Take Off Your Dress, Pick Up A Sword

a dangerous fugitive

"Jack Sparrow," the officiate called. "Be it known that you have..."

"Hangings are barbaric," Joanna opined with a frown. The statement was factual, just as grass is green and skies are blue; in other words, Joanna had never given much thought to the vile nature of public execution. But now, faced with Jack's impending death, Joanna's stomach had twisted itself into tight knots. 

At Joanna's side, Will nodded his agreement. His face was drawn and anxious, but the line of his shoulders was proud.

"...for your crimes against the crown," the officiate continued to drawl. "Said crimes being numerous in quantity and sinister in nature, the most egregious of these to be cited herewith..."

"I'm nervous," Joanna whispered, pressing her shoulder against Will's.

Will looked at her, his eyes severe beneath the brim of his flamboyant hat. "Me too," he replied, flashing a slim smile. He confessed, "But I'm glad I'm doing this with you."

In spite of her worries, Joanna beamed. "The same to you, William."

Without stopping to breathe, the officiate droned on, "...sailing under false colors, arson, kidnapping, looting, poaching, brigandage, pilfering, depravity, depredation, and general lawlessness."

Joanna whistled under her breath. Her eyes were on Jack -- he looked vaguely amused in the face of humiliation. "Someone's lived a full life."

"I'm off," Will said shortly and sharply turned away. The alabaster feather decorating his hat caught Joanna's ear.

Joanna watched him go, silently wishing him all the luck. She took deep, calming breaths. She wished for a cursed coin to dull her anxiety.

She had no cursed coin, so she turned her eyes to Jack Sparrow. His hands, clasped before him, did not shake. His gaze, steady and sure, did not falter as he observed the crowd. Joanna wondered if he was looking for her.

When the crowd began to murmur with unrest, Joanna knew it was time. She had circled her waist with Jack's old sword belt; she drew her dao from it, sure of nothing but her commitment to removing that noose from Jack's neck. Women and men alike gaped in shock as Joanna divined a path through sheer force of will.

Joanna surveyed the path Will's cutlass carved through the air. With an ineludible thud, the blade buried itself in the wood beneath Jack's feet.

Will had made his move in the nick of time -- Jack fell, his eyes wide with alarm as the noose around his neck tightened. Jack's feet scrambled for purchase as they hit the sword blade, but his neck remained blissfully intact.

Amid a squalling crowd, Will shot to the top of the hanging platform. He cut a fantastic figure against the sun, spinning around Jack's figure as he exchanged blows with the hulking hangman.

Will's aim was flawless, but that did not compensate for the minimal surface area of a sword. Joanna raced to stand beneath Jack's scrabbling feet. "Jack!" She cried, waving frantically.

"Hi!" He shot back in high-pitched panic. Despite his alarm, Jack understood Joanna's urgent gestures. He presented his hands to her waiting blade.

Joanna had spent an hour over the dao, sharpening and shining its edge to sublimity. It swept through Jack's bonds like butter, freeing him to loosen the tether around his neck. Jack, still wobbling on the flat of a sword, rushed to pull the noose over his mass of hair.

Joanna held her breath as Jack, free of bonds, tumbled from above. She caught his arms, steadying him as he circumvented the dangerous edge of Will's sword. "Anna," he said with a breathless smile.