A Change In Tides

Chapter 6: Friend or Foe

The floor shakes violently beneath my feet. Jack stumbles and falls backward. I instinctively reach out my arms to catch him.

I Hold him in a dip position, as if we had just finished salsa dancing.

"They say I'm quite the catch!" He grins up at me.

I let go and his body falls with a hard thud. I step over him and rush toward the deck to see what had happened.

As I step out of the doorway I feel a swift tug at my arm, Jack had pulled me tightly into his chest. Before I had a chance to process what had just happened a cannonball flies just shy of my head.

"What in the world...?" I mutter.

His grip was warm and I could hear his heart beat gradually increasing. I wish I could stay here, in this moment in time. But the sound of more cannonballs colliding with the sides of the ship forces me to realize the gravity of the situation.

"Stop blowing holes in me ship!" Jack shouts, releasing me and running to port. Frantically waving his arms in the air.

There is another ship sailing parallel to the pearl, the gap between the two gradually closing.

"Captain! The gun powder's wet!" Gibb's hollers.

The crew are in a panicked frenzy, racing around the ship and grabbing everything and anything to defend themselves.

Enemy pirates begin to swing on ropes from one ship to the other and planks are laid out across both ships and some run across.

I turn to run back into the captains quarters but I lose my sight. There's something on my face!

I scream and bat my hands at my head. My foot gets tanged in a net that lay on the deck and I crash into a crate of apples.

A sharp pain races through my skull and I yelp. I tear the object off of my face...it's a... monkey?

It makes an almost mocking sound, as if laughing at me. I growl and lob it across the ship like a softball.

I'm surrounded by the sound of grunting men and the clinking of metal swords.

I try to get up and feel a warmth travel down my neck. I place a hand on the area and examine my fingers, I'm bleeding?

"I wouldn't move if I were you."

I look up to see an unnerving looking man. His hair was long and stringy, he wore a large hat with a feather stuck in its brim. The dreaded monkey sat on his shoulder.

He hobbles toward me, his peg leg knocking against the broken fragments of wood that surround me.

"Hector!" Jack rushes over. "Old friend... How have you been?"

The man known as Hector scowls in Jacks direction.

"Why fight when we can negotiate?" Jack continues. "What is it you're looking for?"

"There will be no negotiation." He snaps. "You know what I want."

Jack plays dumb, as usual.

"I'm taking me ship back!" He spat. "Get'em boys!"

Hector's crew begin picking up Jack's men and tying their hands behind their backs. A couple of men grab me by both of my arms and tie me to the foremast. Jack is tied along with me, his back against mine.

Hector approaches me, examining my face.

"A wench in the crew..." He tilts his head in thought.