Jaded Tides (The Razor's Adventures Pirate Tales) by P.S. Bartlett Page A

Belle’s wake in two. “Do you have to stay out here until this is all over?”
    “If I take my eyes off the water for more than a minute and miss my mark, this mission is finished. I suppose the answer to your question is yes.”
    “May I ask what you’re looking for? Perhaps I can help. I have the eyesight of an eagle.”
    He pulled his spyglass to his eye and pointed it at the Belle. “Oh, you’d need more than your eagle eyes to find what I’m looking for. Shit! Oh, shit, Razor, get down!” he shouted and threw himself on top of me as together we fell to the deck. The captain of the Belle must have found his cocky pride in the moonlight, as a warning shot hissed by our heads, just barely missing the Jade . 
    “Rasmus was right,” I said aloud to myself.
    “What are you talking about?” he asked in my ear as he remained pressed heavily atop me.
    “Rasmus said they might fire on us.”
    The crew sprang to life immediately, and James leapt to his feet and pulled me up to join him. “It isn’t safe here, my lady. You should go below.” He backed a few feet away from me and gathered his charts, which had scattered in our fall.
    “My name is Ivan, sir. Please, I assure you, none of this is foreign to me.”
    “Robertson!” I heard Rasmus shout as he came towards us at the stride of a trotting horse. “How much further?” he asked, not taking notice of my presence.
    “It’s difficult to say, Captain. In this light, as well as with the clouds that are beginning to move in from the approaching storm, I’m concerned that we’ll miss my mark.”
    “Concern be damned, Robertson. Listen to your gut, boy.” Rasmus turned to me and said, “You’re going to be his runner. When he gives the order, take it to the helm, and don’t waste a second. Understood?”
    “Yes, Captain. Upon his order,” I answered. He nodded.
    “All right men, let’s look alive! Quit your nappin’ now! Master Green, get your men on those guns, and tell them not to fire at any cost, unless I give the order.” His arms waved about in the air as he bellowed. He stripped off his coat and hat and handed them to a young lad around the age of fifteen that I noticed following behind him. As the lad received what he was handed, he passed Rasmus his sword and baldric, which he quickly assembled across his body. I heard him call the young lad Jonathan.
    “Do not forget what I told you, Ivan. If we don’t pull alongside in time, this will not end well.”
    “I understand, Captain,” I said again.
    “Captain, take a look,” James said as he handed Rasmus the spyglass.
    “This would be a lot easier, Robertson, if I knew what I was looking for.”
    “There, just southeast of the Belle.”
    “Is that a patch of land?” Rasmus asked. The surprised upturn of his voice amused me. I hadn’t heard that tone in days.
    “Yes, Captain. That’s actually a sandbar. It’s uncharted, except for my maps. I found it and marked it several months ago when the ship I was working on nearly ran aground on her. I was worried about the tides because of the full moon. When I originally logged it, the moon was barely at the crescent phase and it was a mid-afternoon low tide. As you can see, she’s barely one hundred yards long and half as wide tonight.”
    “One hundred yards? That isn’t much of a target, lad!”Rasmus exclaimed, handing James his spyglass back.
    “Captain, at low tide, she’s over twice that. The tide has not yet reached its peak height, and if my maps are accurate, which, based on my experience in this channel, I have no reason to believe that they are not, we have approximately thirty minutes before that sandbar disappears underwater. Not to mention, with that storm chasing us, the tide could come in even quicker.”
    “Full canvas, Master Green! We’ll block her and cut off her wind. That oughtta slow her down,” Rasmus cried out. “Let’s embrace her starboard side, Master Green, and don’t hoist the colors until the