The wind could no longer be called just wind. No, it had developed into a real storm. And even that was an understatement.
To make matters worse, rain and a thunderstorm now had to set in. Thunderstorms in combination with a storm were exhausting. Thunder rolled across the sky and one could no longer understand a word on deck. The men were all busy and running around agitated, trying to understand and then follow their captain's instructions.
Jack stood at the helm and fought against the forces of nature. The water had collected in the brim of his hat, and he kept his head down under the weight, only glancing up at the sails now and then.
Everyone thought he was crazy not to have taken in the sails long ago.
Jack had spent his life at sea, but this storm far surpassed anything he had experienced. There was no spray to lovingly wet his face from time to time.
No, waves regularly climbed up the hull of the Pearl and crashed on the deck. Even the highest railing on the quarterdeck, where he struggled, was no hurdle for the waves. He was soaked to the bone, his coat could no longer warm him against it.
The wind howled above him, thunder cracked and the sails flickered loudly.
Jack wasn't even sure how much longer he could hold the Pearl. Not that he could give her up. But he had a crew he would give the choice of making off with the dinghies or not.
Tia Dalma stood on deck and watched Jack Sparrow tensely. No movement, no lowering of his head, no flinching when the wind tore angrily at the sails escaped her.
This was his challenge, and she could not and would not help him with it.
Yes, she could perhaps have calmed the water a little … but that wouldn't do much good. Water and wind were playmates. They had a great influence on each other.
Jack looked down at his compass in despair. He was holding his course, albeit with great difficulty. At least. He quickly put the compass back in his pocket, needing both hands and all his strength to adjust his ship to the ever-changing wind and waves.
That bloody wind! They couldn't adjust the sails fast enough, and Jack gave the order to reef. The men were already cursing him. It was dangerous in this storm to climb into the rigging and furl the sails and tie them up.
The Black Pearl was a tenacious lady, but what she had to endure today was beyond anything she had experienced so far.
Jack had abandoned the Fortune quite quickly at the beginning of the storm. All crew members and Barbossa were now on the Pearl. Barbossa had been reluctant to expose the Fortune to the raging wind, but Jack had not relented.
Jack raised his head again. Barely perceptible, he had heard a dreaded sound. Two sails were completely torn and one said goodbye to the Pearl with a wild whirl. A little too late, he had given the order to reef.
Jack forced himself to take his eyes off it, and he rolled his shoulders up one by one and tensed them together with his arms to feel at least briefly something other than this crushing heaviness in his muscles. And he also moved his lower jaw, which had also suffered from the tension for too long.
He and the Pearl would conquer this storm. He was Captain Jack Sparrow, he did not fear this weather. In no time at all he would be on Tortuga, drinking rum in a warm tavern.
Tia Dalma saw the change in his posture. He had tightened his shoulders and stood up straight, he even no longer seemed to be deterred by the water on his hat.
She wished that he had released her. But Jack had refused. He wanted more background information – as he had called it – to really kill a long-time friend. Tia Dalma could only laugh at this procrastination, because that was also a trait of Jack.
Perhaps he would recover sooner than expected.
But she still had to go to Rachel. The latter didn't even know what had happened to her.
Tia Dalma was the only one who could feel the despair and also the anger in the storm.
Jack clung to the helm with all his might. He had been doing this for so long that his hands were chapped and bleeding slightly. He paid no attention to this, he had a destination and he would reach it as he always had.
This storm couldn't go on raging like this the whole time.
The high sound of the chime drowned out the water, wind and thunder for a moment. Jack listened intently to Gibbs' words.
"Land, ho!"
Jack had to grin involuntarily, he felt as if he had been relieved of a great burden.
The Pearl had once again proved why her name was uttered with the reverence of a legend. No pirate dared to set sail in such weather. But he had faced the storm for two full days and reached land in the process.
The Pearl danced on the waves and as soon as the storm subsided, the crew had to make one last effort, set sail and moor in Tortuga. Jack only kept the Pearl head-on towards the towering waves.
Hours passed before the storm subsided and the Pearl was safely moored. Jack was the first to step off the ship, his gait swinging and complacent.
To guard the Pearl and Barbossa with his men, Jack divided the men into shifts. Seven at a time, they were to watch and take turns so that everyone could breathe the sweet bouquet of Tortuga and got time to rest. Ragetti, Marty, Pintel and Cotten were first in line with three new members of the Pearl.
Jack strode purposefully towards the first available pub. Gibbs, Tristan and Temari accompanied him.
On the terrace of the pub stood the woman who had betrayed Jack to Barbossa's men on his last visit to the island. Jack greeted her courteously.
"Traitorous strumpet."
Charlotte lunged out for a slap, but Temari stood next to Jack and showed her impressive speed. She grabbed Charlotte's wrist before she could hit Jack.
"W… !?" made Charlotte confused.
Jack looked from the raised hand next to him to the two women in surprise. Then Charlotte freed herself from Temari's grip and rushed away.
"I wouldn't have deserved that," Jack said, turning to Temari. "I like you. My lady …" He held the door open for her.
Temari had never been to Tortuga before, but she felt instantly comfortable. It was nicely warm, people were dancing exuberantly to the music and there was a pleasant smell of food.
But when Jack Sparrow, still soaked from the rain, stepped through the door, all the guests fell silent. They murmured to each other, wondering if Sparrow and his men had actually been at sea in this beastly weather.
The crew of the Black Pearl sat down at one of the last free tables, and immediately a woman came to take the order. As she did so, she bent low over the table, and Jack blatantly treated himself to the sight of her cleavage. She smiled at him and he returned the smile.
"Rum and something for the lady here," he ordered, pointing his finger at Temari.
Gibbs was telling old stories. Of course … why hadn't Jack thought of that before? Gibbs might be able to tell him who this Callisto was that Tia Dalma had talked about.
Jack wanted to keep up appearances, he knew who Callisto was, and so he prompted Gibbs, "Master Gibbs! Tell us a story about Callisto."
Gibbs looked at his captain happily. "Callisto, the goddess of the winds, Calypso's sister …"
But from then on, Jack stopped listening, and suddenly he remembered his father's story about Callisto. How the sailors also invocated her before setting sail …
Yes, Calypso and Callisto, two sisters who loved and hated each other, who vied and played together. Both unpredictable, Calypso rather melancholic, Callisto coltish.
"They say Callisto very rarely appears as a woman because she can't stand the limitedness of a solid body for that long. And when she does appear, she is naked, because she always disappears into thin air," Gibbs continued blithely.
Tristan, who had just taken a hearty swig, looked at Gibbs in amazement and put the bottle down.
"And when this Roselyn just appeared naked in the water, you didn't think of Callisto?" he now wanted to know, incredulously.
Gibbs faltered and stuttered.
"Hold it," Jack said. "Callisto was on board with you? On my ship?"
Tristan and Gibbs looked at each other and Gibbs answered hesitantly, "Well, Mr. Cotton had suddenly drawn my attention to an unclothed woman in the water. Oh … Jack, you missed something out. She introduced herself as Roselyn."
Temari and Tristan – siblings, as Jack had already learned, and lacking any resemblance – exchanged conspiratorial glances and Tristan then said, "It was she who had given you a kiss when you were dead."
"And then she was just dead. Tia Dalma said she wanted to take your death. But Rose did not accept that and did it herself. She was well acquainted with Tia Dalma …," Temari now also reported.
Jack emptied his bottle of rum and ordered another, this time not paying the slightest attention to the waitress's ample cleavage.
"So, let me summarise briefly: Tia Dalma – Calypso – has a sister, the wind goddess Callisto. She appeared to you in human form. She made a pass at me …"
Jack grinned proudly and Temari interrupted him, "Jackass, she gave her life – if that's what you call it with gods – with that kiss. For you."
Jack tried humility, but he had to keep grinning as he began to speak again, "Rest in peace, Rose."
"Jack, I think …," Tristan said, but was interrupted by Jack.
"We have allowed a glitch to appear in our figment from the very beginning. Our confused thoughts with Rachel – Calypso's daughter. No wonder the poor thing could do absolutely nothing with the water, and stood hour after hour – useless but most lovely – at the rail trying to make waves. She is not Calypso's daughter. She is Callisto's daughter. And Tia Dalma told me a deity can only die when she has a successor. When Rose took my death, Rachel became Callisto. Otherwise, there would be no more wind goddess. Wait... that also means that Rachel has lumbered us with this wretched storm …"
This realisation sent an unhealthy amount of rum into his too empty stomach. When Jack put the bottle down and noticed the silence throughout the room, he turned on his chair and looked around the room. The other guests were listening to them spellbound.
"What?" Jack wanted to know, because the others were all looking at him as if he was a ghost. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, my life is exciting and there's nothing that won't happen to me. Take what you can!" with that he raised his bottle again, and they toasted each other.
The music continued to play and the pirates in the pub thought the Black Pearl crew's conversation was sailor's yarn. Jack Sparrow had always been a crazy one.
"So Calypso herself has no daughter?" asked Tristan.
Jack turned to the lad … he was always surprised when people thought for themselves and liked that. His attention was drawn to Temari, who was sitting next to her brother and made small notches in the table with her fingernails.
"What are we going to do next?" asked Gibbs.
Jack shrugged his shoulders. "Free Calypso."
Again the room fell silent, and the other people looked at Jack angrily. They even called him names.
"Are you mad?" someone shouted across the room.
"I strongly assume so," Jack said, smiling and waving to the man. "Rum for everyone!" he then announced, earning applause and cheers, and poked Gibbs in the side.
The first mate put a few coins on the table, but only as much as his crew and he had drunk. The promised round for the other guests would have to be paid for by someone else.