Chapter 2: The Rescue
***
Author's Note: This is fantasy based on Johnny Depp's character, Captain Jack Sparrow, Keira Knightley's character, Elizabeth Swann, and Orlando Bloom's character, Will Turner from the film *Pirates of the Caribbean.* It contains a tiny spoiler for the sequel, 2006's *Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.* Any discrepancies, I'm fully at fault for.
Also, there are references to Gabrielle-Angelique de Bourbon. About 90% of her character is fiction, the product of my own mind. Some of the information is true and can be found through a simple Internet search.
If you are a French history scholar or a *PoTC* fan with more knowledge than me, please excuse my artistic license.
***
I felt myself being lifted and my eyes sprung open. I looked up to see Jack carrying me towards his nest in the trees and instantly smiled. "Good mor..." was all I could manage to say before he covered my mouth with his.
He kissed me until we got into the trees. After he laid me down on the hammock, he moved his lips from mine but kept his face scant inches from mine. His eyes were stormy and alert. I knew somehing was wrong. In all the years I had imagined this moment, I had not anticipated this cold reception. I started to ask what was wrong, but again Jack cut me off with a low hiss.
"Angel... there's someone else on the island. I heard men shouting on the beach. Get dressed while I go and see who's down there," Jack began, his voice barely audible. "And, Angel. Please stay here."
I nodded and began to slip into the clothes puddled on the floor where they were dropped the night before. Jack slid an arm around me and pulled me close as soon as he had pulled on his own clothes. "Don't worry. I'm sure it's just some privateers docking to repair some damage. In which case, it might be wise for us to get a ride off of this island so I can locate my old crew," he paused and looked at the floor, "And you might want to consider tavelling with them to find your fiance."
My face colored and I looked away. Jack let me go and he slipped through the dense trees. Moments later I heard shouting from the direction of the beach we'd just slept on. It came first in French from several men, then in English in only one voice. I heard Jack identify himself as a lost crewman from a wrecked ship. I heard another reply in English and more French voices shouting, but no more from Jack. Soon, I grew worried as the shouts grew further away. I tightened the sash on my belt, then fastened my hair into a strip of leather I'd found on the floor. Confident that I wouldn't be immediately recognized as a woman, I crept out of the trees towards the bright beach.
This was my first look at the sunlit Caribbean. The sand was so white, it looked like powdered sugar. The bark of the palm trees along the tree-line were sunwashed white, but the fronds where as green as a bottle of Charteuse. The water was as clear and as bright blue as the Blue Diamond of the Crown. It was against this backdrop that I saw twelve men wearing white breeches, white and green coats, and black gaiters. I knew them at once as members of the French Navy. One man wore no uniform, instead a gold and black coat and matching breeches. He carried a small tricorn, and his curly wig sat studiously atop his head. He was red-faced and obviously unused to such activity. I knew him at one to be my fiance, Bernard de La Valette, duc d'Epernon. He was shaking a fist up at Jack, who was being held by two of the uniformed men.
Even as I drew close to the scene, no one took notice of me. I heard Bernard shouting at him in heavily accented English. Jack did not look concerned, even as the smaller man's finger shook closer to his face. Finally, Bernard jumped back and pulled a shortsword from his side. The tip flutered the open collar of Jack's linen shirt and I gasped. A few of the uniformed men noticed me and one shouted for me to identify myself in French. I stood to my full height, glad that I'd thought to bring Jack's cutlass and had strapped his havy pistol to my back. The fist gentleman's shouts aroused the attentions of the rest and soon Bernard was marching toward me with Jack being pushed along as well. The look on Jack's face was stormy and I knew it was meant for me.
I raised the sword in both hands. It felt unweidly, but I did not quaver. "Set this man free!" I shouted in my own accented English.
Bernard laughed. "Oh, pirate, I see you have a mere boy doing your rescuing."
I held the sword in one hand and unfastened my hair with the other. Once it was flowing freely and I saw that I had Bernard's attention, I said once more, "Set him free!"
He laughed harder, his pink face quickly turning scarlet, "A pirate's whore is no better to me."
"Set him free by command of the Mademoiselle de Verneuil!"
This sobered Bernard and made Jack look even more perplexed. "Gabrielle? Is it really you?" Bernard asked, dumbfounded. Before I could speak, he answered his own question, "Oh, darling, my bright morning, how could I have not known you? Of course you are she!" He exectuted a courtly bow that only made me appreciate Jack's earlier mockery even more.
"Set him free then. This man is my rescuer. You should thank him," I continued. I lowered the cutlass and silently pleaded with Jack to forgive me.
"Yes. Set him free then," Bernard commanded, striding towards me. He removed his coat at wrapped it around me. I knew that the sight of my bare ankles and feet, not to mention the outline of my legs, had offended his sense of propriety. He took my by the arm, a little more roughly than a man usually does by a lady, and half pulled, half walked me to one of the dinghys waiting on the shore. Ahead I saw a small ship floating, it's white sails furled. My spirits flagged as I looked back at Jack. He nodded curtly at me and turned back to his nest among the trees as I was being bundled onto the boat. I didn't hear a word of what went on around me and feared I'd never be the same again.
***
"What are you telling me, Gabrielle? That you whored yourself to that filthy pirate but will not do the same for me?" Bernard's rage filled the grand cabin. Jack's island was long lost through the large windows at the stern. I looked through them now and did not speak a word.
Since I had been taken from the island, a dress and the appropriate underthings had been found for me in Bernard's own luggage. He'd said he'd bought them for me before departing from France so that I'd have a present waiting. I'd bathed in a large copper tub in lukewarm water and groomed my hair into submission. I'd tied the stays of my corset myself since I had no maids, so they weren't tight. However, the whalebone ridges bit my flesh all the more for having not worn one for nearly a week. The dress was exquisite. The skirt was three tiered white and gold cotton and lace. The mantua was of blue silk. A red silk and lace wrapper served to cover my sun browned arms. Though I would have loved it five days ago, my newfound freedom from heavy garments and layers of lingerie made it feel like a prison.
"Gabrielle!" Bernard snapped at me. When I did not answer, he grasped my right wrist tightly. I cried out more from shock than any pain. He'd never touched me without invitation before. "You are being most impertinent," he said calmly. The look in his eyes was a dead one. I feared it more than I feared the loud rage.
He turned me towards the windows and grasped me about my narrow waist. He bent me over a desk so my legs were pinned from kicking. "Is that what you want, Gabrielle? To be a pirates wench? Do you prefer the course ministrations of a murderer to your own fiance?"
I said no more. I would not cry out. My humiliation was complete without the whole crew having to witness my rape. Bernard held fast with one arm and slid another into the bodice of the gown. I felt his round sausage like fingers scrape one nipple under my corset and chemise. I silently cursed myself for not having made it tighter. I shuddered with revulsion.
He mistook my shiver for pleasure because he whispered into my ear, "So this is what you like? To be taken by force. Well, force you shall have."
