Ok, My first Pirates fic. Be merciful!!!!

Jane shifted her feet uncomforatabley. The shackles that bound her to the condemed in front and behind her cut in to her wrists and ankles. The gallows up ahead loomed, getting bigger and bigger with every step she took toward them. She was terrified. Every beat of the drums, and crank of the lever that dropped down the floor boards send a shiver down her spine. Yet she refused to cry. She refused to show any emotion other than pride, an emotion that was common among street children. She wasn't supposed to be there, wasn't supposed to be standing in line with a bunch of pirates waiting her turn to be hung. But there was no use in telling the Soldiers that she was innocent, they would just laugh in her face. Some of the soldiers were walking up and down the que of prisoners, taunting them. One of them had stopped by her.

"Do you feel fear? Fear for the British army?"

He had asked, holding her chin between his forefinger and thumb. She'd jerked away, disgusted.

"Answer me you wretch!"

He'd replied to her behavior, slapping her hard enough to make her fall back on the cold, wet stone. The shackles bit into her skin, drawing blood. Her curly black hair fell into her eyes, and the left side of her face burned.

Still she refused to cry, refused to give the officer sadisfaction. She was strong for her young age of nine, almost ten. She struggled to stand, slipping on the wet stone. She slowly walked toward the enemy, fuming with fury.

"I fear nothing!" she hissed .

The soldier was about to respond but Jane spat in his face. The officer roared with anger, and raised his fist. Jane cowared, ready to feel her skull get bashed in.

"Enough with the girl!" growled a plump black woman, stepping between Jane and the officer, keeping him from bashing in her skull.

The officer stepped back, surprised at the womans willingness to take a hit for a young girl she didn't even know.

His expression changed from dumbstruck to angry.

"She'll get her dues soon enough." he'd said and slunk off down the line.

The black woman smiled weakly, but there was fear in her eyes.

"You are brave," she'd said.

Jane was glad for the communication. It was bad to die, but worst to die alone.

Now, as she stumbled up the gnarled wooden steps to the gallows, she fell. Her shins banged on the stairs, and she felt tears welling in her eyes. She blinked them back. She'd been so strong, now was not the time for her to fall apart.

Standing on the trap door, the noose was a good foot above her head. The exacutioner dropped a crate in front of her and attempted to help her up.

She violently jerked him away and stepped up herself.

She held her head high as the cold wind blew her coal collared hair and whipped her tattered knee length skirt wildly.

Jane allowed the exacutioner to place the noose around her neck, it was taking all her strenght just to keep from crying.

Jane remembered the day this whole mess had started,

It was raining

Jane was walking through the street, looking for a lost coin or a scrap of forgotten food. She had her eyes to the ground when she heard the gun shots. She turned around to see British officers , marching in a straight row, rifles raised, red uniforms glistening with rain.

Jane ran.

Being a street kid, she had stolen, tricked and pillaged, any child would have been scared by the British army searching the streets.

She kept running blindly, the rain was showering making it hard to see where she was going.

All of a sudden there was a brick wall right in front of her face. The soldiers had cornered her in an alley. All around her were pirates that had tried running from the army. One by one the soldiers put shackles on all the people. They had taken them to a small cramped jail cell, not bothering to take off the shackles. They had been told that they were to be hung in a weeks time publicly.

Now, a week later, she was standing on a crate waiting to die. She hung her head and closed her eyes. Suddenly the floor dropped. The noose tightened, but didn't break her neck. She realized that although the trapdoor had opened, part of it had gotten jammed. If she leaned toward the right she could support her weight enough to keep the noose from killing her.

The exacutioner was coming around, cutting the ropes. Jane allowed her body to go limp. The exacutioner, suspecting nothing, cut her rope.

Jane fell limply to the cold ground five feet below. She ached all over and now would have a major goose egg, but she gritted her teeth and allowed herself to be drug away with the rest of the bodies to the large pile at the middle of the square. Jane closed her eyes and thanked God for her luck at not being killed. A group of soldiers took all the shoes off the bodies and loaded them on to a cart.

Jane almost burst in to tears when she saw the plump black woman laying on the cart next to her. Her eyes were open but no longer showed fear, they were blank, lifless. That should have been her. People say that dead people look like they are sleeping, that is a lie, they just look dead. When the cart started to move through an alley, Jane rooled out of in and crouched in the shadows.

She was scratched all over, The shackles had not been removed and were killing her hands, ans she was alone. She had been holding back tears for a week and now she let them out, she cried herself in to a calm sleep.

She may be in the worst circumstances possible, but at least she was alive.

Al right how was that? Not to bad…was it? Well you can tell me yourself, click that little purple button and review!!!!!