Chapter 14: Linchpin
Milady: Never thought I would end up here? Where the hell did the ocean go? I swear I fell right there!
Me: You're in Radiolover1029 Limboland. A place where I rule. :) You, Milady de Winter are stuck here to do my bidding.
Milady: How unfortunate. Did Rochefort slay Athos? -looks up to the sky-
Me: What? o.O You were in cahoots with him?
Milady: If you mean I worked temporarily with him, then yes.
Me: Oh. Well. They'll make it. You, however, may not.
Milady: I'm going to end up on Buckingham's ship, aren't I?
Me: How did you know?
Milady: Considering he must be devastated there was a ploy against him, and Athos snuck his favored airship out of the Tower, nearly blowing it to ends and pieces... He's coming back.
Me: O.O Are you, like, Satan's daughter or something? How in the world did you know that?
Milady: I'm a spy, it's kinda what I do.
Me: Whoa.
Milady: And I'll do you that favor of sparing me by reading the disclaimer. Radiolover1029 does not own any part of this nor will radiolover1029 ever will.
Me: You're like, pyschic.
Milady: I prefer a gambler of fate.
Me: Anywhoooo, on with it!
Once everyone could breathe a little more, D'Artagnan panicked when the irons came off. With a long of bewilderment he searched around the ship for the mere speck of something obviously bothering him.
"So what about the diamonds? Doesn't Buckingham still have them?" he asked Athos who held a spy glass at the tips of his fingers.
"Nope," he answered swiftly. "Milady likes hedging her bets. She'd never have taken the chance we'd actually succeed in breaking into the vault," He already had predicted D'Artagnan's shell-shocked expression was nothing to be expected and instead eyed something in the brass instrument.
D'Artagan, on the edge from adrenaline, continued, "So where are they now?"
Athos responded matter of factly, "With the only person she trusts,"
"Which means we've lost her and all this has been for nothing," D'Artagnan pieced the puzzle rather quickly for a youngster.
Athos shrugged his shoulders slightly as he spotted the very object he had been searching for years. "I wouldn't say that," he said. His eyes meandered over to the group, all of which wereeither gazing at points on a map or tying rope knots for better wind. "You were the decoy, we were the extraction, but the real linchpin of the plan, well, that was someonelse entirely. Someone even Milady would never suspect,"
He left D'Artagnan to scratch the back of his neck and figure out the rest of it for himself. Already, Athos began to feel the whole hearted chains coiled inside. He mulled over his thoughts as he gazed down below.
The grand scheme of things relied heavily on the drop off point Planchet had made hours before our noon performance. This was prior before his reconnaissance with Milady. Perhaps it would have been easier to use the water way routes but then they would have to use every trick of the trade to outsmart the crew and any dutiful soldiers.
Nevertheless, Planchet dropped off a cargo load of ammuniton and loaded weapons concealed in rolled up cloths. The display at the fort was made from three vantage points. One, the switch with D'Artganan. Blending into their scene while arousing the other important commanders attention allowed the pawn to move inside the fort.
Two, because of the seemingly easy ways to distract the footmen, Buckingham would naturally double the guards. What he didn't expect were all of them in one open spot, only to be kicked out and sneak back in. And finally, Planchet, who played a pivotal role in this mission.
Her hand delicately traced a uncocked trigger that held one of the corners of the map down. Making sail was easy enough. The mechanics were already half way done thanks to a bit of information from a fort insider who studied the men on the docks actions regularly when he fished. At precisely noon, they check winds and altitudes the sail can perfectly glide into. By the time they made a scene, the work was half prepared. It wasn't too long before the four of them manuevered the rest of roping and steering directly to their next pit stop- Buckingham's domain.
Antoinette's hair waved back with some help from Aramis' hand. A finger curled around his knuckle while the other hand collapsed on top of hers, pointing out the course they pursued.
As a learned cartographer, she calculated how far off they sailed and what angles needed adjustments to meet up with phase three. She patted his hand jokingly as he whispered directions that would send them the opposite way.
To the side, the youth polished off the hilt of his father's sword. He sat on top of a crate containing military supplies no doubt. He looked around at the helm. The leader of their troupe gazed forward against the wind with his hands behind his back. His eyes betrayed him when the closer the ship sailed over a coastal forest nearby London.
D'Artagnan eyed Porthos, who was berating Antoinette again on touching the weapons without checking if they were loaded. He winced out of habit at the blabber mouthed man. Aramis on the other hand looked amused as he watched his lady fend for herself and threatened to shoot Porthos in the foot if he didn't stop his obscene worry.
"How bad is she?" His eyes tried to avoid Athos, whose head cocked a little.
Porthos sent Antoinette a curt sigh before mulling his features under the weight of his hand. "Antoinette, would you say she's more conniving than the Cardinal?"
She cocked the gun intentionally before undoing it and placing it back on the table as a paperweight. "Yes," she said dully studying more latitudes of the English soil. "And worth double the price on her head than Rochefort," She quirked an eyebrow towards D'Artagnan.
Porthos hastened out of nowhere, "Which makes it twenty times the amount than Jussac!"
Aramis sighed deeply. "Have you been teaching him more mathematics?" He struggled to be entertained by Porthos' antics.
She answered back with a map insturment twiddling in between her fingers. "No, I think it's the women he associates with,"
Aramis leaned his figure on the table, eyes furrowed. "Are they librarians?"
Antoinette stage whispered, "One can only hope," Which earned her a darted glare from a scowling Porthos.
The floor beneath them groaned in extra weight. As a sign, Athos rushed over to them and through a back door staircase to the cargo holds. The three exchanged knowing glances before resuming the norm. However D'Artagnan felt a sudden chill in the air. It was an unmistakable phantom that drove through him, shuddering his bones in goosebumps.
Porthos grimaced. "That would be the unmistakable presence of Milady de Winter. Her chill can frostbite you from the inside out!" he pointed out.
Unbelieved, he said, "Really,"
Antoinette nodded solemnly. "Happens all the time. Though it still doesn't turn off the men," Her eyes twitched to where Athos disappeared to moments ago before lowering to the faded edges of the paper.
Porthos, ever the humorous, guffawed loudly. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He clapped her on the back. She could haev swore a few vertebraes shifted from their place. Feeling embarassed for a joke she never meant to tell, her cheeks blushed.
Aramis amusingly placed a kiss on her temple, enveloping her in a hug. "You're ten times warmer than she could ever be," he whispered sweet nothings in her ear.
Before she could blush further, she was taken surprisingly out of the arms of Aramis and replaced with a jovial Porthos. "Hilarious!" His eyes teared up. "You are my friend for life! If it weren't for Aramis, you would be my little wifey for that," he said squeezing the life out of her with a hug.
Antoinette struggled in his grasp. She weezed out, "Maybe D'Artagnan's chill wasn't Milady..." She shuddered at the thought of marrying her best companion and jokester, Porthos.
It was Planchet that came through the door first. He stumbled a few words of his excitable role before excusing himself elswhere. The suspension knotted up in everyone, most noticably Antoinette.
Though never good friends, Antoinette would never forgive what has been done for nearly a year. She knew not to trust Milady considering her questionable history but never did she expect her to turn on the one person one did trust her- Athos.
He was completely head over heels with her. Not just for her looks and fiesty attitude. He admired the sudden look she gets when she solves a complicated problem or improvises on the spot without raising any concerns. As incorrigble as her nature was, Athos was drawn to her like a fish swimming into a tantalizing crocodile's jaws.
Speak of the devil, he shall appear. Milady had the audacity to smirk at the ones around her with Athos holding a gun in one hand and the ostentatious diamonds on the other. He gentle put them on the middle of the map.
"Boys. Been a while," Her eyes went to Antoinette. "Comtesse. Gotten round in the middle?" she snickered. Netta's eyes flared at the accusation and self consciously reminded herself she had eyes and ears everywhere.
"To my delight, no," she deadpanned.
With fake concern dripping out of her, she remarked, "Oh. My bad," Antoinette scrunched a hand in the foldings of her dress, wishing to strangle the woman until she snapped her neck.
"This must be the young Gascon," She eyed the newcomer like a snake sizing up her meal.
D'Artagnan took Aramis' advice earlier on to stone his features. She was vicious and simply loved to play dirty. "We've met before,"
Her eyes lit up. "Ah, yes. Small world. I didn't let Rochefort kill you. You do remember that, don't you?" She twined a seed into D'Artagnan's oblivious mind. Her devilish complexion was masked by her blanched makeup but you didn't need super vision to see past thr beauty and petty words.
Athos was the first to cock the gun at her. She expected him to hold his undying grudge against her. She didn't need to give him a reason to shoot... Well in her mind even if she gave him a thousand and one reasons to shoot on sight, he would still hesitate. And that slight hesitation was all she needed.
Milady watched the attention glorify her. "Did you kill Buckingham?"
"No," The dead set tone unnerved Milady. Her eyes widened and then blinked the reservation she did not feel.
"But you will kill me," No question about it. She knew.
"Yes,"
The lines on her forehead shown. "You would spare him, but kill me?" She whispered desperately.
Without beating around the bush Athos sneered, "Yes. I don't hate Buckingham,"
A small quiver on her lip failed her. Defeat and utter surprise slithered down her throat like unoaked wine. She could feel her eyes crust over from the depth of the winds. She looked to each of the Musketeers in vain. Each one she had wrong in more ways than one.
She eached in between her bosom for a rolled slip of paper. From her actions, the men feared for a trap and so aimed purposefully at her. She held it up by the tips of her fingers. "Here. You may find use for this," She set the paper down.
"Move," The gun ordered Milady to the deck. On open air, the skies churned when Milady moved to the wooden plank. She looked not below nor above for a godly miracle. Instead she looked to an adjacent cloud. Her lips thinned at the grim realization of her fate. It wasn't a trick. Today she had played the part of the fool. The wretched clutch in her heart went into overdrive.
She turned about and looked at her once love. He held no resignation to undo what would have been done. It was then the real side of Milady appeared. No matter how small that side showed, she nevertheless held a reaching hand in front of him.
The wind carried her whisper to his ears. "Athos,"
Instead of waiting for a curling finger to pull the trigger, she allowed her body to still and plummet beneath thousands of feet into the middle of nowhere. Athos, only then, moved back into reality and watched the clouds cover up what was to be the death of Milady de Winter.
Aramis, feeling the need to console a friend, sent a mental prayer for a painless kill. Athos was spared the sight of her probable mangled body. "At least she died the way she lived, on her own terms," he spoke kindly.
"She did it for me. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself had I pulled the trigger," he chocked back the knot in his throat.
Antoinette moved at the opposite side of Athos. Her arms wrapped around Athos, despite the unwilling muscles he couldn't move on his own. No matter how heartless she had been in the course of their journey together, she would always have a place in their pack. Whether her come to die was now or never, Athos finally fought the hurt and remorse he couldn't feel for over a year.
"Come on, let's go home,"
What she had stolen to live on without him was finally returned back to Athos. His heart.
I think three chapters within a twenty four hour time span should make it up for the inactivity. This one is a little shorter than I had expected but nonetheless it is completed! Only four more chapters until the end :) Anticipation and anxiety is building up!
peak: playing with Milady's emotions.
pit: ... nothing really comes to mind :P
*NOTICE* I was thinking of having a chapter 19 to conclude with like a talk show set up and talking with the characters but all in dialogue. One of my friends on here had done that so I figured I would give it a shot. If any readers have questions concerning the characters or just random silliness, feel free to message me through private messaging or through reviews. If it's not titled as chapter 19 or whatever then I'll have a seperate thing for it...
Food for thought: If you were in Milady's position, would you have done anything differently and why?