Heathen Gods Drabbles

Pintel scrabbled at the rocks and rubble, trying to uncover his best mate. "Don't fret Ragetti, We'll get you out in no time."

Plaintively, Ragetti said, "Oi, Pinters, I've lost me eye!"

"I gots it in me pocket. It's a little splinter-y, but it'll do."

Ragetti's shaggy head emerged. "Ta., mate." He popped his eye in. "Where's the coin gotten off to then?"

"It used to be in that building over there, what's slid into the ocean."

Sighing, they trudged into the water and began sifting through the ruins of Port Royal, listening for the call of the coin.
 

When Albert returns with the poulterer, Scrooge chuckles and throws him, not the half-crown he'd promised, but a big gold coin with a skull on it. It's the best Christmas ever and he must be the luckiest boy in the world! A coin like that could buy sweets and penny dreadfuls for a month, no, a year. He's so engrossed in planning how to spend his windfall, he never hears the footsteps behind him in the alley. Barbossa skewers the boy and grabs the coin as it's falling through the air, then walks away, whistling "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."
 

"Look at this with the grinning skull - it gives me the willies."

"It's easily gotten rid of. Use it to pay the barkeep for Rackham's drink."

"Aye, Jack could drink a doubloon's worth. And after, be ready for naught but sleep and a sore head. Not like you, my dear.

Mary chuckled and ran her hands down Anne's body familiarly. "Aye, I'm always ready and I never flag, which is more than any man can say."

Later, they were sorry to hear that the Sailor's Rest had burned to the ground, for they had fond memories of their week there.
 

Nancy leaned up against her blue convertible and tossed back her titian colored hair. "Mr. Brown says that the boat is haunted by cursed pirates, looking for a lost treasure of Aztec gold."

Plump Bess squealed. "Are there really ghosts?"

George, sensible as always, answered. "Of course not. Nancy will get to the bottom of it, just like she always does."

"I hope so!" Nancy replied. "Mr. Brown says his family did have one of the gold pieces, but the pirates killed his ancestor and retrieved it almost three hundred years ago. Why would the pirates be haunting the family now?"
 

Jubal whips the horses, eager to get his master home from his night of gambling and drinking. Around the bend, there's a black man in the road. The scars on his face suggest he's a recent arrival. He jumps onto the carriage and kicks in the door. There's a congested scream and he emerges with a bloody coin in his hand. In the moonlight, his flesh disappears, like something from the old ones' tales.

His skull contorts into a ruthless smile. "Run."

Jubal doesn't look back. He joins the maroons, and for the first time in his life, he's free.
 

Rain beat against the windows, but inside the villa firelight played across the walls and wine and friendship made the party cosy and warm.

Percy finished his story, grabbing Claire's shoulders playfully. She shrieked and clung to Byron's arm, a coy look on her face.

Byron subtly shifted away from her, shooting Percy a smoldering look. "My turn then? This is a tale of cursed corsairs and a mysterious Aztec coin. It's the true story of how my father lost his fortune. . ."

Mary shivered and snuggled closer to Percy; Polidori leaned in avidly, so as not to miss a word.
 

“Hence Janus, the two-faced Roman god come to life.”

“It wasn’t God who gave me this face, it was you; setting me up with that cursed medallion. You thought I wouldn’t survive, didn’t you James? Never come back to reproach you. Or perhaps it was M’s orders? ‘Her Majesty’s Loyal Terrier’ would never have refused an assignment, would you? Mission above friendship, always.”

“Alec, I….”

“Oh, spare me, James. There’s nothing you can say, no excuse you can offer that I’ll believe. Although, if you tell me where to find the rest of the treasure, I might cut you in.”
 

Edward Teach loomed over Barbossa, teeth bared and his pistol cocked. "You want it? Come and get it."

Barbossa shrugged and reached for the coin. As he stepped into the moonlight, his flesh melted into white bone. Teach's shot blasted through Barbossa, barely slowing him.

Teach stumbled back, horrorstruck. "What manner of monster are ye?"

"A monster who wants the damn coin, if ye please, Captain Teach."

Teach threw it at Barbossa's feet.

As they rowed back to the Black Pearl, Twigg asked, "Beggin' yer pardon, sir, but why didn't you kill'im?"

Barbossa tossed his apple into the air. "Professional courtesy."
 

"Captain Barbossa, I know that some pirates are well-intentioned, even if they never bathe and live sad, lonely lives with their monkeys and their inept crews. But don't you know that piracy is illegal? It's against the law, which means it's also immoral. It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong, and it's ethically negligent too."

Barbossa yawned theatrically. "Are ye done yet? Just give me the coin, and nobody'll get hurt."

"If I gave you this coin, I'd be encouraging unlawful acts. So I'll just make sure you can't get it."

Barbossa sighed wearily. "Ah lad, you shouldn't 'ave swallowed it."
 

Mysterious Slaughter of Flying Monkeys
Dateline: Emerald City

Investigators are stymied by a series of brutal killings of Flying Monkeys that took place last week in Haunted Forest Colony. Thirty-seven of the former minions of the Wicked Witch of the West (deceased) were hacked to death on Tuesday by person or persons unknown.

“We’re clueless,” Chief Inspector Rink-a-tink said at a hastily-called press conference today. “We have no solid leads. The survivors aren’t much help in the investigation. When interviewed, they become agitated and scream ‘Cousin Jack! Cousin Jack! You can’t have it!’”

A tip hotline has been set up.
 

Gillette whistled softly. "It's a beautiful blade, Commodore. Where the devil did Turner learn to make a sword like that?

"Brown used to be a fine craftsman, before his wife died. People came from all over for his swords. Sad thing, his wife's death. They found her down by the docks, throttled."

"Thievery? Or. . ."

"Not a thing was missing from the body, except a strange old coin someone had given Brown for a sword. The murderer was never caught. After that Brown took to drink and let Turner take on all the work. Poor man was quite adrift without her."
 

“Bloody hell, Harper. Did you see that?”

“I did, Mr. Sharpe, but I don’t believe my eyes, so I don’t.”

“Harris, did you see it?”

“I did, sir. He dashed right into that troop of cuirassiers, killed the French colonel and got clean away. But how? I am sure he was wounded. Dan, your eye’s the best – what did you see?”

“Oh aye, he were wounded. That captain run ‘im right through the ‘eart. I seen it. Took summat off the colonel. Gold, it were.”

“The oddest thing, sir,” Harris said, “he looked like a pirate from a century ago.”
 

Fandom: PoTC    Rating: PG    Pairing: Pintel/Ragetti    Full Header  

Down, down to the depths of the earth. Ash and cinders blowing, thick smoke rising, obscuring vision. Consuming heat that will not consume. White hot lava clogging the mouth and nose but never suffocating. No death, no release, despite the fire that manages to warm even the dulled senses of the damned.

The coin, when found, is as solid as the cursed bodies of the pirates (for there is no moonlight here), the grotesque features as clear and sharp as the day it was stamped, the gold as bright and yellow, shining in the stream of red orange liquid rock.