Well, I'm back with the next chapter. I've been working on it at every available moment, but it's been hectic, to say the least. I finally got a chance to breathe today and was able to finish the chapter up! You'll be happy to know that our four heroes will be finally be reunited! It's about time! Anyway, I'll let you get to the story.

Cindy

Chapter 4

"Are ya sure this is the way, Athos?" Porthos queried as he eyed his surroundings suspiciously.

Athos sighed as he turned toward his brother and friend. "Yes, Porthos, I am sure this is the way," he answered with just a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Well, forgive me, but it ain't like we could really take in our surroundings when we were trying to find a safe place to leave the pup!" Porthos grumbled dejectedly.

"No, we couldn't, but I did take in our surroundings when we rode out again. This is the right way," Athos responded. "We will see him soon, Porthos," he added gently when he saw the big man's shoulders drop.

Porthos glanced over at him and gave him an apologetic smile. "I know…I just…I just hope 'e's okay and that 'e's still there. It's been weeks. I don't even want to think about what 'e's been thinking about…what with us being gone so long and all," he sadly said. "Do ya think 'e's okay?"

Athos' stomach knotted at the question. He hoped and prayed that their youngest brother was okay, but he had no way of knowing, one way or the other. He looked over at Porthos and shook his head slightly. "He's tough and more stubborn than anyone I know. I'm sure he's fine," he answered as confidently as he could.

Porthos nodded, then glanced behind him. "Aramis, why so quiet?" he asked of their third companion. Aramis looked up at his friend and shrugged. "I should have stayed with him. He was hurt and I just left him there, with strangers. I can't help but to think of how he felt when he awoke to people he didn't know," he answered sadly. "I should have stayed…"

Athos stopped his horse and turned in his saddle to face his brother. "You know we all three had to go, Aramis. There was no other way," he said. "The letter was too important..."

"More important than d'Artagnan!?" Aramis hissed out in anger. "He is our brother and we left him! I should have been the one taking care of him, not some physician that he didn't even know!"

Athos sighed as he faced his friend. "Aramis, this is the job. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices to protect the King…"

"So, d'Artagnan was a sacrifice? Is that what you're saying? An acceptable loss in order to get that letter to the King?"

"Aramis…"

"No, Athos! We shouldn't have left him alone! I should have stayed! You and Porthos would have been fine to go to Paris on your own!" Aramis spat.

"We didn't know that at the time, Aramis. And anyway, trouble could have found us at any point along the way. We needed your expert marksmanship, and your medical skills in case one of us was injured," Athos said, his voice rising in irritation.

"And what of d'Artagnan's injuries? He was shot, Athos! And knocked senseless!"

"We found him a physician and a safe place to stay. We did all that we could at the time," Athos said. "I hated leaving him…it tore me apart…but, it was the only way."

Aramis let out a heavy breath and lifted his head to stare up at the blue sky. His body seemed to deflate as he once again looked at Athos. "I know…I know we had to leave him, but…I'm sorry, Athos, I know how hard it was for you to make that call. It just feels so wrong, what we did," he breathed out.

Athos closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath then opened them, first glancing over at Porthos, then again at Aramis. "I know. Nothing about any of this was right. Being attacked, d'Artagnan nearly killed, leaving him, and then the King…the King refusing to let any other musketeers but us take his missive to Blois instead of allowing us to come back for d'Artagnan," he said, his voice filled with regret and exhaustion.

"Yeah, and don't forget the King forbidding Treville from sending word back this way to let d'Artagnan know why we left 'im and why it would take some time before we could come back for 'im," Porthos spat in anger.

"That too," Athos agreed. "But, we are here now and in less than an hour's time, we will see d'Artagnan again and we can explain it all to him," he added.

Without another word, the three set off again, this time with all three side by side. It was barely a half hour later, for none of the three could keep their speed at a normal gait, when Athos stopped and looked at a rock formation next to the narrow road. "I remember those rocks. We are nearly there. It's just there, through the trees," he said as he turned to his friends with a smile. Suddenly, the three were startled by the sound of a musket being fired. They looked at each other, three sets of eyes wide with sudden fear.

"d'Artagnan!" Porthos cried out as the three kicked their horses into an all out sprint in the direction the musket fire had come from.

The sight that met them as they crashed through the trees just a few minutes later turned their blood to ice. The woman with whom they had left their precious brother stood just outside the doorway to her small cottage, a smoking musket held in two shaking hands, and not ten feet in front of her lay an unmoving d'Artagnan with the body of a man draped over his chest. The most sickening sight of all, however, was the sword that stuck up from where it had been imbedded in d'Artagnan's shoulder, no doubt by the man who appeared to (hopefully) be dead.

Athos sat frozen in is saddle, the sight of his protégé and brother too much of a shock for him to move. Porthos, however was off his horse, screaming d'Artagnan's name as he ran to the fallen Gascon, the large man ripping the dead man up from his brother and tossing him aside as if he weighed nothing. Porthos dropped next to d'Artagnan, his hands going to the unconscious man's face, where he gently patted his cheeks, begging him to please open his eyes. Aramis dropped down opposite of Porthos just a few seconds later, his dark eyes taking in the sword that protruded from his shoulder. He spared a quick glance up when Athos, who had come out of his stupor, now joined them and dropped down next to him.

"Please, d'Artagnan, open your eyes. Please, don't leave us!" Athos cried softly as he took up one of d'Artagnan's hands. "Aramis, does he live?" he added pleadingly.

Aramis reached out a shaky hand and pressed his fingers to the side of d'Artagnan's neck. He released a relieved breath and looked up and met Porthos' pleading eyes, then Athos'.

"He's alive," he breathed out, his head dropping as a whispered prayer of thanks fell from his lips.

"Thank God," Porthos whispered as he returned his gaze to his brother's lax face, his hand tenderly cupping the pale cheek.

"We need to get him inside so I can work on him, but first we need to get this sword out of him," Aramis said. "I need to see if it's gone all the way through or not before I do anything though."

Together, he and Athos carefully lifted the Gascon's shoulder, Aramis letting out another relieved breath when it became apparent that the sword had not gone all the way through. They gently laid him back down then Aramis hurried to his horse to retrieve his medical supplies. While Aramis was doing this, Athos looked up for the first time and glanced over to where Marie and Yvette stood watching, the young girl still choking out sobs, her cheeks flushed and tear stained, her mother's arm wrapped around her shoulders. The woman still held the musket in her other hand while she watched, wide eyed, as the three men she recognized from weeks ago take care of the young man she now cherished as one of her family.

"I…I've never shot a m-musket before. I…" Marie started, but she stopped as her eyes moved to the sword that was still imbedded in d'Artagnan's shoulder.

Athos gave d'Artagnan's arm a gentle squeeze, then rose and walked to the distraught woman. He reached down and gently took the musket from her hand before looking up at her and smiling. "You did well. You likely saved his life and no amount of words could ever relay how very grateful we are for that," he said appreciatively.

"That man…he was going to kill him. I-I couldn't let that happen. He fought so hard to protect us from them," Marie replied, her voice cracking with emotion.

"Them?" Athos queried in a surprised voice.

Marie turned and dipped her head to her right, Athos's eyes following in that direction, his eyes going wide at the sight of another dead man laying several feet away. The fact that none of them had noticed a second attacker was a testament to how panicked they had been when they first burst through the trees and saw their brother laying lifeless on the ground.

"Athos…I need your help," Aramis called, startling the man out of his thoughts. He dipped his head to Marie then hurried to Aramis' side.

"What do you need me to do?" Athos asked as stepped up beside the medic.

"You're going to pull the sword straight up and out while I immediately pack cloth into the wound. Once that sword is out, he's going to bleed…a lot. Once I get the wound packed, we'll all three lift him and carry him inside," Aramis explained. "Porthos, I'll need you to hold him in case he awakens and fights us. We don't need any more damage to that shoulder than there already is," he added as he glanced over to the big man.

"Aye, I got 'im," Porthos responded with a nod of his head.

Aramis smiled wearily then glanced over to where Marie and Yvette still stood. "Madame, could you please prepare a place where I can work on my friend?" he called softly.

Marie nodded and hurried into the cottage, pulling a pliant Yvette behind her. Aramis knelt once more beside d'Artagnan, both hands holding bunches of cloth to help staunch the flow of blood once the sword was removed. When he was ready, he glanced over at Porthos, tipping his head when Porthos said that he was ready. He then turned his attention to Athos. "Are you ready?" he asked of their leader.

"I'm ready…let's get this thing out of him," Athos hissed through gritted teeth.

Aramis nodded then turned his attention to the unconscious Gascon. He placed one cloth filled hand on either side of the sword and took a deep breath. "Go, Athos! Pull it out!" he cried.

Athos pulled up with all of his strength, the sword pulling free with more than a little effort. The Inseparables hearts broke at the soft cry of pain from their youngest, all three both amazed and concerned when he didn't awaken. The Gascon whimpered as Aramis quickly cut his leather doublet and shirt open and packed the now bleeding wound, but he still didn't wake. Once the medic had tightened a length of cloth around d'Artagnan's shoulder, holding the packed cloth in place, the three musketeers positioned themselves around their youngest and as gently as they could, they lifted his limp body from the ground and carefully carried him inside where Marie instructed them to take him to the bedroom where he had been staying since he had first arrived.

"I have water heating on the hearth," Marie said as she worriedly watched them lay their precious burden onto the bed. "Do you need for me to fetch the physician?" she asked.

Aramis glanced behind him and shook his head. "No need. I can take care of him," he answered before returning his full attention to his patient. "Once that water is heated, please bring it. And, any cloth you can spare. Porthos, I'll need my supplies that I left outside. Madame, if you could also bring cool water…he's already starting to feel warm…and alcohol, if you have it. And Athos, I need you to help hold him up so I can get his clothing off of him," he instructed without removing his gaze from his young comrade.

Porthos nodded and rushed outside while Marie, with the help of Yvette, gathered the items that had been requested. It was harder than anticipated to remove d'Artagnan's doublet and shirt, leaving Aramis no other option than to cut them completely off. Porthos returned with Aramis' supplies just as they were pulling the remnants of the Gascon's clothes away, revealing a forming bruise in the shape of a boot bottom in the middle of his chest. Porthos cursed as he saw the bruise and wished that he could bring the man who had hurt his brother back to life so that he could kill him himself, slowly and painfully.

Aramis, upon seeing the bruise, gently prodded the area, letting his two concerned brothers know that he felt no broken ribs around the bruise. Moving back to the stab wound, Aramis carefully unwrapped the length of cloth from around d'Artagnan's shoulder, then he slowly pulled the bunched up cloth away to see if the bleeding had slowed. Noting that the wound was now only sluggishly bleeding, he pulled the cloth away and dropped it to the floor. He gathered more cloth that Marie had brought, dipped it in the heated water and began to clean the area. Once clean, he looked up at Porthos.

"I need you to hold him down now, Porthos. I am going to have to check deeper into the wound for any pieces of cloth that may have gotten in from his shirt. It is going to hurt and I cannot see him not awakening," Aramis instructed before looking up at Athos. "Athos, please hold his legs. I do not want to cause any more pain or damage than he's already endured."

Athos nodded and moved toward the end of the bed. He sat at d'Artagnan's feet and placed his hands midway between the unconscious Gascon's knees and ankles. Once both he and Porthos were set, Aramis used some of the wine Marie had brought to pour over his fingers and the tweezer he now held. Once this was done, he used his fingers and the tweezers to search the wound for any particles that may have gotten in. True to Aramis' belief, the pain from his search dragged d'Artagnan awake with a scream tearing from his throat. He weakly thrashed about, but the hold on his upper arms and legs kept him from moving much. Porthos leaned down as far as he could to whisper words of comfort into the Gascon's ear, but the pain was too much for the young man to hear anything, his screams of agony breaking the hearts of all those bearing witness to the pathetic scene. Yvette, unable to take seeing her friend in such a state, burst into tears and ran from the room, her mother close behind. After what seemed like hours, an exhausted d'Artagnan sagged back into the mattress, his screams ceasing, being replaced by weak whimpers before he slipped once again into unconsciousness, much to the relief and concern of his three brothers.

Finally, Aramis finished his search of the wound. He used more of the wine to pour over the injured area, then used a clean cloth dipped in the heated water to clean any remnants of blood and wine away before he took up needle and thread to close the wound. Once the wound was stitched, he used his limited supply of herbs to mix a poultice to put over the wound before he bandaged the shoulder up. With a heavy sigh, he sat back in the chair that had been provided for him and looked at his two tired brothers.

"I've done what I can. Hopefully, the poultice will keep infection away. What he needs now is to rest," he said as his gaze wandered back to his youngest brother.

Porthos nodded, his large fingers absently brushing through the Gascon's sweat soaked hair, then looked up as Marie entered the room.

"'ow is the little one?" Porthos queried when he didn't see Yvette follow her mother in.

"Cried herself to sleep," Marie replied with a sad smile. "She's grown quite fond of d'Artagnan over the past several weeks."

Athos turned and met their host's gaze. "Thank you for taking care of him in our absence. If we could have been here sooner, we would have been," he said.

Marie nodded, her eyes moving to settle on d'Artagnan's lax features. "He mourned your loss, you know," she softly stated as a single tear dropped from her eye to trail down her cheek.

"What?" a startled Aramis asked, his dark eyes coming up to look at Marie.

"When you didn't return and no word came that you had made it back to Paris and would soon be coming for him, he…well, he didn't say it with words, but his eyes and his physical state told me that he was in mourning. He stopped eating for a time. Then, once he had healed enough to get up and move around, he threw himself into fixing things up around here, doing chores. I told him that none of it was necessary, but he insisted that he had to earn his keep, but I knew there was more to it than that," Marie replied.

When three sets of eyes were upon her, she continued. "He was trying to forget…at least for awhile…that he was not going to see you again. Then yesterday he announced that he had to leave. That he knew something bad had happened to you and that he had to find you. He didn't say it, but I knew what he meant. He either had to save you if you were alive, or…or he had to bring you home if you weren't," she explained. "He was ready to leave this morning when those two men appeared."

"Do you know who the men were?" Athos asked as he stood from where he had been sitting on bed and turned to face Marie.

"They were part of the group of men who had attacked you before. They said they wanted the letter and that they knew d'Artagnan had it. They intended to take him to their leader."

"They said they knew d'Artagnan had a letter?" Athos asked.

"They told d'Artagnan that they had captured you three and did not find the letter. They told him that you had given him up, that he had the letter. They told him that they had killed you before coming to find him," Marie replied.

"So they attacked and he fought them to keep from being taken," Porthos said as he looked down at his unconscious brother.

"No, he attacked them to protect Yvette and me. They made…comments about us…about Yvette," Marie responded.

"That sounds like our pup, " Porthos said with a fond smile.

"I think there was more to it than just that," Aramis said as he stood and stepped up beside Athos.

"What more?" Athos queried.

"You said the two men told him that we had given him up," Aramis said. "He may have thought that we were dead, until that very moment, but then they made the mistake of saying that we told them he had the letter. He would know that we would die before putting him at risk. I believe it was then that he knew we were alive."

"That makes sense. The pup knows we would never betray 'im like that," Porthos said.

Athos turned and gazed at the lax face of his protégé and sighed. Guilt filled his heart at the thought of what his young friend had gone through. The grief and devastation that had surely gripped him when the three of them had not returned had to have been horrible to deal with, and yet, he had persevered, even in his weakened state. Finally, he pulled his gaze away from the sleeping Gascon and addressed his two brothers.

"This will never happen again. No matter the circumstances, or the ramifications…we will never leave a brother behind again." At the nods he received from Aramis and Porthos, Athos stood, turned for one last glance at their fourth, then solemnly left the room. When they heard the sound of the front door opening, then closing, Porthos stood and looked first at the door, then at Aramis.

"Should I go after 'im?" the big man asked furtively.

Aramis shook his head in response as he glanced up at his friend. "No, leave him be. He has taken the guilt upon himself and I think he just needs some time to himself to think. He won't go far, not with d'Artagnan in such shape," he responded tiredly.

Porthos nodded, then once again took a seat next to the bed. "It's gonna be a long day," he said as he settled in to help Aramis watch over their pup.

So, that's it for now. I'll work on the next (and most likely final) chapter as often as I can. Hopefully it won't take as long to get posted, but again, no promises. Thanks for reading and for kindly letting me know what you think. Take care.

Cindy