Here's the next chapter! I just want to say thank you for those who have read this far. I know there are so many other better stories and writers out there so it means a lot that you guys are taking the time to read my story. I just really hope I have been able to keep everyone in character and that you guys have like it so far.
Abby POV
Tortuga wasn't much to look at. Pirates were everywhere, either in a brawl, drinking, chasing a wench, or a combination of the three. The three of us walked through the dank, dirty port. I paused to watch as a couple pirates dragged a merchant for sport. I kept one hand on my cutlass, a silent threat to anyone who dared cross me. Will stuck close to me as he examined the environment with a dubious expression.
"More importantly," Jack continued, "It is indeed a sad lot has never breathed a deep sweet proliferous bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy?" He took a deep breath. "What do you think?"
"It'll linger," Will decided.
"That's the understatement of the century," I muttered, eyeing a nearby pirate with disgust as he drank from the two rum bottles he held.
"Best stick close, luv," Jack told me.
"I think you know from our duel earlier that I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself," I stated, giving him a warning look.
"I know you can, luv," Jack told me. "But I'd rather not attract unwanted attention by having you get into a fight because some scallywag decided to try and proposition the wrong girl." I thought for a moment, then nodded. "I'll tell you mate, if every town in the world were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted." A red headed wench stalked over, a murderous look on her face. Jack grinned. "Scarlett!" Scarlett didn't reply and smacked Jack hard across the face and stalked off. The pirate frowned. "Not sure I deserved that." He turned back as a blonde wench walked over and stood in front of him. "Giselle!"
"Who was she?" The blonde wench asked in a clipped tone.
"What?" Jack received another harsh slap. "I may have deserved that?"
"Quite the ladies man, aren't we?" I teased, crossing my arms with a smirk.
"They're just jealous that I've found a more beautiful and far more capable woman," he replied, causing me to blush slightly. "We should escape this wretched pit as quickly as possible."
"With a crew…" Will added.
"Ah yes," Jack agreed. "Well, it just so happens that you know the man who knows the man who knows the finest sailors in all Tortuga." Will and I exchanged confused glances. A short while later we were standing at a pig sty, staring down at a sleeping man. Jack threw a bucket of water on the man. The man, who Jack had informed us was called Joshamee Gibbs, woke sputtering.
"Curse you for breathing, you slack-jawed idiot!" Gibbs shouted angrily. He recognized Jack and relaxed. "Mother's love, Jack! You know better than to wake a man when he's sleeping. It's bad luck!"
"Ah, fortunately, I know how to counter it," Jack said, kneeling in front of Gibbs. "The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks it, while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking."
Gibbs frowned, trying to figure out Jack's proposal. He smiled after a moment and nodded. "Aye, that'll about do it." Jack grinned and helped Gibbs to his feet. Will and I then tossed our own buckets of water on Gibbs. "Blast it, I'm already awake!" He roared.
"That was for the smell," Will explained. Gibbs opened his mouth to retort, reconsidered, then shrug as if to say 'fair enough'. We made our way to a pub. Inside was a madhouse. Pirates and wenches alike lounged around. Most of the pirates were in a brawl, throwing punches and mugs of rum at each other. Jack grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the way as a mug came soaring towards me, smashing into the wall near where my head had just been.
"Thanks," I breathed, blushing ever so slightly at our sudden close proximity.
"Any time, luv," Jack replied, winking. He headed to the bar to grab drinks for himself and Gibbs. "Keep a sharp eye!" He warned Will and I as we stood next to a pillar while he went to talk to Gibbs. My eyes scanned the pub, all the while keeping ears trained to Jack and Gibbs's conversation.
"Now, what's the true nature of this venture of yours?" Gibbs asked.
"I'm going after the Black Pearl," Jack announced. I heard Gibbs choke on his rum. "I know where it's going to be, and I'm going to take it."
"Jack, it's a fool's errand," Gibbs said, sounding worried. "You know better than me the tales of the Black Pearl."
"That's why I know what Barbossa is up to. All I need is a crew."
"From what I hear tell of Captain Barbossa, he's not a man to suffer fools nor strike a bargain with one," Gibbs told Jack.
"Well, then I'd say it's a very good thing I'm not a fool then eh?" I could practically hear Jack's smirk.
"Prove me wrong," Gibbs challenged. "What makes you think Barbossa will give up his ship to you?"
"Let's just say it's a matter of leverage, eh?" Jack replied. I glanced at Will who had his head tilted slightly, obviously listening in. He glanced at me and we shared a suspicious look. Just what was Jack up to? Unfortunately, neither one of us heard the rest of the conversation as an overweight wench came over. She had obviously had too much to drink and laughed heartily as she stumbled against Will. Will gave her a disgusted look. I rolled my eyes and shoved her off him.
"Go find someone else to flirt with, he's taken," I told her sternly. She sneered at me, but moved off as another pirate wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Thanks," Will said, giving me a grateful look.
I smiled. "Any time."
Evelyn POV
I wiped my brow and let out a deep sigh as I finished cooking the last of the food. I stepped back and put my hands on my hips, looking at my work with a proud smile. I turned as I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"The Capt'n was wondering when the food would be ready," Ragetti said.
"You can tell him it's ready," I replied.
Ragetti nodded and headed back up the stairs. "Oh, by the way, the Capt'n wants you to join him for dinner." I nodded. A few of the crew members came down and helped carry the food to the Captain's cabin. I brought up one of the last dishes and placed it on the table. When I looked up, I noticed a young woman in an elegant, wine-colored dress.
"You must be Elizabeth Turner," I commented, immediately recognizing her. I looked her up and down. She was a beautiful girl, I guessed in her very late teens or very early twenties, with long, curled blonde hair, and brown eyes. The way she held herself, straight backed and head held high, I would've guessed she was born into a high class family rather than simply working for one like she claimed. She was only a couple inches taller than my 5'5 frame and yet I still felt a bit intimidated by her.
"And who are you?" Elizabeth asked, eyeing me suspiciously.
"Oh, forgive me for not introducing myself. Evelyn Holmes at your service," I said, bowing slightly and flashing a smile. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes slightly at my name, but didn't say anything as Barbossa entered. The Captain ran his cool blue gaze over Elizabeth's form.
"Maid or not, it suits you," he told her, smirking. I felt a twinge in my stomach at his compliment, but ignored it.
"Dare I ask the fate of its previous owner?" Elizabeth asked icily.
Barbossa tutted. "Now, none of that." He walked over and pulled out a chair for her. "Please." Elizabeth hesitated before sliding into the chair. She recoiled slightly when Barbossa leaned in close. "Dig in." I slipped into a chair on the other side of the table and started loading my plate. Elizabeth put a bit of meat on her plate, cut a tiny piece, and ate it daintily. Barbossa let out a breath as he watched her eat. "There's no need to stand on ceremony, nor call to impress anyone," he told her. "You must be hungry." She paused in chewing and glanced at me as I happily munched on a turkey leg, tearing off a piece of meat. I had learned pretty quickly I didn't have to worry too much about table manners. I gestured with the turkey leg for her to help herself. Her fork and knife clattered to the table as she dropped them and grabbed for a turkey leg. I chuckled quietly and shook my head. As Elizabeth chowed down, Barbossa watched her intently. I felt another twinge, yet once again ignored it, taking a rather large bite from my turkey leg. "Try the wine," he said, offering her a glass. Elizabeth grabbed the glass and took a huge swig. Barbossa held up a green apple, one I knew to be his favorite fruit. "And the apples, one of those next." Elizabeth paused in her eating, staring suspiciously at the apple in the Captain's hand. She seemed to suddenly realize that Barbossa wasn't eating.
"It's poisoned!" She gasped in horror.
"I'm not that bad of a cook," I muttered through a mouthful of bread. "I can only do so much with no recipe and limited spices and I don't even know where we would keep the poison if we had any. The spices were such a mess it was amazing I found anything."
Barbossa chuckled darkly. "There would be no sense to be killing you, Miss Turner."
"Then release me," Elizabeth demanded. "You have your trinket. I am of no further value to you!"
Barbossa pulled the medallion from inside his coat and dangled it between his fingers. "You don't know what this is, do you?"
"It's a pirate medallion," Elizabeth replied coolly.
"Aztec gold, actually," I corrected, sipping at the wine. I grimaced slightly at the faint bitter after taste. I wasn't one for alcohol, but there wasn't much in the way of fresh water and it was better than the rum.
"One of 882 identical pieces they delivered in a stone chest to Cortes himself," Barbossa explained. "Blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his armies." He paused for dramatic effect. I watched Elizabeth as he told his tale. I could tell she was intrigued, but she didn't believe him. "But the greed of Cortes was insatiable. So the heathen gods placed upon the gold a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a single piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity."
"I hardly believe in ghost stories any more, Captain Barbossa," Elizabeth replied flatly. I let out a short, dry laugh. If only she knew.
Barbossa got to his feet. "Aye! That's exactly what I thought when we were first told the tale! Buried on an Island of the Dead what can't be found 'cept by those who know where it 'tis." He moved to stand behind Elizabeth's chair. "Find it we did. There be the chest, inside be the gold, and we took them all. We spent 'em and traded 'em and fritted 'em away...on drink and food and pleasurable company." He leaned down close to Elizabeth. "The more we gave away, the more we came to realize...the drink would not satisfy, food turned to ash in our mouths, and all the pleasurable company in the world could not slake our lust," he said in a low voice. "We are cursed men, Miss Turner. Compelled by greed we were, but now, we are consumed by it." Jack the monkey screeched from his perch and Barbossa walked over to pet him. "There is one way we can end our curse," he continued, Jack jumping onto his shoulder as he passed. "All the scattered pieces of the Aztec gold must be restored and the blood repaid." He held out his arm towards me and Jack jumped off his shoulder onto my lap. I let out a quiet 'oof' as Jack landed and reached to scratch his head. "Thanks to ye, we have the final piece."
Elizabeth stared at Barbossa. "And the blood to be repaid?" She asked apprehensively.
Barbossa grinned darkly. "That's why there's no sense to be killing you...Yet." Elizabeth's eyes widened in horror and I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Pirates are always so dramatic. He held up the apple again. "Apple?" Suddenly, Elizabeth shot to her feet, slapped the apple out of his hand, and brandished a knife. I frowned, wondering where she had gotten it till I noticed her butter knife was missing. I watched in amusement as the young woman dashed around the room. She tried to dodge Barbossa as he chased her around his cabin. "Arr!" He growled as he poked his head around the pillar she had attempted to hide behind. She made a bolt for the door, but he grabbed her arm and swung her around. There was a sickening crunch and she jumped back from him. I stared wide-eyed at the knife now sticking out of Barbossa's chest. Barbossa, however, was completely unaffected. He pulled the knife from his chest and watched his own blood dripping from the blade. "I'm curious, after killing me, what is it you're planning on doing next?" Horrified, Elizabeth bolted out of the door.
"Wow, didn't think a girl like her would be bold enough to try something like that," I commented. I looked over to Barbossa as he tossed the bloody knife aside. "You alright?"
"Evie, ye know perfectly well I can't feel anything," he reminded me.
I shrugged. "True," I agreed. "But it's kind of hard not to ask after seeing you pull a knife from your chest." I got to my feet and walked over, Jack moving to my shoulder. Barbossa cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing as I pulled aside his shirt just enough to inspect his wound. Luckily, the wound had already closed. I let out a huff and put my hands on my hips. "You're lucky you can't die or she very well would have killed you. You need to be more careful next time."
"I can assure you, that will be the last time she dines with me. I don't exactly make a habit of inviting young women to dine with me," Barbossa replied. "Ye be the only exception to that."
"I've been the only woman on this ship for the last five years, Hector," I pointed out. It wasn't often I got to call Barbossa by his first name. In fact, I was lucky I even got to call him that. I was dining with him one night and I addressed him as Barbossa like I usually did and he told me I was allowed to call him Hector only when we were alone. I was surprised, but felt rather honored that he had allowed me to call him by his first name since no one was allowed to. Just then, I heard a high pitched scream from on deck. "Speaking of Elizabeth. Better go and make sure the crew doesn't give her a heart attack. Her blood won't be of much use if she dies before we get to Isla de Muerta." I walked and stood just outside the cabin. Elizabeth ran around the deck, screaming her head off as she saw the crew, their skeletal form revealed from the moonlight. I might have actually felt sorry for her if she hadn't just tried to kill my captain. I moved aside as she came running back towards the cabin.
Barbossa caught her roughly by the shoulders and jerked her around, forcing her to look at his skeletal crew. "Look! The moonlight shows us for what we really are! We are not among the living, and so we cannot die, but neither are we dead!" He spun her back around to face him. "For too long I have been parched of thirst, and unable to quench it! Too long, I've been starving to death, and haven't died! I feel nothing...Not the wind on my face, nor the spray of the sea…nor the warmth of a woman's flesh." He raised a hand and reached towards Elizabeth, his hand turning skeletal as it passed into the moonlight. Elizabeth flinched away. "You'd best start believin in ghost stories, Miss Turner," he said, slowly stepping forward into the moonlight. "You're in one." He grabbed a wine bottle, uncorked it with his teeth, and drank. The wine ran through his skeletal body, drenching his clothes and staining his bones. Elizabeth darted around him, back into the cabin. Barbossa hurled the bottle at the wall, shattering it, and slammed the cabin doors. He turned back to his men and laughed. The crew joined in. "What are ye looking at? Back to work!" He ordered.
I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes. "You pirates and your dramatics." I opened one of the cabin doors and went to walk in.
"Where do ya think yer goin'?" Barbossa demanded.
"There's a whole table full of food in there that I spent most of the day on," I told him. "I'm not about to let it go to waste." Barbossa rolled his eyes, but didn't stop me as I walked back into his cabin. I spotted Elizabeth cowering in a corner. She stared at me, absolutely terrified. Looking at her now, I did feel a bit sorry for the girl. She was still so young and obviously had no experience with pirates. "You'll have to excuse Captain Barbossa," I said, speaking softly so as not to frighten her further. "He gets pleasure out of scaring people. He still enjoys scaring me once in a while. He's not so bad once you get to know him." I reached down and picked up the apple she had knocked from Barbossa's hand. "Feel free to eat. I spent practically all day preparing it, so I would hate for it to go to waste, and the crew won't eat it considering they can't taste anything anyway." I took a bite of the apple. "Shame really. I think I did a rather good job." I sighed when I noticed Elizabeth still hadn't moved. "You can come out, you know. I'm not going to hurt you." She didn't look convinced, but cautiously came out from her hiding spot.
"How come you didn't turn into one of those skeletal things?" Elizabeth asked apprehensively.
"Cause I'm not cursed," I answered, taking another bite of apple. "They were already five years into the curse before I joined the crew."
"How come you joined? You're the only woman on the crew and Barbossa doesn't seem like the type of pirate to let a woman aboard?"
"Well, he didn't really have much of a choice," I told her. "He found me floating in a longboat five years ago and hauled me aboard. He gave me two options, to drop me off at the nearest port or join the crew. I chose to join the crew."
"You chose to join the crew? Why?" Elizabeth asked.
"Well, considering the other option was being dropped off at some random port, joining the crew seemed like the better choice," I told her. "Besides, I didn't have anyone who would miss me. All my family is dead."
"I'm sorry," Elizabeth said quietly, her face softening.
I shook my head. "It's fine. Honestly, joining the crew was the best thing that's happened to me. And honestly, he and the rest of the crew seemed to enjoy having me around.
"Probably because you are a young woman," Elizabeth said, not hiding a disgusted look. "Pirates only see women as objects."
"Actually, I found them to be rather gentlemanly in that regard," I told her. "In five years, I've never once had a problem. Now, I have no doubt that they would've liked to get me into bed, but it would have done them no good anyway. They wouldn't have been able to enjoy it. Besides, I'm pretty sure Barbossa would have flayed them alive if they tried."
Elizabeth frowned. "What do you mean?"
"He was pretty clear even before I joined the crew that there was to be no 'funny business', as he put it," I explained.
Elizabeth scoffed. "A man like Barbossa was willing to protect the honor of a woman he had only just met?"
I shrugged. "True, he doesn't seem like that kind of person, but he can be...charming when he wants to be, in his own way. He's looked after me ever since I joined his crew. Taught me to sword fight and how to sail. Even patched me up when I got shot."
"You were shot?" Elizabeth asked in surprise.
I nodded and took another bite of apple, wiping my chin as the juice dribbled down my chin. "Yeah. Technically speaking, the bullet only grazed me, but Barbossa hasn't allowed me to go on a raid since and that was six months ago." I crossed my arms and pouted. "Bit of a killjoy if you ask me, but he's my captain so I can't argue." I stood straight and gestured to the table full of food. "Please, eat."