Pirates of the Caribbean: Barbossa and the King's Messenger (Book 1)

A Game of Hearts

Chapter Twenty Nine - A Game of Hearts

As I crouched behind the stacked crates of stolen goods, I was tormented by fears that Tia Dalma had betrayed my trust in her; but then something made me think of her words on the night I arrived at her shack. Great danger, she said, but great rewards, if yuh willin' to see it through. In a flash, I knew that this was the moment she had foretold, and the danger she had spoken of was now before me. I hardened my resolve. Tia Dalma had said that Barbossa could not defeat Hanibal alone; it was therefore up to me to see it through. I would have to seize the Basilkon and disarm the Judge.

With fear tightening my throat, I rose to my feet and stealthily moved forward until I could once again see the duel that was taking place. I removed my leather gauntlets; I would need to use my bare hand to grasp at the tiny coin.

The phantasmal eels continued to squirm through the air, but they were not attacking Barbossa. I wondered if they were awaiting some further command from Hanibal. But Hanibal had focused his attention upon the swordfight, relishing it as a diverting game of little consequence — certainly not a matter of life and death.

I knew, with utter conviction, that if I could take the Basilikon, Hector's sword would find its mark; but first I had to find a way to fend off the deadly eels. Desperate, unarmed and without any notion of what to do, I watched the sea-snakes circle in the same pattern several times.

There was one point in their circumnavigation where they passed close to a stack of four chests and I reckoned that I could reach them from the top of this stack. I took a deep breath and recalled that Tia Dalma had said that the spancel was for my use alone.

It's still the spancel, I reassured myself, trusting in the words of my patroness. It's still mine, woven with my hair; it only looks different. I might be able to grasp the eels with my hands and distract them; but if my faith in Tia Dalma was misplaced, I would become their victim. Mere words cannot describe how alarming and repugnant this undertaking was to me, but time was short and I needed to act.

I moved into position behind the stack, and climbed up to the highest chest as quietly as I could.

The eels were turning, circling closer again. I steadied myself, waiting for the moment when they were nearest. As they passed me, I lunged at their tails with both hands.

As I clutched at their hideous bodies, I noticed that they felt neither solid nor reptilian; instead they had the same silken texture and weight as the woven spancel. Yet even this tangible sensation only lasted a moment — the eels disintegrated where my hands grasped them.

As Hanibal and Barbossa turned their startled faces towards my lofty perch, the remnants of the eels fluttered out of my hands, towards the ceiling of the chamber, like paper wafted upwards by the heat of a fire. They became insubstantial, and finally disappeared into the darkness overhead.

I glanced down at the two combatants, and instantly lost my balance. My abrupt movements had disturbed the equilibrium of the stack upon which I stood, and the chests came crashing to the floor, taking me with them. I tumbled off the chest, directly into the middle of the fight.

I began to scramble to my feet, but Hanibal moved much faster. Perhaps he had become bored with his feigned combat, and now desired a more rapid victory; at any rate, he lunged forward and seized me.

Grasping me by the hair, he yanked me backwards and off balance with great force. Then he swiftly put his sword tight across my throat so that I dared not rise from my knees. The same hand that killed my family, I thought, feeling his knuckles against my scalp as he gripped my hair. And now he'll finish his work by killing me. I was filled with helpless fury.