"Is that all of them?" Athos looked around the room to see if there were any remaining soldiers but, he could not see any.
"I think so," Porthos replied.
"Don't be fooled. Porthos and I thought they were gone as well last time; we were wrong," Aramis said.
Porthos put his sword away. "No, I think we have them all. There are no more soldiers around here."
Athos made a sigh of relief and put his sword away, as well. "Good."
"How do you think Arabella and D'Artagnan are doing? Do you suppose Buckingham has finished them off?" Porthos asked.
Aramis glared at him. "God forbid!"
"I almost forgot about those two," Athos confessed.
"What is the matter with you two? Let's go help!" Aramis said as he walked out of the Tower and went to the airship.
"Hello, Sir!" A cheerful Planchet greeted Aramis on deck.
"Hello. We shall wait for the other two and then we are getting ourselves back up to the roof so we can help D'Artagnan and Arabella."
"That is, if they are still alive." Porthos had joined Aramis on the airship followed by Athos.
"They're still alive," Athos said.
Planchet went to the top deck of the ship and stood in front of the wheel to guide the air ship.
"How are the King and Queen?" Athos asked.
"Oh! The King and Queen are sure to be home safe and sound by now, Sir."
"That's good news."
"And they wish you all luck in your endeavors on defeating Buckingham and Milady De Winter."
"Oh, thank you. It's a tad bit late for that; wouldn't you agree?" Athos asked.
"Alright, are we ready to get back up to the roof?" Aramis asked as he walked up to Planchet and Athos.
Planchet nodded and grabbed hold of the wheel. "Ready when you three are!"
"Well, you best believe we are ready. Is there any wine on board?" Porthos asked.
"Porthos, we are not facing Buckingham while intoxicated. We'll be dead in an instant," Aramis scolded.
"It's not as if we haven't done that before!" Porthos laughed.
Aramis ignored his comment and changed the subject. "I don't see anything happening on the roof from here. Do you think they may be on the other side of the roof or on the edge, where we cannot see them, perhaps?"
Athos shrugged. "We won't know until we're up there."
To Arabella, it seemed as if it had been forever since she had begun this duel with Buckingham on the roof of the Tower of London. In reality, it had only been fifteen minutes. It had all started out with her confident lunge of the sword and Buckingham's hasty block of the attack. Soon, the two had begun their fight. It was the fight that would determine the fate of the other sibling. If Buckingham killed Arabella, France would continue to live in fear and if Arabella killed Buckingham, France would be free of that fear but, Arabella knew that she would have to live with that ongoing guilt; even if it was the right thing to do for the ones she cared for.
The fight was a tiring one that Arabella had to face all on her own. D'Artagnan had not woken up. He was still lying on the floor. The only injury Arabella had sustained so far was a bruise on her arm from being knocked into the stone by Buckingham. She also had that injury on her head from earlier that day. Twice during the fight she had gotten dizzy because of it but, she decided to ignore it and keep fighting on.
"Feeling light headed again, Arabella?" Buckingham asked as he lashed out his sword, but, the attack was countered by Arabella, resulting in Buckingham having a new wound on his shoulder. His eyes were now full of rage and his slammed his body against hers with all of the strength he had at the moment. Arabella fell back but caught her fall. If he had pushed her any farther, she discovered, she would have fallen right off the roof. Buckingham was now standing over her with his sword aiming right at her. He quickly plunged the sword down but Arabella's movements were quicker than his. She rolled over to the side, nearly avoiding death, once again. She quickly stood up and lunged her sword at Buckingham but he blocked it, once again and grabbed her wrist.
"Wait, wait, no! Help!" Arabella screamed as Buckingham pulled her towards the edge of the roof.
"No one can hear you, Arabella! The Musketeers are below us and D'Artagnan is out and soon, you will be, too."
The air ship was slowly making its way back to the roof of the Tower. There had been no more attempted attacks from Buckingham's soldiers, which meant that they had finished all of them off. They had no idea of what was going on above them on the roof. Since the airship was near the opposite end of the roof, they did not see Arabella, Buckingham, or D'Artagnan, which really had them worried.
"Do you suppose they fell off the roof when we were not paying attention or when we were fighting off Buckingham's guards?" Porthos asked.
"I don't know, Aramis," Athos answered.
"Wait, shh!" Aramis said.
"What is it?" Porthos whispered. They all waited a minute before speaking.
"I hear something, too," Athos said.
Planchet looked at each of them. He had not heard anything. "What? What are you three going on about? Hear what?"
"It's a girl's voice. Most likely Arabella," Aramis thought out loud.
"It's not just her voice. It's her scream," Athos said.
"Scream? That mean's something bad is happening, Sirs!" Planchet added worriedly.
All three Musketeers looked at him.
"No, really?" Porthos asked sarcastically. Planchet looked away, clearly embarrassed.
"This means that Buckingham is still alive," Athos said as he grabbed his sword.
"Most likely. We're almost there," Aramis said as he watched the Tower coming closer towards them.
Porthos nodded. "Let's hope we get there in time."
Athos sighed and looked at his friends. "Once we get up there, you three are to help in any way you possibly can. Do not hesitate to kill Buckingham if he is still alive and trying to kill you. If anyone is hurt, bring them on board and tend to them right away. Planchet, you're good at tending to injuries."
Planchet blinked. "I am?"
"Now you are," Athos continued, "Anyway, if Buckingham is injured, as well, then, we are to bring him on board the airship and bring him to the King's soldiers. We need to make sure they send him to prison as quickly as they can, just like they did with Milady De Winter."
"That sounds good to me," Porthos said.
"Good. DO any of you have any questions?"
"And if Buckingham is dead?"
Athos thought for a moment before answering Aramis' question. "Well, if Buckingham is already dead by the time we reach the roof then, we shall bring him on board."
"Ugh!" Athos heard Porthos groan.
"What's the matter, Porthos? Don't you want Buckingham out of the way?" Aramis asked.
"Well, yes but, that does not mean I want his bloody corpse on the airship with us!"
"Oh, stop complaining," Aramis said.
Athos gave Porthos a quick smile. "Indeed. I suggest you listen to Aramis. Remember, you are doing your country a favor."
Arabella screamed as she almost fell off the edge of the tower. This time, when she screamed she looked towards D'Artagnan and saw him lightly move. She had hope again when she understood that that meant he was going to wake up, even if it was only for a little while.
She shoved Buckingham away from her with her sword so now; his back was facing the edge of roof and she was free from that danger of a fall. Buckingham was looking her straight in the eyes but she was ready to block any attack he would make on her, that is until they felt the roof have a quick shaky jolt. The side of the roof behind Arabella had been hit. She turned around and saw the top of the airship rising onto the roof. She was saved! Or, so she thought.
"I knew you would hit it, Planchet!" She heard someone yell.
Arabella turned back to Buckingham but she was not prepared for what would happen in that split second. Buckingham has lunged something into her side. At first she felt nothing. Then after a few seconds more, she felt a throbbing pain coming from her left side. She quickly looked down and saw that Buckingham has stabbed her.
"Oh, I'm sorry, dear sister," Buckingham apologized, grinning evilly.
"Arabella?" She heard someone say. She glanced to the direction of the voice and saw D'Artagnan sitting up and staring wide eyed at her. She didn't say anything to him and she looked back at Buckingham. Buckingham was distracted, seeing that D'Artagnan was still alive, to his unpleasant surprise.
"Arabella! D'Artagnan!" They all heard someone shout. It was Athos. To Arabella, everything was happening so quickly and she needed to get rid of Buckingham. Without thinking, Arabella shoved Buckingham with all her might till he was about to fall off the tower.
"Oh, I'm sorry, dear brother," she said as she lightly pushed him again, which sent him falling off the Tower of London. He was gone.
"He's gone!" She heard Aramis shout happily behind her. She couldn't even turn around to see her friends. Overcome by pain and fear, she collapsed onto the stone floor of the roof. Her vision was going, her head had that same throb as before and the pain in her side was causing her to begin to tremble lightly. She couldn't think clearly. She coulden't seem to do anything.
"Hey! Arabella!" She saw D'Artagnan in front of her, he was blurry because of her vision but he was there. Then Athos joined his side, then Porthos and Aramis. Then lastly, Planchet. She couldn't even justify what was going on.
"How bad is it?" She heard Athos ask.
"Not too bad. Nothing she can't survive." Planchet answered.
"So, she will most likely survive," Athos stated.
"Yes, if given the right attention"
"Arabella? You're going to be okay! Alright? Before you even know it, everything is going to be great! You're going to be taken care off. You have nothing to worry about." She heard D'Artagnan frantically say as she felt herself being lifted off the stone floor.
"We need to take her back to the palace as quickly as possible," Athos' voice was rather loud to her.
"Right away, Sir!"
D'Artagnan was now next to her. "Arabella, I'm going to stay here with you until we get to the palace. You can close your eyes if you'd like but don't…"
His voice became muffled. All the voices became muffled. Her eye sight became dim and then suddenly everything went black and then, she drifted off into what seemed to be a deep sleep.