Chapter 17: 1740 - The Dead Man's Chest


Jack leaned against the rail while watching his crew get the longboat ready.

Once that would have been done, his plan provided going ashore, together with Elizabeth and Norrington, to search for the chest. He would also take the two inseparables with him - Pintel and Ragetti - because even if they weren't always the brightest lights on a candleholder, they were still skilled and cold-blooded fighters when it came down to it. In addition, they already got their share of gaining experiences with curses and monsters, and therefore would not immediately panic, should Jones and his crew really get in their way.

And Jack had no doubt about Davy Jones and the "Flying Dutchman" being on their way to Isla Cruces...

If Will was as clever as he expected the boy to be, he would have found a way to draw the hiding place of the key out of the notorious captain, if not the key itself - which would inevitably urge Jones to convince himself that the chest, and with it the heart, were safe.

Jack knew, as always with his plans, that everything would depend on the opportune moment, but only on rare occasions had there been so many unknowns able to lead to unexpected and unforeseeable troubles:

Will was convinced he could return to Port Royal, hand Beckett the compass, and thus save Elizabeth, if only he would find the key to Davy Jones' chest. What remained was the question of what he would do after he found out that his father got tricked into service aboard the "Dutchman" to escape the curse of the Aztec gold...

Elizabeth was trying to find Will to save him from certain death with the help of the letters of marque, which she had negotiated from Beckett, with some immensely convincing arguments - which meant a pistol aimed at the middle of his brow.

What made Jack wonder, though, was, why she had even been willing to seduce him, Jack, for them.

Was she really convinced, he'd betray the trust of the boy he had carried around as a child?

Was she really convinced, he'd betray the trust of Bill Turner, who had been kind of a father to him when he had been of Will's age?

And was she really convinced, he'd betray the woman he loved with the girl belonging to a lad he considered his friend?

He knew, some thought of him as a low creature, and he couldn't care less, but giving in to her tries to seduce him, would have brought him to think about himself as a low creature - and a creature that low, he knew, he was not...

And Norrington?

Jack wasn't sure what the former commodore had overheard of their conversations, but there was no question that he knew something of the letters of marque and the significance of the chest they were searching for. And as it happened, his head was still in the noose Beckett had tied for him - reason enough, to strive for restoring his honour.

"So this is the Isla Cruces? The island where Davy Jones is said to have buried his heart?" Van Dijk joined him: "Looks deserted."

Both looked over to the island not far from where the "Black Pearl" had dropped anchor. Crystal-clear water lapped the shoals surrounding the island. Seemingly untouched sandy beaches shimmered in the blazing sun. And dense virgin forest stretched across the island as far as the eye could see. The only trace of human life were the ruins of an imposing church perched on a hill overlooking parts of the island and the sea.

"A hundred years ago, the Spanish reached the island," Jack explained: "founded a settlement and established the mission, the ruins of which have stood the test of time over there."

"What happened?"

"It's been as always: The Spaniards brought with them their ideas of belief, knowledge and civilization..."

"...and diseases, I suppose?"

"True enough, mate! Fever, pox, the plague - no one knows anymore what got all the people killed. What survived was the grisly legend of the priest who alone was left in the end and buried all the dead of the settlement and the mission. It is said that at some point he couldn't take it anymore and finally hanged himself in the church tower..."

Van Dijk shuddered: "A place like made for a man who would cut out his heart, lock it in a chest and hide it from the eyes of the world forever..."

Jack looked at the Dutchman to let him know that he had just expressed what he himself was thinking at that moment, but gave him no answer. After a while he looked at van Dijk and remarked: "I know your curiosity must be boiling over, but you will not come with us when we go ashore. Savvy?"

"I guess, after all those years I should have gotten used to you keeping quiet about your plans and upcoming adventures, right?"

"It's not that, van Dijk! I want you to stay aboard so that the 'Pearl' has a captain if things should not go according to plan." Jack fended off any attempt at reply and added: "You are by far the best choice for this and you are the only one whom I trust enough to confide in him my real reasons for this shore leave..." He briefly beheld his left, still wrapped in the crimson headscarf, and went on: "I know now what I have to do to find Caith, but I'm not sure if I'll have the courage to actually do it when it is as far as..."

The Dutchman understood without further explanation: "You want to challenge Jones, should you really find the heart?"

"Yes mate, I want to challenge Davy Jones. No matter the cost. If he won't tell me willingly what I need to know to bring Caith back, I will take the chest and the heart with me to the place, where he intends to send me and the 'Pearl' back to. And since he's not really interested in my ship..."

"...he will give his full attention to you alone..." Jack nodded, but van Dijk just looked at him in disbelief as he added: "You can't be serious about this, lad!"

"If I have the chest with Jones' still beating heart in it, I have something I didn't have when I struck my bargain with him back then: Something to negotiate. Believe me, van Dijk, in exchange for his heart he will give me my girl back, our lives and our freedom..."

"You know what raising the stakes that high could cost you, don't you?"

"I know exactly what raising the stakes that high could cost me, mate, but I would never forgive me if I'd not give it a try. I know you could talk me out of it, but I'd like to ask you not to..."


Less than an hour later, Jack was sitting at the bow of the longboat, the jar of dirt he had received from Tia Dalma on his knees, his eyes strained at the island in front of him.

Elizabeth sat next to Norrington in the stern and told him the tale of the mission, while Pintel and Ragetti rowed the boat across to the island and engaged in a lively discussion about the best way to pronounce the word 'Kraken'.

Jack was relieved when they finally reached the beach and made it incomprehensibly clear to both of them: "Guard the boat, mind the tide and do not touch my jar if dirt..."

With that, leaving the compass to Elizabeth, he grabbed one of the shovels, and tossed a second to Norrington, before all three went in search of the buried chest. They followed the direction given by the compass until Elizabeth stopped and looked around helplessly. Norrington, leaning on his shovel, watched her intently while Jack chose to leave things to themselves and see what they would find in the end.

Some time later, Elizabeth gave up, dropped onto the sand where she was standing and snapped the compass shut after the needle had rotated over and over again, pointed at Jack a few times, and started rotating again: "This doesn't work. And your compass certainly doesn't show you what you want most."

Norrington grinned at this remark, not failing to notice that she had repeatedly tried, albeit in vain, to seduce Jack in order to obtain the letters of marque that way, while Jack meanwhile, strolled over to her, took a look at the compass himself, and replied: "It does, love. You're sitting on it!"

"Beg your pardon?"

"Move!"

Once it was clear that they had indeed reached the spot they had been searching for, they began digging until Norrington's shovel hit something hard under the sand. Seized with zeal and excitement, all three of them began to scoop up the remaining sand from a large wooden chest, to heave it out of the dug hole and onto the beach.

A single swipe of the shovel sufficed to break the simple lock, and all three exchanged a look before Jack knelt in front of the chest and carefully opened the lid. What they found inside the chest amazed each of them in their own way:

Love letters, an elaborately crafted string of pearls, a dress that looked like a wedding dress, dried flowers, shells - and another, much smaller chest, from the inside of which a soft, rhythmic sound could be heard.

Something like a steady heartbeat...

Both Elizabeth and Norrington stared at him in bewilderment. "It's real," Elizabeth noticed, and Norrington added: "You actually were telling the truth..."

Jack looked from one to the other and replied: "I do that quite a lot. Yet people are always surprised."

"With good reason," a voice snapped all three out of their thoughts and behind them, soaked to the bone, exhausted, but obviously still in one piece, stood Will Turner.

Elizabeth jumped up and hurled herself into his arms without giving it a thought why he was here and where he might have come from so suddenly. However, her apparent joy at seeing him safely again could not hide the fact that her reaction was a little too effusive: "Will! You're alright! Thank God! I came here to find you!"

Undeterred by her reaction, Will didn't hesitate to pull her close and to sink into a passionate kiss with her - and while Norrington turned away at the sight, it began to work behind Jack's brow:

Will was here, and not without reason, which meant he must have found the key. At the same time, this also meant Davy Jones and the "Dutchman" were most likely hot on the boy's heels, leaving them less than little time to get off the island with the chest.

And so Jack got up.

He eyed the boy intently - once again tried not to reveal his thoughts to anyone too soon - and asked: "How did you get here?"

Will pulled out of Elizabeth's embrace and replied: "Sea turtles, mate. A pair of them, strapped to my feet."

Jack grinned at that answer and was already bracing himself inwardly for what was to come next: "Not that easy, is it?"

"Who would know better than you...?" Will seemed eager to make an attempt to get behind Jack's true plans, but nothing in the witty pirate's demeanour revealed anything that would have given away his true intentions, and so he went on: "Anyway, I owe you thanks, Jack!"

"Oh, how's that mate?"

"Well, after you managed to trick me aboard the 'Flying Dutchman' in your place to settle your debt with Davy Jones, I was at first tempted to wish you to hell..."

"What?" Elizabeth glared at Jack: "Does this mean you lied to me? That everything you told me, every single word, was just another spiderweb of lies?"

Jack shrugged: "Pretty much. Time and tide, love," before turning back to Will: "But, tell me, William, what stopped you from wishing me such an unpleasant fate?"

"Let's say, thanks to my involuntary stay aboard that cursed vessel, I got reunited with my father..."

Jack's answer wasn't what Will expected: "Then my plan worked better than I ever dared to hope..."

"What does that mean...?"

"Exactly what I just told you!" Jack locked eyes with Will's: "But I assume you not only found good ol' Bill aboard the 'Dutchman' but the key as well, eh?"

"I did," Will replied: "And I promised my father I would use it to redeem him from the oath he made to Jones and the 'Dutchman'."

"That is an honourable plan but let me remind you that there is more than one reason why we went searching for the key and the chest..."

"So you actually had another reason for your search for the key?"

"I need something to bargain with, I'm not denying that but what is much more important: Neither the chest, nor the key and even less the heart, must ever fall into the hands of Lord Cutler Beckett. If you learned anything from our adventure on Isla de Muerta, trust me and leave it to me playing Jones and Beckett out against each other!"

"I don't have that much time, Jack! Jones will know by now that my father helped me find the key and escape from the 'Dutchman'..."

"All the more reason to trust me. If you want to save your father, you should avoid doing anything incredibly stupid again at all costs..."

"Give me one reason why I should trust you! You've used me before to achieve your goals..."

"Not just my goals, if I remember correctly, eh? I would say the goal of your deepest desires is standing right here beside you..." Jack pointed to Elizabeth, who still let her gaze wander from one to the other and back.

Will pressed his lips together, knowing full well that Jack was right, even more so when he asked him: "Answer me a question: Would you have believed me if I had told you that your father is aboard the 'Dutchman'? Probably not! So it was easier to convince you I would hand you my compass to save Elizabeth if you would help me find the key in return..."

"So you never intended to let me have the compass, did you?"

"No I did not!" Jack made no attempt to hide this truth any longer: "But that no longer matters. You found your father, we have the chest and we have the key. Everything we need to strike a new bargain with Jones."

"Sorry Jack, I won't wait for you to find the opportune moment to strike a new bargain with Jones!"

With that, the boy dropped to his knees in front of the chest and reached for the key that he wore on a thin leather strap around his neck.

Jack knew what he was up to and that he had to prevent it: "Oy! What're you doing?"

He received exactly the answer he feared: "I'm gonna kill Jones..."

Heaving a deep sigh, Jack grabbed his sword and slowly lowered the blade towards Will's neck: "Can't let you do that, William. 'Cause if Jones is dead, who's to call his terrible beastie off the hunt, eh? Now. If you please: The key."

"So that's what all this is about?" Disappointment was in Will's eyes as he slowly rose, but then in a flash he grabbed Elizabeth's sword, unwilling to let Jack stop him from doing what he was up to: "I'm sorry, Jack, but other than you, I keep the promises I make. I intend to free my father and if you're really the friend you pretend to be, I hope you're here to see it happen."

At the same moment they heard Norrington behind them, who had also drawn his sword aiming its point at Will: "I can't let you do that, either. So sorry."

Jack grinned: "I knew you'd warm up to me eventually."

"Hardly! Letting you go was the biggest mistake I've ever made. Time to correct that mistake. Lord Beckett desires the contents of that chest. I deliver it, and get my life back."

"Ah. The dark side of ambition."

"Oh, I prefer to see it as the promise of redemption."

"And you really think Beckett is willing to guarantee you that? I would have thought you less naive, James Norrington! Beckett has put a price on your head and he will make you pay for the treason you committed against him by letting me go..."

"A risk I'm willing to take, Mister Sparrow. And now, Mister Turner, if you would be so kind, the key, please..."