Authoress Note: Welcome to Chapter 17 of Tortured. I want to thank those who have left reviews for this story. It truly does mean a lot to me that you guys are enjoying this story. I hope that you guys will enjoy this next chapter. I've worked very hard on the chapter. I hope that this chapter turned out well. Without further ado Chapter 17. ENJOY!
Chapter 17
Rose looked over at Barbossa. "We'll need the Black Pearl to serve as our flagship, and lead the attack."
"Will we, now?" Barbossa questioned looking over at Rose.
Will spotted Tia Dalma being led onto the deck by Pintel and several Chinese pirates. She was manacled and bound with heavy ropes. "Barbossa, you can't release her."
"Release her?" James asked slightly in confusion.
Rose bit the inner part of her cheek seeing that this was going to be a problem for them.
"Can't I, now?" Barbossa said looking at them.
Suddenly the Chinese pirates surrounded James, Elizabeth, Rose, and Will restraining them.
Barbossa gave Pintel and Ragetti an approving nod as they drug Tia Dalma to the mast.
"We've got to give Jack a chance!" Rose said as she pushed her way through the men only to be held back by James.
"Apologies, your highness. But 'tis certain the world we know ends today, and I won't be letting the likes of Cutler Beckett say what comes next - and I won't be pinning my hopes on Jack Sparrow, either. Too long has my fate not been in my own hands. No longer!" Barbossa said wrapping his fist around the Captain's knot that Rose wore tearing it free.
The pearl leapt forward in the wind.
Ragetti present the bowl with the pieces of eight to Barbossa who put the Captain's knot into it.
Suddenly the wind died down.
Rose looked up her brows pinching together in concern. "Is there an incantation?"
"Aye, the items brought together, done. Has to be performed over water, we lucked out there. Items burned. And some person must speak the words, "Calypso, I release you from your human bonds.""
"Is that it?" Pintel asked confused.
"'Twas said it must be spoken softly, as if to a lover." Barbossa said grabbing Gibbs' rum bottle smashing it over the pile before shoving a punk into the pile. "Calypso, I release you from your human bonds!"
"Is that it?" Pintel asked as nothing happened.
"You didn't say it right!"
Everyone looked at Ragetti.
"You have to say it right." Ragett stepped up to Tia Salma and softly spoke. "Calypso, I release you from your human bonds."
The punk in the bowl burst into flame and the flame licking upward in a twisting column before it is gone. The pieces of eight decay their age overtaking them.
Tia Dalma gasped sagging the manacles on her hand become pitted with corrosion and fragile with rust. She shuddered as they broke falling to the deck.
Will struggled forward.
"Will." Rose said in shock seeing Will moving.
"Tia Dalma! Calypso!"
She raised her eyes to look at Will.
"When the Brethren Court first imprisoned you ... who was it that told them how? Who was it that betrayed you?"
"Name him."
"Davy Jones."
Her eyes shot towards the Flying Dutchman rage building in her eyes. Suddenly Tia Dalma transformed, her eyes changed color, her hair rippled in no wind. She raised up as crew members tried to restrain her. The ropes snapped as the deck buckled under her weight as she got bigger.
Barbossa kneeled as others followed suit. "Calypso. I come before you as but a servant, humble and contrite. I have fulfilled my vow, and now ask your favor. Spare my self, my ship, my crew - but unleash your fury upon those who dare pretend themselves your masters, or mine!"
"FOOL!"
Barbossa's eyes went wide.
Suddenly she collapsed crashing onto the deck in the form of ten thousand crabs. They were everywhere a torrent running across the deck tossing people aside as they flowed out over the sides of the ship.
Pintel blinked a few times in confusion.
"Is that it?" Will asked.
"Why, she's no help at all! What now?" Pintel questioned.
The wind began to pick up again causing the sails to shudder.
"Nothing. Our final hope has failed us." Barbossa said shaking his head.
Rose watched one of the pirate's hats being taken by the wind, spiraling up around the mast. "It's not over …"
Will looked over at Rose. "Hope is not lost. There's still a fight to be had."
James looked at Will wondering why he was saying such a thing. Yes there was a fight to be had, but a dangerous one at that.
"There's an armada arrayed against us. We've got no chance of winnin'."
Rose watched the wind her brows furrowed together as she watched. "Only a fool's chance…"
"Revenge won't bring your father back, Miss Swann -"
Rose turned sharply to Barbossa. Her hands gripped at her sides tightly.
"And it's not something I'm intending to die for."
"You're right. Then what shall we all die for?" She stepped onto the rail of the ship balancing herself the best that she could. "Listen to me! The Brethren will still be looking here, to us, to the Black Pearl, to lead. What will they see? Frightened bilge rats aboard a derelict ship? No. They will see free men. And freedom! And what the enemy will see is the flash of our cannons. They will hear the ring of our swords. And they will know what we can do by the sweat of our brows and the strength of our backs and the courage of our hearts." Her eyes landed on James after she looked at her sister, the crew, and Will. "Hoist the colors."
Will nodded his head. "Hoist the colors."
"Hoist the colors." Gibbs shouted out.
"Hoist the colors …"
It was picked up by the rest of the crew, a murmur as they moved with purpose to their stations around Barbossa.
"We've got the wind on our side, boys, and that's all we need!" Gibbs shouted.
Rose turned to the Empress and shouted across to Tai Huang. "Hoist the colors!"
James bit his lip softly seeing that his fiancee was wiling to fight in what she did.
Rose watched as the ships around them raising their colors high into the wind. Rose jumped down from the rail and looked at James. A small smile came to her lips.
"Yo, ho, haul together, hoist the colors high ... heave ho, thieves and beggars, never say we die!"
"Target the Flying Dutchman. We're the only ship that can catch her." Will said to Barbossa.
Rose nodded her head. "He's right."
James came over to Rose and touched her shoulder lightly.
Rose turned her attention to James.
"Are you sure that you still want to do this?"
"Yes." Rose said softly knowing that this was the only thing that they could do. They needed to fight back.
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This is the end of Chapter 17. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. I tried my best to make it longer and adding in extra stuff to make it longer. There are very few chapters left for this story. I can't wait to show you how this story ends. Please leave a review and let me know what you think of this chapter. I'm going to try to update as soon as I can. Until next time.
