Fic: "Enslaved" (J/E - NC-17 - 4/4)
Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, and finally...
Jack was still angry with Elizabeth as they moved stealthily through the gardens and around to the back of the house, where lay the slave quarters. Angry, and very determined they should come out of this with their skins intact so that he could murder her at his leisure and in his own fashion. He thrust aside most of the details of said “murder” for the moment, for they tended to alter with remarkable speed, from violence to a milder, rather gleeful sadism, and such distraction would do him no good at all in their present situation.
He’d told Aziz and the two burly escorts to be ready and waiting in the shadows at the corner of the house, but when Jack and Elizabeth reached the spot, the three were nowhere to be seen. Jack cursed under his breath, but then remembered that he and Elizabeth were far later in arriving than originally planned. He’d just begun to wonder if anything untoward had occurred when he saw a slight figure in the distance, moving secretively across the garden, and realized it was the boy.
“Come on, ” he whispered, a hand at the small of Elizabeth’s back. “Keep to the shadows as much as you can.”
She only nodded silently, for she’d seen Aziz, too.
The three met in the shelter of some trees and Aziz looked relieved. “I feared you were taken!” he said.
“I was,” Jack said, grimly, then, “Ow!” as Elizabeth plied a forceful elbow.
Aziz chuckled, but said, “Come, we must hurry now, since you tarried so long. There was a sentry near the house that we had to silence, and there may be more, presently. We’ve taken him to the compound where Tai Huang and the others are kept, which is away from most of the other slaves - the fools objected to being housed with men of the east, but it is most convenient for us. There was no guard there, but there was a lock on the door that took me some time to pick.”
“Good lad,” Jack said, pleased.
“Are my men well?” Elizabeth asked.
“Most of them,” Aziz told her, his smile fading. “But come, you will soon see for yourself.”
When Tai Huang saw Elizabeth walk into the compound behind Jack, he came hobbling toward her and took her outstretched hands impulsively for a moment, then let them go and bowed. “I knew you would contrive to free us,” he said, when he’d straightened. His men gathered behind him, murmuring agreement, and the two burly escorts looked on with approval.
“It was Captain Sparrow’s doing,” Elizabeth said. “But Tai Huang, you’ve been hurt?”
“It is nothing-“
But another of her crew cut him off. “He lies, Captain, a week ago he was caught attempting to escape - his plan was to find you and return for us. The master of the house ordered him beaten, rods applied to the soles of his feet.”
Elizabeth was aghast, but Jack, who’d suspected something of the sort when he’d seen how Tai Huang moved, merely said sharply, “Can you travel, do you think?”
“I can and will.”
“Then let’s go. You others will help him as he needs it-and you’ll let them, Tai Huang, savvy?”
Tai Huang grimaced, but bowed again.
*
If only they’d had horses, Elizabeth reflected. But their horses had been stabled along with those of Rafi Kasim, in the same building that housed a whole troop of the property’s overseers and guards. A pitched battle was out of the question. So they ran on foot.
The ground was flat and fairly even for the most part, of course, which was both a blessing and a curse. They could move quickly and easily, even with Tai Huang needing so much assistance - the others helped him in pairs, virtually carrying him much of the time - but they were all aware that they could be seen from a great distance, and the night was wheeling past. The moon sank and set during the first hour, and the infinite stars glowed and twinkled in the dark before dawn.
The dark before dawn. An apt metaphor.
It was vital to reach the small oasis again before the sun rose, the place where they’d stayed the first night - just the night before, Elizabeth realized in some wonder. Too much had happened in the last day. But there was hope that the desert nomads that had been in residence would provide their party with food and water, and perhaps even help throw any pursuers off their track. There had been disparaging talk of Rafi Kasim’s manners and decadence among the nomads when Jack had revealed that the House of Shade was his destination.
Ten miles. Not such a terrible distance, save that all but the two hired escorts were sailors, and the unyielding earth was an entirely foreign element, as unlike the easy sway of a ship's deck as could be imagined. Painful, blistering feet sapped their will, and they tired far more quickly than any of them would have done at sea.
They kept moving, with few words other than encouragement, for failure was not to be contemplated. But as the sun peeped over the edge of the earth and they were approaching the top of the last rise, beyond which lay the oasis, Aziz turned to look back for a moment and cried out, halting everyone.
“They come!”
Elizabeth whipped about and was momentarily relieved to see that pursuit was still far away, a distance of several miles.
But Jack said, “They’ll be on us before we know it. Run! ”
They ran, or lurched and stumbled to the apex of the hill, trying to fight down the sense of panic that rose up like some monster. And then they were over, and as they sped up on the downhill slope, Elizabeth gasped at the sight before them.
“Jack! Look! ” she cried.
He’d stopped to aid one of her men who’d tripped and fallen, but now he straightened and shaded his eyes against the morning glare and frowned.
The nomads were gone, and the oasis had been taken over by what appeared to be an entire troop of horse, though few men could be seen among the beautiful animals.
But now Aziz gave another shout, this one imbued with a wild joy. “Sabir! It is Sabir, my uncle’s man, with horses for us. I sent to my uncle before we left, and he has saved us!”
“I’ll be damned,” Jack stated. “But we’re not out of the woods yet. Run, you lubbers, as you value your lives! ”
With a roar of joy now, the whole party raced down the hill, and even weary as they were, they quickly gained the outskirts of the oasis and the welcome of Ammand's friends.
Aziz was greeted with open arms by Sabir, a big, hairy-faced man with twinkling eyes and a villainous scar down the side of his face. “You rascal, there’s no rest for the weary here, I see. We only arrived an hour ago.”
Elizabeth, breathless after her run, asked, “Are the horses rested enough?”
Jack, equally blown, waved an arm and gasped, “Pursuit!”
“Let us depart then, by all means,” said Sabir, his eyes flashing. He patted his scimitar, but did not draw it, merely directing Aziz and the few men with him to help the escapees to mount.
Jack’s horse capered alarmingly, and looked to be trying to throw him at first, but the others managed very well, even a few who had to ride double, and once they were off, speeding across the desert, even Jack’s mount allowed him a respite.
Elizabeth had Aziz up before her, and laughed at the boy’s wild yips and shouts of encouragement. “To the galley!” he cried, “And then to row for our lives!”
And indeed, when they roared into Landara a surprisingly short time later, like a storm that breaks the calm of early morning, their pursuers left far behind, Sabir led them straight to the city’s harbor where the unnamed galley that had brought him awaited, ready to take them all out to sea.
*
Jack forbade Elizabeth to take a bench and join the rowers - “It'd wear the skin right off those pretty hands of yours, and no, you’ll not argue the point.”
“Oh, will I not?” she enquired through set teeth.
“Not if you know what’s good for you,” he retorted, with such a glare that she merely sniffed and lifted her chin belligerently before obeying.
Therefore, she had nothing to do save bask in the fresh air and sun as the galley made its way out of Landara’s crowded harbor and thence up the coast. It was nearly forty miles by land to the border of the sultan’s territory, and she was bored and fuming at her enforced inactivity, until at last they rounded a point and the breeze picked up considerably. The whole company set up a cheer, and Elizabeth helped to pull the ropes that raised the big lateen sails, a thrill going through her as they filled and the galley strained forward, picking up speed, and throwing a fine white bow wave.
The rowers kept to their task, for there were two more ships on the water now, far behind, but gaining, and no one doubted that they were the sultan’s, dispatched when word of Rafi Kasim’s loss had reached the palace. But the sultan was doomed to be disappointed of his prey, for long before his ships came within gunshot, Elizabeth and Jack were standing at the prow of the galley to watch the Seref come into sight, and beyond her, the Black Pearl.
o-o-o Epilogue o-o-o
“At least Barbossa’s good for something,” Jack said a week later, flashing his most devilish grin as he set clever fingers to unfastening Elizabeth’s breeches for the second time that day, having already tossed her shirt at a corner of the Pearl’s great cabin.
Elizabeth shook her head, trying not to smile. “You’ve underestimated him before, Jack,” she warned. “Are you sure he won’t convince the crew we’re entirely given over to lust and unprofitable depravity and that we should be left on some godforsaken spit of land?”
“Been there before, haven’t we?” he murmured, but it was obvious he was quite unconcerned with Barbossa’s mutinous tendencies as he stripped Elizabeth’s breeches down, along with her soft silken smallclothes, baring her.
She obligingly stepped out of the garments, but frowned. “This isn’t fair, you’re still entirely dressed-“
“I’ll show you fair, you delicious, brazen wench, just come here, bend over this table for a moment, that’s the way…”
“Jack, no! The bed is right over… oh. Oh! ”
“Oh, indeed, missy,” he said, rather breathlessly. “Now just… just let me…”
*
Some time later they had indeed repaired to the bed, and were curled together, nose to nose. Elizabeth sighed, wondering at the way satisfaction ultimately seemed only to increase desire. She’d had little chance to discover this fact on her one day with Will, but Jack had been determinedly demonstrating the truth of it from the hour they’d returned to the Black Pearl. “You’re very good at this, you know,” she said, and kissed her lover.
Her love.
“Of course,” he said. “I’m-“
“Captain Jack Sparrow.” She grinned, then shivered as he ran light fingers down her hip and leg.
He smiled. “But you know you’ve nothing to worry about.”
“What don’t I have to worry about?” She began to explore again, too, rejoicing in the feel of him, so alive beneath her touch.
He said, “We’re barely a week out of Landaran waters. Tai Huang and the rest are still too grateful to allow a mutiny, they’d chuck Hector to the sharks first. And the Chinese understand these things. The needs a man has.”
“And a woman?”
“Oh, yes. Particularly a woman.”
She bit her lip as his touch grew more intimate, but she managed to say, “You may be right. But… but now that… oh… now that I’ve lost the Empress, my crew may wish to go back… to Singapore.”
“Mmm… Singapore. Wouldn’t mind going back there myself, your lads can visit and I’ll show you a few things. I know some people… Bill and I had some fun there, when we were lads. Lizzie, love, open your eyes and look at me.”
Elizabeth did, and opened her mouth too. “Jack… Jack…”
“That’s right, love. Let me watch you… so lovely… "
She was drowning in sensation, drowning in his gaze, shame and ecstasy filling her in equal measure, until it was too much and she moaned, pleading, her body arching …
He whispered, “That’s right… that’s right…” And then another smile, his breath against her lips, and a single word -- Mine! - and he kissed her once more as she came apart… for him.
The End
… for now!
Jack was still angry with Elizabeth as they moved stealthily through the gardens and around to the back of the house, where lay the slave quarters. Angry, and very determined they should come out of this with their skins intact so that he could murder her at his leisure and in his own fashion. He thrust aside most of the details of said “murder” for the moment, for they tended to alter with remarkable speed, from violence to a milder, rather gleeful sadism, and such distraction would do him no good at all in their present situation.
He’d told Aziz and the two burly escorts to be ready and waiting in the shadows at the corner of the house, but when Jack and Elizabeth reached the spot, the three were nowhere to be seen. Jack cursed under his breath, but then remembered that he and Elizabeth were far later in arriving than originally planned. He’d just begun to wonder if anything untoward had occurred when he saw a slight figure in the distance, moving secretively across the garden, and realized it was the boy.
“Come on, ” he whispered, a hand at the small of Elizabeth’s back. “Keep to the shadows as much as you can.”
She only nodded silently, for she’d seen Aziz, too.
The three met in the shelter of some trees and Aziz looked relieved. “I feared you were taken!” he said.
“I was,” Jack said, grimly, then, “Ow!” as Elizabeth plied a forceful elbow.
Aziz chuckled, but said, “Come, we must hurry now, since you tarried so long. There was a sentry near the house that we had to silence, and there may be more, presently. We’ve taken him to the compound where Tai Huang and the others are kept, which is away from most of the other slaves - the fools objected to being housed with men of the east, but it is most convenient for us. There was no guard there, but there was a lock on the door that took me some time to pick.”
“Good lad,” Jack said, pleased.
“Are my men well?” Elizabeth asked.
“Most of them,” Aziz told her, his smile fading. “But come, you will soon see for yourself.”
When Tai Huang saw Elizabeth walk into the compound behind Jack, he came hobbling toward her and took her outstretched hands impulsively for a moment, then let them go and bowed. “I knew you would contrive to free us,” he said, when he’d straightened. His men gathered behind him, murmuring agreement, and the two burly escorts looked on with approval.
“It was Captain Sparrow’s doing,” Elizabeth said. “But Tai Huang, you’ve been hurt?”
“It is nothing-“
But another of her crew cut him off. “He lies, Captain, a week ago he was caught attempting to escape - his plan was to find you and return for us. The master of the house ordered him beaten, rods applied to the soles of his feet.”
Elizabeth was aghast, but Jack, who’d suspected something of the sort when he’d seen how Tai Huang moved, merely said sharply, “Can you travel, do you think?”
“I can and will.”
“Then let’s go. You others will help him as he needs it-and you’ll let them, Tai Huang, savvy?”
Tai Huang grimaced, but bowed again.
*
If only they’d had horses, Elizabeth reflected. But their horses had been stabled along with those of Rafi Kasim, in the same building that housed a whole troop of the property’s overseers and guards. A pitched battle was out of the question. So they ran on foot.
The ground was flat and fairly even for the most part, of course, which was both a blessing and a curse. They could move quickly and easily, even with Tai Huang needing so much assistance - the others helped him in pairs, virtually carrying him much of the time - but they were all aware that they could be seen from a great distance, and the night was wheeling past. The moon sank and set during the first hour, and the infinite stars glowed and twinkled in the dark before dawn.
The dark before dawn. An apt metaphor.
It was vital to reach the small oasis again before the sun rose, the place where they’d stayed the first night - just the night before, Elizabeth realized in some wonder. Too much had happened in the last day. But there was hope that the desert nomads that had been in residence would provide their party with food and water, and perhaps even help throw any pursuers off their track. There had been disparaging talk of Rafi Kasim’s manners and decadence among the nomads when Jack had revealed that the House of Shade was his destination.
Ten miles. Not such a terrible distance, save that all but the two hired escorts were sailors, and the unyielding earth was an entirely foreign element, as unlike the easy sway of a ship's deck as could be imagined. Painful, blistering feet sapped their will, and they tired far more quickly than any of them would have done at sea.
They kept moving, with few words other than encouragement, for failure was not to be contemplated. But as the sun peeped over the edge of the earth and they were approaching the top of the last rise, beyond which lay the oasis, Aziz turned to look back for a moment and cried out, halting everyone.
“They come!”
Elizabeth whipped about and was momentarily relieved to see that pursuit was still far away, a distance of several miles.
But Jack said, “They’ll be on us before we know it. Run! ”
They ran, or lurched and stumbled to the apex of the hill, trying to fight down the sense of panic that rose up like some monster. And then they were over, and as they sped up on the downhill slope, Elizabeth gasped at the sight before them.
“Jack! Look! ” she cried.
He’d stopped to aid one of her men who’d tripped and fallen, but now he straightened and shaded his eyes against the morning glare and frowned.
The nomads were gone, and the oasis had been taken over by what appeared to be an entire troop of horse, though few men could be seen among the beautiful animals.
But now Aziz gave another shout, this one imbued with a wild joy. “Sabir! It is Sabir, my uncle’s man, with horses for us. I sent to my uncle before we left, and he has saved us!”
“I’ll be damned,” Jack stated. “But we’re not out of the woods yet. Run, you lubbers, as you value your lives! ”
With a roar of joy now, the whole party raced down the hill, and even weary as they were, they quickly gained the outskirts of the oasis and the welcome of Ammand's friends.
Aziz was greeted with open arms by Sabir, a big, hairy-faced man with twinkling eyes and a villainous scar down the side of his face. “You rascal, there’s no rest for the weary here, I see. We only arrived an hour ago.”
Elizabeth, breathless after her run, asked, “Are the horses rested enough?”
Jack, equally blown, waved an arm and gasped, “Pursuit!”
“Let us depart then, by all means,” said Sabir, his eyes flashing. He patted his scimitar, but did not draw it, merely directing Aziz and the few men with him to help the escapees to mount.
Jack’s horse capered alarmingly, and looked to be trying to throw him at first, but the others managed very well, even a few who had to ride double, and once they were off, speeding across the desert, even Jack’s mount allowed him a respite.
Elizabeth had Aziz up before her, and laughed at the boy’s wild yips and shouts of encouragement. “To the galley!” he cried, “And then to row for our lives!”
And indeed, when they roared into Landara a surprisingly short time later, like a storm that breaks the calm of early morning, their pursuers left far behind, Sabir led them straight to the city’s harbor where the unnamed galley that had brought him awaited, ready to take them all out to sea.
*
Jack forbade Elizabeth to take a bench and join the rowers - “It'd wear the skin right off those pretty hands of yours, and no, you’ll not argue the point.”
“Oh, will I not?” she enquired through set teeth.
“Not if you know what’s good for you,” he retorted, with such a glare that she merely sniffed and lifted her chin belligerently before obeying.
Therefore, she had nothing to do save bask in the fresh air and sun as the galley made its way out of Landara’s crowded harbor and thence up the coast. It was nearly forty miles by land to the border of the sultan’s territory, and she was bored and fuming at her enforced inactivity, until at last they rounded a point and the breeze picked up considerably. The whole company set up a cheer, and Elizabeth helped to pull the ropes that raised the big lateen sails, a thrill going through her as they filled and the galley strained forward, picking up speed, and throwing a fine white bow wave.
The rowers kept to their task, for there were two more ships on the water now, far behind, but gaining, and no one doubted that they were the sultan’s, dispatched when word of Rafi Kasim’s loss had reached the palace. But the sultan was doomed to be disappointed of his prey, for long before his ships came within gunshot, Elizabeth and Jack were standing at the prow of the galley to watch the Seref come into sight, and beyond her, the Black Pearl.
o-o-o Epilogue o-o-o
“At least Barbossa’s good for something,” Jack said a week later, flashing his most devilish grin as he set clever fingers to unfastening Elizabeth’s breeches for the second time that day, having already tossed her shirt at a corner of the Pearl’s great cabin.
Elizabeth shook her head, trying not to smile. “You’ve underestimated him before, Jack,” she warned. “Are you sure he won’t convince the crew we’re entirely given over to lust and unprofitable depravity and that we should be left on some godforsaken spit of land?”
“Been there before, haven’t we?” he murmured, but it was obvious he was quite unconcerned with Barbossa’s mutinous tendencies as he stripped Elizabeth’s breeches down, along with her soft silken smallclothes, baring her.
She obligingly stepped out of the garments, but frowned. “This isn’t fair, you’re still entirely dressed-“
“I’ll show you fair, you delicious, brazen wench, just come here, bend over this table for a moment, that’s the way…”
“Jack, no! The bed is right over… oh. Oh! ”
“Oh, indeed, missy,” he said, rather breathlessly. “Now just… just let me…”
*
Some time later they had indeed repaired to the bed, and were curled together, nose to nose. Elizabeth sighed, wondering at the way satisfaction ultimately seemed only to increase desire. She’d had little chance to discover this fact on her one day with Will, but Jack had been determinedly demonstrating the truth of it from the hour they’d returned to the Black Pearl. “You’re very good at this, you know,” she said, and kissed her lover.
Her love.
“Of course,” he said. “I’m-“
“Captain Jack Sparrow.” She grinned, then shivered as he ran light fingers down her hip and leg.
He smiled. “But you know you’ve nothing to worry about.”
“What don’t I have to worry about?” She began to explore again, too, rejoicing in the feel of him, so alive beneath her touch.
He said, “We’re barely a week out of Landaran waters. Tai Huang and the rest are still too grateful to allow a mutiny, they’d chuck Hector to the sharks first. And the Chinese understand these things. The needs a man has.”
“And a woman?”
“Oh, yes. Particularly a woman.”
She bit her lip as his touch grew more intimate, but she managed to say, “You may be right. But… but now that… oh… now that I’ve lost the Empress, my crew may wish to go back… to Singapore.”
“Mmm… Singapore. Wouldn’t mind going back there myself, your lads can visit and I’ll show you a few things. I know some people… Bill and I had some fun there, when we were lads. Lizzie, love, open your eyes and look at me.”
Elizabeth did, and opened her mouth too. “Jack… Jack…”
“That’s right, love. Let me watch you… so lovely… "
She was drowning in sensation, drowning in his gaze, shame and ecstasy filling her in equal measure, until it was too much and she moaned, pleading, her body arching …
He whispered, “That’s right… that’s right…” And then another smile, his breath against her lips, and a single word -- Mine! - and he kissed her once more as she came apart… for him.
The End
… for now!