Author's Note: Uh...surprise? Yeah, I'm alive! Been awhile. You're probably going to notice a drastic shift in my writing style. That's simply because it's been...fifteen since I first started this series, and my writing has changed a lot since then. I mean, heck, it's been seven years since I last updated this story. I have had a lot change in my life, and I wasn't sure when or if I would get back to it. But my muse has returned to me, at least for the moment, so I'm striking while the iron's hot. I hope you enjoy this return to the adventures of Robin Sparrow!

Chapter 3

Being a prisoner was nothing new to Robin; being a pirate, it was an occupational hazard. The trick wasn't necessarily evading capture, it was finding the means and time to escape once caught. However, the Pelegostos were clearly used to their captives finding creative means of escape, and had designed their prison accordingly. Half the crew were killed on arrival, and their bones were used to construct enormous round cages. The cages were then bound together around the remaining crew members, Robin among them, and lowered into a ravine, dangling from thick vines.

Had that been their only obstacle, Robin could probably have gotten them all out of this mess and back onto the Pearl within a day. However, there was one small wrench in the situation: her husband was not kept with them. Upon arrival, Jack had attempted to negotiate with the natives for their survival. Robin wasn't sure what he had said, but it clearly hadn't been received as he intended. Jack was separated from them and made into their chief, a most dubious honor.

Days after their arrival, with infrequent meals and the Pelegostos occasionally removing one of the crew, never to be seen again, Robin was beginning to lose hope. Then, a lucky break: a new captive was added to their cage, and to her immense shock, Robin found herself staring into the face of one Will Turner.

After describing the scene of celebration Will had witnessed on his way in, Gibbs became very grim indeed. "The Pelegostos believe Jack is a god in human form," he relayed to them. "And they intend to do him the honor of releasing him from his fleshy prison." At Will's confused look, Cotton grabbed Gibbs' hand and bit down hard on two of his fingers. "They'll roast him and eat him. Jack's life will end when the drums stop."

Robin mulled this information over. If she knew her husband, he'd be plotting his own escape, but for that…he'd need an appropriate distraction.

"Well, I don't fancy being part of the celebratory feast," she declared. "Everyone, shift your weight. We need to swing the cage to that cliff." It didn't take long, actually. Within a few minutes, both sets of prisoners had latched onto the vines and roots that covered the cliff face.

"Come on, men!" Will urged. "It'll take all of us to crew the Black Pearl!"

"Actually, you wouldn't need everyone," Leech countered from the other cage. "About six would do!" He paused, and Robin could see him doing the math. There were at least a half dozen in each cage. Robin wouldn't leave any of them behind, but if Leech and his bunch made it to the Pearl first…

"MOVE!"

Frantically, they increased their pace as they scaled the cliff. After a moment, however, Gibbs signaled to them to stop and be quiet; a guard was patrolling the bridge. Robin hurriedly caught Leech's attention and ordered him to stop. They complied…at first. Then Leech made a shushing motion and signaled his group to continue.

"What are you doing? Stop, you'll kill us all!" Robin hissed. Leech paid her no mind except to silently laugh in her face. Perhaps it was only fitting, then, that instead of a root or vine, he grabbed hold of a snake, causing the rest of his group to startle and release their grips. Robin only felt a passing amount of pity at their fate; after all, they were planning on leaving her and the rest of the crew to die.

Their screams, however, did attract the attention of the guard, and while the means hadn't been entirely according to plan, it did have the desired effect: he ran back toward the village. "Hurry!" she cried. "Go, go, go!"

The next sequence of events passed in something of a blur, but it culminated in the cage splitting open and the group making a mad dash for the relative safety of a river at the bottom of a chasm. They dodge arrow after arrow from the Pelegostos, until strangely, they stopped firing and turned away. Not questioning their good fortune, Robin led the way back to the ship.

How they had arrived no one knew, but Pintel and Ragetti were already there and had nearly gotten the ship ready to make sail. Robin ordered the others to their stations, scanning the beach for her husband.

"What about Jack? I won't leave without him!" Will declared. Suddenly, a familiar yell echoed across the sand as the man in question dashed out of the trees and began sprinting toward them. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone, as at least 30 furious Pelegostos were hot on his heels.

"Cast off those lines!" Gibbs shrieked as he and Will dashed for the ship. Robin followed, but she never took her eyes off her husband.

"Hurry, Jack!" she called, holding out a hand. He grabbed hold and hauled himself onto the ship just as they got far enough out into the water that the natives couldn't follow.

"Are you alright?"

"Are you okay?"

They paused, staring at each other, before laughing and embracing. Together, they climbed the rigging and hoisted themselves onto the deck. Gibbs came forward and draped Jack's coat about his shoulders.

"Cap'n, I think we should put as much distance between ourselves and this island and get out to open sea."

"Yes to the first, yes to the second," Jack replied, "but only insofar as we keep to the shallows as much as possible." Robin raised her eyebrow. Island-hopping again? What had gotten into him?

"That seems a mite contradictory, Cap'n," Gibbs said, clearly nonplussed.

Jack offered a small smile and a pat on the shoulder, but there was a distinct manic glint in his eyes. "I have every faith in your reconciliatory navigational skills, Master Gibbs. Now where is that monkey? I want to shoot something."

Before he could do so, however, Will approached Jack, and Robin soon learned the reason the lad had come all this way: apparently their actions from a year ago had finally caught up with them, and Elizabeth was sentenced to hang. Jack, however, didn't seem at all concerned with helping, and Will was getting angry. He snatched a cutlass from a nearby crewman and leveled it at Jack.

Robin cocked her pistol and pressed it to Will's temple. "Put it down, Will," she warned, her voice low and steady. "I like you, lad, but that doesn't mean I won't shoot you, especially for threatening my husband and captain."

Will swallowed thickly and lowered the blade. "I need that compass," he said desperately. "I have to trade it for Elizabeth's freedom."

Jack looked thoughtful at this information, then he directed Gibbs to take them "upriver." Robin didn't know what this was supposed to mean, but she knew there was likely a very good reason for this side trip. As Jack and Will continued their discussion, however, Robin paid them no mind. Something had caught her attention, something nagging at the back of her head. An important piece of information, though she was too tired, hungry, and thirsty to puzzle it out. She let it go for now, knowing that when her head was clear and her belly was full, it would return to her.

She went below decks to find something to eat in the ship's galley and grab a bottle of rum from the stores. Robin returned to the captain's cabin with enough food and drink for two, finding Jack scrubbing off the remnants of the paint from his face.

"Shame," she said teasingly. "I thought eight eyes rather suited you."

"Ten," Jack corrected. "They painted me eyelids, as well." He turned and took the offered bottle, popping the cork with his teeth. "I never want to see a fresh mango or coconut again, at least not for the next few years."

"I won't even ask." Robin took a long gulp from her own bottle. "What I will ask, however, is for you to explain yourself, Jack." She settled down on the edge of the bed. "You've been acting odd lately, even for you. You risked your life to track down a scrap of cloth with a picture of a key on it, you're terrified of the open ocean, and now you want us to travel 'upriver.' You promised me an explanation, darling, and it's time you delivered."

Jack sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Aye. I owe it to you, of all people." He sat down heavily in a chair, looking several years older. "To start, we have to go back…thirteen years ago."