Athos sighed inwardly. He did not want company. He was sitting in the corner, in the dark. Was it not obvious he did not want company?
Clearly not.
The man still approached him, still pulled out a chair, allowing its feet to drag across the flagstones as he did so. The man still placed a bottle of wine on the table with a thud. The man sat opposite him.
Athos shifted his gaze to look at the man's face.
The man was smiling broadly.
Athos did not return the smile. Athos was in no mood to smile.
Athos wanted to be alone.
'I hope you don't mind; the place is busy. I won't disturb you.'
Athos thought it was too late to make that kind of statement.
'I'm just passing through and wanted some company. This looked like a lively spot.'
Most taverns near garrisons were lively. It was where the soldiers came to unwind, to get away from the stress of their profession. Or to drown their sorrows after a bad day.
Or to be alone in a crowd.
'I see you're a Musketeer. That means you must be one of the best.'
Athos continued to look at the man and his perfect beard, neatly trimmed. His clean stiff collar that looked new. His embroidered doublet.
'I'm in trade myself. I'm meeting a ship tomorrow morning. Hoping to make a big purchase.'
Athos wondered why the man thought he would be interested. He took a swig of his wine, annoyed that he had reached the bottom of the cup. The man noticed and refilled the cup from his bottle without asking. Athos was unsure if he should thank the man for the unsolicited kindness.
He reluctantly politely tipped the cup to the man in thanks before taking another drink.
'I'll only be here for one night then back off again tomorrow. It's non-stop. But you must know about that.'
Athos did not respond.
MMMM
'Who's that talking to Athos?' asked d'Artagnan as he plonked his hat on the table and reached for the cup of wine that Porthos poured.
'No idea,' said Aramis who was watching the man and their friend with interest.
'He obviously can't tell when someone wants to be alone,' mused Porthos. 'Just sat himself down and started talking.'
'Has Athos said anything?'
Both Aramis and Porthos shook their heads.
'Should we go and rescue him?'
'The stranger or Athos?' asked Porthos with a chuckle.
'Athos is a grown man, he's capable of telling someone he's not interested in a conversation,' said Aramis. 'At least I think he is…'
The three sat in silence for a few moments watching the one-sided conversation happening at the table in the corner. The man poured Athos a cup of wine. Athos at least thanked the man for the drink.
'You know this is not going to end well,' said d'Artagnan. 'We should do something.'
'We should,' agreed Aramis.
Porthos nodded as well.
None of the three men made any move to intervene.
Athos was looking at the man, his glare should have been enough to put across his feelings. But the man seemed blind to Athos' dislike of his presence. The man continued to talk. They could not hear what was being said and could not see the man clearly as he had his back to them. Athos, however, looked as though he might explode. The irritation was giving way to anger.
'I think we may have to do something soon,' said d'Artagnan as they watched Athos' fingers tighten around the cup of wine, he was nursing.
Aramis nodded, 'yes. Let's do something soon.'
Porthos nodded his agreement and finished his cup of wine. D'Artagnan and Aramis followed suit.
They were too late.
Athos finally said something to the man. The man replied and leaned back slightly. Athos pushed himself up to stand. The man copied Athos' actions. The pair moved around the table.
Punches were thrown.
Athos threw the first one.
MMMM
'You'll be the death of us all,' said Porthos as he bundled his friend along the narrow alleyway.
Athos had no choice in the direction he was pushed. He was not entirely sure what had just happened. One moment he was squaring up to the irritating traveller the next there was a lot of shouting, an explosion of pain in his jaw and the cool nighttime air of the streets of Paris.
'We're going,' Aramis was saying loudly somewhere behind them. 'Don't worry he won't be back tonight.'
'I was being civil,' someone else was saying, Athos recognised the irritating traveller.
'I apologies on his behalf, monsieur,' Aramis replied.
Athos missed the rest of the conversation as he was pushed out onto a busier road and pushed against a wall. Porthos held him there. Athos thought that was unnecessary but decided not to try to push his friend away. He suspected their current predicament was down to him.
'He's coming,' d'Artagnan was saying from somewhere on his right. 'He's not being followed. Looks like he's talked them into going back inside.'
Athos looked in the direction that both Porthos and d'Artagnan were watching. Aramis appeared around the corner; he did not look happy.
'If you weren't injured, I'd punch you myself,' said Aramis who did not bother to hide his anger. 'Couldn't you have just said you didn't want company?'
Athos thought back to the beginning of the incident when the man sat down. He did not think he had been given the chance to say anything. Perhaps he should have tried harder.
Aramis reached out to Athos and pushed his chin up, inspecting his face.
'Did you bang your head as well?'
Aramis was not using his usual sympathetic tone when he dealt with one of them when they were injured. Sometimes Athos found Aramis' manner a little mothering. But not this time.
'I did not hit my head,' Athos replied.
Porthos pulled Athos away from the wall and propelled him along the road.
'You're lucky it was only you that got injured,' said Porthos. 'Aramis managed to push off a couple of locals who looked like they had it in for you and that would have meant us all getting involved.'
'I apologise,' said Athos with sincerity.
He was aware of muttered responses and words spoken between his friends.
It was d'Artagnan who spoke the words Athos was not surprised to hear.
'You'll never change.'
The End.
Whumpee: Athos. Featuring: Porthos, Aramis and d'Artagnan.