Chapter 11 - Taking Action


"We have to move fast," said D'Artagnan at the table that night in Porthos's house (or the upper story of a house). Apparently, it was a well-established tradition that each of the Musketeers would invite the others over for a day, alternating several times per week without any set pattern. Annette soon learned that this arrangement provided food for any Musketeers in hard times, made it harder to predict where they'd all be on a certain day, and allowed everyone to stay together in case of trouble.

I just hope I have enough money left when it's my turn, thought Annette as she ate sparingly. These Musketeer uniforms sure are expensive to replace. And she was still feeling somewhat unused to all of this - life with the Musketeers, that is. For one thing, their drink of choice was wine instead of water.

"That necklace is definitely the Queen's, by the way," said Aramis. "The one she usually wears at the ball - like the one a week from now. One of her ladies-in-waiting told me about it once."

"Aha! Aramis has a lady friend!" sang Porthos, joined by Planchet the servant, and Aramis blushed furiously.

"She is simply a friend!" he protested, although he'd already given himself away. "Look at you and yourladies!" he shot back at Porthos.

"Remember, I scared them all off last time with my manliness?"

"At last, you admitted it!" Aramis was triumphant. "Except the manliness part," he coughed.

"What did you say, Aramis?"

"Nothing, nothing at all!" Aramis said cheerfully, beaming at a bemused-looking Porthos.

Athos was still observing Annette from across the table. True to form, he was probably making sure she didn't secretly poison the food and drink, but she was rather unnerved nevertheless. She turned to D'Artagnan, who was observing Aramis and Porthos's verbal fight interestedly.

"Are they always like this?" she asked.

"Yes. It's rather entertaining to watch, actually. Especially when Porthos introduces hand motions to go along with his speeches." Several jewels from the overhead chandelier rained down on the table, soon followed by the chandelier itself. "...Take that, for instance."

"It really is rather exciting," said Annette, although she was trying not to laugh. "Thank goodness you saved the food though, D'Artagnan."

"Of course. I don't like seeing my friends starve just because one is completely boisterous."

Annette didn't really want to ruin the cheerful mood, but thoughts of Milady and Buckingham were also nagging at her. "So, what do we do about the necklace again?"

"Buckingham is always after money, as is well known by the English," Athos interjected, and Annette thought she knew why he emphasized the word 'English.' "But what's significant is that it may be one of the necklaces His Majesty King Louis had made for her. And if it's found in Buckingham's possession ..."

"They're trying to brew up a scandal!" Annette gasped in shock. All heads turned to look at her, and she blushed. "Sorry."

"No, I think you're right, André," said D'Artagnan. "He and Milady must also be working with the cardinal, who probably wants the throne for himself. We can only hope the cardinal and Buckingham aren't working to take over all of Europe or something."

"The first thing, then, would be to send a spy into Buckingham's palace, and find out what exactly he's planning," suggested Athos, although he sounded as though he'd planned this all out a long time ago. He gave Annette a significant look, and she sighed inwardly, summoning her courage to say the words.

"I'll go." Her voice was soft, but somehow everyone heard. Even Porthos and Aramis were listening.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" D'Artagnan asked. "You don't know how dangerous that is ..."

"I'm a Musketeer, remember?" Annette said firmly, though she secretly appreciated D'Artagnan's concern (she was feeling rather scared herself). "What better way to prove myself than by accomplishing such a task?"

"Exactly," said Athos, and D'Artagnan had to agree. "We'll set out tomorrow at first light -"

There was a loud banging on the door, followed by the sound of a harsh voice. "Musketeers! Surrender yourselves immediately!"

"- Or now," Athos amended quickly, standing up and going over to the window. He looked out, then turned back around with a grim expression on his face.

"It's Rochefort, Jussac and at least forty other men out there with torches."

"Who are Rochefort and Jussac?" Annette asked.

"Rochefort's captain of the Cardinal's guards, Jussac is second-in-command," D'Artagnan informed her. "If they realize we know about Milady and Buckingham, then this means that the Cardinal really is involved in all this."

"Or they're just looking for a rematch to that fair fight we gave them last time," Athos said dryly.

"You should've seen me - I threw logs at the lot of them!" Porthos said proudly to Annette and D'Artagnan. "Shall I this time, Athos? With the flaming ones? Please?"

"No," said Athos, who was already moving. "We have to get to our horses -"

"Surrender, now!" Rochefort bellowed from down below. "Don't even think of escaping - your horses are safe here with us." Jussac and the other guards guffawed.

It wasn't a laughing matter, though. They couldn't escape, and Rochefort had said he'd burn them out. Come to think of it, Annette did smell something ... burning. And it wasn't the fire.

D'Artagnan seemed to have realized this, too. "They must have set fire to the house!" Already the crackle of flames could be heard down below.

Planchet spoke. "What do we do now, good sirs? We'll all be killed -"

"Shut up, Planchet," said Athos, Porthos, and Aramis in unison, and the rotund servant retired to the fireplace in offended silence.

Annette said nothing. She had just been observing the roof, or rather, the section of the roof that had been removed to form a small window ...


D'Artagnan wanted to praise André for his quick thinking (not many people would have chosen to escape peacefully when there was a fight to be had - D'Artagnan was not one of them), but he had to keep quiet for now. Escaping swiftly and quietly was the order of the day, though it was no easy matter, especially when it involved scrambling over a rather slippery and steep roof with the Cardinal's guards directly below ... But at least the smoke from the growing fire obscured them from view.

All he knew was that the Cardinal's guards might be paying some big money for that house ... or not, if it was covered up and simply reported as an accident - which was the more likely result. (They were,however, going to get a nice sound drubbing from Porthos, entirely free of charge.)

On another note, D'Artagnan had never thought he'd feel so thankful for the existence of clotheslines. They really helped when you were trying to get down from a twenty-foot-tall roof. Of course, the Musketeers had to hop over several of these roofs before they were safely out of range of the Cardinal's guards, but it was no problem - except, maybe, for Planchet.

"I'm never walking on roofs again!" declared a shivering Planchet after they were out of earshot (naturally followed by a chorus of "Shut up, Planchet"), while Porthos bemoaned his burned-down house.

"Don't worry, Porthos, we'll all be rewarded if we succeed in this mission," consoled D'Artagnan, at which Porthos perked up slightly.

Athos began to speak, and they all fell silent. "We'll need to find horses, get to a port, and sail to England. Any ideas?"

"How about Calais?" suggested André. "From there, we can have a relatively short journey to England." Everyone agreed.

"As for the horses ... perhaps Monsieur de Treville would let us borrow some, since we've just happened to reach his villa," D'Artagnan pointed out.


"I still miss my horse," said Aramis as they finally rode out of Paris and began making their way north - northeast, to be exact.

"I still miss my house, so kindly shut up."

"In our hurry, I wasn't able to get my all-heal ointment, so you should both be quiet," interrupted D'Artagnan.

"Fine. But allow me some time to pray for a safe journey, at least."

"No. You just put me in a bad mood. Would you like to be my punching bag instead?"

"Could you two kindly stop arguing," interjected Athos, sounding annoyed.

"But ... but it's such a good way to pass the time!" protested Porthos.

Athos sighed. "You two argue more than an old married couple." (D'Artagnan and André collapsed in laughter.)

"... Is that a compliment, coming from the great noble Athos? I really, really hope so -"

"No."