Chapter 07: 1740 - Broken Compass


Jack climbed back aboard the "Pearl" and after what seemed like half an eternity in that prison on the Turkish coast, the familiar planks beneath his feet felt like he had never been away.

Also, the heartbeat of his ship and the warmth flooding through him whenever he touched the rail or the wheel were more than welcome.

Here, on deck, he could finally breathe freely again after days of feeling buried alive - behind thick dungeon walls and surrounded by an awful stench and other unpleasant sensations.

Therefore, the sight of the "Pearl" appeared all the more pleasing to him, as she appeared before him in the pale light of a clear full moon night.

When Gibbs reached out his hand to help him on deck, he handed him the bony leg of his silent, involuntary companion, before Cotton put his coat around his shoulders and before he prepared to give his crew just enough information to get them excited for another harebrained adventure.

Gibbs stared at the bony leg for a moment, threw it overboard with a shrug and followed Jack: "Not quite according to plan, I'd say, right?"

"Complications arose, ensued, were overcome," Jack replied, knowingly leaving open the nature of the complications mentioned.

Behind him, van Dijk glanced over the rail and noticed when he became aware of the coffin still floating on the waves alongside the "Pearl": "Did you come here with that? Not exactly the ideal vehicle to spend a day at sea with, I'd say...

"You have no idea, mate," Jack replied with a shudder, before Gibbs grabbed his attention again: "You got what you went in for, then?"

Jack didn't answer him, just produced the piece of cloth the stranger in the dungeon had entrusted to him - only to almost stumble into the men of his crew, who were now surrounding him curiously and not in the best mood.

Gibbs looked at him blankly as well and remarked while his gaze darted back and forth between Jack and the obviously worthless "treasure": "Don't get me wrong, Captain, but somehow it's not what we hoped you'd bring back from your excursion ashore..."

"It is not...?"

"Well, you know... I think the crew - meaning me as well - were expecting something a bit more ... shiny... After the miss with Isla de Muerta and the not-so-impressive chunk of treasure we were able to bring aboard before the island sank to the deep depths of the sea... Oh well... All in all, it's been some time since we've done a spec of honest piratin'. "

Jack frowned at that explanation and asked to make sure he had heard it correctly: "Shiny?"

But he wasn't wrong. He realised that, as Gibbs confirmed again: "Aye! Shiny!"

Jack looked around, hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "Is that how you're all feeling, then? Perhaps dear ol' Jack is not serving your best interests as captain?"

There was an awkward silence for a while. No one dared give him a direct answer to that and finally all attention turned to the piece of cloth in his hand and another question came to the fore: "Captain, if you went ashore for that scrap of cloth, why don't you just show us what it's about?"

Jack thought for a moment, exchanged a quick look with van Dijk and finally relented. He unrolled the piece of cloth and held it up in front of him for all to see.

Perplexity, confusion and astonishment were reflected on the men's faces until Marty remarked: "It's a key!"

"No!" Jack grinned: "Much more better. It is a drawing of a key." His crew didn't seem to share his enthusiasm at this realisation, so he added: "Gentlemen, what do keys do?"

It took another moment until...: "Keys...unlock...things?"

And it was Gibbs who picked up the thread, clearly excited at the prospect that Jack might actually have a new adventure planned: "And whatever this key unlocks, inside there's something valuable. So, we're setting out to find whatever this key unlocks!"

Jack frowned while he wondered why no one on board ever managed to keep an eye on the whole thing as a whole like he did, and so he turned to Gibbs and replied, hoping that this would finally be enough for the matter: "No! If we don't have the key, we can't open whatever it is we don't have that it unlocks. So what purpose would be served in finding whatever need be unlocked, which we don't have, without first having found the key what unlocks it?"

But Gibbs made one more attempt: "So, we're going after this key?"

Jack shook his head: "You're not making any sense at all. Any more questions?"

There was one more, and it was Marty who asked it: "So... Do we have a heading?"

"Ah! A heading!" Finally, a question Jack was willing to reply to, but as he reached for his compass, opened the lid, and hoped to find an answer to Marty's question, he saw...nothing but the needle, spinning randomly in all directions without either just the tiniest hint of where they were headed...

Jack tried to read something from what the compass showed him - to no avail. So he let his finger follow the random movements of the needle and simply said: "Set sail in a... general... that way direction..."

He could almost feel Gibbs' confused look: "Cap'n?"

"I'll plot our course later. So, snap to and make sail! You know how it works!"

The crew got to work and Jack hoped he would be spared unwanted questions for a while from now on, but he had reckoned without Gibbs' insistence and van Dijk's curiosity.

They both followed him to his quarters, and as soon as the door closed behind them Gibbs asked: "And now again from the beginning, Cap'n! What is it with all this secretiveness? Surely you didn't just go ashore because of this drawing!"

"I did not!"

"So what's all this about then? And what kind of key is it you're chasing without knowing where to look?"

Jack turned, looking at Gibbs and van Dijk by turns, and remarked: "Mister Gibbs, you're not usually at a loss for an answer. So tell me, why do you think would I be chasing after a key I don't know where to look for yet?"

"Well," Gibbs mused, "normally I'd say you're looking for the key to open a chest..."

"That's it!"

"So we're finally going on a treasure hunt then?"

"That would depend on the eye of the beholder, eh?"

"How so? What else would such a chest contain if not a precious treasure?"

Jack left it to van Dijk to answer this question: "You know almost all the legends told aboard a ship about the sea, so surely you also know the legend of Davy Jones..."

"Who does not!" Gibbs shuddered at the thought of all the stories he had heard about the scary captain and his even scarier ship: "But what does Davy Jones have to do with our treasure hunt?"

"Well," Jack threw in, "the chest we're looking for belongs to good ol' Captain Jones. Savvy?"

"No, no, no, Jack! You can't be serious about that! You want to rob Davy Jones of one of his treasures?"

"Better!" Jack grinned: "I want to rob him of the most valuable of his treasures!"

"What would that be?"

Van Dijk put a hand on Gibbs' shoulder and replied as if it was the most normal thing in the world: "His heart!"

Gibbs' mouth dropped open at this, but he quickly caught himself and replied: "This isn't something to be kidding about, Jack!"

"Do I look like I'd be kidding about this, Mister Gibbs?"

Jack's scowl spoke volumes, and Gibbs knew it was better not to ask him to reveal what was going on behind his brow at this point.

Therefore, he decided to head back on deck. This would without any doubt become a treasure hunt which would hold more than one new adventure for all of them in store...

Van Dijk was already on his way to follow Gibbs back on deck, but turned around and asked: "You don't seem quite yourself since you got back, lad. Something wrong?"

Jack sighed: "If I'd know that, I'd also know where our journey would take us to next. I tell you, van Dijk, whoever that stranger in that dungeon is, I don't know if I'd want to meet him again."

"How's that? Was this encounter so terrible?"

"It wasn't that, mate," Jack's hand made a vague gesture as he explained: "In another place at another time I might even have found the whole thing extraordinarily edifying. Just not here and now! This man knew things about me and details about my life nobody but me could and should have known. And he told me on the head that I don't know what I want - and since I returned aboard, it seems to be true. I have no idea what to do next."

"That means you really didn't know what course you would take when you gave the men your orders?"

"I hadn't the faintest idea which isn't exactly helpful, as you can probably imagine!"

"Didn't you intend go looking for Davy Jones?"

"I'm afraid at the moment Jones will rather find me before I will find him, van Dijk, which doesn't exactly do anything either to lift my spirits."

The Dutchman considered: "Maybe it will help if we leave these waters behind and you set course for the Caribbean? Local climes may be more helpful in making decisions..."

"Local climes?" Jack smiled: "What makes you think of that?"

"Well, you may be at home on all the seas of this world, Jack, but it occurs to me that the Caribbean might be what your heart is most attached to..."

"My heart?" Jack lowered his gaze for a long moment: "If only it were what my heart is most attached to, then there would only be one answer and I need not tell you which it would be."

"But isn't that at the same time the answer to the question what you want, lad?"

"I've thought of that, too, but," Jack shook his head: "what's the point of wanting something that I know has become unattainable for me?"

"Well," van Dijk sat down on the edge of the table and looked at him seriously: "what if the fulfilment of your dearest wish isn't as unattainable as it might seem to you at the moment?"

"You think Jones lied to me when he told me he couldn't bring Caith back?"

"Would that be so unlikely? After all, they say he cut his heart out so as not to have to endure his heartsickness any longer. What if keeping you away from her gives him satisfaction because he was denied happiness like you knew it? Have you ever thought about that, Jack Sparrow?"

It was something Jack hadn't thought about yet.

Of course, the question had often crossed his mind as to whether Davy Jones could have lied to him, but not why. So, after van Dijk had spun this thought, the idea didn't seem far-fetched to him at all.

He dropped into a chair placed his feet on the table, and remarked: "You know, van Dijk, there are moments when you remind me of a good old friend of mine. Patrick also liked giving me a shove through some open and even through some closed doors with such spun and interwoven thoughts. Sometimes I've bumped into these doors for several times before I realized what he meant, but each lesson he taught me made me more of who I am today."

"I bet he sharpened your already sharp mind even more."

"You would have liked him..."

"As you described him to me, I'm sure of it."

They exchanged grins and after a moment's thought, Jack declared: "Well, I've changed me mind! Take the helm, van Dijk, and set course for the Caribbean. It's time to return to local climes..."