Chapter 6: 1741 - The Lost Souls
"Why does the sky have no stars in this godforsaken place?" Van Dijk cursed under his breath as he tried in vain to find any clue as to where they were.
He had just relieved Barbossa at the helm, and if he believed the bell clock the "Pearl" had on board, it was shortly after midnight: "This place is made to drive you insane little by little."
"And now imagine you'd have to spend a whole year in this place. Or worse: An eternity."
As usual, Jack lolled on a pile of folded sails and coiled ropes to keep his Dutch friend company. In this case, not entirely unselfish, though, for he could not deny that he longed to share thoughts with anyone about anything, who didn't look like a hallucination of himself.
"I suppose the phrase 'perpetual nightmare' doesn't even come close to what it must have felt like for you to have been trapped here, right?"
"You can wake up from a nightmare anytime, mate. But not from the monotonous, never-ending loneliness of this place. And since those who end up here are evidently dead, even the last way out of this misery is denied to them."
"What do you mean?"
"How many times do you think I've tried to shoot or hang myself over the past few months before I got to realise that death is not intended to become my salvation?"
"Well, don't get me wrong, lad, but I have to admit I am truly grateful for this specific part of your involuntary stay in this place."
Jack grinned: "And I, well, I can't believe I'm saying this, mate, but I am grateful to you for taking it upon yourselves to get me out of here. To all of you."
"What Gibbs told you is the truth, Jack: The world out there is in desperate need of you. More than ever before! You'll see what's meant once we get back. Nothing out there is like it once was. One no longer knows whom to trust. Friends betray their friends just to hold out a month, a week, a day longer against those who chase them across the seas, and the English now have their spies everywhere. I'd place a bet on it that it was no coincidence that they showed up in Singapore on the very day we were negotiating with Sao Feng. You were right, Jack, like so many times since we've known each other: This Lord Beckett is ruthless and without conscience. Only one thing drives this man: Power! And now he owns it."
"He will not be satisfied until he has smoked out the last remaining pirate strongholds: Singapore, Madagascar, and Shipwreck Cove. And now that he's got hold of the heart of Davy Jones, so he can command the man whatever he desires, he's closer than ever to his goal."
"You can't imagine what we saw when we went looking for you. There were shipwrecks all over the oceans, and not all were pirates. It's unbelievable how many lives this man is willing to sacrifice."
"Beckett makes sure no one is willing to stand up to him any more. Who will dare defy him when he has Davy Jones and the infamous 'Flying Dutchman' under his control? When that happens, van Dijk, when even the last of his opponents and competitors for the dominion of the seven seas has given up, then and only then will Beckett be satisfied, for then and only then will he have what he thirsts most for in his hands: Absolute power."
"Then Barbossa is right, and you have no choice but to convene the Council of Pirate Lords?"
"As much as I hate to admit it, in this case he's right. We have no other choice."
It was not lost on van Dijk that Jack felt a certain reluctance to return to the fortress of Shipwreck Cove to carry out his duties as the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean. Not knowing what the reasons might be, he cleared his throat and asked bluntly: "What's all this about, lad? The Council of the Brethren Court of Shipwreck Cove? The Nine Pirate Lords? That fortress everyone's talking about? Barbossa and Gibbs told me about your rules. I know there's a law of your own among you pirates. But it seems to me that each of the great strongholds and each of these brotherhoods operate by their own rules. And as far as I remember, the pirates of Madagascar don't accept your code. At least if you believe Roc Brasiliano. So, why all the rules when there is discord not only between the great strongholds but also among the Pirate Lords who represent those rules and those strongholds?"
"Let's call it good old traditions and rituals, with which we assure each other of our mutual aversion and animosity, whenever we meet – by accident or by force."
"Will you tell me how you got your title?"
Jack smiled: "Coincidence! Clever trade-offs and negotiations! Let's say I was in the right place at the right time. I got the title and my piece of eight from an old captain. But that's a long story. One that I don't necessarily want to tell in a place like this, if you get what I'm saying."
The Dutchman knew that was all he would get out of Jack at this point, and so they kept silent for a while, until he tried to elicit an answer from his young friend to another question: "What about the reason you stayed aboard for? Did you find your girl?"
Jack blinked in the dark. "I wish I had, my friend! But in a way, she's always with me, and without her, I probably would have lost my mind."
"Do you have an idea where you can find her?"
"I do! Caith and I died aboard a ship back then! At sea! Something Beckett and Mercer didn't consider when they turned our lives into hell on earth. A part of her is here with me. The part of her that was clinging to the 'Wench' or … the 'Pearl'. So, another part of her must be trapped, either here in Davy Jones' Locker or aboard the 'Flying Dutchman'. How else could Jones have known anything about her?"
"What does that mean?"
Jack looked at the Dutchman intently: "Caith is not here, van Dijk. That means…"
"…she's aboard the 'Flying Dutchman'?"
"Yes, mate, that's exactly what it means!"
It was at that moment that something else caught their attention.
Behind them, on the quarterdeck, Pintel and Ragetti had been killing time for a while. But now Tia Dalma had joined them, and all three looked into the grey waters on which the "Pearl" was still calmly gliding with an expression that was both astonished and worried.
At first, Jack wondered what the mysterious voodoo priestess was doing with his two cannoneers, but then a light breeze carried her words over to him and van Dijk, and he understood: "They should be in the care of Davy Jones. That was the duty him was charged with by the goddess. Calypso: To ferry those who died at sea to the other side. And every ten years, he could come ashore to be with she who loved him truly. But the man has become a monster."
Ragetti looked at her confused: "He wasn't always all tentacally?"
Tia Dalma's voice had a wistful undertone. One that at best she and Jack Sparrow understood: "No, he was a man once. Poor, unfortunate souls... now they must find their own way."
There was silence for a while until Ragetti remarked, "Now it's boats coming…"
Jack frowned at the whole goings-on and turned to van Dijk: "Secure the helm, mate, and come with me. Let's see what's going on back there."
Will and Elizabeth also joined them, as did Gibbs, Barbossa, and the rest of the crew, when first one, then countless small boats passed the "Pearl".
Soundless, ghostly, unearthly.
Each of those boats was lit by a small lantern with a flickering candle, making the whole scene seem even more unreal.
Sometimes one person sat inside. Sometimes two. Rarely more.
It didn't seem to make any difference who they were – poor, rich, man, woman, or child: Their eyes and gazes seemed blank and absent, and none of them seemed to notice the "Pearl" or her crew.
Until that moment when Elizabeth spotted a familiar face on one of the boats, and her eyes lit up, filled with a mixture of joy and relief: "This is my father! We made it! We are back!"
She leaned over the rail, waved, and called down to get the man's attention: "Father! Do you hear me? We are here! Father!"
"Elizabeth!" It was Jack's hand she felt on her shoulder, and there was something in his eyes that told her something was wrong: "Elizabeth, we're not back yet…"
The realisation of what Jack was trying to explain to her, as gently as he could, hit the young woman like a hammer blow.
Jack's gaze did follow Elizabeth's, and he realised at once that she was not mistaken:
It was indeed Governor Weatherby Swann sitting on one of the boats. He was still dressed as elegantly as he was the day this adventure began. The day he, Jack, had rescued Elizabeth from the deep depths of Port Royal Bay.
Governor Swann still wore the long wig on his head, which he had defended with life and limb aboard the "HMS Dauntless" as the battle raged between Norrington's soldiers and Barbossa's ghostly crew. He looked like Jack remembered him, but his eyes also had the same empty look as everyone else's.
There was no doubt Beckett and Mercer got rid of the man, for whom they no longer had any use in their new world order. They had not even considered giving him a chance and just left him, like so many others, to his fate at sea, convinced that he would no longer pose a threat to them as soon as they had silenced him.
Jack's gaze returned to Elizabeth.
Her face was ashen, but something inside her wasn't ready to see and accept the truth. And so she ran along the rail and called for her father, until the pale figure down there on the boat seemed to recognise her voice and looked up at her: "Elizabeth! Are you dead?"
"No! None of us is!"
"I think I am." The governor's voice was low, and the words flowed slowly from his pale lips: "There was a chest, you see. How odd. At the time, it seemed so important. And a heart, and if you stabbed the heart, you would have to sail forever. That's how it worked. Stab the heart and take his place. The 'Dutchman' must have a captain. Silly thing to die for."
Elizabeth was far from letting the truth enter her heart and cried out in desperation: "Come abroad! Someone cast a line! Come back with us, father!"
She ran over to Marty, who handed her one of the lines, and rushed back to the rail to toss the rope to her father. But he ignored her and just replied: "When I would reprimand you to obey rules, it was because I did not want you to ever be unhappy. But I should have recognised in your wilfulness your courage. I'm proud of you, Elizabeth!"
The young woman wasn't ready to let him go and was just about to climb over the rail to throw herself into the eerie grey waters as Tia Dalma's voice echoed across the deck: "She must not leave the ship!"
Both Will and Jack reacted immediately, but it was the boy who grabbed her at the last moment before she could jump and pressed her tightly to his chest. The moment she realised there was nothing more she could do than let go of the man who had tried to be a good father to her all these years.
His last words quickly got lost in the darkness of the night: "I'll give your love to your mother, then, shall I?"
And while Elizabeth collapsed sobbing in Will's arms, he and Jack exchanged a long, meaningful look. None of them had missed the meaning behind the governor's words:
The only way to destroy Davy Jones was to stab him through the heart. But since the "Flying Dutchman" needed a captain to fulfil her mission, whoever killed Jones' had to give his own heart and would be forever bound to the ship and said mission…
Jack decided that before he could worry about Davy Jones, the heart, and the "Flying Dutchman", other things needed his undivided attention.
He turned to Will, who was still holding a tearful Elizabeth, and gestured to his quarters: "Bring her to my cabin. Give her all the time she needs to calm down. And, William, if necessary, stay with her."
Will just nodded and did as he was told.
No sooner had the boy disappeared below deck than Jack wanted to retire to the chart room, but van Dijk clung to his heels and snapped at him: "What are you up to, lad? And no excuses! I saw the look on your face when Governor Swann talked about the chest and the heart. If you're going to do what I think you're going to do, you're a fool, Jack Sparrow!"
Jack lowered his gaze, inhaled a deep breath, and then remarked: "Van Dijk, if it is true that Caith is aboard the 'Dutchman', how could I not consider the possibility of trading the 'Pearl' for her?"
"And what if Jones sees through your plan? What will you do if he snatches your beloved pirate lass from you once and for all?"
"Then there would be nothing left for me in the outside world anyway."
Van Dijk grabbed his shoulders with both hands and forced him to face him: "And your girl? How do you think she'll take the thought that you cut out your heart to find her? The heart that, as you've told me more than once, only belongs to the woman for whom you've overcome even your worst fears? Don't you think you're going to break hers with it?"
"You fight with unfair means, van Dijk!"
"No, lad! I'm just trying to save you from some huge stupidity!"
Jack grinned.
It was the kind of grin that revealed to van Dijk that there was far more going on behind Jack's brow than he was willing to let anyone know.
Therefore, when Jack wanted to make a second attempt to disappear towards the chart room, he said: "What if the same thing happens to you as happened to Davy Jones? What if your heart fell into the hands of someone who would take great pleasure in seeing you suffer?"
Jack stopped dead in his tracks, and van Dijk knew: That was something he hadn't considered yet…