Darker Heart 4
1750
Angelica sat on the hot sand, the voodoo doll of Jack Sparrow in her hands. The urge to strangle it burned through her veins, but she controlled it. Strangling Jack would not get her Daddy's ship back or restore her father to life.
And she very much intended to do both.
She would thwart the cursed Fountain and steal his soul back! And then Jack and that One-Legged Man had better run to the ends of the Earth when she released her fury on them!
A wicked smile crossed her soft lips. Blackbeard wasn't the only one who knew voodoo or dark magic. She saw sails on the horizon and she stood, gathering her scattered clothes off of the nearby shrubs where she had hung them to air. As the ship grew larger, she realized it was familiar, very familiar and her smile broadened. As she shouted to the crew aboard and waved her shirt about in the air, a plan was already forming in her mind.
Yes, the One-Legged Man had better run!
1888
Madame Red rubbed at weary eyes as she climbed the last few steps out of the hold and onto the deck, once again wearing the red gown that the people on this ship apparently considered proper dress. It was a relief not to be squeezed to death by the corset but it felt weird at the same time, like something basic was missing but then maybe corsets weren't that healthy anyway. The blast of fresh but cold sea air woke her up the rest of the way, like a slap in the face. The sun was shining brightly off to one side, still low in the sky but climbing upwards, the few clouds around it tinged with various shades of pink, red, orange and gold. The sky overhead was a dark blue but brightening every moment to a lighter shade. Raising a slender hand to her mouth, she stifled a yawn. She had finally fallen asleep last night through some miracle, but who knew what the hour was by then? Unfortunately, sea sickness was never a thing she had studied or needed a cure for, not living in London. She had regretted that last night.
With the sun rising, she could see the ship much better now. It had three massive masts rising high in the air, the sails a deep blood red marred with dirt and countless holes. Some of the holes looked large to her untrained eye and she couldn't fathom how the ship could possibly sail with the canvas in such awful condition. Yet sailing they were. The deck was long and wide, the wood wet as countless scruffy pirates scrubbed the desk either on hands and knees or with mops.
She paused for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the light, Grell joining her. He was once again in his butler disguise, although she was uncertain how necessary that really was since the captain apparently knew the truth. Turning slightly, she looked down the length of the deck and saw the rising structure in the back, stairs leading upward. She was pretty sure that's where they had had dinner last night, although it all looked so different now in the light of day.
"Morning, poppet." Pintel said as he came over, a wooden bucket of water in one hand. "How'd you sleep last night? You look a might tired."
"Rather poorly, with all of the wave movement," She admitted, deciding to be honest with the man. "Although I am feeling somewhat better now."
The pirate reached into his pocket and pulled out a small cracker about the size of her palm and handed it to her. "If yer feeling the sea sickness ye eat this. The salt in it will help settle yer stomach. Or have some of that ginger root stuff, like in tea. There's tons of the stuff on board."
Madame Red stared at the decidedly stale cracker of questionable cleanliness after being in the pirate's pocket for who knows how long. "Thank you, Pintel."
Ragetti joined them then, a wet mop in his hand. He motioned to the cracker. "You best smash it up first before you try to eat it, unless you want to lose your teeth. Ship biscuits are hard like rocks!"
Pintel laughed. "And ye best not look at it too closely, either…."
Ragetti started laughing too then and Madame Red felt confused. What was the secret about a cracker? Was it supposed to be some sort of dirty joke?
"Just dump it in some tea, let it get good and soggy," Ragetti recommended between loud laughs. "But don't look at it."
"Yeah, a lady like you wouldn't want to look at it." Pintel agreed. He then pointed towards the rear of the ship. "Captain Barbossa is up on the poop deck. That's the deck up above the captain's cabin. He should have some breakfast for you up there."
Still feeling confused about the cracker, she carefully walked between the sailors that was scrubbing the deck and climbed the stairs up to the rear deck. There was the ship's wheel, busy manned by some pirate. And the two officers, Gillette and Groves, were there too. One stood on the left side of the deck and the other on the right side, both busy observing the crew from their higher position. They both grated her silently with a little nod of their head and she smiled sweetly at them in return. She saw the captain then. He had a table set up in the very back of the ship, plates of breakfast set up on it. She even saw a teapot and tea cups with saucers, which surprised her greatly. Barbossa had his peg leg propped up on the side rail of the ship as he sat munching on a green apple, a plate of half eaten pastry in front of him. His wooden crutch was within easy reach. There were also some maps spread out on the table, a small black leather bound book and some odd looking instruments, no doubt things needed to sail the ship.
Then her red eyes darted past the captain to the seascape past the rails of the ship. All she saw was blue waves to the rear and both sides. Turning, she tried to see past the sails that blocked the forward view but really couldn't make out too much at all. Were they in the English Channel and maybe heading for France? Turning back to the captain, she went up to the table where he sat.
"Help yerself to breakfast." Barbossa said as he waved a hand to indicate the food and drink. "I thought ye would appreciate some ginger tea, so I had the cook brew some up. It tastes better if you add some sugar to it, as otherwise it's a might strong."
"Where's the land?" she asked as she could feel her heart starting to pound. She had presumed he would follow the coast so he could go raiding, making an escape much easier but how could they escape if there was no land in sight anywhere?
"We'll naught be seeing land for some time now, Doctor." Barbossa replied as he studied the bitten apple in his hand. "This be the Atlantic, in case ye be a wondering. It's not your itty bitty English Channel."
Her mind went blank for a moment. "But there's nothing out here…"
"Aye, that's what I used to think, too." Barbossa said as he picked up the book and waved it about a bit. "But then I got this fine ship and Blackbeard's rare collection of tomes. Since then I've been discovering lots of things, like about these lay lines. The ancients used to have a trade route between Europe and the Americas, long before there were ever any kings or queens of England, back when they were building the pyramids in Egypt. They had copper mines in the new world, you know. I know it sounds impossible, but it's true. And they used these lay lines to shorten the trip, as why spend months out at sea? And so we're sailing on one of these lines…"
Shock rolled through her as the captain continued to munch on his apple as if they had only been discussing the weather, not hauling them to the other side of the world! It was the last thing she had expected. She felt any hope of escape quickly dying as they sailed further and further out into the empty ocean. She would most likely never see her nephew again or find out what his fate would be. Still, she would try to not let any of that show as a lady had to be polite, carefree and a bit naïve. "Oh? That sounds quite fascinating. I've never been on a sea voyage though so I'm afraid I know nothing about nautical things…"
She saw Grell starting to pour a cup of tea and noted his eyes looked a bit wider than normal, meaning he hadn't expected the new world to be their destination either.
"This naught nautical things, Missy." Barbossa stated as he tossed his apple core overboard, shocking both of them at the rude behavior. "It be black magic."
Madame Red gasped and the tea Grell was pouring missed the cup and went into the saucer.
"You … you mean you summoned a demon?" Madame Red finally asked when she found her voice again, her knees trembling. Feeling weak, she perched herself on an empty chair at the captain's table.
Barbossa laughed loudly, bad teeth revealed. "Who needs a demon? Missy, I'm so evil that the devils down below didn't want me and spat me back out… I can do me own black magic just fine. I must have a talent for it because so far everything I tried worked just fine."
Madame Red didn't know what to say to that.
Grell stared down at the saucer full of tea, clearly unsure what he should do about the current blunder. But Captain Barbossa apparently didn't mind. He picked the tea cup out of the drink filled saucer, messily poured the tea from the saucer into his empty tea cup, added brown sugar, stirred it a bit with a spoon and drank it down in one gulp as if it were rum. "At least it burns like alcohol…"
And that surprised her even more, as the members of high society would never stand for such a blunder from a butler. Of course, Grell was really her partner in crime so she overlooked it but to think the captain didn't see anything wrong with it and then drank it too boot! Her days in high society had never prepared her for someone like Barbossa.
The captain then picked up his half eaten pastry and started picking at it, tearing little bits off and sticking them in his mouth, seemingly enjoying himself as crumbs fell all over his clothing. He waved the remaining bit of pastry in their direction. "Apple. I like me apples. They cost a king's fortune in the Caribbean. Good thing I got more wealth than the King, arrgh?"
"Excuse me?" She asked, thinking she must have heard wrong. How could this pirate be wealthier than the king?
"We're going to the Caribbean." Barbossa stated as he picked up another green apple from the fruit bowl. "But I warn you, Doctor, the Caribbean is off the edge of the map. There are monsters there."
"Captain." Lieutenant Groves stated firmly as he stood at attention a short distance away, hands folded behind his back. "Sails have been spotted on the horizon. It appears someone is following us."
"Oh, are they now?" Barbossa's blue eyes widened with interest as he gripped his bad leg and lifted it off the railing, allowing it to drop to the hard deck. Snatching his crutch from where he had left it, he leaned on it heavily and forced himself to his foot. Striding the short distance to the rear rail, he stared at the tiny speck behind them. Holding out his hand palm upward, he accepted the telescope from his first officer. After looking through it for a few moments, he sighed. "It appears to just be some merchant vessel, not worth robbing. Here I practically sail into London with the Queen Anne's Revenge and naught a lobster or uptight commodore to greet me."
"What are your orders, Sir?" Groves asked as he accepted his telescope back.
"Keep an eye on it." Barbossa decided swiftly. "If she grows closer then we'll deal with her, but she may just be taking a similar route as we are. Still, we'll be at the coordinates soon and then it won't matter…"
Madam Red didn't like the sound of that, even though she had no idea what it meant, but it suggested something, something bad possibly. She strained her eyes to see the ship they were discussing, but couldn't see anything at all, just the intense blue of the sea and the sky. And staring at it for too long seemed to make odd spots dance before her eyes and then she was forced to look away. It was so open and immense out there; it was like staring into forever. It made her feel small and unimportant and more importantly, fragile. The ship creaked and groaned around and under her, the sounds rubbing on her nerves even though she tried her best to stay calm and ignore them. How old was this ship anyway? Was it even sea worthy? What if it fell apart?
And what of the merchant ship that was behind them? Was it just a merchant as the captain said or was it Ciel trying to rescue them? Had he learned they were gone yet, kidnapped?
Realizing there was nothing she could do, she accepted the cup of tea and plate of breakfast from her butler; thankful she wasn't alone.
000
"How can that ship move so fast?" Ciel demanded of the captain of his candy ship, Sweet Sensations, as he studied the distant ship through a telescope. "It appears to have hundreds of holes in its sails! Surely it should be dead in the water, shouldn't it?"
"I don't like the looks of that ship, Earl Phantomhive." The captain stated nervously as he stood on the aft deck of the small merchant vessel. "There's something unnatural about her…"
"I don't care if you don't like how she looks! We need to catch up to it!" Ciel cried angrily, his single blue eye flashing hotly at the older man that worked for him. Personally, he had never met the man before or even knew his name; he just knew he owned the ship and it delivered his candy up and down the coast with efficiency. His factory was turning out salt water taffy, candy corn and licorice by the ton and it still wasn't enough. "Don't you understand? That ship has kidnapped the Baroness, my aunt, and I intend to rescue her!"
"Well, we're smaller and lighter than she is, so we should be able to catch up if the wind continues to favor us…" The Captain stared at the towering frigate that was far ahead of them. "But I only ever heard of one ship with blood red sails like that and I wouldn't want to go up against it in my worst nightmares, not for all of the treasure the Queen has. They still talk about it in whispers, you know…"
Ciel turned to regard the older man with curiosity now. "What do they say?"
"Her name was the Queen Anne's Revenge and she sailed over one hundred and fifty years ago. She was a pirate ship, one of the most famous pirate ships at that. Legend says she even attacked other pirates and sailed under the blackest of magic. She was captained by Blackbeard, otherwise known as Edward Teach. There are all sorts of rumors about him, like he had undead working for him and that he kept living after his head was chopped clear off! Who knows what's true and what's a tall tale? But he was a very successful pirate and was good at what he did. He sacked both towns and other ships, always adding to his fleet of ships. We may be chasing a ghost ship…I know you probably don't believe in the supernatural, but work out here and you see things you just can't explain and I wouldn't want to mess with no ghost ship. That'll be bad luck!"
"Blackbeard?" Ciel repeated in confusion. Why would Blackbeard kidnap his aunt? "Could it be a ship pretending to be the Revenge?"
"I suppose…" the captain admitted as he thought about it. "But where would you get a frigate like that these days? But what concerns me the most right now is the fact she hasn't turned."
"So?" Ciel didn't see what that had to do with anything.
"It means she's planning on crossing the Atlantic to the New World. We're not outfitted for such a voyage, for one. We just arrived in port and you ordered us back out on the morning tide. We didn't have a chance to refresh our supplies yet and even then, we're used to sailing along the coast, not out in the open ocean…"
"The waves will be a lot bigger, My Lord." Sebastian helpfully added from where he stood next to his young master. "If we encounter bad weather on the open sea, this small ship may capsize."
"I see…" Ciel frowned and walked the short distance to the railing, his ever loyal butler following him. His gaze automatically went upward to the demon he depended on for so many things. "What do you sense from that ship? Is it truly the Revenge or an imposter?"
Sebastian focused his dark eyes on the ship ahead of them, his eyes narrowing and turning scarlet red, slit-like pupils appearing for a moment. The sea breeze lifted his fine black locks off of his forehead, fluttering them in the wind. He stretched his supernatural senses outward, scanning the large frigate that sailed before them. "I fear, My Lord, that it is indeed the Revenge, as she is saturated with dark energy, the magic reeking off of her in waves."
Ciel turned to study the other ship again, raising the captain's telescope to his single good eye. They were closer now and he could see more detail on the other ship. The wooden structure at the back of the ship rose almost straight up into the air at a steep angle, the superstructure partly hanging above the rolling sea and the hull was the same dirty maroon as the torn sails. A large glass lantern hung from a chain at the back of the ship, the lantern almost shaped like a big bird cage. And up at the top of the rear rail there were smaller glass lanterns. The name "Queen Anne's Revenge" was clearly visible now, too. A frown crossed his lips after reading the words. He had hoped it just to be an imposter, but the actual pirate ship? "Sebastian, how could that possibly be the Queen Anne's Revenge? Shouldn't she be a rotten hulk by now and where has she been up until this sighting? Why has no one seen her before?"
"There are … possibilities, My Lord." Sebastian stated carefully as he also fixed his gaze onto the other ship. "If the pirate captain has truly studied black magic he may have discovered secrets that only supernatural creatures normally know about. I would not put it past him, not with the amount of magic reeking off that ship. But the dark arts are not our biggest concerns. It is the ship herself."
"So she is well armed I take it." Ciel's frown increased. "You have no problem catching bullets. What about cannonballs?"
"That would be more problematic. They are larger and have more force behind them and I fear they will fire them all at once; if I miss even one than this ship may be destroyed and sunk. The crew on her is no doubt well trained and can reload the cannons within minutes." The demon was silent for a moment. "Nor have I ever tried to stop a cannonball before. It may very well tear through me and then it will take time to regenerate parts. They can easily blast off arms and legs…"
"So we're a sitting duck then." Ciel fumed as he looked through the telescope again. He could see people on the ship now, most noticeably a tall man with a round feathered hat staring back at him. His blue eyes were piercing even at this distance and sent chills down his spine. Surely that man must be the infamous Blackbeard? "Sebastian, I have not come this far to give up now. We must come up with a plan on how to rescue Madame Red and Grell off of that ship, even if our ship is weaponless."
"You are asking for the impossible."
"I don't care." The young boy said stubbornly as he glared at the demon that was bound to him. "You have always succeeded before and I'm confident you will now. That man may be a pirate but you're a demon. Surely between the two you are the stronger? Find a way to do what I wish."
The demon did not look too happy or confident.
000
"Captain," Groves called politely as he stood at attention. "The merchant ship is closing, Sir."
"Is she now?" Barbossa's blue eyes lit up as the words left his mouth, the leather bound book grasped in his hands. "Perhaps they'd like to take a little trip with us, but let us look her over first."
Barbossa moved to the rear rail again, his sharp eyes no longer needing the telescope to see the other ship. She was a lightweight ship made for the calm coastal waters and not the open sea she was currently sailing in, the wind pushing her fast over the large waves. She was already cresting each wave and falling into the hollow between them instead of crashing through them as the Revenge was doing. That told him she was a merchant with an empty belly, no cargo or very little. He could see some little runt full of misplaced self-importance standing on the rear poop deck along with some overdressed fellow in black. The actual captain of the ship was easy to spot and he looked properly terrified. And not a single cannon port in sight.
Finishing her tea and wiping her mouth with a napkin, Madame Red stood and carefully made her way to the captain's side. Gripping the tall wooden rail at the back of the ship, she was startled to see her young nephew on the other ship. His butler, Sebastian, was by his side. At first she was thrilled to see them, as she was sure she would never see her darling nephew ever again, but horror quickly replaced it as she saw the captain spin on his boot heel and started to shout orders.
"Hoist the colors!" Barbossa cried loudly as he strode away from the rail. "Let's give our guests a proper welcome."
Groves repeated the order, shouting it down to the deck crew. "Hoist the colors!"
Down on the main deck, Pintel and Ragetti ran with a large black and white bundle of fabric, the fabric being mostly black. They hooked it up to a strong rope and started to haul it up, shaking the fabric out as it climbed towards the sky. Soon the wind caught it and the flag unfurled itself, revealing a laughing skull with two crossed swords under it. Within seconds the flag was at the top of the main mast where it was easy for anyone to see.
Barbossa watched his flag flap in the stiff magical breeze, glad he had bought a new one in Tortuga as the other one was still on the Pearl. Apparently satisfied, he went up to the table and removed the lid from an ornate snuff box. Reaching within, he removed two handfuls of some mysterious grey powder that certainly was not snuff at all. Throwing his arms out wide and his head back, he cried out in a loud voice. "By the gods of sea and sky, I command you to open!"
He flung the mysterious powder up into the air, the stiff breeze snatching it and sweeping it around in crazy circles before it vanished from sight.
Madame Red watched in amazement, her mouth open at the odd ritual she had just witnessed. She took one uncertain step away from the rear railing, meaning to ask the captain what that had been all about, when a blazing white glow appeared before the front of the ship. The suddenness of the brightness almost blinded her and she raised an arm to help shield her eyes. Carefully peering at it, she saw it was shaped like a giant half circle that sat upon the sea's face, the white archway taller than the ship and wider, too. She gawked at it, feeling totally lost and confused.
The half eaten pastry in his hand forgotten, Grell hurried to her side. "He's opened a portal! I didn't think a human could open one…"
"A portal to where?" She asked him as her red eyes were now adjusting to the odd whiteness directly in front of the ship.
Barbossa started laughing then, his deck crew joining him. Only Gillette and Groves didn't join in, apparently too well trained as officers to act like that.
"I don't know." Grell admitted. "You don't know where a portal goes until you're on the other side."
000
"He's opened a portal!" Sebastian shouted as soon as he saw the circular glow manifest itself in front of the Revenge. "If he goes through, we'll lose him!"
"I thought he was going to turn around and fire on us!" Ciel cried as he too stared at the bright white glow. "Isn't that why he raised that pirate flag?"
"Apparently not." Sebastian quickly snatched a grappling hook off the deck, one that was attached to a long stout rope. Racing to the front of the merchant ship, he started to twirl it about in the air and then let it fly, putting all of his demon strength into it. If it would catch on the upper railing in the rear of the ship, then he could possibly do something.
"Don't miss!" Ciel ordered as he joined him at the bow of the Sweet Sensations.
With held breath, they watched as the four prong hook flew up and up, the wind helping to carry it along and then crashed to the poop deck of the Revenge. The long metal prongs got caught between the vertical boards on the railing, the grappling hook securing itself. Using his strong arm muscles and inhuman strength, Sebastian quickly pulled on the rope, causing their smaller craft to come closer and closer to the large one.
And before they could do anything else, the Revenge passed through the portal and they were dragged along with it.
