Athos glared at d'Artagnan who dropped the couple of stones he had picked up and brushed the dust from his gloves. The young Musketeer was about to flick the stones at the stick floating lazily in the water around the ornamental fountain. D'Artagnan had been throwing the pebbles at the stick for some time and Athos had reached the end of his patience.

However, he had to agree with d'Artagnan. Their work at that particular moment was somewhat dull. Waiting, staying alert and watchful was never something Athos enjoyed. He was a quiet, contemplative man, but that was something he reserved for the hours he spent away from his work. When he was working, he wanted to be active, he did not want to wait for things to happen.

But wait they must. And, ideally, they would not have any work to do. But they might. And they had to be ready for that.

The coin flip to decide which of them went in search of the elusive book had drawn grins from Aramis and Porthos who knew full well that Athos would despise having to wait for them. D'Artagnan had looked disappointed. But such was the life of a soldier. There were, inevitably, going to be moments when nothing was happening. But that did not mean they could lower their guard. And that was part of the problem for Athos, he wanted to be active, moving, involved.

'What was that?'

Athos shook his head; he had heard the noise as well. A sharp thump and a few cracking sounds.

'Breaking glass,' he suggested answering d'Artagnan's question.

Athos peered around the fountain, across the ornate gardens with the multiple low box hedges. D'Artagnan nudged him and indicated further into the garden. A group of the landowners' watchmen were standing taking orders from an older man. A younger man, dressed in the livery of a footman was standing a few feet away, his shoulders heaving as though he had run hard to reach the watchmen. The leader of the group pointed in several directions after pointing at some of the men around him. The group split up, pairs of watchmen taking different routes around the garden towards the house.

'We may need to offer our services,' said Athos as he pulled his gun from his belt and checked it was primed and ready to fire.

D'Artagnan nodded grimly, 'much as I would like some action, the fact we are about to get some means something must have gone wrong in there.'

'We will start by getting their attention,' said Athos as he sighted a likely target and fired.

D'Artagnan did not need any further direction. He waited a few seconds as Athos began to reload and fired his gun. Two of the watchmen were neutralised and the rest were more interested in the people firing at them than the source of the breaking glass in the chateau or whatever the footman had told them.

The watchmen took cover, dragging their injured comrades with them. Athos fired again, causing an exposed man to regret his choice of a hiding place. D'Artagnan took a second shot, sending a cloud of dust up at the base of one of the box hedges. The subsequent rustling further along the hedge told them that they had sent the man hiding there several yards to the side.

They continued to fire intermittently, always keeping an unfired weapon ready in case of an issue. D'Artagnan shifted his position a little to fire from the other side of the fountain, causing further confusion among the watchmen who would not know how many people were pinning them down.

A few shots were fired back, all going well wide of their mark. Athos wondered if the men even knew where they were hiding. He wondered if the fact they were firing from low to the ground was confusing the watchmen. It did not matter, as long as the watchmen were more interested in them the more time it gave Aramis and Porthos to get away with the book.

The lead man was saying something to the watchmen, but Athos could not catch the words, they were just out of earshot. The man's deep voice cut through the gunfire every so often. Whatever the man had said was having an effect. The watchmen were starting to take more measured shots.

Measured and well-aimed shots.

Athos could not help a yelp of pain as he was hit in the left leg.

MMMM

D'Artagnan struggled not to react when Athos cried out. His friend had been injured, but there was no time for him to stop firing the gun. He was aware of Athos shifting his position and doing something. Athos was still alive, still moving, which was a good sign, but he could still have been badly injured, compromising them both.

D'Artagnan fired another shot from the far side of the fountain, ensuring he hit one of the men rather than just miss them. They needed to even up the odds a little now that Athos was injured. As the watchman collapsed to the ground and was dragged out of sight by his friends, d'Artagnan moved back to Athos' side.

Athos had twisted over so that he could wrap his scarf around his thigh. D'Artagnan could see blood from two wounds on the scarf.

'The ball's gone through?' he asked.

Athos nodded but did not respond. The injured man was still riding out the pain from the injury. D'Artagnan grabbed Athos' unfired gun, he peered over the low wall of the fountain and fired. A strangled cry of pain a few yards away told him his aim had been true. There were only a few men left who were not incapacitated in some way.

'We should make a run for it, the others must have got away by now,' suggested d'Artagnan.

Athos nodded, he pushed his other unfired gun towards d'Artagnan who noticed the shaking hand and understood why. After using Athos' gun to hit one of the men in the arm and quickly firing his gun at one man who made the mistake of stepping into full sight he turned back to Athos. The injured Musketeer was shifting around to his knees and readying himself to stand. D'Artagnan reloaded all the guns in the time it took Athos to get to his feet. The slow movements were a worry, the ashen features of his face only making Athos look worse.

'Start making your way to the gap in the wall, I'll hold them off for a few more seconds-'

'See if you can take out the one with the green jerkin,' said Athos as he limped towards the thick tall hedge that would mask their escape. 'He is the one that shot me.'

D'Artagnan grinned, he turned back and searched the places he knew the remaining men were hiding. He spotted the green jerkin and lined up his gun. He waited a few seconds for the man to twist around to make his shot. D'Artagnan shot the man in the thigh, giving him the same injury that Athos had.

As the green jerkin wearer was writhing on the ground in agony, d'Artagnan took the opportunity to shoot one of the men that went to his aid before retreating. Using the fountain as cover, the water splashing down hiding him as he ran a few yards to the tall hedge, he was soon out of sight.

He grabbed Athos around the waist and pulled his arm over his shoulder. Taking most of Athos' weight he managed to move them quickly along the tall hedge. They were hidden in the trees within seconds. But they did not know how many watchmen the landowner had. D'Artagnan would not feel safe until they were off the man's land and had reached their camp.

Porthos had gone ahead to recce the area a few days before they attempted to steal the book and found a secluded spot with good sightlines for them to use as a camp.

D'Artagnan could only hope they would find their friends at the camp and that between them they could deal with Athos' injury.

To be continued…

Whumpee: Athos. Featured: D'Artagnan.