December Desolation Chapter 30

The three men reigned in their horses as they approached the small and quaint looking village in Saint Just, ragged looking villagers staring with undisguised hostility at the soldiers. It was hard to believe that this was a well known hangout for all the biggest and baddest that France had to offer, the streets were covered with smooth cobbles and the cottages that lined them were unobtrusively ordinary. The only aspect that gave away the true nature of this village was the slightly seedy feel to the atmosphere, the padlocks on unassuming doors, and of course the stockpiles of ammunition that were stacked against the walls.

"So what exactly is this place?" D'artagnan mumbled from the corner of his mouth, narrowed brown eyes scanning the streets, taking in the strange behaviour of the villagers "and why are we here? They don't look as if they're about to have a party and offer us drinks any time soon"

"That's because they won't be" Athos replied lip twitching up slightly at one corner, "keep your eyes and ears open and whatever you do, don't make eye contact. We are not popular people around here"

"That'll happen if you have arrested at least 90% of them or their family members and business associates" Porthos chimed in with a rumbling chuckle "welcome pup to Belcastel, hidey hole of criminals associated"

A flash of pain sparked in his left shoulder and D'artagnan cursed, hand flying up to grip the burning joint. "Oww, what the hell was that?" he cried, twisting in his saddle to scan the street for the mysterious projectile.

"Oy, you!" Porthos shouted vaulting from his horse, his feet met the pavement with a loud slapping and within moments he had reached the opening of a shadowy alleyway. He had grabbed blindly in the dark and dragged a small child from its recesses.

"I'm sorry mister, I'm sorry" the small boy cried, face scrunched up in fear and anger as he kicked and scratched, yanking his arm against Porthos' firm hold. "Please I'm sorry, lemme go mister"

"Why'd you do that eh?" he grumbled, face hard "you should know better than to attack soldiers"

By this point Athos and D'artagnan had dismounted from their horses, with considerably more grace than Porthos had displayed and were flanking their enraged friend. Athos squeezed his shoulder in support and also a little warning as he observed the lines of pain appearing on the small child's face.

"Porthos" he murmured pointedly and relaxed at seeing the tense lines of muscle in his back soften slightly, "we must be calm, and it would not do to antagonise these people when it is them from which we require information"

"Kid what's your name?" D'artagnan asked, crouching with a creak of his leathers and gently grabbing the child's chin "and why did you throw that stone at me?"

"I'm Gabriel and I'm sorry!" tears had begun to stream down the small boy's face, leaving pale streaks on cheeks that were thick with grime, "but I saw your uniform!"

"Please don't cry" he softly wiped the tears away with his thumbs and pushed Porthos' hand completely away from the little boy "what was it about my uniform that scared you Gabriel?"

"How did we go from scary soldiers to big brothers in the space of a few seconds" Porthos asked Athos completely bemused. Athos simply rolled his eyes "I have ceased wondering when it comes to us, there are never any answers"

"They came past here with someone wearing that uniform yesterday; they killed anyone who saw them. My mum didn't come home but they didn't realise I had seen!" the words came out in a nervous whisper that cracked halfway through "they can't know that I saw, they can't know, they just can't!"

"Alright Gabriel, alright" D'artagnan soothed "they won't find out I promise, we won't tell them" with slow, gentle motions he pulled the young boy into his arms.

Athos turned over and over the information in his mind, something here was screaming at him but he couldn't put his finger on it. It wouldn't be the first time that someone had stolen a Musketeer uniform and committed crime to discredit the name of their regiment, he should know. He had less than fond thoughts of that event in his life, nearly having been executed for crimes he was innocent of.

"Gabriel" Athos began quietly "could you show us to where these men took the Musketeer?"

The young boy sniffled and observed the older man over D'artagnan's shoulder, nodding solemnly as he seemed to find whatever it was he had been looking for in those serious blue eyes.

Not five minutes later and the men had returned to their mounts, their new young friend sitting comfortably in front of their youngest member and pointing carefully in the direction he had seen the scary men dragging the pretty moustachioed Musketeer.

He once again found himself sitting on the cold, hard ground with his back scraping against the rough bark of a tree and hands bound tightly behind him around the width of the tree. The remarkable difference this time was the tree was inside a house. He had never seen anything like it in his life and he was always one to appreciate fine architecture, although usually it would be the insides of palatial stately homes that he would be admiring and not rural cottages. Craning his neck back as far as he could before his head thunked into the trunk behind him and peered at the surprisingly distant ceiling, for a country cottage it had a very high roof. The roof itself appeared to have been built around the tree, its branches spreading out and poking out between the tiles, almost like the boughs were the only thing keeping the cottage standing. It was one of the most amazing things he had ever seen and he only wished he could appreciate the natural wonder a little more.

Having had lots of time to think about it, he had come to the conclusion that he was simply too handsome. People were jealous of his easy looks, his charm and affable personality so they decided he would be the easiest to kidnap, either because it was a form of revenge to build their own confidence or because they thought he wouldn't put up much of a fight.

This time was different however, he had been targeted for another reason than his looks but he had yet to really decide what it was. He had many theories, one which seemed more plausible than the other but he would have to wait and see who turned up to claim him as their prisoner, having gone to such trouble to acquire him.

The massive wooden doors to the cottage swung open with an ominous creaking sound and a man stepped into the halo of light that streamed in, casting a shadow that finished at his feet. Squinting up at the man's face, his mouth dropped open in shock and he breathed out a single name in a state of shock.

A/N: Aaand we will find out what that name was next time! I'm sorry but that was just too perfect a place to stop :D Hopefully next chapter will be up soon and I hope you all enjoy this. As usual please read and review, let me know what you think and what you want from this story :D