Chapter 16
Not a solitary sound was made as Calypso descended the stone steps, walking toward the vast group of people comprised of the crews of Jack and McGivens, all of whom ha their eyes fixated unblinkingly upon the reincarnated sea goddess. The light coming from the flickering torches danced ominously across Calypso's face, providing a slightly unsettling sight of a woman with absolute power. When Calypso halted in front of everyone, she glanced from face to face expectantly. Cortez stepped forth and got down on one knee, bowing his head.
"Calypso...I welcome you back to the land of humans," he said in a respectful tone.
Calypso regarded Cortez with impassiveness, but addressed him all the same. "Who possesses my locket?" she inquired in a cold tone.
McGivens, the locket now in his free hand, cleared his throat and stepped forth. "I do," he stated plainly.
Calypso stared at McGivens and then down at her locket. "What service may I do you?"
At that moment, Cortez got back to his feet and looked at McGivens with rapt curiosity, wondering what sort of request the mercenary would make of the sea goddess. McGivens, in turn, momentarily glanced at the Spanish conquistador and smirked. "I need for you to resurrect the vessels of the Spanish Armada that lie on the ocean floor surrounding this very island."
Cortez took a threatening step toward McGivens. "And what is it you wish to do with my ships?"
"Use them to my advantage," McGivens replied smugly.
An expression of rage filled Cortez's face and he continued to advance. "Control over the Spanish Armada ships lying on the bottom of the ocean rightfully belongs to me. Those are my ships down there with my crew. You should not presume such things!"
"What I presume is a shift of control," said McGivens as he aimed his pistol right between Cortez's eyes. Cortez quickly drew one of his many swords and shoved the gun away.
"I will not allow you to command my vessels!"
McGivens scoffed in amusement as he withdrew The Golden Sword from his belt and clinked blades with Cortez's sword. "A duel, then?" McGivens raised the locket. "The victor gets the locket and power over Calypso."
Cortez smirked sinisterly. "Don't you mean the person who doesn't get killed?"
"However you see it."
As Cortez and McGivens circled each other, Calypso silently backed away from the scene in order to give the two men space. Quite suddenly, Cortez and McGivens lunged at each other, their swords becoming a blur above their heads. Cortez was a more forceful opponent and it certainly showed. He blocked every single blow McGivens aimed at him with incredible ease and continuously made McGivens step back to avoid being sliced in half. Cortez shoved The Golden Sword away yet again with his latest swing of his own sword and punched McGivens under the chin. McGivens staggered back a few feet, but was not deterred in any way. He ran back toward Cortez, but the Spanish conquistador spun around in a full circle and was able to slice a gash into McGivens' right arm. McGivens quickly switched his sword to his left hand by tossing it into the air and deflected Cortez's attempt to impale his head. The mercenary landed a sharp punch to Cortez's chest that allowed McGivens a moment of peace, that was soon interrupted by the resurrected villain attacking him once more.
The duel between Cortez and McGivens gave Jack and the others the perfect opportunity to escape their captors. While the eyes of McGivens' henchmen were fixed upon the fighting pair, Jack elbowed the brute on his left in the gut and slammed his bound fists into the henchman's face, causing him to sink to the floor, unconscious. Then, Jack spun on his heel and brought his tied wrists up above his head and as a result, the sword directed at him from the second crewman cut the ropes that bound his wrists. Jack ducked under the next swipe of the sword and kicked the buccaneer's legs out from under him. The action caused the sword to go flying straight up into the air and Jack caught it.
"Thanks, mate!"
Jack dashed over to his crewmates and swiftly severed the ropes binding their wrists as well. Through a series of punches, jabs and kicks, the rest of the crew soon had weapons of their own grasped in their hands and were putting them to good use.
Will and Elizabeth took on members of McGivens crew side-by-side, and did so fearlessly. Elizabeth managed to shout out an order to Michael and Jacquelyn, who were both standing just outside the fighting area.
"Michael! Jacquelyn! Get to someplace safe and stay there!"
The kids did as they were told and dashed over behind a boulder placed just before the wall. From behind the boulder, Michael and Jacquelyn peeked at the battle being waged inside the chamber.
Will and Elizabeth fought relentlessly. They each swung their blades in wide arcs and successfully deflected every last blow directed at them. Will dodged a current swipe of his opponent's sword by leaping out of the way and locking blades yet again. He then punched his adversary full-on in the face and the unconscious body of the brute slumped forward, giving Will the chance to sink his sword deep into the pirate's chest. Once that was completed, Will shoved the dead body away and engaged the next member of McGivens' crew he could reach.
Elizabeth clanged her sword against her current adversary's with great agility. She parried each blow with powerful force while pulling off amazing moves, such as sliding in-between the legs of her opponent and halting a swipe of the sword while using a dagger to cut an exposed area on the pirate she was fighting. Elizabeth kicked the brute right behind his knee, causing the henchman to buckle under the pain and sink to both his knees. Elizabeth took advantage of the situation and plunged her blade into the pirate's heart.
Jack, meanwhile, was finishing off what remained of McGivens' men. He was swirling, jumping, ducking and attacking in a rather impressive manner. He used his own sword to continuously outdo each and every one of the henchmen, and within seconds, the three whom he had been dueling with had been stabbed and were lying lifeless on the cold chamber floor. However, one last muscular brute came charging at Jack, sword held high over his head and a deep roar coming from his wide-open mouth. Quick as a flash, Jack reached down into his belt and drew his pistol, which he cocked and fired. The enormous pirate went down in a heap, dead even before his body hit the ground.
The fight between Cortez and McGivens had gotten even more dirty and physical than before. Both of them were employing any form of disarming tactic they could think of in an attempt to defeat the other permanently. Cortez now had two swords, one in each hand, and was becoming successful with both of them gradually. As McGivens tried to plunge The Golden Sword into Cortez's chest, the Spanish conquistador blocked the blow by crisscrossing both his blades and catching the one of the mercenary's between them. McGivens attempted to withdraw The Golden Sword, but was unsuccessful. Cortez then kicked McGivens' legs out from underneath him, causing the mercenary to fall on his back and The Golden Sword to slip from his grasp. The Golden Sword, as a result, went flying up into the air just over Cortez's head. Cortez reached out in order to grab the hilt, but did not anticipate Jack Sparrow suddenly swooping in out of nowhere and beating him to it.
As Cortez whipped out one of his massive pistols, McGivens got to his feet and did the same. Jack, a short distance away from them, abruptly turned and held The Golden Sword out in front of him so that the blade was stretching out in front of his chest. Cortez and McGivens fired off their shots, but the bullets ricocheted off the golden blade and did no damage whatsoever. Cortez then replaced his weapon and dashed toward the pirate captain.
At the same time, Elizabeth raced over to McGivens, who had now noticed that all of his men were now dead and looked like he was about to make a quick escape. She reached him just in time and placed the tip of her sword at the mercenary's neck.
"Don't move," Elizabeth commanded in a cold voice.
McGivens, despite his situation, smiled to himself. "Are yeh gonna kill me, Mrs. Turner?" he asked in an amused tone. "Cause if yeh are, then do it while yeh still can. Or can yeh not do it?"
"You killed my father," Elizabeth snarled at the mercenary.
McGivens slowly turned around, careful to make sure that the blade against his neck did not cut into the skin too deep. "The fool took the coward's way out. He chose his own fate."
"Don't you dare talk about my father that way!"
"Why don' yeh do his memory justice and kill me right here?"
With anger coursing through her veins, Elizabeth tightened her grip on her sword. She wanted more than anything to avenge her wrongfully murdered father and she had been waiting for this very opportunity for a long time and Elizabeth knew what she had to do. Elizabeth removed the tip of her sword from McGivens' neck and placed it in front of his heart, her heavy breathing now more apparent.
"Do it," McGivens said plainly. "Avenge your father."
Elizabeth's hands, as well as her sword, began to shake. Elizabeth willed herself to proceed, but something inside of her held her back. That something, much like an inner voice, told her that revenge would solve nothing and that it would only make the pain worse. Tears began to leak from Elizabeth's eyelids as she stared into McGivens' cold eyes, and finally, Elizabeth lowered her weapon.
"I knew yeh couldn't do it," taunted McGivens. "Too soft on the inside."
Without warning, Elizabeth punched McGivens full-on in the face, sending the mercenary back to the ground. The action had caused McGivens' nose to start leaking blood.
"My father wouldn't have wanted me to kill you. It won't change anything...it won't bring him back."
McGivens wiped away some of the blood gushing from his nose. "You're weak."
"No, McGivens, you are the weak one. You're weak because you resort to cold-blooded murder in order to achieve personal gains. I'm no murderer; I don't kill people when they don't deserve it."
Elizabeth turned around and replaced her sword. But a different voice halted her in her tracks.
"But I am a murderer."
Elizabeth whipped back around to see Cortez standing over the still-bleeding McGivens; The Golden Sword was now tucked into his belt and Jack was a few feet away, slumped against the wall and rubbing his head. Elizabeth looked back at the scene and saw Cortez holding a sharper sword over McGivens' chest.
"And I'm about to acquire a personal gain through it all," Cortez intoned dangerously. Al of a sudden, the Spanish conquistador plunged the sharp blade into McGivens, applying more force once the sword had penetrated the skin. Sword still lodged in the mercenary, Cortez retrieved Calypso's locket from the garments of his victim and placed it around his neck before withdrawing his blood-soaked blade from the fresh corpse.
Calypso approached from across the chamber and joined Cortez, who turned to address the sea goddess. "It would be considered most helpful if you were to raise my armada from the depths of the ocean for me."
Calypso glanced at her locket and smiled. "Consider it done."
The pair then walked toward the exit from the chamber, near where Michael and Jacquelyn were hiding behind the boulder. Cortez spotted the children when he was close enough and with a malicious smile playing across his lips, he grabbed Jacquelyn by her hair and hauled her to her feet in front of him.
"If any of you attempt to follow us, I'll break the girl's neck!"
"Jacquelyn!" Michael cried out, but he was shoved away by Cortez's booted foot.
Will and Elizabeth moved to stop Cortez and Calypso, but before they could get far, they were both blown backward from a shockwave that was the result of the two villains disappearing into thin air with a blinding burst of light.
After Will and Elizabeth had picked themselves up from the stone floor, they gave each other a grave expression. The daughter that Jack did not know he had was now in terrible danger and Calypso was about to raise Cortez's fleet from the bottom of the ocean.