Disclaimer: I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean. If you don't recognize something from the film, I probably created it.

Chapter 9

Getting to the temple

"Can you see anything?" asked Danny, his hand resting on his pistol and his gaze resting on Will, Jack, Elizabeth and Emma. "No, Cap'n," said Wyatt, looking through the telescope at the island, "All I can see is jungle." He was lying. Something was moving in the trees. He knew Jack could see it too. His eyes had widened with fear. Legend said that only the truly cunning could pass through the jungle. Some evil lurked in the trees and vines; an evil that would kill any human it found. You didn't know it was there until your friends started disappearing. "Lads," yelled Danny, "Prepare the long boats. We go ashore all together. Leave Jack's crew here." He smiled, showing rather clean teeth for a pirate. "Come now," he said to the four next to him, "You'll be coming with me."

It was dark when the crew reached shore. Barbossa's bones were brought by a few brave souls. The smell of rotting made Emma sick. Once on the beach, the crew made a fire and tied Emma, Will and Jack to a post embedded in the sand. Elizabeth was dragged off towards Danny. He had a smirk on his face, much like the one he had worn after his deal with Annie. He pulled Elizabeth so she was looking at him. Though he was younger, he was the same height and much stronger than Elizabeth. "Now how did a pretty little thing like you end up with a useless whelp like him?" said Danny, nodding his head towards Will. He put one hand around her neck and pulled her head down to whisper in her ear. "Forget about him," he whispered, "And I'll show you a real man." Elizabeth lifted her head back up and snarled, "Drop dead." She spat at his feet.

"Wench," hissed Danny and he hit so she fell to the ground, "Tie her up!" Wyatt helped Elizabeth to her feet and escorted her over to the others. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Turner," said Wyatt as he tied her to the post, "He's just nervous about bringing his father." Wyatt was unaware that he was being watched.

Annie had Norrington breathing down her neck again. She could just make out Wyatt in the light from the fire. It was a cloudy night so the moon couldn't help. "Well?" asked Norrington, "What can you see?"

"The Turners are still alive," said Annie, "Elizabeth is going to have a nasty bruise though. Looks like she got on the wrong side of Danny. My dad's alive too."

"How many are there?" asked Norrington.

"Entire crew by looks of it," said Annie, "They ain't planning on returning as normal humans. Blue Horizon should be easy to take when they've gone. We have to make 'em think there is more than one ship. Scare them into moving on into the jungle."

"How do you propose we do that?" said Norrington sarcastically.

"I'll toddle over to the Horizon with a few men," said Annie, "You move over that way and the Pearl goes the other way. We let the canons fire and they'll think they have the entire navy on their tail."

"Fine," said Norrington, "Gillette, go with miss Sparrow and help her."

"I'll take my grandpa as well," said Annie, "Gramps can take over the Pearl." The ships moved into position and the canons were loaded. Annie and Gillette liberated the crew of the Pearl from Danny's brig and they helped fire the canons.

In the empty night, the sound of many canons sounded. Danny and his crew looked around. They could see flares in the black night. "They found us," he said, "Pack up! We're moving on!" The crew quickly extinguished the fire and collected their prisoners. They disappeared into the jungle.

Annie was on shore by the time Norrington arrived with the entire crew of the Hunter and the Black Pearl. "Where'd they go?" asked Gibbs. Annie pointed towards the jungle.

"Say we're not going in there," he said.

"Sorry Gibbs," said Annie, "But that's exactly where we're going."

Elizabeth held onto Emma's hand as one of the crew pushed her roughly along. Daniel was next to them. Emma suddenly stopped. Daniel stopped. "Cap'n?" said one of the crew. Daniel stooped down to Emma's level. "Which way?" he said softly. Emma looked around. "This way," she said, pointing west towards the center of the island.

"Good," he said. They started off again, following Emma. Will and Jack were being half-dragged along. Jack had the stiff-legged reluctance of a dog about to be fixed and Will couldn't blame him. Danny didn't look like he was going to let them go alive. He hoped that Annie had been able to get off the island and get help. But that nasty voice in the back of his mind added, 'Even if she did, Norrington would rather hang her than accept a pirate's help again.' Will thought he heard something move in the trees around them. He looked behind him. The waist-high grass was swaying as if something small was running very quickly up to them. Jack hissed as he looked behind too. The boy at the very end of the group suddenly disappeared with a scream. Danny stopped and looked back. Three more disappeared, their blood-curdling screams piercing the air.

Annie stopped as she heard the screams. She heard the grass move as something came towards them. One of Norrington's crew disappeared. The rest began to panic as another disappeared, screaming. "Hold your ground!" yelled Annie, "Stay together and keep your guns pointed at ground!" Norrington opened his mouth to protest.

"Trust me," she said. She knelt down and crawled through the grass. She heard a high-pitched chatter in some language she didn't know. She parted the grass and found two skeletal creatures. "I don't believe it!" she said, "They're real." The creatures turned around. They were small, no bigger than monkeys and carried small weapons of stone. They looked as if they had the curse of Isla de Muerta on them. One of them raised some kind of hollow tube to its mouth and blew through it. Small barbs flew from the tube and into Annie's throat. Annie pulled out her pistol and aimed it at the head of the creature. The shot caused several of Norrington's men to jump. Annie reappeared some twenty feet away from them, pulling the barbs from her neck. "Pygmies!" she shouted.

"What happened to you?" he asked.

"Nothing, it's alright," said Annie. Norrington didn't notice that Annie wasn't bleeding. The high-pitched chatter Annie had heard was back and it was getting louder. "Let's move," said Annie and she broke into a run. Norrington and his men followed.

Danny had now picked Emma up and was running. His men were disappearing quickly and he had to get to the temple quickly. Wyatt, Perry and Slim were forcing Elizabeth, Will and Jack along. Two more carrying Barbossa's bones. The jungle stopped suddenly and in the circle of no trees, there stood an impressive Aztec temple. Danny dropped Emma and walked up to it. He laughed as he traced the writings with his hand from the light of a torch he had taken from Seann. "The temple of renewed life!" he said, "After years of searching, I've finally found it!" He turned to his crew or what was left of it, some twenty members or so. "Well, lads, this is where we part for a while," he said, "Me, Jack, the Turners and Wyatt will go in. We'll come out when it's over. Don't let anyone in, especially Smut's sister."

"Half-sister," added Smut. His arm was bleeding where Carlton had grabbed it when he was killed.

The pygmies were still chasing Annie and Norrington. They had lost ten men from Norrington's crew and Felix from Jack's crew had fallen down and not got back up. Annie suddenly stopped. There was a patch of sand on the track they were following. Something didn't seem right. Annie knew they weren't following the same path as Danny but she felt this path led to the temple as well. She didn't want to go in the grass again. "Why have we stopped?" asked Norrington.

"Something is not right," said Annie. One of Norrington's men, Ward, gave a snort of disgust. "Why should we believe you?" he said, stepping forward, "I bet there's nothing wrong and she's just stalling us." He stepped forward onto the sand and disappeared before he could even say anything. "Told you," she said, "Quicksand. Stick to the stones around it and you won't join your friend." She stepped gingerly onto one of the rocks sticking up. It didn't sink so she hopped across and reached the other side easily. "Come on," she said. One by one the men and Anamaria got across. The track didn't lead much further. They came to the edge of the jungle and found themselves looking down on the camp of the Blue Horizon. A campfire had been lit and they were sat, watching the way they had come. Curt pulled out his telescope and looked down. "The Turners are missing," he said, "So is Jack. I can't tell about the crew, I don't know 'em well enough. How about you, Annie?" Annie took the telescope and looked down. "Looks like the pygmies got most of them, only about twenty of them left," she said, "Wyatt and Danny are missing, probably inside. I think we can take 'em. Norrington, get your men to form a semicircle around the back of them and walk in slowly. They won't put up much of a fight when they see they're surrounded by us and jungle."

"How can you be sure?" asked Norrington.

"I'm not," said Annie, "You'll just have to trust me." Norrington nodded to his men, who spread out in both directions, as did the other crews. Slowly, they crept in, surrounding the remainder of the Blue Horizon crew. "Put down your weapons," ordered Norrington. Seann turned and saw him and Annie. "How did you get off that island?" he asked

"That's for me and the man upstairs to know," said Annie.

"Put down your weapons," repeated Norrington.

"Why should we?" snarled Smut. The men completed a full circle around the boys.

"My dear brother," said Annie to Smut, "You've got nowhere to run and hide. Looks like the Sparrow luck just kicked in for you." Smut looked around to see members of the navy and crew of the Black Pearl. He took out his pistol and threw it on the ground. He slowly raised his hands and placed them on his head, a sign of defeat. The others followed suit.

"Parley?" said Seann nervously to the Murtogg and Mullroy who both had their rifles pointing at him.

With the crew of the Blue Horizon captured, it was time to rescue the Turners and Jack. Annie collected another pistol from the weapons of the crew. "What's going on inside that head of yours?" asked Gibbs.

"I'm going in alone," said Annie. Curt and Jonathon looked shocked at their granddaughter's words. "You're daft," said Anamaria, "You're daft, Annie."

"Daft like Jack," added Gibbs.

"All of you wait out here," said Annie, "I'll hop inside, negotiate the safe return of the Turners and my dad and we'll get out of here."

"I'm not comfortable with the situation," said Norrington, "How do we know that you won't switch sides?"

"How about I go throw you into that quicksand we came across?" replied Annie. She sheathed her sword and entered the temple. As she disappeared in, the clouds moved and the pale light of the moon lit up the faces of those who could now only wait.

A/n: I had to borrow a few lines from the movie. This is a toned down version of my original idea, which involved killing Smut. But seriously, let me know what you think. Review me. No flames please.