Upon entering the courtyard of what I determined to be an isolated abbey, I swiftly dismounted from my mare and pushed her towards the stables, going directly to the queen as Athos helped her to dismount. Immediately he passed her into my care so I held her, supporting her weight as she breathed rapidly and struggled to remain upright from exhaustion. Two nuns appeared, one dashing past us to stop my brother as he made to close the gates. "These gates are never closed!" He tried to explain that this was an emergency, hence why closing them was necessary. "Everyone is welcome here at any time of night or day."
"We are King's musketeers,"
"I answer to a higher power." I admired her dedication, but right now unless God was willing to extend his hand and either spirit us away to safety or smite those who sought to harm Queen Anne, I did not much care for his presence. Athos pointed to Anne just as other nuns arrived, including the abbess herself.
"This is your queen. It is your duty to protect her." Upon hearing this, the abbess ordered the gates be closed, and I finally exhaled with relief. Still holding the queen in my embrace, I went with her as the abbess invited us inside to take refuge as Aramis raised a shout to Athos form where he had positioned himself upon the wall.
"You are welcome, your majesty. Our humble convent is your sanctuary." The abbess assured the queen, who managed to thank her in a calm voice. She did not relinquish her grip upon my hand. We were brought into the main prayer hall where we could rest for a moment. I sat beside the queen in the front pew where her head came to rest upon my shoulder, so I began to stroke at her hair.
"I give you my word, your majesty," murmuring to her softly as the other nuns gathered, I focused upon the image of the cross as several voice began to whisper in prayer. "Nothing shall harm you. We will protect you at all costs."
"That is what I am afraid of," admitting her fear quietly, I turned my face towards her, drawing her head more securely into the safety of my form. "And please…call me Anne."
"As you wish, just for now. Anne." Her fingers squeezed mine gently as we sat together, awaiting the return of Athos and Aramis. It was several minutes spent listening to the soft pleadings and prayers of the nuns as they begged for God's protection and to deliver us all from evil. I joined them silently, thinking that it could do no harm. Finally my brother returned, striding quickly inside and speaking over the prayers which hastily silenced themselves to listen.
"I urge you to leave now," he announced, entering with distinction and gravity as Anne and I rose to our feet to face him. "You will not be harmed." Bless the abbess, she offered to take the queen and myself with them disguised as sisters. A brave suggestion, but one Aramis did not agree with.
"If they are recognised outside, we can't protect them." In agreement, Athos announced that the queen would remain with them. Then he looked to me, a silent question in his eyes but I answered in kind, shaking my head minutely to signify that I was not going to leave. The abbess turned to her innocent lambs.
"Anyone who wishes to leave may go now, with my blessing." At the invitation to leave and spare themselves from possible death, I expected the nuns to all rise and save themselves. It came as a sweet surprise when none of them moved other than to take a seat, silently determining that they too were remaining. The abbess smiled at Athos. "It seems we are all at your service." Letting go of my hand, Anne stepped forwards to address them gratefully, looking upon their faces.
"Your loyalty will not be forgotten." She assured them, offering what comfort she could. Athos looked to the abbess.
"We need to barricade the gate." Jumping to comply, the abbess suggested we use tables from the refectory, gesturing for the nuns to rise and begin undertaking our tasks. "And establish two lookout points, each with a clear sight of anyone approaching." She offered her own bedroom and the sacristy as the best points to watch the road. "You don't happen to have any weapons here?"
"One musket and some charges, for shooting rabbits," she explained, "and protestants." Chuckling in amusement, I moved with the nuns to be of assistance, however one nun spoke up.
"There is something else we could use. I can show Aramis." This caused my head to turn, confused as to why a nun would know Aramis by name. Had they met before? The movement of the nuns clustered together kept me from standing still, meaning I could not stop to ask the nun how she knew Aramis, instead having to go with them whereby I focused on the task at hand. Together we were able to move the tables, using our collective strength to shore up the gates so that they were reinforced and might better hold against a siege. When that chore was done I saw to what else I could do to help. I took stock of our supplies and armament, which was pitiful in comparison to what our enemy most likely had. I made myself ready.
Strapping a belt around my waist it looped around twice over before it was tight enough to be secured. Upon it was holstered a pistol with a pouch for charges and another for bullets. A dagger was sheathed at my back and once I had tugged on a sensible pair of boots and leather gloves, I fastened the strap of my quiver across my chest with the bow in my hand. The nuns looked at me in amazement as I refastened the cloth over my hair, keeping it completely covered and out of my way. I smirked to them. "Needs must, I'm afraid." They did not argue, nor make comment upon the immodesty of my apparel.
I went to search for the queen, wanting to ensure that she would be safe inside when I heard her voice speaking to Aramis in the sacristy. "That nun, the one you were with downstairs…I'm sorry, my arrival was a disturbance." I heard her apologise so I halted, thinking of the nun who had known Aramis by name. He assured Anne that she had not disturbed anything. "I may be cosseted, but I'm not a fool." I began to step away, knowing that I should not listen to private conversations, but what Aramis said next was so unexpected that I found myself halting before I could step out of reach of their voices.
"I knew her. Once. We were to marry." This came as a surprise, for I had never known that Aramis had once intended to marry someone. It made me wonder how much I knew about him, what I knew of any of the men. It was just as Porthos said to me. Even now, we were still uncovering secrets about one another. Anne asked if he had changed his mind. "She fell pregnant and the marriage was arranged. I was happy. I was in love, and so was she," he began to explain, before his voice flinched with hurt. "But then she lost the child and her father took her away and put her in here. I never saw her again, not until today." With a rush of movement, Athos strode forwards and interrupted their conversation, his hand lingering towards me.
"I think they're about to…" a gunshot interrupted him. A wry expression wrought his features. "Attack." Moving inside, I grasped the queen by her hands to draw her alongside me as Athos directed us to the chapel. I sat the queen down amongst the nuns, holding her shoulders as I looked into her eyes.
"Stay here, Anne. My brother and Aramis will protect you. So long as you are within these walls, you will be safe,"
"Where are you going?" Reaching back my hand, I fiddled with one of the arrows nestled within the quiver.
"To hunt," leaving the chapel, I went straight to where I could hear the gunshots firing from the forest line. The enemy had formed their ranks and found a position to hold their ground, attacking the abbey with endless volleys of gunshots. The smoke from their muskets gave away their position, another reason why I believed the arrow to be the superior choice for situations such as this. All I had to consider was the wind, but perhaps God was indeed listening and watching. It was a calm and tranquil day with bright sunlight shining at my back. So long as my aim did not waver, these arrows should strike true.
At first I waited, knocking an arrow and glancing over the wall to ascertain their positions, listening to each round of fire until I was certain how long it took them to reload. It was in their vulnerable moments I rose up onto one knee and pulled taut the string, sighting one assassin in a tree and selected him as my first target. Kissing the string to my mouth directly over my scar, I released the arrow. It flew in a clean line, flying with purpose as I quickly crouched back down to cover the majority of my body, peering over the stone wall to see that my arrow hit its mark. The man cried out with shock as the arrow sprouted from his chest and he fell with a crash from the tree.
I had no time to process the realisation that I had killed a man. This was war, and the queen's life was at stake. Knocking another arrow, I waited for the reprieve before shooting again. I fell into a rhythm, letting arrows fly where I could see a target. Not all of them struck as effortlessly as the first, some missed altogether but I managed to kill two more and wounded several others. At least if they were too occupied with pain, they were unable to shoot at us. Having just killed my third man, my hand strayed towards my quiver but stopped when I heard someone approaching. The abbess and the nun who had once been arranged to marry Aramis. I gaped at them. "Mother Superior! It is not safe here, you should go back inside!"
"I will not suffer an attack upon the house of God and the Holy Virgin!" The powerful force of her voice was enough to startle me backwards, staring in amazement as she carried a basket full of glass bottles and scraps of cloth. When they unfastened the stoppers, I received the strong scent of alcohol. Another pair of nuns soon followed with a second basket full of ammunition. A clunk of metal snatched my attention away, seeing the grappling hook fasten itself upon the stone.
They were climbing the walls. Dread washed through me so I rushed towards it, abandoning my position where the wall was lower to hoist myself up, scrambling to climb until one of the nuns pushed under my feet to give me the lift I required. Looking down, I saw several of the assassins had broken from the trees and were attempting to infiltrate by climbing. With a grim look, I pulled my dagger free and hastily cut the rope, severing it so that the man who was climbing up the rope was sent tumbling back down. Hurrying to sheathe the dagger, I pulled another arrow and released it without taking too much time to aim. I discovered, the less I thought about it, the more accurate I became.
At the very least if the arrows did not strike flesh, they deterred the infiltrators from approaching further, allowing me to herd them closer together so that when the bottles were ready and alight with flames, the nun who had prepared them flung them over the side. The glass shattered and a bright plume of fire burst as it met with the alcoholic contents. I whistled softly. "That must be an excellent recipe you have there, sister."
"It is, if there is any left over by the end of this, you may have some." Despite the situation, we beamed at one another. Whilst the nuns tossed their explosive bottles, I protected them by shooting more arrows before eventually switching to my pistol to conserve my supply. I was less accurate with the pistol, but I managed to strike one or two of the men down below since they were easier targets. We held our ground, one sister even throwing a beehive upon their heads. This gave me great cause for laughter as the assassins screamed and ran from their tiny assailants.
After this, the assassins withdrew, and we were granted a reprieve. Urging the sisters to climb down from the wall, I went last of all to ensure that they were safe before dropping myself down, their hands waiting to catch me and help me land gently upon my feet. "Thank you, sisters. Your help has been invaluable." I assured them, gripping as many of their hands as I could before returning inside. Upon entering, Anne was the first to run to me, gasping in relief as she hurriedly embraced me in her arms.
"Thank God you are unharmed! All I could do was pray for you, Madeleine. How useless am I?"
"Not at all, Anne," feeling just as relieved to see her unharmed brought me great peace of mind, my body going lax against her as I returned her embrace. "By all accounts, your prayers kept me safe and without injury. It is entirely thanks to you I am unharmed." This rallied her enough to smile, nodding her head obligingly as we all mustered together to recover from the first bout against the assassins. Athos held my chin when he came to me, tilting my head from side to side to carefully inspect me.
"I do not recall you going outside being part of the plan,"
"And I do not recall being attacked by assassins to be part of anyone's plan, and yet, here we are." Reaching up my hand, I tugged softly upon his beard. "Focus upon the queen, Athos. You cannot protect her whilst you are worrying about me."
"You are my sister," he reminded me, "I shall always worry about you."
"But our duty comes first. You understand that better than anyone." It tortured him to admit it, so he did not say so out loud. Instead, he kissed my face and whispered to me that I should stay vigilant and stay safe so that he could commit to his duty without fearing for me. I made him no promises, but I kissed his own cheek to comfort him before taking rest for a while. I was tired, and Anne was too. The abbess gave us the use of her bed, and so the two of us lay down together side by side, my quiver and belts removed so that I could be comfortable, but the dagger held in my hand under the pillow.
My arm rested itself over Anne who quickly fell asleep, exhausted from the events of the day and the tumultuous terror for her safety she had endured heroically until now. She turned into me, seemingly finding my presence comforting, and we slept deeply whilst the sisters watched over us, silent in prayer.