Author's note: Again, unbeta'd, all mistakes be me own.
Jack spun in the direction Jacquelyn was and saw just what she saw. He gave a great sigh of frustration as Jacquelyn was running towards the rail, intent to dive in. "DAMN GIRL!" He muttered "Gallagher, yer in charge!" Jack yelled, running to the railing and dove off yet again.
Second time for a bath, ol' chum. He thought.
He surfaced near by the board, a cannon whizzed by his ear, landing much closer to the Black Pearl. "Get back on the Pearl, Jacquelyn!" Jack yelled before swimming over to the board. Jacquelyn hesitated, then did as he said, turning and swimming back to the rope ladder.
The young woman was pale, with dark red hair. Her gown was ripped in a few places and her shoulder was bleeding. She looked to be in her early or at least mid twenties. A spinsters age, Jack thought. She looked wealthy too. Probably an arranged marriage.
"Com'n luv." Jack muttered, grabbing the girl around the waist and pulling her from the board. She was conscious, but she didn't protest. Her eyes hit his and Jack blinked, somewhere, he'd seen those green eyes before. Somewhere, he'd been in love with those green eyes.
Jacquelyn was waiting at the rungs of the ladder for them. A crew member named Wesley helped pull them over board, as another cannon ball struck the very edge of the ship. "There!" Jack yelled, pointing, through the smoke came the outline of a ship the rogue captain had spotted. "Ya've got yer target! Now fire!" That's all his crew needed to hear. The Pearls cannons ripped through the air.
They let the cannons rip as Jack got the girl on to the deck. She lost her footing and fell with a thump, gasping for air. "I would take it, yer Davina?" Jack asked, blinking through wet lashes, kneeling and grabbing the young woman's chin gently. "Lady.....Lady Davina Blackwell, from England." She gasped, looking up at him.
He took in her pretty face, trying desperately to unfog his mind and figure out where he'd seen her before, but she passed out. "Wesley! Move her and her friend to me quarters, Jacquelyn, be a dear and go with them!" Jack ordered sternly, shoving Jacquelyn in the direction
Wesley was already moving, gently carrying the girl. "Be a dear!? We'll talk about that later...captain." Jacquelyn said, but later saying under her breath "I know how to swim too Mr. Pirate-who-can-only-steal-my-glory."
Jack looked over his shoulder at her, having heard her very well. "ENOUGH!" He ordered roughly, causing her to turn and look at him with a gasp. "Ye'll do as I say wench, or it'll be to the hold with ya and I don't care WHAT Gallagher has t' say 'bout that!" Jacquelyn glared but snapped her mouth shut and followed Wesley below, helping Jon.
Davina came to again, in the bed of the Captain's Cabin. She was silent, for a long time, laying very still and letting her mind collect it's self. "What ship am I on?" She asked softly.
Closing the door, and latching it, Jacquelyn sat down next to Davina. "You are aboard the Black Pearl. I am Jacquelyn Spike. Our captain is the Captain Jack Sparrow. He's not as crazy as he seems. Good friend of mine he is..." She muttered thoughtfully, looking towards the door. "Is there anything I can get you two?"
Davina blinked, "Captain.....Jack...Sparrow? THE Captain Jack Sparrow?" She asked. Since she was a teenager, she'd heard the stories, sitting in the kitchen with the servants, eager to hear something that didn't have to do with being a proper lady, and looking for an escape from the pain her father inflicted on her daily. "I told you, we were being attacked by Pirates." Jon muttered. Davina frowned. "Hush Jon." She muttered, before looking at Jacquelyn.
"Good that you noticed that, Jon. For we are being attacked by pirates as you speak. So who's side do you think we're on? Your's or their's? And yes, Davina, this is the ship of THE Captain Jack Sparrow. And if he ever gives you trouble, you can always talk to me." she said with a smile and a wink, then glancing out the window was able to catch a glimpse of their attackers.
A ship broke through the smoke. It was, to Jacquelyn's bewilderment as black as the Pearl, even down to the sails. The flag that was flying showed a raven and a skull, crossed with a sword.
"Who's that?" Someone on deck asked. "It's Ravenskull." Jack muttered, seething in anger, glaring dangerously at the other ship. "Reload the cannons and get ready to fire on me mark!" He yelled, mounting the steps and taking the wheel.
"Ravenskull." Davina muttered in the cabin. She stood from her place, moving towards the window. "He'd been tailing the Royal Swan for two days." Davina said, informing Jacquelyn of this.
Cursing under her breath Jacquelyn stormed out of the cabin without a word. "JACK!" she screamed. Finding him at the helm she ran and grabbed him by the arm. "Why's Ravenskull still on the seas? I thought you had taken care of him... you've got some explaining to do friend. But first of all. Let's get that prick of a pirate off our tails."
"I'm tryin, luv, and if ye please, go back to my quarters." He said concentrating on the horizon.
"I've still got a bone to pick with you... Captain." she said turning on here heel to go back to the two survivors of the wreckage they were still sifting through.
"They're picking up speed sir." A crew member said, watching Ravenskull's ship.
"Isn't he dead?" Gallagher asked coming to Jack's side and looking at his friend with concern. Neither were happy to seen the Raven, for they both knew the trouble that would follow. "Well, he's SUPPOSED be." Jack muttered, before looking back at Gallagher. "Least I THOUGHT he was dead. Since when was he as fast as the Pearl?! Run out the sweeps!"
Davina was silent. "We're not going to out run him." She knew the truth. Ravenskull was employing black magic, in hopes alone to catch her. "What are we going to do?!" Jon asked. "Take a leaf from history! I've got a plan." She said, leaving the cabin.
She hurried up to the deck, the other two on her tail. "Capt'n, she's coming on fast!" Gibs said, turning from the rail to Jack, but Jack wasn't looking back. He was trying to think of a way out of it. Davina hurried up to the wheel. "Pull in the sweeps on the starboard side, drop the anchor on the port with extra chain and turn." She told Jack. Jack blinked a couple of times and gave her a look. "Excuse me?!" He had that sort of tone.
"We're in the area of a reef, drop the anchor. Snag something and turn full on. He wont expect it." Davina repeated, with more detail. Jack stared at her, before glancing at the islands their were near, with their jagged rocks. It clicked with him. Turning full on, Ravenskull would be thrust bow first into the rocks.
He shouted the order, much to the dismay of Jacquelyn and Anarmaira. " Draw back the starboard sweeps and drop the port anchor!" His men were a bit hesitant to do so, but did. When the anchor caught, everyone was thrown this way and that.
Davina stumbled forward, but Jack caught her balance for her, before pulling the wheel a FULL turn, the sweeps on the port side sending them in a graceful. The Pearl turned, until she was facing the Raven full on. "Pull up the anchor!" Jack ordered, getting Davina's idea full on.
"Alright Captain. Let's get this finished with before he knows what hit him." Jacquelyn whispered to Jack with a sparkle in her eye. She hadn't been in a to-the-death fight with anyone for a long time.
But Gallagher was too quick for her. "You're staying in the cabin, pretty." he said with a drawl. He wasn't going to lose her. "Oh don't you even think that Gallagher! You know-- fine. But Davina's coming with me." And grabbing Davina's wrist, they marched off to the captain's cabin...to wait for their attackers to board...
Jack winked at Davina as Jacquelyn dragged her off. Then he turned his attention to the Raven which was attempting to stop the plunge into the rocks. "Fire on my mark!" Jack ordered. He knew the opportune moment. And he was going to wound Ravenskull, good. Davina followed Jacquelyn back down to the cabin. "They don't expect us to stay in here if we're boarded do they?" She asked. "That's what got you in trouble the first time!" Jonathan said.
Davina tossed the boy a look. "And that would be why you're still alive...but this time...we're going to fight." Jacquelyn said to the two of them. "Guns, swords, weapons of any kind are in that cabinet over there," she said pointing to the left of the door. "I've got mine right here." she said drawing her rapier, ready for whomever would try and force their way in.
Davina crossed the cabinet and pulled a pistol from it, loading it. Then laying it down, drew a saber. "Nine years of secretly learning fencing, I should know how to use one of these." She muttered. "Davina, you can't be serious." Jonathan cried. Davina gave her friend a smile, and handed him the loaded pistol. "Stay in the cabin if you wish, Jon. But I wont sit by."
"Friend, we don't leave, until someone tries to get in. They're not taking us for fools this time. This could get bloody if it's Jack that tries to get in first." Jacquelyn said with another grin and a wink. "How long have you been on the ocean?" Davina asked, looking up from her sword "Long enough to know a little bit about Pirates. And long enough to be an experienced crew member. But Gallagher refuses to let me on these voyages with Jack. I had to beg him this time."
"You are married to Gallagher?"
"Almost 3 years. Funny to think I've been living on the seas ever since we were married." Jacquelyn said with a sigh, thinking of her estranged family in England. "Jack was our best man, don't let anyone know about that though..." she said through a giggle, "It embarrasses him."
"Jack and Gallagher get on that well?" Davina asked, listening to the sounds of the cannon fire. "Well enough for two men who grew up together, but their different backgrounds cause rifts here and there.. Although sometime or other, I'll have to step in. Usually my word is law around here...but obviously right now, it doesn't look like it now does it?"
Three balls struck the hull of the Raven. Jack grinned in a devilish manor. On the bridge of the Raven he could see Ravenskull giving orders as his hand slipped to his cutlass.
Ravenskull suddenly ran up the white flag. "What the bleedin hell!?" Jack snapped. Gallagher frowned. "Games." Gallagher muttered. "Davina! He's run up the white flag!" Jonathan cried from the window. Davina's eyes narrowed. "Captain Sparrow, I call a truce. You have something I want!" Ravenskull yelled across the gap.
"No no no no no!" Jacquelyn screamed kicking at the table. "He's pulled this same trick before!! I sure hope Jack thinks this time..." She said with a curl of her lip. "If he messes this up I'll--" but she never finished her sentence. She was too busy trying to overhear the conversation occurring above.
"And what could I possibly have that ye'd want?" Jack called back. "The girl. The one you plucked from the water. Return her to me and I'll spare your ship and crew." Jack tossed the pirate a nasty look. "My dear fellow, at this very moment, I have a cannon aimed at your hull. If I say fire, it will rip through the belly of the Black Pearl and sink her. Now, is that really what you want? Return Lady Blackwell." Ravenskull said smoothly.
Jack now could hear Jacquelyn's cursing below... "Jack, get us out of this!" Gallagher muttered. "SHE'S NOT HELPING!" Jack yelled, loud enough for Jacquelyn to hear.
Jack glanced from Ravenskull to the deck of the Pearl. Ravenskull wouldn't be bluffing.
Davina paled. "He wouldn't..." She muttered, her hand tightening on the halt of the saber.
Jack grabbed Gallagher by the front collar, pulling him close. "Go down, the cannon on the far left, load it with a double cannon," Jack said, referring to the two cannons connected by the chain. "Aim it at his mast. Load the cannon next to the one with the same and aim it at the other mast. On my word Gallagher, fire!" Jack hissed.
"WELL YOU'RE NOT HELPING EITHER!" Jacquelyn yelled back from below, fuming. Jon listened to the exchange, his emerald eyes darkening, he found it hard to believe that Jacquelyn thought as much of the captain as she claimed she did. "This is what happened last time..." he muttered, standing abruptly. His gaze met Jacquelyn's. "Sword," he said briefly, and she handed him one.
Davina listened carefully. "What does he want with you?" Jon asked her softly. "If I knew, Jon, I'd tell you." She answered, just as softly. It was beyond her, what Ravenskull wanted. But what she wanted to know now, was if Jack was going to turn her over to Ravenskull or think of a way out of it.
"One step ahead of you Jack. I've got one loaded as we speak. As soon as I get down there, I'll be all ready." Gallagher said, turning on his heel and running down to the second cannon deck. "That's why he'd be my first mate." Jack muttered to Gibs who only nodded with approval.
"Sword, Jon." Jacquelyn said, handing Jon a sword from behind her. "I trust you know how to use it?" "Not as well as Davina, here, but yes," Jon said, smiling at Davina. Davina gave Jon a smile. "I'll give you lessons if we make it out of this alive." "Can you imagine what you father would say about all this." he said with a slight shake of the head "I'm guessing your father has a strange idea of what it takes to be a lady?" Jacquelyn asked Davina with a slight wince at the memory of how her father had been.
"Only when you're father is cousin to the king." Davina muttered. Jacquelyn grimaced. Jon gave her a dark look.
Gallagher reached the cannon hold and ran over to the ones Jack had told him to use. He and two of Jack's crew members loaded them, aimed them and waited. "Don't play games, Captain Sparrow." Ravenskull called. Ravenskull was a large, broad shouldered, bear of a man with black hair and dark eyes. A scar on the left side of his face ran from his hair line, to his chin, right across the eye.
Jack gripped the holds of the wheel tightly. Then yelled at the top of his voice. "NOW!" Gallagher lit the cannons. The chained balls whipped through the air, splintering through the two main masses of Ravenskull's ship. At the same time, Jack jerked the wheel, bringing it into the Raven. "Drop the main sail!" His crew did so and the Black Pearl was moving away from the Raven.
"FIRE! FIRE!" Ravenskull screamed. A cannon broke through the Captain's cabin on the Pearl and through the guest quarters. Davina, Jon and Jacquelyn had thrown themselves to the floor as they were showered with wood splinters. Gallagher fired off the last of their cannons. A ball shattered through the Raven's hale, doing damage.
And with out their masts they wouldn't be catching up with the Pearl. "Fire!" Ravenskull screamed again. "Uh." One of his crew members moved timidly towards him. "We can't sir, we're out of cannon balls." Ravenskull gave a scream of rage.
On the Pearl, Jack whipped out his hat, watching the Raven, as the Pearl sailed away from them, and gave a cry of joy, waving his hat in the air. His men cheered. "YES!" Gallagher cried below deck. The two men with him cheered.
"JACK! I LOVE YOU!" Jacquelyn screamed from the Captain's quarters. "Yes! Yes!" Davina cried, hugging Jon. They watched the Raven disappearing in the smoke that lingered. Davina and Jacquelyn exchanged a hug. "Your Captain will forever be in my debt!" Davina said laughing. Jacquelyn grinned. "He's crazy all right, as crazy as a fox!" Jacquelyn laughed herself.