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

by P. S. Bartlett

  I thrashed and cursed him as if he could understand every word. I pushed against the scarf with my tongue, but he’d tied it well. I imagined he had quite a bit of experience doing it, which only enraged me more.

  “Ye just rest yer pretty bald head. Captain Calvert and Thunder Cay’s a’ comin’ fer ye and them girls a’ yers too. We’ll be gatherin’ them up soon enough, and you’ll all be nice and ripe when them boys come and pay the tab.”

  “Hey Rip, how’s about just this one? I mean, ain’t none a’ them gents gonna want a baldy are they?” asked one of the men who’d entered the room as my attention was focused on Rip. He rounded the bed on my left, and all of them broke into laughter.

  “Now wait just a second, mates. I’ve had me eye on this one since we left Charles Towne. She’s a’ lot a fight in ‘er. I like ‘em feisty,” Townsend said. He leaned closely over my face. He was so close I could smell the rum he was filled with and the devil inside his soul. He poked his thumb at his chest and said, “I do believe she was givin’ ole Rip the eye since the first time I seen ‘er come aboard the Demon. Besides, I believe this bitch and I ‘ave some unfinished business. Ye ain’t pushin’ me ‘round no more, are ye now?” He scowled.

  He winked his bloodshot eye at me, and I tossed my head away from him. He clamped his hand down hard on my face and dug his fingers into my cheeks to pull me back. I felt my stomach retch while they laughed and watched him. He stuck out his tongue and drug it over my cheekbone and up the side of my bald head. “Why’d ye have ta go and cut off that hair? Ye taste like shavin’ soap,” he said with a sneer and tossed my head back away from him. “We could a’ got two times as much fer ye, with all that pretty white hair.”

  “We ain’t got all night, ye know,” one of the other men shouted at him. The big one standing on my left sat down and placed his hand on my thigh. I jerked my legs and screamed through the gag, but they’d tied me so tightly that all I did was shake the bed, giving them more fodder for their laughter.

  “Back off, I said,” Townsend shouted and swatted the big man away from me. “Ye ain’t getting’ none a’ this a’fore me, so get yer hands off.” Townsend pulled a dagger and pointed it at the man.

  I tried to get a good look at all of them, so if I survived this night, I’d be able to hunt them down and gut them all. I lay there trying to think of any way at all that I could escape. I imagined suddenly growing the strength of Rasmus and…Rasmus! Where was he? I had to push his face from my mind and stay here in this room and continue to look for anything that might save me from this living nightmare. I pulled and wiggled and jerked that bed until I thought it would bust through the wall behind me, but they just laughed and drank.

  Rip leaned over me while a couple of the others lingered about. Two of them sat down in the winged-backed chairs that were set in opposite corners of the room. I glanced around and stretched my neck to see as much of the room as I could. It didn’t take long for me to realize I was being held at an inn or a brothel, or maybe both. I imagined those chairs were not just for sitting but for watching. I wondered how many young girls and women they’d had in this room—in this very bed. I pulled hard against my binds again, but it was no use. It was in that moment the terror set in. I realized I was completely alone with a group of men whom I’d started a war with and every hair that remained on my body stood on end when the truth finally sank in. I had lost.

  “Ivory, yer only gonna make it worse if ye fight, ye know,” Rip said, again picking at his fingernails with that damn dagger as he sat there next to me. “How’s about ye all give me and the Razor here a little privacy, aye?”

  “Ain’t no way in hell we’s leavin’ this room, Townsend. Ye take er, we take her. That’s how it’s done,” said the tall, slim one with the long, black waves of hair hanging over one eye, standing with his back against the door. I recognized him as a sailor from the Demon, one they called Felix. His voice was deep and smooth and filled with intent. He rested his right hand on his pistol as it sat at the ready in his baldric. “Now, if ye be set on takin’ this boney-arse witch, get on with it!” he shouted with a wave of his long arm. If I wasn’t stretched like a cowhide, my boney arse would have shoved that pistol so far up his arse that he’d be pissing shot.

  Although I knew I’d lost this battle, I wanted to turn off my brain but I couldn’t. Now that it seemed they’d all settled in for the show, I counted them. There were five total: two seated, one against the door, one standing to my left, and Rip, who was seated with his hip pressed against mine as I squirmed to move away from him. I twisted and bounced, but he pursued and leaned over me with his right arm and clutched my left hip with his black tar hand, holding me still.

  I glared up at him, and I knew he read straight through to my thoughts and saw his brains splattered against those pretty red curtains behind him. Unfortunately, I read his thoughts as well, and he answered mine with the point of his dagger as he slid the tip of it up and under the billowy fabric of my shirt and then sliced through it all the way to my neck. I’d dressed so hastily on the boat that I hadn’t put my binding back on. There was nothing between Rip’s grubby hands and my body now but shredded cotton.

  I froze. This was really happening. With that first act of true violation, he unleashed something inside of himself and pounced on top of me. He tossed the dagger away and straddled my hips as I bucked and twisted myself beneath him. His hands clawed at either side of my shirt and ripped it open. I pushed back my head and pressed my eyes as tightly closed as I could.

  “I guess we ain’t gotta worry about that bet no more, aye, lass?” he growled. He ripped away my shirt from my shoulders and pushed his hands roughly up and over my breasts as I cried out from behind the gag. I screamed, even though I knew no one could hear me, and those that could just wanted me to scream more.

  I couldn’t open my eyes. I wouldn’t. I tried to go back to the beach with Rasmus. I cried out his name again and again beneath my gag. Rip unbuckled my belt and pulled it away from around and beneath me with a hard jerk, and I heard it land on the rug with a soft thud. I wanted him to kill me. I wanted that dagger in his hand again, and in my mind I was pleading with him to cut me into a thousand pieces, because once he was finished with me, I was going to do it myself.

  His hands were at my waist, and I could feel his lust grinding against me through our clothes. He was laughing and panting his foul breath against my chest as he lay down on me and rubbed his ratty beard against my neck. Then, his hand slid down over me and pulled at the buttons on my breeches.

  I turned my face toward the window. The curtains were waving, and a breeze arrived with what sounded like lightly falling rain. I heard noises coming from outside. It sounded as if the mob were returning from the fire. I focused on their meaningless voices and laughter and their cackling howls as they made their way back to the taverns through the alleys and streets. I could smell the rain now, and closed my eyes and just breathed it in.

  I’d finally drifted in my thoughts, away from beneath Rip and outside to the dock in the rain, waiting for Rasmus. Then, I heard what sounded like a great gun firing from the deck of a ship. Had I not held my eyes closed to shield them from the flying shards of splintering wood, I would have sworn to God that I actually had heard a cannon shot.

  I no longer felt that dirty bastard pressed against me, and I peeked out for a second. I saw the back end of him as he dove out the window. The room shook, as did everything in it, and I heard the men shouting and shrieking like the roof was caving in on them. It was as if everything around me was being battered to shreds. I tensed tightly when I heard the unmistakable ringing sound of swords striking, and then the dull thump and crunch as blade passed through flesh and bone, followed by the sound of something, or someone, hitting the floor next to the bed.

  I shook my head to toss off the debris, but I couldn’t open my eyes until I again heard that shearing ring of steel as it struck like a hammer. Something hit me hard in the stomach, knocking the win
d out of me, and then it bounced off. I blinked several times and raised enough to see Felix’s severed head looking back at me from beneath my right arm. I screamed like a mad woman and writhed to get that thing away from me, but it was useless. His mouth was still agape, though his scream was silenced, and his dead eyes stared at me as his blood drained out into the sheets.

  It was then I saw him. His wide, white back spun around holding Felix’s blood-soaked and headless body. The two men who’d sat in the chairs fired their pistols at him, but the bullets struck a dead man. Once they’d spent their shots, the men went for their blades, and Rasmus tossed the bloody corpse to the floor. I watched in awe as he hurled his sword away and crossed his arms over his body, shoving each big hand into his baldric, and pulling two pistols. The men turned toward the window and tried to run. I smiled with pride, because I knew there was no way they were leaving this room alive.

  My eyes locked onto my beautiful and deadly savior. Those thick, mighty arms raised, and he pulled each trigger simultaneously, unloading a shot into each of their heads. I watched with bitter satisfaction, even though it was their brains and not Rip’s that splattered in bloodied chunks all over those red velvet drapes. The force from the impact propelled their dead bodies forward, slamming them into the wall before they flopped to the rug with a thud.

  Rasmus’s chest heaved from the fight, and I could see the burned red spots on his right arm up to his shoulder that he must have incurred from the Oyster fire. All I wanted now was for him to be alright. I didn’t even consider my own ragged state. I just needed to know he wasn’t seriously injured. I laid still and tried to catch my breath, while at the same time, my heart pounded, and I thought it would explode. He just stood there, staring at those dead men, until it seemed like an eternity before he finally turned and looked at me. My eyes smiled at him, but his eyes blew wide open, and he screamed, “No!”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the big one on my left who’d fallen from what I now knew was a hard blow from Rasmus’s sword, but he was still alive and climbing to his feet with a cutlass in his hand. Rasmus launched himself onto the bed, diving over me and onto the man just as he was about to send my head to join Felix’s. The cutlass flew from his hand, nearly slicing my arm as Rasmus pounded the man repeatedly in the face with his big right fist.

  The man was huge. He wasn’t quite as tall as Rasmus, but he was thicker and wider. The gaping wound in his chest was bleeding out all over him, and yet he kept on his feet and matched Rasmus blow for blow. I couldn’t look away, and through the gag, I screamed and shouted for Rasmus to kill him. I wanted another head.

  Rasmus lowered his right shoulder and like a rutting bull, rammed the man hard in his wound, at last knocking him back and into the table by the bed, smashing it to pieces as he went down. I twisted my head to the left and watched as Rasmus quickly pulled a broken leg from the table and swung it hard, bashing the side of the man’s head until his lower jaw was broken and twisted away from his face.

  Enraged wind blasted from Rasmus’s nose, and blood shot from his nostrils and ran from one corner of his mouth. He swiped it away from his face with the back of his hand and spat the bloody contents of his mouth on the floor as he bent over and picked up the fallen cutlass.

  I believed the man was dead, until I saw his battered hand sliding up and over the edge of the bed, clawing at the sheet. Rasmus stood above him and then looked over at my pleading eyes. I was telling him to do it. I was guiding his hand with my mind to slit that filthy bastard’s throat, and I knew he could hear me. A second later, the deed was done.

  He stared around the room for a moment and surveyed the carnage he had rained down on them all. Then, without a word, he picked up Rip’s tossed off dagger and sat next to me on the bed. One by one, he cut the ropes until I was finally free. I was afraid to move or even to breathe, until seemingly without a second thought, he brushed Felix’s glaring-eyed head off the side of the bed.

  Rasmus was still breathing heavily, and he leaned back on one hand for a moment. I strained my aching muscles by raising my arms to pull the gag from my mouth, but he sat back up and swept my hand away. He nodded at me and gently lifted the scarf out and from between my lips, and then he gathered my shirt around me and tied it closed. He wiped off the cutlass blade, sheathed it, and then handed me the dagger and said, “We have to go.”

  “This is gonna cost ye, Bergman,” the angry tavern owner shouted when he burst through the crowd that had gathered outside the room. Rasmus ordered them all to stay out and move away. He scooped me up quickly in his arms and rushed down the stairs and out into the rain. He put me down gently and turned to the row of several horses tied off at the front of the tavern. “Can ye ride?”

  I nodded my bald head frantically at him and shouted, “Yes!” He ran over and took a beautiful black stallion by the reins and tossed me upon its back. Once he’d secured his own mount, I shouted to him, “Rip escaped! I’m certain he’s headed to the McCormack’s.”

  “We have to save those girls!” he roared as he leapt from the ground and landed on the animal’s back.

  “But what about the Captain and Master Green? Won’t they be there?”

  “I don’t know, but even if they are, I’m sure they’ll be grateful for our assistance.” He gave the horse a kick, and off we flew. I followed behind him in the darkness, keeping my eyes on him as best I could with the rain now relentlessly beating against my face. I wiped my eyes clear and lowered my head as far as I could and yet still have a view of Big Red’s white-tailed horse ahead of me.

  When we’d nearly reached the house, he slowed down to a walk and dismounted. He reached up and helped me off the stallion and pushed me behind him while he crept to the gate. “Have your weapon ready, lass. It’s black as pitch, and they could be all over the place. No lanterns on the front porch tonight, but I can see two figures moving against the house lights coming from the windows.”

  “Follow me,” I said, and I waved him on. “We’ll go the back way.”

  I knew where the wall wrapped around the back of the property because I’d surveyed this place well in case we needed to make a hasty exit. I showed Rasmus where we could go over the wall through the thick bushes and vines and still stay hidden. We tied the horses off there in case we needed to get away in a hurry.

  “Of course, if we had dark clothing, this would be a lot easier. But since we’ve both obviously lost most of, or in your case, all of our shirts, it won’t be simple. Thank God for this blasted rain for cover, at least,” I whispered to him. He rolled his eyes at me and gave me a leg up to the top of the wall and then followed me over.

  “Ye know, lass, I haven’t even taken a second to ask ye if you’re…”

  I reached up and covered his mouth lightly with my hand and said, “I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

  He followed me around the perimeter until we reached the back of the house. We were about fifty feet from the cottage. Not a single light showed in any of the windows. I was worried that something had happened to River, and I held fast to Rasmus’s arm and told him of my fears.

  “What if they’ve killed him? I was counting on him to help us get away.”

  “Maybe he’s in the house, which is even better for us.”

  “There’s a trellis there by the back porch. That’s how I get onto the porch roof and in the window. There,” I said, and I pointed up, noticing a light in our bedroom. “Let’s go.”

  “Hold on there, lass. I can barely see my hand in front of my face, and we don’t know if there’s a man on that porch. Let’s just make our way to that cottage first. Maybe we can get a closer look.” Rasmus took my hand, and we made a dash for the cottage. We crept along the outside until we reached the window, when we heard someone behind us.

  “Ivory, is that you?”

  “River?” I called out.

  Rasmus pulled his cutlass, but I pushed it to the side when I saw River’s face coming out of the darkness. “Jesus, River. What a
re you doing out here alone?”

  “Ivory, what the ‘ell?” River said, shaking his head. “Where’s yer hair? Shit, what did ye do?”

  “Forget about my hair, will you? Where is everyone?”

  “Shit, ye’s ain’t all gonna do that, are ye?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” I whispered and pulled him by the shirt into the shadows.

  Rasmus was silent. He leaned back against the side of the cottage and eyeballed River, who relayed to us that Rip had arrived only minutes before with at least eight men on horseback. Rip had ordered him into the house, but he’d convinced Rip to allow him to watch the perimeter wall so that he could keep an eye out for me.

  “Where are Master Green and the Captain?” I asked.

  “They got them too. They’re all in there.”

  “What are they doing?”

  “They’re keepin’ the girls locked up in the bedroom until Cap’n Calvert gets here.”

  “Wait, are you saying the Thunder Cay is here?” I grabbed him firmly by the arms.

  “Not only is she here, lass, but Rip said he seen Calvert comin’ up the street ta’ the Gull when he run ta’ gather up them fellas he’s got up there at the house with him. After this big gent here run ‘im off,” River said, pointing his thumb at Rasmus and smiling. “Rip ran back ta’ the Demon and gathered up what was left of his ilk. He told ‘em if they want their pay fer you girls, they had ta’ come with ‘im.”

  “We’ve no time to waste,” I said as I turned to Rasmus.

  “Calvert’s comin’ ta’ take those girls, I’m tellin’ ye. Ain’t no way Rip’s gonna lose that money,” River said, shaking his head.

  The clouds overhead were moving away from the island and the rain had stopped. As our eyes adjusted in the clearing darkness, I saw Rasmus look up at the sky and then at the light in the bedroom window. “Nah, we’ll see to that,” he looked down and said to me. He started away from the cottage and across the yard to the house.