Evening My Lovelies
I'm really really liking how this chapter turned out so I'm really hoping you all enjoy reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it :D
Also... Only 8 reviews needed to reach 900 reviews!
Notes On Reviews:
Deana: Thanks for the review - We'll be seeing if he's wrong in a chapter or two's time, but until then you'll have to wait :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
Debbie (Guest): Thanks for the review - I'm really looking forward when we get to your idea, it's happening soon! As for Maria... you'll have to read on to find out what's happen. Kinda glad to have Antoine back as I enjoy reading all the hate everyone has for him :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
criminally charmed: Thanks for the review - Haha Nah I'm never done torturing D'Art, it's too much fun :D Oooh did you enjoy the film? I've been tempted to see it. Enjoy the new chapter! x
FierGascon: Thanks for the review - Tempting but I figure we'll just kill him off :) but yeah he's definitely qualified to go there. The hate-o-meter might be going off again today when we see what he actually did. Don't worry I have a plan for D'Art, it's going to take a little bit though. Enjoy the new chapter! x
pallysdeeks: Thanks for the review - Don't worry too much about D'Art as we have a chapter or two before we get to dealing with that... As for Maria? Worry away :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
Books-and-Cleverness-394: Thanks for the review - Don't worry I wont leave you waiting long with cliffys like that :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
pheonixriv: Thanks for the review - Nah not bad, just means I got to feel even more evil when I brought him back into the story :) As for D'Art we'll be addressing that in a chapter or two's time. Enjoy the new chapter! x
Katie (Guest): Thanks for the review - Why? Because I'm a heartless, evil writer MWHAHAHA :D We'll be addressing D'Art's arm in a chapter or two's time. Corbett's getting a chance to feel better about himself today but his guilt wont go away until he's had a chance to talk to Issac. Enjoy the new chapter! x
f1gymnast: Thanks for the review - We'll be seeing if the doc was right in a chapter or two's time but for now we have the drama about Maria and Antoine. Haha I know, I wasn't planning anything for Corinne and Corbett but I could totally see it happening now. Don't worry Antoine will die, eventually :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
Maryg (Guest): Thanks for the review - All the hate for Antoine really makes me love writing him :) We'll see about Maria today. I kinda like the flirt between Corinne and Corbett, we might see a bit more of it once this drama is over with. Doc might have been a bit harsh but I think D'Art needed to hear it like that. Enjoy the new chapter! x
sweettweeet: Thanks for the review - Yay I'm glad you're enjoying it :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
Issai: Thanks for the reviews - (chapter64) Yeah lots of love needed for all our boys. Corbett's getting a moment to feel better about himself today but guilts gonna take a while to go. (chapter65) Hmm I can't promise I wont be cruel :) As for pushing them away, your right, if D'Art decides to do it theres not much our boys can do about it. Issac waking up is going to be the only thing to help relieve Corbett's guilt. We'll be seeing what Antoine did today, hope you like it. Enjoy the new chapter! x
WelshEssex (Guest): Thanks for the review - D'Arts not going to handle the news well but we've got a bit of drama to distract him from it first. Corbett's guilt wont leave him until he's spoke to Issac but he's getting a moment to feel more like himself today. Hmm I dont think Antoine really thought she would turn him down. Enjoy the new chapter! x
MicheeO: Thanks for the review - Read on to see if she's dead or not. Couldn't resist the escape idea :) Corbett's appearing again today and thanks for letting me know about the mistakes :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
Lilac Lavender: Thanks for the review - Yep, couldn't resist dropping that on our boy but we wont be dealing with that for a chapter or two as we've got the drama with Antoine and Maria first. I loved writing the moment between Favier, Treville and Corbett, the poor musketeer's in desperately in need of a rest, unfortunately he's not getting one today it seems :) I really liked the whole Corbett/Corinne thing. It was unplanned but I quite like the idea of it and may develop it further. Antoine's got a lot of hate coming his way and I love it :D Enjoy the new chapter! x
Tidia: Thanks for the review - Pretty much :) Enjoy the new chapter! x
As always much love and many thanks for following/favouriting/reviewing/reading
Love you all!
Enjoy!
xxx
Chapter Sixty-Six: Scream
After escorting Corinne back to her rooms Corbett decided to actually listen to his body for, what seemed to be, the first time since he had seen Issac brought in all bloodied and bruised. He had initially intended to simply hide in his rooms for a few hours until he could return to his friend's side without his Captain lecturing him, but instead decided to continue down the corridor to the kitchens.
"Bout time you showed your face around here," grunted the garrison cook Serge when he saw the exhausted form of Corbett slightly stumble into his kitchen.
The chef had been sending plates of food up to the infirmary for the man ever since he had refused to leave his friend's side but the plates always came back with only the barest amount of food taken from them. Serge had voiced his worries to several members of the regiment but none of them had the authority, like Treville had, to order him from Issac's infirmary room.
"Was beginning to think you didn't like my cooking," he added when he realized the musketeer wasn't going to respond.
"…Not been hungry," mumbled Corbett, a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips as Serge forced him to sit down and eat the roll he had practically forced on the man.
"From what I saw your friend's gonna have enough to worry about when he wakes up, don't give him more by making yourself ill."
Corbett blinked, the words that were so similar to what he had been told by both Treville and Favier finally beginning to sink in the more he heard them. He had absolutely no desire to make, what was likely to be a hard and arduous recovery on Issac's part even harder by making the poor man have to worry about him as well.
"…Sorry."
Serge, who had his back to the musketeer as he worked couldn't contain the small fond smile that curved his lips.
"Ah lad," sighed the cook as he turned around and leaned against the side of the counter. "Aint nothing to be sorry for, just save a bit of your worry for yourself."
Smiling at the cook Corbett nodded, feeling slightly more like himself now he had something more than the odd piece of fruit in his stomach. He was about to say something else when two screams reached his ears… One pained and the other terrified. Recognizing them both as being female Corbett's body reacted without his mind's input as before he could even think about what he was doing he was on his feet and charging out of the room, his hand moving to unsheathe his blade as he ran.
Without even bothering to knock, the second he reached the door to the room that held the only women currently in the garrison, Corbett put all his strength and force behind his shoulder and launched himself at the door, making the wood to splinter slightly as the now broken door opened.
Years of training and experience had taught the musketeer to observe and react in a matter of moments and it was because of that, that Corbett reacted as quickly as he did to the sight in front of him.
Not recognizing who the man in the room was, but recognizing the blood now staining his hands, Corbett was quick to tackle the man to the ground, using all of his exhaustion-caused depleted strength to subdue the now fighting man, his ears registered the sound of sobbing from one of the women but he shook thoughts of that from his mind, allowing himself to focus solely on the man before him.
As he was fighting with the man he noticed the distinctive marks on the man's wrists, a sign that at some point, quite recently, the man had been restrained.
"How did you get free?" he snarled, realizing that, despite not having seen the man before, he was the one mentioned to him when he first arrived, the prisoner they were holding in their own cells.
He felt a small wave of panic well up within him for the man who had been guarding the cell. No alarms had been rung yet which meant that whatever the man before him had done, no one had found out yet.
The man had skill, Corbett would give him that, to not only escape his restraints and cell but also travel from one side of the garrison to the other without being seen by anyone or raising any alarms was no small feat.
When the man made no move to respond, only to fight harder Corbett knew he needed to do something. He knew, just by the blood on the man's hands, that someone was in need of aid and with most of the regiment either out or asleep it was up to him to handle it. Part of him cursed Treville for housing the two women so far from the main sleeping quarters of the garrison but at the same time he also understood the man's reasoning's for doing so.
As another heart-wrenching sob caught his attention Corbett decided he had finally had enough. Changing his hold on the man slightly he quickly moved one of his hands to pick up blade he had dropped when they had started to fight. Part of him was tempted to kill the man but he held that urge back and instead twisted his grip on the handle of his sword and, without hesitation, brought the pommel of the blade down hard enough onto the man's head to knock him out instantly.
It was at this point that Serge entered the room, not that Corbett was surprised. The man was older and couldn't move overly fast but he was still a man who couldn't and wouldn't sit by and do nothing at the sound of a woman's screams.
"Find something to restrain him with then find the Captain," order Corbett as he scrambled from the unconscious man's side to Corinne's, the young woman desperately trying to put pressure on the bleeding wound of the unconscious older woman who lay with her head in the younger woman's lap.
"Mademoiselle," he said softly, his fingers brushing against hers as he tried to get her to move. She flinched at his touch and violently shook her head, the pressure she was applying increasing slightly as tears flooded from her eyes.
"Mademoiselle," he tried again, only this time more insistently. This attempt made her fingers curl into the woman's bloodied shirt.
"No!" she cried, her hands shakily violently as she tried, without success, to tear her eyes away from her mother-figure's pale face to glare at the man trying to get her to move away.
"Corinne!" Corbett exclaimed, his voice startling her enough for her to look up at him, her now blotchy face soaked with tears. Softening his expression he reached out his hands again.
"Let me have a look," he said, his voice a mix of pleading and command. "I'm no Aramis but I have some training."
For a moment he thought she might refuse again, something he was desperately hoping she wouldn't do, he had no desire to force the young woman away but if that's what it took to save the other woman's life then that's exactly what he would do.
Fortunately for all parties Corinne nodded, albeit somewhat shakily, and slowly removing her now bloodstained hands from Maria's side, a small whimper escaping her when she noticed the blood on her hands for the first time.
Despite desperately wanting to comfort the woman Corbett forced himself to focus on the person he could help the most in this current situation.
"What's her name?" he asked as he inspected the area of her skin that had the small dagger still in it.
"M-M-Maria."
Offering Corinne a small smile Corbett dropped his gaze back to the unconscious woman. "Okay Maria, this might hurt but its for the best," and before anything could stop him he sharply pulled the blade from her skin, a pained scream tearing its way from the now conscious woman's throat.
"Easy Maria," soothed Corbett as he quickly pulled off his shirt and began using it to help stop the bleeding. "I know it hurts, we've got you, just breathe."
"…C-C-Corinne," she rasped, her eyes screwing shut at the pain shooting through her body.
"I-I'm here mémé," sobbed Corinne as she took Maria's hand in her own and used her other to lightly stroke the older woman's cheek.
"…S-S-Safe?"
Corinne immediately knew what was being asked of her and her heart clenched in pain, as she looked over to where her father now lay, unconscious and restrained, rather impressively given the person who had restrained him.
"Yes," she answered softly, her voice cracking slightly as she tore her eyes away from her father and back to Maria, the only person besides Charles she could truly count as family anymore.
"Captain," nodded Porthos as Treville entered the room where the inseparables were recovering.
Nodding back to the larger man Treville allowed his gaze to travel over the three, now sleeping, men.
"They're doing better then they look," said Porthos as he took his feet off of the chair he had been using as a footstool, allowing the Captain to sit down in between a couple of the beds. He had noticed the equal parts, worried and angry, look in Treville's eyes and hoped he could ease it as the last thing they needed right now was their Captain to be out for blood.
"'Mis is more bruised than anything. Doc reckons he's gonna be sore for a few days and his shoulder might ache for a while longer but he's confident he'll recover fully providing he stops pulling his stitches."
Smiling softly at the news Treville nodded gratefully at Porthos before turning to face Athos.
Noticing the look Porthos couldn't help his own swell of anger that rose at the sight of his brother so badly beaten but he forced it down, not wanting it to overwhelm him when his brother's needed him.
"Athos is pretty banged up as you can see, the bastards really went all out with him… The doc said its important he doesn't try to use his hand much as otherwise he risks his bones not healing properly and then we'd have to re-break them to get them to align correctly. That's probably going to be the hardest thing for Athos to deal with but I'm sure well think of something," he added with a devious smirk that had Treville letting out a breathy chuckle.
"Nothing that can really be done for Athos's ribs but to keep an eye on how they're healing and 'Thos's too stubborn to let any of his other wounds show they bother him."
Once again Porthos's words brought a slight chuckle out of the Captain, who nodded in agreement. A memory coming to mind of a few summers ago when Athos had been knocked off his horse during an ambush, the whole of his left side was very badly bruised and his ankle had been sprained, yet the man insisted on not only continuing the mission as normal but returning to training as usual as soon as he returned to the garrison, despite the many lectures Aramis had tried to give him about stressing his injuries and how much pain they must have been causing him.
"What of D'Artagnan?" Treville asked quietly, twisting in his seat to look at the Gascon who was currently sleeping with his back to them.
This question caused a muttered curse to slip from Porthos's lips, something that made Treville's eyebrows raise in question.
"You'd 'ave to ask the doc," sighed the larger musketeer as he looked sorrowfully at his youngest brother. "They went in his office to talk and neither told me anything when they came out."
"And nor do I plan to," interrupted a voice as Doctor Reynard entered the room to check on his patients.
"What was discussed between me and the boy is confidential unless he deems otherwise. It was not I who wished to speak alone but him and I will honor his request so don't even think of asking me about it again."
Huffing and muttering curses under his breath Porthos let his eyes drift from Reynard and back to D'Artagnan. He just opened his mouth to speak when the door to the room slammed open, causing the musketeer to jump up, blade drawn, as he stood ready to defend his brothers.
"C-C-Captain T-T-Treville!" called the new arrival, panting heavily as he tried to regain his breath.
"Serge?" responded Treville as he rose from his chair, concern filling him as he realized how panicked the man was. "What's wrong?"
"Co-Come quick," he stammered, his eyes flickering between the Captain and the doctor who was now watching on in concern as well. "Both of you," he added before focusing more intently on Treville. "Corbett needs help, she's bleeding bad."