Chapter 4.5 - Filou

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If the poor girl knew whose ship she had landed on, she would probably bite, scratch, and lash out to escape his grip and captivity. In the end, it wouldn't change anything - she had the misfortune and good fortune to have fallen into the hands of all people. However, anyone who expected the pirate to now gloat with pity would be disappointed.
Even if Filou might have more sense of morality or justice than some of the others under Hook's command, he was still a pirate. He plundered, murdered, and had done many terrible things. A woman whose screams would eventually fade away was no more than another black line on the great list of his deeds that would eventually be reckoned with. And for all he had done, Filou did not doubt that he would not enter the Great Hunting Grounds. If he was honest, he didn't even want to anymore. Everyone had to pay for their vice. And at some point, he would have to too.


An aboriginal on water, on a ship, was already unusual enough. Through the waters, no matter what kind, they could not pass on to the Eternal Hunting Grounds if they died there. Most Indians, therefore, avoided the waters, preferring to fight inland. It was torture when Hook chained the proud and stubborn warriors to the rocks in Skull Rock to let them drown there. One or two tongues had managed to wag at the prospect of being denied entry into the afterlife after all.


He, however, was not afraid of the sea, nor of meeting his end here. Filou had listened to too many Lost Boys from the other world beyond the mists to continue to dwell confined in the belief in the Old Spirits alone and not know that there was more than just those entities that could hold a protective hand over their children. Had his old instinct not left him after all?
Was there still a touch of the Indian left in him, even though he had not followed the ways of the Old Spirits of this world for so long?


In the end, it probably didn't matter. He was now who he was and he had chosen this path himself. Even if it wasn't always easy... On days like these, for example, when he dragged a young woman below deck. Past the gawking, slavering men who laughed, grabbed her butt, and only stepped out of the way at his cutting glances, sensing that he did not have the patience for moderation now. Sometimes the wild dogs still allowed themselves to yelp defiantly and bare their teeth now and then. Then he had to flick the cheeky beasts on the noses and painfully remind them of their place. Perhaps the mood on the ship was still so heated because of what had happened before. The girl could only hope that Hook would not be in a miserable mood when he led her to him.
In view of the incident, however, he had to suspect that this hope was in vain. Sometimes the lost were unsuccessful in stealing on board. Then the only loss was a hat or sometimes a coat, now and then the honor of one of the men, whom they found hanging in the rigging at the end. On such days it really was almost like the gamesmanship of old, where they would step on each other's toes, grinning, but not jam a blade into each other's guts. Annoyances but no reason for... revenge or such anger as one felt over the fallen comrades who had been killed for fun. This time, however, the raid of the lost was borne of fruit: they had stolen wine and rum from the precious stock, and food, and there were casualties in the ranks. If he had brought the woman to Hook now... then Filou would not have needed a ball of seeing crystal to predict what would happen to her.


As heartless as he might be at times, nefarious and worthy of his title he had not earned by swinging eggs, he would not throw her in front of the snout of an irritable, hungry lion. Her chances of pleasing Hook, and thereby perhaps not being handed over to the crew, could be increased if he made her a bit of a mess. The captain was a choosy man who did not fall too easily to base urges like the others and would pounce on anything that could spread his legs. He picked those women from the seaside town meticulously - and even then Filou could hardly remember the last time. On the other hand... this woman was a beauty.

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