Arabian Knights

Chapter One:

'In a world full of people you can lose sight of it,
when the darkness inside you makes you feel so small'

- 'True Colours' By Phil Collins


"Do we have our heading yet, Captn'?"


Jack seemed sullied and unusual.


"I feel sullied and unusual"


The crew were running on empty. With no directions from the one who was supposed to be directing them, they felt like they were losing hope fast.


Gibbs had full confidence in his Captain. Afterall, they had been in worse situations before.


'What about the time when we ended up heading into that Hurricane...who knew they were like wind-tunnels on the inside?!' Gibbs thought to himself absent-mindedly, not realising he was daydreaming.


"Did you hear what i said? Or are you thinking about your bunions again?" Jack asked him quizzitively.
He had heard Gibbs rattle on about his foot problems so many times that week that he was tempted to just shoot them off for him and be done of it.


"No Captn', I'm just thinkin'...we've been through worse than this and come out on top"


Jack rolled his eyes. "True...but thats because I've always known where I was heading before. Now its like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.....or in our case a big boat and a shit load of water"


Jack knew where he was going.
He just wasn't sure how to get there.


He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small brown parcel.
He opened the pouch and peered inside it curiously.


'If this works now, then i'll bend down and kiss that wenches boil-covered feet!' He thought to himself, half wishing that it didnt work.


He emptied the bag of dust into his left hand.
He closed his eyes and began to mumble something under his breath.


"Captn'? Have ya gone mad??" Gibbs asked him, looking concerned.


Jack started to bounce up and down on the balls of his feet as he continued chanting.


At this Gibbs hesitated. "Lads?! Get the rum! I think Jack has cabin fever!"


Suddenly Jack stopped.
He opened one eye slightly, admiring his dust.
Disappointment etched his features as he peered at it.


"What in gods name was that?" Gibbs asked him, handing him a bottle of rum as jack slumped down on one of the decks steps.


Jack looked slightly deflated. "It was my only hope"


"Hope for what?" Gibbs asked, looking confused.


Jack took a gulp of rum, still admiring his dust.


"I got this off the wench on the Isla de Casus. You know the one" Jack waved his hand nonchantly at him. "The hooker with the dodgey leg and six fingers"


Gibbs nodded in realisation. "The one that you threw the lantern at when you ran out of the hovel?"


Jack nodded. "Anyway, she had this lying around in her room, and when i asked what it was - "


"Because your curiosity often gets the better of you, Captn'" Gibbs responded.


Jack gave him a look. "Aye. She told me that this magical dust will send me to wherever I want to be if i just will myself to be there enough"


Gibbs chuckled. "T'is a fools errand, Captn'. The woman was half pie-eyed BEFORE you bought her drinks"


Jack just sat there, looking like he had lost all hope.


Nothing was going right.


Here he was, in the middle of somewhere that probably hadn't even been discovered yet, and he STILL could not satisfy that need to BE somewhere.

And even when he WAS somewhere, he felt like he wanted to be somewhere else!

Oh the injustice of it all!


Jack looked back at his dust.


"Well...if its a lost cause, I guess I should get rid of this" Jack told his first mate.


"Aye" Gibbs agreed. "It will get the wind in your sails if you just give up and move on."


Jack nodded slowly. "Right then...I guess we will have to find India another way"


He blew the dust from his hands.


[b]*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*[/b]


"Sweet baby jesus and the orphans! where are we?!"


The smile was back on Jack's face.


Of all the obvious things...BLOWING the bloody dust might of helped!


"Is that...is that...is that what i think it is, Captn'?" Gibbs asked, looking out at the side of the ship.


All the crew abandoned their stations. They were all very confused and slightly bewildered by what had just happened.


In the distance they could see land.
Not just any land.
The land of opportunity.


"That my dis-abled bodily crew, is India"


'Oh yee of little faith' He thought to himself amusingly.


"And are we planning on finding this 'T'Hak Mahara' in India?" Anna-maria asked.


Jack turned around and looked rather strangely at her.


"And who told you that?" He asked her.


"Everyone knows" She told him sternly, whilst the rest of the crew looked around at him, critizism etched upon their faces.


Lately it was very much like Jack to keep information hidden from everyone but himself.
It was like drawing blood from a stone to get anything from him.


Jack turned sharply to Gibbs.


Gibbs shrugged his shoulders innocently. "News travels fast on a ship when theres nothing else to talk about"


Jack glared at him.
He turned back around and continued to look out to sea.


This was where he would find his 'T'hak Mahara'.
The one thing that he would need in his life to make it complete.


Immortality.


"They say that the 'T'hak Mahara' is one of the finest treasures that the world has ever concieved.
It was made by the T'hok anthur back in 3000bc. They say that only the 'sacred one' can claim the T'hak Mahara...no one or any other object may find the power within it"


Jack rolled his eyes.
Here came the onslaught.


"So why are we going to find it?"


"There is no 'sacred one' among us! We're all Pirates for heavens sakes!"


They all looked at Jack.


Jack looked back.


"Well" He shrugged, his signature smile creeping onto his lips. "Theres no harm in trying"