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dwgm500 words, theme: Island, warning: profanity. Many thanks to my dear ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hereswith for beta reading, editing, and excellent suggestions.
Previous bits...
And here's today's...
38. Island
~ An Execrable Business, continued...
"Captain! Captain, we're comin' up on Grand Turk!" The voice was accompanied by a pounding on the cabin door, and Jack was awake and rolling from the hammock before the echo died away.
"What is it?" came Nell's voice from his bed, sleepy and querulous.
Jack yelled at the door, "I'll be there directly!" and turned up the nearest lantern. Dawn was still at least an hour off. As he fetched his discarded and still rather damp accoutrements, he said to Nell, "We're offloading Claypool's dogs at Cockburn Town. Didn't expect to arrive so soon, but that storm pushed us along at a spanking pace, and in the right direction for once. Get up and get dressed."
"Must I?"
"Aye. You don't want to see them, I know, but I want them to see you and go to Claypool, not back to Tortuga."
"Would they bother Joseph and his family?" Nell exclaimed. She threw off the covers.
"All too possible," Jack said, pleased she was so quick. Also pleased by the sight of her slim, bare legs, and of that round backside, covered only by the tails of her shirt as she bent to retrieve her breeches. His fingers itched – the least uncomfortable of the physical manifestations she engendered. Tonight, he promised himself.
"Won't they identify me? To your men?" she asked as she dressed.
"Bill gave 'em a mort of liquor, to ease their hurts and scotch their capacity to turn King's evidence. Sorry, I mean several bottles of liquor."
"I am quite conversant with thieves’ cant, thank you," said Nell, glancing at him with a raised brow. "Tortuga is a most educational environment."
Jack gave a bark of laughter, and she grinned in response.
But she was not smiling at all, later, when she joined him on deck in the gray light of dawn.
"Come here, lad," Jack said, sharply, for many of his crew had heard what was afoot and had come on deck to witness the proceedings, and Barbossa's eyes were on Nell as he watched her cross the deck to Jack's side. Jack turned to Bootstrap. "Is the boat ready?"
"Aye," said Bootstrap, "and the prisoners." He jerked his head toward the open hatchway and there they were, emerging under a guard that half prodded, half supported. They were obviously drunk, and looked mighty sick, too, as they shuffled and staggered to the gangway.
Jack walked over, with Nell beside him. "Gents, Grand Turk's just over there, and Cockburn Town awaits. My lads'll drop you on the beach. Can't say fairer than that. Off with you now, down the ladder and into the boat.”
The two gaped blearily, and the one Jack had shot turned and started down the ladder, but before the other, the one who'd broken Anamaria's arm (however inadvertently) could follow suit, he noticed Nell standing there and began to point and stutter: "You! 't's you, you damned bi—"
His words were cut off by Jack's backhanded blow. "Throw him over," Jack commanded, and it was done in a trice, with a roar of enthusiasm. Jack, Nell, and most of those present were at the side in time to watch the vile miscreant hit the water, two feet from the boat, and the crew hooted and yelled obscenities as he was hauled aboard.
Once there, however, he pawed and yammered at his mate, and gestured upward, and even the rowers turned to look.
"Bloody hell!" muttered Jack.
"Or is it damned bitch?" Barbossa asked over Nell's head, his eyes a-glint.
Jack ground his teeth. Then he snapped, "Muster all hands, Mr. Barbossa!"
TBC...
hereswith for beta reading, editing, and excellent suggestions.Previous bits...
| 1. Tortuga 2. Happiness 3. Festive 4. Last Minute 5. Calm 6. Truth 7. Bargain 8. Spook 9. Down 10. Wounds 11. Moon 12. Monsters | 13. Beauty 14. Name 15. History 16. Service 17. Advice 18. Captain 19. Awe 20. Cross 21. "You've made a big mistake" 22. Heroism 23. Gold 24. Echo | 25. Greed 26. Advance 27. Challenge 28. Adventure 29. Sentence 30. Treasure 31. North 32. Coat 33. Good and Evil 34. Sickness and Health 35. Lost 36. Court | 37. What if? |
And here's today's...
38. Island
~ An Execrable Business, continued...
"Captain! Captain, we're comin' up on Grand Turk!" The voice was accompanied by a pounding on the cabin door, and Jack was awake and rolling from the hammock before the echo died away.
"What is it?" came Nell's voice from his bed, sleepy and querulous.
Jack yelled at the door, "I'll be there directly!" and turned up the nearest lantern. Dawn was still at least an hour off. As he fetched his discarded and still rather damp accoutrements, he said to Nell, "We're offloading Claypool's dogs at Cockburn Town. Didn't expect to arrive so soon, but that storm pushed us along at a spanking pace, and in the right direction for once. Get up and get dressed."
"Must I?"
"Aye. You don't want to see them, I know, but I want them to see you and go to Claypool, not back to Tortuga."
"Would they bother Joseph and his family?" Nell exclaimed. She threw off the covers.
"All too possible," Jack said, pleased she was so quick. Also pleased by the sight of her slim, bare legs, and of that round backside, covered only by the tails of her shirt as she bent to retrieve her breeches. His fingers itched – the least uncomfortable of the physical manifestations she engendered. Tonight, he promised himself.
"Won't they identify me? To your men?" she asked as she dressed.
"Bill gave 'em a mort of liquor, to ease their hurts and scotch their capacity to turn King's evidence. Sorry, I mean several bottles of liquor."
"I am quite conversant with thieves’ cant, thank you," said Nell, glancing at him with a raised brow. "Tortuga is a most educational environment."
Jack gave a bark of laughter, and she grinned in response.
But she was not smiling at all, later, when she joined him on deck in the gray light of dawn.
"Come here, lad," Jack said, sharply, for many of his crew had heard what was afoot and had come on deck to witness the proceedings, and Barbossa's eyes were on Nell as he watched her cross the deck to Jack's side. Jack turned to Bootstrap. "Is the boat ready?"
"Aye," said Bootstrap, "and the prisoners." He jerked his head toward the open hatchway and there they were, emerging under a guard that half prodded, half supported. They were obviously drunk, and looked mighty sick, too, as they shuffled and staggered to the gangway.
Jack walked over, with Nell beside him. "Gents, Grand Turk's just over there, and Cockburn Town awaits. My lads'll drop you on the beach. Can't say fairer than that. Off with you now, down the ladder and into the boat.”
The two gaped blearily, and the one Jack had shot turned and started down the ladder, but before the other, the one who'd broken Anamaria's arm (however inadvertently) could follow suit, he noticed Nell standing there and began to point and stutter: "You! 't's you, you damned bi—"
His words were cut off by Jack's backhanded blow. "Throw him over," Jack commanded, and it was done in a trice, with a roar of enthusiasm. Jack, Nell, and most of those present were at the side in time to watch the vile miscreant hit the water, two feet from the boat, and the crew hooted and yelled obscenities as he was hauled aboard.
Once there, however, he pawed and yammered at his mate, and gestured upward, and even the rowers turned to look.
"Bloody hell!" muttered Jack.
"Or is it damned bitch?" Barbossa asked over Nell's head, his eyes a-glint.
Jack ground his teeth. Then he snapped, "Muster all hands, Mr. Barbossa!"
TBC...
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-16 10:34 pm (UTC)I loved him ogling Nell, and that promise of tonight :-)
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Date: 2009-02-17 01:33 pm (UTC)Thank you for commenting!
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Date: 2009-02-17 12:45 am (UTC)Tonight, eh? *squees*
no subject
Date: 2009-02-17 01:33 pm (UTC)Thank you for commenting!
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Date: 2009-02-17 11:06 am (UTC)Wonderful!! And so intense - I CAN'T wait to read more! :)
no subject
Date: 2009-02-17 01:35 pm (UTC)Not so minor, sometimes. You'd think Jack would be entirely used to his plans going awry.
Thank you for commenting!
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Date: 2009-02-18 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-19 06:24 am (UTC)