Along the back wall of the Notre Dame Cathedral, three forms scurried through the darkness. They ducked into a niche of the wall as a patrol of Musketeers galloped by.
Once they where gone from sight, Aramis unlocked a door in the cathedral wall and they hurried inside. Aramis expertly wove his way through the catacombs passages and into the chapel. They fell, gasping onto the floor.
"Bloody hell!" exclaimed Aramis angrily.
"We can't stay here," said Athos. "That traitor D'Artagnan knows about this place."
"D'Artagnan may not betray us," said Aramis.
Athos snorted.
Aramis gave him a look. "He's your best friend."
"He was. Once. Long ago," said Athos. "We must go."
"Can we eat before we go?" asked Porthos. "All this excitement's given me an appetite."
"There's food in that cupboard," said Aramis, recovered. He sat up and sighed.
Porthos hauled himself to his feet. "We must get word to Celeste."
The name exploded inside Aramis's head. "Celeste!" He stood quickly. In the back of his mind, he wondered why she had shouted at him not to kill Louis? But it was in the back of his mind. "Yes. We must get to Celeste somehow."
"But how?" asked Athos. "She'll be in the palace, trying to pacify Louis, or Anne, or D'Artagnan. Or even all three at once."
"I'll go get her if I have to," said Aramis. "I'll not leave without her."
"Who says she'll come?" asked Athos.
Aramis glared at him. "Why wouldn't she?"
"She begged for Louis's life, Aramis," said Athos. "Are you forgetting that?"
"I swore I wouldn't question anything she did," said Aramis. "And I will not. Whatever she did, she did with good reason. And she was right. If I had killed Louis, we probably wouldn't be standing here."
Porthos turned up the wick of lantern and gasped.
The other two turned.
There was a note stuck to cupboard with a silver dagger.
"A note," said Porthos. "Pinned with a dagger, like the old days." He pulled the dagger out and read the note. "Phillippe has been removed to the Bastille, to the lower dungeon. At midnight tonight I will order the guard changed and I will delay the replacements for ten minutes. That should give you enough time. Never have I needed more to say: One for all, all for one. D'Artagnan" He looked up. "He gave us the pass." He held up a note written in D'Artagnan's firm hand and sighed in his own royal seal.
"He's trying to trap us," said Athos instantly.
"He seeks redemption," said Aramis. "If we did get Phillippe out and someone mentioned that pass to Louis, he would know that D'Artagnan helped us get out."
"You are a fool!" exploded Athos.
"Ah, Athos, but he is right."