Morning, all,
It's all happening at Versailles now!
CHAPTER 76
I
Tréville leaned forward in the saddle, keeping his voice low.
"That's him, isn't it? L'Hernault. The one with Gaston."
Athos nodded mutely, tearing his eyes away from the man who so desperately wanted him dead.
"He has a horse so he must be intending to ride with us. You will be safe for now back here with the Cardinal, but I urge you to maintain a careful watch," Tréville pressed. "The others and I will monitor him throughout the day."
Alarm flickered across Athos' face. "Don't tell them, please, about ..."
"They believe," Tréville interrupted, "that there is a noble who recognised you from court as a Musketeer who had infiltrated the meeting, not as the Comte de la Fère. I am not about to correct that presumption, but they will know that he is the man behind the attack upon you. You are sure that it was him, aren't you?"
Athos nodded again, his green eyes troubled. "I seem to remember more of the attack with each passing day."
"You never said."
"It would have achieved nothing, but my recollections are clarifying all the time. Perhaps it would have been better if they had not."
Tréville studied his lieutenant. "And that evidence is?"
"They named him." Athos sighed. "When I had shot one of the attackers, I prepared to fight the other two. As they bore down on me, they sought to intimidate me, to distract me by shouting obscenities and gloating over their victory before we had even engaged. One of them said it was going to be easy and L'Hernault would be so pleased that the annoyance had been dispatched. They anticipated being rewarded handsomely."
Tréville straightened. "All the more reason for your brothers and me to maintain surveillance where he is concerned. They need to be aware of his identity."
"Sorry to interrupt, Captain, Athos." This from Aramis. "Musketeer incoming. Riding at speed." From the back of his horse, he pointed in the direction of the new arrival.
For once, Tréville needed the King to be delayed a little longer. The rider heading towards them had been tasked with two others to keep watch along the northern approach for any nobles who might be joining with Gaston's forces. This could only herald bad news.
"Report," Tréville demanded, a little more sharply than he intended for Chenery had ridden hard judging by his lathered horse.
As the Musketeer caught his breath, the Captain considered the appropriateness of the man's name. There was an old French word - 'chesne'- meaning oak tree and Chenery was just like that, a symbolic oak at the heart of the regiment. Tall and solid in build, Chenery might appear a little slow in reacting to things – just as the tree grew slowly – but he was carefully assimilating anything he was told, garnering knowledge. As a soldier, he was a tower of strength, reliable and resistant in any fight and his deep, measured voice could often be heard dispensing words of wisdom that lifted morale.
"Sorry, Captain," Chenery began. "Riders, a large number, heading west."
"How many?"
"We tried to do a bit of a count but at a rough guess, a hundred, maybe more."
"They were not coming directly to Versailles?"
"No, Sir, not most of them. They stayed on a route that would take them north of here."
Joining with Gaston's men then.
"You said not most of them?"
"No, Captain. It was when a small group of them – six or seven - broke away and started heading south that we thought they were coming here to the lodge, so I rode hard to get here first and warn you."
"You did well," Tréville praised him. "What of your comrades?"
"Bain and Fortin have remained out there, in case this group is the first of others."
The Captain nodded his approval. "Athos, your thoughts?"
"Possibly a scouting party. They have no reason to suspect that we would have men positioned on guard that far out for an ordinary hunting trip. On the other hand, it might be a group of the nobles on their way here to present their petition to the King."
"That's what I was thinking."
A ripple of applause broke out to greet the King who had just emerged from the lodge, closely followed by the Queen, some of her attendants and Richelieu. Louis waved airily at the gathered party.
"Come, come, come," he said jovially, heading for his horse and the mounting block carried out by one of the stable boys but surreptitiously put in the correct place by the groom. "We can't stand around here all day. We have some hunting to do."
No-one dared correct him by saying that he was the one responsible for delaying their sport, so they laughed politely, as if in response to some witticism.
Once seated in his saddle, Louis glanced at his Queen.
"We will see you for lunch, my love," he called to her as he spurred his horse into motion.
"Athos, I'll leave it to you to inform Richelieu of this news," Tréville said hastily. "Review our security measures for the lodge and camp and increase the size of the escort for the Queen's party as they join us for the picnic."
"Understood," Athos acknowledged, standing back as the horses moved past him and the hunting party headed towards the forest.
II
"Aramis!" Tréville called over his shoulder. He waited as Aramis urged his horse forward to catch up and fall into place beside him and directly behind the King.
"Captain?"
"Don't look round but there is a nobleman in Gaston's company; tall and sandy haired. He's dressed in dark green today and riding a black mount, probably a Dutch breed. His name's L'Hernault."
Aramis listened quietly to the measured delivery. "And he's the one who ordered the attack on Athos?"
Tréville nodded.
"And he knows now that he failed? That Athos is still alive?"
"Exactly." Tréville's eyes flickered from the King's back to the surrounding countryside, ever vigilant.
"And you expect another attempt?" Aramis sounded as if he were discussing the mundane, rather than the perpetrator of a crime against his brother.
"I do, which is why you, Porthos and d'Artagnan will be alert to his every move, and not just during this hunt. That's an order."
"Yes, Captain."
Tréville turned his head, his piercing ice-blue eyes fixed upon Aramis. "And under no circumstances are the three of you to take matters into your own hands. Do you hear me? You have your brother's back and you only act against L'Hernault if he makes a move upon Athos."