A/N Okay, I know, I need to apologise again! I never planned for this to take so long, but I was trying to make this the final chapter and I got a little bit carried away, so then I had to split it, and then I had to rewrite bits...and so on. Anyway, this is the penultimate chapter I think, so make the most!

As always, thank you all for your encouragement! I cannot believe how many people are now following this story, and have favourited it. Amazing. To my reviewers of chapter 25 - NicoleR85, Tianne, AQuietNarrative, obh614, Flo (twice!), Shelllee24, Pirate Gyrl and Gallifrey221bVulcan – you are my saviours! Hopefully I can make you happy with this, and the final chapter which will be here by next week – promise!

B xx

Chapter 26

Aramis gave her a sad smile and a brief kiss on the forehead before he left her, her hands newly tied and a dagger hidden well inside both boots. She watched him go, suddenly mindful of the grave danger they were all in; not just her, and not just Athos.

This had to work, whatever the new plan would be. They had to be safe.

D'Artagnan shifted until she was sitting more comfortably, her hands pressed between her and the pillar in a way that meant she could free them quickly if she was forced to. When, or if, she was cut free to be taken to the final battle, it would not be obvious that the ropes were strategically tied – they were still tight, but she had in her palm the end of a rope that would free her if she could pull it.

Celine still lay prone on the cold floor, but she was snoring now. Charline flicked her eyes warily between the inebriated girl and the door, unsure where the threat would come from first. She didn't have too long to wait.

The door opened suddenly, making d'Artagnan jump, and Milady and Sarazin entered the room together, the latter almost immediately emitting a roar of rage as he leapt to Celine and lifted her to shake her roughly, slapping her hard enough to make Charline wince.

"Wake up!" he yelled in her face, her head lolling as she tried to focus on him. Milady just stood by the door, watching in amusement as the punishment was dealt. "Wake up, stupid creature!" He struck her again, letting her fall to the ground. This one woke her and she landed with a pained cry.

Celine immediately began sobbing, crawling on hands and knees towards Sarazin, who stood with his hands on his hips, glaring down at her in fury. "Please, Sarazin. I didn't...she's still here...no harm..."

"She could have escaped, you useless bitch," his voice was quiet now, laced with a dangerous malice as he looked at her like a piece of dirt. The girl was crying steadily, and struggling to move as she continued her journey to him. Charline felt a stab of sympathy for the girl that almost choked her.

"Sarazin, please..."

Celine was cut off with a cry as Milady suddenly pounced on her, dragging her up by the hair as she dipped briefly to pick up a bit of broken glass that d'Artagnan had earlier kicked back towards the girl to remove suspicion of her actions.

Within seconds Milady had Celine's head pulled back into her shoulder, a large piece of glass held at her throat.

"What do you think Sarazin?" she purred, Celine whimpering and pleading quietly as she cried. "A suitable punishment for shirking her duties?"

"Sarazin, I love you, please..." Celine cried out as Milady jerked her in tighter by the hair, shutting her up immediately.

Charline felt tears beginning to slide down her own face as she watched the scene unfold in front of her. She was desperate to intervene, but she couldn't. She couldn't face both of them, and if she pleaded for the girl from where she was then she was sure Milady would cut the girl's throat just to spite her.

Sarazin stepped forward and looked Celine up and down, as if trying to decide what to do with her. Eventually he turned away, flapping a hand in dismissal. "She's really not worth the mess," he said, and Charline almost breathed a sigh of relief. "But I have no use for her anymore."

"Sarazin," the girl wailed again, desperately.

"Get out, girl," he said viciously, turning on her. Milady released her and she tried to throw herself at Sarazin, but he punched her and sent her reeling back into Milady. "Show her I mean it," he said softly, and Milady grinned wickedly then brought the glass up and slashed down Celine's beautiful face, blood immediately spurting from the wound as she screamed and brought her hands to her face.

"Get out before I kill you anyway," Milady said, shoving the girl harshly towards the door, where she eventually stumbled up the stairs and out. "Try being a whore with a face like that," Milady called after her, laughing to herself. Sarazin stared after Celine with a satisfied smirk, but quickly pulled the cork from another bottle of wine that he had brought with him and took several gulps.

Charline stared at her in horror as Milady's wicked eyes came to rest on hers, widening happily when they saw the tears.

"Well," Milady said brightly. "That was interesting. Perhaps even a preview of later events, what do you think, our young 'musketeer'?"

D'Artagnan said nothing, refusing to give her the satisfaction, and just continued to glare at her.

"I'm so glad we came back to check on you," her voice was oozing with sweetness as she approached d'Artagnan, slowly reaching out a bloodied hand and wiping it gently down her face. The smell of the blood made Charline want to retch, but she swallowed heavily and didn't move. "Imagine what would have happened if you had been gone, my dear. I would have had to tell my patron the whole sorry tale then, wouldn't I? And then every one of your comrades would've hanged – slowly."

Charline forced herself not to react as Milady gave her the news she was waiting for. The cardinal did not yet know the truth about her, which gave them a chance of keeping the information away from the King. As long as her boys could find a way of silencing Richelieu, and keep him away from Milady until she was dealt with, they could come out of this misery at the other end, and get back to their lives.

She just had to make sure that this bitch didn't kill her first.

Suddenly, Milady turned her anger on Sarazin, approaching him menacingly, the piece of glass still in her hand and being stabbed at him in the air. "You stay this time. We can't afford another mistake from one of your fools, so this time you stay. I'll be back when I have spoken to the cardinal and a plan is in place," she hissed, the piece of glass turning to point towards Charline as she continued. "The little whore is to be in one piece when I get back, understand? No mistakes. She dies when I say so, and I won't say until it can break him into a million pieces as he watches."

Without looking in d'Artagnan's direction, Milady swept out of the room once again, leaving her alone with a sullen Sarazin, who was still steadily drinking and was looking at her lecherously.

Thankful that her tears of shock at the violence she had witnessed had finally stopped, d'Artagnan glared fully at him, trying hard to get enough of a measure of him to learn quickly how to play this. She didn't like the way he was looking at her, and she knew that he would happily kill her himself. He also didn't seem to be scared of Milady, despite obeying her request and staying put. She had no idea what kind of drunk he was going to turn into, but she was sure it wouldn't be a pleasant one.

She couldn't help it; she snorted as she realised that she was actually thinking to herself that she wanted Milady to come back, sooner rather than later.

"What?" Sarazin snapped.

She shook her head slightly, glad to notice that the pain from Milady's blow that morning was receding. "Nothing."

"You find this funny?" he asked quietly, slumping against the wall and sliding down until he was sitting against it. At least he wasn't coming closer, however angry he seemed to be.

"What?" she snapped back. "Being tied up and left here with you, until she comes back to kill me? Hysterical."

Sarazin was suddenly laughing. "Even now, you can't stop yourself can you? The famous Gascon temper. I do so love me a living, breathing stereotype."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Although I suppose soon you won't be – living or breathing I mean."

She didn't answer him, but he seemed keen to keep the conversation going. He waved his bottle of wine at her. "A drink while we wait?"

"No thanks," she said, shaking her head fiercely. She was not going to invite him to get any closer to her. He shrugged in a 'suit yourself' gesture, taking more of the wine for himself.

After several moments of silence d'Artagnan decided that keeping him talking was a good idea; anything to stop him looking at her with greedy eyes.

"Why do you do what she tells you?" she asked casually. "You're not afraid of her."

"You think I spend my time following her instructions?" he raised an eyebrow, grinning. "She's just as likely to be following mine. It suits me to help her, that's all."

"I would've thought anyone with half a brain would have stayed away from her."

"You mean like your precious Athos?" he asked, causing her to blush as she realised what she's said.

"He's done pretty well at it since realising she was crazy," she snapped.

"Since he thought she was dead you mean."

D'Artagnan jutted out her chin, refusing to rise to the bait. He laughed at her before continuing.

"I have a fascination with beautiful things, what can I say? And if something can become beautiful and deadly? Well that's just an extra special treat, isn't it?"

Charline shivered at the wistful look on his face, before her eyes widened slightly as he focused his gaze on her. She felt like the prey on one of the King's hunts.

"If I'd got hold of you early enough you would have been perfect," he said. "A wonderful addition to my little group. Just imagine how many times you could have done what she does; seducing rich men for my gain. You would have been irresistible, I'm sure."

"I would never have worked for you," d'Artagnan growled at him. "I would have killed myself first."

"Ah well, you'd be surprised how even the best of hearts can be twisted to become bitter and murderous, my dear girl. Very surprised."

"Somehow I doubt that Milady de Winter ever had the 'best of hearts'," she muttered bitterly.

Sarazin laughed softly. "No, you're right about that. She has always been lethal, well before she met me, or your precious Athos."

This was not exactly turning into the distracting conversation she had been hoping for, and Charline quickly realised that he was going to tell her absolutely nothing of any use at all. It hadn't stopped him from looking at her in that uncomfortable way, but he hadn't moved any closer so she decided to just stay alert, but trust that he would stay away from her as he had been instructed to do, as long as Milady wasn't away for too long.

They lapsed into silence. Sarazin tried to engage her in conversation on more than one occasion, but she refused to answer his questions about Athos, or the Musketeers, and eventually she closed her eyes enough that in the gloom it would look like she was asleep, and he stopped.

With difficulty, Charline forced her body to relax to keep up the pretence, but she continued to feel his eyes on her as she sat, waiting for her fate to arrive.

When the door was thrown open some time later, d'Artagnan genuinely jumped in shock. Before she could open her eyes to look for herself, she knew that Milady had arrived in a state of absolute fury. The screaming and cursing helped her to work it out.

"I hate that bastard," she ranted as she flew into the room. "I am going to gut him, slowly, and I am going to enjoy every, single, minute!"

It seemed that her Musketeers had come up with some sort of plan after all. Charline would have smiled in relief, if Milady hadn't advanced on her and pulled her to her feet by the hair, punching her hard enough across the face to send her reeling back into the pillar. Pain exploded across her face from her eye socket and she felt blood running down from her eyebrow. Apparently Milady had on some vicious jewellery.

"He thinks he can double cross me, that he can win? Well they may have the Cardinal safely out of the way," Milady grabbed Charline by the throat and spat in her face. "But he won't be so pleased with himself when he sees the state of you. I've given him an hour to come and meet us. That should be enough time to make a mark."

For a moment d'Artagnan was aware of nothing but fear as Milady smiled at her, then backhanded her across the face, making sure she hit the same point on her face as before. Briefly, Charline contemplated the knives in her boots, but her heart sank as she realised that she was going to have to endure whatever the next hour brought for her. With Sarazin there she could not win over both of them, and even without his presence, the second blow had made her drop the end of the precious rope that could free her.

She was on her own for this.

She closed her mind to everything as blows were laid into her. Milady was not as strong as others d'Artagnan had faced, but the pain was still excruciating as she was subjected to punches, kicks and slaps from the vengeful creature. She tried hard not to let the pain register as she was felled to the ground, refusing to even whimper as her body was beaten and abused.

Instead she thought of her brothers, fighting to bring this to an end, and she thought of Athos. She thought of the life they could have when this was over, of everything she was going to do to make him as happy as she possibly could for the rest of their lives. If she was given the chance.

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Walking had become somewhat painful, but it didn't stop Milady pressing her on with some haste as they made their way to what d'Artagnan assumed was the meeting point. They wound through the back streets, Charline stumbling over stones and detritus as she struggled to see out of her one eye that wasn't swollen shut. She could feel the bruises forming on her legs where she had been viciously kicked, over and over, and at least three of her ribs were cracked or broken.

Her head pounded and she was dizzy with pain and panic. How was she ever going to be of any use in this final fight? How was she going to defend herself, or anyone else, if she could barely see straight?

She began to pray.

Sarazin had been sent away during d'Artagnan's beating, but with one of her ears ringing she had found it difficult to hear what his instructions were. From what she could assume he was going to engage his men, providing a small army to take on the Musketeers when they arrived. She had no doubt, though, that Treville would be doing exactly the same thing.

With one final shove, d'Artagnan stumbled into the tunnel at the end of the deserted market street they had arrived at, falling to her knees as she tripped over a stone she couldn't see beneath her feet. Milady slipped behind her, holding her head up in an agonising position by the hair, a knife pressed to her throat.

"Any minute now, d'Artagnan," she whispered from behind her. "Any minute now we will hear the sound of battle. You will hear the sounds of gunshots, of swords clashing, of screams of agony as men die. Do you think you will recognise Athos if he screams in pain? Maybe he won't, maybe he'll make it this far. We have to hope, don't we? We have to hope he'll make it this far, so that he can watch you die before I kill him."

Tears slipped from d'Artagnan's one working eye as she listened to the rambling threats. She was starting to doubt that any of them would survive this, and she was even starting to doubt that she could remain conscious for long enough to find out.

She did stay awake long enough to hear the start of the battle. It seemed only moments later that they heard shouts and the first shot of a pistol, followed by a barrage of others. Charline tried to listen, to discern one noise from another. She tried to hear enough to work out if her boys had indeed brought back up, or if anyone was getting closer to where she and Milady stayed out of the way in the tunnel. But the waves of dizziness and nausea were making it difficult to focus.

She cried out in shock when Milady pulled her roughly to her feet what felt like hours later, the pain of her bruised and battered body jarring through her once again.

"Move," Milady hissed. D'Artagnan obeyed, edging towards the market street with no idea why she was being moved. Her answer came moments later when they came face to face with Athos, Aramis and Porthos. She glanced at them quickly, long enough to see the horror on their faces as they took in her state, before the dizziness forced her to close her eye. Her legs gave out again and she felt her knees hit the ground violently, Milady's hand still in her hair and the knife still pressed to her throat.

There was a roar of rage, then a brief scuffle as Porthos yelled.

"Athos, no!"

D'Artagnan tried to open her eyes to see what was happening, but she couldn't. Her head was screaming at her in throbbing pain to keep her eyes shut and stay still.

"You let her go, right now," Athos' voice was full of rage, but it still cracked on the last word. Milady laughed.

"Oh I don't think so, husband dear."

"I am not your husband, you crazy bitch," he growled. "You will die for this, I swear it."

Porthos' voice joined in, gentler as he tried to get Milady to see reason. "There's no way out of this. You have no one left to back you up; don't make this worse than it needs to be."

The knife was pressed tighter against d'Artagnan's throat causing her to gasp, and almost faint. She forced herself to stay awake. She needed to listen, and be ready. Porthos' words were ignored.

"I swore that I would devastate you Athos, and what better way than this? You do this, you made this happen again," she was pulling d'Artagnan's hair as she spat out the words. "You know you don't deserve to be happy, not without me."

To her surprise, Charline heard Athos chuckle softly. "You think you and I could be happy? Is that really what this is all about?"

"This is about me ruining your life, like you ruined mine," Milady yelled, the knife at d'Artagnan's throat disappearing. She cracked an eye open briefly, enough to see that the knife was now being pointed at Athos, who still stood several steps away. Closing her eyes again she quickly tried to take a deep breath while there was no knife to restrict her.

"I didn't do this to you Anne," Athos' gentler tone and use of Milady's first name made d'Artagnan open her eye to see that he was edging slowly closer to them, his hands held out in a conciliatory gesture. He wasn't looking back at her, but Charline could see how much he was desperate to look at her, to grab her and pull her to safety. It sang out from him in every bit of tension that held his body. "But I am sorry that this is where we have come to, I truly am."

"Don't make it worse for yourself, Milady."

"This isn't d'Artagnan's doing either."

D'Artagnan was confused as Porthos and Aramis began speaking to her in the same soft tone, their weapons still in hand, but no longer pointing at her. Milady's knife was still pointing at Athos.

What on earth was going on? Why were they suddenly being nice to her? Couldn't they see what she had done to her?

Their apologetic bartering had confused Milady enough to keep the knife away from d'Artagnan though, which she was grateful for as she could finally breathe. But she could feel Milady practically vibrating with rage behind her as she closed her eyes once more. Unless they had something up their sleeves, this wasn't going to keep Milady quiet for long.

Suddenly, a yell broke out behind Charline and she felt Milady turn in surprise. Something slammed into Charline's broken body, causing her to yell in pain as she landed on the ground, cushioned slightly by a hand under her head. A body lay across her as she opened her eye fully, but she couldn't see anything as she lay sheltered against the wall.

Then all she could hear was the soft sound of Athos whispering in her ear, and she sobbed with relief. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know it hurts, it won't be long..." he continued to whisper, over and over as the scuffle continued around them. Milady was screaming in rage behind them and she heard the sound of a knife dropping to the ground.

immediately, the weight of Athos' body holding her down was gone and two arms replaced it, pulling her gently round until she was facing his devastated face, tears plain to see on his cheeks as he tried to smile at her.

"I'm so sorry d'Artagnan, I should never have let you go back, never," his eyes skittered around her body, trying to assess the damage and wincing every time he saw the suggestion of another bruise.

"Athos," she whispered, repeating it slightly louder when he didn't respond the first time.

"What is it?" he asked, his eyes full of panic as he looked into hers.

"I'm sorry," she said, making him look at her in confusion. "I'm sorry I let her do this...not your fault...I love you." She could feel her voice getting fainter as she tried to speak, and the darkness was starting to creep further in from the edges now.

She shivered violently, and instantly Athos was yelling for Aramis to come quickly. She glanced over his shoulder to see Milady kneeling on the ground, Treville and Porthos each holding a pistol to her head. As she caught Milady's eye she found the energy to smile at her before she finally let her mind protect her by blacking out.