Marie grabbed the blade with two slim fingers and moved it away from her collarbone. A faint smile touched the corners of her lips as she said, "I let you win."
"Just keep telling yourself that, love," replied Jack dismissively. He sheathed his sword and began to turn away. "I beat you with the talent of a practiced captain."
Marie followed after him. "Fine. You won. But I can beat you in something else."
"And what, may I ask, is that?" he asked, feigning disinterest, still walking.
"A race," she replied shortly.
Jack stopped in his tracks and turned around to face the girl. "The Black Pearl is the fastest ship in the Caribbean, love. There is no way your floating house could beat it."
"L'Intercepteur is not a floating house," she said defensively. Her tone then became teasing, "Is Captain Jack Sparrow afraid of a French girl?"
"Of course not. I just don't want to see you cry again when you lose," Jack explained feebly.
"I bet you a thousand sovereigns and this ring," she waggled the hand with Jack's jade ring on it. "That l'Intercepteur can beat the Pearl to Tortuga."
After taking a bracing gulp of rum from the bottle he kept on his hip, he slowly said, "Accepted. When do we leave?"
"Now." She set off running down the hallway, calling out orders in French as she went. Jack blinked a few times, stunned, then set off in the opposite direction.
He ground to a stop in the middle of the corridor and mumbled, "The Pearl is that way."
()O0o o0O()
By the time he had gathered his crew and reach the Black Pearl, Marie's ship was at least a hundred meters away from the dock. A crisp black flag with a dagger, a skull, and a heart snapped in the wind, taunting Jack.
Just before taking another drink of rum, he called out, "You're on, love."
The end!! I'll miss this story :( Anyway, review!