The Malagasy Expedition
Chapter Ten: A Dream
Cordelia sat bolt upright in bed.
"Dear God in heaven," she said.
She got out of bed and quickly overbalanced, the sea being quite rough that night. She pulled on a shirt and stumbled down the hall to her cabin. She lit a candle and began rummaging through the chest at the end of her bed.
"No, no, no, no, no," she whispered to herself.
Finally Cordelia found what she had been searching so frantically for: the letter. She took one last look at it before holding the flame of the candle up to it.
"Cordelia, what on earth are you doing?"
She dropped the letter in surprise and it finished burning on the floor, the edges curling and smoking.
"Jack? What are you…don't you have any decency?"
"Sorry luv, but you took my shirt."
"Oh. I think I got candle wax on it too."
"What are you running around in the middle of the night for? And why have you burned the Commodore's letter?"
"Jack I had such a terrible dream; I had to burn the letter. It's a bad letter anyway, it insures your hanging."
"Come back to bed and you can tell me all about it," he said offering her a hand.
"Now," he said, kissing her neck "what's this all about?"
Cordelia took a deep breath. "I dreamt I betrayed you and married Commodore Norrington."
"Well I certainly wasn't expecting that," he said, taken aback.
"Neither was I. We've been at sea for months and I haven't even thought about that letter."
"It could be a sign."
"I hope not. I'd never betray you. And even if I did I'd feel bad about it. In the dream I didn't. I just watched you hang. Will and Elizabeth were there too; Elizabeth was crying and Will looked pretty upset, or maybe he was angry with me."
"And this was in Port Royal right?"
"No actually," Cordelia said, puzzled. "It was in a jungle. There was a big tree that hung over a beaten dirt clearing, like a courtyard. They hung you from the tree."
Jack's face bore a very grim expression now, with all the mentions of hanging.
"Jack I'm sorry."
"No need to be sorry luv. Just not a subject I'm real fond of. Neither is you being married to Norrington for that matter. You sure you were married?"
"Oh yes, there's no doubt in my mind of that," she said, shuddering. "But let's not talk of it any more."
She blew out the candle and lay back down, pushing everything except the warm arms around her from her mind. But as the Black Pearl rose and fell in the stormy waters off the Cape of Good Hope all Jack could think of was the dream.