AMBER WAKE: Gabriel Falling (The Razor's Adventures Pirate Tales)

by P. S. Bartlett

  “There’s no such thing as an honorable man out here; all we do is stay alive. Now get those men lined up and ready. You have your orders.”

  “I found Boots. I’m going below. God speed, sir,” Adam said as he rushed past me with the cat under one arm and his book under the other. I sighed heavily at the sound of his trembling voice and returned to my watch for the impending collision.

  “Mister Jacobs, she’s got swivel guns!” I shouted to the deck below. “Don’t let her fire them, ye hear me?”

  “Seven knots. Not long now, Cap’n,” Gimby said. If the pirates did not veer off course they would be sunk. The bow of the Assurance was made to ram ships—right through them. Should we succeed, the ragged galley would find herself at the bottom of the sea.

  We were so close now. Her crew was visible along the gunnels and in the rigging. Their howls and the bellowing of orders carried over the water as if demons were reaching out to warn us of death’s approach. I spied her scruffy crew through my glass and knew she would never last. Unless she, too, concealed men below decks, she was outnumbered two to one and her crew appeared skeletal in stature beneath the roll of those demon calls.

  “She’s raised her flag, sir!” my man in the nest cried out.

  Her captain was spying the Assurance as well. His glass froze when it met mine and we held each other’s searing gaze for several moments, until the notion overcame me to shake my head at his fate. I knew he’d observed my crew, as I had his, and was now weighing the vast difference in health and strength in our favor. When I called to open the gun ports, I knew we were close enough for him to hear the clunks and thuds but worse than that, he could see the hollow black noses that poked through those holes and looked down at him.

  With my unfettered eyes, I watched the man storm across the deck. His voice bounced across the open water in echoing bursts, as yet only firing off orders but nothing else. I left my post at Gimby’s side and began to walk the line of men on the portside. Their faces were wet with spray and glowed in the evening sun. However, their cautious and somewhat confused expressions caused me to pause and address them. “Gentlemen, do not waver. Our advantage in this is obvious.”

  “Cap’n,” one began. “Them lads look half-starved.”

  “Exactly. They have nothing to lose. Had they not meddled in our quarrel with the Stegman, we’d not be bearing down on them. They brought this upon themselves. We are defending what we’ve come so far to accomplish.” My words appeared to give little comfort to the young man as his expression, as well as that of many of the rest, did not change.

  As I made my turn to pass them a second time, I could feel Miles’s eyes upon me. A twinge of pity for their souls flowed into my throat from my gut. I was ordering these men to commit murder, which isn’t how we’d normally conduct our business. However, when the truth spoke to me like the wind that pinched my face, I explained it plainly to them.

  “We’ve but moments until our plan is executed but as these could be the last moments for men on both sides, I’ll not waste them coddling you or reassuring you that we’ll come through this unscathed. I want you all to know that we don’t do this because we want to kill or punish those men. We do this to preserve our freedom and our dignity. We do it because it is our duty to protect our brothers.”

  Miles was still watching me. His head slowly nodded. He readied his musket. My friend, it appeared, had finally come to his decision about me. Having spoken from my heart, I told myself that, in those words, he discovered I was, in fact, still the man he’d called friend for all of our lives.

  “She’s turning, sir!” Gimby called.

  I spun to find the ship indeed veering slightly, but we easily heard her captain order his helmsman to come about on our starboard side.

  “Reef the sails! Mister Jacobs, ready your men on the starboard gunnels! She’s pulled too far to ram her!” I called.

  In the calm, glassy water, the Assurance slowed. The only sound to be heard was the rattling of the lines against the masts as the sails were lowered. One peculiar sight caught my eye that I hadn’t expected, and it gave me pause. It filled my chest with a pride I couldn’t have imagined in such an ominous moment. Miles was pulling a flag up the mast. A flag I’d not yet laid eyes on, nor knew even existed—a black flag. A flag designed to signify terror and might. As it unfurled and the wind swept it open for all to see, Miles turned and looked over at me; I assumed, to gauge my opinion. I nodded in approval. How could I not?

  Miles nodded at me in turn and headed off towards the bow. I turned and appraised my men, armed at the ready. “No sympathies men, for they will surely show you no mercy, given the chance. Blood will spill. These days require the necessary evils of our profession. You may give way to the individual mind not to kill but to wound but I assure you, once the lead leaves your weapon, it will strike of its own free will. Let it fly.”

  Miles was with Mitton and Ryan at the bow. They were our best marksmen. I could not stand still and rushed to raise my own gun and join the line. I leered at that pirate ship and spied her captain, spouting orders at his swivel gunmen along the starboard bow. I shook my head full of pity, wishing he could read my mind and surrender.

  I heard the familiar whiz of muskets and watched, as the two men on the pirate ship’s gunnels were dropped, just as they were about to strike. There was no return of fire and the howls and hoots that had echoed across the now thirty or so yards between us fell silent. When I reached the bow, two more loaded muskets had been placed in the hands of Mitton and Ryan, who now searched her decks for new targets. I raised my eyes and found the stunned but obviously angry, captain. He was not going to give up now. For him, as it was for me, this battle was win or die. I had to give him credit though. He, like me, knew this battle could not be fought with the great guns if either of us was to win the prize. We’d have to win this fight hand-to-hand.

  “Miles…” I said. Before I finished, I again heard the pop and whiz. The captain staggered backwards and then fell, disappearing from sight behind the ship’s gunnel.

  “Captain, she’s coming about and closing in on us!” Gimby shouted at me as I raced back to the main deck.

  “Let her come. As I suspected; she’ll not fire her great guns. Those men want this ship as well as the Stegman but then, of course, who wouldn’t?” I turned to the line on our portside, calling them to join us to greet our guests. “Let no man set foot upon the Assurance, lads! If they wish to come aboard, they’ll do it dressed in red!”

  Within minutes, she was a mere few yards away and those damned fools began tossing their grappling hooks without a single miss. I ordered my men to stand down and wait, as the ragged and wretched sailors dropped planks and attempted to scurry across them like rats. One after the next, they were blasted with musket fire, the smell of gunpowder and their screams of agony swamped the choking wind. Those who’d managed to set foot on our decks, found themselves sliced through from front to back. The main deck of Assurance was alive with the sound of metal on metal one minute and littered with bloody sailors the next.

  We had no idea how many men were aboard that ship but I imagined the majority of her crew was now either dead or dying as they fell or were pushed from the planks, filled with burning Assurance lead. When I was satisfied we’d done our worst by the unfortunate evidence of the bodies now trapped or floating in the sliver of sea between our hulls, I shouted, “Board her!”

  As our men scrambled over the planks, they met the remaining pirates with their blades drawn and loaded guns pointed at their filthy mugs. Again, the sound of steel on steel rang out in concert with the shrill screams of a few tenacious fools who refused to back down. Those half-starved, raggedy men fought like devils. They knew the sentence for a pirate who didn’t fight to the death for his ship and crewmen but it was already too late.

  “Lay down your weapons and give up!” I shouted from my perch on the gunnel. “No one else has to die today.”

  Those closest to me glanced my w
ay and dropped their blades and pikes in a flurry of clunks and clangs. The sounds of surrender brought what battle was left to a halt immediately, until there was complete silence.

  “Murdering lesser men wasn’t our intention when we spotted your ship,” I said, leaping onto the deck. “Your foolish captain should have attempted to flee when he spotted us. Look at this mess. You may thank him in the afterlife for your losses.” I shook my head and glanced around at their defeated expressions. “I, Captain Rasmus Bergman, hereby declare this ship and all she bears to be the property of the Assurance and her crew. Swear loyalty to me and live and you may continue on as crew of this ship.”

  The confusion spread not only on the faces of the pirates but on the crew of the Assurance as well. “Your freedom out here is intact. However, I suggest you find yourselves another line of work or choose prizes you can actually afford, ones that will pay you enough to live on.”

  “What…no huntin’? How will we survive out ‘ere?” an older man asked.

  “How hungry are you now?” I shot back at him.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Captain did the best ‘e could.”

  “Aye, by the looks of you lot he was doing a hell of a job,” I quipped, eyeing them from beneath my arched brow. I began pacing through the crowd as I continued to address them. “As thieves of the sea, you are given a share of your prize to live on. It’s your captain’s duty to keep you fed and content in order to maintain your loyalty to him and your mates. You’ve obviously been lacking in leadership. Either that or you’re a piss-poor excuse of a crew. Left to manage your finances, you’ll find yourselves hungry again and facing a ship with a less sympathetic crew than my own.”

  “Who are ye, really? Ye don’t look like no pirates I ever seen a’fore,” one of the men remarked, folding his arms and attempting to appear unafraid.

  “I’m the man who’s allowing you to live; offering you a true life instead of an existence, in exchange for no more than your own betterment. You have fifteen minutes. I’m guessing that’s how long it will take for me to assess this grimy bucket of barnacles.”

  “And if we was to say no?” the same man asked.

  “Vote. Isn’t that what you do? Is your second-in-command still breathing?” I asked, turning slowly inside the circle that had grown while I was addressing them.

  “Aye. I yet live,” said a somewhat thicker man with skin like leather and a voice that reminded me of the bark of a very large dog. “Quartermaster Iron Jones is me name.”

  “Welshman, aye? Well, Quartermaster Jones, organize a vote for these men and if your bosun also lives, call him out, as I’d have him give my first mate a circle of this ship. From the looks of her, with some actual repairs and a careening, she might still have a long life ahead of her.

  “Mind if I ask what ye plan to do with the ones who don’t vote in yer favor?” Mister Jones asked.

  “We’ll worry about that when the time comes.” I turned from him with a wink and a toothy grin to find Miles blocking my path and wearing a mask of gloomy curiosity. “I won’t kill them,” he announced.

  I shook my head slowly at the immediate reaction he’d had. Just when I thought he understood me, his eyes again showed doubt. “Mister Jacobs. Those who do not wish to join us will be put in longboats and given enough rations to make it to shore.”

  He followed behind me as I took inspection of what I learned was Merrick’s Black Devil. I clamped my hands together at my back and tipped my head, signaling to him for us to step aside for a few words. “I’m sure you’re curious as to my intentions. Rest that nattering mind of yours. I’m putting Gimby in command of her temporarily, until a permanent captain is voted on. Seeing as he’s made it clear he does not wish to be captain, nor do I see him ever giving up that helm, we’ll get to that vote as soon as we’ve explored our options.”

  “Am I to understand you have no intention of entering my name in this vote?”

  “No. Find that bosun and put together a list of repairs and check the captain’s log. I’m sure you can see as well as I have that there’s more going on aboard this ship than meets the eye.” I picked up my pace as I made my way to one of the planks that had been placed between the two ships. I was moving twice as fast by the time I boarded the Assurance. I offered no explanation for my short and swift response. I needed to get to my cabin and make sure more personal matters were cared for.

  By the time I reached my quarters and threw open the door, I was running. I raced around my desk and stomped three times, paused, and then again twice. The panel of wood which had been designed to appear no more than part of the bulkhead opened, and out stepped Adam with Boots.

  “Did we win?” he asked, rushing up to me and setting Boots carefully on the floor.

  I looked down at him, raising my right eyebrow.

  He smiled. “I guess I wouldn’t be coming out if we hadn’t.”

  I nodded. “We have a new ship as well.”

  “What kind is it?”

  “A refitted galley. She’s on the small side. She’s suffered serious neglect but she’s solid.”

  “Is Mister Jacobs to be her captain?” he asked with a frown I assessed as disappointment at the possible loss of Miles.

  “For now, Mister Gimby will be. He’ll whip her into shape until they can find a good beach to careen her. They’ll need to have a vote but in the mean-time, Mister Gimby will manage things well.” I sat at my desk to contemplate our change of plans.

  “Not that I want to see him go but I just thought Mister Jacobs would have made a fine captain.”

  “Adam, we have a mission to complete and Mister Jacobs’s services are required. Acquiring this ship will assist me in fulfilling our plans.”

  “Is that what you’re thinking about now?”

  “Yes. In fact, I’m hoping this will alleviate one of the problems Mister Jacobs and I have been having.”

  Adam smiled. “Now there’s a bit of good news on such a bad day.”

  “The ship’s name is the Merrick’s Black Devil,” I said. “That name has obviously not served it well. Unfortunately, Captain Merrick won’t be joining us in her new endeavors. She needs a new name.” I peeked up from my writings to find the lights of thought shining in his eyes.

  The boy had already set his mind to the question. “If she is fast and well, she is your ship. Why not Gabriel’s Wing? That would redeem her former name and properly label her for her upcoming purpose.”

  I began to nod slowly at first and then looked up at him and smiled. Not necessarily a favorable name for a pirate ship but since I’d have no more to do with her once our mission was complete, they could call her Gabriel’s Fat Arse for all I cared.

  Twenty-Five

  “Gabriel’s Wing, eh?” Miles asked as he laid out his findings from the pirate ship onto the desk before me.

  “Adam has an imagination and thought it through. I felt I need not have a say.”

  “And why is that?” Miles looked at me with more interest than before.

  Fate had turned in our favor by putting this ship in our way and I was thanking God for gracing us with an option other than sinking her. Soon, we’d be completing our mission and our odds had increased by way of gaining Gabriel’s Wing.

  “Adding this ship as our consort has brought the scales back to even. We’ll be stronger and we’ve increased not only our guns but our crew. Keep our original plan in mind, Miles. I’m still going through with it, if I can.”

  “And I still think it’s suicide.” He flopped in his chair and tossed his hat on my desk.

  “This is my last leg of our mission aboard the Assurance.”

  “Do you intend to take one of the ships in the Stegman convoy we are after?”

  “Only if you wish to have it for your own. Those are Royal Navy ships, the same as Assurance.”

  “Gabriel, tell me what we’re doing. First, I’m not named captain of that new ship, which is already being questioned by the crew. These secrets of yours are
doing nothing but creating mistrust.”

  I looked down at the maps in front of me and rubbed my eyes. “I told you before that this isn’t the life for me. This was only a means to an end and the end is near.”

  “Gabriel, we’ve done well out here. Listen to yourself. It’s no more than foolishness to speak of no longer being aboard a ship. I believe you’ll see things differently once this war is over. In time, you’ll see I’m right.”

  “I cannot read this map any longer. I would need to focus all my mental strength to do so, of which at this moment, I have none.”

  “Perhaps all you need is a rest from all of this.”

  “A lengthy rest might allow me the freedom to continue sailing but not enough to carry on in piracy. This final attack will satisfy me, Miles. This will break Admiral Chambers and leave him bankrupt.” I held my throbbing head in my hands and rubbed at my eyes again.

  There was a long silence, until my curiosity forced me to look up. Miles appeared deep in thought but upon realizing my squinting eyes were upon him, a slight nod signaled to me he had come to a determination. “You are still suffering from that blow to your head, aren’t you and you’ve been worried they’d most certainly attempt to use your injury against you somehow?” he said. “I won’t mention it again.”

  I rested my head again and closed my eyes. There was no longer a need to pretend I was feeling normal or even close to it.

  “The new ship, what is its importance in this plan of yours?”

  “Gabriel’s Wing will be the new vessel for the men once this is done, unless we capture a better one in the upcoming fight.”

  “But what of the Assurance?”

  “Her fate and mine are linked. There can be no separating them.”

  “I know you’re still not telling me everything, but at least I may now stop questioning your sanity.”

  I nodded. “And you can also discontinue your thoughts of how to remove me from command.”

  “Gabri—”