The Key to Salvation
Chapter Seven
When Aramis regained consciousness he found he was in a dark windowless room. The hard packed earth floor made him think that he was in a cellar. He sat with his back against the wall until his headache reached a manageable level. Moving slowly and carefully he made his way around the walls until he reached the door. It was, unsurprisingly, locked. The conditions were horribly reminiscent of his time in prison. He wedged his body into a corner and shook uncontrollably. Eventually he was overcome with exhaustion and fell asleep. When he awoke some indeterminate time later nothing had changed. He was still locked in darkness.
Time passed slowly until he heard the sound of bolts being drawn back. He got to his feet, refusing to meet the threat from a position of weakness. The door opened allowing a dim light to filter into the room. He could make out the silhouette of a man standing in the doorway.
"The Baron's sent for you."
He didn't recognise the voice. With his head held high he walked towards the door. The man stepped back and he exited into a hallway. There were two men waiting for him, both heavily muscled and well-armed.
"This way."
He followed the man along the hallway with the second guard bringing up the rear. After climbing a flight of stairs they arrived on the ground floor level of a house. Now the guards flanked him, making escape impossible. In his weakened condition he wouldn't get ten feet before being recaptured. They entered a room dominated by a large dining table. A man sat at the far end, surrounded by food. The aroma turned Aramis' stomach and caused his headache to intensify. He was pulled to a standstill just inside the doorway.
The man, who Aramis assumed must be the Baron, continued to eat, sparing him no attention. Finally, after buttering a slice of bread the man looked up. Aramis studied him carefully, trying to decide if he had ever seen him before. The Baron looked to be no older than mid-thirties with dark brown hair and a neat beard and moustache. He wasn't at all familiar.
"You still don't know why you're here, do you?" the Baron asked. He took a bite of the bread, his eyes never leaving Aramis.
"Why don't you tell me?" A blow to the side of the head made his ears ring. He staggered slightly before regaining his balance.
"Keep your mouth shut until the Baron tells you to speak," the guard who had struck him growled menacingly.
A servant poured the Baron some ale and then stepped back keeping his eyes down cast.
"I was disappointed when I heard Louis had released you. Five years was a small enough punishment for what you did but to find you had gone free after less than a year was more than I could stomach."
Aramis kept his mouth shut, trying to avoid any further brutality. His legs were shaking with the effort of standing to attention and he felt faint from hunger and the after effects of the blow to his head.
"Tell me, Aramis, do you remember Louisa de Pavie? She was a lady in waiting to her Majesty."
Aramis felt a chill running down his back. "Yes." Louisa had been a high-spirited young woman who had caught his eye a couple of years previously. They had embarked on a passionate affair that lasted three months. Then she had disappeared from Court and he had never heard from her again.
The Baron pushed his chair back and stood up. He walked slowly down the length of the room until he was standing directly in front of Aramis. "She was my wife."
The sick feeling in his stomach worsened and he could feel the blood leaving his head. "I didn't know." The blow this time was to his side, causing him to clutch his ribs protectively.
"Did it ever occur to you to find out if she was married? Or didn't that matter to you?" The Baron didn't raise his voice but that didn't make his tone any less menacing.
Aramis looked at him speechlessly. Louisa had never mentioned a husband but neither had he asked her.
"She fell pregnant. Did you know that? That's why she came home, so that she could try and foist the bastard on me." He nodded to the guards.
Aramis felt his arms being pulled back but was too stunned to even struggle. Blow after blow rained down on his face and body. Blood spurted from his nose and trickled down the side of his mouth. He could feel one of his eyes swelling shut. His ribs and chest were a mass of bruises. He began to choke and the Baron held up a hand to stop the assault. By that stage Aramis was only upright thanks to the hands gripping his arms. He spat blood onto the expensive rug at his feet and raised his head.
"I sent men to Paris to find out who she had been whoring herself with. They found you. A common soldier daring to lay hands on a noble!"
"Where…where is she? What happened to the child?"
"I cast her aside, faithless trollop that she was. I heard later that she had given birth to a girl."
"I have a daughter?" he asked plaintively.
"No," the Baron said cruelly. "The child failed to thrive. It's buried in the village cemetery. Not that you'll ever get the chance to pay your respects."
Aramis' legs gave way and he hung limply in the arms of his captor. He couldn't catch his breath and began to feel even more lightheaded. The Baron backhanded him across the face. "Stand up and face me like a man."
"Louisa?" he stammered as he struggled to take his weight. He could feel tears pricking at the corner of his eyes.
"Her reputation was in tatters so she went abroad. I've no idea where she is now."
"Why not just challenge me?" he asked weakly. He could only imagine the conditions in which she had given birth to their child. She had been thrown out of her home, her family would never have accepted her back, and she had likely been penniless. No wonder the child hadn't survived. He felt empty, too numb to grieve for the daughter he had never known. He thought fleetingly of the Dauphin, his son who he could never acknowledge and felt himself to be cursed.
"Why would I challenge a professional soldier? You would undoubtedly have prevailed. No, I found a different way to punish you and now the King has set you free," the Baron said angrily. "You haven't suffered enough for ruining my life. You should be locked away where you can't harm anyone else."
"You paid Lemaire to steal the Queen's necklace and hide it in my quarters."
"Yes. I knew you would lose your commission and receive a sentence of imprisonment. It seemed fitting to take away everything you held dear. I loved my wife." The Baron lashed out, catching Aramis on his chin. His head snapped back and his vision greyed.
"What happens now?" he asked once he could speak again.
"You still have four years of your sentence left to run."
"My friends will come looking for me."
"Do you think I am a fool? I have no intention of keeping you here. No, I intend to sell you to the Spanish. You can rot in the belly of one of their galleys."
Aramis looked at him in horror. "Galley slaves rarely last a year. You are condemning me to death." In his weakened condition he doubted he would survive a month. The conditions were brutal with starvation and floggings the norm. Sickness was endemic which was why the Spanish were always on the lookout for healthy men to conscript into their navy. Once he was chained to the oars his life would be over.
"Don't expect me to feel any sympathy for you," the Baron said coldly. "Lock him up. Move him tomorrow under cover of darkness."
As he was dragged away he caught a glimpse of the self-satisfied smirk on the Baron's face. Please, he prayed, let the others come soon. Yet he knew it was a false hope. By the time his brothers returned from the King's hunting trip he would have vanished into a hell from which he had no hope of escaping.
Tbc