At the World's End - Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Brethren Court

Pirate ships from all over the world were at Shipwreck Cove.

"I've never seen so many pirates in one place before," Barbossa said, happily.

Jack was worried. "And I borrowed money from all of them."

Barbossa heard a noise and turned. Tia Dalma was watching him closely.

"Barbossa," she said in a low voice. "Why aren't you preparing the cannon? All the Brethren are here. They will have to do what you want." She stepped closer to him. "Be careful, Barbossa," she said. "We had an agreement when I brought you back from the dead. I can send you there again."

Barbossa spoke angrily. "Yes, we had an agreement. But I will decide how we succeed." He pointed toward Shipwreck Cove. "Nine Pirate Lords caught you, Calypso. Nine are needed to free you. Until then, I won't take orders from you." He looked up. "Mr. Pintel! Mr. Ragetti!" he called. He pushed Tia Dalma- Calypso, the goddess of the ocean-toward them. "Take this woman to the prison!" Pintel and Ragetti took her away.

Barbossa could feel her angry eyes on his back. He couldn't worry about that now. "When the Court meets, I'll trick the Pirate Lords," he thought. "They'll free Calypso and she'll forgive me. She'll make me the greatest pirate on the ocean. Until then, I'll keep her locked up. I don't want her to destroy my plans." Out in the ocean, Beckett's sailors pulled Will onto the Endeavour. He was very wet and his hands were tied. Lord Beckett's ship was next to the Dutchman and Beckett was also making plans. He called Davy Jones onto the deck.

"I think you know Mr. Turner," Beckett said. He turned to Will. "Tell him."

"Barbossa has called the Brethren Court together for a reason," Will explained. "He wants to free someone named Calypso." Jones was afraid. "No!" he said. "They can't. She's a prisoner in a woman's body for ever. That was the agreement."

Will looked at him carefully. Suddenly, he understood. "You told them how to catch her," he said. "And that's why you cut out your heart-"

"Be quiet!" Jones shouted. He turned to Beckett. "We must stop them. She will destroy us all."

Lord Beckett looked thoughtful. "We must find the Brethren Court," he said. "And that's a problem." He turned to Will. "You're here now. How will we find them?"

"Promise me that you won't hurt Elizabeth," Will said. "Ah," Beckett said slowly. "Elizabeth. I hear that Miss Swann is now captain of the Empress."

Will looked surprised. He turned to Davy Jones. "But you won't hurt her. And you will free my father."

"You're asking a lot," Jones said.

"I'm offering a lot," Will replied.

"Where is Shipwreck Cove?" Beckett asked, angrily.

"I don't know," Will said.

Jones jumped forward, and put his hands around Will's neck. "Then you have nothing that we want!" he shouted.

But Jones was wrong. Will looked at Beckett and held up Jack's Compass. "What do you want most?" he asked, smiling.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! There was a loud noise in the Brethren Court as Barbossa hit the tabletop with a cannonball.

Jack looked nervously around the room. He had a lot of enemies in there. "Will I get out alive?" he thought.

The eight Pirate Lords were sitting around a large table, some alone, others with their guards. Ammand was a tall, black-haired pirate from the Barbary Coast. Next to him sat Villanueva, an angry-looking Spaniard. Captain Chevalle was next, a Frenchman with smart clothes. Fourth was Jocard, a man with shining black skin and a strong body. Then there was Mrs. Ching, a female Chinese pirate. She was the only woman... but she was one of the most dangerous people in the room. Finally, there was Sri Sumbhajee, from the Indian Ocean. He looked kind, but he had two large bodyguards named Akshay and Pusan. It wasn't wise to make him angry.

Barbossa waited until everyone was silent. He pointed to a wooden bowl. "Your Pieces of Eight, captains." Slowly, each Pirate Lord stood and dropped something into the bowl.

Jack kept his in his hand. "One Pirate Lord is missing," he said. "I'm happy to wait for Sao Feng."

"Sao Feng is not coming," said a voice from the door.

Everyone turned. There was Elizabeth Swann, wearing pirate clothes. Tai Huang and another Chinese sailor stood behind her.

"He named me captain of the Empress," Elizabeth explained. "He made me a Pirate Lord."

"What happened to Sao Feng?" asked Ammand.

"She probably killed him," Jack said quietly.

"Will you never forgive me?" Elizabeth said to him. Then she turned to the other Pirate Lords. "We were attacked by the Flying Dutchman."

"We must escape before the Dutchman finds us!" some of them called urgently.

"Listen to me!" Elizabeth shouted. "Jones, under the command of Lord Beckett, is coming here."

"How did they find Shipwreck Cove?" Jocard said angrily. "Who told them?"

"Nobody in this room," Barbossa said.

Elizabeth looked around. "Where's Will?" she asked Jack.

"He's not in this room," Jack said.

"Quiet!" Barbossa told the Pirate Lords. "It's not important! What do we do now?"

"We fight," Elizabeth said. The pirates began to laugh. Fight the Dutchman? Was she crazy?

Mrs. Ching offered another suggestion. "Shipwreck Cove is well-hidden. We don't need to fight if we stay here."

The other Pirate Lords agreed. They could hide for a long time, until the Dutchman and the East India Trading Company left them alone.

"I have a third plan," Barbossa said. Everyone turned to him. "Many years ago," he began, "the first Brethren Court caught the goddess of the ocean. That was a mistake. We made the oceans safe for ourselves, but opened them to men like Beckett. Pirate Lords, we must free Calypso."

There was a surprised silence. Then the Indian Pirate Lord called his bodyguard, Akshay. The large man listened and then stepped forward and spoke.

"Sri Sumbhajee says..." Akshay pointed to Barbossa. "He is crazy! Do not listen to him!"

"Shoot him!" Ammand said.

"Cut out his tongue!" Jocard agreed.

"Shoot him and then cut out his tongue!" Jack shouted happily.

Elizabeth spoke. "I agree with Barbossa."

"And I agree, too," Villanueva said.

"No!" Jocard said. "Calypso was our enemy then; she will be our enemy now."

"You're right," Chevalle said.

Villanueva pulled out his gun. "I still agree with Barbossa."

Chevalle hit him in the face. Suddenly, all the pirates were shouting and fighting.

"This is crazy!" Elizabeth shouted. "The enemy is very close. When we fight, we're doing Lord Beckett's job for him."

On the Black Pearl, the subject of the Court's discussion was in the ship's prison. Tia Dalma turned as Davy Jones came out from the shadows.

"You-" Tia Dalma began. The happiness in her voice disappeared when she saw the gun in his hand. "You're going to kill me before the Brethren free me."

Jones didn't speak. He was in a room with the love of his life.

"What have you become? You were many things, Davy Jones, but you were never a monster."

"I learned it from you!" Jones cried. "For ten years I commanded the Dutchman. I did the job that you gave me. But when I stepped back onto the land, you weren't there! Why?"

Tia Dalma touched his beard. "I can't help it. It's the way I am. But you love me."

Davy Jones looked away. "I don't love you," he said angrily.

"That's sad," Tia Dalma said quietly. "Because soon I will be free. And when I am, I can give you my heart. We can be together, always."

Davy Jones slowly put the gun back in his belt. As he moved back into the shadows, he turned to her again. "And the Brethren Court?" he asked.

"They made me a prisoner," Tia Dalma said, angrily. "They will suffer."

Barbossa hit the table again and the pirates turned to him. "We can free Calypso! Then she'll be grateful and help us."

"I agree with Captain Swann," said Jack. "We fight." Barbossa laughed. "You've always run away from a fight!"

"That's not true!" Jack said. "I fight hard and often, because then I can run away. We can stay here for years, but we'll be prisoners. We must fight-to run away."

"Who will we fight?" Mrs. Ching asked.

"Beckett," Elizabeth said immediately.

The pirates agreed. They decided to fight the East India Trading Company, and to destroy the Dutchman. Barbossa had other ideas, but the pirates didn't listen.

"The Pirate Lords must free Calypso or my plan will fail," he thought. "Tia Dalma will be angry..."

He tried again. "Only the Pirate King can start a war. Call Captain Teague, Keeper of the Pirate Law!"

Two pirates ran out of the room and returned with the old pirate. He was carrying a large book. This was the famous Pirate Law, written by the first Brethren Court.

Teague unlocked the book and opened it. Everyone waited for him to speak. Finally he looked up. "Barbossa is right." he said.

Jack read out the words: "Only the King can start a war, talk to the enemy, and organize our men."

"We haven't had a king since the first court," Chevalle said. "Why?" Elizabeth asked Gibbs.

"The king is chosen by a vote," Gibbs explained in a low voice. "Each pirate only votes for himself."

"I call for a vote!" shouted Jack.

Ammand lifted his hand. "I vote for Ammand the Corsair," he said.

"Captain Chevalle," said Chevalle.

The vote continued around the table. "I'll have to do what they do," Elizabeth thought, then said, "Elizabeth Swann!"

Jack looked around him. "I vote for-Elizabeth Swann."

The other pirates shouted angrily.

Jack spoke to the Court. "Aren't we going to follow the Pirate Law?" he asked.

"We have to," Mrs. Ching said. "What do you say, Captain Swann, King of the Brethren Court?"

The new Pirate King stood up. "In the morning," she said, "we shall fight the East India Trading Company, destroy the Dutchman, and escape to the ocean."

The pirates moved out to their ships. Angrily, Barbossa gave a sign to Pintel and Ragetti. They picked up the bowl with the Pieces of Eight and followed him out of the room.

Jack left last. His plans were starting to work... but he still wanted to be captain of the Dutchman.

As the Black Pearl and the Empress prepared for war, hundreds of pirate ships met near Shipwreck Cove. On every deck, pirates sharpened their swords and prepared their cannon.

Suddenly, they saw the Endeavour through the gray clouds. The pirates lifted their swords. One ship against hundreds of pirate boats! Lord Beckett couldn't win! But then they saw another ship. And another. And another. And another.

The pirates' excited cries slowly stopped. Then the water began to move. The Flying Dutchman came up out of the ocean in front of Beckett's ships. The pirates were silent as they looked at the monstrous faces of Davy Jones and his men.

Lord Beckett was standing on the deck of the Endeavour. He smiled. "Jack kept his promise and brought me the pirates," he thought. "But what will he do next?"

Every pirate was asking the same question. Thousands of angry eyes turned to Jack.

"Sorry," Jack said. "Let's talk to Lord Beckett."

There was an island near the ships. A short time later Jack, Elizabeth, and Barbossa stepped out of a small boat and walked across the white sand. Lord Beckett, Davy Jones, and Will Turner stepped out of a second boat. They met in the middle of the beach.

"You brought these people to us," Barbossa said to Will. "Don't be angry with Turner," Lord Beckett said. "The plan belongs to the person on your left."

Elizabeth and Barbossa turned to Jack. Jack turned and looked to his left, too. There was nobody there. "Me?" he said. "It wasn't me!"