The Children of Promethus

Chapter One- Of Elephants and Aunts.

****

Jack and Gibbs sat on a hilltop, hidden by dense jungle vegetation, watching the great gray beast lumber in-between two cliffs. Carved into the cliff face at regular intervals were pillars made up of the faces of angry, leering gods, stacked one on top of the other. The beast was adorned with bright fabrics draped over it like offerings. From atop the cliffs, thousands of people threw fresh flowers in its path. Their many voices trilled together, paying service to the creature. As if knowing their reverence was meant for it, it raised it’s trunk and let out a mighty blast. Gibbs covered his years and looked at Jack.
“What in the name of all that’s holy is that?” he yelled over the roar of the crowd.
“S’called an elephant,” Jack answered “Their gods. They’re also trained for war, labor, and execution. Seems these heathen gods wear many hats.”
The elephant continued down the path. At the end were two large stone slabs. Chained to one was a dark-skinned man who was struggling wildly. Chained to the other, and looking only mildly inconvenienced was Evangeline. A single man guarded the two prisoners.
“What’s the plan?” Gibbs asked.
“That fellow there is first,” Jack said, pointing to the chained man “Eva’s the main event and they’ll save her for last. We wait till he’s had his turn, then we run down the canyon, make a lot of noise, get the guy guarding them to let her loose, then run back to the Pearl and never come here again.”
Gibbs stared hard at Jack and blinked twice slowly.
“That’s the grand plan then?”
Jack nodded.
“Aye, that’s the grand plan.”
Then Jack took off at a low crouch towards the opening of the canyon. Gibbs muttered a prayer and followed Jack.
When the elephant reached the end of the canyon, it reared up on it’s hind legs and the noise of the crowd reached a new pitch. Jack stood up, in plain view, but not a single eye was on him. All attention was focused on the beast and the condemned. The elephant came back down on it’s front legs and the guard went in front of it, waving his arms and clucking. The beast protested a bit, but began to back up and the chained man stopped struggling and started calling out a prayer in his strange language.
The elephant backed up until it’s legs touched the edge of the stone slab and the man was staring up at the great bulk of the animal. The elephant reared up again and the man began to scream. His screams were cut off as the elephant back up and sat on the man’s head with great force. His feet beat a quick tattoo on the stone and then were still. Gibbs turned green and Jack curled his upper lip back in disgust.
“I’m reminded of my Great Aunt Ruth,” Jack said “Saw her do something of the sort to a dog when I was a lad.”
They both looked down the canyon to see the elephant receiving praise from the crowd. They could also see Evangeline has passed mild inconvenience and was experiencing actual fear. She began testing the give and pull of the chains ever so slightly, turning her head as best she could, looking for rescue.
Jack began walking down the canyon, his presence still concealed by the crowd’s rapt attention to the events at hand. Gibbs was following behind, muttering the whole way about not wanting his last sight on this Earth to be some great beasties arse. About halfway down, someone saw them and the crowd began yelling and pointing. The guard saw them and edged past the elephant. He drew two deadly looking curved blades and stood there waiting.
“Now’s when we make some noise,” Jack said aside to Gibbs.
He then raised his arms above his head, let out a whoop, and ran, screaming and flailing the rest of the way down the canyon. The elephant started and kicked out, sending the guard flying. He lay there, unmoving and Jack ran to Evangeline’s side.
“Took you long enough,” she said “Pull the pins.”
Jack looked down and saw the shackles were indeed a very primitive sort where the cuffs were secured by large pins pushed into interlocking slots. The only thing that kept the prisoner from freeing themselves was the inability of one hand to reach the other cuff. That and the thousand angry people streaming down the canyon towards them.
The elephant turned to face the three pirates and let out another blast. Gibbs and Evangeline took a step back, but Jack mimed the beast, using his arm like at trunk and making a great racket that was meant to be his imitation of it’s trumpet. The elephant lowered its trunk at stared at Jack with great, black eyes. After a moment, it fell to it’s knees and lowered its head as if in supplication. Jack walked forward and patted it on the top of its head and it wrapped its trunk around his legs in a gentle embrace. The crowd stopped and stood stock still, taking in the strange sight. Sensing, the change in power, Jack grinned, removed his had and swept it in a deep bow.
“Follow me,” he said out of the side of his mouth and began walking towards the crowd. Gibbs and Evangeline hesitated briefly, but followed and the elephant took up suit. The crowd parted, letting them through, every face a mask of confusion and disbelief. A small child pushed through to the front of the crowd and threw a garland of flowers at Jack. The response was immediate: People began bowing and chanting and throwing flowers. Hands reached out to touch Jack reverently.
Jack was clearly enjoying this. Smiling widely, he walked straighter, both arms swinging, stopping just short of skipping through the crowd. Gibbs and Evangeline, suspicious of their good luck, kept close to Jack, hoping they’d be considered divine by association.
This motley parade continued down to the beach, where the Black Pearl was waiting, ready to sail. Jack loaded Evangeline into the longboat and Gibbs took the oars. He then turned back to the crowd and gave another bow which was met with a deafening roar. He patted the elephant on the leg and leaned in towards it to whisper.
“Today is the day you will always remember as the day you almost sat on Captain Jack Sparrow. Goodbye, Ruth.”
Then he climbed into the longboat, blowing kisses and waving. When he finally set down, Gibbs gave him a disgusted, incredulous look.
“What?” Jack asked, smiling.
“I don’t know how you do it,” Gibbs said “You roll in shit and come up smelling like roses.”
On the beach, the elephant stood, front feet in the water, trumpeting mournfully as the Pearl sailed away into the distance.

****

In Jack’s cabin, Evangeline stood with her arms crossed across her check while Jack paced back and forth deciding if he was angry or only pretending to be angry.
“That’s it,” he said suddenly “Yer no longer allowed to be a pirate. Take up knitting, read a book, or perhaps I’ll just keep you fat with child, but yer done being a pirate. I’m tired of rescuing you.”
“Oh really,” Evangeline said “Who’s idea was it to send me in there?”
“I’ll admit it was mine, but I only did it because I thought you’d make a much more convincing woman than I. Obviously you were too convincing.”
He sighed.
“What exactly happened?”
Evangeline smiled.
“You were right about the palace being overrun with women. They were everywhere! So I went in and grabbed the sapphire. IT was this big.”
She held her hands apart, indicating a jewel of great proportions and Jack’s eyes grew bright.
“I had no way to hide it, so I put it between my legs, like this and held it with my thighs. It made me walk slow, but I figured I was just one of a thousand women right? No one would notice me. Wrong. This ugly git came up and yelled at me in a language I didn’t understand and took me to this room where there were even more women. Then this big fat guy came in and all the women were bowing and I didn’t and he noticed me.”
Jack shook his head and motioned for her to continue.
“The fat guy said something to the ugly git and he came over and took me out of that room and put me in another room and more women undressed me and put me in these clothes. The whole time I’m still holding the sapphire, trying not to let them see it. They keep trying to get me to lift my legs to put on some stupid shoes, but I kept smacking them away. Then the fat guy, who turns out the be Prince Fat Guy comes in and all the women start bowing again and leave. HE comes over and tries to kiss me and I’m so surprised I kick him.”
Jack closed his eyes.
“And thunk goes the sapphire on the floor,” she finished.
Jack groaned.
“Then what?” he asked.
“You know the rest, she said “I don’t know if he was angrier that I stole the sapphire or that I kicked him ,but he was really angry. Yelling at him in English only made him angrier. I think he actually understood me when I called his mom a baboon. That’s when they chained me up.”
“Let me get this straight. You stole the jewel, kicked a prince, lost the jewel, insulted said prince’s mother, and was almost sat upon by an elephant.
“Who’s now in love with you, but yes, in a nutshell.”
“In a nutshell….” he muttered “I liked it better when you were my cabin boy. Do you want to be a cabin boy again? I’ll pay ye. Name your price.”
“Jack,” Evangeline said “Look at me.”
He did and realized what she was referring to. In the chaos of the rescue, he’d not noted her attire. She was wrapped in a deep indigo sari that was shot through with threads of gold. It’s sheerness clung to every curve of her body. She wore nothing underneath it.
His mouth went dry and his pants grew tight as he wondered, not for the first time, at how beautiful she was.
“About these clothes,” he said, walking towards her.
“Yes?” she asked, advancing on him in turn.
“All the cabin boys wear these now. It’s in the rules.”