Evening My Lovelies

Three days in a row! Whoo, I'm on a roll :D Fingers crossed I can stick to this writing plan, seems to be working for me so far :D

Notes On Reviews:

Issai: Thanks for the review - Ah I was wondering if that might confuse people. The whole thing with Alain was hinted at many many chapters ago so I'm not surprised people have forgotten about it (I almost did!) I kept meaning to go back to address it but it never seemed like the right point storywise but it fit quite well here. Sorry for the confusion! Enjoy the new chapter! x

Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - Haha that's very true. As is stands my regular OC's have my heart so it's highly unlikely I'm going to kill them but who knows where I'm concerned lol. Also, there's a little something in this chapter for you which I'm curious if you'll remember mentioning :D Hope you like it. Enjoy the new chapter! x

As always much love and many thanks for following/favouriting/reviewing/reading

Love you all!

Enjoy!

xxx

Chapter Fifty-Seven: The Next Step II

As Treville and his men approached the barn they were greeted by the grinning face of Porthos, the larger man having taken frequent watches for the group alongside Henri after Issac left to bring the Captain to them several days earlier. Porthos knew his companion's insistence of taking a watch was more due to concern over their mutual friend then anything else so he didn't say anything if Henri took longer watches than most.

"You're a sight for sore eyes Captain," grinned Porthos as he placed down the whetstone he had been using to maintain his sword whilst on watch before rising to his feet to approach his Captain, the man looking more than a little relieved to see him.

"A sentiment I think we can all return," acknowledge Treville with a grin of his own, though it was clearly a tired one. Clapping a hand on Porthos's shoulder he nodded to the barn, "How is everyone?"

To both his surprise and relief this simple question brought an even bigger smile to the larger musketeer's face. "Beyond thankful for the supplies you brought," teased the man before stepping aside and nodding towards the door, "See for yourself."

Not wanting to wait a moment more, even though he had been informed of how the men had been days earlier when Issac found them, Treville wasted no time in striding forward, pushing the barn door open and walking into what had become a small sanctuary for his men.

Out of instinct Treville's eyes immediately sought out those of his lieutenant, a small sigh of relief flooding his system when he spotted nothing more than some rather impressive dark circles underneath the man's eyes plaguing the swordsman, who at the time had been assisting an awake D'Artagnan in drinking some kind of liquid, medicinal most likely Treville reasoned given by the laboured breathing he could hear as he approached the duo, absently aware of how his other men were ecstatically greeting the other musketeers.

"Athos," he greeted as he eased himself to the ground to sit on D'Artagnan's other side, a small glimmer of amusement flashing in his eyes as he spotted the slightly disgusted look on the Gascon's pale face. "Definitely medicinal," he mused before tearing his eyes away to look at Athos who had returned his greeting briefly before refocusing on his task.

"It is a great relief to find you all well," spoke Treville quietly as he glanced around the room, immediately spotting the other injured members of Athos's party, "Or at least alive," he amended reluctantly.

Nodding Athos placed the drink on the ground, "You had troubles of your own as we understand," stated the swordsman, a silent question in his eyes as he assessed his Captain's face, taking comfort in the lack of grief he saw in the man's eyes, silently taking that to mean that Etienne continued to fight and had not succumbed to his wounds.

"Nothing to your severity," acknowledge the Captain as he glanced down at D'Artagnan, a flash of pain mixed with relief entered his eyes. "We had reports that you had perished."

With a very weak version of his cheek filled grin, the sick Gascon offered a weak shrug, "Those reports… are… greatly exaggerated."

Unable to stop himself Treville let out a small bark of laughter, unknowingly earning him surprised looks from the men who had travelled with him. Uncaring of the eyes on him Treville reached over to take one of D'Artagnan's bandaged hands in his own whilst his other hand lightly brushed some of the boy's hair out of his eyes.

"Of which I am eternally grateful. I'm surprised your father hasn't already started to haunt me for the trouble you've found yourself in under my watch… Had you died…" Treville's voice lost the joviality it had as he finished speaking and while it caused a pang of pain to hit his heart to hear someone talking of his deceased father it was different when the person speaking actually knew the man so D'Artagnan knew the man was still grieving himself and the thought of being, even partly, responsible for causing the death of a friend's child was obviously bothering the Captain greatly so the young Gascon mustered what energy he had, which admittedly wasn't much, to squeeze the hand holding his own, smiling faintly when the action caused Treville to look back up into his eyes.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the barn, Tristan was, somewhat nervously, detailing the men's injuries to Gaspard, filling the physician in on their conditions and what Tristan had done to manage and treat those in his care.

It was one of the first times in the last several weeks that Tristan became aware of the fact that he was an assistant, not an actually qualified physician and both fear and nerves bubbled up inside of him as he waited to be told what he had missed whilst praying he hadn't done anything to put the men at further risk.

Noticing his assistant's obvious nerves Gaspard was quick to let out a chuckle before reaching out to pull the nervous younger man into a hug.

"You've done well Tristan," he expressed, whispering the words into the younger man's ears, pride clear as a bell in his voice before pulling away, smirking at the expression now on his assistant's face. "The conditions you were forced to contend with were far greater than we prepared you for and yet you met every challenge, kept those in your care alive and in the best health you could with next to no resources… You've done us, proud boy."

This warm moment between the pair was shattered by a commotion going on in a far corner of the barn, the disruption had also garnered the attention of the rest of the men, none of who looked in any hurry to interfere.

"Traitor!" spat Ethan venomously, pulling at his restraints as he attempted to launch himself at the completely nonplussed Marin who had been bringing some supplies over to Talbot who was still watching over Glenn and Fredrick.

Ignoring the venom being shouted at him the young red guard continued to pass over the supplies he had been carrying, sending Talbot a small reassuring smile when the man looked concerned at his as Ethan continued to shout.

"Marcus is dead because of you traitor!" screamed Ethan, grinning when Marin unintentionally came close enough to him that he was able to kick him in the stomach, causing the young red guard to stumble backwards, hunched over as he tried to get air back into his lungs.

"HEY!" exclaimed Talbot, fury filling him at the attack. Striding forward he backhanded the restrained red guard, causing the man to bite the inside of his lip bad enough to draw blood.

"It's f-fine Talbot," spoke Marin somewhat wheezy. Forcing himself to straighten the young red guard slowly approached his restrained colleague, much to the fascination of the musketeers now fully watching.

"Marcus's death is not on me Ethan," growled Marin in an uncharacteristic display of anger, continuing before the red guard could cut him off. "The King gave us a mission. It was the two of you who decided to disregard it and follow a condemned traitor… The fallout of that decision is on you not me," and with that, he turned and walked away, once again completely ignoring the furious shouts and threats spewing from Ethan's lips, although a small grin did tug at his lips when he heard someone hit the restrained man again in an effort to shut him up.

Whilst this was going on however no one noticed how, after whispering something to Treville, both the Captain and Athos, slightly reluctantly on his part, slipped out of the barn.