Chapter Text
It was a bloodcurdling shriek that alerted him to her presence.
Prior to that, Jack had considered the raid to have gone extremely well, all things considered. Most of the townsfolk had been quickly subdued and herded into their church, where they were comfortably trussed and, if inclined toward vociferousness, gagged. There were few casualties on either side, though Bootstrap was one, having slipped on a rock as he’d jumped from the longboat, badly wrenching his ankle. Jack, as his friend, had teased him about it, and then, as First, had set him to guard duty in the church, which would save him walking much.
Jack was just considering reporting to the Captain that the town was virtually secured when that shriek came to his ears, issuing from a small house just off the square. It was only the one sound, and cut off rather abruptly, but something about it made his hair stand on end (or it would have, if not for its length and the small mementos of his past that weighted it). Swearing foully, he ran to see what was toward, sword at the ready. As he approached the house, he could hear another voice, one he knew, strained and threatening, yet with an edge of humor and… lust.
He tried the door: unlocked, and he shoved it open. Barbossa, as he’d thought. And a girl, struggling beneath him on the floor, skirts awry, the bastard’s big calloused hand stopping her cries.
Without hesitation (or, indeed, much thought beyond the filthy whoreson!) Jack strode across the room and grabbed the bigger man by the back of his coat, pulling him up by main force. Barbossa, surprised and furious, roared and would have attacked, so Jack felt no compunction in kicking him in the jaw and following it up with a blow to the head with his sword hilt. It was enough: he fell like so much meat, though how long he’d remain that way was the question.
The girl, on the other hand, had scrambled away and got to her feet, and was now preparing to make a dash for it. Her dress was that of a lady, though she seemed just a slip of a thing, barely come to womanhood. Even so, there was as much anger as fear on the youthful countenance. Jack managed to grab her by the arm before she could run out the door and into harm’s way. With a sharp cry, she whipped around and dealt him a resounding slap across the side of his face, open handed.
“Jesus!” he yelped. His grip tightened on her arm and he caught her other wrist as she tried to repeat the assault.
"¡Pirata estúpido, dejame va!" she spat. Stupid pirate! Let me go! She began to kick uselessly at his booted legs, and struggled furiously.
Jack shook her, hard enough to show he was serious, and snapped, “¡Es usted que es estúpido, señorita! Ahora párelo o irá gravemente para usted.” It is you who are stupid, Miss! Now stop, or it will go badly for you.
“Malvado!” she hissed, “I am already dishonored! Why should I care what you do?”
Jack, who in subduing Barbossa had noted that great dishonor had certainly been intended but had not been quite accomplished, scolded, “Querida, he is a villain, but you are safe, or will be if you will but cease these theatrics!”
“Are you not one of them? Why should I trust you, Malvado?” She stomped on his foot, hard.
“Ow! Little fool!” Jack yelped, and was considering some judicious retaliation when Captain Tobias and a couple of the men walked in to see what the fuss was about.
John Tobias was a big handsome man, sartorially magnificent, and possessed of eyes that could look straight through a fellow—or a chit of a Spanish lass. The girl gave a start at the sight of him, and stilled, unconsciously shrinking against Jack, though she kept her head high for all that.
Tobias took in Jack and the girl, and the sight of his Second laid out, unconscious. He uttered a disgusted oath. “Is she all right?” he asked Jack.
“She’s right lively,” Jack said, with a short laugh. “I came in time.”
“Mis apologías, muchacha. Usted puede ser seguro que trataremos de él.” My apologies, girl. I assure you, he’ll be dealt with. The Captain gave her a self-contained bow, only a little ironic.
The girl sniffed, and pulled her arm from Jack’s slackened grasp.
“I wouldn’t try to run, muchacha,” Tobias said. “My men are everywhere, and… well… they are what they are.” He spread his hands.
“¡Piratas malvados - como éste!” Evil pirates—like this one! She turned her head to look daggers at Jack.
He made a face at her, and then grinned as she reddened in renewed fury.
“Jack! That ain’t the way to smooth her feathers, lad!” chided Tobias. He addressed the girl again, more seriously. “What is your name, young lady—for I can tell from your speech you are not lowborn.”
“My name is Juana Theresa Alba, and I am the daughter of Don Enrique Flores y Alba. If I come to harm he will kill you!”
“No doubt, señorita. But where do you live, for this is not the house of a rich man.”
The girl said, “I was visiting my old nurse. She is upstairs, abed, for she is ill, and now she will die knowing I have been dishonored at the hands of that…that bastardo!”
At this she gave an angry sob, and broke away entirely, turning to run up the narrow staircase.
Tobias said sharply to the men who’d come in with him: “Truss my Second and take him back to the ship.”
“The brig, Captain?”
“Aye. Barbossa’d better learn to school his appetites. We’ll be givin’ him a little reminder in the morning.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Jack, with me,” Tobias snapped.
The two pirates went up the stairs, following the little señorita.
They found her in one of the bedrooms, speaking frantically to a much larger, older woman who lay abed, covered with a quilt, looking very ill indeed, and most distressed as she listened to her nursling’s tale. Then, seeing the two men come into the room, she wailed in fear. “¡Aiiiii, Piratas¡Madre de Dios, preserva mi pequeño Juana de estos fornicators y asesinos!”
Captain Tobias said, “No, señora, the little one is safe. You both have only to stay here, to stay hidden.”
Juana said to her nurse, “It is true, ‘Lita, the young one, he did away with the villain.”
“Aieee! He is a murderer!”
There followed a lengthy argument, with Juana’s nurse simultaneously insisting that Jack was el diablo – just look at that face, the face of a fallen angel if ever she had seen one- and that Captain Tobias see that her darling girl was safely escorted away from this pirate-infested town and home to Don Enrique, who assuredly would not rest until the piratas malvados were all quite dead.
“But señora, with the greatest respect, if she stays with you she will be safe, and will be able to care for you as well. Surely you are in need of a helpmeet?” reasoned Tobias.
“No! As she was safe from the evil one that brought you here? Only find my servant, Consuela and bring her to me—the evil one had her taken away to the church, and then remained behind to ravish my darling! She must not stay! She must not! ¡Madre de Dios! Por favor, señor!”
Tobias, seeing that the woman was close to hysterics, finally sighed, and said to Juana, “Where is your home, Querida?”
The girl stiffened at the endearment, but said only, “My father’s house is to the east, in the hills above Half-moon Bay. An easy ride, but your band of devils chased off our horses! ¡Piratas estúpidos!”
Tobias’s mouth twitched, and he looked at Jack for confirmation.
“It’s true enough,” Jack said. “The lads were most diligent about that.”
“That right? Well, looks like you’re in for a bit of a walk, then, Jack.”
Jack gaped briefly, then blurted. “Me? Why me? I’m of more use here, and you know it!”
“I do know it, but who do you suggest we send?”
Juana spoke up at this, looking contemptuously at her unwilling savior. “I will not have this… gallito for a dueña! It is an absurdity!”
Tobias chuckled at the look on his First Mate’s face, but said to the girl, “You will have him, señorita, for he’s a chivalrous streak that’s lacking in most of the others.”
“Send Bootstrap!” Jack growled. Gallito, indeed! He’d ‘little cock’ her!
“He’s a bad ankle, remember?” Tobias’s brows arched.
Jack groaned. “Bloody hell.”
“Enough!” said Tobias. “Get going, Jack. We’ll be finished loading up the swag in an hour or two, then swing round to pick you up at Half-moon Bay at dawn. You know the signal.”
“Aye, I know it.” Jack threw a look of displeasure at his prospective charge. “Say goodbye to your nurse, then, girl, and we’ll be on our way.”