A/N: My dearest readers, how may I beg your forgiveness for the utterly intolerable wait I have put you through, and how may I express my gratitude for your patience? I am so deeply sorry to have failed to update for so long, and I promise you the next update shall arrive within the month. We are nearing the end of this tale, and I have been a terribly irresponsible fanwriter to make my readers wait like this. Many thanks to all of you who have reminded me over the past year with reviews and emails. Your wait is over at last. I have tried hard with this chapter to make it worth the wait.
Chapter Nine: Dead Men Do Tell Tales
"Ready the guns, you feckless frogs!" Jack roared. "Run up the sweeps!"
"The what?" Elizabeth yelled over the din of the crew.
"The sweeps, girl!" Anamaria pointed past Elizabeth's shoulder, and she turned around to see Bootstrap and Will carrying something black up to the topsail lines. As she watched, they unfurled it, running it up to fly over the Pearl's black sails.
The pirate standard.
Will was actually grinning up at it, until he turned, saw Elizabeth watching, and blushed. She bit her lip hard. Somehow it just didn't seem proper to giggle while they were sailing into certain peril.
"Oy! Get to work, lass!" Jack shouted, and she jumped, then nipped along smartly.
Will appeared alongside her with a bucket of cannonballs. "We have to get Copperhead and the sword back to the Bloodstone before the rest of them catch us!"
"Barbossa's got the sword! He'll stash it somewhere on the island. So long as the sword stays off the ship, the Bloodstone's his," said Gibbs. Copperhead let out a growl of denial.
"Put your backs in it!" Jack roared. "We're almost in range!"
"Starboard guns ready!" Bootstrap and Will shoved one cannon into position, Anamaria and Elizabeth the next.
"Ready the big grapple on the bow! We'll haul 'er back before she gets aground!"
"Aye-aye, Cap'n!" Gibbs and Cotton joined Copperhead in positioning a large grappling hook, nearly three times the size of the little hooks they used to board ships, upon the Black Pearl's nose. At the end of the grapple's extra-long coil of heavy rope was an anchor.
Will glanced sideways at them. "Can we lock her down with that grapple?"
"If we get it into her hull," said Bootstrap, keeping his eye on the Bloodstone. "In her rigging, hook'll just rip it down. There!" He adjusted their gun slightly. "She's in range!"
Will could see the rest of the Bloodstone's long-dead crew toiling away, and Barbossa by the helm, seeming to reign over it all. What was it the dockworkers had used to say? A man so evil, hell itself spat him back out… He looked at the helm of the Pearl, with Jack at the wheel, and at his father beside him.
To think that I once presumed that pirates are all alike.
"FIRE!"
Anamaria and Elizabeth's gun blasted a handful of men clean off the deck of the Bloodstone—and a healthy portion of deck along with them. A second later, Will and Bootstrap's cannon struck off one of the ship's masts.
"STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP!" Copperhead yelled.
"Can't be helped, old man!"
"She's coming 'round broadside!" Anamaria warned, pointing as the buffeted ship lurched under the impact of the Black Pearl's guns.
"Ready with that grapple!" Jack shouted. "See if you can't catch 'er in the gun port! Fire as you bear!"
Bootstrap reloaded the gun, and Will fired it off again. Barbossa was bellowing at the Bloodstone's crew, trying to get them to fire back, but the sunken ship's guns were useless. One of the Pearl's old mutineer crewmen was at the wheel, trying to get the Bloodstone out of range of the Pearl's guns. "If we don't turn off soon, we'll ram her!" Gibbs cried.
"Going hard a port!" Jack shouted, and spun the wheel.
The Black Pearl's nose seemed about to slam directly into the side of the lumbering Bloodstone, and Will heard Elizabeth hiss and Anamaria cursing in alarm, but at the last second, the Pearl turned, sliding along the other vessel's side.
"NOW!" Jack roared.
Gibbs, Cotton, and Copperhead hurled the grapple into one of the Bloodstone's gun ports as they passed. "Watch it!" The throw was true, and although wood splintered and flew from the opening, the bulkhead held. "Toss the anchor!" Gibbs ordered. "Copper'ead, get outta the way!"
The Bloodstone's captain had been leaning over the rail, watching the wanton destruction of his ship, obviously of a mind to get back aboard her and settle the score with Barbossa. But the rope attached to the grapple was uncoiling fast. Cotton nearly went over the side—and Copperhead did. "DAMMIT!" Gibbs tried to catch him, but the other captain was overboard. "Jack!"
"Keep on 'er!"
Will looked over his shoulder as he and Bootstrap carried grapple lines over to board the Bloodstone. "We've got company!"
The rest of the ghostly fleet of Isla de la Muerta was nearly upon them. "Hurry it up, then! Don't let Barbossa off that ship!"
"I can't see him!" Elizabeth called.
The dead sailors of the Bloodstone and a few of the mutinous crew of the Black Pearl (those who had died two years prior in the battle between Jack and Barbossa) roared their challenges as the grapple lines flew through the air to snag in the rigging. "Take care of yourself, Will," Bootstrap said suddenly, with a hand on his son's shoulder, before swinging across onto the Bloodstone's deck. Will had no time to answer, but quickly followed.
Jack watched his crew stampeding aboard the Bloodstone in search of Barbossa and the white sword, but stayed at the helm of the Black Pearl. Will's bonny lass and Anamaria were behind as well, armed with guns and picking off ghostly sailors who tried to board them. "Steady as she goes, girls!"
He heard the ring of steel on a scabbard behind him, and whirled around to end up blade-to-blade with none other than Barbossa. "'Ello, old friend!" he said cheerfully, as though he'd been expecting to see the other captain here for some time—which made since, because he had. "You're a bit late!"
Smirking, the white sword in hand, Barbossa replied, "Afraid the Bloodstone's old crew're moving a bit slowly, being dead as long as they've been."
Circling his opponent with a casual air, Jack said, "Seems dreadful poor manners of you to press 'em into your service. Men dead at the sea's hand deserve their rest."
"Aye, but wasn't me that woke them, and won't be me that's paying the price this time! On the contrary," Barbossa advanced a few steps, and Jack retreated a few, still confident. "I've done 'em a favor, giving 'em a second chance to rule the seas!"
"And you know favors among pirates!" Jack whirled to one side to avoid a slashing blow from another sword—held in the hand of Copperhead Wellings. "Code demands that they be repaid!"
"So you two are working together," Jack said smoothly. "That's interesting." Not really a surprise, but interesting.
"And it'll make your position bloody well interesting," Copperhead added, as he and Barbossa pressed Jack back toward the helm's rail, overlooking the rest of the deck. "As any swordsman facing off against two opponents."
"Any other swordsman, true, would be a bit intimidated by this sort of thing," Jack remarked. "But you're forgetting one thing about your opponents, lads." He grinned rakishly and bowed, still keeping his sword level. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!"
Just then, a gun blast sent Copperhead's hat flying off into the water. "OY!" he glanced back in outrage, then spotted Elizabeth and Anamaria on the deck, having spotted the intruders by now.
Jack seized his chance, tossed his sword over his shoulder and grabbed the helm deck rail, flipping over it backwards to land on his feet on the main deck and snatch his sword back up. "Were you lads under the impression I was somehow vulnerable?" Elizabeth and Anamaria rushed to flank him, having obtained swords of their own, but he motioned them back. "No interference, loves! Their score's with me!"
The girls looked dubiously at him, then slowly backed off. Then someone swung back aboard the Pearl from one of the ropes, and Bootstrap Bill Turner was at Jack's side. "I've got a score of my own," Bill said.
Jack tipped his hat as the outraged Barbossa and Copperhead came down the deck stairs. "Shall we?"
Will saw them from the deck of the Bloodstone where he, Gibbs, and Cotton were attempting to keep Copperhead and Barbossa's ghostly compatriots from swarming over to the Pearl. His father and Jack led Barbossa and Copperhead in parallel paths up and down the Pearl's deck, moving with the same synchronized adeptness that Will had found himself when fighting alongside Jack. They, as apparently his father before him, had been instinctive partners in battle.
The Pearl's guns, manned impressively well by Elizabeth and Anamaria, were blasting in the opposite direction in a desperate effort to hold off the approaching undead fleet. Through the smoky air, Will wondered how long it would be before the living sailors in this fracas were overwhelmed once the rest of Copperhead's followers caught up with them. He hoped the Dauntless was faring better; he could still see its full white sails in front of the rest, but if the navy's ship had been taken…well, even Jack might have trouble getting out of this one.
"We're going to have a serious problem in a few minutes," he muttered.
"What say ye, lad?" Gibbs shouted, charging down the deck with a pistol in each hand.
Will pointed at the approaching fleet. "We're about to have a great deal of company."
"Aye-aye, looks to get exciting!"
Scrambling to leave a group of undead sailors in a suitable number of pieces so as not to be troublesome, Will pulled a face. "Exciting?" he asked doubtfully.
"Ain't ye learned nothin' from all this time with Jack, kid?" Gibbs demanded. "The odds're always against ye when yer a pirate! Trick is to enjoy yerself no matter how stiff the competition!"
"I'm impressed, Bill," Barbossa told Bootstrap. "All that time underwater hasn't slowed your fighting a bit!"
"Don't tell me!" Jack said, dodging a slash from Copperhead and sweeping in to parry a stroke from Barbossa. "You practice three hours a day!"
"Oy?" Bootstrap shot Jack a confused look as he replaced his captain to battle Copperhead.
"Like father, like son, mate," Jack said.
Barbossa snarled, "Aye, that's for certain. Your whelp's just like you—sanctimonious little popinjay."
"There's a lot of big words in there, we're not but humble pirates!" came a voice from behind them. Bootstrap dodged away from his opponent to give a quick grin at Elizabeth, and Jack laughed out loud.
"The bonny lass learns fast!"
Copperhead lunged at Jack, and they switched opponents once again. "Don'tcha know it's frightful bad luck to have a woman aboard, Jack?"
"A woman, aye. But I got meself two!"
"You've always got a way around those things, don't you?" Bootstrap laughed.
"'Course I do!" Jack swung at Copperhead's neck and got a tuft of red beard for his trouble. "Because," and Bootstrap chorused with him:
"I'm Captain Jack Sparrow—yeh, yeh, I know, I've heard that before!"
Copperhead growled and pressed forward along with Barbossa. "Captain Jack Sparrow's legend's got naught to do with anything but luck and daft loyalists. We lot always beat you in a fair fight!"
There was a whump on the deck as another pair of feet landed next to Jack. "That's not much incentive for him to fight fair, then, is it?" Will gave them a rakish grin before taking off to join Elizabeth and Anamaria on the guns.
"Cap'n holding his own?" Anamaria called.
"He's fine," said Will. "Take care you don't hit the Dauntless."
"You think they'll actually side with us?" she asked doubtfully, reloading the nearest gun.
"Against that?" Elizabeth took aim at one of the approaching dead ships. "Somehow I think we'll be deemed the lesser of two evils. The devil you know and all that."
"Hope you're right, love. Fire at the waterline of that pinnace to starboard on my mark!"
"Ready!" Elizabeth waved vigorously at the Dauntless, hoping they were close enough so Commodore Norrington would see her and realize the Pearl wasn't attacking them.
"Fire!"
The other vessel's nose was practically blown off, but the bloody thing kept on coming. Fortunately, it appeared to have been slowed down a bit. "Dauntless's gun ports are open," Will muttered.
"Do you think they see us?" Elizabeth asked nervously.
"We'll find out as soon as they fire on us," Anamaria replied.
There was a bang behind them as someone came charging across the gun deck. "Ahoy there, ladies and gents, comin' through! Clear the way!"
It was Jack, leaping his way from cannon to cannon with Copperhead in hot pursuit, with Barbossa and Bootstrap striking and parrying along behind them. Will grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her out of the way, but heard her laugh and found himself grinning. Anamaria returned her attention to the Dauntless, completely unconcerned by the antics of her captain as she waved a white flag at them. Will commandeered a pistol that Elizabeth was loading.
"Let me borrow that." He took aim at Barbossa.
"Will!" she exclaimed. "That's cheating!"
"Pirate," he replied. Then he fired and hit exactly where he was aiming—blowing Barbossa's hat right off. "HAH!" Barbossa paused from fighting Bootstrap to snarl at his son, and Elizabeth burst out laughing. Will shrugged and grinned, "I've always wanted to do that."
"We've got company!" Anamaria warned.
Grapple lines snagged the rigging, and Navy sailors began swinging onto the Pearl's deck. "Welcome aboard, lads, step lively!" Jack bellowed, not missing a stroke in his duel with Copperhead. "Plenty of enemies for everyone!"
Commodore Norrington landed a few feet away from Will and Elizabeth. "I rather suspected I'd find you two here together," he said dryly.
"It wasn't planned, I assure you," Elizabeth said.
"Now who exactly are these miscreants?" he demanded, gesturing to the ghostly fleet.
"Dead miscreants demanding the return of the white sword to the ship it sank in," Will replied. "It didn't belong to Hamilton, it belonged to him," he pointed at Copperhead. "Hamilton robbed the wreck of the Bloodstone."
Norrington muttered an oath. "And I suppose this mob can't be killed either?"
"Nay, but they'll be back to the depths if we can get their cap'n and his bloody sword back on his ship!" Anamaria yelled.
"Ahh, yes, speaking of which…"
Another pair of feet thumped onto the deck. "Commodore, what the devil are you waiting for? Arrest these malefactors and retrieve my property!"
Will's chest burned with loathing, and by the look on her face, Elizabeth was of a similar mind at seeing one Sir Reginald Hamilton back in their midst, as puffed up as ever. Norrington too narrowed his eyes at the way Hamilton instantly went to Elizabeth's side and seized her elbow—clearly counting her among the "property" he had come to claim.
"I would advise you to return to the Dauntless, Sir Reginald," the Commodore said tightly. "This situation is not yet under control, and there is danger here."
"Very well. Come, Miss Swann, let us be off this filthy pest-infested scow," Hamilton sneered, but Elizabeth yanked her arm from his grasp so forcefully that she knocked him off balance.
"Obviously I did not make myself clear back in Port Royal, sir. We have nothing to say to each other, and you most certainly have no business leading me anywhere or laying a hand upon me!"
Jack knocked Copperhead down the deck stairs and trotted over to them. "Ah, Commodore, good to see you again. Sir Reggie! Can't say I expected you back so soon, but welcome aboard all the same. Now if you'll excuse me, you're keeping my crew from their duties! Back to work, you lot!" he snapped, and Will, Elizabeth, and Anamaria hastily took the opportunity to escape over Sir Reginald's stammers of outrage.
Norrington was shouting back to the crew of the Dauntless to "fire as you bear" upon the other ships, but paused and frowned at the four sword-wielding combatants aboard the Pearl. "If Sparrow's opponent there is the owner of the white sword, who are those two?"
"Oh, that's the former Captain Barbossa who mutineed against Jack," said Elizabeth.
"And fighting him there is my father," Will added, with no more than a quirk of his lips. Several strides away, Bootstrap ducked under a wild swing from Barbossa, paused to tip his tricorner hat at Norrington, and returned to the fight. Norrington blinked.
"Interesting family line."
"You have no idea," Elizabeth muttered.
"So who has the white sword?"
"Barbossa," said Will, as Bootstrap kicked the mutinous former first mate below decks and came to join them. "He and Copperhead struck a deal—they've taken the Aztec gold again to keep themselves alive. But they don't want the Bloodstone and all these sinking again until they can get her aground."
"Then we have to get the medallions from them and their blood," Elizabeth groaned.
"Not both," panted Bootstrap, stumping over to them. "Just Barbossa."
"What do you mean? I thought he and Copperhead both had them," said Will.
Bootstrap grinned and shook his head. "Aye, but 'twas Barbossa who took them from the chest—not Copperhead. You think I'd have sent mine to you if I'd thought you'd come under the curse? No, lad, old Barbossa's never shrunk from his backstabbing ways, and he's not like to now. His eyes're not on the Bloodstone as prize."
"The Pearl," Elizabeth breathed. "He means to escape and get the Black Pearl back."
"What?" Norrington exclaimed.
Bootstrap nodded. "If he can give us the slip today, he can wait as long as he pleases to lift the curse—and the immortality. Then he can raise a crew in Tortuga and come after Jack and the Pearl at his leisure."
"COMMODORE!" Lieutenant Gillette was shouting from the Dauntless. A glance warned them all that both the Pearl and the naval ship were close to being boarded by Copperhead's allies.
"You pirates have more complicated relations than the bloody Navy," Norrington muttered. "I must get back to the Dauntless; we'll keep you clear as long as we can, but do whatever it is you need to do with the sword and Barbossa, otherwise we're all done for."
"Oy, where'd your well-dressed friend get to?" Anamaria demanded.
"Probably back on the Dauntless, hiding in the cabin," Elizabeth said derisively, shooting Will a reproachful glance. Will supposed he deserved it, but then Bootstrap looked around them.
"No, I don't think he's gone that way."
His meaning dawned on them, and Elizabeth hissed in horror. "JACK!" Will shouted.
"EH?"
"Think that Hamilton character's still after the sword!" Anamaria yelled.
Jack swore and dodged a strike from Copperhead that nearly took his neck off. "Watch the hair, mate! Better find him, lads, I'm a bit preoccupied!" He parried the next blow hard and snatched something from around Copperhead's neck. "'Ere! This might come in useful!"
Copperhead cursed at him and tried to snatch the medallion back, but Jack hurled it through the air to Bootstrap. But then the other captain laughed. "Still need my blood to take the curse off me!"
"So Barbossa told him," Elizabeth murmured.
"Still, we'd better find him, and Hamilton," Will muttered. Elizabeth glared at him again, and he blushed.
"Let's go," said Bootstrap.
They ran below decks to hear the sounds of more fighting in the hold. Will charged forward only to be struck a savage blow to the face with a sword hilt that sent him crashing to the floor. "Will!" Elizabeth screamed, but she and Bootstrap too were knocked aside. All she managed to see was a flash of silver and white metal gleaming in the dim light, and the flutter of silk and lace.
Will was staggering upright with his father's help, clutching the side of his head, and they could hear someone cursing in the darkness. "Was that Hamilton?"
"Yes," said Bootstrap. "And he's got the sword. But first let's deal with Barbossa."
The three of them came upon the former mutineer wrestling his way out of a pile of grain sacks, cursing and spitting in rage. He righted himself and found his route back to the deck in pursuit of Hamilton blocked. "So, Bootstrap, you planning to tie me to a cannon and toss me to the deeps?"
"Not a bad idea," said Bootstrap. "Once we've lifted the curse." He and Will started forward, but Barbossa spat at them and dove out one of the numerous holes in the Pearl's hull.
Elizabeth ran to it and peered out. "He's heading for shore. He'll lift the curse and run."
"Or hide himself until it's safe. There's treasure enough here to buy him a fleet and crews to hunt down Jack," said Bootstrap. To Will and Elizabeth, he said, "Get back and get that sword from Hamilton. Copperhead may think he's immortal, but he still wants it back. Once he and the sword are aboard the Bloodstone, they'll be back to the depths they came from." Then he turned and dove out of the hole after Barbossa.
Will watched him go anxiously. "Barbossa still has the advantage. My father's not cursed anymore; he can be killed."
"Come on," Elizabeth said, tugging his arm gently. "If we can end the Bloodstone, we can go after them." With a reluctant nod, Will let her draw him away.
Above decks, Jack and Copperhead were still crossing swords and wits when Jack spotted the noble fop emerging from the hold with the telltale glint of silver and white at his belt. "Oh, mate, hate to interrupt our little tête-à-tête, but me eyes spy your sword in the hands of one what don't own it."
Copperhead's quick sideways glance turned into a complete about-face when he spotted Sir Reginald Hamilton. "YOU!" Hamilton froze, and Copperhead, forgetting all about Jack, started for him. "You robbed me ship and me crew's grave!"
Hamilton either recognized Copperhead or finally connected the presence of the dead ships and sailors with his theft of the sword from the wreck, but he bolted. Copperhead gave chase, but Hamilton, for all his frippery, was faster than he looked, and would have made it to the grapple line for the Dauntless—if Jack hadn't got there first. "Sorry, mate. Not taking your stolen goods off this ship!"
"Out of my way!" Hamilton bellowed, drawing the white sword, but Jack just laughed.
"Really bad idea, friend." He strolled forward lazily, giving the fop the same warning brandishment that he'd given young Will Turner nearly three years ago.
Unlike Will, Hamilton got the message—or perhaps just didn't have the nerve to stand his ground. Not when he'd a chance of holding onto his pilfered bauble by making a dash for it. Copperhead nearly collided with Jack when Hamilton wheeled around and sprinted in the opposite direction…straight towards the Bloodstone.
"Ar, I guess that seemed like a good idea," Jack snorted. Copperhead just growled and kept after him. Jack watched and grinned.
It might have all been shot to hell when Will and Elizabeth came charging up from below, but Jack frantically waved them aside. The pair looked startled, but fortunately had the presence of mind to obey Jack, and Will pulled his bonny lass out of the way. His eyes widened as Hamilton dashed past for the edge of the deck as he comprehended what the stupid nobleman was about to do. Elizabeth gasped as Hamilton swung aboard the Bloodstone, with Copperhead Wellings a breath behind him. She turned and looked behind them, hearing the sound of the Dauntless's guns splitting the air, the groaning and creaking of ships that would never be seaworthy but for the supernatural force that drove them in pursuit of the thief. The dead men aboard them would swarm over the Pearl and the Dauntless, cutting down everyone alive in their path to retrieve what was theirs.
The moment Copperhead's boots landed upon the Bloodstone's rotten deck, the old ship gave a tremendous lurch, and the very air seemed to darken with the return of Death. Elizabeth flinched backward, away from the deck rail, fearful of the sea that had begun to churn and boil, sucking the dead vessels down. Will's arms came protectively around her from behind, though she still shivered and could feel Will's heart pounding against her.
Upon the Bloodstone's deck, Sir Reginald had at last realized his folly. He spun wildly about, seeking any escape, but the only possible path of retreat was back to the Black Pearl. But already the sea was surging up the Spaniard's bow, and all those who remained aboard her could not be counted among the living. Hamilton cursed and drew the white sword, attempting to slash his way through the crowd of dead sailors back to the grapples, but more came at him with every instant, climbing over the deck rail, stumping across the rotten wood with more ease than he.
"Jesus God," breathed Anamaria, and even Jack was silent, grimly watching.
Finally, in desperation, Hamilton sheathed the weapon and hurled it up the deck, where it lodged itself against the figurehead upon the bowsprit, as though the goddess the Spaniards had carved to guide their vessel now bore the white sword in her hands.
But Hamilton had waited too long. Either the denizens of Davey Jones's Locker meant to punish the thief, or his delay in leaving had led them to count him among themselves. Norrington came running across the Pearl's deck, now that the other vessels threatening the Dauntless were vanishing beneath the waves. "God almighty," he whispered, seeing Hamilton in the midst of a crowd of ghostly sailors, their skeletal fingers capturing his clothes and his limbs, trapping him as the vessel whose grave he had robbed returned to its watery resting place.
The churning of the disturbed Caribbean nearly drowned out Hamilton's screams as the Bloodstone and its crew dragged him under. Copperhead, on the other hand, reached the nose and shook his fist at Jack, roaring something about Barbossa.
"Shoulda learned your lesson about trusting that one, old boy," said Jack, with an apologetic wave.
Then Copperhead was gone, and only the very tip of the bowsprit remained above water, with the hilt of the white sword glistening in the sun. "A beacon o'temptation, that is," said Gibbs. "Sea's lookin' to snare new prey now she's got that Hamilton."
Will and Elizabeth exchanged awkward glances, suddenly aware again that Hamilton was—or rather, had been—Norrington's father-in-law. Speaking of fathers… "Jack. My father went into the cave after Barbossa," Will said.
Jack blinked at him. "Why the bloody hell didn't you say so?" he exclaimed, and swung away from the rail, waving the crew toward the ship's boat. "Get 'er in the water!"
Lieutenant Gillette had come aboard the Pearl and watched the pirates dubiously. "Captain, our Marines are standing by, awaiting orders."
Pausing from readying to launch the boat, Will and Jack met Norrington's eyes. The Commodore regarded them for a moment, then turned to Gillette. "They're to stay on the Dauntless." To Jack, he said, "Captain Sparrow, I shall require a word before you sail."
"You'll have it, mate," said Jack cheerfully, giving him a mock-salute before jumping into the boat. "Pull for the cave, ye scalawags!"
They heard no sounds when they headed back into the chamber of stone where the Black Pearl under Barbossa's crew had hoarded its cursed treasure. Norrington had suggested that Elizabeth stay behind, and Will had looked ready to agree when Elizabeth delivered a glare that quelled them both, sending Anamaria and Jack into fits of laughter. "Growing on me, this one!" Anamaria had crowed.
But she did stay close to Will as they ventured into the grotto by torchlight, either to comfort him or herself from the memories they shared of that place. Jack was in the lead, skulking in his characteristic odd way that would have made Will grin if he hadn't been wondering where his father was.
All at once, a groan from behind a pile of trinkets made them all jump, and Will raced toward the sound. "Father!"
They found Bootstrap staggering to his feet, rubbing the back of his head. "Bloody bastard got the jump on me," he muttered.
"All right there, Bill?" Gibbs asked.
"Fine. Guess I'm lucky he didn't shoot me," Bootstrap grumbled.
"Famous last words, Bill!" said a voice from above them.
The gunshot that followed might well have dropped one of them, had they not all known enough about Barbossa by now not to stand still for an instant without him in their sights. As it was, the bullet took Jack's hat off, leaving a perfect hole in the top. Jack bared his teeth.
"Now I've got a vendetta, mate!"
Barbossa leapt off the stone mound he'd been standing on as Jack and Bootstrap charged him, and attempted to dash across the cave to any one of the numerous exits. They could all hear the jangling of the bag on his belt; it was as predicted, that Barbossa would bide his time before buying a ship and crew in Tortuga and resuming his feud with Jack and Bootstrap, this time on the open Caribbean.
"Am I to take it poor old Copperhead's gone back to the depths?" Barbossa taunted, dodging for another tunnel as Gibbs and Cotton tried to head him off.
"Aye, poor bastard's discovered the pain of being double-crossed by the slippery Barbossa," Jack confirmed, managing to meet Barbossa on the cave floor and exchange a few wild sword blows before Barbossa broke and ran again.
"I do have a habit of slipping through your fingers, Jack," Barbossa sneered. "Just can't seem to get rid of me, eh?"
"Dunno about that," said Jack. "You've managed to come back the dead once, but I've got meself off a pirate's marooned island—twice. At least, you're even with Bootstrap here--o'course, he's made it up from the depths."
"Aye," Barbossa growled, taking a swipe at Bootstrap. "But seeing as I'm now the only immortal here, I think I may end up outlasting you both!"
"Since when are they the only ones you're contending with?" said Will from behind him.
Barbossa swung around, but Elizabeth coshed him with a grapple and smashed the sword out of his hand. He went for another pistol, but Will, Bootstrap, and Jack all pounced on him and bore him to the ground. "Get the medallion!"
Elizabeth and Anamaria rifled through Barbossa's clothes, until Anamaria shouted triumphantly, "I got it!" and pulled the offending coin from his boot.
"Figured you'd be a bit reluctant to shed your blood a second time, old friend," grunted Jack, drawing a knife. "So we've decided to try the method you used on Will and Elizabeth here." With a quick slash, the coin was stained red, and Anamaria tossed it and the coin taken from Copperhead back into the chest.
"Done! Not so cocky now, eh?"
Will and Elizabeth joined Anamaria in watching as Jack and Bootstrap released Barbossa. The mutineer scrambled away from them, spitting out curses and fumbling for his sword. "So who's to duel me first, now that we're all pledged to fight to the death? Settling our dispute here and now, eh?"
"Jack already got to kill you once; my turn, I think," said Bootstrap. Jack eyed his punctured hat and pouted, but then bowed dramatically and backed away. "Thanks." Bootstrap drew his own pistol and fired.
Barbossa blinked, seemingly at a loss for words. Finally, he blurted out,"No fair!"
"What's your point?" Bootstrap demanded, but Barbossa couldn't have answered if he wanted to, as he was now face-down in the watery cave floor. Will, Elizabeth, and the others gazed at the body, then at each other, and shrugged.
Jack strolled over to Bootstrap and peered at his pistol. "How long've you carried that one?"
"Oh, about twenty minutes. Wasn't as if I could use me own gun after it'd rotted on the sea floor for years! Not as if he knew the difference!"
"Good point. All right there, Will? Elizabeth?"
The two looked at each other, then at Jack and Bootstrap. It was Elizabeth who broke first and began to laugh, and Will too began to chuckle, grinning foolishly. Jack looked at them both as if they were quite daft. Rather unfair, in Will and Elizabeth's opinion. Quite undeserved,especially given the source.
"All right then, me hearties. Back to the Black Pearl to face the harsh justice of the Royal Navy," said Jack. Gibbs and Anamaria were among those of the crew who responded to that statement with a loud snort.
As they rowed back to the Pearl, Jack and the crew were startled to see the bowsprit of the Bloodstone surrounded by boats. "What the devil are you up to now, Norrington?" Jack muttered.
Returning to the ship, they found a small company of Marines on board, with Norrington and Gillette awaiting them. "I'm afraid you have much to answer for, Captain Sparrow," Gillette said pompously.
Jack ignored him, "What's that to-do with the Bloodstone?"
"I thought it might be advisable to make sure that none of these ships are capable of rising again even as ghosts," said the Commodore. "We're placing charges in their hulls. If their crews decide to go hunting again, they'll be in rafts." At the pirates' doubtful expressions, he added, "And all the same, my men are under orders not to bring back so much as a splinter."
"Not a bad idea, I supposes," said Gibbs.
Jack half-bowed, signaling his own approval. "And what're your intentions towards me crew of scurvy miscreants, good Commodore?"
Norrington looked awkward. "That rather depends. I was in the process of investigating a raid on Port Royal, as you know. I am still required to return to the Governor with answers as to whether any of the Black Pearl's crew were involved."
"Told you last time we talked, mate, none aboard my ship go about wearing masks," said Jack.
"But you seem to have acquired a few passengers since then," pointed out Gillette.
Jack rather fancied he could see the Lieutenant tugging the Commodore's sleeve like a schoolboy anxious for a high mark. He withheld a snort. "Question away, gentlemen. We're glad to cooperate with the esteemed Royal Navy. Got a description of your raiders since?"
Gillette blinked, then frowned, looking uncomfortably at Norrington. "A man, dark-haired, deep-voiced. He had a scar across his palm…rather like the one you do, Mr. Sparrow," he suddenly remarked, his voice smoothing as his mouth twisted to a smug smile.
Jack held out his hand in the sun as if just noticing his own scar. "Why, so I do. But I've accounted for me whereabouts on the night the dastardly deed was done, hasn't I?"
Norrington nodded dismissively, causing Gillette to stare at him in disbelief. "Yes, to my satisfaction."
"What about Turner?" Gillette suddenly protested. "He's got one too! And he wasn't on the Black Pearl when it happened!"
"How can you be sure of that?" Elizabeth demanded, stepping forward. "I was on the Black Pearl when you came aboard last—I simply had no wish to be seen by…him, again. And," she extended her hand, "you'll find scars aren't a terribly distinguishing feature among pirates."
Norrington and Gillette stared at the white line across her palm, and Jack was certain he saw Norrington trying not to laugh. "If you pop down into the grotto where the cursed Aztec treasure's hid, you'll find poor old dear dead Barbossa also sports such a scar," said Jack. "And any other pirate who sailed with him on the Pearl. Mark o' those who gave blood to lift the curse, mate. At least three dozen men—and one woman—carry it."
Now there was no mistaking it; Norrington was laughing, albeit silently. Gillette looked ready to explode. "I fear," the Commodore said, with impressive decorum, "that we can make no arrests without greater evidence."
"They're pirates!" Gillette suddenly hissed. "Isn't that suspicion enough for a British court?"
Jack affected a wounded expression. "Are you impugning my noble crew's honor, sir? What acts of piracy do we be charged with, these past two years since we set sail?"
"Destroying the Interceptor," Gillette urged Norrington.
"Er…Barbossa's crew did that, actually," Elizabeth said delicately.
"Stealing it, then!"
"Commandeering, actually," said Will.
"Murdering Sir Reginald!"
"You were there, mate, we didn't lay a hand on Sir Fancy-Pants. He put his feet and fingers where they shouldn't've been and couldn't get out. Not our fault or our doing," said Jack.
"Enough, enough," said Norrington, sounding impatient, although they rather suspected it was due to his desire not to burst out laughing at the exchange between the pirates and his increasingly-indignant Lieutenant. "We can prove nothing here, and I'll not waste the British courts' time on it. Finish preparing the charges, and we'll set them off as we sail. I would recommend, Captain Sparrow, that you move your ship well beyond this harbor."
"Much obliged, mate," said Jack, bowing dramatically.
Norrington nodded, then paused. "Elizabeth, Mr. Turner. We're bound for Port Royal, if you wish to return."
Elizabeth stared, then turned to Will. He swallowed and looked at his father. "We'd…we'd planned on being married there…if you…"
Bootstrap smiled. "You know my feelings about being land-bound, son. Still," he half-bowed to Elizabeth. "If I had someone as pretty to stay for, I might be willing. Wish you all the best, and hope I'll be able to visit from time to time?"
"You'll always be welcome," Elizabeth said softly. Will looked a little sad, but not terribly surprised. "I hope…" she looked at Jack. "I hope we'll be able to get word to you in time. You'd be welcome at the wedding too."
"Whatever would your father say, love?" Jack asked, but with a mischievous smile as he took in Norrington's startled expression.
"Hang my father," she replied pertly. "I'm marrying a pirate; he'll just have to come to terms with it."
This set off cries of "hear, hear!" from the crew, and Jack laughed.
"Not to worry, then, love. We'll be in touch."
"Fair voyage, son," said Bootstrap, squeezing Will's shoulder.
"And you," Will replied.
As the two returned to the Dauntless with Norrington and the still-disgruntled Gillette, Jack eyed Bootstrap. "Proud of him? Even if he doesn't seem quite the pirate that you are?"
"Oh, I dunno about that," Bootstrap replied. "He's managed to commandeer ships, give the Navy the slip, fight among the scurvies sea dogs—and he's laid his hands on some bloody rare treasure. Not many women who can turn a man away from his pirate blood."
"Cast off!" Jack bellowed at the crew, and he and Bootstrap strolled up to the wheel. "Envy him, do you?"
Bootstrap looked at his son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law, standing together on the Dauntless's deck, then up at the Black Pearl's rigging. "Yes and no." He grinned at Jack.
"Get back to work, you mangy scalawag!" Jack snapped, and Bootstrap headed up the mast, laughing.
The Black Pearl beat the Dauntless out of the lagoon, since the Navy vessel was still awaiting the return of several of its boats. "Where were they?" Elizabeth asked as the last of the Marines came back aboard.
"We thought it might be advisable to cut off this passage for good, as well as blasting the ships," said Norrington. "This island seems to be nothing but trouble for both pirates and honest shipping." He glanced sideways at Will, but the other man just grinned.
"I can't argue with that." Will glanced over his shoulder at the bowsprit of the Bloodstone, then frowned. "I can't see the sword anymore."
"Is the sun wrong?" Elizabeth suggested.
"Probably slipped off her nose when we were placing the charges. It's still with the wreck, not to worry," said Gillette. To Norrington, he said, "We're ready here."
"Do it."
Moments later, fire and smoke erupted into the air from the wreckage scattered throughout the lagoon, and the Bloodstone and all her kin were reduced to driftwood floating in the depths. As the Dauntless sailed out of the Isla de la Muerta passage, a second series of blasts brought tons of rock crashing down into the water, sealing off the entry to the place where men living and dead had fought and allied.
Elizabeth let her head rest on Will's arm. "Thank God that's over."
Will looked at her nervously. "I wasn't sure if you wanted me to come back to Port Royal after how stupidly I acted."
She stared at him. "Do you think I would have gone through all that to find you only to give you a hiding?" He blinked, then they both laughed.
"So…you'll still have me?"
Elizabeth regarded him, the face so much like Bootstrap's, but more serious, and as attractive as a blacksmith as he was as a pirate. But she needed no deliberation for her answer.
"Of course."
And they stood upon the deck as the Dauntless sailed toward the setting sun back to Jamaica.
Toward home.
To be continued…
Coming Soon (I promise): As you may have guessed, thisdangerous dance with the sea and her treasures is not yet over. Will and Elizabeth return to Port Royal, but a deadly secret threatens to destroy the new homes and lives that both the Turners and the Norringtons are hoping to build in Chapter Ten: Hand of the Caribbean!
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Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, Good Solstice, Happy Yule, and to everyone this Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night! All I want for Christmas are your reviews!