Sometimes Salvation is Found in Agony

Chapter Twenty-Three

"Claudette!" d'Artagnan shouted as he fought his way through the fighters until he finally found the young woman who has been a big help to the musketeers over the last several days, a woman who they promised to help find the answers she's been seeking in return. "Are you all right?"

"Of course I'm all right," she answered in frustration after killing one of Anjou's men trying to sneak up behind her with a sword Marque had given her earlier that morning to defend herself. "I have known how to fight since I was old enough to hold a sword or pistol. Have you seen Marque? I have to find him."

The young Gascon struck another criminal down with a musket ball to his chest, then replied, "We're all looking for him. We'll find…"

When she began to fight another criminal until d'Artagnan interfered and finished taking him down, she looked off in the distance, then she quickly interrupted, "There he is! I have to…"

"Don't worry, Porthos has him," d'Artagnan responded as he saw his comrade was fighting off one of the two men trying to kill the man she loved. "He'll knock him out if he has to get him to safety. And Marque looks like he is plenty capable of protecting himself to me. Let's get out of here. This isn't our fight. We're only here to protect our friend while we bring down your leader, not to become involved in another war with a different group of revolutionaries."

"And what about Anjou?" she asked in frustration as d'Artagnan dragged her out from the middle of the battle while they fought off anyone who got in their way. "You have a chance to kill him. We shouldn't let him just walk away."

D'Artagnan pulled her into the worn down building he and his friends had agreed to stay in before the fight took place and wait until their way was clear to escape, then looked back at her as he answered, "He may be a criminal, but as I said, we didn't come here for him. We gave him our word that we would help him survive this fight, so long as he allows us the time we need to find and protect Aramis. If Valentin and the remainder of his men survives this fight and escapes, we need Aramis' cover to remain intact so that he can help us bring him in for trial."

Claudette scoffed as she stared at Anjou, who was tired up and gagged in the corner of the room in order to keep him from turning on them as he tried to do the moment Porthos and Athos had carried him to safety once they finished their ruse, and then replied, "You and your friends' nobility will only get yourselves killed one day. There is no room in this world any longer for men of your caliber."

"Perhaps you're right, but it is how we choose to live," the young man responded when Porthos suddenly barged in and tossed Marque, who was now unconscious, on the floor, then worked to barricade the door again with d'Artagnan's help. "I told you he'd keep him safe."

"I should go back out there," Porthos stated as he moved to the window to keep watch for Athos and Aramis.

D'Artagnan put a hand on Porthos' shoulder to stop him from leaving as he answered, "Athos said for us to find these two, watch them and Anjou, then keep them safe until we can all get away together."

Claudette glared at the musketeers as she asked, "We're all going back to Paris with you? Even Anjou?"

"No, we'll be leaving Anjou behind, for his friends to find, or Valentin and his friends," Porthos replied smugly. "If you choose to remain here, that's up to you, but your lover, Marque, will be coming back with us. Like it or not, he is one of the men we have come here to bring to justice."

"What is going on here?" Marque asked angrily as he groggily looked around and glared at his enemy in the corner of the room, then slowly began to get up until d'Artagnan thrust a sword up to his throat to keep him down. "Who are you? Claudette, who are these men?"

She knelt down in front of him as she looked at him sadly and responded, "These men are musketeers. One of them spared and probably saved my life back in Paris, the same musketeer who volunteered to be your assassin, only as a way of finding out who was behind our plot to kill Cardinal Richelieu so they can stop it from happening."

The man looked betrayed and angry as he asked again, "I thought you were with me, with us? I thought you wanted to see Richelieu dead just the same as me and the rest of our family? This morning, you lied to me!"

"I thought I was with you too," she answered as tears began to fall down her face. "I do want to see the Cardinal dead, but after listening to these men over the last few days, I've learned that there is something you've been keeping from me too. When we met, you claimed that the Cardinal sent those men and women into our village to slaughter my people. However, it turns out that it was Valentin. It was you… because my people were helping Richelieu in his conquest to rule over France."

"You can't believe anything these Cardinal supporters told you," Marque replied coldly. "If they're musketeers, then they are liars, thieves, and murderers. They helped Richelieu slaughter our families and friends, my own family!"

Claudette stood and backed away from him as she asked fearfully, "So you felt it was all right to go and do the same to my family? You aren't denying it. These musketeers do speak the truth. You made me love you, even though you lied to me! I trusted you!"

When she suddenly pulled a dagger from inside her coat and screamed as she started to run at him to kill him, Porthos swiftly grabbed a hold of her and pulled her back, then knocked the blade from her hands. She struggled within his hold, but her efforts to break free were of no use. The larger musketeer's hold was far too strong.

Marque slowly rose to his feet when d'Artagnan finally allowed him to, then he spoke up again saying, "I never completely lied to you, Claudette. Cardinal Richelieu is the reason why your family and friends are dead, because of what he did to me and to the rest of those we've been standing beside over this last month. Valentin showed me that we needed to raise a rebellion to bring that villain down once and for all and that in order to do so, we needed to destroy those that were helping him. I knew that you were a survivor of one of the villages we destroyed, but somehow, I came to love you anyway, so I lied to you, to protect you."

"I was hoping that these men were wrong, that they were the ones lying to get me on their side," Claudette responded sadly. "I always was naïve. You musketeers can take him. I don't care what happens to him anymore."

"For what it's worth, I am sorry," d'Artagnan stated sincerely as Porthos began to tie Marque up as well, then forced him back down to the ground beside Anjou, who was still struggling to break free of his own bonds.

Porthos went back to the window to watch for their friends, then quickly moved to the door to open it as he said quickly, "Athos is back."

D'Artagnan asked, "And Aramis?"

"I couldn't find him," Athos answered as he entered the room and glared down at Marque as he moved toward him with his sword raised once again at his throat. "Valentin has abandoned you and the rest of your men in order to save his own skin like a coward. He is no longer out there among the battle you began. Our friend, the musketeer who infiltrated your men, left a message behind for us to find, telling us that he's going after him. He also wrote that he overheard you and your leader talking about another, who's the real mastermind of your revolution. Who is really behind all of this?"

"Your friend is half dead," Marque replied smugly as he sneered at his captors. "Valentin will cut him down quickly and leave his carcass behind to be ravaged and torn apart by the vultures and wild dogs."

Athos pulled out a dagger and swiftly knelt down close to the man as he thrust the blade tightly up against his throat, slicing into his skin in order to draw blood, then asked again angrily, "Who is really in charge?"

Marque responded, "You'll never know."