Chapter Five: The Black Pearl

The thick fog blankets the entire bay now, and the town. Only Fort Charles is visible above it, set against a black sky. The moon gives both Fort and fog an eerie glow.

A mutt of a dog, a ring of keys in his mouth. Three seedy looking prisoners try to coax the dog to their cell door. One holds a loop of rope; another waggles a bone. The dog just sits and cocks its head.

Prisoner: Come here, boy ... want a nice, juicy bone?

In an adjoining cell, Jack lies on a pile of straw.

Jack: You can keep doing that forever, that dog's never going to move.

Prisoner: Excuse us if we ain't resigned ourselves to the gallows just yet!

The royal maid, Estrella removes a bedwarmer from the fireplace, slides it between the sheets at the end of Elizabeth's bed.

Estrella: There you go, Miss. It was a difficult day for you, I'm sure.

Elizabeth: (agreeing) I suspected Commodore Norrington would propose, but I was still not entirely prepared for it.

Estrella: I meant your being threatened by that pirate. It sounds terrifying.

Elizabeth: Oh. Yes. Terrifying.

Estrella: But the Commodore proposed! Fancy that! That's a smart match, miss, if it's not too bold to say.

Elizabeth: It is a smart match. He's a fine man. The sort any woman should dream of marrying.

Estrella catches the slip 'should' instead of 'would.'

Estrella: Well, that Will Turner ... he's a fine man, too.

Elizabeth looks at Estrella sharply.

Elizabeth: That is too bold. Will Turner is a blacksmith no, a blacksmith's boy apprentice.

Estrella: Begging your pardon, miss. It was not my place. Oh and by the way, Miss Torika has just come to check up on you. She said that it might not be the only pirate that would infiltrate this town.

Elizabeth: You can tell her thank you for worrying. But I'm fine.

Estrella exits. Elizabeth tries to read, toying absently with the medallion chain around her neck, but her attention drifts from the book ... The lamp flame suddenly drops: Elizabeth tries to turn it up. No good. The flame goes out, and the room is black.

Will and Li, wearing leather aprons, heat iron ingots at the furnace, hammers them flat Will stops. He moves to a window, opens the shutter, peers out nothing but fog. Unconsciously he reaches for a boarding axe on the wall. Takes it down; it has a satisfying weight in his hands.

Just below the stone parapets of the fort, deep in the fog, like a shark fin slicing through the water, the topmast of a ship, black sails billowing. The Black Pearl has come to Port Royal.

A noose hangs from a gallows in the courtyard. Norrington and Governor Swann walk along the far wall.

Governor Swan: Has my daughter given you an answer yet?

Norrington: No. She hasn't.

Governor Swan: Well, she had a taxing day ...

He then takes note of the fog ...

Governor Swan: Ghastly weather, don't you think?

Norrington: Bleak. Very bleak.

From the distance, there is a booming noise

Governor Swan: What's that?

And now the whistle of an incoming ball

Norrington: Cannon fire!

Norrington tackles Swann as the wall of the parapet explodes

Jack sits up. There are more booms

Jack: I know those guns!

He peers out through the bars of the window. The other prisoners crowd around their window as well.

Jack: It's the Pearl.

Prisoner: The Black Pearl? I've heard stories ... she's been preying on ships and settlements for near ten years ... and never leaves any survivors.

Jack: No survivors ... Then where'd the stories come from, I wonder?

Prisoner: Good question.

With each boom of the ship's guns, cannon fire lights up the fog. Both the fort and the town are being hammered now.

Streets, buildings, docks and ships shatter and explode beneath the onslaught. Villagers run for cover, dodge flying debris. If this is not hell on earth, then it's about to be --

Longboats emerge out of the fog, carrying armed pirates. They swarm from the boats, striking down villagers indiscriminately and setting fires. A pair set out with special purpose. Ragetti is the taller of the pair, and has a wooden eyeball that squeaks when it moves; Pintel makes up for his lack of height with ugly. They go off and start ransacking the town.

Both Li and Will arm themselves: boarding axe at the small of their backs, three dirks in their belts, Will has a sword in his scabbard and a second sword and axe for good measure. Li has his sword in hand. They slide back the doors

A woman runs past, chased by Jacoby a wild-eyed pirate with a bandoleer of clay bombs across his chest. He grabs one it sparks to life as he pulls it free stuffs it into a blunderbuss, fires, laughs as the clay bomb explodes.

Will's axe flies through the air, hits him in the back, and he drops to the ground a deadly blow. Will recovers the axe, heads up the street ­-

Men scramble for cover as cannon fire rains down on the fort; Both Gillette and Governor Swan stand still, looking around, shell shocked --

Norrington: Governor! Barricade yourself in my office!

Governor Swan hesitates as a portion of the wall explodes in front of him.

Norrington: That's an order!

In the background a tower explodes.

Norrington: (to his men) Return fire!

Elizabeth and Torika look out from the balcony: through the fog, multiple fires are visible. Ships burn in the harbor. Cannon fire echoes. Movement below: two shadowy figures approach - pirates. They both bolt from the room. They reach the landing above the foyer just as the Butler opens the door

Torika: Don't ope--

The door opens to reveal a band of pirates lead by both Pintel and Ragetti.

Pintel: 'ello, chum.

His pistol booms, and the butler crumples.

Torika and Elizabeth stifle a scream too late, Ragetti's wooden eye squeaks as he looks up toward her.

Ragetti: Up there!

They rush for the stairs even as more pirates come in through the door with torches. Elizabeth and Torika scramble back

Elizabeth slams the door to the bedroom and locks it

Estrella: Miss Elizabeth, Miss Torika?

They jump. Estrella is right behind her, terrified. They whisper:

Estrella: Are they come to kidnap you, miss?

Elizabeth: What?

Estrella: The daughter of the governor would be very valuable.

Elizabeth realizes she's right. There is the slam of a body against the door. They shove Estrella into the corner, between a tall wardrobe and the wall.

Torika: They haven't seen you. Hide, and first chance, run for the fort.

Estrella nods. Another slam at the door it gives a bit

Pintel and Ragetti burst through the door (it slams into the wardrobe, so Estrella cannot be seen) and spot Elizabeth and Torika dashing out the side door they run for the door

Pintel gets the pan of the bed warmer in his face he staggers back, holding his nose

Estrella breaks cover, runs for the hall

Elizabeth comes out swinging but Ragetti catches the bedwarmer by the handle Elizabeth can't jerk it free, so she wrenches it over the pan lid swings down, banging Ragetti's head, and then hot coals spill down on him. He howls beating at his hair and his eye

and for the stairs, Estrella already halfway down the foyer has been looted, tapestries set ablaze

The pirates burst from the bedroom Pintel goes for the stairs, while Ragetti vaults the handrail

Estrella registers the butler's body, but continues out the still open front door at a dead run. Elizabeth and Torika follow

Ragetti lands between Elizabeth and the front door. His hair and his wooden eye still smolder he reaches

Pintel (who behind Torika) is waiting for them. Nowhere to run.

A third pirate comes out of the door beneath the stairs, arms full of loot

Suddenly, the wall explodes as a cannon ball rips through the foyer, slamming the third pirate back through the door

Elizabeth and Torika take advantage of the chandelier crashing to the floor to race for the dining room

Elizabeth slides the doors shut, grabs a candelabra and forks it down over the door pulls

Torika: Oh key of my heart! With the power of love and light! Unveil the scepter and unleash my might! RELEASE!

She then takes out a card.

Torika: Sword!

On command, her heart wand turns into the sword.

The make shift bolt holds against the pirates' attempt to pull the doors open the pirates begin to throw themselves at the doors

Torika: Stop looking in either awe or terror and find something to fight them with.

Elizabeth: Yes, ma'am.

Above the fireplace are two crossed swords. Elizabeth grabs one by the hilt and pulls but it won't come free. Both swords are securely attached to the wall.

Elizabeth: (thoughts) Damn!

The doors buckle the pirates are relentless Elizabeth looks desperately around the room

The doors give way under the pirates' onslaught

The pirates rush in but the room is empty. Curtains trail out an open window. Ragetti starts to climb through, but Pintel stops him. Indicates "She's still here."

Pintel: We know you're here, poppet.

Ragetti: (echo) poppet ...

Pintel: Come out and we promise we won't hurt you.

Ragetti, still smoldering, gives him look he wants to hurt her plenty. Pintel shakes his head: 'Don't worry, I'm lying.'

Pintel: We will find you, poppet ... You've got something of ours, and it calls to us!

Both Torika and Elizabeth push back against the linen laden shelves.

Pintel: (outside) The gold calls to us!

Torika and Elizabeth register that they look down at the medallion she still wears. The gold glints in the thin line of light that spills through the crack between the doors and then the light is gone. They look up. --

Pintel's eye is visible in the crack between the doors.

Pintel: 'ello poppet.

He yanks open the doors of the linen closet (hidden as part of the frame and panel walls), revealing Elizabeth and Torika who is holding the sword in it's card form to prevent them from being seen

Elizabeth: Parlay!

He couldn't believe his ears.

Pintel: What?

Elizabeth: Parlay! I invoke the right of parlay! According to the Code of the Brethren, set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you must take me to your Captain!

Pintel: I know the code.

Elizabeth: If an adversary demands parlay, you can do them no harm until the parlay is complete.

Pintel: It would appear, so does she.

Ragetti: Blazes with the code!

He steps forward, dirk drawn Pintel stops him.

Pintel: She and that little witch want to be taken to the Captain, and they'll go without a fuss.

Ragetti looks at him. With a simultaneous exaggerated nod of their heads, they agree: that's good.

Pintel: (to Elizabeth and Torika) We must honor the code.

Torika's heart wand turns back into a key just when Pintel yanks Elizabeth and Ragetti yanks her toward the door

Li slashes, fighting with Grapple.

Grapple: Say good bye.

Just as a cannon ball whistles in and blows out a wall. A hanging sign swings down, but Li sidesteps just enough to let it go by and smash into Grapple.

Li: Good bye

Will turns after slashing another pirate through the smoke and dust he sees: Elizabeth and Torika, being escorted roughly by Pintel and Ragetti, followed by other pirates carrying loot ­-

Will: (to himself) Elizabeth.

Li: (to himself) Torika.

Will squares his jaw to save them and then Jacoby comes up waving.

Li: Didn't you already kill this guy?

Will: Yes, I did.

They look down to that a bomb rolls up and lands next to him. Will looks down at the bomb, but no explosion. The bomb is a dud. Just then, three pirates run by carrying a lot of treasure. One of them smacks Will in the back of the head. He falls. The third pirate hits Li on the back of the neck, knocking him out.

To be continued...