A Pirate and His Wolf (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Chapter 31

The beat of the drums was building as the Pelegostals prepared for the feast. Jack nodded as they built the pit larger and larger, forcing a smile. He watched in horror as they placed a large spit over the fire pit. Jack gulped and took a breath, "Not big enough!" he shouted, boldly striding forward to the pit, pretending to act more like a chief to buy time.

He frowned at the Pelegostals who watched Jack with interest. "Not big enough!" he said, widening his arms. "I am the chief! I need more wood! Big fire!" he said in the language of the Pelegostals. "More wood!"

The warriors dropped their spears and hurried away to find wood enough to satisfy the chief. Jack straightened up and crossed his arms, glowering at them until they were all gone.

Then he ran,

He followed the trails and stumbled across a rickety wooden bridge stretched across a large chasm. He made his way through a small cluster of huts and suddenly found himself at the edge of a steep cliff, one step away from falling over. He quickly turned on his heel and ran into the nearest hut.

"Rope, rope, rope." he said, digging through the hut's contents.

As he rummaged around, he knocked over a small container with spices. He disregarded it, but then turned back, noting the engraving on the lid, the East India Trading Company Insignia. He picked it up and the rope he'd just found next to it and turned towards the entrance of the hut. He saw a large warrior standing in the entrance, staring Jack down.

Jack quickly tossed the rope aside and opened the can of spices, rubbing it on his body. "See?"

That didn't work.

Jack soon found himself coated in a nice dusting of fresh spices and tied to the enormous spit hanging over a huge pile of kindling wood set in a large pit. He sighed and looked down at the fire pit, which now, thanks to his own efforts, was huge. He nodded at the warriors who beamed with pride.

Meanwhile, inside their cages, the pirates waited helplessly. But Will Turner wasn't about to give up. Elizabeth's life was in his hands, and he had to get Jack to Beckett. He decided not to give Zachary or his kids to Beckett because what he had done for him and for his children is too young to be alone with a shapeshifter with them. He looked around at the rope that tethered the two cages and quickly yelled to the other pirates, "Swing your cage!"

He, Gibbs, Marty, Cotton, Zachary, and the other pirates began to shift their weight from side to side, causing the cage to rock. "Get it to the wall!"

Leech and the other pirates in the other cage got the idea. They rocked their cage to the side of the steep chasm wall and grabbed a vine. "Put your feet through," Will shouted. "Start to climb!"

Pulling with all their might and grabbing for footholds, the crewmembers slowly moved the two cages up the wall.

"Come on men! It's going to take all of us to crew the Black Pearl" Gibbs growled.

"Actually, we don't need everyone. About six would do...." Leech replied.

The pirates in each cage exchanged looks before they both began to scramble for the top.

As they raced, a guard passed over the large rickety bridge and Will quickly forced the pirates to stop moving. Will waited and watched both the other cage and the warrior man. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Leech's mouth moving, and their cage began to rise higher.

Leech, determined to win, began climbing, pulling at various vines. One of which turned out to be a snake. With a scream, he and the pirates in his cage let go of their vines, causing the cage to plummet down the chasm.

Suddenly, the man crossing the bridge stopped and looked at the single cage. Will winced as the warrior cried and bolted down the bridge. As he ran, the drums stopped beating.

Inside the village, Jack was tied up like a turkey on thanksgiving, a torch coming closer to lighting the pit. The guard suddenly burst into the crowd, screaming and pointing in the direction of the chasm.

The eyes of the villagers turned to Jack, who was still chief. He clicked his tongue and grunted. "After them! Don't let them get away!" he jerked his head.

The warriors hesitated before storming off towards the bridge. The man with the torch tossed it aside, and it rolled until it just connected with a small piece of wood on the outer edge of the piece.

The twig burst into flames and suddenly the entire pit was on fire. Jack tried to blow it out, but there was no use.

Back in the chasm, Will and Zachary's cage reached the top first. They rolled the cage up to the edge of the cliff and quickly pulled their legs through the holes. "Put your legs through!" Will called out.

"Lift it like a lady's skirt!" Gibbs cried.

They quickly made their way across the field, attempting to outrun the islanders.

Back in the village, Jack was trying to move quickly and was desperately trying to bounce the spit up and down and completely away from the fire. A boy from the village sat at the table, knife, and fork in hand.

Jack finally bounced high enough and fell away from the pit, gasping for air, and trying not to think about how close he was to die. He managed to stand upright; his back still tied to the long spit on his back.

The boy who watched Jack's escape quickly got up and ran into the jungle. He caught up to the warriors and told them that Jack had run away. The warriors immediately backed off of the crew and headed for Jack himself.

Not far away, Will, Zachary, and their portion of the pirates that had broken free from the cage arrived on the beach and headed towards the Pearl which was already prepped to head into the water.

While the warriors had been busy chasing Jack. Will, Zachary, and the crew found their way back to stable land and started to run towards the beach and their beloved ship. On their way there, once the ship was visible on the horizon, they spotted two figures trying to fix the ropes.

Zachary recognized them as Pintel and Raggett. Two Barbossa Pirates who had to flee back at the island. A weird but amusing duo. The crew thought they were not affected by their presence as they kept running.

They started to climb on board the ship and immediately head to work, with Gibbs being the only one to approach the duo.

"Excellent," he said, clapping his hands. "Our work's half done!"

"We did it for you! Knew you'd be coming back for it" Pintel lied but Gibbs didn't mind or didn't care.

"Make ready to sail, boys!" Gibbs said.

"What about Jack? I won't leave without him!" Will cried as he headed towards Gibbs at the wheel.

Zachary suddenly pointed to the beach, a look of horror on his face. Will and Gibbs looked up to see Jack running down the beach with a hoard of warriors at his heels.

"Jack! Hurry!" Gibbs cried, as the ship slowly made its way off of the sand. Jack was hurrying. He's managed to remove himself from the spit, his arms flailing as he tried to stay ahead of the warriors.

"Cast off! Cast off!" Zachary cried.

Onshore, the small dog that Pintel and Ragetti had brought with them sat on the sand, growling at the warriors.

"Good doggy!" Jack shouted, patting it on the head as he ran. He ran into the water and to the side of the Pearl, which had just entered the water. Jack grabbed a hold of the rigging on the side of the ship.

Jack turned back to the warriors who'd stopped at the edge of the water, crying out for their meal. "Alas, my children! This is the day you shall always remember as the day that you almost-"

A huge wave splashed over Jack, drowning out part of his sentence. "Captain... Jack... Sparrow." He turned around and began to climb aboard the ship, not knowing who else was on board...