Chapter Six
Now...
'What about the last two men?' asked Aramis, who was sitting up in bed, a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.
Athos sighed, 'they ran,' he admitted. 'I could not bring myself to shoot them in the backs.'
Aramis grinned. Athos was pleased his friend was enjoying a brief respite from the symptoms of his withdrawal. He was still shivering but was focused on what was going on around him. He had asked for more details about his rescue and Athos was happy to oblige.
The retelling had taken Athos a while. He had watched the shadows lengthening outside as he spoke.
'I should set the fire,' remarked Athos. 'If you are feeling well enough, we can sit outside for a while. The fresh air might help you?'
Aramis nodded, 'I'm sure this won't last,' he remarked.
Athos knew his friend was right, but they could at least make the most of it whilst it did. He walked from the hut and stepped outside. The slight chill in the air indicating the sun was almost set. He picked up some of the dry wood he had collected and went to work on setting and building up the fire.
It had been several days since Aramis had taken the last of the drugged water. His friend was suffering from bouts of fever and nausea. He was losing focus for hours at a time and then behaving as though there was nothing wrong with him. Athos found it distressing to watch him going through the various symptoms. But he knew they had to persevere. He hoped there would not be many more days before Aramis' appetite returned and he was able to sleep properly. The Musketeer was weaker than when Athos had found him, and the exhaustion was clear in his eyes.
A creak from the hut drew Athos' attention. He looked towards the open door in time to see a shadow moving. Aramis was out of bed. Athos sighed. His friend was too weak to be walking about without help. He returned to the doorway ready to admonish his ailing friend. He paused in the door before moving forward quickly.
Aramis was rummaging around in Athos' saddle bag searching for something.
'I need more,' Aramis muttered to himself. 'Why haven't they come with more.'
'Aramis,' said Athos calmly. 'You need to go back to bed.'
Athos reached out and took Aramis' arm to guide him back to his bed. Aramis whirled around; his right hand fisted, ready to strike out at Athos. Athos anticipated the move and ducked out of the way. Aramis tried again, pushing Athos back with more strength than Athos thought the man capable of. Athos firmly grabbed his friend and tried to force him to be still. Aramis continued to struggle against him. He got one hand free and punched Athos. The punch had little force behind it but it did cause Athos to lose his grip. Aramis used the moment of freedom to grab the broom and try to use it to hit Athos.
Athos stepped out of the way of the flailing swing of the broom handle. He paused for a couple of seconds as Aramis' momentum carried him forward a step and drop the broom. Regretfully, Athos grabbed his friend and pushed him backwards. Aramis ended up lying on his bed with a confused and stunned expression. Athos made use of Aramis' confusion. He grabbed the makeshift restraints and wrapped them around Aramis' wrists, buckling the belts tightly. He knew he was hurting his friend but needed to get control of the situation. Aramis struggled against him.
'I need more of it. Why won't you let me have it… I'll tell you… I'll… tell…'
Aramis thrashed about a little. He tried to pull away but lacked any strength. Athos held him still until he wore himself out. Once Athos was sure Aramis had passed out he stepped back. With a shake of his head, he realised he had been complacent thinking Aramis was focused. His friend had been in a delusional state for a while, but the delusion was such that his behaviour seemed nearly normal. Athos would not allow that to happen again.
Athos knew he had his work cut out to watch over his friend. The fact that Aramis had been able to deceive him into thinking he was lucid and focused was a worry. He set about padding the straps so that they did not damage Aramis' wrists. Athos started to think of ways he would be able to assure himself that Aramis was himself and not drugged and confused when he came around again.
When Aramis woke up some hours later it did not take Athos long to realise his friend was still delusional.
'Why aren't you helping him?'
Aramis was glaring at Athos who was sitting on the other bed eating some bread.
'Why are you just standing there?'
Athos put his plate down and swung his legs off the bed. He tried to work out what Aramis was seeing. His gaze had moved to a spot a few feet to his left.
'He could be dying and you're not doing anything. What if I can't get there? I'm trying to get there but these two won't get out of my way. Athos, help him. Help Porthos.'
Aramis tried to move his arms, he pulled at his restraints for a few seconds before looking up again.
'He's right there. He's been stabbed. Help him.'
Athos worked out what it was his friend was reliving.
'Why can't I get rid of these two?'
Athos shook his head as he remembered the frantic incident. The misunderstanding from Aramis had led to a blazing one-sided row as the field medic frantically dealt with the stab wound Porthos had received. Aramis had been so focused on helping his injured friend and accusing Athos of neglecting his duty that he failed to see that Athos was also injured. Athos had not been able to help Porthos, much as he wanted to.
'Aramis,' said Athos, wondering if he could talk his friend through the unpleasant memory, 'I am stuck. You remember. I could not help Porthos because I had been pinned to the wall by one of the thugs.'
Athos still found the incident embarrassing to recall. One of the men he and Porthos had been fighting was a tall, broad, giant. The man managed to push Athos against the wall and stab his dagger into the shoulder of his doublet. The blade had sliced into Athos' shoulder and left him pinned to the wall. He had been frantically pulling at the dagger as Porthos was stabbed and left to bleed to death.
Aramis had not seen all that had happened whilst he dealt with two other gang members.
'Help me,' shouted Aramis. 'Don't you care about Porthos?'
'I want to help, Aramis. But I cannot,' said Athos recalling the words he had shouted back at the medic.
Aramis twisted on the bed and stared at him, the anger and accusation in his expression were just as it had been that day. So focused was the medic on his patient he had not seen that he had two patients to deal with.
'We should never have trusted you. I always knew your drinking would get one of us killed,' Aramis spat the words with venom. 'You don't care. Your death wish will kill us all.'
Athos remained silent as Aramis continued to berate him angrily. It took several minutes for the confused man to lose focus and sink back onto the bed mumbling insults at him.
As Aramis slipped into another fitful sleep, Athos hoped his friend would not remember his hateful words when his recovery was over.
MMMM
'You still don't trust me,' said Aramis quietly.
He was lying on his side, as best he could with his wrists tied to the bed. He had turned away from Athos.
During his lucid moments, Aramis had asked why he was restrained. Athos did not tell him the details, only that he had tried to walk off. It was obvious Aramis knew he was lying.
Over the few days, he had been restrained Aramis had gone through more symptoms. He had spent one day moaning with confusion and pulling at the straps. Then he had been shivering constantly for several hours before another fever gripped him.
Athos tried to get his friend to eat but he could not keep the food down. More than once Athos had been forced to wash the blankets that covered his friend.
'You are better than you were, Aramis,' Athos said as he settled by his friend's bed with a fresh bowl of water and clean cloths.
As he wiped the sweat from the exposed parts of Aramis' skin his friend turned onto his back and looked at him. He did not look as flushed as he had done. His eyes were focused for the first time in days. Athos wondered if he could allow a glimmer of hope.
'I'm tired,' Aramis said. 'But there are too many thoughts in my head.'
Athos smiled, 'talk to me then. Whatever you need to say, say it. Nothing will go any further.'
Aramis looked away for a few seconds.
'I can't help thinking I let this happen. I should have been more careful when I met the contact. I keep replaying it in my head. How could I not have seen them? They were yards away from us both the entire time.'
'They had been there for hours, Aramis. They knew what they were doing. I know you would have been vigilant to anyone following you. The contact would have been as well. You are not to blame.'
Athos used the damp cloth to wipe his friend's face and neck.
'I do not want to go through this again,' said Aramis. 'I feel pathetic. Useless.'
'You are,' agreed Athos with a smirk, 'but you will get better. You are getting better.'
Aramis managed his first genuine smile for several days. Athos glanced at the restraints. Aramis shook his head.
'Leave it for a bit longer. Just in case.'
Athos nodded; he could understand his friend's fear.
'Can you at least try to eat something?' asked Athos.
Aramis nodded, 'I can try.'
The glimmer of hope remained with Athos as he collected some of the fresh bread the shepherd had brought to them that morning.
The shepherd had not questioned Athos about what was going on. He had only asked if Aramis was on the mend and if they needed anything else. Athos had already decided he would give the generous man more money when they left.
He set the plate down by the bed and undid one of Aramis' restraints. Aramis flexed his hand a few times looking at his wrist which was bruised from his struggles over the previous few days.
Athos helped his friend to sit up as far as his remaining restraint would allow. He lay the plate on Aramis' lap. As Aramis took a bite of the fresh bread Athos noticed a change in his expression.
'Is something wrong?'
Aramis shook his head, 'no, it's just… it reminded me of the bread I was given. That was always fresh. Sometimes it was still warm. I came to think of it as my reward for not struggling when they forced me to drink the drugged water.'
Athos had to remind himself that Aramis was recovering from more than the drugging. He had been assaulted and abused, mentally, as well as physically, over several weeks. His friend was still weak and would need some time to recover fully.
Once Aramis had managed a few bites of the bread he pushed the plate away.
'Sorry,' he said, 'I can't…'
'It's more than you've been eating.'
He was about to move away when he saw Aramis rest his free hand over the makeshift restraint.
'Please,' said Aramis, 'don't take the risk.'
Reluctantly, Athos strapped his friend to the bed again. He knew Aramis was right. There was a chance he could become delusional again.
'Talk me through loading a musket,' said Athos as he checked the padding on the strap.
Aramis chuckled, 'I've not hit my head,' he said.
'Not from the outside,' countered Athos.
Aramis nodded his understanding. He started to reel off the steps to load and prime a musket. Athos was not surprised that his tired friend did not get very far before falling asleep.
MMMM
The following afternoon Athos removed the restraints with Aramis' blessing. He helped his friend to stand. The first time he had left the bed in several days. They walked slowly out of the hut. Athos had built the fire up and set a bucket of fresh water by the bench and lay out a clean set of clothes, donated by the friendly shepherd, for his friend.
Aramis looked at the change of clothes before wrinkling his nose.
'I don't think I noticed how… pungent it's become in there,' he said.
Athos helped his friend to sit on the bench and stayed close by as he eased his shirt and breeches off. He was pleased Aramis managed on his own, but it was a taxing task.
'Call me if you need anything,' said Athos as he turned back to the hut. 'I need to change the blankets on your bed.'
'I'm sorry,' said Aramis as he wet one of the cloths and started to wash.
Athos turned back to Aramis, 'I would rather be clearing up after my recovering friend than burying his body.'
Athos left Aramis to wash, although he kept an eye on him from the hut. His friend had not outright stated that he felt he was over the withdrawal, but Athos was sure he was. The thing that was holding him back in his recovery was his lack of appetite, but Athos hoped that would return over the following days.
He pulled the old blankets from Aramis' bed and found the remaining clean ones. As he busied himself Athos realised how tired he had become himself. His near-constant vigil at his ailing friend's side had taken its toll. He hoped that as Aramis was brighter and more focused, he would sleep better over the following days which would, in turn, give Athos the chance for a few hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Aramis was struggling to pull the clean breeches on as Athos finished cleaning up the hut.
'The last thing we need is for you to fall over and hurt yourself,' admonished Athos as he steadied Aramis.
Aramis sighed, 'I know. It's frustrating.'
'You are getting better. You need to build your strength up again.'
Aramis nodded as he settled on the bench again.
'Do not move whilst I go to the river for more water. Enjoy the fresh air.'
'Yes, Captain,' said Aramis with mock sincerity.
Athos chuckled as he walked away. If his friend's sense of humour was returning it was a sure sign he was on the mend.
He paused by the river for a while, enjoying the sound of the water trickling past. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he felt himself waver he knew he needed rest. He decided he would ensure Aramis was back in bed before admitting he needed rest of his own. He knew Aramis would admonish him.
The small river was only a few hundred yards away from the hut, but it felt a lot further as Athos returned carrying the refilled bucket. As the hut came into sight, he felt relieved.
When he stumbled and crashed to the ground, he felt regret for not looking after himself earlier.
MMMM