Barbossa's Daughter

Chapter 16

Cora didn't like this. Granted, there were a lot of things that she didn't like, but this was definitely something that she didn't like at all. Some nagging feeling tugged away in her gut as she watched Will row out to a sinking ship that they thought to be the Dutchman, all by himself as the rain poured down on them.

"Uncle Jack, are you sure that we should've sent him alone? If Davy Jones is really what the legends say then -"

"Of course, he'll be fine, Delia. Why? Worried for ole Will Turner, eh?"

"Oh please. Don't try and turn this around on me. Ye send Will off by himself to face Jones and the Dutchman and then start dousing the lamps. Ye know something. Ye know something that yer not telling me. What are you not telling me, Uncle Jack?" she pressed as her eyes narrowed, rain dripping down from her eyelashes as it soaked her clothes.

"Me left foot is slightly bigger than me right. I'm very insecure about it."

"I am going to hurt ye. Painfully."

"That's a bit excessive."

"Well, I take after me father. Remember? He's the man you killed."

Jack didn't get a chance to retort as a ship rose from the darkened depths of the sea and Cora turned away from Jack.

"Gibbs! Get me a spyglass!" she ordered.

"Aye, Miss Cora!" he responded before she turned back to Jack.

"This ain't over," she promised as she trudged through the pouring rain and snatched the spyglass out of Gibbs' hand. And when she peered through it, she saw Will Turner on his knees before a mutant crew that was covered in barnacles and sea scum, one with the head of a lobster, the other a shark, and one with his face covered in tentacles.

"Ye sent Will to his death, didn't you?!" she bellowed over the rain. "Yer debt to Jones. Ye plan to trade Will for you!" she accused as Jack sauntered over to her.

"I'm sure our beloved William is doing just fine on his own," Jack said as he took the spyglass and peered through it to see Jones staring straight at him.

And then he was in front of him.

Everyone jumped back only to be grabbed by the members of Jones' mutant crew and the pirate with a head like a hammerhead shark held a sword to Cora's neck and she didn't dare move as Jack and Jones faced each other.

"You have a debt to pay," Jones growled, his face covered in green tentacles and his hat and coat in barnacles. "You've been captain of the Black Pearl for 13 years. That was our agreement!" Jones said as Jack scampered backwards as Jones stalked forward.

That was what he wasn't telling them. He'd been given the Black Spot and doomed to the Locker for the Pearl.

"Technically, I was only captain for two years, then I was viciously mutinied upon," Jack tried to reason.

"Then you were a poor captain, but a captain, nonetheless. Have you not introduced yourself all these years as Captain Jack Sparrow?" he mocked as his crew laughed.

"You have payment," Jack said. "One soul to serve on your ship. He's already over there."

"One soul is not equal to another!"

"Aha! So we've established my proposal is sound in principle," Jack boasted. "Now we're just haggling over a price."

"Price?" Jones said, clearly intrigued.

"Just how many souls do you think my soul is worth?" Jack asked.

"One hundred souls."

Cora couldn't help but scoff. "Uncle Jack ain't that valuable," she said, but she was ignored as the blade was held closer to her throat and Jones kept his eyes on Jack.

"Three days," he offered, and Jack spread his arms.

"You're a diamond, mate. Send me back the boy. I'll get started right off."

Jack walked off but a sailor hissed at him as he was stopped in his tracks.

"I keep the boy. A good-faith payment," Jones decreed as Jack turned back to face him. "That leaves you only 99 more to go."

The crew laughed again.

"Have you not met Will Turner?" Jack asked. "He's noble, heroic, a terrific soprano. Worth at least four. Maybe three and a half. And did I happen to mention, he's in love? With a girl," Jack taunted and you could tell that Jones seemed to be getting won over. "Dividing him from her and her from him would only be half as cruel as actually allowing them to find each other again. Eh?"

But Jones' mouth, if it even was a mouth, hardened into a line. "I keep the boy. Ninety-nine souls."

And Jack seemed desperate as his eyes landed on Cora. "What about her?!" he exclaimed, and her eyes widened in pure horror and utter disbelief. "Cordelia Barbossa, daughter of the late Captain Hector Barbossa, and likely the best woman to ever sail the seas. Not to mention that her very name means heart of the sea. Surely, she's worth something?"

"You bastard! YOU LYING, CONIVING, TOE-SUCKING BASTARD!" Cora raged as the mutant dropped his blade and simply held her with his arms as the rain let up.

And Jones eyed the way she raged, an untameable, uncageable, force to be reckoned with. Much like the woman he loved once upon a time.

"Fifty souls," Jones announced as Cora didn't stop struggling.

"I WILL KILL YOU! If Jones doesn't, I'll make sure you rot in the Locker for eternity!" Cora promised as Jack seemed saddened as he replied,

"Sorry, Delia. But I warned you. Ne'er trust a pirate, even the ones you call family."

And her rageful, wrathful, vengeful screams didn't end as she kicked and bucked in her captor's arms.

"I have to know, Sparrow," Jones said as the captain turned to face him. "Can you live with this? Can you condemn an innocent man, a friend, and a woman you dare call family, your niece, to a lifetime of servitude in your name while you roam free?"

"Yep. I'm good with it," he lied. "Shall we seal it in blood? I mean...ink." And Jack gasped as his hand was engulfed by slimy tentacles and the Black Spot on his hand disappeared.

"Three days," Jones reminded him as he and his crew and Cora retreated to his ship and Cora was still cursing up a storm.

She was going to damn Jack Sparrow to the depths.