The Chinese New Year

Chapter Five

The guard woke up from his sleep at the sound of banging and yelling by the prisoner he was watching. He fumbled around, putting on his oriental cap, and rushed over to the prisoner, who was scratching at himself wildly. The guard rolled his eyes and put the barrel of his gun through the bars. Without thinking, Jack quick grabbed it and covered the barrel with his finger.

"Hey! Hey!" he said, losing the act he was performing.

<"Sit down, Mr. Sparrow."> the gaurd grumbled, and went to go back to his napping post.

"You smell funny." Jack retorted, having no idea what the guard said.

Damn. That didn't work. Jack thought, and bit his lip thinking. Maybe if I use my spoon and dig a hole... no, that won't work. The wood is tough and thick... bloody hell. Hmm... maybe I can knock the gaurd out somehow and steal the keys.... he looked at the size of his burly gaurd. It would take a boulder to knock him out. Oh, bugger. He hit his head on the bars and then grabbed his head in pain. Not a good idea- never hit head again, Jack ol' boy. Your not as strong as you use to be.

Jack Sparrow was at a lost. He was trapped- but he got out of jail before, so this shouldn't be a problem. Well, except for one thing. Maybe two. He began to check a list in his head.

Strength... not so great. Battling a Kracken made me a wee bit tired. Brains? Hmm.... let's see... the left side is filled with water and the right side is filled with Lizzie, so my brain is preoccupied at the time. My good looks? Maybe, if this guy was a eunich...

Just then Jack saw a way out. A young pretty woman had walked down the stairs, her head turned down so she wouldn't meet eye contact with any man. That made Jack think. How was he going to get her attention? He looked down at his feet and saw a water basin, thankfully made of a dirty porcelian. Jack picked up the bowl and crashed it to the ground, making a horrible crashing noise. The young lady whipped her head up to look at what had happened, and was about to put her head back down, but stopped when Jack motioned she shouldn't.

The guard made a grunt and then went back to sleep. The young woman looked from the guard to Jack, and Jack motioned for her to come closer.

"Come on, come over here." Jack waved his hands, motioning her to move closer.

But the girl picked up her skirts and started to run out. Jack quickly put his arms through the bars and grabbed her, covering her mouth so she wouldn't scream. Her back was towards him, not that Jack really cared, and her head slapped against the bars, but the blow wasn't hard enough to knock her out, just caused more fear in her.

"Sorry 'bout that, love." Jack whispered in her ear. She was whimpering. "Shh sh shh sh shh! Calm down, pet. Do ye understand English?" The young girl nodded her head. "Good. I need help. I need ye to watch over Elizabeth Swann until I can figure out a way to get out of here. Can ye do tha' fer me?" Jack asked, and saw the girl nod. "Don't be scared." Jack gently uncovered her mouth, and let go. "I won't hurt ya."

The girl turned around, and despite the way she was brought up, she talked back to Jack. "What do you want me do?" she asked in a small, delicate voice.

"Just watch over her." Jack put his arms down and heard the gaurd snort. They both casted worry looks over at him and saw him fall back asleep. They sighed. "And possibly find a key, savvy?" he asked.

The girl nodded and remembered where she was and who she was talking to. She immediately downcasted her eyes, avoiding the stares of Jack.

"What be yer name?" Jack asked, curious. If she was going to work for him, he wanted to at least know her name.

"Daiyu." she whispered. "It means 'black jade', if want to know."

"Aye. I had a ship ship once. Named her Black Pearl." Jack said, catching Daiyu's interest. "Beautiful ship, she was."

"What happened?" Daiyu asked, and realized that that was brash. She could tell it hurt the man when she asked that.

"It sank." Jack said simply. "Ye should get going. Remember - Elizabeth Swann." Jack smiled. "Tell her that the 'rum runners' are back. She'll understand."

Daiyu nodded, and dropped her head again, rushing up the stairs to the other story, leaving Jack to sit and meddle in his thoughts.

(1)(2)(3)

Elizabeth opened her eyes to see a lush, red and gold tinted room. She closed her eyes again, wishing that when she woke up, she would see her tiny, moth infested broom closet on The Search. So she opened them again, only to see the beautiful room, filled with the smell of... was that incense? She never smelt it before... it was a rich, spicy yet sweet and floral smell. She sat up and saw that she was lying on an overstuffed couch, dyed red, with gold tassled throw pillows, the rug was a shaggy, deep brown color, the low table had tiny statues of fat men.

She picked up a tiny statue and turned it over, looking at the end of the statue, picking at a felt lining, when she saw it, The familiarity of it was overwhelming- the shape, the chipped gold lining around it, the little hump in the middle of the box...

... it was Jack's compass.

Elizabeth dropped the statue of the pot bellied man and heard it crack as it hit the floor. Slowly and cautiously, she approached the compass and gently picked it up. Looking it over, she opened it up and saw something new that had been added into the cover of it: a scratching of a woman, who had long flowing hair, a small frame, and a smile that would light up a room. It was her.... had Jack scratched a picture of her in his compass? Why would he do that?

"I see you found my compass." Sao Teng said calmly, surprising Lizzie, who dropped the compass on the table and turned sharply around.

"This is Jack's." she said, accusingly.

"Relax. I found it on a beach about 20 miles from here." He walked over to a liquor tray and opened up a brandy bottle. Teng poured two small glasses of the goldne liquid and corked the bottle shut. "Not on a person, in case you are wondering." Teng handed Elizabeth one of the glasses.

Elizabeth snapped her head up. "Why did you kidnap me?"

"I told you." Sao downed his glass. "I want to marry you."

"You didn't have to steal me!" she yelled, throwing her glass at his feet, watching the liquid splash against his polished boots.

Teng just shook his head. "Then you wouldn't have said yes."

"I NEVER would have said yes." Elizabeth hissed.

"Yes, that is why I have..." he smiled cruelly. "... leverage."
(1)(2)(3)

Jack sat back in his cell, throwing peas leftover from his dinner at the new silent gaurd. He smiled as he saw that it was beginning to make the gaurd mad, but he wanted to see how far he could go before the gaurd opened the door to beat him up. Then he was going to make his grand escape...

... even though Jack knew it was a horrible plan and that the gaurd would shoot him before he opened that prison gate, but it was amusing to throw peas at him. He laughed when one flew right up the gaurds nose and he clapped his hands.

"Oh, I think I win." Jack said, gasping for breath. I need to get a life. he sighed in frustration.

The guard just rolled his eyes.