The Devil's Temptress: Dead Man's Chest || Jack Sparrow

VII. Tia

Once the Black Pearl was anchored, Jack instructed her to lead the second boat along with Gibbs, Will, Pintel and Ragetti as he took the first with Marty, Cotton...Cotton's Parrot...a couple of other crew members, and with Jack the Monkey. The latter, Jack had been quite coy about for no matter how many times she asked why they were chasing the capuchin across the deck and batting his way through the rigging all she got in reply was 'to keep him calm'.

Filthy liars the lot of them.

No matter, she allowed Jack to take little Jack and stood affront the longboat which followed Jack's upriver.

From the moment they became fully emerged in the overgrown, gloomy swamp, Nicolette was on high alert for anything out the ordinary. Vines which could have easily been snakes in disguise, hung low and connected the dark untameable trees, some going from one side of the river to the other, sometimes catching the top of her head as they passed through.

The water, dirty and thick, reflected the rare rays of moonlight the jungle allowed it to see, sometimes lighting the swamp in a every firefly glow. The trees grew tall and the banks of the river were made purely by their roots in most places, large rotten mossy legs entwining with one another before sinking into the black abyss.

It was peaceful, if not a little spooky. But the colours, the deep browns and dark tropical greens blending together with the black blue of the night sky, they were calming and beautiful in the most subtle and appeasing way. The soft sound of the breeze coming from the open oceans and swooping through the leaves like a whisper and the almost silent sound of fish coming to the surface as birds sung around them. It was lovely.

That's why it was such a shame when from behind her, Will decided to pipe up with his irritating English drawl.

"Why is Jack afraid of the open ocean?" The boy wasn't daft, and like Nic and the rest of Jack's crew, he had grown savvy to Jack strange...er behaviour.

Nicolette perked her ears but didn't acknowledge the boy personally, figuring there were three other beings on this boat who enjoyed a tall tale much more than herself.

Gibbs cleared his throat, as she expected he would and then began, "Well, if you believe such things, there's a beast does the bidding of Davy Jones. A fearsome creature with giant tentacles that suction your face clean off and drag an entire ship down to the crushing darkness." Gibbs paused, lowering his voice the tiniest amount. "The Kraken." She saw Jack tilt an ear their way up ahead and rolled her eyes as she heard Pintel and Ragetti both gasp behind her.

"They say the stench of its breath is... ooh." Gibbs shuddered. "Imagine, the last thing you know on God's green earth is the roar of the Kraken and the reeking odour of a thousand rotting corpses." Pintel and Regetti recoiled, slowing their rowing for a split second before Nicolette turned and clipped them each of the back of the head. "If you believe such things." Gibbs finished, catching the lasses glare and turning forward, while Will fell deeper into his thoughts and felt the outline of the drawing he had taken from Jack, in his breast pocket.

"And the key will spare him that?"

"Now that's the very question Jack wants answered. Bad enough even to go visit... her."

Will raised an eyebrow, suddenly intrigued. "Her?"

"Aye."

They were silenced as they rounded a narrow curve in the river which led them to a large open pool of still water, at the far end of which was a hut. Strangers eyes, those belonging to men, women and children followed them as they turned from travellers to intruders. The riverbanks appeared to move with them as some of the children followed the pace of the boat from the shore but Nicolette kept her eyes forward. They meant no harm, simply curious. Otherwise doused in darkness, the windows were illuminated with candlelight. The placement of the small flames made it look inviting but as they got closer, the wood became more rotten and cold.