- Chapter 4 -
"Steady as she goes."
Angelica stood at the quarterdeck, just beside the zombiefied quartermaster who was currently stirring the wheel. She knew that Jack Sparrow was among the crew at the moment somewhere across the deck, and knew that he had eventually caught sight of her, which was what she had been expecting. So she wasn't entirely that surprised when Jack confronted here below decks, having a hook at her throat in a threateningly manner.
They talked, just as she knew that it would lead to it.
She told him they were truly aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, and told him that she was Blackbeard's daughter. It was the truth, but she made it seem to him that it was a lie. Finally, it led her to telling him about the prophecy, the reason why Blackbeard searches for the Fountain of Youth:
"He will die within a fortnight, under the hands of a one-legged man."
As she left Jack to himself, she knew all too well that it had gotten Jack interested enough. What the eccentric pirate intends to do next was up to him, Angelica would have just to sit and wait until they can convince Jack to lead them to the silver chalices and to the Fountain's location. She needed it, not for herself, but for her father.
A sudden memory came rushing to her.
She would not be able to know about the Ritual if it weren't for some little help.
It had been a few years back since then...
...
Angelica had stepped out of the longboat, as she turned to Scrum and ordered for him to wait there.
"You sure you don't want any company with you, milady?" Scrum asked. "The place seems eerie to me. Tells something of the occupant, too."
"The more reason why you should stay here, Scrum," she told him, and he said nothing more.
She entered rather too cautiously, almost hugging close to her body the jar of soil she had in her arms. She brought it as a form of payment. Any such questioning from Tia Dalma is considered a service that would require payment.
The moment she entered by the door, she already caught sight of the witch. Tia Dalma was seated at the table, looking down on something, whispering words Angelica could not understand or hear. Then the witch stopped, lifting her head, and greeted the new comer.
"Angelica. Fo'h what reason may de sea had brought ya here?"
The Latin girl approached bravely, setting the big jar at her hip with her left arm and hand. "To ask questions. I assume you know about a ritual concerning the Fountain of Youth?"
Tia stood up and slowly turned to Angelica, the look on her eyes was serious despite the smile on her face. "Fo'h every question comes payment." She held out a hand to the Latin girl.
Angelica handed over the jar she was holding. "I hope it is fair payment to what I am about to ask."
The witched grinned then moved to stow the jar, disappearing into a certain room, making soft noises. When she emerged again, she sat down at the table and beckoned Angelica to join her. "Com'," she said. "Sit an' ask."
"I know that for every ritual, there are items required for it to be done," Angelica said as she sat at the chair across the witch. "What are the items needed for the ritual for the Fountain?"
Tia smiled a toothed grin. "You seek only three." She raised a hand with three fingers held up. "Two silvah chalices," she held out two fingers, "a mermaid's one, single tear," she ran a finger down her right cheek, "an' wata'h from de Fountain." Her expressions suddenly became serious, as Angelica looked on with full attention. "One can find a mermaid at Whitepcap Bay. De chalices will be found on de Santiago, Juan Ponce de León's ship. De ship an' de Fountain can be found on one island, but different locations, an' Whitecap Bay be not fa'h."
Angelica nodded, taking in the information, carving it in her mind. Then she looked back to the witch. "And the ritual itself? How is it done?" she asked. At this, the witch smiled once again.
"Angelica, what interest have ya about de Fountain?" Tia asked in a teasing tone, leaning back on her chair. "One such as ya'self do not go on seeking immortality."
The Latin girl answered with a smirk of her own. "That is true. I have no need for the Fountain. And why should I ever? So yes, it is not for myself, but for someone else...My father."
Tia lifted her chin, her eyes still focused at the Latin girl sitting from across her. "You'h fatha'h?" she repeated.
"Yes," confirmed Angelica. "My father. Edward Teach, famously known as Blackbeard, perhaps you have heard of him."
Again Tia's expressions turned serious, placing her hands on the table, slightly leaning forward. "De Fountain will do no good fo'h him. Tell him dat. Him cannot cheat what is o'ready set. Fate, has spoken."
"There is no harm in trying," said Angelica in return, holding the witch's gaze.
Slowly, Tia once again leaned back on her chair, sighing as she did. "I see. I see now de part ya mus' play in you'h fatha's fate." Angelica frowned at this, not truly understanding what the witch meant, until said witch smiled at her again. "De ritual is called de Profane Ritual. But dis be a knowledge I do not hand down ta men dat easily." Tia then held out her hand. "What is it can ya offa'h me ta tell it to you?"
"What?" said Angelica incredulously. "The ridiculous jar of dirt that I gave you! Was that not enough payment?"
"It is a ritual dat took many lives," said the witch with a serious tone in her voice, her smile disappeared once more, "dat Ponce de León had to keep de Fountain a secret from de world. I told ya, dat dis be a knowledge I cannot bring down ta men...Especially dos like you'h fatha."
"¡Mierda!" Angelica cursed in Spanish under her breath. She tried to look about her person, trying to search for anything she can offer Tia Dalma, and her search led her to the amethyst ring on her finger. Taking the ring, she held it out to the witch with one hand. "Is this payment enough for me to know about the Profane Ritual?"
Tia Dalma reached over for the ring and took it, eyeing it carefully with his black eyes.
"De ring o' thieves," the witch said smiling. "'S said ta pass down from one hand ta de atha'h." She looked back up to the Latin girl still waiting for her answer. "A fair payment, but I tell ya dis," she placed the ring near a heart-shaped locket, "it may return ta you, Angelica. Time will tell."
"The ritual." Angelica was getting impatient.
"Both chalices gets wata'h from de Fountain," started Tia, "but only one gets de tear. De one with de tear gives life. De one without, takes it away."
"What?"
Tia took in the look on Angelica's face before continuing. "Him dat drinks the chalice with de tear gets all de years of life from him who drinks from de atha'h dats without. De years one have, added with de years from de unfortunate one - dat be how long one can live."
Angelica's eyes wandered toward another direction, away from the witch sitting across from her. It was when said witch spoke again that Angelica looked back to her.
"One must first be taken by death, befo'h de atha'h gains life. Ya understand dis, yes?"
Angelica only nodded slowly. Then, pushing away from the table and hauling herself to her feet, she made her farewell to the witch. "Thank you, Tia Dalma. I must go now."
She then turned around, not even daring to look back and give a glance toward the witch, but there was something about that cold chill that ran down her spine that somehow told her that Tia might be smiling from behind her.
...
"Captain want's to see you."
The zombified gunner's voice brought Angelica back to the present. She looked up to the huge gunner towering over her as she nodded and asked, "Of course. Did he say why?" She had started to walk off for the captain's cabin.
"No," the gunner replied, and turned around as soon as Angelica vanished into the cabin, closing the door behind her with a quiet shut.
By the shore of a unnamed island which no one knew even existed, stood a sea goddess with dark dreadlocks of a hair, wearing a dress in a blue-green color, the wind whispering at her ears.
Calypso had spent a lot of time in that island after she was released from her human bonds.
"Der be a change in de winds," she said.
"When did it not?" came a voice from behind her, thick with a Scottish accent.
She smiled to herself.
During those times after her freedom, she didn't spend her time in that island alone. She had picked up someone along the way, lost in the seas, and brought him there to be with her. So that they could be together...as what they have always wanted.
Calypso turned around to see her beloved standing within five feet from her. There he was, Davy Jones, in his human form.
"The winds would always change," said Davy Jones, not moving from where he stood, as he watched with a smile on his face as Calypso approached him.
The goddess planted a kiss on her beloved's lips, before she spoke to answer him, her smile not leaving her face. "De winds dat here I felt tells me of men searching fo'h de fabled Fountain."
Jones's brows formed into a frown. "The Fountain of Youth?" he asked, and Calypso only nodded as a response. "Ah," he nodded himself, "men has not changed at all. Are there kings involved?"
"De English competes with de Spanish," replied the sea goddess, causing Jones to nod again.
"And are there pirates?"
With that question, Jones's thoughts were at a particular pirate - Jack Sparrow.
"Yes," confirmed Calypso. "Blackbeard uses Jack Sparrow ta get ta de Fountain."
Again, the frown on Jones's brows appeared. "Edward Teach? Searching for the Fountain? Why?"
"Ta cheat death, my love." There was no teasing in Calypso's voice.
This time, Jones shook his head from side to side.
"Do not tell me that he knows how he would meet his end," he said, as Calypso and he started walking off.
The sea goddess took her beloved by the arm before she responded. "Him has been informed, years ago. But searching fo'h de Fountain would do him no good. De one-legged man will kill him. De one-legged man has reason ta not stop until it is done."
"Who is this one-legged man?" asked Jones out of curiosity, surprisingly becoming interested.
"Him is a man you know of o'ready. A man whom Jack Sparrow hates mo'h dan anyone in de world." Looking up to Jones, Calypso met it with a serious look in her eyes. "De man whom is destined ta kill Edward Teach, is Hecta'h Barbossa."
The frown that formed in Jones's face was out of surprise. "Barbossa? But he is a man of two legs, not one." He frowned more when his dearly beloved shook her head to him.
"Him lost one."
Both of them were silent for the remainder of the walk, which led to a house of wood and stone. The house was hidden among the trees by a river that flowed from a waterfall and leads to the sea.
Jones only spoke again when both he and Calypso had sat down at the table, just across from each other.
"No doubt Sparrow wanted a taste of the Fountain's water," he declared flat out, just wanting some confirmation.
"Him must play a part in Blackbeard's fate," the sea goddess said, leaning back comfortably on her chair, "just as how Blackbeard's daughta'h have a part as well."
"Daughter?"
Calypso had grown tired of the entire conversation that she had decided to let Jones forget about it. She stood from her seat and took him by the arm, then led him inside the house, where the organ was found. It was the same organ Jones had on the Dutchman when he was still the ghostly ship's captain. Calypso had it taken from the Dutchman and brought to the island by a quick visit to Will Turner to the Locker.
"Play fo'h me, my sweet," she said in an alluring voice, which made Jones smile.
"For ye, my love," he replied, then set his fingers on the keys and started playing the same tune that which comes out from their lockets. The very same tune he played aboard the Dutchman with pain in his heart. But this time, he played it with joy and happiness, and full of love.
Speaking of Blackbeard's daughter, Calypso remembered that time Angelica visited her in her shack as Tia Dalma, asking about the Profane Ritual that's needed to be done at the Fountain.
A smile played across her face as she remembered that memory.
But she was smiling more about the fact that Angelica did not know that the man destined to kill her father was on his way and had arrived at the shack the next day, after Angelica left. And what Calypso said was true about the Ring of Thieves, because Jack Sparrow came that time with Will Turner and others, as Barbossa slept silently inside a room in the shack. The group asked about the key to the Dead Man's Chest.
Jack had taken the ring with him, and Calypso does not doubt that the ring will find its way back to Angelica's hand, and to be once again worn on the Latin girl's finger.