Next chapter complete! I think that from now on I will be posting every other day, hope thats okay :) I apologise again for my awful spanish, enjoy :)

Aramis

"You know that they will send people after us" Melanie said, not drawing her gave away from the window.

"If it is Porthos, Athos and d'Artagnan then we will be fine, and I'm sure they would have hurried to volunteer for this one." He replied, he still felt awful for lying to his friends but he knew they'd forgive him. They were brothers; they wouldn't abandon him over something like this. A small part of him wondered what they would have done if he really had betrayed them but he decided it wasn't really worth contemplating as he would never do that.

"What if it isn't them? What if Richelieu sends the red guards?" Melanie asked

"Treville would never allow that." He said. Treville must know him well enough to know he'd never abandon the musketeers; he wouldn't let Richelieu take charge.

"I know that Aramis, what if he does?" She asked persistently

Aramis looked at her. She was still staring out the window. He insistent questioning was starting to get annoying.

"Then we will fight them off"

"Aramis... I'm scared"

He looked closer at the small girl by the window. Her voice shook and she had her cloak wrapped tightly around her. He was stupid! Why hadn't he realised how afraid she was. He was so used to being in situations like this surrounded by musketeers and he hadn't thought what it must be like for Melanie.

"Melanie, I won't let anyone hurt you. You know that don't you? If they want to get near you, they'll have to come through me first but that's never going to happen because I will kill a thousand men rather than let it happen. Melanie I lo... I care about you. As long as I am here you are safe, do you understand?"

Melanie nodded but her body shook with sobs, Aramis ran to the window and held her in his arms.

"It's alright" he whispered "I've got you"

Athos

"Whoever took Porthos doesn't know who he is, that means they're not from around here." Athos told d'Artagnan as they walked.

"How do you know that?" he asked

"It was unplanned, I'm sure. They couldn't have known he would be there at that time. They must have just seen him as an easy target, assumed he had rich friends who would pay for his freedom"

"Okay, but that doesn't bring us any closer to finding out where they are"

"Maybe not for now..." Athos muttered, not really concentrating. The sun was peeking up over the buildings, midday was gradually drawing closer. If they couldn't find Porthos in time...

Porthos

Keep them talking, Porthos thought. The more they talked the more careless they'd become, letting things slip about their location, how many men there were.

"My friends will not be happy; they are powerful people you know." He said, still trying to keep a gentlemanly tone of voice.

"Good" his captor said "Powerful means rich. Tell me more about these friends of yours, where might they be found?"

"Why should I tell you that?" He questioned

"We need to get a little message to them..."

"Would this be along the lines of 'give us two thousand livre or your friend dies'?" He asked, smiling.

"Not as stupid as you look" the man smiled "But I suppose it wouldn't take a genius to work that one out"

The door at the far end of the room swung open and the grinning man from before entered. He certainly wasn't grinning now.

"Musketeers, que quieren saber acerca de nuestro amigo aquí. Él no es quien dice ser. Su nombre es Porthos de los musketeers del rey.*" Porthos couldn't understand most of what they were saying but he heard his own name and 'musketeers'. They'd found out who he was.

"¡Idiota! ¡Ellos vendrán por él!**" The second man shouted at his accomplice, to Porthos he said. "Monsieur Porthos, there appears to have been a misunderstanding, you are free to go."

"Just like that?" Porthos asked, surprised, letting his posh accent slip.

"It appears you were right about your friends, we cannot have them finding us here."

"So you're just going to let me go?"

"Deberíamos matarlo***" The grinning man interjected, once again grinning.

"Está usted en lo correcto. Pero no podemos decir que****" The second man whispered frantically.

Porthos didn't know whether it was good or bad that the only thing he had understood out of their whole conversation was 'kill him'. He decided to go with good because when the grinning man drew his sword he was ready and rolled out of the way of the strike which would have otherwise sliced his head clean off.

Athos

"There were no hoof prints" d'Artagnan said suddenly. They had been walking round almost in circles without either of them saying a word for a while and Athos wondered for a second what he was on about.

"So they couldn't have gone too far" he agreed "But haven't we checked everywhere near the inn?"

"We didn't check the actual houses" d'Artagnan pointed out.

"Yes but we can't just barge into people's homes without a good reason."

"Finding Porthos isn't a good reason"

"You know I don't mean that. I mean it would technically count as trespassing unless we were certain that they were there."

"Can we at least go back? Perhaps the people will know something. Maybe some people have moved in just recently."

Athos considered this. It couldn't hurt to check. Though he doubted they would be able to rent or buy a house if they needed to kidnap Porthos for the ransom money. They hadn't wandered too far and soon they were again outside the inn.

"Where do we start?" d'Artagnan asked. Athos wasn't listening; he heard a shout that he'd recognise anywhere coming from inside the inn. He sighed.

"Where's the one place we didn't think to look?" he asked angrily, already running into the inn towards the shout. "You stay here!" He called to d'Artagnan as the injured musketeer went to follow him, he didn't want him tear his stitches again. Not least because it would ruin all their hopes of riding by midday. Suddenly he heard the unmistakable sound of a sword slicing through the air and a body falling to the floor. Please don't let it be Porthos, he though desperately. He vaulted over the bar where he found, as expected, a trap door leading don into the cellar. He flung it open and slid down the ladder, drawing his sword and running towards the centre of the dark room. Suddenly an arm wrapped around his throat and pushed him up against the wall.

Porthos

Porthos took advantage of his assailant's surprise at his quick reaction to stand. He was unsteady as his feet were tied but they hadn't thought it necessary to tie them too tight so he could walk but not run. The man brought his sword swishing down again but Porthos dodged it easily. However the other man caught him with a fist in the stomach and he cried out, losing concentration for a minute. The man swung his sword a third time, this time Porthos thought quickly and he turned so that the sword sliced through he ropes that bound his wrists together, however it also unbalanced him because of the ropes around his ankles and he collapsed to the floor. The grinning man laughed and pointed the tip of his sword at Porthos' neck.

"Adios"

A sudden noise from above their heads distracted the men. Porthos kicked the man's leg and stood up again, a satisfied smile on his face as the pal of his hand slammed into the grinning mans jaw and he staggered backwards before falling unconscious to the floor. He grabbed the man's sword as he fell and turned quickly, smashing the hilt against the other man's head and he too fell unconscious. Porthos paused for a moment to untie his ankles then began looking for a way out. It looked like he was in some kind of cellar. Light flooded into the room from a square in the ceiling and a man slid down into the room. Probably another one of those men's accomplices. Porthos sunk quietly into the shadows and grabbed the man as he ran past, slamming him against the wall.

"Porthos?" The man asked and Porthos immediately realised that it was Athos. He released him quickly, apologising.

"I'm just glad to find you alive" Athos said. "We have to leave."

"Why the hurry?" Porthos asked. He'd just escaped from being held captive (admittedly by rather unskilled armatures but it still counted) and Athos wanted to go rushing off?

"Have you forgotten what led you to the inn last night Porthos?"

Porthos didn't want to admit it but he had. A combination of alcohol, head wounds and his Spanish friends had temporarily wiped thoughts of Aramis from his mind but they were now returning with extra pointy edges. He groaned.

"I really hope you have plan Athos"

"Of sorts. We need to leave before midday or the red guards will beat us there. Aramis is in danger unless we can reach him first"

Porthos nodded. That made enough sense.

"Where's d'Artagnan?" he asked

"I asked him to wait upstairs. He is still injures and I though fighting may be required. However you seemed to have dealt with that perfectly well on your own.

"And what's the plan once we find Aramis"

"Prove his innocence and return to Paris without the need for any fighting." Athos stated.

Porthos laughed. "What d'you reckon the chances of that are then?"

*Musketeers, they want to know about our friend here. He is not who he claims to be. His name is Porthos of the king's musketeers.

**Idiot! They will come for him!

*** We should kill him

**** You are right. But we can't say that.

thanks for reading :) I've run out of easter chocolate now so I need reviews for fuel :)