(soft music, no audible sounds or dialogue)
(soft music continues)
- Look at your dead.
Slaves.
You are nothing more than slaves.
Owned by a company that would turn boys into dead men in pursuit of profits.
Slaves to a crown.
A crown that spits on you,
as you wallow in your own filth.
They don't even see you as humans.
A crown that forces you to cross unforgiving seas to fight free people.
We are the Black Wolf Company.
We are your outlaws.
You call us the merciless savages,
filthy half-breeds, natives of this land.
We fight with the dregs, the despised!
We are the killer of Redcoats.
You think us devil to the Crown, and we are.
We are because we are free.
This.
This is your worth.
You are prostitutes for fur.
This is our land, and you whores don't belong here.
So leave, go home,
and live a life decided by your masters.
Or...
or...
...you turn coat and fight with us.
Earn your way as free men with the Black Wolf Company.
Lord Benton left Fort James by ship with the redheaded woman.
Where did they go?
- They were pressing north.
They... pressed north to collect the rest of the provisions they need.
- Did he bring the woman ashore?
- No, just... just a few sailors.
Sir.
- Now, the only outpost I know further north is-- - Moose Fort!
You're having a laugh. That's a shithole. And it's cold as fuck.
- Well...
if you dogs want to have a hope of making a life for yourselves,
you're going to abandon those coats and follow this man.
He's gonna continue what I started with the Black Wolf Company.
I need you to take control of Fort James.
- How am I supposed to do that? Chesterfield's gonna be on the hunt for me.
- Chesterfield won't be bothering anyone ever again.
- Where is he?
- Last time I saw him, he was standing too close to the edge of a cliff.
Take Fort James.
Avoid the bay. Head further west.
But first you need to solve things with Sokanon.
- She won't listen to me, Harp.
I don't know if I can fix it. - You need to find a way, Michael.
- And what about you?
- Oh, we go north, to the ice.
- No, I mean is this about Grace, or is this about Benton?
- He will not take Grace from me.
- And if it costs you your life?
- I'm already dead.
This is my resurrection.
(theme music)
- I'd eat if I was you, or Benton'll force it down your throat.
- I suppose I'll need my strength if I'm to kill such a formidable man.
I'm kidding.
You don't need to fear me.
I'm just a helpless woman.
(scoffing)
You know how helpless women are, right?
'Course you do.
Why else would you be compelled to dress as a man?
Sorry. Is that a secret?
- Sit.
I am sure you all know why I have gathered you here.
All of this land, from every waterway
that contributes to Hudson's Bay,
is the exclusive property of the HBC.
Those who carry on their business on this land
in defiance of the Hudson's Bay Company are not our competition.
They are our sworn enemies.
Since the abrupt and unauthorized departure of Lord Benton,
it appears Fort James has been wrapped in a personal rivalry
with a former company employee named Declan Harp.
In recent seasons, the leadership of our men at Fort James
has deteriorated to such an extent
that we appear to have all but lost control.
The most recent report speaks of a successful raid on the fort itself,
which has deprived our company of an entire season's stock of furs.
Gentlemen...
...it is not the French who will bring about
the downfall of this great company.
It is our own indiscipline.
Our men sit in their cozy forts, getting fat and drunk,
waiting for the Natives to come to them in the bay,
while the French and Scots are free to roam the interior,
cutting us off at will.
We must move inland.
We must persuade their trading partners to do business with us.
I have sent a man to instill this much-needed discipline.
His name is Major Vinnicombe.
A name the heathens will soon learn to dread.
It is our duty to ensure
that our complete dominance of the dominion lasts forever.
(speaking Cree)
(soft exclamation)
(cracking branch)
(exclaiming) - Hey, easy.
It's only me.
- Why have you come here, Michael?
- I'm here to make amends.
- It's too late for that.
- Wahush's death was an accident, Sokanon.
- Wahush died so you could make money.
I want you to leave.
- Sokanon, I came here because I'm worried it's becoming unsafe.
We need to stick together! You'd understand if you saw what I saw.
- What did you see?
- I was fighting alongside Harp and I saw Redcoats attack a Métis settlement.
They were killing everyone, men and women.
- Do you think I do not understand what that looks like, Michael?
- We arrived too late to stop the Redcoats
from burning the settlement to the ground, but...
That's why I want you to come with us. We're safe together.
- There are young girls being held against their will at Moose Fort.
- Sokanon, you can't go to Moose Fort.
Harp is on his way there and he's looking for a fight.
If there are any women there, they'll be gone by the time you arrive.
Harp wants to secure a deal with the Lake Walkers here.
- Of course. This is about business.
- I want the Black Wolf Company to... (rustling)
(background chatter)
- We're searching for a fugitive named Michael Smyth.
Has he been here? - No. I have not seen him.
- Trading with the French, are ya?
- Mr. Rivard is my guest.
There's no crime in welcoming a traveller.
- My men and I are free men of Quebec.
- Well, you're not in Quebec, are ya? You're on HBC land.
(in French): This is nonsense. You brutish asshole!
- Take the trade goods and furs.
Consider this a warning of what's to come if I find out you've seen Michael Smyth here.
And if I see you with this French scum again, then you will suffer.
(exclamations)
(in French): There will be no violence.
- Just give me an excuse,
and I'll set this whole camp ablaze.
- This is what you bring.
- Good afternoon.
- You obviously don't know who I am.
- Oh, I know who you think you are, Mr. Grant.
The question is, do you know who I am?
- A cocker spaniel? - Hmm. Hmm.
Cobbs Pond, I presume?
Are you still wanted in your home country
for burning down churches in New England, priests and all?
- Well, we were all young once.
- Indeed.
Most people cower when they see me arrive.
- Hmm... Shiver me timbers. - Yes.
- I don't give a goddamn who you are.
What do you want?
- There are rumours about you, Mr. Grant.
- His Highness, the King, wouldn't send a major to peddle in rumours.
Why are you really here?
- Brandy.
- Cobbs, would you kindly get the major a brandy?
- Business has been good, it seems.
There is great interest in London
in the nature of your dealings as of late.
Specifically, with whom you have been dealing.
- LeBlanc, leave us.
- And him?
(door closing)
Thank you so much.
Mm. Lovely
- I shot a mountain lion near the Cumberland Gap when I was a child.
I skinned it and sold its hide for two dollars,
and since that day,
I have traded more hides than any man alive,
and I've done business with hundreds, maybe thousands.
So you might need to be a little more specific.
- The law is very clear that the land that encompasses all the tributary rivers
flowing into the Hudson Bay is the dominion of the HBC.
And a man like yourself, Mr. Grant,
who buys furs from voyageurs, is in direct violation of that law.
- Yes, well, we are in Montreal;
not in his Highness's jurisdiction, but under French law.
- L'acte de Quebec does not supersede the grant
of Rupert's Land in 1670 to the Hudson Bay Company.
At this very moment, my men have descended
upon your dock-front warehouse to seize its contents.
You obtained those furs illegally, Mr. Grant.
It is my duty to enforce the king's law.
- What is your price, Major?
- I'm aware that Mr. Pond accompanied a group of voyageurs
to a location known as Petrie's Rock
to purchase stolen HBC furs from a man known as Michael Smyth.
See, it seems you paid your voyageurs well enough for their labour,
but not for their silence.
- Even if that were true... those furs are long gone.
- Oh, I don't want the furs.
I want Michael Smyth.
(Michael): I'm saying that we can cut the HBC out entirely.
- Those are dangerous words.
- You can trade with the buyers in Montreal
through Rivard and others like him.
- You don't represent the buyers in Montreal.
- But the Montrealers, they know a good deal when they see one.
- The Montreal companies will climb over their dead for a beaver token.
- When the Black Wolf Company robbed Fort James,
we proved that the HBC could be beaten.
We can get enough fur to start our own independent fort,
to trade fairly with you and your people.
(Rivard): What he's saying is true.
- If I could go to Montreal with a guarantee of Lake Walker pelts--
- No, the HBC will stamp us out before they let us band together.
- The power of the HBC is the very issue.
- That's why we have to band together.
- If you can bring a supply of trustworthy buyers from Montreal,
and a predictable supply of trade goods,
then I'll consider your arrangement.
But only then.
- Thank you.
(Grant): No, the simplest solution
is to find Michael Smyth and turn him in.
- Might prove to be challenging. - Not with Clenna's help.
- She's gonna need to be steered into that.
Clenna's not gonna betray Michael on purpose.
- What makes you so sure?
- He stepped in and saved her so gallantly at Petrie Rock.
- Is she more loyal to him than us? (Pond sighing)
- Let's not test that if we don't have to.
- If she's not loyal to us, what the hell is she doing here?
- All I'm saying... is that there are other people
we can make alliances with beside the HBC.
Samuel, are you alright? You don't seem yourself.
Hmm?
- I feel like I'm going mad.
I wouldn't consider myself a religious person, but...
...I feel like someone's puppet. Who's pulling my strings, Pond?
- No one is pulling your strings.
You just feel a little bit guilty.
You have to forgive yourself for Elizabeth.
- I don't... feel guilty for what happened to Elizabeth.
She brought that trouble on herself.
- Of course she did.
Dance with me. Please, come.
Let's just forget all of this.
One, two, three. One, two, three.
Two, two, three.
Perhaps you and Clenna can go visit Mr. Brown,
see if he's ready to discuss business.
- I do not need you to manage me!!
- Look lively, Chaulk. - Yes, sir.
Right, we'll be going to shore now.
- Where's he taking me?
- I dunno. Get supplies, I expect.
- When will we leave?
- I don't know, do I?
- You've taken on many traits of a man in order to survive.
- How did you know?
- Let me ask you something.
What are his Lordship's plans with me?
- I dunno.
I think it's got something to do with that, uh, Declan Harp?
- What do you know about Harp?
- All I know is, he's an animal.
- First time I met him, he had just delivered ten boats
of trade goods in exchange for furs.
I had a bit of fire at the livery the night before,
and the food stores had been destroyed.
So Harp and his men go out on a hunt.
And they came back with eight quarters of moose.
They ate and drank all night at the alehouse, but when they were done,
they left enough meat so the people of Fort James
had food until the next supply boat came.
When I asked him why he did that, he said,
"Because everyone gets hungry."
- Is that how you two came to be together, then?
- He had a wife back then. - What? What, you...
you fell for a married man? Well, how'd you get rid of her?
- That was Benton.
He killed her.
Killed his son, too.
That changed Declan.
Declan was once loyal to Benton, like you are.
But you can never be loyal enough.
You will always be in danger of betraying him.
And when you do... he will go where it hurts the most.
Why do you think he's helping you?
Don't you think it'll have a cost?
(bell clanging) - Chaulk!
Get to your station!
- Remind me, Charlie. Why are we doing this exactly?
Chasing this bastard Benton. It's a waste of time.
He'll be long gone.
- Well, Harp's not gonna let Benton harm Miss Emberly.
- Yeah, but we're all going to perish, Charlie.
Oh. Could freeze the bones off a brass monkey where we're going.
- Did you ever search for something that...
you're afraid you might find?
A man's hopes are a dangerous thing, McTaggart.
- Really?
But Benton's probably chopped her up into wee bits a long time ago.
She'll be the meat ingredient in a good soup-
(grunting) - Harp, he didn't mean it!
(McTaggart screaming) He didn't mean it, Harp!
The man's just at the end of his rope, is all! (grunting)
- You bite your tongue or I'll bite it off. (McTaggart choking)
(exclaiming)
(coughing)
You turn back. (panting)
This is my fight, not yours.
- Have a word with yourself, Harp.
Of course I'm coming with ya.
What else am I gonna do?
Options are a bit limited now.
- Wadlow?! - Benton.
Is that you?
(boisterous laughter) - How are you, my boy?!
(laughing)
- To what do I owe this... pleasure?
- I presume you've heard that Declan Harp and myself
have had some... disagreements of late.
- I heard you couldn't break that thick neck of his. - In time.
But in the meantime,
I need a secure area to hide my prisoner.
- Be my guest.
- You see, Chaulk... loyalty is power.
- Mr. Brown.
Every day on your knees, mourning your wife.
You're an excellent widower, Douglas.
I mean that sincerely.
- How dare you come here?
I know what you did to Elizabeth.
I may not be able to prove it. That doesn't change the truth.
- I'm not here to lament water under the bridge.
I'm here to offer you a business proposition.
- You killed my wife.
And usurped our business deal with the Black Wolf Company.
And you now have the delusion, somehow, that I'd do business with you?
- Yes, well, the tides are changing in Montreal.
I was visited by a man named Major Vinnicombe,
who casts the long shadow of the Crown. And if--
- I'd sooner drink my own piss than partner with scum like you!
- Shh!
- Sorry. (Douglas panting)
Hear me out, please.
I know that Carruthers & Company suffered the same setbacks we did from this crackdown.
Probably worse.
The only way we move forward in this business
is if we pool our resources. Us against them.
You understand that. - I still see her,
lying there in the dirt...
...whenever I close my eyes.
Her skull's caved in,
flies buzzing about.
- I respect the fact that you need to mourn.
But don't underestimate me.
This is our opportunity for a fresh start, Douglas.
- Do not underestimate me, Samuel Grant.
It'd do you well to remember there's nothing more dangerous
than a man who's had everything taken from him.
- Ahem.
(Grant): Brown is a damned fool whose feeble morality will be his demise!
- He's still grieving. He just needs some time. - There is no time, Cobbs!
I'm going to lose everything I've built, and it's thanks to you.
- Me? - Yes.
- What did I do? - Because of you,
Major Vinnicombe has linked Michael Smyth to me.
- Samuel, that's not entirely true. - Watch yourself, Cobbs!
- I'm sorry. I was trying to help.
- I'm beginning to wonder where your loyalties lie.
- I'm not the one who snatched that deal
from Elizabeth Carruthers's dead hands. - Clenna, that's not helping.
I think I may have misheard you.
- I believe I have demonstrated how loyal I am to you and Mr. Pond.
Have you forgotten who cleaned up Elizabeth's brains?
Still, you men never ask my opinion about your business dealings,
so I'm not going to take your blame.
- Oh, you have an opinion, now do you?!
- It was the voyageurs that betrayed us to the major, not Clenna.
- Douglas Brown...
is not a businessman.
He... he wants to be, he tries to be, but he is a failure.
- And when did you discover this amazing secret?
- He is vulnerable. He fell for a ruthless woman,
and more importantly, she fell for him.
- Cobbs, do you understand any of this woman-speak?
- The only way to get to him is his heart.
Stop trying to break Mr. Brown and... and let me handle it.
- It is impossible to impress me.
But you almost did.
- Let me demonstrate my loyalty.
I will appeal to Mr. Brown's softer side.
And he will join you.
- Oh, I'm sure you'll have him eating out of your palm.
- Very well.
(wind raging)
- Harp!!!
Harp!!!
I got ya.
I got ya. Hold on now.
- Stand him up. (grunting)
- Wrap this around him.
Get some heat to his bones.
- I can't feel my hands! - Let me see.
Let me see your hands! - Ah!!
- Sorry. - Fuck!
- Ah, damn it, no. (groaning)
(breathing heavily)
(muttering indistinctly)
Sonofa... (McTaggart moaning)
Ah...
Charlie, we gotta keep going.
- Push on. - Come on, come on!
(moaning)
- He's a cruel and dangerous person, Chaulk.
You're not safe with him.
He has taken me simply because I love a man he hates.
And he will kill me for that.
I don't think that'll sit well on your conscience.
Look, I don't know you.
But I know you must have dreams of a life.
For yourself.
For a family maybe?
There's no life with Benton.
You're no better than his slave.
- Do you know the way to Fort James?
- Why would we go there?
- Because that's where your husband is.
We're gonna need protection.
- The only thing I need from that man is an annulment.
We'll find a safe spot, not far from here... and we'll wait.
- Wait?
For what?
- For Declan Harp.
- You leaving in the morning?
- Not quite sure when I'll be leaving.
I'm waiting for something.
- What?
- A Black Wolf.
- There's someone here to see you.
Clenna Dolan is insisting she speak with you.
- Alright. Ahem. Send her in.
- Mr. Brown.
- Ms. Dolan.
What can I do to help you?
- I wanted to return something.
Mrs. Carruthers gave me this hat some time ago, when I worked for her.
- Ha.
She... had an eye for style, no mistake.
- After what happened, I-I felt it wasn't right to keep it.
I thought you should have it.
- I thank you.
- Hmm. How are things at the factory?
- Oh... aside from the fact that there's no furs to process,
or wages to pay anyone - I'd say it's going quite well, thank you.
- Well, I owe your wife a great deal. I hope you know that.
I was on my way back to London...
I ran out of money for passage.
I was utterly lost until she picked me up and took me in.
- Only to see you fly into the arms of Samuel Grant.
- It's quite complicated.
I'd think you'd understand that more than most.
Sorry to have bothered you.
- Ms. Dolan.
My wife never believed in half measures about anything.
So if she gave this to you, she wanted you to keep it and...
And so do I.
(sighing)
- It's my fault Vanstone stole your trade goods, Rivard.
He came to the Lake Walkers looking for me.
- Well, if you take a bite at them, they will bite back.
Take a chunk of flesh from everybody like...
sharks with wool coats!
This is the way it is, Michael.
The Natives and my people do all the work,
and the... the English take the benefit.
- Well, I plan to make it up to you. Somehow.
- What can one man do, eh?
Against such a force.
- No one man can beat the HBC.
Not one-on-one.
- Good evening.
No. No, please, we mean no harm.
Already had enough muskets waved in our faces for one day.
Oh, God bless ya.
- Evening.
- Hello.
- Were you guys hit too?
- Those bastards keep knocking us back.
Took everything we got!
Name's O'Reilly.
And my wife, Kahwihta.
- Madame.
- Mercer. A few men from the outfit.
- A few?
- I got a few dozen more at camp.
- And I'm Michael Smyth.
This is my outfit.
- I can do the work of a couple-dozen men.
- Perhaps I should task you with kicking some English arse,
get me fucking furs back!
- Ah, nothing would give me more pleasure.
- The Company's been making it harder on everyone to trade, starving people out.
Before long, it won't be worth working on the lines anymore.
- We should use their own techniques against them.
Starve the HBC out. Choke out their trade...
...break their arrangements with their partners.
- Fine theory.
- We need to form an alliance.
With every independent company from here to the northwest.
Us...
...Rivard, and his access to the voyageurs.
O'Reilly...
How many men did you say you had?
(shouting in the distance)
- Wadlow!!
(groaning)
(soft music)
(bird call echoing)
(gushing)
(grunting)
- Charlie?!
Charlie!
Get McTaggart.
We've gotta keep moving.
Head out.
- Harp! Dare I ask,
when we get to Moose Fort, what's our plan?
'Cause you know that place will be rammed with Redcoats!
- The man makes a good point.
- Harp!
- What? - We're gonna need an army.
- Fine. Let's go get an army. army.