A/N: Thank you pallysAramisRios and SnidgetHex for reviewing!
Summary: Trouble finds the Inseparables on a mission. But they give as good as they get.
Pre-series
"Inseparables"
Porthos used to hate riding a horse at any pace faster than a walk, but once he'd become comfortable in the saddle, he realized the walk was the least comfortable gait to endure. His back ached from getting rocked side to side, like his horse was imitating some drunkard's languid swagger. Unfortunately, that was the pace he was forced to maintain, as the carriage he and Athos were escorting was currently traveling at a sedate pace. No doubt the gold shipment the tax collector was bringing to Paris from the southern provinces made for a heavy load.
A shadow swept over them from above; Aramis and his dragon Grettir were providing an aerial lookout on this mission. They pulled up into a hover, attention directed toward a hilltop up ahead. Porthos thought he saw a metallic glint a split second before a distant shot cracked the air.
Grettir screeched and reeled backward, flapping her wings madly. Porthos yanked back on his horse's reins and watched in horror as the green dragon's wing buckled, and suddenly she and Aramis were plummeting. Grettir angled herself toward a lake on the side of the road, and Porthos could see Aramis still clinging to the saddle. He kicked his horse into a gallop, only for Athos to yell for him. Porthos glanced over his shoulder and saw bandits converging on their position. He heard the tremendous splash of Grettir crashing into the lake, felt a thrill of terror for Aramis, but he forced himself to turn his steed abruptly and ride back for the fight.
Porthos swung out of the saddle and drew his sword, his horse immediately veering away from the battle. Athos was already engaged in combat with two men while many more bore down on them. Porthos charged with a raging battle cry and swung his sword with every ounce of strength. The force of the blow immediately sent his first opponent to his knees. He pivoted and disarmed the second, running him through.
But while the might of two musketeers were able to hold their own, they were outnumbered, and while Porthos and Athos were locked in battle, a handful of bandits went straight for the carriage and began to haul out bags of gold.
Porthos cut down another and turned toward the carriage, only for a musket shot to make him flinch away. That bastard sniper had moved down from his perch on the hill and was now at the other end of the road. Rage surged up in Porthos and he drew his pistol to fire back. His shot missed, but the sniper went fleeing into the trees. Porthos whirled back around, but most of the bandits had fled. Only one was left fighting Athos, and the swordsman swiftly finished him off.
The two musketeers only shared a brief look before turning toward the lake.
"Aren't you going to go after them?" the tax collector bleated as he poked his head out of the carriage. Porthos was mildly surprised he hadn't been killed in the assault.
"Stay there!" Athos barked at him, not slowing his stride as he and Porthos broke into a run.
Grettir was hauling herself out of the lake by the time they reached the bank, dragging a limp Aramis by his anchor line. Her lumbering steps yanked harshly on the rope, which punched roughly against his stomach and triggered a coughing fit. Porthos darted in to support his weight as Athos reached to unhook the anchor line. Grettir was still flailing as they carried Aramis out of range of her wings and laid him on the ground. Another cough punched its way out of his chest, and Porthos rolled him onto his side and braced him as he coughed up water.
"That's it, get it all out," he soothed, rubbing Aramis's back urgently.
Aramis's entire body rocked with the hacking, and then he lay limp and breathless for several minutes.
"You all right?" Porthos tentatively asked.
Aramis nodded and finally opened his eyes. "Grettir?" he said hoarsely.
Porthos looked over to where Athos was checking over the dragon. Her wing shuddered as she tried to extend it toward him.
"Looks like an acimite ball went through here," Athos reported. "It missed the bone, but there are shards that need to be debrided."
Aramis tried to sit up, and Porthos quickly lashed a hand out to support him as he lurched unsteadily.
"Easy, you nearly drowned yourself just now."
"You need to find- who shot—" Aramis broke off with another coughing fit.
"That is no mystery," Athos replied blandly. "The carriage was robbed."
Aramis shot his head up, sopping wet hair plastered across half his face. "What?"
"By someone who knew to expect a dragon escort," Porthos added, sharing a dark look with Athos. The swordsman gave a subtle nod in response; if they found the people behind this, they were going to make them pay. Especially that sniper.
Porthos helped Aramis to stand and wrapped an arm around his waist as he stumbled.
"My med kit," Aramis croaked, gesturing to Grettir's soaked saddlebag.
"We should regroup at the carriage," Athos interjected.
Aramis didn't protest, and they hobbled their way back to where they'd left the tax collector.
Dupuy was looking anxious and agitated as they approached. "How am I going to tell the King all the gold was stolen?" he bemoaned out loud.
"All of it?" Porthos exclaimed incredulously.
Dupuy's face scrunched up and he pivoted to pace across the road. The carriage horses shifted uneasily as Grettir approached, while the Musketeer mounts remained unmoved.
Aramis lurched away from Porthos to prop himself up against his dragon instead. "As soon as I've patched up Grettir's wing, we'll go after the bandits," he said, digging into his saddlebag for his med kit.
"Are you sure?" Porthos asked in concern.
"I am not letting a bunch of thieves get away over a lucky shot." He coughed into his elbow, then resumed getting out a pair of tweezers to extract the obsidian fragments from Grettir's wing.
"Grettir is going to have trouble flying," Athos pointed out.
"She won't need to. We can unhitch the carriage horses and I'll ride one of them. We can track just as well from the ground."
"What about me?" Dupuy spluttered.
"Grettir can stay and guard you until we return," Aramis replied simply as he plucked an acimite shard from his dragon's wing.
"I am not staying out here with a bunch of dead bandits," Dupuy insisted. "They will attract predators!"
"Nothin's gonna get close with a dragon around," Porthos huffed.
"And you could always bury them," Athos put in.
Dupuy's cheeks puffed in indignation. "I will take the second carriage horse and ride to Paris to report the theft."
"That is premature," Athos replied. "We will retrieve the gold."
Dupuy looked unconvinced and stormed off to the other side of the carriage.
Porthos and Athos unhitched the horses while Aramis finished tending Grettir. Dupuy immediately mounted up on one of the horses and rode off at a quick pace. Good riddance, in Porthos's opinion.
"How's it feel?" Aramis asked his dragon.
Grettir flexed her wing experimentally, then bobbed her head.
"You could stay here, even without Dupuy to guard," Aramis said.
She fervently shook her head at that suggestion, which Aramis smirked at.
He then swung up onto the other carriage horse, still soaking wet and no doubt an uncomfortable burden for the poor beast without a saddle.
"Shouldn't we wait a little?" Porthos asked.
Aramis doggedly shook his head and nudged his horse into a trot. Athos looked at Porthos and shrugged before following suit. Grettir took to the air, showering them with water droplets as they set off after the gold thieves.
.o.0.o.
The bandits' trail led to some ruins, which seemed like a sufficient place for them to make camp. Athos scanned the dilapidated walls for a lookout to confirm they were there, but there didn't seem to be one. Surely a band smart enough to have a sniper take out the dragon escort would have set up a watch after they escaped with their prize.
Athos signaled for Aramis and Porthos to rein their horses in; they'd approach on foot in case they still had the element of surprise. With swords drawn, the three of them crept forward, Grettir staying behind for the moment. As they got closer to the ruins, they could hear raised voices inside. It sounded like there was malcontent among the thieves.
Athos nodded to his companions, and they swept into the ruins to reveal themselves.
"Gentlemen, you are all under arrest," Athos announced without preamble.
There was a brief moment of stupefaction among the half a dozen thieves before they opted to go for their weapons. The musketeers didn't need to get off a shot, though, because Grettir climbed up over one wall and belted out a roar so loudly that half of the bandits fell down in shock and terror.
"Let's try this again," Athos went on. "Surrender."
There was another beat of uncertainty, but then the bandits slowly discarded their weapons on the ground. Athos and Porthos found some rope among their supplies and used it to tie them up.
"We have a problem," Aramis announced as he kicked over one of the coin bags. A bunch of pebbles spilled across the ground.
Athos narrowed his eyes on the bandits. "Where is the gold?"
"We don't have it," one of them spat. "Dupuy double-crossed us."
The musketeers shared a dubious look at that.
"Dupuy the tax collector in charge of the shipment?" Aramis said.
"That's the one," the bandit said with a scowl. "He approached us for a job to rob the carriage and we would split the take. But that swine lied and swapped out the gold."
Athos turned to Aramis and lowered his voice. "You and Grettir get back to the carriage. Dupuy didn't ride off with anything when we parted, but he could have already doubled back to retrieve the gold."
Aramis nodded. "What about them?"
"Porthos and I will deliver them to the nearest magistrate. We'll rendezvous as soon as we can."
Aramis gave another nod and hurried out of the ruins. A few moments later, Grettir's wing beats thwacked the air as she rose into the sky.
Porthos turned a dark glower on the tied up bandits. "Anyone tries anything, I'll be all too happy to put a bullet in his heart," he warned, drawing his pistol.
Athos ordered the men to their feet and they began the long march to the nearest village with a magistrate. Both musketeers kept their guards up, fingers on the triggers of their pistols. They were in a precarious position without a full-grown dragon to deter any escape attempts, yet somehow they managed to reach the magistrate without incident.
They had just finished handing over their prisoners with the charges when Aramis and Grettir caught up.
"Dupuy must have double backed as soon as we left," Aramis reported. "There was a hidden compartment beneath the carriage seat left open, which I presume is where he hid the real coin bags."
"So the gold really is gone," Porthos said. "The Cardinal is gonna be livid."
"Not if we retrieve it," Athos replied.
"How?" Aramis asked. "Dupuy could have gone anywhere."
"A single horse carrying that much weight will be easy to track," Athos said. "And I have no intention of letting him get away that easily."
Aramis grinned, and so they all set off back to the site of the robbery and abandoned carriage to pick up Dupuy's trail.
.o.0.o.
Athos had been right about Dupuy's horse leaving deeper tracks because of the weighted gold, and the musketeers were able to follow them to a town. But then they lost the trail amidst the mud and muck of a well-traveled street.
"Perhaps he needed a fresh horse," Aramis hypothesized, so they headed to the stable to look around.
They did not find the other carriage horse, but they found the stable owner counting a bunch of gold coins.
"Where did you get that payment?" Athos asked tersely.
The man flicked a startled and then indignant look at them before he noticed their uniforms. "A man came in and bought a horse. What's it to you?"
"Did he already have one with him?" Aramis asked.
"Yeah. No saddle, though. He also bought a pack for that horse." The stable owner narrowed his eyes at them. "If you're lookin' for him, he rode out an hour ago. And before you ask, no, I didn't see which way he went."
"Well, then we have only one more request," Aramis said with a genial smile. "We need you to let our dragon sniff out the stall of the horse this man bought."
The stable owner gaped at him as though he were mad.
Athos stepped closer to him and lowered his voice. "It's actually not a request."
Aramis flashed him another charming grin and then placed two fingers to his lips to whistle. A few moments later, Grettir came sauntering down the street, sending villagers scrambling.
Aramis turned back to the stable owner. "Now, which stall was it?"
"Se-second one on the left," he stammered, pressing himself up against the wall at his back. In this part of the countryside away from the mountains, there weren't many dragons that got so up close and personal.
Grettir wedged herself as far as she could into the barn, folding her wings down her back. She stretched her neck toward the stall in question and sniffed intently for several moments before backing out and giving a nod. Aramis climbed up on her back, and once again the musketeers set off on the trail.
Athos and Porthos fell behind on their horses as Grettir glided low over the countryside, following the scent of the horse. Aramis spotted two horses riding up ahead with a single man astride one of them.
Grettir swooped around to land directly in front of them, startling the horses into rearing up, which threw Dupuy from the saddle and some of the gold from the stuffed packs.
Aramis dismounted and came to stand over the man, canting a dry look at him. "You owe me a new hat."
Dupuy gaped at him in astonishment, then scowled.
Aramis grabbed hold of the horses' reins and held them still as Grettir stood guard over Dupuy, baring her teeth menacingly whenever he so much as twitched.
Athos and Porthos eventually caught up to them, and from there they tied Dupuy to one of the horses and Aramis switched to a steed as well for the return journey so Grettir could take it easy with her wing.
Once back in Paris, they escorted the gold and the corrupt tax collector straight to the Cardinal and made him the Red Guard's problem. Then they returned to the garrison and gave their report to Treville.
The captain shook his head at the end of it. "How is it that the three of you together seem to always find trouble?" he lamented.
Aramis just grinned at Athos and Porthos and shrugged. "We make a good team."