The Witching Hour

Disclamer: Don't own "Pirates of the Caribbean," Disney owns it, yadda yadda......

Chapter 2
Discovery

"Bloody hell!" An exclaimation sounded through the gales and howls of the wind as the rain still continued. Captain Jack Sparrow stood on the sand of the island on which they were trying to moor. This was, in fact, the very same island Jack Sparrow had been marooned on when Barbossa had committed a mutiny. Jack found that it made for a great place to hide any treasure that was plundered after that. He had taken to calling it "Jack's Island" after none other than himself. This time, however, Jack's usual cocky smile was not on his face. This time, his countenance held a dirty scowl that was being directed at two of his crew members. Their carelessness at unloading the lifeboats had resulted in spilling some of the jewels from the treasure chest that they had recently "acquired." Jack Sparrow was so angry that he flung his beloved hat onto the ground and stomped over to the crew members. They both recoiled, for that had seldom seen their captain angry.

"What part of 'be careful' did we not understand?" he asked in a dangerously calm and low voice. The crew members flinched as though he had bellowed his words at them. They both began to splutter their apologies, but Jack waved his hand.

"Never mind! Never mind! Just get what you dropped!" But then the ocean became rocky and pulled the jewels that had fallen out of the chest, into its depths. They were gone. The crew members turned to Jack, looking horrified. But to their astonishment, Jack hadn't even noticed that they had failed to get his plunder. Through the rain and the fog that was gathering, he thought he could see a foreign shape on the nearby beach of his island. He squinted to see better, but it was no good. Even if he wiped his eyes profusely, all he could make out was the shape.

Jack took his hat off the ground and plunked it on his head. Then he began to swagger forward toward the figure lying spread-eagled on the ground. Jack shook his head as if he was trying to clear the image from his mind. It looked almost like a specter. But upon closer inspection as he drew nearer, it was a woman. Jack abandoned his swagger and dropped to his knees. He felt her face. It was burning with a fever. Jack tore a piece off his soaked shirt and began to dab at her forehead, careful to avoid the large laceration on it. The cut was not the only injury, however. There were a large amount of bruises all over her body. He saw the beginnings of a black eye, and her left arm was twisted at an odd angle. She was hurt badly, and he knew he had to do something. He couldn't just leave her here, or else she would die. He tried to whistle and signal his crew on the Black Pearl through the howling of the wind, but he doubted that they had heard them. He would just have to stay with her until this damn storm abated. As he waited with her, a sudden thought occurred to him. How had this woman gotten here? He had thought that this island was unknown and uncharted. Even if it was known, what mode of transportation had gotten her here? As far as he could see, there was no ship. Not even the wreckage of one. And how had she aquired those injuries? One didn't usually just appear somewhere with them. It looked as though she had been beaten. Perhaps there was another person on the island with her! A man!? He immediately stood up and his chocolate eyes searched his beach with bitterness. If there was a man on this island, or if he wasn't dead yet, he would be very soon. But Jack saw nothing, and he continued to gaze at the girl.

A few hours later, the storm began to let up. The sun shone through a thick layer of grey clouds and showed the girl more clearly. Jack stopped dead. She was breathtakingly beautiful---the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. It all physical either. There was something about her, that, even in injury, her face held an expression that was almost haughty. An expression so confident that she could have been royalty. Jack felt the familiar stirring in his loins and looked at her hungrily. No, he thought, Now is DEFINITELY not the time. I don't even know this woman... Not that it normally would make any particular difference, but there was something intimidating about this woman that would make even Jack Sparrow quail. The woman groaned and moved slightly, her unbroken arm coming into view. This was when Jack noticed something on her middle finger. It was a ring...one of the most intricate and unusual looking rings he had ever seen. He was amazed how brightly it shone even though its owner had taken a beating. It seemed to be made of silver, with a moonstone flower on top of it that was star-shaped. It sparkled in the sunlight and gave off rainbow colors. Normally Jack, pirate as he was, would have stolen it. But he felt that it would be disrespectful to rob those you were rescuing...if not....well, it oculd be a fee. He considered it for a moment and then decided against it. He let his eyes wander to her beautiful neck, which had an equally intricate necklace on it. It had a thick silver chain with marcisites that trailed to the clasp at the back of her neck. In the front were three dark blue stones that Jack recognized as lapis lazuli, a rare stone from the Middle East. There was one main one that dangled oval shaped to the upper part of her sternum and the other two were smaller ovlas that gave the "bookend effect" to the larger one. However, lapus lazuli typically did not do well in water....so why was it still preserved? How old was it?

As he reached out, about to touch it, he heard an impatient shout. Jack looked up, instantly alert and Gibbs came running to him.

"Jack!" he cried with relief, "There ye be! Now let's get back to the--" Gibbs stopped as Otluta came into his view. "Jack....who...."

"I don't know, Gibbs," Jack said, interuppting him with a solemn expression on his face. "It looks as though she was beaten or shipwrecked...although neither of the two make sense, seeing that there is no ship and there is no man. So, unless she beat herself up into a bloody pulp like normal people do, I'd say that....Gibbs, what are you looking at?" Gibbs was not listening to Jack. He was gazing dumbfounded and openmouthed, not at Otluta, or her beauty, but at the remains of her yew broomstick. "Jack!" he gasped, pulling him away from Otluta's body.

"Jack! Are...are ye hurt? What..."

"Gibbs, would you mind telling me what is going on in that head of yours?" Jack was looking impatiently up at Gibbs and he seemed irritated. Jack made to walk back to Otluta, but Gibbs held his hand fast. "Gibbs, what the devil are you playing at!?" Jack exclaimed as he was pulled backward, his plethora of beads flopping back onto his head and face.

"DON'T YOU SEE HER BROOMSTICK!?" Gibbs shouted, completely panic-stricken, "She's a witch, Jack! A bloody WITCH!!!"

Jack gazed at Otluta again and this time, he noticed her charred broomstick. He nearly kicked himself for not noticing before, but he had thought at first that it was merely a piece of driftwood. He did not want to admit to Gibbs that he had not known what it was.

"Well, then Gibbs," Jack said with a sly smile on his face, "We'll just have to fix her up then. And perhaps we can supply her with another broom..." Gibbs gazed at Jack, utterly horrorstruck,

"ARE YE MAD!? Wait....OF COURSE yer mad...but that's beside the point, Jack. I have had you bring women on board, Jack, Annamaria still give me the collywobbles sometimes, but you can't let a witch...A WITCH on board, Jack! Ye just CAN'T!"

"And why not?" Jack said coolly, "If you recall, you are not the captain, Gibbs, I am." Jack played idly with a bead dangling from his hair and in front of his face. Gibbs' jaw dropped and he could say no more. "Now....if you would help me, I would be much obliged. I can just..." he lifted her off the ground and she seemed to weigh almost nothing. However, her arm dangled dangerously and seemed to crack again. Instinctively, Gibbs ran forward to help Jack, but held back, afraid. "Come on, now Gibbs!" Jack spat, finally annoyed with the man, "She's HURT, how can she POSSIBLY hurt you? And even if she could, why would she WANT to after we have saved her life?" Gibbs shook his head dumbly at Jack. There was no changing this man's mind. But Gibbs would follow Jack to the end of the world, daft as he was. Together, they struggled toward the ship, not because Otluta was heavy, but because of her injuries. Jack could hear the crew's exclaimations of curiosity at the figure they were carrying.

"What is it Jack!?" Smith called out. Many questions joined Smith's but Jack ignored them. He would explain later. He and Gibbs climbed the boarding plank and walked right past the crew and into Jack's cabin.