Over the next several weeks, Desdinova's prediction came true. The pirate captain, through verbal trickery, convinced several of the crew to turn against Desdinova on the grounds that they should not bow down to a woman.
Another fierce battle ensued, but this time Desdinova was taken prisoner. As Imaginos went to fight to save her, she put up her hand.
"Another time will come,"she said. "I don't want to see my crew continuing to fight among themselves. These men will see the truth soon enough."
Reluctantly, Imaginos nodded and gathered those who remained faithful to Desdinova as they watched the pirate captain take her aboard one of the tenders and rowed away with another tender following with a complement of his new crew.
"Where are you taking me?" Desdinova asked as her ship vanished over the horizon.
The pirate captain slapped her. "You'll keep silent unless asked to speak." he warned her. "As for where you're going, we're taking you to my ship. She may be a far few leagues away, but I know where she is heading. And you'll soon be my wife. Then, once you're with child, we can start planning the sacrifice."
"Sacrifice," Desdinova asked. "You're going to sacrifice me when I am pregnant?"
"Not you, foolish wench," the captain said, coldly. "Your child. When the time comes, you will deliver the baby directly into the Sea."
"You're mad!" Desdinova exclaimed. "You would sacrifice your own heir?!"
"The captain laughed. "Oh, my dear Desdinova," he said, "my heir awaits me safely on the shores of a distant land. With my true wife, I might add. No, I have no qualms against delivering your offspring into the watery depths. Especially if it means that the Sea will grant me her powers!"
Unarmed and powerless for the moment, Desdinova bit back her tears as she thought of her future and the future, or lack thereof, of the doomed child that she hadn't even conceived yet.
"I won't give my baby to the Sea," she vowed, earning another slap.
"When the time comes, woman," the pirate captain told her, "you won't have a choice."
On the Plutonia, Imaginos turned to face the crew who remained.
"Our guest has escaped his confinement and taken our beloved captain," he said. "We will get her back. Unfortunately, they have our fellow crewmen, and Desdinova did not wish us to fight them."
"So, what do we do?" a crewman asked.
Another spoke up, "We can't just leave them!"
"No," Imaginos shook his head. "We cannot and we will not. But, I believe that Desdinova wanted them to witness the truth about their new captain for themselves. She believes that actions speak louder than words and that once they see his cruelty firsthand, they will willingly come back to our side."
"I just hope that the act of cruelty doesn't lead to her death," a third crewman said.
"As do I," Imaginos agreed.