A Pirate and His Wolf (Pirates of the Caribbean)

Chapter 30

When Will regained consciousness, he found himself bound to a long stick and hoisted on the shoulders of several villagers. He tried to turn his head to look around but groaned at the stiffness in his neck.

The only thing that Will could see was a deep drop down as the villagers walked over a scary bridge. Suddenly they stopped and some of the villagers started speaking in a strange language.

To his side, he saw Zachary, he was tied up in the same fashion as he was and his sword was removed and it looked like he started to wake up as his muscles started to twitch.

Straining himself to look around a bit, Will noticed that they had arrived in the center of some sort of village. The crowd of villagers standing in front of them parted, and Will was able to see a large fire pit, although it was not lit. A crowd of people dressed the same as the men, he saw before he had blacked out, gathered around them, all of their faces painted in different colors and patterns.

When Will turned around, he saw a man sitting on a throne made of skeletons. He wore a large feathered hat and there were several pairs of eyes painted on his face, even on his eyelids so that it looked like he was looking at everyone. In his left hand, he held some kind of feather, and around his neck was a necklace of human toes.

When Will heard Zachary gagged at the sight, guessing from the toe, and the decorations that the locals wore, they must be cannibals.

Will looked at the man a bit more intense, he looked familiar, like he had seen the man before but he couldn't remember where.

The chief opened his eyes and looked confused at the sight in front of him. As Zachary looked him in the eyes, he gasped. He knew those eyes. His wolf fluttered when he recognized Jack's chocolate brown eyes. Those eyes that had almost haunted him in his dreams.

"Jack?" Will laughed as he too recognized Jack, "Jack Sparrow? I can honestly say I'm glad to see you."

Jack gave him no sign of recognition, and turned to one of the men, and began to speak in a language Will didn't understand.

"Jack? Jack, it's me, Will Turner. Tell them to let me go."

Jack stood from his throne and strolled towards Will. He stopped before him and began to examine Will and Zachary through a series of random pinches and prods.

"Jack." Zachary asked, "What are you doing?" Jack walked up to one of the cannibals and started to talk to him in a strange language. The man replied with something that every cannibal repeated.

"Jack, can you tell them to lead us down?" Zachary asked. His wrists were starting to hurt, not only from him dangling from them, but the rope that had been used to tie them to the poles was thin and started to cut into his skin.

He then pointed to Will's groin and shook his head, turning to the crowd of interested villagers. "eunuchy... Snip snip." he muttered, making a snipping gesture.

"AH EUNICHE." the villagers said aloud.

Will rolled his eyes, "Jack listen." he noticed the compass swinging wildly from Jack's belt. "The compass. That's all I need. Jack, Elizabeth is in danger. We were arrested for helping you! She faces the gallows!"

Jack stopped abruptly after what Will said before he turned around and said something to the cannibals.

One of the villagers pointed to Will's leg and rubbed his stomach.

Jack nodded and said something in the strange language, causing them to cheer and grab Will once more.

"What did you tell them?" Will cried, his eyes wide.

Jack refused to answer, and as they dragged Will's past, he quickly bent down and whispered "Save me."

Zachary frowned. They were the ones being taken away for food, as Jack returned to his throne, yet Jack needed saving. They have pulled away and taken to a cage, filled with pirates.

Suddenly Will felt a hand on his arm. He turned around quickly and saw Gibbs, Marty, and Cotton. "Turner, what are you doing here?" Gibbs asked Will to pass his flask.

Zachary took a look around this cage and spotted another one hanging a few yards away, filled with more pirates that Will and he hadn't met before.

"Why would Jack do this to you? If he's the chief-" Will began.

"Aye." Gibbs interrupted. "the Pelegostos made Jack their Chief, but he stays chief for only so long as he acts like a chief... which means he cannot do anything they think a Chief ought not to do."

Will nodded, "He's a captive then, as much as any of us."

"Worse, as it turns out." Gibbs spoke grimly. "The Pelegostos believe that Jack is a God, trapped in human form... they intend to do Jack the honor of releasing him from his fleshy prison."

Will frowned, he didn't understand. Behind Gibbs' shoulder, Cotton grabbed Gibbs' hand and bit into it. Gibbs wrenched his hand away while Will and Zachary gave the pair an appalled look. "They'll roast him and eat him. It's a deeply-held religious belief.... or, we figure, maybe they just get awfully hungry."

Will paused and took in the numbers of Jack's crew; they were too few. "Where's the rest of the crew?"

Gibbs smiled wryly, "these cages we're in? Wasn't built till after we got here."

Will and Zachary quickly removed their hands from the frame of the cage. Gibbs glanced up to the sky, "the feast starts when the sunsets. Jack's life will end... when the drums stop."

Pintel and Ragetti thought they were quite fortunate to have freed themselves from the prison. It had taken quite the effort, but they also managed to lift a small rowboat and were making their way to the island, as they'd heard from those on Tortuga, that the Pearl had been spotted there. Pintel rowed quietly, as a small dog with keys in its mouth sat between the two. Ragetti had a book open in front of him, "... I think it was Divine Providence that escaped us from jail."

"And I say it was me being clever." Pintel replied scathingly. The dog barked and Pintel scratched its ear, "isn't that right poochie."

"How do you know it wasn't Divine Providence what inspired you to be so clever? Anyways I ain't stealing no ship." Ragetti said.

Pintel rolled his eyes, "It ain't stealing, it's salvaging, and since when did you care?"

"Now that we're not immortal no more, we need to take care of our immortal souls." Ragetti continued, staring down at the book with interest.

"You know you can't read." Pintel spat, rolling his eyes.

"It's the Bible." Ragetti replied, "you get credit for trying."

"Pretending to read the Bible's a lie and that's a mark against-," he pointed up towards the sky. Suddenly, he looked past Ragetti's shoulder and to the island. "Look there it is!"

Ragetti twisted around in his seat and saw the Pearl docked on the island, careened onto the shore. Suddenly, the dog barked and leaped out of the boat, swimming to the shores.

"What's got into him." Ragetti asked, turning back to Pintel.

"Must have spotted a catfish." Pintel replied, laughing at his own joke. It took Ragetti a moment before he joined in when suddenly the small longboat capsized.

They reached the shores and admired the Black Pearl, grins plastered onto their faces. "It's ours for the taking." Pintel growled.

"Tide's coming in, that'll help." Ragetti replied. Pintel shot him a surprised look, and Ragetti shrugged, "Salvaging's saving it, in a manner of speaking..."

Pintel clapped him on the back, "Aye, there's the truth of it!"

Suddenly, the sound of drums reached their ears and the pair exchanged concerned looks. "And I suppose we'd save it as soon as we can, what without souls in such a vulnerable state and all." Ragetti said suddenly.

Pintel crossed himself several times, "Amen to that!"

They ran to the ropes and began to haul themselves aboard.