I know, it's been a while. I've been busy with all kinds of things, but hey, here it is! A completely new chapter!
Our friends have a little detour, and things get quiet complicated!

Part 2: Chapter 3: The Detour

In the darkness of the night shadows of buildings and trees passed by in flashes of black against the light of the moon.

The cool wind in his face seemed pleasing enough, helping Aramis to feel better. Although the pain in his body increased with every movement of his body while trotting on his horse. Not wanting to show his pain to his friends, he kept to himself, riding at the back of the party.

After looking over his shoulder at Aramis, Porthos quickly spurred forward, catching up with Athos.

'Is it far yet?' He questioned, glancing seriously at Athos.

'Couple of hours, I guess.' Athos responded, furrowing his brows. 'why?'

Porthos motioned his head towards Aramis, signaling Athos about his worries. Athos quickly turned his eyes on Aramis, trying to find some sign of his wellbeing.
Then turned back to Porthos; 'Keep an eye on him.'

Porthos nodded, slowing his horse down, leveling up with Aramis.

'Everything okay?' He asked, trying not to sound too worried.

Aramis looked back at him, forcing a smile on his face, trying not to show his endurance.

'Of course, why wouldn't I be? I'm not a child Porthos, I just want to reach our next stop. I don't need a babysitter.' Snapping back at his brother, who immediately felt personally attacked out of nowhere.

'Right…' He responded before spurring his horse, leaving Aramis alone at the back.

At that moment a shock of faintness struck Aramis' body. A shade of black blurred his vision, a sharp tone pierced his ears, blocking all other sound. And suddenly he lost control over his body. Before he could shout for help he felt his hands letting go of the reins and his feet unlocking with the stirrups. One more bounce of the horse while trotting, pushed him out of his saddle. And with a smack he landed hard upon the ground, unconscious.

Porthos quickly noticed the fall, halted his horse and jumped off. He ran towards Aramis' body, trying to check his pulse as his brother failed to react to Porthos' calls.

'ATHOS!' He yelled, making Athos and d'Artagnan suddenly stop their horses.

They dismounted their horses and ran towards them.

'What is it? What's wrong with him?' d'Artagnan asked, not being able to hide the panic in his voice.

'His pulse is very low. We need to stop and make sure he's alright!' responded Porthos, glancing Athos in his eyes with a grave look.

Athos suddenly cocked his head up, signaling with his hand to the rest to be quiet. D'Artagnan looked at him in confusion.

'We have to move! Quickly! I hear a carriage coming down the road. We cannot be seen!' Athos gulped as he squatted down next to Aramis and Porthos. 'Porthos, I need you to take him with you. D'Artagnan, take Aramis' horse and tie it to yours'. We cannot linger any longer!' He grabbed Aramis' feet, motioning to Porthos to take his shoulders. Together they moved him towards Porthos' horse and with some difficulty placed him in front of Porthos in the saddle.

'Ride! We'll follow!' Athos yelled at Porthos, who immediately spurred his horse and drove off. In the meantime d'Artagnan had tied Aramis' horse to his' own.

'Let's go!' Athos ordered.

'Don't you want to know who might be following us?' d'Artagnan asked.

'No, now is not the time my friend. We need to hurry and get Aramis to safety.'

D'Artagnan agreed, and they hurried after Porthos and Aramis as the sound of the carriage grew closer.

As they pushed their horses to their limits to increase the distance between themselves and the carriage behind them, they quickly found themselves crossing a crossroad.

'If we want to reach our destination we'll need to stop and give the horses a rest!' d'Artagnan shouted at Athos, the latter seeming obsessed with getting far ahead of the carriage behind them. Even though it was not in sight, the sound of the wheels of the wagon thundered through the silence of the night. Athos ignored the remark, bowed over his horse and spurred it to gain speed. As he passed Porthos he looked at him, motioning to follow his lead. Foam was forming around the mouth of his horse, but Athos ignored it. He needed to get Aramis in safety, whatever the cost.

D'Artagnan, angry with Athos' ignorance, pushed his heels in his horse and within seconds found himself next to Athos.

'Athos! Listen to me! We need to give the horses some rest, and above all we really need to check on Aramis!' the Gascon shouted at his stubborn friend. Finally he had enough of it and reached out towards Athos' reins, pulling them back, making his horse stop abruptly. Porthos quickly halted his horse before collapsing right into the two in front of him.

'Look at him!' d'Artagnan yelled at Athos, pointing his hand at the direction of Aramis, who was still not moving much, eyes closed, breathing heavily and transpiration clearly visible on his face.

Athos finally came to his senses.

'There is a small barn over there! I suggest we find shelter in it, hoping the carriage behind us will pass along. At least we can give the horses some air, and have a look at Aramis.' D'Artagnan proposed, breathing heavily out of frustration.

Athos nodded. Not being able to respond properly to his friend. Instead he led his horse to the barn pointed out by d'Artagnan. The rest followed behind him.

The barn stood quietly and alone in the middle of a field next to the road. It seemed totally abandoned. Once inside they found out why. It was a total wreck, some of the walls were halfway broken down, the roof had a great big gap in it, and a few of the beams were visibly rotten. Still, with no better alternative, they swung the reins of their horses around one of the beams. Athos' horse was really worn down, foam stood on its mouth and drops of sweat glided down its body. Porthos' horse was much in the same shape as Athos's. The weight of two men on its back must have had some impact on the animal.

Athos ran quickly towards the doors, hoping to close them and shield them from sight of their followers. With some difficulty he managed to shut one of them, but the other door was in such a bad shape that moving it was impossible.

'Help me get him down.' Porthos remarked, still holding Aramis tightly in his arms. D'Artagnan stepped next to the horse, reaching out for Aramis. Together they managed to let him down, and lay him softly on the floor, out of the draught. His hair was wet of transpiration and his face showed great discomfort. Porthos checked his pulse once more.

'Still too low…' He looked worriedly at the flustered face of his brother, opened his flask and tried to put it to the dried lips of Aramis, hoping it would help. The cold water did generate a reaction from him, but he was still not opening his eyes.

'Come on Aramis! Please, wake up, drink!' Porthos begged, as he placed the musketeers' body on his lap, supporting his head with his hand.

In the meantime Athos had stood guard at the door, wanting to catch a glimpse of the carriage which was following them. But it had not passed the barn yet. It was unsettling him deeply, he felt as if they were being chased, but the chasers still had to reveal themselves. He was also wondering who would chase them by means of a carriage, it didn't make sense to him. As he was staring into the darkness outside he was suddenly grabbed by his arm. He turned to find d'Artagnans' watering eyes peering into his'. He placed his hand on d'Artagnans' hoping to comfort him, and walked to Porthos and Aramis. His eyes met Porthos' and they shared a glance of despair.

'It's probably his wound, we should redress it, just to be sure.' Athos commented, opening up Aramis' shirt, and carefully removing some of the bandages.

Immediately the problem was visible. Athos was right, the wound in Aramis' side had reopened. The stitching was torn apart and blood seeped out of the wound continuously. Athos placed his hand upon his face in awe. He had not expected it to be this bad, and had hoped to easily move to their next hideout. But not this, this meant they would have to stay in hiding in this spot for at least a full day and night, with someone still chasing them. Athos cursed as he stood up and walked back to the half opened doors.

'I'll go get the stitching kit and light a lantern.' D'Artagnan responded, wanting to help his tortured friend as quickly as possible.

Still holding Aramis softly in his arms and on his lap, Porthos removed the sweat from Aramis' forehead with his handkerchief. With a gasp Aramis finally awoke, opening his eyes slowly.

'What happened?... Are we there already?' he asked as he was shushed by Porthos.

'It's okay, you're with us.' Porthos comforted him.

D'Artagnan came running, handing the stitching kit to Porthos. 'Thank god!' he remarked. 'He's talking!' and gave a faint smile towards Porthos, who grinned in response.

'Where's Athos?' Aramis wondered, trying to lift his head to find his brother, squinting his eyes against the light of the lantern d'Artagnan had just put next to him. But he quickly rested his head back on Porthos' arm as the room started spinning around him. D'Artagnan called Athos, but there was no response. As he stood up to find him, he noticed Athos was gone. Just a moment ago he was still standing at the door being all soulful like he can, but there was no trace of him left. He called again, but no one answered. Porthos was alarmed now too. 'Where'd he go?' he questioned, locking eyes with d'Artagnan.

'Stay here with Aramis, I'll have a quick look around.' The Gascon proposed, and before Porthos could answer he had already run out of the barn into the darkness.

Aramis noticed something was wrong and grabbed Porthos' hand. 'What's going on?' he murmured, trying hard to stay awake and not throw up.

'It's nothing.' Porthos replied, trying to hide his fears. 'Now let's try and stitch you back up okay? I'll need you to guide me through it, so stay awake please.' Aramis gave a small nod.

With some difficulty Porthos moved Aramis from his lap back on the ground, to free his arms to do the needlework.

'First… remove the old stitches…this will open the wound further… so you'll need something to stop the bleeding for a while…' Aramis instructed, but seeing Porthos' face added; 'I can try to do it myself if you want…'

'No, no I'll do it.' Porthos objected as he crumpled some of the old bandages together to use it to press against the wound when needed. 'Try not to faint…' he added, as he took the tweezers in hand.

'Now, you should be able to see some knots. Use the tweezer to pull them. But be careful not to pull a knot through the skin!'

'Will it hurt?'

'No, not as long as you don't pull those knots through the skin.' Aramis explained, grinning at Porthos but quickly squirming in pain afterwards.

Meanwhile d'Artagnan searched the grounds outside, hoping to find Athos somewhere. It was dark and he couldn't see a thing. Tracing the wall of the building was the best way to look for his friend. In fear for the persons chasing them he stopped calling out Athos' name, and quietly scanned the surroundings. His heart started beating faster and faster after every second of not finding a trace of Athos. Where could he be?

Sneaking around the corner of the building he found a dark silhouette leaning loosely against the wall. His heart pounded even harder in his chest. Softly he called out Athos' name. But there was no response. As he came up to the silhouette he recognized Athos. He was motionless, his eyes closed but still breathing. Someone had knocked him out cold.

What will happen next?! Who knows! ;)

So it seems I'm not as quick with writing part 2 as I did with the first part. Partly because I had a really clear view of what part 1 would be like, and I'm still figuring things out for Part 2, and partly because life has caught up with me and work needs to be done... which means writing is going to be somewhere down down down in my priority lists. But of course, I'll write as much as I can, and I will not abandon you, my faithfull reader!

Any ideas of suggestions for the story? Please let me know! :)

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