You Forget One Very Important Thing Mate - (15)
The sun was just beginning to rise over the Caribbean. The reflection of the slowly ascending sun shimmered in the gentle ripples of the water. Early morning shadows flickered over the deck of The Black Pearl and danced lightly on her Captain's ace as he stared out into the horizon.
"Captain?" Mr. Gibbs asked as he swayed over to Jack Sparrow.
"Aye?" Jack replied; dark, kohl-rimmed eyes never breaking away from the sky, as if it and everything in the distance would disappear if he dare look away. Gibbs frowned, there was not yet so much light that he could see Jack's eyes, but he knew without seeing that a spark that had once been there was missing. Jack had acted this way ever since they left Port Royal, but could that really be the reason? Jack liked his women, even if this particular one was his daughter, but it wasn't like him to get so worked up over one. In his thoughts, Gibbs had almost forgotten his reason for approached his melancholy Captain.
"Which way do we go now?" He asked.
"Which way do we...go," Jack murmured, as if that one simple question held a deep, hidden meaning that needed to be contemplated. "Oh, right!" He said finally. "The compass," He pulled the object in question from his sash and flipped it open.
He frowned.
"Now that can't be right,"
"What?" Gibbs asked. But Jack had closed the compass, and then opened it again, giving it a light tap with his fingers. The needle of the compass spun around wildly, hovered in one direction for a brief moment, and then quickly spun around and pointed in the direction The Black Pearl was coming from.
Jack Sparrow does not know what he wants.
"Thats odd," Jack said with another frown.
"What is it?" Gibbs anxiously repeated.
"The compass is pointing to where we just came from...I checked it when we docked in Port Royal, it was poiting this way,"
"Could we have passed the location of wherever it is that we're going?"
"Impossible," Jack said with a shake of his head. But a thought dawned on him.
"No," He muttered in an attempt to push the idea away. He set the compass down on the deck and walked several paces away form in.
"Captain, where exactly are we goin'?" Gibbs asked.
"We...are going to do a speck of honest pirating my friend," Jack said; pacing up and down the deck mumbling 'I know what I want, I know what I want, I know what I want, I know what I want,"
Slowly, he walked back to the compass and picked it up, the needle spin wildly around, it stopped, and remained pointed in the direction from whence they had come.
"Do we have a heading?" Marty, one of crew approached.
"Aye,"
"Which way Cap'n?" Gibbs smiled with satisfaction.
"Back the way we came," Jack replied.
"What!? I thought you said we couldn't have passed whatever we're lookin' for,"
"We haven't,"
"So why the devil are we turning around?"
"Because, apparently, whatever we were looking for isn't what I want,"
"It's the girl isn't it?" Gibbs asked flatly.
"So it would seem, unless there's some big stash of rum back there that we missed...which isn't that unlikely because right now I could really use a drink,"
Another crew member came over to inspect the scene, and stepped forward angrily.
"No!" He cried. "We can't sail ALL THE WAY BACK just for one wench! We'll probably get ourselves caught and hanged by the damned Commodore. In case you'd forgotten I doubt the Governor's daughter will get us all a pardon again! It's damn near impossible!"
Jack met him with a taunting grin.
"For one, it's not impossible, its improbable. And yes, I can make you do that. Because I am the Captain..and you're not. AND as Captain, I have the right to act on selfish impulse. To do what I want, when I want, because I want it...savvy? Apparently, what I want is to brave all peril and go back to Port Royal, when I want to do it is now, and I want to do it because... I just want to. If any of ye dogs have a problem, with that, ye may leave. Take the long boat,"
Some of the men looked as if they were going to head to the long boat after all, so Jack swiftly added.
"But now this, as soon as ye get lowered into to the water I'm going to blow your sorry arses into smithereens, savvy?"
The crew grumbled and began to change their course back to the way they came, Jack moved back to the helm. Now inspired and infuriated.
"Mr Gibbs?"
"Aye?"
"If your lucky, an' any ships pass by, we may just pay a little visit..." Sparrow replied, knowing that Gibbs really wanted to earn something, to do a speck of honest pirating as Jack had promised previously. In fact, the whole crew was hungry for a good ransacking, so why not make a quick stop on any passing ships on their way to Port Royal?
"Aye Cap'n" Gibbs exclaimed happily.
The crew still looked slightly angry. Whether they liked it or not, they were to risk their necks to rescue Ashley (Little did they know that she was no longer residing in Port Royal, but in a little fishing boat, not far from where they were), because deep down, what Jack truly wanted was to act on a selfish impulse.
(Aboard 'The Silent Wanderer')
A ship had been sailing in Ashley's direction for quite some time, it was fast, and Ashley could see the crew members moving about on the deck, the ship had long white sails and its colours where that of a pirates. She hoped, seeing as she was a pirate, they would let her on their ship, and she could eventually barter a passage back to Port Royal.
However, the captain of this ship was not her Father, and nobody would be there to protect her.
Ashley crossed her fingers, hoping that nothing bad would befall her. In fact she'd hoped she be quite lucky; just as she was in her escape from the Swann household. Even if her current mode of transport was now horridly mangled.
Little did she know, she was about to be very unlucky…