Updated: Tuesday 26th/09/2023
Chapter 6: The Falcon
Court of Miracles:
D'Artagnan had to wait a bit to start his sleuthing. As when Flea had found out he hadn't been on his Brothers mission because of a concussion she decided to force him to rest and had his friends babysitting him.
And they took GREAT pleasure out of calling it that. And it gave his others friends a place to ambush him. Those conversations were fun. Hear the sarcasm. The only reason they didn't smack him over the head was that Flea and their friend Apolline said it might cause brain damage.
Which Matthew said, 'Its too late for that'.
Why did he come here again?
Oh, that is right this was only safe place he could be right now. The Court of Miracles was a place both the Red Guards and the Musketeers never stepped. So, it was a win for D'Artagnan there.
Now he finally had been given the green light to go and have a look around. Matthew and Marcus had bought him some clothes and his signature cloak and they even had his daggers. Which was good as his sword and other weapons had been taken when he was arrested.
D'Artagnan left Flea's quarters with his cloak hiding his face and most of his body. He slinks along the edge of the rolls before he jumps up into the rafts of some of the inside bits of the Court. He climbs skilfully through the rafts and sometimes up onto the roof.
He was silent as he moved and nobody suspected a thing. Which just showed he still had his talents. He was just as good as before.
Flea had given him the locations of the dead members of Court. And D'Artagnan decided to try those places first. But he doubted he would get lucky on those spots. All evidence would probably be long gone by now.
He jumps silently into an alley one that was on the list as a murder sight. He sharpened eye-sight going over the details of the alley. It would have been easy for the kill or killers to pull the person in here and slit his throat. But something that Flea and the others had told him about the murders said some of these killings weren't exactly…merciful. So why were these killings different to the ones outside of Court. Yet he believed they had the same people behind them.
D'Artagnan didn't have luck at third of the murder scenes. But at the fourth he noticed something shinning up some rubbish and it just looked out of place there.
He picks up and studies it. It was like a medallion. It was silver and he could tell it was real silver. It had the emblem of a falcon one it.
"Curious", he mutters, "Looks like our victim got a piece of their attacker"
D'Artagnan tucks it into his pocket to would have his friends have a look at it later. They were busy sleuthing too. Hopefully they were all in pairs or trios. Because something about this situation ran him the wrong way.
He sees a young beggar boy. Maybe he could scrounge up some information.
D'Artagnan causally strolls over to the boy and learns back on the wall next to him.
"What is your name?" he asks the small boy softly.
"Noah", he says shyly and wearily.
"Have you had any luck?" he asks him.
The boy shakes his head.
D'Artagnan pulls out some coins Flea had given him to tide him over and holds out three coins.
"If you can help me Noah these coins are all yours", D'Artagnan says holding the three coins in front of him.
The boy's face lights up.
"What do you need to know Sir? And why do you where that cloak?" he asks.
"There was a…murder here the other day. I would like to know if you saw anything suspicious around here or heard anything", D'Artagnan says to him.
The small boys light up face disappears as he bites his lip. D'Artagnan instantly knew the boy had seen something.
D'Artagnan kneels down in front of the boy.
"It is ok Noah. I swear I won't tell anyone. I need to know this as it will save a lot of people", he lies.
"There were men. Dark clothes and they had masks. They have been coming in twos and threes. When they are seen someone disappears", Noah whispers fearfully.
D'Artagnan frowns why would a group attack this place?
"I heard something Sir", Noah tells him.
"What name would that be?" he asks.
"They said something about a Falcon", Noah tells him.
"Mmm. Thank you, Noah that has been VERY helpful,", D'Artagnan tells him handing over the three coins and adds another, "Be careful alright?"
Noah nods, "I will Sir. Thank you, Sir,"
D'Artagnan smiles at the door and disappears in a blink of an eye much to the young boy's astonishment…Noah just thought that was the coolest trick…
(Line Break)
D'Artagnan had asked around and the word Falcon wasn't just a word. It was a person. Falcon was obviously the person behind this. But who was he? And why frame him?
Another thing the name Falcon bought was fear. Was this guy trying to take over the Court? But if so, why the murders outside the Court?
What the hell was going on here?
He jumped between buildings and twisted and turned as he looked for one of his friends. And then he sees Chelsea, Seraphine, Stephen and Eric.
He smirks wickedly. D'Artagnan swings down a few beams and then jumps down the rest of the way right in between his four friends.
Who yelp loudly and trip and stumble into each other in surprise.
D'Artagnan bursts into laughter, "The looks on your faces are priceless!" he laughs.
They growl at him.
Chelsea takes a swipe at him but D'Artagnan dodges this time and catches her hand.
"I was too slow the other day to catch your hand I thought I deserved one of those smacks. But I don't believe I have earnt this one", D'Artagnan tells her.
"Oh, you have earned it alright", she growls.
"I agree. You scared the crap out of us!" Seraphine growls.
"Language", D'Artagnan scolds her cheekily, "What would your Mother say?"
"She would say worse", Seraphine retorts promptly.
"Really can't you just walk up to us like normal people?" Eric asks him.
"Not really", D'Artagnan replies cheerfully, "This way is too much fun and I haven't done this in years!"
"You would think of not doing this for years you would have gotten rusty", Chelsea grumbles.
"And with age you wouldn't be this sneaky", Stephen mutters.
"Not a chance Chels, Steph", D'Artagnan replies smirking.
"What do you want Charles?" Eric asks with a tired sigh.
"Have you heard about anything yet. Specifically, about a person known as the Falcon?" D'Artagnan asks them.
The quartet share a look.
"There has been whispers about a Falcon. And people seem to fear him. We were going to tell you about our suspicions if they panned out", Eric tells him.
"Well, I can say they already have", D'Artagnan tells them, "I need you both to do a favour for me"
"And what is this favour?" Eric asks.
"What do we get if we do it?" Chelsea asks.
"It better be good", Seraphine adds.
"I will owe you a favour in the outside world", D'Artagnan replies, outside would being beyond Court.
"What is the favour?" Eric asks again.
"I need you to deliver something for me both physically and a message", D'Artagnan replies.
"Who too?" Stephen asks him.
"Porthos of the King Musketeers…"
"You know they'll know where you are as soon as we give them the message", Chelsea points out.
"I need you to impress upon them the fact they can't come here. That I am safe within these walls. But if they come, they could risk everything and bring the Red Guards to the Court. Also tell them I will be sending friends to them with anything I find out here and I hope that they pass on what they know through you", D'Artagnan replies, "And tell them I'll explain everything later and they can kill me later"
"Anything else?" Eric asks him.
"Assure Aramis AND the others I'm fine. I am sure they are worried about my health. The lot of them are Mother-Hens", D'Artagnan complains, "I am unlikely to see the outside of my room when I reappear to them. Or even go to the toilet in privacy! I just know they are not going to let me out of their sights. The damn Mother-Hens"
The four friend's snicker.
"Should we tell them you said that?" Chelsea asks with mischief in her eyes.
"Don't you dare!"
They laugh.
"Any other instructions?" Seraphine asks him.
"Tell them also I believe they can prove I am innocent and I'll try and stay out of too much trouble while they do it. Wait till Porthos is alone, well at he can have Athos and Aramis with him. Choice how you approach them with caution. We don't anyone getting suspicious about this", D'Artagnan replies.
"How do you know their even back in Paris?" Eric asks him eyes narrowing.
"As you have been here the last three days", Stephen adds.
D'Artagnan smirks mysteriously, "I have my ways. Always had and always will"
The four roll this eyes as 'Charles' disappears into the rafters with a back flip into the air and a twist in a blink of an eye.
"Now that is just showing off!"
(Line Break)
Athos, Porthos and Aramis were going through the murder scenes. But seeing is not all of them were fresh it was going to be hard to find any clues. If they couldn't find clues at the scenes then the morgues were going to be their next destination.
"How does D'Artagnan get into these situations?" Aramis asks exasperated.
"He calls it talent", Porthos mutters.
"I need more to drink", Athos grunts.
"You had nearly all of Treville's bottle of brandy. Do you really think you need more?" Aramis asks him with an eye roll.
"Do get through this with my sanity intake, yes I do", Athos retorts.
Porthos and Aramis share a knowing look. Knowing their brother was only drinking because he was worried about D'Artagnan.
"So where do you think the whelp has run off too?" Porthos asks them.
"I don't know. There aren't many places to hid in Paris", Aramis replies.
"D'Artagnan hasn't been here long to know all the places to hold up", Athos adds.
"So how has he evaded capture and out of trouble for three days?" Aramis asks.
"Maybe he went to Constance?" Porthos asks them.
Athos shakes his head, "It would have been the first place the Red Guard looked. So, there is no point in us causing trouble by invading her home"
"So where could he hide without risk of being captured and causing trouble?" Aramis asks rhetorically trying and failing to think of a place.
"Lets hope he can stay out of trouble and stay hidden too we fix this", Porthos replies, "Do you think the Pup can manage that?"
They all sure a knowing look.
"No!" they all say in unison.
"And that's the troubling part", Athos tells them.
Their Gascon just attracted trouble. And they just couldn't seem to wonder how. And no matter what they did to keep him out of trouble and safe the more he got into trouble and in danger.
"This is just getting ridiculous now", Porthos grumbles to them.
"We are not going to let him out of our sights after this", Aramis tells them, "Or if we can't be there, we are confining him to his bedroom! Just lock him and we might be able to rest easy"
Athos snorts, "Even then he'll find trouble without supervision"
They ALL knew how right that was.
But they didn't know that D'Artagnan had lived a rough life full of trouble and danger. That he hadn't lived in Gascony for a while. And that he lived in Paris since he was 4 and only returned to Gascony the last 3 years to get a feel of where his family was from.
It was at the most recent crime scene that was just over a week ago they got the most information out of the houses and businesses. Men dressed in dark clothing and wearing masks had been seen in the area. And the one that wasn't masked they had to admit was description a bit like D'Artagnan. But they could tell even with the vague description it wasn't D'Artagnan. As the sword work the witnesses descripted wasn't on par with D'Artagnan at all and these killings were too messy to be done by D'Artagnan and why would D'Artagnan be so public about it? This man doing this wanted people to see him and mistake him for the young Musketeer.
But whoever the man was seemed to take great lengths to look like their Brother.
This had to be a revenge plot.
But who exactly had their trouble maker pissed off for them to do this to him?...
(Line Break)
"Everything is going according to plan"
"And we will have our revenge on him, the Court and…"
~~Author's Note: What Do You Think? Please Review:)!~~