Chapter Eight

A few minutes earlier…

Athos and d'Artagnan managed to help Aramis over to the wall of the cellar. It was an inelegant affair but the three of them were more comfortable. Aramis had come around a few times, each time he was able to remain awake for longer.

Athos took stock of their assortment of injuries. He was still suffering from his head injury, although the headache had almost faded away. His hand and arm ached where he had been pushed about by their captors. He knew he was lucky only one of the stitches pulled, although the fact that it was on his hand was unfortunate.

Aramis was unfocused and would struggle to move at speed or do anything that required any amount of coordination. And d'Artagnan was finding bruises across his body. He had managed to collect some nasty cuts and grazes as well during his brief foiled escape attempt.

Between the three of them, Athos doubted they could cobble together a fit man.

D'Artagnan was talking to Aramis, trying to keep him awake and with some semblance of alertness.

The door was pushed open by Jacques. Claude and Pierre were behind him. They were all armed.

'Get up,' said Jacques using his gun to underline his demand. 'And if that one don't get up with you I'll shoot him now.'

Jacque aimed his gun at Aramis who was already trying to get to his feet. Athos pulled Aramis up to stand, steadying him. In a reversal of their roles mere hours before Athos slipped his arm around Aramis' waist and helped him to walk from the cellar.

They were forced up the stairs and across the hall towards the open door. The tatty carriage was still standing in the courtyard, its door open.

'Quicker,' grumbled Jacques from behind them.

Both Athos and Aramis looked around when they heard d'Artagnan let out a grunt as he tripped to the floor. He managed to scramble up and glare at Pierre who smirked. Athos guessed the young man had pushed d'Artagnan who was not steady, causing him to crash to the floor, no doubt aggravating his already abused body.

Knowing that none of them would get five feet if they tried to run, they climbed back into the carriage. Athos scowled at Jacques as he closed the door.

The three Musketeers looked at each other as the carriage moved off.

'Do you have any idea where they're taking us?' asked Aramis who was enjoying a few moments of lucidity.

'They mentioned drowning us a couple of times,' said d'Artagnan as they felt the carriage lurch around a corner and pick up a bit of speed.

Athos looked through the small window hoping to catch a glimpse of where they were heading. He thought he saw someone watching them, but the carriage was moving too fast for him to communicate with anyone outside.

'They also said they needed to wait for the time to be right,' remarked Athos as he continued to watch the route they were taking.

'Somewhere that's busy a lot of the time perhaps?' suggested Aramis.

'The dock,' said d'Artagnan. 'Although the dock is rarely quiet.'

'If they know the times the ships are coming and going, they could be working around that.'

He looked upwards catching a glimpse of the lightening sky.

'It will be quiet now but will become busier in the next couple of hours.'

Aramis huffed out a laugh, 'they want our bodies to still be fresh when they're found,' he said.

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Porthos and Treville ran after the carriage, they needed to keep it in sight for as long as possible. Porthos could hear the other men behind him keeping pace. Ahead of them, the carriage turned to the right.

'Through here,' said Marc, 'we can head them off.'

The group turned off the main road and threaded their way through the narrow alleyways. They knew they would not encounter many people and those that were still on the streets want to keep themselves to the shadows.

They spilt back onto the main road in time to see the old carriage rounding a left-hand bend and going out of sight. Despite their best efforts, by the time they reached the bend in the road, the carriage had turned out of sight again.

'We split up,' said Treville. 'If you think you can liberate them, do it. But do not risk your own lives. Observe and send a runner back to the garrison for reinforcements. Porthos and I will head towards the river, you three try in the other direction.'

Barbotin, Marc, and Luc nodded before making their way towards the poorer area of the city. Treville turned back to Porthos and indicated for him to lead the way.

Porthos moved off at pace. He knew he could not run himself to exhaustion, but the need to find his captured brothers pulled him into a run. He was angry at what had happened. Angry with himself for not being quick enough to prevent it from happening. Angry that he had not helped Athos when he was attacked. If he had not frozen, Athos would not have been left vulnerable later in the day leading to the attack that had resulted in three of Porthos' friend's lives being in danger.

But most of all Porthos was angry with the men that were responsible for all the attacks. The men that had toyed with many people's lives for their gain.

Porthos would stop at nothing to save his brothers.

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The stark reality of their situation weighed heavily on them all. They were all injured to varying degrees, none of them would be able to fight or run with any level of skill. No one knew they had been taken captive and, in all likelihood, no one would see them meet their demise.

Athos could see a few of the large storage buildings that lined the river where the larger ships docked. The area would become busy during the day. A body would be found quickly and seen by a lot of people. If Jacques wanted to make a statement, he had picked the right place to make it.

The carriage stopped.

'We won't go easily,' said d'Artagnan.

Athos nodded, 'I am sure we can make it difficult for them.'

He glanced at Aramis who was struggling to focus again but managed a nod.

The door was pulled open. They were faced with a smirking Claude who indicated for them to get out. They took their time; they were in no hurry to help their captors.

Claude became annoyed as he watched d'Artagnan slowly easing himself down the step. He reached out to pull the Musketeer the rest of the way. D'Artagnan took the opportunity to punch Claude who stumbled back a few paces. Before d'Artagnan could get any further, Pierre, who had been standing at the side of the door, grabbed him and tripped him to the floor.

'Try that again and I will not simply kill you all, I will make you suffer. I'll break bones, I'll cut bits off you, I'll smash you to a pulp.'

Jacques crouched by d'Artagnan and pushed the barrel of his gun into his back, pinning him to the ground for several seconds before moving away. Athos was allowed to step forward and help d'Artagnan to his feet.

'Your friend needs help again,' said Pierre with a nod towards Aramis, who was leaning against the carriage with his eyes closed.

Athos and d'Artagnan returned to their friend's side. Athos was not sure which of them needed the most help. Aramis was struggling to coordinate his limbs, and d'Artagnan was limping after his latest encounter with Pierre. Athos was even prepared to admit that his head injury was causing him issues again. He knew he was not suffering as much as Aramis, but the headache had returned and his arm was radiating pain every time he moved it.

They were ushered towards the river. Athos wondered if they were going to be pushed in. The water would be cold and, although they were all strong swimmers, there were currents that he doubted they could contend with, particularly with their injuries restricting them.

A crane, set up to take heavy loads from the ships, had been swung towards the dock. Underneath the pulley was what looked like a crate covered with a canvas. Jacque holstered his gun and started to pull the canvas off. A large cage was revealed. The wooden structure was covered in carvings. The symbols were nothing that Athos recognised. He glanced at Aramis who was peering at the carvings.

'Do you recognise them?' asked Athos quietly.

Aramis glanced at him before wavering for a few seconds, the act of moving his head had thrown off his balance.

'Yes,' Aramis finally replied, 'I think they're demonic. I came across some a few years ago.'

Athos wondered what the circumstances were that would cause his friend to be involved with symbols that represented demons.

'You're ailing friend is correct,' said Jacques. 'This will be your coffin. The people will see that you were lured into the Judgement cage and could not escape. The fear will grow, and then we will swoop in and do away with the Devilman.'

'You're deranged,' said d'Artagnan. 'And we're not just going to get in there.'

Pierre stepped up to Athos and Aramis. He grabbed Athos' arm over the injury and squeezed. Athos could not help crying out in pain as his knees buckled. Aramis was forced to hold on to Athos. They both crumpled to the ground. Athos was aware of d'Artagnan remonstrating with the men, but at that moment he could not do anything other than ride out the pain. Aramis was talking to him, his arm over his shoulder trying to keep him from collapsing completely.

'-to continue to inflict pain,' Jacques was saying, 'or do you want to get in there?'

It still took Athos several more seconds to get his senses back. He opened his eyes to find himself knelt on the ground, leaning forward, his right arm cradled in his left. He felt tears in his eyes where the pain had got the better of him. Aramis was trying to pull him to sit upright.

D'Artagnan was swearing at the men. Athos managed to look up in time to see his friend forced into the cage. He landed hard on the wooden floor and took a few seconds to sit himself up.

Aramis was pulled off him and similarly pushed towards the cage. Aramis made no effort to get up, causing d'Artagnan to look at him with concern.

Athos tried to pull himself to his feet but was not given the chance. Pierre and Claude grabbed him roughly and propelled him forward. D'Artagnan managed to prevent him from landing too hard.

The three Musketeers watched with varying levels of alertness as the door of the cage was closed. A key was pushed into a large padlock and turned. Athos could see more of the Demonic markings on the lock. Jacques crouched in front of them looking them over.

'From the state of you, I don't think you'll last long even if we didn't kill you.'

Athos glared at the man, 'you won't get away with this,' he said. 'You will be found and dealt with.'

Jacques laughed and got to his feet, pushed the key into his pocket, and turned away from the captured men to talk to Pierre and Claude.

Athos looked at d'Artagnan and Aramis. D'Artagnan helped Aramis to lean against the side of the cage; his friend had paled considerably. The rough handling had not helped Aramis in any way. It was clear he was in a lot of pain as he stared into the middle distance, unable to focus. D'Artagnan was trying to get himself into a position that did not cause pain to his myriad of bruises. As he moved his leg, he hissed with pain and reached towards his ankle.

'We're not getting out of this,' murmured d'Artagnan. 'How do we get out of this?'

He had rarely seen d'Artagnan adopting a defeatist attitude, but on this occasion, Athos was inclined to agree with his brother.

Athos turned his attention back to the men on the dock. Pierre and Claude were busy turning the crank that would work the crane. Ropes had been attached to rings at each corner of the top of the cage. As the crank was turned the slack on the ropes was taken in until the cage shifted slightly. Jacques stepped forward but kept himself out of reach of Athos if he were to try to grab him through the bars of the cage. Jacques guided the cage over the edge of the dock as Pierre and Claude moved the pulley around. Within a few seconds, the cage with the three captured Musketeers was dangling over the river. Athos could feel the odd splash of water as the river rushed underneath them.

'And now we come to the best part, my friends,' sneered Jacques as he looked through the bars. 'The bit I did not tell you about. I'm going to give you a chance to save yourselves. And when you don't it will only add to the myth of the Devilman. The Devilman will have toyed with the King's Musketeers but still killed them.'

As Jacques spoke, Athos watched Claude untying the rope that was holding the cage above the water. Pierre was keeping the crank in place with a lot of effort. Claude dragged the rope towards the cage. Jacques took it and held it out towards Athos.

'I suggest you get a good grip,' he said. 'You never know, you may be able to hold it until morning, and some of the dockworkers can rescue you.'

Both Athos and d'Artagnan scrambled to reach through the bars to grab the rope. Pierre let go of the crank. Athos and d'Artagnan were left holding the rope that was hooked around the crane's pulley above them. If they let go of the rope the cage, with them inside it, would fall into the waters of the Seine below.

'You're mad,' said d'Artagnan as he managed to wrap the rope around his hand.

Athos screwed his eyes shut as he felt the pull on the wound on his hand. He glanced behind him. Aramis was trying to help them, but his movements were slow and uncoordinated again, all he was doing was causing the cage to rock.

'Aramis stay still,' said d'Artagnan, who had noticed their friend as well.

Aramis did as he was asked, he watched them for a few seconds before his eyes closed and his head lolled to the side.

D'Artagnan looked at Athos for a few seconds.

'I am alright for now,' Athos said in answer to the unasked question, 'but we will not be able to hold this for long… not with just the two of us.'

Athos glanced back at Aramis again, wondering if their friend would come around again and be a little more coordinated.

Jacques and the younger men were watching them. Pierre was smirking, Claude looked a little green and uncomfortable at what he was witnessing.

'We need to go,' said Pierre after a few seconds, 'we've still got to deal with Porthos.'

Jacques nodded, 'I would have liked to watch, but we can't have Porthos working out he knows you, can we Claude?'

Claude looked at Jacques for a few seconds before nodding reluctantly.

The three men walked off.

Athos watched them go, wondering if Porthos would have more luck dealing with the three men than they had.

He returned his attention to the rope as he felt it slip through his hands a few inches, sending them ever closer to their watery deaths.

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