Chapter Eighteen: The Ritual
Isla de Muerta-
Will sat in the rowboat while Megan and Jack rowed it into the mouth of the cave.
"What code is Gibbs to keep to if the worst should happen?" Will asked curiously.
Meg sighed. "The Pirate's Code." she answered. "Any man that falls behind, is left behind.'
Will eyed a skeleton laying on a rock. "No heroes amongst thieves, eh?"
Megan continued rowing and said nothing, so Jack decided to put in his two cents. "You know, for having such a bleak outlook on pirates, you're well on your way to becoming one." he continued speaking in between strokes. "Sprung two men-"
"Ahem!"
"-a man and a Woman-"
"Thank you!"
"From jail, commandeered a ship of the fleet, sailed with a buccaneer crew out of Tortuga…" he paused as they all bent down to look at the gold under the water.
"Ooooh!" Megan exclaimed. "Shiny!"
"And you're completely obsessed with treasure." Jack finished as the bow of the boat crashed into land. Will glared at the pirate as they clambered out of the boat.
"That's not true." he growled, offering Megan a hand out of the boat. "I'm not obsessed with treasure."
Will and Megan followed Jack over to a little hole in the wall, so they could see all that was going on with Barbossa's crew.
"Not all treasure is silver and gold, mate." Jack said a-matter-of-fact-ly as they both looked in on the gathering.
"Oh, look!" Meg whispered sarcastically. "Pirates!"
Jack slapped her upside the head to silence her.
"Gentlemen!" Barbossa cried to his crew. He was standing on a rock/hill as he talked to his men. "The time has come! Salvation is nigh! Our torment is near at end!" the pirate said, standing between a woman and two girls.
"Elizabeth!" Will breathed.
There was a pause, and then-
"Oh, yeah! Christie!" Megan whispered. "Alex!"
Barbossa began to speak, but Megan could barely hear him as she thought of how she was going to do this- how she was going to stick with her plan: to stick with Jack until the Jack and Barbossa fight and snag herself one of the those Aztec pieces. Now that she knew they were real, she had one of her famous - or infamous, perhaps - urges, and that urge was to get a piece of the gold, no matter what the consequences.
Megan chuckled to herself softly and shook her head. 'Oh, yes!' she thought to herself. 'I'm makin' a whole hell load of sense. Jenny and Alexa would slap me upside the head if I told them this.'
As Megan continued thinking to herself, Barbossa continued on with his rant.
"Punished, we were. The lot of us! Disproportionate to our crime! Here it is!" he cried, kicking of the lid of the chest.
Will looked at Megan, who was standing between him and Jack. She was hungrily eyeing the treasure, mumbling to herself. He shook his head and returned to his watching of the pirates.
"The cursed treasure of Cortes himself. Every last piece that went astray we have returned….Save for this!" the pirate captain growled as he pointed to the medallion around Elizabeth's neck.
Will started to scramble up the ledge, upsetting some of the treasure on it. "Jack!" he hissed as both the pirate and Megan pulled him back down.
"Not yet!" Megan hissed back. Will glared at her, but Jack stepped in before Will could argue with her.
"Wait for the opportune moment." he insisted.
Will arched an eyebrow, but continued glaring. "When's that?" he asked. "When it's the greatest profit for the both of you?"
The two pirates glared back at Will, who now felt slightly beaten down. 'When women really want to, they can be very intimidating.' he thought.
"May I ask you something?" Jack inquired, drawing Will's attention. "Have I ever given you a reason NOT to trust me? Do us a favor," he said, motioning to him and Megan. "I know it's hard for you, but please, stay here, and try not to do anything…stupid." With that, he walked past Will. Megan nodded, sharing her agreement, and followed the pirate.
Alex and Christie cautiously eyed the babbling captain. Well, to Christie it was babbling, but Alex and Elizabeth seemed to be scared out of their wits.
"And who among us has paid the blood sacrifice owed to the heathen gods?" Barbossa shouted, rallying his crew.
"US!" they replied.
"And whose blood must yet be paid?"
The pirates glared at the girls. "THEIRS!"
Barbossa turned around and smiled evilly at Alex. "You know the first thing I'm goin' t'do after the curse is lifted?"
Alex gulped nervously, but she didn't answer. Elizabeth and Christie just glared at the pirate. Barbossa ignored them and answered his own question.
"Eat a whole bushel of apples."
Alex had to fight the terrible urge to smack him straight across the face as the pirate began the ritual.
"Begun by blood, by blood undone…"
Megan and Jack heard Will a moment too late, and as they turned around, they were both hit upside the head with an oar. Will watched as their bodies fell to the floor, making sure they were unconscious.
"Sorry, Meg. Sorry, Jack." he said. "I'm not going to be your leverage."
Barbossa unclasped the medallion from around Elizabeth's neck, walked over to Christie, and cut her palm. He shoved the medallion into her hand so the she bled on it, and then moved on to Alex and Elizabeth, repeating the ritual.
Elizabeth gasped as the pirate cut her hand. "Is that it?" she asked, somewhat hopeful.
Barbossa grinned. "Waste not." He forced the woman to drop the medallion into the chest. There was a few moments of silence while the pirates anticipated - and the girls dreaded - to see if it had worked.
"Did it work?" one of the pirates finally asked. Ragetti shrugged.
"I don't feel no different!"
At this, Christie smiled slightly, despite the fact that the blood from her wound was dripping down her hand.
Pintel looked eagerly around the cave. "How do we tell?"
Alex jumped back as Barbossa rolled his eyes, took out his pistol, and promptly shot the other pirate.
Pintel just gaped at the captain.
"You're not dead!" Koehler cried.
Pintel looked down at his wound. "No…" then he looked back up at the captain, glaring at him. "He shot me!"
"It didn't work!" Twigg cried. "The curse is still upon us!"
Barbossa glared and turned around to face Elizabeth, Alex, and Christie. "You, maids!" he cried. "Your father, what was his name? Was your father William Turner?" He shouted, shaking Elizabeth slightly.
"No." She said, smiling. The captain growled and turned to Alex.
"Where's his child? The child that sailed from England eight years ago? The child in whose veins flows the blood of William Turner?" He yelled, shaking her. "Where?" But Alex didn't speak, and since Barbossa was in a fey mood, he backhanded her, and she rolled down the hill, unconscious from the force of the smack. She stopped right before the water.
He moved down to Christie. "Where is the child of Will Turner?"
Christie shrugged. "I dunno." she answered truthfully. But a few seconds later, Christie ended up on the ground next to Alex, unconscious as well.
"Hey!" Elizabeth cried, jumping towards the captain, but she too was on the floor in heartbeat.
Bo'sun glared at Pintel and Raghetti. "You two!" he growled. "You brought us the wrong people!"
Will quietly swam up to the girls and Elizabeth and woke them up. Alex and Elizabeth stared in confusion, but Christie smiled and gracefully slipped into the water besides Will, making no sound. Alex nodded and followed in suit.
Elizabeth still looked remotely surprised at Will. But all the same, she grabbed the medallion and slipped in after the girls.
A/N: Yup. Another chapter. Only ten more and a epilogue! So, yah. Soz for the lack of updating, but I was in Garmisch for two weeks, and now I'm catching up on all of my school work. -…so, R&R!PHE