Lesser Evil

Chapter Two

Before Ramon could leave the room to go after his friend, Duval put a hand on his shoulder to stop him as the boy continued his story saying, "My parents, along with many others, were taken from their village before I was born and forced to work as slaves when they could no longer pay their annual harvest salary to whoever it was that ran the village. I was born a slave. My mother died giving birth to me. I have been alone with my father ever since. He is all I have. Please help him."

D'artagnan spoke up as he asked, "Why did your father ask you to run away to find help after so many years?"

"We were recently sold to a man in charge of a large slave camp," the boy answered. "He is a mean man, who feeds us very little and will beat any one of us, even a child like me, for the smallest of reasons. Many slaves have gotten sick and are still forced to work. Some have even died."

"Your father was afraid he would lose you too if you did not escape to find someone to free you," Ramon responded.

The boy replied, "Si, Senior."

Captain Duval opened the door and signaled the musketeers to step out of the room as he turned to the boy and said, "We are going to step out so that you can get some rest now. We are going to talk and see what we can do for you and your father. Don't worry, you're safe now."

"We have to help him and free his father," Jacques stated firmly. "I have heard about a few slave owners around, but never of one being in charge of an entire camp. It's despicable!"

"I agree, but we have no idea how many guards this man will have working for him to watch over the slaves or the set up of the camp," Duval responded. "We need to think this through."

Ramon answered, "Once we get the whereabouts of the camp from Peter, a couple of us can go ahead in order to scout it out. Then, we can come up with our best plan for an attack."

D'artagnan shook his head as he replied, "We can't just barge into the camp and attack the guards, even if we were to execute it carefully. Any of the slaves could get hurt in the process. We need to come up with something else."

"I agree," their captain said. "You will get into the camp by one of you posing as a slave. The rest of you will pose as his owner, who is looking to sell him to the man in charge of this camp for a large profit. Any volunteers?"

D'artagnan responded, "I'll be the slave."

Ramon grabbed D'artagnan by the shoulder and retorted, "No, I think I would make a better slave than you or Jacques. You would definitely make a better taskmaster, as you already like to make us do more of the work as it is."

"You're plan is a good idea, but none of you would be able to pull off being a slave," Siroc interrupted as he slowly walked back into the room where they were now all standing.

"Siroc, are you all right?" Ramon asked as they all turned to look at him and saw that he was afraid of something. "Why did you disappear like that?"

Siroc seemed to ignore his questions as he continued, "A man who is ruthless enough to run a slave camp knows a slave when he sees one. None of you show any signs of being a slave and it is not something you can fake."

Duval asked sternly, "Then what do you suggest we do?"

"I'll go in as the slave," Siroc answered shakily as he slowly turned around and pulled his shirt up to reveal several scars covering his back, caused from being whipped over and over throughout his life.

"Dear Lord, Almighty!" Ramon gasped as he stared at the lashes.

How did you get all those scars?" Jacques asked.

Siroc quickly lowered his shirt once again and turned to face his captain and friends as he replied, "I was a slave since I was four years old, when my village was invaded by marauders and many of my people were slaughtered, including both of my parents. Those who survived were sold to a man, who was cruel and merciless."

"You lied to me when you came to me as a musketeer looking for work," Duval said angrily.

"Forgive my deception, Captain," Siroc responded. "I never meant to deceive any of you about where I came from, but I did come here as a musketeer. For years I was forced to work under that man and was beaten almost every day. Twice I fell sick and almost died, but thanks to a dear friend, who helped to feed my curiosity about how things work in this world, I survived. One day, when I was just over twenty-one years of age, my friend was murdered for helping a man, who had grown too sick to work and was being forced to. As they started to beat the man, my friend attacked one of the guards to defend him. Our owner ordered the guards to shoot my friend. It happened so fast. He died in my arms. Before I realized what I was doing, I stood up then and slashed the man, who claimed to own me, across the face with a knife I pulled from one of the guards and fought through them to escape. I could not take the ruthlessness any longer. A few of the other slaves fought against the guards in hope to escape as well. I took a bullet through the back of my shoulder, but my determination for freedom helped me to press on long enough to keep running from the camp and the guards, who were chasing after me. At some point I collapsed and when I awoke, I was in the home of a man by the name of Pierre LeRaunt; a musketeer. He saved my life and hid me from the guards as they came into town looking for me. He was like a father to me for the three years before I came to be with you over three years ago. He was so impressed with my skills as an inventor and with my abilities to help the sick and inflicted that he gave me the means to increase my education. However, my skill in medicine was not enough when he became sick with plague. He died within a few days, but before he did, he told me to forget I was raised a slave and that I was a good man. He told me to take his uniform and weapons and become the musketeer he was. I promised him that I would."

Before Captain Duval could retort what Siroc had just explained to them, D'artagnan spoke up quickly as he said, "Siroc has shown his loyalty and devotion to the musketeers, to our king, and to our country, Captain. He is one of us."

Both Ramon and Jacques nodded in agreement as Siroc replied, "I don't care if you arrest me for impersonating a musketeer and my deception, Captain, but I ask you to please wait until we rescue the boy's father and the others from the slave camp. There isn't a better way and we cannot let Peter grow up without his father. He needs him."

"Very well," Duval answered solemnly. "I will go speak with the King of our plan. Meanwhile, I want you all to prepare yourselves for the mission. Be sure to scout out the camp first before going in. You will need all the advantages you can get. Good luck!"

Ramon turned to face Siroc after their captain left their quarters and asked, "Why did you not tell us about your past until now? We would not have cared that you were once a slave. Just as we do not care about Jacques' past. Actually, why did you reveal the truth in front of Captain Duval? He is going to have you arrested when we are finished with this mission."

Siroc looked at his friend as he responded, "I did not deceive you in fear of being arrested. I hated who I was. I dreamt of the horrors I had seen when I was a slave every night I slept since I could remember, until I finally began to believe I was a musketeer and not that man anymore. I was afraid the dreams would return if I admitted to you who I was."

"Are you sure you sure there is no other way to do this?" Jacques asked in concern.

"I wouldn't have spoken up if I thought there was," Siroc responded. "I'll be all right. This boy's life is depending on us. I won't fail him."

"I promise you, we will not let anything happen to you," D'artagnan said swiftly.

Siroc nodded and left the room to go back to Peter in order to ask him for the information about the whereabouts of the camp, as the others left to prepare their weapons and horses for their mission.

As they all left the room, Bernard stepped out from the shadows that had hidden the captain of the Cardinal's guards from their view with a dark grin on his face. When he saw his way had become clear, he walked away from the musketeer quarters, anxious to tell Mazarin all he had just overheard.