Chapter Eleven: Caged Sparrow
"Oh God..." I whispered approaching the cell door. She was hanging by her wrists, and her head swiveled frantically from side to side as if to determine where I was.
"Who's there?" She asked again, tears edging into her voice. I reached into my pocket and fished out the keys I had taken from the fat guard after slitting his throat. The jangle of the keys made Elizabeth lose her battle with tears. She lowered her head to her chest and wept.
"Elizabeth. Shh." I cautioned her, turning the key. "I'm here to help you. Will's here to save you."
"Will?" She sounded so pathetically grateful, my heart twisted in my chest and my own eyes stung with tears. I walked up to her, staring at her face. Oh thank God! Her eyes were not gone. There were, however, long knife wounds to each cheek and blood ran down both sides of her neck in red stripes. I blew out a relieved breath. Murmuring soothingly to Elizabeth, who tried to push herself away from my advancing hands, I reached up and unlocked the manacles, her tall frame collapsing on me. I grunted under the weight, but hurried her out of the door.
We were on the deck in no time at all and I dragged her behind me, making sure that we were not seen by any of the handful of pirates remaining on Renfield's ship. I didn't know what to do, so I leaned up against the wall and thought furiously. Cannons boomed around me, men were shouting, screaming with bullets whizzed back and forth. This was not the most opportune time for them to be having a battle. I thought disgruntled. But, I guess we have to make due.
My thoughts were a swirl of indecision, Elizabeth was mumbling incoherently next to me, constantly reminding me I was not only responsible for my safety, but hers as well. I leaned my head back against the rough wood and cursed silently. The minute we swung onto the rope, they'd know, and possibly shoot us for our trouble. Elizabeth was cowering against me, hands fisted in my shirt. I finally decided that the only chance we had was to act, and, I thought watching Renfield carefully, act quickly.
"Okay. Calm down, Elizabeth, I'm going to get you out of here." With a little more cajoling, I edged her toward the rope that hung off of the ship. "Okay, grab hold, and when I tell you, swing across." I stared out at the melee going on aboard the Pearl and cursed slightly. There were so many moving bodies it was hard to see who was on whose side. It was more than a little frustrating. "Okay...get ready." Once I spotted Jack near her prospected landing spot, I shoved her back lightly. "Go! Now!" She swung across, not as nimbly as a pirate but she passed over the choppy chasm of water that lay between the two ships, and fell, right into Jack's arms. I grinned, and waited anxiously for the rope to swing back my way. I closed my hand around it just as I heard something that made my blood freeze in my veins.
"Hello, missy." I whirled around and blanched when I saw who was standing in front of me. After a long moment of utter terror I jerked my chin and snarled. I would not be afraid.
"Renfield." I stated shortly, making a discrete move towards the knife tucked in my boot, letting the rope fall from my grasp.
"Lost your manners, I see." He commented, dryly, his eyes trained on my up-turned face. I drew the knife out of my boot and slowly stood, hiding it behind my back. He advanced on me a few steps and I stood my ground. "All of them, it seems."
"So sorry to disappoint." I snapped, readying the knife. He growled and took another step forward. Just a little closer, I thought, tensing for his slap. Now that I knew what to look for, predicting the moment of his attack was much simpler than I thought it would be. He reached his arm back, and followed through, but I ducked, and came up underneath his defenses, knife poised to stab him.
The rapport of another cannon sounded in my ears, and I went flying, hitting the deck with a loud grunt. I pushed myself up on my elbows and looked around. The Pearl lay to port, and with the Dauntless moored up on the right, Renfield was surrounded. I could hear him cursing from not too far away, and I quickly sprang to my feet. I saw the Pearl drawing away, and I rushed towards the railing. I leapt out onto a swinging rope, charred black from cannon blasts. Just as my hands found purchase on the roughened fibers of the grappling hook's rope, a sharp stinging pain shot through my shoulder. My hands lost their tight grip and I slid from the rope into the warm blue waters of the Caribbean.
"Back away gents, she's waking up." A voice spoke with authority over my head. I groaned and tried to open my eyes. "Go on now, he wished to be informed when she woke up." There was a mumbling ascension before boots clattered on a stone floor. Stone? I moaned again and managed to get my eyes open a slit. "'Ello, miss." I stared at the man in front of me.
His face was not that of a pirate. It was too clean for that. He was not dressed like a pirate either. White breeches and a dark blue coat suggested he was a British Naval officer, but with my screaming headache, I wasn't too certain. He wasn't that bad looking either. His face was round, pale with an easy smile on his lips. His hair was as blonde as any that came out of a bottle, and fringes of it were curling at his temples in the humid air. I struggled to sit up and he pushed me down again. "T'would be wise not to move, as yet, miss. You had quite an injury."
"Where am I?" I croaked, as I sat up anyway, hissing when pain shot through my back, as the movement tugged on my bandaged shoulder.
"That's for me to know, and you to just deal with." A familiar voice replied. I turned and eyed the Commodore with a slight frown.
"Norrington?" I asked incredulously. He nodded slightly. "What the bloody hell is going on here? Where's Jack?" His face darkened.
"Jack, has been kidnapped." I paled. "We were able to save the ship, and a majority of the crew; Elizabeth and Will are safe." I nodded mutely, my mind a flurry of thoughts. All I could think about was that Renfield had my Jack.
"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go!" I started to slide my legs to one side of the bed I was laying on only to be shoved back by Blondie. I struggled until the bandage wrapped tightly around my chest squeezed suddenly causing me to yelp and fall back onto the bed, Blondie standing over me.
Norrington shook his head. "I'm sorry, Miss Chloe. I cannot allow that." I glared and began struggling again. Blondie held my arms at my side, and leaned his weight on them, effectively pinning me in place.
"You're 'English decency' again?" I asked scathingly.
He shook his head. "No. A request, one that, however much it pains me, I intend to honor." I stopped moving.
"Request?" I parroted. "By whom?" He sighed and turned away, looking out the small window on the sea. "Who, Norrington?"
"Jack himself." I gasped. He wouldn't have – couldn't have – could he? I struggled to sit up again and finally, Blondie took the hint and helped me up.
"Why on earth would he do something as foolish as that?" I demanded. "Renfield will kill him."
Norrington nodded. "Most likely. But, that is not my concern."
"Well it should be your damn concern! And if it isn't yours it IS mine, so let me go!" I struggled again in earnest, breaking free of my captor's grasp and bulleting towards the door, only to be met with the solid wall of the Commodore's chest. When he refused to move, I began pounding on it with my balled fists. "Let me go!"
"I can't do that, Chloe." He sounded regretful, but I was too pissed off and worried to care. I hit him harder, unaware that Blondie approached from behind and took hold of my arms, gently tugging me away. My composure broke and I began to weep. I wept so hard that it shook the body of the blond man holding me from behind. He picked me up and set me down gently on the bed, and I curled away from him, my tears increasing in their intensity. I didn't hear the door close, and continued to cry, until my tears had exhausted me, and I drifted into sleep.
"So, Captain Sparrow...how does it feel to be deserted...again?" Renfield asked with glee. He rolled his eyes and spat at his feet, getting a knee in the gut for his trouble. Renfield snarled. "Going the way of the women, are you, Sparrow? You know it took pitifully little to break Elizabeth. Your Chloe however, was the biggest spitfire I've seen in my time. Defying me at every turn. I had to tie her to my belt for a time, to prevent the wench from diving overboard. The crew was growing tired of pulling her out of the water every five minutes." He laughed a little, as if replaying the time in his head. Jack rolled his eyes again.
"What do you want from me, Renfield?" Jack demanded. Renfield spun back and pointed an angry finger at the other pirate.
"I want what's rightfully mine!" He shouted. "I want what you stole from me!"
Jack grinned a little. "Oh...that."
"Yes 'that'." Renfield growled shortly.
Jack shook his head. "I am sorry, Renfield old chap, I couldn't resist, savvy? You know us pirates, aye?"
Renfield cursed the smug look in the pirate captain's eyes and punched him in the jaw, sending Jack sprawling. Said pirate winced when his full body weight landed on his right arm, which crumpled beneath him. He hissed as the sting of fresh blood dribbling from the knife wound on the outside of his arm, along the tricep, from shoulder to elbow. The bastard had seen fit to cut him as soon as he was brought aboard, in obvious frustration at the loss of Chloe who had been picked up by Commodore Norrington when she had swung out towards the Dauntless, believing it was the Pearl. "Where is my map, Jack?" He demanded his voice hoarse with rage.
"You know, I don't rightly know at the moment..." Jack murmured, rubbing his jaw with a free hand. "But, if you let me go, I could see about having it returned to you." He looked up at Renfield, eyes batting innocently. The other captain scoffed.
"Let you go? And never see hide, nor hair of you again, letting you waltz away with the girl and MY treasure?" Renfield shook his head, "I think not Jack. You tell me where the map is, or I'll have you shot in the knees." Jack wrinkled his nose, obviously not liking the sound of that.
"Listen, mate, can we not talk this out?" Renfield dragged Jack up by his injured arm. He bit his lip to keep from crying out when the other pirates long fingernails dug into the knife groove. Captain Jack Sparrow would die before he'd give this slime the satisfaction of hearing him cry out.
"There will be no talking, except for you, telling me WHERE MY MAP IS!" He shouted, shoving him at his first mate. Jack's eyes widened at the sadistic grin on that man's face and tried to turn around, and escape the large dinner-plate hands that reached out for him. They closed around his shoulders easily and he was tossed over the large man's shoulder, his head bouncing against his bare back. Jack made a face at the stench that rose from the pirate's tan skin and looked imploringly at Renfield.
"Ye might not want to be doin' this, mate." Jack shouted just as the door slammed shut. Renfield and his crew just laughed.
I had had about enough of this sitting on my ass and waiting for something to happen. So I did the only thing I could. I shanghaied myself a commodore. "Chloe, you don't want to be doing this...this is sure grounds for a hanging..."
"I'll give the hangman these shoes as soon as I rescue Jack, but not before." I declared, bringing the tip of his sword an inch closer to his throat. Norrington gulped. "Has my crew been assembled?" I demanded. Gillette stepped out from the shadows and nodded vigorously, his Adam's Apple, bobbing at the sight of a sharp implement placed so near his commander's life-giving artery.
"Yes'm." Gillette mumbled, standing straight when the Commodore's eyes cut to his. "The Pearl has moored up on the dock and Gibbs is awaiting you in the lobby." I grinned and pulled the sword away from the Commodore's neck. Without so much as a backward glance I raced from the room and down the stairs. So much had to be done!
"Oh God..." I whispered approaching the cell door. She was hanging by her wrists, and her head swiveled frantically from side to side as if to determine where I was.
"Who's there?" She asked again, tears edging into her voice. I reached into my pocket and fished out the keys I had taken from the fat guard after slitting his throat. The jangle of the keys made Elizabeth lose her battle with tears. She lowered her head to her chest and wept.
"Elizabeth. Shh." I cautioned her, turning the key. "I'm here to help you. Will's here to save you."
"Will?" She sounded so pathetically grateful, my heart twisted in my chest and my own eyes stung with tears. I walked up to her, staring at her face. Oh thank God! Her eyes were not gone. There were, however, long knife wounds to each cheek and blood ran down both sides of her neck in red stripes. I blew out a relieved breath. Murmuring soothingly to Elizabeth, who tried to push herself away from my advancing hands, I reached up and unlocked the manacles, her tall frame collapsing on me. I grunted under the weight, but hurried her out of the door.
We were on the deck in no time at all and I dragged her behind me, making sure that we were not seen by any of the handful of pirates remaining on Renfield's ship. I didn't know what to do, so I leaned up against the wall and thought furiously. Cannons boomed around me, men were shouting, screaming with bullets whizzed back and forth. This was not the most opportune time for them to be having a battle. I thought disgruntled. But, I guess we have to make due.
My thoughts were a swirl of indecision, Elizabeth was mumbling incoherently next to me, constantly reminding me I was not only responsible for my safety, but hers as well. I leaned my head back against the rough wood and cursed silently. The minute we swung onto the rope, they'd know, and possibly shoot us for our trouble. Elizabeth was cowering against me, hands fisted in my shirt. I finally decided that the only chance we had was to act, and, I thought watching Renfield carefully, act quickly.
"Okay. Calm down, Elizabeth, I'm going to get you out of here." With a little more cajoling, I edged her toward the rope that hung off of the ship. "Okay, grab hold, and when I tell you, swing across." I stared out at the melee going on aboard the Pearl and cursed slightly. There were so many moving bodies it was hard to see who was on whose side. It was more than a little frustrating. "Okay...get ready." Once I spotted Jack near her prospected landing spot, I shoved her back lightly. "Go! Now!" She swung across, not as nimbly as a pirate but she passed over the choppy chasm of water that lay between the two ships, and fell, right into Jack's arms. I grinned, and waited anxiously for the rope to swing back my way. I closed my hand around it just as I heard something that made my blood freeze in my veins.
"Hello, missy." I whirled around and blanched when I saw who was standing in front of me. After a long moment of utter terror I jerked my chin and snarled. I would not be afraid.
"Renfield." I stated shortly, making a discrete move towards the knife tucked in my boot, letting the rope fall from my grasp.
"Lost your manners, I see." He commented, dryly, his eyes trained on my up-turned face. I drew the knife out of my boot and slowly stood, hiding it behind my back. He advanced on me a few steps and I stood my ground. "All of them, it seems."
"So sorry to disappoint." I snapped, readying the knife. He growled and took another step forward. Just a little closer, I thought, tensing for his slap. Now that I knew what to look for, predicting the moment of his attack was much simpler than I thought it would be. He reached his arm back, and followed through, but I ducked, and came up underneath his defenses, knife poised to stab him.
The rapport of another cannon sounded in my ears, and I went flying, hitting the deck with a loud grunt. I pushed myself up on my elbows and looked around. The Pearl lay to port, and with the Dauntless moored up on the right, Renfield was surrounded. I could hear him cursing from not too far away, and I quickly sprang to my feet. I saw the Pearl drawing away, and I rushed towards the railing. I leapt out onto a swinging rope, charred black from cannon blasts. Just as my hands found purchase on the roughened fibers of the grappling hook's rope, a sharp stinging pain shot through my shoulder. My hands lost their tight grip and I slid from the rope into the warm blue waters of the Caribbean.
"Back away gents, she's waking up." A voice spoke with authority over my head. I groaned and tried to open my eyes. "Go on now, he wished to be informed when she woke up." There was a mumbling ascension before boots clattered on a stone floor. Stone? I moaned again and managed to get my eyes open a slit. "'Ello, miss." I stared at the man in front of me.
His face was not that of a pirate. It was too clean for that. He was not dressed like a pirate either. White breeches and a dark blue coat suggested he was a British Naval officer, but with my screaming headache, I wasn't too certain. He wasn't that bad looking either. His face was round, pale with an easy smile on his lips. His hair was as blonde as any that came out of a bottle, and fringes of it were curling at his temples in the humid air. I struggled to sit up and he pushed me down again. "T'would be wise not to move, as yet, miss. You had quite an injury."
"Where am I?" I croaked, as I sat up anyway, hissing when pain shot through my back, as the movement tugged on my bandaged shoulder.
"That's for me to know, and you to just deal with." A familiar voice replied. I turned and eyed the Commodore with a slight frown.
"Norrington?" I asked incredulously. He nodded slightly. "What the bloody hell is going on here? Where's Jack?" His face darkened.
"Jack, has been kidnapped." I paled. "We were able to save the ship, and a majority of the crew; Elizabeth and Will are safe." I nodded mutely, my mind a flurry of thoughts. All I could think about was that Renfield had my Jack.
"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go!" I started to slide my legs to one side of the bed I was laying on only to be shoved back by Blondie. I struggled until the bandage wrapped tightly around my chest squeezed suddenly causing me to yelp and fall back onto the bed, Blondie standing over me.
Norrington shook his head. "I'm sorry, Miss Chloe. I cannot allow that." I glared and began struggling again. Blondie held my arms at my side, and leaned his weight on them, effectively pinning me in place.
"You're 'English decency' again?" I asked scathingly.
He shook his head. "No. A request, one that, however much it pains me, I intend to honor." I stopped moving.
"Request?" I parroted. "By whom?" He sighed and turned away, looking out the small window on the sea. "Who, Norrington?"
"Jack himself." I gasped. He wouldn't have – couldn't have – could he? I struggled to sit up again and finally, Blondie took the hint and helped me up.
"Why on earth would he do something as foolish as that?" I demanded. "Renfield will kill him."
Norrington nodded. "Most likely. But, that is not my concern."
"Well it should be your damn concern! And if it isn't yours it IS mine, so let me go!" I struggled again in earnest, breaking free of my captor's grasp and bulleting towards the door, only to be met with the solid wall of the Commodore's chest. When he refused to move, I began pounding on it with my balled fists. "Let me go!"
"I can't do that, Chloe." He sounded regretful, but I was too pissed off and worried to care. I hit him harder, unaware that Blondie approached from behind and took hold of my arms, gently tugging me away. My composure broke and I began to weep. I wept so hard that it shook the body of the blond man holding me from behind. He picked me up and set me down gently on the bed, and I curled away from him, my tears increasing in their intensity. I didn't hear the door close, and continued to cry, until my tears had exhausted me, and I drifted into sleep.
"So, Captain Sparrow...how does it feel to be deserted...again?" Renfield asked with glee. He rolled his eyes and spat at his feet, getting a knee in the gut for his trouble. Renfield snarled. "Going the way of the women, are you, Sparrow? You know it took pitifully little to break Elizabeth. Your Chloe however, was the biggest spitfire I've seen in my time. Defying me at every turn. I had to tie her to my belt for a time, to prevent the wench from diving overboard. The crew was growing tired of pulling her out of the water every five minutes." He laughed a little, as if replaying the time in his head. Jack rolled his eyes again.
"What do you want from me, Renfield?" Jack demanded. Renfield spun back and pointed an angry finger at the other pirate.
"I want what's rightfully mine!" He shouted. "I want what you stole from me!"
Jack grinned a little. "Oh...that."
"Yes 'that'." Renfield growled shortly.
Jack shook his head. "I am sorry, Renfield old chap, I couldn't resist, savvy? You know us pirates, aye?"
Renfield cursed the smug look in the pirate captain's eyes and punched him in the jaw, sending Jack sprawling. Said pirate winced when his full body weight landed on his right arm, which crumpled beneath him. He hissed as the sting of fresh blood dribbling from the knife wound on the outside of his arm, along the tricep, from shoulder to elbow. The bastard had seen fit to cut him as soon as he was brought aboard, in obvious frustration at the loss of Chloe who had been picked up by Commodore Norrington when she had swung out towards the Dauntless, believing it was the Pearl. "Where is my map, Jack?" He demanded his voice hoarse with rage.
"You know, I don't rightly know at the moment..." Jack murmured, rubbing his jaw with a free hand. "But, if you let me go, I could see about having it returned to you." He looked up at Renfield, eyes batting innocently. The other captain scoffed.
"Let you go? And never see hide, nor hair of you again, letting you waltz away with the girl and MY treasure?" Renfield shook his head, "I think not Jack. You tell me where the map is, or I'll have you shot in the knees." Jack wrinkled his nose, obviously not liking the sound of that.
"Listen, mate, can we not talk this out?" Renfield dragged Jack up by his injured arm. He bit his lip to keep from crying out when the other pirates long fingernails dug into the knife groove. Captain Jack Sparrow would die before he'd give this slime the satisfaction of hearing him cry out.
"There will be no talking, except for you, telling me WHERE MY MAP IS!" He shouted, shoving him at his first mate. Jack's eyes widened at the sadistic grin on that man's face and tried to turn around, and escape the large dinner-plate hands that reached out for him. They closed around his shoulders easily and he was tossed over the large man's shoulder, his head bouncing against his bare back. Jack made a face at the stench that rose from the pirate's tan skin and looked imploringly at Renfield.
"Ye might not want to be doin' this, mate." Jack shouted just as the door slammed shut. Renfield and his crew just laughed.
I had had about enough of this sitting on my ass and waiting for something to happen. So I did the only thing I could. I shanghaied myself a commodore. "Chloe, you don't want to be doing this...this is sure grounds for a hanging..."
"I'll give the hangman these shoes as soon as I rescue Jack, but not before." I declared, bringing the tip of his sword an inch closer to his throat. Norrington gulped. "Has my crew been assembled?" I demanded. Gillette stepped out from the shadows and nodded vigorously, his Adam's Apple, bobbing at the sight of a sharp implement placed so near his commander's life-giving artery.
"Yes'm." Gillette mumbled, standing straight when the Commodore's eyes cut to his. "The Pearl has moored up on the dock and Gibbs is awaiting you in the lobby." I grinned and pulled the sword away from the Commodore's neck. Without so much as a backward glance I raced from the room and down the stairs. So much had to be done!
