[RainbowSky]

The figurehead
Nia’s POV

They leave me alone for the night. When I wake up, my uniform is neatly on my bed with a note that says not to put it on. The note also tells me I have a job to do, but for now I must stay in my room. I am anxious and intrigued to know what it is.

A sailor comes and gets me. He does not say anything as he brings me outside onto the deck at the front of the ship. The Captain is waiting there with two other sailors. They are holding a lot of rope and a ballgag.

I can see the harbour in the distance. I guess we are probably an hour away. The Captain smiles. I feel nervous as I follow the sailor outside to where the Captain is waiting. I stand to attention and salute, but I can't take my eyes off the ballgag in the captain's hand.

"Good morning Fucktoy. How was your night?" The captain asks.

"Good morning Sir," I respond. I shrug non-commitally. "It was alright thank you."

"Good. I was reading my favourite book about old ships. And I noticed that they have something our modern ships don’t. A figurehead. Do you know what that is Fucktoy?" I nod once. I learnt about the Vikings in year 5 at school - they had ferocious dragons as figureheads to scare off enemies. "Good Good. And our old ships had things like statues of mermaids and such. And I want my ship to have one as well. Then I thought hey, why not use the new item we got aboard? Our very own Fucktoy to greet the harbour?"

I swallow hard, understanding where this is going. I glance sideways at the water. It looks cold and there is a nasty, bitter wind in the air.

He points at the sailors with the rope. "These two will tie you up, and let you down at the front of the ship. We will hang you above the water, all tied up and naked for the world to see. You will get hit by a lot of cold water, but that's not my problem," The Captain has a look on his face that makes me wonder if he is completely sane.

"I could drown though Sir," I manage to say out loud eventually after his words sink in.

"Don’t fight it Fucktoy. You know what would happen if you do. Go and let yourself be tied up and made into our figurehead," He points at the sailors again.

I'm frozen in shock to the spot, certain the Captain can't be serious. This is a crazy idea. He points and I look at the rope in their hands. Even the sailors themselves look a bit anxious about this whole thing. I'm still too stunned to move willingly but my body relaxes out of attention, a sign I've given into the crazy demand even if I can't force myself forwards.

The Captain steps forwards and whispers, "I will count to 10. If you are not eagerly presenting yourself to be tied up by then, I will personally make sure that you will spend the rest of your life in misery below the decks. You will never see the sun again.” Out loud he begins counting. “10,…, 9,…”

I hold my hands out in front of me willingly.

"Good. Very Good,” he says.

The sailors rush forward and use the rope to tightly bind me together. I can’t move an inch and they carry me to the front of the ship. Using more rope, the hoist me over the side and begin to lower me so my back is touching the stern of the ship. I struggle against the ropes, trying to keep my head up and away from the water splashing on the boat, but it is impossible. The ballgag means my cries and screams of protest are lost. They then tie me to the front of the boat for everyone to see.

The ship begins to pick up speed. I close my eyes as the water splashes up into them, stinging them with salt water. I swallow some of the water through the ball gag and try to cough loudly, getting more water up my nose by doing so. I can't see a thing. I have no idea how many eyes are on me. All I can hear is the wind and the water, my eyes burning from the salt, my throat sore and having difficulty to breath.

I am left there, hanging in the cold for about an hour. As we approach the land, through my stingy eyes I can see figures walking around and am very conscious that everything is on display for all to see. The ship comes to a stop, the boat still rocking, the water still splashing up me. The wind has calmed a little and I can the people at the port commenting on the figurehead, me, crudely.

I hang there for a long while and only after the ship is secure inside the harbour and some sailors have already gone on land, do some of the sailors pull me up again. I feel myself being pulled up and am dumped unceremoniously on the deck. They untie me and hand me a towel. I blink at them and see some of them shifting uncomfortably, looking bad for me. I get into the uniform and follow them onto deck. With my hair dripping water onto the already see-through sailors top I am wearing I head over to the Captain to report for duty.

The Captain welcomes me into his office. He looks me up and down. I’m not sure what he is looking for. "I didn’t think you would make it through that,” he said simply.

Internally I scowl at that sentence, "so he was trying to kill me," I think. Externally, I just smile sweetly and nod.

"You know, Nia. It is a lot more fun to break you than I thought it would be. I have good news. We will stay in this harbour for two days. The Sailors are allowed to treat it as a holiday, and I have nothing to do. So we will have some fun for those two days. Let's see if we can't have some fun together. For now, go and rest. You will need your strength back for tomorrow," he tells me viciously.

My heart sinks at those words. 2 days. A holiday for the sailors, a Captain with nothing to do. What 'fun' did he have in mind?

I nod and turn to leave the office, heading back to my room to sleep.