Maybe he should have a guilty conscience. He dragged this woman like a wounded deer in the middle of a pack of hungry wolves. Most likely, Hook himself would claim the right to her. But if she was unlucky, he was in no mood for that today and would simply leave her to his men like a bitch.No one knew how to judge Hook - not even him. James Hook's moods were like the sea itself: Some days almost merciful or calm-tempered. But even then one should never forget the danger beneath the waves.
After all, 'Still, waters are deep and dark' was not said for anything. Now and then Hook would pick up one of the Red Carpet women from the seaside town. When Dagger recommended one of the ladies to him or when he simply felt like having female company again. No one knew what the captain did with the women and no one dared to ask. Filou knew that the captain sometimes dined with them, the table was always richly set (especially for what they owned) and then the door to the captain's cabin closed to prying eyes and ears. At some point, it would open in the late night or early morning hours and Filou would see to it that the woman was properly compensated and brought safely back to the seaside town. Sometimes they would stay, then descend the creaking steps to the lower level to the crew quarters and earn a little extra.
But when Hook wasn't in the mood to hang out with such company, he had nothing more than an icy stare to spare for the whores. The captain might still somehow be an English gentleman too, perhaps that was a fragment of his soul he would never quite shed. But women had no mercy to expect from him either. Even the sirens' song left him cold. It was claimed that no woman, mortal or endowed with magic, could enchant him - because Hook no longer possessed a heart. Many a fishwife had met her end at the captain's flashing and merciless blade. Sometimes they chased the beasts when they appeared too often in the bay. Then it was often the captain himself who severed their pretty heads from their shoulders or impaled their hearts because none of the cowardly superstitious pirate crew dared to get close to the beasts.
With 'human women', however, it was all very different. The pirates enjoyed subduing the few helpless women and taking what they wanted. Hook allowed them to do it because it was a good way to get prisoners to talk. He rarely if ever intervened. He probably wouldn't care if the men pounced on them at the same time, if some of them were patient enough to wait and have a few minutes alone with a woman. But these did not need to be forced at all. If they only saw a woman, they often behaved like animals who wanted to jump on her immediately. Filou examined the woman's delicate face. Soft cheeks, a straight nose, and his eyes lingered on her lips. She was beautiful. The captain would be a fool to pass up this opportunity... but all those thoughts were forgotten when he became aware of the sight of the deck. Filou's expression froze and the sight felt as if Hook had pressed his hook directly into his stomach, there to twist it slowly in his guts with relish. He quickly let himself be told in terse words what had happened.
Damn it...! Boiling rage seethed inside him. Although every life was now worth much more, Pan continued to play his selfish, stupid games! Meanwhile, not so many ships strayed onto Neverland's shores. The supply of men was limited, to say the least, and they did everything they could to keep the horndogs on this ship from dying. Even though boys were turning their backs on Pan more often now, because they realized the price of these games.... too many did NOT. Every life was lost! This was no game, these were comrades the boys were plunging their cursed knives down their throats with a crow!
Filou's countenance darkened by a veil woven of loss and the frustration that despite it all, some just staggered on in the island's cycle. The crew was no different in many ways. They drank and became careless as ever. And THAT - that unwillingness to change - drove him mad! Hook was right in what he often said: they were just a bunch of unreliable and dependent, slimy water cucumbers!
YOU ARE READING
A Neverland Tale - HOOKED (eng)
Fantasy** Only one thing can still prevent Neverland's downfall: In the dark times when a star's light perishes, a new one must be found! ** Neverland - a world in which simply everything was possible as long as you could dream it. But behind a shining lig...
