"He had decided to live forever, or die in the attempt." - Joseph Heller
Captain Jack Sparrow purposefully glided the oar through the murky water.
It was here. They were close. After all the years spent reclaiming his ship, deciphering the map, and decoding the clues, it was now here for the taking. It was finally within his grasp.
He slid the longboat to a stop at the edge of the cave, pulling it up upon the rocks.
"And you're sure this be the exact spot?" Barbossa asked.
Annoyed, Jack looked over at him, hating the unholy alliance he'd been force to make. But immortality was a treasure worth any compromise. And, once he'd achieved it, things would be far different.
"Do I detect a hint of doubt about my navigational abilities?"
Barbossa's merely rolled his eyes.
"Just ahead lies the chamber, where lies the spring, next to which lies the chalice what is used for drinking from said spring," Jack said, walking ahead with a confident swagger.
Barbossa and the rest of the crew of the Black Pearl followed only steps behind him. However, instead of encountering a spring, or a chamber - or anything, for that matter -they met the end of their journey, at a wall of solid rock.
"What say ye now, Jack?" Barbossa taunted.
Jack the monkey cocked his head to the side, mockingly.
"I say," Jack replied, unwaveringly, "the chamber lies ahead."
Jack ran his hands up and down the face of the rock, looking for something that might indicate an opening.
"There," he said, running his fingers along a smooth, straight indentation that ran along the rock from the floor of the cave to a height of five feet. "This is a door of some crude shaping, and herein lies the chamber."
"And how do we open the door?" Barbossa asked.
Ignoring him and continuing his examination, Jack discovered what appeared to be the tiniest circular aperture near the base of the rock. Aside from it's unusual spherical shape, it looked, to Jack's mind, discernibly like a keyhole.
Growing impatient, Pintel stepped forward, with Ragetti following closely on his heels.
"I say we pry it open," Pintel offered, raising the crude metal spike he'd retrieved from their longboat.
Barbossa looked at them and shrugged, indifferent to the suggestion.
Pintel and Ragetti set about attempting to pry the rock loose along the indentation that Jack had pointed out. However, the minute their crude instruments came into contact with the rock and the first upward tug was made, the ground beneath them suddenly began to wobble and shake in a most violent manner.
"Quake!" Gibbs shouted out a warning to the other pirates.
Pebbles and debris began to rain down from the walls and ceiling of the cave. The waters behind them splashed brutally onto the rocks, threatening to sweep away their longboats. Without warning, they heard a loud slurping sound, and a rush of air blew past them all, toward the rock face. Just as suddenly as the shaking had begun, it abruptly stopped, and a quiet overtook the cave, once again.
In a nonchalant manner, Jack brushed off his clothes, straightened his hat, and turned to Pintel and Ragetti.
"I would hazard a guess that that wasn't the wisest course," he stated.
"Aye," Gibbs agreed, looking about ominously. "Something protects this chamber and knows who is meant to pass and who is not."
"Could this mean something?"
Everyone spun around to regard Murtogg and Mullroy, who had wandered away from the rest of the group and were presently staring at something on the wall, twenty feet from Jack's would-be door.
"It looks important," Murtogg said.
"Oh," Mullroy replied, "and just because you discovered it, it must be of some great import. Is that what you're saying?"
He considered this a moment.
"No," he said. "But, if someone took the time to carve it here, they must have intended it to be read by someone else. Owing to that, it could hold some importance for our little journey."
"We do seem to have hit a dead-end," Mullroy conceded.
Ignoring them, as usual, Jack and Barbossa pushed past the crowd to observe the carving they had discovered.
Jack read aloud. "La puerta a la vida eterna es impedida. La llave de inmortalidad a mentiras con el Ferrier de Almas Mortales."
Jack and Barbossa exchanged a knowing glance.
"What does it mean?" Gibbs inquired.
"It says," Barbossa translated, putting on his most ceremonious voice, " 'The door to eternal life is barred. The key to immortality lies with the Ferrier of Mortal Souls'."
Knowing the trouble this would mean, Jack let out an almost undetectable sigh. Then, turned to Barbossa.
"Perhaps it's time to pay Mrs. Turner a visit," Barbossa said.
"Aye," was Jack's only reply.
"Poppet?" Pintel asked, wondering how she could fit into the mix.
"Poppet," Ragetti echoed, laughingly.
AN: I promise, this story is primarily is about Elizabeth, Will III (who will, more often than not, be referred to as William), and Will. However, some of the other familiar characters will come along for the ride. This chapter, sans Elizabeth, was necessary for plot purposes.