Wings of a Sparrow

Dishonest Honesty

As the Pearl sped along to Tortuga at a steady 16 knots, Jack Sparrow, being supported by Cora and Gibbs, was escorted below deck by one of the sailors (Cora thought she heard him called Ragetti).  What the undead pirates had was less of an infirmary and more of just a rotted cot with various bottles scattered around it. Gibbs and Cora gently laid Jack on the hard cot and Cora immediately set to work binding his many wounds. 

The cursed crew did have a medicine chest, but upon closer inspection the pickings within were slim-to-none. Fair, considering the pirates had been unable to die for the past 10 years. There were only some bandages and a couple of salves that had most likely gone bad, so Cora just had to use her best guess on what could actually be used to help her patient. There was a lot to do and not a clear knowledge to know where to begin. She decided to just start with setting the broken bones. His open wounds would have to be cleaned, and she wasn't ready to subject him to that kind of pain yet. 

Cora grabbed the thin, semi-white cloth from the chest, along with a couple small pieces of wood, and began to set his left index finger. She was no doctor, but from what she could feel all of the bones were in place, they would just need to be set to heal. Good. She gently wrapped his finger, placed it straight between two small planks of wood, and wrapped it again, tightly. His two broken toes were luckily next to each other on his right foot, so she just wrapped them tightly together. This left the more bloody injuries to deal with. 

Cora turned to the crewman that had escorted them off deck. "Ragetti, is it?"

He nodded. "Yes, miss."

"Ragetti, I need to clean his wounds before they infect. Do you have any clean water on the ship?"

Ragetti turned and walked out. A few moments later, he returned with a bottle. "Apologies, miss, all's we have is rum. We ain't need water to live and the taste of rum makes us feel more alive."

Cora sighed. "Better than nothing. Thank you for being so kind, Ragetti. It's certainly not what I expected, given the state of..." she looked at Jack. "Given how he's been treated aboard this ship."

Ragetti bowed his head. "I thought we was just gonna keep him in the brig, miss. I didn't know we was going to torture him. I'm a pirate, but I don't think it was necessary to do what we did to 'im. I thought Cap'n Barbossa had enough revenge when we marooned him after the mutiny. But I guess some hate's go deeper than a quick revenge." Ragetti shook his head. "Sorry to trouble you, miss. I'll be outside the door if you need me to show you anything else." He turned and quickly walked out.

"Huh. I thought everyone hated Jack." Cora mused. "That was odd to hear that some of them may actually have a conscience for what they've done."

Gibbs sighed. "Aye, Miss Turner, it wasn't only your father who opposed the mutiny. He was just the only one brave enough to speak against Barbossa. Jack was a good, fair captain. Barbossa just didn't see it that way, and his silver tongue convinced the rest of the crew the same. Jack never stood a chance, 'specially considering he was trying not to kill any of his crew. Had he been fighting to kill, Jack woulda kept the Pearl, you mark my words."

Cora opened her mouth to spill the hundreds of questions pouring through her mind, but before she could even ask one she heard a groan to her left. "Joshamee... you always... know how to flatter me."

Jack Sparrow opened his eyes. They slowly swiveled around the room, eventually landing on Cora. "Love... you are... without a doubt... the dumbest... pirate I've ever seen." he rasped.

Cora rolled her eyes and spat, "Sparrow, I'm the one helping you right now. And since the last time I've checked, the title of 'dumbest pirate in the Caribbean' still belongs to you."

Jack laughed, then delved into a coughing fit. He turned towards Gibbs and smiled. "I've told you once and I'll tell you again. The woman has a tongue like fire."

Gibbs laughed and Cora scowled. Jack just smiled at her. "Was a compliment, m'lady. Thank you... for helping me."

"Oh... well... you're welcome." Cora smirked. "But you're not out of the woods yet. And you're probably going to wish you were still unconscious for this next part. I've got to clean your wounds, and all they have is rum."

Jack closed his eyes and sighed. "Well... good a day as any. If you could get me something to bite down on, I'd rather not bite off my tongue seeing as it's my only asset at the moment."

Cora smiled and turned to Gibbs, giving him a nod. He took one of the pieces of cloth from the chest and folded it a couple of times, making it thick as leather. Cora grabbed the rum and put it on the table next to her. She turned around to grab the cloth from Gibbs and went to put it in Jack's mouth. His eyes widened, and his hand shot up to stop her. Cora raised an eyebrow, confused, but then rolled her eyes as Jack reached a hand out for the rum. He took a long swig, then, seeing the look on Cora's face, shrugged. "For the pain, darling." 

He turned and nodded to Gibbs, who in turn went and stood behind him, putting his hands on his shoulders. Cora placed the cloth in Jack's mouth, and grabbed the rum. Jack's eyes steeled, and he nodded to her. 

This was not going to be fun.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Off you get now, Tortuga awaits!"

The Pearl docked near The Urchin, one of the many pubs in Tortuga. The crew, excluding Cora, Will, and Jack, were forced to walk down the gangplank and onto the dock. Elizabeth reached the wood of the dock and whipped her head around toward Will and Cora, fear and worry in her eyes. Before the Pearl set back out to sea, she screamed, "I'll come back and help you! Stay safe, please!"

As the dock became just a floating speck in the distance, Will and Cora were escorted below deck, not without a fight and a resulting slap in the face for Cora. They were each put into seperate cells in the brig, but before they were left alone Cora felt a familiar tug in her gut. It was the same thing that had happened to her in Port Royal, the tug that told her: Don't you dare leave Jack. Any way you can, you need to get to him. The pirates turned to leave, and Cora yelled, "Wait! Jack can't be left by himself right now. This is a critical time and I have to make sure his wounds stay clean!"

The crewmen laughed, and a short, chunky one (was his name Pintel?) barked, "We can take care of him, Poppet. You're staying right 'ere where we can keep an eye on you."

"But he'll die! None of you have the slightest idea how to take care of an injured man, you've all been dead the last decade! Barbossa made a deal that if I didn't kill this whelp over here two things would happen: the crew wouldn't be harmed, and Jack would no longer be harmed on this ship. You may not be torturing him any more, but leaving him alone to die is definitely hurting him." Cora said very quickly, making sure she could get it all out before they left.

The crew was silent for a moment before Pintel stepped forward and unlocked her cell. As she walked toward the infirmary, she heard someone mutter, "This is why I don't trust women. Always conniving and spoutin' nonsense."

Cora rolled her eyes and called over her shoulder, "You don't like women because even the whores are unwilling to sleep with you. With that smell, I can't say I blame them much. If you gentlemen will excuse me, it's a long journey and I'd rather not talk to any of you." With that, she left them and Will in a dumbfounded silence.