Evening my lovelies
It doesnt seem to be showing all of the reviews on here but we have reached 129! that means we beat this story's predecessor whoop whoop!
Notes On Review:
Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - We'll be finding out what happened to D'Art early in today's chapter so i wont be keeping you waiting long. Enjoy the new chapter
Tidia: Thanks for the review - I dont seem to be able to give them a nice easy journey lol enjoy the new chapter
Snow-Glory: Thanks for the review - Our boys are practically magnets for trouble lol. Aramis is doing better but i have a feeling he's using his injuries to help him garner sympathy with the ladies lol Enjoy the new chapter
Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - We'll be finding out about D'Art so hopefully i havent left you waiting too long :) I wasnt gonna whump him but i couldnt resist lol :) Enjoy the new chapter
CaroH: Thanks for the review - I'm pretty sure im incapable of giving them a nice easy journey lol... though after all this i might make the rest of their trip to Paris to be uneventful... maybe. Enjoy the new chapter
Issai: Thanks for the reviews - One brother absolved of guilt, now if they could only convince Athos. I really want to write a scene for them talking to Porthos about everything thats happened as i feel as though he's been their rock through all of this and he needs some comfort as well but i dont know how to start it. If you have any ideas please let me know :) I was going to try it today but it somehow became another confrontation with Athos about his guilt. The only one to get out of the fight injury free was Aramis as D'Art was defending him while he reloaded, plus with his injuries i figured i'd let him off :) We'll find out what happened to them all today so you wont be waiting long. Enjoy the new chapter
Annoyingly i had just finished typing the response to reviews earlier and then accidentally hit a button that took me away from the edit screen so i ended up losing it all forcing me to re-writing them all :(
Many thanks as always to you lovely lovely people who still read/follow/favourite/review this story - this is now my longest work :D
Enjoy
xxx
Chapter Twenty-Six: The Journey Home III
"Aramis?" Athos called, keeping his back to the medic while his eyes scanned the woods for any lingering threats to him and his brothers, trusting Aramis and Porthos, who had darted to their brother's side as quickly as his injuries would allow as soon as the battle was over, to take care of their youngest.
"Fainted" Aramis informed curtly, worry for their youngest and his own pain sharpening his tone, "Most likely from the pain of his injuries and the effort from trying to move… Porthos help me sit him up so I can get a better look at him" Aramis ordered as he used his good arm to try and help the boy sit up as he had fell forwards when he collapsed. "What about both of you?" he asked, not tearing his gaze away from their unconscious brother.
"Nothing more than some bruises" Athos said, still not looking at the scene behind him
"M'fine" Porthos mumbled, focused on his task on lifting the boy up without doing any further harm to him.
"…'Mis" Porthos said hesitantly, raising his hand to the medic to show the blood now coating its surface
"Mierda!" The medic cursed as he forced his tired injured body to move so he could see the injury better.
"What's wrong?" Athos asked, having come to stand by his protégé's side after determining that they were safe for now. A low growl escaped his throat and his grip on the pommel of his sword tightened as he saw the blood now coating the boy's side.
"One of them must have got a hit in" Porthos stated, watching on worriedly both for his little brother but also for Aramis as the larger man had not missed he winces and hisses of pain that the Spaniard was unable to contain.
"He was probably in so much pain from his existing injuries that he didn't even notice" Aramis sighed sadly, pouring some of the water from one of their water-skins to clear the wound of blood and allow him a better view of the wound.
"It's not long but it's deep" Aramis informed, "We need to get somewhere I can properly treat this it'll need a proper clean… Plus I'll need to look at your injuries as well" he stated, nodding at the two men with such a stern glare that they at least had the sense to look sheepish for not mentioning their bleeding wounds before.
"Do what you can for him here I'll ride ahead for a bit to see if there's somewhere we can stop" Athos stated before moving to his horse
"You can't go alone!" Porthos roared, hating the idea of splitting up when they had just been attacked.
"I'll be back within the hour, Aramis needs to work on D'Artagnan so someone needs to watch out for them" Athos rationalized before pressing his heels into the horse's side, setting off in search of a safe haven for their brothers.
Turning his gaze back to their medic and Gascon, Porthos saw that Aramis had the situation under control and so turned his attention to their attackers
"What are you doing?" Aramis asked having noticed the larger man going from one man to the next out of the corner of his eye
"Don't think these were ordinary bandits 'Mis" Porthos said absently as he continued searching the pockets of the dead men
"What do you mean?"
"They seemed to know where we're injured worst" Porthos stated, gesturing to the wounds he received during the fight that were all located around the area's damaged the most by Pierre and his men, "I think we were targeted"
For several minutes the only sounds were the harsh breathing of D'Artagnan and the rustling of clothes as Porthos continued his search.
"Aramis!" Called Porthos as he moved back to the medic's side, a piece of paper in his hand. Once he reached the Spaniard he handed over the document, watching as a dark look mirroring his own passed over his friend's face.
The piece of paper confirmed Porthos's suspicions as it listed their general descriptions as well as a list of the injuries they were currently sporting – a list that could only have been compiled by someone who had been at the house to see the extent of the damage first hand.
"Athos aint gonna like this" Porthos muttered sadly
"Maybe it wasn't her" Aramis suggested weakly, even though in his heart he knew it could only have been Milady, "Jasper escaped as well"
Porthos snorted, "The sniveling coward followed Milady and no way she lets someone who failed her so badly live"
"You've noticed it too?" Porthos asked quietly, watching as their youngster twitched in pain
"That Athos is carrying all the responsibility and guilt for our injuries on his already burdened shoulders?" Aramis replied sarcastically, placing a gentle hand on the boy's forehead, "It's rather obvious I'd bet even in his most delusional D'Artagnan probably noticed it"
"Probably" Porthos agreed, smiling softly at the sleeping Gascon before his voice turned equal parts teasing and serious, "He noticed you carrying un-needed guilt after all"
This time it was Aramis's turn to smile softly as he ran his hand through D'Artagnan's hair, "That he did, he's quite observant our little Gascon"
"Though you don't seem to be carryin' it no more" Porthos inquired, wanting to hear from his friend that he no longer blamed himself
"We…" Aramis said softly, his eyes full of the fondness he held for the young man, "We had a long chat the other night"
"The whelp set ya straight then?"
"That he did" Aramis laughed, nodding his head.
"Good" Porthos nodded, a teasing light entering his eyes as he added, "we only have room for one brooder and Athos's permanently claimed that spot"
Aramis snorted, smiling at his friend, "That he has" The smile faded as he added seriously, "Though we will need to address his latest reason to brood soon"
"Aye" Porthos agreed, "Though best wait till the whelp's on the mend. 'Thos can't deny the boy anything" he stated with a beaming grin, "Plus if talkin' fails the whelp can always use that puppy-dog look on him"
Aramis laughed brightly, nodding his acceptance to this plan.
"Do I even want to know?" said a stoic voice from behind them
Aramis was about to retort with something witty and sarcastic but was cut off by a small whimper from D'Artagnan and instead responded with complete seriousness, "Did you find somewhere I can work on him?"
"There's an abandoned barn not too far from here, it's not much but it'll do for the night and keep the rain out" he said, glancing at the gathering rain clouds.
"Then lets go" Aramis nodded, shooing Porthos away with his good hand as he turned his attention back to their youngest.
No sooner had they gotten settled in the barn had the heavens opened outside.
Whilst Aramis sorted through his supplies, gathering what he needed Porthos set to work lighting a fire and cooking a meal for the group from the supplies Dorian had gifted to them upon their visit, whilst Athos remained by his protégé's side. The journey had jostled the boy's aching body and his whole being was now tight with pain.
"I'm ready" Aramis said, coming to sit beside Athos.
Removing the wrapping he had placed around the wound Aramis set to work cleaning the wound from the small pieces of fabric that had entered it – not for the first time thankful that the hand Pierre had chosen to break wasn't his dominant one.
Aramis's ministrations thankfully weren't enough to bring the boy around to full consciousness, though he did shift and whimper slightly only to then be calmed slightly by Athos's calming words as well as his firm grip on his uninjured shoulder.
"Doesn't seem to have damaged anything internally" Aramis said, his voice full of relief, "I'll stitch and bandage it and he should be okay"
"Should?" Athos asked, his voice underlined with worry
Aramis sighed, running his good hand through his hair, "He's still recovering from the large amount of blood he lost from his shooting, add that to the trauma his body has undergone in the last week and I worry about the heightened risk of complications like infections… his body is still quite weak"
"Whelp will be fine" Porthos reassured from his spot by the fire, "You worry too much 'Mis"
"I wouldn't have to if the lot of you didn't keep getting injured on me" Aramis pouted, eyes full of mirth.
"Coming from you?" Athos questioned teasingly, raising an eyebrow over the injured medic
"Present circumstances not included" The medic shrugged before the group descended into light laughter, only to stop when their Gascon showed signs of waking.
"You with us lad?" Athos asked, gently tapping the boy's face
"…'Thos?" came the mumbled reply, followed quickly by D'Artagnan's face scrunching up in pain
"Drink" Aramis ordered, gesturing for Athos to lift the boy's head up slightly so he wouldn't choke on the pain draught
As the pain reliever began to kick in D'Artagnan once again fell asleep and after reassuring the others that the boy would be okay Aramis covered the sleeping Gascon in a blanket before turning to the other two musketeers
"Right Athos you're next my friend" he stated cheerfully
"I'm fine" Athos stated, shrugging of his friend
"Of course you are" Aramis said sarcastically, "That's why you're bleeding through you're shirt now take it off and let me see the damage"
"It's nothing" Athos grumbled while complying with the sharpshooter's request, glaring at the man when he noticed the pleased look in his eyes.
Ignoring the heated, unimpressed glare being sent his way Aramis focused on assessing the cuts adorning his brother's chest and arms – apparently their opponents had gotten in more hits then he thought.
"Most aren't deep enough to require stitches, I'll just clean and wrap them" he informed the man, ignoring the smug smirk from Athos at being correct, at least in his eyes that they were nothing, "but this one" the medic continued, pointing to a long gash running most of the length of his shoulder to elbow, "will need stitches"
Athos continued to grumble slightly under his breath that he was fine but allowed his friend to work, slightly impressed with how much his brother was able to do with only one working hand and his own injuries. The only time he needed assistance was with tying off the bandages, although Athos was grateful that Kara had thought ahead and made several tinned poultices for them so Aramis wouldn't try to do that himself as well.
"You, my friend are done" Aramis declared after a short time, grinning at his friend before rising shakily to his legs to move to Porthos's side.
Athos watched warily as Aramis walked shakily over to the fire and Porthos, he knew the man's legs were giving him trouble – even more so now he had been kneeling for some time tending to both himself and D'Artagnan.
Much like Athos, Porthos was stubborn when it came to having his injuries tended to but also gave in fairly quickly, realizing that the sooner Aramis finished with them the sooner the man himself would rest.
Porthos had received more cuts then Athos given that his original injuries slowed down his ability to dodge in time but thankfully despite their number none of them were deep enough to require stitching so the large musketeer just had to endure the burn of alcohol being poured on them to clean them.
Once all of the injuries had been tended to both Porthos and Athos could see that Aramis was flagging slightly and after forcing the man to eat some food they practically manhandled the medic into bed, forcing him to get some much needed rest.
"Athos" Porthos said quietly once he was sure both D'Artagnan and Aramis were asleep. Waiting until Athos turned his head in his direction Porthos passed his brother the document he had found on one of the dead bandits
"So she continues her vendetta against me still" Athos sighed sadly, "I thought she would stay silent for some time given her recent failure but it seems not to be"
"You're not gonna make me punch you are ya?" Porthos asked, only half in jest. Athos simply raised a questioning eyebrow at his brother's words, causing the larger man to sigh in frustration that the man still refused to see the truth. He knew he and Aramis had decided to wait to confront Athos about his guilt but the sight of his brother so despondent told him he needed to say something in a desperate hope that the man would listen to him
"How many times do we got to tell you that none of this; my flogging, D'Artagnan's shot and stab wounds and Aramis's beating is your fault"
"We've talked about this Porthos" Said Athos stoically
"I know!" Porthos growled, "But it seems you don't want to hear the truth"
"The truth is that my actions hardened her heart and caused her to seek out any way to punish me and in doing so it has drawn the three of you in as well." Athos interrupted, "She knows my life holds little value to me but that to harm any of the three of you…"
Porthos's eyes hardened slightly at his brother's words and fast then Athos would have expected given his condition, Porthos slapped him, "It might not mean much to you but it means a damn lot to us" he growled, having to force himself not to shout so as to not wake their sleeping brothers, "You beating yourself up over all this is EXACTLY what she wants!" he snapped, "Beat her by not giving in to the guilt you're laying, not us, on your shoulders!"
"…It's late we should be getting some rest we have an early start tomorrow" Athos said, purposely and obviously putting an end to their discussion before rising from his spot by the fire and moving over to his bedroll, laying with his back facing his brothers.