He knew instinctively that the hand that was pressing down on his shoulder was a good thing. He remained still as the hand felt along his arm and found the rope that was keeping him restrained. As the person behind him worked to undo the tightly tied rope Athos readied himself for their escape.

He only had splintered flashes of memory of the few minutes before everything had gone dark. He knew there were too many attackers for the four of them to beat. They were minimally armed and did not know the area well enough to take advantage of anything nearby. Athos lost track of his friends. He heard a few grunts and the odd expletive as he was bundled away, a blindfold preventing him from seeing what was going on.

Then there was nothing. A sharp blow to the head ended Athos' memories.

Now he was awake, his head hurt, but nothing he could not push aside whilst they escaped. The blindfold was gone, but wherever they were was dimly lit. Nothing had been said to him which implied they needed to remain quiet. Athos did not question whoever it was that was busy freeing him.

As the ropes fell away his rescuer revealed himself. Porthos helped him to sit up straight. Athos could see his friend looking at him critically. Athos nodded that he was alright. Porthos returned the nod. Athos looked around and after deciding they were alone looked back at Porthos who shrugged, he did not know where Aramis and d'Artagnan were either.

Porthos did not appear to be injured, although his doublet was scuffed and dusty. As Porthos helped him up, Athos realised he was dusty as well. The room they were in had not been exposed to water for a long time. He surmised they were in a cellar or low room in the house which had been created as a castle with a moat for defence. But there had been little rain in the previous weeks.

Once he was steady, Athos followed Porthos to a door. The heavy-looking door was open, Porthos paused at the door and extracted his lock-picking tools from the keyhole. As Porthos slipped the tools into his doublet Athos took a step forward and peered out into a dim corridor. There was no sign of anyone. One torch threw a dancing orange glow over the corridor, but Athos could see it would burn out in a few minutes. He glanced up and found an unlit torch next to the door. He glanced at Porthos who nodded his approval.

'How long?' asked Athos who decided they would risk a hushed conversation.

'Not sure, it was still dark when I managed to get free,' replied Porthos. 'It took me a while to get the door open, and you were showing no signs of waking to start with,' he paused for a moment and looked away trying to work something out, 'a couple of hours since we were taken?'

'No sign of the others?'

Porthos frowned and shook his head.

They stepped fully into the corridor; Athos looked down using the light from the freshly lit torch to illuminate the stone floor. He realised they would have to tread carefully as the stones were not well laid or maintained. He knew the section of the house they were in was not being used as much as the house, a newer addition to the sprawling estate. The house was attached via a bridge over the moat to the castle section.

Athos raised the torch and let the flame bring light to the other side of the corridor as the original torch finally sputtered into embers and dimmed. There was another heavy door opposite them. Porthos raised a hand and gestured for Athos to be still and quiet.

They both listened. Athos allowed a smile to play on his lips, he knew Porthos had heard it as well. A gentle click of metal on metal as someone picked the lock of the door in front of them. Athos suspected the someone picking the lock had been taught the skill by Porthos. It had to be either Aramis or d'Artagnan. They both remained still and silent, not wishing to alarm their friend as they worked. If they heard noises, they might stop the steady-handed work to pick the lock thinking a guard was walking past.

They did not have to wait long, with a satisfying click the lock opened.

'Aramis?' asked Porthos, as he took a tentative step towards the door.

The handle turned slowly, and the door opened a crack.

'No,' said d'Artagnan as he pulled the door fully open, squinting as he got used to the light of Athos' torch, 'but we're together.'

Athos took in the appearance of his friends. D'Artagnan had bruises across his jaw from what was probably a hefty punch. His knuckles looked grazed and bloody where he had probably punched back. Aramis was equally dishevelled, holding his right arm across his body, using his left hand to support it at the elbow.

'Kicked when I was on the ground,' said Aramis by way of explanation. 'It's not broken, just badly bruised. Hurts a lot.'

'You're not the only one that hurts,' remarked Porthos. 'I don't think any of us got off lightly.'

D'Artagnan was looking up and down the corridor, his brow furrowed. Athos answered his question before he asked it.

'We have not seen anyone. I suspect they think we will be secure here and have returned to the main house.'

D'Artagnan nodded, 'well I don't think we need to enjoy their hospitality any further. I think we should leave.'

Aramis nodded his agreement, 'which way?'

'This is the sort of place that should have a secret exit,' mused Porthos.

Athos noticed d'Artagnan looking into the distance, his eyes narrowed in thought.

'Remember when I made that mad dash here to see Buckingham about the Queen's diamonds?'

'How could we forget,' said Aramis, unconsciously rubbing his hand over the scar from the injury he picked up during that adventure.

'Well, I stayed with Buckingham for a couple of days whilst he got the diamonds sorted out. He told me about this place. He said the Marquess built a tunnel that leads from this section out to the other side of the moat.'

Athos, Aramis, and Porthos looked at d'Artagnan expectantly. D'Artagnan looked back at them.

'This is the point where you tell us you know where the entrance to this tunnel is,' said Aramis.

D'Artagnan continued to look at them for a few seconds before looking down and furrowing his brow further. Athos could almost see the thought going through the younger man's mind as he tried to dredge up the information.

'I think so,' concluded d'Artagnan with a half-smile and shrug.

'Good enough,' said Porthos, before indicating for d'Artagnan to take the lead.

Athos handed the torch over and followed behind. Aramis fell into step beside him.

'Is your English good enough to get us back to the coast?' asked Athos.

Aramis glanced across, 'hopefully, although I'm not sure how we will pay for passage across La Manche.'

'We will worry about that when we get there,' concluded Athos. 'First, we need to get out of here and away.'

Aramis slowed his pace a little, indicating Athos to do the same. Curious, Athos allowed d'Artagnan and Porthos to get ahead by a few yards.

'You know Porthos doesn't like confined spaces; he has a fear of being trapped. Says he dreamt about being crushed to death in a cave,' said Aramis, keeping his voice low.

Athos nodded, 'I remember him talking about that despite it only being a dream; it left him quite rattled.'

They continued following d'Artagnan, who was carefully keeping the torch light low. Athos could only hope the tunnel, if they found it was not too confined. The last thing they wanted was to deal with crawling through a tight tunnel whilst injured and with one of their party fighting a fear that could endanger them all.

End of Part One…

Whumpee: All four.