Chapter 21 Do we dare?
"Are we quite sure this is where we want to be?" Elanor asked as she stood beside the rail and scanned the tiny scrap of land that seemed to be the only thing for miles around.
"Compass says so," Jack replied from behind her shoulder, "tallies with the chart too."
She sighed in resignation,
"I thought you might say that." She turned around to face him, "you know what that means don't you?"
"No. What." He was glaring at her, but with a hint of uncertainty.
"That this fountain isn't a fountain and it's bloody well hidden, probably somewhere it's going to be very difficult to get at."
Jack looked past his somewhat irritated, and irritating, fellow captain to the small skull cap of land which the compass proclaimed to be the island home of the fountain of youth. It was little more than a rocky atoll, no larger than the one Barbossa had abandoned him on, twice, and even less well provided with vegetation. Just a top knot of palms decorating its otherwise bald pate. He had to admit that it didn't look to be promising, but the compass needle seemed unwavering.
"Aye," he agreed, "but if it was just sittin' there in the middle of some oasis or other then everyone would have found it wouldn't they? Eh?"
She sighed heavily and rubbed her brow,
"True I suppose, but I have to admit I hadn't expected it to be quite this unprepossessing."
Her hand moved from her brow to her forehead, long finger delving into the rippling waves of her hair, loose about her shoulders for the first time in a week or more, seeking the spots already made sore by tension. Jack watched her with lowered lashes, pressure building in him as he wondered what he was going to do if she baulked at this final hurdle.
"It's very exposed," she said finally. "I know we are well away from the main trade routes, but there's nowhere to hide if something wanders this way, no bay to conceal the Chaser in and no cover on the island itself, other than those few trees."
Jack looked back towards the island, chewing on the edge of his lip in frustration, for no matter how much he wanted to find the Fountain he couldn't deny that she was right.
"Aye that it is. Might be sensible to scout a little before we commit ourselves to any lengthier action," he said.
She shrugged,
"Your plan being...."
"I'll take a long boat, row over. You stay here, ready to take the ship away to safety if your ghost spots danger."
"Leaving you over there?"
He met her eyes levelly and nodded once,
"If it becomes necessary, then yes." his voice was smooth, "Though a warning of your departure would be appreciated. Give me enough time to hide the boat." He shrugged, "come for me when it's clear."
He made it sound as if it was simple.
"Jack!" Gibbs protested, "There's nought on that rock and we might not be so quick getting back for ye. Not if it involved dodging the navy. Best that I come with ye eh?"
Jack shook his head
"No, it will be hard enough to hide meself and the boat mate, two of us we might not manage."
"Jack!"
"He's right Mr Gibbs."
Elanor chipped in, causing Jack to look at her with some surprise,
"there's just not enough cover. I hope it won't matter but if it does then Jack may well stand more chance of going unseen on his own."
Faced with agreement between his two captains Gibbs subsided into silence, but he didn't look happy about it.
Jack simply nodded at her,
"What does your ghost say at the moment then 'lanor?"
She drew a beep breath and tipped her head.
"Nothing to be seen. There is no reason why we should have to leave as long as your quick look is just that." She met his eyes, her own direct and warning,
"But don't get carried away Jack, there is no way that island hosts any fountain that I'd recognise as such. A quick scout and then back here, and with the truth Jack, no dressing it up in 'maybes' or 'ah buts'. If there is no sign of it you tell us. Agreed?"
Jack smiled brightly,
"Agreed."
She looked at him for a moment longer, then sighed and turned away,
"Right. Mr Gibbs can see you off, I'm going to consult Ariadne on why it might be that the compass thinks this is the fountain."
With that she strode off towards the below deck watched her go, his face unreadable.
"Are ye sure about this captain?" Gibbs pressed him again.
Jack turned his attention back to his long time ally, his expression was stern and determined.
"I am. No sense in both of us scrambling around on that god forsaken spit. Won't take long to get the lie of things over there, I'll be back before anything has a chance to venture close enough to upset Elanor's ghost."
Gibbs shot Jack a look under lowered brows, his voice was hesitant,
"How much do ye know about the ghost Jack? Do ye trust it?"
Jacks frown disolved into a faint smile,
"I trust it to keep Captain Cavendish out of harms way, which means keeping us out of harms way while we sail with her."
The smile faded and he gave Gibbs a serious look,
"I've seen a little of what it..... she........, the shost that is, can do,. Aye and felt it too, and it's not something to be taken lightly, my word on it ." He looked towards the helm with a frown, "though I know little enough about what she is or why she's here, other than what I told you."
He gave Gibbs a rueful smile,
"not exactly a trustin' soul is Elanor."
Gibbs nodded his agreement,
"Aye, though a man can see why that might be."
Jack smiles took on a golden glitter,
"He can indeed." The smile faded, "no criticism of her mate, for she has her reasons. Sssm good enough to me."
With that he turned away towards the longboat, already slung over the side and waiting.
Gibbs watched him go with a worm of suspicion working in his belly, the idea that maybe Jack knew more about the lady captain than he was saying. But he trusted Jack and so no doubt there were reasons for him not sharing what he knew, if he knew anything at all. Gibbs, however, had an inkling that he might not like the knowledge should he come by it.
***
The island proved to be as barren as it had looked from a distance.
Jack pulled the boat up onto white sand as pristine and unsullied as if no human foot had ever touched it, and stared around him in resigned disgust. No driftwood, no scrub, no, water; just white sand, and so hot that it seemed to make the water on his boots hiss, though that could have been the surf. The sea was palely blue, a coulor unlike anything he thought eh had ever seen before, so luminous that it didn't seem possible that it could be real. Even in the shallows small fish were darting crazily about as if it were too hot to stay in one place without being cooked, and though he'd seen cloudless skies before it felt as if he'd never seen one so devoid of it as this one. Even this close to the shore the air was heavy and still, there was not even enough breeze to stir his hair. 'Just like the locker he thought' before filing the idea away for later consideration.
He looked back towards the ship, sitting calmly out the other side of the reef and wondered what Elanor was doing, for somehow he was sure that she was not as content to leave this to him as she had appeared.
Already the lack of breeze was taking its toll and sweat was running down between his shoulder blades and across his chest. With a sigh he shrugged off his baldric and stripped himself of his coat; his waistcoat followed it into the boat, the baldric and sword thrown in on top of it. His sash and belts he kept, though he could feel the sweat starting down across his belly, the lack of his sword being compensated for by the twin pistols he picked up and pushed behind the leather. Within seconds the barrels were warming, the heat glowing back through the fabric of his sash, chafing his already sweat dampened skin and adding another source of discomfort. With a sigh he settled his hat more firmly forward on his head, the sun was too hot to go without it even with his scarf, and set out across the colourless sand towards the only source of shade that there was.
***
Elanor had set Ariadne to a little investigation and gone back upon deck to join Mr Gibbs. She turned her binoculars towards the island where Jack was just dragging the boat ashore, watching him closely for a moment, glad to see that he showed no sign of being hampered by the sword slash any longer. She lowered the glasses to meet Mr Gibbs curious eyes watching her with fascinated concern and for a moment she wondered why he was staring at her in that way, then it dawned on her and she raised the binoculars towards him,
"A kind of spyglass Mr Gibbs. Nothing more sinister than that."
"Oh aye ma'am," he said, though his tone was dubious.
If he noticed that she made no move to hand them to him he said nothing.
"Jack has made it to shore, and he is heading uinland, if you can call it that. It shouldn't take him long to discover all there is to be discovered, at least as long as he does as he promised it won't." She smiled reassuringly at Gibbs, "he should be back with us in a couple of hours."
"No sign of any other ships ma'am?"
"Nothing that could come close enough to us for us to need to leave before Jack is back on board." She reached out and patted the man arm, "No need to worry, he'll be fine."
"Aye ma'am." But he didn't sound convinced.
"What is it that's bothering you?" she leaned against the rail and frowned at the man in front of her. "Jack seems to be more than capable of taking care of himself. Fewer men would be more so from what I've seen and heard. So why are you so concerned?"
Gibbs stared out across the bay for a moment, uncertainty written clearly in his face,
"Aye ma'am " he said eventually, "none as capable as Jack of getting out of trouble, but few more capable of getting in it too."
He sighed and looked at her with an uncertain sideways look,
"Not had an easy life has Jack. In recent months it's been as hard as it's ever been. Man can go on fighting fate for so long but there comes a time when he's got to hold hisself and take stock. Like a ship ma'am, a man can only weather so many storms without taking time to refit, in the end all the runnin' repairs in the world will not see you through the next storm. "
Elanor felt that stirring of concern again, the same unease that came every time she thought of Jack's past.
"Is that what Jack has been doing then? Relying on running repairs?"
"Aye in many ways, most ways perhaps. He's strong is Jack, stronger than most, canny with it too for all his strangeness, and he's found his course back to hisself when others would have sunk without trace. But it can't go on, in the end he must pay for it. Losing the Pearl again, well it makes me fear for him ma'am."
He looked at her with a somber face,
"when he left Tortuga like that, havin' told the ladies what he did," he looked suddenly guilty, "if you'll pardon me mentioning such as them to a lady like yourself."
Elanor raised her brows in surprise then inclined her head,
"Apologies not required Mr Gibbs, it's been a long time since I was naive to the ways of the world."
Gibbs looked unconvinced,
"If you say so ma'am, but it don't seem proper somehow."
Elanor smiled
"It's forgiven, however improper, since it seems to be relevant to your concerns for Jack."
She indicated that he should continue, he did though uncertainly,
"Oh aye. Well him sayin' what he did, it was like he was never planning on comin' back. When I heard that he'd gone and taken the dingy out to sea, well I'll admit I was afeared at what he was about."
He looked across to the island,
"and this place, well it has the feel of damnation about it."
Elanor considered the calm seas around them and frowned,
"Yes I know what you mean. It feels wrong somehow, so quiet, so beautiful, and yet it looks abandoned, rejected in some way."
Gibbs stared at her with worried eyes, then cleared his thoat and dropped his voice to a loud whisper,
"It looks like the locker."
***
The island was smaller than the one that he and Elizabeth had been marooned on now that he came to look closely, and there was little on it other than sand and bare rock. It wasn't completely flat but the gradual rise from the shore to the highest point was slow and slight and in a storm the seas might cover the whole. Deep crevasse ran through the rock on its crown, dark secret folds that hid what little life there might be, life that was staying well out of sight even if it were there and awake. The vegetation was confined to a small patch in the center of the spit, at the highest point, where a deeper and wider cleft held enough sandy soil for a small group of stunted palms to have taken and kept hold. Around them the ground was covered in a hard leaved grass-like plant its edges sharp enough to cut an unshod foot.
Most importantly there was no water to be seen, not anywhere. Jack scoured the sands around the trees where it seemed that water, any water, was most likely to be. He inspected the ground on hand and knees, peered into holes in sand and rock, lifted rocks without holes where he could. For more than a weary hour he searched the small patch of vegetation to no avail, there was no spring, no pool and no well that he could see. Yet the trees must be drawing water from somewhere, for rain would pass quickly through the sand they were rooted in. With a curse and a quick look up at the empty sky and the white hot disc of the sun, now high over head, Jack set about searching the rest of the barren land.
***
On the ship Elanor and Gibbs had retreated into the shade, for even out at sea the air was heavy, almost stifling. It could not be pleasant on the island and for a moment Elanor wondered if she had been right in supporting Jack in his insistence on going alone.
Gibbs had a rum bottle in his hand and took a swig from time time to time, his eyes barely leaving the island behind the reef, scanning it from one end to the other. Elanor sighed to herself and wished that she could find him something to do, but with the anchors down there was little that could be done by anyone, not and have the ship ready to move quickly if they needed to. But she needed to distract him from his concerns about Jack, if only to stop the worry in his face from rasping against her own uncertainties.
Fortunately there was always a way to distract Gibbs, and she used it.
"You said that Jack was something of a mystery before the business with the Aztec gold, but you've been with him most of these last three years you must have learned more about him."
Gibbs sighed and was silent for a moment or two and she wondered if the this time his worry was so great that it would be different. Finally though he took another swig of run and turned to face her,
"Aye, I know more than I did, m'ren I did before he killed Barbossa." He smiled wryly, "It's as I told you, for all his 'look at me' swagger Jack can be very close mouthed, no man alive better at talking a lot but sayin' little if ye take my meanin'. There be a lot of stories o'course, some true, some part true, some not true at all. Not always the ones you'd think untrue that are either. But I'd guess that I knows more of the truth about him than most. "
"Do you know the real story of the Black Pearl and Davy Jones? Or how he got that brand on his arm?"
He nodded,
"Most of it I reckon, some he only told me once he knew Beckett was on the horizon again."
Elanor shifted slightly so that she could see his face more easily,
"Captain needs to be kept informed Mr Gibbs, so tell me."
***
Judging by the sun he'd been searching for more than two hours and he was no closer to knowing why the compass put the fountain here than he had been to start with. The only difference was that his shirt was plastered to him and his hands were scratched and scraped and coated in dust. He cursed as one of the stiff bladed grasses pierced his thumb sending a trail of red blood to join the sweat caked dust on his palm. He stood up, thumb in his mouth, and stared around him,
"Bugger. It has to be here. Compass never lies to me, not even when it doesn't know what to tell me. But I want the fountain and the fountain don't seem to be here".
He stared up at the cloudless sky and shivered despite the heat, the familiarity with the locker was getting harder to ignore.
"Has to be here."
Jack pulled the compass from his belt and studied it again, the needle remain stubbornly pointing at a group of rocks he'd already searched twice. With another curse he looked across to the Chaser, still where he had last seen her before letting his eyes drift back down to the compass as the needle flickered and reoriented itself now pointing out to sea. Jack shook it angrily,
"Of course I want to bloody well go back. I'm fryin' like an egg on a griddle here, there's no rum, no water, no food and no shade. Stop telling me what I already know and show me the bloody fountain."
But the compass remained stubbornly pointing at the sea and with a sigh Jack began the trudge towards the scruffy palm trees again; one more search of that hole in the rock, just in case he'd missed something, and then he'd head back to the ship.
***
"Jack didn't start his sailin' as a pirate. No more did his father, Teague."
Gibbs smiled,
"There be many a story about where Teague came from and how he found his way to piracy, nearly as many as there be about Jack, but none I know to be the truth. All I knows of Teague is that he be Keeper of the Code, a readin' man, and a hard bastard with a harsh reputation. But there was talk around Shipwreck when we were there, lot a rot most of it for there be not many who knew Teague when were a lad, but there were a few. After a grog or two they was willin' enough to talk after seeing Jack come home in such a way."
He looked up at her with sadness in his face,
"Jack were not himself when he came back from the locker, not for a long while. More than one wondered how he and Teague would deal with each other after so many years."
"So Jack hadn't seen his father in some years?"
"From what I can tell not since he were twenty."
"Why?"
"Ah well ma'am ye have to understand that Jack's mother was the great love of Teague's life, after the sea, or so 'tis said. Jack be his only legitimate son, as ye might say, the only one who he wanted to carry his name."
"But he doesn't, carry his name I mean."
"No ma'am and that perhaps tells ye a lot about it. "
Gibbs took another swig of rum,
"Now as I heard it Jack's ma came from the Indies and was born of a high caste family and was both beautiful and passin' rich. But, whether it came from her or Teague, Jack didn't come into this world without a shillin' and he had no taste for his father's life even as a lad. Sided with his mother and her culture he did, or so I heard at Shipwreck, and she drummed a respect for life and livin' things into him from his earliest days."
"Not the best outlook for a pirate!"
"No ma'am and Teague were mortal offended when not much more than a little lad Jack ups and says he want to go to England to learn map makin' and such so that he could go exploring the seas rather than sailin with his da. Well Jack's ma she sided with him, and Teague could never say no to her so 'tis said, so he agrees that Jack can go when he reached twelve, which he did. Teague were mightily angry though and swore that no milksop of a map maker would carry his name, so Jack he says 'fair enough' and takes another."
Elanor laughed,
"Families! Seems that some things don't change much."
"If ye say so ma'am."
"So how did he end up in the Caribbean?"
"No one rightly knows. Plenty of stories but can't say which are true or not. General thrust is that Jack worked for the East India Company for a couple of years captaining a ship called the Wicked Wench. The ship that became the Pearl."
"Bit young to be captain of merchant man wasn't he?"
"Aye ma'am, normally that would be so, but Jack is quicker than most in lots of things and he were born on a ship."
Gibbs looked at her with raised brows,
"Some of the stories now they say that the Wench weren't a company ship at all, and that Jack owned her, that he had paid for her to be built and to his own design too."
Elanor considered that dispassionately before nodding slowly,
"Well I suppose that would make more sense, if he owned her then he could decide who captained her, couldn't he?" She stared out towards the island with narrowed eyes, "makes more sense of this deal with Davy Jones he talks of too. I had wondered why he cared so much about that ship in particular to make such a bargain. If he was turning pirate then why not just steal a ship? Somehow I couldn't see that her speed alone would make her worth the risk of such a deal, not to a pragmatist like Jack. But owning her, that might explain it."
Gibbs gave that some thought then nodded,
"Aye, it might at that."
She drew a deep breath,
"And what of Beckett?"
Gibbs took a pull on his rum and sighed.
"Jack worked for the company for a couple of years, mainly trading things locally. He and Cutler Beckett did a lot of business and they were in the way of being friends, or so I heard. But, see, Beckett weren't satisfied with his lot. Lot of lordlings in the company offices ma'am and Beckett's family well they had some money but not enough and not much else. Beckett had ambition to change that. He had other ambitions too, involving Jack."
He shot her a nervous look,
"Some of them of a more personal nature if you take my meanin' ma'am. At least so some have said." Gibbs shook his head. " He called Jack a friend whatever there was between them. But Beckett, well he was a nasty piece of goods even then. People, even friends, were to be used in his book. So Beckett acquires a cargo in his own right and commissioned Jack to run it to the Caribbean for him. It would have made him a pile of gold had it worked as he planned."
He shot her a look that she couldn't read,
"He used the king's money to buy it though, so he needed no one to know until it was all sealed. He persuaded Jack to do it for him as a special favour, telling no one what he was up to."
Gibbs stared down at the deck,
"Cargo were slaves, men, women and chile. Beckett knew Jack's views on that but the Wench was fast and he needed the deal done quickly, so he arranged for Jack to spend the evening on the town while the ship were loaded. Saw to it that Jack were well provided with stong licour , too well provided for him to notice much when he went on board. Quartermaster saw to the loadin' and he was in Beckett's pocket. Reckon that Beckett thought Jack'd just accept it once they'd sailed."
Gibbs took another swig of rum,
"But Bootstrap said he'd never see a man in such a rage as when Jack found out."
***
It was thirst that finally drove Jack to accept that he wasn't going to find the fountain, at least not yet. The little water he had brought with him had been drunk and he had a growing desire for rum, not helped by the fact that the sun had burnt his back through his shirt, the pistols had bruised his ribs and a falling rock had done something nasty to the thumb that the grass hadn't speared. He was hotter than he thought that he had ever been, tired, thirsty and as close to depressed as he was going to allow himself to become. Rum definitely seemed a good idea, but that meant a long row back to the Dawn Chaser. In which case the sooner he started the sooner he would be there.
He started the short but slow trek back to the boat his mind examining the problem from all the angles as he went. If the compass said the fountain was here, then it was here; the fact that he couldn't find it didn't change that. If asked most people would tell you that there couldn't be doorways to the eternal seas or to other worlds, but he'd sailed the one and was currently sailing with the proof of the other, so just not being able to see something didn't mean that it didn't exist. It was just a case of finding out what it took to see it.
On that cheerful thought he clambered into the long boat and began the haul back to the ship.
***
The sight of the call light flashing on the helm console halted Elanor's discussions with Mr Gibbs; Ariadne wanted her with some urgency it seemed. She turned the binoculars towards the little island just in time to see Jack push the longboat into the surf, and turned to reassure her companion,
"He's just started back." She said with a smile. "I've no doubt that he'll more than ready for a drink, so you had better break out another bottle of rum, somehow I don't think water is going to be enough. Not unless he's found the fountain, but from the set of his shoulders I don't think he has. See to him when he get here will you? I need to go below for a while."
Before he could ask her why she headed below deck.
She stayed there until Jack was back aboard.
"You didn't find it." She said although she already knew the answer, Ariadne had just spent some considerable time explaining the why of it to her.
"No I didn't." Jack's admission was grudging, but the reddening of the bridge of his nose and the sweat stains on his shirt told the story of his discomfort and she didn't press him.
"You wouldn't have done."
He took a step closer to her, standing almost nose to nose,
"Why not! It has to be here, the compass says it does." He waved the item in question in front of her, "and this doesn't lie. See it's still pointing to the that bloody island, this has to be the right place."
Elanor waited while Gibbs handed Jack a bottle of rum ,
"It might well be but you won't have found it. Ariadne has just explained to me why."
He took a deep swig then tipped his head back and stared at her down his sun burnt nose,
"Oh. What she said then."
Elanor drew a deep breath and leaned against the rail,
"The island used to be bigger. Well no, that's not quite true, it's the same size it always was but more of it is under the sea than there used to be."
"What!"
"Isle del Muerta!" Gibbs groaned.
Elanor nodded suppressing a smile at Gibbs despairing look,
"Something like, that but not quite the same."
She looked towards Jack who had the rum bottle to his lips but seemed not to be drinking,
"The sea bed seems to have dropped, but it's been a straight drop. Below the water line the island seems unchanged." She looked across towards the island with narrowed eyes, "Which is really rather strange when you come to think about it."
"So you're sayin' that it's lost then, are you?" Jack sounded willing to argue the point.
Elanor paused,
'I can lie' she thought to herself, 'I can hold back on what Ariadne knows and just say yes. If I do that then how will Jack respond? Will he try to force me to go on at the point of a sword and risk Ariadne's wrath? Probably not, but he may well decide that he's not giving up, decide to row back over there and stay. What do I do is he does? Do I sail off into the sunset and leave him to it? Gibbs will go with him of course, so am I prepared to sail away and let the pair of them die here. Because they will die. Or do I sail off and come back when they have had time to convince themselves there's nothing else to do? Assuming that I can get back, and there is certainly something very odd about this place, I'm not sure I could find it again. But could we go on sailing together after that even if I did? Because I'm damn sure that Jack would see it as betrayal.'
"Elanor?" Jack was frowning at her silence,
She stared at him the tension almost a physical thing between them. Her thoughts ran on,
'If I lie then where do we go from here. If not this hare to chase then what comes next for both of us? Gibbs can go back to Tortuga and his life there but what would it leave for Jack and I?'
"Elanor?" Jack said more loudly letting the bottle drop and coming half a pace forward, "out with it woman whatever it is."
She drew another deep breath,
"Sorry, but I'm not quite sure how to say it."
"Say what?" Jack was almost shouting now, only his clenched teeth preventing it being a bellow.
"There is a space, under the island. It seems to be quite large, as if the center of the mountain that is now covered is hollow. But Ariadne can't see what is inside the space. It's not water, that seems clear enough, however the island sunk it hasn't filled this hollowed mountain with water." She frowned at him, "Which is also odd."
Jack stared at her with narrowed eyes and uncertainty shadowing his mouth, then he corked the rum bottle and put it down on the deck straitening up slowly and resting his hands on the pistols still tucked into his belt
"So can we get to it from above?"
"Possibly. There is an crevasse in the rock beneath those trees."
"Aye I saw it, but its narrow and shallow, goes nowhere."
"Oh it goes somewhere, but not for a good many feet. Ariadne thinks that about ten feet down it starts to widen, and gets wider still at twenty feet down and then wider still at fifty feet down. Somewhere about a hundred feet down it opens into this space whatever it is."
Jack looked back towards the island,
"That's a hundred feet below the surface of the sea is it?"
"Yes."
"Hmmp." Jack pulled on his beard braids as he thought. "But no water in it you say?"
"Not as far as we can judge. Of course there might be no air either....."
Jack shrugged,
"It's open to the sky, no reason why there shouldn't be air."
"No that's true enough. But this place makes me uneasy Jack. Everything Ariadne knows says that this island and this submerged mountain shouldn't exist in the way that they do. But they are here. However they may not obey the usual rules in ways we have no idea of. Look around you, this whole location has a strange aura to it. Mr Gibbs can feel it, I can feel it, are you saying that you don't?"
"Not sayin' anything of the sort." Jack's voice was soft, "but it is there, and the compass says that this is where the fountain is. That's what we came to find."
His hand fluttered towards her arm and he smiled one of his most winning smiles,
"We can hardly go away again with so little exploration, now can we?" He inclined his head to the pile of supplies still neatly stacked on the deck, "we have what we need do we not? So what do you say Captain Cavendish, do we dare or do we not?"
Elanor looked at Gibbs standing behind Jack his face smiling but the worry clear to see in his eyes, then she looked back at Jack reading the tension in his shoulders as well as the blaze of his smile. Suddenly it felt as if she had known him forever. 'If not here and with them, then where and with whom?' the voice at the back of her head asked. She met his eyes for a long moment then she smiled, drew a deep breath, throwing back her head to look at the impossibly red sunset,
"Well I've nothing else pressing to do," she said then she looked back to Jack's face,
"We dare Captain Sparrow, it seems that we dare."
In the shadows of the helm the sun glowed brighter for a moment as the Lady smiled.