The cove wasn't far away, as Thomas said, but it was small with dense vegetation around it, perfect for hiding a ship.
"The ship my father sailed used to hide here." Thomas shrugged, explaining.
Rigel nodded and spoke. "Don't leave the boat and hide, if anyone attacks, the snakes will deal with them."
The group nodded.
Rigel gathered his clothes, remaining only in his trousers, with Salazar around his neck and the wand sheath on his arm, placing everything else in his bag and closing it tightly.
Then he pointed ahead and repeated the spell. "Serpensortia."
This time it wasn't a venomous water snake that appeared, but a huge six-meter-long anaconda. This made the boys freeze in fear before taking several steps back. Rigel was surprised they didn't scream.
The snake looked at Rigel and stuck its tongue out.
The anaconda doesn't survive in saltwater, but he doesn't need it to live there. Anacondas are excellent swimmers, so as long as it can carry him back, that's enough.
A snake that size could easily swallow Rigel's body. So it could carry him away, although it was somewhat complicated, it was still possible.
The two jumped into the water while Rigel climbed onto the anaconda, resting his chest on it. The anaconda quickly began to move its body, the movement wasn't very comfortable, but it was still possible.
The boys soon saw Rigel's figure being dragged away by the snake, and their lips trembled.
"Where did you drag me..." Billy complained, finally feeling a little freer now that Rigel was gone.
"Do you want to go back?" John asked.
"No, that captain is a little scary, but... the future looks bright, like gold coins waving at me." Billy chuckled lightly.
The others followed him.
"Come on, we can't just stand here, let's wash the deck." Thomas said. He had grown up on the boat, so his words carried more weight.
The group followed him, honestly, standing there knowing there were so many snakes nearby made them nervous, having something to do at least kept them from overthinking.
But when George went to get a bucket and saw a snake inside, he screamed extremely loudly. John went to get the soap and found a snake inside the storage room, making him turn white with fear.
In the end, they all decided to stay on deck that night, they simply didn't want to leave.
//-//
Rigel arrived at Port Royal half an hour later, 5 miles seems like a short distance, but the snake's swimming speed wasn't very good.
In any case, Rigel climbed a slightly steeper slope instead of going straight to the port, taking a detour through the forest.
Salazar seemed quite unhappy with the whole event, but he didn't complain much. When he finally managed to land on dry land, Rigel fell to the ground and took a deep breath, it really had been a terrible idea, he should have waited for Will and Jack.
Shaking his head, he first used a spell to dry himself, then to clean himself, then he put on his linen clothes, still acting like a street urchin.
He returned to the boys' house secretly at night, there weren't many people on the street, some were unconscious, others were crying next to corpses.
Rigel simply looked, mentally apologized, and left. He couldn't save everyone, nor did he have a desire to be a hero. If it were a situation where he could help without risk or major problems, he might lend a hand, but fighting the undead wasn't a good idea for his current self.
He could only manage by sending them flying, but that was only one or two at a time, if it were dozens of undead pirates, he might take down a few, but he would soon fall as well.
Shaking his head, he returned to the dilapidated house and summoned a few more snakes, black mambas, leaving them to stand guard while he went to sleep. This whole event left him very tired, even more so now that the effect of the courage potion had worn off.
Sleeping was much easier for him than he had expected, even in a straw 'bed', although he had cleaned the bed and the snakes had feasted on whatever animal they found during the night.
When he woke up the next day, he felt a snake crawling over his head, or perhaps he woke up because of the snake crawling over his head.
Sighing, he saw it was Salazar. He looked around, seeing several snakes nearby, and turned to Rigel. "Who are these?"
He was sleeping when they arrived yesterday, snakes sleep 16 to 18 hours a day, and Salazar, who could have a rat whenever he wanted, slept even more, his activity time being quite short.
He woke up early in the morning with an instinct to get some sun, but seeing all those snakes around, he got confused and woke Rigel.
"They're just conjured snakes I put on guard, ignore them," Rigel said, raising his torso, supporting himself with one hand and rubbing his face with the other.
Salazar looked at the snakes, a little confused, but didn't think much more about it, going to sunbathe in the light coming through the nearby window.
Rigel sighed, pointed his wand at himself, and began his morning cleaning routine, a spell to clean his teeth and mouth, for his breath, to clean his body, to tidy his hair... soon he was perfectly clean. He felt that seeing so many black teeth and smelly people, he was already starting to feel the urge to clean himself every few hours.
Putting his wand back in its sheath, he slightly straightened his clothes and started walking towards the prison. He was so tired yesterday that he forgot he didn't remember what time Jack and Will had escaped, he hoped they hadn't left yet.
He grabbed a handful of dried meat and chewed as he walked, the people still seemed disoriented, the soldiers patrolled more diligently while the people tried to fix what had been broken.
"I heard the Interceptor disappeared! Could the pirates have taken it?" Rigel heard someone say as he passed by. He pricked up his ears and hid behind a barrel that reeked of grease.
Looking over the top of the barrel, he saw a man with long gray hair, clearly a wig, as well as fine clothes. Rigel recognized him, it was Governor Swann who had asked the question.
He recognized the other man as well, Norrington, James Norrington, former captain, now commodore, of course, perhaps not for long after the fiasco of the previous night.
The pair slowly passed by where he was. "Perhaps. They took Elizabeth, but don't worry, Governor Swann, I will recover her no matter what!"
"Then hurry, Commodore, please, I can't lose my daughter too." The governor pleaded.
Rigel watched the pair leave slowly, he smiled, apparently Jack and Will hadn't run away or they wouldn't be so calm.
Looking away, he started walking away, heading towards the barracks again, this time with a clear target, prison.