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Chapter 10: Searching the Seas II
It didn't take near as much time to get back to the entrance of the cave as it took to get to the misty cave. They boarded the Pearl where they discovered a problem as the mists cleared and the stars came out. "I don't know these skies," Barbossa muttered angrily to himself as he consulted the star charts before him. "That cursed storm must have blown up way off track."
"Or to world's end," Jack suggested taking out his chart with which he started to move around the circles, "If we are then logically there must be a way to get back and-"
"Stop!" Anamaria cried out as she peered over Jack's shoulder. "Look, that star pattern there looks like that one there-" she pointed to first the charts from China and then to the sky. "-perhaps if we follow-"
"That red star," Jack finished, realising what Anamaria was getting at. "Barbossa, I have our heading."
---
Night was ending, and the Dutchman was quickly approaching its destination. Most of the crew no longer were attending their duty stations quietly knowing that the captain would not want to be disturbed. Will was standing behind Elizabeth at the prow of the ship watching as it cut through the water with tremendous speed. Neither of them spoke, but they could both feel the fear and tension surrounding them.
"Will," Elizabeth whispered slowly as the dark night gave way to the twilight before the dawn. "What happens if Eris already has your heart?"
Will shivered inwardly at the thought but he knew that he had to be strong for his beloved wife. "We'll just have to get it back from her," Will answered his voice sounding a lot more strong and sure than he felt. "No matter what happens, I shall not be parted from you again."
And with that, he wrapped his arms around his wife and watched the horizon come ever closer and with it Shipwreck cove and the small cottage that Elizabeth had lived in for near ten years.
---
It took only a matter of moments, but soon enough the Pearl was back on the waters of the Atlantic on the heading towards Florida and the fountain of youth. The sun was just rising and off in the distance they could see a small chest bobbing on the water.
"What be that?" Barbossa asked, squinting into the distance.
"Looks to be a chest," Jack replied looking through his telescope. "Wooden with gold hinges..."
"Wooden with gold hinges," Echoed Ragetti as he and Pintel stood together looking towards the distance. "Wonder what could be in there?"
"What do ye usually find in a chest boys?" Barbossa asked with a wicked grin as he turned to his former captain.
"Why treasure of course," answered Jack. "Perhaps we should take a gander and see what be in that chest and what kind of treasure it might 'old."
Barbossa nodded and then called up to Anamaria who was at the helm of the Pearl. "Lass, veer into the wind there be a chest on the water that Jack and I want to recover."
"Aye Barbossa!" Anamaria called back as she steered the Pearl in the direction that the two captains wanted to go.
---
There was a nervous anticipation with the crew as they hauled the chest aboard. Instantly they could see that it was a very old and very weather-beaten as though it had been adrift at see for many years.
"Alright," Jack began as soon as the chest was on deck and the Pearl was on its original heading. "Let's see what we have here,"
"If you don't mind Jack," Barbossa interrupted. "But seeing how's I'm the one who spotted the chest, I'll be the one to open it."
Not wanting to get into a fight then and there Jack humbly agreed and allowed Barbossa to blow the rusted lock off the chest. Once that task was finished the current captain of the Peal opened the lid and peered inside.
Much to his, and the rest of the crew's surprise- despite being in the water for ages nothing within the chest had been spoilt. There were bundles of letters, a few small codices and plenty of loose paper. Not wanting to bother with the reading Barbossa handed off a couple leaflets to Jack to read while he continued searching through the chest.
"Well isn't this an odd thing," Jack murmured as he read the old parchment. "It says here that this be the chest which housed the philosophers stone- the lump of rock which can turn metal to gold and can create an elixir which induces immortality..." he paused and peered over Barbossa's shoulder. "...is the rock in there? Says here that it should be a shining red rock- like a ruby only glowing with its own inner light- is it here?"
Sadly, Barbossa nodded and pulled out a stone that fit squarely in the centre of its palm. Unlike the description it was not glowing with its own inner light and it was only in the rising light of the sun that they could see that the stone had just the faintest tint of red. To make matters worse, there was a big crack running down the middle of the stone which they all knew meant that it was worthless.
"A piece of junk," Barbossa muttered as he tossed the stone back into the chest. "And a waste of our precious time..."
"Oh I don't know 'bout that," Jack argued looking at the charts. "The alchemist who created this stone has left his entire notebook behind. Most of it is gibberish but I reckon that our own Mister Turner will be able to decipher a lot of it- he was a blacksmith for a time after all."
"Blacksmiths and Alchemists have nothing in common," Barbossa argued with a roll of his eyes. "But if you want to take the chance that the pirate will recreate the stone then be my guest and keep the papers."
Jack nodded and took what he could, rolled them up and then placed them within his jacket while Barbossa motioned for two of the crew who had been standing around to take the useless chest with its broken stone and dump it back overboard. "Hopefully it'll sink to the bottom of the sea never to be seen again..."
---
It took a little while, but as soon as the Pearl was back on the heading their sails were filled with wind and they flew across the sea at a pace that only the Dutchman enjoyed. Within two days they were on the shore of Florida. Even from the sea they could see that it was a wild and untamed land.
"This be it Jack," Anamaria whispered to him as they sat within a longboat with Barbossa. "De source of immortality be within these trees."
"I know," Jack whispered back turning to look at the woman pirate who had been within him for a very long time. "And to think- we both may be immortal when all this is said and done."
"Both of us?" Anamaria asked her eyes wide with shock. "You'd want me- to be immortal- with you."
"Why of course," Jack agreed as he continued to row with Barbossa on the lookout for a fountain of some kind. "Why wouldn't I want you by my side- we could sail the seas of this world and the next for all eternity..."
"But me Jack," she whispered, finding it hard to believe that here before her was the most fearsome pirate giving her his heart- more or less. "You could have any wench that you want, why me?"
Jack laughed softly under her breath and stopped rowing for a moment to kiss her temple. "No wench challenges me like you do lass...and besides their not half as intelligent."
Smiling to herself and knowing that that was the best she would get from the pirate before her Anamaria nodded and continued to row, hoping that they would reach the fountain soon.
---
Unfortunately for Jack, Anamaria and Barbossa what they had been seeking was not what they found. The boat had navigated the marshes as far as it could and as the murky waters turned to dry land, there before them was a cracked, ivy covered bleak foundation with a broken pedestal. By all appearances it could have been a mighty fountain, but now it was nothing more but a ruin.
"All this way," Barbossa muttered angrily himself as they rowed back to the Pearl the sun setting on the mortal world. "All this way for nothing..." with a sigh he turned to Jack, "I thought that Calypso promised you the source of immortality."
"Dat I did Barbossa," Calypso's voice echoed as her form rose from the sea. "But you 'ave not found de source of immortality. Keep searching and you shall come upon it, of dat I am sure."
Barbossa wasn't convinced of that, but Anamaria was. Jack on the other hand couldn't help but look to the horizon and wonder how Will and Elizabeth had made out with the chest and the shadow beings that had stolen the key.