A Pirate's Life for Me

Chapter 14: By Blood undone

Inside the cave, Jack wandered about the treasures, picking up random objects and tossing them aside carelessly as he examined each trinket. Will stood to the side, his hands still bound behind his back and guarded on either side by two pirates, and he watched Jack with disdain.

Another pirate, the one Will had tried to kill in Port Royal when he'd been unaware of the curse, sat on his hunches by a small stream in the middle of the cave, washing some jewels. And finally, Barbossa watched Jack as he sat upon a pile of treasure off to the other side, but his gaze was curious unlike Will's as he watched Jack's rummaging.

"I must admit, Jack," Barbossa finally broke the silence, "I thought I had ye figured."

Jack turned to glance at Barbossa, as the older man admitted: "But it turns out that you're a hard man to predict."

"Me?" Jack said, raising a brow. "I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest."

Jack tossed another valuable figurine to the side where it landed with a clink against the other treasures as Barbossa frowned a little in confusion, and Will's eye twitched a little as he watched Jack approach the pirate sitting on his hunches.

"Honestly." Jack continued as though oblivious to the scrutiny he was receiving. "It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict," Will's frown deepened, "when they're going to do something incredibly..." And Jack finally looked right at Will. "Stupid."

Will cocked his head a little, before his eyes narrowed as Jack suddenly reached out and grabbed the crouched pirate's sword, unsheathing it as he kicked the startled pirate into the water.

Barbossa only had time to blink as Jack tossed the sword to Will, who caught it deftly despite his tied hands and immediately started tackling his guards, while Jack pulled out his own sword and charged Barbossa.

Barbossa retaliated swiftly, drawing his own sword to meet Jack's attack, and the pair started to duel just as Will managed to cut his ropes and free his hands so that he could take on the other pirates.

Jack and Barbossa shifted about to one side of the cave, each almost evenly matched, as Will stayed in the middle of the cave, and Jack cut through the enormous feather on Barbossa's hat.

"Haha!" Jack grinned, but his smile dropped when Barbossa's face darkened and the older man roared.

Jack quickly blocked Barbossa's swing, and their swords clashed as they fought once more while down below, Will did well as he held his own against three pirates. But then one moved into the moonlight, and Will's eyes widened as he saw the exact form of the curse for the first time.

But he wasn't distracted long, and quickly swung once more to attack, while on the far side of the room, Jack clashed with Barbossa. Their swords skid against each other as Barbossa pushed his full weight towards Jack, leaning in close.

"You're off the edge of the map, mate." Barbossa leered as he stared Jack in the eye. "Here there be monsters."

He pushed Jack, but Jack managed to keep upright as he stumbled back and away from the undead pirate.

*********

Annalise heaved herself up, the side of the Black Pearl, placing her feet carefully on the ship's ridges. She recalled Jack's instructions on how to climb the side of a ship, when he'd been leading the way up the side of the Dauntless and later as an off-hand note, and silently sent thanks to the pirate Captain for his foresight. She just hoped the crew would be worth the effort to save... after all, they were pirates too.

Elizabeth followed her sister's path as Annalise pulled herself up carefully near a ledge by the cannon hole, and she winced as she heard voices inside.