With a grin, Jack brought his sword down suddenly to hold at Angelica's throat alongside Elizabeth's. Angelica's jaw dropped in shock. Elizabeth did not change expression.
"Mast?" he asked Elizabeth.
"Mast. Get up, Miss Teach," Elizabeth ordered.
Angelica hesitated, looking at Jack in shocked disbelief at his betrayal.
He put a little more pressure on her throat. "I believe you heard the lady, Angelica. Move. Now."
Angelica moved. They brought her over to the mast and backed her up to it, stretching her arms around it behind her and shackling her hands on the other side of the mast. Jack brought out some rope and tied it around her wrists, both above and below the manacle. Angelica glared daggers and spat blood at him. He wiped it off and turned away, ignoring her.
"What's with the rope?" Elizabeth asked, still panting.
"When you killed me, I was able to slip out of the manacle, and her hands are smaller than mine," he explained. "It'll be harder for her to do if she's tied above and below them as well.
"She—she killed you?" Angelica asked, sounding horrified.
Jack whirled to face her. "As I'm perfectly aware that your horror at the thought is only due to the idea of someone else getting to kill me before you do, let me just say that she succeeded on her first try, unlike you with your multiple ineffectual attempts. Also unlike you, with your filthy little black heart, she was actually capable of feeling remorse, and she came and got me back out from Davy Jones' locker. For which I thank you, by the way," he said, nodding to Elizabeth with his palms pressed together.
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows at his actions, but said only, "I'm sorry I made it necessary."
He grinned. "'Tisn't what you told me at the time."
Elizabeth laughed a little, blushing. "Yes, well, perhaps there was one aspect of that incident that I didn't regret."
Jack chuckled. "Always flirting with danger, you are."
Elizabeth huffed out a breathless laugh and stepped back to lay her sword across one of the barrels on deck. "God in heaven, that took it out of me," she muttered. She looked at Jack, who was chafing his wrist where the manacle had been, and shaking his head as if he was still dizzy. "Are you all right?" she asked him. "You're bleeding." She pointed to his ribs, where Angelica had cut him with her dagger.
He nodded, feeling the back of his head gingerly. "It's just a scratch. No permanent damage, I think. How about you, love?" he came closer and perched one hip on a barrel next to her.
"I'll do. Just tired. That Gavilón led us a merry chase, trying to distract me from the Pearl. Her first mate is an absolute fiend!"
Angelica let out a mocking laugh, her teeth lined with blood. "Sí. Gorge is my whore, as you put it. He will be back for me!"
Elizabeth chuckled grimly. "It may be a while, Miss Teach. Between my Empress and Teague's Enforcer, he may have more important things on his mind than you."
Jack gave a cynical smile. "No doubt. Keep a sword on her, love, while I see what she's done with my men."
She picked it up and pointed it at Angelica while Jack ran for the hatchway.
Angelica glared at Elizabeth. "He does not love you, you know!"
Elizabeth did not answer. She held the sword still, pointing steadily at Angelica. Jack reappeared in the hatchway. He climbed up on deck, watching them.
"He still wants me. He told me so."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, but she still didn't speak. It was one thing when they were fighting; her words had been calculated to anger Angelica and make her lose her concentration, and it had worked brilliantly.
Now Angelica was a defeated foe. Elizabeth wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of engaging her in a verbal dual after she'd already beaten her in a literal one.
"Now, now, Angelica. Mustn't tell falsehoods. You're in enough trouble with the Lord already," Jack said. He stalked over to her, tugging at something on his left wrist. He held it up in front of her eyes. "Here, maybe this'll remind you not to speak out of turn."
"My lace!" she said. With a catlike smile, made ghastly by the blood in her teeth, she asked him, "You really gonna part with it, Jack?"
"Thought of a better use for it," he said. He shoved it into her mouth and tied it behind her head while she glared at him.
"Now, shut it!" he ordered her. "All right, love?" he asked Elizabeth.
"No problems here, Jack. Are Gibbs and Cotton all right?"
"I'm just fine, Mrs Turner," answered Gibbs, who was right behind Jack. "Just a little bump on the head. Cotton got a nasty knock, though. Jack sent him to bed."
Jack ran up the stairs to the quarter-deck, shading his eyes to try and see how the rest of the battle was going. El Gavilón was still engaged with the Empress, but Teague's Enforcer was steadily making its way closer to lend assistance. Meanwhile, Barbossa hammered away at the warships stuck on the shoals. There was nothing for any of the on board the Pearl to do, and no way to get to the other ships at present anyway.
"What was she doing here, anyway?" Elizabeth asked Gibbs.
"She'd planned to knock us out and then burn the ship to a cinder," Gibbs growled. "With us and your treasure still on it! She was just going up to Jack's cabin to save his compass when he stopped her."
"Mr Gibbs!" Jack said, bounding back down the stairs to the main deck.
"Captain?"
"Signal the others that we have Angelica. The rest of her little armada ought to be giving up soon. Thought I heard Barbossa's dulcet tones yelling 'Down to two!' a little while back."
"You did," Elizabeth told him. "That was when I rowed over."
Jack nodded acknowledgement, and waited until Gibbs had signaled before continuing. "Gibbs, I need to talk with Captain Swann for a moment. Be so kind as to keep a pistol trained on this venomous… little… viper—" He leaned in close to Angelica, spitting out the words right into her face, "—while the two of us have a private word, eh?"
"Gladly, Captain," Gibbs said grimly.
"And do feel free to drill her if she moves."
"I've never been happier to obey, sir," Gibbs replied, rubbing his bruised forehead. "Like to see her try to burn our ship now, so I would!" He took out his pistol with a dark glance at Angelica, and cocked it. "Go ahead," Gibbs urged her eagerly. "Move."
Angelica stood still, arms pulled behind her by the shackles, a glower marring her face while she bared her bloody teeth around the lace gag.
Note: No, of course Jack wouldn't have taken Angelica's side against Elizabeth! He just wanted to psych her out because he was so peeved with her over that voodoo doll trick. It just happened to occur at a good chapter break. Honest!