Chapter VI

A New Plan

The fog had well and truly set in now, Codsworth thought as he stood watch outside of a cave entrance, waiting for Dmitri, Charlie and Barca to return from the impromptu operation in the mountainside. BRUCE walks out to join him.

“Any sign?” Bruce asked, he had become increasing nervous about the captain, as he had heard rumours as to what happened to the people who were bitten by those beasts, and none of them were ever good. He takes out a pair of binoculars and scans the passes but could see no-one.

“Nothing.” Codsworth said, similar to Bruce, the commander was getting worried, not only for Dmitri, Charlie and Barca. But also, for the rest of them who had travelled ahead to make what little camp they could in this barren wilderness.

“We can't wait much longer commander.” Bruce said, as if he had just read Codsworth’s thoughts, he too could feel the cold that was rapidly setting in the air, and he didn’t feel good about it. Coming from the much warmer climates in Bartazer made the cold much more apparent for him, and for that reason he was wearing the most amount of winter clothing.

“I know.” Codsworth said, they had been up here much longer than he had planned for, and thus they were dangerously close to the cut-off point when winter would fully set in and they would freeze to death. As he spoke Bruce had returned to scanning the pass, which was when he pointed out something.

“Wait, ten o'clock.” Bruce said pointing towards the pass they had just walked down, at first Codsworth thought it was another wolf attack and raised his gun in anticipation, but what was coming was far worse.

Three figures could be seen in the fog. Dmitri limping in between and being supported by Charlie and Barca. It is then that Codsworth notices that Dmitri's lower part of his right leg is gone.

“Gods.” Codsworth said as the trio hobbled forward towards them. “What?” the commander finished as they came closure and reached the cave entrance, Dmitri smiled weakly, although he still looked very pale. Both Charlie and Barca were sweating from having carried Dmitri all this way, which had been about a mile, Codsworth had judged when he finally made camp in this cave.

“I had to cut it off.” Charlie said almost apologetically to the commander. At which point Vernon came out of the cave entrance to see what the commotion was, not that he would have been much use in a wolf attack he thought bitterly to himself.

“What happened?” Vernon asked, whilst the leg had looked bad when he had first seen it. It didn’t seem to have warranted an amputation, especially up at this altitude with limited supplies.

“It was all going fine until his leg started turning black.” Charlie said, and it had, they had successfully cleaned the wound and were preparing to try and fix up the skin, when it had hardened and became black. “To say it had been creepy would have been an understatement.” Charlie said and Barca nodded before adding his two bits to the conversation.

“My guess, some kind of poison in the beast teeth.” Barca said, he had never seen the leg rot like that before, even on the dead. But that was the closest thing he could think of, the way Dmitri’s leg had gone black so rapidly had been sickening to watch, in fact he had been sick, throwing up over the cliff face and into the rocky ground below. At that moment Jack comes outside to see what the deal was, having heard the sounds of Codsworth talking to someone who he had not been able to make out, he then stops after seeing what was left of Dmitri’s leg or rather what wasn’t left. Jack pauses for a moment.

“So, is this some kind of Jones family tradition, loosing body parts.” Jack said smiling, remembering how Dmitri had told him that after his own accident. Dmitri looks at him also remembering the remark, then smiles.

“I guess it is, lad. I guess it is.” Dmitri said trailing off, he guessed he deserved the remark, after all, he had been the one to make it just under two years earlier. He then returns to the business at hand and turns back to Codsworth “We're going to need a new plan.” Dmitri said, the old plan of moving from town to town when the weather allowed was now, no longer feasible. The commander nodded his agreement to this fact.

“Everyone inside.” Codsworth ordered and they re-entered the cave to discuss what to do next.

As Codsworth and the others re-enter the cave, they find the rest of the group sitting round the fire, trying to keep warm, as all could now start to feel the temperature beginning to drop below freezing.

“We're going to need a new plan. As we will no longer be able to simple move from town to town during the warmer days in winter now.” Codsworth said. that had been an ambitious plan even when they were all whole, but now that Dmitri was missing a leg, it became an impossibility, if it hadn’t been before.

“We can't turn back can we.” Nick said, looking at the commander, the thought of having to travel back through the mountain pass was enough to terrify him, as they had barely made it this far without being attack. The commander shook his head at this notion.

“No, there is a town at the end of this pass. With any luck we can stop there and weather the winter before continuing in the spring.” Codsworth said, he had seen it on the map before they had left Brutus’ home, it didn’t look big by any stretch of the imagination, but that wasn’t a problem now. They just needed someplace to stay the winter.

“Do you think it will be safe?” Vernon said, thinking about what Brutus had told them about the north-men, about how they were intolerant of outsiders. They had counted on moving north unseen by not staying in one place too long. But if the plan had changed that was certainly going to have to change, the thought of the locals be dammed. Which was almost certainly a recipe for disaster.

“No. We're still too far south for my liking, but it's the best option we've got right now.” Codsworth said, he was thinking about its geographically location and hadn’t even considered how the locals would react to so many southerners arriving in their little world. But they would cross that bridge when they got to it. “Now I suggest you get some sleep; we should be safe here tonight.” Codsworth continued before heading back towards the cave entrance, stopping just short of the threshold in order to keep as warm as possible whilst also standing guard. As the group head back to their beds, Charlie walks up to him. “How long does he have?” Codsworth asked, that was the most important thing now. He needed to know whether or not Dmitri could be counted on, and for how long he could be as well.

“Dmitri. At most a year. I was able to remove most of the venom when I took his leg. But not enough of it.” Charlie said hollowly, it had been a close-run thing, but she was confident in giving that judgment, as most of the venom hadn’t managed to get into his body before she took of his leg.

“Is there a cure?” Codsworth asked, but he had a horrible feeling that he already knew the answer, and Charlie confirmed it as she shook her head.

“No, there's no known antidote. The best we can do, is to give him a mercy killing when the time comes.” Charlie replied, it was weird, Dmitri had always been the toughest of them and now he was probably going to be the first to fall.

“Does Dmitri know. That he's now on limited time?” Codsworth asked, he didn’t know what was worse, knowing how long you had to live, or not. It was not something he would ever want to have to grapple with in his life.

“I haven't told him, but he'll know what getting bitten by one of those wolves means. He should be fine for a few weeks, but after that he'll start to become more and more weak.” Charlie said, if she was correct in her diagnosis, and the odds are they would have to wait until they got to the mountain to confirm it. But people who contracted Lupusvenenum Morsibus, the disease that those wolves obviously carried, it meant nothing more than a slow and very painful death, even if most of the poison had been removed from the body. Codsworth shakes his head, this was not good news, and he was uncertain now as to what to do.

“This couldn't have gone worse.” Codsworth said as he looked back out into the snowfall outside that was rapidly becoming a blizzard.

“I know. But...” Charlie started trying to think of some positive. “Nope I've got nothing.” She finished and returned into the semi-warmth of the cave.

The following morning, Codsworth stands outside the entrance to the cave, looking out at the mountain range ahead as Barca, Charlie, Jack, Dave and Vernon head out to join the commander, the blizzard of the previous night had stopped, although the cold remained, biting at them as they stepped out of the warmth of the cave.

“We should be less than a day away from the town.” Codsworth said, he had been looking at the map he had bought, it didn’t give great directions of the range that they were on, but he had managed to find their current location after about two hours and discovered that they were further along than he had first thought.

“Good, we've been up here for far too long.” Charlie said, that was the honest truth of the matter, whilst the blizzard had subsided it was almost certain to return with a vengeance this evening, and she wasn’t sure if they would be able to last another night in it.

“Aye, it's definitely starting to get colder.” Codsworth said as Jack walks forward looking at the sky and squints his eye at a large black cloud in the distance. Vernon had noticed the black object in the east and looks as well.

“What is that?” Jack asked, he had seen rain clouds before, but none had been that dark, even right before a storm. Barca looks up and shakes his head.

“Nothing it's just a cloud.” Barca said batting away the question that the teenager had just asked.

“It's moving fast.” Dave said, raising his hand up before realising. “Against the wind.” Dave finishes. This certainly gained Codsworth’s attention who turns his own gaze towards the sky as a collection of large black shapes continue moving rapidly towards them.

"Adar from Estruania!” Codsworth shouted as the large bat like birds begin to dive towards their location.

“Hide!” Vernon shouted at an equal volume as he and the rest of the group back inside the cave, just in time as a swarm of black birds fly past the cave entrance, circle round for a minute before flying of back east. Codsworth leaves the cave and looks towards the retreating birds.

“Spies of the enemy. The Mountains are now obviously being watched. We can't linger here any longer.” Codsworth said and ordered the group pack up and move out. Ordering that they would not stop until they were off the mountain pass. This was met by a few groans from Martin but that was the worst reaction. It was fair to say that none of them wanted to return here again.

The group continue to walk through the pass until they see something amazing. A vast open landscape stretching far to the north, east and west. As the group exit the mountain pass, albeit one leg short of what they had started with, they reach a rocky outcrop where they stop and gaze out over the kingdom of Normanguard. A sea of small hills litters the landscape in every direction until the horizon where a small mountain can be seen rising towards the clouds.

“Is that it?” Martin asked as he gazed at the small rise on the horizon, even though they were still many miles away from getting there, it was still an impressive sight to see for the first time.

“Yes. That's Normanguard. But we won't be there until the spring at least.” Vernon said also looking towards the lonely rise on the horizon, before he and the rest of the group looked downwards where a small collection of building could be seen set against a small lake being fed from the same mountain the group are on.

“How much longer?” Dmitri said, he was still worried about the crows returning, but also the fact that he was starting to feel very sick from standing up for so long.

“It depends on how long it takes to make the decent. My guess we'll be there by tomorrow morning.” Dave said, looking at the winding track that led down the mountain slopes, as well as judging how long and how often they would have to stop for people to rest and sleep.

“Well then, no time like the present. Let's get down there.” Codsworth as he and the group leave the outcrop, as they do Charlie turns around to see Vernon still standing on the outcrop, looking into the distance with a tear in his eye.

“Vernon?” Charlie asked, wondering what was wrong with the old butler.

“I. I never thought I'd see it. The mountain I mean.” Vernon said looking into the distance, as Charlie walks over to stand by the old butler who continues on. “I didn't think any of us would make it out of the manor. During the attack.” He finished sighing deeply, breathing in the fresh air. That was another thing he realised about this place; how clean the air was compared to the imperial city.

“But we did, that’s the important thing.” Charlie said as she moved Vernon away from the outcrop and continued. “But we're not at the mountain yet.” Charlie finished, as she and the old butler hurried along to catch up with the rest of the group.