Authors note: To those readers wondering, I have no ideas why the baddies stopped following them…they just did. (The author was not concerned about the baddies when she was writing this!)

Chapter Three

'The only problem,' said Porthos rising, 'is that the direction they are in,' he pointed back the way they had come, 'is the direction we need to go in.'

Aramis thought about their location. Porthos was right, the nearest large settlement and therefore safety was back the way they had come.

'We will have to circle around. It would be better if we could retrieve our things. I doubt they will stay by the camp,' said Athos as he rolled his sleeve back down and then stooped down to help d'Artagnan back to his feet.

'They'll probably steal all our stuff,' Porthos said with a frown, 'but you're right, we need to circle around and at least see if anything is left.'

Porthos stepped up to Aramis and put out his left arm to help him up. With a wince of pain Aramis managed to stand, although as he had predicted he was already starting to stiffen up. The feeling had returned to his arms and he could move his fingers again with little difficulty, but his bruised left leg was aching from the movement.

'Let's move off, I think we can go a bit slower now, we will move that way for a while before circling back around,' Athos indicated the way as he moved away from the overhanging rock.

Aramis noticed that the direction Athos had chosen would not involve the steeper side of the bank. Athos had no doubt chosen the direction in deference to his and d'Artagnan's injuries. Aramis found that he could move fairly easily once he got started. The terrain was not particularly forgiving, but now that he had the use of his hands again he found it was easier to deal with. One thing he was not pleased about was the headache the tension in his sore shoulders was causing. He hoped it would wear off, he certainly was not going to bother the others with something so trivial.

Porthos was walking with d'Artagnan who was still being forced to step carefully, he did not want to fall and be forced to put his hands out. The burns on the young man's hands would heal and probably not leave any scars, but they would be painful for a time and he would not be able to grip anything for a while. Aramis hated to imagine how they were going to get him up onto his horse if they were lucky enough to find their camp untouched by the men who had attacked them.

They walked for some time, they were lucky that the weather was being kind to them. The afternoon sun was warm and there was no hint of wind or rain. Dressed only in their shirts, breeches and boots they would suffer if the weather were to turn nasty.

Athos eventually decided they had walked far enough and could have another short break, Aramis eased himself down onto a fallen tree trunk, the thought of making it all the way to the floor and then back up again was not appealing.

'How bad is it?' asked Athos as he sat beside him.

'Painful, but I can still walk…not sure about running now though,' replied Aramis.

'Anything else?'

Aramis sighed, Athos was surely a mind reader, 'my headaches,' he confessed, 'but it's OK.'

'Well let me know if you need to stop more frequently,' said Athos, clearly satisfied that Aramis had been honest with him.

D'Artagnan had walked a few paces away then paused and appeared to be contemplating something he turned back to the others.

'Um…I…err…can't undo…um…' he looked at his hands, glanced at the buttons on his breeches and them at them with a very embarrassed expression, his cheeks flushed.

Porthos chuckled as he stood up and walked over, he turned the man around and they walked off together a few paces to give d'Artagnan some privacy whilst he dealt with his issue.

Aramis could not help smirking even when Athos gave him a stern look.

'I'm sorry, but it is funny,' he said watching as Athos tried to hide a smile.

When the others returned d'Artagnan was still red faced with embarrassment, 'oh don't worry about it d'Artagnan, when you have been on the battle field such things will not bother you in the slightest,' remarked Aramis as he stood up.

D'Artagnan gave a monosyllabic grunt in response causing Porthos to chuckle again.

MMMM

With no further signs of being pursued they were able to walk at a more sensible pace given their assortment of injuries. Porthos had noticed that Aramis was struggling, he had fallen to the back of their little group and was increasingly pausing and leaning against any available tree every few minutes.

Athos stopped and called back, 'do you need to stop Aramis?'

Porthos was a little surprised at Athos' tone, he had snapped at Aramis quite unnecessarily. He knew Aramis was going to struggle despite their slower pace.

'Keep going, I can catch you up,' said Aramis waving them on.

'You two keep going, I'll stay with him,' said Porthos who could see that Athos was angry, although he could not work out why.

D'Artagnan picked up on the tension, 'we'll keep going for a bit, it's getting dark, we're going to have to find somewhere safe to spend the night.'

Athos turned and started walking away. D'Artagnan glanced back at Porthos who shrugged.

'We won't go too far,' said d'Artagnan as he followed Athos.

Porthos watched them go for a few seconds then turned back to Aramis who had managed to limp across.

'What's annoyed him?' asked Aramis.

'You, I think.'

'We'd better not keep him waiting then,' replied Aramis as he limped forward again.

Porthos grabbed Aramis' right arm and pulled it across his shoulder as he slipped his left arm around the injured man's waist.

'Don't make your own injury worse,' said Aramis as he allowed Porthos to help him.

Porthos huffed and continued to help him.

MMMM

Athos was getting a little annoyed at the slow pace. Whilst he appreciated that they were all injured and that Aramis was struggling to walk he would have preferred to get back to their camp before nightfall.

He wondered if he had made a mistake taking such a circuitous route. The gang had stopped following them and he doubted they would remain at the camp. They probably could have risked going back the way they had come.

He shivered, not for the first time, and wondered how they would manage overnight. He glanced across at d'Artagnan who was walking beside him, the young man was still holding his hands carefully in front of him. He was obviously in pain.

'Your hands will heal,' he said, 'I doubt you will lose any movements in them, you were lucky.'

'I don't feel particularly lucky at the moment,' replied the musketeer.

'Do not wallow in self-pity, we just have to get on with it.'

D'Artagnan looked at him a little shocked. Athos refused to molly coddle him. He glanced behind and wondered why Porthos and Aramis were taking so long. He sighed and decided they would just have to stop where they were, a couple of trees with low branches would provide them with some cover for the night, the ground slightly hollowed between them.

'This will do,' he looked across at some bushes, 'those bushes, the berries on them are edible, go and pick some for us.'

Athos looked at d'Artagnan when he did not move, instead holding up his injured hands. Athos rolled his eyes, it appeared he had to take care of everything.

MMMM