CHAPTER II

Here comes the second chapter. Thanks to riversidewren and her wonderful translation!

The woman nodded briefly, then went back to cleaning the glasses. My sister turned to the mysterious man and thanked him. I felt relieved myself, although I had no idea what was the right thing to do in this situation. After all, I knew nothing about this man.

The stranger turned to me with a friendly smile. "What happened to you two? How did you end up stranded here by yourselves, so far from the city?"

I replied cautiously, "We really don't know how we got here. One minute, we were in school, then the next minute, we woke up alone in the forest."

I must have looked completely desperate, for the man looked at me with pity, then said kindly, "Come sit with me and my friends."

We followed him over to a table in the far corner of the room, where three other men were sitting together, talking and laughing.

"Aramis, where were you?" cried one, winking at the others. "Flirting as usual?"

Apparently they all thought that this was the only thing he ever did. "What are you up to this time?"

"I am merely helping two lost young ladies-that's all," he replied curtly, obviously annoyed with his friends.

Turning to the girls, Aramis motioned for them to stay put. He looked at them more closely. Both had blond hair. The elder girl had blue eyes, the younger brown. Both looked as though they had spent quite a bit of time wandering in the woods. They were dressed oddly, in a strange type of clothes that he had never seen before.

Aramis cleared his throat. "I am Aramis." He bowed, sweeping his hat off and placing it over his heart. "That one over there is Porthos." He pointed to a giant of a man dressed in black leather, who smiled at them in a friendly fashion.

"This is Athos." The man's cool blue eyes flicked up for an instant at the girls. He nodded briefly, then went back to his wine.

"And this is d'Artagnan." The youngest man greeted them. "Pleased to meet you."

Athos glanced up from his glass of wine, his gaze settling on the two newcomers. "And who might you be?"

"My name is Alexandra," answered the older girl. "And I am Leah," added her sister.
"Thank you for being so kind to us," blurted out Alexandra. "We thought we were going to get thrown out."

"We are glad to be of assistance," Aramis replied warmly.

Alexandra finally dared to ask the question that was burning in her mind. "This place…your clothes…is this some kind of live action role playing game?"

The men stared at her blankly, and appeared confused, so she continued on awkwardly, trying to make herself understood. "I mean, your costumes, with the weapons…and the interior of this building…everything looks like it is straight out of the 17th century—almost like the Musketeers in the book!"

Athos, completely baffled, stared at the sisters, while Porthos began laughing uproariously.

"There is a book about Musketeers?" inquired a confused d'Artagnan.

"No, my friend," replied Aramis, joining in the laughter. "Listen, girls, what do you expect? After all, this is the 17th century. I mean, it's 1636, right?"

Leah and Alexandra paled. "This is a joke..isn't it?"

Unsure, the two girls looked over at Athos, who seemed to be the most serious of the group. However, his face remained expressionless.

"I think I need some air!" With these words, Alexandra ran across the room, and stumbled out the door. Aramis followed her.

Leah remained sitting shyly next to d'Artagnan, and looked rather lost. When a tear rolled down her cheek, the three remaining Musketeers realized that the girl was completely overwhelmed by the whole situation.

Porthos motioned urgently to d'Artagnan, trying to silently get him to understand that he should give the distraught girl a hug-or at least make some attempt to calm her down. Finally, d'Artagnan seemed to get the message, and pulled himself together, drawing the girl into his arms.

Meanwhile, Alexandra stood outside, trying to get her breathing under control instead of hyperventilating.

"Okay, everything is fine…in and out…in and out…what am I thinking, nothing is fine! Oh my God, I have somehow teleported myself into another century! Now that I'm here, I can probably never get back! Just how did I get here? I will be stuck here forever…I'll never see my parents and friends again! What do I do now? How do I deal with this mess? I have no money, I have no idea of what life was like at this time…I never paid attention in history! And it's not just me…I have to take care of my sister! We have to survive somehow. I just want this all to be a bad dream! I want to wake up, and find myself lying in my own bed…"

"Everything is fine, everything will be all Alexandra, look at me…"

Gradually Alexandra became aware that Aramis had been standing in front of her for several minutes already, attempting to engage her in conversation.

"Look, we understand that you want to get out of here as soon as possible," he said soothingly.

"No, you don't understand! Listen, I have no idea how I got here, and I have no idea how to get back home! I don't know anyone here, and I'm going to be stuck here until I die!"

"Why don't you just get some sleep tonight, then tomorrow morning we'll sort this out." Aramis' voice was calm and gentle.

Alexandra found herself gazing into his yes. "Okay."

Suddenly, Leah ran outside and threw herself into Alexandra's arms.

"Where were you? Why did you just run off and leave me?" she cried desperately.

"I'm sorry." Alexandra hugged her sister, trying to comfort her.

"Never leave me alone again!"

"Never again—I promise." She tightened her arms around Leah.

The three of them went back into the building, and the sisters went up the stairs to the room above the one in which the Musketeers were staying.

Aramis returned to the table and sat down next to Athos.

"Is everything okay?" asked Porthos, looking a bit worried.

"And just what are we supposed to do with the two of them now?" inquired d'Artagnan.

"Well, we can't just leave them here!" retorted Aramis.

Athos sighed, then made the decision for them. "Okay, we will take them with us to Paris."

"Then what?" broke in Porthos.

They all looked at d'Artagnan.

"Why are you all looking at me?!"

"Well, I think it would be a bad idea to bring them to the garrison," said Aramis slowly.

"And so you just assume that Constance will be willing to take care of them?" d'Artagnan remarked, raising an eyebrow at his friends.

"That was the plan," drawled Athos.

Porthos smirked. "Come on, don't you think the poor woman has enough to do already? After all, she has to take care of our little pup here."

D'Artagnan rolled his eyes at his friend. "Please! I am not a puppy! No one has to take care of me! I can take care of myself!" he retorted defensively.

Aramis grinned, and replied with amusement, "So, I seem to remember a time when you had the sniffles, and acted as if you were on your deathbed…"

"Alright, fine," d'Artagnan interrupted him irritably. "You win!"

"So it's agreed, we'll take them to Constance first, then we'll see what happens…."