Opening her eyes and staring into the dark at the corner of the tent, she at last understood why Choplicker hadn't granted her wish to protect her and Leib all those years ago. Not even a devil can save you from yourself.

"Will you tell me something?" Domingo asked her, sounding just as tired and heartbroken as she was. When she shrugged her heavy shoulders in response, he said, "Out there on the field... what happened? What did I unleash, letting those Chainites perform their ritual?"

"That?" Zosia looked over at Domingo and saw her grief and guilt reflected back on his wracked features. At least it wouldn't be lonely in hell. "Oh, not much. Just the end of the world."

"Oh," said Domingo, as though he'd rather expected that but still wasn't happy to hear it. "Well, where does an unrepentant old sinner go from here, then?"

"Where do you think?" said Cold Zosia, because there was only one direction left, and only one way to get there. "We go down swinging."

EPILOGUE.

The sloop cut through the fog, no one aboard making a sound lest the Immaculate turtle ships be right on top of them in the pale miasma. You had to be just as ruthless as a pirate to sign on as a customs officer, and twice as greedy, so it wasn't surprising the two turtles hadn't given up the chase even when it became apparent where the smugglers were fleeing to. What did surprise the captain of the vessel renamed the Queen Thief was that the Immaculates had followed them into the eternal fogbank that hovered over the sea where the Sunken Kingdom had vanished so many hundreds of years past. Usually Immaculate ships were too skittish to get anywhere near the perpetual storms of the Haunted Sea... but then again, most smugglers were too smart to risk it, too.

Whether there was actually a continent-swallowing whirlpool at the heart of the rain and fog, as the old salts claimed, made little difference, since a scant mile into the mists the seas grew so high and rough that even a much larger ship than the Queen Thief could be tipped in short order. The captain knew, because she had fled here once before under similar circumstances, and been followed in similar fashion, only to give their pursuers the slip once things got choppy. As if to warn her against future trespass, the fog had lifted just enough for them to see the customs ship capsized by a massive wave, the screams of her crew drowned out by the turbulent sea and the crack of furious lightning. Yet the captain wasn't the superstitious type, and so she'd tried the same trick twice... only to find the Immaculates hot on her heels, and the Haunted Sea calmer than a stoned sloth underneath all the mist.

"Cap'n Bang," the lookout hissed down from the crow's nest. "Got a glimpse through the glass when that breeze blew through, and they're coming in on either side. No hope of turning in time."

"Hells," said Bang, chewing on her pipe. "Can you get a look north?"

"North?" Dong-won, her boatswain, turned the color of the fog. "Cap'n, I know it looks calm now, but..."

"Sew buttons on your butt, Bosun," said Bang with more bravado than she felt. "You give me a clear sea and I'll sail it, no questions asked. It clear up there, Hae-il?"

The lookout said nothing, but his hawkglass fell from the mist-obscured crow's nest. Bang neatly caught it out of the air and tucked it into her belt. Trying not to look as impressed with herself as she felt, she hissed, "Hae-il. Hae-il!"

When the lookout didn't reply, Bang nodded up at the crow's nest. Dong-won took a step back, raising his palms, but with another hard nod at the mast, Bang cajoled him into climbing. She slapped his rump as he went up, just so he'd remember who was boss the next time an order was given.

"He's fainted dead away, Cap'n," Dong-won called down a moment later.

"Well, there's a welcome omen," muttered Bang. "What do your hungry gull eyes see, Bosun?"

"See, Cap'n? Not much. It's clouded up again. Here, I'll see if I can wake him up," said Dong-won.

"Double time, Bosun, double time," said Bang, and took another long draw on the pipe she'd stolen from Cobalt Zosia herself. Well, given the toll of years and all, she ought to be called Silver Zosia these days, but credit where deserved-the cutty smoked better than any pipe Bang had ever set her lips to. "Bosun?"

"Oh shit," Dong-won moaned. "Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit."

"Another welcome omen," said Bang, trying to bluff herself through the sardine scales rising on her neck. "What's the song, Bosun? Sea monster? Whirlpool? What?"

"Uhhhhhh," said Dong-won, followed by what sounded suspiciously like a prayer to the Sea God. Bang didn't like prayers on her boat; it was asking for trouble from whatever gods you left out. Knowing two in the crow's nest was already tight, she shoved her way past her nervous crew, down to the front of the boat. Snapping out the hawkglass, she peered over the prow in imitation of the crane figurehead just below her.

Thick as the fog had been a moment before, as soon as she put her eye to the hawkglass Bang was blinded by sunlight reflecting on wet rock or metal. Stowing the instrument and rubbing her eye in irritation, she looked back up to see what blasted spit of rock was threatening her ship now... and nearly lost her grip on the prow. Her jaw dropped wide as a customs officer's pocket. Zosia's pipe fell from her teeth, but treasured though the cutty was, Bang didn't even notice.

The Queen Thief broke through the last few curtains of fog, and instead of a storm or maelstrom at the heart of the Haunted Sea, there was an entire coastline. They'd come perilously close to the sea cliffs that rose a thousand feet into the air, the island steaming in the bright sunshine and light breeze. Impressive as all this was, what smacked Bang square in the gob were all the enormous caves yawning in the cliffs, caves from which swarmed enormous, many-legged creatures the likes of which she'd never conceived, even in harpyfish dreams. The monsters dove down into the calm sea, one close enough to splash sense back into the captain.

"Tack!" Bang yowled, running back across her ship, slapping any of her stunned crew in striking range. "Tack, you poltroons, tack tack tack! Get us out of here!"

Already, though, Bang could hear the scratch-scratch-scratching of something at the hull... After all these centuries, the Sunken Kingdom of Jex Toth had returned, and she hadn't come back alone. Off the starboard bow, Zosia's bobbing pipe was knocked under by a violent splash, and sank into the busy darkness.

end.