(OT: Let's rewind, ey? Elizabeth point of view. Keep in mind, Pintel and Ragetti headed off with Will at the last port to distract the guards while he snuck into the temple. Just a note because I do mention the number in the crew. Ah, not much else to say. Enjoy! Hopefully more to come soon! Oh, and I'm feeling better D)
The merchant vessel, the Capsulet, cruised into Singapore's chaotic bay, dazzling men and women prancing around the premises. Elizabeth, dressed in her burdened disguise, leaned over the edge of the bow, observing the flashing rainbow lights and the raucous Chinese culture. She spun the large brimmed hat through her fingers after adjusting her braid a final time, thinking of Will and hoping that he had made it into the temple with ease.
"Cap'n!" Gibbs abruptly thundered up the staircase, and his voice became rapid and breathy. The captain, who was gripping the helm as he directed the ship toward the docks, squinted as Gibbs announced, "Cap'n there's a ship comin' up on her stern." Barbossa spun around to see not only one galleon, but one galleon and two zippy schooners veering around the Capsulet on either side, their cannons already smoking.
"Break out the cannons, you rotting berks!" Barbossa bellowed, spinning the helm with a fervid fury.
Elizabeth flung herself to the floor, landing with a resonant clunk as hand grenades were chucked on the deck, and she growled beneath her breath. Not now. Not right when everything was going perfect! Cannons vibrated through the vessel and gaping holes fractured various parts of the Capsulet, the gun and cannons fire seemingly increasing in blows by the minutes. Leaving her Asian hat lying on the floor, Elizabeth slinked on her hands and knees and snarled to the captain, "They obviously think we are a real merchant vessel." He made no movement as she rose. "Surrender!" she cried. "There are too many!"
Barbossa shook his head, unwilling to submit to other pirates, but the crew was soon overwhelmed by the vast damage to the ship.
"Barbossa!" Gibbs now hollered as he reloaded a musket.
Elizabeth refused to wait any longer; she clambered down the nearest hatch, seized her dirty white blouse from her hammock, and crawled back up the staircase, collapsing to her feet more than once from the blows and her laden garments. Narrowly missing zinging bullets, Elizabeth securely tied the sleeves around a spare rope and hoisted the make-shift (white) flag into the air, releasing a brazen sigh.
The firing almost immediately halted as the crew of the mighty galleon boarded the Capsulet, his eyes alight with victory. Barbossa retreated from the helm and gripped Miss Swann's slender covered arm as he fumingly inquired, "What do ye think your doin'?"
"Saving our lives!" she roared as the captain of the other vessel approached them with his chin tilted to the glorious triumph.
His beady black eyes observed their heated discourse, and his hideous wrinkles curled around his lips as he removed his sword from its sheath and asked, "You surrender?"
"No!" Barbossa shouted, glowering at the young woman.
"Yes!" Elizabeth cried in unison with the captain, freeing her arm from his avid grasp. Slithering into the repugnant man's face, she replied with a furious scorch to her tone, "You saw the flag, Sir. Leave us our weapons and one longboat and the vessel is yours."
"This be my ship." Barbossa interjected, but Elizabeth was offering her broken nails, and her eyes did not waver against the two captains.
Oh, the nerve! To still insist that he had control over this situation. Elizabeth had raised the surrendering colors and she would stand by the statement. She hissed to Captain Barbossa, "We are in Singapore, meaning we can request a ship from one of your acquaintances."
The captain of the galleon, gazing at Elizabeth inquisitively the entire time, accepted the offering and gripped the lady's hand with intensity. After assembling their small group of six and (recovering her hat), the Capsulet's crew was lowered in a single longboat and stroked toward the shore. "You had no right," Barbossa growled, infuriated at Elizabeth successful bargain.
"In fact," she scowled in an equally intimidating tone. "We could all be dead if it weren't for my intrusion." Her sneering remark silenced the captain as Cotton and Mr. Gibbs rowed through the calm waters, listening to the vibrant vibrations of the city. Moments later, Elizabeth swiveled left and right, her eyes twitching in agitation. "Do you hear that?" she inquired, every sound becoming a bit more acute.
"I don't hear anything." Marty absent-mindedly commented, his stubby legs awkwardly poking out of the seat.
"No, it's..." she trailed off to listen more closely. "It is getting louder." Elizabeth couldn't decipher its origin nor what exactly the noise was. Then, it became trilling and echoed within the crew's ears.
The bell has been raised from its watery grave
Hear its sepulchral tone
We're a call to hall
Pay heed the squall
And turn your sail to home...
"The song," Gibbs announced in a solemn tone while taking a swig off his canteen. "It's been sung."
The voice continued, swelling in the woman's throat and enveloping the vivacious city. Elizabeth glanced to Tia Dalma, who had been silent for more than two days, and her eyes were quivering from anxiety. She watched the Jamaican woman closely, eyeing her as she removed crab claws from her bosom and rattled them in her hands. A delectable inky grin spread across her countenance for a brief moment, obviously recognizing something the crew had missed or not yet seen and then the expression disappeared, leaving Elizabeth mystified. What did that woman know? And what powers did she hold in the palm of her hands? Literally and figuratively, of course. Elizabeth was then distracted, averting her gaze to listen once again to the song.
Yo ho haul together
Hoist the colors high
Heave ho, thieves and beggars...
Never shall we die
"Being sung more like it." Elizabeth added fervently, absorbing every arc of the pitch. It was a woman's voice that was soft and shrill at the same time and resonating in the woman's aching heart. "What does it mean?" she inquired, now curious of Gibbs' strange and miserable declaration.
"It beckons the pirate lords from the corners of the earth." Barbossa answered for him, flicking a piece of eight and raising it to Miss Swann's ear.
The tone tingled her entire body at the gravity of the tune, and she glanced at both men. Gibbs had nothing to add, and Barbossa was now scrambling to help tug the longboat ashore. The crooning finally yielded, although the spirit still remained, and Elizabeth began humming the melancholy tune, occasionally closing her eyes to recollect the lyrics.
"We separate here." Barbossa announced, nodding to each crew member and knowing everyone was aware of the plan. The men and bayou woman immediately split, but Elizabeth lingered near the docks, the tune still buzzing on her lips. Something archaic vibrated in those lyrics, and the more the words echoed in her mind, the more she realized their meaning. Calypso was the cause.
As Elizabeth strolled into the city, the abodes began to drop and rise into brilliant bamboo structures, and she noticed Sao Feng's bathhouse, as it had been described to her, lay far ahead. She suddenly bound behind a small shack by the ushering of an elderly Chinese woman, shushing her in the foreign language. Ah, Elizabeth thought, soldiers. They marched in single file past them, and she began to realize that she would not be able to casually approach the bathhouse. After thanking the elderly woman by a quick squeeze on the hands, Elizabeth slipped through the crowds, slithering past oblivious soldiers, and stepping onto creaky docks and ducking beneath her large hat. The long canoe-like boat was vacant, and Elizabeth quickly clambered into the vehicle, her breath short from the burst of energy. Now she could just... Fireworks catapulted overhead and exploded in the air, sending Elizabeth in a frenzy at the sudden movement. The air had been even stiller than she had originally thought, and she now paddled through the waters gently, eyeing her surroundings and resuming her humming of the tune.
Some have lived and others have died
She crooned softly, but then allowed her voice to swell with the quake of the river, rowing around long and spindly bamboo poles with a single oar and swallowing her fear that someone would explode her boat.
Others sail on the sea
Elizabeth entered a small bay coated in a thin layer of fog, and it sent chills creeping up her spine. A sinking feeling in her stomach now alarmed her that something was ahead and something was amiss. What about Will? But she kept singing confidently, observing every motion with caution.
With the keys to the cage
And the devil to pay
We lay to Fiddler's Green
The bell has been raised from its watery grave
Her eyes swiveled to the platforms, where East India Trading Company soldiers clattered above, signaling their simple orders and their menacing appearance. She could be caught. She would be caught... If she was not careful.
Hear its sepulchral tone
Still looking to the bridge and to the horrid coats that imprisoned her and her fiancé so long ago... How long had it been? A few weeks? A month or two? Her memory failed her. She had been so consumed by this wretched guilt... Did it even make a difference how long she had suffered? She ducked her eyes again.
We're a call to hall
Pay heed the squall
Damn those fireworks. They sizzled above her in a bright white light, unwillingly bringing her purpose back into focus. She swiveled her head, catching a brief glimpse of the person who had lit them and quivering from the glimmering scowl upon his face as he scurried across the bridge.
And turn your sail to home...
A nearby man (or was it a woman?) chopped and skinned fish, sliding the scales to the side with a resolute frown as she glided past him. The final sparks scattered into the water, and she sat up a little straighter, knowing that she would be approaching the edifices any moment now. She must keep her head. Keep her strength. Keep her will to bring back Jack and settle any kiaughs between them.
Yo ho haul together
Hoist the colors high
Heave ho...
The woman looped the rope about the dock's stem, inhaling a breath for the next line as she crawled from the boat placidly. She looked hither and thither for soldiers. Keep her head. Keep her...
Elizabeth halted. An intimidating Chinese man uttered the next lines, his words separated and distinct, and his filthy gritty exterior shining in the little light. "Thieves and beggars, never shall we die." He stalked toward her with reinforcements behind him, glaring at her silly disguise. She now questioned the bulky cloak and fingered the little razor-sharp dagger tucked in at her hip. "A dangerous song to be singing for anyone who is ignorant of its meaning." he declared with a certain fury, eyeing her curiously. "Particularly a woman." he paused to eye her even more closely. "Particularly a woman alone."
Elizabeth opened her mouth to say something. Now she was in a stupid jam. Stupid girl to sing, she thought. Quite a pickle indeed, she had once said to Will to mock him during a fencing session. She withdrew the dagger with a quick movement; no one had seen it. As she prepared to raise it to his throat, her exterior entirely calm, the captain's voice and heavy footsteps clunked against the stone steps.
"What makes you think she's alone?"