DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl or any of the characters included in the package. I do like to play with them and often end up giving them back worse for the wear. (Especially Captain Jack Sparrow!) ;

CLAIMER: I do, however, own the plot of this story and all my OC therein. Some stay around, some don't. That's life, ne?

[a/n1: This is a type of 'bonus chapter'. The deal is that I'm leaving for a two week trip to Europe in less than two weeks, so I'm supplementing the two chapters that will be missed when I am gone with these 'bonus chapters'. This is the first and the second bonus chapter will come with next week's regular update.]

Part 15: Bartering

"Ana, down!" Dozell ordered, lunging and knocking her to the ground without giving her a chance to comply. As they hit the ground dozens of tiny arrows shot horizontally across the hall, missing them by mere inches.

Ana took in a series of deep, fearful breaths, as did Dozell. He carefully lifted himself a bit off the ground testing to see if the trap would have a recurrence. After a couple of minutes and no further incidents he deemed it safe to rise and did so.

Ana pulled herself to her knees and dragged Jack into her arms. Cradling his body with one arm she ran her free hand gently through his hair only to discover that it held the cool, damp lifelessness death subjected its victims to.

"No…Jack…" Her whisper fell on deaf ears as she lightly brushed the remaining strands of black hair from his face. She gazed down with tear-brightened eyes at the livid face of her captain and lover.

Dozell joined her in looking down at the pirate but his gaze was more quizzical. Finally his eyes found the object he had been searching for. Reaching out, his fingers gripped a small stick protruding from Jack's chest. He gave the stick a tug and it came loose, revealing a sharpened tip coated in gruesomely half-congealed blood. "I figured as much."

Ana looked up at his words, stray tears still winding their way down her cheeks. "What is it?"

"Poison," Chelsea muttered, coming forward to inspect the dart.

Dozell shook his head sadly, tossing the dart to the ground. "I warned him about the lethality of these traps. I only wish he had listened."

Slowly and silently, weighed down by the sadness of loosing a companion, Will, Dozell, Chelsea, and the dogs rose and continued down the corridor.

"Where do you think you're going?" Ana demanded weakly, choking on her tears.

"We can't stay here. I don't mean to be cruel, but he's dead. Hanging around to mourn will only serve to endanger us further." Dozell said quietly, his tone of voice indicating that his words were indeed sincere.

Ana took one last, long look down at Jack's pale, motionless form. After placing a tentative kiss on his clammy cheek she lowered his body to the ground and stood, wiping the stray tears from her face. She took a fortifying breath and joined the others, following them rather dejectedly down the corridor.

- - - - -

Cold.

Barbossa had described the feeling of death quite accurately.

It was cold. Very cold.

Wait…death? No, he couldn't be dead. There was just no way.

He denied it with all his being.

For one thing, he had no recollection of how he had come to be dead. The last thing he remembered was standing in the corridor and shunning Dozell's overly careful approach to walking, of all things.

And for another thing, he was Captain Jack Sparrow.

But truthfully the dark abyss he found himself in was very cold. Deathly cold.

Finally allowing his exhausted self to admit defeat, Jack closed his eyes and tried his best to ignore the feeling of sinking through that void of nothingness.

"Why do you insist he live?"

"Why do you insist he die?"

Jack's eyebrows twitched in irritation; he had finally been getting some much-needed rest. Fully vexed at being waken he forced his eyes open and found that it was a much more difficult task than it should have been. Hazily he searched the blackness for the source of the arguing feminine voices. His dreary gaze fell on two women: one was ever-shifting while the other was solid and as motionless as a statue. Both were unnervingly familiar and Jack forced his eyes open further.

"He must die. It is the natural course of all mortals to be born, to live, and to die. He was careless and so his time to die has come early."

The ever-shifting woman tossed her long, dark hair casually over one shoulder. "But why allow the only mortal who can serve your purpose to die before his task is complete? Didn't you want your little pharaoh to save this land?"

The more solid of the two shook her head delicately. "Nay. He cannot for he is not the pharaoh. No matter how similar they may look."

"No? I've been watching this mortal and his internal struggles. You have spoken to him many times and intimidated him by calling him by this land's royal title. How do you explain that?"

"He is not the pharaoh. He is merely the capsule that houses his ancient spirit."

"So if Jack Sparrow dies so does the pharaoh, correct?"

"The pharaoh will find a new vessel."

"But if you wait for that to happen, trouble will arise in the land which you guard."

"Yes, it will, for there will be no one to challenge the evil that now draws near to the Stone."

"So you're willing to let the evil conquer your land?"

"No."

"That is what will happen if you let him die. Time is fading; his life force is fading. I can feel it."

"Why do you even fret with the ventures of Egypt? She is not your land."

"I 'fret' because my little," the fog-made one paused, searching for the correct word, "pet has traveled—and died—there."

"Who're you callin' a pet?!" Jack demanded angrily, suddenly knowing that he was the center of their conversation. Neither of the women took note of him.

"So you've taken in a new human to drive mad."

"No. He's proven himself stronger than I like to toy with. He is now under my protection." She waved her hand in the air and gray tendrils of fog followed the motion before resting in her palm and solidifying into a pendant on a black cord.

Jack's hand flew to his chest, searching for the pendant given to him by the lady who had driven him near the edge of insanity—the same woman who now seemed to be defending him. The charm was gone.

"You see? I gave him my token of protection and now I use it to barter for his life."

"And what good would your spell of protection do me? I cannot die."

"By using it to restore his life it will save your land. But only if you agree with the decision to revive him. He died in your land where you have supremacy."

The more serious of the two was silent for a long time and in that lapse Jack felt himself growing weaker. Being pulled deeper into the darkness. His vision began blurring further.

"Very well. Your human lives." With these words, the pendant in the shifting woman's hand vanished in a puff of smoke.

"But I will not let this pirate's stupidity endanger my land again. I will bring forth the pharaoh. He knows his enemy and can finish this ancient struggle. Once and for all."

"And what of Sparrow when the task is complete?"

"That depends on how cooperative he is. I may allow him to live."

- - - - -

"Wake up mortal."

The whispered order pierced the darkness and sent Jack up to a sitting position with wide eyes and quickened breathing. Anxiously Jack looked about the strange place he now found himself in. Only one torch lit the grand chamber, casting eerie shadows over the picture writing on the walls. Jack braced himself back on his hands and took deep breaths, trying to recover his composure. He wasn't even sure what it was about that voice that had startled him so.

Wait…voice? From what he could tell, Jack was alone in the chamber.

'Maybe I am loosing my mind…' Jack thought worriedly to himself, still searching for the source of the voice. "Is anyone there?"

"Yes." a voice answered, echoing softly from the darkest corner of the chamber. "Welcome back, pharaoh."

"'Pharaoh?'" Jack searched his memory for a name or description of that familiar voice's owner.

"Well, soon-to-be pharaoh, yes." A woman with long dark hair in a pale robe stepped from the shadows and her dark gaze pierced Jack's. She nodded to a large stone chest in the center of the room, just large enough for one man. "That is the real pharaoh. There he has rested for many years. Waiting."

"Fer what?" Jack asked slowly almost fearing the answer that would surely come.

"You. The one who can revive him."

A sharp grating sound filled the chamber as the stone lid of the sarcophagus slid aside, unveiling the wrapped, deteriorating form within. Jack looked down with slight disgust at the shriveled body bound in cloth.

"What's this all about, anyway?" Jack asked gradually, turning to face the woman once more.

He was shocked to find a wolf in her place. The animal retained the woman's raven locks and wore golden rings around two of her legs. A blue star anointed her left hip and blue waves ran horizontally beneath her eyes.

Jack took several stunned steps backwards, almost falling into the open sarcophagus as he did so. "Who are you?"

"If you must know, I am Anaia. Egyptian goddess of darkness and judgment. I am sorry Jack Sparrow-"

"Captain Jack Sparrow."

Anaia's lip curled up at the corner in a grim smile but her eyes remained sincerely apologetic. "Of course you would correct me Jack Sparrow,"

"Lass, do ye not understand th' whole 'respect me by announcin' me title' thing?"

"I apologize Jack Sparrow but I cannot; I am a goddess and therefore cannot acknowledge any rank of a mere mortal." Anaia took a few delicate steps closer to Jack, seeming to float on the air instead of touching the ground. "And now I must insist that you step down."

"From wha'?" Jack side-stepped from the majestic black wolf suddenly feeling very paranoid.

"From your existence."

[a/n2: Please review, it means the WORLD to me. Thankies!]