الهه کالیپسو

CHAPTER EIGHT

The Goddess Calypso

Sao Feng’s guards pulled Jack into the captain’s room on the Endeavour. Lord Cutler Beckett stood at the window, looking out at the ocean. The guards dropped Jack’s things on the table, then they left the room. Jack began to walk quietly around the room. He was looking for something.

“You can stop searching, Jack,” Beckett said. “It’s not here.” Jack stopped moving. “What,” he asked.

Beckett turned around. “Davy Jones’s heart. It’s on the Flying Dutchman. You can’t use it to pay Captain Davy Jones.”

“So,” Jack thought, “the heart isn’t here. But now I know where it is –”

“I don’t need to pay him,” Jack said. “I died, remember? Why am I here?”

Beckett picked up Jack’s Compass. “You brought me this,” he said. “Now I’m offering you a job, working for the East India Trading Company. Working for me.”

“You offered me a job before,” Jack said. “The answer is still no.”

Beckett looked very angry. “You haven’t changed,” he said. “Our business is finished. My men will kill you.”

“No, our business isn’t finished,” Jack said. “I want to make a suggestion.” He took a Piece of Eight from a hidden pocket and held it between his fingers. “The Brethren Court.”

Beckett laughed. “I already know about the meeting of the Brethren Court,” he said.

“Talk to Jones for me. Tell him to free me,” Jack said. “I’ll take you to Shipwreck Cove and give you the Pirate Lords.”

At the same time, Will was having problems on the Black Pearl. The ship was already full of Sao Feng’s pirates, but then Mercer came on with some sailors from the Endeavour. Quickly, they ran across and took the ship’s wheel from Tai Huang.

“I don’t understand,” Will said to Sao Feng. “This wasn’t part of our agreement.”

“This is now a Company ship,” Mercer said with a terrible smile.

“You agreed,” Will said, turning to Sao Feng. “The Black Pearl is mine.”

“Yes - but I lied,” Sao Feng said.

One of his men came up behind Will and hit him. Will fell to the floor and two other men tied his arms.

Sao Feng turned to Mercer. “Lord Beckett agreed,” he said. “The Black Pearl is mine.”

Mercer smiled again. “Yes,” he said, “but Lord Beckett won’t give up the only ship that can fight the Dutchman.”

Sao Feng looked around at the East India Trading Company men. All of them had guns. “I can fight,” he thought, “but I’ll lose. Beckett will follow me and kill me.”

The ship was now Mercer’s.

Sao Feng was very angry. Barbossa came up next to him.

“The Company men don’t follow the Law of the Brethren,” Barbossa said quietly.

“They have the Dutchman,” Sao Feng said. “And what do the Brethren have that can fight the fastest ship on the ocean?”

“We have – Calypso,” Barbossa replied.

Sao Feng looked surprised. Every pirate knew the story of Calypso, the goddess of the oceans.

“Calypso commanded the oceans,” he said slowly. “If she liked you, she made you strong. When she loved a captain, she brought him good weather and smooth waters. Then, the first Brethren Court caught her and turned her into a woman. The Pirate Lords became commanders of the oceans. But that’s only a story. There isn’t a real goddess in the body of a woman.”

Or was there? Sao Feng looked at the only woman on the ship-Elizabeth.

“Calypso,” he said. “It’s just an old story.”

“No,” said Barbossa. “The goddess is here on Earth. There was a time when a sailor made his own future. I want to bring back that time. So I need the Brethren Court. All of it.”

“What do you suggest,” Sao Feng said quietly.

“What will you accept,” Barbossa asked. He knew the answer.

Sao Feng pointed across the ship. “The girl,” he said.

Elizabeth couldn’t hear the men, but Will could.

“You’ll help us to escape if we give you Elizabeth,” he asked.

“Yes,” said Sao Feng, as Elizabeth turned toward them.

“Never,” shouted Will, angrily.

“All right,” said Elizabeth. She looked bravely at Sao Feng.

“What,” Will said, surprised. “It’s not all right!”

“You put us in this position,” Elizabeth said to him. “This will free us. I choose to go with Sao Feng.”

“No,” Will shouted. His heart was breaking.

Sao Feng smiled happily. “I’m pleased-“ he began. He reached out to take her arm. Elizabeth pulled it away. To her surprise, he held up his hands. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“So we have an agreement,” Barbossa asked.

“Yes,” Sao Feng said. “My men will steal the Pearl for you. And I’ll help you call the Brethren Court together. Elizabeth will sail away with me on the Empress.”