Disclaimer: I don't own POTC. Title is a poem written by Bertold Brecht.
Chapter 48: If We Must Die
They did that, but nothing happened. After a moment, they switched positions and tried it again, this time almost being knocked off their feet afterwards. A great rumbling began erupting from the cavern, and trinkets began falling as the entire place shifted, especially the central area that the altar was in. In all of this excitement, Jack fell backwards into the water while still suffocating in his chair. Camille ground her teeth together, holding onto the rising mountain of stone. From the corner of her eye she could see Ana Maria diving into the water after him.
Long John was, of course, able to easily balance himself on the rock as it rose from its previous position in the cavern. The ceiling was already very high to begin with, and just before Long John's head hit it all was again quiet. Camille and Gretchen exchanged glances. What sort of evil spirits had they called up from the depths of the seas this time?
An answer came when the altar began to glow brightly. Long John watched it, like it would give him the answers to the Devil's Dowry. Camille was keeping her eye on him, and was extremely irritated when Gretchen poked her.
"Camille, look," she said in a nearly inaudible voice. She gripped Camille's arm with that iron grip that the Thatchers were known for having. The two girls stared in wonder as a couple of statues came out of the water below them. They were both white, and they looked like they were of women. At the same time, the cavern seemed to become bigger than ever. Above them, another statue was slowly rising. It was a large black one, also of a woman. The features on her face could not be seen clearly, but she held a very large, red ruby in her arms. It looked like it would take at least five people to carry that ruby.
Long John, upon seeing this emerge, opened his eyes so wide that they nearly bulged right out of his head. "The Devil's Dowry!" he announced, laughing hysterically at the sight of it. The statue loomed some leagues above them, and only a very high, very narrow staircase led up to it.
"I think I have a very good idea of who those two statues might be," Gretchen whispered to Camille. "Run for that jewel."
"What? Gretchen, what do you mean?" Camille, for once was very confused and hadn't been able to draw a conclusion from any of this.
"Just do it. I have to get the rings down to those statues." When Gretchen finished saying this, the cavern stopped moving. The ruby shone brighter than ever, and at a second's notice The Mark came back. Not expecting this, Camille cried out in pain. She saw Long John still looking at the ruby, transfixed by it. So she began to run to the staircase.
This got the pirate's attention. He made a noise that Camille had never heard before, but she could tell that it was an angry one. She didn't look back, and started up the narrow staircase, almost losing her balance on the first few steps. The pain was sharp, and continued to increase as she got closer to the jewel. But she continued to ascend the stairs before she hit the ground and tumbled down a few. Long John had pushed her down and was now ahead of her.
She got back up, moving a little more slowly. That ruby had an almost eerie glow to it, so she was sure that Long John was meant to take it. Nothing but bad things had come out of mysterious treasures for her, so she simply followed Long John Silver up the steps.
She looked back, gasping at the height they were at. She could see two women that hadn't been in the cavern before. One of them clearly had red hair. Camille's arm throbbed so much that she felt like it would fall off. She could see now that Long John was face to face with the ruby, and the glow of it reflecting in his face revealed his truly terrifying side.
He reached out to touch the ruby, and Camille stood right behind him. Just before he touched it, he pulled away suddenly, spinning and looking at her. "It's mine, you can't have it!" he roared, hurling her over the edge.
Camille grabbed frantically for the ledge, and managed to grab at a point a little below where she had been pushed off. Her head spun as she smacked into the stone mountain's side.