“Which explains how you so easily knew the route to Charles Towne, as well as the fastest waters to get us there.”
Green nodded. “Although we had briefly made land in Florida, there was not much there to sustain us, and we were given direction northward by a fellow who had just signed on and subsequently advised us that Charles Towne was filled with wealth easily accessed by way of the river. However, upon our arrival at dusk, I was sent ashore with several others to raid a few of the farms along the riverbank. The first farm we came upon belonged to the Shepards. They killed all but me. I ran through the night and reported what happened. Barclay took out a group at first light, but word spread quickly that it was Ivory herself who had bested Barclay that morning, and all four of the women were brought aboard.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong here,” Maddox interrupted, “but if Ivory bested Barclay as you say, how the hell were they brought aboard?”
“Perhaps I have phrased it incorrectly. They were brought aboard as guests, not to be touched upon pain of death. They were to be delivered, unharmed, to Port Royal and given passage to carry on. However, our journey back took a turn when Barclay spotted a merchant ship and gave no quarter, despite the surrender of the merchant captain. Most of the men boarded the merchant ship, but I, and a few others, stayed behind to man the guns. Soon after Barclay gave the order to cease fire, I crept up on deck in case my services were required. That is when I watched Madame Shepard neatly remove Barclay’s arm and then kill him, taking the Demon Sea right out from beneath his feet. I looked on as her cousins quickly, and quite easily, killed the others who had stayed behind—all in self-defense, of course.”
Maddox took a deep breath and had already begun a ten step pace back and forth in front of Green as he spoke. He had heard every word, and at the same time, he imagined the scene in his mind as if he were seeing it all through Green’s eyes. “What of Barclay’s crew? And you?”
“I had seen enough. I surrendered. Ivory instructed me to bring the ship about and welcome aboard any man who would follow her, as well as any of the merchant crew who would do the same. Instantly, she was voted Captain by order of the code, but once we reached Port Royal, many refused to follow a woman… even a woman such as Ivory. I stayed. Having seen her through my own eyes, I knew not a man before her who deserved my respect more, and with no disrespect to you, I have known none since.”
“And the one with the golden hair?”
“Aye, my one true love. When I chose to leave and come to Kingston to seek out new employment, it was because of that love. You see, there could be no love or happiness during that time. I selfishly believed Cassandra should give up the sea and all of this violence and greed to stay safe and settled in a home ashore, waiting for me like some helpless girl. I was surprised when she agreed. I was the happiest I could have ever been. That was until I allowed her demand that I too let go of this life, foolishly push me away. My pride drove her from me. I have now decided that once all this is done, I intend to at last abide by her wishes and make the choice I should have made long ago. That is, of course, if she will still have me.”
“I suppose my final question would be; what drove the remaining men to follow her—outside of what happened with Barclay, that is?”
“She was brilliant—still is. She had the ability to transform young, foolish, and petulant boys into men—men who could fight and sail. Men of good spirits and morale who not only followed her because they knew she was an earner who paid well, but more importantly because they wanted to. To change the ways of older sailors was a waste of time for her. She preferred to raise them from youth. Orphaned or young men lost and alone flocked to her and they longed for her orders, and then climbed over each other to follow them.”
“Yes, she is indeed a formidable woman…I would agree. What can you tell me of her…personally?” Maddox inquired as he scratched the stubble on his dimpled chin and eyed Green sideways.
“How could I possibly know more of her than you…personally? You have known her far beyond what I was permitted, or even desired. However, I am certain there were a few who braved her.” Green smiled.
Maddox flew back to the bow and snatched the lines again, not having received the answer he was searching for in Green’s memories. Green smiled again at his friend and walked to his side. “If what you are seriously asking is if she has had other lovers, I would have to tell you of that I do not know. She is a powerful woman, Maddox. I would imagine such a woman does not easily find lovers who are her match.” Green patted Maddox on his shoulder and walked off, leaving his friend alone with his thoughts.
* * * *
“It’s about time we should be going,” Keara said as she buckled her belt and checked her pistol.
“I believe you were right about Carrington. Tobias, James, and a couple more will be joining us. I’m also not convinced Jackson isn’t lurking somewhere.” Ivory declared.
“I knew you’d come to your senses.”
“My senses are fine. Let’s go.”
Ivory sent Tobias and the others ahead by thirty minutes. She instructed them to blend in as best they could, but upon her entry of the store they were to position themselves near the side of the building and gain entry at any cost—not to rescue her, but to reclaim the diamonds should she and Keara be overcome.
As with the prior evening, the streets had morphed into a more sinister monster. Loud music roared and riotous men, staggered from the pub to the street and back again. Keara glanced warily over at Ivory as the horses trotted, but Ivory stared forward as if she were alone. When they finally turned the corner, they came upon a group of rowdies engaged in the instigation of a drunken brawl. At last, Ivory turned her eyes to Keara and nodded, signaling her to pick up the pace. She pulled ahead as the horse balked at the mob, which had grown to more than twenty, and the horse sidestepped, nearly losing its footing on the cobblestone.
“Well, hellooo ladies,” a ruddy skinned man missing his top front teeth slurred as Ivory motioned to Keara to carry on.
“Yah!” Keara shouted at the animal and slapped it with the reins. The horse bucked and gathered itself before leaping forward and off down the street.
“Back up, you bilge-sucking bastard!” Ivory ordered at the man as he advanced.
“Now, is that any way fer a lady ta’ talk?” he asked, laughing, as she swung the horse around, knocking him back a foot. “Now ye wait a minute, ye bitch!”
Ivory slapped the horse across its hindquarters and took off to the roar of jeers and laughter. She met up with Keara in the shadows as she stood holding the horse by the reins, waiting. “What a shit pile,” she grumbled.
“We’ll need to figure out another way around if that bunch hasn’t scattered by the time we’re through. Are you alright?”
“Of course I’m alright,” Keara answered as she walked ahead to the store.
The little man peered at them from the window and gave them the wave to come in. Keara’s head turned quickly upon hearing a brief but familiar whistle, and she spotted James peeking from behind the left side of the building. Once inside, the little man again locked the door and pulled the shades. “I know it’s none of my beeswax, ladies, but it ain’t fittin’ for young women like yourselves to be up to no good.” The little man appeared anxious and rubbed at his high forehead.
“You’re right,” Ivory remarked. “It’s none of your business.” She stopped and waited for the man to announce their arrival, then shifted her eyes back at Keara with a furrowed brow.
“Welcome back, Captain Shepard…Master Shepard.” Carrington greeted as Keara and Ivory were led into the back room.
“We lost time avoiding a fray. Have you reached a decision on your offer yet?”
“The stones?”
Ivory motioned to Keara to produce the bag. She reached cautiously into her leather satchel and dragged it into view. Again, Ivory moved her eyes to guide Keara forward until they were both standing at the edge of the poker table, looking
down at the four men. They were still dressed and seated as if they’d not moved since the night before.
Ivory pulled the bag towards her and opened it. She gently tipped it forward, spilling the diamonds a few at a time onto the table. She pressed the fingers of her right hand lightly over them and spread them out, while cradling the bag in her left. She heard Keara take a deep breath, and she looked up to find all four men leaning in for a closer look.
“The egg?” Carrington asked, as he lifted one of the stones between his thumb and index finger and pulled it to his eye.
Ivory tipped the bag again, and when she did, she heard a crack when the egg hit the table.
“Is this some kind of joke, Captain Shepard?” Carrington shouted as he backed away.
A look of horror came over Keara’s face. “Ivory, what the fuck?” Ivory met her expression with matching confusion.
“There’s been a mistake! I can assure you the diamond was in here only last night.” She stared down in disbelief as the yolk and slimy albumen oozed from the cracked eggshell on the table.
“And I suppose I’m to believe the rest of these are genuine?” Carrington barked as he sat back from the table and folded his arms.
“Yes. They are completely genuine. Apparently, I’ve been robbed.”
“I don’t do business like this, Captain Shepard.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You know the rest of these stones are real. Pay me for what I’ve brought you, and we’ll be on our way.”
“Oh, I highly doubt that, Captain,” a deep voice spoke, as the door creaked open and in stepped Phineas Jackson, with a pistol pointed directly at Ivory.
“What is this?” Keara shouted as she backed away and pulled her gun.
“I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this,” Phineas said. “I thought your man Boston was fit for the job, but unfortunately, he had a brain the size of a pea.”
“You sent Tommy after me?” Ivory asked.
“You couldn’t have possibly believed he’d have thought up something so clever on his own, now could you? It was quite simple, really. He already hated the both of you, or rather all of you. All he needed was a little push...and a boat. The lad must have run off. I haven’t seen him since. At first I thought he may have succeeded. Alas, that was a fleeting thought. Although that fifty thousand pounds would have been splendid, these diamonds will make up for the loss.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you,” Keara hissed, pulling her weapon and taking aim. “I ought to blow your lying head off.”
“Ke, wait.”
“That’s right, Captain Shepard. Call her off before you both end up floating in the river.” Jackson moved towards Ivory and circled her, nudging the barrel of Keara’s pistol down and away. “You’re not so smug now, are you?” he whispered as he brushed his mouth past her ear and pressed the barrel of his gun into her ribs.
“What do you want, Jackson?”
“With over twenty thousand American dollars in rare diamonds sitting on that table, you still ask me that question?”
“They’re mine.”
“These four fine gentlemen sitting here with their pistols in their laps beg to differ...and so do I,” he said moving towards the table to get a closer look at his prize.
“Just take the fucking diamonds, Jackson. I’m done listening to you. Here,” Ivory said as she tossed him the empty bag.
“I’m happy at least one of you wants to live. After all, I’m sure since your egg has turned out to be…just an egg, you’ll have no trouble finding out who has stolen the real one, and in the end, we’ll both get what we want.” Jackson tucked his pistol into his waist and scooped the diamonds back into the bag, as Carrington sat and pointed his gun at Ivory.
Ivory took a step back from Carrington’s gun and watched as Jackson pulled the rope tightly to close the bag. Suddenly, she shouted, “Ke!” as she lunged forward grabbing the table. She flipped it back onto the men, sending them tumbling to the floor. Keara pulled her pistol and fired once, hitting Jackson square in the chest with such a blow he lifted from where he stood and landed flat on his back—the bag still clutched in his hand.
The door banged open, and in rushed Tobias and James, followed by the two sailors—swords drawn, slashing and disarming any man who moved. Keara had Carrington by the collar, dragging him across the floor, as Ivory unsheathed her sword. She swung it up and over her head until it came down pointed directly at his throat.
“What is it with men like you? Why couldn’t you just buy the damn stones and be done with it?”
“Jackson…he swore he’d kill us all if we didn’t cooperate. I was ready to offer you an even twenty thousand for the lot! He… he came earlier today with several of his crew and…”
With a loud roar, six of Jackson’s men poured into the room, swords drawn. “Well, hello there, cutie. Remember me?” asked the ruddy man with the missing teeth as he drew Ivory’s attention from Carrington with a swift swipe of his broadsword.
Ivory returned combat. With a hard upswing, she met his blade and threw it off, only to meet it again as it flew at her head. With her swift block, their swords rang out against each other, and the man leaned in so closely against her she could smell his rancid breath. Ivory pulled up her knee with a thrust to his groin, and the man dropped his sword and buckled, wailing and clutching his throbbing scrotum. Keara, having run out of ammunition for her pistol, scrambled to retrieve one of the guns from the floor and fired on the men, striking one in the chest. Then, she pulled her sword. “Keara!” James called out as the point of his weapon met her widened eyes and then drew back as it passed through the torso of the pirate about to remove her head.
“Ke, get the bag!” Ivory shouted as she backed up to her cousin and cut a path to the door. When she found an opening, Ivory dove behind the upturned table and took a fallen pistol in each hand. When she stood, she turned and fired on the two remaining pirates and dropped them both with a dead shot to each head, as Carrington’s henchmen cowered unarmed behind the table. As the air settled, Ivory’s two crewmen lay lifeless on the floor, and James and Tobias stood over them. Their swords hung from their hands like sledgehammers covered in blood. James was spent. He wiped the spattered blood from his face with his sleeve as he stared at Keara through wounded eyes and then fell to his knees at her feet.
“Captain, we need to go,” Tobias whispered, looking back as if he expected a second wave of Jackson’s crew.
Ivory stuffed both pistols in her belt and looked back at Carrington. “Where’s the money?”
Carrington raised a trembling hand and pointed to the table. “Tobias, help me,” she ordered as they turned the table upright. “Where?” Ivory shouted.
“Push the lever and lift the top panel,” he cried out.
Ivory slid her hand around the edge and found the small lever. She pushed it until it popped, and the table folded open at the center, revealing a secret compartment. Inside was a small burlap bag, rolled over twice with the unmistakable shape of a stack of American money tucked inside. “How much is here?”
“Why, it’s the whole twenty thousand. Captain Shepard, please, you’re a woman of honor. You…you…you…wouldn’t just steal a man’s livelihood like this, would you?”
Ivory scowled down at him in contempt. She turned, walked to Keara, and took the bag from her hand. “Here!” she said as she threw the bag, hitting Carrington in the face. “I’ve lost two good men because of you, but if I never see another diamond before I die, it will be too soon.”
James and Tobias lifted their fellow crewmen onto their shoulders and headed out into the storefront. The little man was nowhere to be found. “Ivory, we need to hurry. The runt is gone. God knows where he went, or who could be on their way here right now.”
“I know.” Ivory pulled the scarf from her neck and wiped the battle from Keara’s cheek. “I’m so sorry.”
“Have you lost your mind? You have nothing to be sorry for. What do you always say, Ivory? We do
what must be done, and no more.”
“Tell that to James. He isn’t taking this loss well.”
“He’ll come around. I’ll see to that.”
Keara rushed to James’s side and helped him as they lifted the two dead men onto the backs of the horses. “Thank you for having my back, James.”
He stopped and looked over at her for a moment, as he secured the fallen man over the saddle with a rope. His shirt was soaked in blood, and the creases in his hands were stained red. “You’ve blood in your hair, love,” was all he said, and then he ambled to the front of the horse, untied it, and walked off into the darkness.
Chapter Thirty-One
When Ivory and her cohorts arrived back at the ship, they hurried aboard, and she ordered the deceased taken below and prepared for burial at sea by midnight. Willy met her the moment she reached the deck, and she charged him with preparing for sail immediately. “I realize by “immediately” the reality is within the next hour, but we really must make haste to Port Royal.”
“Aye, Captain… that we shall.” Willy carried on shouting to the men to cast off, hoist sail, and head for home. Before waddling off, though, he turned back to Ivory with a pensive look.
“Have you forgotten something?” Ivory inquired.
“Nay, Cap’n. I just wanted ta’ tell ye that we picked up a fella, and he be waitin’ by your quarters fer ye ta’ sign him on. I hate ta’ bother ye with such things, but bein’ we lost two men today, Cap’n, and he appears fit…I told him ta’ wait, as we has rules aboard the Cutlass. Ye know, the code and all,” Willy said as he turned to go, but Ivory called him back.
“You know I don’t like strangers, and there’s also another matter at hand. I’ve been robbed. Take Tobias and James…” Ivory’s voice trailed off when she spotted Keara assisting a limping James below to assess whatever injury he sustained. “Never mind. You and Tobias will do. I want every man, bunk, cabin, and duffle searched. By the way, where’s Richard? I haven’t seen him all day.”
The Blue Diamond (The Razor's Edge Book 1) Page 26