An army of shadows has been amassed. Its one goal: to destroy the Pirate Lords for their Shadow Master--an alchemist who has created a special gold that grants him unfathomable power. But the soothsayer, Tia Dalma has other plans for the Lords and cannot allow them to be destroyed. So she calls on the one man who can turn the tide--Captain Jack Sparrow...   Volume Five finds Jack and his crew--as well as some unwelcome tagalongs-en route to France in search of the rare and powerful Shadow Gold. Jack soon discovers that he is being trailed by a mysterious band of misfits who call themselves The Fourth Estate. Are they agents of the East India Company, pirates, in league with the Shadow Lord, or something far more terrible?