Please be warned that this chapter does involve some descriptions of dead bodies but it isn't too graphic.
As always, I'm glad that so many of you are sticking with this story. :)
Chapter Nineteen
'Where is she?' Louis demanded loudly as he paced through the throne room as if she would suddenly appear by his command. 'She should've been back ages ago!'
'I'm sure there is a good explanation, Sire,' Rochefort responded. Yes, an explanation that meant his plan had worked. He was doing all he could not to show his delight at the delay of the Queen's carriage and the high likelihood that he would get exactly what he wanted.
'What Rochefort? The weather has been fine. They've been attacked!' Louis was growing more distressed by the minute and considering the King's behaviour towards his wife recently this was a surprise for Rochefort.
'It is possible that the carriage may have needed repair or Her Majesty was detained while speaking to the Duke of Mayenne and had to stay another night,' Rochefort replied.
'If she was delayed by the Duke a message would have been sent and surely it doesn't take very long to repair a carriage. Even so, Tréville would make sure she returned and would've given her a horse while his men fixed the carriage. Something terrible has happened. I can feel it!' Louis continued pacing and was full of worry for his wife.
'Tréville will make sure she is alright, Sire,' Milday tried the reassure the king. 'The musketeers are your finest soldiers and it would take a lot of men to overpower them.'
Indeed, thought Rochefort and he was secretly glad that Renard would have twenty men at his disposal. Any less and it was likely that the musketeers' would prevail. He was also sure that Renard was likely to have lost many men and hoped that Renard would be able to keep Tréville from helping the Queen escape. If they were at the shack then all was going to plan and best of all, the four most annoying musketeers wouldn't be back in time to challenge him.
'You are right. She couldn't be better protected,' Louis kissed Milady's hands to thank her for her words of comfort and she smiled back but he continued to worry about the fate of his wife.
Rochefort watched the king but felt no sympathy for him. The man had cast his beautiful wife aside for the common whore who stood so boldly beside the king now. A pretty dress and jewels could not hide the scent of the gutter.
Rochefort couldn't help but imagine Anne's tear-stained face as he came to her rescue from her terrible ordeal, how he would hold her tight in his arms and how she would finally betray her foolish husband for the love they both shared. It may be treason but once Anne was in his grasp Louis would be the victim of an unfortunate accident and Anne would be left to rule as reagent for her son. Rochefort knew he would be beside her and they would be together for the rest of their lives.
'Savoy,' Tréville shook his head in despair.
'I know it can't have been easy for you. Losing all your men,' Anne said quietly placing her hand on his left forearm. 'I suppose it can't have been easy for Aramis losing his friends.'
Tréville looked up, 'What do you mean exactly?' Anne furrowed her brow and looked confused.
'I merely meant it can't have been easy for him knowing that his friends died while he was safe,' Anne explained. Tréville sighed. She didn't know and now he had to decide whether to finally reveal the truth. A truth he had kept hidden for six years. A truth that meant he could never speak of what occurred in case it put Aramis' life in danger. Richelieu was gone though and Tréville was sure that the woman in front of him would never put Aramis and his friends in danger. She was very loyal to them as they were to her.
Tréville was brought from his thoughts as Anne was speaking again, 'Richelieu never truly let on his plan. I know he didn't reveal everything to you and Louis was never happy about sending his best soldiers on a mission that would likely see them killed.'
'Slaughtered is more the word,' Tréville interrupted and Anne looked at him sympathetically.
'Richelieu knew you would protest if you knew the truth and he convinced Louis that the ruse to capture Cluzet wouldn't be convincing if Louis didn't send his best soldiers to depose the Duke.' Anne's eyes were full of sadness. 'Richelieu convinced Louis that his sister's life and role as a spy was more important than the lives of his soldiers.'
'I understand that,' Tréville said with dejection.
'I'm sorry you lost all the men that went out to Savoy. I'm sure many of them were part of the regiment from the start,' she squeezed Tréville's forearm gently as sign of comfort.
'Yes, many were. But there was also a lot of new recruits who met their deaths that day,' Tréville's voice was starting to crack and tears were starting to roll down his face. 'Forgive me,' he turned away from her but Anne moved to sit on his mattress and placed her left hand on his left leg.
'You've never spoken of this have you?' she asked gently and Tréville responded by shaking his head slowly. 'Then perhaps it is time you did,' her eyes were honest and kind and Tréville felt a need to tell her everything. She was the Queen and yet right now she wanted to hear his troubles and was willing to listen to him.
'I betrayed my men,' Tréville had started crying again.
'No you didn't. You followed an order from your King,' she said smoothly.
'But I also lied to my King,' he said looking straight at Anne who cocked her head to the side in curiosity. He had to tell her. He had to tell someone and he truly doubted that she would ever repeat anything that was said in this disgusting room.
Tréville took a deep breath and looked his Queen in the eyes as he stated, 'I sent twenty-two men out to Savoy. Twenty died,' he felt Anne's hand tense on his leg at this development, 'one deserted and one survived,' he finished and Anne's face fell into a look of shock and surprise.
'But nobody survived,' she stated in astonishment at what she had just heard. 'Who could possibly have survived?'
'I am willing to tell you, Your Majesty,' and Tréville placed his hand on hers, 'But I hope that you will not think less of me for lying or for trying to protect that man. If Richelieu had known there was a survivor that man wouldn't have lasted a week and we both know it.' Anne nodded slowly in agreement, still trying to digest what she had just heard but she also knew that anyone who survived Savoy could possibly be aware of the truth and Richelieu would never have stood for that.
'Please tell me. It will not leave this room. I give you my word,' Anne said boldly as she finally found her voice.
'I'm afraid some of it may be a little hard to stomach,' Tréville said looking at Anne and trying to gauge her response.
'Tell me everything. No matter how horrific. You need to speak of it and you have bottled this up for far too long, Captain.' Anne's eyes were earnest and Tréville decided that he would tell her everything and he knew she would not betray him.
Paris was finally silhouetted in the distance for the musketeers who were now all tired and hungry but they knew Aramis wasn't going to stop and neither could they. The horses had held up well and would surely be happy to be back at the garrison stables as soon as possible.
Aramis' face was a mask of worry and the others were worried about him but they knew better than to mention it. Any questions asked to the marksman were given swift and short replies. The only thing that could ease his worry was getting back to garrison and finding all was well. To be honest the same could be said for the others.
They pushed on in the gloom and hoped they would find no trouble as they returned home.
Tréville pondered where to start and how much detail to give. He finally decided to start with his need to follow the men he had sent to Savoy as Anne had already demonstrated that she knew about his orders.
'You know what Louis ordered me to do,' Tréville looked to Anne who nodded. 'With the carts carrying equipment it took them a week to reach the border but I didn't know that Richelieu had led the Duke of Savoy to believe that my men were going to Savoy to depose him. I only found that out later.' Tréville shifted uncomfortably and looked at Anne's earnest eyes. He knew this would be uncomfortable but he felt he couldn't turn back now.
'I left for Savoy three days later with Cornet and Mathieu. Two men I trusted with my life but I couldn't tell them the truth. I told them we were going to check on the training as I have done in the past. I made some excuse to Louis and we set off. I had a feeling of dread the entire time.' Tréville paused for a moment and tried to collect his thoughts. Anne moved closer to him and Tréville realised that she wanted to sit beside him. He moved across on the mattress so she could sit on his left and her shoulder touched his.
'We got there about two days after the men. They were camping in a small clearing in the forest which should have been hard to find, but it wasn't.' Despite his aching ribs Tréville drew his knees close to his chest and rested his forearms on them. 'Crows were circling…and we knew that something terrible had happened,' Tréville's voice started to break and Anne moved her right hand onto the man's arm in support.
'We reached the clearing and the smell of blood was overwhelming,' Tréville's eyes started to glisten as he spoke and Anne swallowed thickly at the description to come. 'We saw our men, who had left with no knowledge of the pawns they were in an elaborate game, lying in the dirt in their night clothes, most of them. Crows were now pecking at their lifeless bodies and their eyes…their eyes saw no more.' Tréville began to earnestly sob while Anne swallowed down need to throw up the recent food from her stomach and squeezed his arm reassuringly. Tréville found he was glad of her comfort and knew it couldn't be easy for her to be here. Louis would never hear what Tréville was going to say tonight but Anne had such a kind and sympathetic heart. He didn't wish to force her to hear anymore but he found her couldn't stop and she would never ask him to.
'I had to check who was dead but I knew they all were,' Treville continued quietly. 'I had my list and checked each name off. We cleared a couple of the wagons for the bodies and placed all the equipment in the other. We became aware that two men were missing. We started to search the trees beyond the clearing and then I saw him. Slumped against a tree but unlike the others, his eyes were closed. He had clearly been dragged to his position and his head and side wounds had been clumsily treated. I bent down and put my fingers to his throat but I couldn't feel a pulse. He was so cold. He was dead. But then he groaned slightly and those brown eyes stared back at me but they didn't see me. Of that I'm sure.'
Tréville turned towards Anne and could see the distress his story had caused on her face and yet he knew she wouldn't ask him to stop. 'Aramis was alive,' he said simply and he saw his Queen's face contort with shock and surprise.
'Aramis was the survivor?' she asked hesitantly. She couldn't begin to imagine what her strong and brave musketeer had been through. She loved him even more for it. He was a survivor.
'Aramis survived. Marsac wasn't found but we did find an extra pauldron among the equipment. He deserted after that terrible day,' Tréville said sadly. 'I ordered Cornet and Mathieu to look for him and ready themselves to return to Paris. I also ordered them to never reveal that Aramis or Marsac were ever at Savoy. I said they had left with the group but were on a different mission and we found Aramis on the way back but Marsac was nowhere to be found. I lied to protect Aramis.' He knew he didn't need to justify himself to the Queen but he did anyway.
'You did what was best for those you could protect,' Anne said finally finding her voice and she squeezed Tréville's shoulder reassuringly.
'I took Aramis to a nearby town and called for physician,' Tréville shook his head in exasperation as he remembered the event causing a confused look on Anne's face. 'The physician said that Aramis would most certainly die as he had lost a lot of blood and his wounds were infected. He didn't want to waste provisions on a dying man!' Tréville said angrily and Anne could feel his body tense under her hand.
'I slammed him against the wall and told him I would not give up and neither should he. I think he agreed to help me because he was terrified,' Tréville added with a smile at Anne who smiled weakly back. 'The pain and suffering I saw him go through made me want to end his suffering but I had to let him fight. It was his nature. By the grace of God Aramis survived. Well his body did anyway. Slowly we made our back to Paris. He couldn't remember much and couldn't identify the attackers but he had told me that Marsac had dragged him from the fight when he was injured and treated his wounds as best he could. But the next morning Marsac had stripped off his uniform and left him to die alone,' Tréville placed his hand on top of Anne's on his shoulder as he saw her cover her mouth with her other hand as she breathed in sharply, shocked at what she had just heard.
'Was it Marsac that tried to kill the Duke of Savoy on his visit?' Anne asked quietly. Tréville nodded and he was unsurprised that Anne had managed to work it out.
'Aramis hid him. He still wanted to believe that Marsac was the man he knew before the massacre but in the end Aramis shot his once friend to protect me. Marsac had found out the truth but he couldn't accept it. Aramis didn't at first but he finally understood why it happened and he didn't blame me. But Aramis had something Marsac didn't. His brothers.' Tréville squeezed Anne's hand before letting go.
'Of course after Savoy Aramis couldn't speak to anyone. Couldn't tell anyone the truth because Richelieu would have seen to it that any witnesses were disposed of. Cornet and Mathieu didn't want to speak of the horrors and I didn't want to acknowledge my own role in it. Aramis was alone….and it showed. He became withdrawn and put no effort into training or helping the new recruits that had replaced his friends.' Tréville raised his hand to face and pinched his nose as he remembered the darkest time the regiment had seen and how the young man who had been so full of life had wallowed in grief and self-pity.
'He became a changed man,' he said finally. 'He was not the Aramis I knew. I often wondered if it would have been better if he had died with others in Savoy,' he said with guilt etched in his voice for even thinking it.
'I understand why,' Anne said quietly beside him.
'I'd seen it before. Men who would go charging into a fight not caring if they lived or died. He was reckless and didn't train. Drank far more than he should. He had mentioned taking a religious life and asked my consent but I told him no. Cornet and Mathieu watched his decline with me and both suggested I revoke his commission and send him away to a monastery. I couldn't,' he looked at Anne with tears welling in his eyes again. 'I couldn't give up on him. But I couldn't help him either as it meant facing my own fears,' tears were now trickling down his cheeks again. 'And remembering that I was the cause of this man's loss of character. The change in him. That I made him what he was now.' Tréville sniffed and wiped his nose on his sleeve and Anne was surprised to see that he was now smiling as she digested everything Aramis had been through. How had Aramis become the man she knew and loved? He had been truly broken but she had never witnessed that man and hoped she never would.
'Then came his salvation,' Tréville said now grinning broadly. 'Porthos.'
After riding hard throughout the day the musketeers finally arrived at the garrison and were met by a rather shocked Gabriel.
'Thought you weren't due back till tomorrow?' he asked curiously has he took Roger's reins, allowing Athos to dismount easily.
'We weren't,' Athos stated curtly with no heat in his voice. 'Is everything well here?' Gabriel didn't answer straight away. 'Gabriel?'
'Captain Tréville went out with the Queen to Dreux yesterday but we expected him to have returned by now,' Athos eyes darkened at Gabriel's words. 'I suppose he has just been caught up at the palace,' Gabriel tried to lift the mood.
'I knew something was wrong,' Aramis voice came from over Athos' shoulder.
'We don't know that yet,' Porthos said looking to the marksman.
'What about the other musketeers? Have they returned?' D'Artagnan asked but he had his answer as Gabriel stared at the ground.
'No,' he said softly.
'Something is definitely wrong. I can feel it,' Aramis said with urgency in his voice.
'Aramis we can't be sure,' Porthos tried again to placate his friend.
'No. I feel it too,' Athos said quietly. 'But we can't do anything until we know the facts.'
A/N: I hope you enjoyed my ideas of Savoy from Tréville's point of view. :)