanding. Grinning, Jack nodded and kissed her again. Did it matter if he wasn't attracted to her at all? At least this way he'd gain some sympathy for the strumpets. They probably liked very few of their paying customers. Besides-once he had Butler's treasure, he could dump the girl off in some port.
Needless to say, it was several hours before Rebekah and Jack were freed from the cave. Neither of them got much sleep during said time in the cave, either. After the two rested for about an hour, the whole company started on their journey again, taking special precautions when they neared any of the shiny rectangles. They didn't want to get stuck again. This adventure was almost too much for any sane man to handle.
Once they passed over the field of dangerous rectangles, Rebekah looked at the map and pointed towards the north, where a large mountain sat, glaring at the wary travelers. It seemed to have eyes-there were two evenly spaced caves up near the top. "We have t' go up the mountain?" Jack asked after some murmuring reached his ears.
"No. We have to go around the mountain and up the other side," Rebekah responded with slightly pink cheeks. She seemed anxious to get this adventure over as well. Perhaps her fantasies hadn't come true. Who knows?
"Ah," Jack replied. It would be too easy to just go up this side of the mountain. Butler sure had some twisted ideas on burying his gold.
Matthew appeared at Jack's side a few moments later as they started walking again. "D' ye think it will take much longer, Captain? I'm anxious to get my hands on that gold." However, the man was glancing over at Rebekah. She was blushing again.
"Ah...well, ye'd 'ave t' ask Rebekah that," Jack replied, suddenly feeling stupid. She'd used him. But what for? It was evident she preferred Matthew to him. Which was odd...Matthew was a happily married man with two daughters, right?
"It shouldn't take too much longer, Mister Porter." Rebekah blushed again as Matthew smiled at her and stepped back into formation, as it were. She watched him for a moment with her brown eyes, fiddling with her blonde tresses as she did so. When she nearly tripped and fell, she turned her attention back to the map and the task known as walking that is so foreign to so many people.
Jack frowned, suddenly feeling quite unsure of himself. Was he inadequate for her? Was she doing this to make him be more passionate? Was she doing this just because the whole thing meant nothing to her as well? Oh well; Jack figured he'd never understand women.
The journey towards the other side of the mountain passed in relative tranquility. There were no more apparent booby traps. The crew stayed away from the bushes and the berries. And no one complained because it would be too embarrassing to be remembered as the first one to complain on an exciting mission for buried treasure. It almost seemed annoyingly quiet to Jack as he walked along. Perhaps that was because there were no birds chirping nor insects buzzing. If it weren't for the occasional rustle in the bushes, Jack would think that the island was devoid of everything but plant life.
The back of the mountain seemed to be growling at them as they stopped again when they glimpsed the mountain from this angle for the first time. It was as pockmarked with caves as a woman with smallpox scars. There seemed to be clusters of caves (as well as individual ones) in threes, sixes, and fives. They seemed to be a repeating pattern-there'd be one cave, next to it would be a cluster of three, next to that would be a cluster of six, and next to that, a cluster of five. They were all over the mountain, and for some reason, it kept reminding Jack of something...
Well, whatever it was trying to surface in the black hole that was his mind, Jack decided to just ignore it. "Which cave?"
Rebekah seemed a bit flustered by that question as she studied her grandfather's map. "It doesn't say," she finally announced sadly, staring up at the caves with a look of resignation. Perhaps treasure doesn't really exist.
"It doesn' say?" Jack asked, arching his eyebrow. Great. Only now did she check if she understood where the gold was. This was just perfect.
"No, it doesn't," Rebekah confirmed, squinting at the confusing map in her fairly dirty hands. "Though, I imagine it has something to do with the repeating pattern."
"Tha's helpful," Jack responded drolly. Maybe it would've been better if she hadn't made the comment at all. Jack's crew was starting to complain. "Why d' ye think it has something to do with the repeating pattern?"
"Because that's my address. 1365. Grandpa Butler built the house himself, with some of his fortune." Rebekah shrugged slightly, turning away from Jack and glancing back at the mountain.
"Great," Jack muttered mostly to himself, looking at the mountain as well. There were a whole bunch of caves with those numbers. How were they supposed to...wait a moment. Was that a cluster of two? "I think I found it," Jack announced to his crew who were just sitting down in the thirsty dirt. This island seriously needed some rain. Yet...the plants were vivid greens...this wasn't adding up. Anyway, the crew stood and gave a ragged cheer as Jack and Rebekah approached the mountain near the double cave.
"I think you did too," Rebekah said with an awed voice. It would've taken her hours to notice the inconsistency of this particular cave.
"Good job, Captain," Matthew said appreciatively, anxious to get the treasure finding underway. He seemed to nearly dance with anticipation as the crew started climbing the harrowing steep mountain. Fortunately, it wasn't vertical. The angle of elevation was just enough to make walking up the mountain stretch your calves uncomfortably, making many men go up sideways to alleviate the strain on their legs. They resembled odd crabs scuttling after some sort of tasty morsel on a beach. The poor shrubs who'd struggled to grow on this scraggly face of a mountain were soon being pulled out as each crew member used them for support to keep themselves from tumbling down into the person behind them.
They were moving at a fairly fast pace, for it is a lot easier to travel uphill with momentum, and reached the double cave in a matter of minutes. Jack had a torch lit, and the whole crew stepped inside the small overhang that opened up into a large cavern. "Tis a lo' bigger than I thought it'd be," Bootstrap commented as he neared Jack. That was the first thing he'd said the entire time. Perhaps the tall brown haired man was finally catching some of that enthusiasm from his brother-in-law. However, something about the way his face was arranged seemed wrong. Matthew was nearly bouncing in the cave, carefully examining each stone to see if any trace of gold was nearby.
Rebekah was staring at the cave in awe, faintly resembling a girl on Christmas Eve as the torchlight made the iris and pupils of her eyes dance with her repressed excitement. "Well, then...I imagine he'd put it in as far as he could."
Jack nodded towards the over anxious Matthew, who was looking at him as though he were a puppy seeking direction. Like the quiver of an arrow, Matthew raced forward behind others of the crew. Bootstrap and Jack brought up the rear, feeling rather old (even though many of the crew were older than they) as they followed the group.
"Do ye think we'll really find anythin'?" Bootstrap asked as the group ahead of them got further away. He was limping slightly. During the climb up the face of the rather steep mountain, he'd twisted his ankle. It was probably quite painful, but a life of hard work made Bootstrap almost immune to the slight twinge of pain every time he stepped forward.
"I hope so," Jack replied with a slight frown. What if they didn't find anything? The crew could turn on him. "If not...well, I'm going t' 'ave t' throttle Matthew." Jack's hands mimicked choking motions in the fading light of the torch up ahead.
Bootstrap chuckled, though it seemed a bit forced. "I'd do the same thing in yer position, Jack. His ruddy map 'as lost a few fine men." The noise Bootstrap's boots made was strangely disharmonic and it almost made Jack want to maim the other leg so the two would match as they walked down the path, following a distant light.
"Aye," Jack agreed. "Too bad I ne'er got t' know them. It'll be difficult t' work in more new crew members." He didn't choose to notice that Bootstrap paused for a second to look at him incredulously. Did Jack value his crew so little? Pointing ahead in the near dark, Jack said, "We'd bes' pick up the pace, William. They'll leave us in the dark abou' the treasure."
Bootstrap grunted in reply, still chewing on the thought that Jack didn't care for human life. It couldn't be true...or could it? Sighing, he stepped forward as quickly as he could without tripping on his bad leg.
Distances are hard to judge in dark caves, and the company of eager pirates were soon met by the limping Bootstrap and the slightly wary Jack. What if there were more booby traps? Rebekah was standing rather close to Matthew, who was now holding the torch for her to see it as they stood before a deep puddle of water that seemed quite small. It was a dead end. "Wha' now?" Jack asked, trying to keep the hurt pride and consternation out of his voice as he asked Rebekah what the map said.
He must've succeeded quite well, for Rebekah answered, "We go into the water," in her fairly wishy-washy voice. Jack's men looked at each other for a moment, as though they were daring each other to go in. There seemed to be only enough room for one swarthy man or two skinny wimps to fit in the hole in the ground.
"Is there really treasure down there?" Skip asked softly, glancing down at the silver reflection of himself in the fluid.
"Yes," Rebekah replied. She glanced up from the map. "I believe that it goes to a larger underground cavern. The treasure isn't in that puddle." The excitement was back in her voice. "You just have to dive into the waters to see it all." She glanced at the men around her. "Who will brave it first?"
No one said anything for the longest time. Apparently the sailors were afraid that the water wouldn't be deep enough. Or maybe too deep on the other side. Perhaps the underwater passageway were miles long...they'd die and no one would be able to get their remains. No one wanted to die such a frigid death.
Rebekah seemed to be getting exasperated as she glanced from face to face to face. When her gaze rested on Matthew, she seemed to be momentarily depressed. Perhaps he was just all talk too. Finally, she looked at Jack. As captain, he could order anyone to do it. He could order men to give up their lives. Which is why most captains seemed to have the weight of the world on their shoulders. All that responsibility for other people's lives can really weigh you down, unless you're pure evil and could care less about your crew of miscreants.
Jack sighed softly. He really didn't want to be forced to choose someone to do what he was unwilling to do himself. But someone had to check to see if there was treasure, or this venture would be a waste of time and manpower. "I'll go," he finally said, taking off his pistol and cutlass and handing them to Bootstrap. Slightly amused at the audible sigh of relief from everyone, Jack took off his overcoat as well. He wanted something to warm himself up in after this silly travel into the abyss.
The crew were watching him carefully as he stepped forward after taking off his large boots as well. Boots were often used by pirates as a way to carry their money, trinkets, and any valuables they happened to find interesting. Of course, Jack didn't use that odd tradition-that was why he had an overcoat. He'd had pockets put into his overcoat for that very reason. Of course, he'd gotten the overcoat years ago, and it was starting to show its wear. Perhaps with some of the gold he could get a new overcoat...
Jack's mind went instantly blank as his big toe touched the water. He'd never been in anything as cold in his life. Well, that was probably an exaggeration. But since the rest of the cave was a fairly pleasant 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the water, at about 35 degrees, was quite cold indeed. This was going to take a lot of self control.
Misty: Sounds like fun! I'm glad that I could keep you from learning useless information in the evil institute we call school. And thank you for the trophy! It'll look really cool on my empty trophy shelf...
Daisy: I'm attempting to persuade my readers to leave reviews telling me not to leave cliffhangers...obviously, it isn't working. Anyway, this ish just a really long little bit of filler here. I've got to get to the one chapter where that one thing happens in that one place. But not yet.
sunkist3208: Well, that's part of it. I'm also making fun of the Mary Sues that seem to be in a lot of the stories on fanfiction. And it shouldn't have seemed long...it was as long as my chapters normally are. It's because they're so pretty that they're booby traps.
Jack: Can't you tell that I don't like spiders? They freak me out. Anyway, it should bother you. And you should be making connections. At least, I think you should be...anyway, I'll be leaving more and more clues about the whole prologue. I'll never explain it, though.