Chapter Nine
The Dauntless and the Tempest

Later that day, Chris and Ali had cracked the remaining coconuts for their milk and ate the meat. Ali was tuckered out, so Chris resorted to carrying her once more. Slowly, her feet became bloodied, and Chris realized she would be leaving a trail behind her. Chris sat Ali down, rousing her from a slight doze she had been taking, and sinking onto a rock. They had just approached a clearing of sand that had flowers edging it.

"We'll be moving in a minute, Ali." Chris panted. Ali nodded, rubbed the sleep from her eyes, and looked at some of the vibrant purple flowers on the edge of the clearing. She slowly walked to them, her hand outstretched to pick them when the sand underneath her gave way. She screamed and disappeared into a hole with a splash. Chris ran over to the edge of the hole and dropped to her stomach, peering into the darkness. "Ali! Ali, are you alright?"

"Yes, Auntie. There's water down here! And… Oooh! Sparkles!" Ali echoed from inside the hole.

Chris hadn't the faintest idea of what 'Sparkles' was. And furthermore, just what did Ali fall into? If she hadn't been hurt, Chris wouldn't either, right? But still, they needed a way out. "Ali, stay put!" Chris had lost the knife she tucked in her waistband on the swim to shore, but she could improvise. She spotted several vines hanging from a nearby tree and, using a rock, severed enough to make what could be used as a rope that would be outrageously long and hopefully lengthy enough. Chris tied the vines together, returned to the hole, and then used a side splice to tie the vines to a nearby tree. She threw the end of the joined vines into the hole and heard the end splash into the water. She called, "Watch out, Ali, I'm coming down!" Chris grabbed the vine and lowered herself into the hole hand over hand. She observed nothing but darkness around her as she descended, but she did make out the glimmer of water. She dropped into the water once she was close enough and saw that Ali was no longer in the water, but had climbed onto a pile of golden treasure that sat in the water. Chris' eyes widened. The Black Pearl had not seen swag like that for months, and to just find it in a random hole in the ground was amazing. Chris stood and observed her surroundings.

The hole was entrance to an underground cavern. The opening that Ali had fallen through was far above, and directly in front of Chris and beyond the treasure pile was what must have been the results of a cave-in. Stones were piled on top of each other, but at the top of the pile, a small window of light and air leaked in. Chris had yet to look behind her.

Ali seemed not at all phased that she had just fallen through a hole in the ground into an underground cave. She grabbed a rope of pearls from the pile of gold and wrapped it around her neck. "Lookie Auntie, I'm a lady!" She said, flaunting the pearls. Her jaw suddenly dropped. "Auntie, it's a ship! A ship!" She pointed behind Chris. Chris turned to see that, indeed, behind her in the water sat a small ship, the sails gone and the wood gray and weathered. Chris thought that there could be food on there or maybe water that was still fresh, and that would help Chris and Ali out greatly until they figured out what to do next.

"Ali, could you stay here and play? I'm going to go see if there's anything we can use aboard that ship. Can you do that for me?"

Ali had already plucked some more jewelry from the treasure pile and was preoccupied. "Yes."

Chris nodded and began wading through the waist deep water to the ship. By the condition of the wood and the absence of sails, Chris figured that there was no living thing on board. She hoped she was right. When she had made it to the ship, she pulled herself up using rigging that was hanging off the bow. As Chris climbed over the bulkhead, the ship creaked precariously. She cursed herself immediately, knowing that if the ship's deck had dry rot, she could fall through at any moment and be impaled upon the splintered timbers. She held still for a few seconds, and when there was no spray of wood or cracking noises, she took another step. The wood creaked, but she did not fall through. Chris continued down the stairs and aft to the captain's cabin. If the captain's log was in there, she could find out what had happened to this ship and what the state of supplies were on board.

She turned the brass doorknob and opened the door. A wave of decay and putrefaction filled her nostrils, and she grimaced as she looked inside. The cabin held a dusty bed, and in the bed laid the remains of some poor old sailor. While he was decayed beyond recognition, Chris could tell by the slit to his throat and the dried blood beneath that he had been killed. She looked and saw that there were navigational charts on a table rimmed with chairs, and a desk, but hardly anything else in the way of furnishing. The desk held several quills and papers, and Chris then saw what she was looking for: the log book. She walked to the desk and picked it up; flipping to the last day anything had been written.

"April 14 – Mr. Kemp has told me that our female prisoner made an attempt on his life today with a sharpened wooden stick when he brought her food. She received forty lashes and was threatened to have her nose hacked off if she does not cooperate. If she is truly who she says, we shall receive a hefty fee for her safe return, but I will not tolerate insolence. If a nose costs one hundred gold pieces, so be it.

"Mr. Sands has informed me of a cave to hide our swag for the present moment. We will sail into the cave tonight, unload, and then hopefully be sailing to Port Royale for the ransom of our prisoner by early morning.

"Evening – As we sailed the ship into the cave, a horrible rumbling came from above. Our keel had just made it in when the wall collapsed and darkness engulfed us. We are trapped. The rocks are too heavy to move. We already have a limited amount of food and I fear we will not get out."

Chris closed the book and shuddered. This ship had been a pirate ship, by the sound of the ransoming of a prisoner, and all aboard it had been trapped and doomed to die a sunless, hungry death. Rest in peace, mates. There was a sudden creak from the cabinets that lay beneath the bed. Chris dropped the log book onto the floor and whirled towards the sound. Suddenly, a matted, furry beast ran out of the cupboards and up Chris' pant leg, shrieking and squealing. Chris arm shot out to grab it and hold it before her, her face pulled back in fear. The beast let out another shriek before pulling away to look at her, and Chris was able to decipher what she held. In Chris' hand was a starved monkey.

The Black Pearl had to float idly by as the Dauntless threw their grappling hooks over to the pirate ship and secured the two vessels together. Planks were thrown across, and Jack swept his hat from his head as Commodore James Norrington, followed closely by Gillette, boarded the Pearl. "'ello again, Commodore. Fancy meeting you here."

"Save it, Sparrow. Everyone on this ship is hereby arrested for piracy." Marines marched onto the deck and lowered their muskets, their fingers on the trigger.

Jack drew his sword. First, his ship had holes blown in it. Second, his quartermaster and the daughter of a man he owed his life to had been taken. Now, with Commodore James Norrington, the biggest sod in the Caribbean, proclaiming him and his crew under arrest, he broke. "Commodore, I am not goin' without a fight, savvy?" The Marines all turned to Jack, their weapons pointed at him.

Will threw himself in front of the pirate captain, minding his sword. "We didn't allow you to board us so you could hang us." Will said.

Norrington looked at him with disgust and surprise. "Mr. Turner, I know that your circumstances changed a year ago, but did you really feel the need to take up piracy?" Jack grabbed Will before he could do anything rash. "And the Dauntless would have boarded you with or without your allowance, so don't presume –"

"Commodore, I know that your brain is small, so let me explain." Jack said, pulling Will behind me. "We are currently chasing a ship that holds Will and Elizabeth Turner's daughter Ali hostage. If you don't want to bring the governor's granddaughter back to Port Royale, please, continue to arrest us." Jack lowered his sword. "But if you would like to bring the little one back to her father and doting grandfather, ye should follow us posthaste."

Norrington looked puzzled and hesitant. "I'm not sure whether to believe you, but I believe I should have a thorough explanation before I make a decision."

Back on the island, Chris and Ali sat amongst the treasure, supping on bananas and coconuts that Chris had retrieved from above. The starved monkey sat apart from them, eating a mixture of leaves, flowers, and fruit. Every now and then he would look at them suspiciously before stuffing food into his mouth and chewing. Ali watched him with curiosity. "Can we keep him?" She asked.

"As a pet? I don't think your daddy would like that, Ali." Chris said. A golden cutlass in the treasure pile caught her attention, and she reached for it. She examined the hilt and blade as Ali continued speaking.

"Oh, I know he will. We just have to feed him and he'll become friendly. It happens with dogs." Ali said. She bit off a bit of banana and placed it into her palm. She held it out to the small creature and said, "Monkeys like bananas, right?" The monkey chewed what was in its mouth and sniffed the air. He loped forward cautiously, snatched the banana from her hand, and loped back to his place before stuffing the banana into his mouth. Ali giggled.

Chris took her eyes from the cutlass and looked back to the ship. She hadn't noticed a name before, but now she saw faded lettering on the side spelling out the Tempest. She hadn't heard the name before in all her time in the Caribbean. She examined the shape of the ship, wondering if it could have been renamed when she detected movement on the vessel. A figure suddenly ran across the deck of the ship and disappeared below. Chris jerked in surprise and pulled herself to her feet. The monkey screeched in alarm and hopped into the water at Chris' sudden moves.

"What, Auntie Chris?" Ali asked.

"Stay here. I need to go back on the ship. I think our little friend," She looked at the monkey that was snaking through the water back to the treasure island and then looked back to Ali, "May have another friend."

"Another monkey?" Ali asked in delight.

"Just stay here. Feed him more bananas." Chris took the cutlass from the treasure and waded into the water. When she approached the rigging, she tossed the cutlass onto the deck before climbing up. She retrieved the cutlass once on deck and then headed below. It was pitch black inside the ship, so she returned to the captain's cabin and plucked a lantern from his desk. It still held oil, and after some searching in the desk, Chris found a flint. She lit the lantern's wick and exited the cabin, heading below once more.

Chris gave each deck a cursory glance, but there was no movement. She continued below until she came to the brig, finding herself calf deep in water. She raised her lantern to cast light about, and as she did, she heard a thrashing further into the hold. "Who's there?" She asked, her lantern shaking in alarm. The thrashing silenced. Chris raised her lantern higher, but whatever it was ran from the light. "I'm not going to hurt you." Chris called, "I swear!"

"It's a lady." Ali said from the stairwell.

Chris jumped, almost dropping the lantern. "Ali, I told you to stay with the monkey!" She rounded on her and Ali hopped down the stairs and into the water.

"But I heard her singing after you came on board." Ali reached for Chris' hand and Chris sat the cutlass down. "She was singing about pirates." The thrashing started again. "I thought she would be a friend."

"Stay close, Ali." Chris squeezed Ali's hand and the pair walked towards the sound of the thrashing. The light caught upon a scrap of white, and Chris lifted the lantern over her head to cast a wider beam of light. The white was a chemise, and it was worn by someone who was covering their face. Sobs issued from behind the hands. "We aren't going to hurt you; we just want to help you." She said as softly as she could.

The woman uncovered her face slowly and looked at Chris and Ali with tears in her copper colored, red-ringed eyes. Her brown hair was grizzled and matted. Chris could see the woman's ribs through the chemise. Ali released Chris' hand and stepped forward.

"What are you doing?" Chris asked, reaching for Ali. Ali ignored her reach.

The child reached forward and asked, "Mummy?"