Chapter 35

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"Morning Aramis!" I greeted the musketeer who just entered the garrison.

"Morning Emma!" Aramis greeted back nodded his head slightly.

"How was your night?" I asked as we both walked into the small canteen.

"Wonderful!" Aramis replied shortly.

"He can't have got far. We will find him." Athos asked as Aramis and I stopped next to the Captain.

"Find who?" Aramis asked.

"Exactly my question." I nodded.

"Who was the lucky woman this time?" The Captain questioned Aramis.

"A musketeer doesn't kiss and tell." Aramis joked. Porthos shook his head at Aramis. Alright, it seemed that now is not the time for jokes.

"Find the King. And do it quickly." The Captain ordered. Athos and Porthos walked out.

"What?" I shrieked. "The king's missing?" Aramis and I followed Porthos out of the room.

In case you are wondering, dear readers, I was sleeping like any other sane person would do. So, no, I wasn't with Aramis obviously. And I didn't went out to the tavern with the three others and the King. Louis wanted to know how the peasants liked us lived and apparently he disappeared since then. And D'Artagnan disappeared with him.

Athos and Porthos took us to the Inn where they were last night. Louis has started a fight after he accused someone of cheating at gambling. D'Artagnan took the king away from the fight and supposedly Louis was supposed to be safe.

"All drunks look the same to me." The Innkeeper answered to Athos' question.

"The one who started the fight." Athos said.

"Which fight?" He asked feigning ignorance. "There were a few here last night."

"Don't mess us about." Porthos warned him. "They left in a hurry. Now you remember." Aramis pasted Porthos' shoulder to calm him down.

He wasn't the only one to be worried about D'Artagnan and of course the King. Well, I was mostly worried about D'Artagnan. If I have to be honest with you, I don't really like the King. As I said before, the King is a spoiled brat who only earned my respect. I owe him at least that for my commission.

"Yeah, I know who you mean." The Innkeeper retorted. "Yeah. No idea what happened to them. But I'll ask around, see if anyone remembers." He took a bottle and goblets from the counter. "Let me quench your thirst."

There was a bang on the door behind us. "Where does this lead?" Aramis asked the Innkeeper as we turned to look at him.

"Just out the back." He replied. I looked at the Innkeeper before using the door that led out the back.

We inspected the street. "Look, these cobbles are pretty clean, don't you think?" I said crouching down to get a better look at the said cobbles.

"Yeah, definitely." Athos agreed. There was a red spot on the ground. Porthos crouched down next to me and used his dagger to get a better look at it.

"Blood?" Porthos frowned. Athos nodded slightly.

"Look at this." Aramis called. "The handle's been sawn off."

"Once you're out here there's no way back in." Athos said.

"I think we need to pick up where we left off." I said storming inside. I grabbed a chair and put it down and pushed the Innkeeper down on the chair. "Alright, you're going to tell me more about the missing door handle."

"It's just a missing door handle, that's all. It's nothing sinister." He replied nervously.

"Your last chance." Athos said walking up in front of him.

"If I could help you, I would." He answered. Aramis was loading his weapon. Gus, that was the Innkeeper's name, chuckled. "You can't kill me. You're musketeers." Aramis turned his back to Gus, laid his pistol on his shoulder and shot one of the wine barrels. "If I knew anything, I would tell you. I swear." He insisted.

"Somehow I doubt that." I commented dryly.

"Put your pistol away, Aramis." Athos ordered. He gave an axe to Porthos. "This will be quicker."

Porthos raised the axe and was about to hit the barrels. "He pays me!" Gus yelled. "He pays me.

"Who?" Athos pulled a chair in front of him and sat down. "Who pays you?"

"He pays me to get people drunk and send them out the back door." Gus answered.

"Who pays you?" Athos repeated his question.

"I don't know his name. And I don't ask." He replied. "Questions like that, they can get you killed."

"Tell us everything before I lose my patience, Innkeeper." I warned him coldly.

"First day he came in here, he gave me a choice. He said: 'You do as I said, or I'll burn this place to the ground.'" Gus told us. "What was I supposed to do? I was frightened." I clenched my fist. He hasn't seen frightened yet.

"The men you send him, what does he do with them?" Athos asked him angrily and yet calmly.

"Well, God knows." Gus answered. "Robs them, probably. Throws their bodies in the Seine."

I grabbed him by his collar, pushed and pinned him down on the counter. "I hope for your sake that my friends didn't end up in the Seine or I'll come back for you and I personally pull your tongue out of your head." I roared. Athos pulled me away from him and led me outside.

Aramis and Porthos followed us shortly. "Emma, we will find him." Athos said putting his hands on my shoulders.

"Are you referring to the King or D'Artagnan?" I asked him softly.

"In your case, I'm referring to D'Artagnan." I chuckled at Athos' words.

"You do know me." I took a deep breath. "We should go to the Wren." I said. The words left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"We're looking for two friends who disappeared last night." Athos said to the Wren as we stepped in.

"They may have been robbed." Porthos added.

"You'll have to be more specific." The Wren said. "Are your friends, old, fat, thin?"

"Twenties, dark hair, healthy—before last night anyway." Aramis told him while I kept my eyes on the line of bodies. Praying, hoping that D'Artagnan or Louis was among them.

"One like that just arrived. This way." The Wren walked to one of the bodies and we followed him. I grabbed Athos' hand discreetly. I hated to appear weak in front of the others, in front of him. Athos squeezed my hand as a gesture of comfort. "The number of people coming down here looking for lost relatives, like that time the year before last. But most of them leave without finding their loved ones. So many people vanishing without trace."

"Why haven't the authorities been informed?" Aramis questioned.

"Who would care about a bunch of poor and desperate people, eh?" I answered.

Sadly, this was the ugly truth. If you don't have a title and money or a position of some sort, no one cares about you. You can die or vanished without trace. Life will still go on without you. The only people who will suffer from your loss are your loved ones. If you have any at all. The Wren uncovered the body. I breathed in relief and let my head fell against Athos' arm. It wasn't D'Artagnan.

"Not him. Thank God!" Aramis said relieved.

"Here. Convict?" Porthos showed us the chains on the dead man's ankles.

"Possibly. But do you remember that summer two years ago?" Athos asked him. "Something similar—drunks and vagrants snatched in the streets?"

"It went on for months until the culprit was finally caught." Aramis added.

"Sebastian LeMaitre." Porthos said. "His gang sold them on as slaves to the Spanish galleys."

"But LeMaitre was caught and sentenced to hard labour in the colonies." Aramis answered. "It…can't be him?"

"Here, wasn't his brother a…" Porthos started.

"Blacksmith?" Athos and Porthos both finished together.

Our next stop was the blacksmith. "We're looking for your brother." Athos asked the Blacksmith as we stepped into his shop.

"Try the Americas." He answered.

"Rumor has it that your brother is back in Paris." I informed him.

"If he was back here I'd know. He'd have come to see me." The Blacksmith answered. "I wouldn't tell you about it, but I'd have seen him. Which I haven't."

"We think he might be up to his old tricks again." Athos told him.

Aramis grabbed some chains from some sort of large bucket. "Exactly what kind of horses wear these?"

The Blacksmith grabbed a hot poker and threatened us with it. He was ready to attack us. Porthos used the chain he was holding to threw him on the ground. Porthos grabbed the hot poker and held it close to the Blacksmith's face.

"We need to talk." Porthos told him. "Where's Sebastian LeMaitre?"