Disclaimer & Spoilers: See Chapter One.
A/N: Another one of the longer chapters...
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Timeline: Missing scene. Takes place between Chapters 10 and 11 of "Family". Post Chores (Chapter Nine). Minor character's POV.
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"What happens if, too early, we lose a parent – that party on whom we rely for everything? What did these people do when their families shrank? They cried their tears,…"
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Chapter Ten: The Message
"While the Captain had already punished the three men responsible for the young man's condition, the three friends also doled their own retribution, until the word silently spread throughout the garrison that d'Artagnan was not to be toyed with again."
~~~~~~~ Chapter 10 of "Family" by Celticgal1041.
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Most people think that because a person is in service, that they are deaf, dumb, and blind to the comings and goings of those people they work for.
For some, that may be the case, but for the vast majority that is simply not true and people were naïve if they thought otherwise. Servants, domestics, retainers, etc. basically chose to not let on that they knew or understood more than their employers and masters thought they did.
Servants, good servants, the best servants are capable of fading into the background of wherever they are employed. People forget that they are even there, and if anyone does realize, then it is assumed that the servant neither cared what was going on nor was paying any attention.
Make no mistake, those who are in service of some kind are paying attention – they are just experts at making you think they aren't. If masters and employers only realized what secrets that servants or other, lower class workers were privy to, then who knows what might happen or how many people would lose their lives in order to keep those secrets.
The vast majority of people in service have no choice but to keep their masters' secrets, lest they be punished or thrown out into the unforgiving streets. For those who do have a choice, it is loyalty that keeps these people perpetually deaf, dumb, and blind. It is loyalty bought with good pay or good treatment. Sometimes it is because there is a fear that a secret's revelation would be traced back to them.
For Serge, that loyalty had been bought long ago through pride of service, his duty to King and Country, and gratitude for being given a place by Tréville despite no longer being able to serve on the front lines alongside his brothers-in-arms. Selfishly, he remains loyal because he enjoys helping the next generation of soldiers reach their full potential even if his current contribution consisted primarily of keeping the men of the Musketeers' garrison well fed.
The young Gascon, d'Artagnan, came to the Musketeers in a whirlwind, challenging the Inseparables to a duel and yet somehow had remained welcome amongst them. Serge has seen for himself that the whirlwind has died down to a gentle breeze in comparison, bringing change with it, but that the lad still has the ability to become a gale force capable of much destruction.
D'Artagnan seems all too adept at finding himself in the eye of the storm, as was the case with the training "incident" with three of the Musketeers that the boy did not usually associate with – Rioux, Barteau, and Girardot.
Serge hadn't personally seen what had happened, but he had overheard enough details from the Musketeers who had been on hand. He'd also had plenty of opportunities to overhear details from one of the men involved.
Because of the punishments assigned to the brawlers, Captain Tréville had given him the help that he needed while his usual kitchen boy was out recovering from being injured in an accident with the oven. Pierre had not been paying attention and had consequently made an error which left him with a large, nasty burn on his arm. He had needed some help until the boy could return to work and Rioux had been assigned to him for a week.
Rioux knew next to nothing about working in a kitchen and Serge mainly had him doing prep work and fetch-and-carry type jobs. The Musketeer tried to save the choicest bits of food for his friends, Girardot and Barteau, on the grounds that their punishment was a job that they had neither signed up for nor were meant to do, but Serge stopped that behavior the first time he had observed it happening.
Rioux almost constantly complained about the work he was being given and basically acted as if he did not deserve his punishment. The younger man often did not immediately follow his orders for the first day or so, but Rioux' attitude quickly changed when Serge threatened to go to Captain Tréville. After that the Musketeer and his friends kept their complaints to themselves, but that didn't mean that Serge did not overhear them.
During that week, where Rioux' punishment had inadvertently become Serge's, the cook had overheard Barteau, Girardot, and Rioux talking about what had led to their "unjust" punishment. In their eyes they had been thoroughly training a would-be Musketeer as per their Captain's orders – or their interpretation of those orders. They saw nothing wrong in their actions and laughed at how they did not give the boy a break, making d'Artagnan continuously train while they traded off and rested in between their "lessons." They hoped the boy would take the hint that informal training arrangements such as d'Artagnan's took away from the training of formal recruits and was not appreciated by them and others of the garrison.
Just like many of the higher-born Musketeers, Girardot, Rioux, and Barteau did not notice his presence in the mess as they discussed these things, yet Serge heard every word. The three of them had ignored him just because he was the cook and no longer in active service. Normally, he did ignore much of the talk, but because d'Artagnan had been friendly and had been kind in continuously acknowledging his existence, Serge listened to every word.
Serge listened to every word and considered what to do with the information he had gained.
One thing he knew for certain was that his young friend, d'Artagnan, must have done something right in order to get Athos, Aramis, and Porthos marginally on his side. The Inseparables were not known for allowing just anyone – in fact, hardly anyone at all – to be included in their activities when off duty. The three men didn't allow just anyone to accompany them on their missions. Athos wouldn't spend time helping to train anyone who wasn't a formal recruit unless he saw something worth cultivating, and the same was true for both Porthos and Aramis.
Serge knew what had happened between Athos and d'Artagnan – both the minor misunderstanding about the apples and the vigorous sparring session that many had been watching with rapt attention. From what he'd overheard, Athos had gone after d'Artagnan like a man possessed in his efforts to teach the boy a lesson about feinting during a sword fight. Serge couldn't think of anyone better suited than Athos to teach the boy what he was doing wrong.
Some of the Musketeers had commented that Athos had seemed angry at d'Artagnan, hence the lesson ending in a minor wound on the boy's forearm. According to Barteau, the wound had been well-deserved if the boy was incapable of learning how to defend against such a simple tactic. Others thought that the flaw in the boy's technique would be corrected with time and experience.
Athos was known to have a mercurial mood, but usually not one to lose his temper. D'Artagnan had managed to mostly keep up with the older man seemingly allowing Athos to blow off some steam, the injury being an unfortunate accident.
As someone who primarily existed in the background of garrison life, he was aware of more than most realized. The Captain had long ago discovered that fact and they often had private discussions about what Serge had overheard or observed happening within the garrison's walls. Because of all the times they had saved each other's lives as soldiers as well as being some of the first to be commissioned as Musketeers, Serge trusted Tréville to not implicate him as the source of the information. The intelligence was used solely to benefit the Musketeers in order to increase the fellowship among them, leading to increased proficiency in working together which ultimately benefited King Louis and France.
Once the week of punishment was over for the three instigators, he and Tréville had spent an evening discussing recent events. Serge praised Porthos for defending the young Gascon despite still recovering from a severe injury. He thought it admirable that Porthos was not willing to allow d'Artagnan to be bullied under the guise of training and an overly-broad interpretation of orders.
He couldn't help but feel pride in the fact that when d'Artagnan finally gave a full report of the incident, the boy had relayed the details in such a way that every word was the truth though no blame was laid on any of the Musketeers' shoulders. Tréville had reduced the boy's punishment down to one full day in the stables instead of the original seven days assigned to bring home the point that withholding information could cause problems or loss of life in the field.
Serge had since learned that d'Artagnan's willingness to submit himself to punishment by the Captain, even though he was not an official recruit, had managed to garner some goodwill with many Musketeers. The cook had also learned that there were definitely some of the men, including Rioux, Barteau, and Girardot, who were unhappy with d'Artagnan's informal status and the fact that the Inseparables were taking valuable time to train him. Surely, there were more worthy young men, actual recruits, who deserved to work with the best of them.
Once the week of punishment was over for the three instigators and he had his kitchen back to himself, Serge had overheard them telling several of their brother Musketeers their version of the events. It seemed that they were trying to get the Musketeers to turn against the boy and to get help in permanently driving d'Artagnan out of the garrison. This was something he could not let stand when he thought that d'Artagnan, if given the chance, had boundless potential to be one of the best of them.
One morning, when d'Artagnan had not yet arrived at the garrison, Serge found a way to casually inform the Inseparables about what he'd overheard, acting as if the three men wouldn't care about the intelligence. When he'd left to go back into the kitchen, he thought he'd heard the word "retribution" being bandied about. The thought of what those three would come up with had made him smile for the rest of the day. He made a note to himself to talk to the Captain about the information he'd shared with Porthos, Aramis, and Athos in hopes that Tréville might be able to unofficially aid in the three Musketeers' plans for retribution.
At the next muster, Serge was on hand to witness Captain Tréville providing the perfect means of allowing Porthos, Athos, and Aramis to get their just retribution – so long as the men realized the chance that they were being given. Serge only hoped that d'Artagnan remained ignorant of the three Musketeers' plans as he thought the boy's Gascon pride would not be able to handle it. He thought it was probably a good thing Tréville had given the boy the day to help his landlord finish fixing the roof before the next storm rolled in.
Tréville had what men who were not assigned missions split up into seemingly random groups to work on the various skill sets. Serge had to smile when he saw the recognition dawn on Athos's face before a positively feral expression replaced it. Athos had quickly gestured to Aramis and Porthos, and after less than a minute's discussion, they all had one version or another of mischievous expressions on their faces. Serge still had work to do, but he decided it could wait just to see what Aramis, Porthos, and Athos would do to the poor, unsuspecting Musketeers who had dared to hurt a young man he had a feeling would become a great and dear friend to the three men.
Porthos and Rioux had been assigned to the same group of Musketeers waiting to practice their skills at hand-to-hand combat. Porthos, as usual, dominated the group, winning every practice bout, but only one of the matches held any particular interest for him. Serge moved from his place in the background just in time to see a wicked grin steal over Porthos's face when the man he was next paired with was Rioux. For his part, Rioux didn't seem to understand why that wicked grin being aimed at him meant that he was in serious trouble.
And serious trouble is exactly what Rioux quickly found himself to be in. Porthos was as skilled as usual, but also seemed unusually vicious in his approach to the match. The larger Musketeer seemed particularly determined to do some serious damage, but held back just enough to not cost him his commission. Serge saw Rioux get thrown to the ground more than once and Porthos "accidentally" connect with the man's ribs. By the time they had finished, Rioux could barely stand up straight and Porthos looked as if he had just won the biggest jackpot ever.
Serge slipped back into the shadows and wandered over to where the Musketeers conducted target practice. Aramis and Girardot had been assigned to this group to train. When the men realized that Aramis was in their group, Serge heard more than one groan of dismay because they knew there was no chance to beat the marksman's skill. Serge honestly didn't know how Aramis intended on settling the score with Girardot, but guessed that the man might lean towards something he'd heard about in church once: an eye for an eye. Serge just hoped that Aramis didn't take that concept too far.
In the end, Aramis's form of retribution was over almost too quickly. All the men took their time to load their weapons and started taking turns at the targets provided. Aramis aimed and fired his pistol in rapid succession, easily hitting his target's bullseye dead center. Aramis then stepped out of the way to allow someone else to shoot while he reloaded his weapon. Just as Girardot was about to step up and take aim, the sound of a lone pistol going off rent through the air, hitting the outer rim of the bullseye and just narrowly missing hitting Girardot.
Everyone turned towards the direction of the gunfire to see Aramis looking shocked and mortified that his weapon had "accidentally" misfired. Aramis carefully set his pistol on a nearby table, looking at it as if it had betrayed him before rushing over to Girardot and profusely apologizing for what happened. Girardot looked exceedingly rattled by what had happened and had to sit down for a while before he was calm enough to continue training, though the man never once hit anything but the outermost rim of the target.
By the time Serge made it over to where the men were practicing sword fighting, Athos was just about to defeat a younger Musketeer named Soisson, while sending the occasional glare towards Barteau's direction. It seemed Athos wasn't even making an attempt at being subtle in his desire to dispense his retribution. Athos finally took mercy on Soisson and disarmed the younger man in a move that few could imitate with any precision.
Athos had to spar with two other Musketeers throughout the morning before he finally got his chance to go up against Barteau. Serge had had to make a start on preparing the midday meal but managed to return just after the two started to circle each other, wondering who would make the first move. Athos's expression was nearly blank and one of pure concentration; Serge could easily see that it was unnerving Barteau. It unnerved the man so much that it goaded Barteau into attacking first. Every move was countered with ease by Athos, who looked almost like he was bored and hardly making an effort – which was likely true.
This only infuriated Barteau, who attacked with renewed vigor over and over again, but every move continued to be countered. Then suddenly it seemed as if Athos had made a mistake, which Barteau attempted to immediately take advantage of. However, the move was not a mistake by Athos but a clever ruse to lure Barteau in by pulling his strike and feinting from the other side before disarming his opponent. It was a move familiar to anyone who had seen Athos and d'Artagnan sparring not too long ago.
Athos picked Barteau's sword up off the muddy ground and stepped in close to hand it to his now-defeated opponent. Serge was just close enough to the two to hear Athos say a few words to Barteau, which caused the man to pale slightly.
"Let us hope that this lesson will not be in vain," Athos sneered before backing away.
Somehow Athos had learned about Barteau's "lesson" to d'Artagnan and had used it to teach the man a lesson of his very own.
As Serge made his way back towards the kitchen, he had to fight to keep his expression neutral, especially since he kept encountering the confused looks of several Musketeers who were probably wondering what he was doing outside the mess hall so close to the midday meal.
All throughout both the midday and evening meals, he had overheard various groups of Musketeers quietly talking amongst themselves, and saw them occasionally glancing towards the table where Rioux, Girardot, and Barteau were sitting. The new consensus seemed to be that the three men had gone too far in their training of d'Artagnan. The other consensus that seemed to have been reached was that the Musketeers were not to toy with d'Artagnan unless they wanted to face the wrath of Athos, Aramis, and Porthos.
Later that night, Serge and Tréville were sitting before the mess hall's fire, each enjoying a small glass of Armagnac brandy. Aside from them, the room was empty except for a couple of Musketeers playing chess in the far corner.
"Do you think the rest of the Musketeers got the message?" Tréville quietly asked before taking a sip of his drink.
Serge grinned and replied, "From what I've 'eard, I think they got the message loud and clear."
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The end.
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A/N: The misunderstanding about apples is a reference to something that happened in the "Day Three" section of Chapter Five: Getting to Know You.
Next time: Chapter Eleven: Land of the Living
Thanks for reading!