Charlisse froze and glanced around Kent's cabin. The hair on her arms bristled. Kent smirked and tossed his baldric onto a table. Terrifying images emerged from Charlisse's memoryall-too-familiar pictures of Kent tossing the same baldric aside, wearing the same sneer on his lips. Only the surroundings differed. Now, she stood in the center of a plush captain's cabin. Before, he had dragged her down into the dank hold of the Redemption.
Taking a step back, she gazed over the room, searching for a pistol, a knife, a caneanything with which she could defend herself. A stained-glass window peered out upon an onyx sea. In front of it stood an imposing mahogany desk covered with charts, books, quill pens, and a sextant, all organized in methodical fashion. Three velvet-covered chairs cornered a
