Disclaimer: Don't own POTC, it all belongs to the mouse whose ears always face you no matter which way he turns his head...(it's true! check it out! mickey's ears NEVER move!) okay, sorry, that was random. Onto the good stuff.

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Will staggered slightly as his foot caught in a knarled tree root jutting up in his path. Jack reached out a hand to steady him, but it wasn't necessary. There was no way Will would fall. Not with the precious burden he cradled in his arms. They had had to abandon the cart at the base of the cliffs, so it fell to Will to carry Elizabeth.

Compared to the frigid conditions outside the island, the inside of the Scorpion Bowl was opressive. The thick jungle covering the inside of the Bowl was hard to navigate and filled with creatures that shrieked ominiously only a few feet away. Jack had warned them all to be as silent as possible, in hopes of avoiding the primeval monstrosities. They had had already encountered six foot long millipedes and tracks of at least four feet in diameter.

And that was enough. Despite the fact that the sinister rustling noises frequently came within several yards of them, nothing had ever revealed itself. But Will was uneasy enough as it was - if anything went wrong at this point Elizabeth could be permenantly separated with from her soul. Then she would die, leaving him alone. A world without without Elizabeth was beyond the reaches of his imagination. He did not want to live to see the day when she died. It did not bear thinking about.

Jack was mindlessly hacking away at the foliage in front of him when an inhuman cry ripped across their eardrums, causing more than one of them to clutch their ears in pain. It was no sound a human should make - yet Jack instinctively knew that was of human origin. It came from directly in front of them, but how far was anyone's guess. The jungle distorted many sounds and caused strange afflictions to the senses.

"Jack!" Will whispered urgently, standing just behind him. "What was that?"

Though Jack's heart was pounding from the sound as well, he shrugged nonchalantly. "Dunno mate," he stage whispered back, so the rest of the crew could hear. "Prolly jus' some animal gettin' eaten, 'r sumthin'." He shrugged and continued on his merry way, softly whistling as he chopped away at the plants in front of him.

Will regarded Jack's back suspiciously. As Jack was unreactive, Will merely shifted Elizabeth slightly before continuing on his way behind Jack. If he said that nothing was wrong, then there probably was. But if it wasn't going to pop out and eat them in an instant, Will wasn't overly concerned.

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Governnor Swann was hauled unceremoniously over the edge of the precipice, red-faced and out of breath. When the trail that they had been following ended abruptly in a blank space, with only a few drying blood drops as clue to their quarry's whereabouts, they had assumed the worst. If Commodore Norrington hadn't run into the invisible solid and cut his forehead, they never would have know this strange island was there. With ropes already dangling down the intimidating clifface, the climb had gone off without a hitch. Well, in the eyes of the younger, more spry soldiers. Governor Swann harboured no such opinion of their ascent.

They had descended about halfway into the island's bowl-like interior, following the broad swath cut into the verdure made by no doubt Turner and Sparrow, when an unearthly cry ripped through the air. One of the younger marines shinnied up a tree to try to find the source of the noise.

"There's a cave, sir! I think it came from there!"

Commodore nodded and turned to the governor, shrugging. "Probably some sort of animal, sir. Come down now!" he shouted up to the marine, and the youngling slid down the tree.

"I think I could see Turner and Sparrow, Commodore, sir! They're not too far ahead of us, and they're heading for that cave thing I mentioned, sir! We'll soon catch them!"

Commodore nodded and waved the soldier back into rank. He turned and grinned at the governor, a gleam of vengeance shining brightly in his eyes. "D'you hear that Gov'nor? In just a short while we'll both be getting revenge for the death of someone very dear to both of us."

The governor pulled his lips back in a feral smirk that did not befit his elderly features. The governor was corrupted by the desire for retribution. "Indeed, Commodore, indeed. FORWARD!"

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Elizabeth flinced as Esperanza abruptly cried out. "What is it?" Elizabeth asked urgently, trying to support the other woman as she threatened to collapse to her knees. "What's wrong?"

"It's the others - the other women that Alderman captured. He must have already started the ceremony, and I wasn't aware of it." She gritted her teeth and clutched her stomach. "And now he's starting on me. Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..." she let her breath out in one long slow hiss. "After me it's you. You'd better hope Jack and your Will get her soon, or - " her voice caught and she fell to her knees, rocking back and forth moaning. " - or we're both done for."

Elizabeth turned away from Esperanza to stare upwards into the endless mist. "Where are you Will?" she whispered. "Why haven't you come?"

She glanced behind her as Esperanza groaned again. "Hurry, love," she said softly, though she knew there was no way he could hear her, "Hurry."

She closed her eyes in hopeless dispair for a moment. Then she went back to help Esperanza in any way she could.

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Jack, Will with Elizabeth in tow, and the rest of the crew crouched behind a row of convieniently placed shrubs, scoping out the situation within the cave. Some of the crew shifted uneasily behind him, making irritating rustling noises.

"Shhh!" berated Jack, waving a vague hand in their general direction. He then squinted again at the cave. A faint blueish glow was emmenating from the entrance, and he didn't quite know what to make of it.

Anamaria crept up behind him and knelt next to him. "Whaddaya reckon it is, Jack?"

"Captain," he corrected her automatically. "And I ain't got the faintest. Any ideas, lass?" He turned to look at her with those deep, brown, questioning eyes.

Anamaria found herself tongue-tied for a moment, which she managed to pass off as a moment of thought. "Prob'ly just some water in the cave, reflectin' the sunlight, or somethin'. "

Jack thought for a moment, and then accepted her explanation. "I always knew it wasn't bad luck t'have a woman on board." He motioned with his hand to the rest of the waiting crew. "C'mon lads, let's go check it out - slowly and in a quiet-like manner."

The party of pirate rescuers began their cautious advance on the cave.