Barbossa's Daughter

Chapter 20

Cora and Will were huddled together underneath a single blanket as they sipped from steins of warm tea in the captain's quarters of the ship they had found. And the captain and some of his men stood before them.

"Strange to come upon a longboat so far out in open waters," the captain said.

"Just put as many leagues behind us as you can," Will shivered, the captain insisting that putting the two of them under one blanket would warm them faster with body heat.

"As fast as ye can, if ye don't mind," Cora added.

"And what are we running from?" the captain asked, but they gave no answer, especially when Will caught sight of a dress on a chair.

"That dress. Where did you get it?" Will asked as he walked towards it, leaving Cora with the blanket.

"It was found aboard the ship. The crew thought it was a spirit bringing some omen of ill fate."

Cora scoffed. "That's foolish."

"So very," Will agreed.

"Oh, yes. Exceedingly foolish," the captain said sheepishly.

"It brought good fortune," a man said.

"The spirit told us, pull into Tortuga, and we made a nice bit of profit there," the other said.

"Off the books of course," the captain added.

"I imagine some of your crew may have jumped ship there," Will said as Cora downed her tea, wishing it was rum or wine. It had been too long since she had a drink. A very, very strong one because that flask that Bootstrap had was some of the weakest rum she'd ever tasted.

"Captain! A ship's been spotted," came a man as he rushed below deck.

"Colours?"

"She isn't flying any."

"Pirates," the captain said.

"Or worse," Cora said as she met Will's eyes and she dropped the blanket and her stein as they ran above deck. Will jumped atop the rail as he spied the Dutchman and then the entire ocean shook.

"Will! If he sends the Kraken after us, there is nothing we can do to stop it!" Cora shouted up at him.

"We don't need to stop it!" he replied. "We just need them to think it's done its job. Come, Cora! We must climb!"

And Cora followed him up as they began to climb the rigging up to the highest yard arm.

"I've doomed us all," Will muttered as they stood and watched the Dutchman approach.

"Indeed, ye have," Cora said. "But dying is a day worth living for," she said with a grin. Before the entire ship rocked.

And while Cora managed to stay up on the yardarm, Will fell as he grabbed a rope a little bit below and dangled the dangerous drop from the yardarm to the deck.

"Cora!" Will called as she maintained her grip and for a horrid second Will thought she'd leave him like that before she crouched down.

"Gimme yer hand!" And their hands clasped together, fire igniting at their touch as Cora helped yank Will up.

And then they saw the tentacle that had the captain gripped in its clutches many leagues above the sea as he screamed. And then the crew screamed Kraken as the warning bell rang and the Kraken's many tentacles came creeping up the sides of the ship.

And some of them grabbed weapons as they fought whilst others tried offering Elizabeth's dress to placate the creature. But it was no use as the creature snapped the mast they were standing atop, and it began to sway.

"What do we do?!" Will asked nervously as they began to fall forward, and Cora pulled her knife out of her boot.

"JUMP!" she shouted as she did so, using her knife to grip onto the sail as she went sliding down it, cutting a hole through the sail as she landed on the lower yard arm, so very barely keeping her balance.

Will wasn't so lucky as he slipped off the yardarm and barely grabbed onto the rope that hung below it.

"Ye need to work on yer balance," Cora snapped.

"I'll be sure to put it on my to-do list between stealing from Davy Jones and getting killed by the Kraken!" Will shouted and Cora rolled her eyes.

"Stop being so dramatic," she scolded as she held her knife between her teeth and reached down for Will again.

As she pulled him up, the tentacles of the Kraken came falling down as it snapped the ship in two and sailors began getting eaten alive as the Kraken's mouth came up between the two halves of the ship and they were devoured.

And then their mast was snapped as they went toppling towards the water.

"JUMP!" Will shouted as he linked his hand with Cora's and they went falling towards the water.

And their hands were still joined as their breaths were held in their throats and they spied the full body of the Kraken before they swam for the surface. It was truly a terrifying sight to see the creature take down the ship as Will swam for a piece of driftwood as he collapsed upon it.

"Cora! Cora!" Will called as he helped tug her onto the wood and they collapsed onto each other, soaked to the bone before Cora saw what was coming.

"Will. Will! Move!"

And they jumped back into the water as the Dutchman sailed past and their driftwood was smashed to pieces.

But as Jones and his crew searched the water for them, they didn't find them, even though they were much closer than they thought.

For the two of them had climbed up the front of the ship as they watched Jones execute those left alive. And when Jones looked in their direction, they were quick to hide in the wooden teeth of the prow of the ship.

"Where do you think they're heading?" Will wondered as they made themselves as comfortable as possible.

"If they think we are dead, they be goin' after their next target. The person who sent us here and who Jones was originally after."

"Jack," Will said. "And Jack was going after the chest that the key opens."

"Most likely so. So we have nothin' to do save for waiting till we get there," she answered as she shivered.

"You are cold," Will observed.

"No, Will, I am sweating like a bloody pig."

"Here," he said as he shed the coat he'd gotten from the captain which was slightly damp after their dip in the ocean. "It is not much but, you need it more than I."

She eyed it warily before taking it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied as she wrapped it around herself. "Why don't you get some rest? I'll wake you when we arrive."

And now it was him she eyed. "And why should I trust ye?"

"Because we have spent every second of the last few days saving one another. One would think we are on the same side now, are we not, despite our mutual dislike of one another?"

"I suppose we both now have a common enemy in that of Jack Sparrow," she conceded.

"And we both want to kill Jones and set my father free?"

"I suppose I could help set Bootstrap free."

"Can I ask you something else?" Will said and Cora sighed.

"Ye would even if I said no."

"You once told me that my father made a deal with the wrong person. I thought you meant your father. Did you know that my father made a deal with Davy Jones?"

She bit her lips. "Not entirely. I only knew that he made a deal with someone. I didn't know it was with Jones and I didn't know it would end with him serving Jones for eternity."

Will simply nodded as he let it sink in. "Get some sleep."

And Cora reluctantly made herself as comfortable as possible against one of the wooden teeth as she closed her eyes and let the sound of the sea lull her to sleep.