Trouble, Chapter 5

Aramis, D'Artagnan and Porthos passed the morning sparring and instructing the cadets, when suddenly the sound of an explosion rent the air. Moments later a man came running into the garrison courtyard panting.

"Fire!" he shouted, "Rue St. Jacques! The old schoolhouse!"

"Christine," whispered Aramis as he bolted from the garrison, throwing on his doublet, Porthos and D'Artagnan hot on his heels.

When they reached the rue St. Jacques, flames could be seen coming from the windows of the wood and stone building.

"What happened?" D'Artagnan asked a woman holding back a group of children from the scene as men flocked to throw water on the blaze.

"I don't know! The children were playing, running in and out of the schoolhouse while the workers were on break. They must have knocked over a candle. All of a sudden there was an explosion and the building went up in flames!" she cried.

"Mathieu!" shouted a girl, around the age of ten. "He's still in there!" she shouted grabbing onto the musketeer. Aramis, D'Artagnan and Porthos gathered around her.

"Explain," said Porthos sternly.

"We were the ones who knocked the candle. It lit the bucket of pitch that the workers had been using on the roof. I couldn't see him outside. I told the lady…She – She ran back into the building," she sobbed.

Before they could stop him, Aramis ran through the doorway of the building, as the flames leaking out of it grew higher.

oOo

Christine had been talking to the foreman when the explosion occurred. The force was instantantous and knocked them backwards as flames burst out from the building.

Christine sent the foreman running for help as she helped the others to organize the children and coordinate the water effort.

"Mathieu!" she heard a small voice shouting amid the tumult. Flocking to her side, she crouched down.

"What happened?" she asked urgently.

"Mathieu! I don't see him! He didn't come out of the building!" sobbed the girl.

Christine stood quickly. The doorway to the building was unimpeded. Covering her face with her arms she ran through the doorway and into the large room on the main floor. The few chairs that were in the room had been tossed aside during the explosion. The heavy oak table had stood its ground. Christine took a breath and coughed harshly as the smoke filled her lungs.

"Mathieu!" she called into the scorching room.

She heard a small groan coming from the corner near the table and ran towards it.

"Mathieu!" she shouted seeing the boy. He had a large gash in his leg that was bleeding heavily. The ankle on that leg was swollen to twice its size. She gently but urgently patted the boy's face until he opened his eyes and was able to make eye contact. His eyes grew wide at the sight and feel of the flames in the room.

"Mathieu! Mathieu," she said, "I need you to look at me. My name is Christine and I'm here to help you. You have hurt your leg. I need to try to stop the bleeding so that we can get out of here, do you understand me?" she asked.

The boy nodded, too shocked to speak.

"Ok, let's get under this table so I can bind your leg. Will you help me?" she said. He nodded again.

The boy whimpered as Christine dragged him under the table. It was easier to breathe closer to the ground, and they would be protected if anything fell. Tearing her skirt, she smiled at the boy as she tightly wrapped the wound to his leg.

"Can you stand?" she asked him.

"No," he said, whimpering in fear.

"That's ok," she said as she protectively clutched him to her. "My friends are Musketeers. They'll save us," she said as the intensity of the heat grew.

"Christine! Christine!" shouted Aramis as he burst through the door.

"We're here!" she called to him.

He slid on his knees under the table, his hand flying to cradle her face as he took in the blood on her hands and the boy clutched to her chest. "Are you hurt?" he asked, panic evident in his voice.

She shook her head. "Mathieu has a cut to his leg. I managed to bind it to stem the bleeding, but I think he landed on his ankle during the explosion. It's swollen and he can't put weight on it," she said.

Aramis nodded. Taking the lad into his arms he said, "Mathieu, I'm Aramis. We're going to get out of here. I need you to be brave and hold onto me tightly," he said.

With a look in Christine's eyes, Aramis stood, carrying the boy. The flames at the front door were now too high to trespass.

"There's a slight balcony on the first floor," said Christine.

They ran for the stairs and quickly climbed to the first floor balcony. Porthos and D'Artagnan stood below, throwing water onto the burning structure.

"Porthos!" shouted Aramis. The large musketeer ran to the base of the balcony and stood with his arms raised. "Mathieu, I need you to be brave once more. I'm going to lower you to my friend Porthos. He's also a musketeer. He will not let anything happen to you." The boy nodded into Aramis' chest.

Aramis leaned over the edge of the balcony as far as he could and dropped the boy into Porthos' outstretched arms.

The ground below their feet began to give way. Christine and Aramis ran back inside the building. The stairs crumbled below them.

"What do we do?" Christine coughed.

"Upstairs!" called Aramis, grabbing her hand and running to the second storey loft. A large window stood open with a plank platform the workers had been using protruding from it.

"Onto the scaffold," said Aramis, pushing his love before him.

The platform was small and Christine clung to Aramis so they would both fit. To their left hung a winch and a makeshift lift that the workers had used to lift supplies up to the roof. Aramis grabbed the thick rope and shook the lift. Roofing tiles fell to the ground below.

Porthos looked up to see Aramis and Christine standing on the small second storey platform. He saw Aramis grab the lift's rope and knew instantly what the madman had planned.

"D'Artagnan!" he shouted as he grabbed the other end of the thick rope and stood ready to act as the counter weight, D'Artgnan falling in line and grasping the rope behind him. Making eye contact with Porthos and D'Artagnan, whose panicked eyes he could make out even from the second floor, Aramis nodded.

"Are you ready?" he asked Christine as he pulled her to him and readied his foot on the small lift.

"Do I have any choice?" she laughed nervously as she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Do you trust me?" he said

"With all my heart," she replied without hesitation.

He grinned at her.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, just before he stepped down. Grabbing his lapels, she kissed him, hard and nodded. "Just in case," she said.

"Hold on," he said, and wrapping his arm tightly around her, they stepped onto the small lift surface and sank to the ground.

The line went taught and slowed their freefall slightly, Porthos and D'Artagnan straining against the rope, trying to impede their plummet to the earth. The ground was intent to meet them and seemed to surge upward as they descended with speed. With a sickening groan, the winch broke away from the building, the rope falling slack without resistance, when they were more than a foot from the ground. Aramis and Christine leapt from the lift's base, Aramis pulling her tighter into his chest as the roof of the burning building collapsed behind them.

oOo

A few hours later the burning building lay in smoking ruins, the fire having burned itself out. Christine leaned against a wagon, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, observing the clean-up of the area. Aramis made his way over to her.

"How's Mathieu?" she asked before he could say anything.

"He's fine," he said. "A little shaken. He's badly sprained his ankle, but it's not broken. I put it in a splint and stitched the wound on his leg. He should be fine in a few weeks if he's easy on it."

Christine nodded. Aramis wrapped an arm around her waist and took her chin in his other hand.

"Never do anything this reckless again," he said sternly, looking into her eyes, which seemed to burst into their own flames as he held her gaze.

"I couldn't just leave him there!" she declared. "He could have died!"

"You could have died!" he said.

"You wouldn't have done nothing," she said stubbornly, "how could you expect me not to act?"

Aramis looked down and shook his head. "It's not the same. I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you," he said, running his hand through his hair; his voice was tinged with fear. "You are everything to me. My life is worthless!"

"Not to me," she said lifting his chin and staring into the depths of his fathomless eyes. "Not to me. I love you, Aramis. I don't want to hide this anymore," she said, and pulling him closer she kissed him on the street in front of all of Paris.

oOo

He sat on his horse and surveyed the damage done.

He saw her leaning against the wagon. He saw him approach her and take her face in his hand. He saw the way she leaned into him and gripped him tightly back.

He saw her lift his chin. He saw her kiss him and he saw him kiss her back, lovingly, passionately, purely, knowing full well how close they had come to losing each other, their relief and joy palpable.

Athos saw them and he turned away, his horse silently leading him back to the garrison.

oOo