A/N: Ok so to make up for the fact that I have been away I decided to write
this chappie quite quickly. But I may end up changing it because I think
its terrible! So please review and tell me if I should re-do this chapter
ok? Thanx!
Disclaimer: I've done this too many times now, just see chapters 1-13 and you will gather that I DON'T OWN POTC!
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Chapter 14: Tortuga again.
I woke up and stretched out shutting my eyes from the sunlight which was managing to pierce my eyelids even when they were closed.
"Oh yawny yawny yawn..." I sang to myself as I began to wake up my legs and arms with my lengthening stretch.
I heard someone giggling and sat bolt upright in my bed. Where the hell was I?!
It looked like the room of an Inn but it was filled with fruits, breads and flowers. My eyes widened as I looked around the piles of goods until they rested on the small figure of toddler who had made the laugh that had bought me to my senses.
"Benjamin what have I told you! You are NOT to come in...Oh my!" a thin woman with a tatty brown bandana tied around her head had entered the room, "Miss..." she breathed stooping into a low bow.
WHAT...THE...HELL? I froze wanting to back away to the wall.
"I am terribly sorry Miss!" she began but stopped and just stared at me.
I twitched and looked down at myself to see if maybe there was something wrong with me. But I appeared normal.
"Look...I...um..." I started but I was lost for words. What the hell was going on?
The child turned and toddled out of the room snatching up a banana as he went which was unnoticed by his mother who still stood staring at me her jaw slightly open. It was greatly annoying me.
"What is your problem?" I finally asked a little too haughtily. She immediately hung her head low and let out a thousand apologies.
At this time a man entered the room. He was elderly looking with white hair covering most of his body.
"Ebony?" he asked the woman gently. When she didn't answer he put his hand on her arm and gently pulled her out of the room. Seconds later he returned and shut the door behind him.
"I am sorry about my daughter but she has been through a lot these last few days," he said sitting down beside me on the bed, "She is a little excited to see you and she only means well." He turned to me and studied me for a few moments before answering some much needed questions.
"We found you last night in the forest and bought you home. And then we found out who you were and I realised what had happened to you."
My face turned from shock to puzzlement.
"The four symptoms?" he said as though asking me if I had heard of it. Obviously I had never heard of it before in my life so my face did not change from that of puzzlement.
"Surely you know of what you are to go through?" it was now his turn to be shocked as I shook my head. "When the Sparrow and the Magpie were prophesised she said you would experience the four symptoms the week before the Evil...or you...were defeated."
"And these four symptoms would be...?"
"Fear, joy, anger and sadness."
And it clicked. Fear...that was when the blackout came back on the Pearl when I woke up on the island. Joy...when I was on the rowboat with Toby. Anger...when I fell in the water and Sadness...when I collapsed in the forest.
"So all this is for a reason?" I said to myself more than him.
He nodded. I needed to be alone. No I needed to get out of here and find Jack. After all...I only had one week left until either it or us died.
I stood up abruptly startling the poor man who almost jumped out of his skin.
"I'm sorry but I have to go. Thank you so much for helping me. One day I will repay you for your kindness." I gabbled quickly turning for the door.
"Your leaving? But all your gifts...you must take them," he said motioning to the masses of goods around me.
"M...my gifts?" he nodded. Gifts? I hadn't done anything to deserve gifts. Least not yet anyway.
"Then I give them all to you as a thanks for saving my life," I smiled to him trying to seem happy but turned once more towards the door.
"Thank you! Thankyou! Thankyou!" was all I could hear from behind me as I left the Inn.
Sure enough I found myself in the middle of a street which looked much like the 'civilised' end of Tortuga. Not that any part of Tortuga could really be called 'civilised' but this was the area where the residents lived.
I slowly made my way down to the docks picking the most brightest and friendliest looking streets I could. The last thing I needed was to find myself in a dark alley. As I got further and further towards the docks the streets turned from small market stalls to drunk pirates brawling outside of dirty looking taverns.
I began to find my bearings and made for Jack's usual tavern. We had visited Tortuga many times since I had arrived and I was used to the woman who hung around on street corners, the drunk men slouched or passed out in doorways, and the men who found that being drunk meant they could kill as many people as they liked during the night and completely forget about it all the next day.
Life in Tortuga was every Pirate's dream for rum was never short.
Entering the tavern I made my way through the crowds and leaned heavily on the bar.
"Jim?" I yelled in the direction of the old man who stood behind the bar serving as many of the pirates as he could. "JIM!"
He looked up from the rum he was pouring and noticed me at once.
"Polly, be a luv an' watch th' bar will ya'?" he asked to a young girl who had just emerged from the back of the bar. The poor girl had a look of shear terror on her pale face and she trembled as she approached the glaring men.
Usually I wouldn't have let the poor girl serve these men on her own but mine was a matter of urgency. Jim motioned me into the back room and closed the door behind us.
"Wha' are yea doin' here?" he asked, his own round face turning pale as fear gripped his heart.
"Um...long story. Look I need to find Jack...and quickly," I sat down and explained to him what had happened and how I had lost Jack and the Pearl and that I only had one week left until...
"I havn' seen Jack since...well since yeh two last came here,"
I gulped. I was kinda hoping that he would have said, "Ah yes he's staying here,"...wishful thinking Annie!
"But..." he trailed off thinking.
"Yes?"
"Well there is a man oo' might know...bu'...well e's not tha' most co operative person"
"Where can I find this man?" I asked. I was willing to try anything anything to find Jack.
"No you really shudn' mess with im...maybe it's a bad idea." He looked nervous, his eyebrows scrunched in the middle of his forehead.
"I have no choice, I have to find Jack, and you know it."
He sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead with his hand as though wiping away some imaginary sweat.
"Folk call 'im Dagger, no one knows 'is real name." He stood up and moved to the knarled looking desk in the corner of the room and extracted a piece of paper and a feather pen. He wrote something down on it and reluctantly handed it to me.
I looked down to see an address scrawled onto the paper.
"Go there n' ask for 'im. But make sure yea take yeh cutlass, n...n protect yehself aye?"
I smiled at him, "Don't worry...I'm Annie Magpie savvy?"
Disclaimer: I've done this too many times now, just see chapters 1-13 and you will gather that I DON'T OWN POTC!
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ::
Chapter 14: Tortuga again.
I woke up and stretched out shutting my eyes from the sunlight which was managing to pierce my eyelids even when they were closed.
"Oh yawny yawny yawn..." I sang to myself as I began to wake up my legs and arms with my lengthening stretch.
I heard someone giggling and sat bolt upright in my bed. Where the hell was I?!
It looked like the room of an Inn but it was filled with fruits, breads and flowers. My eyes widened as I looked around the piles of goods until they rested on the small figure of toddler who had made the laugh that had bought me to my senses.
"Benjamin what have I told you! You are NOT to come in...Oh my!" a thin woman with a tatty brown bandana tied around her head had entered the room, "Miss..." she breathed stooping into a low bow.
WHAT...THE...HELL? I froze wanting to back away to the wall.
"I am terribly sorry Miss!" she began but stopped and just stared at me.
I twitched and looked down at myself to see if maybe there was something wrong with me. But I appeared normal.
"Look...I...um..." I started but I was lost for words. What the hell was going on?
The child turned and toddled out of the room snatching up a banana as he went which was unnoticed by his mother who still stood staring at me her jaw slightly open. It was greatly annoying me.
"What is your problem?" I finally asked a little too haughtily. She immediately hung her head low and let out a thousand apologies.
At this time a man entered the room. He was elderly looking with white hair covering most of his body.
"Ebony?" he asked the woman gently. When she didn't answer he put his hand on her arm and gently pulled her out of the room. Seconds later he returned and shut the door behind him.
"I am sorry about my daughter but she has been through a lot these last few days," he said sitting down beside me on the bed, "She is a little excited to see you and she only means well." He turned to me and studied me for a few moments before answering some much needed questions.
"We found you last night in the forest and bought you home. And then we found out who you were and I realised what had happened to you."
My face turned from shock to puzzlement.
"The four symptoms?" he said as though asking me if I had heard of it. Obviously I had never heard of it before in my life so my face did not change from that of puzzlement.
"Surely you know of what you are to go through?" it was now his turn to be shocked as I shook my head. "When the Sparrow and the Magpie were prophesised she said you would experience the four symptoms the week before the Evil...or you...were defeated."
"And these four symptoms would be...?"
"Fear, joy, anger and sadness."
And it clicked. Fear...that was when the blackout came back on the Pearl when I woke up on the island. Joy...when I was on the rowboat with Toby. Anger...when I fell in the water and Sadness...when I collapsed in the forest.
"So all this is for a reason?" I said to myself more than him.
He nodded. I needed to be alone. No I needed to get out of here and find Jack. After all...I only had one week left until either it or us died.
I stood up abruptly startling the poor man who almost jumped out of his skin.
"I'm sorry but I have to go. Thank you so much for helping me. One day I will repay you for your kindness." I gabbled quickly turning for the door.
"Your leaving? But all your gifts...you must take them," he said motioning to the masses of goods around me.
"M...my gifts?" he nodded. Gifts? I hadn't done anything to deserve gifts. Least not yet anyway.
"Then I give them all to you as a thanks for saving my life," I smiled to him trying to seem happy but turned once more towards the door.
"Thank you! Thankyou! Thankyou!" was all I could hear from behind me as I left the Inn.
Sure enough I found myself in the middle of a street which looked much like the 'civilised' end of Tortuga. Not that any part of Tortuga could really be called 'civilised' but this was the area where the residents lived.
I slowly made my way down to the docks picking the most brightest and friendliest looking streets I could. The last thing I needed was to find myself in a dark alley. As I got further and further towards the docks the streets turned from small market stalls to drunk pirates brawling outside of dirty looking taverns.
I began to find my bearings and made for Jack's usual tavern. We had visited Tortuga many times since I had arrived and I was used to the woman who hung around on street corners, the drunk men slouched or passed out in doorways, and the men who found that being drunk meant they could kill as many people as they liked during the night and completely forget about it all the next day.
Life in Tortuga was every Pirate's dream for rum was never short.
Entering the tavern I made my way through the crowds and leaned heavily on the bar.
"Jim?" I yelled in the direction of the old man who stood behind the bar serving as many of the pirates as he could. "JIM!"
He looked up from the rum he was pouring and noticed me at once.
"Polly, be a luv an' watch th' bar will ya'?" he asked to a young girl who had just emerged from the back of the bar. The poor girl had a look of shear terror on her pale face and she trembled as she approached the glaring men.
Usually I wouldn't have let the poor girl serve these men on her own but mine was a matter of urgency. Jim motioned me into the back room and closed the door behind us.
"Wha' are yea doin' here?" he asked, his own round face turning pale as fear gripped his heart.
"Um...long story. Look I need to find Jack...and quickly," I sat down and explained to him what had happened and how I had lost Jack and the Pearl and that I only had one week left until...
"I havn' seen Jack since...well since yeh two last came here,"
I gulped. I was kinda hoping that he would have said, "Ah yes he's staying here,"...wishful thinking Annie!
"But..." he trailed off thinking.
"Yes?"
"Well there is a man oo' might know...bu'...well e's not tha' most co operative person"
"Where can I find this man?" I asked. I was willing to try anything anything to find Jack.
"No you really shudn' mess with im...maybe it's a bad idea." He looked nervous, his eyebrows scrunched in the middle of his forehead.
"I have no choice, I have to find Jack, and you know it."
He sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead with his hand as though wiping away some imaginary sweat.
"Folk call 'im Dagger, no one knows 'is real name." He stood up and moved to the knarled looking desk in the corner of the room and extracted a piece of paper and a feather pen. He wrote something down on it and reluctantly handed it to me.
I looked down to see an address scrawled onto the paper.
"Go there n' ask for 'im. But make sure yea take yeh cutlass, n...n protect yehself aye?"
I smiled at him, "Don't worry...I'm Annie Magpie savvy?"