Cortes - Nature

"What is your price?" Cortes asked, angrily.

"I want you to show me how to use this sword here," Jack said, tapping at the hilt of the Sword of Cortes. "Fully and completely. Savvy?"

Cortes laughed haughtily." Fool. You think this is all about you," Cortes said. "You think the power of the Sword was meant for the likes of you, who are little more than a bilge rat."

"I take offense to that," Jack said. "Were I a rat, I would certainly not reside in a bilge! I am a captain, after all."

"The power of the Sword is meant for me and for my purposes alone. I worried that a mind as sharp as yours would have figured that out by now. But it was also why I chose you over your little friends. You possess the wit, cunning, and grace to have retrieved the stone for me. And the stone is all I need to regain absolute power. Did you not notice that the Sword only worked in order to advance your goal--my goal, really--of procuring the stone?"

"I did notice that, in fact," Jack said.

But, in truth, he had been so amazed by the Sword's power that he hadn't realized it till now. He had wanted the Sword because he thought it would give him freedom. But now he found that the Sword was enslaving him to Cortes. No matter what power the sword offered, no payoff was great enough for Jack to relinquish what he treasured most in the world his freedom.

"I was not able to retrieve the eye myself," Cortes said, "because the seas are far too dangerous for me. Davy Jones wants the Sword, Tia Dalma would surely want to reign in my power, and the Aztec spirits are still bitterly opposed to me. But now, that will all change. With the Sword I will have godlike power, and with the stone eye, I will control the spirits, for they are contained in its confines. I will rule not only the Caribbean, but the Seven Seas!" Cortes shouted.

***

The Sword of Cortes, Chapter 10