Aramis heard the hatch open, and the bowl pushed through before closing once more.
Wearily, he pulled the bowl towards him and ate the concoction.
The bowl had barely been retrieved back through the hatch when a sharp cramp rolled its way through his stomach.
He barely had time to gasp at the unexpected pain, when another one hit him, and another. As the cramps continued, he tried to roll up into a ball against the waves of agony hitting him.
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Athos, Porthos and d'Artagnan had listlessly finished midday meal at their table, when the guard at the gate called out, "Athos!"
A flicker of interest ran through all three of them, as the thought that the stranger now standing with the guard might have news of Aramis.
But they had been given a number of false leads from people hoping to maybe receive some reward that, although they couldn't help the interest in what the stranger wanted, they refused to allow their hopes to be dashed once you again.
Walking across the compound to the gate, Athos addressed the slightly youngish-looking man, "You wished to see us?"
The man, looking over at the guard, said, "I asked to see whoever was looking for a missing Musketeer," eyeing them nervously.
The Musketeers looked at each other, despite themselves becoming once more hopeful.
Athos asked the man, "What is your name, and how would you come by knowledge of a missing Musketeer? the questions sharp and to the point.
"My name is Vincent, and I..." here he paused, swallowing in a gulp from nervousness. "I am one of the men who kidnapped him several weeks…"
He got no further as Porthos growled, "Why you…" advancing on the man as he spoke.
"Porthos!" Athos voice rang out sharply, stopping the big man in his tracks. "This man did come of his own free will. He is the only lead we have had to Aramis. If you harm him, we have no way to possibly find our brother, and find him alive," laying his hand gently but firmly on the irate big man's shoulder as he spoke.
Porthos halted reluctantly, looking into Athos' eyes fullof concern, then over at Vincent. Then, he slowly nodded to Athos.
"Come over to the table," Athos said to Vincent, "and explain yourself."
Vincent went with them, hoping they wouldn't all three kill him after he finished telling them what had happened.
Sitting down, he faced three deadly serious faces as he began to speak.
"A wealthy man recruited four of us to do a job for him, promising a very large amount of coin when we were finished.
We were to kidnap and imprison a specific Musketeer, one who he explained to us had caused his son's slow, agonizing death. He described in detail how he was to be imprisoned. We carried out his orders to the letter, although I grew increasingly uneasy over the weeks at what we were doing. I was alone in that, though, as my companions, men I had never known before we were brought together for this job, seemed perfectly comfortable with what they were doing.
But…," here he hesitated, looking afraid to continue.
"Go on," Athos told him.
"What we were asked to do changed yesterday. The man came, bringing with him a small pouch of powder. He told us to put it into the Musketeer's food. It made him…" once again halting, his nervousness causing him to begin sweating.
"Please continue," Athos said, in a low voice.
""It made him so sick. It sounded like cramps. I…"
That was all the further he got before Porthos' hands encircled his throat, squeezing in a furious rage.
It took the combined strength of Athos and d'Artagnan to pull him away, and even then he struggled to break free.
"Porthos, we are all as angry as you. But not with this man, who has told us the situation made him very uneasy. Please. Let us listen to the rest of what he came to tell us," Athos said, cautiously easing his grip as Porthos relaxed a fraction.
"Go on,"Athos ordered.
"We were never told that we were to physically harm him. I, for one, would never have consented to work for him if we had been.
Today, he came back. With two pouches for tomorrow's food. I think that would probably kill him.
It was then that I decided to get out. I told the other men I needed to go out around the back, and they all assumed I had bodily reasons. I went out the door, and headed straight here, hoping I would be in time."
They were all silent after the man stopped talking.
Then Athos asked him, "Would you willingly lead us to where Aramis is being held? I cannot guarantee that you will not be punished by the law, but saving the life of our friend would cause me to speak well of you in a court of law."
Vincent slowly nodded. "I do not want the Musketeer's-Aramis, you said his name is?-death on my conscience. He has never done anything to me or mine. Yes, gladly, I will lead you to him-now, if you wish."
Athos looked over at his brothers. "Arm yourselves and meet Vincent and I at the gates in ten minutes. We are bringing Aramis home."
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Aramis couldn't move. As soon as did, the pain tripled. With his body curled up, at least it was less, but wouldn't go away. A powerful headache had now begun to pound in his head, as well.
They had to have put something in his food, probably some form of poison. Even if he could have figured out what it was, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it here.
They must have decided to torment him, after leaving him utterly to himself for who knows how long. If they were hired by someone, maybe he was getting tired of whatever game he was playing. The next meal may have something different, or a higher dose of what he had been given, unknowingly figuring out exactly what they planned to do next.
He couldn't refuse the food brought, or the threat of no food whatever could be leveled against him. But he also couldn't chance ingesting anything else poisonous. He had no other options, though.
And then, when his body reacted to his legs moving slightly after falling asleep and going numb, the cramps ripped through him again.
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Athos and the others travelled across Paris, following Vincent's lead. At least, they thought, their brother was still within Paris, but his captors had done an excellent job of hiding him and themselves away.
Finally stopping,Vincent pointed towards a large old wooden building straight ahead of them. No light came from the two ground windows in the front to indicate there might be any occupants. The building had the look of being unoccupied.
The others began to head closer, but stopped at Athos' voice. "As much as I want to just break down the door and head inside, we need to take care of Aramis' kidnappers first, or they may kill him before we can get to him if they hear anyone entering.
Vincent, will you show us where they might be?" turning to the man who had been very quiet while leading them there.
Vincent, even though nervous that his former companions might kill him if they discovered be had betrayed them and led the musketeers to their door, slowly nodded, and began leading them around to the back of the building.
Stopping as he reached the back corner of the building and holding up a hand, he said, "They are in a room at the back of the building. We need to move quietly and carefully, as they are heavily armed."
Athos surprised him by saying, "If you wish, you may stay out of sight here."
Vincent ruefully shook his head, saying, "I need to do my part. I regret highly what it turned out I was involved with."
Athos nodded his head once, and then they headed for the back door, expecting a brutal fight.
The men inside were not expecting trouble, lounging around a table playing cards and drinking. They didn't have a chance to put up much of a fight, as Athos shot the first man who attempted to draw his pistol when the door opened. Porthos grabbed a second one and flung him him against the wall, his head hitting it first and knocking him out. The third one had pulled a dagger on d'Artagnan, but was so focused on the Gascon, he never heard Athos come up behind him and knock him out with the butt of his pistol.
D'Artagnan and Porthos dragged them to a long-unused pantry and locked them inside. Meanwhile, Athos grabbed a ring full of keys hanging on a hook beside the door where they had entered.
Hurrying now, they headed back out the door and around once again to the front entrance.
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The door was bolted shut, which presented no problem for Porthos. He just rammed his shoulder against it, using his considerable strength, and the door not only opened, it fell heavily to the floor. With the noise it made, now they were even more glad that they had taken care of the men in back.
The noise the wood door made slamming to the ground would have alerted them and given them the time the would need to possibly kill Aramis before his brothers could even reach them.
Seeing the darkness inside, they grabbed several torches laying in a stack on the floor near the door, and lighting them, held them aloft to light their way.
There was a long corridor straight ahead, and no other halls or stairways in sight so they proceeded along it. There were no other doors along the hall other than one straight ahead a few yards down.
Reaching the door, Porthos was going to use his shoulder again, but Athos stopped him.
"We do not want to startle Aramis, if this is indeed where he is being held. Use your lock picks, even if it takes a minute or two longer."
Nodding in understanding, Porthos got to work. It was a matter of moments before he got it unlocked.
Athos proceeded to open the door. They were met by a pitch black room, and they could feel the cold even though they had yet to enter.
Athos handed his torch to Vincent and proceeded into the inky blackness. D'Artagnan and Vincent kept the torches pointed ahead of him so he could see where to walk.
When he reached the center of the large room, he spotted a form against the far wall.
Moving swiftly now, they reached the body, which was utterly still and bent forward from the waist.
They already knew it was Aramis by the mop of curls obscuring his face. They all swore when they saw the heavy chains holding his wrists in front of him
Incredibly gentle, Athos knelt closely beside his long-lost brother, and tenderly moved his upper body back against the wall. When he did do, all of them's faces became irate at seeing another heavy shackle around his neck, with both chains attached to the wall at ground level in such a way that it would be impossible for him to stand at all.
Porthos, lock picks still in hand, hurriedly worked the locks on the shackles, getting them off of Aramis as quickly and gently as possible.
Once they had freed him, they laid him back against the wall. He obviously still was having cramps from the poison, as evidenced by the grimaces his face was making, and the small whimpers of pain that tore at hearts.
His skin was very cold, the conditions he had been locked in the cause. They were lucky to have found him before he had developed pneumonia.
They decided they still needed to get him out of there as quickly as possible before checking him for any other injuries or symptoms, as they had no idea if the author of this unspeakable cruelty would show up again, or if he would be accompanied by more men if he did.
Porthos gathered his brother's body up as gently as he could, cradling him high against his chest. Athos took his own cloak off to wrap snugly around his brother's icy cold body against the night air.
They left the same way they had come in, and began the long trek back to the garrison. They were at last bringing Aramis home.
Athos leaned down close to Aramis' ear as they walked, saying, "You are safe now, mon ami. We will guard you with our lives, while you recover."
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There will be one more chapter after all next week. Have a safe week, everyone. Thanks for reading!