A groan came, then his body stiffened as he tried to lift himself up. A sharp pain made him grasp his shoulder and hold it.
Porthos was confused at first. Where was he? What had he done to his...and his eyes opened wide as it hit him. Ahead of him, the remains of the garden shed lay strewn everywhere, and wisps of smoke from the explosion lingered on in patches of the debris.
"Aramis! Athos! D'Artagnan!"
Beginning to look around frantically, his eyes finally rested on d'Artagnan, who was a few yards in back of him. His head was still throbbing, so he knew better than to try getting to his feet yet. The dizziness would overwhelm him.
Instead, he made his way crawling slowly to d'Artagnan, calling his name and watching for any movement.
He was rewarded when he had covered about half the distance separating them. He could see when d'Artagnan's head started to move slowly, as their youngest's senses began to come back to him. Then, just as Porthos had done, he began urgently calling his brothers' names.
"D'Artagnan!" Porthos called in a louder voice. When his eyes rested on Porthos, d'Artagnan's face broke into a look of relief.
"Porthos! How are Athos and Aramis?"
Porthos shook his head sadly. "You're the only one I've seen so far," causing the relief in d'Artagnan to ratchet up to worry and panic at the possibility that his other brothers could be injured or ... No, he refused to let that thought take hold.
"How are you feeling?" Porthos asked him.
"Like someone is hammering in my head," d'Artagnan replied, his hand now trying to massage his forehead.
Porthos reached over and gently began exploring the top of d'Artagnan's head with the tips of his fingers. It only took a moment before his suspicions were confirmed. There was a large bump on the left side that was the cause of the pain.
D'Argagnan could see that Porthos was in pain. The location gave him a clue as to what the injury was. Sitting up in spite of the pounding headache, he reached over and touched Porthos' shoulder. The big man reacted immediately, as pain flared up.
D'Artagnan said, "I'm going to reset your shoulder, Porthos. Hold still."
He quickly pushed the bone back in place, causing Porthos to yelp with the pain. A minute later, though, he sighed in relief, giving his brother a smile of thanks.
D'Artagnan's head had increased its drumming, however, causing him to lay back down in a hurry afterwards, sqeezing his eyes tight shut from the pain.
"You just stay right where you are, all right?" Porthos told him softly. "That egg you got on your head will just get worse the more you move."
"But..."
" No buts. Stay put, d'Artagnan. You get up again, you're liable to pass out. It's going to take a while for the hammering to calm down, especially since you just further traumatized it. I'm very happy to have a shoulder to use again, though," smiling as he said it. "I will look for Aramis and Athos. They've got to be somewhere around here."
Porthos slowly rose to his feet, and headed off in his search again.
It was in the vegetable garden that he found Athos, lying crumpled and face down. Hurrying to his brother's side, he laid a hand on Athos' shoulder. "Athos!" he called, not getting any response.
Frowning, he tried again, this time hearing a groan emitted from his brother, who finally lifted his head slightly off the ground at hearing Porthos's voice. He tried to move again, but stopped with a gasp.
"Athos, where are you hurt?" Porthos asked, not liking the sounds coming from him.
"Ribs," was all his brother said.
Then, a moment later, he asked, "Aramis? D'Artagnan?"
Porthos said, "D'Artagnan is off to the right of us aways. He got knocked in the head, so I told him to stay where he was, and keep still. Aramis...," he stopped, emotions upset at his still missing best friend. He was trying not to imagine the worst, but it kept creeping into his mind anyway. He had been through most of the garden already, looking for his brothers. Athos was at the edge of area. Where could Aramis be?
"He will be all right, Porthos," Athos said, trying to get his hands underneath himself to lift into a sitting position. He needed to help Porthos. His ribs had other ideas, though, and a tearing pain ripped through him, causing him to stop his attempt. "You should go look for him. I will be all right here."
Porthos was torn. He didn't want to leave Athos, any more than he had wanted to leave d'Artagnan. But one of them was still missing, possibly badly hurt. He couldn't leave him out here alone.
He nodded to Athos, and once more began searching. His heart was getting heavier each moment that he failed to find him. Where could he be? And then, he saw someone moving rapidly in the near distance.
Treville! Calling out to him, Treville didn't reply, his attention fixed elsewhere.
Porthos looked in the direction holding his Captain's attention, and froze. Aramis!
His brother was moving hesitantly in his direction, wavering from time to time, and once staggering sideways like he had been drinking. He didn't seem to see anyone, his gaze fixed somewhere in the distance.
Porthos was running now, fear gnawing at his insides. Aramis didn't look well at all.
He and Treville got there almost at the same time, gently trying to ease Aramis down on the ground. They were rapidly scanning Aramis' body, looking for injuries. But they didn't see anything major, other than quite a few cuts and and some nasty dark bruises on his face. What was wrong with him?
But when his back reached the ground, he arched up screaming. Porthos and Treville looked at each other in worry. What was wrong?
They turned him sideways and laid him down as gently as they could. Looking around at his back, they both gasped.
His doublet was bloody! Hurriedly, but as gently as possible, they removed the doublet. The amount of blood soaking the back of his white shirt had Porthos and Treville hurriedly searching in the midst of it for whatever was causing it. Gently wiping away the blood, they found a small hole. Someone had shot him in the back!
The bullet had to come out, and quickly. They didn't want to cause Aramis any more pain than he was already in, but because of all the debris from the explosion plus dirt and grass from the garden itself, the risk of infection was too great to leave it until they could get him indoors and seen by a doctor.
Treville heaved a great sigh, knowing he had to be the one to remove it, and wishing he didn't have to do it. Aramis was already panting with the pain, eyes tight shut in agony. Blood continued to flow from the wound, blood Aramis couldn't continue to lose for very long.
Treville said, quietly, "That bullet has to come out of there now. The longer it stays in his body, the greater his risk of an infection that could kill him." Porthos' face reflected his fear of death for his dearest friend.
Treville was continuing. "We do not have the time nor the manpower to go and get hot water or alcohol to cleanse the wound. We will have to just pray that it does not get infected from our method of removing it."
Having pulled his main gauche from its sheath, Treville looked at Porthos with grim determination, saying, "Keep him still, Porthos."
Without waiting for a response from his Musketeer, he turned back to Aramis and slowly inserted his knife.
The instant the blade entered his body Aramis screamed, trying to twist away from the source of further pain. But Porthos held him still, sick at heart that his brother had to endure the procedure with nothing at all to mute the pain, which alcohol could also have provided if he could have had at least a few sips.
He could see that Treville's first attempt hadn't loosened the bullet, which could be embedded in something in Aramis' body, such as tissue or muscle.
He could feel Aramis' body trembling. He knew his friend couldn't tell what was going on, and might even think, in his delirious mind, that an enemy was torturing him. He weakly kept trying to pull away, but Porthos continued his grip on him to hold him in place. Porthos heard a small whimper, and it nearly drove him to tears.
The second attempt by Treville still netted no results. Porthos wanted to rage against their lack of luck so far, but managed to keep silent as his Captain prepared for a third try.
Then, Porthos felt another presence beside him, as a hand reached down to assist in holding Aramis. Looking over, d'Artagnan grimly stared back. Behind him, Athos sat with an arm around his injured ribs. Porthos just nodded. No matter their injuries, they would not be kept away from the brother they all loved.
Aramis was, by now, barely conscious at all, tremors running through his body from the trauma it had already undergone, as well as the one it was currently in.
Porthos and d'Artagnan both had their hands full keeping his limbs still, so Athos moved closer and was now holding his brother's hand, his fingers threading through the sweat-soaked dark curls to give him comfort.
Treville inserted the knife once more, moving it slowly to seek out the bullet. They could tell by the expression on his face when he was finally able to locate it and get the blade under it. They all almost held their breath when he began to maneuver it out, fearful that it would come partway and then slip back again, as bullets sometimes did.
But it finally emerged, slick with blood. Treville flung it away in disgust.
Porthos leaned down closer to Aramis, saying, "It's all over, mon ami." Then, he added, "I am personally going to take apart whoever did this," his voice a low growl.
They all assisted in clearning the wound clean of the blood and bits of debris clinging to the skin, then Treville removed his doublet and tore strips of his own shirt to wrap around his Musketeer's torso, before laying his hand gently on the top of Aramis' head and saying quietly, "Rest now, Aramis,and live for us."
Porthos and Treville wrapped their doublets around him to keep him warm, as he was shivering, whether from the weather or shock, they couldn't tell. Porthos settled down next to him, worry still evident in his face.
After they were finished, Porthos said, "Who could have done this? And in the back?"
D'Artagnan realized he needed to fill them in, and gestured for Treville and Athos to come aside, telling them what he had seen earlier. "He must have been in this with Bernard. I was coming to tell you something was up, when the explosion happened. Philippe must have seen Aramis after the explosion, and the coward shot him in the back," he finished angrily.
"The King needs to hear about this," Treville said.
Porthos, who had been able to hear them from where he sat with Aramis cradled in his lap, said, "Right after we take care of him."
"You know we cannot keep this from Louis," Treville countered. "Not only did it happen on his palace grounds, but a son of his nobility caused it. He will be irate if he is kept in the dark about this. And an angry Louis is liable to take his rage out on the men who hid what happened."
"We cannot just let him banish Philippe without any other punishment," Athos said.
"We will not," Treville promised. "Let me handle Louis. If I play things right, Louis will think it is his decision to take Philippe down. He will get away with nothing, I promise you."
