A Gilded Cage: Sequel to Broken Wings, Part II of the Fallen Sparrows Trilogy
A Pirates of the Caribbean story by Merrie
Disclaimer: Jack, Norry, Will, Liz, Kruler, Lorelac and all others own me. I would never attempt to claim otherwise.
Summary: Lorelac is seemingly gone, Jack remains as one of the most wanted men in the known world, Elizabeth's still pregnant, Will still doesn't know, Norrington's still without a job, and Jack's still got more of his grisly past to share.
Characters: Captain Jack Sparrow, Chief James Norrington, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swann, Captain Zachariah Kruler, Lorelac and various others.
Author's Note: Well I warned you last chapter that this one was going to be a bit on the dark side, and it turned out I was right. I hope you still like it though.
Rating: R for violence and language.
Chapter 8: Tattoos and Torture
Lorelac couldn't understand it. What should have been getting easier was getting indefinably harder the closer and closer Jack moved to the godforsaken little island he was currently heading to. Lorelac should have been getting closer to taking over again and yet that kind of control had never seemed more far away than it did now.
I was winning! I was beating him! What in the bloody hell is going on?! It can't end like this! I won't let it! I've fought too long and hard to give up so easily. Lorelac thought with determined hate. The island. It has to have something to do with this godforsaken island. But what? How dare they stand against me! I will make every last one of them beg for death. Starting with that interfering, pathetic former commodore. It was his fault that Jack was here. His bloody island. I'll figure out what is going on and my time will come.
WWW
"Jack? Are you alright?" Norrington asked softly upon seeing a blank look cross Jack's face.
"What? Oh. I'm fine," Jack said with a slight shake of his head to clear his thoughts that made his newly re-attached beads clank together. "Don't worry about me, mate. Worry about how you…people are going to react when they see all of us," Jack murmured as he rowed the small boat towards Norrington's island. "Did I ever tell you that I have an island of people somewhere out there myself? Or that, I did?"
"You? A chief? I'm not sure I believe it," Norrington said with a raised eyebrow.
Jack gave him a look. "And the fact that a military commodore is one is easier to believe?"
Norrington inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Former commodore," he said with a sigh. "I'm not in the military anymore."
"Who'd they get to replace you?" Will spoke up suddenly.
"Gillette," Norrington muttered. "I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. That little worm has always been out for my job."
"Was he the one who didn't believe we'd make it out of the bay with only two men?" Jack asked Will with a curious look.
Will nodded. "He didn't know we were planning on stealing the Interceptor instead." He shrugged.
"I must admit, that was a clever strategy on your part, Sparrow," Norrington said with a hint of the past grudge they had carried between them clear in his voice.
Jack inclined his head to Norrington in brief thanks for the admitted compliment. "Aye, but the whelp-" Jack gave Will a small smile at that. "-and I were in a desperate situation. His bonny lass," he gave Elizabeth a nod this time, "was in trouble and he wasn't going to let her go without trying to rescue her."
"Indeed," Norrington said as the small lifeboat ran up on shore. "Well, since I'm not on the side to fall for such a trick a second time, I guess I shouldn't worry about the last time," he said with a shrug as he got out of the boat and offered a hand to Elizabeth who got out of the boat with more grace and poise than any of the men could claim.
"I've got my own ship now, mate. I don't need to commandeer another one," Jack said as he moved out of the boat himself with his unique stumbling grace.
"Is commandeer really a nautical term, James? Not that I don't trust Jack at his word, I've just always wondered."
Norrington nodded after a moment's hesitation. "It means to seize property for military or governmental use."
"Or to take forcibly," Elizabeth added in a soft voice. "That's the colloquial definition."
At that, the three men, Jack especially grew very still and silent. It seemed as if commandeer could be synonymous with rape under the right circumstances. Elizabeth didn't acknowledge any of them, merely turning to Norrington after a few moments of incredibly uncomfortable silence and asking him to lead the way through the thick trees back to the-his-village. Norrington did so, and Elizabeth held her head up proudly as she walked as Jack's was tilted down to his feet.
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Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, pirate ship The Hangman's Knuckles, Captain Zachariah Kruler, 1674
Jack was slumped to the deck as much as he was able with his arms bound above his head and attached by a rope to a metal hook and immediately attempted to curl in on himself, trying to save his beaten and bloodied body from further punishment. His ribs were aching, his back was striped raw and slippery with blood and if another blow landed on his abused kidneys he thought he would scream. Again.
"Little Sparrow, why do you insist on doing this to yourself?" Kruler asked as he clicked his tongue at Jack as if scolding a disobedient dog. "This is your home. You don't try and run away from your home. Why would you ever want to leave us, Little Sparrow? Your wings have been clipped. Don't make me break them." He ran the cat o' tails he had been using in an almost fond nuzzling manner across Jack's back, causing Jack to let out an involuntary moan at the fear of further punishment.
"Don't. Please," Jack whispered pitifully, closing his eyes and trying to imagine himself somewhere else. It didn't seem to be working as every time he breathed he was reminded of his bruised ribs that had made contact with Kruler's boots earlier. Not to mention that the entire span of his back felt like it was on fire. The funny thing about all of this was-if anything about torture could be called funny-was that he could no longer remember what he had done to deserve such punishment.
"Don't? Please? Would you like me to stop, little sparrow?" Kruler asked, halting the movement of his hand and the whip.
A part of Jack's brain that wasn't yet clouded by pain warned him that this was probably a trick of some kind; that any wrong answer would only earn him more punishment, but he didn't care. He only wanted it to end. "Yes. Please. Stop," he moaned. "I'm sorry," he added as an afterthought, hoping that it would make some kind of difference in Kruler's mind.
It didn't, causing a snort of derision to go through Kruler rather than pity and consideration, but he did not yet continue beating Jack. "What are you sorry for, little sparrow? Why am I beating you like this?"
"Because I deserve it," Jack answered without hesitation. "I did something wrong."
"Correct," Kruler said, sounding pleased with Jack's answer. "What did you do wrong?"
"I…" Jack searched for an answer, and came up empty.
"You don't know, do you?" Kruler supplied for him.
"No," Jack moaned, trying desperately to escape from his confinement. "I'm sorry. I won't do it ever again. Just please don't hurt me anymore. Please," he pleaded with him. "Tell me what I did. Help me make it right. I'm sorry. Did I try to leave?" He honestly couldn't remember if he had or not. "I won't ever try again. This ship is my home. My only home. There are no others. There is no one else for me."
"That's right, little sparrow. This ship is the only home you've ever known or will ever know. There never was any other. Who am I, Jack?" Kruler asked, stroking the whip in an almost fond manner as he directed his obsidian eye toward Jack's lacerated back.
"Captain. Mentor. Teacher. Father," Jack answered.
"That's right. I am. And what have I taught you?"
"To kill."
"What else?" he asked with the evil smile of a man who had his captive just where he wanted him.
"To pillage. Rape. Steal. A pirate's life. I am a pirate."
"And what is your name?" he asked, tensing the whip again should Jack make a wrong answer. Jack didn't.
"Little sparrow. It's my only name until I'm given another," Jack said in even and dull tones as if reading the answer from a piece of parchment.
"And who is Edward? Edward John Corintin Alexandre Sperling?" Kruler asked in a casual tone.
"Edward?" Jack asked with a confused frown. The name sounded horribly familiar, like he should know it well, but when he tried to think about who the person was, he was forcibly reminded of how wrong answers were treated by a lancing wave of pain from his bloodied back. "I…don't know. I'm sorry. Please. I don't know. Don't hurt me, please. Tell me who he is and I won't forget again. I swear it," Jack pleaded; trying not to tense painfully in preparation for the blow he knew would be coming. No such blow came.
"Don't worry, little sparrow. Edward is dead. You won't have to remember him any longer."
Jack let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said honestly.
"You're welcome, little sparrow. You have made me proud. I think this deserves a celebration."
"A celebration?" Jack asked curiously, trying to keep the wariness out of his voice.
"Yes. You belong to us now. It's only right that we mark the occasion," Kruler said in jovial tones, clearly pleased with Jack's answers, but making no moves to cut Jack down. This worried Jack immensely. Kruler just smiled and called up a few crewmembers over to help start the celebrations.
WWW
"Welcome back to Wuinakexa, my Chief and honoured guests," Kiquan said with a deep bow as the quartet walked up the beach to the edge of the nearest village. Kiquan had intercepted them as if he had been waiting for their arrival all alone. He just might have been. While no one had said a word concerning Jack or Elizabeth's arrival-Kiquan having met Will before-there could be only one conclusion to make of people traveling with and that was that they were friends of their chief.
"This is Miss Elizabeth Swann and Captain Jack Sparrow," Norrington addressed each of them in turn. "You've already met Mr. Turner on our last visit."
"Of course," Kiquan said, nodding his bald head a few times, causing the half-lens glasses perched on his nose to wobble a bit. He turned to Elizabeth and drew up one of her hands and kissed her knuckles lightly, giving her every indication that he was a perfect gentleman back at home were it not for the shaved head, pierced nose and ears, and the elaborate tattoos covering his shockingly bare chest. "You are to Will's woman, is that correct?" he asked, releasing her hand back to her side gently. "He had much worry for you while he was here, but he did not doubt that you were still alive. He will be a good match for you," Kiquan said with a smile that Elizabeth did her best to match.
"Thank you," Elizabeth said in a soft voice. "Kiquan, was it?"
"I am honored that such a woman as yourself would deign to remember," Kiquan said with a smile and another bow before lifting his head and giving her a pointed look. "You must come have a talk with me soon, Miss Swann," he said slowly, but turned to address Jack before Elizabeth could ask what he had meant by that.
When he turned to Jack, his hand went to a knife he had tied at his waist, but he did not draw it in deference to his chief. "You are truly Captain Sparrow? Of the Black Pearl?" he asked in an almost cautious manner, clearly waiting for Jack's answer.
"I am now. I wasn't before," Jack answered, keeping his dark eyes locked on Kiquan's equally dark ones.
"Your ship has massacred many people with you at the head."
"Yes it has," Jack said without hesitation, raising a hand to stop the argument Will had been about to make on his behalf without taking his eyes away from Kiquan. "And yes, I was leading them. And yet, I wasn't."
"What do you mean?" Kiquan asked with a confused frown. "How could you have led your men on to do those things and yet say that you did not? It cannot be both, Sparrow."
"He was possessed, Kiquan. It wasn't his fault," Norrington spoke up before Jack could.
Instead of Kiquan being reassured by this as Norrington had hoped by speaking the truth, Kiquan took a step backwards from Jack as if he were afraid of him. "Possessed by whom?"
"Lorelac," Jack said causing Kiquan to shudder and let out a moan.
"We do not speak his name. It is forbidden," Kiquan moaned to him. "You will bring him down upon us!"
This was not quite the reaction any of them had been expecting.
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Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, pirate ship The Hangman's Knuckles, Captain Zachariah Kruler, 1674
Pain. Jack had thought he was done with it after answering Kruler's questions correctly, but apparently he had been wrong. Horribly wrong. He would have screamed, but someone had forced a rolled up piece of cloth into his mouth so that his screams came out muffled moans.
"Shh, little sparrow. It will be over soon and then you will truly belong to us," Kruler said in a curiously comforting manner as he stood over Jack's left shoulder as not get in the way of the pirate that worked on Jack's right arm.
"What are you doing to me?" Jack moaned through the cloth, but Kruler understood him.
"Marking you as ours," he answered evenly; glancing over Jack's body to the pirate tattooist he had working on the etching of a little sparrow in flight in front of a large setting sun over waves on Jack's right forearm. "It'll be over soon and then you'll be ours forever. Don't you want that?"
Jack tried not to thrash about as the pirate's needle dug biting lines across his skin, not that he was really able to with the burly pirate holding him still around the stomach; a small kindness from Kruler who had positioned him there rather than around Jack's torn back. "Yes," he managed finally, willing the black spots out of his vision. Passing out now while Kruler was talking to him would only earn him another beating later. Kruler did not look fondly upon weakness.
"Good. Because after this, you will be," Kruler whispered into Jack's ear in a low voice that would have made Jack shiver had he thought he could bear the pain such an action would bring. Jack just tried to focus on something else than the pain, which wasn't really all that bad when compared to the ills he had already suffered. He let his head slump forward as much as he could without leaning it on the pirate's shoulder in front of him, and focused his attention on the waves. He could hear the ship cutting through them sleekly and yet not. The ship did not part the waves, the waves parted for the ship. The sea could not be contained. This Jack had known for as long as he could remember. That remembrance was not long at the moment, granted, but it was long enough. The sea was wild and free in ways he could never be. She would never be contained, and only show her love to those who were faithful to her. Jack vowed to be faithful for as long as he was allowed to sail in her waters.
Jack simply listened to the sea, to her voice, and after what had seemed like hours and probably was, he was finally released to fall to the deck with a gentleness that surprised him. Then, Kruler was helping him to his feet and walking him to the ship's barber to have his back and fresh tattoo looked at and worked on if need be. Jack didn't care any more as he laid face down on the barber's examining table with his left arm tucked at his side and his right outstretched as it had been for it hurt to stretch the skin of his newly tattooed forearm with unnecessary movement.
"Stitch him up, cover his arm and send him back to me when you're through." Kruler's voice intruded in on Jack's consciousness, demanding that it be paid attention. Jack tried his best. "Give him whatever you have to dull the pain. He's one of us now and deserves proper treatment."
"Yes, sir," the surgeon-barber said and might have nodded in Captain Kruler's direction, but Jack didn't lift his head to look and make sure.
"Get some rest, my little sparrow. You have new lessons to learn tomorrow." Without waiting for the answer that Jack wasn't fit to give anyway, Kruler turned and left the surgeon to his work.
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"Do you bear his mark as we do?" Kiquan asked in a wavering voice as he took yet another step away from Jack.
At first Jack didn't know what Kiquan referred to then nodded, rolling up his left sleeve to bear the intricate tattoo that went all the way from his ring and middle fingers to his collar bone. "There used to be more but it went away when he did," Jack informed him as Kiquan stared at the tattoo, following the intertwining lines with his eyes.
"My people have born his mark for generations. Our children are born covered in the lines that remind us of his presence here," Kiquan said solemnly.
"Your children are born tattooed?" Will asked with an incredulous frown.
"Not tattooed. I know this word, I have seen tattoos before, like that on Captain Sparrow's other arm," Kiquan gestured to the sparrow tattoo, causing Jack to wince slightly as he was reminded again of when and where he had gotten it; something he had never shared with anyone before. Almost everyone knew he had it, he was one of his most defining characteristics, but few knew just where it had come from.
Norrington caught Jack's wince but didn't comment on it. "If they're not tattoos, then what are they, Kiquan?"
"A reminder of his presence so that we will never forget who we are," Kiquan said solemnly.
"And what is that?" Elizabeth asked softly.
"His children."
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Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, pirate ship The Hangman's Knuckles, Captain Zachariah Kruler, 1674
"What is the one rule I have taught you when dealing with survivors or prisoners, Sparrow?" Kruler asked, following behind Jack as they surveyed the bound and gagged French prisoners together. Their ship had almost been too easy to take, resulting in a disappointingly short battle and a wealth of survivors that they had to deal with now.
"That there should be none," Jack answered scanning the gathered group clearly frightened men with pitiless eyes.
"That is correct. We take no prisoners. Why is that, Sparrow?"
"Anyone who goes up against us and loses does not deserve the right to live. They are weak and foolish. They are of no further use to this world." Jack meant every word and Kruler saw this and was pleased.
"Correct. Then what are we going to do with these, prisoners, Sparrow?"
"Kill them all save one," Jack answered coldly.
"Why save one?" Kruler asked curiously. He hadn't taught Jack this particular lesson. He was of a mind to leave no survivors.
"So that he spreads the stories about us. So that men are taught to fear us as they should."
A true smile made its way to Kruler's face, and it was a grim thing. "Well done, lad. Kill them. Kill them all save your one." At the pronunciation of this, the prisoners within hearing distance began to struggle and plead for mercy through their gags. Jack and Captain Kruler ignored them.
"Slowly or quickly?" Jack asked, drawing his sword.
"I'll leave that up to you, Sparrow," Kruler said with a smile, curious to see what Jack's response would be. He was beyond pleased a few minutes later to see that Jack had chosen to kill them slowly, drawing out his victims' suffering for as long as he could. His little protégé might even outshine him one day if he kept this up.
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What? My children? That doesn't make any sense. I've never even been to this godforsaken island before. And I didn't leave the mark…did I? Lorelac wasn't so sure anymore. He had claimed it was his at first, but he had been bluffing. At least, he thought had had been bluffing. Had he been remembering something then that he had long since forgotten? He didn't know. He only knew that something or someone on this island prevented his actions. And what was worse, he could sense that somehow he wouldn't be able to possess any of the inhabitants of this island even if they had his crystal. This disturbed him immensely because he didn't know what it meant. He didn't like not knowing.
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"What do you mean, you're his children?" Jack asked with a worried frown.
"When he walked the earth as you did, many many years ago, he laid with many of the women of my village. Their children had the mark as he did, and it has been so ever since. Every person on the island with the mark can trace their generations back to one of these women. It has been so ever since."
"So…that means that since I have the mark, if I had any children they would too?" Jack asked with a frown, not noticing that Elizabeth's face had paled dramatically. None of them did, they were so focused on what Kiquan would say next.
"That is correct. Your children would become like us. Brothers and sisters to us. Children of him," Kiquan said softly, still not saying Lorelac's name.
"Guess it's a bloody good thing I won't be having a flock of my own any time soon then," Jack murmured, trying to make light of the situation although his voice sounded more disappointed than his words let on.
Elizabeth let out a soft moan as she paled again this time, praying that she wouldn't faint. Unfortunately, the men and Kiquan couldn't help but notice this time.
"Elizabeth? What is it? What's wrong?" the three men asked on top of each other, Will going to her side while Norrington and Jack stood by and watched with anxious faces.
"It's nothing, I'm fine. I fear I may have been out in the sun a little too long, that's all," Elizabeth said, forcing herself to sound casual. Will didn't seem to fully believe her, but wasn't about to argue.
"Alright, we'll get you inside and sitting down. It is rather hot out here at the moment," he said, looking up at the sun as he said it, but not seeing it as they were in complete shade of the trees. This added even less credence to Elizabeth's excuse, but it wasn't his place to doubt her.
She nodded and dutifully did not look at Jack. Not even once. Norrington noticed this and frowned, as did Jack, but for different reasons. Jack thought that she was still upset with him-and rightfully so-and therefore didn't question her action. Norrington on the other hand saw something different in her reluctance to look at the pirate captain given what they had just been speaking about, but wouldn't have asked her about it for all the tea in the Orient. It simply wasn't his place to ask such things. She would tell whom she wanted when she wanted. That was her prerogative as a woman.
"I think it's time we had our talk, Miss Swann. Please come with me. I have a place where you can sit down," Kiquan said softly, directing a hand in the direction of the village.
Elizabeth just nodded and followed where he led her, her three…escorts trailing closely behind with Will close at her side should she faint, Norrington behind her for much the same reason, and Jack bringing up the rear as far away from her as he could walk without lagging behind them because that was where he belonged.
TBC
A/N: Will this was a fun chapter. I'm a million times sorry for the length it took to post. Please forgive me. More angst coming soon when the boys figure out just why Elizabeth is acting so strangely. Until then, thanks for reading, and please send me your reviews!!!
Reviewer Responses
Jackfan2: Life certainly does grab you by the short and curlies sometimes as evident with the length of time between posting the last chapter and this one. Something I am very very sorry for. I have absolutely no idea what's going on with Jack and Elizabeth, or Elizabeth and Will, or Norrington and Jack, or Will and Norrington…or with anyone for that matter. They constantly surprise me with every chapter. I swear they have their own agendas now. :-D I will take your comment about how my mind is sick and twisted as a high compliment indeed. Thanks!
Holliday1081: Pirate Norry? Would I do something like that? –tries to look innocent- He really does get under your skin. Save Jack, he is my favorite character to write. We'll just have to see where he takes us next.
OpraNoodlemantra: I am very glad I'm making you into a Norry fan. Embrace the Norryluv! He is a wonderfully complicated character who I love to write. And I think the similarities between him and Jack-at least, the ones I seem to be creating-are incredibly fun to delve into. There will be much more of that in the near future. I hope you liked the darkness in this chapter. Past Jack-little sparrow-is going somewhere I hadn't necessarily intended. He is growing very dark indeed under Kruler's tutelage.
Arenas: Hmm, evil breakfast confection dude might pay…someday. Um, maybe. We'll see. :-P Right now he's just causing past Jack grief.
The Phantom's Christine: I try my best to represent each character as equally as I can, while still giving Jack the props he deserves. ;-) And I love writing all of the other characters too. Their stories can be-and are-just as complicated as Jack's are.
FalconWing: -hides head in shame- I guess I wasn't so inescapably clear. Sorry about that. Really really sorry about that. I do hope you and all of my other readers will forgive me. I really am very sorry about the wait.
BlueTrinity: Kruler is just plain evil, no doubt about that. He's moulding young Jack into someone I don't like nor anticipated. It'll be interesting to see what happens next because honestly, I have absolutely no idea. :-P
Mistress of Destruction: I'm sorry you found the last chapter boring, but I don't hold it against you. It was a lot of exposition into the characters that needed to be said but wasn't necessarily fun to read. Or write for that matter. I hope you found this chapter more to your liking.
Brave Symbol: Sorry I'm late, SS!! Bad author! I truly loved writing the scene between Jack and Norry too. It was a lot of fun. I hope you liked this chapter!!
Again, thank you to all of my reviewers. You guys are the best! –Drinks all around-
-Merrie