More midnight-like posting. Hmm....I really shouldn't make a habit of this....haha.
Alright mates, I've got another chapter lined up for you right here! Sorry it took a bit of time; Real life and all that. However, I have a lot of time to write this weekend, so I'll probably knock a few chapters out that I can post once a week, even if things get more hectic than they are now. Thank you so much for the reviews for the last chapter! I tried going over it a little bit closer so there wouldn't be any odd errors, like Tepcat mentioned, but I'm the only one actually looking at this before posting, so forgive my transgressions, haha. So, with that note, let us begin!
Her Setting Sail
Once Kat was outside the Royal Anchor, she took her compass out to consult it. She still didn’t know where Darby Drydock was after all. To her surprise, she followed the compass to a small beach area, not far from the Anchor. She made her way up to a half of a ship embedded in the sand at the edge of the beach, where a man stood behind a counter.
Kat walked up to the grumpy looking man cautiously, remembering all of her other encounters. She wondered if she would get yet another lecture about the dangers of Jolly Roger and his various minions. Quickly, she explained the situation to the man, and he told her that Elizabeth Swan had already contacted him. He seemed reluctant to help her, but gave her a ship. However, he insisted that it be renamed, so it wouldn’t be traced back to him. He gave her a list of common ship name combinations, telling her to pick one. When Kat chose the name of her new ship, Drydock handed her some forged papers for it before sending her on her way, telling her that she could launch from one of the dingys on the beach, but warning her that a free ship would not come her way again, so she’d best take care of the one she had now.
Kat walked the few steps over to the dingy, looking at the small boat with nervousness. So far, she hadn’t had good luck with ships, except for when she was picked up by Lawrence’s. Sucking in a breath, pushed the small boat into the water and stepped into it, rowing for the ship not too far from the shore.
She reached her new ship and pushed the dingy back to shore once she was surely on the rope ladder on the side of the boat. When she made it onto the deck, she made a cursory examination of her newest property. It was a rather simple ship, a mere sloop. There was a small cabin in the back that she gave a glance into. It was sparsely furnished, with just a cot, a small table, and a small stove, all bolted into the floor in case of rough waters. She pulled her head out of the cabin and walked to the center of the deck, where there was a door in the floor that led to the underbelly of the ship. Kat made her way down there, looking at the 6 cannons, three on each side of the ship. Those could come in handy, but Kat figured she wouldn’t be much for sailing. Besides, she had nobody to man them. She sighed and went back on top of the deck. There really wasn’t anything too interesting on the ship to be honest. She made her way back up onto the top deck and looked at the status of her sails.
Well, sail she supposed. This was a very small sloop, much smaller than she had ever even seen. There was only one mast with three small sails, but, despite its small size, it made everything much easier for her. She released the sails from its ties and it flew free for a moment until Kat tied it down again on the side of the boat. With that, she grabbed hold of the wheel, taking a moment to look at her compass so she could acquire her heading.
With a grunt of effort, she turned the wheel in the direction the compass was pointing her to, away from Port Royal. Never had she realized just how much strength and effort it took to operate a ship, even just the wheel. Now, she felt more appreciation for those men like Lawrence, who had worked so hard to provide her with a smooth journey every time she set sail. She bumpily shot across the blue ocean in her crudely made ship. Destination: Tortuga.
Land wasn’t far off. She had only been sailing for an hour (by her estimation) before she came upon an oddly shaped island that did not look inhabited at all. Kat got the feeling this was not Tortuga. For the first time, she pulled out her map that she had gained with her sea chest. From what she could tell, she was going in the general direction of Tortuga, but there was a small island that got in the way. For a fleeting moment, Kat considered avoiding the island, but the compass was still pointing surely in that direction, so she decided to trust it.
Carefully, the ship was guided to shore, the wheel released and the anchor dropped down into the ocean before Kat tied the sails back up. The dingy was released and Kat rowed to shore.
When she got to the beach, Kat found that there was no place to tie up her small boat. Being intuitive, she pushed one of the oars deep into the sand, tying the dingy to that instead. Satisfied, she turned around to find a giant scorpion sitting there, just staring at her. Kat froze in her tracks as the scorpion flexed its long stinger menacingly. She attempted to sneak past it, but the moment she moved, the scorpion struck, flinging venom from its tail, barely missing her arm. In a beat, Kat drew her cutlass and struck the animal, stabbing it through its center before she was attacked again.
The animal twitched a few times while the sword was embedded in it, and then went still. Kat slowly drew her sword back and out, staring at the creature on the ground. She felt no remorse for killing it. It was about to kill her in turn, and she only did it in self defense. Besides, it was only an animal. She stepped around the exoskeleton and walked further up the beach.
This time, she decided to not refer to her compass. She looked around the island a bit, noticing the emptiness, with only a few trees, crabs, and more scorpions inhabiting it. The crabs and scorpions didn’t look like the friendliest of creatures, so she gave them a wide berth as she wandered, despite the small size of the crabs. Even so, she kept her cutlass out, just in case. There was a giant rock formation sticking out from the beach that Kat had to stretch her neck to see the top of. It was green with moss, and its corners jutted out sharply in a way that would surely cut a person if they were able to reach the top of it.
Near the end of the beach, Kat encountered a small cave that seemed like it had been made from waves rushing up onto the shore, eroding the rock away in this specific spot. It was lit with a few torches, which Kat found odd, seeing as how she hadn’t encountered anyone yet on the island. Curious, she wandered into the cave.
Coming out of the other side, she was assaulted by the glinting of gold, shining off of more lit torches that were glowing in a deep grotto. Kat stared in wonder at the treasures around her. There must be more gold here than she had ever seen. She was tempted to take a handful of it and put it in her pockets to help her out a bit. The gold glittered up at her as she reached for it.
A deep voice suddenly came from the other side of the cavern. Kat jumped, pulling her hand quickly away from the pile of riches she had been stretching out towards. She saw a man with a monkey on his shoulder raise his head and look at her with a pair of piercing blue eyes. He was dressed in dark clothes, and had a few age scars on his face. His chin was covered with a brown, mangled beard, and the back of his hair was long. The giant hat on his head gave the impression that he had been in a better place at one point in time. He was overall an intimidating figure.
“This here’s a dark place,” the man murmured in a gravelly voice. “You’ll need more than that cutlass if you’re to get out of here with your skin.” Kat crept closer to him, walking around small puddles and piles of treasure. The man tossed her a small pistol and she caught it quickly, not wanting it to hit the ground and go off. She studied it as the man told her to shoot “the cursed simian.” The monkey jumped off the man’s shoulder and stood, docile, in the center of the cavern.
Kat felt hesitant about shooting the creature. This wasn’t like the scorpion outside, who had attacked her. The monkey was just standing there, waiting for her shot. However, the man seemed to believe the monkey would be fine, so Kat checked the barrel of the gun to see if it had ammunition, raised and aimed it at the monkey, and pulled the trigger.
Her arm jerked back from the recoil. The simian gave a shriek as the piece of lead passed through him, but no blood pooled, and the monkey was still very active. He crawled closer to her and brushed against her leg as he made his was back up to his master’s shoulder. The dark man gave a chuckle. “Little wretch had it coming,” he said, patting the monkey on the head. He proceeded to warn her about the pirates code, assisted by the monkey, which said she was not allowed to go blasting about at anything she so chose. There was to be no shooting of other people, even Navy or EITC. Kat agreed with this, remembering the young Cadet from earlier that day, bleeding on the ground.
There was a loophole to the rules that the man made her aware of. The cursed pirates of Jolly Roger’s army didn’t fall under the same guidelines. With that final word of the ability to shoot skeletons, the man sent her on her way, tossing her some bullets and gunpowder on her way out.
After exiting the grotto, Kat was accosted by a small crab. It came up next to her and raked its claws across a bit of exposed leg. She gave a small hiss and aimed her pistol at the crab, shooting through its tough outer shell. The animal jerked back from the force of the shot. When it was still, Kat poked it with her shoe. It didn’t move. An idea came to her as her stomach rumbled. She could eat this crab if she found a way to cook it. Gingerly, she picked it up, watching for the still sharp claws. She carried it back to her dingy, setting the crab and pistol on the seat of the boat. The oar was wrenched out of the sand where she had left it and Kat made her way steadily back to her tiny sloop.
To climb back up the rope ladder at the ship, she put her pistol in her shoe (without any ammo in it), and climbed up the ladder, gripping the crab tightly in one hand. When she got on deck, she made her way into her cabin and searched for something to light her stove with. Her hunger spurred her on as she raided the cabinet above the stove, finding a small box with about ten matches in it. It wasn’t quite as much as she had been hoping for, but Kat shrugged, figuring she could make do.
Kat set the crab and matches down next to the stove and went into the belly of the ship, looking for a pot. She found a large metal one with a dent in the side, and some rope. The rope was tied around the handles of the pot so that she could dip it into the sea for some water to boil. When she got back up on deck, she noticed how the sky was beginning to turn red and pink, bringing on the night. She sighed. If it was getting dark, she wanted to get to Tortuga. Reading the stars was something she had never done well. She put the pot down on the deck, off to the side, and proceeded to work on getting the ship ready to go.
With a huge amount of effort, she heaved the anchor back up and locked it up. Panting after the , she released the sails and took the wheel once more. This time, she referred to her map and her compass, checking to see if they were both pointing in the same direction. As far as she could tell, they were, so Kat pointed her ship in the correct direction, hoping that she could make it to Tortuga by nightfall.
The winds were on her side that colorful dusk. It wasn’t long before she reached the green, mountainous island. The sun had almost fallen out of the sky and into the ocean when she made her way to the dock. She dropped her anchor again and tied up the sails. The plank was dropped down to the dock and Kat relished the sight of civilization after that barren ship and the wild island. There were some people running around on the beach, singing and drinking rum. A few, Kat noticed, had a small arsenal adorning their bodies, ones that made Kat’s one barreled pistol and rusty little cutlass feel inadequate. She made a mental note to get some new weapons once she got the chance.
She walked away from her ship, double checking to see that it was tied up correctly, into the madness and party that seemed to be Tortuga. This was definitely a pirate’s island. Her compass was clipped safely at her side, away from any sticky fingers. Glancing down at it, she walked up a path towards a tavern with a broken sign proclaiming it as “The Faithful Bride.” With a deep breath, Kat stepped inside, ready to find Jack Sparrow once more.
At her first step inside, Kat was flooded by the noise of people talking and music playing and a strong smell of rum. She was taken aback for a moment before walking further into the madhouse. Scanning the bar, Kat noticed a familiar figure with dreadlocks and a scraggly blue vest, along with a rather fine hat perched upon the head. Kat walked towards the man, overhearing a conversation about Singapore with the barkeep.
Without warning, the man turned around, startling her back a few steps. “You wouldn’t happen to have a lovely sister named Ethel, would you?”Kat shook her head slowly, which apparently pleased Sparrow. He then proceeded to welcome her to Tortuga, and truly introduced himself for the first time. When the introductions were over, he turned back to the bartender, ready for a new drink, not acknowledging he knew her at all past the previous thirty seconds.
Kat felt herself bristle. He didn’t remember her? Well, that freed her from any obligation she had after he had released her from jail. Just as she was about to walk out, ready to not be under the thumb of Jack Sparrow, the man turned around, suddenly remembering her. Kat gave a silent curse.
Sparrow mentioned the favor she owed him, making Kat irritated more. He truly did remember her. Sparrow leaned in close, whispering, “We’re going after the Black Pearl, mate. Savvy?” Kat was already aware of this, after what Tia Dalma and Elizabeth Swan had told her, but she still felt a small jolt of surprise hearing it from the man who was structuring the recovery himself. He told her to find Joshamee Gibbs before stumbling off with his drink.
Kat shook her head at Sparrow’s antics and turned to the bartender (James, or whatever his name was). “You wouldn’t happen to know where Joshamee Gibbs is, would you?” she asked him with a sweet, but strained smile.
James (or was it John?) pointed to a man in the corner playing cards. “That bloke over there, with the grey sideburns,” he told her, and then went back to wiping his bar. Kat made her way over to the card playing man. She tapped him on the shoulder, saying, “Joshamee Gibbs?”
“Not now, I’m busy,” he muttered, not turning away from his card game. Kat rolled her eyes and tapped the shoulder again. “Jack Sparrow sent me,” she told him boldly. The entire table stopped what they were doing and turned to look at her. Gibbs looked nervous. “I fold, blokes,” he said apprehensively, tossing his cards back to the dealer.
“So, Captain Jack Sparrow told ye we’re going after the Pearl, did he?” Kat nodded at him, unsure of his prying. “Well, I’m not sayin’ we is… and I’m not sayin’ we isn’t. Ol’ Jack has earned many enemies over the years, as ye probably gathered by the reaction of those blokes,” he told her, pointing to the men at the poker table. “But I like the cut of yer jib, so I’ll let ye prove yer trustworthiness.” Gibbs pulled her closer and murmured in her ear. “Go kill a few Navy Cadets, and sink one of them light sloops the Navy has while you’re out as well, will you? One of them Ferrets? Make sure you bring back something to prove it as well, aye?” He patted her on the back while she stood there frozen. “Good, lass,” he told her, going back to his poker game.
Kat stood there frozen. Kill Navy Cadets and sink their ships? She remembered the body of the boy she had killed back in Port Royal on the Governor’s front lawn. Tremors wracked her body at the memory’s image. How badly did she really want to help Jack Sparrow?
So, that's that for you. I wanted to get the final part of the beginning of the storyline out of the way in this chapter, and I managed to do that. Yes! As I said before, I have a lot of time this weekend to write, so I'll probably keep cranking out the chapters, but still only post once a week. I know this one was late, and I'm sorry, but, you know, there's that whole real world issue...yah....
Anyway. Constructive criticism is welcome and accepted in this area. Thank you for reviewing the last chapter. You seriously have no idea how much I appreciate it. I have the next chapter (kind of) laid out, so that one shouldn't take a lot of time. If you have any questions about the story, don't hesitate to ask, and I'll answer (within reason. Can't just go giving away the plot, you know?
). And....that's it with my rambling I think. Thanks for reading!
-Kat Crestshot