Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Fountain Of Youth

CHAPTER 12

Not so long into their walk through the tall grass, the crew members found themselves come out into a clearing, it was nice to finally see where they were going. The sun bathed them with warmth and light.

Up ahead, not too much into the far distance, they could see a scattered line of thick-trunked trees, towering into the sky like giants reaching up into the clouds. Surrounding them, was shorter grass, much greener due to being protected in the shade by the full branches hanging overhead.

They made their way forwards towards the trees, cautiously looking around them as they went, and as they approached, they pushed through the overgrowth, and batted away the lower branches as they went. When they came out through the other side, they were greeted by a very interesting sight.

There were ruins of what once must have been grand looking structures. One in the middle looked as though it had at one time been a church. What was left of the steeple, climbed high, and a broken wooden cross was attached to an stone arch above the entrance, and it was rotted by the neglect of time.

Next to the church on the left, was a bigger ruin, two of its walls remained at their original height, but the other two, had crumbled and worn down to a lower level. Debris from the original structure lay scattered upon the ground in chunks messily, and were now half buried in the dirt.

A third structure stood a little further away, up behind the church. This was the biggest of the three buildings, and from where they were stood, all of the walls still seemed to remain, and looked like it had stood the test of time well, or at least as well as can be expected. All three buildings must have been a couple of hundred years old.

The crew wandered through, gazing at the ruins carefully as they went, keeping an eye out for something that might aid their quest, but at this stage, no clues seemed apparent to them.

"I wonder who used to live here?" said Barbossa breaking the silence.

"I don’t know," responded Jack, "but I hope that theres nobody still here on the island." he looked concerned as he said this, although this place definitely had a feel of abandonment to it, in fact it almost felt as though there was death in the air. It was too quiet. There wasn’t even the sound of birds singing in the trees. Something felt wrong here, and that feeling really nagged away at Jack without letting up. Even though the others hadn’t said anything to this persuasion, he could tell by their expressions that they could feel it too. "Something must have happened here a long time ago." he sighed.

Just then, Marty noticed something on the ground near to the ruin that had the two walls remaining, something white and smooth. He hurried over to have a look and was surprised to find that it was a human skull. He stared at it curiously. One side of it looked as if it had been smashed or crushed, and had collapsed into itself.

Pintel, Ragetti, and David had joined Marty, and were also looking at the skull.

"Wonder what happened to him." said Pintel quietly.

"Don’t know, but looked as though it would ‘av been a painful death." responded Ragetti, feeling sympathetic towards whoever once had the misfortune, to have been wearing that particular head.

"I say we hurry up and find the fountain and get the hell outta here!" Pintel said shuddering.

Jack and Barbossa were busy looking around the entrance to the church, its archway engulfed in moss and had weathered away mercilessly. Then Jack entered to get a better look around, and was shocked to see something quite horrific. There were human skeletons absolutely everywhere. His jaw dropped in amazement at the number of them. Some were complete, and some were partial remains. Some of the more complete ones, were almost posed as if they had been freeze framed to capture how terrified they were during their last minutes of life. He moved slowly forwards, carefully picking up his feet as not to disturb any of the bones on the floor. It certainly made Marty’s discovery of the one skull, seem a minute find in comparison.

The other crew members had now followed Jack into the church, also dumbfounded at the sight.

"What could have killed them all?" said David as his feet treaded carefully through the mass grave. Of course, there was no answer to this question, the only thing that seemed obvious, was that whatever had killed these people, had killed them all at the same time. Such horrors their eyes must have seen before they died, and those that didn’t die in a very instant, would have no doubt suffered watching their fellow men, women and children be slaughtered right in front of them, knowing that their own inevitable death was soon to be on them.

Jack, who was still further up ahead, was fast approaching what looked to be the altar, made entirely from stone which was at the very front of the room, and positioned in the middle. Three steps led up to it from the side. He walked slowly up the steps and noticed that the altar, had pictures engraved into it. He bent over to take a better look at what was in front of him. And just as the rest of the crew had reached his side, a broad smile crept over his face.

"What is it Jack?" asked Barbossa, wondering what he had seen that had delighted him so much.

"Look!" said Jack pointing to a picture right in the centre.

Everyone leaned in to take a look.

"Its another picture of the fountain!" exclaimed Pintel merrily.

Sure enough, the picture, which was exactly the same as the one that they had discovered at the Isla De Comienzos, was there, standing out as clear as day, carved beautifully into the stone.

"We must be close now!" said Barbossa smiling.

"But," said Marty, "this picture doesn’t really show what we need to do next."

"Hes right." sighed Barbossa, "The last time, we found bearings with the picture, and there are none here, so what do we do?"

Jack carried on staring blankly at the picture, after a few moments, his eyes scanned over the other engravings on the altar. He then noticed an indent in the stone, and ran a finger over it.

"A ha!" he said, "I think this opens up, theres space to fit a key, like we had to do before at the other island." he turned to look at David before continuing. "You must have another ring I take it? One that will open this, its a different shape then the one before."

"No.....I don’t. That’s the only one that I had." said David, he felt anxious giving Jack a response that he was sure to be annoyed at.

"Damn!" cursed Jack, "We’ve got to open it! There has to be another key!" frustrated, he walked down the steps, and kicked a thigh bone, which flew into the air and landed a few feet away. David was just glad that it was a bone that he’d been violent towards, and not him for a change.

Barbossa, who was trying to stay calm, looked carefully at the indent. Indeed, the shape was much different to the hexagon one they had opened with David’s ring on the other island. In fact, this one appeared to have the shape of a dragon on an oval.

"Did you ever see an oval ring with a dragon on it? Perhaps another one of your grandfathers trinkets?" he asked David.

"I don’t remember seeing one like that."

The look of disappointment flushed across everyone’s faces. They were stuck and couldn’t go any further without the key for the altar.

Jack suddenly stomped back up the steps to take another look at the shape. He kneeled down, and leaned in towards it. He placed his hands up next to it, and ran them over the stone, as if feeling for an answer.

"Bugger!" he yelled, still angry, and thumped a fist against the hard surface. "Aw!" he yelled out in pain whilst flexing his fingers to try and get the feeling back in them. Suddenly, his mind went completely off the pain he was feeling, as he had noticed something, something on his hand.

"It....it can’t be...." he said looking highly puzzled.

"What is it?" asked Barbossa.

Jack, who was still kneeling, looked up at the standing Barbossa, completely perplexed. He held something up for him and the others to see. An oval shaped ring, with a dragon on it. A ring that he’d been wearing all along.

"Well I’ll be damned!" exclaimed Barbossa, "you’ve got the other "key"!"

"Thats....kinda strange. I mean, that you just happen to own the other ring that we need." said Pintel.

David suddenly felt worried. Of course, he was guessing that the reason both he and Jack had a ring that doubled as a key, was due to the prophecy, and them being father and son, but he of course, still wasn’t ready for Jack to know the truth, but had this made it too obvious now? He felt his heart race, but tried to remain looking as casual as he could. Unless it became absolutely necessary, he was determined not to allow the secret to become exposed. Even with this new development. He took in a deep breath.

"Well I, er guess we got lucky." said Jack. He was actually searching his memory, trying to remember how it was that he had come by the ring in the first place, but came to the rapid conclusion that he must have stolen it from somewhere, as pirates tend to do of course, and that it must have been Solemire that he had taken it from. That seemed the only explanation. But Solemire had been no fool, he must have realised that he had taken the ring. "Hmph!" he grunted, "Well anyway, I say we should try this out!" with that, he placed his ring in the indent.

Everyone backed away from the altar, and they could hear a rumble coming from underneath it. Suddenly, the altar slid to the right, revealing a passage directly below.Soon the rumbling had come to a halt, and Jack walked over to the passage and looked down, where he could see the start of a stair case.

The others gathered around and joined Jack in peering down into the darkness.

"Why would they put a fountain underground?" asked Ragetti.

"I don’t think that they would have." said Barbossa, his face strewn with concern.

"Well, lets get some torches lit, and we’ll get down there and find out." said Jack. Once again, things seemed to be going his way. He grinned happily as he stood and watched the others make the torches.