Twilight

Chapter 1: Trapped

“ ‘ey, Cap’n! Th’ crew’s been cleared out! Put ‘em in their own brig, we did.” Ragetti reported to his captain, who stood in the Captain’s quarters of the East India Trading Company’s vessel. The captain, the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow, was looking around the room, looking for something as well as touching a few of the true captain’s knick-knacks. “Aye, good. Eh….did ye find me compass?” he asked, looking under a fragile and expensive looking porcelain war horse figurine, then casually tosses it aside. Ragetti reeled back as the figurine shattered, walking over to the remains and stooping down, picking up a few broken pieces. “Tha’ would’ve fetched a pretty penny, Cap’n.” he said, looking up to Jack. “Eh, who’d buy that ugly thing? You go look over there.” Jack said in a nonchalant tone, working his way over to a quaint little cabinet behind the captain’s desk. Ragetti seemed confused. “Eh…where Cap’n?” he asked, causing Jack to look to him now. Jack walked over to Ragetti, stooping down to his level. The, without any warning, he gave a hard tap to the side of Ragetti’s head, catching his eye as it plopped out of it’s socket. “Over there. Fetch!” he says, tossing the eye towards the corner of the room. “M-me eye!” Ragetti stammered, scrambling to his feet and chasing after it.
Jack continued his search. “Wish I had the bloody compass so I could find where it was…” he muttered, sweeping his arm along the desk and overturning a stack of papers. Jack’s attention is grabbed by a little cabinet under the desk. “ ‘ello beauty…” he said, kneeling down and opening the small, antique door of the portable cabinet. “Ah ha! Found ye!” he said surprise, Ragetti looking to Jack now. “Found yer compass, Cap’n?” he asked, and as he does, Jack stands up from behind the desk, holding a half filled bottle of rum. “I found the captain’s happy stash.” He said with a smug little grin, uncorking the top and taking a swig. Ragetti sighs, wiping off his eye and jabbing it back into his head.
Suddenly, the door to the room swings open, Pintel standing in the doorway. “Cap’n! Found it!” he says, holding Jack’s beloved compass in his hand. Jack throws his hands in the air, splashing a little bit of rum on the ground, and then looking down to it. “Bugger…” he muttered, shrugging and heading over to Pintel, snatching up the compass. “Let’s see if she still works.” He said, putting the compass in his left hand and flicking it open. The compass wavered for a moment, then immediately turned it’s needle pointing to Jack’s right hand, where he held the rum. “She’s fine.” Jack said, hanging the compass from his belt. “Where’d ye find ‘er, mate?”
“Found ‘er swung ‘round the captain’s neck.” Pintel replied, looking to Ragetti. “Oy! What’re ye doing in the corner?”
“He threw me eye…!” Ragetti whined, pointing to Jack.
“I did no such thing!” Jack protested. “I was merely aiding in the investigation of that corner!”
“He told me to fetch!”
“Why are ye lil girls arguing now?” Pintel demands. Jack’s eyes narrowed. He took a few steps forward. “Now, that was uncalled for, mate. Firstly; I don’t appreciate being called a lil girl. Secondly; I am your captain, so don’t get mouthy with me. Lastly; I’m not little. I just…really don’t like heights.” He said, backing off and taking another swig of rum. “Right. Take what ye can carry, get on the Pearl, and then we bugger out o’ here.” Pintel nodded slowly. “A-Aye Cap’n.” he stuttered, doing as he was told.
Moments later, they would be aboard the Pearl and sailing away from the EITC vessel. Jack was at the wheel, holding onto it with one hand while holding the compass with the other. It was a late afternoon, and the sun painted the entire landscape with brilliant gold and orange hues. Pintel stood next to him, looking over the crew as the celebrated a job well done with the customary jubilation and heavy drinking.
“Where to now, Cap’n?”
“Tortuga. I’ve some business to take care of there. Pay off an old…eh…debt o’ mine.” He replied, looking to the compass.
“Debt?”
“Aye.”
“Well, what debt?”
Jack chuckles. “Well, y’see mate, I’m a dishonest man. But…I’ll pay off a debt if it’s convenient.”
“Aye, tis true.” Pintel nods, waiting for Jack to get to the point.
“Well, there is this…old buddy o’ mine in Tortuga who has some very unsavory knowledge o’ me. I owe him…big…so if I want ‘im to keep quiet, I have to pay back what I owe ‘im.”
“How much do ye owe?”
Jack would stall for a bit, drawing in a deep breath. “£20,000.” He finally said, releasing that long held breath. Pintel’s eyes widen.
“£20,000?!” he yells, surprised.
“Shh! Keep it quiet!”
“But that’s all th’ money we collected today!”
“I’m aware, mate. But, keep this between us. I’ll just say that…we were robbed.” He says, shrugging.
“Robbed?”
“Aye, robbed.”
“…Aye, Cap’n.” Pintel sighs reluctantly.
“Good man, good man. Now go on, have some fun. And bring me some rum.” Jack said, urging Pintel to go, and heads down to the galley to fetch Jack some rum.
“Oh, and an apple!” Jack calls after him.
“Aye, Cap’n.”
“An’ one of those flippy lil umbrellas we got in Singapore!”
“Aye!” Pintel yells back, stepping then into the galley.


Night has fallen. There was no moon tonight, and a light breeze swept across the ship as they landed in Tortuga. Jack sighs, closing the compass. “Right then.” He said with a sigh, heading down the stairs and onto the ships deck. “Drop anchor, an’ all that good stuff.” He said, walking in a fairly wobbly fashion towards the edge of the ship to lower the gangplank. As soon as he looked over the edge, he was greeted by a very familiar face.
“Oy…Norrington, is it? Back in your ol’ dress, eh mate?” he said, pointing to Norrington’s uniform. “It’s a rather nice dress, for a man.” Norrington grumbled. “Funny, pirate. But I’ve not forgiven you for ruining my life…nor have forgotten my position as a gentleman in society. You attacked an East India Trading Company Vessel and held it’s people captive in their own brig.” He declared. Jack scoffed. “I’m plenty aware of what I’ve done…an’ I don’t quite recall attacking a ship o’ yours. I remember I raided a ship, but I didn’t kill anyone. That would have been an attack. But o’ course I would never just attack, or that would make me a pretty poor pirate. Savvy?” He said with his characteristic hand gestures. Norrington scowled. “That does not excuse your actions, scoundrel!” he exclaimed, rebuking Jack’s actions. Jack held out a finger, waving it slowly. “Oy, if yer going to go about yellin’ at me, do it properly. I am not ‘pirate’, I am Captain Jack Sparrow...the pirate. No cute nicknames like scoundrel and such ‘til you take me out to dinner, mate.” He said tauntingly. Norrington suddenly seemed very flustered, glaring lividly up at Jack. “There is no where you can go, Jack Sparrow-“
“Captain, lad. Ye forgot Captain…”
“Regardless…of what your name is, you are now in the custody of His Majesty the King. Disembark from your ship, or we shall remove you by force.”
Jack sighs. “I just only raided your lil dingy half a day ago. Ye work quickly.” He said, looking back to Ragetti, who peered over the edge. “What now, Cap’n?” he asked. Jack thought for a second, another disdainful sigh escaping his lips. “Call in a favor…ye-know-who, mate. Savvy?” he said quietly, earning a skeptical gaze from Norrington. “What was that, pirate? Planning to escape?” he said smugly. “You know as well as I do that you cannot turn about without your precious Pearl being fired upon.” Jack looked back down to Norrington. “O’ course not. Ye have my word.” He said, dropping the gangplank over the edge and putting his hands in the air, walking down it with some degree of balance. As soon as he was down, Ragetti nodded and retreated into the back of the ship, going into Jack’s Quarters.
“C’mon, Cap’n…so many bottles…” he mumbled, being overly picky about which empty rum bottle to choose. Pintel rushes into the room. “Oy, just pick one!” he yells hurriedly. Ragetti holds up two different bottles. “But this’un might float better, but I can’t find a cork! But this’un doesn’t look seaworthy, and has a cork!” he said quickly and all at the same time, blatantly confused and panicked. Pintel grumbled, yanking the cork from the “un-seaworthy” bottle and slamming it into the top of the “seaworthy” bottle. “Thar! Ye happy now?!” Pintel said, taking the bottle and heading over to Jacks desk, pulling a quill from the drawer and dipping it into the ink well. He scribbled on a quick message, then uncorked bottle and stuffed the letter inside. He tossed it to Ragetti. “Take it, an’ throw it overboard! Then whistle!” he says. Ragetti frowned. “I dunno how to whistle!” he says, catching the bottled message and rushing towards the other end of the ship, facing the sea. He tossed the bottle overboard, then gave a very feeble attempt at a whistle. Which, in all honesty, was just him blowing a raspberry. He tried again, another raspberry. He then looked and saw his sleeping crewmate laying drunk over the rail. Ragetti took the man’s hand, stuck two fingers into his mouth and blew, issuing a sharp whistle. As he did, the bottle hit the water; a shark popped out of the water and ate the bottle whole, swimming off to somewhere.
That whistle was Jack’s signal, broke into a run along the pier. Norrington and his men gave chase, keeping on his heels. Jack laughed, looking back to them as he ran. “Remember, lads; remember this as the day that you almost captured Captain Jack Sp-“ he said, interrupted as he ran out of pier and fell into the water, bobbing and flailing to get back to the surface. Norrington reaches the end of the pier, gazing down at him. “Tie him up. And make sure he does escape.” He says, that smug tone returning to his face. Many of the men train their long rifles upon Jack, who looked back up at them with a sheepish chuckle, rising his arm in surrender, then quickly putting them back down as he was starting to sink again. “Well…nice night for a swim, mates…” he said, splashing his arms playfully. Several ropes with nooses came down and wrapping around his arms. Jack now looked very displeased, and gave a long, heavy sigh. “Well, nothing left to do but to leave this in his hands…” he thought, allowing himself to be pulled towards the docks.