“Insolent little thing…” Icelus taunted with a sigh, tightening the chains around her neck, “Hands down. Now.”

The command was strict and didn’t allow for rebuttal on her part in the least. This was mainly due to the flowers that shot up from the ground, sprouting thorns as they wrapped themselves around her wrists, tugging them cruelly to the ground and leaving no way for her to relieve the tension on the chain.

He clenched his fists around the ends of the chains and they began to heat up, growing warm, soon melting into a strange gel around her neck. It solidified just as quickly, the length of chain forming a solid collar around her throat, smooth polished silver.

I could hear his words, chills running down my spine as the truth of the situation sank in. I was a prisoner in my own dream. Nightmare, I quickly corrected myself. I gasped in pain when I felt the sharp thorns tear into my skin, for I could do little else while being chained. I was then forced onto all fours like a dog, my hands laying reluctantly flat on the ground.

I felt a moment of solace when the press of the chains disappeared before they suddenly solidified around my slender throat once more, forming a demeanoring collar. I tried to move, but the bindings were far too strong. Defiance raged and roared within my soul, but I could not physically do anything.

Icelus let out a laugh, holding a tight grip on the chain that connected to her collar, the metal bands resting comfortably within his fist. He began to walk, strolling through the rainstorm as he tugged her forward, her pale, bare flesh suddenly stricken with shivering cold, her body now subject to the elements of this horrific nightmare.

“Awwww, the little one thinks she has a say in the matter…” he laughed as he walked her along, more like a favored pet than a person, “How adorable, next she’ll be trying to walk on two legs and express a valid opinion…” he taunted.

“Worry not, little girl…” he breathed, tightening his grip on her chain, “We’ll break you of these filthy habits soon enough…”

A grimace flashed across my face as I was pulled about, my knees dragging through the dirt and a terrible cold biting into my sensitive flesh. I heard his spiteful words, they were like poison and I knew that as soon as I let the concepts slip into my mind, it would be nearly impossible to get them out again. I closed my eyes and stood my ground, refusing to give in to his descriptions. "I am not yours to control!" I growled and pushed myself onto my legs, lifting my hands up from the ground. I sat on my haunches, preparing to sit up straight.

Icelus quickly twisted his arm, snapping the chain in another loop around his fist and bringing it down to the ground in a sharp snap, dragging her back down to her knees in a rough jerk the second she tried to ascend to her feet. He still moved forward at a brisk pace, ascending the next hillside that brought them in view of a wide, sweeping shoreline, the ocean stretching to the next horizon.

He began down the hill, the girl in tow, paying no heed to her complaints and scandalized proclamations. His destination was obvious, a little ways out there appeared to be a very small row boat bobbing up and down in the surf next to a rotted, ancient dock, only tethered to the shore with the most rudimentary system of ropes.

I felt the air escape my lunges as I was slammed into the ground, my hands not coming in front of me quickly enough. For now I would obey the man, but the first chance I got, I would escape, or so I promised myself at the time. I began to 'walk' alongside him more willingly, mumbling to myself about how even pre-world war women weren't treated like this.

I looked up when I felt the salty air of the ocean wash across my nose. I could see the roiling waves and then caught the jerky movements of a boat tied to the shore. I could feel the man tugging the chain connected to my collar towards the boat.

Icelus lead her by the chained leash to the small rocking boat, making his way into the bottom of the rickety craft. It calmed as soon as his foot hit the soaked, mossy boards of the wooden floor, immediately steadying into an unyielding firmness, as though it was resting on solid concrete instead of the rolling waves.

Ever the gentleman, he held open a creaking, rust-streaked door on a small cage in the back of the boat for her to enter, sighing as she tumbled inward. He closed the cage door with a flourish, latching it with a heavy padlock.

A pair of sea-green beasts pulled themselves from the surf, fishlike with bulbous lantern-like eyes. They settled into the boat, casting it off and beginning to row as Icelus took a seat between them.

In my mind I was actually screaming of resistance, but somehow his will overcame mine and I sat down in the cage like some obedient little pet. I scowled at this and looked to the water, refusing to lift my gaze. I didn't notice the green creatures before us, nor how they were transporting us. My eyes remained fixated on the water's barred image.

(Sorry for the short post, it's a tad late)

The two fish-men rowed with an unwavering cadence, their oars cutting through the water as they propelled the light but ancient boat forward. Their muscles worked beneath their scaled flesh, lantern-like eyes gleaming with some foreign and terrifying intelligence from the deep. The rowing carried them out past the breakwater, moving toward something dark on the horizon in the distance.

As they approached it was easy to see that what initially appeared to be a smudge on the edge of the horizon was actually a skeletal looking ship, the sails tattered and barely hanging on their masts. It creaked as it rocked back and forth on the water, the wood looking waterlogged and ancient as though the whole thing were culled from the bottom of the sea.

With one more great stroke of their scaled arms, the small rowboat bumped up against the sheer side of the ship, an old stepladder unrolling over the side and falling down before them.

I closed my eyes and shook my head, unwilling to accept that this was happening. It seemed that the very logic that bound the physical world had been shed and replaced in this one. I had no idea what my purpose was nor what my destination was to be. Looking up through the cage bars, I saw an enormous flag-ship, the like which a dread pirate would have captained. Fear ran down my spine. What was this... man... thing... going to do with me? I saw the step latter fall and dreaded to see how I'd be pulled aboard. I pulled into myself, huddling into a small ball so as to keep myself warm over the cool, misty sea.