Chào các bạn! Vì nhiều lý do từ nay Truyen2U chính thức đổi tên là Truyen247.Pro. Mong các bạn tiếp tục ủng hộ truy cập tên miền mới này nhé! Mãi yêu... ♥

Chapter 4: Road to the Fountain of Youth

The following morning, the crew hiked up a rocky cliff following Blackbeard. The mermaid was being carried in a tank, Jack was blindfolded, and Angelica was holding his arm and I had the other to help guide him blindly up the rock.

I accidentally forgot my hat in the room that Blackbeard had set up for me, so I had been going without it which felt very strange. I almost felt naked without my hat.

"It's to you now, Sparrow," Blackbeard said, removing Jack's blindfold and Angelica and I let him go.

"Was that really necessary?" Jack asked, blinking at the harsh sunlight.

"Best you not know the exact whereabouts of my ship," Blackbeard answered. "I be a cautious man."

"So be I. Why doesn't she get a blindfold?" Jack nodded toward me.

"King Levasseur is here on account of a favor from the French Crown, she does not require such treatment," Blackbeard said and I smirked arrogantly at Jack who returned it mockingly.

Jack took a few steps out of his way and pulled out his magic compass. He muttered, "what I want first..." as the compass clicked to a point. I noticed his face sour and he shook it slightly. When I tried to look at where the compass wanted him to go, he extended his arm immaturely so I couldn't see.

Jack gingerly placed his hand upon my shoulder and peered at the compass again. My skin quivered at his hold, but I did not shake him off. I would never admit this out loud, but it was comforting to be with Jack again. Nostalgic, almost. The needle spun and he brought the compass back to his chest so I could see it, and saw that it was pointing to the northwest of where we were standing. He smiled and looked toward that way and finished, "...is Ponce De Leon's ship."

Jack closed the compass and hesitated before he slipped his hand off my shoulder and he began leading the crew into the jungle. We continued to walk up the island, following Jack through the muddy rivers and the rainforest. We brushed past thick green vines while birds were squawking around us.

I was right behind Jack as we wadded through a tropical swamp. Scrum slipped and nearly dropped the mermaid's tank which made me turn around to watch. When he regained his footing he asked, "why is it we've got to bring her along?"

"Because tears don't keep. We need them fresh," Angelica answered, walking along next to me.

Jack looked back at us over his shoulder before he asked, "what is the ritual again? Water from the Fountain and a mermaid's tear?"

"And two silver chalices," Angelica said loud enough for him to hear and was soon by Jack's side while I continued to stomp through the waters behind them. The murky water was up past my hips, so water was slipping into my boots, making them difficult to walk in. "One cup with tear, one without."

Jack asked, "so, one with a tear and water in both? Quite complicated, is it not?"

"Both get water. One gets a tear," Angelica said. I nearly flinched when Blackbeard suddenly appeared next to me, listening in on their conversation. He was quiet like a ghost.

"Do you have to stand there? You're making me uneasy," I accidentally said. I could feel the blood drain from my face when he glare was strong enough to burn through my skin.

Angelica continued, "the person who drinks the water with the tear gets all the years of life from the other."

"How many years?" Jack asked her.

"All the years that they have lived, and they could have lived, if fate had been kinder." Angelica explained.

That satisfied Jack's nosy inquires about the Fountain of Youth. The rest of the march was relatively silent except for the occasional grunt coming from the pirates carrying the heavy tank full of water and an entire mermaid.

______________________________

The crew finally decided to take a break, setting the mermaid tank down on a flat rock. We drank some water from a nearby freshwater stream, and hid under the cool shadows of the trees. Jack left to talk to Philip about religion, while I leaned against a tree beside Angelica.

Jack was loud enough for me to hear him ask, "on the off chance that this does not go well for me, I would like it noted that here now that I am fully prepared to believe in whatever I must, so that I may be welcomed into that place where the goody-goodies get to go once they pop their clogs, savvy?"

Philip looked up at him after washing his face in the fresh water. "We have a word for that, Jack. You can convert."

"I was thinking more of an as-needed basis," Jack said.

I laughed as I overheard Jack and Philip's conversation. I said, "if he thinks he's going where all the goody-goodies go, he needs to take a long look at himself."

Angelica laughed and said, "in more ways than one."

Even though I already knew the answer, I asked, "did you know Jack before this expedition?"

"Yes," she nearly hissed.

"That would explain the distrustful look on your face," I said.

"When I was young... I was ready to take my vows and he corrupted me, taking my innocence to men. We had a life of piracy together."

"Did you?" I asked, surprised that they used to be in a relationship. I did not think that Jack could control himself enough to be faithful, nor did I think he had the capability.

"It was a long time ago," she said, "he betrayed me, seduced me, and used me."

I lowered my voice and knew it was none of my business, but I had to know if they had sex together. I used my newfound 18th century slang terms to ask, "did you give him your run-goods?"

She shook her head, "no. He never let us go that far."

I was a little thrown off guard by her answer. Jack told me opposite. I just met Angelica, and I trusted her more. Why would he lie to me? A fire burned in my chest when I realized that he only told me that they had sex just to try to make me jealous. Why did it work?

Blackbeard suddenly appeared beside me and Angelica. I glanced at him and every though he made me nervous, I did have many questions about his decades of pirating after faking his death, and I will never have a chance to ask him again.

"You sailed alongside Stede Bonnet, did you?" I asked Blackbeard.

Stede Bonnet was one of the most interesting pirates I've ever read about. He suffered a mental breakdown while living a stuffy, comfortable life as a wealthy land-owner and became a pirate. He was known as the "Gentleman Pirate", had no sailing experience, and bought a ship anyway. He crossed paths with Blackbeard at some point, where Bonnet asked Blackbeard to temporarily take over his ship, the Revenge, before they parted ways. Even though Bonnet was a poser, he was considered the first prominent pirate to be captured by British authorities.

"Aye," Blackbeard replied wearily.

"Is it true that you never fully relieved Bonnet of his Captain duties because you thought it was going to make his depression worse?" I asked.

Blackbeard sighed disinterestedly. That was suffice enough to answer my question.

"That's actually kind of sweet," I stated.

"Aye, I didn't want to make him sad."

"So why did you rob him and leave him on that island?" I asked.

As the story goes, Blackbeard got Stede and his crew drunk enough to not notice him load a small sloop and abandon him on an island. When Stede realized what had happened, he forgot about his pardon and swore revenge on Blackbeard, along with eighty other pirates that were mad about being left on a beach in North Carolina. They renamed their ship from The Revenge, to Royal James, which was a puzzling choice considering how their entire mission now was quite literally, revenge.

Blackbeard chuckled and said, "I never crossed paths with him again. I just let him wear the hat for two years."

"Did you hear of his trial?" I asked him. Stede was executed in South Carolina on December 10, 1718.

Blackbeard said, "I don't think so."

"He tried to escape by wearing a dress and disguised himself as a woman, which didn't work. Then his execution was delayed seven times because spectators found him so pitiful during his trial that they asked the governor to spare his life," I informed him.

Blackbeard didn't seem surprised. He looked far off and responded, "that sounds like him. You know, we called him 'Baby Bonnet' to his face."

"Sounds a little harsh, eh?"

He shrugged and said, "had to be done."

"Quartermaster!" Philip called out, standing up and making everyone's attention point to him.

The Quartermaster was a large man, and I never found out his real name. He had blue eyes, no hair or eyebrows. He wore a pale green opened vest, showing off the numerous tattoos that he had. He was a zombified pirate, but I was no longer surprised by such supernatural details.

"Aye?"

"She can't breathe!" Philip yelled, gesturing to the mermaid.

"She has water," Quartermaster brushed it off.

"She needs air!" Philip said. He climbed out of the stream and up to the tank, trying to find a latch to open the lid, only to see that it needed a key.

"Open this," Philip begged.

"She will escape," he said.

Philip stood up, "you're killing her."

"I support the missionary's position," Jack stated, still sitting in the water.

I halted my breath at his comment and I felt my cheeks flush. I quickly covered my mouth with my fist to avoid snickering. It took me a while to understand English enough to catch Jack's sly innuendos.

The Quartermaster laughed as Philip stole his sword and stuck it through the side of the lid. He pressed down on the handle and the lid popped up slightly, and the mermaid gasped for air.

He looked to the Quartermaster and said, "see?"

The Quartermaster kept eye contact with Philip as he ripped out his sword, which Philip quickly replaced with his Bible to keep the lid open.

I asked Angelica, "why is Philip here? It looks like he doesn't want to be here, and the crew doesn't want him here."

"I want him. He can redeem my fathers soul," she explained.

Blackbeard said, "onward," ending the dispute.

The crew took their official positions at the tank, and when they lifted it up some water sloshed out of the opening. We gathered ourselves up again, and began walking in the same direction we have been following for hours.

_____________________________

Jack used a machete to cut through plants and swat at trees and massive green leaves that were in his way as he continued to lead us to the ship that held the chalices. I was close behind, but far enough away to not accidentally be cut by his blade.

"Are we still going the right way?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Don't you trust me?"

"Rarely."

"Out of the two of us, I'm the only one who has never committed mutiny so it's my word we will be trusting," Jack stated, which I couldn't argue with. He attempted mutiny the night before I arrived on Queen Anne's Revenge, but he wasn't successful. "I know the sting of mutiny all too well. It starts with a few unpleasant words, and ends with escaping a deserted island of the back of a turtle."

He stopped when he reached a ledge and looked down the steep cliff. I noticed two wooden posts that appeared to have once held a rope bridge, with old severed rope still tied to it. On the other side was where the bridge had ended, the splintering rope and rotting wood bridge hung down and fluttered in the soft wind.

"Just as I thought. Not this way!" Jack shouted over his shoulder.

Everyone came up to us and Angelica said, "this is the way, isn't it?"

I was too impatient to hear his answer. I put my hand gingerly on his arm for balance as I rose to my tip-toes to look over his shoulder so I could see the compass. I followed the point with my eyes, and it wanted us to get across the chasm.

"'Course it is, but we should go around the east," Jack said.

"That would take us out of the path of the chalices," Angelica said.

"Well, then we'll circle back."

"There is no time," she said.

"You're the one who insisted on bringing the bloody mermaid."

"Well, the mutiny didn't help."

Jack got in her face. "You walk like a girl."

"You would know."

"Someone must go," Blackbeard interrupted their bickering.

Angelica turned to Blackbeard and asked, "you mean split up?"

Jack asked with a smile, "you mean jump? This I cannot wait to see."

"Sparrow will go," Blackbeard said. I turned to Jack and saw his smile immediately fade. "Find the ship, retrieve the chalices."

"Sparrow? What makes you think he will come back?" Angelica asked.

"Yes, what makes you think he will come back?" Jack added.

"We cannot trust him, Father. I'll go," she said, giving Jack a sideways glance.

Jack smiled with an interested look, "she'll go."

She walked back to a tree and began running full force toward the cliff. I stepped out of her way, thinking about how humorous it would be to trip her on the way down, but Blackbeard stepped forward and caught Angelica and shoved her aside. He turned to Jack, "how much farther is the Fountain? I'm running out of time."

Jack looked at his compass and out over the ledge. "About a day's march north, following that river, you'll get a series of pools. Then you're close."

Blackbeard grabbed Jack's compass, who was hesitant to let it go. Blackbeard snatched it out of his grasp and said, "you will go."

He stepped out away from the ledge and Quartermaster stepped toward Jack, pointing his sword at him.

Jack sighed, "I was sure it would come to this."

He snarled his lip at Angelica and turned to the ledge. A waterfall was pouring out beside us, and he struck his machete into one of the rotting wooden posts.

As Jack was looking out to the water far below, and I peered at it too. I had no idea how deep the water was, but the free fall until he would reach the water was long. Jack spoke up, "you know that feeling you get sometimes when you're standing in a high place? Sudden urge to jump? I don't have it."

Blackbeard clocked his pistol and pointed it at Jack's head. "I need those chalices."

"Shoot. Save me the bother of the fall," Jack said, looking down fearfully.

"I'll do it," I volunteered. Jack glared at me, unamused at my offer to shoot him myself.

"You will go. You will return... or I will kill her." He pointed his gun to Angelica.

Jack's eyebrows came together and contradicted him, "you won't kill your own daughter."

"Quartermaster, get me six more pistols, remove the shot from all by two, but do not tell me which two." Blackbeard instructed.

Quartermaster did as Blackbeard ordered and laid all the guns out onto a rock and Blackbeard said, "you get to choose, Mr. Sparrow."

"Oh," Jack said and looked over his options. He pointed at the first gun and said, "no." The second one, "mmm... no." The third, "no." He finally picked one and held it between his fingers and said to Blackbeard, "yes."

"You're sure?" He asked.

"'Course I am," Jack said, handing it to Blackbeard. He pointed the gun at his daughter and took the shot. I inhaled sharply as the gun clicked. It had no bullets.

"Again," Blackbeard said.

"Please, they're not even loaded," Jack said, and everyone gasped and ducked as Jack grabbed a gun and spun around, pointing it at everyone and eventually shot it off into the air. Jack dropped the gun in shock, while me and Angelica looked at each other with wide eyes.

Blackbeard was visibly annoyed. He firmly said, "again."

"If you're so keen on killing her, why don't you just let her jump?" Jack asked while fluttering his hands, as if shooing her.

"What?!" Angelica asked.

"Mm-mm!" Jack muttered, giving her a surprised look.

"If you jump and die, then she will have her chance. Again," Blackbeard said.

"Mr. Beard, Annette's being awfully quiet," he nodded toward me.

"Oh, really?! Enule!" I shouted, resulting in our bickering overlapping and clamoring like an old married couple. "Jack, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."

"Annie, if I were your husband, I'd drink it," he snapped back. "I'd reincarnate as you and leave me the hell alone!"

"You are so ill-mannered!" I barked.

"I prefer to call it direct."

"And you are so melodramatic!"

Jack scoffed in the melodramatic fashion he found insulting that I pointed out. He sassed back, "well, you're-you're a slug eating worm!"

"You can do better than that, Jack!" Scrum said from behind us.

"You're encouraging this?!" I asked.

"Enough!" Blackbeard silenced us. "We need King Levasseur with us. But, if you don't come back, I'll shoot her too."

I spoke up, "I personally believe that that is unnecessary."

Blackbeard ignored me and finished with, "now, choose a gun."

Jack looked at me with his eyes in distress. I can read him like an open book, and he was giving up on a fight he was having inside himself. I began to wonder if they was not thinking about coming back, until Blackbeard threatened to kill me too.

Jack eyed the guns and slid over to the Quartermaster. "Oi... if I jump—" he made a falling hand gesture— "will I survive?"

The Quartermaster extended out his hand to Angelica and said, "the doll."

Angelica handed him a little doll that looked just like Jack, it was dressed like him too. He walked to the ledge and began chanting in foreign language that I could barely recognize. He tossed the doll over the ledge, and Jack began to scream.

The doll landed in the water, and everyone looked back at Jack who shut up instantly by putting his closed fist over his lips. It was my first time seeing the doll, and it was not until Quartermaster tossed it over the edge that I realized it was a voodoo doll.

"Yes, now you will survive," Quartermaster said. Jack smiled with relief.

"Jack, you will be fine. I once saw you fall down three flights of stairs, get up, and keep eating your hot dog, like nothing happened," I pointed out. That seemed worse than this.

"Oi, that was a delicious dog and I don't have a delicious dog at the end of that cliff," he snapped.

"This is nonsense! I'm going!" Angelica said, throwing her hat to the ground.

As she was marching to the ledge, Jack ran past her and hooked his arms with me as I stood near the ledge and jumped, bringing me along with him. I grunted at the initial impact of getting tackled off the cliff, but our screams were harmonious on the way down. I clung to Jack's arm in fear as we fell through the air. I could feel my heart thumping out of my chest as I saw the cliff get smaller as we plummeted down to the water. We landed just near some rocks that were sticking out of the water.

I immediately got to the surface of the water, spitting out any that got into my mouth. I grunted in anger as I waited. Within a few moments, Jack gasped as he emerged from the water.

"Jack!" I shouted, splashing him. "You're an idiot! You cannot keep doing that to me. Connard!"

He sighed and said, "wet. Wet again," as he swam to the shore. "You should be thanking me, love, who knows what they would have done to you up there."

"Thank you?!" I laughed scornfully as I stomped out of the water after him, "if they so much as touch a hair on my head, my father and the entire Crown will be hounding Blackbeard like dogs. If anything, I was safer up there."

Jack didn't answer, and he just started walking. I began to think that he may not have been planning on going back.

"You just made my list," I said.

"Your list?!" Jack scoffed.

"We are not done with this," I shouted, following him. "You owe me."

"I owe lots of people lots of things. As long as I owe you, we'll always be close," he said, marching through the jungle with his boots squishing with every step. "Oi, I think you still owe me that big bottle of rum that you promised me back when we were marooned."

I scoffed from this grudge he has kept for over twenty years. "I bought you a bottle of rum."

"It wasn't that big of a bottle."

"I was not looking for trouble..." I sighed, yearning for my life before I met Jack Sparrow.

"What a horrible way to live!"

"I thought it was going to be an easy little ride to the Fountain of Youth... my life would be easier without you."

"You may kill me, but you may never insult me," Jack said, "quit your belly-aching. Just close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream. That's how I get by."

"You're a rotten pirate," I groaned. "Va te faire foutre."

"No need for name-calling."

AN: would you rather be a pirate or a privateer?
Pirate, for sure. Because you get to keep all the loot you obtain!

Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro