Sometimes Salvation Comes From Agony

Chapter Fifteen

When King Louis left him for the remainder of the afternoon, Cardinal Richelieu walked outside to where he had his carriage pulled up by the palace's servants, then travelled to the Bastille, where word had come to him from saying that the captain of his guards was waiting for him. As he arrived, his men were working on locking up the new prisoners, while Count Rochefort stood back and watched the progress. A young woman stood close by, not wearing shackles like the rest of the criminals.

Rochefort turned to face the Cardinal as the carriage pulled up and waited for him to come over, then spoke up saying, "I have someone here whom I think you will be very happy to meet."

Richelieu looked at the young woman standing behind the Count as he asked, "Is this she? And what makes her so impressive?"

"Because, I think she may be the key to the beginning of the end of the musketeers," Count de Rochefort replied smugly. "And she hates them, more than she hates even you."

"Only because one of them murdered my brother," she responded angrily. "I want to see him dead. This doesn't mean I've forgotten how much I hate you."

The Cardinal smiled as he looked at his right hand man and answered, "She really is spirited, isn't she? I like her, almost as much as I liked another woman she reminds me of, Mademoiselle de Winter, only this one's younger. And what is your name, my dear?"

The girl glared at him as she asked coldly, "What do you have to offer me?"

"Yes, exactly like Milady, though less polite and charming," Rochefort said.

"You want to know what I can offer you," Cardinal Richelieu replied smugly as he smiled at her again. "Become what Lady de Winter was for me before she lost her usefulness; an emissary, my emissary. Do this and I shall give you the opportunity to destroy the musketeer, who murdered your brother, as well as a weekly sum that you will certainly find most pleasing, a new wardrobe, and a name that will make those that are righteous fear you and those that are the vilest of men admire you. Help me to bring down all of the musketeers, once and for all. What do you say?"

Though she hated the man before her, she had to admit that what the Cardinal was offering her was more than what she could ever imagine for herself and it sounded good, so she looked closer into the man's face for any sign of deception and when she found none, she held out her hand to shake his, then responded coolly, "I am simply Renee. I'll kill Aramis and then help you destroy the rest of his friends one by one if I must."

Cardinal Richelieu took Renee's hand in his as he answered, "Very good. From now on, you shall be known as Renée de Phénix."

"And what exactly does that mean?" Renee asked, sounding impressed by the name he had given her.

"It means, that you are the woman who died and then was born again as she rose from out of the ashes," Richelieu replied smugly. "I thought you might like it. Rochefort, it appears you were right. I am very happy to meet her indeed."

Later that evening…

After speaking with the King and then riding into the city to a tavern for dinner in order to buy some time for their friend to continue resting, they rode home to their garrison to check on Aramis and to bring him something to eat. As they expected, he was awake when they arrived and didn't look as though he had gotten much rest while they were gone.

Once they were sure that he was comfortable as he sat down on his bed, his back up against the wall, Aramis finally began to explain what he knew to the other musketeers, mostly for Claudette's benefit, as he stated sadly, "After I was captured, I spoke with Renee as she came into the tent I was being held in. She told me that she and the rest of the camp had been planning to kill the Cardinal for a long time and that in order for their revolution to succeed, they needed to gather as many men and women together that would be willing to fight and kill as many of us musketeers and the Cardinal's Red Guards as possible. It didn't matter to them what they did, or who they hurt into to get their band together. That included killing everyone else that supported him as well. Claudette, the people in your village had aligned themselves with the Cardinal, so the people you thought cared about you, charged your village and slaughtered everyone who stood in their way, including your family. And then you met Renee, who claimed that it was the Cardinal who sent in the small army. She lied to you."

The young woman standing with the other musketeers suddenly slapped Aramis across the face as she shouted furiously, "You're a liar!"

"Hey, I suggest you just calm down, right now!" Porthos called out just as angrily as he grabbed a hold of the young woman and pulled her away from his friend before she could strike him again.

"It's all right, Porthos," Aramis responded as he held his hand to his face after feeling the new pain. "You can release her. She has done nothing wrong."

While remaining calm, as was his usual manner, Athos continued, "Aramis is far from being a liar, Claudette. If this is what he says happened, then this is indeed the truth. What reason would he have to lie to you?"

She glared at their leader as she answered, "Why else? In order to keep me from running away and going back to stand with my own friends, of course."

"You're wrong," d'Artagnan replied. "You wanted to know the truth and now Aramis has told you what he knows. If you choose not to believe us, we have said that you are free to leave at any time and will not be punished. We meant it."

"Renee was not the one who found me and asked me to join them," Claudette responded in frustration. "The man I love did and he would never lie to me."

Aramis shakily rose to his feet with a little help from d'Artagnan, nodded and smiled at the young man as a sign of thanks, then spoke again to the young woman saying, "I wish that were true, Claudette, I do. This man may truly love you, even though he has lied to you. Perhaps you can find out for yourself, that is, if we have captured Renee among the rest of the prisoners the musketeers or the Cardinal's men have taken. We will find out and if so, we can take you to see her. If she is not among them, then you can choose to believe whatever you wish to believe."

She looked for any sign of deception from Aramis and the others, then she finally answered, "Take me to see my friends. I need to hear these words from her if I can't hear them from Marque himself. If she is not among your prisoners, then I will take you to Marseille. His word is the only other word I will believe."