The force of the shove sends me sprawling to the floor and laughter filled the air. I hold my wrist, having forcibly twisted it during the fall.
"Enjoy your time with the captain, little girl." Bo'sun smiles before slamming the door shut. I lose hope of escape when I hear the large wooden door being bolted from the outside.
I slide myself over to another door and pull it open, revealing an ordinary closet filled with books and old navigation equipment.
Shutting the door with disappointment, I slide over to another door, pulling it open to reveal a small bed chamber. I slam that door quickly in disgust. I don't even want to think about what Bo'sun implied when he said "your time with the captain".
I cringe and slide into the middle of the room, where a wooden table stands. Gingerly holding my wrist, I shakily get to my feet and sit in the chair.
I suddenly hear muffled sounds coming from my left and I spin in that direction. I walk over to the wall from where it seems to come from and press my ear to it. Although the sounds are louder, no words can be distinguished.
The sounds stop briskly and I press my ear harder to the wood, wondering if maybe the people moved away.
All of a sudden, the wall falls away from me and I stumble into the adjoining room. Barbossa stands beside what is now revealed to be a false wall and I see Jack, sitting standing casually on the other side of a dining table, waving cheekily to me.
"Well, it is nice of you to join us!" Barbossa says with a laugh. "Here take a seat." He motions to a nearby chair and I take a cautious seat. Jack tosses me an apple from a bowl on the table and takes one for himself.
Barbossa seems a little put off by the action but doesn't say anything on it.
I take the apple and quickly bite into it, my hunger finally revealing itself to be an unsatisfied monster. I feel as if I haven't eaten in days.
Their conversation continues as if I had never interrupted.
"So," Barbossa starts, "You expect to leave me standing on some beach with nothing but a name and your word it's the one I need and watch you sail away in my ship?" He finishes with an unbelieving tinge to his voice.
"No." Jack replies and Barbossa relaxes a bit, until Jack continues, "I expect to leave you standing on some beach with absolutely no name at all, watching me sail away on my ship and then I'll shout the nam back to you. Savvy?"
"But that still leaves us with the problem of me standing on some beach with naught but a name and your word it's the one I need."
"A name?" I pipe up from my corner.
"Yes, sweetie." Barbossa mocks, "A name."
"The name of the person whose blood you need to undo the curse. Bootstrap Bill Turner's child." I try to confirm, having overheard some of the background story on the boat ride to the Black Pearl.
"You are an observant one aren't you?" Barbossa says again, but this time with less mocking and a little more cautiousness.
"Wait...Jack? Is he talking about-"
"No, no, sweetheart. You have no idea who we are talking about." Jack says, putting a discreet finger to his lips.
"Jack, Jack, Jack." Barbossa says, "When will you ever learn some manners? Ladies first. Who do you think we are talking about sweetie?"
Understanding that giving Barbossa any true information would be disastrous, I quickly formulate an answer. "Um... Jack, are we Mr. Everett Turner? The man who just turned 80 last month?" I say cringing.
Barbossa breaks out into laughter and even Jack can't suppress a smile.
"80?!" Barbossa laughs, "You are not as clever as I thought you were, miss! Now, no more interruptions. We have business to attend to. One more peep out of you and I might just give you to the crew for entertainment."
I shrink away and use the apple to occupy my mouth.
"Where were we?" Jack asks turning back towards Barbossa.
"Me, standing on a beach with naught but a name and your word that it's the one I need."
"Oh, yes."
"I don't trust you, Jack. How do I trust your word that its the one I need.
"Of the two of us, I am the only one who hasn't committed mutiny. Therefore, my word is the one we'll be trusting. Although I suppose I should be thanking you because in fact, if you hadn't betrayed me and left me to die, I would have an equal share in that curse, same as you." Jack says, taking a slow, intentional bite into the lush green apple in his hands, before offering another to Barbossa, "Funny ol' world, isn't it?"
Barbossa just stares at the offered apple with such want, such need, but doesn't make a move to take it, or even put it back on the table.
The door suddenly opens and Bo'sun enters, "Captain, we're coming up on the Interceptor."
Barbossa briskly gets to his feet and leaving Jack and I behind, he quickly goes topside.
One glance at one another, and Jack and I are madly fighting our way through the hull and up to the deck pushing and shoving one another to see who will get there first.
Jack makes it through to the deck first and we both race up to the top deck where Barbossa stands, telescope in hand.
Jack swaggers his way over to the captain and stands right infront of the telescope, blocking any view that Barbossa had of the Interceptor. " I'm having a thought here, Barbossa." He says, his mouth squirting juice from his apple in all directions "What say we run up a flag of truce? I scurry over to the Interceptor, and I negotiate the return of your medallion, eh? What say you to that?"
Barbossa sighs, as if expecting Jack to say that, "Now you see, Jack, that's exactly the attitude that lost you the Pearl. People are easy to search when they're dead." He grabs Jack's apple before turning to Bo'sun. "Lock him in the brig."
Bo'sun grabs Jack and starts dragging him away as Barbossa throws the apple overboard.
I don't move or say anything, wondering if I will be ignored and left alone. I slink off as far as I dare go without looking as if trying to escape.
Barbossa looks back through the telescope and he looks surprised. Slowly lowering the contraption, he turns and takes and nice long look at me before looking back at the interceptor through the lens.
"Girl!" He calls me over and I obediently go to his side, shaking in my boots. "You're her sister aren't you?" He asks, his voce low and menacing.
Not waiting for an answer he calls Bo'sun back over. "Throw her in with Jack." He commands with a rotten-toothed smile, "I think we just got our leverage if things should turn for the worse.
Bo'sun returns the smile and grabs me by the arm. He roughly drags me down to the hull to the cells. Most of them are dilapidated and reek of mold. he opens the creaking door to one of them and pushes me in. The water in the cell is around a foot deep and Jack is standing quietly in the corner, waiting for the pirate to return topside.
"Jack." I say, my voice shaking. "They know that Elizabeth is my sister."
"Do they now?" He replies, unimpressed.
"Jack, this is serious! I heard them talking about leverage incase something should happen. What will they do with this information? What could I possibly be used for? Will they try to exchange me for Will?"
"Sweetheart, they know nothing of Will. It is the medallion that they are after right now."
"Ok, but that still doesn't really change anything. Will they use me to get what they want?"
"Oh, Anna, Anna, Anna.. It isn't a matter of "if". It is a matter of "when". No matter where you live or who you are, sooner or later, a pirate will get the better of you."
"You are a pirate." I state, my voice soft and sad, "Will you try to get the better of me?"
This entire day has gone from bad to worse. The only good that has happened is that Elizabeth is now with Will, on the Interceptor, which is, unfortunately, about to be over taken by the Black Pearl and her crew of dirty, immoral, and black hearted men. I am tired and don't know who I can trust anymore. Thomas left and Will abandoned me. Sure, I had told Jack that I believed that Will had not done it on purpose, but after some thought, is it really normal to forget a young girl who is completely surrounded by pirates? It would take some really horrible memory to do that.
"No, not yet. I have other fish to gut first."
"What are you talking about?" I ask suspiciously. "What fish?"
Jack walks over to me, tripping over his own feet and almost landing face first in the water, "Girly, don't mind your little head about such things. Just know, that for now, I won't betray you."
"Isn't that reassuring?" I mutter.
In the silence that follows, I can here the crew on deck and the instructions called out.
"Haul on the main brace! Make ready the guns! And run out the sweeps." I hear Barbossa shout.
Scraping sounds follow his command and my head spins around, trying to figure out where the sound is coming from.
"The gun ports." Jack explains, seeing my frightened and confused expression.
"Oh." I breathe, the realization that a full out battle is about to descend upon us.
"They're clubhaulin'!" Barbossa shouts a warning, "Hard to port! Rack the starboard oars."
I turn to Jack, "Clubhauling?"
Jack doesn't look up but peers out into the see through a small hole in the wall found in the wall. "They're turning to line up with us." He says, a touch of excitement in his voice, before turning all his attention back to the hole, something getting his attention.
I shove Jack a little to the side and squeeze my face close to his, looking out through the same hole. Through the hole I can see the open gun ports of the Interceptor and their loaded guns.
"Fire!" We hear from both above and from the Interceptor. Jack and I both dodge to the side as a single canon blows a hole right where are heads at bean not seconds before.
A slice of wood manages to catch my face and I yelp. A searing pain hits me and I clutch my face in agony, groaning, fighting back the tears.
"Stop blowing holes in my ship!" Jack says from where he had thrown himself.
I slowly pull my hand away only to see it covered in blood. I quickly press it back to the long cut running down the side of my face, from my forehead, down my cheek and chin and ending in the middle of my neck.
Jack turns around mttering in disgust and sees me sobbing. He kneels down beside me and forces my hand away from the cut. Sucking a breath in, he rips the red bandana off my arm and soaking it in the ocean water starts cleaning the cut. The salt from the water burns but grab Jack's arm, holding it tightly to ward off some of the pain.
After a few minutes, he re-soaks the cloth and then holds it against my injury before making me hold it myself for a few minutes.
We sit in the cell as the fighting rages above and around us. I moan as I keep putting pressure on my cut, the salt burning.
Jack delightedly finds a canteen, although turns sour when it is revealed to be empty. As he is about to throw it out of the cell, he notices something.
Pulling me up to my feet, Jack turns me around and points to the cell door, whose lock has been blown off by the canon shot.
Finally! A piece of luck!
Stuffing the canteen into his belt, Jack grabs my arm and starts pulling me out of the cell and through the single hallway to the stairs.
Barbossa's voice is much clearer as we hear him shout, "Raise yer colors ya bloomin' cockroaches! Hands, grapnels, at the ready. Prepare to board! Blast all to carcasses, en! Forward clear to the power magazine. And the rest of you, bring me the medallion!"
Even I know what that means. They are going to board the Interceptor. Which in proper english means that they are going to win. Once boarded, the Interceptor will have no way to escape unless her crew manages to kill every last one of the pirates.
Without a second of thought, Jack and I rush up the stairs and burst on to the deck. Thankfully, everyone is too occupied to notice us and Jack pulls me towards the side of the ship.
All around us, pirates are throwing grapples and swinging over to the Interceptor, shouting and yelling in intimidation.
I look over to the English ship and spot Elizabeth deftly shooting at any pirate that dares try to board. Shocked, and impressed, I notice that she is hitting her targets at least a few times.
A Black Pearl pirate makes an attempt to swing over but is unable to land, swinging right back towards Jack and me. I move quickly to the side to avoid being hit but jack grabs the rope as the pirate swings by, sending the man sprawling across the deck.
"Thanks very much." He says tipping his hat, then turning to me. "You ready?" He asks.
I nod and with one final press against my wound, I wrap my arms around Jacks neck and he deftly swings us over to the Interceptor. I let go and land on my face in the middle of the fighting. I keep to my knees and look around for Jack.
Hearing his yelling, I look up to find that he hadn't let go of the rope and was now swinging back and forth from ship to ship, dodging dozens of bullets before finally letting go while above the Interceptor landing perfectly on top of me, knocking out my breathe.
"Sorry, love." Jack groans getting to his feet and pulling me up with him.
Gibbs shows up above us. "Jack! Miss Swann!"
Jack shoves the empty canteen at the older man, "Bloody empty." He says with a sneer of disgust before rushing off.
I stay by Gibbs side and he quickly hands me a musket. "Find some high ground, and pick off as many as you can." He orders breathlessly, before stabbing a man that had been poised to cut me from behind.
I nod and rush off to the top deck, which is surprisingly empty other than a single corpse. I knock the musket before taking aim. With a deep breathe to calm my nerves, I squeeze the trigger, knocking off a pirate's hat. I gasp and catch myself about to shout, "Sorry!"
I knock the musket again and take aim. Just as I am about to fire, I am grabbed from behind and the musket is yanked from my hands.
A deafening cheer rises up from the pirates of the Black Pearl and my heart sinks. Although I had known that we would lose the battle, the reality that we were all now at the mercy of Captain Barbossa and his crew, was heart breaking. Spirit breaking.
