Emerald Seas II

Chapter 17

The orange light was all that covered the sea below while Cutler stared into the waters beneath. His arms were resting on the balustrade of the ship. He had been staring at the light string that was still guiding them toward their goal, their destination. At this point in their journey, they had arrived at unknown territory, waters not marked yet on the large nautical charts that covered the map desk next to the helm. Cutler had never sailed these waters before, something that was rare for him, and it made him hopeful that it had to be soon they'd arrive at the entrance to the Locker.

It had been weeks since they started following the guiding light beam. Everyone on board seemed to lose hope, they were finally lost, but there was no entrance to the Locker, like there had been last time. Barbossa knew it wasn't something you could predict, no one knew how to enter the Locker, and it was mostly pure luck. It had made Cutler slightly nervous these last days, wondering when the point came that some men of the crew, or even Barbossa, Elizabeth, or Jack would give up. It would be disastrous as Cutler wouldn't be able to continue this journey on his own. They were also running out of fresh water soon, so another stop needed to be planned. The problem was, they hadn't seen land in days.

'What is that?' Elizabeth suddenly exclaims as she moves herself to the side of the ship. Everyone beheld the thickest fog they'd ever seen. It was impossible to see further than a few feet in front. Jack started commanding his crew to slow the ship down, as it might be dangerous for the Pearl, she could get into a collision with something.

'I do not think something will be in our way, Jack. We haven't seen land for at least three days' Barbossa said while looking down at the weaves beneath. Jack seemed to be careful regardless. Cutler lifted his left hand and moved the tips of his fingers through the unusually thick fog. The Black Pearl slowly moved through the tick fog curtain that felt endless. Suddenly they came to an abrupt halt while all hearing a scraping sound coming from the Pearl's hull.

'Noo!' Jack screamed at the top of his lungs. Running to the side he watched down with his body almost hanging a little too far over the balustrade, but it was impossible to see because of the fog. Elizabeth took his arm letting him return to his feet.

'How is this possible? We're not even close to any land' Cutler asked while he watched every angle of the ship through his spyglass, nothing but grey misty sky.

'Maybe a sandbank?' Barbossa too watched the water beneath the ship. Elizabeth had moved next to Barbossa and suddenly started pointing.

'There! There's someone in the fog!' Elizabeth almost shouted but managed to stay calm at the end of her sentence. And she was right, there was a shadow moving within the fog, a figure. Like it was watching them it stood still and then moved higher up on was seemed to be rocks, that definitely hadn't been there before. All both watching the sea below and the shadow still watching them at the same time there was a sudden movement in the waters. It felt like something under the surface of the water was reflecting back the light that came from the lanterns on deck.

'Mermaids!' Barbossa suddenly shouted drawing his sword. Both Jack and Elizabeth watched the movement below in the waters. Cutler being the only one who was still watching the shadow figure, that started leaving, now started collecting his gear, moving his sword on his belt, ready to leave the ship and follow.

'Let's get on land! We're safer there. Besides the person who might be responsible for our collision with the Pearl is taking a run for it' Cutler exclaimed and jumped down the last steps of the Pearl's ladder. It indeed seemed to be a rocky surface they had collided with. But Cutler still couldn't figure out how this piece of land had come out of nowhere, it had seemed impossible. Soon Jack and Elizabeth followed down. As dusk had started setting in, Elizabeth had brought along a lighted torch.