Page 124 of The Secret of Drulea Cottage

“She knew too much already,” Costa grumbled before turning away from Santiago, effectively ending their conversation.

Briony? He thinks she told Cardoso where we were going? And maybe even what Costa is capable of…Santiago watched the captain race up to the wheel.What’s he doing?

“Sousa! Tell the men below deck to start loading the cannons! Fernandes, make sure all the cannons up here are ready to fire at my command!”

“What? There’s no way we can win against that monster! It’s almost twice our size!” Rodriguez exclaimed, panic lacing his words.

But the other sailors were already following orders, hurrying to man the cannons regardless of their odds of winning.

Santiago was at the captain’s side almost instantaneously. “Costa! Stop this madness!”

But Costa just smirked. “Madness? You’ve made far too many unwise decisions to get to judge mine. That little snitch surely told Cardoso who shot her and, more importantly, why. That forces my hand.”

“But this is suicide! You’re going to send us to our graves.”

“You don’t think I’d start a battle I have no chance of winning, do you? I checked their cannons when I came to rescue you. Guess what I discovered?”

Santiago huffed and shrugged, flabbergasted that they were having this conversation now when they were all about to die. “That they have more than we do?”

“Aye, they have six more than our seventy-four, but theirs are over fifteen years old.”

“How do you know that? And why does it matter?”

“Don’t you know anything? They’re still using linstock instead of gunlocks. They can’t even aim at us when they shoot or they’ll be hit by their own recoil.[35]We have the advantage if we attack first. Now, if you’re not going to help man the cannons, I suggest you get off the deck and stay with Lucia while I deal with this. Fernandes!”

“Aye, Capitão!” Fernandes turned to the captain from his place on deck.

“Tell the men to fire!”

“Nay! Don’t, Fernandes!” Santiago shouted, jumping in front of the captain.

The sailor stared at the two men in confusion; never before had Mr. Mendes told someone to disregard the captain’s orders.

And Costa wasn’t happy about it either. He threw out his hand and pushed Santiago to the side, making the other man stumble a few steps.

“No one gives orders on this ship except me.No one.” Costa’s face was red with anger, his body poised for an attack.

And for a split second, Santiago was about to give him the fight he wanted. Until another idea came to him.

“Have it your way, Costa. Just don’t take us all down with you in your arrogance,” Santiago snarled, brushing off his shoulder where the man’s hand had touched him.

Santiago felt the sting of his former friend’s gaze as he marched toward the captain’s quarters, but he refused to look back.Better to look like I’m caught up with wounded pride so that Costa doesn’t realize my true intentions.

Because what he intended to do was going to make the captain’s day a whole lot worse.

Song of the Selkie

A quick nod to Rodriguez directed the young sailor to discreetly follow behind as Santiago made his way out of the captain’s sight. After explaining his plans, his partner in crime didn’t exactly call Santiago mad, but the look of incredulity on the man’s face was not very encouraging. Even so, Rodriguez agreed to go along with everything Santiago said despite the very high likelihood of them both getting killed.

Perhaps this isn’t the best idea… What if—

But then they heard cannon fire, and Santiago knew they could wait no longer. The two of them burst into the captain’s quarters, making Lucia jump from her seat in fright. As soon as she realized who it was, though, she rushed to her brother’s side and clutched his arm in a death grip.

“What’s going on out there?” she asked, seeming to have forgotten she was angry with him.

“Cardoso found us. I have to get you out of here. Rodriguez will take you to one of the rowboats, and I’ll lower you down so you can get away from the fighting. Go north and use theSão Nicolauas a shield to block the other ship’s view. We can’t be very far from Norway at this point, so there’s a good chance a passing ship will see you.” Santiago grabbed one of the pistols on the captain’s desk as he spoke, tucking it into the back of his pants.

“A passing ship? But what about you? And Andreas? Are you saying you won’t come get us?”