Antonia took one horrified step back from the railing, her grey-eyed gaze darting frantically to Thomas. Nicolette's gambit had worked, and the helmsman's wits were freed from the sirens' song. The rogue could feel the [i]Skate[/i] reeling beneath her feet, turning hard and fast from the doomed, burned out corpse of the [i]Feather.[/i] 

But their enemies were legion, and the sirens were swarming to the ship [i]far[/i] too swiftly. Even now, hooked talons ripped into the hull of the ship as the sirens hauled themselves from the sea, gaping maws snapping open and closed, rows of teeth glistening wickedly beneath cold black eyes. They would be overrun, and devoured to the very last man. And woman. 

[i]And child... [/i]

Antonia groaned softly in the back of her throat, her teeth bared as if she were still in pain. Only the desperation of the dying could have called forward that one insane flash of something like a hope, a mad prayer, however dim and impossible... 

[i]"Je t'aime,[/i] Thomas," the rogue said softly, tearing her sight from the approaching horde of abominations to a sight she adored, to those bright copper eyes she loved so dearly. "Keep them off me. Do [i]not[/i] let them interrupt, no matter what comes from the depths."

Antonia did not wait for his response - there was simply no time. The rogue sprinted several steps from the railing, falling to her knees as she reached into her boot for the sheath she kept there. The razor edge of a stiletto flashed in her hand, its blade biting deep into the palm of the other. Antonia chanted softly as she swayed to a music only she could hear - far, far away from the screeching cacophony of sirens; a vibrant percussion in perfect time with the beat of her racing heart, slowing as she slipped further from the [i]Skate[/i] in her mind's eye to a distant night shore. Ancient whispers fell from her full lips, sacraments taught to men at the dawn of time, an ocean away, by the powers who both loved and reviled their creations. 

The rogue's eyes were open, though sightless, staring straight ahead into nothing at all as her blade worked in blood and wood, carving an ancient sigil right there on the planks of the [i]Skate's[/i] aftcastle. Impossibly straight lines worked into a V-shape, serpentine symbols snaking about its form, glistening and moving as if they yet had a life of their own.

Which, in a very true sense, they [i]did.[/i]

The loa of lightning and wind. Sogba and Bade... Even in her mind's eye, Antonia's mortal sight could barely perceive the faintest idea of their true forms, the jagged blinding burning edges of Sogba, the perpetual swirling vortex of Bade - and yet they heard her, small, near insignificant thing that she was willing to shed her own blood for an audience. 

Antonia bowed her head, respectfully. [i]'Brother Sogba, Brother Bade, I come to you in the most dire of times, with the greatest need. My son, my love and my dear friends - we are all going to perish, unless you call Agau and send us far from this place.'[/i]

[b][i]'We know you, little sister. And indeed you will perish, one day. All of you. Dat is de way of mortal men, to live and walk de world but for a time.'[/i][/b] replied Sogba, his voice searing a path through her thoughts.

[i]'I do not argue, Brother Sogba. This is true. But it is [b]not[/b] their time. Not yet.'[/i]

[b][i]'And now you tink to know de future, little sister?'[/i][/b] The laughing voice of Bade whispered over the thoughts torched by Sogba, a cool and soothing succor.

[i]'It will be their future, if you wish it. If you will call Brother Agau, call the Storm. I have given my blood to speak with you now. Only name it, what I can give you to save their lives. Even my own life, if you ask it.'[/i]

[b][i]'You tink to call us, to make a bargain little sister?'[/i][/b] Sogba's laughter was an inferno that rocked Antonia's body backward where she knelt, flattening her form to the ship's planks.

[i]'I will throw myself over now, if you wish it. I will slit my throat with my own blade. Only say the words.'[/i]

Only silence greeted her oath, a silence that reigned several interminable moments, a thick and heavy stillness like a living thing that wanted to crush her beneath its gargantuan weight, and squeeze all hint of breath from her lungs. Even Antonia's iron will came close to breaking beneath its heft, her head falling back, unseeing eyes staring at the stars above as her mouth fell slack.

As if a long-forgotten puppet just found by a curious child, her entire body snapped back up instantly, still kneeling on the [i]Skate's[/i] aftcastle when the response of the loa at last lifted that horrible weight.

[b][i]'Dis is no small ting you ask, little sister. We know where you go, de direction your ship takes. Black waters dere, deep and terrible. Dere might come a time dey curse your name, saving dem from death now, to deliver dem to what waits. But what comes, will come. De lives of dese men and dat woman, and your bebe - dat will cost you dear,'[/i][/b] came Sogbo's words, staccato and sharp as a blade.

[i]'I expect nothing less. Take what you will.'[/i]

[b][i]'You will pay den, little sister?'[/i][/b] Bade's voice surrounded her, lifted her and moved through her, and Antonia could have wept for the promised grace she heard in its whispers.

[i]'I will. To the last.'[/i]

[b][i]'Yes, you will little sister. One day, we collect your payment - but dat day is not yet come. Make ready den. Agau approaches... '[/i][/b] The voices of both loa twined serpent-like in her mind's eye as a third voice approached from the horizon, swift and terrible in its unspeakable beauty.

The skies overhead opened up with a roar of primeval fury. Great forks of lightning struck all about the [i]Skate[/i], unleashed from the black roiling clouds that consumed stars and moon alike, licking at the sirens still in the sea, incinerating them in a blinding flash of steam and light. Great living gusts filled her sails, tempest-tossed waves and wind lifting the [i]Skate[/i] away from the decimated [i]Crimson Feather[/i] as blinding sheets of rain descended on the heads of all. Antonia slumped to the deck, her eyes rolled back into her head, mouth open and slack as the stiletto slipped from her hand to the waiting planks.