Multi-chapter mystery. Not for the faint of heart! Gruesome at times, lots of whump to follow.
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I do not own the BBC Musketeers - I just love them and Dumas' world :)
In the spring of 1632, the winter snow that had blanketed Paris for weeks began to thaw. The wet cobblestone of the street was once again visible and the fetid straw piled at doorsteps to catch the drifting snow could be done away with. It was indeed spring in Paris, and after such a miserable winter, it was most welcomed by the people. The mood was lighter in the streets, the tankards of ale tasted that much sweeter. Like a lumbering bear just waking up from its' hibernation, all of Paris was slowly stretching it's limbs and awakening…all but one.
He had been sleeping all winter, huddled beneath the snow. He was sitting up against a tree on a quiet road on the outskirts of the city. In the summer, that road was busy with carts travelling to and from the markets to the farms, but in the winter, it was virtually impassable. So there he sat beneath the tree, undisturbed and unnoticed for the winter, that is until the snow began to thaw and reveal his somber, grey visage.
The farmers who discovered him dared not disturb him from his untimely rest. They looked down upon him with sadness and pity – yet another street boy, perished in the elements. The world was a cruel place, they mused, and one of the men bent down and sought to cover the boy with the sodden cloak that lay uselessly behind him. Upon moving the cloak, a sparkle of gold thread sparkled in the sunlight – the royal insignia. This was no poor boy – and upon closer inspection, his clothes although worn and dank from exposure, were actually quite fine. And so, the lad was reported to local guard station.
The Red Guards rolled their eyes.
"We'll send a cart round," they assured the farmers. But the farmers stressed the royal insignia, and it was then that one of the guards, who had been watching grey clouds roll in from the north, had a most dastardly revelation.
"Well if he's royalty, then by all means, call Treville. He's always harpin' at us to not step on their fancy boots, so let the Musketeers go get the whelp!"
News took a day to reach Treville, and that was interrupted by another dusting of snow. Captain Treville was not angered by the fact that the Red Guards were so obviously passing off work to the Musketeers – he was furious however, that a Parisian lad had been found dead in the snow, and then left to sit there and wait for someone to fetch him.
"He's been sittin' there all bloody winter – doubt if an extra day makes a difference, Treville," sighed the guard.
"Remove yourself from this place! You do dishonor to it simply by being near it's walls you cur!," shouted Treville, as his thrust a gloved hand towards the door.
The guard and his companion sneered, but wisely opted not to anger the Captain any further and took their leave. On the way out, they tipped their hats mockingly towards the group of Musketeers seated on a table at the base of the stairs – D'artagnan, Porthos, and Athos.
"Good day ladies," cooed one of the guards, clearly looking for a fight. And a fight was not a difficult thing to find with Porthos, who sprang from the table, fists clenched with D'artganan pulling on his arm. But Athos paid no mind to the Red Guards– instead his gaze wandered up the stairs to wear an angry-looking Treville was leaning on the bannister.
And this was how Athos came to learn about the dead boy in the snow outside of Paris who wore a cloak of the royal insignia.
"Take a cart and go and get him Athos, and take Aramis – the lad could use a prayer," muttered Treville.
The garrison has been slow lately, with not many affairs of court being conducted in lieu of the poor weather. It was a grim task, but Athos welcomed the opportunity to get fresh air and hopefully show the boy's spirit a shred of decency.
The mission however, was a somber one. And upon hearing of their charge, Porthos and D'artagnan insisted that they accompany their brothers if Treville could spare them. Treville begrudgingly accepted and advised them to make haste. And so the brothers made their way to the market road, and to the sleeping boy, frozen in the snow.
Unknown to the Musketeers who came to rescue him from his open grave, and unknown to the Captain who sent them on their way, the boy was not alone. In fact, there had been seven other young men before him, but they had all been poor and without familial connections, and therefore when they were found frozen in the streets, so one paid them mind aside from he occasional look of pity.
It was the local churches who sent forth the clergy to collect the bodies of the poor who did not survive the winter months – they were stacked albeit ceremoniously, on a cart and buried in parish graves when no names could be found. And as they had no cloaks bearing a royal insignia – their tragic fates and all of their secrets ended in the churchyard, and not once did anyone suspect anything beyond the cruelty of winter for ending their young lives.
However, had a doctor examined the bodies of these young men of the east-market district, he would have found a most curious thing indeed – their eyes, gone. The sockets horribly hollow.
Not all buried under nameless crosses in the churchyard had died of natural causes that harsh winter – most had, but not all. And perhaps they would have stayed that way – quiet in death and unable to see beyond in to the next world, had the snow not began to melt when it did. But now, as the Musketeers neared the market road, a horrible mystery was about to unfold for his features has began to thaw as well – the ice slipping from his ashen, taunt skin. He remained slumped against the base of the tree, his knees curled up unto his chest. But soon it would become clear that the last thing the lad had seen in this world was a monster and now all that was left were gaping hollow sockets, starring through frozen lashes down the road where four musketeers approached on horseback.
Lots more to come - the plot will thicken! Rating may go up. Please review and let me know what you think! Luv, Mzz