A-N: Before you all read this... again. I am rather ashamed of myself for taking this story down and hope that you all forgive me for it. I have found, however a few nitpicks that I hope are no longer within the story. I repeated myself a lot within this little prologue and now am in the process of reading over my other chapters to see if I made the same mistake. While I am greatly ashamed of my behaviour and in the taking down of this story and all my other ones that were written; I am very happy I did so. Without the mistake that I made, I would have never read them over and therefore would not have found my mistakes. So again I am so very sorry that I did this to my readers and hope that I am forgiven.

Achilles Heel

Prologue

Two Months Earlier

The graveyard loomed ahead and Milady could see the cliff's edge from where she was walking along the trail. The graveyard had an eerie feel to it and made the hairs on the back of Milady's neck to stand on their ends, the feelings that Milady got from the place she was being led to was one of loneliness, hopelessness, and death. This was the end for her... up ahead where the graveyard stood looking bleak and desolated was the place where she was to die. A hundred feet below her she could hear the water's waves crashing onto the rocky shore, the thunderous noise frightening to her ears as she walked.

She had tried to proclaim her innocence, but why try to say anything when there was nobody willing to listen? Nobody listened to her cries of innocence or the pleas to listen to her side of the story, and every time she tried to tell her side of the story she found herself staring into the impassive face of her ex husband Athos. After that she had stayed silent and when nobody around her talked she found that the silence was more unbearable than the graveyard that lay beyond the hill they were to climb.

Since she found the silence unbearable she had once again begged for her life but she had failed in the attempt. She had tried to talk her way out of the mess she was in, hoping to charm the men that held onto both of her arms and to persuade them into letting her go but when the large man tightened his hold on her arm and the small man gave her a look of disgust she knew it was unsuccessful. Both of the men who she found to be friends of Athos ignored her and it became clear that they were aware of what her background was.

Along the way they had stopped for a much needed break, stopping for a breather for the climb up to the cliff was almost as treacherous as the waters below. She had tried once again to talk her way out of the punishment that lay not to far away now. Because they were stopped the two men who had led her so far were guarding her, the big tall man kept his eye on her with his hand on the hilt of his sword and looked prepared to take it out if she did anything. She noticed that the small man held onto both a rosary and a bible as he began a conversation with his friend.

"I know you don't want to do this." She said to the smaller man, interrupting him from what he was saying to his friend. "I can see that you're a man of God."

"Yes and as a man of God I believe in Justice." He had said coldly. "You chose to live your life the way you did, now you get to pay for that life."

While he said this to her she could not help but notice that his eyes went to Athos and D'Artagnan who were standing nearby. She stared in hatred at the two men who were the cause of her ruin, both oblivious to the looks she was giving them as they were in deep conversation.

She turned back to the men who were watching her carefully and attempted to once again escape the death that waited for her up ahead. However she found herself listening to the conversation that both her ex husband and D'Artagnan were having and she became angry when she realised that they were talking about her.

"The Queen knows that it was her who tried to kill Constance." D'Artagnan said as he nodded towards Milady. "Just like the King knows that she tried to kill me as well."

Athos looked surprised. "He knows that this woman tried to kill you a few times?"

D'Artagnan nodded grimly. "Word got out that somebody sent me a bottle of wine that had poison in it. He came to me personally to inquire about what happened."

"Well at least we caught the person responsible." Athos said and he turned his head to where his two other friends were to see if they needed any help, when he found that they were okay he turned back to D'Artagnan and said softly. "And at least we saved Constance in time and she told what happened to the Queen. The queen knows that it was this woman who was responsible and we managed to get her on time before she struck again."

Milady was angry at the injustice that she faced and when she heard the queen being mentioned the feelings of anger and hatred towards the man she had once loved, but now hated beyond anything else exploded within her and she heard herself saying.

"You spread lies about me to a royal you fool!" She cried out in anger. "You have more people on your side than I do on my own! You have them listen to your side of the story instead of asking for my side of it!"

Athos and D'Artagnan fell silent and gave her a look; the hostile glares that were given to her were enough to make her shrink back against the large boulder she was sitting in front of. She now realized that she would not be able to get away from Athos or the fate that awaited her and she turned her head away as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

"This is it then?" Milady asked as she looked towards the graveyard with its dark shadows and a statue of an angel that looked like death itself. Her attention focused towards the cliff's edge and she could hear the water as it constantly beat upon the shore with a thunderous roar. "This is the end?"

Beside the executioner stood Lord de Winter, her brother in law from a previous marriage that had ended like so many others before. He gave her a look of venom that only confirmed what she had asked, she had enemies surrounding her and not one of them could be influenced to let her go. She did not see a friendly face that she could easily persuade to cut her loose, the only thing that she saw was open hostility and hatred towards her.

There was no escape... she could not run away from these men. She felt trapped by the very people whom she knew and had caught her trying to cross over to England. She looked around her and collected her bearings, her eyes fell on the graveyard again with its angel statue and the numerous graves that were held within... that was up at the top of the cliff and she would have to fight off and outrun the two men who stood guard over her along with Athos and D'Artagnan who were sure to be right behind her. She glanced down the way they had come and saw nothing to hide behind except for the few boulders that lined the path, other than that and a few trees that were almost uprooted, there was nothing.

She turned her attention back to Athos who now silently stood beside D'Artagan and the man called Porthos. He studied her closely, eyes narrowed as he watched her observe her surroundings. He seemed to know what she was doing because he leaned close towards D'Artagnan and Porthos and whispered something that she could not hear.

"There's no point in looking around for a place to go." Athos finally said his voice cold as he turned his attention away from his friends and towards her. "Because there is no place to go."

"I noticed." She replied and she did not bother to hide the contempt she felt towards him, towards what he had done to her. "Obviously you picked out this place, my dear count. Do tell me how you managed to find this place."

"I passed by this place on my way to hunt you down." Athos said his tone icy. "Let's just say it was an accident and besides the Executioner knows this place extremely well."

"It definitely matches your heart." Milady snapped. "Cold and black! You call this justice? This is not justice you murderous blackguard! This is murder! There is six on your side and none on mine. How fair is that?"

When Athos said nothing her anger rose up again, she had not one person on her side with her and she felt the unfairness every time she looked over at Athos friends.

"You got royals against me." She had said harshly. "Your friends obviously won't believe me when I tell them my side and neither will my stupid brother-in-law... the executioner is obviously on your side as well."

"You did this to yourself Sabine." Athos finally managed his voice hardly more than a whisper. "You killed without a thought or a sense of remorse. You lied about your past and managed to hide something from me when we were together."

She fell silent, unable to say anything else.

"Everyone well rested?" Porthos asked, unable to take anymore of this. "We have somewhere to be remember?"

With that said everybody got up and began to walk the rest of the way to the cliff which was still quite a distance from where they were.

She had started to fall apart right there, her eyes teared up once she realized that her fate was sealed. Nobody would listen to her side of the story, not the priest who was walking behind her looking grim as he stared up ahead and not D'Artagnan whom she had classified as a trusted ally at one point.

But then just as she had lost hope in everything she had seen two of her henchmen, both of them hiding behind the gigantic boulders that lined the road. She almost shouted with joy but the serious expressions and Henri's finger on his lips made her keep silent.

At this point they had reached the cliff and she knew what she had to do... Athos had told her the night before that it was up to her to choose how to go and the most promising way to survive was by jumping off the cliff into the waters below, she had been taught how to swim years ago by one of her ex husbands.

That was exactly what happened when Athos had grabbed the Executioner and pulled him away from her... after she told Athos what the Cardinal's plans were, and had even given him a kiss goodbye.

And as she jumped off the cliff, one thing was on her mind.

Revenge.