Chapter five
"Keep a sharp eye," Jack warned as he brought the man (Gibbs, if I recall Jack saying) a tankard of rum.
The usual fighting was going on, but it didn't interest me nearly as much as Will. Perhaps it was the fact that I spent the first twenty or so years of my life as the daughter of a pirate. I shuffled back a bit as a couple of brawlers came my way.
"Now, what's the nature of this venture yourn?" I overheard Gibbs as he asked.
I was wondering that a bit myself.
"I'm going after the Black Pearl," Jack answered. Figures.
Gibbs choked on his drink.
"I know where it's going to be, an' I'm gonna take it," Jack continued.
"Jack," Gibbs said incredulously, "it's a fool's errand. You know better than me the tails of the Black Pearl."
"And I know better than him," I mumbled.
"What?" Will questioned.
"Nothing." I turned back to the conversation.
"That's why I know what Barbossa is up to. All I need is a crew," Jack stated.
Yeah, and some common sense.
"From what I hear of Captain Barbossa, he's not a man to suffer fools, nor strike a bargain with one."
Sounds about right.
"Well, I'd say it a very good thing I'm not a fool then, aye?"
"Prove me wrong," Gibbs spat, "What makes you think Barbossa will give up his ship to you?"
"Let's just say it's a matter of leverage, aye?"
From the corner of my eye I saw Will turn to look at Jack and Gibbs. I wonder how much he's heard.
It was silent for a short moment.
"The woman or the kid?"
"That is the only daughter of Hector Barbossa himself, not of much importance." I grit my teeth at this. Who was Jack to say I wasn't important? "And the whelp is the child of Bootstrap Bill Turner. His only child, savvy?"
"Is he, now?" came Gibbs' whispered question. "'Leverage,' says you. 'I think I feel a change in the wind,' says I. I'll find us a crew. There's bound to be some sailors on this rock as crazy as you."
"One can only hope. Take what you can."
"Give nothing back."
Music played softly out on the ship.
"Just some celebratin'," my father mumbled as he led me up the gangplank.
"What for?" I wondered.
"We've, er, come across some treasure." He looked at me sheepishly, like he was caught in a lie by his mother.
"You mean you stole it," I stated seriously, "From whom?"
"No one of importance, my dear Luna." He pulled me up into his arms and away from the celebrations. "Now let's get you settled into a room of your own shall we?"
"What if the find out that I'm a gypsy, a female one at that? Not very many people are accepting of my kind."
He smiled at me. "We're pirates, Luna, none of us care."
The scene around me changed. I found myself being pressed against the railing of the Wicked Wench, three or four pirates. I couldn't really count; it could have been twenty for all I know. My tears blurred my vision too much.
"Make her walk the plank!" one gruff voice called.
"Yeah! It's bad luck to have a woman on board, even a tiny one!" another bellowed.
"Not to mention, she's a Gypsy! Who knows how much she's stolen from us!" a third cried.
I tried to take another step back and slipped, sending myself backwards into the dark abyss of the Caribbean water.
I struggled to keep my head up, but the shock kept that from happening. A pair of strong arms wrapped around me and I was pulled to the surface. The man tied a rope around my stomach and the two of us were pulled aboard.
"Barbossa!" the man, who I now recognized as the captain, snapped. "Best keep an eye on your child! Wouldn't want that to happen again."
I sat up in bed, having stayed in an inn the previous night I was allowed the pleasure, gasping for air. I've not had that particular dream since I was quite young, since I first joined my father on the ship he crewed.
At the time he was quite young himself, barely twenty-four, sailing under a certain Captain Edward Teague. But that's a story for another day.
This particular dream always managed to scare the ever-living daylights out of me. I knew how it ended, of course, but it still scared me.
"Feast your eye, Capt'n All of 'em faitful hands before the mast. Every man worth his salt. And crazy to boot."
I yawned as Gibbs began his presentations. I had slept soundly last night. But it seemed as though I couldn't keep my mind from wandering to my dream and the more I thought about it the more tired I seemed to be.
"So this is your able-bodied crew?" Will asked.
Jack walked past a few of the men. "You, sailor!"
"Cotton, sir," Gibbs said.
"Mr. Cotton, do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death? Mr. Cotton! Answer, man!" I raised an eyebrow. Someone's a little impatient today.
"He's a mute, sir. Poor devil had his tongue cut out," Gibbs relayed.
Cotton opened his mouth to show us what's left of his tongue, causing me to gag slightly.
"So, he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how," Gibbs finished.
"Mr. Cotton's… parrot. Same question," Jack ordered.
The parrot squawked, "Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!"
"Mostly we figured that means 'yes.'"
"Of course it does," I answered.
Jack looked to Will. "Satisfied?"
"Well, you've proved they're mad," came his answer.
"And what's the benefit for us?"
Jack had to do a double-take down to the speaker. Unsure of whom it was and if he needed to be on guard, he walked down to the woman, trying to look under her hat.
"Anamaria!" Jack concluded as her took of her hat.
She smacked him, and as always, Jack overacted his reaction.
"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either," I stated, folding my arms.
He nodded. "No, that one I deserved."
"You stole my boat!" Anamaria claimed when he looked back to her.
"Actually—" She slapped him again, harder this time, the loud sound making me cringe. Maybe, we women are over doing the slapping. "Borrowed. Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back."
"But you didn't!" she snapped.
"You'll get another one!"
She pointed a finger at him. "I will."
"A better one," Will offered over Jack's shoulder.
"A better one," Jack agreed.
"That one." I pointed over to the Interceptor.
"What one?" Jack questioned as he looked to where I pointed. "That one?" growled the Captain as he turned back to me.
I raised an eyebrow, daring him to challenge me.
"Aye, that one," he relented. "What say you?"
"Aye!" she answered.
"Aye!" agreed the crew as they walked away.
"No, no, no! Its frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir!" Gibbs whined. I have a feeling he thinks everything is bad luck.
Jack looked off into the distance, not really focusing on anything. "It'll be far worse not to have her."
"And what am I then? Chopped liver?" I inquired.
He chuckled. "I'd hardly consider you that, darling."
I grit my teeth. "Mark my words, Jack Sparrow; I am not a force to be reckoned with." And with that I stormed off.
A/n: Aw, my dear lovlies, the few of you that there are, it seems that I have been forgetting something rather important... the disclaimer.
Disclaimer: Haha, of course we all know that POTC 1, 3, 4, and 2 do not belong to me! Right? But, oh, do I wish this was my life!
No translations today. Thankfully.
Review, fave, and alert PLEASE!
Lots o' love,
Lyra Raine Sparrow