WOW people are still reading this! I'm really flattered, thank you so much!
Robyn Lee: Hey Clare, lol! Yeh I kinda rushed the last chapter, but I'm hoping this one will be better, it's meant to
have all the action in it.
evenstar: Thankee very kindly, I love writing it! And now I have the DVD OF POTC! *bounce* So the deleted scenes have
given me ideas.
quiet-one145: Yep that's right I'm still here, hee hee! More SMUT to scare you with! Nah actually there will likely
be no more smut in this one. But there will be in the sequel, mwahahahaha!
SuzzieQue: lol! Hopefully it'll be more exciting in this one *takes your rum* Yum yum rum rum.
Simply Sara: Awww thanx, my stories a fav! I feel special, :D.
** = flashback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jade had heard Rita say a thousand times that the darkness in these caves had drove her father even further into madness
than he had been before. A thousand times Jade had shrugged this off as exaggeration. How could the dark drive a man
insane? Of course, now she knew all too well.
It wasn't just her. She could see it on the faces of the crew, the darting eyes, the furrowed brows. They relied
entirely on the fire before them for sight, and even that only gave them a glowing circle that covered twenty feet all
around. The rest was a concealment of utter velvety darkness. Out of the sanctuary of that globe of light they had
created, in that dark, it was impossible to see anything. You were blind, and the animal panic that came with this new
blindness clawed up inside the throat with frightening speed. Where was the ceiling? Where were the walls? Were there
even any walls or ceiling anymore? In which direction were you facing? Because the abrupt truth was, outside of their
sacred glowing, fire ring, they had no idea, what was out in that inky black.
And it was getting to them too, she knew it as they huddled down for the night. Even as she swallowed down her fear she
was reassured by the fact that their unease was being stretched like a taut wire, tighter and tighter. Just as hers was.
And so it would not be long now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trickling out of the shadows like a soft feathery mist, impossibly light-footed and delicate for a woman so old and
thick-set, Syla purposefully matched the pace of the guard, following his footfall from behind, a ghost's footprint.
Silent.
And let the coins slide tinkling into his pocket. It was undoubtedly the first time she had used her skills to give
money instead of taking it.
Darting back into the corner again as he turned, she crept round into the dangerous circumference of the fire, to pick
out those who had yet to receive their gifts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barbossa rolled in his sleep, his heavy arm falling across Jade possessively. She did not dare wake him by shoving off
the obtrusive, offensive arm, frozen in his lazy grip as the silence became impossibly loud, her ears straining to
detect something, anything. Some pinfall in the infinite swelling quiet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anamaria crept forwards to where Jack and Rita waited, nodding to them with her eyes trained on the still figures. Her
hand cletched over the hilt of her knife, knuckles white.
Nothing, but waiting...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Will, Gibbs and Elizabeth crept up closer to the faint glow of the distant fire, hovering in the mouth of one of the
turnings, their eyes on Syla. They didn't dare venture any further forward or away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was waiting for a sign, a signal, an indication. She knew they were here, she could feel it and she knew it was
happening right this second. She had to be ready, ready to slip away like a fragment that in the stampede after Jack
no one would notice...
"UP! EVERYBODY UP! CAP'N LOOK!"
Jade's head shot up as those around her clamoured into wakefulness, stumbling upright and sleepily tearing their weapons
from their belts. Her eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of Koeheler holding Jack by the scruff of the neck, a knife
to his throat.
Her eyes tore around the glowing circle of light, looking for some aid, some hope. Dimly, in the shadows to her left...
was that... Syla? The shadow shrank further back into itself and Jade forced herself to stop staring. Swords to Jack's
throat, just like before...
Barbossa had risen beside her and was smiling triumphantly, eyes alight with vengeance. "Ahh Jack! We've been waitin'
for ye. Seems we might be able to pay ye back for all your generous help to us before." The low guttural rumblings of
anger that fed the crew rose up from their throats. Jade remained stock still, numb as Barbossa moved forward to where Jack
was held. Shooting his hand forward, he backfisted Jack in the face. Jack rocked to the side before being dragged upright
again, eyes ablaze with quiet, fuming anger. Barbossa leaned in almost confidentially and said in a mock whisper "Guess
what Jack. I can feel. And I'm sure you felt that." Jack smirked sarcastically in reply, flicking his tongue out to
lick up the blood from his split lip. "I'm sure ye remember the lovely Miss Jade? Kind enough to show us where ye
were hidin'. Not bad for a ghost 'eh?" Barbossa continued, pacing back to Jade, one hand reaching up and skimming
across her face.
**"The blessings make us a ghost. Our physical form is unanimated in the eye of the curse, and so we will be able to
pass the coins on to Barbossa and the crew. We are, in effect, tricking magic with another magic."**
She clenched down on the flinch away from him. She bit her lip and waited with her eyes a slave to everything they did
to Jack. Her eyes darted up and there was Rita, at the back. Her eyes went back, they couldn't leave as another crew
member buried his knee in Jack's stomach. Jack buckled, Barbossa wasn't stopping them, he was letting them do what they
wanted to the man who they thought had betrayed them twice over. Bo butted his forehead into his nose with a sharp jutting
crack, and Ragetti had taken out a knife.
Think think action action now NOW.
He was bleeding and a hot fury was swelling up in her that terrified her it was so obliterating. Any fear she had felt
was wiped away, her mind was a blank white glowing slate of anger. She was filled with a deliberate, non-negotiable,
utterly unbreakable purpose. Suddenly everything they had done to her didn't matter any more than the dust in these
tunnels. Not when all she had now was being challenged.
Not again.
No time to think.
No time to fear.
Her ears pricked up at the tiniest of sounds and her eyes in turn shot back to Rita so far back in the periphery of this
violence, her lips were moving and her hands were dancing in a movement of... Jade could only pray that she was doing
what she thought she was, and her mind was moving so fast and was at the same time so blank as Rita's lips stopped moving,
and she turned to the shadow that was Syla. Her hand was reaching out and the glistening gold was flying through the air
and into her hand, and her eyes were back to Barbossa.
"Barbossa do me a favour. Hold this for me."
He glanced down as she pressed the coins into his hand, perhaps only half registering what they were before the realisation
hit him and his head came up again to meet her gaze. Her arm snaked out and took his sword from his belt before thrusting
it through his chest. He let out an astonished gasp, every muscle in a grotesque semblence of still life, before she tore the
sword out once more and booted him forward to the ground.
The crew's altercations froze as they saw their Captain fall, their movements stilled and numbed as they quietly took her
in with a dumb incomprehension. For the moment Jack forgotten. She wiped his blood on her sleeve, a sneer creeping
unbidden across her face as she paced, not acknowledging the crew. "Recognise that feeling Barbossa? That absence of
feeling? That LACK of hurt?" she demanded, her voice resonating with strength, filling the cave. The crew all began to
visibly tense as if they were one being, looking from one to the other, becoming conscious of their bodies, their
sensations. They knew this sense of deadened flesh all too well. Their fears were confirmed, as Barbossa struggled
upright, the only too familiar Aztec coins laying like sprinkled petals at his feet.
The violence sprang from nothing, as all that had been and now was, exploded in one moment. Now every grievance, every
grudge and hatred, was awake and howling.
A flaming branch rippling tongues of fire came down to hit the floor as barrels of rum were overturned and Gibbs and
Will came flying into the cavern, weapons raised. The flames licked up the trails and pathways given with a vivacious
power, as the crew descended on them all, screams ripping from every throat. Sword and pistol firmly in each hand Jade
leapt forward into the undead crew with only the intention of lasting as long as she could. Taking a wild swing she
cut a hand clean off before spinning to take on another, blowing a crew member's head open with the one shot she had
and darting beneath a cut making an arc for her belly. Vaguely aware of Will's presence to her left and Anamaria's somewhere
behind her only due to their yells, she bit back a shriek as a sword slit through her arm. As blood welled up she
countered a further sword thrust, flipping the blade back and cutting a gash across the pirate's chest. A moment of
clarity amidst the hot madness allowed her to see the scorching flames rising up in an ever consuming wall within the
cavern, lighting it in volatile splendid luminence, so that the true enormity of it could be seen.
But what a palace to be lost in!
The walls were a glistening, crevice ridden mile of indomitable rock, stretching up to a ceiling jagged with splintered
knives and mineral growths. Pathways and corridors cut into the rock, spidering off in labyrinthine proportions,
disappearing into that all consuming black.
She saw a gap now in the sea of bodies and lurched forward, bolting in between the seething hoards, thrusting her sword
through a passing pirate and screaming all the while "FOLLOW! FOLLOW!" Rita flew forwards amidst the carnage, then
Elizabeth, then Gibbs, Jack, then Syla, Will. Anamaria snatched up another torch and threw it down on an untouched trail
of rum, covering their retreat if only for a little while. Jade saw, like something out of a nightmare as she backed away,
shoving the others through a passageway, the blurred image of Barbossa... walking through the fire.
"Terrible waste of rum." Jack murmured as she turned and forced him forwards, seeing the crew begin to follow through
the curtain of fire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They would follow. They would follow unceasingly. They couldn't grow tired, they couldn't grow hungry. They didn't even
need to sleep. They would follow them to their only exit. They would get away. They would come for them. Jade's heart
was a drum of savage but calm comprehension as she knew all that mattered and knew how to deal with it, in the only way
she had ever known. They ran.
Rita led, torch high above her head as she roared directions back to them, knowing the pathways on her body, knowing the
secrets and deadends. Limping, brave, frightened, Elizabeth went after, face streaked with dirt, with Will her protector
and love behind her, clutching his bleeding neck. Anamaria grasped her ribs but staggered forwards at a trialed,
agonising limp. Syla shoved them forwards, urging them on to a faster pace with her blood spattered clothes billowing
out like a flag with Gibbs keeping perfect pace with her. And Jack, Jack ran as yet with her. Not allowing her to take
up the stance as the one who covered the rear from the enemy. Beside her.
"In here!" Rita called, turning sharply left and coming into a small entrance beneath a ill-fitting archway, where
natural light could be perceived to be filtering in from somewhere. A small clumsily hacked gap, only a shoulders-width
across, barely a crawl-space, was dug into the wall by the floor. Pale daylight danced through. "Elizabeth you first!"
insisted Will,pushing her forwards. Gritting her teeth determinedly Elizabeth scrambled down onto her belly, wriggling
her way through the hole with considerable effort.
The roars and screams and stampeding feet could be heard all too clearly, and Rita launched herself forward to the hole,
pushing her way through, struggling hard. Struggling too hard. Eyes locked on the entrance, Jade held out a hand "Syla
give me your pistol." Syla did so swiftly, hazarding her Captain a glance as she in turn got on her knees to get through,
shoving at Rita's wriggling feet. Jade stepped out through the archway back into the corridor, watching, waiting for the
dark to be lit by torches. It soon was.
It all seemed so very silly suddenly. So very, very silly that she had risked all this for a hatred that should have
died along with it's creator. All of this.
Her eyes drifted back to Jack as he danced from one foot to the other impatiently as the rotund Syla tried to scrabble
her way through the hole, Will shoving her from behind with Gibbs frantically waiting his turn. Syla, then Will, then
Anamaria, then Gibbs. Then Jack. There were too many, in too little time. "Jack," she said quietly,causing him to look
up, his black eyes narrowing in sudden focus.
"I love you."
The focus did not die but was instead joined by disbelief. And in her ear still she heard the approaching roars close
enough to find specific words.
"You what?!" Only Jack could reply to such a pronouncement in such a manner.
"I said I love you, you mincing lying cheating idiot. I guess I always have."
As though realising what this simple declaration in such a defeated and yet calm voice meant, his eyes widened and he
lurched forward...
Straightening her arm, she shot up at the archway, collapsing the entrance to freedom in a pile of wounded, broken pieces
of rubble.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WEEEEE! Melodrama or what?? But I like melodrama, makes for interesting times, hee hee. Plz lemme know if you like it.
XX
Robyn Lee: Hey Clare, lol! Yeh I kinda rushed the last chapter, but I'm hoping this one will be better, it's meant to
have all the action in it.
evenstar: Thankee very kindly, I love writing it! And now I have the DVD OF POTC! *bounce* So the deleted scenes have
given me ideas.
quiet-one145: Yep that's right I'm still here, hee hee! More SMUT to scare you with! Nah actually there will likely
be no more smut in this one. But there will be in the sequel, mwahahahaha!
SuzzieQue: lol! Hopefully it'll be more exciting in this one *takes your rum* Yum yum rum rum.
Simply Sara: Awww thanx, my stories a fav! I feel special, :D.
** = flashback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jade had heard Rita say a thousand times that the darkness in these caves had drove her father even further into madness
than he had been before. A thousand times Jade had shrugged this off as exaggeration. How could the dark drive a man
insane? Of course, now she knew all too well.
It wasn't just her. She could see it on the faces of the crew, the darting eyes, the furrowed brows. They relied
entirely on the fire before them for sight, and even that only gave them a glowing circle that covered twenty feet all
around. The rest was a concealment of utter velvety darkness. Out of the sanctuary of that globe of light they had
created, in that dark, it was impossible to see anything. You were blind, and the animal panic that came with this new
blindness clawed up inside the throat with frightening speed. Where was the ceiling? Where were the walls? Were there
even any walls or ceiling anymore? In which direction were you facing? Because the abrupt truth was, outside of their
sacred glowing, fire ring, they had no idea, what was out in that inky black.
And it was getting to them too, she knew it as they huddled down for the night. Even as she swallowed down her fear she
was reassured by the fact that their unease was being stretched like a taut wire, tighter and tighter. Just as hers was.
And so it would not be long now.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Trickling out of the shadows like a soft feathery mist, impossibly light-footed and delicate for a woman so old and
thick-set, Syla purposefully matched the pace of the guard, following his footfall from behind, a ghost's footprint.
Silent.
And let the coins slide tinkling into his pocket. It was undoubtedly the first time she had used her skills to give
money instead of taking it.
Darting back into the corner again as he turned, she crept round into the dangerous circumference of the fire, to pick
out those who had yet to receive their gifts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Barbossa rolled in his sleep, his heavy arm falling across Jade possessively. She did not dare wake him by shoving off
the obtrusive, offensive arm, frozen in his lazy grip as the silence became impossibly loud, her ears straining to
detect something, anything. Some pinfall in the infinite swelling quiet.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Anamaria crept forwards to where Jack and Rita waited, nodding to them with her eyes trained on the still figures. Her
hand cletched over the hilt of her knife, knuckles white.
Nothing, but waiting...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Will, Gibbs and Elizabeth crept up closer to the faint glow of the distant fire, hovering in the mouth of one of the
turnings, their eyes on Syla. They didn't dare venture any further forward or away.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She was waiting for a sign, a signal, an indication. She knew they were here, she could feel it and she knew it was
happening right this second. She had to be ready, ready to slip away like a fragment that in the stampede after Jack
no one would notice...
"UP! EVERYBODY UP! CAP'N LOOK!"
Jade's head shot up as those around her clamoured into wakefulness, stumbling upright and sleepily tearing their weapons
from their belts. Her eyes widened in disbelief at the sight of Koeheler holding Jack by the scruff of the neck, a knife
to his throat.
Her eyes tore around the glowing circle of light, looking for some aid, some hope. Dimly, in the shadows to her left...
was that... Syla? The shadow shrank further back into itself and Jade forced herself to stop staring. Swords to Jack's
throat, just like before...
Barbossa had risen beside her and was smiling triumphantly, eyes alight with vengeance. "Ahh Jack! We've been waitin'
for ye. Seems we might be able to pay ye back for all your generous help to us before." The low guttural rumblings of
anger that fed the crew rose up from their throats. Jade remained stock still, numb as Barbossa moved forward to where Jack
was held. Shooting his hand forward, he backfisted Jack in the face. Jack rocked to the side before being dragged upright
again, eyes ablaze with quiet, fuming anger. Barbossa leaned in almost confidentially and said in a mock whisper "Guess
what Jack. I can feel. And I'm sure you felt that." Jack smirked sarcastically in reply, flicking his tongue out to
lick up the blood from his split lip. "I'm sure ye remember the lovely Miss Jade? Kind enough to show us where ye
were hidin'. Not bad for a ghost 'eh?" Barbossa continued, pacing back to Jade, one hand reaching up and skimming
across her face.
**"The blessings make us a ghost. Our physical form is unanimated in the eye of the curse, and so we will be able to
pass the coins on to Barbossa and the crew. We are, in effect, tricking magic with another magic."**
She clenched down on the flinch away from him. She bit her lip and waited with her eyes a slave to everything they did
to Jack. Her eyes darted up and there was Rita, at the back. Her eyes went back, they couldn't leave as another crew
member buried his knee in Jack's stomach. Jack buckled, Barbossa wasn't stopping them, he was letting them do what they
wanted to the man who they thought had betrayed them twice over. Bo butted his forehead into his nose with a sharp jutting
crack, and Ragetti had taken out a knife.
Think think action action now NOW.
He was bleeding and a hot fury was swelling up in her that terrified her it was so obliterating. Any fear she had felt
was wiped away, her mind was a blank white glowing slate of anger. She was filled with a deliberate, non-negotiable,
utterly unbreakable purpose. Suddenly everything they had done to her didn't matter any more than the dust in these
tunnels. Not when all she had now was being challenged.
Not again.
No time to think.
No time to fear.
Her ears pricked up at the tiniest of sounds and her eyes in turn shot back to Rita so far back in the periphery of this
violence, her lips were moving and her hands were dancing in a movement of... Jade could only pray that she was doing
what she thought she was, and her mind was moving so fast and was at the same time so blank as Rita's lips stopped moving,
and she turned to the shadow that was Syla. Her hand was reaching out and the glistening gold was flying through the air
and into her hand, and her eyes were back to Barbossa.
"Barbossa do me a favour. Hold this for me."
He glanced down as she pressed the coins into his hand, perhaps only half registering what they were before the realisation
hit him and his head came up again to meet her gaze. Her arm snaked out and took his sword from his belt before thrusting
it through his chest. He let out an astonished gasp, every muscle in a grotesque semblence of still life, before she tore the
sword out once more and booted him forward to the ground.
The crew's altercations froze as they saw their Captain fall, their movements stilled and numbed as they quietly took her
in with a dumb incomprehension. For the moment Jack forgotten. She wiped his blood on her sleeve, a sneer creeping
unbidden across her face as she paced, not acknowledging the crew. "Recognise that feeling Barbossa? That absence of
feeling? That LACK of hurt?" she demanded, her voice resonating with strength, filling the cave. The crew all began to
visibly tense as if they were one being, looking from one to the other, becoming conscious of their bodies, their
sensations. They knew this sense of deadened flesh all too well. Their fears were confirmed, as Barbossa struggled
upright, the only too familiar Aztec coins laying like sprinkled petals at his feet.
The violence sprang from nothing, as all that had been and now was, exploded in one moment. Now every grievance, every
grudge and hatred, was awake and howling.
A flaming branch rippling tongues of fire came down to hit the floor as barrels of rum were overturned and Gibbs and
Will came flying into the cavern, weapons raised. The flames licked up the trails and pathways given with a vivacious
power, as the crew descended on them all, screams ripping from every throat. Sword and pistol firmly in each hand Jade
leapt forward into the undead crew with only the intention of lasting as long as she could. Taking a wild swing she
cut a hand clean off before spinning to take on another, blowing a crew member's head open with the one shot she had
and darting beneath a cut making an arc for her belly. Vaguely aware of Will's presence to her left and Anamaria's somewhere
behind her only due to their yells, she bit back a shriek as a sword slit through her arm. As blood welled up she
countered a further sword thrust, flipping the blade back and cutting a gash across the pirate's chest. A moment of
clarity amidst the hot madness allowed her to see the scorching flames rising up in an ever consuming wall within the
cavern, lighting it in volatile splendid luminence, so that the true enormity of it could be seen.
But what a palace to be lost in!
The walls were a glistening, crevice ridden mile of indomitable rock, stretching up to a ceiling jagged with splintered
knives and mineral growths. Pathways and corridors cut into the rock, spidering off in labyrinthine proportions,
disappearing into that all consuming black.
She saw a gap now in the sea of bodies and lurched forward, bolting in between the seething hoards, thrusting her sword
through a passing pirate and screaming all the while "FOLLOW! FOLLOW!" Rita flew forwards amidst the carnage, then
Elizabeth, then Gibbs, Jack, then Syla, Will. Anamaria snatched up another torch and threw it down on an untouched trail
of rum, covering their retreat if only for a little while. Jade saw, like something out of a nightmare as she backed away,
shoving the others through a passageway, the blurred image of Barbossa... walking through the fire.
"Terrible waste of rum." Jack murmured as she turned and forced him forwards, seeing the crew begin to follow through
the curtain of fire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They would follow. They would follow unceasingly. They couldn't grow tired, they couldn't grow hungry. They didn't even
need to sleep. They would follow them to their only exit. They would get away. They would come for them. Jade's heart
was a drum of savage but calm comprehension as she knew all that mattered and knew how to deal with it, in the only way
she had ever known. They ran.
Rita led, torch high above her head as she roared directions back to them, knowing the pathways on her body, knowing the
secrets and deadends. Limping, brave, frightened, Elizabeth went after, face streaked with dirt, with Will her protector
and love behind her, clutching his bleeding neck. Anamaria grasped her ribs but staggered forwards at a trialed,
agonising limp. Syla shoved them forwards, urging them on to a faster pace with her blood spattered clothes billowing
out like a flag with Gibbs keeping perfect pace with her. And Jack, Jack ran as yet with her. Not allowing her to take
up the stance as the one who covered the rear from the enemy. Beside her.
"In here!" Rita called, turning sharply left and coming into a small entrance beneath a ill-fitting archway, where
natural light could be perceived to be filtering in from somewhere. A small clumsily hacked gap, only a shoulders-width
across, barely a crawl-space, was dug into the wall by the floor. Pale daylight danced through. "Elizabeth you first!"
insisted Will,pushing her forwards. Gritting her teeth determinedly Elizabeth scrambled down onto her belly, wriggling
her way through the hole with considerable effort.
The roars and screams and stampeding feet could be heard all too clearly, and Rita launched herself forward to the hole,
pushing her way through, struggling hard. Struggling too hard. Eyes locked on the entrance, Jade held out a hand "Syla
give me your pistol." Syla did so swiftly, hazarding her Captain a glance as she in turn got on her knees to get through,
shoving at Rita's wriggling feet. Jade stepped out through the archway back into the corridor, watching, waiting for the
dark to be lit by torches. It soon was.
It all seemed so very silly suddenly. So very, very silly that she had risked all this for a hatred that should have
died along with it's creator. All of this.
Her eyes drifted back to Jack as he danced from one foot to the other impatiently as the rotund Syla tried to scrabble
her way through the hole, Will shoving her from behind with Gibbs frantically waiting his turn. Syla, then Will, then
Anamaria, then Gibbs. Then Jack. There were too many, in too little time. "Jack," she said quietly,causing him to look
up, his black eyes narrowing in sudden focus.
"I love you."
The focus did not die but was instead joined by disbelief. And in her ear still she heard the approaching roars close
enough to find specific words.
"You what?!" Only Jack could reply to such a pronouncement in such a manner.
"I said I love you, you mincing lying cheating idiot. I guess I always have."
As though realising what this simple declaration in such a defeated and yet calm voice meant, his eyes widened and he
lurched forward...
Straightening her arm, she shot up at the archway, collapsing the entrance to freedom in a pile of wounded, broken pieces
of rubble.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WEEEEE! Melodrama or what?? But I like melodrama, makes for interesting times, hee hee. Plz lemme know if you like it.
XX