Cheating: one for two

[dwgm]

Managed to construct a short ficlet (a little over 400 words) to cover both last week's and this week's drabble challenges at Black Pearl Sails. Last week's was 'Bar', and this week's is 'Things To Come'.

~ Loose ~

“Get in there, young varmint!”

They gave him a shove, and Jack stumbled, falling to the floor of the cell, grazing his hands and knees. He hissed at the pain, the foulest dockside oath he could recall, but the clang of the door swinging home drowned it. Then the guards were leaving, their footsteps and banter fading down the dank passage. He rolled to his backside, sitting in the dust to gingerly inspect the damage. His skin would mend, but the hole in his best pair of breeches and the damage to his lace cuffs would not.

He looked up, finally, at the cell door: wide straps of metal in a strong criss-cross pattern, secured with a hefty lock, and only torchlit darkness beyond it. Behind him, though, was another source of light. He got up and turned to face it. A barred window, through which moonbeams shone in tantalizing array.

Oh, cruel! Almost against his will he was drawn toward it. Clean silvery light… a fresh scent of cold night air… the faint, steady sound, like the beating of a great heart.… and then the sight, the blessed sight of the sea. Panic assailed him as he stared through the bars at his lost freedom, and at what he now faced, instead. He took hold of the iron, cold as death under his hands.

“No!” he said, low but vehement, and he pulled, and then shook at the bars, hard. Harder.

And a small chunk of wall flaked off and fell. He froze, gaping.

Heart thudding for quite another reason now, he jerked at the bars again. It was the one on the right side: loose! He put both hands around it, and turned it with all his strength and, miracle of miracles, it twisted ‘round, grating against the stone in which it was seated. He tried lifting it, and it moved that way, too, and another small chunk of wall broke off and shattered.

The noise of it startled him, and he looked furtively around. But the guards were gone, and there seemed to be no other prisoners at present.

Three hours ‘til dawn, and maybe a bit more before he was brought before the magistrate. The echo of the guard’s words rang in his head, brutally cheerful: Ol’ Morestone’ll ‘ave the skin off your back, right enough, come the mornin’, just see if ‘e don’t!

Aye, well, they would just see about that, wouldn’t they?

~.~

Comments

[hereswith.livejournal.com]

Oh, young Jack, in as much trouble as always, and as much in Lady Luck's favour... I really like the descriptions here and the ending lines are quite perfect. Very well done! :-)

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I like writing young Jack, and I think he'd be surprised at his luck at the beginning of his career. Glad you enjoyed this. :)

[honorat.livejournal.com]

Oooh! Young Jack. I love young Jack! So much of what he will become is embryonic here. Always in trouble, longing for freedom and the sea, lucky in his escapes. That's Jack all right!

You capture the misery of that prison, the terror of captivity, the dread of an intolerable future, and then the disbelieving wonder of luck in beautiful descriptions.

Wonderful. The legend of Jack Sparrow begins!

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

So happy you enjoyed this. Took me a while to decide which "bar" to use, but then it went along with the new theme, too, so it all worked out.

Looking forward to more of yours -- sending more soon, I hope???

[honorat.livejournal.com]

LOL! That icon! He can come down my chimney at Christmas! The rum will be out on the table. Just don't break the furniture or pull the cat's tail.

I've been too busy to write lately, but I should be back soon.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Isn't that a cute icon? gryphons_lair made that for me last year. I need to go back and put it on the Christmas stories I wrote last year -- I took it out of my userpics and the icon reverted to my default.

I will try to be patient in awaiting more fic from you, but it is a very exciting story! :)

[cacopheny.livejournal.com]

Totally unrelated, but do you still wanna go to my mom's concert at Moorpark College this (next?) weekend? She needs to know if yes, and which one, by Tuesday in order to get tickets. If Amorette didn't tell you, it's either Saturday at 8 or Sunday at 3. My grandmother wants to go to the Sunday one, if that makes any difference....

Let me know ASAP ^^

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd like to go. Let me ask Kimi if she and Jason want to go, too.

[cacopheny.livejournal.com]

Okie ^^ Let me know ASAP which one, for tickets and such ^^ (I'd personally prefer to go Sunday, so's my Grandmother won't be alone, either ^^ )

[mostly-mischief.livejournal.com]

I was hoping to add each other.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

"Friending" do you mean? By all means!

[mostly-mischief.livejournal.com]

Great. I know you from yahoo groups and reading your lj is interestng so my search for intelligent conversation was not in vain.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've seen you at BP Sails, and commenting on LJ. Checked out your site(Where's the rum?), also -- some interesting stuff there (but adult fic, so I can't really link BP Tales to it). Also received the invite to join your wherestherum Yahoo group, but I am barely keeping up with Sails these days so I declined. There are not enough hours in the day. *G* Will friend you back, however, immediately.

[mostly-mischief.livejournal.com]

absolutely, I tell people who don't have the time to keep up with such a high traffic group that they should join and go "no email" Then visit the group once every 1-2 days but considering how fast the news moves I'd say more like once a day.

I have roughly a thousand emails that I'm trying to weed through now from all my groups. I'm trying to stay active with everything... I believe I'm failing. lol

Here's to trying

[torn-eledhwen.livejournal.com]

He did escape, didn't he? I hope so! Delightful ficlet.

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

(As usual lately, I didn't know you commented.)

Glad you liked this. And yes, he did escape -- that time!

[requiem-unbound.livejournal.com]

Jaaaack's in trouble! Loved this! I was reading some of your other fics too, I especially enjoyed "Lost and Found" and "Jealous".
On another random note, I friended you, cuz I read your work on fanfiction.net first and it absolutely enthralled me. It was what really got me onto the Jack/Elizabeth shippy-ness.
Ack! Sorry I'm not more coherent right now....

[geekmama.livejournal.com]

Sorry I'm just now replying -- LJ is slowly delivering comments to my email, but I didn't see this one until just now.

I'm glad you enjoyed this little snippet of story, and am thrilled you have been reading and enjoying my other work! I'll friend you back, too, if you don't mind.

Re: J/E shippy-ness -- have you read hereswith's J/E stories? She's amazing! She has them all posted here, on LJ, but they are also on Black Pearl Tales, the archive website for the Yahoo group where we first met.

Again, thank you for letting me know you're enjoying my stories -- you really made my day (and it's only 6:30 in the morning!)

[requiem-unbound.livejournal.com]

Ack! *Curses Godforsaken Hotmail and my computer for good measure*

Just got this today, technology hates me I think. Don't mind at all if you friend me back. I'm flattered! :)
I'm going to explore Black Pearl Tales now even though it is far too late to be doing this.... *commences bouncing with excitement*

[hendercats.livejournal.com]

Aaaah, young Jack - what a treat! And Lady Luck, already showing she can be swayed by a pretty face. :) Liked the detail of his clothing (hmmm, lace cuffs? wish we'd been able to peek in a bit earlier to see what it was he did....)

[mary684.livejournal.com]

*glee* And so the legend begins...