A/N: Ok, here comes the fun part! Enjoy!
This chapter is officially dedicated to Pyro and Delphie, who are officially aunts as of 4/17/05 at roughly 2:48 am. (Congrats to Morgan and Eric!)
Headless Bill stood in the crow's nest, whistling to himself. He didn't mind watchout's duty; it meant he didn't have to scrub the poop deck. He didn't like the sound of that one bit! He wouldn't mind scrubbing a regular deck; in fact, he would most likely enjoy it, getting to play in the soapsuds. But poop decks were nasty business, in his opinion.
Suddenly, something whizzed past his head, and landed on the deck with a thud. Looking down, Headless Bill saw something down there, and… it was moving! "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" he shouted as more things kept falling around him.
The crew of the ship rushed over to see what Headless Bill was shouting about, and hurriedly grabbed the intruders, and tied them to the mast… except for Madai, who was still asleep.
Hearing the commotion, the captain, Jack Sparrow came sauntering out of the galley where he was eating lunch, and walked up to the group, anchored to the middle of the boat.
"What's all this about? Attacking The Pearl isn't considered good for your health, by most." After glancing at Legolas, he asked, "You look familiar, have I threatened you before?"
"I've never before seen the likes of you in my life." Legolas scowled at him, frustrated with being caught before he could reach his bow and arrows… It's kind of hard to reach your bow and arrows when there are two hobbits and a sleeping half-elf on top of you.
Among the crew was a young girl the crew stated was their mascot. Denethia, or Denny, as most with good sense called her, since she hated the name, and retaliated against anyone that called her by her given name. She was the addition to the crew that they just loved to hate… she was originally a stowaway, running away from an arranged marriage, that her parents were hoping would force her to settle down. When she was found out, they couldn't catch her, since she has the uncanny ability to shimmy up the mast, and run all over the rigging, swinging on the lines to her heart's content, so they finally gave up, and let her run around. She was useful after all; she helped with chores, and worked faster at her tasks that most. Being the inquisitive person she was, she immediately started puzzling over the Hobbits.
"What are you?" she asked them, tugging on their funny shaped ears and, laughing at their childlike stature.
"We're hobbits!" stated Merry indignantly.
"What are hobbits? You look like most of you stopped growing, except for your ears… and your feet! Those things are HUGE!"
"They're hobbit feet! Hobbits are supposed to have feet such as this." Pippin said, attempting to kick Denny, who somersaulted backwards, out of the way, and flopped down on her stomach, lying on the deck, swinging her feet in the air.
Stirring, Madai opened her eyes, looking right into the eyes of Denny, who had rolled over to see her as soon as she noticed movement.
"Whaaaa?" Madai exclaimed, jumping up.
"You've got funny ears too!" Denny said, clapping her hands in excitement.
"What is your business attacking my ship?" Jack asked the intruders.
"We weren't attacking your ship." Gandalf stated.
After originally dismissing him as just a harmless old man, Jack nodded in his direction, then asked Aragorn, who the leader of their expedition was.
"As always, Gandalf the White." Aragorn stated.
"And like I said, we were not attacking your ship we are merely here." Gandalf said, stepping away from the ropes that had bound him.
"How did you manage that?" Jack asked, staring at the ropes that were currently binding a pocket of air to the mast.
"He's a wizard, wizards can do anything!" Pippin exclaimed from out of Jack's sight, on the other side of the mast.
Walking around the mast, Jack looked down at the hobbits, and wondered aloud, "Why would they bring children to attack a ship?"
"We aren't here to attack!" Merry said, eyebrows raised.
"Then how could it be that you ended up here?" Jack asked.
"It was an accident!" Merry informed him
"An accident, eh? Shipwreck? You be needin a ride to shore, then, right?"
"Sure!" Merry said.
"But it will cost you." He said, rubbing his chin with his thumb.
Madai cut in, "How much?" she asked as she rummaged into her bag, pulling out a large golden coin, and set it on the deck. "Darn, I spilled the pouch!" rummaging in farther, she pulled out a stack of neatly folded clothing, a large coil of rope, a bedroll, three pillows, a pair of extra boots, dragonhide gloves, a shiny rock, five cooking pots and lids, three bows, a huge quiver of arrows, enough silverware, plates and bowls to serve the ship's crew, a water skin, a sizable stack of lambas bread, and a ruffled looking teddy bear, which she quickly hid at the bottom of her large stack of items. Then she dumped the bag completely over, and a very large pile of different sized coins fell out, along with a small pouch, much too small for the sizable pile of coins. Quickly she picked up handfuls of the coins, and shoved them into the pouch, until she only had a small handful out.
"Is this enough?" She grinned at Jack.
"I suppose." He said, examining the odd symbols on the coins.
"Closest shore is Port Royal; we'll reach there in two days time... unbind our new guests." Jack ordered the nearest crewmember.
"Blast!" exclaimed Madai. "Now I have to completely repack my bag." She grumbled, reaching into it, and pulling out a pair of knee length boots, some small flasks of various shapes and sizes, a medical pack with various herbs and healing salves, a thick weather beaten, deep red cloak, and started rummaging again.
"What? I thought that thing was empty… You even tipped it out!" Jack puzzled at her.
"Ah, it's far from empty, that's why it's such a hassle to repack!"
Without a word, Jack decided that finishing his meal would prove to be better for his health than arguing with a strange looking girl, so he turned on his heel and headed back to the mess hall.
As the crowd of deckhands dispersed, after they had untied the group, Gimli leaned heavily against the mast, and commented, "This will merit some getting used to. The rocking of the small elven boats I could handle, but this is altogether different."
"The dwarf is seasick." Legolas chuckled to Aragorn, who was the closest to him.
"I am not sick, I don't get sick!" Gimli protested.
A/N: Review to your little heart's content!
