As Treville needed to linger at the Palace longer than the Inseparables did, Porthos, Athos and Aramis found themselves back at the Garrison in the late evening. Weighing on their minds was D'Artagnan and Julien, who would have left a few hours earlier on their mystery mission.
Serge greeted them, fresh from the task of readying ingredients for tomorrow's Garrison breakfast.
"You three happen to see the new kid Julien anywhere?" he asked them.
The three men shared knowing glances at each other. "Serge, he is with D'Artagnan. They simply had a small errand to run." Athos didn't want to reveal much, but that much information, according to Treville, was public domain.
"No, he is not. A few hours ago D'Artagnan was frantically looking all over for Julien- he was nowhere to be found. D'Artagnan spent about a half hour almost tearing up the Garrison looking for him."
"Where is D'Artagnan now?" Aramis asked.
"He left. He said he needed to go and could not wait for Julien any longer."
"He went alone?" Athos asked furiously.
"Yes," Serge replied, as if to say, I just said that.
Now all three men tried to hide their worried looks- calling attention in any way to the importance of this mission was something that Treville had drilled into them was to be avoided at any cost.
"Where the hell is this Julien?" Athos demanded.
Porthos' face suddenly betrayed a mirthless smile. "Oh God- I think I may know."
"Where, my brother?" Aramis asked.
"Believe me, if I'm right, Julien's a dead man."
Unfortunately for Julien, he was right where Porthos had led Athos and Aramis- at a table in the Wren, completely entranced by a card game he was involved in with a few other patrons. He seemed to have the lion's share of the table's winnings.
Shaking off their initial shock at the scene, Athos grabbed Julien to his feet and yelled "What are you doing here? Why aren't you with D'Artagnan?"
Now it was Julien's time to be shocked. "What are you- wait- what time is it?"
"Oh my God," Aramis muttered aloud.
One of the other card players looked at Athos and said, "Look, monsieur, if it's all the same to you, go scram and let me try to win some of my money back, if you don't mind." With that, he dismissed Athos, focusing back on the game he was certain was about to resume.
Athos proceeded to grab the table from the lip and flung it so high that some of its contents almost hit the ceiling. Glasses, cards, food and money were strewn to all four corners of the Wren.
"Hey- what the-" Suddenly all of the patrons sitting around the table were up on their feet, screaming and looking for a fight.
Porthos grabbed Julien from his shirt collar, and before anyone could do anything but watch, all three of them were in the alleyway with Julien, dragging him back to the Garrison.
"Wait- that's my- my winnings-" Julien argued, but a withering look from Porthos made him drop any further protestations.
Treville had returned from the Palace and his office's candle glow was an indication that not only had he returned, but he was still awake and present in his office, so all three men made their way directly there, with a now very unwilling and frightened Julien.
Treville looked up from his desk when he saw Porthos, Athos, and Aramis; however when he caught a glance at Julien, he did a double take.
Jumping to his feet, Treville's response was almost a mirror image of Athos'. "Julien. Why are you still here? Where is D'Artagnan?"
Julien opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Terror had rendered him mute.
Athos jumped in. "Serge said he left after looking for Julien and was unsuccessful. However, it appears the evening wasn't a complete loss, as we just found Julien doing very well for himself playing cards at the Wren. So there is that."
"What?" Treville asked, incredulous.
Julien managed to choke out, "I- I was just finishing up at the Wren and-"
"Don't lie to us, boy, don't you dare lie to us," Porthos interjected. "You were set for the evenin'. And it's after midnight."
"I'll depart immediately. I can catch up if I leave now."
"You can't! You would need to-" Treville caught himself. With emotions running high, he realized he was about to impart critical logistical details of the mission in front of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.
"Gentlemen, my thanks for retrieving Julien. Now if you don't mind…" and Treville was extending his hand to the door, indicating the Inseparables leave him with Julien.
"Captain, in light of this- hiccup, perhaps we can be involved in some way to-" Aramis offered.
But he was cut off by an irritated Treville. "No, Aramis. Not even close. The three of you leave, now."
As Aramis and Porthos reluctantly began shifting towards the door, Athos stood still.
"Alright, Captain. Just know that you can trust us." Athos, ever the diplomat, considered his words carefully; they conveyed a willingness to obey his Captain, but left Treville an opening to consider involving his most trusted Musketeers if need be.
It seemed to do the trick. Treville closed his eyes, and rubbed his temple in a feeble attempt to alleviate the massive headache pestering him at the moment. He sighed, and then said, "Give me a few minutes with Julien. I will then have Julien send for you when I am finished with him."
And with that, the Inseparables left Treville's office.
Suddenly, the tension in Treville's office was almost more than Julien could bear.
After a long pause, Treville spoke.
"You had a few simple, easy tasks for this mission. The first was that once you and D'Artagnan approached Dax, separate and never be seen together. It was all on D'Artagnan to leave you messages in an agreed-upon location, for you to collect; messages to simply keep you posted that- things were progressing, and when to expect his next missive. If he missed a key deadline, provided in his previous message, your second task, if it came to that, was to leave him and get back to the Garrison to inform us that he- missed his deadline. And your last was to bring any messages left by him, back to my care."
What Treville wasn't telling Julien was the most likely reason why D'Artagnan would miss a deadline. He knew that they would ultimately discover if Henri, D'Artagnan's target, was dead, as word would ultimately reach the Palace; if that occurs, and D'Artagnan returns, well…but if D'Artagnan did not ever again walk through the Garrison gates, they would be left to assume the worst- that he was either killed, or he knew he was about to be captured and took his own life.
"You are dismissed from being a recruit. Never come near the Garrison again." Treville was not even looking at the young man.
After Julien slithered meekly out of his office, Treville's only solace was having the wisdom of not telling Julien anything about the details of the mission other than his own tasks of receiving notes from D'Artagnan. He was confident that there would be no connecting the young man with the delicate task at hand. Richelieu and the King had no idea that Treville even planned on having anyone accompany D'Artagnan at all; it was his own idea, an indulgence of sorts- an act of defiance, a way, if he were being honest. Since this mission wasn't his idea but the Cardinal's, he would be damned if he wouldn't at least be able to do something to give himself and his men the closure they would certainly need to be certain of D'Artagnan's fate on what he knew the Cardinal hoped would be a suicide mission.
Now that wasn't even possible. They would all need to saddle up for the possibility that they would never see D'Artagnan alive again. And all for the sake of cleaning up the Cardinal's mess.