Chapter 29: The Rising
Isla de Muerta is a place of legend. It is an island that cannot be found...except by those who already know where it is. It is also a place of immeasurable wealth. Inside the caverns—for there is not only one, but several—there are enough riches for one man to become a literal king of the world. The wealth that Barbossa accumulated in his travels did not harm matters, wither.
It is also the final resting place of Captain Barbossa. But it is not that anymore.
There is a spark. A firing of a neuron in the brain. Activity spawns from the epicenter. Muscles awaken. Blood begins to flow. Organs lurch into operation.
The heart starts.
The eyes open.
And Barbossa is no longer among the dead.
The Channel of Isla de Muerta is like a shipyard. There are literally hundreds of ships that are the victims of this cursed passage. Ships litter the bottom so much that some ships are wrecked on top of others. In some cases, the ships poke out of the water because of the ships under them.
But these ships will be derelicts no longer. The ships begin to rise. The holes are blocked by some invisible force. The ragged sails are dropped and catch air, despite their ragged state. The skeletons of their long-dead crews awaken. The wood creaks as it begins to return to the sea. And names appear on the bows. Names that are names of foreboding. Names of vile origin.
Names of evil.
One ship rises that is larger than the others. It has a pitted and dented bow, and the bridge is crunched and twisted. It has only four of its original five masts—the fifth is a mere broken log coming from the ship. Its crew is a jumble of bone, coral, and blood. They now exist only to serve the risen Barbossa.
The name of this nightmare ship is the Red Dawn.
Barbossa comes to the Red Dawn in a lifeboat. Once onboard, he—if he can be called a man—looks at his crew with momentary disgust. Then he looks behind him to see the fleet behind him. Flanking him are the Ravager and the Doomgiver, ships barely smaller than his own. Behind them are the Hades, the Pluto, and the Hangman. Other ships in his evil fleet are the Blade, the Cruel, the Shark, the Nightmare, the Killer and the Knave. He smiles. Jack Sparrow won't know what hit him.
