Chapter 10: Finding hope.
Athos woke as a dim light was coming through the window. The three of them had ridden hard yesterday and arrived late to the village they had stayed in the other night. In the same room. Athos looked over to the empty bed and felt such sorrow that Aramis was not with them. After being told that Aramis' body could not be found Porthos and D'Artagnan were allowing themselves to hope, he had seen evidence of it throughout the ride yesterday. Comments, gestures even the occasional smile. But he was holding himself back, trying to be the voice of reason. He didn't doubt that Aramis wasn't not buried under that mud but still alive after an arrow in the back? He wasn't convinced even Aramis could pull that off.
At times like this he wondered if it was worth getting attached to his brothers in the musketeers, not that he had sought out Aramis and Porthos, they had chosen him, and D'Artagnan had fallen in with all three of them by chance. None the less he had felt such grief when the brother he had grown up with had died and he felt a great deal more affection for the brothers he had now. Of course it had been the manner of his brothers death that caused him his grief, the betrayal and loss of his beloved wife. That life had been a lie, and he had never quite felt like it fit. He didn't enjoy being a noble man, dressing up and behaving correctly, the highlight had been the love she had given him and that had been a lie all along. His life among the musketeers felt right, his brothers loved him and supported him no matter what. That they appeared to have lost Aramis hurt him deeply. But he wasn't going to pretend that he was alive when the chance he was was so slim. He freely admitted he was bitter about the people and life he had lost. This time he was determined to be realistic, to not let fate tease and tempt him again.
He sighed, rising from the bed. The movement woke Porthos immediately but D'Artagnan didn't wake until he gave him a pat on the shoulder. They washed and dressed before having a hot breakfast downstairs and setting out again. It was not far up the hill to where the mudslide had been. The road had been repaired but the rest of the hillside was scarred with the destruction of the mudslide. For a moment the three of them stopped and took in the scene.
"What now?" D'Artagnan asked.
"If our attackers left here for some location in the hills in the east of Deverell's lands, south east of here, how did they get there?" Athos started the process.
"They're were a lot of attackers," Porthos continued, "they must have been seen by someone between here and there."
"So we ask anyone in that direction?" D'Artagnan queried and Athos could hear the scepticism in his voice.
"There is a village in the next valley, on the cross point of two roads," Athos told him. "There is a good chance they travelled through there on there way to where ever they went."
"They travelled through the woods," Porthos indicated down the hill in the direction he and Athos had spent so long looking in for any evidence that Aramis might have avoided the mudslide.
"Then we should follow," Athos decided.
They nudged their horses off the road and onto the muddy hillside. The day was sunny, it had been since the mudslide and the ground had dried giving them a solid enough surface to ride on. Once they got a bit further down the hill it flattened out and the path that their attackers might have taken through the woods became more obvious. It was a young wood, parts were impassable on horse back because of the undergrowth which left fewer options to travel. Coupled with a general idea of the direction they must have gone it was easy for Athos to find the path. It was not long before they found proof they were going the right way.
"Athos!" Porthos said from behind him, he turned in time to see Porthos dismounting and picking something up from the forest floor. It was Aramis' hat. "He definitely came this way," Porthos said with a grin.
Athos looked to D'Artagnan to see him grinning too. It was getting harder and harder for him to stop the hope from bubbling up inside him. Porthos put the hat into his saddle bags, before mounting, and they continued onwards.
In heading directly for the village they found themselves emerging from the woodland onto farmland not a great distance from the road they would have been coming down had they continued on the road. They rode onwards into the village proper, stopping outside the village inn and, tying up the horses outside, went in. It was still early and inside the only people were those having breakfast, presumably after having stayed the night. With a glance at his companions Athos approached the bar.
"Good morning sir," the man behind the bar greeted.
"Good morning," Athos replied.
"What can I get you?"
"Are you aware that a few days ago musketeers were attacked on the hill road?" he asked.
"Aye," the man said looking at them with sudden suspicion, "a terrible business that."
"The attackers fled in this direction, did you see them?"
"I didn't see anything, I work in here, I don't watch the road for everyone passing through," the man said defensively.
"There would have been a large group and you didn't notice?" Porthos asked, coming closer
threateningly.
"Hey hey, hold your horses," he put his hands up in a calming gesture. "If you want someone who might have seen them then ask Aldrick, the blacksmith, round the corner. He sees everyone that comes and goes through this village."
"Thank you," Athos said and they left the inn, untying their horses and leading them around the corner. For a village it was quite busy, people going about their business and the musketeers were obviously a curiosity, drawing numerous gazes. The blacksmiths was a large, open fronted business mostly under a wooden porch which would make it easy for the workers there to see what was going on. As they approached a tall man, presumably Aldrick greeted them, wiping his hands on a rag.
"Good day gentleman, need some work doing?" he asked indicating their horses.
"Not currently," Athos replied and he told the man what they were looking for.
"Ah," like the man in the inn, he scrutinised them before replying. "They came through here alright, they were not in any great rush, they stopped to water their horses before riding on."
"Can you describe them?"
Aldrich shrugged, "men on horses."
"How many men?" D'Artagnan asked.
"Maybe forty, maybe more," he answered. "More came through here earlier in the day. On the way back their were fewer men and more horses without riders, but then I suppose you musketeers killed a number of them up in them hills."
Aldrich turned back to sort some of his wares.
"Could you tell if they travelled with prisoners?" Pothos said stepping closer. Athos said nothing, whilst he thought Porthos was still being hopeful, he did want to hear the answer.
"Prisoners? No I saw no such thing, but many of those unmounted houses had bodies on their backs, I assumed they were all dead but I have no evidence of that," Aldrich turned back to them.
"Can you tell us where they went?" he asked.
"I don't know where they were going but they headed out on the east road, it leads up towards the hills. There is talk of villages out that way getting raided, perhaps by the men that came through here," Aldrich replied.
"Thank you," Athos said as the three of them mounted their horses again. "You have been very useful."
"Anything for the king's men," Aldrich said. "Good day."
"And to you," Athos nudged his horse into a fast trot out of the village and along the road Aldrich had indicated. D'Artagnan came up beside him as they left the village and Porthos on the other, the road was easily wide enough to accommodate them.
"Well at least we have a direction," D'Artagnan said, "even if we have no idea where we are going."
"We'll ask again further along the road," Athos told him, he was pretty sure the closer they got to where ever these men came from the easier it would be to find out where it was from the people they passed.
"He couldn't say anything about Aramis though," Porthos said and it was the first time recently that Athos had heard any doubt in his voice.
"Doesn't mean he wasn't among them," he found himself saying, "spotting a musketeer among forty men when you are not looking for him would be difficult."
"And with him injured he wouldn't have been riding," D'Artagnan pointed out. He looked to Athos and Porthos nervously.
"D'Artagnan?" Athos queried what was on his mind.
"Truly though, do you think Aramis could have survived a ride to where ever these men were going? Even just this far is several miles from the hillside and without attention..." D'Artagnan trailed off.
Athos looked to Porthos and realised that Porthos wanted to hear his opinion, his loyalty to Aramis would not waiver but knowing that Athos believed too would mean a great deal to him. For a moment or two Athos concentrated on riding. He could throw his weight behind believing Aramis was alive and he wondered if it would make a difference? Was he not already acting as though Aramis still lived somewhere? Certainly, if they found him dead, all this time preparing himself for the possibility would not change the grief he would experience. And currently they were riding as hard as possible to an unknown destination to rescue him and he was quite prepared to kill anyone that got in his way of doing so. It would make no difference to admit to the others he believed Aramis could yet live. If he let himself hope.
"We have no evidence he is not alive. They took him with them, why would they continue to do so if he had died?" he said to them.
Porthos smiled and Athos knew he had done the right thing, "Aramis is a lucky devil, if anyone could survive this it is him."
"Then the faster we ride the quicker we will find him," D'Artagnan decided, he smiled at them, increasing his speed into a rolling canter and they followed behind.
AN: In this chapter I wanted to explore why Athos may have been a bit more hesitant than the others to believe Aramis is alive; he's older and wiser and a bit more jilted, but at the end of the day or course he is going to believe in his fellow musketeers! So hopefully that works, either way they are tracking him down :-) So this is the first of two chapters today, I'll post the other after the new episode!