You Forget One Very Important Thing Mate – (14)
Okay, so I know my past few chapters have been quite short, it fact VERY short. Just to clear things up the reason for that is that I can post quicker if I write smaller chapters, Also I don't want to rush into this story…. to tell you the truth…I myself have no idea what the outcome of it shall be! Thanks to all of my reviewers to! You guys rock!
When the storm cleared, it was morning and Ashley was adrift on the great sea. It had been morning for a long time, behind the clouds and rain, without her noticing. But now she was able to see exactly what damage had been done to 'The Silent Wanderer' and to herself.
The top half of the mast was gone. There was a great gap in the coaming where it had been crashed down, half-on and half-off the deck. With the mast had gone the mainsail, cut free and then washed overboard in the desperate panic to clear 'The Teeth'. Ashley had a gash on her forehead, many bruises, and difficulty breathing after a crack that had broken at least one of her ribs. But the greatest catastrophe was the loss of the mast. Until she reached land, any land, there was no way to repair it. With the big sail gone, the boat could simply limp along, but it would be all but impossible to turn and sail against the winds and currents back towards Port Royal.
Not that Ashley wanted to go back, but she thought it was probably the closest land to her. She had also finally admitted to herself that she had no idea whatsoever where she was and where she was going.
Ashley walked down into the cabin, two voices in her mind debated about what she would do.
She hadn't begun to clear up the mess below decks; if everything had been properly stowed away in the lockers, it would not have been so bad, but food and plates and cups and clothing had been flung about and trampled in the confusion of the storm.
Ashley knocked a stump of candle from the bottom of her boot and hurled it across the cabin.
'I must have a new mast, without it, I am drifting, as good as helpless'
'No! I must turn to the west! I think Tortuga's…in the west…'
'That will take too long now the masts gone AND the currents are too swift there, I'll never be able to land!…Better keep going east…Tortuga's either in the west or the east…I'm sure of it!'
'Yes, and then in a moment you'll say it could be in the north, face it Ashley! Your lost!…anyway finding Tortuga is like finding a grain of sand on a beach! I don't now these waters. I must go back!'
'Back to Port Royal? What are you going to there?'
'Well…I…umm…'
"Will you two stop arguing?" Ashley yelled at the top of her lungs, "Oh that's it, I'm going mad, AND I'm going to die at sea!"
Back and fourth the little voices in her head argued, she couldn't block them out, meanwhile Ashley gripped the tiller, it made little difference in what direction the boat drifted, but at least she felt as though she were doing something.
'Why don't you just turn back? You can't keep drifting like this! Not in the open sea!'
'The current won't let me turn back, I have no choice but to go on drifting until I find land or a passing ship'
The voices argued again and again, for what seemed like hours.
Day after day Ashley drifted on, caught in the swift currents of the ocean. Sooner or later those same currents would fling her out into the unknown reaches of the Great Sea; they might carry her north towards the Isles Of Doryus.
'The Silent Wanderer' was a little fishing boat, not built for long ocean voyages. The water barrels were full, but Ashley's food supply was running low.
The further south she sailed, the hotter it became, as if she was drifting deeper into summer, even though she should really have been feeling the slightly cool breeze of Autumn. Down in the cabin, the air was stifling. Ashley had taken to sleeping on the deck, propped against a coil of rope; but she soon found it was far to uncomfortable and drove herself below again, where she lay hot and sleepless and resentful, wondering what was to become of herself.
"Well Ashley, any land today…no…theres no point trying..there never is, just go back below deck and try to sleep," Ashley said to herself.
"Nope, theres nothing there, zero, nil, diddlysquat, just the big blue wet thing, the boat, and you," Ashley continued, ignoring her earlier comment and choosing to stay above deck.
(Aboard The Black Pearl)
Captain Jack Sparrow had felt Ashley's absence the first few days after he took his leave. It confused him that he would leave, and maybe it even hurt her in some way. He and Ashley of course had that rocky period. (If you call bringing a girl aboard your ship and then flinging her into the only too willing Elizabeth Swan's arms, only to be changed miraculously into a lady and married off "rocky") but Jack had hoped that if he met her again, it would be over. He had watched Port Royal until it was out of view the day he sailed away. She could have easily stopped him, she even wanted to. But she let him go, something she found was surprisingly hard to do.
But life went on. After at least a week Captain Jack Sparrow was over any attachment he had to Ashley Sparrow, which in reality wasn't all that much. Despite the fact that she was his daughter, she would be happy on Port Royal, well that's what he'd hoped, though of course, she just had to ruffle everyone's feathers and make in apparent that she did want to be there at all, that she'd rather be half dead in Tortuga, living in the streets. BUT in any case that was the end of that.
There may have been some part of Jack Sparrow that still thought about and missed the rough around the edges lass, but that part of him, if it really existed at all, was always pummeled and defeated by Jack's other emotions when he realized that he hardly even knew her at all.
There were other things that could replace her, The Pearl, his beloved Rum, Whores (Although he narrowly avoided the ones in Tortuga, he didn't want Ashley to see him there, in fact, everything about Tortuga reminded him of Ashley nowadays)
He was just not the fatherly type, maybe it would be easier if she was a child and not a young woman, but he doubted it, especially if that one woman did not want to be on his ship. A child would probably think the same way.
If she so desperately wanted to get out of Port Royal, he would have been only to willing to smuggle her out of the Swann household. But, of course, Ashley was mad at him for making her go there in the first place. She was so stubborn, she would probably say no just to annoy him.
'Why'd I go an' leave her there in tha' first place?'
'BECAUSE, Jack, you want her to grow up well, you 'eard what Elizabeth said, do you want her to be hanged?'
'No, I want her to want what she wants, which is to get back to Tortuga, It'd be nicer if she'd come back to tha' Pearl, but o' course Jack, she got mad at you for letting Elizabeth drag her off, Damn the whelp! If he hadn't been deserted in Tortuga an' I didn't offer to take him to Port Royal, Liz would 'ave never met Ashley and she would never 'ave insisted that Ash stay wiv her'
'Your not making any sense mate'
"Basically its all Elizabeth and Wills fault!" Jack exclaimed loudly, the crew glared at him.
"Spose its lucky Will and Elizabeth are back in Port Royal an' not 'ere" Jack mumbled, looking at his boots.
The crew went back to their work and Jack thought to himself once again, his hands running up and down the helm.
Anyway, it seemed to him that everyone won. Everyone was happy. He was on his beloved pearl. Ashley was happy because she wasn't with him. Or so he thought…
(Aboard The Silent Wanderer)
Ashley was once again looking out at the sea, her mind flashing with images.
Jack…Will…. Tortuga…Elizabeth…Port Royal…. ghastly turquoise dresses…
The wind blew in her long, brown knotted her, it would have whisked the boat along nicely, if only she actually had sails.
"BLOODY STORMS!" She yelled, waving her fist at the air, until suddenly the wind blew more powerfully and practically knocked Ashley off of the side of the boat.
She kept her balance and crouched down low so that it didn't happen again, staring cautiously up at the sky.
"Umm…I mean…storms are the greatest thing alive…I love the storms…they..ummm…all hail the storms!"
Ashley attempted to stand up again, but once more the wind blew her over, and then it completely stopped.
"MAKE UP YOUR BLASTED MIND!.." Ashley yelled as she stood and shoved her hands in her pockets.
Quickly she cupped her hand over her mouth, waiting for the wind to get its revenge on her once more. Or maybe…it was some kind of god!
"Wait? What am I thinking? Its just wind…why do us pirates have to be so superstitious all the time! That's Gibbs's job! But he is a pirate…umm…oh god…I'm definitely going mad now! I don't even make any sense!"