“Watch it, girl!” he barked. “Oops, now I guess they all know.”
Most of the Riffraff army had climbed out of the sleeping quarters, crowding the small hallway. Ricardo was nearby.
“You’re a girl?” he asked. “For real?”
“For real,” Sera said with a shrug of her shoulders. “But I can fight just like the rest of you.”
“Never said you couldn’t,” he responded with a smile.
Sera felt the briefest disappointment that she’d probably never see the older boy again. She might have ended up liking him a lot — if only he weren’t stinky and could travel through time.
“All right, this is how it’s gonna happen,” Eyeball said to the group. “We’ll go wait right below the decks. The little pipsqueak Dak and I will climb up and watch for a signal that the Amancio brothers’ plan is in motion. Then we’ll all move in and rescue Captain Columbus. Easy as throwin’ dice.”
Sera felt like she had to question things one last time. “That’s really it? Our only plan is to fight our way through a bunch of grown men — brandishing weapons we can hardly hold, much less use?”
“Yep,” Eyeball responded with a grunt.
“Okay. Sounds good to me.” She gave him a smile — a sudden confidence had filled her, though she had no idea where it came from. From the Remnant? A feeling that someone loved her and believed in her — even if it was someone she’d never met? Maybe. Either way, she’d take it.
“Then follow me,” Eyeball said. He set off down the cramped hallway, and the Riffraff army went with him.
Sera could smell the salty air as they got closer, could feel the coolness of it. She didn’t care anymore if they had to fight with men twice her size — at least she’d be able to pull clean, crisp air into her lungs.
Eyeball stopped them at the foot of a steep, almost vertical wooden staircase that led up to the decks, then lined them up against the wall. Sera could see the stars through the hole at the top and she felt a rush of excitement. Dak was beside her, holding a curved sword that looked like it could chop heads off with ease.
“It’s called a scimitar,” he said. “Or it will be eventually, but they haven’t actually coined the term yet. It originated in the Middle East, where —”
“Not now,” Sera said. “Not now.”
“Okay.”
But his gaze didn’t drop from her eyes, and a lot was said between them in the next couple of seconds without a word being spoken. That they were best friends; that they’d been through a lot and were about to go through their worst. But they were together and that made everything all right. They could do this.
Eyeball had climbed up the stairs until his head disappeared past the threshold. After looking in all directions, he crouched back down and called for Dak to come with him.
“Good luck,” Sera said.
“Same to you. Remember, as soon as we know Columbus is safe, we need to get out of here. You be ready with that Ring.”
“I will. It’ll all be over soon.”
Dak grinned. “Until we move on to the second Break and have to start all over.”
“Right.”
“Boy!” Eyeball roared — as much as he could while whispering. Somehow he managed it. “Get up here!”
Dak gave one last nod to Sera then scrambled up the stairs, almost face-planting into Eyeball’s rear end before he realized how fast he was going. The two of them slipped into the night air and out of sight. A hush fell over everything.
Sera closed her eyes and enjoyed the clean feel of breathing the ocean air. She’d often heard people talk about the calm before the storm, and she finally knew what they’d meant. At any second, their world was going to explode into action.
Things began to happen.
There was a distant shout, the words impossible to make out. Then another. And another. A scuffling sound, then a bunch of voices at once, arguing. The ring of metal against metal. The quick bang of an explosion — someone had fired a musket. Sera had to restrain herself from sprinting up the stairs before their signal.
Suddenly the booming voice of Eyeball filled the air, turning her heart into a rattling alarm clock in her chest.
“Mutiny! Mutiny! Mutiny! Salvador and Raul are traitors! Rise up and fight!”
Dak’s head popped through the opening at the top of the staircase.
“Riffraffs! It’s time to fight!”
33. Mutiny on the Santa María
DAK SCOOTED away from the opening as his small army started charging up the stairs and onto the deck. He got to his feet and turned to stand beside Eyeball again. The decks of the ship had been stone silent with no movement only a minute earlier. Now it was utter chaos, people running all over, fighting with swords and shooting muskets — though only a couple of people had those and it took forever to reload them after one shot. This battle would be won or lost by steel.
The problem was that the Amancio-led guards outnumbered the sailors who’d been brave enough to accept Eyeball’s challenge to fight back. Hopefully the Riffraffs would turn that tide as they ran screaming in all directions, ready to distract those loyal to the Amancios while Eyeball took the fight to the brothers themselves. It was easy to see who was on whose side — the mutineers were big and strong with shiny weapons, while Dak’s side looked pathetic and unorganized, with mismatched weapons and tattered clothing.
But he remembered the lesson of the American Revolution. In battle against an organized enemy, chaos could be effective. And the mutineers definitely hadn’t been expecting this.
“Come with me,” Eyeball said to Dak. “You and I are going for the big man himself. Columbus needs our help.”
Sera stepped up beside them. “I’m coming, too.”
Then Riq. “Don’t forget me.”
“All right. Just don’t chicken out when the heads start flyin’,” Eyeball said through a rumbling chuckle. “Come!”
Dak and the others followed as Eyeball ran forward, his stocky legs pumping as he jumped over ropes and buckets to charge toward the upper deck where the Amancio brothers were trying to break into the captain’s quarters. Salvador wielded an axe, and one-third of the door was already shredded into splinters. A light rain had begun to fall from the dark sky, causing the lanterns that hung from masts and rafters to sputter and hiss. Dak could tell that the ship was bouncing more, too, and that the moon and stars had completely disappeared above them. The ship was heading straight into a storm.
The captain’s cabin was on a raised deck that had a short flight of stairs on each side. At the bottom of each of them stood guards loyal to the Amancios, fighting off anyone and everyone who tried to gain access to the platform. Raul had just fired his musket at someone and was busily reloading, shoving a long metal rod down the barrel.
“No matter what happens,” Eyeball said as they approached, “at least the world will know that those turncoat Amancios did in fact mutiny. Even if they win over this blasted ship, they’ve lost in the long run. Their heads’ll be on pikes if they ever dare go back to Spain.”
It hit Dak that they’d already made a difference by being there. They’d revealed the plot, and that alone could change how history evolved in the coming decades. But they couldn’t leave anything to chance — they had to make sure the SQ didn’t reach the New World. They had to.
The four of them rounded a large mast, and the platform of the captain’s quarters loomed above them. Dak looked up to see that Raul had finished his preparation of the musket and was now aiming it directly at Eyeball.
“Watch out!” Dak shouted as he leapt to his left and knocked the man onto the deck, just as the short jolt of the gun’s explosion ripped through the air. Dak heard the iron ball smash into the wood of the mast behind them.
“You’ll all die for this!” Raul yelled. “All of you!”
Dak checked that Sera and Riq had found cover. He scampered to his feet and helped Eyeball get up as well.
“Thanks, lad,” the man said. His lone eye gleamed with rage. “I’ll fight to the death for you. Let’s get those no-good brothers.”
Dak nodded, a fire burning inside him — a courage he’d never felt before in his life. “One each, right?”
“Aye. One each. You go left, I’ll go right.”
Dak wasted no more time talking about it. He turned and ran for the steps on the left side. A couple of Riffraff had ganged up on the guards at the bottom, swords ringing as they struck one another, the sailors slowly losing their ground. Sera and Riq joined Dak, and they slipped past the fight and bounded up the stairs.
Salvador was just pulling his axe back for another blow on the door when it suddenly burst open, shreds of wood flying everywhere, and Christopher Columbus came charging out with a sword. Eyeball was on the far side, by the other steps, trying to fight his way through a pair of guards. Raul had been preparing his musket for firing again but gave up, tossing it over the railing and pulling a knife from his belt. Dak went for him, screaming as he charged, raising his scimitar even though he had no real idea how to use the thing.
Raul stabbed at him when he approached but Dak swung his weapon downward, smacking the blade. It flew out of the man’s grip and clanged against the hard wood of the deck. Dak felt a rush of pride, but Raul immediately came in with his other hand, squeezed into a fist, and punched Dak in the cheek. Pain exploded through his head, completely stunning him. Lights flashed before his eyes. He dropped his weapon and started falling, but someone caught him, pulled him back onto his feet.
It was Sera. He knew it even though he couldn’t see her. Her arms were hooked under his, supporting him until he got his wits back. Riq had tackled Raul in the meantime, but the man pushed him off as Dak looked on. Riq smacked against the railing and let out a small cry. Dak put his weight back on his feet and Sera let go, stepping forward to stand beside him. Together they took in what was going on all around them.
To their left, Christopher Columbus was battling with Salvador, the steel of his blade clanging against the man’s axe. Ahead of them, Eyeball had just clobbered a guard and was now charging forward to help the captain. To the right, below the deck on which they stood, Ricardo and his two friends were fighting a couple of guards, and they even seemed to be winning. Battles raged everywhere, and the Riffraff army was helping the sailors turn the tide against those loyal to the Amancios.
We just might win, Dak thought.
Lightning suddenly lit up the sky, its thunder booming almost immediately. The clouds opened up and rain fell in torrents. The ship rocked as if a big wave had just crashed into its side. Dak bumped into Sera and they both stumbled across the deck until they slammed into the wall of the cabin. Dak was able to right himself but Sera fell to the floor, right at the feet of Columbus, who appeared to be gaining the upper hand against Salvador — thanks to Eyeball, who’d attacked from the other side.
Dak was just about to reach down and help Sera when he heard a man shouting at the top of his lungs — the scream of a madman. Dak looked up to see Raul charging at him, his eyes filled with insane rage. Before he could react, the man tackled him, wrapping his arms around Dak’s torso and throwing him to the ground. They hit the stairs and tumbled down, rolling over each other until they hit the bottom. Dak felt like every inch of his body had just been punched at once and his head spun with dizziness.