The Swashbuckling Yarn of Milady Vixen Read Online Free PDF Page B

time, Vixen.” Ginger Tom laughed.
    “Suck bilge water or I’ll see you to Davy Jones.”
    “Hell hath no fury as Vixen deprived of skewering the gizzards of any of Effingham’s citizens,” Ugly Pete cackled.
    “Perhaps I’ll just run you through, you cock swain,” she snarled.
    “Um, Vixen, shouldn’t we be getting onto yon ship?” the redhead butted in.
    She shot him a dirty look and saw to the boarding action. At the lead was Clubfoot Beth. Sam Half-wit and a few others followed as a squad of red-and-white-clad Marines poured out of the merchant vessel’s cargo hold. Puffs of musket shots roared, cutting the first row down and inflaming Vixen’s temper. Bodies splashed into the sea.
    “It’s a trick!” she shrieked, yanking out a flintlock pistol. “Return fire!”
    A rattling and random cracking of musket and pistol shots erupted between the two vessels. Bodies pitched over on both sides of the fight, clutching spurting red wounds, and screams of pain joined the din. Leaping across the boarding plank, Vixen squinted down the barrel of her weapon and fired. A burly sergeant went limp as her shot breached his brain pan, killing him instantly. Met at the edge of the rail, she parried a bayonet with her sword and brained her assailant with the butt of her pistol. Her remarkable and reckless behavior lent confidence to her shipmates, who began pouring down the wide board and meeting the Marines head-on.
    Vixen kicked a stout-bellied Marine betwixt the legs and deliberately ran him through the heart. She spun in place, dodged another bayonet and dropped her spent weapon. Stabbing her attacker in the shoulder, she drew her other pistol and shot him point blank between the eyes. This empty firearm joined its brother on the deck, and Vixen spun a whirlwind of death with her sword. Hate sang in her heart, men died with a quiver on her blade, and with each spurt of blood, just a little more vengeance washed at the edges of her family’s dishonor.
    Wild fury took hold. Thrust, parry and dodge, she dropped three more men before her compatriots could gain a foothold on the now slippery deck. Awash with blood, the footing became treacherous, but her wide hips and perfect balance never failed her. Rushing up the stairs to the poop deck, she ducked just as the vessel’s captain aimed a pistol at her. There was a woofing crack and shriek as the shot missed the top of her head by two inches. Slashing with her narrow blade, she parted his hose just above the knee, turning the lily-white material crimson. Jabbing out with all the might of her shoulders, she pierced his groin and twisted.
    “Son of a dog!” she screamed. “Take that!”
    Tearing the point of her rapier out of his crotch, she stabbed him in both shoulders, rendering them numb and useless. Vixen kicked away his remaining pistol and laughed heartily in his stricken, red face.
    “Mercy!” he blubbered past trembling lips.
    “Never!” she shrieked.
    A quick flick of her wrist and he sported a scarlet parody of a grin just below his chin.
    Yes, I know, Violet had some issues she really needed to work out. Therapy hadn’t been invented yet, so this was the best she could do. So don’t judge her. Okay?
    “We yield!” the first mate said, dropping his cutlass and raising his hands.
    Ginger Tom soon joined her on the poop; the Marines now lay dead and staring at the sky with unblinking eyes. She noted with a brief moment of sorrow that five of her mates were similarly stretched out upon the gory boards.
    “Nice fight, aye, Vixen?” Tom chuckled.
    “Not bad, but the cowards surrendered too quickly for my taste,” she commented with a snarl.
    “You are quite a mistress of battle—like some pagan goddess.”
    “M-Milady Vixen?” the captive said in astonishment.
    “What did you call me?” she growled.
    “He said,” Tom repeated, “Milady Vixen. By the blood spilt, no better nickname could you own.”
    “Milady Vixen,” she said with a smile.