Lesser Evil
Chapter Three
The next morning, D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon walked into Siroc's laboratory to find him working on one of his latest inventions. It was obvious that he did not hear them as they entered into the room and they could tell from how exhausted and disheveled he looked, their friend had not slept at all.
As Ramon gently placed a hand on his shoulder, Siroc jumped, but ignored this as he spoke up saying, "I've been working on a few things you're going to need for when we make our escape once we find Peter's father; a few smoke bombs and some extra blasting powder that you'll be able to hide upon yourselves and I also carved out a staff for each of you, making them hollow enough to hide your swords in. The slave owner and his guards will never allow us to walk in the camp armed, but they won't think anything of these."
D'artagnan responded, "These are great Siroc. Thanks, but what about you? Didn't you make something for yourself?"
"I'll be posing as a slave," Siroc answered. "All I'll be wearing is loose clothing and chains. There is no way to hide anything on me. My job is to find Peter's father. Once I do that, our escape is up to you."
"I do not like this plan at all," Ramon replied. "You will be left exposed without any way of defending yourself if something goes wrong. And you do not deserve to be forced back into the life you escaped from for any reason."
Jacques responded, "I agree with Ramon. This is a terrible plan."
Siroc gave a small smile and answered, "I appreciate all of you sticking up for me, but this is the only way we can do this. We have no idea how many men, women, and children are really at this camp. Any one of them could get hurt should we go in blades up. Not just the boy's father. I promise you, I can do this."
"You do realize we are only going in to rescue the boy's father and not anyone else, don't you Siroc?" D'artagnan asked.
Siroc looked away from his friends and sadly responded, "Yes, I do know the plan. You better go and talk with Captain Duval. He'll want to hear the final plan. I'll be in the stable getting our horses ready."
Jacques attempted to call out to Siroc as he left the room, but he ignored her. She turned back to the others, who just looked down at the floor sadly. D'artagnan pulled out his sword, as did Jacques, and they both picked up the staffs Siroc had carved for them in order to carefully place their swords inside.
Ramon angrily kicked over a bucket that sat on the floor near where he was standing as he shouted, "This is not right! Captain Duval never should have agreed to this plan and given us the order to follow it through. Siroc is our friend and he is the one taking all the risk!"
"I do not like this anymore than you do, Ramon," D'artagnan replied. "But Duval has given us our orders and is currently explaining our plan to Louis. Everything is going to be all right. We will protect him."
"That is not what we are worried about, D'artagnan," Jacques answered. "You saw how he looked. He wasn't himself. He hasn't been himself since he found out this boy was a slave. He's terrified. We have no idea what going through with this could do to him."
D'artagnan replied, "Believe me, I know."
About five hours later, the four musketeers stopped their journey through the woods as they climbed down from their horses. Once they had tied them to the trees, they walked quickly, but quietly further through the woods until they came to the top of a large hill just at the edge of a clearing. As they looked down, they saw the slave camp, just where and as the boy had described. However, it was much larger than he had described.
As they looked over the camp, Jacques finally spoke up saying, "How are the four of us going to keep an eye on things in a camp this big? How does one man own this many slaves?"
Siroc answered, "Money and influence. No doubt Mazarin has his hand in this."
"We need to get going," D'artagnan said. "Siroc, are you sure you are ready for this?"
"I don't have much of a choice," Siroc responded. "I'll be all right. Let's get this over with."
Siroc walked back over to his horse and pulled out the shackles he had packed among his things. Then, he handed them over to D'artagnan. As their leader began to place them on their friend's wrists, they could see that Siroc's hands were shaking. Siroc just nodded his head slowly and remained silent as he finished.
Once they were ready, D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon got back up on their horses, while Siroc remained on foot behind them as they all headed into the camp. As they entered, three of the camp's guards walked up to them as they trained their muskets on the newcomers. The musketeers slowly dismounted from their horses as another man walked over to them, a man who appeared to have higher authority within the camp.
As the man looked each of them over he asked, "What business do you have here?"
D'artagnan spoke up for them as he responded, "We are here to speak with the owner of this camp. We have hopes to do business with him."
"What kind of business?" the man asked again.
"We are here to speak with your boss, if you don't mind," Ramon replied.
The man huffed as he answered, "Follow me."
The man guided them to a tent at the back of the camp and as they entered, they saw a very large man sitting in a chair, which was almost as big as King Louis' throne. There was a platter covered with meat, bread, and cheeses, and a cup filled with beer sitting next to it. The man who guided them into the tent whispered something in the man's ear and then stepped back to listen to the conversation.
"My friend tells me you wish to speak business with me," the owner said. "My name is Ray Pinion. What can I do for you?"
"I have come here in hope of selling you a slave I can no longer afford to keep," D'artagnan answered. "These men are my friends. I invited them to join me in order to make sure that nothing happens to me and that I am given a fair price. He is a hard-working and well disciplined. You will not regret your purchase, I assure you."
The fat man rose uneasily from his seat and walked over to stand in front of Siroc, who kept his head down and his eyes trained on the ground. As the man began to circle around their friend like a vulture, the musketeers began to get uneasy of their plan.
As he finally stopped in front of Siroc once again, the owner of the camp spoke directly to Siroc as he asked, "What is your name?"
Siroc did not answer at first, but after a minute he answered, "Samuel. My name is Samuel."
"Wrong!" the man responded angrily as he suddenly punched Siroc hard in the stomach, then grabbed him by his neck, and shoved him to the ground on his knees. "You have no name if you work for me. You are a filthy, good for nothing slave; nothing more. Do you understand what I am saying to you? Now, what is your name?"
"I have no name," Siroc answered angrily, but softly as his friends cringed and fought to hold in their anger toward the fat man tormenting him. "I am nothing."
The slave owner pulled up Siroc's loose fitted shirt in order to look at his back, looking for signs of Siroc truly being a slave. Then, Pinion dropped the shirt, stood up straight, and walked back to sit in his chair. He smiled as he pulled open a drawer from under the table he sat at and grabbed a small bag of coins, which he then tossed over to D'artagnan.
Pinion spoke up saying, "I like a slave who is as well-disciplined as yours. We have ourselves a deal. However, I want you to stick around for a few days in order for me to make sure he is as you say he is. You can join my men within the camp. If he works out, you will receive the rest of your payment. Am I understood?"
"We understand clearly, Sir," D'artagnan answered angrily.
"Very good," the man said. "Now leave me alone to speak with our newest arrival. I need to make sure he understands I am the one who owns him now, not you."
D'artagnan, Jacques, and Ramon looked down at their friend and then turned to leave the tent. Two of the fat man's
Once they were free to speak amongst themselves, Ramon angrily said, "I want nothing more than to shove that man's food down his throat. He deserves my blade in his fat belly. I do not know if I can deal with allowing these men to hurt Siroc, D'artagnan. He is my closest friend. No man deserves this, least of all Siroc."
D'artagnan responded, "I don't like this anymore than you do, but we have no choice. Soon, Siroc will be out among the slaves where he will be able to search for Peter's father. He'll be all right."
"I am glad you are so confident because I am not," Jacques. "I agree with Ramon."
"So do I," D'artagnan answered. "So do I."
