Shanghaied

Artorias had expected hostility from the captive pirate. Any wolf who had come to give him necessities had reported the wolf had responded by attempting to pee on them. At first it had been humorous to Art, the harmless act of defiance. But as it continued on to the third day, Artorias began to worry about the prisoner's condition. If he wasn't eating or drinking, it wouldn't be long before the wolf died of dehydration, and that wouldn't do any good for either of them. He had expected the vitriol in the retort, he had expected the haughty demand, and he'd expected the total shutdown that came from the pirate when he attempted diplomacy. If anything, it upset Art to see him in such a state. Clearly he hadn't been banking on any of this—just another show of Sparrow's careless blasé attitude toward her own pack's lives. No doubt the pirate was beginning to struggle with the realization that after three going on four days, nobody was coming back for him. How sad, Artorias thought, to learn that everything you believed in was a lie.

Despite the pirate making it clear as day that he didn't wish to speak, Artorias didn't move from his spot across the bars from his uninvited guest. He watched the pirate for a moment longer with something akin to pity in his heart, caught in a moral dilemma of what to do next. Rising to his paws, Artorias left the penitentiary for a few minutes, returning again with a piece of venison jerky and a skin of mead in his grasp. He set the meat into an empty metal dish, then popped the stopper from the skin and filled another dish with the semisweet liquid. He slid both beneath the small opening beneath the bars for the pirate, then sat with his back against the far wall as he took a deep swallow from the remaining mead. This would likely not be a fun conversation for either of them, but it was one that had to happen. How it went would determine how the wolves proceeded.

"You don't need me to tell you that no one's coming back for you." Artorias let the words hang heavy in the air between them for a beat. "My scouts watched your 'pack' leave after the attack, heading back to Boreas after a little campout in the ridge lands. Sparrow never stopped to discuss your release or negotiate terms. She left you behind." Artorias swirled the drink in the skin with his paw, listening to it slosh about while he waited to see if the pirate would give any sort of response or acknowledgement. The least he hoped for was that maybe the mead would tempt him to drink something so he didn't die. "I can't just let you go. I'm sorry, but that's not happening. You and your pack attacked my home, a place of shelter and healing, after we welcomed your leader in. Be pissed at me all you want, but Sparrow ignited the spark that blew up in your face. Then she led you into a doomed raid, then turned tail and left you." Artorias rolled his shoulders in a shrug and took another swig from the skin of mead. "Sounds like she really cares about you lot..."

Artorias drank the last of the mead in one long draw, setting the now empty skin aside while he watched the pirate. "You and your pack attacked a sanctuary pack, a place open to all who need help. That's what you did. You attacked a hospital. Did Sparrow tell you that before she led you down here? That we help save lives? That we're a place wolves came to for healing during the Long Night? That we kept everyone who came to our doors alive when the sickness spread?" His money was on Sparrow not telling her own followers anything, but he could be wrong. The pirate didn't strike him as the malevolent type though, given how he didn't look like he wanted to be at the raid in the first place. "My pack wants me to hold you accountable for the raid, to bring justice to you for your pack's actions. I'm not going to do that, because I don't believe you even wanted to be a part of this mess. I think you got caught up in it all following Sparrow blindly. Am I getting warmer?" Gold-flecked amber eyes shifted from the wolf down to the food and drink he'd pushed through the bars. "Will you please at least drink something? I'd rather you keep trying to piss on my wolves if it means you're drinking."

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Argent"