I grabbed Weevil's arm and made him look at me. "Then we're here to save him, and everyone else. We still have to fight."
He nodded and said, "This can't fail, Ani. If it does, the governor will come for our families, and then more River People."
"I know." She was already looking for my father, and Della's father, though I suspected their fates would be much worse than a trip to the Colony.
With the ship already moving toward the water, the Dulanian sailors climbed rope ladders to take them onto the deck and from there shouted orders to their crew and to us. While Weevil pulled, Jonas and I went into the shadow of the ship, out of sight of the sailors. There, he hoisted me onto his shoulders, allowing me access to a porthole near the front of the ship. I had to pry it open with my knife, but once it was open, I slipped inside the ship's hull. Maybe they should've fed me better in the Colony. I might've gotten stuck if they had. Once I landed, I listened a moment to be sure that none of the other captives would betray what I'd done, and that no sailors were down here with me. But everything was quiet, and the ship continued forward. So far, so good.
Weevil climbed in next, though he needed my help to squeeze him through. Jonas was too big to fit through a porthole, as were most of the other captives. The rest of this plan was up to us.
"My father," Weevil whispered. "Do you think he recognized me?"
"Of course he did." I paused a moment to smile at him. "Couldn't you tell how glad he was to see you? He'll be even more proud once this is over. Now come on!"
Our plan at this point was a little vague. But in the short time it had taken Weevil to crawl in here, I'd had an idea. A pretty good idea, I thought, even if it was wildly insane. As far as I was concerned, those two always went together. When I whispered it to Weevil, he agreed with the wildly insane part.
"Whether it's a good idea or not," he said as a grin spread across his face, "there's only one way to find out!"
The hull of the ship had four cannons mounted into it, which in itself was surprising since Dulan was not at war with us and since Keldan had no similar ship to defend our country. Maybe that was the point. If they decided to attack, we would be defenseless.
It took some effort to maneuver the cannons. Neither Weevil nor I had ever handled cannons before, though my father had once explained them to me. I understood the basics. Turn the wheel at the back of the cannon until the angle is correct. Load the cannon with gunpowder. (I appreciated Dulan for having supplied us with a fine load of gunpowder in a barrel right next to the cannons. They were thoughtful people indeed.) Put a cannon ball in next, and use a long stick to pack the two close together. Finally, when ready to fire, light the fuse. It would carry the spark down inside the cannon, light the gunpowder, and explode the cannon ball out of the muzzle.
"Are you sure about this?" Weevil asked. "It seems far too dangerous."
"It is far too dangerous," I agreed. "And yes, I'm sure. We've got no more time to spare. The ship is almost to the water."
I waited until the sailors above called out that the front of the boat had reached water and that everyone should now move to the back of the ship to finish pushing it in.
Then I grabbed my knife and climbed the ladder up onto the deck of the ship.
Bartek noticed me right away. "How did you get up here, grub?" He saw the knife next. "You're in big trouble now."
"You're in bigger trouble," I countered. "You have no idea what weapons I have aimed at all of you, right this moment."
"What weapons?" Bartek asked. "That little knife? It won't save you from us."
He advanced on me, and I backed closer to the ladder. "I'm talking about the cannons below. Did you know they can be angled almost straight up? I admit that made them more difficult to load, but we managed that too."
Bartek swallowed hard. "We?"
"Everyone down below who is waiting for my orders to light those cannons. They will blow you back to Dulan with a fire on your backside."
Granted, when I said everyone, I meant Weevil. And when I said the cannons would blow them back to Dulan, the reality was much worse than a fire on their backsides. These sailors knew it too.
Bartek's eyes narrowed as he said, "There's no one below. Everyone else is too big to have gotten in."
"The wardens already told you about me, about what I did to the Colony in only a few days. That was an entire Colony, a former prison. Think of how much simpler it is to take over one small ship."
"If the cannons blow us up, you'll go with them."
I didn't move. "I've spent the last several days expecting to die or be killed at any moment. So I've made peace with whatever the cannons might do to me. Have you?"
His eyes narrowed. "What are your terms?"
"Simple. Abandon ship." I nodded to the bow of the boat. "The water might provide you with a softer landing, but you can jump onto rocks for all I care. Once everyone is down, the captive crew members and the Colonists will come on board."
"When Dulan hears of this, they'll come to war against Keldan."
"You're wrong," I said. "When Keldan hears of this, they'll come to war against you! The River People have been awoken now. Either Dulan will admit their wrongs and return our people, or you will have to fight us." I winked at him. "I'm not even the cleverest of the River People. Imagine what happens to Dulan when you meet the really smart ones."