Chapter fourteen
The End of the Curse
At the same time, Elizabeth left the Dauntless and swam to the Black Pearl. She climbed up the side and heard pirates. There were only two of them on the ship. They wanted Barbossa to come back. They wanted the end of the curse.
The sailors looked at the food on the captain’s table.
«What will you eat first?» one asked.
«Cake. A lot of cake,» said the other man.
Quietly, Elizabeth climbed onto the Pearl. But then the pirates saw her.
«Hey, you! Stop!»
Elizabeth ran and the pirates followed. But they stopped when they heard a noise behind them.
«What was that?»
Gibbs was there. Then AnaMaria, and more sailors. They pushed the two pirates, hard, and the pirates fell into the water.
«Who are you?» said Elizabeth.
«We’re Jack Sparrow’s sailors,» said one of them. «And now the Black Pearl is ours!»
«Good!» said Elizabeth. «We have to help Will. And Jack, too. Quick! We have to go into the cave.»
But the sailors didn’t move.
«No,» said AnaMaria. «The Black Pearl is ours, not Jack Sparrow’s. He took my boat.»
«OK,» said Elizabeth. «Then I’ll go without you!»
***
In the cave, Jack, Will, and Barbossa looked at the gold.
«I don’t understand you,» said Barbossa. «Are you with them or with us?»
«I’m a difficult man,» said Jack. «Nobody understands me. Here, catch!» he said to Will, suddenly. He threw a sword from the floor to the young man. «Jack!» said Barbossa. «I almost liked you!» Jack laughed.
«Remember, I am a pirate!» he said.
Jack fought Barbossa, and Will fought Barbossa’s men.
Suddenly, Barbossa stopped.
«You can’t win, Jack,» he said.
Then he pushed his sword hard into Jack. It went through him and came out of his back.
Jack stopped fighting. Will stopped fighting. They looked at the end of the sword.
«I liked your curse,» said Jack. «I wanted some gold, too.»
He pulled a gold medallion from his pants. He was a skeleton, too!
Jack pulled the sword out, and the two skeletons fought again. Barbossa was good with a sword, but Jack was better and quicker. But ghosts don’t die. He couldn’t kill Barbossa, and Barbossa couldn’t kill him.
Will fought the other pirates. Then, suddenly, he saw Elizabeth.
«I want to help you,» she said.
She took a sword and started to fight.
But Barbossa saw Elizabeth, too. He put his sword near her head.
«I win, Captain Sparrow,» he said. «Give me your sword, or the girl dies.»
Jack didn’t move. He looked at Elizabeth and then at Will. He took out his gun and looked at Barbossa. Then he shot Barbossa.
Barbossa smiled.
«Are you stupid? You wait ten years and then you use your gun on me. You can’t kill me!»
«He’s not stupid,» said Will.
He stood next to the box of pirate gold with the medallion in his hand. His hand was bloody. He put the medallion in the box.
Barbossa stopped talking. He looked down at his shirt and saw blood. Then he fell down, dead.
At the same time, on the Dauntless, the other pirates changed, too. The skeletons were now men.
«What’s happening?» said one of them. «I feel…»
Norrington’s men fought them easily. Some pirates died.
The men put the other pirates in chains.
In the cave, Jack cut his hand. He put some blood onto his medallion and put the medallion in the box. He took some other gold from the floor. Then he left the cave with Elizabeth and Will. But the Black Pearl wasn’t there. He sat down.
«I’m sorry, Jack,» Elizabeth said.
«I understand,» said Jack. «I was late, so they didn’t wait. They were right. Pirates don’t wait for anybody.»
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