Will and
Elizabeth's eyes meet across the cave, the water rippling beneath
them. There is still something there, a passion, a longing for the
world to return to the way it was. But neither of them move towards
one another, and instead Will finds himself surrounded by Gibbs, Jan
and Roland, all greeting him warmly and asking how he escaped The
Locker. Elizabeth remains silent, and Sao Feng looks from her to Will
and... smiles slowly. It is not a sinister or an evil smile, but
simply one of content. The Chinese pirate is hiding something. But
what?
And then Will sees Barbossa.
And Barbossa stares
straight back.
Two sets of footsteps advance, crashing through
the water below. The two enemies advance. There is the scraping of
metal as both draw swords, and the cocking of pistols. Will's face is
full of fury; he is ready to finally kill the wily pirate for all
that he has done. Barbossa's face is filled more with anticipation,
as though he is going to enjoy hurting this young whelp... a lot.
The two combatants are joined - Barbossa by Pintel and Ragetti,
and Will by Gibbs and Jan. Elizabeth, Roland and Sao Feng do not
move. The other pirates in the cave, who have so far been on their
best behaviour, begin cheering violently at the prospect of a fight.
They want blood, and it looks as though that is what they are going
to -
BANG! A gunshot cracks into the air and shakes the very rock
face. A hazy smoke settles over the raging crowd, and Will and
Barbossa find themselves with daggers pressed against their throats.
Pintel, Ragetti, Gibbs and Jan share a similar fate. All of the other
pirates present are caught of guard, and become surrounded by sword
and gun wielding men in black. The First Vessel's crew.
Elizabeth is forced against the wall violently by her guard, though
he shows no other interest in her. A flicker of anger passes across
Will's face. Though there is the tip of a sword tickling the flesh of
his throat, Sao Feng looks as though he is watching a particularly
boring production. His face is void of emotion.
The smoke
settles. It was Gale who fired the shot into the air. He advances
slowly on both Will and Barbossa, eyeing them contemptuously. "What
is your dispute?" he asks forcefully.
"He kidnapped my
love, condemned my father to a fate worst than death, and helped trap
me in Davy Jones' Locker," says Will quickly. All of the pirates
present look fearful at the mention of the Locker.
Barbossa
replies simply, "He stole my ship." Loud gasps too. It's
just not proper to steal another man's ship.
Gale considers this
whilst he paces around the cave. His men look eager to butcher the
pirates they have at their mercy. He asks, "How many of the
Pieces are here?"
The answer is five, with the First
Vessel making six. The Pendragon and the Esmerelda
are still unaccounted for. Gale seems surprised that there are so
many Pieces already, especially when he sees Sao Feng. He advances on
the Oriental pirate menacingly, before laughing, "So, I now know
of four men to have returned from the dead, and three of them are in
this cave". He is of course talking about Jack, Barbossa, Will
and Sao Feng. He asks the captain of the Empress, "Are
the legends really true? Do your ships regenerate the mortally
wounded? Can you not be killed onboard your ships?"
Sao Feng
merely answers, "We are beyond death, my men and I".
"So
the spirit of the Dragon Lady is still with you?" Gale queries.
"Always," Sao Feng nods.
But then a look of
realisation flashes across Gale's face, and it screws up in rage
towards Sao Feng. "You have stolen 'her' essence as well!"
the First Mate cries. And goes for his pistol.
But Sao Feng is
just as fast. In one swift motion the Chinese captain flicks his
guard's blade aside and thrusts his own pistol towards the very
centre of Gale's forehead. Gale has his own weapon pointed at Sao
Feng's stomach. In the chaos, some of the crew of the Empress
have turned the tables on their guards, as do some of the others. It
is a true hectic stand off between groups who are supposed to be
uniting against a common foe. But, it seems, pirates do not make
alliances. Only Will and Barbossa look rather helpless, struggling to
breathe.
Gale says to Sao Feng, "We know you aligned with
Beckett. You betrayed the Brethren. You are a mercenary only
interested in your own profits."
"That is what pirates
do," Sao Fang counters, receiving a unanimous "Aye"
from all but the crew of the First Vessel. Sao Feng continues,
"We are not simply obsessed with old legends and superstitions."
"You will be," Gale whispers.
CLUNK! A wooden leg slams against the deck of the First Vessel. The Captain is walking along the deck, moving for the very first time, his unnatural mist following in his wake. The ship appears to be moving with him, growing even closer to the island. He is going ashore it seems. But this cannot be! His men remaining on deck look stunned as they fall upon their knees. His dark figure passes amongst them.
The sound of the wooden leg of The Captain is very loud, so loud that even Jack Sparrow can hear it, locked away in his cell in the hold of the Empress. He smiles at the burly guard glaring at him, saying, "Looks like your captain's been a naughty boy, mate". The guard can clearly speak no English whatsoever, so Jack attempts sign language.
The First Vessel is right alongside the island, and The Captain moves slowly yet regally towards the edge and steps off.
Back
in the cave, the CLUNKING can now just about be heard. Will and
Elizabeth look faintly confused, whilst all of the pirates in the
room display a strange mixture of fear, apprehension and wonder.
CLUNK! Pintel and Ragetti exchange nervous glances. Barbossa looks
rather pleased, despite the knife against his neck.
"Your
master?" Sao Feng asks Gale. CLUNK!
"My master?"
Gale confirms, looking less confident than he should. CLUNK!
One
by one the pirates in the room forget their conflicts, turn away from
each other and begin to drop to their knees. Will and Barbossa are
released; the latter dropping down instantly, whilst Will maintains
his bemused expression. CLUNK! Elizabeth shares his sentiments it
seems, and the two exchange a rare look of humour across the cave.
CLUNK! It grows nearer. CLUNK! A rasping breath can be heard from the
cave's entrance. CLUNK! The shadowy figure of a large, old pirate
begins to appear there, dressed as a fine captain should be. He is
all in black, even his eye patch and his beard, though that is shot
through with wiry grey strands. The Captain surveys the scene with
his one good, menacing eye, eventually noticing that both Will and
Elizabeth are still standing.
"Who is it?" Will
whispers to Gibbs below him.
"Bloody 'ell. How can you not
know that? He is the first and greatest pirate ever to sail the Seven
Seas," hisses Gibbs in a frightened voice. "He is
Blackbeard".
Out on the ocean, the fleet of the
East India Trading Company continues to slide menacingly through the
ocean. It is like a shadow on the horizon. The sun seems to fall away
behind the entourage of sails, flickering in the high breeze like
winter thickets. At it's prow, on the grandest ship of them all,
stands James Norrington. He is looking saner by the day. His hair is
still long, but trimmed and swept back to expose his face a little
more. His dark beard is now no more than gravelly stubble across his
chin. The scar he earned fighting with Sparrow and Turner in Davy
Jones' Locker has healed into a menacing pink through his left
eyebrow to just below his eye. His blue and gold navy coat has been
thoroughly cleaned, though he still wears it open in quite a roguish
fashion. A fearsome opponent he has become. A true pirate hunter.
From behind him emerge Lieutenant's Groves and Gillette, who
still appear slightly nervous in the presence of their commander, but
less so. In the distance behind them, the dark shapes of Davy Jones'
barnacled crew can be seen working the British soldiers hard with the
Cat o' nine tails. Several screams can be heard. And Norrington
actually winces at them. He glances over his shoulder and sees his
approaching subordinates. They greet each other formally.
"Sir,"
says Gillette, "the Black Pearl and the Flying
Dutchman have been spotted off the Isle of Pefkii, otherwise
known as Shipwreck's Cove, along with a host of other notorious
pirate ships".
"I'm well aware of that, Gillette,"
Norrington snaps. "But we cannot simply go blundering in with
our entire fleet in the hope of destroying a meagre six pirate
vessels. We must wait until their entire fleet is formed and then we
will crush them all at once".
Groves stammers, "But
without the Kraken, sir -"
"Irrelevant,"
Norrington answers. "Pirate kind cannot stand against us. My
agents are as we speak advancing on Shipwreck's Cove to ensure our
victory".
"You mean mister Van Hoffryn?" Gillette
queries.
Norrington smiles, "Amongst others".
"But
the dark ship, the one that freed Turner from The Locker has been
sighted there also," Groves says.
"Really?"
Norrington is impressed. "The Dark Ship with power over even
Davy Jones. RABENS!" The muscular, hideous, barnacled,
sea-phantom with the head of a blowfish appears instantly. "What
is the Dark Ship, mister Rabens?"
The sinister being looks a
little disturbed by the question but answers anyway in brutish tones,
salt water bubbling from his mouth. "The 'First Vessel'. The
first ever pirate ship captained by the first ever pirate,
Blackbeard. No one knows how old it is, but it's older than the
Dutchman, I can tell you that. Legend has it that Blackbeard's
immortality is due to the Piece of Eight he keeps with him at all
times, because that contains the largest part of the Goddess Calypso.
He has spent years and years sailing the seas, recruiting only the
very best pirates to his crew, always waiting for the day when the
Brethren could be summoned, Calypso freed and his curse of
immortality lifted. It is said that Blackbeard's greatest wish is to
be allowed to die".
Norrington does not seem particularly
fazed by this. "Well, maybe we'll grant his wish".
Suddenly there is a cry from the stern of the ship. Another ship
has been sighted, a pirate vessel, heading in the direction the East
India Company have just come from. It is the Esmerelda, trying
to return back to the island where they still believe their Piece Of
Eight to be being held safely. Norrington orders his ship to pursue
and get in range of the guns. A boarding party is prepared, but soon
Rabens and the rest of the Sea-Phantoms disappear, and the screams
from the deck of the Esmerelda fill the air."
