Pirates of the Caribbean: Legend of the Sacred Dawn

Chapter Three

Author: Evelyn C. Moore

Authoress' Corner: Two years later, and this story makes its way into my mind. Who knew?

The Story So Far: Five Years after the Curse of the Black Pearl, Jack Sparrow returns to Port Royal seeking aid from his favorite blacksmith. But it appears that Barbossa has returned, and with Elizabeth captured and whisked away to God knows where, the duo find themselves teaming to save Will's female fancy once again.

It was moments like these that made Jack like Will less and less. The boy had his head shoved so far up his ass he couldn't see straight! Here they were talking of death and immediate danger, and Will's worried about his bonnie lass! It made him downright sick!

"What are you doing?" Asked Jack curiously as Will seemed to snap out of his dreamlike state and began to hurriedly gather things from about the shop. He paused a moment, waiting for an answer and, realizing it wasn't coming, rolled his eyes and turned to Annamaria. "I want you to get back to the ship and prepare to set sail."

"And just what makes you think I'm leaving without you?" She asked coolly, placing her hands on her hips.

"That's an order from your Captain! You'd do well to remember who is in charge around here!" He said with a dramatic flair. He paused, nodding his head in self-approval as he turned and glanced at Will, who had paused a moment to stare incredulously, winked and grinned before turning back to a frowning first mate.

"I don't take orders from you." Annamaria said flatly.

"Well good, neither do I!" Jack said defiantly. There was a pause as all three considered this statement, exchanging confused glances. "All right then! Off we go!" He said marching out the door.

"Is it possible he's actually gone even more crazy since I saw him last?" Will inquired aside to Annamaria.

"I wouldn't know, he's so bloody stupid I've started just tuning him out." She said giving him a look. "Let's get on then." She sighed following her 'Captain' out the door and into the street.

Avoiding the rather nosy glances that were directed their way as they hurried down the crowded afternoon street to the port, Annamaria turned her head to speak to Will over her shoulder. "So, what's the real reason you and the Governor's Daughter aren't married and living a quiet, boring life?" She pried.

"Honestly? She met someone else!" Will replied flatly.

The figure stepped into the moonlight, still whole as the silvery beams fell upon the exposed skin of his hand. Two yellowed eyes loomed in the darkness with a confident sneer as they roamed over her figure, forcing the young woman to fidget under their intensity.

"Now what kind of greetin' is that for an old friend?" He asked sarcastically, a smirk on his grim features. "After all, we're not strangers…" He said moving close to run a hand across the side of her face gently. Elizabeth moved her head in disgust, stepping back from his touch. She felt a chill run down her spine, the cold, leathery feeling of his fingers lingering on her smooth skin.

"You're dead… this is impossible." Elizabeth said setting her jaw firmly. She spoke somewhat through her teeth, anger rising inside of her. "I watched you die."

"Well then I guess you weren't really looking were ya missie?" He said, falling into a short, rather hoarse and sickly sounding bout of laughter.

"What do you want, Barbossa? Elizabeth demanded. She grew tired if this small talk. There was more to this than a simply exchange between acquaintances. After all, he had kidnapped her once before, and she was pretty certain that this was instance number two.

"Well, if you're offering…" Barbossa said seductively, running his eyes over her figure once again. It had been so long since he had felt the touch of a woman. But Elizabeth drew the shawl about her shoulders more closely and glared at him with a gaze fit to tear him apart. So much fire and spirit… she was perfect. "I trust you slept well?" He asked grinning at her. She glared in reply, her eyes gazing at a spot above him and off to one side. It was clear she had no intentions of replying. "I see your conversational skills have improved." He commented wryly. "If you change your mind, I'll be back later tonight to invite you to dinner. You can … mull your answer over until then." The tone in his voice made this statement clear that it was meant to be a command rather than invitation. With a seedy smile and overly grand bow, he turned heel and exited the dungeons.

"Of all the- does he have any idea who I am? To treat me this way it- it's absurd!" Elizabeth raged as she kicked the wall behind her. "I have to get out of here…" she thought aloud as she began to inspect the lock that held her door in place.

"What do you intend to do exactly? Jump overboard and drift back to shore? We're leagues from the shore by now. We've sailed for three days straight." Came a sarcastic voice from the darkness beside her. Elizabeth stopped, peering into the shadows to try and make out its owner. Emerging from the shadows was a young woman close in age to Elizabeth, with long auburn hair that hung in loose curls down over her tanned shoulders, and partially hidden by the black bandana that was tied around her head. She was clearly a pirate, with black pants and striped stockings underneath brown, heeled boots that reached her calves. She wore a violet bodice, trimmed with emerald, and a white blouse underneath, with cut off black gloves and eyes lined with black. "'Ello Lizzie." A rather friendly grin, stark in contrast to the young woman's appearance, caught Elizabeth off guard as she began to gape in recognition of her companion.

"Cassandra!" Elizabeth gasped as she stood there, her eyes wide as she stared into the face of a woman she had once known. "But… how?" How? Well now there was as stupid a question as one could muster. Still, to see the girl she had known to be dead for years standing there now, her appearance so greatly changed, it was truly all she could manage. Just how many people were going to rise up form the grave? "That's it, isn't it? You're all ghosts! I'm on a ghost ship aren't I? You're not even undead this time! Just spirits!" Elizabeth reasoned aloud.

"What do you mean undead? I'm not dead yet!" Cassandra said, rather insulted by this sudden accusation that she was no longer alive. "That is, unless you know something I don't!"

"But… they said you died in the shipwreck! All those years ago when your Father's ship sank." Elizabeth said rather dumbly. "How did you survive?"

"It's a long and rather painful story meant for another time. But as you can see I'm doing better than you thought. Now, are you going to help me get us out of here because Barbossa will be back soon and we don't have much time to get out of here!" Cassandra stated.

"How did you recognize me?" Elizabeth asked, suddenly realizing just how much older they both were.

"Because you haven't changed a bit Lizzie. You're still running around in dresses all attached to your life and yet wishing you had something different. I always figured you were too scared for me ever to see you again. I guess I was wrong!" She laughed. "The real question is how did you recognize me? I've changed a lot more than you have since we last met!" Cassandra said smirking.

"Your smile… it was so familiar the way your eyes lit up Cassandra." Elizabeth said smiling.

"Ugh… it's Cass if you don't mind. Gave up that whole Cassandra thing years ago." Cass corrected her. "Nothing personal… just too formal for my new line of, well, work… Now get over here and help me with these hinges." She directed, gesturing with her head for Elizabeth to come closer to the bars separating them.

Back at the helm of his faithful ship, Captain Jack Sparrow pulled out his infamous, or perhaps the correct term was un-famous, compass and turned the wheel slightly. His dark brown eyes roamed slowly over the horizon, not really searching for anything as much as needing something to do so they didn't fall asleep. He couldn't afford to fall asleep at the helm again. The last time he'd ended up in Port Royal, which was rather beneficial in the end, but not where he had intended to end up at all. Barbossa knew he'd head to Port Royal, therefore her has headed for Tortuga. But when he was at the helm he just began to feel… so… sleepy.

"JACK!"

"I wasn't sleeping…" The pirate muttered drowsily as he opened his eyes slightly and glanced at Will, now watching him with a rather terrified expression. "Oh come now Will I'm not all that ugly…" He joked. But Will turned his attention to the sudden development ahead of them, and Jack felt his humor sucked away. "Oh no…"