Ch 12 An Attempted Assassination.
The four turtles raced on the road back to Paris. As they pass village after village, Raphael aims a crossbow with a piece of paper on the arrow. He lets it fly and it hit its mark in the center of a tree. The villagers, anxious to see what it says, quickly run to retrieve it.
"Over here!" One villager calls out. "What does it say?" Another demands.
ALL FOR ONE….ONE FOR ALL
The message is clear and one by one, musketeers throughout villages in France, gather their blue tunics along with their weapons and race back to Paris to save their king.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It is the day of the King's birthday and citizens from all over France have come to the castle to honor their new King. While both humans and mutants mill around in the courtyard along with several of the Cardinal's guards, the musketeers and Mikey blend in with them attempting to find the assassin.
"Search the perimeter." Leo says pulling Mikey close to him. "I'll try to find the King."
"But…."
"Go!" Leo yells pushing Mikey away before he can continue his protest.
Inside the castle, the King's royal subjects line the hallway along with more of the Cardinal's guards. Saki makes his way to the front of the hall as the crowd parts allowing him to pass. He stands at the head of the line and watches as the King and Queen make their entrance.
"You look beautiful." King Casey says as the Queen places her arm on his.
"Thank you.' She replies rather hesitantly and looks away from him.
"Is something wrong?" Casey asks as they slowly make their way toward the balcony overlooking the courtyard.
As they pass the Cardinal, April looks toward him and watches as he turns his head slightly toward her, his eyes once again roaming over her figure as they walk by.
"Cardinal Saki." April whispers.
"Yes?" Casey asks, urging her to continue.
"He is an evil man." She states in a harsh whisper.
"Do not believe every rumor you hear." Casey replies. "He is powerful."
"I ride through the countryside every day." April tells him. "I've seen the uses of his power."
"Power sometimes frightens." Casey replies.
"Here in the palace I've seen it too." She says as she looks slightly behind her noticing Tiger Claw coming up on her right side while the Cardinal is coming up on the King's left.
"I know." Casey finally admits in a shaky voice.
"What should we do?" April whispers urgently.
"I'm not sure," Casey tells her as he takes a deep breath. "We will do it together." He looks at her with an encouraging glance as they step onto the balcony.
Meanwhile, Mikey is running through the crowd looking up toward the castle, his eyes roam over all the guards lined up along the palace steps and grandstands overseeing the crowd. He finally looks up to the rooftops and sees a light shining from the corner of the roof. He runs back through the crowd and makes his way over to the back of the castle to a flight of stairs leading to where the lone assassin waits for his target to make his entrance.
Trumpet fanfare sounds throughout the courtyard as the balcony doors open and the royal couple step outside to greet their subjects. The crowd cheers as the King and Queen wave and smile down at them unaware of the gun aimed at the King's head.
Saki, standing behind the King, seethes in anger as Casey places his hand tenderly over Aprils. He looks up and over to where he knows the assassin, Hun, is hiding, unaware of Mikey running through the halls of the palace in an attempt to get to the roof before the gun is fired.
As Hun cocks his rifle and readies himself, behind him, Mikey has climbed up the other side of the roof and looks down at the assassin aiming his rifle at the King, he silently brings himself over the corner and slides down the roof, hitting the assassin just as the gun is fired causing the bullet to hit a corner of the balcony by the King.
As the crowd shouts and screams in terror, the three Musketeers look up to where Mikey is now engaged in an all-out fight with Hun.
Meanwhile up in the balcony, the Cardinal is directing Tiger Claw to take the King and Queen back inside. "Captain," He shouts. "Protect their Majesties, get them inside!"
Realizing the Cardinal's attempt, Casey looks over at Saki angrily. "Saki!" He yells out as he pushed back into the castle.
The three musketeers remove their brown cloaks revealing who they are and stand in the courtyard watching as Mikey struggles with the assassin. Saki looks down at them and sneers angrily as he realizes they have thwarted his plans to kill the king. "Kill those musketeers!" He calls to his guards standing in the courtyard. "They're trying to murder the King!" He leers down in anger at them before disappearing inside the castle.
The musketeers remove their weapons and prepare to battle, while in front of them a long line of the Cardinal's guards have also removed their weapons in preparation of killing them. The three of them look to each other feeling the situation hopeless until, behind them, several more men have joined them. As each person removes their cloak, the guards see they also wear the musketeer tunic and all are prepared to fight to the death for their King.
Leo, Raph and Donnie smile at each other and lift their weapons, "SAVE THE KING!" Leo yells and all rush toward the guards in an attempt to take back the palace and save the royal couple.
Dozens of soldiers in both blue and red tunics charge at each other with weapons drawn. Immediately, the courtyard becomes littered with wounded or dead bloodied bodies as the musketeers attempt to get into the castle.
Meanwhile, on the roof, Mikey struggles desperately to disarm Hun and push him off the roof. At one point, however, Hun manages to smack Mikey in the face with his elbow and forces him away from him. He succeeds in getting on top of the small turtle and pushes his left hand against Mikey's chin in an attempt to choke him but Mikey is able to push him back. Hun yanks Mikey up and continues to try and push him off the roof. But as Mikey continues to fight, Hun is able to bend down and remove a knife from within his boot. Mikey blocks his attempt at thrusting it into his head by grabbing Hun's arm with both hands and smashing Hun's hand against his knee causing the knife to fall. Hun, however, is able to now smash his fist against Mikey's face and finally forces the young turtle to fall off the roof. Flailing his arms, Mikey twist his body around and grabs onto a flag just behind him. Hun jumps down to a lower ledge while unsheathing his sword preparing to slice into the turtle. But Mikey quickly removes a sword from underneath his tunic and, while holding onto the flag, continues to battle Hun.
Below in the courtyard, the other three turtles along with their fellow musketeers are still battling the Cardinal's guards. Donnie manages to take two guards out while Leo thrust and parries against one guard after another.
"Go with God." Donnie says as he slices a guard across the middle.
Raph, using one sai to fight a guard, removes his gun taking the guard completely by surprise, and shoots him dead. He then fights another guard and manages to stab the guard with a blade that slides out of the gun. "Oh, I like this." Raph purrs as he looks over the now bloody weapon. Another guard runs up to him and Raph blocks a swing of the sword then stabs the guard with the gun's blade in his chest.
Leo, meanwhile, glances up to see Mikey is dangling from the flag and struggling to hold on while fending off Hun. Leo runs to Raph upon realizing Mikey will not be able to hold on much longer. "I think our young friend could use some help." He tells Raph.
"Hold this." Raph says as he hands Leo his sai then promptly removes his crossbow while Leo continues to battle the guards coming at them with both his katana and the sai.
Raph looks up to the roof and takes aim. He releases the arrow and shoots Hun in the chest. Mikey gasp in surprise as the arrow flies by him and watches as the assassin falls to his death. Clinging to the flag, he looks down at the courtyard to see Raph with his crossbow out and, with a pained look, mockingly bids farewell to Hun.
"It's about time," Mikey yells down at him.
Raph smirks up at him. "Come Michelangelo!" He yells out, "We're saving the King!"
While the musketeers and the Cardinal's guards battle outside, inside Saki is making his way to where Tiger Claw, along with several other guards, has forced the King and Queen back into their throne room.
"You've failed!" Casey tells him as he struggles in the hands of two of the guards.
Saki looks down at the boy and laughs. "Oh," He taunts him. "You are so naïve." He turns and makes his way to the thrones. "Things couldn't be more perfect if I'd planned them myself." He states proudly as he stands in front of the thrones. "The king of France dies at the hands of his own personal guard." He turns back to the royal couple, "Grief stricken, terrified, the huddled masses turn for comfort to their devout spiritual leader." He places his hands beneath his chin in a praying gesture. "Who, ever so humbly, assumes the throne," He splays his robe across the King's throne as he sits then places his hand on the Queen's throne and leers at her. "With the Queen by his side."
April looked up at him in disgust. "I would rather die!" She tells him angrily while struggling in hands of a guard.
Enraged, Saki stands and kicks the footstool across the room. "THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!" He yells at her. His booming voice echoes in the room and causes everyone to flinch. Taking a deep breath, Saki slowly seats himself back down. "But first your reluctant husband will be found pierced through the heart by the blade of a weapon belonging to a musketeer." He says calmly as Tiger Claw removes Mikey's nun-chucks from his belt. "From the same weapon that failed to protect his father."
Casey gasps and continues to struggle as the tiger makes his way menacingly toward him. With an evil glint in his eye, he brings the blade closer to the King's chest.
April, who is also still struggling to get out of her captor's grip, begins to sob as she watches the evil cat about to slice into Casey's chest.
But before Tiger Claw can complete the evil deed, loud banging and shouting can be heard coming into the castle. They look to the entrance and watch as the battle from the courtyard has spilled into the throne room. Tiger Claw quickly runs over to where Leonardo is battling furiously with a guard while Saki stands slowly and watches in mounting apprehension. The guards holding the King and Queen quickly force them away from the battle and over to the corner as they wait for Saki to command them.
Leo glares at Tiger Claw and swings his sword. "I hope we're not interrupting." He says as the tiger removes his black tunic and prepares to do away with the blue clad terrapin.
"No, on the contrary," Tiger Claw assures him as he tosses the tunic away. "You're right on time." He throws his hat to the side as the two warriors begin their fight. Behind them, more musketeers and guards continue to battle and fall.