Savannah reached the door of Rosaline's cabin, and did not hesitate to hammer on the door as loudly as she possibly could. There was no sound, well, there was sound, but not the sort she wanted to hear. She hammered again,
"What?" She heard Jack's voice, she could tell he was quite angry at being interrupted, but she felt no guilt from her actions. She rolled her eyes,
"Sorry to interrupt Captain Sparrow," She said demurely, through the door, "But I thought maybe you might want to know that we've just spotted Corona." She heard a definite silence this time, then some shuffling, and she stepped back from the door just as Jack opened it.
"Just spotted?"
"Sort of one of those, appeared out of nowhere type islands." Savannah said, casually. Jack didn't look like he wanted to leave.
"Trust bloody Bill Turner to interrupt me." He said, "Give me one moment." He closed the door on her face.
"I'll just be on deck then." Savannah smirked and left them to it.
"Where's Jack?" Will was on deck, with his wife in tow.
"Just coming," Savannah assured him, "He'll be here any moment, but I shouldn't think we'll go ashore yet."
"Why not?"
"Cover of darkness." Jack appeared behind Savannah, and she held out her hand on cue as if indicating her reason to Will. Will's eyes darted over what they could see of the island.
"Won't that put us at a disadvantage?" Elizabeth inquired,
"It would," Jack admitted, "But only if we were going in unarmed. With so many good swordsmen," Savannah coughed, indicating herself, "And swordswomen," Jack carried on, bowing his head to Savannah and putting his hands together, "Then we'll have a fightin' chance against whatever's waitin' on that island, Savvy?" Jack noticed the crew had all assembled on deck, along with Rosaline, and Marti who was currently hanging over the edge of the top deck. Jack stood at the helm to address his crew,
"Men!" He began, and got a few indignant looks, "And women," He added, "And ladies," He nodded at Rosaline who couldn't help going red in the cheeks, "Parrots, cabin boys, blacksmiths and Savannah," Clay stifled a chuckle, and received a piercing glare from Savannah, who only got a cheeky wink in reply. "This might just be the most dangerous, the most preposterous voyage any of us have ever embarked on. But on that island is Bootstrap Bill Turner, and we are going to give this ship back her quarter master!" The crew gave a cheer, "and when we do," he continued, "This voyage will be the most famous voyage ever to be made by any man (or woman) sailing under the Jolly Roger!" An even louder cheer went up, "Mr Clay, I want us to have a bloody good meal tonight, and then every single one of us will fight till there are none of the enemy left standing, what says you?"
"Aye!" The crew's voices rang out,
"Aye, plenty of food and plenty of rum!" Marti's voice floated down, from her mouth which was set in an excited grin,
"Just enough to get yer self goin' mind," Jack said to her, then looked back at the crew, "To work with ye! Load the canons, find yerself plenty of weaponry, this is a fight we are not goin' t' loose!" The crew scattered, their voices loud, and every man ready to fight. Ana Maria hoisted the Jolly Roger so that the island would know just who they were dealing with. Savannah was just about to join them when Jack held her back,
"Not sayin' I believes in any of the stuff you mess about with, but a bit of help wouldn' go a miss luv," Savannah grinned and turned around ready to head back to her own cabin.
"Aye sir," She saluted, "I shall see you in the galley." Jack nodded to her and began to talk to Will.
Rosaline was watching from the deck and saw Jack talking to Savannah before she had run off. She felt a pang of jealousy, and realised that what she felt was that same feeling she had pushed away earlier. She still didn't trust Jack, or she did, but she couldn't put her faith in him entirely. Of course, any woman would be jealous if they saw their partner talking to Savannah. Rosaline was small and skinny, she had mousy blond hair, and freckles. She had a figure, but in her opinion it wasn't a very good one. Savannah Flint was tall, and curvy. She had dark hair, and a perfect complexion. Even in just a plain shirt and leggings she managed to look flawless. She had perfectly coloured olive skin, almost shaped eyes, and long eye lashes that made her eyes look even bigger. When Rosaline and Jack had been rescued from the island, Savannah had been dressed much the same as Rosaline, in a dress, a corset, and even though she must have had to put together the look of an English lady in a rush, she had managed to pull it off fabulously. Better than Rosaline, who wasn't even pretending.
Suddenly, something dawned on her. Not the fact that she had spent far too much self pity time, comparing herself to Savannah Flint, but at the start of her train of thought, she had called him her partner, as if they were an item. We are not. Rosaline insisted to herself, and began to regret what had almost happened in her cabin. I am not seeing a pirate. She assured herself, not very convincingly, No, I'm not.
She turned and headed back to her cabin when she noticed Jack stop talking with Will. He would surely approach her when the opportunity presented itself, so she was not going to let it happen.
Down in the armoury, Marti, Will and Elizabeth were staking their claims.
"I've got me sword, two pistols, a dagger, and three extra rounds." Marti said, holding up her belonging, "D'ye think that be enough to slam these bastards into the ground?" Will was inspecting his own,
"I have the same, but I'm taking some explosives, just in case there are too many all at once."
"Cherry bombs, good plan," Marti said, approvingly, "That'd do it." Elizabeth had two pistols, and a sword, which she was glad Will had taught her how to use.
"It's handy living with a blacksmith." She added, "Otherwise I would have never learnt how to even hold a sword. She picked up a cutlass which had been left behind from the Pearl's previous crew. Next to the cutlass was a crate containing many pieces of fine weaponry. Marti caught her looking at it.
"Savannah looks set to be the bringer of a massacre," She observed, "No weapon not in that crate be worth usin'." Elizabeth raised her eyebrows,
"And we're safe living on a ship with some one like that?"
"Prob'ly not." Marti admitted, shrugging, "But we wouldn't have got this far wi'out her, would we? She be a strange one, but a bloody good pirate."
"Have you met her daughter?" Elizabeth asked, apprehensively, as if she feared Elena would be as bad as her mother.
"Aye," Marti nodded, "an' I tell's ye, that girl can handle a sword as well as I, and fire a direct shot from thirty feet. Savannah might have some strange ways, but she's done good by Elena. She's kept her alive you see, by teachin' her how to survive on her own. Savannah believes the more time she spends wi' her daughter, the more danger she's in."
"Quite right, I should imagine." Elizabeth agreed,
"Would be interesting to see which one of them would win an argument." Will commented, making the girls laugh at the thought.
"Elena's very respectful of her mother," Marti told him, "I'm not sure the situation arises very much."
"What about her father?" Elizabeth's smile disappeared when she realised she had said something very, very wrong. "What?" Marti looked serious, and checked behind her to make sure no one came in. She leant forward,
"Savannah was married to an Italian bloke. A pirate, to be sure. Name of Joseph Barritto. Elena has never met her father, because he died to save this very ship, almost eleven years ago."
"Oh no," Elizabeth kept her voice low, "How terrible,"
"Tis bloody terrible if any one ever mentions it to Savannah," Marti warned. "She loved that man with all her heart, and none of us thought she'd make it when he died. But she disappeared for two months, and the next time we saw her, she was about to give birth. Elena was born, and Savannah disappeared again, for nearly a year. In that time, Jack lost the Pearl, and for quite a long while, we thought he was dead. I met up with Savannah again in Spain when I was on the mainland. From the first I set eyes on her, I knew she had changed. She hardly ever smiled, everything was done by the book, as it should be. She made no mistakes, she spent all of her spare time training, travelling, and teaching Elena how to survive. She's got on with her life, and she's survived it. But ye be warned, I once saw her slice a man's head clean off when he uttered but one foul word about Joseph." Marti saw the look of disgust on Elizabeth's face. "It's her love for him, and for her daughter that's kept her goin' they says."
"Should my ears be burning?" Savannah was in the doorway, a pleasant, but distant smile on her lips.
"Would I tell ye if they should?" Marti answered back quickly, with a cheeky grin, which she hoped Savannah wouldn't notice was forced.
"I wouldn't expect you to. The crew have gathered in the galley, and I believe if you do not get there soon, there will not be much alcohol left." This shook Marti immediately,
"I'm off."
Savannah waited until the three were gone, and then walked slowly over to her crate. She took out a pistol. It was very old, and the barrel had been replaced, the handle refitted, but all in all, it was still the same pistol her grandfather had carried so many years ago. A fine family heirloom, she smiled to herself. But then, for a family who's motto was 'dead men tell no tales', it seemed very fitting.
She loaded a round into the barrel, and levelled her shot with the door. She strapped two more pistols to her belt, took out her sword, some grenades, a cutlass, a dagger, and three throwing knives, and arranged them on their places around her attire. She had added a coat to her image, and stuffed plenty of extra shots in the pockets. Then, she took the pistol that had belonged to her grandfather, and slipped it into a hidden harness under her shirt. She had throwing knives hidden in their slots in her boots, and grenades on a strap under her coat. She glanced over her crate one last time, and with an after though selected a smaller, lighter sword which she attached in a double sheath under her first. Just in case.
When she had done this, she felt ready to join the rest of the crew. She closed the lid and clicked the lock on the crate, which was labelled plainly, with the name, 'flint'. She smiled as she saw yet again the words her daughter had inscribed at a young age,
'So hands off, Savvy?' Savannah sighed, knowing that Jack Sparrow had had a considerable influence of Elena at a young age. She feared what damage she may have done to her daughter by allowing it.
Elena sounds cute right? Awww, a mini Savannah.
Ahem. I don't think cute is a word much of the Caribbean would use for a mini Savannah.
Anyways, glad your still enjoying the story u-ne-korn, and as far as I'm concerned, Jack Sparrow is like that fine vintage whisky he keeps in his cabin. Gets better with age!
Love to y'all,
Savvy Z