Chapter 5: Land Ways and Sea Ways
It was midafternoon when he first sighted Barbossa's ship in his telescope from the Queen Elizabeth. They were heading for a harbor by Isla de Muerta. Tia had been right. Barbossa was about to betray them.
The Isla was not the same. It had sunk into the ocean some and developed new passageways and small hills and valleys, the formation of which Jack did not entire attribute to natural causes. He and his only crewman – a Haitian names Francois – unfurled all sails to try to reach them. Jack prayed they would catch the wind.
Trying not to be seen, they dropped anchor behind a cliff wall, not far around from where Barbossa's ship had sailed. They were making reading the longboat when there was the sound of an explosion. In the distance.
"Bugger!"
The mutiny, Jack thought. It's happened already. Will and the others are fighting back. Instructing Francois to guard the ship as best he could, he armed himself with pistol and sword, got in the boat and rowed.
He rowed as if the Kraken itself were after him.
As he approached he heard the screams of men and the sounds of mayhem, swords and crashes and the splintering of wood. He rowed faster. Save Will, save Lizzy. Save Lizzy, save Will. He finally reached the ship and tied up the longboat, clambering up a rope to peer, anxiously, over the deck. He heard the sharp twangs of swords, and his eyes were drawn to a flash of tawny hair and a maroon vest with billowing white sleeves.
Elizabeth.
She sword-fought now with one hand on her hip, like the finest of fencers, before leaning in to punch her attacker with the other hand. When her man fell she drew back her foot and kicked him across the face, hard, the effort eliciting a high-pitched grunt from her. The man's head whipped around at an unnatural angle, and he was totally still. She glanced down at the man whose neck she'd snapped, her eyes wildly confirming that he was dead. Then she turned to the next man.
She was beautiful. And deadly.
It seemed that Barbossa had a crew of his own, and there were about six of them, against the companions Jack recognized: Cotton, Ragetti, Pintel, Gibbs. Will. And Elizabeth. Barbossa stood, observing at all, from near the helm. No one had yet broken through to get to him (the better for them, Jack thought) although Will was about to take a man down who barred his way.
Jack waited for the opportune moment to enter the fray.
Just then Elizabeth backed a man up against the rail, only five feet from where Jack hung, hidden. Her sword was digging into his throat. His sword clattered to the ground.
"I recognize you from the Pearl," she said, staring into his face. "When it was cursed. You surrendered to the Navy, did you not?"
"Aye," he choked out, barely able to form words. A trickle of blood emerged from his throat, where she thrust the point of her sword. Elizabeth seemed transfixed by it, watching it slide down his neck and into his filthy shirt.
"Are you afraid to die?" she asked in a quiet voice, almost a whisper, leaning ever closer to the man's face.
Watch out, lad, Jack thought, almost ready to intervene. But a sick curiosity compelled him to watch.
"Y-yes," the crewman stammered.
"Right then. I'll make sure you're unconscious for it." And with that, she drew back and punched him in the face, so hard Jack heard what he hoped wasn't the cracking of bone, and the man toppled overboard with a splash.
Jack watched as she braced her hands on the rail for a moment, breathing heavily. She lifted her hat and smoothed her hair. Then she turned back to the fight.
"Barbossa!" Will called, running toward the man he named, who had drawn his sword as well and was smiling, evilly.
Oh, bugger, Jack thought This already? He heaved himself up and threw his legs onto the deck. No one paid him the least attention, however, for everyone was engaged in a battle.
He watched the events unfold until he saw Will looking at the ground, looking distraught. Jack's heart turned to stone in his chest. His legs felt leaden. He knew what came next.
"Ask her if it's not true," Barbossa said, widening his eyes, his lips pulled back in a sneer, his chin lifted. "Go on, ask her. I dare you. I'm simply dying to know." He laughed cruelly.
Jack watched as Will shook the confession out of Elizabeth, just as he'd seen in the vision. And Will watched her collapse, too numb to act, not aware of approaching Barbossa behind him.
"So you see, my boy, you can still try to kill me for breaking my word. But not for murdering Jack. You've got Lady E here, to thank for that."
"Let's not be hasty, shall we? Before somebody gets thanked for murdering me, I have to be dead."
Three pairs of eyes fell on Jack, who had drawn his sword and stepped out, at once: Will's brown, worried ones; Barbosa's cold, gray ones; Elizabeth's sherry-colored, tear-filled ones.
And Will: "Jack? How did you...?"
But Jack was looking, foremost, at Elizabeth, who had put a hand behind her and struggled ungraciously to her feet. Her eyes were wild, wilder than he'd ever seen them. Her mouth was dropped open in a shocked pout, and fresh tears welled, emerged, and rolled down her smudged cheeks. Jack tore his gaze away when he heard a noise from Barbossa, who had whirled on Jack with an angry growl.
"Why don't you stay dead, Jack?"
"Why don't you?" Jack answered, ducking a blow, and then met Barbossa's sword with his. They moved forward and back a few paces, matching each other move for move. But Jack knew it wouldn't last long. "Will, raise your sword. We can outnumber him now."
"Marley!" Barbossa yelled to his crew. "Finletter! Dobbs!"
But no one answered. Because they were all dead. Will looked around in amazement to find only Gibbs, Cotton, and Pintel standing. "Where's Ragetti?"
"'e's okay, e's chasin' 'is eye down the other end," Pintel said, gesturing with his sword.
"Six to one, mate," Jack said ominously, with raised chin and narrowed eyes, looking at Barbossa down the length of his sword.
"If I surrender, will you leave me alive?" Barbossa asked Jack, his tone still brash and arrogant, eyes flashing.
"Don't think I can do that, since you're planning on sacrificing Lizzy to Quetzalcotal. Or whoever."
"Then kill me straight. If I don't bring the blood by sunset, the gods will undo what they did and I go back... to Hell. This way I have a head start." Barbossa grinned madly.
"On your knees, then, friend." Jack commanded, and Barbossa obeyed.
Jack walked around him in a slow circle, never taking his eyes off the man. He stopped in front of Elizabeth, and then turned around to face her.
"Why don't we let Elizabeth do the honors," Jack said suddenly, leaning in toward her face. She stared up at him, her expression flickering between disbelief, confusion, and finally, resignation. Her eyes hardened as they took in his features.
"Fine," she said evenly, and approached Barbossa, sidestepping Jack.
She met Barbossa's eyes, and drew her sword again, raising the tip of it to his heart.
Jack was suddenly behind her, too close, bending to warm her ear with his breath. "Don't you want to cut his throat?"
She jerked away, looking at Jack with more surprise in her eyes. She did want to, he saw. But perhaps not in front of an audience.
"N-no," she whispered, and looked back at Barbossa, who regarded her with wild gray eyes.
She had raised her sword to his breast again when Jack again interrupted, practically embracing her from behind. He set his chin on her shoulder, his mouth inches from her ear. "Aren't you going to say goodbye properly, love?"
"What do you mean?" she said, an impatient whisper.
"With a kiss. After all, that's your..." Jack lightly breathed on her neck, from her ear, halfway down and back. "..specialty."
Barbossa was the only one close enough to hear, and he threw back his head and roared with mad laughter. Elizabeth, realizing Jack meant the entire time to humiliate her to the fullest, drew back her arm furiously, and with a battle cry, thrust her sword deep in Barbossa's chest, twisting as she drove. His laughs became gasps, the gasps became silent heaves, but the smile stayed fixed on his face. He died with his mouth open, lying sideways on the deck.