Chapter 12: Sailors Take Warning
"Red skies in the morning, sailors take warning," said Elizabeth coming up next to Jack as he sailed his ship into the coming dawn. The sky to the east was ablaze with reds, oranges, pinks and yellows. It looked as if Hell itself was just over the horizon.
Jack ignored the sky's threat. If felt so good to get out of those itchy clothes and back in his sea garb and to once again have kohl lining his eyes. This is how a real man should feel. And that mysterious ship which had been dogging their trail was now nowhere to be seen. That was another bit of good news. He studied his compass, which was continuing to point the way straight into middle of the polychromatic maelstrom ahead. "Morning luv, where's Will?"
Elizabeth replied, "In his cabin, studying charts. He's convinced that, if our current course is correct, then the island on the map must be Île de Lamentations."
"Eel what?"
"French for 'Island of Wailing', luv," she cooed at him. "You know the legend about it, don't you?"
"Of course I do. Er, what legend?"
"From what I remember, about twenty or thirty years ago, a plague swept the island. It killed every man, woman and child there, all except for one small boy. In the following years, several fishing boats spotted the boy. There were occasional attempts to rescue him, all ending in disaster for the would-be rescuers. Those few who returned reported that the island has been overrun with zombies."
"Oh yes, that legend."
"So that's where we're going."
Jack nodded. "Apparently."
"I just thought you'd want to know." She got up and left the quarterdeck.
He waited until she'd gone. "Mr. Gibbs, rum if you please! Rum for breakfast! For me and all my men!" If he was going to be facing zombies, there was no way he was going to be sober when he did it.
By the time the Pearl made her final run up to Île de Lamentations, the hellish red sky in the east had turned black as the devil's heart. Lightning flashed silently within the evil clouds which blotted out the horizon.
No one had seen the undead monkey for hours.
Mr. Gibbs asked nervously, "Sir, are you sure you know what you're doing?"
"Of course I do," Jack replied, the rum only slightly slurring his words. "Uh, what am I doing?"
"Sailing to a cursed island."
"Can't be helped. There's treasure there. Oodles of treasure! Enough to calm the crew down and assure that I'm captain of the Black Pearl for the rest of my days!"
"If your luck turns bad, Captain, the rest of your days might end today."
On the quarterdeck of the Vengeful Vixen, Père Nuit peered through a spyglass at the horrendous storm gathering ahead of them. It was only when distant lightning struck that he could make out the black sails of the Pearl as she was silhouetted against a white flash of light.
Beside him, Captain Suzanne de Xanillèe studied the ship's charts. She saw the name of the island which lay ahead of them, Île de Lamentations, and she remembered the awful stories she had heard about it.
"Do you realize where it is that we're heading?" she asked Père Nuit.
The evil bokor nodded. "Home."