Cove of Shadows ━━ Will Turner

𝐕𝐈𝐈 ━━ The Truth

BARBOSSA DECIDED TO TAKE his entire crew to the lair of the terrible witch Tia Dalma.

She was terribly attractive, despite the deplorable environment in which she lived. Marshy, muddy and asphalt, the place was very desolate.

Residing in the bayou swamps of Cuba, his cottage being in the mouth of the Pantano River.

Tia Dalma was a gruesome-looking voodoo enchantress. She stood out mainly for her black teeth, blue lips and gloomy makeup.

Constantly wearing a filthy robe, this priestess constantly walked around barefoot. Despite her appearance, Tia Dalma possessed unparalleled power. The scope of this power was not limited to the mortal world.

Before each step, Jack probed the water with his yew rod. The murky water kept everything out of sight, both dangerous and benign. A sudden burst of air bubbles could be a drop from a submerged tree, or the rancid breath of a hunting alligator. The landscape was as scary as it was fascinating: dripping black-trunked trees, decaying vegetation, foaming water, and reeds.

You could hear the drops of water and the croaking of frogs.

Sovereign nature let her call resound, the flies buzzing, and the cries of birds hunting and hunting in this heavy silence. The aroma of brackish seaweed and methane bubbles rising in the water co-melted with the mud mixed with the sweat that flowed into the pirates' mouths.

The heat was not pleasant, heavier than ever. Clothes were sticking from the hot, humid air, water seeping into the boots.

The shiny black body of a leech had become swollen from feeding on a sailor's thigh. Disgusted, he tugged at it, his fingers trembling with the stain. The sound he made was almost a sigh, like the contentment of a pot-bellied king walking away from the table after a royal feast.

The buccaneer formed a team to go and talk to him about the others who were to remain to watch the launches and the ship. Two stones in two shots.

Barbossa, Asteria, Will, Jack and Gibbs headed for the bewitching cabin.

Entering without knocking, the merry cluster penetrated the hovel. Tia Dalma was seen, flamboyant and threatening. She was quite small, but taller than Asteria. Her long hair resembled Jack's. Her swarthy beauty exuded sunshine and purity.

There was no doubt, she was sublime. Her rags, as ravaged as the marsh, gave her the air of a magician at a fair. And how.

"Tia! What a joy to see you again!" Jack exclaimed, running towards her.

She approached, seductive, and smiled at her neighbor. With her delicate hands, she brushed the arm of Jack who closed his eyes.

"Jack! Looks like you owe me a compass, right?"

"I wonder who he's not indebted to," Asteria whispered to Will, who laughed quietly.

"Duty is a big word, my dear..."

"Go, keep it, you would need it very much."

"Excuse me, what's so special about it?" Asteria interposed, her hair pulled back into a ponytail, a few fleeting loose strands falling over her cheeks.

"You... you're Asteria Roberts, aren't you?"

"Swann, Asteria Swann," Barbossa interjected.

"This compass tells you what you want most in the world," Jack explained, soon cut off by the girl.

"To hell with that compass, Tia, what does that mean?" she answered, aggressively.

Tia looked at Barbossa, worried that she had said too much. She had to find an excuse.