Chapter 6: And He Made Her His King

Elizabeth awoke alone in a tight dark space, and immediately she knew she was at sea by the swaying motion of her environment. In the dim moonlight she could see she was in a cabin, with barely room enough for a berth and a stool. She attempted to right herself in the berth, and found her ankle was shackled to the wall.

Where the hell was she?

This went on for days.

She was brought full rations by a hulk of a man who did not speak, only growled if she seemed to make the slightest motion in his presence. There was something wrong with the flesh of his face, that somewhat reminded her of Barbossa's crew when they had been undead.

The walls were thin and there was a hole in the planking of the ceiling. She could hear some of the goings on topside.

One evening there was a massive commotion, shouting and gunfire, and she jumped to her feet when she heard Jack's voice declaring "The ship is ours!"

Then an eerie hush fell over the ship, and nothing more came of it.

With dread in her heart she prayed Jack was not dead.

Two nights later, the sound of a guitar from above woke Elizabeth from a light sleep.

There were voices she knew. Jack, and that woman Anjelica.

Her heart sang with relief to hear Jack's voice, yet her blood ran cold when they spoke of the pirate Blackbeard, and his plans.

This was Blackbeard's ship?!

Sitting still as a stone, Elizabeth listened closely.

Jack wove his web with a silver tongue, seeking information about the profane ritual of the Fountain. Slyly, Anjelica played along, speaking of the nuances of the ritual. Two silver chalices, and the tear of a mermaid. They were headed towards somewhere called White Cap Bay.

There was shuffling above, and Elizabeth wondered if they were dancing? The thought made her insides twist.

Anjelica intimated that the Fountain was more complicated than merely drinking its waters. Like all powerful magic, it required sacrifice. For a person to gain life with its magic, it had to be taken from someone else. In nature and magic there must be balance in all things. Power could not be conjured from a vacuum.

"Just think, Jack," said the sly little minx. "We could live forever, you and I. So many people squander the years they are given. It is people like us who should have them. We, who know how to live to the fullest."

Elizabeth could not hear Jack's exact reply, though his tone sounded somehow both glib and cautionary.

Anjelica answered with frustration, moving away, harsh words flung from her lips. She spouted something about a prophecy, her father having limited time left on this earth, and that she would do anything to give him more time.

It made Elizabeth's blood run cold. She wondered to what purpose Anjelica kept her prisoner, and if the ruthless piratess intended to use her as a sacrifice.


The next night the grotesque man did not bring her supper, but unlocked her manacle and manhandled Elizabeth out the door. It had been days since she had used her legs, and she wobbled a little on uncertain limbs. Elizabeth found herself brought to face Anjelica, and a looming dark man who could be none other than Blackbeard himself. Jack hovered nearby, seeming dissatisfied with the situation, paying baleful glances to a longboat being lowered over the side by the crew.

"How is your singing voice, Elizabeth Swann?" asked Anjelica slyly, winning an unhappy glance from Jack.

"It's terrible," he interjected, stepping in front of her as though to hide her from view. "Atrocious, really. You'd be loathe t'hear it. I, on the other hand, am in possession of a rather melodious baritone, if I don't say so me self. A mermaid herself once told me so—"

With a smirk Anjelica sidestepped Jack, circling Elizabeth like a shark. "For some reason I do not believe you, Jack. Aren't all fine ladies trained to sing like a nightingale?" she taunted. "Sing for us, Elizabeth."

Elizabeth remained silent, her gaze leveling upon Anjelica. They shared a long look, neither woman backing down to the other. Elizabeth did not relish acting as bait in the bid to gain a mermaid's tear.

Jack interjected again, "You know—"

He paused when the irritable Latina pirate cocked and pointed her pistol at him. "Cayate, Jack." Next she pointed it at Elizabeth, demanding, "Sing."

Narrowing her eyes, Elizabeth sighed. Jack's attempts to take her place were heartening, kindling a little fire of hope inside her heart. And yet, she found she didn't want him to face this danger in her stead. It seemed a burden he bore all too often, and besides. It had been a while since she'd felt the triumph of successful achievement in a caper.

In a high clear voice she began to sing,

"Come all you pretty fair maids, whoever you may be

Who love a Johnny sailor bold that ploughs the raging sea,

While up aloft, in storm or gale, from me his absence mourn,

And firmly pray, arrive the day, he home will safe return.

My name it is Eliza, a gov'ner's daughter fair,

And I have left my parents and three thousand pounds a year,

My heart is pierced by Cupid, I disdain all glittering gold,

There is nothing can console me but my Johnny sailor bold."

Defiantly Elizabeth looked upon Anjelica, who smiled a predatory smile. But it was Blackbeard who cut through the quiet night with loud clapping, his intense eyes fixed upon Elizabeth. His presence gave her uneasy chills, in the way only Davy Jones and Beckett had ever managed to. There was not a doubt in her mind that she stood in the presence of true evil.

"Not bad, lass. But ye do know the song goes 'my Jolly sailor bold'? And I seem to recall the lass' name was Maria? Or was it Caroline?"

In that moment she could feel Jack's eyes upon her as a brand. Of course she knew it, but she'd sung her own version to herself so many times in her confinement upon land that she could hardly be expected to perform its purest form.

Fighting not to blush, Elizabeth lifted her chin defiantly. "The Pirate King sings whatever verses she bloody well pleases," she retorted, winning another chuckle from the devilish pirate.

"Ye've got mettle, Pirate King. I'll give ye that." He paid her an appraising look. "If I didn't know better I'd guess ye had a big brass pair."

Disdainfully Elizabeth huffed, tossing her head. "I've never understood why bravery should be associated with such a vulnerable pair of dangling appendages."

This only won more bawdy laughter from Blackbeard, and some of the crew besides.

A handful of men waited nervously in a group near the gunwale, and Elizabeth assumed it was to be the troop who would accompany her in the longboat. They did not fit in with the rest of the crew, and Elizabeth recognized one or two of them from the Captain's Daughter. She felt certain they had been press ganged, as had she and Jack. One of them laughed, but the rest looked absolutely bloody terrified. Apparently mermaids were a creature to be taken seriously in these waters.

A frisson of fear curled down Elizabeth's spine. As usual, she didn't really know what she was getting herself into.

Anjelica held up a small bottle to Elizabeth. "Collect a mermaid's tear, Pirate King, and prove your life is worth something."

Elizabeth took the bottle with a skeptical eyebrow. "Only one? Come now, with such a fine troop of lads, we're sure to have those mermaids weeping with delight. You'd better give us all a vial."

Though Elizabeth didn't really believe this, her words had their intended effect, her companions straightening with pride, puffing out their chests a little. Men were so simple sometimes, she thought, smiling inwardly. And yet… Her eyes slid to Jack, who was regarding her with a grave expression, the likes of which she'd rarely seen. Once in the cave of the Isle de Muerte, when he'd shot Barbossa just as his former first mate had pointed a pistol at her. And once when his beloved ship was about to be devoured by a Kraken, after she'd sentenced him to death with a kiss.

That too made her uneasy.

Blackbeard seemed to be in a surprisingly jovial mood, sensing blood and adventure in the air. "Confident, aren't ye, Pirate King?"

Inside her stomach flipped, but all her training as a lady had somehow prepared her for this. Loathe to reveal her true colors, Elizabeth jutted her chin. "You think I was elected just for my looks?"

"Indeed I had suspected as much," admitted Blackbeard with a sly glance at Jack. "But maybe ye'll prove me wrong. Off with ye, then."

The men began to prepare to descend into the launch. Elizabeth followed, and as she passed Jack ducked to murmur in her ear. "Ye can't show your fear, love, or the mermaids will eat you alive." Looking straight ahead, afraid that if she looked into his eyes she would melt, she nodded. "And I never met a mermaid who didn't relish a good yarn, eh? Think of one while you're rowing out."

She laughed a little at that. "You survived an encounter with mermaids by telling stories. Why am I not surprised?"

"Well, that and my disarming good looks…"

Elizabeth couldn't help but smile then, turning her gaze up to Jack's. She could see it all in his soulful black eyes. His worries for the trial ahead, and his anger that he would not be allowed to do this for her. And maybe, just maybe…no. She dared not think it now. It would only distract her from the task ahead.

Before she could reply Anjelica cleared her throat loudly. "If I have to point this pistol again I'm going to pull the trigger," she assured the Pirate King in her thickly accented English, and for the way Jack looked upon Elizabeth, she would have been all too happy to do it too.

With a brave salute to Jack, Elizabeth went over the gunwale, lowering herself down to the longboat with all the agility of an experienced sailor. She took her place at the prow, and her band of ragtag cutthroats began to pull at the oars.

She could clearly see her boys were terrified, their faces drawn. She also read some curiosity of her, the Pirate King, and perhaps distrust too. She recognized no faces from the battle with Beckett and Davy Jones. They had heard stories, undoubtedly, but pirate tales can usually be trusted only as far as one can throw the teller.

Intent on boosting morale, knowing any pirate is susceptible to flattery, no matter how dubious, Elizabeth leaned forward upon her knee. "It's been a while, my dear fellows, but I am honored to be at sea with a lot as fine as all of you." She watched as immediately they straightened their posture a little, puffing out their chests subconsciously. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "In my experience there are two kinds of pirates, and you strike me as the second kind."

"What's the second kind?" one asked, his curiosity whetted.

"Indomitable men, who can't be held down by the letter of the law. Men who are not content to accept what their would-be masters allow them, but have the courage to reach out and take what they are owed!" Feeling invigorated by the complement, several of the men gave enthusiastic cries of approval. Elizabeth went on, "This won't be easy, lads, but I have confidence we'll see it through. Has anyone here ever actually seen a mermaid before?"

Everyone shook their heads to the contrary, but lost no time in telling of what wicked beasts of the water they were. "They like singing, though," said the man named Scrum. "If we're to bring 'em about, we'll have to get to singin'."

Suddenly a great beam of light illuminated the water ahead of them. Blackbeard's crew had managed to ignite the massive lantern in the lighthouse at the head of the bay. The men pulled hard on the oars, bringing the boat into the light, as Blackbeard had insisted. Two of the men held the boat steady in the waves, and the rest looked expectantly to their King. With the weight of her responsibility heavy on her shoulders, Elizabeth began to drum upon the sides of the launch.

For the second time that night she began to sing:

As we lay musing on our beds,
So early morn at ease,
We thought upon those lodging beds
Poor sailors have at sea.

In the second verse the men began to join in:

Oh, last Easter in the morning fair
We was not far from land
We spied a mermaid sitting on a rock
With a comb and a glass in her hand, in her hand
With a comb and a glass in her hand

And first come the bosun of our ship
With courage stout and bold
Stand fast, stand fast brave lively lads
Stand fast brave hearts of gold

With gusto the boatload of sailors joined in their song, drumming or swaying in time. Soon a high clear voice joined in, and it was not until the verse ended that the men turned to find a woman hanging on the side of their boat, wet hair slicked back from a strikingly beautiful face, regarding them all with limpid blue eyes. There was something eerie in her beauty; some inner sense screamed danger to Elizabeth, despite the maid's fair looks.

Elizabeth's heart skipped a beat as she realized this in fact was a mermaid.

"Hello there," she greeted, as though she'd come upon the creature in her drawing room. "Don't be afraid, we mean you no harm. What's your name?"

The mermaid canted her head to the side, as though curious to find a woman aboard this launch filled with scallywags. "Do you speak for these men?" she asked instead.

"I do. I am their King."

"A woman?" A second dark-haired mermaid joined on the opposite side, fixing them with a similarly unearthly stare with eyes of glowing violet. "I've never heard of such a thing."

Elizabeth could not help but smile with pride, even if just a little. "Aye, tis true."

"I thought all human men made their women slaves," said another mermaid. Soon there were five perched upon the sides of the boat, all looking to Elizabeth with curious bright eyes.

Inwardly Elizabeth winced, thinking that in some cases it wasn't such a bad analogy. No wonder mermaids ate men, she thought to herself wryly.

"Not all men are so bad," Elizabeth vouched. "But some men make other men their slaves too. Ladies, we are in a difficult situation. We have been forced to sail with a cruel captain like this, and if we do not bring back a mermaid's tear he will kill us all."

One of the mermaids laughed, a sound clear as the tinkling of bells. "Mermaids don't cry," she assured Elizabeth haughtily.

"Sometimes we do," protested another mermaid, one with reddish hair who looked a great deal younger than the others. "Sometimes, when we hear a sad story. Do you know a sad story?"

The other mermaids seemed to lean in closer, propping their chins upon folded arms. "Yes, do you know a sad story?" the rest chorused.

"A lover's tale?" requested one.

"A story of bravery?" chirped another.

Elizabeth pressed her lips. There was only one story she could think of that fit these criteria. With a deep breath to bolster her courage, Elizabeth nodded. "Aye, I know such a tale."

The first mermaid who had appeared, the one who had declared so confidently that there would be no mer-tears that night, fixed her piercing blue stare upon the Pirate King. "Make us cry then, your highness. You may keep whatever tears you earn."

"I thank you kindly for that. Then I will tell you a story…of a princess and a pirate lord," Elizabeth agreed, and began to recite a tale she knew all too well. The mermaids listened raptly as this king fabricated with such passion in her words. It all began with a nasty fall, and a pirate rescuing a princess when he probably should have let her drown.

It wove on through a raucous account of adventure and love, and Elizabeth's own heart caught in her throat as she recounted, "And even though she loved the handsome pirate lord, the princess knew there was only one way the crew could survive the wrath of the Kraken. She kissed the pirate lord, distracting him so that she could chain him to the mast of his own ship. The princess rowed away with the rest of the crew, and watched as the Kraken destroyed the magnificent ship, and its captain with it. As the ship sank she felt her own heart being torn to pieces and pulled beneath the angry waves."

A long silence stretched amongst the mermaids, until finally the young one wailed, "Oh, that's so awful!" A single silvery tear glittered in the moonlight, quivering at the corner of her eye. At last it began to roll down the mermaid's fair cheek, and Elizabeth held out her vial, catching it within the glass.

"He deserved it," said another mermaid. "He made the deal, and he paid his debt."

"But don't you see?" interjected the young mermaid. "He came back to save her in the end. He found redemption. He loved her and died for her."

A dark haired mermaid rolled her eyes. "A rare man who would be so bold. So rare you can be sure it's just a story." Despite her callous words, Elizabeth thought she detected a quaver in the mermaid's voice.

Elizabeth herself found that she herself wanted to shed a tear or two, but with her heart in her throat she kept them at bay.

"What happened next?" asked the first mermaid, pulling a rueful smile from Elizabeth's lips.

"The princess became a warrior, and went to Hell itself to fetch her pirate lord back from death."

Elizabeth felt the mermaids lean closer in interest. "And did she find him?"

"Oh yes."

"And then? He made her his wife?"

"Nay," sighed Elizabeth, her eyes straying to the distance. "He made her his King."

The older mermaids released cries of astonishment and approval, and Elizabeth watched with stupefaction as her men collected three more tears from the mermaids. Only the fair mermaid who had been first to appear remained unmoved, regarding Elizabeth with those eerie azure eyes. Slowly a knowing half smile pulled at the corner of her mouth, and a chill of rushed down Elizabeth's spine.

"Well played, Pirate King. You have your tears now. You'd best be getting back."

The mermaid splashed back into the water, and soon her compatriots followed. Only the young mermaid lifted a hand in goodbye before disappearing back down into the dark waters.


A/N: As you can maybe tell from the songs I've been into sea chanteys lately. A version of the first is used in Stranger Tides. My favorite version is sung by Stephanie Pitcher, she has a beautiful voice and sounds just like the mermaid. You can find it on You Tube and I think purchase the mp3 on CDBaby.

A note on the "Johnny Sailor bold"- I totally thought that was what they were singing at first, for obvious reasons. ;)

The second I found in the album Rogue's Gallery, the brainchild of Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinsky from back in the POTC glory days. It's a modern take on the old sea chanteys, and so killer! Been playing it over and over the past couple weeks, and The Mermaid by Martin Carthy is the version I reference here.