In the two weeks that followed, the lad "Alex" proved his worth.
Never betraying their secret:
(The masked man had turned out to be none other than his royal highness, Prince Philippe. (the younger identical twin) of King Louis of France.)
It was in fact his brother cruelty which resulted in him residing behind the mask in the Bastille.
The Musketeers, like thousands of others saw to end Louis' reign.
But planned to do solve the problem differently than the most obvious direct approach...
They'd decided to switch the twins and put Philippe on the throne in Louis' stead to ultimately save their country.
In order for their plan to be successful though, it required a lot of time, patience and work to teach his highness everything he must know.
At first Philippe was apprehensive and unsure before he chose to follow through with to do what they asked. (It was after listening Athos' true reason for being there that convinced him.)
Alex though quiet and observant most of the time agreed to help anyway he could…
"Mon Dieu! Careful there lad, that sword is heavy." Porthos warned Alex as he removed the sword from its hilt to sharpen the blade.
"Merci for your concern Monsieur but I know what I'm doing. My Papa was a retired soldier and an excellent Blacksmith. He taught me well" the boy explained, letting his voice drift off towards the end of his sentence.
"Your…Father?" said Porthos surprised, "You – you never talk about him or anything really from your past?"
Alex sighed,
"Because I'm trying to move forward. If I stop to think about it…
I'll merely get angry and bitter. Then I will be forced to seek out Aramis' council and confess my violent sinful thoughts in order to clear my conscience and have peace."
"- In that case I'd better keep an open appointment…"
"Aramis!" The two men said together, spinning around at the same time too.
The priest chuckled at the sight,
"What are you doing here? I thought you were set to teach Philippe the horseback?" asked Porthos.
Aramis shrugged, "Done for the day. Athos is with him but he wants to see Alex."
The lad re-sheathed the weapon with just as much care as before. If his highness the future King of France needed him, he'd be there.
