White and Black Pearls 2 - One Remaining Pearl

Chapter Two

“This is really all just one big misunderstanding,” Jack said appealingly as he gripped onto the bars of his cell. He was nearly entirely naked, dressed in only his bandanna and slacks, even his feet bare upon the rocks under his toes. He wrinkled his nose when another droplet of water hit it from the wet stalactites above. Looking up, he blinked as another and another droplet hit his face, before looking over at his captor again. “I don’t have anything you could possibly want, mate. Look at me; I don’t even have a ship. Bugger.” He took a deep breath and held it as another wave came crashing into the underwater cavern, filling it up to his nose this time. When it pulled back, Jack shook his head and blinked, wiping his nose on his bare arm. Every hour on the hour a wave came in, and it seemed to be filling the cavern a little less every time. His cell was on a lower level, with his captor’s quarters on a much higher outcropping that the waves didn’t reach at all. It was rather effective torture; he hadn’t slept for more than forty five minutes at a time for the last day for fear of drowning when the wave came in next.

Jack squeezed out his hair irritably and flicked water from his hands before looking up to his captor’s perch once more, but found that he was alone yet again. At very least, he decided, he could judge how long had passed since he’d been down here by judging the tides. There was only one thing that really concerned him in the long term; the last New Moon had just passed, but that meant in fourteen days or so, the tides that came in would be higher and last longer. He didn’t know that he could hold his breath for that long, when his chamber filled up all the way.

The man turned his back to the cell bars and stared instead into his own prison, looking everything over. Stalactites, stalagmites, rocks everywhere, one boulder, a metal plate that had held a dry bread roll an hour ago before Jack sadly watched that roll drift away on the retreating wave… not much to look at. He went over to the boulder and climbed it, sitting on top of the enormous rock and propping his elbows on his knees with a sigh. Sixty more minutes until another wave came rushing in from the hole in the cavern outside his cell, sixty more minutes until he could strike off another hour on his imprisonment. He lifted his gaze again, staring up at the stalactites, and at what he’d been looking at earlier: a small but significant opening between two of those stalactites, where a little bit of light and some fresh air was coming down. But, all he could see out of the hole was more rock; it twisted and turned so that there was no direct view of the sky, and that was what he found himself aching for the most. He wanted to see the stars, the moon, rays of sunshine… anything. Another droplet of water struck his cheek and streaked down it slowly.

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More on the way, as always....