Hi everyone Chapter 11 today. Originally thought I could finish this in 10. Seems my first multi-chapter story is taking a bit longer than I thought. :)

I hope you are all enjoying it and not getting bored. We'll be getting to the action stuff soon, I promise. :)

All reviews welcome.

Chapter Eleven

Treville was in his office sipping whisky while staring at the papers on his desk. Soon it wouldn't be his desk but for now it remained his. He was sure the men he had chosen for the trip to Dreux were the right one's for the job and prided himself on his ability to pick the right men for the right job.

Treville took his whisky and walked over to the door gently laying his hand on the handle. After a brief pause he opened the door to hear the hustle and bustle of the courtyard. He leant on the bannister with crossed arms and watched his men. Some were sparring while others were milling around. Some were helping Jacques the stable boy and some had commandeered the inseparables table in their absence. Treville smiled as he remembered the times he had called down to the three, now four, men who often sat at that table. Sometimes he called them for missions and sometimes it was to give them a bollocking for acting like idiots.

Treville sighed deeply as he realised that soon he would longer enjoy watching his men from on high and he downed the rest of his whiskey in one gulp. He was startled by the arrival of a messenger whom recognised from the palace. This must be Louis wanting to know who had been assigned for guard duty, he thought. Treville turned into his office and picked up the parchment with the assigned musketeers and headed back out to meet the messenger.

The man climbed the steps quickly and delivered his message, 'Her Majesty the Queen wishes to see you immediately.'

'The queen,' questioned Treville in surprise. 'Do you know why?'

'I was told it was a matter of the highest importance.'

Treville nodded and turned back to attach his weapons belt and find his cloak and hat.

'Jacques,' he called. 'Saddle my horse quickly please,' as the boy ran off to do as he was told. Soon Treville was on his way to the palace with the messenger alongside him wondering why it was the queen who wanted to see him.

The musketeers had mostly dried off in the heat and were now getting dressed once more. As Aramis put his foot into his right boot he withdrew his foot quickly shouting, 'Ow!' the marksman having forgotten that he had placed his chain and beloved crucifix in his boot for safe keeping during the swim. For some reason the others found this quite funny.

Once everyone was dressed, albeit their breeches and shirts were still a bit damp, the musketeers set off back to the Comte's house in good spirits. Only Athos had a touch of melancholy about him as he remembered the carefree days on his own estate.

As they walked back through the orchard they couldn't help but stare at the beauty of the trees and the slightly strange shadows that were being cast by the angle of the setting sun. Soon they were insight of the house and saw Dubois grinning at their arrival.

'Found the stream then? Lovely at this time of year.'

'Yeah. That one took a bit of convincing though,' laughed Aramis as he pointed at Athos.

'I will admit, that in the end, it was rather refreshing. But I still don't appreciate you all ganging on me,' came Athos' reply with a friendly glare.

'Ah, you're glad we did really. Otherwise you'd have missed out on all the fun!' grinned Porthos.

'I was happy lying on the bank.'

'Yeah but you did enjoy pushing Porthos under the water though!' said D'Artagnan looking between the two men with a wide grin. Aramis snorted with laughter and Porthos growled.

'Well yes. That was fun,' Athos smirked, looking at his brothers and back to Dubois. 'Do you know when supper will be served?'

'Soon. I'm guessing you must all be really hungry?' observed Dubois as the musketeers all nodded in agreement.

'How is Herbert doing?' asked Aramis.

'He's doing well. Dr. Allard is happy with his progress,' said Dubois with a smile. 'The doctor was most complimentary about your initial aid Aramis,' he added.

'Well,' said Aramis placing his hand over his heart with a smile, 'I've had a lot of practise,' looking around at his brothers, who all rolled their eyes and huffed.

Soon they arrived back at the house and were informed that their supper was ready for them.

Queen Anne was pacing in her chambers when she heard a knock at the door. 'Come in,' she called. 'Ah, captain,' she smiled as Treville entered the room and bowed.

'I understand that you wished to see me urgently,' said Treville while watching the queen, who had resumed her pacing. When she said nothing, Treville felt he should press the matter, 'Has something happened, Your Majesty?'

Anne stopped pacing, sighed and then waved away her ladies to leave them alone in the room. Technically, she was never to be left alone with any man but she didn't want them hearing what she had to say.

She looked Treville in the eyes before huffing slightly and then explaining, 'Louis had decided that he has more important things to do than meet the Duke of Mayenne and that I should go in his place.' Anne watched Treville for his reaction and with some satisfaction saw the anger and annoyance that briefly crossed his features before he returned to the composed and unreadable face that he wore so well.

When he spoke his voice was neutral to those who did not know him, but Anne could still hear the irritation behind his words, 'Has the king a prior engagement that would stop him seeing the duke?' he asked.

'Something like that,' was her only reply, telling Treville all he needed to hear. This time Treville could not control his reactions and turned away from the queen while he closed his eyes and breathed in slowly and out deeply before returning to look at her.

'I see you share my exasperation,' stated Anne with a weak smile, while Treville could only nod as he feared saying what he really thought may construe to treason. 'I would like to know the names of the musketeers who will be accompanying me tomorrow.'

Treville looked down at the piece of parchment with the names of the musketeers he had originally assigned for the king, 'The men who will accompany you tomorrow are, Joubert, Michel, Boudain, Duval, Fabian and Leclerc. I am confident that you will be safe under their protection.'

Treville could see the queen was uneasy and he thought he knew the reason why, 'I am afraid that Athos and the others are not due back until Saturday, otherwise I would have assigned them to this trip.' Treville could see his hunch was correct as Anne sighed and gave a small smile of resignation. Treville knew the queen had a bond with those particular musketeers, especially after their defence of her against the assassin and the subsequent reveal of the cardinal's true colours.

Anne bowed her head and twiddled her fingers nervously before asking, 'Captain, would you accompany me tomorrow, please? I would feel safer with you in the entourage. I'm sure your men will provide adequate protection…but I do not know any of them and,' she looked up to see Treville now looking directly at her with a softened expression.

'It will be my honour to accompany you, if that is what you wish, Your Majesty,' he said with a bow. Anne smiled in relief at his words and Treville couldn't help but smile back.

'When do we leave?'

'I would hope to leave by 9 o'clock in the morning, Your Majesty,' stated Treville.

'Then, I will make sure I am ready by then,' Anne smiled as Treville bowed and left.

Rochefort looked at the map one last time and decided he needed to leave early tomorrow morning. He wanted to make sure that they arrived in the wood well before the royal entourage. It would allow him to show Renard how best to ambush the queen and they could seek out the perfect place for the ambush. Rochefort also knew that Madame Bonacieux would most likely accompany the queen and this might be a perfect time to rid himself of this particular pebble in his shoe.

Rochefort got up from his desk to go and check on the queen and to see if he could find out what she had said to Treville. It had annoyed him to hear her refer to Treville as captain, especially when he no longer deserved the title. Anne was often loyal to a fault, he mused.

He rounded the corner to find Treville startled by his appearance.

'Rochefort,' Treville said curtly.

'Treville,' Rochefort replied, making it obvious that he remembered that Treville was no longer captain.

'Excuse me. I have preparations to make.' Treville moved around Rochefort swiftly and headed towards the staircase.

'Surely you have already decided on the musketeer escort and haven't left it to the last minute?' Treville turned to Rochefort, glaring with a face like thunder at the smug man before him.

'If you must know, Her Majesty has asked me to accompany her and I had not anticipated being needed. Now I must go and prepare for tomorrow.' Treville turned on his heel while Rochefort's face broke into a devilish grin. This was perfect. He could disgrace the musketeers and Treville together and, of course, bring himself closer to his beloved Anne. This plan may work after all.

Rochefort headed towards the king's chambers repeating in his head what he would say to explain his absence tomorrow, then the door opened and His Majesty stood before him.

'Your Majesty,' Rochefort bowed.

'Rochefort. Do you need something?' the king asked curiously.

'I will need some time off tomorrow.' Rochefort glanced at Louis before continuing, 'It is a private matter, but one of vital importance.'

'A private matter you say.' Louis paused but Rochefort did not elaborate. 'Well, I hope you are able to sort it out quickly. You know how much you are needed here.'

'Thank you, Your Majesty,' Rochefort replied before bowing and turning away. Now he needed to sleep for tomorrow was a very important day.

The musketeers once again found themselves sat around the table with Fortier to have supper. They had cold roasted chicken breast with bread rolls and cheese, washed down with cider and after, the Comte had some strawberries brought out which were deliciously ripe and sweet. D'Artagnan seemed to be particularly savouring them.

'So you enjoyed your day?' Fortier asked beaming, receiving nods of agreement from the musketeers. 'What did you get up to?'

'Well Aramis found the stream…..' started D'Artagnan.

'Yeah an' convinced us all to go for a swim,' chuckled Porthos.

'Well, some took more convincing than others,' Aramis chortled while staring directly at Athos.

'Oh. You don't like to swim Athos?' questioned the Comte.

'I don't mind swimming,' Athos replied, 'in fact I find it rather relaxing but I don't like being accosted into the water by the men I call brothers,' he finished smirking and raising an eyebrow, while staring at each brother in turn.

'Athos. I thought we went through this,' Aramis said with a sigh. 'You enjoyed it really and for the first time in a while you actually had fun.' Aramis finished, smiling.

'I never said I didn't have fun. But that does not excuse your forceful nature of convincing me to go in in the first place,' Athos retorted with an amused glare at Aramis, who never broke the eye contact.

'Shall we just agree that we all had a good, relaxing day,' interjected D'Artagnan.

'What he said,' agreed Porthos, nodding his head in the Gascon's direction.

Athos raised an eyebrow while Aramis tilted he head slightly to the left as they decided to agree with their brothers, both sporting smirks on their lips.

As silence fell in the room Fortier decided to break it, 'Well I must say, I am glad that you have all enjoyed your day here. I have truly enjoyed having you as guests. How about a brandy before bed?'

The musketeers all nodded and said, 'Thank you,' together. Fortier poured a rather generous amount of brandy into each glass as he then took a sip from his own.

'I am aware that I mentioned my brother earlier,' Fortier said suddenly. 'You have all been polite enough not to ask-'

'It is not our business so we do not pry,' Athos interrupted.

Fortier looked at each musketeer in turn before speaking, 'I don't often talk about my brother. In many ways he is the reason I am the way I am.' He paused to look at the men before him. Athos' face was expressionless, Aramis and Porthos looked mildly interested, though they were trying to hide it but D'Artagnan could not hide his eager interest like the others. He had yet to master the mask that hides emotions. Fortier smiled to himself.

'Would you like to hear it?'