Disclaimer: I'm still at school and my parents are nagging at me to get a job, if I owned the rights to PotC I wouldn't have to go to school or work at my hairdress as I'd be rich! So that's a no, for anyone not following. (I tend to ramble! My friends normally stop me but they're not here right now.)
A/N: I know, I'm a very bad person! I would have updated earlier but there were all these conflicting things. First, my room was being decorated and I didn't have internet access. Second,I lostALL my files when my computer died on me! I was nearly in tears that's how bad it was. Third, my mom made me get a job. Apparently because I've finished my GCSE's I now need to earn a wage, meaning I work most of saturday. Fourth, A-levels are evil. They give you too much work! Fifth, I am continually distracted by my boyfriend.
A Sparrow & A BarbossaChapter Seven
We stand on the beach. Looking back out to sea I notice the Pearl is already starting to disappear. "That's the second time I've had to watch that man sail away with my ship," Jack says sadly.
"Me too," I pipe up. Jack and Elizabeth turn to me. "Well, not my ship obviously."
Jack continues to wade out of the ankle deep water while I throw myself on the warm sand. I lean up on my elbows and see Elizabeth starting to walk in a line. One foot directly in front of the other.
Jack drops down next to me. Silently he starts to pull apart his pistol, getting rid of any water. I pull the blue bandana off my head, and wring it out. Next I proceed to undo my braided hair.
"So just how are we to get off the island?" I ask. Jack spares a glance in my direction. "If yer feel like wading back out there and roping some more sea turtles, Liz's got lots of hair," I joke. Jack chuckles before going back to his gun.
Looking up I see Elizabeth is almost back. "It's really not all that big, is it?" Jack says as Elizabeth looks at her footprints.
Elizabeth rounds on Jack. "If you're going to shoot me please do so without delay," She says.
Jack leans forward on his knees, "Is there a problem between us Miss Swann?"
"You were going to tell Barbossa about Will in exchange for a ship," Elizabeth bites out.
"Well we could use a ship," I point out.
Jack speaks up, "Kat's right. And the fact is I was not going to tell Barbossa about bloody Will in exchange for a ship. Because as long as he didn't know about bloody Will, I had something to bargain with. Which now no one has thanks to…"
"…Bloody Will?" I guess. Standing up Jack declares, "Exactly."
"Oh," Elizabeth looks down at her feet, shamefaced. "He still risked his life to save ours!"
"Remind me to thank him!" I tell her as I run off after Jack.
Elizabeth follows shouting, "We have to do something to rescue him!"
Turning to face her Jack makes a shooing gesture with his hands. "Off you go then. Let us know how it turns out."
Jack has led us into a dense alcove of trees.
"But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So we can escape in the same way you did then."
"To what point and purpose, young missy?" Jack questions. "The Black Pearl is gone and unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice, unlikely, young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."
I watch as Jack knocks on several tree trunks. When all of a sudden one produces a hollow sound.
"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow. You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company. You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot," Elizabeth informed us both of things we had already heard.
Jack took three large steps as Elizabeth spoke, then began to jump up and down.
"Are you the pirate I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?"
I smiled, "We want the truth Jack. No turtles or seagulls or other such shit."
Jack sighed dejectedly. "Last time I was here a grand total of three days, alright? Last time…" Jack brushed away some sand to reveal a secret cellar. Descending down he continued, "…The rumrunners used this island as a cache. Came by and I was able to barter a passage off. From the looks of things, they've long been out of business. Probably have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that."
Jack emerges from the old carrying three sandy bottles of rums. He offers one to me, which I receive happily.
Pulling the cork off with my teeth I continue to listen to Elizabeth's ranting.
"So that's it then? That's the secret grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow? You spent three days lying on a beach, drinking rum!"
Pushing a bottle into Elizabeth's hands Jack declares, "Welcome to the Caribbean, luv."
I drop onto the golden sand and spitting the cork next to me. Taking a gulp I listen to Elizabeth ask, "Is there any truth to the other stories?"
"Truth…" Jack lifts up his left sleeve to reveal his tattoo and brand, next he pulls up his right sleeve to show an angry looking red scar and finally he pulls his shirt open a little to expose two bullet wounds, "…No truth at all."
Elizabeth looks a little surprised at Jack's display.
"We can survive here a month, maybe more," Jack announces. "Keep a weather eye open for passing ships, and our chances are fair."
"What about Will?" Elizabeth asks in a small voice. "We have to do something."
Jack looks to me. Pulling the cork off his own bottle he says, "Your absolutely right. Here's luck to yer Will Turner." We raise our bottles and clink them together. "May God have mercy on his soul," I add.
Elizabeth stares at the bottle in her hands, unsure of what she should do. Finally she pulls the lid off. Sitting on Jack's other side she mumbles, "Drink up, me 'arties yo ho." Then she takes a sip off the liquid.
"What was that, Liz?" I ask intrigued.
"Miss Swann," She grounds out. Then she adds in a calmer voice, "A song I learnt as child. When I actually thought it would be exciting to meet a pirate."
"You're saying this hasn't been fun?" I ask sarcastically. She glares at me, I smirk.
"Sing it," Jack orders. Elizabeth declines. "Oh go on Elizabeth!" I tell her, forgetting the Miss Swann. "We've got the time," Jack adds.
"No," She resolves. There's a long pause while she contemplates something. "I'd have to have a lot more to drink."
Innocently Jack asks, "How much more?" I laugh quietly and take another swig of my drink.
"If Elizabeth doesn't want to sing, I will. How about one of the songs ye taught me as a child," I suggest to Jack.
Jack smirks, "None of the songs I taught yer will go down well with present company." I pout, but give in when Jack goes to snatch my bottle.
For several hours I watched as Jack tried to make Elizabeth sing him the song she mentioned. As dusk approached I took the initiative to find some wood for a fire. As the small flame burnt away merrily Elizabeth suggested adding some of the rum to make it stronger. Jack agreed, on the condition she teaches him her pirate song.
But this was how several hours later I was stuck listening to the warbling voices of Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann.
"We're devils and black sheep and really bad eggs. Drink up me 'earties yo ho! Yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!"
I took a swig and watched as they danced around the fire, rum still in hand.
"I love this song!" Jack declared loudly, as he and Elizabeth swung each other around. "Really bad eggs!" Then suddenly he falls an arms length from me. I hold back a chuckle as he does.
Seeing me fighting this, he reaches over and pulls me to his side. I noticed straight off that he smelt more strongly of rum and seawater than normal.
Pulling Elizabeth down on to the sand, he tells us, "When I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach it to the whole crew and well sing it all the time! Won't we Katrina!"
"If ye valuable yer life Sparrow you'll refrain from callin' me Katrina," I grind out. I hated that name so much! Then I add softly, "Whoever said I'd be joining yer?"
Ignoring my little outburst and sour mood, Elizabeth loudly declared, "And you'll be positively the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main."
"Not just the Spanish Main, love, the entire ocean, the entire world," Jack told her. His arm around me loosened, allowing me to sidle away from him. "Wherever we want to go, well go, that's what a ship is, you know. It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is… What the Black Pearl really is… is freedom."
"Jack," Elizabeth whimpers as she curls in to his side, "It must be really terrible for you to be trapped on this island."
If my stomach was full of more than just rum I think I may have been sick. I watched and hoped Jack was going to fall for her shameless flirting. But obviously the fact that this was Jack Sparrow must have slipped my mind.
"Oh, yes," He replies wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "But the company is infinitely better than last time, I think. And the scenery has definitely improved," As he says the last line he looks down at Elizabeth's skinny figure.
Slightly alarmed, Elizabeth sits up. "Mr. Sparrow, I'm not entirely sure that I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk," She tells him.
"I know exactly what you mean, love," Jack says, curling his moustache.
Holding her bottle up Elizabeth declares, "To freedom!"
"To the Black Pearl." Jack taps his bottle against Elizabeth's. He drinks as much of the amber liquid as he can before passing out.
Elizabeth looks to me. Raising my bottle I say, "To Elizabeth. You have achieved something many of us have failed to do; out drink Captain Jack Sparrow." A smile forms on her lips.
I take a last sip from my bottle, before standing up and throwing it in the fire. Elizabeth watches with an excited gleam in her eye. Wrapping my arms around me I turn to face the sea.
Suddenly I feel a searing a pain on the back of my head, then blackness engulfed me.
"No! Not good!" I vaguely heard Jack shout. Taking a deep breath I could smell smoke on the air, more strongly than last night too. Opening my eyes I was greeted with the sight of half the island on fire.
Elizabeth could be seen throwing crates and bottles of rum on last nights fire, fuelling it.
"Stop! Not good! What are you doing? You burned all the food, the shade, the rum!"
I had run over to see what the commotion was, and hearing Jack say this made me laugh.
He shout me a disgruntled look.
"Yes, the rum is gone," Elizabeth tells him as though it's the most obvious thing in the world.
It was then that Jack asks the all-important question, "Why is the rum gone?"
Looking between the two of us she says, "One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire Royal Navy is out looking for me, do you really think that there is even the slightest chance that they wont see it?"
"What if they're looking in the wrong place?" I question, as Jack yet again asks, "But why is the rum gone?"
Dropping to the ground Elizabeth enlightens us with her view of what might happen. "Just wait, Captain Sparrow, Miss Katrina. You give it one hour, maybe two, keep a weather eye out and then you will see white sails on that horizon"
In a few hurried and slightly clumsy movements Jack takes his pistol out and goes to aim at Elizabeth. I cough, warning him against it. Disgruntled her puts it away and together we stalk off, though I have trouble trying to keep up with Jack's large strides.
"'Must've been terrible for you to be trapped here, Jack. Must've been terrible for you!'" Jack mocks Elizabeth. Turning back towards her he shouts, "Well it bloody is now!"
"Jack," I try to interrupt his rant. "Jack!"
"What!" He asks rounding on me.
Pointing out to sea, at the white sails, I say, "It was less than an hour."
Staring at the ship Jack mutters, "There'll be no living with her after this."