Sisters of the Caribbean: Commodore James Norrington

Chapter Eleven - The Curse

I sat quietly in the corner of my cell, staring at the slightly rusted bars that stood before me. I listened as the three prisoners in the cell on the other side of Sparrow's attempted to coax the dog to them with a bone, "Come here boy," the prisoner said, "Want a nice, juicy bone?"

          "You can keep doing that forever," Jack said as he laid on a pile of straw, "That dog's never gonna move."

I rolled my eyes at Jack, he didn't understand it. The prisoners knew where they were headed, if the hope of the dog taking the bait and bringing them the keys brought them hope, of a future outside of this cell, then it is best to let them at least try.

          "Excuse us if we haven't resigned ourselves to the gallows just yet." A prisoner replied to Jack, causing me to chuckle a bit.

It was quiet once again, that was until a loud boom was heard, causing Jack to sit up. I stood and looked out my cell window, "The Pearl." I whispered to myself.

          "I know those guns!" Jack exclaimed as he looked out his own window, "It's the Black Pearl!"

          "The Black Pearl?" A prisoner said, "I've heard stories... she's been preying on ships and settlements for near ten years... and never leaves any survivors."

I scoffed at the man's idiocy, but before I could speak, Jack had already begun correcting.

          "Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?" Jack said, causing me to laugh again.

While I was laughing at the looks the prisoners were giving Jack, a cannonball had hit the cell that held the prisoners. Everyone ducked for cover, protecting their heads. The cell of the three prisoners left enough room for them to escape, the bast left a small gap in between Jack's cell and theirs, but there wasn't enough room for him to escape. My cell remained intact.

          "Praise be!" A prisoner said as he followed the other out.

The last prisoner stopped for a moment, "My sympathies, friend...you've got no manner of luck at all!", and with that, he followed his friends out.

          "Bloody pricks," I muttered.

I sat back down and propped my head against the wall, closing my eyes as I listened to the far-off canons.

          "Come on, doggie," Jack said as he waved the same bone the prisoners had waved earlier, "It's just you and me now. It's you and old Jack. Come on."

          "I'm right here you know." I scoffed.

          "Shush," Jack said, holding one finger at me, I rolled my eyes and huffed.

I watched with amusement as the dog sat under the bench, just staring at him. I laughed at Sparrow who threw me the occasional glare. 

          "Come one, that's  a good boy." He continued to call for the dog until, surprisingly, he slowly started to move closer, "Good boy, come get the bone."

 I quickly became impressed once the dog was only a few inches out of reach, my eyes widened at how close the dog had gotten to him. 

          "That's a good boy, come on." Jack cooed, "A bit closer, a bit closer."

I was genuinely surprised that Jack had gotten him so close.

          "That's it. That's it doggy." I watched as Jacks patience became thin, "Come on you filthy, slimy, mangy cur."

          Suddenly, the dog's attention is turned towards the door, he started to growl and back away from Jack.

          "Don't do that." Jack pleaded as the dog continued to back away.

The dog began to walk away, "No, no! I didn't mean it! I didn't!"

The dog ran off, completely out of sight, and the door suddenly burst open, revealing two very familiar pirates: Koehler and Twigg.

          "This isn't the armory," Twigg said disappointingly. 

Twigg turns to leave, but that was before Koehler spotted Jack, "Well well....look what we have here, Twigg. It's 'Captain' Jack Sparrow." 

          "Last time I saw you, you were all alone on a God-forsaken island, shrinking into the distance. I'd heard you'd gotten off, but I didn't believe it." Twigg explained.

          "Did you sprout little wings and fly away?" Koehler asked, almost mocking him. 

          "His fortunes aren't improved much," Twigg said.

The two pirates laughed as Jack stepped closer to the bars, the moonlight from his window creating a glowing outline of him.

          "Worry about your own fortunes." Jack said with his cocky smirk,  "The lowest circle of hell is reserved for betrayers....mutineers."

This comment visibly angered Koehler, he ran his hand through Jack's bar and grabbed his throat, I quickly stood and aimed my gun at him, just in case I needed to protect Jack.

Jack's eyes got wide with surprise, I looked at Koehler to see what surprised him, and that's when I noticed it. In the moonlight, his arm and hand had turned into bones. Koehler slid his eyes to look at me, before looking back to Jack. I believe that was the first he had noticed me.

          "So there is a curse," Jack said, almost sounding like he knew already, "That's nteresting."

Koehler shoved Jack back and backed away from his cell. 

          "You know nothing of Hell." Koehler spat angrily.

          "That's very interesting," Sparrow said, lost in thought.

The pirates began to leave, but Jack stopped them, "Wait!"

The pirates stopped to look at him, "What do you want?" Twigg asked.

          "Is everyone on that ship cursed?" He asked, he sounded intrigued and worried all in one.

It didn't take me long before I realized the purpose behind the question....Ace. He was worried about her well-being for once.

Koehler and Twigg laughed maniacally, "Aye, even your harlot is cursed!" Koehler exclaimed.

Jack banged on the bars harshly, "She's no harlot!" Jack angrily yelled.

The pirates laughed at Jack and disappeared from the room. I observed Jack for a moment, watching his expression twist from anger to frustration, and finally to pure hurt. He missed her.

          "What curse?" I asked, looking at him with confusion.

Jack stood there silently, staring into space.

          "Jack?" 

He slowly walked from the bars and back to his haystack. He laid down quietly and stared at the ceiling.

          "Jack, answer me," I said, getting a tad bit frustrated,

          "Piss off." Jack said angrily.

I huffed in annoyance and sat down in my corner, I decided not to push him any further on the matter. I'd wait till morning to ask him again. Until then, I needed sleep. I slid down the wall and curled up into a ball, closed my eyes, and slowly drifted off to sleep.