Evening My Lovelies

We're heading back to Paris now but that doesn't mean the battles over :)

I know I didnt go into any detail about Athos's fight against Corbin but don't worry that will be brought up again in a later chapter. In all honesty I had forgotten that I planned to mention it until Tidia asked about it in a review so thank you for that :D x

I'm so close to 50 followers now it's so exciting :D I really hadn't expected this story (and my writing) to get the response that it has so thank you all so very much :D

Another two chapters for you all tonight I hope you enjoy

xxx

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the musketeers.

Chapter 10:

The ride back to Paris seemed to drag on forever. In an unspoken agreement the three elder musketeers decided to continue along the back road Porthos and D'Artangan had originally been travelling on as there would be less chance of attack from bandits and it would be much quicker than backtracking to the turn off for the main road.

Unfortunately being a back road it meant that it was poorly maintained in comparison to that of the major roads. Had they all been on horseback it would be a simple task to avoid potholes and uneven ground but with the addition of a wagon they had no such luck at avoiding these obstacles.

This meant that those on the wagon were forced to deal with the constant juddering. For the medic this was nothing more than a minor annoyance but for their battered, bruised and wounded younger brother each rut in the road sent another surge of pain through his already pained body.

Aramis had done his best for the boy, having given him a draught for the pain before they set out – which seemed to be doing little for the young Gascon, and was now laid down beside him, doing his best to brace the younger man against the constant jarring without aggravating the boys injuries further, all the while trying to soothe the Gascon when the pain became too much and he couldn't contain pained whimpers.

Porthos was doing little better than D'Artangan, having declined pain relief before setting out, stating that he was 'fine' the larger man now found himself regretting that decision as the unevenness of the road jarred his pained ribs further, causing black spots to dance across his vision whenever they reached a particularly bad patch of road.

Athos had seen his brother's expression becoming increasingly pained and winced in sympathy – he had been forced to ride with both bruised and broken ribs before and were it not imperative that they reach Paris as quickly as possible he would have insisted that they rest so Aramis could have a proper look at them.

As it were he knew that Porthos would blatantly refuse to rest while D'Artangan was in pain. Athos had enough experience with wallowing in guilt that he could spot the signs a mile off – he could tell his friend blamed himself for their youngest condition, even though he strongly suspected the man himself held no blame on Porthos.

"He won't blame you for this you know" Athos spoke, desperate to remove even just a portion of the guilt from his brother's shoulders.

The grunt he got in response however was not what Athos was after, so the musketeer continued.

"It was a sound strategy splitting up like you did. You had no way of knowing it was Corbin who would attack you, had you not of split up all four of you could have been captured and we would have had no idea what route you had taken and Corbin would have had more time to damage to the lot of you before we could have reached you." Athos reached out to place a hand on Porthos's arm, as he implored, "This is NOT your doing Do not blame yourself for that monsters actions"

Any response the larger man was going to make was stopped before it could even be spoken as a wheezy D'Artangan called out to his brother, "P'thos…"

Porthos was by his little brothers side in an instant and placed a hand on the wounded boy's arm to let him know he was there when he realized that his eyes were glazed over either in pain or fever he couldn't tell but he highly doubted the lad was fully conscious at this point.

"…'ts not…your fault…d'n't blame y'se'f okay" D'Artangan wheezed out before whimpering in pain as the wagon passed over another pothole.

"D'Artangan!" Aramis chided from his spot next to the boy "you need to save your strength! Stop talking and just try to rest you stubborn Gascon. We're approaching Paris now which means I'm going to need to look at that shoulder soon, you need to focus on getting better for now." Sending a concerned look to Porthos "you can nag and yell at Porthos later for now conserve your strength okay?"

Aramis decided to take the boy's silence as agreement to his order before turning to his other brother in all but blood "well you heard the lad" he said nodding to D'Artangan "he doesn't blame you and doesn't want you blaming yourself, surely your honor wont let you ignore a wounded brothers request" the last part said in jest as they all knew he would blame himself until D'Artangan was well again and was lucid enough to coherently tell him that he didn't blame him.

"We're not far from the garrison now" Athos spoke after several minutes of silence between the men – save from pained grunts and whimpers from their youngest.

"Take D'Artangan to my rooms – they're the largest out of all of ours and away from the training courtyard, he'll be able to rest easier there "

"What about you?" Aramis asked, after what they had all just witnessed and experienced he wasn't overly eager for them to be separated anytime soon.

"I'm going to ride ahead and inform Treville as well as things ready for you. – I'm guessing you're going to need hot water ready fast and I doubt Porthos has eaten in a few days. I'll get things sent to my room so you can tend to the boy as soon as you get there."

Nodding in appreciation Aramis gave Athos a list of things he would need ready and the man spurred his horse into a fast canter in the direction of the garrison.

Arriving at the garrison Athos was unsurprised to see Treville approaching him – the man had probably been on lookout for them since they left, though no-one would ever admit it the captain could be as much of a 'mother-hen' at times as Aramis – he just had a different way of showing it.

"Athos!" Treville called as he saw the man dismount his horse "What happened?"

Normally Athos would be much more cordial to his captain, however after the events of the last few days he found he had little patience to deal with anything outside ensuring everything was prepared for his brothers' arrival "Corbin Marshal happened" he all but growled out as he handed the horses reins to the garrisons stable boy.

Treville cursed, he should have known that Corbin would eventually seek revenge against the musketeers for what happened. Paling slightly as he remembered what had become of the last few people that man had gotten his hands on he asked "Porthos? D'Artangan?" The guilt that had been festering within him since learning they were missing grew exponentially as Athos quickly summarized the events, as they knew them – he had sent them out to that, he had sent them right into Corbin's clutches.

"They should be arriving soon and Aramis needs to get to work straight away please have hot and cold water sent to my rooms and some food for Porthos – I doubt Corbin had the decency to feed them during their stay with him"

"Of course" Treville agreed nodding "get whatever supplies Aramis may need from the infirmary and I'll have the water sent up as soon as it's ready"

Giving his thanks to the captain Athos marched to the infirmary to gather supplies and to let an anxious Laurent and Gerard know that although wounded Porthos and D'Artangan were alive before making his way to his rooms to wait for his brothers.