Hoist the Colors: Book One

by E4me100

Presenting Elyse and Jay, two long-time friends with different pasts and futures ahead of them. One had dreamt about sailing the seas since she was a child, the other preferring to stay on the sidelines when it comes to dangerous journeys. But when both are swept up into the chaos that only pirates can create, well...it's certainly not smooth sailing. Will/OC. OC inserts.

10. Blood Ritual

Hoist the Colors: Book One

Chapter Nine

Elyse's POV

"Feast your eyes, Cap'n! All of 'em faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt – and crazy to boot."

I stood next to Will on the docks of Tortuga, with arms crossed and a doubtful look on my face as Gibbs introduced us to our new crew. None of them truly looked like devoted sailors to me, or even terribly intelligent people, for that matter. But those judgmental thoughts left my mind as I remembered that they likely looked upon me the same way. I know I certainly didn't look like much of a pirate (though I'm willing to bet I smelled like one by now since my clothes still faintly stunk of rum).

Will looked skeptical. "So this is your able-bodied crew?"

Jack also seemed less than enthusiastic about the people in front of him. He began to walk down the line, looking everyone over and stopping in front of a shorter man with a large, colorful parrot on his shoulder. "You, sailor!"

"Cotton, sir," Gibbs cut in.

"Mr. Cotton!" Jack called out. "Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?" he rattled off quickly. When he received no response, Jack yelled again. "Mr. Cotton! Answer, man!"

"He's a mute, sir," Gibbs filled us in. "Poor devil had his tongue cut out-" here Cotton opened his mouth to show us, much to my disgust "-so he went and trained the parrot to talk for him! No one figured out how."

Jack processed this, then spoke again. "Mr. Cotton's...parrot. Same question!"

With a squawk, the bird croaked out "Wind in the sails! Wind in the sails!"

"Mostly we figure that means yes," Gibbs said.

"Of course it does!" Jack replied, then turned to Will. "Satisfied?"

"Well, you've proved they're mad," Will whispered back.

Suddenly, a very female-sounding voice spoke up. "And what's the benefit for us?"

All three of us raised eyebrows at this as we moved down the line to face a man wearing a particularly large hat that was tilted down to cover his face. Jack tried to peek under it, then pulled the hat away to reveal that she was no man, but a woman! "Anamaria!" he smiled, and I held back a laugh when she responded by smacking him across the face.

"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either?" Will asked from behind him.

"No, that one I deserve," the pirate said regrettably. Anamaria smirked.

"You stole my boat!" The tanned woman in front of us spoke up sharply, sending daggers Jack's way.

"Actually-" He was interrupted by being smacked again. "Borrowed! Borrowed without permission!" he said after a blink or two.

I scoffed. "And with every intention of returning it, I'm sure," I said sarcastically.

Now Jack glared at me as Anamaria still stood in front of him, still bristling. "But you didn't!"

"You'll get another one!" Jack said in a high, cheery tone.

The female sailor sucked in a breath and pointed a finger in his face. "I will," she threatened.

I tried to help out. "A better one!"

Jack gestured to me and agreed. "A better one!"

Will then pointed out to his left. "That one!"

It was here that Jack stopped and turned to Will, confused. "What one?" Will nodded out to the Interceptor, and Jack followed his gaze, then spinning back around with a dangerous look. "That one?!" he growled. Will eyed him back, daring him to oppose.

After a moment, Jack looked to Anamaria again, knowing he had nothing better to offer. "Aye! That one!" he agreed. "What say you?"

"Aye!" she shouted back immediately, echoed by the others on the dock. She roughly grabbed her hat out of Jack's hands and followed the rest of our new shipmates as they walked off.

Gibbs, however, was not satisfied. "No no no no no, it's frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, sir." I glared at him, to which he nodded to me. "Apologies, missy."

Jack ignored his superstitious pleas. "It'd be far worse not to have either of them." He pointed at the sky before walking off, and all three of us looked up to see dark clouds on the horizon. And here I thought this would be an easy journey.

oOo

After coming to accept his new crew, Jack quickly had us all get aboard the Interceptor and get out of Tortuga as fast as possible. With others aboard to share the workload of maintaining the ship's course, it was much easier for me, and I found myself in an excellent mood for most of the day, as I had more time here and there to relax. That all quickly changed, however, once the storm rolled in.

Where once there had been a clear, cloudless sky and a bright sun, there was now thick, dark, angry grey ones that blocked out all light and constantly poured down rain. Honestly, I couldn't ever remember seeing so much rain at one time in my entire life. Every inch of the fabric of my clothes was soaked through and through, the wood of the ship was slick with water, and the wind was so wild that it was near impossible for me to even walk across the deck in a straight line. To make matters worse, once the storm kicked in, Jack had us all working overtime to keep lines tied down and hold the course steady. Even he seemed to be having trouble keeping a hold on the wheel from time to time. It was utterly miserable on the ship, and of course my mood reflected that quite potently at the moment.

I gritted my teeth and let out a growl of frustration as I used all the strength I had to pull a rope that had loosened up in the insane weather taut again. "This is madness!" I cried. "We'll all be blown off the ship before we get anywhere! How can he even see where we're going?"

Anamaria was working alongside of me, and she looked over at me with understanding. "Jack's a madman," she agreed, "but he knows what he's doing." We'd quickly bonded over the extent of the afternoon, seeing as we were the only women on the ship.

I glared up at the pirate, who, unlike the rest of us, was having the time of his life. "I find that rather hard to believe," I muttered before walking off.

I was intending to walk up to Jack and ask for my next task, but as I struggled to climb the already tilted deck, the ship pitched high up the side of another massive wave, sending me crashing face-first to the ground. I shakily pulled myself to my feet with the ship's railing, only to have a massive spray of saltwater soak me once again as the water slammed up against the side of the ship.

I let out a cry of anger as I pushed strings of hair out of my face, my boots sloshing with water as I climbed the steps to get up to the helm where Jack still stood. "You know, I feel like you're just steering us in circles so you can enjoy this storm a little longer!"

He looked over at me and gave a cheeky grin. "Are ye not accustomed to a little rain, Miss Norrington?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "This is more than a little rain, Jack!" He just laughed a bit and trained his vision out to the sea before him as lightning flashed and thunder boomed shortly after. The frown on my face deepened as I looked at him once more. "What's got you in such a good mood, anyway?"

Even through the sheets of rain, I could see his eyes twinkling with excitement. "We're catching up."

oOo

Jay's POV

I sat in the captain's cabin of the Pearl with Elizabeth as per usual, poring over all the information I'd gathered in the past few days in an attempt to piece some things together and formulate a plan. So Barbossa and his crew are taking us to Isla de Muerta in order to break a curse. And to do it, they need Elizabeth's blood. I suppose that means that whoever's taken any of the gold has to replace is along with spilling some of their blood to undo the curse, then.

But they don't really need Elizabeth, do they? That was the part that confused me. Why her? The way I'd heard Barbossa talking, he had no intentions of killing me as a part of this ritual. So what relevance did Elizabeth have? Is it simply because she has the medallion now? It seems like it would make more sense for them to take blood from whoever originally took it. But I didn't know who Elizabeth had gotten it from. I doubted it was a gift from her father; Uncle Swann definitely wasn't the type to steal cursed Aztec gold.

Then there was the mystery of my parents that Barbossa had brought up. He hadn't said a single word to me about it since that one conversation we'd had, but I hadn't pressed him for information. I knew I wasn't going to get anything out of him at this point. How would he know about my parents to begin with? They're not pirates. My mother isn't even alive anymore.

I had originally lived with my father and mother in a small town not far away from London, England. We'd always been a happy family, until one day when my mother was traveling into the great city to visit a friend. She was mugged and murdered, and my father never handled her death well at all. It's what caused him to become such an abusive, alcoholic man in the first place. And I was only four years old when that happened. So how on Earth does Barbossa know them?

And then a thought spawned in my mind. One that I didn't believe at first, but the longer it lingered...the more it started to make sense. ...If I'm not a Lachence, as he says...then...were my true parents pirates? Is that how Barbossa knows them? Is that why I've always had such an interest in the sea? My mind spun even more at this new theory, but I couldn't delve into it any further. I need more information, I decided. I need a name. If I'm not Jay Lachence, then who am I?

My thinking was disturbed by muffled shouts from above, causing me to snap my head up and look in my cousin's direction. "What's that?" she asked. "Why are they yelling?"

I could already guess the answer, but a look out the window proved it to be true. "We're here," I said, now standing by the glass and peering through the breaking storm clouds. "Isla de Muerta." Even from the horizon, it looked ominous and foreboding.

"It doesn't look like much," she said quietly.

I never took my eyes off of the tiny island. "You'd do well not to underestimate it," I warned. "It's an island of death, and said to be surrounded by a graveyard of ships who stumbled upon it in the past, their crewmen left for dead among the waters infested with beasts large and fearsome enough to swallow a man whole." I recited the information I'd memorized from books in my childhood.

It was quiet for awhile until Elizabeth softly spoke up, her voice now tainted with fear. "...Are we going to make it out of this alive, Jay?"

I exhaled through my nose, still desperately trying to form a plan. "Hopefully."

oOo

Will's POV

I stood by the railing facing out to sea, but my eyes were on Jack, who was bent over his beloved compass as if he was praying to it. It still confused me how Gibbs had earlier described that compass. How did it not point north, but still worked properly? And that was only one of many things that puzzled me about Jack.

"Will!" I tore my gaze away from him and looked over to see Elyse making her way up to me. "Oh, there you are. I came to tell you that according to Jack, we're quite close to the Isla de Muerta now. We should reach it soon." I nodded as she stood next to me. "Are you ready?"

I thought about that. "I'm not sure. It's good that we've finally caught up to them, but..I worry about what kind of trouble might find us on that island."

She nodded in agreement. "I just hope Jay's all right. And Elizabeth, too," she added quickly.

I frowned a bit. I'd always noticed the way her tone changed whenever she talked about Elizabeth, but I never knew the reason behind it. She never seemed too concerned about her...possibly even annoyed with her. Did something happen between the two of them that I don't know about? I realized I'd been silent for a moment. "I'm sure Jay will be all right, at least. She seems to be able to handle herself from what I know."

"Let's just hope they haven't done anything stupid," she joked. I smiled a bit at that.

A moment later, Gibbs walked up to us and also turned his gaze to the water below. Now that I looked back, I saw the rotting shells of ships sunken beneath the water from decades past, and dozens of sharks swimming below the surface as well. It was incredibly eerie to look at.

"Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage," the older sailor said.

I lifted my gaze to Jack again as Elyse said something in response to Gibbs' statement, then looked back to the other man after a moment. "How is it that Jack came by that compass?"

Gibbs shrugged a bit. "Not a lot's known about Jack Sparrow before he showed up in Tortuga with a mind to go after the treasure of the Isla de Muerta. That was before I met him, when he was captain of the Black Pearl." He took a seat on a nearby crate, and Elyse and I followed suit.

"What?" I asked. "He failed to mention that!"

"Ahh, he's learned then. He plays closer to the vest now," the sailor replied with a small smirk.

Surprisingly, Elyse didn't seem that shocked. "I overheard him say something about him going after it when we were in Tortuga," she confessed. "What happened that he lost it?"

"Jack was a cartographer back in England; making maps for a living. Somehow he came by the money to commission the Pearl. Hired himself a crew, promised each man an equal share of the Isla de Muerta's treasure. Then three days into the venture, the first mate comes up to him and says that everything's an equal share. That should mean the location of the treasure, too. So Jack gives up the bearings. That night, there was a mutiny. They marooned Jack on an island and left him to die, but not before he'd gone mad with the heat."

"Ahh," I nodded. "So that's the reason for all the..." I trailed off and did an interpretation of Jack's odd expressions and movements, getting a laugh out of Elyse.

She then stopped laughing and looked back at Gibbs. "But that still doesn't explain the pistol," she said.

"Well, the story's not done yet," he said with a wink. "Now, when a man is marooned, he's given a pistol with a single shot. One shot. Well it won't do much good for huntin' or to be rescued, but after three weeks of a starvin' belly and thirst, that pistol starts to look real friendly." He made a motion of raising a pistol to his head. "But Jack, he escaped the island, and he still has that one shot. Oh, but he won't use it though, save for one man. His mutinous first mate."

"And that's Barbossa," Elyse realized. "He's the one who stole the Pearl."

Gibbs nodded. "Aye."

Something still didn't make sense to me, though. "But then how did he escape the island?"

"Well I'll tell ye," Gibbs replied. "He waded out into the shallows and there he waited for three days and three nights 'til all manner of sea creatures came and acclimated to his presence. And on the fourth morning, he roped himself a couple of sea turtles, lashed 'em together, and made a raft!"

Silence.

Elyse and I both stared at Gibbs with equally skeptical looks on our faces. "He roped a couple of sea turtles..." I began.

"...and made a raft?" Elyse finished for me.

"Aye, sea turtles." Gibbs seemed to actually believe it.

More silence, until I asked another question. "What did he use for rope?"

The old sailor opened his mouth to answer, but then frowned when he realized he couldn't. The sudden sounds of footsteps approaching made all three of us look up at Jack himself who now stood right in front of us.

"Human hair," he said. "From my back." Elyse made a face. I wondered what the real story was, but didn't have time to ask as Jack spoke again. "Let go of the anchor!" he then shouted to his crew before facing us again. "Young Mr. Turner and I are to go ashore."

"And what about me?" Elyse asked.

"You are to stay here and await our spectacular return."

I glanced in her direction, immediately knowing what her reaction would be. "No!" she cried, standing up with Gibbs and I. "I will not be left behind on this ship!"

Jack met her gaze sternly. "You will stay here, because I am your captain and that is a direct order. You seem to forget that quite a lot," he added before turning and walking away, the rest of us right on his tail.

"Cap'n!" he cried, grabbing Jack's shoulder to stop him. "What if the worst should happen?"

Jack paused to look at him. "Keep to the Code."

"Aye, the Code," Gibbs agreed as he walked away.

My brow furrowed in confusion and I made to follow after them, wondering what the Code was, but was stopped when I heard a soft voice behind me. "Will..." Turning, I saw Elyse standing there looking crestfallen. "Do I really have to stay?"

"You should," I nodded. "It will be safer for you that way."

She frowned. "You know I can handle a sword, Will."

"Yes, but..." I hesitated. "A sword might not save you in there. We don't know what we're up against."

"Then I'm sure it won't be terribly safe for you, either," she pointed out.

I sighed. "I have to go, Elyse. Elizabeth-"

"Yes I know, I know. You have to go save your damsel in distress." I frowned the slightest bit again as she looked away briefly. There it was again. That odd tone. "Just...please be careful."

I placed a hand on her shoulder, getting her to look at me again. "And you will stay here?"

She said nothing for a moment, but finally gave in. "...I will."

I pulled her into a quick, tight hug. "Goodbye, Elyse," I said before pulling away to go find Jack.

oOo

Jay's POV

I sat in one of the boats that was slowly making its way through the massive cave, surrounded by pirates. Elizabeth sat in front of me, and together we stared ahead into the blackness of it all, the only light coming from the torches that some of the pirates had brought along. They were all laughing and jeering as they rowed, save for Barbossa, who stood as still as ever in his boat until it slid up onto a gravelly shore.

We were quickly and roughly shoved off of the boat and onto land, being dragged along by ropes that bound our hands. Other men carried large chests that were practically bursting with treasure, though for what reason, I didn't know. Elizabeth stopped for a split second to admire the cavern around us, but was jerked forward again by her escort. I never slowed or stopped walking, though I did my share of gazing at our new surroundings as well.

Suddenly, the tunnel we were walking through opened up into a massive chamber, the biggest one we'd seen yet, that was absolutely overflowing with treasure of every sort. Gold, silver, jewels, anything that was made of a precious metal or held great value was piled up in this room, some even spilling off of the stone ground and into the pool of water below that held scattered stepping-stone pathways here and there. Moonlight spilled in through cracks and holes in the ceiling, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the centerpiece of it all, set atop the largest mound of treasure in the room – the chest that contained the gold of Cortes.

"There it is," I whispered, and Elizabeth eyed it with fear.

She started breathing heavily, becoming more and more panicked by the second. "Jay, what do we do?" she quietly shrieked, so as not to alert all the pirates wandering around the room.

"Shhh," I quieted her. "Just...stay calm. I'll think of something." This did little to help, and even my heart began to pound as we were jerked into movement again. But now I was beginning to realize the bitter truth – it would take a miracle for us to get out of this now.

oOo

Elyse's POV

I stopped kicking and paused to gasp for air, wiping the hair out of my face for a second before continuing to swim. Why did I do this? This was a bad idea! Then I remembered exactly why I'd immediately snuck off the ship and started swimming just after Jack and Will had gone out of sight. I wouldn't have been able to steal a boat with everyone else up and about, and I was a very strong swimmer to begin with. I figured it would be easier this way...but I will admit, it was rather unpleasant to be completely soaked and cold once again, and my muscles were beginning to feel a bit strained.

Still, though, it was better than being left behind on that blasted ship while Will and Jack went off to do the rescuing without me. And I was sure that Will would be rather impressed if I could get there and prove myself in helping to save Jay and Elizabeth. The only major flaw in my plan was that I hadn't been able to bring my sword along, as it would've weighed me down while swimming. It was back on the Interceptor, but from what I'd gathered, this island was practically filled to the brim with treasure that consisted of quite a few heavy metal objects. There had to be something in there I could use as a weapon.

After a few more minutes of swimming, I emerged from the ocean soaking wet and shaking from the cold onto a spit of land that led inside the cave. I only hesitated for a moment, turning back to glance at the Interceptor floating out in the dark water, before heading inside. Let's hope this works out well.

oOo

Jay's POV

"Gentlemen, the time has come! Our salvation is nigh! Our torment is near at end."

I stood off to the side of Cortes' chest behind Elizabeth and Barbossa, restrained by two pirates as their ritual to undo the curse began. Cheers went up from the rest of the crew scattered about the room, and I watched helplessly as Elizabeth began to panic again, fearing for her life. Apparently they were not intending to spill my blood, as I had no connection to the cursed gold whatsoever, so instead I was being forced to watch from the sidelines.

"For ten years we've been tested and tried, and each man jack of you here has proved his mettle a hundred times over, and a hundred times again!" Barbossa cried. More cheering and shouting. I rolled my eyes. Can he get any more dramatic?

"Punished, we were, the lot of us - disproportionate to our crimes!" Suddenly, he put a foot up onto the sealed chest. "Here it is..." he easily kicked the lid off, revealing the hundreds and hundreds of golden coins inside, all identical. "...The cursed treasure of Cortes himself. Every last piece that went astray, we have returned...save for this!" He pointed at the medallion around Elizabeth's neck to more roars of the crew.

Amidst all the cheering, however, I saw something stir out of the corner of my eye, and looked up to see several coins sliding down from the top of a mound of treasure pressed up against a wall. But..what was that I just saw disappear over the edge? Was that a hand?

"Eight hundred eighty-one pieces we found," Barbossa continued, "but despaired of ever finding the last. And who among us has paid the blood sacrifice owed to the heathen gods?"

"US!" the crew shouted.

"And whose blood must yet be paid?"

"HERS!" they cried, pointing to Elizabeth. Her eyes went wide with fear, and I also grew nervous. We have to get out of this. How are we going to get out of this? I need a plan!

oOo

Elyse's POV

I watched the whole scene unveil in front of me as I peered between a crack between two large rocks on the outskirts of the treasure room. My heart raced to see that Jay was alive and well, but it looked like Elizabeth was about to be sacrificed. I looked at all the pirates that stood on the floor at the base of a huge treasure pile and swallowed nervously. They all looked incredibly strong, and I still didn't have a weapon. I hadn't run into Jack or Will yet, either, which worried me. They should've gotten here much sooner than I did. Had they been captured?

I knew I couldn't dwell on that now, though. I swam all this way to prove myself and save the girls, and I couldn't back out on that now. I looked around at the smaller piles of treasure, trying to find something to use as a weapon. My eyes landed on a short golden scepter-like object laying nearby, and I grabbed it, hefting it's weight in my hand. I shivered from both anticipation and still being cold from my swim, then peeked back out, waiting for the right moment.

oOo

Jay's POV

Barbossa laughed and leaned in close to Elizabeth. "You know the first thing I'm goin' to do after the curse is lifted? Eat a whole bushel of apples." He stood up straight again with a short knife in his hand and made one final statement. "Begun by blood...by blood undone!"

The others started chanting, their cries going faster and faster as their captain slowly reached for Elizabeth. I was trying as hard as I could to recall something, anything, any piece of information I could use to get them to stop, or at least put it off a little longer, but I was coming up with nothing. I bit my lip in anticipation and looked down, not wanting to watch the death of my cousin. I heard a gasp and cringed. I'm sorry, Elizabeth...

But suddenly, she spoke! "That's it?"

My head snapped up instantly, and I almost collapsed when I saw her still alive. Barbossa had only cut the palm of her hand. "Waste not," he answered before having her drop the medallion, now stained with red.

Time seemed to slow as it fell and hit the surface of the others beneath it, and there was a dead silence in the room as we waited. Is there supposed to be some sort of feeling? A gust of wind...a sign?

Apparently the other pirates were thinking the same thing. "Did it work?" one I knew was named Koehler asked.

"I don't feel no different," the lanky one, Ragetti, replied.

"How do we tell?" Pintel asked. Barbossa rolled his eyes before simply pulling out his pistol and shooting him dead in the heart. There was another paused as the stock pirate tensed, then relaxed again, confused.

"...You're not dead," Koehler said.

"No! He shot me!"

"It didn't work," Ragetti said, his face falling.

"The curse is still upon us!" another one shouted. Many of the others also started crying out in anger, but I was already thinking. Why didn't it work? There has to be a reason! Why wasn't Elizabeth's blood enough?

Barbossa turned and grabbed Elizabeth by the shoulders. "You, maid! Your father, what was his name?" He shook her, desperate for an answer. "Was your father William Turner?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, my eyes widened. Turner? But, why...?

"No," Elizabeth replied somewhat defiantly.

Barbossa was in a rage now. "Where's his child? The child that sailed from England eight years ago, the child in whose veins flows the blood of William Turner? Where?!" When Elizabeth gave no answer, he backhanded her hard across the face, knocking her backwards.

The pirates began yelling at both each other and then their own captain, arguing over what to do now and who was to blame for the failure to break the curse, but I just gasped softly. It all makes sense now. They don't need Elizabeth's blood, they need the blood of the one who originally took it! And if Will's father is the one who took it, then that means... "STOP!"

My shout caught the attention of them all, and it silenced them quickly. They all stopped from where it looked like they'd been about to advance on Barbossa and looked at me. I took a breath. "I know whose blood you need."

A/N: Oh no, what's this?! Is Jay going to betray Will and the others by giving him away? What about Elyse? What's she gonna do next? Is Will still going to be able to save Elizabeth? Is Jack still going to get left behind? Are you going to learn the answers to all these questions in the next chapter?

...You'll just have to wait and see, I guess. ;) Don't forget to review!

~Erin