I trembled at Rasmus’s tone. I could feel the fear coursing through his veins from where I stood, but I didn’t dare move a muscle, lest I ruin whatever plans he was making in his head, and I knew damn well he was plotting something. “Bring the girl,” I heard Woodley say, when out of the darkness, I watched as one of the beasts dragged something off the back of one of the horses and fling it into the dirt at Woodley’s feet. I gazed in wide-eyed horror as the man who’d tossed it bent over, pulled a dagger from his belt, and began cutting at the ropes that bound it. Finally, he pulled away a blanket to reveal Francis, bound and gagged.
“Now you wait just a damn minute, Woodley. Is this how the laws are applied in Nassau now? Well, I’ll not abide by any law that includes treating lassies like this. Untie that girl at once, or I’ll…”
“You’ll what?” he said, pulling his sword from its scabbard and pointing it at Francis, who, although bound by her hands and feet, squirmed helplessly in the dirt, trying to escape his blade. “Why do you care if she lives or dies? Is it because she knows who that murdering little whore is who killed Jim Bullock in cold blood this afternoon?”
“Listen to me Woodley, this girl is wrong; dead wrong. The lowly rat that did the killing today ran off right afterwards. He’s long gone by now, and he sure as hell is no girl. Do ye think I’d allow some female aboard my ship?” Rasmus was slowly inching himself down the steps as he spoke. His hands were stretched out in front of him as if he were showing Woodley he bore him no threat.
“According to this one, not only is the murdering wench a woman, but she’s your woman!” Woodley shouted, throwing up his hand towards Rasmus and pointing his long forefinger at his face.
“Damn you, Francis. You worthless piece of rat shit,” I said under my breath. I wanted to run out there and beat her within an inch of what was left of her life.
“Alright, Woodley, enough’s enough. I’m telling you this girl is lying. She’s just a kid. Let her go, and we’ll forget ye been taken in by some foolish lass who believed singing her song to ye was going to save her own neck.”
“You’re wrong, Red. Look at these men. Do you honestly believe they let her sing without their eager accompaniment?”
From my vantage point, I could clearly see Rasmus was about to fly into a rage, and I felt my stomach begin to twist in agony for him. His hands were now at his sides, and they were balled into tight fists. I could see his shoulders tightening and his back arched forward as if he were ready to lunge. Just the thought of what they may have done to Francis in order to make her tell them what she had, had to be tearing him apart.
“Just keep him talking, Razz,” I whispered through my clenched teeth. I wanted so desperately to be out there at his side. There was nothing I could do. I felt useless and helpless. Some minute part of me even wanted to help Francis, as memories of my own brutal treatment at the hands of men like these flashed before me. Watching her squirming and flopping on the ground like a bird with a broken wing began to wear on me. I struggled to keep my eyes focused solely on Rasmus, but the urge to cut her free of her binds and save her began to overwhelm me. I was angry as hell at her, but that part of me who couldn’t bear cruelty or injustice against women had begun to simmer. I prayed Rasmus could somehow get rid of this crew of clowns and miscreants before I boiled over.
“Listen, Woodley, why don’t ye and your crew just head on back to that broken-down, rotten-bottomed sloop of yours and leave us be? I’ll see to whomever this girl named as the killer, and I’ll see to her, too. You’re not leaving here with any of my crew, nor this girl.”
“Rotten-bottomed sloop, you say? I take it you haven’t had the pleasure of laying eyes upon my new vessel, then. Aye, she’s a fine lady of the sea, and had you seen her, you’d not soon forget it.”
“Well, then by all means, enjoy your voyage out of Nassau, but I’ll say it again; you’re not taking this girl,” Rasmus growled.
“Who’s going to stop us? You? That ragged bunch who’s been peering out the windows at us with their pitchforks and shovels? Whatever possessed an intelligent man such as yourself to stay out here, alone on an orange grove plantation, without enough men to protect this place? You’ve grown careless, Bergman.” Woodley removed his boot from the bottom step and walked backwards from the porch. “Wrap the whore back up and put her back on the horse.”
“No!” Rasmus bellowed, rushing down the steps and standing over Francis. “You’ll not harm this girl anymore. If you’ve something to prove, prove it with me.”
“Have it your way, Bergman.” Woodley whipped his sword from its sheath and tossed it from hand to hand as if it were a simple dagger, until it landed soft and clean in his right palm. Then, he sliced the air with it several times before the point sat precariously against the breast of Rasmus’s waistcoat.
I gasped and covered my mouth as I bolted from where I stood to the front door, where two of the field hands swiftly detained me by the arms. “The Cap’n said to wait for his signal,” the man gripping my right arm whispered, as I pulled and writhed to escape them.
“He’s got the pointy end of a sword pointed at his heart, you bastards. Let me go! That man is the love of my life, don’t you understand?”
When the words escaped my lips, I was free, although they released me so abruptly from our struggle I flew forward into a table near the door with a thud and fell to the floor, taking one of Valentina’s Spanish lady lamps down with me. I clambered to my feet, and I could feel all of their shocked eyes upon me in the darkness, but I didn’t care. “Prepare yourselves, you bloody bastards! What are you staring at?” I shouted at them in a whisper. “I’m going out that door, and if you’ve one cock between all of you, you’d better be coming with me.”
I swept back the curtain from the door and watched in horror as Woodley backed Rasmus away from Francis with his sword and called for someone to come and take her as he’d ordered before. I’d never seen Rasmus so vulnerable. It was tearing my heart out, and I could feel tears beginning to well in my eyes. I swept them away and looked back at the men, now gathered behind me; their eyes frozen upon my back. All of the sudden, I was struck with the realization that it hadn’t crossed my mind that these men had no idea I wasn’t a man. I addressed that fact immediately.
“This may come as a shock to you, as well as a relief based on your ridiculous expressions, but I am not a man, and there’s no time to elaborate any further.” A sigh of relief filled the room as I pushed my cavalier down hard on my head, took a deep breath, and drew my sword.
I continued my watch at the front door and placed my hand on the doorknob. “At my signal gents, we go. Follow my lead. Don’t throw yourself on anyone’s blade, either. Fight as if that girl was your own kin. I’ll fight for Rasmus. God knows he’s fought enough for me. On three.” I drew in a deep breath and blew it back out as I watched Woodley’s blade come to rest just below Rasmus’s gullet. “One, two…”
The piercing sound of a high, loud whistle halted my count, and my eyes watched the first man go down. Then another and another before I could even get the damn door open. We spilled onto the front porch like mice from a sack of grain, scurrying in every direction. The roar of our brethren pouring out of the darkness from every direction stirred up a cloud of dust so fast I could hardly see the carnage unfolding before my watering eyes. The torches flew, burning into the air like earthbound comets, and those who held fast to them swung them as clubs at their attackers—our attackers.
“Rasmus!” I screamed a long breathless howl as I ran to his side. He ripped the sword from my fist and swung both blades at Woodley, disarming him immediately. Woodley’s hands flew into the air, and he spun on his heels, running and leaping onto the back of his horse.
I watched in awe as a large black stallion leapt seemingly out of nowhere into the fray, carrying Fin. He began galloping in a circle around the fight as if he were corralling Woodley’s crew, but they broke free of his efforts and raced to their horses.
“Run for your lives, men! We’ll live to fight another day!” Woodley shouted as his horse turned and reared up beneath him, and then gathered itself before he rode straight to us at a full gallop. Rasmus swept me out of the way with a big left arm and tossed me my sword. I leapt in front of him and threw myself into the fray, but most of Woodley’s men had already mounted their horses. They were swinging their swords and taking their shots in the dark while on horseback.
“We shall meet again soon, Bergman. Very soon,” he said before turning again and racing off with what was left of his crew behind him, over the deafening cheers of our saviors.
“Pompous bastard,” Rasmus mumbled. “Gather up gents and head for the Jade. Somehow I don’t feel welcome here anymore.” He blew his whistle again and shouted, “Fin, bring me that horse!”
Fin rode up to us and slid to a halt. “Ain’t she a beauty, Cap’n?”
“Ain’t her looks I care a shit about. She’s nimble and fast, and that’s what I need,” Rasmus answered, taking the reins. “Take a few of the crew to the stable and grab the rest of the horses. While you’re at it, tell Valentina the rats have scurried, and it’s safe to come out. I’ll send word to her and Phillippe as soon as I can, but meanwhile, she’ll have to start looking for a new house.”
I wasn’t feeling well. My hip was damp and sore, and when I sheathed my sword, I slid my right hand to where I ached and realized why. I’d already caused so much trouble and done more damage than a bull on the loose on a crowded street that I couldn’t even think about saying a word of it in complaint. I just stood there and waited for Fin to bring me a horse with the rest of my mates.
Once we were all mounted, some two to a horse, we rode towards town. Rasmus had given me a leg up while I bit down hard on my lip and winced in pain, but thankfully, he didn’t even notice. We’d recovered the torches, but since I could barely hold onto the reins, I waved off the man who’d offered me one and depended upon my horse to be an obedient follower as we made our way through the darkness.
Oh, how it burned like fire now. My leg was wet from my hip to my right knee. I shook my head and blinked to clear my sight, but with every gallop the mare took, I felt sicker and weaker than the stride before. Then, as the lights from Nassau came into view over the final ridge, they tilted and twisted before me. Then, they mingled and swelled as yellow bursts, until blinking and rubbing at my eyes didn’t do a damn bit of good. I’d been hit broadside through the hip. The bastards had shot me. There was a hole in my breeches that signified where the ball had entered, and as I groped around in the darkness, bouncing with the horse’s stride, my finger found the wound. Then, by the grace of God, I found another hole about four inches below it.
Holding my thumb in one hole and my middle finger in the other to try and contain the bleeding as I rode, turned my stomach. I wasn’t sure if the feeling of poking around inside of my own bloody flesh or my loss of blood had done it, but I hit the ground hard, face-first, and rolled until I landed in the brush on the side of the road. Now, blood began filling my nose and mouth, and I tipped over onto my side, moaning and spitting, when I heard the call to Rasmus to stop.
“What is it, men?” Rasmus shouted.
“Ivan’s been thrown,” I faintly heard Fin shouting back to him.
I was somewhere between a dream and death, and the hoofbeats growing closer sounded like chariots rolling in to carry me away through the night. “Jesus Christ!” I heard Rasmus cry out simultaneously as his boots hit the dirt road a few feet away. “Fin, help me,” he said, as they pulled me from the grass and lifted me onto his horse.
“Ye been shot, lass, but my guess is you already knew that,” he whispered to me.
“I’m so sorry.” I breathed the words through what I thought might be my last breath, when I felt his big arms around me as he, too, mounted the animal. Then, something wrapped around my waist and pulled me tight against him as I fell back into his chest. He was tying us together.
“Hold on, little Razor. Don’t you dare die on me.”
TWENTY-THREE
YOU CAN’T TURN BACK
When I awoke, the sun was high in the sky overhead. I was in the sick berth, lying on the table, covered in a blanket. I stirred and moved my hand again to where I’d been shot and found it covered in bandages, which were wrapped tightly against my body. The sharp, burning pain from the night before was now a dull ache that only increased when I tried to move.
“Ivory?” I heard Razz’s voice. It was soft and low. I raised my head a bit from the pillow beneath it and smiled as he dashed to my side. “There’s my girl,” he whispered, taking my right hand away from my hip and holding it.
He’d obviously been in my desk chair all night. Due to the tilting and the rise and fall of the Jade, I knew we were at sea. For how long, I didn’t know. My face was swollen, and I could hardly breathe through my nose. My eyes were puffy and sore, and they watered a bit when I tried to hold them open for too long. I struggled against the discomfort to see my love and search for his heart. I laid my head back down and gazed up at his sleepy blue eyes as they smiled at me, and the corners of his lips turned up until I saw the edges of his teeth peek out. Immediately, I was relieved.
“How bad is it? I must be a sight,” I said with a rasp.
“I cleaned it and used one of your concoctions to soothe the pain and help the healing. You keep notes like a banker.” He smiled as he rinsed a rag in cool, clean water and wiped my face gently, removing any leftover dried blood. “I sewed the holes closed myself. I suppose falling off that horse and knocking yourself out wasn’t all bad. You’re a sight, alright. A sight to soothe my weathered eyes,” he said, stroking my shaggy bangs away from my forehead.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, as a tear ran from the corner of my eye when I turned my face toward his.
“I’ve heard a lot of things when men wake up from a wound like this, but I ain’t never heard an apology,” he said over a chuckle.
“You know what I’m saying, Razz.” I squeezed his hand and looked for the right words to say. He handed me a cup of water, and I drank it down. I winced at the taste of iron from the blood that still lingered in my saliva. Then, I closed my eyes and decided the right words were whatever came out of my mouth. No pretense or cocky shit. Only the truth was good enough for this man, and all he deserved was what came from my heart. “You don’t deserve this. You don’t deserve any of this.”
“Don’t deserve what? A strong, brave woman who’ll kill or die for me? Are ye saying I’m not worthy of such a lass?” He smiled again and squeezed my hand harder.
“You’re the best man I’ve ever known in my life, other than Uncle William, and you’ve tolerated more than he ever would. He’d have taken a belt to me more than once over the things I’ve done since, hell, since the day you laid eyes on me.” I turned my eyes away from him and felt the shame of how I’d undermined and betrayed his trust wash over me from my feet to my head. The tears came quickly. I breathed heavily in and out to push them down and away, but when I felt his hand cup my cheek and wipe my tears, it was as if the dam that held in my very soul cracked, and the river within began to seep out.
“Look at me, Ivory. Look at me,” he said, turning my face gently back to his. “I’ll not deny loving you has been a challenge. I’ll not deny there’ve been a few times I wanted to turn you over my knee or lock ye in a cabin until our business was done, but I believe you always mean well. Ye don’t draw your sword or your damn razor unless ye mean to use it. You don’t shoot off your mouth or throw up your fists unless ye plan to put all ye got behind them. I didn’t fall in love with ye because you’re perfect. Hell, nobody is. I fell in love with that fire in you. That fire that burns so hot sometimes I fear I’ll burn myself when I kiss you. When I take ye in my arms, and you press into me like you’re trying to climb inside of me, it knocks the wind out of me, lass. Don’t ye know that? With so much hunger in your belly, I knew you’d eat this whole world up and me with it.” He l
eaned over me and held my face gently by the chin. Our eyes were as one gaze and our breath as one soft breeze. “Listen to me; when ye love like I do, like we do, hard and deep and full of pain, we can’t let our stupid heads get in the way of that. My brains turn to mush around ye anyway. I’ll not deny you’ve angered me beyond any man I ever knew, but only because I love ye more than life.” He sighed hard over me and blinked, and a single tear fell and landed on my cheek.
“Oh, Razz, I promise I’ll stop this nonsense. We can’t let our pain run our lives forever. We have to use our heads and then our hearts. Well, I promise I will.” Again, he wiped away my tears and his along with them.
“I’ve had to use my head all my life. To watch the way your heart and spirit moves you like a gale-filled sail has brought me back to life. I’ll confess, you scare the living shit out of me sometimes, but you’ve made me feel life in places I haven’t in a very long time, and not just the obvious ones.”
“I wish you could hold me right now, but I fear that pain would be all too much for me. Nothing, however, can compare to the pain of disappointing you by behaving like a wild and unruly child.” His hand still rested on my cheek, and I turned my head and kissed it. “I suppose I’ll be down for a bit, but I heal quickly. I’m sure I’ll be seaworthy in no time.”
His eyes grew dark with quiet thoughts. I knew what they were, but I awaited him to put them into words. “I’ve no stomach or heart to see you in so much pain. You need to be taken care of properly and by those who know how. We’re heading back to Port Royal. That way, the girls can get you back to health under the care of Doctor McGraw, while I go after Woodley
Had I the strength, I’d have instinctively leapt from that table and insisted he not pursue Woodley without me. The wounds I bore, however, had a much different plan for me. I had no choice and was days from even standing on my own. I stood down and allowed him to decide my fate, if only until I was well. “I understand. I’ll not make a fuss or act the fool any longer. You know my instinct is to fight and argue with you and insist you’re wrong, but not anymore. I swear it.” I meant every word of it. Now, the burden of my promise was mine to bear and to live with.
Jaded Tides (The Razor's Adventures Pirate Tales) Page 19