Pirates of the Caribbean 03 The Pirate Chase by Rob Kidd Read Free Book Online

together. "Let's go."Just then, one of the pirate thugs lying on the floor sat up and looked around in a daze. "Captain!" he bellowed. "Where is our Captain, Louis? What have you lot of curs done with him?"Jack considered how best to answer this, then picked up the Sword of Cortes and smashed the hilt down on the pirate's head. The pirate fell down, unconscious again. "Right, that's taken care of," Jack said.Casually, hoping no one would take notice, Jack slipped the Sword into its sheath--uniting these two parts for the first time in a long while, making them whole again. He hal f-expected the room to ripple with magic, or a shower of sparks and light, or something else of a dazzling nature. Instead, the Sword fell into place like any other sword in any other sheath. Obviously, that parchment was the key piece of the puzzle. Jack would need that before he could do anything really impressive. But he still didn't know exactly what this parchment was. The crew walked up the hill under the hot afternoon sun. Nobody spoke. They were all aware, however, that they'd taken care of only three out of the many pirates aboard the Cutlass. Left-Foot Louis might be in jail, or a zombie, or whatever else the Sword of Cortes had seen fit to do with him, but there was still a whole crew of pirates who could cause a lot of trouble. Fortunately, Jack and his crew were able to make their way to the church without seeing any sign of them. As they walked through the front doors, Fitzwilliam broke the silence. "What were pirates doing in a church? I would wager they were not there to offer alms.""Oh, they were just doing some graverobbing," Jack replied with relish. "Digging up old bones, that sort of thing. Typical pirate happenings."Tumen made a face. "Disgusting."
    "Horrible," Arabella said, shuddering.Jean grinned. "Constance!"Jean ran out the church's back door. There, atop the coffin the pirates had unearthed, lay Constance--sleeping in a sunbeam that fell along the casket lid."My beautiful sister!" Jean cuddled the cat against his chest; Constance blinked drowsily and looked as though she would much rather have been left to her nap. "You're safe, thank goodness."
    "Beautiful ?" Jack asked. “Sleeping on a coffin?" Arabella folded her arms and looked quite cross. "Honestly, Constance. How gruesome of ye."Constance licked her ragged whiskers, unconcerned. Arabella shook her head in exasperation."Left-Foot Louis was rather interested in this here coffin." Jack said. "Specifically, the man inside the coffin, once known as Francois, may he rest in peace. After today, I mean."The crew looked over at the coffin, which Louis's men had already opened part of the way."Yuck," Jean said."What did he want with Francois's body? “Fitzwilliam asked."Well, even more specifically, he wanted a bit of parchment this Francois had on his person when he shuffled off to wherever it is dead people s huffle off to,"
    "This parchment. The one ye mentioned before. What's so important about it?" Arabella peered down suspiciously at the coffin and shivered at the sight of the decomposing corpse. The afternoon breeze ruffled her messy hair.Jack put his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth, smiling. "Seems to have something to do with the Sword of Cortes.""A treasure map to its location? But Louis had already found the Sword, in Stone-Eyed Sam's throne room."* Fitzwilliam gestured at the sword and sheath at Jack's side. "You already have the scabbard. Therefore, the parchment can be of no use to us. That sword at your side, Jack, it is already imbued with godlike power!"
    "No, it is not. Not yet," Jack s aid flatly. The Barnacle's crew looked confused.Jack continued, "Seems that this parchment has the ability to unlock the true-- the full--power of the Sword of Cortes.""Oh, no." Arabella shook her head, as if she were really thinking about this for the very first time. "Jack, that sword's power is already huge. It's already dangerous."
    "Very true. So how