Authors note: Again, thanks for the reviews. And I still don't know nothing about medicine!

Chapter Seven

Lemay preferred to work alone, he was glad when Treville dismissed the other musketeers. Their help had been appreciated initially, but when it came to the medical side of things it was easier for him to just get on with it. If he were to work with someone it was preferable they were calm and did not have a problem taking instruction.

He was still puzzling over Aramis. There really did not seem to be any reason for his continued unconsciousness. After the others had left he had rechecked the silent marksman. His wrists had bled, and some of the cuts were quite deep. The wounds were relatively clean. He was content to leave Aramis whilst he dealt with the more obviously injured Porthos.

Lemay began with Porthos' arm, he manipulated the arm slightly to align the broken bone. The man was lucky only one of the bones in his forearm had broken and it seemed to be a clean break. It would take a while, but it would mend well. Setting the bone straight did bring forth a moan of pain but the man did not wake up.

There was movement behind him, he turned, expecting to see d'Artagnan waking up, instead he was met with a confused looking Aramis standing right in front of him. Confused and angry, or scared, it was difficult to tell. But Lemay did not get much of chance to contemplate the musketeer's emotion as he was flung against the wall with a lot of force. Aramis grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him up pinning him to the wall.

Aramis eyes were glazed. Lemay realised the man was not doing this consciously. He had no idea what he was doing. Despite this, Lemay still needed to get away from the raging, confused man.

He was no fighter, and knew he stood no chance against a trained soldier, particularly one who appeared to be acting on some primal instinct.

He managed to kick over the table that held his medical equipment, the metal items crashed to the floor. This distracted Aramis for a second, Lemay tried to struggle free. Aramis changed the position of his hands to around Lemay's neck.

Before Aramis had time to start throttling Lemay, the physician yelled for help.

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Treville entered the room after Athos, who was already reaching for Aramis. They had only needed a second to assess the situation. For some reason Aramis appeared to be trying to kill Lemay. The doctor was pinned to the wall, Aramis' hands were around his neck.

Athos had grabbed Aramis and was trying to pull him off. The marksman released one hand from Lemay and pushed Athos away. Athos stumbled back a few steps, falling to the floor, obviously surprised at the strength that his friend suddenly had.

The brief respite from being strangled meant Lemay had time to breathlessly say, 'he's drugged, he doesn't know what he's doing…'

Aramis returned to his murderous task. Treville wasted no time in stepping forward he reached out to Aramis bleeding wrist and grabbed it hard, and squeezed. He knew this would injure the man further but he also hoped it would distract him long enough to let Lemay go. The physician was starting to turn blue from the continued assault.

Athos was back with them, he grabbed Aramis from the other side. Treville's plan worked as Aramis let go of Lemay who crumpled to the floor, breathing hard and clutching at his throat.

Aramis struggled against them but Treville continued squeezing the already injured wrist, gradually the fight went out of Aramis who seemed to just wilt between the two of them. They manoeuvred him back onto the bed.

'Get some straps and tie him down. We don't know how long the drug will take to leave his system,' said Treville.

Athos nodded and moved away, whilst Treville held Aramis down. He was still struggling weakly, Treville was more concerned that he may hurt himself now. Aramis was mumbling incoherently, his eyes unfocused and confused. Athos returned with several weapon belts which they used to secure the drugged man's wrists and ankles to the frame of the bed.

Lemay had recovered enough to return to their side, 'try not to damage his wrists any further,' he said hoarsely. He was feeling the wrist that Treville had grabbed, bruising already obvious.

'Sorry,' said Treville, 'I couldn't think what else to do.'

'It worked, for which I am grateful,' replied Lemay.

'How long will he be like this?' asked Athos, watching his clearly confused friend pull at the straps holding him down.

'I don't know,' said Lemay, 'without knowing what he has been drugged with I cannot treat him. Anything I give him may make it worse, we will just have to hope it does not affect him adversely any further. With luck, it will just wear off.'

They watched as Aramis gradually calmed down and either passed out or fell asleep, exhausted from his recent exertions.

Treville turned to Lemay, 'are you OK?' he asked looking at the red marks on the physician's neck.

'I don't think he did any permanent damage…' Lemay paused then said, 'I think I would prefer there to be someone in here from now on. Someone he knows, who can try and talk to him if he comes around again and is still suffering from the effects of being drugged.'

Treville nodded, 'we can take it in turns,' he said indicating himself and Athos.

Lemay went back to his work on Porthos, although obviously shaken, he appeared committed to helping the injured musketeers.

Athos turned to Treville, 'Aramis said something about them wanting to know about a shipment…and something about Dordogne…does that mean anything to you?'

Treville did know what it meant, 'I dispatched four men to accompany a shipment yesterday, but only they were briefed about it…I don't understand why Aramis was talking about it.'

Athos settled in a chair by Aramis' side and wondered again, what had happened.

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D'Artagnan woke with a start, he sat up and instantly regretted it. He groaned as the various bruises he had received falling down the stairs made themselves known. As the memories of his recent misadventure came back to him he realised he was sitting on a bed in the garrison infirmary. He looked across the room and saw Athos looking at him.

'Welcome back.'

Athos rose from where he was and crossed the room to d'Artagnan who had swung his legs off the bed and was sat assessing if he could chance standing up or not. He felt a bit dizzy, but did not feel like he would pass out.

'You are concussed, stay there for now,' commanded Athos as he reached the young musketeers side. He picked up a cup of water, handing it to him.

D'Artagnan took it gratefully, his throat was parched and he remembered how thirsty he had been in his little prison for all those hours. Once he had drunk his fill he looked across the room. He was heartened to see both Porthos and Aramis being tended to by Lemay. The straps on Aramis' wrists and ankles drew his attention.

Before he could ask Athos filled him in, 'we think Aramis was drugged, he attacked Lemay a little while ago, we had to tie him down in case it happened again…we hoped you might be able to tell us what happened…you were not very coherent when you returned to the garrison last night.'

'I don't know anything about Aramis being drugged…I'm not really sure what went on…I was trapped in a cupboard…'

Athos looked at d'Artagnan, clearly not expecting to hear that. D'Artagnan related all that he had heard from his unexpected prison and how he had finally been able to escape but had to face Briand and nearly did not make it out alive.

Athos listened intently until d'Artagnan had finished. He paused contemplating the information before finally saying, 'without your actions I doubt any of you would have made it out of there. It is quite clear this Briand was intent on killing Porthos and Aramis and would have killed you too.'

'Do you have any idea about this shipment?' asked d'Artagnan.

'Treville thinks he may have worked out how Aramis' name has become linked to this information, he has gone to the Palace to check on something, I doubt he will be long.'

'How is Porthos? It sounded like they were giving him quite a beating.'

'He has a lot of bruising, he must have been beaten with a stick or something as well as punched multiple times. And he has a broken arm, although Lemay says it is a clean break and will heal well. He hasn't regained consciousness yet.'

They both looked over as Aramis stirred. Athos hurried over to the side of the bed. Despite being told to stay where he was d'Artagnan followed.

Wild unfocused eyes met theirs. Aramis looked very confused, he tugged at his restraints and tried to sit up. Athos firmly pushed him down, but d'Artagnan could tell that he struggled to keep the thrashing man still.

Aramis turned his head and seemed to focus on Porthos, who was lying to his right. Aramis did all he could to reach the unconscious musketeer. He started shouting, most of it incoherent but they could pick out the words 'Porthos,' 'I don't know,' 'he needs help,' and 'unchain me'.

'Aramis!' said Athos firmly.

Aramis did not respond, he kept trying to reach Porthos.

'Aramis, you are safe, Porthos is safe, calm down.'

It did not help, d'Artagnan felt helpless as Athos continued to speak to Aramis who did not seem to know he was there.

Lemay watched from the other side of Porthos' bed where he had been working, d'Artagnan noticed the angry bruising around the physician's neck. He did not like to think about what had happened earlier.

Aramis gradually calmed down and passed out again. D'Artagnan stepped forward and helped Athos to straighten up the drugged man who had managed to twist himself and his blankets into a confused heap.

Lemay said, 'I don't think that was as intense as the first time, hopefully the drug is wearing off. Do his wrists need redressing?'

D'Artagnan noticed the bandages that encircled each of Aramis' wrists. The left one was bleeding.

'I can do it,' he said.

Lemay nodded. Athos picked up the chair by the bed that had been knocked over as they dealt with Aramis. He indicated for d'Artagnan to sit as he gathered fresh bandages and water. He laid the items down on a table next to d'Artagnan and allowed the young man to help his friend.

The door to the infirmary opened, Treville was back. He did not look happy.

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