Star Trek: Theurgy

And here it is, the complete outline, as it stands now. From here you can see the whole plot and how it unfolds. It is different from the movie/original novelization, having a very different finale. It has a lot more Salazar, a lot more Shanza, a lot more Scarfield, a lot more Will, heck a lot more of everything. As said consider these my notes for the novel, me telling me how I want it to go. I will start working on it chapter by chapter very soon. As before there are a lot of spoilers to the completed fic, so beware.


-Prologue

Jack Sparrow bargains for the compass from Tia Dalma. Some info about the compass and a warning that once it is his, if he ever leaves it behind it will come back for vengeance, “Do not betry ‘er, or she make y’ bleed.”

 

-Chapter One

Carina sneaks into the observatory, breaks the telescope, chased to the docks where she pays the last of her gold to get a ship to Port Royal. Here we learn about the journal and the importance of it, the ship’s captain offers to trade her the voyage for the ruby, but she pays with what’s left of her coins and the fine dress she had, from this point on she is in close to buccaneer clothing. (new scenes)

 

-Chapter Two

The last voyage of the Empress and Henry meets Salazar. (Same as in the movie, only now the ship that is being pursued is the Empress. Henry is introduced without a last name, better for the reveal and flashback later.)

 

-Chapter Three

Jack Sparrow fails to rob a bank and after his crew leaves him is left alone on his boat, the Dying Gull out to see. With little choice he decides that now is the time to end the Legend of Jack Sparrow and what better a place than Port Royal, so he sets sail. (Most of the chapter will be the bank robbery as seen in the original novel and movie)

 

-Chapter Four

Henry washes ashore, ranting about the dead man, and is immediately captured and taken to the military outpost’s medical ward. (We see it directly this time) In addition we meet Norrington’s replacement, Scarfield. Scarfield is the man who had to pick up the pieces after the East India Trading company went under. He’s cleaned up Port Royal and won’t allow criminals or pirates to move freely. The chapter ends with Carina arriving from England and promptly being captured by the guards, the captain sold her out. Scarfield takes possession of the journal.

 

-Chapter Five

Carina escapes before reaching the stockade and hears rumors of a man who washed ashore rambling about nonsense and something about a Trident. Needing to investigate she sets out to find the man, disguising herself as a nun to sneak in. Finding Henry the two talk, sharing what they know and make plans to meet at the docks, Carina slips him a lockpick and flees as Scarfield arrives. While Scarfield hunts for Carina in the ward, Henry makes his escape.

 

-Chapter Six

Jack Sparrow arrives at Port Royal half dead. He drags himself to the local tavern and announces himself, only to learn that no one even cares about Jack Sparrow anymore. Penniless and pathetic Jack trades his compass for a single glass of rum, which is dumped by a jostle from the crowd as Scarfield arrives to arrest him, a washed up pirate is still a pirate. Jack is taken to the stockade and thrown in a cell. Here is a scene where Jack speaks to his Uncle, the man he was named after, though it is implied here that one of them stole the name from the other and neither can quite recall who.

 

-Chapter Seven

Salazar is freed and begins his rampage. News travels fast and before long Barbossa learns of it. Barbossa has grown rich and powerful. His men report in and Barbossa reveals he knows of this spaniard and his Skeletal Ship, a ship Jack himself trapped in a magic triangle years ago, only to be able to sail the seas for a single night every 10 years, unless some fool does something truly stupid. Barbossa realizes what has happened and tells his men to set sail for Port Royal.

Henry arrives in the prison just as Carina is brought in. He listens as they say to throw her in the cell next to the witch and as far away from the pirate as possible. Henry sneaks a uniform from the guardhouse and sneaks down to see this pirate, hoping to find news of Jack. Henry meets Jack and we at last learn Henry’s name, he is Henry Turner. Cut to the flashback.

Henry as a lad sneaks off in the middle of the night, intent on joining his father on the Dutchman. The scene plays out much the same, only Will does not have face barnacles. Will speaks of the importance of keeping an oath and job the needs to be done. While they talk the wind changes and a ghostly apparition of a ship appear, like a skeletal ship. Will throws Henry off the ship and as Henry lands on the rowboat and looks up both the Dutchman and the Skeletal Ship are gone.

Return to the present. Jack reveals that he knows the Skeletal Ship and is more than a little shaken. He starts counting on his fingers while Henry tries to get more information. The guards come and Henry must retreat.

 

-Chapter Nine

Barbossa arrives on the Queen Anne’s Revenge while it is still dark and heads down to see the witch, Shansa. Barbossa learns that indeed Jack has made that fateful mistake and Salazar is free, this time focusing on the man who imprisoned him. Barbossa implies he knows what happened, but he doesn’t elaborate, not yet. Shansa gives him the compass. As day begins to shine through the windows Barbossa leaves. As he passes Jacks cell headed out Jack is dragged from it, the two missing each other by only a few feet, having one last moment with Uncle Jack where his Uncle tells him to ask for Victor if it’s a disembowelment cause Victor has soft hands. Jack is taken to the gallows, only now there is a chopping block. Jack is led toward it, there he and Carina at last meet, she is to be beheaded as well after she shot a guard. Jack questions this and we learn that during her escape she was caught and a guard “copped a feel” so she took his pistol and shot him. Jack makes a snarky comment. The execution begins and the guy ahead of Jack is taken up and beheaded (need to establish that this is real).

Barbossa sets sail from Port Royal, the compass guiding him.

Jack is taken up and his head put on the block. The executioner raises his blade and then... BOOM! Cannon fire. Henry appears with Gibbs and the rest of the crew. The crew makes short work of the guards and rush to save Jack. Henry makes it a point to save Carina as well. Jack hesitates, but in the end relents.

 

-Chapter Ten

Jack, Henry, and Carina make their way to Gibbs’ new ship, a small ship, but it will do. Henry and Carina and taken below decks and put in a locked room. Here the two talk and we learn Carina’s backstory. Some 30 years ago when she was still young her mother died and her father appeared, giving her the journal and putting her in a safe home. She was raised in england, obsessing over the journal, so much so that she made a copy of it. She reveals the copy, though it is missing the ruby. Henry makes a discovery that some of the markings are not just scratches, but if you tilt the book and look from the right angle they are words. “The Power of the Sea is Held in it’s Heart, All is Freed at Heartbreak”. The words are meaningless now, but both agree that they do have some meaning.

On Deck Jack and Gibbs bargain. Jack wants to be Captain. Gibbs won’t budge, the ship was a gift from his father and he won’t let another man captain it. We learn that Gibbs is actually not what he seems as Gibbs is his mother’s name. Jack asks what his fathers name is, but Gibbs won’t say. Jack agrees to let Gibbs be Captain if Gibbs tells him his father’s name. Gibbs is about to reveal it when Jack spots the Queen Anne’s Revenge. Both agree that if Barbossa is going one way, they should go in the other and the matter is dropped.

Barbossa spots the ship and notes it, stating that it looks like the good Mr. Gibbs is finally going to do something with his legacy.

 

-Chapter Eleven

At night a blood red moon hangs overhead. Scarfield goes to see Shansa, giving her the copy of the journal he has and the ruby. Shansa reveals the writing on the cover of the book, “Control the Heart, Control the Sea, Break the Heart, Free the Sea.” Scarfield, now convinced that Jack Sparrow aims to control the sea, tells Shansa to decode the book and give him a heading. Shansa then gives Scarfield’s backstory. Scarfield threatens her to not use her magic on him, she strongly implies that there would be no need.

On Gibbs’ ship Jack and Gibbs head down to speak with Henry and Carina. Gibbs reveals that not even the Mao Kun Map has the location of the Trident of Poseidon. Carina replies that it can’t be on a map of paper because according to the journal the island only exists for people who know where to look and more importantly “how” to look. Henry reveals that the map is hidden in the stars, so they will need to go on deck to see it.

Barbossa at last reaches the Silent Mary, the skeletal ship, under the same blood moon as the others. Barbossa bargains with Salazar, trading his own life for Jack’s, stating that in exchange for letting him live, Barbossa will lead the undead Captain to Jack. Salazar agrees, and orders Barbossa and his crew onto the Silent Mary. Once on board, while Barbossa watches powerlessly, Salazar has the Queen Anne’s Revenge sunk and takes Barbossa’s sword, throwing it into the water along with the sunken ship. Barbossa silently vows vengeance as Salazar laughs.

 

-Chapter Twelve

On Gibb’s ship on deck the blood moon hangs over the reads of the crew, Carina, using the copy of the Journal begins to decypher the stars, pacing back and forth. Jack Reveals to Gibbs the parentage of Henry and Gibbs reveals that there are whispers that the Dutchman has been seen, looking just as evil as ever. This surprises Jack, but he doesn’t explain it. Henry talks with Carina and together they piece together that they need to follow the trident in the sky, the Carina, in the light of the blood moon, 3 of the stars that make up the constellation glow bright red. Carina, the girl, makes a mark and realizes that they make an arrow, a direction to follow, that cannot be written down as the earth spins and only at this time is it clear. Now with a heading they makeway.

On Scarfield’s ship Shansa stands at the bow and then finally turns to Scarfield, she too has realized where they must go and she gives him a heading. As he moves to the wheel she questions his motives and in turn he fires back, giving us the backstory of who she is and what he heard happened to her, but his story is incomplete. She reveals the rest. Though she keeps from him that he looks very much like her long gone husband.

On the Silent Mary Barbossa uses the compass to hunt down Jack. Barbossa speaks to Salazar and Salazar asks what Barbossa knows of his history. Barbossa gives much of Salazar’s history, with Salazar himself filling in bits and pieces. The “No, no no no, not men, Pirates” line remains and is here. In addition Barbossa reveals that before he went to find Salazar he made in inquiry about Salazar’s family. Salazar states that he already knows, and the matter is dropped. Gibbs’ ship is much slower than the Silent Mary so by sunrise they catch up.

 

-Chapter Thirteen

Arrival at the island*

Scarfield, Shansa, and Barbossa both wind up on the island. Salazar destroys Scarfield’s ship and Gibbs’ ship. An alliance is formed between Scarfield and the others, Salazar is the bigger threat. The crew gets separated, Jack and Barbossa, Henry and Carina, Scarfield and Shansa

 

-Chapter Fourteen

On the Island*

Jack and Barbossa finally have a heart to heart, likely in a tower or lighthouse of some kind, both learning at last what the Pearl is to the other and in the end both concede that they have more in common than not, and Barbossa learns of Carina, Jack figures out he’s her dad. Henry and Carina wind up in a massive chamber with a mystical map. Both discuss their fathers, Henry with the loyal man of his word, Carina with a brave and noble sailor. Both think the other is lying, but neither goes much deeper. Scarfield is bitten by a serpent and is tended to by Shansa, they bond as it is strongly implied there is some connection between them, we also learn that Shansa is a heck of a lot older than she looks.

 

-Chapter Fifteen

On the Island*

The 3 groups find their way to a temple/observatory and Scarfield returns the ruby to Carina. Carina is able to use the observatory to locate the island. All is well and good, but they don’t have a ship. Barbossa reveals that restoring the Pearl is easy and takes the bottle, much to Jack’s horror Barbossa shatters the bottle and after the Pearl grows a little Barbossa tosses it into the sea. Jack laments it, Barbossa watches. The Pearl rises from the depths.

 

-Chapter Sixteen

Once on the pearl time is short so they make their way to island. A little bit between Jack and Barbossa as a pair of Captains. Salazar almost catches up but from the depths appears the Dutchman. The Dutchman stands between the Silent Mary and the Pearl, giving the crew enough time to reach the island. Henry wants to stand and fight beside his father, we don’t see him yet, but Barbossa tells him that if any ship can stand against the Silent Mary it is the Dutchman, if they stay it will only give will something else to worry about.

On the Dutchman we at last see Will, his face marred by sea life, his body not what it should be at all. Will and Bootstrap talk about family for a moment as Will watches the Pearl sail away. Realizing he cannot beat the Dutchman Salazar boards it and speaks with Will. Salazar makes it clear that all he wants is Jack, Will states that if Salazar touches a hair on his son’s head, Will will hunt him down. Salazar agrees and Will let’s Salazar go.

As they approach the island the Silent Mary at last catches up. Henry fears that Salazar has killed his father. The ships fight. It happens much as it did in the movie proper with Henry being taken by Salazar and the Pearl ramming into the island of stars.

 

-Chapter Seventeen

Island of stars

Once on the island the crew lick their wounds. Carina has it out with Jack, blaming him for letting Salazar take Henry, but Barbossa drags her off of him. In the struggle Barbossa’s injured arm (from the fight) is made worse and Carina tends to it. While she tends to him he asks her about her father, what she remembers. She tells him about the great man, the great sailor he was, and it almost destroys him to hear it. She at last finds the tattoo of the constellation on his arm, remembering the same tattoo on her father, but she doesn’t address it just yet, she doesn’t know how. Jack has a scene with Shansa, he implies that he knew someone like her, Shansa implies she knew a man much like him, implied to be Teague. Scarfield and Gibbs talk of legacies and destiny, Gibbs giving his unique perspective on it all, that it is more about where you chose to be and who you chose to be with than much else.

At last they explore the island, Carina quickly determining that it is a replica of the stars, the jewels are stars. She quickly finds the stars for the arrow she found before, but one jewel is missing. She takes the Ruby and places it in the slot. The entire island shakes.

At sea suddenly a light erupts from near where the Dutchman is. Nearby is the Silent Mary, Salazar has Henry. A gap opens in the sea between them, like a line leading right to the island not far off. 

 

-Chapter Eighteen

A crack in the world and the temple of poseidon

Carina, Barbossa and Jack travel down into the newly formed gorge. Not far from the island they find a temple. Inside they discover the trident, a massive golden 3 pronged monstrosity. And below it a massive shimmering blue gem. They quickly realize that they are in the temple of poseidon, home of the heathen gawd. In this moment all they reveal what they aim to use the Trident for. Barbossa hopes to use it to avenge himself on Salazar, Jack had wanted to use it to restore the Pearl but now just thinks he wants it to become a Pirate King, Carina wanted it to find her father, but now wants to use it to avenge herself on all those who held it back. From behind them Salazar is heard saying that he wants it to cleanse the sea of filth. They turn and find out that Salazar has taken control of Henry’s body (Henry now having the floating hair and clothes Salazar had). Barbossa at last grabs the trident and it shrinks down to a usable weapon.

They fight. Will arrives. They fight some more.

 

-Chapter Nineteen

The fight continues, mostly between Jack, Salazar, Barbossa, and Will, very reminiscent of the mill wheel fight. Each person uses a sword and the trident at some point. Finally Henry/Salazar get’s the Trident and everything changes. Henry separates from Salazar and Salazar is restored, not quite human, but also far more intact than he was, and also much more powerful.

Carina rushes to Henry and we learnt that it is possible to end this all, if the Heart of the Sea is destroyed than the Sea will be free. But she doesn’t know what it will do. Shansa appears and tells them that if the Heart is destroyed it will seal the temple, forever, along with anyone who is in it, in addition it can only be damaged by the Trident, it will also destroy the Trident as the Trident controls the Heart and the Heart controls the sea. Henry grabs a sword and joins the fight, only long enough to tell Barbossa. Barbossa moves the fight to the chamber with the Heart in it, aiming to trick Salazar into piercing the Heart.

Above them Scarfield manages to get onto the Silent Mary, quickly setting up the black powder to blow the ship apart as the crew is down below, watching the fight.

In the same moment in which Scarfield destroys the Silent Mary, Salazar plunges the Trident into Barbossa. With Victory at hand Salazar turns to Will, but Barbossa laughs. With the last of his breath he reveals that in stabbing Barbossa he also stabbed the Heart. The Trident explodes and the temple begins to collapse. Will fights Salazar to allow Henry, Carina, Jack, and Shansa to escape. As the temple collapses, Will offers to save Barbossa, with the power of the Dutchman. Barbossa replies with a laugh that he is “disinclined to acquiesce”.

 

-Chapter Twenty

On the Island of Stars, Carina tends to an injured Henry as Jack ponders what to do with Shansa and Scarfield. When Henry asks her again about her father, she confirms that she was wrong about him, but also right in more ways. Henry says “He was a pirate,” to which she adds, “And a good man.”

Back at sea Jack speaks with Gibbs about the ship he got from his father being lost, Gibbs at least reveals that his father was a pirate mapmaker and raised him on all the legends of the sea, since then he always wanted to go out and see those wondrous things, and that his father hated having the name of his father, so he gave Gibbs his mother’s name instead, to break the line of the name so that Gibbs could be free to explore his own destiny. Jack asks what the name of Gibbs’ father’s father was, to which Gibbs replies that he was an orderly man who wrote a good code, but these days they were more guidelines anyway, it is left at that.

Later we see Shansa and Scarfield back in Port Royal, he hair at last beginning to grow back.

Still later we catch up with Henry and Carina on the shore, the restored Dutchman in the distance. Henry has a moment with his father before Elizabeth arrives and Will embraces her.

From a distance Jack observes and then departs, his compass leading the way to something new, a rendezvous beyond the horizon.
 

-Epilogue

In the deep something has changed. A current flows. From the depths a figure stirs. Will turner is haunted by a vision of a figure or nightmares. Something has changed, something is coming. Soon…


*About the Island - Right now I am planing on making it an Atlantean outpost with ancient temples and an ancient lighthouse. Also I was thinking about adding sirens to the scene, but I’m not sure just yet.


Backstories -

Scarfield -
When he was young his mother was drowned as a witch, she would often appear to him in dreams, her hair floating, her cold hands reaching out to him. He felt the need to go to sea, to escape the place that had claimed her. He joined the Royal Navy and after the East India Trading company collapsed with the death of Cutler Becket and with the lawlessness of Port Royal after the deaths of Governor Swann and James Norrington he was put in charge of the port and told to straighten it up. Ruthless but not cruel, he did just that.

 
Shansa -
The wife of a fisherman captain, after his ship failed to catch enough fish to get by he made a deal with Davy Jones, 13 years of good luck fishing, 99 years before the mast, a deal he never told his wife about. And oh how the bounty came in, for 13 years. Then came the time to pay. When Davy Jones took her husband she fell into madness, tearing out her hair. She began to study the ancient magicks of the sea and vowed to get revenge on him. Nearly 10 years ago so placed a curse on the Captain of the Flying Dutchman, not knowing that it now had a new Captain. The Curse was simple, he could not longer pass through the veil. He was a bound to be neither living nor dead. Shortly afterward she got greedy and tried to attack the Captain of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, thinking that Blackbeard was still in command. The curse failed and made Barbossa aware of her. Barbossa handed her over to the authorities, making a deal that he could see her anytime and they would keep her locked away.

Prologue
 
From the window of the shanty hut came a sticky warm breeze. The hot was hot, humid, and filled with odd scents and sights, like the whole of the swampy bayou compressed into one spot. From the rafters hung dried herbs and desicated carcases of heaven knows what sorts of creatures, on the walls were shelves lined with bottles filled with murky liquids and other creatures suspending in yellow liquid that kept them from falling to the ravages of time.
 
And in the midst of it stood the young man. He had of course been in places like this in the past, but this place felt like it was the originator, like all others were mere copies. This was a witch's lair and there could be no doubt about that, a place to morbid for the holy and to dangerous for the superstitious.
 
He shifted his weight from one leg to the other as the woman, that strange woman perched in that massive oak chair, gazed at him from across the table strewn with debris. Her dark eyes seemed to peer right through him.
 
When he had arrived, what felt like ages ago, she had promptly shushed him before he could say more than a word and hey had sat there, in silence, ever since. She seemed to be studying him in a degree of detail not even most mothers, those who believed their offspring had done something they were not permitted to do, could manage.
 
Were she not almost utterly terrifying to him in that moment, he would have thought her to be a vision of beauty. Her deep mahogany skin dotted with dark marks that looked like some odd sort of tattoo he was not familiar with, her long hanging dreadlocks, and this way about her, almost macabre. She was an odd sort of creature indeed.
 
He jumped when she at last spoke.
 
“An’ what be it, y’ be seekin’?” she asked in a tone that seemed somewhere between playful and dangerous.
 
He swallowed hard and did his best to focus on how to answer the woman's question. What was it he was seeking. When he had set sail to this shack he had been so certain, but now, standing there, the hot and humid air clinging to the back of his neck, he was not so certain.
 
The legends about it had been clear, but in that moment he was far from certain. But he had spent his last coin on this map to this hut and he was not about to put that information to waste. He had already lost his trusted ship and he needed something better, he needed the ship that would be above all others.
 
He steadied himself. He was going to say that he was seeking treasure, but that didn't seem right. He took a deep breath and at last said the only thing he could think to say. “I’m looking for a ship,” he began. “But not just any ship, I’m looking for the ship that will bring me freedom.”
 
She laughed at that. Many sailors were looking for the ship of that kind, but one had come to her. It was almost funny, in fact to her it was. “An’ ye t’ink I ‘ave one tucked away somewhere?” she said with a toothy smile. The fact that she likely did was meaningless, that ship was not meant for this boy.
 
“Well… no, but I heard you have a way of telling a man where to find such things as his heart desires,” the young man replied earnestly.
 
Suddenly her expression changed and with it so did the winds. Outside it seemed the hot wind stopped dead in it’s tracks and within second the air grew stagnant and deathly quiet.
 
“An’ who be tellin’ y’ such t’ings as t’at,” she demanded a not in her voice that sent a shudder up his spine.
 
“I’m not telling you you that, but I will say it is mostly common knowledge,” he replied taking a quick step back, away from the strange obeah woman.
 
She got to her feet and moved around her cramped shack. “I ‘ave t’ t’ing you seek,’ she said thoughtfully. As she moved past him, a hand drifting over his shoulder and causing a shudder to trace down his spine. She reached a corner of her shack and reached up, pulling a small case that was tucked up in the wedge between the rafters and the edge roof. She set it on the table and opened it. Inside was a compass box. She took it out and handed it to him.
 
The moment it fell into his hand it felt as if things had changed. He couldn’t explain how, but he knew that this compass was not what it seemed. The domed cover was made from what looked like pure lapis lazuli. Unding the latch and flipping it open he noted the inside lid was detailed with a map of the heavens, the central shadow vane made it work as some sort of sundial, and the compass disk itself was sliced from a walrus's tusk. Hazed at the windrose for a moment and then pulled out the compass he had stolen from some poor drunk ages ago. One of them was pointing the wrong way.
 
“It doesn’t point North,” the young man observed and then looked from the broken compass to the odd obeah woman.
 
"No, it does not."
 
He turned his attention back to the pair of compasses and stared at them for a long moment, then looked back up. "Then... what good is it?"
 
"Y' did not say y' were lookin' fo' Nort'." She smiled at him, as if waiting for him to realize what it was he held.
 
The young man turned the pair of compasses, both stayed pointing in the directions they were already pointing. He set the compass he had owned on the table as he studied the new, strange compass in more detail. He spun turned the compass around in his hands again and the windrose stayed, pointing in the same direction. He turned his body, it stayed pointing. He took a set forward, then a step back, the windrose stayed put. So it was definitely pointing at something.
 
"It point t' what t' heart wants most, whatev'r th't may be," she said with a gleam in her eyes that seemed to look right through him. "It point t' y' future, t' y' past, t' what be right in front of y', it point to t’ heart.”
 
In that instant more than anything else in the entire world the young man wanted that compass.
 
“Hey! I need that!” He said reaching toward it.
 
She moved back to her chair and sat down. “An’ what would y’ be willin’ t’ trade t’ own it?”
 
The young man swallowed hard. He didn’t have any gold, he in fact didn’t have much beyond the simple dinghy he had borrowed to get to this place. And he did not think she was the sort to take simple gold or precious gems anyway, no he had to offer something better, something no one else could.
 
“What is it ye want for it?” he asked at last, knowing this was not the best way to barter, but he was not on his best footing here.
 
“Offer me somet’ing no man else can, offer me somet’ing so valuable t’ y’ t’at it canno’ be replaced,” she said with an odd sort of smile.
 
He swallowed hard, what did he have that in any way could match with what she was offering.
 
“Offer me a piece of t’ life y’ t’ink y’ had, an I will give t’ y’ t’ life you t’ink y’ want,” she added almost cryptically.
 
His mind buzzed and then he understood. Without a word he pulled out the small knife he always carried and sheared of 3 of his dreadlocks. He set them on the table.
 
Of all things he had, they were perhaps amongst his most precious. When he was but a lad, while his mother had told him tales of his father at sea, she had bound his hair into those locks. In them woven charms for luck, charms for love, and charms that would carry her with him always. His mother was long gone now, and there would never be a time when she could remake those locks, the hair would grow back, but the locks would not. Thus he knew they were beyond value, priceless.
 
She smiled at that and took the locks from the table. “T’ trade me fair,” she declared and tossed him the compass.
 
He opened it and the windrose spun slowly for a moment, as if his own mind was spinning, reeling from what he had just done. Then at last it pointed and in that moment he knew that things would not be the same, ever again.
 
“A warning t’ y’. T’at compass point t’ what y’ heart want most, but if y’ betray ‘er, if y’ turn against ‘er, she will bring t’ y’ t’at which y’ heart dreads most,” the woman said with a look that showed how deadly serious she was.
 
The young man tied the compass to his belt and smiled. “I’ll have to keep t’at in mind.”
 
“Our business be done now, child. But met’ink t’is will not be t’ last time you come t’rough my door. T’ winds have a way of bringing all men back t’ me eventually.”
 
And with one final glance the young man stepped from the shack and into the humid swamp air, a cool wind began to blow, a wind that would carry him out to see.
 
As he climbed into his dinghy and prepared to cast off, the woman appeared on the porch of her shack and as he launched his tiny boat she spoke to him for what would not be the last time.
 
“T’ birds will take flight and before long y’ will get y’ name, but be careful who y’ make an enemy of,” she called after him. And as her sailed out of earshot he thought he heard her say something of a sparrow in a crow’s nest. Jack just smiled to himself as he gazed at his new compass. It pointed dead ahead, and he knew that wherever it pointed, that was where he wanted to be.