Chapter 4: The Escape from Singapore

Chapter 4: The Escape from Singapore

The pirates all turned to fight the agents together. Jack’s men came up through a hole in the floor and joined the fight. The room was full of smoke and the noise of swords and guns.

Elizabeth saw Beckett’s assistant, Mercer. He came into the bathhouse with a crowd of soldiers behind him. There were too many of them. The pirates climbed the walls of the building and escaped into the street outside. They ran, fighting for their lives.

A wall fell down, knocking Mercer into a shadowy corner. From there, he saw something very interesting.

Sao Feng was holding a knife to Will Turner’s neck. “It’s strange, isn’t it?” Sao Feng said angrily. “The Company agents find me on the same day that you arrive in Singapore.”

“I didn’t bring them here,” Will replied. He broke free from Sao Feng and pulled out his own knife. “Do you want to make an agreement with Beckett?” he asked. “Then you need Jack Sparrow. I can help you to find him.”

“You tricked Barbossa,” Sao Feng said. “You want to trick Jack Sparrow. You’ll try to trick me.”

“They can’t help me,” Will said. “You can.”

Sao Feng understood. “I’ll kill you if you trick me,” he said. They put down their knives, and Sao Feng handed Will the maps to the world of the dead. Will disappeared into the darkness. Mercer followed him.

Elizabeth and Barbossa escaped from the fighting, ran to the waterside, and found Will.

“You have the maps!” Barbossa shouted, happily.

“And I have a ship and some sailors,” Will said. He pointed at Tai Huang behind him.

“Where’s Sao Feng?” Elizabeth asked.

“He’ll help us to escape. Then he’ll meet us at Shipwreck Cove,” Will answered.

Elizabeth was surprised. “Why does Sao Feng want to help us?” she asked herself. “Maybe now he understands that all pirates are in danger from the East India agents.

“Come this way,” Tai Huang said. “Be quick.

Tia Dalma, Pintel, Ragetti, and Cotton also came out of the smoke, and together they ran after Tai Huang.

From the shadows, Mercer smiled. “I have information that Lord Beckett will be very interested in,” he thought. “The pirates are meeting at Shipwreck Cove. Soon, we will destroy them all!”

From the Hai Peng, Will watched Singapore burn. His thoughts were far away, on his agreement with Sao Feng. “I want to tell Elizabeth, but she won’t understand. And I don’t understand her feelings for Jack. We both have secrets now.

From another part of the ship, Elizabeth Swann also watched the fire. “Sao Feng can’t stay here,” she said softly. “Will he meet us at Shipwreck Cove?”

Tia Dalma stepped forward. “I cannot say,” she said. “There’s something in the ocean that the bravest pirates fear…”

“The Flying Dutchman!” Elizabeth thought. “It’s there, somewhere below the waves. We must find Jack Sparrow. The pirates must work together against Davy Jones and the East India Trading Company. If we don’t, then we will all die.”

The Hai Peng was sailing through an icy ocean, close to the edge of the Earth, between worlds. The water was dark and stormy, and the snow was falling thick and fast.

Will studied Sao Feng’s strange maps. Circles moved and turned inside circles. There were poems written around their edges. Will read one of the poems again: “Over the edge, hack, over again, sun up, sun down, a green light.”

“Barbossa!” he called. “What does this mean?”

Barbossa smiled, unworried. “Have you seen the green light, Mr. Gibbs?” he asked the pirate.

Gibbs smoothed his gray beard. “It happens sometimes,” he said to Will. “When the sun goes down, there’s a green light in the sky. Some people never see it. Some say-”

that it’s a sign. A sign that a soul is coming back to this world from the dead!” Pintel said.

Barbossa laughed. “Don’t worry, Mr. Turner,” he said happily. “We’ll find the way to the world of the dead. That isn’t the problem. The problem is getting back!”

Will didn’t feel much better.

Later that night, Elizabeth stood on the deck and looked down into the water. “Can we bring Jack home from the world of the dead?” she thought. “And will he forgive me for his death?” Will came and stood silently next to her. He didn’t look at her. “I still love Will, but we’re strangers,” thought Elizabeth. After a minute, she walked away.

Suddenly, Will heard a strange sound.

“Barbossa!” he called. “Can you hear that noise?”

Barbossa listened carefully. With a smile he said, “Yes, these are the waters. We’re lost now.”

The ship was turning. Something was pulling it toward the noise! But Barbossa wasn’t afraid-he was laughing.

“Quickly!” Will shouted, waking his men.

The pirates ran on deck and Will climbed high into the ship’s sails. Will saw a white line of high water in front of them. They couldn’t go back, and they couldn’t sail around it.

“Turn the ship’s wheel!” he shouted.

But Barbossa’s voice was louder. “No!”

“Go straight!”

Will pushed him away and turned the wheel hard. The Hai Peng turned… but it was still moving toward the line.

“There’s a waterfall in front of us!” Elizabeth realized. “A waterfall that drops off the edge of the world!”

Will was still trying to turn the ship’s wheel. Barbossa stood behind him, laughing. Elizabeth shook the old pirate. “You’ll kill us all,” she cried.

The Hai Peng turned, turned… for a minute it stayed on the edge of the waterfall. The pirates looked down into the endless black nothingness below. Then, the ship fell over the edge.

All the pirates, except Barbossa, screamed with fear. The ship crashed down, down, down… into the darkness.