Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or plotlines of "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." If I did, I wouldn't be sitting here writing fanfiction; I'd be off making money. Which I am not doing with this work. I do, however, lay claim to the characters of Genesis Wolfe and Rosalyn O'Brien, and would be pleased as punch if you did not use them without my permission. Thank you, darlings.
Author's Note:Poor Jack and Genesis, they just met and got tossed into prison together all within twenty minutes of meeting each other. Has to be some sort of record. And not only that, but now we have Elizabeth and Rosalyn to worry about. My, but these girls are a lot of trouble, aren't they?
Chapter Six: In Which Said Strumpet Drags Rosalyn Into It
The dungeon smelled very much like any basement. If she covered her ears, closed her eyes, and ignored the ninety-nine percent humidity of the Caribbean climate, she could imagine herself at home, down in the half-finished basement, her father promising once again to get the place finished up and turned into a second family room.
"Want a nice juicy bone?"
A high-pitched whistle.
"Come on."
"Come here."
Gen gave up on ignoring her surroundings, and threw Jack an exasperated look. He looked just as annoyed, and looked over at their neighbors, who were currently waving a juicy bone at the dog that held the keys to the cells.
"You can keep doing that forever, the dog is never going to move," Jack said tiredly.
"Oh," said one of the prisoners irritably. "Excuse us if we haven't resigned ourselves to the gallows."
Jack grimaced and glanced over at Genesis, who was rubbing her eyes tiredly. She tugged the twine from her hair, and it tumbled down over her shoulders, a mass of unruly brown waves. She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. "What?"
"Just thinking, love," he said slyly, leaning back against the wall to get a better look at her. She was on the rickety cot provided, legs stretched out in front of her. His gaze trailed waywardly over the long limbs, past the breasts emphasized by the thin fabric and low cut of her shirt. Even in the loose-fitting clothing, it was clear that her tall frame possessed ample soft curves. And Jack was ever the fan of a womanly woman. "You're not a bad-looking strumpet..."
"Gee, thanks."
"And I," he continued, as if she hadn't interrupted him. "Am an immensely attractive, well-to-do, suave pirate captain…"
Gen raised an eyebrow, glancing around at their surroundings. "Well-to-do?"
"Well," Jack said with a grin. "Immensely attractive and suave, in the least. I daresay we could find something interesting to do to…pass the time."
Gen couldn't help but smile. "Well, normally, Captain Immensely Attractive and Suave, I'd probably let you ravish me passionately without protest. However, I am not quite used to performing in front of an audience."
Jack gave her a confused look, and she pointed to the prisoners in the adjoining cell, who were practically falling over themselves trying to get a look at the only female among them. Jack swung to look at them, and they backed off slightly, looking away, whistling, and doing everything in their power to look innocent. Well, as innocent as one can look in a jail cell.
"Well," Jack said, turning his gaze back to his feminine companion. "If we just so happen to find ourselves alone, I am expecting a go at it."
Gen laughed a little, leaning back against the wall. "If I didn't know any better, Captain Sparrow, I'd think you were attempting to stain my good name by destroying my virtue."
He grinned at her. "And what good name would that be?"
She looked at him, face blanching. "I told you. Genesis Morgan."
"Captain Henry Morgan may have fathered many children, but the lot of them were bastards," Jack said suspiciously. "We pirates have our scruples when giving out our names. Morgan included."
Genesis felt herself shrinking under his doubtful gaze. "What's to stop the woman from naming her bastard after the father if she knows his identity?"
Jack raised an eyebrow, but to Gen's relief, he was distracted by something else.
"You're bleeding."
Gen frowned, thrown off by the sudden subject change. "What?"
"Your face. Bleeding."
Gen reached up to her cheek, indeed finding it sticky. She pulled her hand away, her fingers coated with blood both fresh and dried.
"Oh," she said, frowning. "They were shooting at me…"
"You were shot?" Jack exclaimed, sounding a bit more alarmed.
"Yes," she said sarcastically. "And being the amazing rogue that I am, they shot me in the face and I kept on running, brain cells intact." She sighed at his perplexed expression. "They shot the deck of the ship I jumped onto, when we were running away--"
"Escaping," he corrected. "We were escaping. There's a difference."
"When we were escaping," Gen repeated. "They shot the deck, and some wood flew at me. I forgot about it."
"Is it still in there?" he asked, sitting up, away from the wall. Gen shrugged.
"I'm not sure," she replied. She touched her face and winced. "I think it might be."
"Here, love." He crawled over to where she was sitting, using a calloused hand to lift her chin, so that the moonlight hit her marred cheek. "This'll hurt."
She squeezed her eyes shut as he gently prodded the wound, getting a grip on the shard of wood. He pulled a bit, gauging what her reaction would be, and she yelped, slapping him frantically away. "OW OW OW!"
"If you don't hold still, I'm not helping you," he said, grabbing her a little more roughly by the chin and jerking her back to the light. She glared at him, a face that looked a bit silly; his fingerss were squeezing her cheeks a bit, making her lips pout out, making her scowl look more like an impetuous child's than an angry woman's. He grabbed the shard of wood and pulled it out quickly, and she whimpered a bit. He began to unwind the scarf wrapped around his hand.
"What are you doing?"
He stopped. "A bandage."
"I'm not putting that thing on my face," she said. "It's infection in fabric form."
"Fine, bleed to death, then," he said in a defeated tone. She scowled at him, then looked down at her shirt. She gave Jack an impertinent look, and proceeded to tear off the left sleeve. It was much cleaner than Jack's scarf. She thought about tying it around her head, but realized how ridiculous she would look, and instead pressed the cream-colored cloth onto her cheek, slowly staining it red. She looked back to Jack, who was now staring out the barred windows at the moon. She sighed, all anger for him gone as exhaustion and her own worry for Rosalyn crept in.
"We'll get out, Jack. I promise."
"You seem awfully sure of yourself," he said, glancing at her.
"Woman's intuition, love," she replied. She gave a little gasp as there was a large explosion nearby, shaking the dungeons and sending dust falling from the ceiling. "Cannon fire!"
"I know those guns," Jack said, leaping to his feet and looking out the window. "It's the Pearl."
"The Black Pearl?" One of the other prisoners became excited. "I've heard stories. She's been preying on ships and settlements for near ten years. Never leaves any survivors."
"No survivors?" Gen asked incredulously.
"Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?" Jack asked. The prisoners looked a bit dumbfounded.
"Careful, Jack," Gen warned. "You'll make the poor blokes' heads explode."
"There you go, Miss."
Rosalyn turned from her menial task of folding linens to see a maid, Estrella, placing a bed warmer between the sheets of Elizabeth's bed. Roz dipped her head back down, the little bonnet-like hat on her head threatening to tumble off her pinned up red bob. She had snuck away from the shenanigans on the docks and lost the soldier's uniform. The back servants' entrance of the Swann mansion had been fortunately unlocked and unwatched, and swiping a dress from the maids' quarters had been easy. There were so many servants in the house that her new presence had hardly been noticed. She had to get back to Genesis, and if she was with Elizabeth, she knew it would happen one way or another.
"It was a difficult day for you, I'm sure."
Elizabeth sighed, leaning back into the pillows. "I suspected Commodore Norrington would propose but I must admit, I wasn't entirely prepared for it…"
Rosalyn rolled her eyes as the two woman continued gossiping about Norrington and Will. Was is always this boring with women of this time period?
BOOM!
Perhaps not.
"What was that?" Elizabeth yelled, bolting upright. Estrella seemed to have left while Rosalyn was ignoring them.
Roz ran to the window, eyeing a ship that was still smoking. "Pirates!"
Elizabeth leapt from her bed, tying her filmy robe around herself. "Run!"
The two girls ran out of the room, catching themselves on the railing, just in time to see the butler reach for the door handle downstairs.
"Don't!" Elizabeth yelled, but it was too late. The butler was on the floor faster than you could say hummus, and pirates were pouring in.
"Dumb ass!" Roz hissed. One of the pirates looked up on the balcony, spotting the two young women. "Up there!"
"Girl!" another pirate yelled, pointing at them.
"Ugly!" Roz yelled, pointing back. Elizabeth grabbed her by the arm and they ran to the nearest door, which they opened to reveal a pale-faced Estrella. Roz pushed her in, allowing Elizabeth to lock the door behind them.
"Miss Swann!" Estrella cried, clutching Elizabeth by the arms. "They've come to kidnap you!"
"What?" Elizabeth and Rosalyn said in unison, giving Estrella odd looks.
"You're the governor's daughter," Estrella said breathlessly, apparently in awe of the whole situation.
"Of course they are," Roz said sarcastically, having taken on an accent that was a hodgepodge of English and Irish. "Never mind that this is the biggest, richest home in the port, and that they're pirates who spend their lives pillaging and raiding and stealing stuff. Yes, I'm sure they want you."
Elizabeth frowned at Rosalyn, then turned back to Estrella. "They haven't seen you," she said. "Hide, and the first chance you get, run to the fort."
Estrella nodded tearfully, and turned to unlock the door.
"Not that way!" Roz yelled, but it was too late; the stupid twit had already opened the door they had just locked. Estrella managed to slip under the arms of a tall, skinny pirate with a bum eye. His friend wasn't far behind, trying to get at the girls. Elizabeth snatched up a bed warmer and smashed the skinny pirate, Ragetti, in the face. It apparently didn't faze him too much, and he grabbed the handle.
"Gotcha!" he said, laughing idiotically as Elizabeth struggled to rip the warmer away. Roz made a grab for it, flipping a switch that sent hot embers and ashes into the face of Ragetti. He shrank away, trying to slap the glowing coals out of his dirty, sand-colored hair.
Elizabeth grabbed Rosalyn's hand and they raced past the pirates, making their way downstairs. Some other pirates cornered them, but a fortunate cannonball burst through and took out the chandelier, distracting the men enough to allow Roz and Elizabeth to slip by and dash into a drawing room. Elizabeth locked the door, looking frantically around the room before heading to some decorative sword display by the fireplace. Roz rolled her eyes as the whole piece came off the wall, causing Elizabeth to shriek in frustration.
The men began to bust in the door, and Roz grabbed Elizabeth by the hand, pulling her into a cabinet nearby. The girls huddled, barely breathing, only able to see through a tiny sliver of light in between the cupboard doors. Roz bit down a yelp as she heard the pirates break through the door. She slapped a hand over her mouth, not trusting herself to remain silent, as she saw random flashes of color pass through the sliver.
"We know you're here, poppet," the other pirate, Pintel, said in a sing-song voice.
"Poppet," Ragetti repeated, snickering.
"Come out, and we promise we won't hurt you," Pintel said, apparently attempting to sound soothing. Rosalyn glanced at Elizabeth, exchanging worried looks of skepticism.
"We will find you, poppet," Pintel said, suddenly sounding more menacing. "You've got something of ours, and it calls to us."
Rosalyn looked at Elizabeth questioningly, getting only a blank look in return.
"The gold calls to us…"
Elizabeth's hand flew to her neck, where Rosalyn now saw a telltale golden medallion.
"Gold calls."
Ragetti's rather insane way of repeating Pintel's words caught Rosalyn's attention, and she shrank back as the light disappeared, replace by the yellowed eye of Pintel.
"'Ello, poppet."
The door burst open, and Rosalyn was about to A) haul ass out of there or B) kick Pintel in the face, when Elizabeth practically squeaked out "Parley!"
Rosalyn and the pirates shared similar looks of "WTF?" until Ragetti broke the silence with a show of intelligence only Ragetti could summon.
"What?"
"Parley," Elizabeth said breathlessly. "I invoke the right of parley."
"Yeah, we heard you," Rosalyn said. "Mind explaining?"
"According to the Code of the Brethren, set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you have to take me to your captain," Elizabeth said quickly, glancing back and forth between the pirates.
"I know the code," Pintel spat.
"Well, that makes one of us," Rosalyn said. The balding pirate's scathing look kept her from commenting further.
"If an adversary demands parley, you can do them no harm until the parley is complete," Elizabeth went on. It sounded like she was reading it straight from a book.
"To blazes with the code," Ragetti said, lurching toward the cowering women. They both made little squeaks and recoiled further into the cabinet. Pintel grabbed his companion, easing him back.
"She wants to be taken to the captain," he said to his excitable friend. "And she'll go without a fuss. We must honor the code."
Rosalyn didn't feel any more at ease at his words. Especially when she was snatched roughly by Ragetti, as Pintel did the same to Elizabeth. Apparently, "parley" extended to her as well as they were hauled out of the house and into the streets. Elizabeth, despite her agreement, felt the need to still fight against the pirates. Rosalyn followed suit, until she caught a glimpse of a familiar young blacksmith. She grabbed at Elizabeth, catching the other woman's attention and pointing.
"Will!" Elizabeth shouted.
Will looked over, spotting Elizabeth right away. The pirates hurried their pace, ducking behind a building. Elizabeth and Roz both continued yelling Will's name, but he never reappeared. Rosalyn looked at Elizabeth, and she saw a little bit of the governor's daughter fall apart; her hero wasn't coming.