Pirates of the Caribbean
Legend of the Dragon's Claw
By Amos Whirly
Chapter Twelve: Cannonballs and Treasure Troves
"Hard to port!" Anamaria screeched as a cannonball screamed over the deck of the Pearl. "Ready the guns!"
A huge jet of water erupted from the sea where a cannonball punched through the water's surface.
The strange ship had spotted them and had attacked with speed that none of the Pearl's crew expected.
The pirates of the Black Pearl scrambled to the numerous cannons below deck and started firing on the strange ship. The red and black ship speared through the waters of the Forbidden Harbor with ease, dodging and evading every shot the Pearl fired.
"It's a ghost ship!" one of the pirates wailed. "We can't hit it!"
"None of that!" Anamaria shoved a rifle into his hands. "Even Barbossa couldn't be killed, and we dealt him a blow." She turned to the men at the helm, screeching, "Get us close!"
The men grabbed the helm and started turning. The ship banked on a wave and veered violently, the wind catching in the sails.
* * *
Jack was grumbling under his breath as the pirates forced him and Will into the sunlight. As soon as they cleared the gateway, Jack could hear the sounds of battle echoing from the Forbidden Harbor.
"I knew it," he moaned as the pirates dragged him deeper into the forested area. "They're going to scratch my ship."
* * *
The pirates scurried as a cannonball dropped straight through the deck of the Pearl. Instantly, water began flooding into the hull!
"Plug it!" Anamaria barked from the deck. "Seal it off! I don't care what you do! We're not going to sink! Not while I'm commanding!"
Gibbs grabbed her arm, offered a jolly smirk, and hurried down to the bottom deck, taking a handful of sailors with him.
"Don't stop firing!" Anamaria ordered, the wind catching in her long black hair. "Keep it up! Helm!" The men at the helm looked at her. "Closer!"
* * *
Yue had fallen silent as the group trekked through the undergrowth. Will kept twisting in his bonds, desperately trying to find a way out of them, but he only succeeded in bloodying his wrists.
The pirate behind him shoved him forward cruelly, and he stumbled on a protruding root.
Finally, the forest lessened in density, and the group stepped into a wide clearing.
"Papa!" a little girl screeched.
Will's eyes skimmed the camp quickly.
"Tori!"
Tori was suspended in a little cage hanging from a tree limb. Her dress was torn in places, and her face was streaked with tears.
"Papa!"
Will grunted as the pirate shoved him forward again, forcing him to his knees. Jack fell beside him.
"Does she look all right?" Will breathed, still staring at his caged daughter. "Does she look hurt?"
"She's fine," Jack grumbled.
"Jack, what are going to do?" Will looked at him as the pirates forced Yue to his knees as well. "They're going to kill us all."
"Well, if you'd hung on to the bloody sheath—"
"What was I supposed to do?"
"Don't trust pirates, Will. Haven't you learned that by now?"
"I trust you."
"Well, I'm not a pirate-pirate. I'm a pirate, aye. But not a pirate-pirate. These blokes are pirate-pirates. Don't trust pirate-pirates."
"You're confusing me, Jack."
* * *
"Make quick!" Anamaria barked, tightening a rope from where it had loosened.
The Pearl took another hit on the side, fortunately above the waterline, but distance between them and the strange ship was diminishing rapidly.
"Grapples at the ready!" she shouted. "Prepare to board!"
The crew scuttled around her, grabbing the grappling hooks and preparing to throw them.
* * *
Tori cried as one of the men grabbed her arm and dragged her out of her little cage. It took three of the pirates to hold Will down.
"Papa!" Tori wailed, reaching out to him as the men bound her small wrists.
Will lunged, but the men stopped him, throwing him to the dirt and piling on top of him.
Will was causing such a stir that none of the men noticed how loose Jack's wrists had suddenly become.
* * *
The grappling hooks soared through the air and caught on the rigging that covered the strange ship. The crew of the Pearl shouted collectively and swung.
They hit the deck of the strange ship with a thud and set to work.
Anamaria grabbed the sword out of her belt and headed for the man giving the orders.
He wore black from head to toe, and when she approached he pulled out a long sword. They faced each other.
"I'm really going to enjoy this," Anamaria smirked.
The man said something in a foreign language that sounded like gibberish to her, and he lunged at her.
* * *
Will had never felt so helpless.
He had to watch as his daughter—his only child—was strapped to the ground. Wang raised a sword above her little neck.
"The child first," Wang smirked confidently. "Then, the rest of you."
The sword glinted in the sunlight—
"I wouldn't be doing that, if I were you, mate," Jack spoke suddenly.
Wang stopped and glared at Jack, who was on his knees.
"It's just that—well, Wangy-boy, that's not very nice, picking on a little girl like that. You're so obsessed with honor, I'd think you'd act more like a man instead of a coward."
Wang's jaw tensed.
Yue glared at Jack as if he had lost his mind.
"Very well," Wang stepped over Tori, walking purposefully toward Jack. "I will kill you first instead. You are, after all, in the same position as your dear Captain Jenkins."
"No."
"No?" Wang poised to strike.
"No," Jack nodded, still smiling devilishly.
"No?" Wang lined his blade up with Jack's neck.
"No," Jack repeated. "Captain Jenkins was tied up."
The smirk suddenly faded from Wang's lined face.
"I'm not," Jack grinned.
And tackled Wang around the waist, throwing them both into the dirt!
* * *
Anamaria gasped as the pirate's blade sliced into the flesh on her left arm. She evaded the next swing and dealt the man one of her own.
Finally, the man stepped away, eyebrows raised, his slanted eyes sparkling.
"Fascinating," he mumbled in a thick accent. "You are excellent fighter."
"Thanks."
"In my country," the pirate continued, "it is polite to introduce oneself to his opponent." The man bowed. "I am Li Xiao."
Anamaria stayed in her defensive position, though she could not help a smile.
"Anamaria," she said aloud.
Xiao bowed again.
"You are woman."
"Hmph," she snorted, "hear me roar."
She dove at him.
* * *
Mass confusion followed. The pirates were so shocked that Jack had freed himself that their only thought was to save their captain, giving Will and Yue the chance to loosen their bonds.
After the initial tackle, Jack jumped off Wang, punched the pirate holding his sword, retrieved it, and turned back to Wang. Wang blocked his first lunge as well as his second. By then, the rest of the pirates were moving, but Will and Yue were free.
Wang leapt away from Jack, allowing two of his men to take up the attack, and he surreptitiously slipped into the forest.
Yue twisted oddly, pivoting on his right leg and taking three pirates down with one swing of his foot. Will snatched his own sword off the unconscious guard and drove his fist into another pirate's face.
Then, he raced to Tori.
"Papa!" Tori sobbed as he cut the ropes off her wrists.
She flung herself into his arms and burst into tears. Will wanted nothing else than to sit down and hold her, but he knew that time was short.
"Will!" Jack barked.
Will looked to where Jack was struggling with two other pirates.
"Get her out of here!"
Will nodded and jumped to his feet.
I've got to get her somewhere safe, he thought. I can't take her back to the Pearl. So where?
Will gazed at the forest.
Yes, he thought. That's the safest place.
Clutching Tori tightly to his chest, he plunged into the forest heading for the treasure cave underneath the island.
* * *
"There!" Gibbs barked. "There and there!"
Gibbs and the other crewmembers with him were plugging the holes in the hull of the Pearl.
"Gibbs!" one of them shouted. "The others are attacking that foreign ship! Shouldn't we be helping them?"
"What good will helping them be if we don't have a ship left to return to," Gibbs snapped. "Plug the holes, you dogs! Or I'll send you over to the fight without a pistol!"
* * *
Will hurried down the steps to the treasure cave, looking forward and behind all the time, expecting an attack at any moment.
"Oh, Papa, I was scared," Tori whispered into his shirt.
"I know, darling," Will hugged her tight. "I was scared too. Are you hurt?"
"No," Tori said. "No, Papa. I'm fine. Where's Mother?"
"She's at home, love."
"The mean man hurt her, Papa," Tori hiccupped. "And they made the house burn. I tried to stop them, Papa, honest, but I was too little."
"Everything's going to be just fine now, Tori," Will assured her, still looking over his shoulder. "We're going to get you to a safe place, and then Jack—er—Mr. Smith is going to stop the bad people. Then, we'll all go home and find your mother."
"I knew you'd come to rescue me, Papa," Tori snuggled into his chest. "Just Mother rescued you in all those stories she told me."
Will laughed slightly.
"Yes," he commented, stepping into the treasure cave. "Your mother is very brave, Tori. Just like you."
Will stopped dead in his tracks, staring wide-eyed to the front of the treasure cave.
The room was still filled with gold and precious stones.
But Shonyu Wang stood at the center of the room, holding both the Dragon's Claw and its sheath.
"Oh, dear," Will whispered.
"So," Wang spat, "Zao Yue sent you to stop me, did he? Very well!"
He slammed the Claw back into the sheath, set it on the altar in the center of the room, and pulled out his long sword.
"We shall fight to the death, then."
"Papa!" Tori squealed.
Will set her on the ground, saying, "Tori, I want you to go to that corner and hide. Stay there."
"But, Papa—"
"No buts. Go."
Tori scurried away as Wang approached.
"You don't have to do this, Wang," Will pulled out his own sword. "I just want my daughter to be safe."
"The four of you know the location of the Island of the Dragon's Claw," Wang snarled. "You must die."
Wang cursed in Chinese and charged.