Chapter One
Six months later...
Treville sounded worried when he called them both in, Athos held the door for Porthos who then closed it behind him. Athos took the letter that Treville was holding out to him, he was aware of Porthos standing behind him reading over his shoulder.
"Captain Treville,
I am writing out of courtesy, to allow you to retrieve the body of your man. I do not wish to leave you or your other men without a body to mourn.
I will shortly be taking Aramis, he is guilty of killing my younger brother and must be punished with his life.
My brother had done nothing wrong, it was the Musketeers incompetence that led you to be chasing the wrong man. I do not accept that my brother might have been taken from me by mistake. Killing another man in error is reprehensible.
He will be killed swiftly, unlike the treatment my brother received.
His body will be left…"
Athos looked up at Treville, who still looked worried.
'Have you seen him this afternoon?'
'No, we left the Palace separately, he and d'Artagnan were detained, the King was still walking in the grounds when we were relieved.'
Porthos had turned to walk to the door.
'I'm going to find 'im,' he said quietly.
'Wait,' said Treville, 'I don't want you going alone, let me muster the men who are here, we can check the different routes he and d'Artagnan might have taken, I don't want us to miss him.'
Athos walked to the door, pausing by Porthos, 'he'll be fine.'
Porthos nodded, although it was clear to Athos the man did not believe him.
MMMM
Porthos and Athos stood in the garrison yard, waiting impatiently for Treville to gather the rest of the Musketeers. Porthos was stood reading the letter again not bothering to hide his concern.
A movement by the garrison gate caused Porthos to look up from the note, his eyes widened, he nudged Athos and nodded towards the garrison gate.
A dishevelled Aramis had just wandered in. The man looked as if he had been in a fight, his doublet was askew and he was missing his weapons. He looked at them with a confused expression.
'What?' he asked, 'I know I've been in a fight but you two look like you've seen a ghost.'
Porthos could not work out what to say, he looked back at the letter for a few seconds before staring at Aramis again.
'What happened to you?' asked Athos who had managed to compose himself slightly.
'D'Artagnan and I were grabbed by a group on the way back from the Palace. They knocked me to the ground and stole my weapons and money, punched me a couple of times. It took me a few minutes to regain my composure...I'm not sure what happened to d'Artagnan...is he not here.'
Aramis looked around as if expecting to find their friend in the vicinity. When it became clear to Aramis that d'Artagnan was not there he looked back at Athos and Porthos.
Athos took the letter from Porthos and handed it to Aramis, 'I think you should read this.'
Porthos watched as Aramis read the letter. His expression changed from one of confusion to worry, his breathing quickened, he looked up at them shocked.
'I...I was saying to d'Artagnan that he really should get a hat…' Aramis paused looking between his two friends, 'I put mine on him as a joke...it was just before we were jumped by the men...they...they must have thought he was me.'
Porthos grabbed Aramis when he stumbled back a couple of steps as the realisation of what had happened dawned on him.
'Sit down for a minute,' said Porthos, trying to keep his voice calm. He guided the rattled marksman to the bench and pushed him down.
Aramis had paled significantly and was gazing into the distance.
'This is not your fault Aramis,' said Athos, 'you need to remember everything you can about the men who attacked you.'
Aramis nodded as he calmed his breathing. Porthos handed him a cup of water. With a shaking hand, Aramis drank as the others watched.
Treville walked down the steps towards them, he waved away a few of the other Musketeers who were approaching.
'Is he alright?'
Athos looked up as he replied, 'I believe so, but d'Artagnan is missing...Aramis thinks he may have been taken by mistake.'
'Damn,' said Treville.
Porthos looked over at the waiting Musketeers, 'we could still do a search.'
'Yes,' agreed Treville as he walked to the waiting men and began to organise them.
Porthos looked back at Aramis who still looked haunted by the turn of events.
'There were too many of them, it was organised. I was punched a couple of times and pushed to the ground. I didn't see what happened to d'Artagnan.'
'Are you injured?' said Porthos before adding, 'be honest.'
Aramis had clearly been about to lie, but thought better of it due to the situation, 'they kicked me a few times, I think they just needed me to stay down and not interfere, I'm bruised, no more than that...I'm helping to search.'
Athos glanced across at Porthos and nodded, they both knew it would be impossible to keep the marksman away from the search.
'You can search with us, do not go off on your own though,' said Athos sternly, 'if whoever took d'Artagnan realises their mistake they may try again.'
Aramis nodded as he rose to stand. Porthos watched him carefully, his friend did not appear to be badly injured, he did not believe Aramis would be a liability to them as they searched for their missing brother.
Treville returned, 'you three start at the spot that d'Artagnan was taken. The others are going to walk the route you would have taken from the Palace.'
MMMM
Aramis stood in the middle of the relatively quiet street. He thought back to the attack, it had been so sudden and unexpected that they had both been surprised. D'Artagnan had been about to hand Aramis back his hat when they were jumped. The men, Aramis did not know how many had swarmed over them. He had been pulled away from d'Artagnan, he remembered being punched a couple of times and then tripped to the ground. They had manoeuvred him to the side of the road and he ended up against the wall as two of the men kicked him. They had not kicked hard, Aramis wondered if they were under orders not to cause anyone with him any great harm.
He still could not believe that d'Artagnan had been taken in his place. He knew the others wanted him to stop blaming himself, but how could he? He was the one that was supposed to have been taken.
The letter had been signed 'Robert', it had taken Aramis a few minutes to work out who it must have been. Athos had already worked it out, they had all spent some time chasing Charles Robert. They thought they had found him, it was not until they returned to the house to collect the body that they realised Aramis and d'Artagnan had been chasing the wrong man. The man Aramis had inadvertently killed was the younger brother, George. Athos had surmised that George was leading them away from Charles, the real fugitive. The men looked similar but were of very different builds. Where George was small and wiry, Charles was a broad, tall man. At that point, neither Aramis or d'Artagnan had seen Charles Robert. All they had was a description of a blond-haired man in in his late twenties or early thirties. The poor description could have fit either brother. Why nobody had mentioned Charles large build they did not know.
Perhaps a similar mistake had been made when d'Artagnan had been taken. The men who attacked them may have been told to abduct a tall, dark-haired Musketeer who was wearing a hat. Which at that particular moment had been d'Artagnan.
Aramis sighed, the mistake had been made. Now d'Artagnan was in great danger. The letter had not specified when he would be killed, all they could do is hope that Robert intended to keep his captive alive for a while. Although what he would do to d'Artagnan in the meantime was not something Aramis wanted to think about.
He felt a presence at his side, Porthos had approached him and stood watching him, concern obvious in his expression.
'It's not your fault,' he said firmly.
Aramis managed a small, sad smile, 'I know, it was a mistake, but if anything happens to him because of something I did…'
'You weren't responsible for George's death either, d'Artagnan told us what happened. If you had not fought back he would have killed you and probably d'Artagnan as well.'
Aramis nodded, he knew what Porthos had said was correct, but it did not make the situation any easier.
Athos appeared from behind them, he was holding Aramis' hat.
'It was over there,' he said pointing towards the junction between the quiet street and the busier road.
'That's about where we were attacked,' said Aramis as he took his hat and looked down at it, 'I was pushed over to the wall there.'
Porthos wandered over to the spot Aramis had indicated looking at the ground closely.
'You can see the ground scuffed up here,' he said before walking back.
Two street children were watching them from a doorway, the two scruffy, dirty boys were whispering to each other and pointing at Aramis. The marksman walked over to them. They recoiled slightly until Aramis smiled at them and crouched down so that he did not pose as much of a threat. They both visibly relaxed.
'Did you see something?' he asked, 'did you see me getting attacked earlier?'
Both boys nodded, the taller one said, 'we was eatin' some bread that the baker had given us.'
Aramis nodded for them to continue.
'You was walking along and then all these men grabbed you and the other soldier. We were scared, we made ourselves all small and hid.'
'That was a sensible thing to do,' said Aramis, 'what happened to the other soldier, did you see?'
The other boy looked along the road before replying, 'they pushed 'im along the road...he was trying to get away...he was looking back to where you was lying on the ground.'
Aramis nodded, he did not need reminding of how pathetic he had felt, and how long it had taken him to regain his composure after the attack.
'There was a big fancy carriage...it were black.'
'No it weren't,' said the first boy, 'it was dark blue, it 'ad a drawin' on the side of a bird lion.'
'A bird lion?'
'Yeah, a bird lion. It 'ad the head of a bird but then it had four legs like a lion. I seen a picture of a lion. The baker showed me,' said the boy with confidence.
Aramis nodded, 'did they make the soldier get into the carriage? Which way did it go?'
The boys looked at each other and after conferring for a moment, nodded and both pointed along the main road.
The second boy said, 'the soldier was fighting the men, they stopped 'im from shouting and they pushed 'im into the carriage, one of the men hit 'im a few times...then the soldier stopped fightin' them anymore.'
Aramis gave each boy a coin as he thanked them. He returned to Athos and Porthos who had been watching, close enough to hear the conversation.
'We are looking for a dark blue carriage with a Griffin on the side,' said Athos, 'Porthos, would you get word to the other men who are searching.'
Porthos nodded, 'where are you two gonna start?'
'We will try one of the wealthy areas of the city, we can reconvene in two hours.'
MMMM
'There, a Griffin,' said Aramis pointing ahead at the carriage.
The dark blue carriage had mud splattered up its sides a few scratches marred the paintwork. A wealthy looking man was examining it with a couple of others who were probably his servants.
The man turned as they approached, 'can I help you?'
'Is this your carriage Monsieur?' asked Athos.
'It is. What's it to do with you?'
Athos put his hand out to stop Aramis moving any further forward, it was clear the marksman was not thinking straight and likely to act first and think later.
'We believe the carriage was used in the abduction of a Musketeer earlier today.'
The man looked shocked, he looked back at the carriage for a few seconds. He stood back and indicated his men to back off as well.
'The carriage was stolen last night, my men found it this morning in its current state...I can assure you I had nothing to do with taking a Musketeer.'
Athos could tell the man was not lying. Aramis walked up to the carriage and opened the door and began to look at the inside.
Athos asked the man's servants where the carriage had been found. As he was being told he watched Aramis looking carefully at the interior of the carriage. He seemed particularly interested in one spot.
Once the men had finished describing where they had found the carriage Athos joined Aramis.
'Blood, it's only a few splashes but it's there,' said the marksman pointing at the dark marks.
'It was found about a mile from here,' said Athos, 'we'll meet with Porthos and then have a look.'
They thanked the owner of the carriage and walked away.
'What if we're already too late,' said Aramis as they made their way towards the spot they planned to meet Porthos.
'We will not be too late,' said Athos, although he was not so sure.
It was already three hours since d'Artagnan had been taken. The chances of him still being alive were diminishing by the minute.
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