Chapter 11: 1740 - A Jar of Dirt


The oracle had told them the bearings of the reef, where the "Flying Dutchman" was most likely to appear in the near future, and everyone was convinced that it was thanks to Will alone that Tia Dalma had revealed anything at all about Davy Jones and his fabled ship.

Something about the boy seemed to both fascinate and frighten her, and Jack had a vague idea of what that something might be. There was a degree of risk in their attempt to find Davy Jones and the "Dutchman", all the more so since Jack knew something Will did not - and since this something was something the lad had to find out unaided...

Jack was fully aware that he could have told Will everything he had learned about his father in the meantime, but since the boy still tended to act more impulsively and less thoughtfully, this would certainly have been the more dangerous option. Should he feel free to believe that he had to find the key, the chest and the heart of Davy Jones in order to save his bonny lass - that would make it easier for him to eventually see the second truth that was hidden behind this new adventure.

And who was to know what other bargain Jones would be willing to strike in exchange for his heart?

Keeping all this in mind, Jack felt satisfied as he had everything he would be in need of: A ship, a crew, Will Turner, and the knowledge he needed.

Of course, he knew his most urgent questions would remain unanswered for the time being, but maybe he would be able to find the answers himself, once they would have found the key, the chest, and the heart...

Firmly convinced that he would succeed, he was right about to turn on his heel to follow Will and the others out to the boats, when Tia Dalma held him back: "It's not time for you to go yet, Jack Sparrow!"

"What makes you think that, love?"

Jack considered how to get out of this as elegantly as possible and tried the most innocent smile he could find in this situation, but Tia Dalma forestalled him: "You're not here for the key or the chest! That was just the excuse you needed to come here, wasn't it?"

The smile froze on his lips, and he decided that contradicting her right now would not really be of any help at all. Even less, when she stretched out her hand and said: "Let me see your hand!"

Deciding that he would make one last attempt to avoid what was now inevitably to follow, he held out his right hand, but her eyes told him enough: She wanted to see his left and what was beneath the makeshift bandage he had wrapped tightly around his palm.

Resigning to fate, he did what she asked of him. Actually, he didn't want to look when she removed the bandage, but since he was curious himself about what she could tell him about the strange mark, he decided he would have to endure the sight.

By now the black spot had spread all over his palm, but despite its enormous size, it didn't cause Jack any pain.

Tia Dalma looked at it for a long time, until finally she nodded in that knowing way that told him she could possibly tell him whatever he wanted to know about it but wouldn't necessarily do so.

"So that's really why you're here." She smiled and added: "Surely you still remember what I told you back then? That you struck a dangerous bargain that might even cost you your soul..."

"No need to remind me, darling! I can remember!"

"Then I assume you want to know how to get out of this dilemma, right? Unharmed and in one piece, of course..."

"Ah... No love, that's actually not the question that brought me here. But thank you for taking it upon you to remind me of all this in detail. It would just be kind of you, if I could have back my..." He let his gaze travel from her face to his hand and back and went on when she released him: "That's better... Nothing against you, love, and no offence but I'll feel much better if I won't have to stare at that thing all the time, aye!?"

He quickly wrapped the cloth around his palm again and finally added: "But now back to the questions not yet asked and the answers not yet given. As for that thing, that black spot - I already have an idea how to get rid of it, because I already have the help I need..."

"You're thinking of the boy?"

"Yes, love, I'm thinking of the boy!"

"So you trust him?"

"I do!" He thought about it: "Most of the time..."

"And what about him? Does he trust you as well...?"

"I'll give you an answer to that question as soon as I've found an answer to that question. Savvy?"

Tia Dalma seemed confused: "Then tell me: If you didn't come for the black spot on your hand and if you didn't come to find out what the real purpose of the key is - then why are you here?"

Jack grinned and slowly sauntered round the table as he spoke: "There was a time when you became almost obsessed with trying to predict my future. And I remember you weren't exactly thrilled, that I was never really interested in that kind of prediction. So I figured, if the sea goddess herself is so keen for me to learn anything about my future, she might probably also be keen for me to stay alive, eh? And then I asked myself why. Why would you care so much about keeping me alive - and not just me...?"

He paused for a moment to add emphasis to his words, before he went on: "I still don't know the real reason for what it is you want from me, but it seems to me that if it's so important to you that I stay alive then maybe you should help me find a way to challenge and overcome Davy Jones so that I can achieve that goal, eh?"

Tia Dalma smiled in that peculiar way, which could mean anything and nothing, but this time accompanied by the knowledge that Jack Sparrow had changed, and that he now understood more of all the things she had hoped she could keep hidden from him.

Without answering him and without further explanation, she finally vanished into one of the small chambers, and a moment later loud clattering and rumbling revealed that she was obviously searching for something.

This gave Jack the opportunity to take another look into the other chamber.

The little monkey was still perched on the man's legs, and Jack no longer had any doubt that it was indeed Barbossa, which would explain why Norrington had tried in vain to find his body in the cave on the Isla de Muerta.

The question was, what was it Tia Dalma needed Barbossa's remains for?

Had he perhaps passed away sooner than her plans would have required?

Did he consider her reaction to what he just told her this was by no means far-fetched, but before he could actually pursue that thought any further, she came back.

Tia Dalma carried a large glass with her, filled to the brim with sand. With coarse, dirty-yellow sand...

Noticing Jack's questioning look, she explained: "Davy Jones may be the lord of the seas and his 'Flying Dutchman' may be able to reach even the most unearthly of places, but even he does not have the power to shape everything to his will - not the tide, nor the time! Every ten years he is permitted to come ashore for one day, but time is not yet up, and he cannot set foot on land. So what you need is land, Jack Sparrow, and that is why you will carry land with you from now on."

With that she handed him the jar, and Jack frowned at it: "Dirt! That's a jar of dirt!"

She nodded: "Um ... yes?"

"How will that be of use for me?"

"If you don't want it, give it back..."

"No!" Jack shook his head and kept the glass tightly to his chest: "Will it help?"

"It will help!"

"Then I'll keep it!"

Jack thought about something for a moment, and although everything had actually been said it would have taken, if it had only been about Davy Jones, he sat down, placed the glass on the table in front of him and his feet next to it very well aware that this was a rude, if not insulting gesture, but he wasn't in the mood to consider this right now.

He then pointed towards the little chamber behind him with a nonchalant gesture and said: "As it seems you found yourself a new way to pass time within this misty, overgrown swamp, eh? I knew why you always appeared a bit eerie to me, love, and I already had a kind of premonition that you could be behind it when the dead vanished from Isla de Muerta – more precisely one of the dead. I can tell you, you really got our good Commodore Norrington startled. But tell me – why Barbossa, of all people?"

Tia Dalma shook her head in surprise: "It's no longer as easy to hide things from you as it once was. How did you find out?"

"Intuition? Instinct? Call it what you want, love, I don't care about what you're going to do with him. I settled the score I had with him. I got my ship back – so, he's all yours. As long as you won't send him after me once more..."

Again, both kept silent for a while until Jack asked the one question having haunted him for so long: "Why did you lie to me? You and Davy Jones?"

His words seemed to hover over their heads for an endlessly long time, until Tia Dalma gave him a suspicious look he couldn't fathom: "I don't know what you're talking about...!"

"You do not? Then why do I feel that you know more than you are willing to tell me, and that you are keeping from me something that I should be knowing?"

He got up and continued his stroll around the table, not only to hide his inner turmoil, but also, to get his thoughts in the right direction: "Tell me, Tia Dalma, that you don't know that I have the same dream every night! That all I have to do is close my eyes to see the face of the woman who is said to have died aboard the 'Wicked Wench' the same day I did! That I can hear her voice and feel her closeness every day ever since! Tell me, that you know nothing about all this..."

"I can't..."

"For years I've heard from you, as well as from Davy Jones, that you cannot bring her back. Then why am I here? Then why do you want to bring Barbossa back? Because he and I still have a purpose to fulfil in your inscrutable plans? Will you keep bringing us back until you've achieved whatever it is you want to achieve? Believe me, love, this could get pretty awkward for all of us over time. You know, all the whispering and the rumours..."

Jack stopped hard in front of her: "Or is there some other reason why you and Jones are keeping me and my girl apart? An entirely earthly reason? So banal that one wonders if the goddess of the sea doesn't know any other way to act out her revenge on her former lover? So banal that Davy Jones has to separate those who found the happiness in life that will forever be denied to him?"

His eyes were sparkling dangerously in the diffuse light of candles and lanterns: "If so, why don't you finally give me an honest answer to this question? Or," he cast an innocent glance at his fingernails before looking deep into her eyes again: "or do you think it's going to stay a secret forever, that you're the woman Davy Jones cut his heart out for to hide it in a chest from the world and himself...?"

"I should have known that this truth would not remain hidden from you. So. let me tell you: I, like young William Turner, am not the only one touched by fate. It's on you too! Since your paths first crossed, the future of either has not been as clear as it has been before. Whatever either of you does will change the fate of the other, and be warned, Jack Sparrow, if you follow the path you have embarked upon to the end, you will lose something or someone meaning a lot to you..."

"I have already lost everything, Tia Dalma, and I assure you that what I have left I will know how to protect."

"Is that so? Then the sea doesn't seem to be your only love anymore..."

Jack didn't answer her. Instead, he grabbed the jar of dirt and replied with another look at the small chamber wherein Barbossa slept the apparently not-so-eternal sleep: "It's time for me to leave. Just one more thing, love. If you really mean to bring Barbossa back, let me warn you: He is one of the nine pirate lords, as is I, and he holds one of the nine 'Pieces of Eight', as do I. So, if you want your secret to remain a secret, be careful who you tell it to..."