Demons & Pearls (The Razor's Adventures Book 1)

by P. S. Bartlett

  Willy was the first man I saw as we approached the lantern lights. The sea was calm—too calm. The sailors fell quiet as Mister Green led me into their circle and stepped aside. I trembled, and had I any need to release fluid from my body, it would have poured down the insides of my breeches. With several hours now behind my conquest, my blood was now cooled and my sharp tongue was dulled. I swallowed repeatedly to keep the retching in my stomach at bay.

  “Madame Ivory Shepard, ye have been accused a’ murder, as have yer cousins. Have ye anythin’ to say to these men in yer defense?” Willy asked.

  “Wait,” Green spoke out. “I have something I wish to say.”

  “Speak yer piece, sir,” Willy said.

  “I was ordered by Captain Barclay not to board the merchant ship now known as the Augustus. By order of the Captain, I was to act as his personal defense should things not go according to plan.”

  I knew Green was lying through his straight, white teeth. However, since I had been told to keep my mouth shut and let them lead, for the first time in my life, I did exactly that.

  “I observed the Captain and Madame Shepard exchanging heated words and then witnessed him grab her by her neck. As I was charged with protecting the Captain, I saw no immediate threat at the hands of this woman, but I overheard the Captain tell her that he was about to give the order of no quarter to the crew of the Augustus. I cannot pretend to know what Madame Shepard was thinking, but she argued with the Captain and pleaded for the lives of the Augustus crew, stating they had surrendered and as such, should be spared. As I was not the only man the Captain had retained. John Forester, who is also dead, attacked Madame Shepard, at which time her cousins appeared. From there, a situation of mutual combat ensued.”

  The men grumbled and talked amongst themselves at this revelation. I struggled to move my eyes, let alone turn my stiff neck to gauge their reactions. Pirates are not easy to understand, but there was quite a bit of nodding, both at Mister Green and each other, which gave my retching gut a rest at last.

  “Now, there is also the matter of the vote, which is on record and signed by Captain Barclay, which states this vessel is to give these women safe passage to Jamaica to be sold to an anonymous client,” Green continued. “These women are worth far more to us all alive. Had Barclay been successful in killing them, you would all be out your shares of their price and half of you would be dead.”

  Again, the low grumbles and chatter ensued.

  “It is of my opinion, as your mate of two years, that Madame Shepard and her cousins were defending their lives; the very lives which are protected in this document signed by Captain Christopher Barclay. I recommend these women be relieved of any guilt as they acted in self-defense. Add to this, it was by Captain Barclay’s own choice that Madame Shepard was permitted on deck during battle, giving her the right to bear arms, to fight, in effect allowing her to defend herself against any assault on her person, including his own.”

  “Seein’ as how Barclay’s dead now, aren’t we still sellin’ ‘em in Port Royal?” Rip Townsend, the bosun, shouted to the men, who joined him in a hearty cheer.

  “Nothing has changed. I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, but you have all been a witness to Barclay’s numerous blatant violations of the code. Had Madame herself not taken his life, it would be foolish for any of you to deny that, at some point, you would not have done the deed yourself. ”

  I blinked my eyes and tried to focus on the men as their voices rose into a roar of cheers for Green. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could bear this inquest, and I swayed from side to side, praying silently that the fear in my heart would not cause me to collapse on the deck in a heap.

  “Quiet, you lot,” Willy shouted, attempting to bring order.

  “Gentlemen, you shall receive your share as long as you continue to do what Barclay was incapable of doing, which is keeping your word by the vote you took to see these four women to Port Royal untouched. What say ye agree to spare the lives of these women?” Green concluded.

  “I’ve got somethin’ ta’ say,” one of the younger men of the crew called River, said as he stepped forward. He circled me twice, inspecting the bloodied clothes I still wore. Of course, I imagined his vile inspection of what he saw in his mind beneath them, until my already swimming head felt as heavy as the weight of an anchor.

  “Speak yer piece, Watts, and let’s get on with it,” Willy said.

  “Like these here other fellas, I wouldn’t mind havin’ a piece a’ this, but we’ll be ashore soon, and I can buy ten a’ her in port with my share.”

  “Make your point, Mister Watts,” Green said, stepping between us.

  “I’d rather have the money, anyway.” Watts looked me over one last time, and as he moved to go, he turned and said, “Damn shame you’s a woman. Ye’d make a damn fine pirate.”

  Upon his comment, the men burst into laughter and began a thunderous hammering of hands and feet, signaling the majority vote not to kill us.

  Chapter Four

  ~Us and Them~

  I have no memory of how I ended up back in our cramped quarters when I woke shortly after sunrise, but I did remember the vote passing by a slim majority that we be allowed to live. The foul, musky odor of my bloodied clothes turned my stomach, and I rummaged through our shared trunk and pulled out a clean one to change into. However, my skin was stained as well, and even after I removed the shirt and tossed it out the porthole, I still bore the smell of a dead, rotting pirate.

  “Good morning,” I heard Cassandra whisper to me. She was pressed almost completely beneath Miranda and Keara in the bunk. She rubbed her eyes open to look at me.

  “Yes, yes, it is a good morning,” I said with a rasp, as I lifted the pitcher from the floor and smirked into it.

  “We drank the last of it last night. May we leave the cabin for more?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose I’ll wait for Mister Green, I mean to say the newly elected Quartermaster Green, for the answer to that question.”

  “I wanted to thank you, for whatever it is you did in order to save our lives.”

  I slid down the door and sat. My body felt as if I’d been beaten. Every movement brought about such pain that I had never in my life experienced, and I prayed again—this time for myself. I pulled my knees carefully to my chest and groaned as quietly as I could so as not to wake Ke and Mir, but they were already stirring. Cass squirmed her way from beneath them and sat next to me on the floor. She wrapped her right arm around my shoulder and stroked my matted hair as I laid my head upon her.

  “Please don’t worry that I’ve done anything sordid or dishonorable in order to secure our safety,” I assured her. “Even as a last resort, they’d have to use my dead body before I’d ever lower myself so.”

  “I know, but the rape of one’s spirit can be equally as painful and leave you just as haunted.”

  “My body and my spirit remain intact, although I am aching from that scrap yesterday, and I’m starving.”

  “And you stink,” Cassandra giggled.

  It was then that we were startled by a key turning in the lock. Cass helped me to my feet. I hung from her as she supported my weight and sat me down on the edge of the bunk. The door opened and the new quartermaster, Alphonse Green, stepped inside.

  “Good morning, ladies. Due to my recent appointment, I am leaving you in the capable hands of a gentleman you met last night, Madame. I believe you recall Mister Watts.”

  “Oh, no, no, no…” I groaned as I attempted to stand.

  “Madame, I assure you, Mister Watts is of a like mind, and he is also a very good actor. Would you not agree?” Green asked. He stood aside and allowed River Watts to enter.

  “Pleased ta’ be of service ta’ ye ladies. My apologies, Miss Shepard, for last night,” River said, as he bowed slightly and then stood with his hands on his hips and his broad shoulders back against the bulkhead. His long sandy blond hair was now secured neatly in a pony-tail, and his dark eyes aimed st
raight and away from us. It appeared our sentinel was indeed much more than I’d sized him up to be at our awkward first introduction. But, it really didn’t matter what Green said or how good of an actor River Watts was. We wouldn’t be trusting anyone on this ship, regardless.

  “I will leave you to your breakfast. Should you require anything, simply knock on the door and Mister Watts will see to it.” Green ushered River out the door and bowed to leave. As he turned away, Cassandra reached out and laid her hand on his forearm.

  “Quartermaster Green, we cannot thank you enough for what you’ve done.”

  Green did not turn back. He only glanced over his shoulder at Cassandra’s watering eyes and said, “Thank your cousin.”

  It seemed minutes had passed as I watched those pale green eyes locked onto hers, until at last, she removed her hand, and he found his feet to move. Cass backed away from the doorway as a new face appeared. He must have been one of the Augustus crew. He appeared no more than fifteen and had neither a line on his face nor the hint of a whisker. The young man carried a large tray of food and sat it on our trunk, which was the only flat surface in the room other than the floor. He picked up the empty pitcher and reappeared a few moments later with fresh water.

  We ate like wild dogs. Watts stood watch outside the door, and from time to time we were able to listen in on conversations we occasionally wished we hadn’t. Through the door, we overheard his mates approach him with dirty remarks and foul suggestions as to how he should conduct himself as our guard. However, Miranda’s tears were dried, and by the afternoon, we were washing ourselves and even doing each other’s hair as we’d done many times before back at home.

  “Who knew brawling with pirates would create such ratty hair,” Keara laughed, and I smiled as she struggled to comb through my pale nest of straw. Now, with my belly full and plenty of water, I was beginning to feel like myself again; as close to myself as one can be whilst under guard.

  “So…what do you think of Mister Watts?” Miranda asked as Cassandra wrapped her thick, red, braided mane into a tight bun and tried to speak with hair pins pressed between her teeth and lips.

  “I’m sorry, Mir, what did you just ask?” Keara sniped, and she stopped combing out my hair.

  “Mir, you have no opinion of that man and that is that,” Cassandra barked, snatching the pins from her mouth.

  “What’s all the fuss? I only asked Cass what she thought of him…ouch!” Miranda cried as Keara reached over and pinched a good piece of her fleshy thigh. “Ivory, are you going to allow her to treat me like this?” she cried out.

  The door unlocked suddenly and flew open. Mister Watts stood as he had earlier—hands on his hips, shoulders back, eyes front. Eyes front meant over our heads, since he was at least six inches taller than the tallest of us, and we were seated.

  “What is it, Mister Watts?” I asked.

  “I heard a noise, miss...and shouting,” he replied with a stammer.

  “If you come running every time you hear a squeal out of one of these ladies, you’ll be popping in and out like a gopher,” I said as I rose to my bare feet and traded places with Keara.

  “Aye, miss. Well, just doin’ me duty.”

  Watts stood there for a few moments in his signature stance, and I caught his eyes move at last. They dipped right and held firm for a few moments on Miranda. I cleared my throat and looked up at him from Keara’s hair and said, “Will that be all, Mister Watts?”

  “Aye,” he answered, and I noticed his face flush with the color of a red rose.

  “Mister Watts, are you quite alright?” I asked, when I turned and realized Miranda was not only welcoming his deep, dark eyes, but she was inviting them in. “Mister Watts?”

  “Apologies, miss. I ain’t in all me days ever seen a woman with hair that color growin’ out from her head.” He swallowed hard and shifted his eyes to me.

  “Well, now you have. Good day, Mister Watts.” I almost felt sorry for the man. By all accounts, they had been at sea for quite some time prior to their brief stop in Charles Towne, but I suppose I’d never realized how truly unique the bright red color of Miranda’s hair was—especially now, with streaks of sun-kissed amber from weeks at sea. Not that it really mattered to most of these men. The only thing they noticed was her creamy complexion and ample bosom. Something did strike me as strange, though. There was something in his big brown eyes that concerned me.

  “Miranda, in the three weeks we’ve been aboard this ship, have you perchance made the acquaintance of Mister Watts prior to this morning?”

  “Ivory, why would you ask her that?” asked Cassandra.

  “Just answer the question, Miranda,” Keara chimed in.

  Miranda glanced about the room at us and shrugged.

  “I knew it.” I sighed. “Tell us everything right now, or I swear I’ll pinch it out of you.”

  “You don’t understand,” she shouted in a whisper. “I was just trying to…make friends.”

  “These men are not our friends, and they never will be. We’re lucky to be alive right now,” Keara said as she leapt to her feet.

  “River is different.”

  “Please just tell me you didn’t…”

  “Of course not,” Miranda interrupted me. “We’re just friends. I may have let him kiss my cheek once. But he’s not like them!”

  “Miranda, he is them. There is us and there is them,” I said, waving my hand from east to west.

  “Well, Master Green seems decent, doesn’t he?” she whined.

  “Enough of this. I’ll speak with Green and have him put someone else outside the door.” I was beyond angry. Miranda had gotten herself into a few less than prudent situations back in Charles Towne, but I’d hoped under such dire circumstances she’d have reined in her wild spirit.

  “Ivory, no, please. I promise I won’t even glance in his direction. I know we can trust Samuel.”

  “Samuel?”

  “I mean River. His real name is Samuel. Please. I swear it. I’ll be good.”

  “Not another word. Let’s just finish what we were doing. Then, while we have good light, Cass can read to us for a bit. Soon we’ll be in Jamaica, and this nightmare will be behind us for good.”

  Once again, the door opened. Master Green had returned.

  “Madame Ivory. The Captain would have a word with you.”

  I gathered myself and quickly pulled my now sorted-out mane into a side braid and tied it as we walked through the passageways to the Captain’s quarters.

  xxx

  “Thank ye, Master Green. Ye may wait outside. Madame Shepard?” Captain Willy McCormack waved me to the chair I’d sat in less than twenty-four hours before and negotiated my life.

  “You wanted to speak with me, Captain?”

  “I have a proposition for ye, lass. Now hear me out before ye start with ye thrashin’ around and cursin’.”

  “Now that I believe we have at least three more days to live—I hope—I’ll keep my thrashing and cursing to a minimum,” I said as I struggled to hold in a smile.

  “Good. Now that’s settled. I’m about ta’ make ye and yer ladies an offer.

  “May I guess this offer has nothing to do with me becoming a member of this crew?”

  Willy rolled his eyes and sighed before saying, “I got a home in Port Royal. I also got a wife who has more than she can handle takin’ care a’ it. I’d like to offer ye and yer ladies a place ta’ stay ‘til I can get ye squared away.”

  “Your sense of humor has gone right over my head, Captain,” I said. I rose from my seat.

  “Now hold on a minute there, lass. Don’t ye think ye should at least speak with yer cousins ‘bout this and get their opinion of me more than generous offer?”

  “With our own money, we’ll have enough to find a place. I won’t have them tucked away yet again, awaiting their lives to begin.”

  “Ye don’t know Port Royal. ‘Tis a dangerous place, overrun with pirates, filth, and scurvy. ‘Tis no place
fer four young ladies—even your sort.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “Yer killers, lass. The lot of ye have killed a dozen men in less than a month. Ye killed pirates, whether they had it comin’ or not. Word like that gets around, and ye all be dead in a week.”

  “Or, we’ll be feared and left the hell alone.”

  “’Tsin’t enough that I’m buyin’ yer freedom? I’ve never in all me born days met a more ungrateful little…” Willey sucked in a chest full of wind and blew it out.

  I had to stop for once and think this through. Willy knew far better than I of the atmosphere and conditions of Port Royal. Regardless of my Uncle William’s tales of his glory days there, I hadn’t given a thought to the fact that, well, he was a man, and as I’d been repeatedly reminded, I was not. I calmed myself and my tongue. Perhaps this wasn’t the most desired arrangement, but it was a way for me to keep the girls safe and out of trouble for a while, until I could establish my new identity. The decision ultimately rested with me, and I made the choice I had to make to keep them alive. Willy didn’t need to know we wouldn’t be, as he put it, “getting squared away.”

  “I accept.”

  “Wait a second…did ye just agree ta’ go?”

  “I did. You’re absolutely correct. For now, there appears to be no alternative. I accept your generous offer on behalf of my cousins. One more thing though; are you certain your wife will agree to this?”

  “Let’s just say Missus McCormack has had guests at me request before and leave it at that.”

  “Will my ladies and I be permitted to leave our cabin at all until we reach Kingston?”

  “I feel it’s best ye stay put. Barclay had, shall we say, a few close associates who still be riled up over ye killin’ him. Green and I ain’t weeded out all of ‘em yet, so yer not outta danger. And it seems we won’t be stoppin’ in Kingston after all.”

  “Why not?”

  “Green’s decided he ain’t leavin’ the crew now that he’s quartermaster. Now, I won’t be speakin’ with ye again’til we reach Port Royal. Is Watts takin’ good care of ye?”