The pure fury of all three Musketeers' faces caused the masked, cloaked figure holding the pillow over Aramis' face to drop it and race to the windows, vaulting over the sill and scrambling madly up the rooftop to disappear over the other side.
Athos and his brothers moved swiftly, crossing the room. Athos grabbed and flung the pillow out the window in a rare display of anger, turning back to Aramis.
He had been pale enough since the stabbing, but his face was white as snow now as he gasped repeatedly, trying desperately to draw breath into his lungs, all the while with an expression of terror.
"Aramis! Aramis!" Athos tried getting his attention, hoping he would recognize them and know that he was safe now. "He is gone. Your brothers are here now."
It took a very long time before Aramis'Julio body finally calmed a little. But the terror on his face remained, his eyes darting around frantically.
"Breathe, Aramis." But the marksman's panicky attempts to breathe continued, with very limited results.
Aramis!" Athos spoke sharply to get his attention, Aramis startled enough to look into his brother's eyes.
"Good! Follow what I am doing," Athos told him when he saw that his traumatized brother couldn't seem to comprehend what he was saying. Then, he slowly took a deep breath, and blew it out, repeating it several times.
It took several tries, but Athos was patient while being firm. Finally, Aramis was able to drag air into his starved lungs, which calmed him a bit, his eyes wearily closing.
They sat down around the bed watching their brother. His breathing was slower now. Then, finally his eyes opened.
"Aramis, it is Athos. We are sorry you were attacked again. We will make sure it happens no more."
Aramis watched his brother's face silently. They didn't know what he might be thinking right now.
Athos asked him, "Did you recognize him, Aramis? Was he familiar to you?" He knew he needed to ask, but hated having to do so.
Aramis was quiet, looking from one to another of them silently.
Then, he said in a voice they could barely hear, "Eyes!" Then again, "Eyes!" as his own slowly and wearily closed again.
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They still didn't grasp what Aramis was saying to them.
Eyes.
Athos thought it had to do with the mask the attacker who just left was wearing. Did the man resemble the person who attacked him with a knife?
But what did he mean about 'eyes watching him'? He had used that description several times now. It had to be important.
Xxxxxxxxxxxx
"What do you mean you were not able to complete the task I gave you?" the Comtesse almost snarled at the man in front of her. "I only gave you one thing, and it was too much for you?" she continued.
The man she was berating just hung his head. He knew better than to speak before she stopped speaking. He had done that once in the past, and she had ordered him whipped for insolence. Instead, he kept quiet as she humiliated him.
"What is it about this Musketeer that he is still living? Charmed life? Nine lives! I will have my will with him if it is the last thing I do!" her eyes glaring at him, and her face enraged.
Pausing, she resumed, saying, "Get out of my sight. Send Jacques into me. He is the best man for this. If he had returned sooner from the journey I tasked him with, I would have given this assignment to him instead of to you. He has never failed me. Go!"
After her servant left, she took several calming breaths. If Louis ever saw her temper as it was now, she would be banished from his presence. She needed to finish taking care of this problem soon so that she could resume her normal life again.
She vowed never to become obsessed with a commoner ever again. That was her mistake. Keeping to people of her own rank was what she would make sure she did from the moment this issue was finally resolved. But the Musketeer's death was of paramount importance first to her peace of mind.
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Athos finished checking the wound in his brother's abdomen, and settled into the chair beside his bed.
He had finally made up his mind to ask Aramis, as gently as possible, what 'eyes' meant. It was troubling the marksman so much that he didn't sleep soundly, and they saw that it aroused a fear in him seldom seen by any of them. He just hoped it wouldn't trigger anything worse.
He seemed to be sleeping peacefully for once. He was thankful for that. Heis brother had not had much restful sleep since they had found him in the hallway.
Finally, after several hours, Aramis was showing signs of awakening. Eyelids fluttering as he emerged from his rest, still-weary eyes looked up at Athos.
"I trust you had a good sleep, brother?" Athos asked him.
Aramis didn't respond, probably not completely awake yet.
Aramis at last asked, "Everything ... all right?"
Athos had somehow forgotten Aramis' knack for seeming to sometimes almost be able to read his brothers' minds.
"Are you, Aramis?" Athos responded. "I... We have been greatly concerned for you, brother."
Aramis was silent, seeming to study his brother's face intently.
"Aramis?" Athos gently urged him to respond.
"I'm fine."
Athos somehow hadn't been expecting those words, even though, knowing Aramis, he probably should have been.
"Aramis," Athos, in a tone that told his brother he had serious reservations that his response had been truthful.
Aramis dipped his head, looking down at his hands.
"Aramis," Athos repeated.
"I..." Aramis paused again. "I see the eyes, Athos," the fear revealing itself in the depths of his eyes again.
"What eyes, Aramis," Athos asked. "Please tell me, brother."
"The eyes... that tried to...kill me. The ones...who wanted to...watch me die. They..are with me when I sleep...when I'm awake. They...want me...dead."
"Whose eyes, Aramis?"
I..I don't know. They look at me through a mask."
"What does the rest of the person you see look like?"
"N..nothing. Just...just the eyes. Watching...to see me dead," Aramis whispered, the stutter starting again, the fear in his voice like nothing Athos had ever seen from his usually fearless brother.
He started to ask Aramis another question, only to see the weary eyes drooping closed once more.
Who in the world was he seeing?