Shadows, Sails and Pirate Tales

"Welcome back, Miss. You took advantage of our hospitality last time. It holds fair now that you return the favour," Barbossa said, pushing Elizabeth towards one of his crew.

Dette stared at the Interceptor, now in pieces. Will was on that ship.

Suddenly, there was a loud thud.

"Barbossa!"

Dette spun around to see no other than Will Turner standing on the side of the ship, dripping wet and brandishing a pistol.

"Will," Dette gasped quietly.

"WILL!" Elizabeth cried, always the drama queen.

"She goes free," Will gestured towards Elizabeth with his pistol.

"What's in your head, boy?" Barbossa asked Will.

"She goes free!" he repeated.

"You've only got one shot, and we can't die," Barbossa said bluntly, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't do anything stupid," Jack whispered.

Will pulled himself up more firmly on the side of the ship. "You can't," he told Barbossa, "I can."

Dette gasped and closed her eyes as Will pointed the pistol at his own head.

"Like that," Jack muttered.

"Who are you?" Barbossa drawled.

Jack saw this as the opportune moment to step in.

"No one," he exclaimed, "He's no one. Just a distant cousin of my aunt's nephew twice removed. Lovely singing voice, though. Eunuch," he whispered the last word to Barbossa as if sharing a dark secret with him.

"Please don't do anything stupid, Will," Dette whispered to herself.

"My name is Will Turner. My father was Bootstrap Bill Turner. His blood runs in my veins," Will said confidently.

Ragetti cried out, "He's the spitting image of ol' Bootstrap Bill come back to haunt us!"

"On my word do as I say, or I'll pull this trigger and be lost to Davy Jones' locker." Will shouted, getting impatient and slowly getting unnerved.

After a few moments, Barbossa spoke.

"Name your terms, Mr Turner," he smiled.

"Elizabeth goes free," Will said immediately.

"Yes, we know that one. Anything else?" Barbossa said, as his crew snickered.

Dette sighed angrily. "Thanks Will," she mumbled.

Will looked around, catching Dette's eye. He noticed Jack pointing at himself.

"And the crew, the crew are not to be harmed." he said quickly, waving the pistol towards them before returning it to his face.

"Agreed."

As Barbossa turned away from Will, he gestured to the crew. They started to drag Elizabeth towards the plank.

"Go on, Poppet, go! Walk the plank!" Pintel cried.

"Barbossa, you lying bastard! You swore she'd go free!" Will shouted, struggling against the crew who were holding him back.

"Don't dare impugn me honour, boy. I agreed she'd go free, but it was you who failed to specify when or where," Barbossa chuckled, turning back to Elizabeth.

Will was gagged by the crew, and began to struggle as Elizabeth stepped onto the plank.

"Though it does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don’t it lads?" Barbossa said, grinning at his crew, who cried out in agreement.

"So I'll be having that dress back before you go," Barbossa sneered at Elizabeth.

Dette became nervous as she saw some of the crew moving toward Jack.

"I always liked you," Jack said to the pirate who began to push him forward, who just grunted in return.

Elizabeth had managed to pull off her dress, and threw it at the captain. "It goes with your black heart."

Barbossa caught the dress and raised it up to his cheek.

"Ooh, it's still warm,” he smiled as he pressed the dark fabric against his skin.

As Elizabeth turned away in disgust, the pirates started yelling at her to move more quickly.

"Too long," Bo'sun bellowed, shaking the plank and sending Elizabeth's slight frame tumbling down into the water.

Will struggled manically, as Dette stepped forward, only to be pulled back by Anamaria.

Jack was pushed up to the plank.

"I'd really rather hoped we were past all this," Jack said to Barbossa's crew.

"Jack, Jack," Barbossa chuckled, "Did ya not notice? That be the same little island we made you governor of on our last little trip."

He pointed past Jack to a small green island on the horizon.

"I did notice," Jack said. Dette could see that he was becoming nervous, even if it couldn't be seen by any of the others.

This realisation made Dette even more afraid for Jack and Elizabeth. If the great Jack Sparrow was afraid, then she didn't want to think about how badly the island might affect him and Elizabeth. Her mind began to wander. Elizabeth and Jack would be alone, on an uninhabited island, with nothing to do but be together. Elizabeth was very pretty... Dette snapped herself out of it, trying to convince herself that Jack wouldn't do that.

"Perhaps you'll be able to conjure up another miraculous escape, but I doubt it," Barbossa said, pulling out his sword and putting it up against Jack's throat. "Off you go."

"Last time, you left me a pistol with one shot," Jack was trying to postpone his fate for as long as he possibly could.

"By the powers, you're right. Where be Jack's pistol? Bring it forward."

A scruffy pirate passed the gun forward.

"Seeing as there's two of us, a gentleman would give us a pair of pistols." Jack negotiated.

"It'll be one pistol as before, and you can be the gentleman and shoot the lady and starve to death yourself," Barbossa grinned as he threw the pistol into the water.

Jack looked up, straight into Dette's eyes, before jumping off the plank to retrieve the pistol. Dette looked down, tears filling her eyes. She should have just stayed at home, then she would not feel the fear and pain that she felt from the look that Jack gave her before he plunged into the ocean and swam towards what she was convinced would be his demise.