White and Black Pearls 2 - One Remaining Pearl

Chapter Eight

Barbossa thumbed the edge of the worn black box in his hand gently. His lips felt dry but even licking them gave no comfort as he touched a finger to the small clasp at the front of the dark object in hand. With a soft click, the clasp released, and he lifted the lid gently, like a man opening the treasure chest that held his heart’s desire within it. The captain took in a quiet breath of anticipation as he watched the lid sink into place, propped open against his fingers.

He wasn’t sure if it was dread or delight causing his very soul to feel like it was being squeezed as he watched the arrow of Jack’s compass spin.

When it didn’t stop, however, he slammed the lid shut again with a loud clack before glaring at the crew surrounding him who had been watching. “What are you lookin at!” he barked. “I don’t employ you stinking sea dogs to look pretty; I do it so you can work!”

Men scattered like roaches under the light, leaving Barbossa and Calypso alone. “What’s the matter with you?” she asked testily. “You know what you want. You want to find Jack Sparrow.”

Barbossa pushed his lips together tightly into a hard line. That wasn’t entirely true. He didn’t want Jack Sparrow per se, he wanted a nemesis. That was what he wanted most in the world… and Jack Sparrow just happened to be the one that was best at that job. What was uncertain was whether or not Jack was even that any more; if the man hadn’t been taken out of the picture by Calypso – and he obviously hadn’t because she was here with him right now, trying to find Jack just as helplessly as he was, that little tidbit of information hadn’t slipped past him – then perhaps he truly had given up on the Pearl and his usual escapades.

Calypso’s eyes narrowed. “If you cannot do it I’ll find another who can,” she pressured, reaching out for the compass.

“No,” Barbossa snapped, pulling his hand away from her and keeping the compass out of her reach. “Give it a moment.” He closed his eyes, furrowing his brows with a brooding expression on his face. There was no secret to how Jack did this, he’d seen the man do it enough times – all Jack did was open the compass, and there it was, the needle was pointing where it needed to be pointing. I want to see Jack Sparrow, he thought seriously to himself before opening the lid again. When Calypso leaned forward to look at the compass, Barbossa clapped it shut again. “I said give it a moment!” he barked. “I be doin a favor for you in return for the return to the living world you granted to me, but there’s no part in the rules of barter that says I gotta do it at your pace!” He turned his back to Calypso and took a deep breath. Okay, so maybe he didn’t want to see Jack Sparrow. He wanted to feel the commotion and trouble that Jack Sparrow caused, but the man himself Barbossa didn’t care about. He had to be clever about this, but honest with himself… there was no fooling his own heart or this compass it seemed.

Suddenly, he had it. “I want to be where the biggest trouble in the world is stirring!” Barbossa declared aloud. He opened the compass lid, and let out a triumphant laugh. “All sails down, we turn about and head east!” he declared at the top of his lungs. The captain grinned like a madman as he stared at the steadily pointing arrow, the confusion and doubt in his heart cleared away like clouds after a storm. As his ship began to turn, and the wind caught his hair and the feather in his hat, Barbossa took a deep breath, his chest swelling with pride and anticipation. He was heading back into the fray that he’d missed so very much.

Calypso nodded when she saw Barbossa’s enthusiasm. Silently she called to the waters, demanding the waves and currents give this ship speed rather than hinder its path. Her eyes flashed with something too, but it wasn’t joy – it was something much more sinister.

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More to come...