"Come señorita, my men can set up camp, we must locate La Santiago," Enrique said as we walked through the ruins of San Miguel, a long forgotten fort that we were using an our base camp. The men has already begun erecting tents to use as a base and for sleeping quarters, whilst Rafa supervised them, on Enrique's command. I wanted to help out but Enrique seemed so determined as marched onwards, clutching the sailor's logbook tightly in his hand, I could hardly protest.
"We must follow the steps from the logbook, and it should lead us to La Santiago, I just hope we can arrive there before nightfall," Enrique said as we walked through the dense jungle, eagerly following the notes from the sailor's logbook. I followed closely along, trying to take note of my surroundings, committing different memorable fixtures to memory so that we could find our way back. I marked trees sporadically with my knife to ensure we had a path of retreat and timidly tried to hide our tracks underfoot so that we could not be found, should the British be hot on our trails.
"Be careful of the wildlife señorita, this jungle is rife with dangerous creatures, poisonous frogs are lurking everywhere, do not let them touch your skin," Enrique warned, offering me his hand as we climbed over a large rock formation which expanded the entire length of the tree line.
A small pang of grief washed over me as he mentioned the poisonous frogs, remembering back to a conversation with Hector about them. He had a book in his possession which outlined the dangers of the amphibians, particularly the poison dart frog. He once admitted to me that he carried an empty jar along with him to collect them, should the need arise. As to why, I was never sure, but his reply to my question was a mumble of 'every man has a hobby'.
I sighed gently as we walked in comfortable silence, remembering my lost friend. Enrique glanced over at me upon hearing my sigh but didn't speak on it for another couple of minutes, not until we were out of the denser part of the jungle, finally moving along the river which bottlenecked.
"You are thinking about your husband?" Enrique said quietly, as if he was trying to be gentle with my feelings. I looked over at him and let a tight smile pass my lips, nodding gently though it was not the entire truth. It was also not entirely false, truth was I was always thinking about Jack.
"Tell me about him," Enrique pressed sympathetically, urging me to speak about him. I pondered for a moment, unsure of what I would say but before I knew it, words were falling out of my mouth before my mind caught up with it. I so desperately missed Jack and spending so much time away from anyone who knew him, not being able to speak about him, made my longing worse.
"He's a good man, brave and heroic, if not a little... flamboyant in his ways," I said with a growing smile, chuckling to myself.
"He is a man of the sea?" He pressed, knowing what I had told him about our ship being taken.
"Yes," I nodded, careful to hold back on what I was going to say, "practically all his life."
"How did you meet?"
I chuckled as the scene of him saving Elizabeth and the confrontation with Norrington played out in my mind and opted to answer with a tuned down reply.
"He saved my cousin from drowning, many years ago now. He never hesitated, just threw down his affects and dove straight in to get her, though she was a perfect stranger to him."
"A good man indeed," Enrique spoke, casting a warm glance towards me. He didn't ask anymore questions and so I let our silence linger once more just for a few moments before asking him in return.
"Have you ever been married?"
He sighed, taking out his knife and plunging it into the bark of a nearby tree, marking our way, before placing it back into the holder.
"No señorita, though there was a girl once, a long time ago. He would never know, but when Ferdinand banned all travel by sea, he broke my only way to see her, for she lived miles away in the east and travelling by ship was the only way to reach her small island. But I have made my peace with it and I know I am meant to be alone," Enrique said with a frown. I didn't know how to reply to that, his sorrow was palpable and I couldn't help but feel some of his sadness myself.
YOU ARE READING
Fathoms Below: Captain Jack Sparrow
Fanfiction"Jack was like a Chinese finger trap most of the time, you had to carry on playing, delve a little further and accept your fate before you were able to pry yourself away." Jack/ OC reader pairing, following the course of the movies with mini-inserts...
