Helltown
Five days later
"Well then. As soon as we have crossed the river, you will ride directly to the meeting point. I´m going to complete the thing with the girl and will follow you then."
Nathan gave each of his men an insistent gaze while we were standing at the bank of the Schuylkill River and waited for the ferry which should bring us to the other side. There I could already see the roofs and the chimneys of the city the men had chosen as their destination: Philadelphia. The third larger city I visited in America and if I could decide, I could go without this questionable luck.
"The others won´t be happy that we´re so late", Pete said and showed once more that he didn´t have a high opinion about Nathan. "We could have been here already, if he hadn´t spent time dealing with her. I´m curious how you want to explain that."
Nathan didn´t answer but only gave Pete an angry look.
I had quickly found out that my kidnapping hadn´t been what the other men would have wished. They just had wanted to attack Davenport and disappear as soon as possible. But Nathan had ordered them to get me for some reasons even they didn´t know and they took it amiss. They didn´t miss an opportunity to complain that I hindered their journey and their actual plans, which I didn´t know and that they had lost more of their comrades during the actually unnecessary meeting with Connor. It quickly became aware to me that Nathan maybe was the boss of this group, but that they were all at somebody else´s service and if they were talking about a meeting point, they would probably meet this person in Philadelphia. But for me there wouldn´t be a meeting. Now I expected with fear what Nathan had planned for me.
He undid my bonds, lifted me from the horse and put his coat on me, which I was supposed to wrap tightly around me so that I didn´t attract even more attention in my unusual appearance than I would do anyway.
"You know what will happen if you should make a sound or any fuss?"
I nodded. And how I knew it.
The attempted escape on horseback hadn´t stayed the only one. When we had camped close to New York, I had surprised Nathan with a kick into his groin before he had been able to bond my ankles and had run to the city. I had reached the agricultural outer districts and managed it to attract the attention of two soldiers. I had been relieved to reach them before Nathan and his men could have caught me. I had already seen me on my way home, but everything had been different.
First the soldiers had wanted to arrest me for alleged obscenity and they just hadn´t wanted to believe that I had been only in my night and dressing gown because I had been kidnapped from my house, even though my wrists had been still bonded. When Nathan had reached us, he had shown again what a smart scumbag he was. He had played the concerned husband whose mentally ill wife had run away from him. He had told the soldiers the moving story that he had to care for me on his own and even had to tie me to the bed so that I couldn´t run away. Only on this day I had managed it to escape and he had apologized to the soldiers who had believed his story without further ado. No matter how often I had asserted that he lied, they hadn´t believed me. Why should they believe a hysteric woman who was running around barefooted? Probably I wouldn´t have believed me either. They had let us go and when we had been back in the camp, Nathan had shown once more what kind of man he really was. He had insulted me, had dragged me to my sleeping place by my hair and had struck several times into my face, so hard that I had feared that I could spit out a tooth soon. But in the end I only had a swollen eye, a bruise on my chin and a chapped upper and lower lip. Basically I was glad that I hadn´t a mirror because I must look terrible. Probably as terrible as I felt. Nathan had finally degraded me and now that I was too far away from home, I didn´t want to cause any more problems.
When the ferry stopped in front of us and we entered it, I kept my head down when Nathan led me past the ferryman who noticed my desolate condition anyway.
"Is the lady alright?", he asked suspiciously. "Why are so many men travelling with one woman?"
"We met each other accidentally on the road. My wife and I are travelling alone but you don´t need to be worried about her. She´s...well..." He patted my arm. "Unfortunately not quite herself, you know?"
The ferryman mumbled something but didn´t ask further questions. Were people really so gullible? Did you just have to tell them a story they could be satisfied with and didn´t need to think about? Bloody hell! I didn´t wear shoes, I was injured, I was dirty. Mentally ill or not, what kind of loving husband let his wife walk around like this?
When the ferry docked on the other side of the river, the group finally separated. Nathan´s men took a path to the edge of the city while Nathan sat me onto the horse again and we rode into the city. Philadelphia was an almost overcrowded city. The streets were full of people moving into every direction and over the people´s voices; sounded the constant rumbling of carts, the clattering of horseshoes on the partly paved streets, the occasional ringing of church bells and the regular marching when a soldier patrol passed by. So much life on one spot and I asked myself, if I had the possibility to call attention to myself. But did I have a chance? Certainly Nathan would make me out to be his mental ill wife again and punish me for my attempt. So no matter what I was thinking, no matter what I planned regarding to an escape, I did nothing. I sat silently on my horse, my gaze lowered, while Nathan steered us through the city.
It felt like we crossed the entire city of Philadelphia and probably we did. Sometime I noticed the almost familiar scent of a harbour which I still knew from London and my nose didn´t deceive me. The first warehouses and masts appeared in front of us and soon we rode along the Delaware River, which was flowing sluggish and cloudy. Almost like the Thames in my native city. Even the cityscape was similar to London, even though I had the feeling that everything was a bit more down-and-out. Drunken sailors staggered bawling through the streets and disappeared with young ladies in some alleys sometimes. Beggars, crippled or even unharmed, sat or stood around and not only once we were followed by these ragged figures who were asking for some coins. A pitiful sight and I asked myself if it was looking like this everywhere along the river. I knew that Philadelphia was built along the Delaware River but I had no imagination of the city´s extent and how the people were living here. Nathan on the comparison seemed to know it.
"Welcome to Helltown", he said with a smug smile and made a wide gesture towards this shabby district. "Philadelphia´s dump where the scum of the society comes in a never-ending stream."
I thought of something like that. It didn´t seem like most of the people were here voluntarily. The ones who looked like they wouldn´t belong to this "scum of the society" crossed Helltown with their heads down, their hands probably put to hidden weapons, just in case they got attacked. I for my part was glad to sit on horseback and for the very first time, I was even glad to have Nathan by my side. I would have never come here alone.
But this joy vanished as Nathan stopped in front of a building which looked like an ordinary tavern from outside. He dismounted his horse and lifted me from the saddle, but when he wanted to go to the building´s entrance, I braced my feet against the muck covered ground and refused to go with him. "First, tell me what we want here."
It was the first time long since that I made a protest and I winced involuntarily when Nathan´s expression hardened and his eyes started to sparkle dangerously.
"We want nothing here. I will hand you over and leave again."
"What do you mean with you will hand me over? Why did you bring me here anyway, if you wanted nothing from me?"
I was still bracing my feet against his grip with all my strength while I tried to understand his words. But Nathan didn´t intend to keep withholding his plans from me. He grabbed my arm tighter and pulled me to him in one go, his face only a few centimetres away from mine.
"I already told you that I will bring you to a place where you fit in perfectly. Here..." He pointed at the entrance door. "...end up all the poor lost souls like you, who either have fallen from grace, find no place in the society or just no man who supports them. I think basically you belong to all of the three categories."
My gaze slid to the building and all at once I knew what was inside of it.
"A brothel? You hand me over...to a brothel?"
My voice was only croaking all of the sudden while satisfaction was spreading over Nathan´s face.
"The whore to the whores, correct."
"But why? Why did you make the effort to kidnap me just to bring me here then?"
Nathan laughed hollowly. "Because I wanted to see exactly this expression on your face. Did you think that I let a woman mock me like you did? You and your savage? You showed me up, not only in front of my men and now you´re paying the price. I would have loved to see you bleeding but I thought this way is much more effective. He can´t protect you anymore and you will soon regret that you rejected me."
Dumbfounded I stared at him and for the first time, I felt how anger replaced my fear again. He felt demeaned? Because I had rejected him and Connor had called him to account for his insults? That was why he had made such a fuss? Because of his hurt pride?
"A child", I uttered and looked at him with open contempt. "You are nothing else but a little child. An offended boy who believes he has to take revenge because somebody stole his toy. What a coward searches his satisfaction in kidnapping a woman, only to send her into a brothel? As far away from the man who could punish him for it as possible. If you think I will put up with it, you are mistaken."
Now Nathan´s face was a mask of anger and I gasped shortly as fist arm closed painfully tight around my arm. "We´ll see about that", he growled, threw the door open and pulled me inside.
There the brothel also reminded of a tavern at first. We stood in a large, shabby seating area where some men were sitting at their tables and enjoyed their ale. The air was clouded by tobacco smoke that stung the eyes and I could see an innkeeper behind a bar, who wiped over the surface with a greasy rag. A broad staircase led winding to the next floor and when I looked up, I saw several young women who lounged by the balustrade and looked down to us. Probably they had heard that the entrance door had opened and expected their next customer in Nathan. They regarded me with suspicion and I couldn´t say that I felt comfortable under their gazes.
Nathan led me to the bar where he asked the innkeeper about a certain Victoire.
"Upstairs", the innkeeper grumbled as an answer and nodded at me. "Who´s that?"
"I will talk about her with Victoire, if you don´t mind." Nathan gave the man a smug smile before he pulled me to the staircase. The women had already left their lookout and stood in open doors, giving Nathan bright smiles which he seemed to enjoy immensely.
"Good day, ladies", he greeted while he led me through the hallway. We came past some closed doors and I tried to suppress the feeling of nausea as more than unambiguous noises got to my ear through some of the doors. I really shouldn´t be here.
Finally Nathan knocked at a door on the other end of the hallway and when a hoarse female woman granted admission, he opened it and pushed me inside. The room we entered seemed to be a bedroom and an office at once. A broad bed stood on the one, a likewise broad desk on the other side and these two pieces of furniture alone filled the whole room entirely. Everything here was also clouded by tobacco smoke but the fragrance of a heavy perfume meddled in its scent. It seemed like it had been sprayed to cover any stench that could stick to the air but instead, the mixture of the smell of tobacco and perfume alone was one sharp stench. Nathan and I stopped in front of the closed door and looked to the desk, where a quite corpulent lady sat and talked to a young woman who was standing in front of her.
"It wasn´t the first time that he came and refused to pay", the young woman just said and according to her voice and posture, she was more than irritated. "I´ve told him so often that I want to see the money first, but he becomes cheeky and starts to threaten me. And what about Bert? When I tell him that this scumbag is threatening me, he just shrugs his shoulders and keeps on polishing his mugs. He is supposed to keep such guys away from here."
The lady behind the desk had silently listened to these complains but was more occupied with writing something into a book that was laying open in front of her. Even when the young woman had already finished, she kept on writing and only when she put the feather aside, she raised her head and looked at her person opposite.
"What do you want me to say, Joanne? If you know that this guy doesn´t pay, why are you paying attention to him then? Ignore him and turn to another man."
"So that he can do the same thing with one of the others?" The young woman, Joanne, snorted. "Bert should throw him out the next time and you should order it."
"I will decide that on my own." The lady looked sourly. "If you don´t mind, I still have enough to do and as you can see, we´re not alone. So take care of your work now and we will talk about it another time."
Joanne stared at her for a moment before she turned away with an irritated sound and pushed herself past Nathan and me to the door. Not without giving us a furious gaze, as if we were responsible for every man who didn´t want to pay for her service.
As the door had closed loudly behind Joanne, the lady at the desk indicated to us that we should come closer but her expression was anything but friendly. All in all she gave no friendly impression. The dress she was wearing seemed to be appropriate to the fashion at court once. But now it was stained, the embroidery at the neckline had loosened for the most part and furthermore it seemed like her breasts wanted to burst the dress. It was too tight for her massive body and I feared that the fabric would give in, if she should do a wrong move. Like standing up, for example. The wig on her head had seen better times, too. It was speckled yellow, some hairs had loosened from the bouffant hairstyle and the whole thing lay crooked on its bearer´s head. Regularly something white trickled down onto her shoulder and I hoped that it was just powder, which she also had plentifully on her face. She was so heavily powdered that you could see every single grain on her skin. The red colour on her furrowed lips was smeared and when she opened her mouth to speak, I saw that she had some red on her yellow teeth, too. All in all this woman looked like she wanted to keep the appearance of a distinguished lady but she just didn´t fulfil it. But I doubted that she was aware of that because she behaved very authoritarian.
"Nathan. Are you here to finally pay your debt? Sixty pounds, if you can´t remember." The gaze she was giving him was more than icy. It looked like she would like to take her feather and ram it into his eye. But Nathan didn´t let himself be swayed. He had put on a bright smile and indicated a bow assumed politely.
"But Victoire, my dear. Of course I didn´t forget it. But you know how business goes in these days. Everything is a bit more complicated and difficult."
Victoire snorted. "You and your businesses. We both know that you´re a sly dog. I don´t care about your difficulties. I want my money. You´re not allowed to choose a girl before, but it seems like you have got your own remedy." The gaze of her cold eyes slid to me. "Who´s this pitiful creature that has to endure your company?"
Nathan glanced at me who stood a bit aside the desk. He hadn´t lost his smile, in the contrary. It became wider. "These are my sixty pounds and maybe an encounter between me and the lovely Gloria. She certainly missed me already."
Victoires eyebrows rose and the fine, white ripple onto her shoulders increased when she began to shake her head. "First of all, Gloria isn´t here anymore. She let a vegetable merchant put a ring on her finger and now she lives the life of a proper housewife and second..." She leaned a bit forward so that you got the impression that her breasts were going to find their way out of her dress soon. "...how can you think that you could give me a girl as payment? Slavery in Pennsylvania was abolished years ago, apart from the fact that she doesn´t look like a slave. All my girls are here voluntarily and wherever you got her: I don´t want her as long as she doesn´t want to stay and I especially don´t want her when you think, that I would forget your debts."
That was at least a statement I could live with. That Nathan had brought me here was terrible enough. But that he had offered me as a way to pay his debts, had shocked me. No, I certainly wasn´t a slave and especially not an object that you could use as you wished. I was relieved that Victoire didn´t want to accept this deal, even though I didn´t know that it was going to mean for me in the end. Nathan didn´t give up yet.
"But Victoire", he began with a mellifluous voice. "Think about it. You told me once that your girls are almost running away from you and as I could see, the selection isn´t as promising as it once was. A new face could be advantageous and I think..." He stepped to me and pushed me further to the desk. "Look at her. She might have...suffered a bit during the last days but if you dress her nicely, wash her and do her hair, she could earn you more money than your renegade girls ever did together."
Now I really felt like a cattle that was extolled on the market.
But Victoire was not impressed although she was scrutinizing me now. "And she got the bruises and the grazes on her wrists because she´s so clumsy, didn´t she?" She snorted. "I don´t even know if I want to know how the poor girl got in your hands. Are you with him willingly? Be honest."
Her gaze seemed to go through me but I didn´t want to lie anyway. I didn´t know why, but somehow I felt safe from Nathan´s anger at the moment. I had the feeling that he couldn´t harm me here and that was absurd actually, in face of the fact that he just tried to sell me to this house.
"No, Ma´am. I´m not."
Victoire nodded and looked at Nathan again who appeared really tensed now. "Like I said, I don´t want to know her story. But let me tell you one thing: I will not let myself be taken for a fool by you. You will pay your debts and you will do it with money, not with some stupid games. I will keep her anyway, but not to do you a favour."
"Oh really? And who says that I will leave her to you?", Nathan asked scornfully. Every kind of feigned respect had disappeared now because he saw his plans fail.
"What do you want with her? You said that you have to do businesses and by the look of things, you already had your fun. You will go, I will delay your debts and she stays. If you have something against it, you can talk to Bert about it. He was already glad to wipe the floor with you the last time."
With these words, Nathan´s gaze slid to me and his jaws worked tensely. Did he feel caught because he obviously had trouble in this house before, which hadn´t been good for him in the end? I would have laughed if this conversation wouldn´t be about my stay here. Normally I would have insisted on a say in it but what were my alternatives? Still being subjected to Nathan or having unexpected help by the owner of a brothel, as long as "She stays" didn´t mean that I had to work for her. At least she had something against Nathan in her hands and that made her my strongest ally against him. But by the look of things, he was already struggling. Maybe he remembered that his men had spoken out against me. If he returned with me, they would probably ultimately turn against him.
"Well then", he uttered. "She became annoying anyway." Nathan rose to his full size and gave Victoire a cold gaze. "I wish you all the best with her."
He turned away and intended to leave, but stopped next to me, bent forward and put his lips to my ear.
"If you think that you´re out of the wood, beautiful: Things weren´t like I planned them but don´t have too much hope that you could go back to your savage soon. Who gets to Helltown once, doesn´t leave this place so quickly."
And so he pulled his coat from my shoulders and disappeared. Not without shutting the door loudly behind him.
