Shadows, Sails and Pirate Tales

Dette struggled against the pirate holding her back. Jack had just been thrown into the waters below, along with her sister.

"Throw 'em in the brig!" Barbossa cried, laughing manically.

Dette felt herself being dragged backwards towards a door, which led below deck. She tried to resist but her attempts were futile as the pirate picked her up and almost threw her down the stairs into the damp, dark brig.

Jack's crew were thrown into the brig after Bernadette and the door was slammed and locked behind them. Dette ran up the stairs, flailing her arms at the door.

"Let us out!" She screamed as loudly as humanely possible.

"It's no use," came Gibbs' voice from just behind her. He rested his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

Dette let out a frustrated cry, before stomping away from the door. She slammed herself down to the floor against the wall and put her head in her hands. She didn't want the rest of the crew to see the tears that were starting to roll down her cheeks.

"Unhinged," Anamaria muttered under her breath.

Dette heard Anamaria's comment and took a deep breath to stop herself from reacting. Gibbs threw a stern look in Anamaria’s direction, before walking over to Bernadette.

"Don't you be worryin' about Jack, he can look after 'imself." Gibbs said, once again placing a hand on her shoulder.

Dette looked up at Gibbs and smiled. "It's not him I'm worried about," she confessed, "I don't know if I can trust Elizabeth not to do anything stupid."

Gibbs looked at Dette, and tried to think of a way to sympathise with her. Everyone knew Jack was partial to a girl with a pretty face, and Miss Elizabeth Swann was no exception.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, Pintel and Ragetti slammed the door open and started to move their soggy mops around the broken floor. Pintel shot a glance at Will, who sat in his own ‘cell’ in the brig.

The parrot on Cotton’s shoulder squawked at Ragetti and Gibbs chuckled.

“Cotton here says you missed a bit,” he smiled.

Ragetti swung his mop around, looking for the dry patch on the floor, before glaring at the parrot.

“You knew William Turner?” Will said to Pintel, who kept glancing at him.

Pintel grinned, "Ol’ Bootstrap Bill. We knew him. Never sat well with Bootstrap what we did to Jack Sparrow, the mutiny and all. He said it wasn’t right with the Code. That’s why he sent off a piece of the treasure to you as it were. He said we deserved to be cursed - and remain cursed."

Ragetti mumbled under his breath, “Stupid blighter,” causing Dette to glare at him through her red eyes.

Gibbs’ caught Dette’s glare and spoke up, “Good man.”

“Well, as you can imagine, that didn’t sit too well with the Captain,” Pintel continued.

“That didn’t sit too with the Captain at all,” Ragetti laughed, “Tell ‘em what Barbossa did,” he nudged Pintel in the side.

Pintel rounded on Ragetti. “I’m telling the story!” he yelled in his face.

Ragetti shrunk back and pulled his mop in front of him for protection.

“So what the Captain did,” Pintel told the crew, “He strapped a cannon to Bootstraps’ bootstraps.”

Ragetti chuckled to himself as he repeated, “Bootstraps’ bootstraps,” under his breath.

Dette couldn’t help but smile slightly at the pirates’ childish manner as he repeated the words a few times to himself. She turned her attention back to Pintel, eager to hear the rest of his story.

He took a breath before continuing, “The last we saw of ol’ Bill Turner, he was sinking into the crushing, black oblivion of Davy Jones’ Locker. ‘Course, it was only after that we learned we needed his blood to lift the curse,” he added, almost reflectively.

“That’s what you call ironic,” Ragetti added, hesitantly, as if scared that Pintel would lose his temper again.

Suddenly, the door was slammed open to reveal Barbossa standing with a ring of keys in his hand. He threw them roughly to Ragetti, who was nearest to the door.

“Bring him,” he ordered, gesturing towards Will, before angrily marching back up the stairs.

Ragetti fumbled with the keys as her tried to find the one for Will’s cell. He shoved a very dirty looking key into the lock and turned it. As he pulled open the door, Pintel reached in and grabbed Will, dragging him towards the door.

“Wait,” yelled Dette, standing up, “Where are you taking him?”

“That be the Captain’s business, missy, so I suggest you keep quiet,” Pintel shot back at her.

She was about to retort, when she saw the looks that the rest of the crew were giving her. She sighed and trudged back to her corner, sitting, once again, next to the wall. She hooked her arms through the metal bars of the cell as she thought about what the Captain might want with Will. Her thoughts strayed to Jack and Elizabeth.

I do hope they are alright, she thought, worried that something bad may have happened to them. She only hoped that they did not turn to each other for comfort. She was sure that even somebody as clueless as Elizabeth would know her feelings for Jack and she prayed that they would keep their distance from each other.

She leaned her head forwards to rest against the cold metal as she tried to clear her mind of these thoughts. She could soon feel herself drifting off to sleep...