Deudermont did glance his way, and noted that his expression was pained.
"Do you believe you should have been here, protecting Delly and the child?" the captain said bluntly. He looked up as Wulfgar looked down upon him, not scowling, but not looking very happy, either.
"You apparently believe so," the barbarian quipped.
"Why do you say that?" the captain asked. "Because I hinted that perhaps you should not take the next voyage out of Water-deep with Sea Sprite1? What would be the point? You joined with us to hunt Sheila Kree, and we'll not find her in the south, where surely we will go."
"Even now?" Wulfgar asked, seeming a bit surprised. "After Kree launched this attack against your own house? After your two friends lay cold in the ground, murdered by her assassins?"
"We can not sail to the north with the winter winds beginning to blow," Deudermont replied. "And thus, our course is south, where we will find many pirates the equal to Sheila Kree in their murders and mayhem. But do not think that I will forget this attack upon my house," the captain added with a dangerous grimace. "When the warm spring winds blow, Sea Sprite will return and sail right into the Sea of Moving Ice, if necessary, to find Kree and pay her her due."
Deudermont paused and stared at Wulfgar, holding the look until the barbarian reciprocated with a stare of his own. "Unless our dark elf friend beats us to the target, of course," the captain remarked.
Again Wulfgar winced, and looked back out to sea.
"The attack was nearly a month ago," Deudermont went on. "Drizzt is likely far north of Luskan by now, already on the hunt."
Wulfgar nodded, but didn't even blink at the proclamation, and the captain could see that the huge man was truly torn.
"I suspect the drow and Catti-brie would welcome the companionship of their old friend for this battle," he dared to say.
"Would you so curse Drizzt as to wish that upon him?" Wulfgar asked in all seriousness. He turned an icy glare upon Deudermont as he spoke the damning words, a look that showed a combination of sarcasm, anger, and just a bit of resignation.
Deudermont matched that stare for just a few short moments, taking a measure of the man. Then he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "As you wish. But I must tell you, Wulfgar of Icewind Dale, self pity does not become you."
With that, the captain turned and walked out of the room, leaving Wulfgar alone with some very unsettling thoughts.
* * * * * * * * * *
"The captain said we can stay as long as we wish," Wulfgar explained to Delly that same night. "Through the winter and spring. I'll find some work - I am no stranger to a blacksmith's shop - and perhaps we can find our own home next year."
"In Waterdeep?" the woman asked, seeming quite concerned.
"Perhaps. Or Luskan, or anywhere else you believe would be best for Colson to grow strong."
"Icewind Dale?" the woman asked without hesitation, and Wulfgar's shoulders sagged.
"It is a difficult land, full of hardship," Wulfgar answered, trying to remain matter-of-fact.
"Full o' strong men," Delly added. "Full of heroes."
Wulfgar's expression showed clearly that he was through playing this game. "Full of cutthroats and thieves," he said sternly. "Full of thieves running from the honest lands, and no place for a girl to grow to a woman."
"I know of one girl who grew quite strong and true up there," the indomitable Delly Curtie pressed.
Wulfgar glanced all around, seeming angry and tense, and Delly knew that she had put him into a box here. Given his increasingly surly expression, she had to wonder if that was a good thing, and was about to suggest that they stay in Waterdeep for the foreseeable future just to let him out of the trap.
But then Wulfgar admitted the truth, bluntly. "I will not return to Icewind Dale. That is who I was, not who I am, and I have no desire to ever see the place again. Let the tribes of my people find their way without me."
"Let yer friends find their way without ye, even when they're trying to find their way to help ye?"
Wulfgar stared at her for a long moment, grinding his teeth at her accusatory words. He turned and pulled off his shirt, as if the matter was settled, but Delly Curtie could not be put in her place so easily.
"And ye speak of honest work," she said after him,