"I Can Help You Escape"

In our last post about the novel The Price of Freedom, Jack and Beckett had just agreed to work together to find the hidden island of Zerzura.  Beckett agreed to give Jack his servant, Ayisha, who was suspectedly from there so that Jack could charm her into giving him the location.  Now is the time in which Jack gets her to run off with him.  Keep in mind that she is still disguised as an ugly old hag with "strategically placed warts".  The funny thing is that Ayisha was listening through the door with her secret knowledge of English.  So she knows that she's suppose to meet Jack, who is going to some how take her back, qhich asbolutely excites her.  But she doesn't quite plan on doing it the same way.  She wants to send him close to the island, and then use a spell to make the whole crew, including the captain, fall asleep so she slip overboard and back home without revealing anything to anyone.  To find Ayisha and get her on his side, Jack gets the help of his new and young crew member, Chamba, who can speak pidgin to Ayisha, since none of them know that Ayisha can speak English.   Chamba does the first bit of scoping out and reports back to Jack.  Chamba: "She be wearin' a blue calico dress, with a white apron and head wrap, Cap'n.  And of course that gray shawl you told me to watch for.  It be tied round her waist." That shawl is the key to her disguise, the ones that turns a beautiful young lady to an ungly old hag.  Chamba thne points her out to him.  
Jack: "God's toenails, she is really ugly."  So kind, so nice.  Jack says the strangest things, including 'God's toenails'.  Together they stage the perfect set up.  They want to meet her butnot amke it too obvious.  SO Chamba goes running into her as she walks home from the market, making her drop all of the groceries everywhere.  Then Jak comes along and scolds him for being such a clutz.  Then he makes Chamba buy her a new coconut, since the one she got split open.  Then, they both escort her back to Beckett's house as Chamba holds her groceries and tells her all about how awesome Jack is and what a saint/hero he is.  Jack helped Chamba escape, and could do the same.  She thinks that he only helped Chamba to get back at Blount, Chamba's master, which we all know is of course not the case.  Chamba explains this to her.  He asks her if she wants to escape, and she admits yes.  They then agree to see her later to discuss more escape plans.   Every few days Chamba would then meet her at the market place to discuss plans.  Then, one days she agrees to meet with Jack in the night to discuuss the plans in greator details.  Chamba: "She said she want to talk to you about somethin' first.  She have questions.  And you gonna have to promise her something', before she come abaord and we set sail."  So that night they sneak over to Beckett's house to talk with her.  Jack gets right to the point.  Jack: "Miss Ayisha, it's time for us to speak frankly and straightforwardly.  Enough tacking back and forth, savvy?  I"m going to run striaght bfore the wind, and I want you to do the same.  You obviously want to escape slavery, Miss Ayisha.  I can help you escape.  If you could do it, I'd free every slave here in Calabar.  I'd bloodly free them all, everywhere.  So, Miss Ayisha, I can take you with me when I sail away from here, if come to an agree ment.  I'll be leaving port soon."  

Aysisha wants to know what his other motives are, for going out of his way for a slave woman.  He admits that he wants to find Kerma and that he met another man who was from Zerzura.  She asks if it could possibly be her broher, but Jack admits that he didn't fit the discription.  She starts to cry, which makes Jack feel rather uncomfortable, so he offers her some rum.  She takes a nice chug.  Jack: "There you go, love.  That should fix you right up.  Works wonders for me."  They move on.  Ayisha says that she can't give him the exact bearings for the island, except that it's between the Canaries and Cap Verdes.  When she gets close, whe will be able to feel the pull of her magical island and lead them to it.  It is guarded by an illusion.  Jack: "I guess that's going to be the way of it, then.  I'll sail to that area, between the Cape Verde Islands and the Canary Islands, and together we'll find her home."  Ayisha informs him that the wueen of Zerzura would likely give him and his men a reward for her safe passage when they return, which of course makes her happy.  However, she has one last cath.  Chamba: "She says she fine to leave tomorrow night.  She say ther ebee some things she want to bring with her, but she don't have them now, they back in her room.  But she also say that before she leave Calabar, there be someone she have to bring along with her.  Another slave.  She say she will not leave without him."  She wants to take her body guard Tarken, who is at a manor outside Calabar before she goes.  Jack reluctantly agrees to help her get him the next night before they take off to freedom together.  

"To Finding Zerzura"

When we last left off with Ayisha, she was working at the Dalton farm outside Calabar with her body guard, Tarek.  However, during this time Cutler Beckett is out for power, and money along the way  He plans on finding the secret island of Zerzura, where Ayisha is princess.  Beckett gets his new agent, Ian Mercer, to do some of the dirty work for him.  Remember how Ayisha took off her jewelry when seh was captured?  
Well Mercer and Beckett find this jewelry and recognize it from the legends of Zerzura.  Mercer searches to find who was in that same group captured with the jewelry, which leads him to find Ayisha. Tarek's past wasn't discovered but Piye's was so Ayisha is reunited with him once Beckett pays a fortune for Ayisha.  She's extremely good at keeping her identity though.  She hardly ever speaks and doesn't let anything on.  Mercer and Beckett turn to Piye for information.  But this doesn't really go as planned.  Mercer: "I'd barely started on him, The pain wasn't that much.  No sign of an apoplexy, no clutching of his chest or anything of the sort.  I've handled dozens of interrogations Mr. Beckett, but I've never seen anything quite like it.  The old savage just closed his eyes . . . and stopped.  Like a clock."  What really happened was that Piye, instead of betraying his people, prayed to Apedemak, the guardian of his country to let him die then first.  After that, Beckett and Mercer were way too scared to try anything like that on Ayisha in fear that she might do the same and their only chance at Kerma would be gone.  

So Beckett comes up with a better idea.  INstead of threatening her into giving him the information that he wants, he plans on persuading her into it.  Except neither Beckett nor Mercer are very attractive, friendly, or likable, so there's not hope there.  Conveniently, Beckett has become rather close with an EXTREMELY charming, hot, and manipulative sailor, and you can guess who that is: Captain Jack Sparrow.  

So Beckett comes begging Jack for his help: "Jack, we've run out of options with this woman. I fear I am not, and Mercer certainly is not charming. But you are, Jack. You have charm in spades. People like you, when you exert yourself to be likeable. Women like you. I want you to charm this woman into telling us where Kerma is."  Of course, there is money involved.  
Beckett offers Jack part of the treasure they plan to find in the Labyrinth of Zerzura, thirty percent to be exact.  Then they toast of course.  "To finding Zerzura."  "To Finding Zerzura."  Beckett and Jack are actually teaming up on something!  Even though Jack is still skeptical on this whole collaborating with Beckett thing.  Now, they want all this took seem real.  Jack informs Beckett that to gain Ayisha's trust, he must meet here independently of Beckett so that it seems like he's her savior, rescuer, deliverer of freedom.  Then, he will convince her to run away to freedom with him, where he will drop her off at Kerma and get the secret bearings, which he may or may not give to Beckett, depending on the mood.  Jack starts too plot out the whole adventure with him and this next woman.

"I'll be hideous"

Now I know at one point we discussed Princess Amenirdis and her long perilous journey from her kingdon, Kerma, to the old Kerma, just south of the third cataract.  As periously stated, when she and her group arrived there, they foun abolutely nothing.  It was completely in ruins.  Things only get worse from there for her.  You see, this was during the time when the slave trade was at its peak, and a pretty young girl usually sold for a lot, not to mention the pretty young girl was travelling with others who could be taken.  Kerma, isolated and hidden away on an island, was completely secluded from the rest of the gorwing world, so they were a bit behind in technology, and missing some useful things: such as guns.  So when they are surrounded by men who can shoot them instantly from a distance, they have no choice but to hide as best they can to buy them time.  The princess hides in the rocks with her body guard, Tarek, and the high priest, Piye.  They have to finds a way to make her less noticable around the slave hunters.  Being a princess, Amenirdis has very magical powers, especially when it comes to weaving.  Piye helps her weave together an illusion, making her an ugly old hag.  Tarek: "Give her a squint.  Thin, lank graying hair.  Protruding, snagggled teeth.  Some strategically placed warts . . . hairy ones. Wrinkled, blotchy skin.  A bit of a hunch to her back, so she can't stand straight.  Make her shorter, so everyone will look down on her.  Make her thin up top, and fat beloow."  
Wow, it's like he had it all planned out, as if he were waiting for the moment to turn her into a hidious old woman.  My favorite part of that was the 'strategically placed warts'.  Ha, who had ever heard of such a thing.  They cast this spell on her shawl, so that when she wears it, she becomes this awful image that Tarek invisioned, but without it she can still be her beautiful self.  This takes a lot of her energy out of her so she just passes out for the rest of the day, but when she awakens, she is seized by the slave hunters.  Nice timing.  To go with this new look, she took on a new name, to keep away any recognition that she was an African princess.  They are marched back from Egypt to Calabar, a port on the West Coast of the continent, many died along the way.  Unfortunately, the ones who remained were sent on the infamous mid-Atlantic passage, cross the Atlantic to the New World where they would be sold onto plantaitons.  Conviniently, Ayisha, Piye, and Tarek were the only slaves of that group not to fall in either of those categories. Tarek and Aysiha were sold to the Dalton's plantation outside Calabar.  She worked inside weaving cloth, her specialty, as Tarek (a big strong man) worked in the fields.

Where Piye was sold, Ayisha didn't know yet, so she quickly learned English as best she could to pick up any conversations in search of his whereabouts.  As I said, she has quite the skill when it comes to weaving and making cloth, which she became well knwon for in Calabar.  Women around would ask her to make things for them.  While Mrs. Dalton got most of the money, Ayisha was able to collect coins for her services.  She kept completely secret the fact that she was learning English becuase it was her means to escaping slavery.  She planned to keep enough of her money together and then one day finally run away on a ship with Piye and Tarek using her money and English to get them away.  However, little did she know that a certain pirate was about to do it for free.  I wonder who that could be?

"I am exterminating pirates"

If you're anything like me, you'll have a burning hatred towards Cutler Beckett's hatred towards pirates.  Now, its easy for us to judge him, because we can't possible imagine how any one could hate Captain Jack Sparrow.  Now, I still stay true to my initial feelings towards Beckett, but in the Price of Freedom we kinda start to see where his hatred towads pirates comes from.  In one of our latest posts, we listed Christophe-Julien de Rapier as our least favorite character.  So clearly we can't blame Beckett for sharing in this hate.  Now, Beckett leaves his house of snobs to work for the East India Trading Company at around eighteen.  

He worked at the office in London until he was assigned a tour of duty on board the Lindesfarne.  Things seemed to be working out just swimmingly for him until the ship was captured off the caost of Spain by none other than Captain de Rapier and his crew of rogue pirates.  The pirates took everything valuable on the ship, inlcuindg the people to be helpd for ransonm or sold into slavery.  Beckett gives the captain a bit of sass but Christophe got the last laugh.  

He gave the boy to the crew, who beat him and hit him with the flat of their swords.  They also stripped him and hung him upside-down laughing.  Why would anyone want to scare themselves in that way? They were about to start cutting off his limbs when Beckett went completely numb and din't react, which killed all the fun so they stopped.  Once all this humiliation was over, he reveals his background: a wealthy family who could pay ransom and that he worked for the EITC.  So they pirates sent a ransom notice to his family while he cleaned the bilges.  All the other people held for ransom were eventually released but since Beckett and the other Becketts never got along, his father never sent money for his ransom.  Not going to lie, how pitiful and cruel to leave your own son to be tortured by pirates.  So the EITC chips in.  

Viscount Lord Penwallow (who we address in other posts), sends money for his ransom and Christophe decides that Beckett wouldn't be worth much as a slave anyway and lets him go.  So such a miserable experience I suppose could drive out the goodness in some men.  Beckett clearly was not strong enough to recover from such an ordeal.  He never spoke of it to any one.  Instead of drinking or other immoral practices to block out the memory, Beckett sought wealth to return to power and excape the humiliation.  That's where Beckett's vain and greed comes from.  He worked incredibly hard in the EITC to pay back Lord Penwallow for the money.  He continued to move up in the compayny becoming Director of West African Affairs and even earns the title of "Lord" by the second movie!  If Beckett weren't such an evil twisted person, I guess you could see his rise to power as admirable.  he started out with humble begninnings, rejected by his family, to becoming a Lord!  However, Beckett completely abuses his power and there really is just no excuse.  

"We're devils and black sheep, we're really bad eggs"

Though I love the Pirates of the Caribbean there are some people who I really don't like. You can probably guess a few people on this list right now but there are also a few here that you might be surprised about. Here are a few of my least favorite people.

Weatherby Swann
This guy is one of the first people we ever get to see. He is sailing to the Caribbean from England in order to become the Governor of Port Royal. This is a pretty big deal because Port Royal is the Largest British settlement in the Caribbean. His daughter, Elizabeth, also comes to Port Royal. There she attracts the attention of Captain James Norrington. Weatherby seems to really want Elizabeth and James to get married because the day James proposes and Lizzy doesn't answer immediately he talks to the captain and convinces him she will wants to marry him. Of course as they are talking they are attacked by the Black Pearl, which ends their conversation. Later in the movie Elizabeth accepts the proposal in order to save Will who is at the Isla de Muerta. Once they reach the island Jack convinces them to lock Elizabeth in a cabin so she will stay safe. While there Governor Swann talks to her through the door. He declares a confusing statement that bores even Elizabeth, who climbs out of the Dauntless. At the very end of the movie when Elizabeth and Will proclaim they're love for each other and are having a romantic moment he asks them if that was their decision. No, they just went through all that because they don't want to be together. I mean James, who was in love with her in the first place and had been promised her heart, is okay with it but the Governor is not isn't. Some people, you know!

Sao Feng
Yes, yes I know he's a pirate lord and everything but I just find him unnecessarily intimidating. I mean let's take a look at when we first go into his bathhouse. He convinces Elizabeth to take of her clothes. (That's Jack's thing!!) Let's see, after that he pulls out Will from a well where he'd been drowning him. Not cool. The only reason he decided to fight the East India Trading company is because Will promised to give him JACK'S SHIP. When Feng gets control of the Pearl what does he do??? He punches Jack in the nose. Umm, hello you're the one who is stealing the ship that Jack died for (literally). Of course the EITC comes in and helps convince Feng to fight for the EITC. The EITC helped because they were going to take "Sao Feng's ship".
Ian Mercer

 Ian Mercer was Cutler Beckett's right hand man from the very beginning, We first met him in my personal favorite book: The Price of Freedom. He and Cutler tried to trick Jack into finding the hidden city of Zerzura. Of course Jack being Jack caught on to their scheme and kept the island coordinates to himself. This of course made Beckett and Mercer quite angry and they burned Jack new ship the Wicked Wench fortunately for Jack he has a friend in high places or rather low places, Davy Jones.  Jones saved Jack's life and his ship, which later became the Black Pearl. Mercer continued to work with Beckett as he climbed the ladder at the EITC. Eventually after being a down right jerk to just about everyone he was killed by Jones in a rather disgusting way, but we really don't need to go into the details of that again. 

Christophe-Julien de Rapièr Christophe is a low down dirty rotten scoundrel with good fashion taste. In my opinion anyways. Jack and Christophe were great friends and fellow pirates, Christophe was the older richer and wiser half of the duo, but he didn't get the girl! Jack beat Christophe in the competition for the heart of Esmeralda the daughter of a pirate lord, and quite the catch if you ask me! When Jack and Esmerelda discovered the identity of the rouge pirate they never expected Christophe to be named as one of the accomplices, and Christophe did a good job of convincing Jack he was innocent, and Jack being the sweetheart that he is hatched a plan to free his friend. Unfortunately he was a rouge. And a mean one at that. He press ganged Jack into service on his ship. Christophe also followed Jack on his voyage to Zerzura and tried to steal the stone protecting the city. But Jack stopped him of course, and eventually beat him in a duel which cost Christophe his life. 
 

"More Acquaintance Than Friend"

Happy last day of the year!  This past year has been great for our blog!  We've received more views and comments as the year continues.  This next year, we'll try to post for consistently and hopefully you will try to spread the word of our website!  Now, we would like to make his post all about the antagonists of the series.  Hopefully their New Years Resolutions will  help Jack have an easier time dealing with them because they are sorry.  However not all of the villains are equally liked by me. These are my top five favorite.
5) Blackbeard

Also known as Edward Teach, Blackbeard is pretty evil but he's not a very interesting villain.  He's captain of the Queen Anne's Revenge but truly doesn't do very much.  In fact, his crew doesn't even think he exists for a while.  Angelica, his daughter and first mate, runs most of the business on the ship.  And then we find out that he actually is a character with a pretty epic sword.  So he kills some people and insists Jack takes him to the Fountain of Youth.  Things really get interesting when we learn Blackbeard has shrunk and bottled the Black Pearl.  It's no surprise that Jack is ready to do anything to gain back his ship, and that annoying monkey.  So now it's up to Jack to defeat Blackbeard and get back the Pearl.
4)Ian Mercer
This fellow has been in two movies and the Price Of Freedom. He is describes by A.C. Crisp in as a man who could kill a man with out hesitation. Wonderful I know. He is Scottish and heavily accented. He works as a "operative" for Cutler Beckett. This job eventually gets him killed. Killed by another person on this list. A very gross death including tentacles getting stuck up his nose,mouth, and eyes. 3)Davy Jones
I told you Mercer's killer was on this list too! And here he is.  Like Mercer, Davy Jones for a while had to do what Cutler Beckett told him to, including tracking down the pirates at Shipwreck Cove and attacking them.  It's during this attack that Davy Jones decides that he's  tired of Cutler Beckett telling him what to do.  So he disgustingly killed Mercer and tries to track down his heart.  Beckett does eventually fail, but so does Jones when Will Turner stabs his heart sending him to his watery grave.

2) Hector Barbossa
Barbossa switches off throughout the series between being a helping and harming the protagonist (Jack).  However, during the first movie he is definitely a villain.  First of all, he pretty much took over Jack's beloved ship, which is never appreciated.  He also wants to kill Jack, Elizabeth, Will, and Norrington, and pretty much everybody else.  He's not even very nice to his own crew members.  To see if the curse in them is lifted, Barbossa shoots Pintel to see if he dies.  But I love how Barbossa seems just to ramble on and on in his super piratey talk.  He's one of the funniest characters and the only reason he's not on the first on this list is because he's not a villain all the time.  Speaking of which, let's continue on to first place.

1) Cutler BeckettI hope by this point you've taken my advice and read The Price of Freedom, because Beckett's childhood history is shared in the book.  He's also a total jerk in the book.  He brands Jack with the 'P' on his wrist and then tries to take down the Wicked Wench, even though it's his own ship!  Then, during Dead Man's Chest, he poses a menacing threat on Jack, Will, and Elizabeth.  This threat continues into the second movie as he desperately tries to completely strike pirates off the face of the earth.  You can tell that he's not a big fan of pirates, making him the ultimate villain during the series.

"Lots of Rum, Lots of Women"

One of our most recent post about romance inspired me to make another post about a happy couple not featured in our poll but definately noteablr: Esmeralda and Jack.  We've talked quite a bit about their romance in the early chapters of The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom.  Their romance buds when Jack is only twenty years old, and Esmeralda a few years older ;D.  We talked about how together they crack the secret identity of the vicious rogue pirates.  But just when their romance had begun, Jack gets forced aboard La Vipere, the ship of his ex-best friend.  How very unfortunate.  Esmeralda doesn't know at first that Jack as forced to leave.  She becomes violently angry and storms down to their favorite tavern, the Drunken Lady, with a pistol to find him.  It's not for a few more years that they ever meat again!  By that time Jack is sailing for the E.I.T.C., and Esmeralda is Pirate Lord of the Caribbean. 
They talk some but don't spend too much time together.  Fate brings them together yet again!  We've discussed this scene here in other posts, where Esmeralda's ship runs into the Fair Wind.  The Fair Wind's captain dies and Jack becomes captain.  During this time, Esmeralda shares with Jack how completely frustrated she was when she heard he had gone.  She is hesitant to forgive him, but who can resist Jack Sparrow?  Exactly.  No one.  But their not done yet!  About a year later, Jack is captain of the Wicked Wench, but his ship runs into some very bad damages after their vicotrious battle against the Koldunya.  The ship is so badly damaged that Jack is worried about what could happen next.  But at night, he hears a ship rowing by.  He is unsure whether or not he should call for help, in the event that the ship were run by dangerous pirates.  But he shouts out anyway, and too his surprise: it is Esmeralda's vessel!  You see, Esmeralda was tracking Christophe. 
She hoped that by finding the Koldunya, she would discover Christophe's location.  Luckily, she was close enough that she found Jack!  I'm telling you, these two are meant to be together.  She and her crew greatly assist the Whench.  Her doctor heals the injured, their crew repairs the damages, and they don't take ny of the goods.  Sound suspicious for pirates?  A bit, but that will be addressed later.  The two boats stick together for several days, in which Jack and Esmeralda spend quite a bit of time together.  It's clear to everyone on the ship that their not just friends.  Esmeralda is also good friends with Robby Greene, Jack's first mate and current best friend.  All three of them share a raging hatred towards Christophe, the rogue pirate.  It is at that time that Esmeralda shares with Jack that he could be accepted back to the pirating world if he were to kill the two rogue pirates that he previously set free: Christophe and Borya.  Borya died with the Koldunya, at the hands of Jack so all he had left was to track down Christophe! 

However, at this time Jack keeps secret from her that he really plans on striking up a deal with Christophe inorder to get the last magical bracelet to enter the labrynth of Zerzura.  How Jack gets back into the pirating world unfortunately is yet to come.  Once the Wench is ready to sail on its own, the two lovers say goodbye.  Unfortunately, this is the last that we see of Esmeralda in the books.  Although, most likely they meet again because she had to have passed on her peice of eight to Jack.  I really really really hope to see her in the upcoming movie.  If you haven't read the Price of Freedom yet you really should, because she really is one of the best parts of it! 

"The belligerent homunculus and his friend with the wooden eye."

I am in the mood for a good laugh today.  So what better a thing to make you crack up than the silly pirates: Pintel and Ragetti?  They switch crews several times throughout the series.  In the book, The Price of Freedom, they sail under Barbossa on the Cobra. 

 But once the Cobra is destroyed by the rogue pirates, they remain loyal to Barbossa (not sure why since he's not exactly sympathetic towards them).  They must have stuck with Barbossa when he became Jack's first mate on the Black Pearl. Somehow they preferred Barbossa's leadership over Jack's.  They and the rest of the crew commit mutiny against Captain Jack and leave him stranded on an island.  They spend the next ten years doing whatever Barbossa or the other crew members tell them to do.  We first see them on the big screen when they are sent on a raid to the governor's palace in Port Royal to search for the medallion. 
Why such a job like finding the precious Aztec gold would be given to such idiots?  I have no idea.  If I were captain I would just give them really simple jobs that nobody ever wants to do.  Like cleaning stuff.  Hopefully even they couldn't screw that up. Anyways, they find what they're looking for" Pintel:The gold calls to us...'Ello poppet."  So they bring Elizabeth and her necklace back to the Pearl.   The whole crew are amazed that they retrieved not only the last piece of gold, but also what they believe to be the perfect tribute: the daughter of Bootstrap Bill.  But of course they had to have messed up somewhere along the way.  As it turns out, Elizabeth's last name isn't actually Turner, yet.  What an embarrassment.  Of course, the silly pirates are the first to be blamed for it.  Barbossa: "Gents, you all remember Captain Jack Sparrow? Kill him." Jack: "The girl's blood didn't work, did it?" Barbossa:"Hold your fire! You know whose blood we need? Jack:"I know whose blood you need."

Once they've found William Turner, Pintel and Ragetti are in charge of bringing him to the altar.  They tell Will that everything will be okay and he won't be slain.  And then they change their mind and remind him that he only was minutes left to live.  Poor Will! But Pintel and Ragetti don't get to stick around for the show, they are sent out with the rest of the cursed crew to attack the Navy ship. The duo was forced to dress up as women to distract the Navy crew while the other crew members were creeping up the side of the ship. this plan quickly goes awry when a beam of moonlight hits Pintel and Ragetti and their true identities are revealed. And let me tell you it was not a pretty sight! 
Pintel and Ragetti did eventually get on board the ship and join the fight, but it didn't last long. After the great duel between Jack and Barbossa the curse was ended and the crew members were forced to surrender their weapons, but hey at least they can taste apples again!

"Who taught you to be so charming?"

In the awesome novel The Price of Freedom by A.C. Crispin, Jack has a crazy night on the town  (Shipwreck Cove)  in which he discovered the dead body of One-Tooth-Tommy, a sailor on Barbossa's ship that was attacked by rouge pirates. Two days before he was murdered Tommy told Jack he had seen the Captain of the rouge ship in Shipwreck Cove. Tommy saw the Captain the night of the attack,  "I seen him that night, on his ship. Lookin' for survivors, he was, in the water. Not to save 'em. To kill 'em. The smoke was so thick, it hid us. Only reason we survived. 'Cause when the devil wants ye, he takes ye. Right?" Jack didn't believe Tommy at first, because Tommy being the great pirate that he was, was drunk. Jack felt terrible about not believing Tommy, and of course the rouge pirate who killed Tommy is out there just waiting for Jack to catch him! So Jack sets off to find the rouge. Right after he starts his quest Esmeralda confronts him and tells him she wants to come along. Jack was very surprised that Emeralda wanted to join him because despite his great charm, Jack thought Esmeralda had fallen for the other great charmer in this triangle of friends, Christophe-Julien de Rapièr. Christophe was a few years older then Jack and quite wealthy, 
But really Jack is every girls dream guy! Just look at that handsome face!  Anyways, Jack and Esmeralda use the dingy that the trio had borrowed from Don Rafael (Esmeralda's grandfather) and rowed around the cove searching for a sloop that matched the description also given to Jack by Tommy.  They spotted a ship, Jack: "Esmeralda, that ship...she's a sloop, Bermuda-rigged, just as Hector Barbossa described. And she's got a brass bow chaser, all right. Foreign work, and it looks to be an Indian work to my eyes. But darlin’...I know that ship. That's Koldunya. Borya's sloop." Esmerelda: "What? But—but—Borya...you can't mean the man I met! The Pirate Lord? It can't be!".  After they make this crazy discovery they rushed back to the city to alert Don Rafael.  But by the time they (Teague and Don Rafael) went to search sloop all evidence had been removed.  They brought Borya back to Pirate Hall and gathered the other Pirate Lords for an official court of inquiry. Jack and Esmerelda were called as witnesses but the evidence they gathered was not enough to convict,

 so the Lords made the decision to summon Davy Jones, keeper of the sea and all it dead sailors. Jones told the court that Borya was guilty as charged. But he also had an accomplice. Jones was unable to tell the court who the accomplice was. Borya was sentenced to hang. The court was adjourned but Jack wasn't satisfied. He and Esmerelda left Pirate Hall and went to their favorite tavern to think. Barbossa was also at the Drunken Lady, he greeted them with some bad news. Christophe was in league with the rouges. Jack was shocked and immediately started hatching a plan to save his comrade. First he needs the keys to the dungeon from that blasted dog. 
So he and Esmerelda sneaked on board Teague's ship and fed the dog, How sweet! Animal lovers so cute.  But unfortunately for them Teague was coming down the hall so the pair ducked into a nearby closet, and waited for Teague to leave. After getting a tad frisky in the closet, they were finally alone and while the dog ate they snatched up the keys. Now if only it was that easy to help their friend escape from the dungeons of Shipwreck Cove.

"Your Pearl of Great Price"

Have you ever wondered how the Black Pearl got received her name?  Like me, you probably assumed that she always had that name because of her black masts and black everything, really.  Well, spoiler alert, she's painted black because she was burned to the bottom of the sea at the end of the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom, the awesome book I love to talk about by A.C. Chrispin.  Sorry to totally have given away the ending for you but you really should have read it already.  

Now, if you're one of those people who has to know how a book ends and reads the last few pages of a book first, then you're welcome.  Now you can finish the book on your own.  Anyways, back to the main point.  How the Black Pearl is resurrected is a whole other story for a whole other post, which I'm sure will com eventually so stay tuned.  Okay, so now you know why the Black Pearl is black, but I haven't really explained the pearl part yet, so brace yourselves.  It's actually biblical!  It comes from a parable preached by Jesus in the gospels.  

Jack's best friend in the book, Robby Greene, was raised in the Church of England so he knew all these Bible stories.  Jack, who doesn't know the Pearl just yet, is captaining it under the command of Cutler Beckett.  She's called the Wicked Wench instead, as she isn't black yet.  But Jack wants to own her so badly, it's all he can think about as he sails her.  Robby: "Some things are just obvious, Jack.  The Wicked Wench is like your pearl of great price."  Jack: "Pearl?"  Robby: "It's from the Bible, Jack.  A parable Jesus told his disciples, about a merchant who saw a perfect pearl, the most wonderful, beautiful one in the whole world, but very costly.  The merchant had to have this thing that was so perfect, so he sold everything he had so he could posses it.  It's in the Gospel according to Matthew."  This makes Jack pretty excited.  

Jack: "By, Jove, I know just how the chap felt, Robby.  Most of the Bible stuff you tell me about doesn't make much sense to me, but this story does.  A pearl of great price . . . that's this hip, to me."  That' wasn't exactly what the point was though, unfortunately.  Robby: "No . . no, Jack.  That's not what the story means.  It's a parable about how one gets into Heaven."  Who doesn't love paradise?  Jack: "Don't ruin it, Robby.  I like the story!  First Bible story you eve told me that I liked.  Be happy, mate."  Robby: "But, Jack-"  And then they get interrupted.  Throughout the book Robby drops many spiritual hints at Jack but none of them really stick with Jack until this one.  

Robby should tell him about when Jesus calmed the storm, because I doubt Jack loves to sail the storms.  Jack really must have liked this parable because he named the love of his life after it.  Jack really did risk everything for the Pearl and everything again to gain her back later.  That is one committed captain all right.  Although it really is too bad that Robby was never first mate on the Black Pearl.  Perhaps Jack also partially named the ship after Robby, his long lost friend.  But that whole long lost thing is a whole other story, yet again.  What a great captain, what a great friend.  

"Lovely, as a matter of fact"

To stick with the theme of disguises and Halloween previously discussed in yesterday's post, I thought It would be fun to make this new post about Princess Amenirdis' disguise as Ayisha.  We begin our story with Ameniridis' trip to Kush, where she finds nothing but desolate ruins.  And things only get worse for the princess from there because the slave hunters show up with their guns.  These weapons really freak Amenirdis out and she can't figure out what is happening.  All she knows is that she has to think fast.  So she and her bodyguard Tarek and the high priest Piye devise a plan of using Amenirdis' magical abilities given to her by the god, Apedemak, to disguise her because who knows what greedy slave hunters might do to a twenty year old princess.  So they change her from a young lady, to an old hag.  They weave the spell into a gray shawl so that no one will know.  Piye: "This should do.  We will center our illusion on it.  While you are wearing it, or even toughing it, you will appear as we envision you in our spell."  Pretty epic.  Tarek: "Give her a squint.  Thin, lank graying hair.  Protruding, snaggled teeth.  Some strategically placed warts . . . hairy ones.  Wrinkled, blotchy skin.  A bit of a hunchto her back, so she can't stand straight.  Make her shorter, so everyone will look down on her.  Make her thin up top, and fat below.  That should do it."  They scheme well.  Sure enough, everybody she meets after that as she's dragged across the continent as a slave is repulsed by her appearance and no one suspects that she's a princess.  Finally, she changes her name to Ayisha, just in case.  

Yay!  But then Cutler Beckett cracks through the spell, well sorta.  She works for him as a sewing woman.  She proves to everyone that she has great ability with cloth, but she acts very solemn and secretive around everyone else.  And most importantly, she doesn't reveal to anyone that she knows English because it's her key to escaping slavery.  Then Cutler Beckett figures out that she's from Kerma, which greatly interests the greedy Director of West African Affairs because he wants to steal the wealth of Kerma and sell all of its people into slavery.  Sounds like the Beckett we're used to, am I right?  But As I shared before, he and Jack Sparrow have become co-workers, as Jack captains Beckett's ship.  So Beckett gives Jack his slave woman to try to get her to tell him the bearings of Kerma in promise that they will share the fortunes of Kerma.  Jack tells Ayisha that he will take her home to freedom of he tells her the location of the island.  Ayisha, however, knows the plans Beckett and Jack devised and keeps her identity hidden.  But of course Jack always figures things out.  

A few weeks into their journey on the Wicked Wench, as she is still sea sick, Jack carries her down below deck.  But in the whole confusion of getting her well again, he accidentally walks off with her shawl, which pretty much blows the whole secret.  Jack: "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to keep your shawl.  Wouldn't flatter me at all I fear.  Here, let me spread it-" Uh-oh.  At this point, Jack doesn't really plan on telling Beckett the bearings to Kerma because he knows Beckett's views on slavery, just an FYI that will be very important later.  Anyways, at that moment Jack realizes that Ayisha is in fact only a third the age she claimed to be and about 10 times prettier, something we know Jack can't ignore.  Jack: "Ah.  Much becomes clear.  Magic.  A bloody powerful illusion, that.  Even Tia Dalma might be impressed.  By Neptune's trident.  You are one pretty girl.  Lovely, as a matter of fact."  And once again, Jack is on his way to get another girl!

"Look sharp now, lads."

You should know by now that Jack hasn't always been a pirate captain. After escaping  the ship he was press-ganged onto by his ex-Bestfriend Christophe De Rapier. He then began to move up the ladder of the EITC and eventually got up to first mate on the EITC ship the Fair Wind.  Unfortunately the captain he sailed under was a real idiot.  While sailing along with a cargo of rum Jack discovered some of his crew members had been sneaking samples of the cargo. "This rum is half gone. WHY is the rum gone? I will TELL you why the rum is gone. This half-empty cask, which as of last night was full of rum bound for England, rum entrusted to this vessel to be carried in her hold until we reach our destination, rum intended to be sold to the taverns and cellars of England, to slake English thirsts is gone because several members of this crew that stands before me, this same crew of misbegotten scurvy sea dogs, crept down into the hold and GUZZLED it!" After punishing them with some with some dunking's Jack and his friend Robby Greene a fellow escapee spotted a ship flying a flag every captain should fear. Robby:"Heaven help us. Either the sun has gotten to me, or I know that vessel." Jack: "You're not seeing things, Robby. It's Venganza, and we're her quarry." Luckily Jack persuaded his crew not to fight , however he wasn't so lucky with Captain Bainbridge. Apparently Bainbridge had been "in his cups" and wasn't thinking clearly. He completely ignored Jack's advice and tried to attack the Captain of the pirate vessel, who just happened to be a woman. That last little fact really ticked off Bainbridge, who was a stickler for tradition and didn't feel woman should sail. Because of his poor health and inebriated state on slight touch from Esmeralda's sword killed the poor Captain. As it turns out Jack and Esmeralda are old friends. They reunited and had a nice private dinner and agreed to a plan; Esmeralda would take some of the cargo to appease her crew, and then Esmeralda's ship sailed would accompany the Fair Wind back to an EITC port in London and then leave Jack to explain the strange circumstances to his new boss. Upon arrival in Calabar Jack cleaned up and then went to visit his boss

 Cutler Beckett had been recently placed in charge of the EITC's office in Calabar, Africa. And when Jack went to visit him he had just finished settling in, not one to hide his wealth Beckett had some of his greatest finds on display.  Jack recognized a few of these pieces from a book he had once read written by a pirate. Cutler was a little skeptical of Jack's story, but he saw promise in Jack so he ignored his inner thoughts, for a while that is. "Generally when EITC employees save the company money, I award them a nice bonus. Say ten pounds. However I suspect that there are things you would much prefer to have rather than a monetary bonus, if I judge your character correctly. So... how would a promotion to captain suit you, as well as a vessel to command?"  Jack was very please with this proposition until Cutler let on that the ship Jack would be captaining was a slave ship. Jack immediately refused the position.  A tad disappointed Cutler tried a new tactic; He offered Jack a ship he could make his own and sail with less offensive cargo. Jack accepted. If only he knew how many adventures he would have with his new ship the Wicked Wench...