Jack lowered his spyglass.

Land. At last.

Looking again, Jack searched for a dark ship with black sails. No such object was in sight.

Bugger.

Jack swivelled around, his spyglass still upon his eye. He could see the Flying Dutchman a few metres away from his ship.....another swivel......open water.......ARGHH!!!

Jack jerked down the spyglass, whacking his nose. Rubbing it, he looked upon the sight which had scared him. Elizabeth was standing right in front of him. Her face had been what he had seen in the spyglass, right in front of it. Well, that was a bit of a shock. Elizabeth raised her eyebrows.

'Jack, you have got to be kidding me. You're scared of a girl?! Ha ha' Elizabeth laughed.

'Yes, your presence has always frightened me Elizabeth. Now what can I do to greet your presence?' Jack asked in way of question.

'I would like to be in attendance of the shore party, Captain. I believe I have the capability to fight whatever monsters lay ahead on the island.' Elizabeth looked fierce, like the pirate king she truly was. Jack thought of Elizabeth slashing swords with faceless monsters. He shrugged. It could do him no harm.

'And how would your dearly beloved feel about this.....plan of yours?'

'I wouldn't really call it a plan. I'm sure he trusts me.'

'Yes but would he see fit to see you fighting against unimaginable horrors?'

'I'm a pirate – it shouldn't matter.'

'No, luv. You're his wife. So now it does matter.'

Elizabeth thought about this. Jack was right. Will cared a lot for her and did anything to protect her before they were married. Now he would put his life on the line for her, and probably would not be happy to see her fight. But it was her nature. He must understand that.

Finally Jack nodded. 'As you wish, Ms. Turner. But if anyone asks I had nothing to do with your decision.' Elizabeth nodded.

Gibbs walked over to the pair. 'Sir, the land is in reach. Shall we send a shore party down?'

Jack looked once again to the island. 'Not yet, master Gibbs. Cotton,' he instructed to the mute pirate,' move over. There's going to be tough inland rivers that we will navigate up and narrow paths. I'll take it from here.' With no objection Cotton moved over from the wheel, and Jack took his place. He could see the island moving faster towards him. "Will, 'he called out to the Dutchman, 'There be tough navigation ahead. Follow my lead.'

'Aye, Jack,' was Will's response. Jack instructed the crew to slow the ship down.

The island entrance was approaching.

Jack sailed towards a spread of trees on the coast of the island. A few metres away the rest of the crew could see a gap in between the thicket. A river ran through the trees. It was narrow, but had room for a ship to pass through.

Jack sailed through the opening. Will followed closely behind. The circle of trees completely enclosed them. There were huge cliffs behind the trees, making the cover even more absolute.

Everyone, including the two captains, stared at the space where the sky was meant to be, marvelling at the green light of the trees.

Everyone, including Jack, also completely forgot about the gong.

The gong had not been in plain sight; otherwise Jack would have well remembered it. But the magic and beauty of the forest had rid him of all memories of it. It was placed in an indent in one of the cliffs. If Jack had looked at his Compass, he would have seen the arrow swivel around behind him, pointing in the opposite direction.

The direction of the gong.

But Jack had not or did not look at his Compass. After finishing marvelling at the view he had tougher worries then beautiful scenery. He had a tough, narrow river before him. And it was about to get a lot tougher because of the magic the gong had protruded.

Jack was trying to navigate the Mantress around large rocks sitting in the river. Twigs and branches soon followed. And then the currents came. Unaware to Jack, the gong's presence had made the path even worse for Jack. He had to pay constant attention to not hit the trees beside him, slow down and have Will run into him, or go down the currents too fast to have the ship damaged. It was hard. The currents were so fast that it was hard to manoeuvre the ship correctly. Jack saw slices of wood spray up with the ocean as he crashed into the water.

Jack looked at the crew. Everyone was holding on for their dear lives, staring ahead or at the ocean below, as if it was about to become their new home. He didn't blame them. He was starting to doubt his sailing skills as well.

And then came the worst of them all.

Men, or monsters, tribal, by the look of them, appeared at the tops of the cliffs just behind the trees. They pulled out bows from behind their backs and stretched arrows into them. Then they took fire. A rain of arrows showered the two ships. There weren't too many of the 'men' but they were quick to reload, so their was a line of never-ending arrows.

'Take cover!' Jack hollered. He was a bit too late. Half the crew were crouching below the rail, under any shelter they could find. The other half were all below decks. This soon became most of the crew.

Elizabeth, Cotton, Gibbs, Marty, a man picked up in Tortuga and Jack were the only crew left on deck. They had bravely stepped up to Jack to see if he needed help with the sailing, as Jack too was trying to take cover and steer at the same time. Jack shouted at them to get below decks but they could see the truth in his eyes. He needed help.

An arrow whistled past Jack's head and he ducked. The wheel spined slightly. He held on, his knuckles turning white. Elizabeth crouched over to Jack.

'Captain', she yelled, 'we need to get under cover!'

'No, we be nearly there now.' Jack yelled back.

'Are you insane!?There's only the river for as far as I can see ahead. How can there b-'

Elizabeth stopped mid-sentence. Looking ahead, she had spotted a strip of land in the middle of the river. 'Oh.'

Jack grinned. But his grin was soon cut short by another arrow which nicked his neck. He felt a rip in his skin, and could feel something hot running down his neck. But he couldn't worry about it now. He had to get the smidgen of land!

The sand was drawing closer. Jack instructed Gibbs to inform Will to stop when signalled. Gibbs agreed uncertainly.

Jack looked up from the wheel, and saw Cotton, Elizabeth, Marty and 'Tortuga' (the guy picked up in Tortuga) al scurrying around on deck, preparing to stop. Jack tried turning the wheel to move closer to the edge of the river, so as Will could pull in along side him. The wheel only moved slightly. Jack looked at it. Then he saw what the problem was. An arrow was stuck in one of the spokes! Oh god, thought Jack. Now is not the best time for this!

Jack lowered his head and tried to pull out the arrow. His distraction caused him to send his ship into a rock. He saw the end of the bow go flying. Uh, oh.

Without taking his eyes of the path, Jack lowered his arm and tried again to pull out the arrow. No luck. He pulled out his sword and cut o the arrow tip. The wheel spun free.

The other way.

Jack tried, using all his strength to steer the wheel to the right. The sand was only about 20 metres away. The ship slowly started turning.

15 metres.

He wasn't going to make it. The ship was edging too slowly.

10 metres.

Jack literally spun the wheel enough to make the ship bang into the bank of the river. He was only a metre way for the bank but he needed it to be touching if Will had any luck of drawing up to the sand as well.

5 metres.

Grunting, Jack spun the wheel fully around. Only half a metre till the edge.

2 metres.

BANG!!!

The ship whacked into the side of the river.

BANG!!!

The ship blew full speed into the sand, and Jack looked over to see the Dutchman drawing in too.

The men were still firing. Jack saw an arrow move straight to Elizabeth. 'Duck!' he shouted.

'What?' she asked.

Jack jumped at her, sliding her to the ground. An arrow flew over her. 'Sorry,' he apologized, climbing off her. The arrow men shouted then ran off. But Jack knew that they would be back.

But for now they had made it. And survived. The crew of both crews appeared from below and cheered for joy.

It was then that Jack remembered the gong.

Bugger.

*

On the land, two rowboats sat side-by-side, facing away from the congregational party. This was made up of Will, Elizabeth, Jack, Gibbs, Bootstrap Bill and Marty. They were the ones who were going along to fight. The rest of the crew had doubts.

'There's a whole crew of them and only 6 of you!'

'They kill you easily! Pick you off one by one.'

'How can you defeat them?!'

Jack raised a hand. 'Is there anyone else who wants to come?' he questioned.

Everyone was silent. Then Pintel, Ragetti, Cotton, Maccus, Ratlin and Hadras raised their hand. (P.s. Last 3 from Will's crew). Jack nodded. 'Fine then. 6 will go in one boat, the other 6 in the other boat. But we'll need experienced sailors in both boats. These waters be no easier then the ones we just passed through. But I believe that we won't have tribal's attacking us this time. Will, Bootstrap, Gibbs, Ragetti, and you two fish people,' he pointed to Maccus and Ratlin, 'you will be going in that boat.' Jack pointed to the rowboat on the far left. 'Elizabeth, Marty, Pintel, Cotton, fish-face and myself will go in that boat.' He pointed o the boat on the far right. Jack turned to Will.

'I trust your navigational skills be as good in a row boat as in a ship. But, I must warn you of something, William. I am only bringing you because I need your navigational skills down this river. You must remember that you can not step ashore for another few years. So, regrettably, you must stay with the boats down at the bottom. You cannot help fight. I'm sorry but that is what you get for cutting out your heart. And now, follow my lead, 'eh?' Will nodded. He understood.

The pirates climbed into their designated boats. Jack sat at the oars in the right boat, Will in the left. 'Alright then,' Jack shouted. 'Shouldn't be as long as the river on the way. Only about two miles. Let's go!'

Pintel pushed Jack's boat off the shore, before climbing in himself. Maccus did the same for the other boat.

The first fifty metres were simple, flat with a few obvious rocks which could easily be avoided. But then the river started moving faster, gaining speed every metre. Jack had to rotate his oars t ether way so as to slow the boat down. It didn't help very much. Will was having trouble as well. 'How much further?' he called over the running rapids. 'Not far now,' Jack shouted back.

To Jack's relief, his belief had proven true. The tribal men had not returned. Jack wondered why. Maybe the gong's magic only worked for the firs course of the river? But that didn't sound likely. Maybe the men would return on the way back? Who knows? All that Jack knew was that sometime those men would be back. On them.

Jack saw a huge branch sticking out of the river up ahead. He scooped one oar in the water to try and turn the boat. The boat missed, but only just. Jack felt a stick scrape across his other cheek. Great, now he had two bloody cheeks. He only hoped Elizabeth didn't notice.

Jack looked up ahead and nearly whooped for joy. He could see land not fifty metres away. But he had to get there first.

More rocks, smaller this time, had joined the large rocks in the river. Jack tried to avoid them but he occasionally felt a scrape along the bottom of the boat.

And then water started leaking in. Oh no. There was a hole in the boat.

Jack tried pulling the oars faster whilst the rest of the crew started to bail with whatever – hats, hands, shoes, anything. Just before Jack pulled up on the land the boat gave a mighty lurch and a huge spout of water flooded in. Jack then drew in on the sand. Will anchored in next to him.

They had arrived.

The only problem now was how they were going to get back up.