Splendor

by Catherine Hart

  “Methinks we need to hie ourselves down to the docks and investigate the matter further,” Devlin suggested. “Mayhap there is something Teach wants, something which would appease him enough to make him cease his rampaging and seek his sport elsewhere.”

  With that in mind, the men stopped by the house long enough to warn Eden and Jane to stay safely ensconced behind locked doors and shuttered windows. “I’m leaving a couple of my men on watch outside as added protection,” Devlin told them, “but if anyone tries to break into the house—”

  “We’ll shoot first and ask questions later,” Jane finished for him.

  “Ye do that, Janie girl,” Nate said with a chuckle, giving her a quick buss on the lips. “We’ll collect the bodies later, along with any bounty they might have oh their heads. Jest be mighty careful and make certain yer aim is true. This be a scurvy bunch o’ bilge rats Blackbeard has gathered about him.”

  As accustomed as Devlin and Nate were to pirate raids and the mayhem that usually resulted, they were sickened by the sight that met them when they reached the docks. At least a dozen hapless victims lay injured or dying in the streets, their bodies riddled with wounds. Dead animals, including carcasses from a local butcher shop, littered their path. The stench of rum and blood was everywhere.

  Several shops were aflame, the fires untended and raging, threatening bordering establishment..,. Drunken pirates chased about in all directions, looting and shouting and fighting even among themselves. As Devlin watched, a young lady managed to escape her would-be rapists, while they pummeled one another to see who would ravage her first. From a nearby brothel, panicked screams revealed that even those women willing to sell their favors were not safe this day, and would not be paid for what was being taken so violently.

  Amidst this ongoing melee, Teach was still ridiculously easy to spot. Standing a half foot taller than the average man, he towered above the crowd like a huge, bellowing giant. His shaggy black mane and the bushy beard that had earned him his name were braided into a multitude of long, spike-like plaits and decorated with pieces of brightly colored ribbon. Oddly, this unsightly coiffure served to make him appear all the more fierce, like some demented demon from hell. The mere sight of this scowling hulk was enough to send any prudent person running in the opposite direction. And if additional intimidation was required, Blackbeard had been known to twine bits of candle into his beard and light them, making his hair appear to be ablaze, the better to inspire fear in an opponent.

  Their weapons in hand, Nate and Devlin waded into the fray, readily insinuating themselves into the confusion. While Nate concentrated on gathering information from lesser pirates, Devlin invisibly sidled closer to Teach, eavesdropping on the man’s conversation. He soon learned that Blackbeard and his unholy troops had by now succeeded in plundering several ships in Charles Town Harbor. Not satisfied merely to steal goods, disrupt trade, and create havoc, they had taken a number of the passengers hostage, including several women and children. In exchange for these hostages, Teach was demanding that the town send him a chest of medicine for his sick crewmen. He threatened to sever the heads of his prisoners and deliver them to the governor if his demands were not met.

  So that’s his game, Devlin thought darkly. A bout of revelry and ransacking for his men, some booty into the bargain, and medicine as the final reward from terrorized citizens eager to see the last of him. Devlin also knew that, in accordance with Blackbeard’s murderous code, if innocent people were sacrificed in the process, so much the better. Teach would relish every moment of tormenting his helpless prisoners, and gleefully kill them afterward.

  The man was an ogre, completely without conscience, and Charles Town was in a panic to be rid of him. Their hackles raised, all their old antagonism toward pirates immediately reborn, the frightened people demanded revenge. They wanted the governor to do something. Now. Before more lives could be forfeit, or more of their hard-earned livelihood destroyed.

  But Governor Johnson decided to take the matter under advisement before acting, stating that he did not want to make any rash decisions which might put the town in further peril. In the interim, Blackbeard and his pirates were running amok through the town, parading boldly through the streets arid terrorizing one and all. More innocent bystanders were abducted and taken aboard Blackbeard’s ship.

  During this time Devlin received unwelcome news of his own. Several of his crewmen came hurrying to him with reports of his old enemy, Captain Swift. “He still be alive, Cap’n,” one man declared. “Talk is he was in the Tortugas a while back.”

  Nate, too, had heard this latest supposition. “A number of Blackbeard’s men claim to have seen him. ’Twould appear maroonin’ the bloody bastard didn’t rid us of him for good and all, Dev.”

  “More’s the pity,” Devlin mused. “I’d hoped he was dead. And for all we know for sure, he might be, since these latest tales of him are naught but rumor.”

  “Mayhap, but if they be true, ye know he’ll come lookin’ fer us, sooner or later,” Nate predicted. “’Specially if Teach’s men tell him where to find us.”

  “I hope they do. ’Twould save us the trouble of having to run him to ground,” Devlin responded with a contemplative smile.

  “Then we’re not goin’ after him?”

  “Nay. Not now, at least. I’ve promised Eden my help with Tilton and Finster, and we’ll not be leaving Charles Town until I’ve rid her of their menace. With luck, by the time that deed is accomplished, my visibility will have returned to normal as well. Then we’ll be after Swift, if he’s still alive, and if he hasn’t found us first. Either way, the next time we meet, his blood will stain my sword.”

  Meanwhile, Blackbeard’s terrible antics were creating dismay and concern for everyone, Eden included. “Can’t you do something, Devlin?” she asked, turning immense, pleading turquoise eyes on him.

  He shook his head at her naivete. “What would you suggest, Eden? I have fewer than forty men. Shall I pit them against four hundred? The odds would not be in our favor.”

  “But you know him, don’t you? You are in the same business, so to speak. Couldn’t you talk with him, pirate to pirate? Make him see reason?”

  “There is no reasoning with the man. Plainly put, he’s insane.”

  “That being the case, do you think he will honor his word and release the hostages unharmed if he gets the medicine he wants?” she questioned further, sympathetic tears turning her eyes to glistening jewels. “Or will he murder them anyway?”

  “I cannot say, Eden. There is no determining what the man might do. He derives diabolical pleasure from terrorizing others, is famous for his unpredictable temper, is quick to the trigger or the sword, thrives on bloodshed, and is absolutely fearless.”

  An odd look crossed her features, one Devlin could not immediately read. “Is he truly? Fearless, I mean? Is he also as superstitious as the usual sailor, despite the fact that he’s holding women aboard his ship even as I speak?”

  “What is going through that devious female mind of yours?” Devlin asked, a frown drawing his golden brows together.

  She offered him a gamine smile, a look of pure mischief about her. “Well, I was thinking our fierce Blackbeard might be uncommonly afraid of ghosts,” she suggested lightly. “Now, if a certain phantom pirate I know were to approach him, mayhap whisper a few dire threats into his ear, he’d be liable to reconsider his demands, would he not?”

  Devlin’s white teeth flashed in an answering grin as he doffed an imaginary hat at her. “Aye. He just might at that, duchess.”

  In the wee hours of the following morning, enshrouded by the black mist of predawn, Devlin rowed himself out to Blackbeard’s ship. So dark was it that he had little fear of being seen by anyone—rather, of having anyone see the dinghy rowing itself out into the harbor, and he was careful to make as little noise as possible. Blackbeard’s crew was so confident of their superiority, so blatantly arrogant, that they had left the boarding ladder hanging over the s
hip’s side. Devlin climbed aboard without ever having to wet the soles of his boots.

  He swaggered past several men on the main deck, none of whom took any notice. Not that he’d thought they might. From the lay of the ship, he quickly calculated the most reasonable place to find Blackbeard’s quarters. Then, instead of choosing that route, he took the hatchway leading into the bowels of the vessel.

  Just as he’d suspected, he found the prisoners, at least a fair number of them, locked in a single barred cell in the hold. A lone sentry guarded them, or would have, if he’d been awake. It was child’s play for Devlin to rap the sleeping man over the head with the butt of his flintlock and slip the keys from his belt. It was slightly more difficult to unlock the cell door without waking any of the hostages, but he managed this also. As the door swung open with a loud squeak of rusted hinges, they stirred drowsily. Suddenly, one fellow gave a disbelieving gasp and cried out softly, “Look! The door’s open!”

  “Saints be! We’re saved!” another exclaimed.

  Rousing their mates, they started hesitantly toward the open doorway. “Do ye think ’tis a trap, so they can slay us and claim we were trying to escape?” someone hissed.

  “I don’t care if ’tis,” a woman said. “I’d rather die trying to swim to shore than here in this stinking hole.”

  “What of the others? How can we go without them?”

  “We have yet to be gone ourselves,” another hastened to point out. “And we’d better be about leaving before someone comes and we lose our best chance to do so.”

  A second woman piped up in a frightened whisper. “I can’t swim! Neither can most of the children.”

  Devlin wanted to tell them about the dinghy, and about the half dozen men on deck they would have to elude, but he was forced to silence.

  As if the fellow had read his mind, a hostage suggested, “If luck is with us, we’ll find a rowboat. If not, hold onto someone who can swim. Now hush, for surely they have someone standing guard above.” Assuming the role of leader, the man began ushering people from the cell. “Keep the children quiet and try to stay in the shadows.” Devlin followed them on deck, his sword in hand, ready to defend them if need be. Somehow they made it to the ladder and over the side undetected, the adults carrying the children. Once assured that they had found the dinghy and could row themselves safely to shore, he left them, cursing the fact that he had not thought to tow another dinghy behind the first, for now he could not free any other hostages he might happen to find unless they were strong swimmers. He estimated he’d saved fewer than half of those reported to be aboard, but there was no help for it now, unless he could manage to frighten Blackbeard into releasing the rest.

  As silent as a wraith, Devlin made his way to Black-beard’s quarters. The door was barred from the inside, but he made quick work of that problem, the blade of his longknife sliding-effortlessly through the crack and shifting the latch aside. Without a sound, he crept toward the bed, where Blackbeard lay blissfully unaware, snoring loudly.

  Devlin had to hold back a laugh as he perched on the edge of the pirate’s bed and croaked out in his best imitation of a wavering, ghostly voice, “Teach! Edward Teach! Awaken, you scurvy arse!”

  Blackbeard awoke with a start, reaching immediately for his cutlass. In the inky darkness of the room, Devlin could scarcely view the man’s movements, but he managed to see well enough to bring the point of his knife against Blackbeard’s throat. In the process, Devlin inadvertently sliced off a thick strand of braided beard. Again, he had to choke back a chuckle as he imagined Blackbeard’s ire when he realized that his precious beard had been mutilated. Still holding the burly pirate at bay with his knife, Devlin slid the loose skein of beard beneath his shirt, where it would remain undetected for the time being. Then, with the toe of his boot, he kicked Teach’s cutlass beneath the bed, out of reach.

  “Who ... what?” the man stammered in confusion.

  “Teach! Listen to me,” Devlin told him in the eeriest, wobbliest tone he could manage. “I have come to warn you to leave Charles Town.”

  “Who ... who’s there? Show yerself, by damn!” Once more, Blackbeard tried to arm himself against his unknown attacker, snaking a hand toward the pistol atop the stand at his bedside, only to feel strong fingers clamp about his wrist, holding his hand shy of the gun. The knife point pricked sharply at his throat, following the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed reflexively.

  Devlin thought he felt Blackbeard’s arm tremble slightly. “Your weapons will do you no good, Blackbeard. Not against the likes of me,” he prophesied with an evil hiss.

  “Who are ye?” There was a distinct note of panic in Teach’s voice now, and Devlin could have crowed with delight.

  “I am the Phantom of Fate! Your fate, Edward Teach!”

  “Ye’re a lying sack o’—”

  “Tsk, tsk,” Devlin chided mildly, even as he gave the man’s wrist a wrench hearty enough that Blackbeard released an involuntary groan. “However, since you seem reluctant to believe me, I will allow you to light a candle. Then we’ll see who is the liar, and who is not.” The tinderbox seemed to float into Teach’s hand.

  It took several tries before Blackbeard could accomplish the simple task, so shaken was he by now. But his original fright was paltry compared to that which crossed his hairy features when he had the candle lit and still beheld no one in the room with him. And all the while, he felt those fingers about his wrist!

  “Where are ye, ye devil?” he roared, his famously fearsome gaze searching his quarters. He nearly leapt from his skin as Devlin replied with an awful chuckle, “No need to shout. I’m right here.”

  Incapable of more than a hoarse whisper at this juncture, Blackbeard asked fearfully, “Wha-what do ye want?”

  Devlin could not resist the temptation. He tried, for all of a heartbeat, then answered in his most terrifying voice, “I want your soul. You named me the Devil, and quite correctly. I want your soul for my amusement.”

  “Why?”

  Devlin’s demonic laugh raised gooseflesh over Black-beard’s skin. “Because ’tis mine, for all the evil you have done, and now I am here to claim it for all eternity.”

  Amazingly, Teach was still coherent enough to argue the point. “Nay, Devil. I’m yet young, with many a year left to me, and plenty of fight in this body.”

  “You dare to gainsay me, mortal?” Devlin crooned nastily. “To deny me that which is rightfully mine to take at any time I deem proper?” He let the question lie between them, unanswered, for just a moment before continuing in a considering tone. “Then again, perhaps I could wait a bit. There’s no hurry. After all, a year to you is as a blink of the eye to me. However, if I were to grant you a reprieve, I would have something in return for my benevolence.”

  “What might that be?” Blackbeard asked hesitantly. “That you set your hostages free, unharmed, and leave Charles Town forthwith. And never set foot or anchor in this place again.”

  Blackbeard pondered but a moment. “Aye. But I need those medicines.”

  “Then take them, by all means, but should you harm one hair upon the head of any of your prisoners, I shall prepare the hottest coals of hell for your immediate arrival.”

  Again Blackbeard looked confused. “What sort of Devil are ye, that ye would want to keep these priggish maggots from harm? I’d think ye’d dance a jig if I cut ’em to ribbons and fed ’em to the fishes.”

  For just a moment Devlin was at a loss, but his quick mind came to his rescue. “Nay, Teach. There are those among them who will go on to do my will and my work here in Charles Town, and I need no interference from you. Either you abide by my decree, or suffer the consequences. And think not to defy me, pirate, for there is no way you can escape my wrath.”

  Slowly, cautiously, Devlin eased from the bed as he spoke, hoping his words would hold Blackbeard’s attention, even as he lowered the man’s hand and gently let loose of it. “Before I go, tell me the whereabouts of Captain Swift.” />
  “I don’t know where he is, and I care less. Ye should know better than I.”

  Realizing his error, Devlin added hastily, “No matter, Teach. I’ll find him, just as I did you. You,” he repeated softly, a faint echo shadowing his words as he backed soundlessly toward the door. “You.”

  He let his voice become weaker, fading into nothing by the time he opened the door and sprinted through it. He was out of the passageway and onto the deck before he heard ’s roar trailing after him. As he leapt to the ship’s rail, he caught a glimpse of Teach’s huge, naked, apelike body lumbering into the open, pistol in hand. '

  Devlin spared but a moment of regret for the soaking his boots were about to take, and one last, gloating laugh for Blackbeard. Then, before the pirate could decide where to aim his shot, Devlin launched himself into an arcing dive and plunged below the murky waters of Charles Town Bay.

  Chapter 14

  “Damn me, if I didn’t put the fear of the Devil into that old goat!” Devlin crowed. “Why, I could have trod the boards as an actor, so good was I!”

  “And so modest, as well.” Jane chortled, shaking her head.

  “And wet,” Eden added, eyeing his large, dripping frame, and the growing puddle beneath his soggy boots.

  “Ah, but where is a properly appreciative female when you want one?” he lamented theatrically, throwing his arms wide and rolling his eyes. “A woman ready to fall at the feet of the conquering hero and grant him any boon? Do I get a kiss of gratitude for risking all? Nay, I say. I get a heartless laugh and a scowl for my trouble. Where is the justice?”

  “Justice is due to march into this kitchen at any moment and land a broom on someone’s head when she sees this floor,” Eden told him, reminding all of them that the sun had risen and Dora would soon arrive to prepare the morning meal. “And you, my poor, ill-praised prince in pirate’s clothing, are due for some dry apparel, which I hope will smell less of fish than those you are presently wearing.”