Chapter XII

A New Look

That evening, whilst Codsworth, standing up is talking to Vernon, Dmitri, Charlie and Jimmy who are sitting down around the fire about, both what he was told earlier on and his suspicions about the governor. When he was interrupted by the arrival of Barca, Abi and Dave walk through the door. He turns around to see what food they were going to be eating and was taken completely off guard.

Being hauled on Barca’s shoulders lay a gigantic wolf, not quite as big as the one that had savaged Dmitri back on the mountains, but close to that size none the less. He was about to close the door when he realised that they were still missing Jack and Bruce, who had muttered about going somewhere before heading home, after the day’s job was done. He was about to raise this when Barca spoke up to the room at large.

“Dinner is here. I know, not exactly what you were expecting but it's something.” Barca said as he carried the wolf into the kitchen area and remerged, mopping the creature’s blood of his hands.

“Were you followed?” Codsworth asked, that was imperative to know, what with everything that he had been told and suspected over the past day.

“No, why?” Barca asked, the forcefulness of Codsworth’s question had taken him slightly of guard for a moment, after all he had done nothing wrong that would have warranted being followed back here.

“That's good. The group of men, in the inn last night. They don't seem to be very happy with either you or Jack.” Codsworth said sitting down on the empty chair, and massaging his aching head, it had been playing up all day, causing him to wonder if he was starting to mentally unravel, and if he was up to this particular job of keeping everyone safe.

“I imagine not. The lad humiliated them in front of the entire inn.” Barca said, he would have thought however, that after a day, tempers would have been cooled and the previous days arguments made to seem foolish. He was, however, curious as to why the morons were after him, however.

“Yeah well. That group is now hell bent on making both you and Jack pay for humiliating them last night.” Codsworth said, which answered that question, for the simple act of stopping them from murdering a child, he had been marked as an equal enemy by those morons.

“Speaking of which, where are Bruce and Jack?” Abi said looking around, wondering why nobody else had raised the issue when they were on the topic that directly concerned the kid.

“My guess, getting pissed back at that inn.” Dave said as he walked into the kitchen area, grabbed a knife and began to butcher his kill.

“Great, I'm going to kill him.” Vernon said as he makes to get up, but winces and sits back down, his chest had been bothering him, but he shrugged it off, putting it down to old war wounds. As he does so Nick walks into the room and leans against the wall, eager to hear what was being said about his older brother now.

“I'll go, don't worry.” Codsworth said, but before he could so much as leave, Nick sighs and, unnoticed by anyone leaves through the still open front door. As Martin walks into the room. Unaware of anything that was happening in the living area.

“Martin, call your brother through here.” Vernon said, noticing the youngest Wolfrick simply standing in place and observing the room at large.

“Erm... He's not here.” Martin said, his timid voice hardly carrying beyond where Vernon sat a few feet away. Vernon looked up at this, and was about to get himself up again, but remembering the pain, stopped himself.

“What?” Vernon said, this was just perfect, Jack doing gods know what at the inn, and Nick attempting a solo rescue mission. This day just continued to throw him surprises.

“He left a few moments ago.” Martin said, pointing at the door, before retreating back into his room, thinking that he had done something wrong. Codsworth sighs and nods to the old butler, before leaving through the open door and heading out into the cold winter evening.

Nick had only been gone for a few moments but had already covered a good amount of ground as he walks along the now snow-covered street, he knew where he was going as he had seen the inn when they had first arrived here, he was however stopped in his rescue mission as Codsworth catches up with him, slightly out of breath.

“Wait up kid.” Codsworth said, panting slightly, as Nick turns arounds and looks up at the old commander, a look of grim determination on his young face.

“I'm going to get my brother.” Nick said and made to head off once more, but Codsworth put a hand on the boy’s shoulder to stop him.

“I know you are kid, but it's too dangerous to go alone, especially now anyways.” Codsworth said looking down at the youngster, despite the young age of the kid below him, the commander was certain that the lad was not stupid, whether he already knew about the dangers that faced them out here, was a different matter, however.

“How bad can it be?” Nick asked, looking up to the commander for answers. Something a lot of people seemed to be doing to him nowadays, and he hated the fact that he usually couldn’t give them what they wanted. But was pleased in this instant that he could.

“About as bad as a group of men swearing to kill your brother, after he loud mouthed them last night.” Codsworth said shrugging as if he had stated nothing more interesting that the day’s weather, before continuing. “Now where is this blasted inn?” Codsworth asked, looking around the square, but it was Nick who pointed it out. The nine-year-old, pointed towards the large building on the other side of the street.

“Over there.” Nick said, it was hard to see through the snowfall though it was still visible thanks to the lit windows and the noise that came from inside the establishment. The commander nods and the pair head towards the building but stop when they observe a group of hooded men entering through the side doors. After seeing this Codsworth and Nick walk over to the inn in a much quicker manor and head inside only through the front doors.

As the pair walk through the double doors, Codsworth and Nick enter the crowded inn and look around for a few minutes with no luck whatsoever. The establishment was packed from end to end, it seemed that this was the place where half the town went at the end of a day’s hard work.

“Looks like we're going to have to look a harder.” Codsworth said looking at his young companion, who was searching the large inn already, whilst also wiping the sweat of his brow, even though it had been a short walk from their house to the inn, the temperature difference was enough on its own to make even the fittest man sweat like a pig once they came inside.

“Should be easy, just look for the girl he saw on our way into this town. Jack should be following her around.” Nick said shrugging as he continued his search. Codsworth looks down at Nick at this point and sighs

“Unfortunately, you're probably right.” Codsworth said, as the pair headed deeper into the inn, scanning the room every chance they got. Both to look for Jack, but also keeping their eye out for the group of hooded men who had entered just before them. After a brief moment Nick points towards the centre of the room, where Jack and Bruce are talking with a man that he didn’t recognise.

“Found him.” Nick said, or rather he had found Bruce, and a figure that looked to be his brother, but he couldn’t be sure as he was facing the other way. As he pointed over towards the small gathering, where a few others were gathered around the two members from their own group. Codsworth nods at this and pats the kid on the shoulder.

“Good job kid, let's go save your brother.” Codsworth said and walks towards the group, his hand on the blade of the axe that he still wore on his belt. As the pair continue to walk over towards Jack, Bruce and a man who the commander now recognised as Idar, the local guard captain, as well as the girl that Jack had so obviously fallen for when they arrived here. He was a few paces away when Jack turned around and Codsworth stopped mid stride and nick’s mouth falls open slightly at the sight of his oldest brother.

Two strips of red paint cross Jack's face going from just above where his right eye would have been, cutting diagonally down to the bottom of his left cheek. One of the strips of red paint cuts across his nose, the other cutting across his left eye ending just above the other.

“Well, we may as well leave your brother here, as he's most likely going to get better treatment from those thugs than what Vernon will do when he sees him.” Codsworth said to Nick, who was trying to come up with some words to describe the scene in front of him. As they were stationary, Jack stumbles over to Codsworth and Nick, not as drunk as he had been the previous evening, but close none the less, the commander wondered to himself how long the kid would have to be scrubbing for tonight, if Vernon let him live that long of course.

“Ah, let me guess you've been sent to bring me back.” Jack said, looking slightly bemused at the thought, Codsworth didn’t make any effort to correct this lapse in judgement, Vernon would do that this evening, meaning his job was easy.

“Yep, but looking at you right now.” Codsworth said, examining the war paint, if it hadn’t been for the thought of what would happen later on tonight. He would have been pleased, it was well done, the paint had been applied well, and there were no streaks of it running down the lad’s face. But before he could continue Jack interrupted him.

“Trust me Codsworth, I've thought ahead. Those man apes that are after me. Only did it because we looked different. I mean look around you, everyone has paint or dirt on their faces.” Jack said waving his arms around, it took a lot of effort on Codsworth’s part to not hit him, remembering the hooded figures were somewhere around was enough to tempt him on that front. But the lad wasn’t done with his plan however as he continued on. “So, this way I'll blend in. Those buffoons don't look that intelligent as it is, but now that I look like everyone else, they'll never find me.” Jack finished with a dumb grin on his face and looking up slightly drunkenly at the commander.

It was a good plan, on the surface at least as Codsworth looks around the room at the assembled crowd and all of them do have war paint on. However, his sober mind could see a major flaw in the plan that Jack’s alcohol induced one could not.

“It's a good plan, but I can see just a tiny flaw in it.” Codsworth said, a grin appearing on his own face, as he prepared to reveal said flaw. However, Jack seemed to be oblivious to it. He looked up indignantly at the commander for finding this flaw in his great plan.

“What's that then?” Jack asked, a grin on his face, ready to dispel anything the commander said, after all, he had come up with the plan, and that meant that there could be nothing wrong with it. Codsworth sighed, he was smiling, but he really didn’t want to bring the kid back down to earth this way. But he really didn’t see any other choice.

“You're missing an eye! Which makes you pretty fucking noticeable.” Codsworth said in an exasperated tone of voice, as if it was the simplest thing that they had not counted on. This seemed to do the trick, he felt sad as the smile that had previously been on Jack's face slowly disappears at the dawning realisation.

“Ah.” Jack said simply, feeling slightly crestfallen as Codsworth, once again took charge of the situation.

“Bruce would you mind covering us in case those human gorillas happen to stumble upon on us?” Codsworth asked looking at the translator angrily for his part in all of this.

“Sure.” Bruce said as Codsworth walks out of the inn with Jack next to him followed by Nick who can't wipe the smug look off his face. With Bruce bringing up the rear.

“Gods Jack, Vernon is going to kill you.” Nick said as they left the inn, like Dave in one respect, he was eager to see what Vernon would do to his older brother once the old butler saw what Jack had done to his face.

As Codsworth, Jack, Nick and Bruce walk through the front door, soaking wet from the snow despite the short walk between the inn and the house, they arrive to see that Vernon was already waiting for them. Jack groaned at the sight, and things were only made worse when Dave walked in from the kitchen area, his hands still covered with fresh wolf's blood that they had killed earlier on in the day. He takes one look at Jack and bursts out laughing, this goes on for about thirty seconds before he was able to gain control of himself and shout out to their youngest brother.

“Martin! You've lost the bet!” Dave shouted, he knew his brother was foolish when it came to his plans and schemes, but this was more than even he could have wished for.

“What bet?” Jack asked, looking around the room as a groan came from a nearby room, his youngest brother obviously not happy that he had lost this bet.

“Oh. They had a bet to see whether or not you'd make a bigger fool out of yourself. Martin bet you wouldn't.” Vernon said, grinning slightly himself at the way the eldest Wolfrick had decided to look. As he spoke Dave walked back into the kitchen to continue butchering the wolf, as well as to continue howling with laughter. “Let me guess kid, new style? And here was me thinking the most stupid thing you'd do tonight is get drunk, again.” Vernon finished, this was almost too good to be true, thinking to himself that you couldn’t have written it.

“Ah, it's not as stupid when you hear the reason Vernon. Kid just had one minor oversight in his plan.” Bruce said, trying to come to Jack’s defence, it had been a good plan, or at least had seemed like it when they were spit balling ideas about how to stay low in a town like this. This however only seemed to anger the old butler even more.

“So, you're telling me this was planned, this just gets better and better doesn't it.” Vernon said, the words, normally meant as a joke, were not so funny when Vernon said them, a danger sign if ever there was one. And jack knew it.

“I didn't go there to get drunk, Vernon. I went there because I wanted to ask Idar for help with something.” Jack asked, it was the only defence he had, but more importantly it was the truth. This seemed to make Vernon stop as Codsworth enquired further

“What were you asking him for kid?” Codsworth asked, although he thought he knew, and guessed that it had something to do with the lad’s concerns earlier on in the day.

“I wanted training using that axe he gave us all. I'm not stupid, I know that those thugs want me dead. I just want to protect myself in case I run out of bullets.” Jack said, despite what certainly both Dave and Nick thought he wasn’t stupid, and unfortunately drastic situations requires drastic actions.

“And the paint?” Vernon asked, raising his eyebrow, at the two thick red lines that ran down the lad’s face. Jack however already had his answer ready for that question.

“Makes me less noticeable when walking around, or that was the idea anyway. Which by the way I'm keeping.” Jack said stubbornly, not only for the reason that he just mentioned, but also because it took the attention of his bandaged eye socket.

“Who put it on?” Vernon asked, looking at Jack, although if what Barca had told him the previous night, he could take a pretty good guess as to who. Jack looks at the ground slightly embarrassed.

“The girl did it. The one the lad was ogling when we first arrived.” Bruce said, before Jack could answer and get himself into more trouble than he was already in. If truth were told however, the lad did seem to really like this northern girl.

“Yeah. And I wasn't ogling... I think.” Jack said, trying to recall their first day in this town, but couldn’t. at which Vernon sighs deeply, causing Jack to look up in slight alarm, whilst also waiting for his inevitable punishment.

“It's alright lad, I'm not going to make you get rid of it. No matter my own personal opinions on it.” Vernon said, the fact that he was at least now thinking ahead was enough to settle the old butler’s mind.