Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm just some Brit who's enamored of Pirates of the Caribbean. Maybe Jerry Bruckheimer will read this, buy it, and I'll be rich. And maybe Bush will win an election without cheating, and pigs will fly. Oh, well-I can dream, after all.
Chapter 6: On The Way
The four figures made for small dots in the desolate landscape that was the Arctic. The wind howled about the two men and two women as Johnny Depp led them forward.
"There's a cave not too far ahead. We'll camp there for the night." He indicated a small outcropping of rocks in the distance. Then he trudged onward, as the flying snow made him seem a ghostly figure.
AnaMaria and Elizabeth walked together, for fear of losing Elizabeth in her white cloak. They both carried Will. "Just what did you and Jack have to do with Depp, here?"
"Later. When we've a fire and rum to tell stories over." AnaMaria evidently hated the cold. Elizabeth wisely said nothing further.
It was another hour's walk to the cave. It was well worth it, though; a fire was burning by the time Elizabeth and AnaMaria got there. The men had already broken out the spirits (commonly called 'alcohol') and were imbibing heavily.
The girls waited for the men to knock themselves out with all the drinking. Amazingly, John Depp and Jack Sparrow just kept at it, trying to see who'd pass out first. Eventually, they both fell over, having drunk several large bottles of foreign liquor that was 'from the Inuits-the nice kind', as Depp put it.
AnaMaria took a moment to examine one such bottle. "Vodka-icky." Seeing Elizabeth's confusion, she explained. "Russian drink. They're a group of fat people over in Asia. Make some bloody strong liquor, though. Definitely stronger than rum."
"Well, AnaMaria, when I asked about you, Depp and Jack earlier, you said later, when there was a fire and rum. Well, now is later, we've got a fire, and, well, better than rum. So what happened with this?"
"Sit down, kid. It's a long story." Obeying, Elizabeth gestured for her to begin.
"It was about 11 years ago; it was the first time I'd met Jack. Like you, I'd heard of him-sacking Nassau without a shot, beating East India...but never met him. But he gave me the opportunity to crew with him. He and a buddy were going to poke around an old temple the natives had made, and see what riches they were hiding. See, Jack still didn't really believe in curses. When he'd heard the Inuits say the place was cursed, and warned him to avoid it, he figured there was some treasure there they were protecting.
"So he and Bootstrap Bill asked me along. Hey, two dashing guys, pirates no less, and a teenage girl? Of course I'd go." Seeing Elizabeth's look, she added hastily, "nothing untoward happened. Those two are the more honorable sort of pirate.
"Anyway, so the three of us convinced Johnny to take us there; he'd seen it before-a fact we learned after loosening his jaw with some of this vodka. Seems to have gotten a taste for it.
"So we went up there, past the Arctic Circle. And there it was. After three weeks of running around aimlessly in this godforsaken land, we found the temple. For all the Inuits said about making it, it sure didn't look like their sort of design."
"What sort of design was it?"
"Having been in the Caribbean since, it looked more like Aztec or Incan, rather than Inuit. If it was actually human-little too creepy to be all human, anyway. In a bowl-shaped crater, no less.
"But we went inside, and found...no gold at all. No treasures, no riches, nothing. Didn't disappoint me much, but the other two and Depp were kinda beat up about it. So we poked around a bit. The thing had antechambers that went on forever. Not a one had anything in it.
"But I found one that did. It had a few statuettes-not worth a thing, really-some coffins, an altar, and some items of clothing near the coffins. Bootstrap liked one of the coats there-in fact, that coat Will's wearing is the very one.
"Probably should have figured it was dangerous when it was in a basket way over our heads, and I should have recognized it.
"But we got back to the Pearl, back when the crew, Barbossa and Jack all were on it. Jack and Bill brought me along disguised as a boy who'd helped them out. It was this time of coming back empty-handed that the crew got the seeds of dislike for Jack. And things were fine. For a while.
"But Bootstrap got sick. Same symptoms as Will; dizzy, hoarse voice, then passing out. We pulled into port back into the town where they'd picked me up. An Inuit recognized it, and asked if we'd been to the Dark Temple. We said yes. He said that if we set him on the altar and spilt blood from his left hand on it, he'd get better.
"Now, we thought it was rubbish. But time went on, and nothing worked. So, I asked Jack if we should try it. So he gave Barbossa run of the ship for a time, while he and I would take Bootstrap to a man named Depp. Which was true. But he didn't want the crew knowing about the temple.
"So we went back, and asked some Inuit to help us out. And they did. They were willing to help us out to make Bootstrap better.
"We made the trip there in five days, since the Inuits knew the way. So we told Depp to memorize the way. And he did. So we got there, and they said, and Bootstrap started getting better. And once we cut his hand on that 'altar', he was good as new. That's when all hell broke loose."
The Inuits had gone berserk somehow, and tried to kill the four of them, including Bootstrap. Possibly it was their attempts to bind the wounds, possibly something else.
"But whatever it was, they didn't only attack us; they attacked the whole town we went through. We just barely got out on the Black Pearl before they burned down the whole town."
AnaMaria then explained how they'd dropped Depp in the town they'd found him in earlier. "Jack made me swear to never mention it to anyone else. That's why I hesitated to mention it to Will. And I have never been back here since. I grew up in the Caribbean, had the occasional run-in with Jack, and tried to forget that some crazy nuts in the Arctic that tried to kill me."
"Well, that makes...absolutely no sense at all," Elizabeth finished.
AnaMaria shrugged. "Welcome to the Arctic, luv."
The next morning, Jack and John acted as though they hadn't drunk a bit of the several bottles of vodka they'd plowed through.
"Well, let's get moving. It won't be too long before we're there."
As they left the cave, Elizabeth asked AnaMaria, "How much farther to the Arctic Circle?"
"Another few hours. Let's get moving, Bess."
