Читать книгу Alias Aramis - Greg Pius - Страница 2

The three swordsmen had just seen off their adversaries. One of the cardinal's guard may have been fatally wounded. Yet none of these young Frenchmen showed any signs of remorse. On the contrary they were determined to do it all again if their honor was challenged. The tall one was built like a bear. His hands were twice as big as those of any normal man. The slim one was older but more noble in bearing. Finally the short one was of no great physique but generated an aura of danger. They were distant but considered their military bounds to be more scared.

Athos was the leader but Aramis was the thinker. Porthos was the muscle! As a threesome they were unequaled for bravery and cunning! They had to be careful defending their honor by dueling. The King had outlawed all duels. His chief minister Cardinal Richelieu was unlikely to go easy on anyone caught fighting with his guards. If no appeal to the King was possible then even their powerful uncle Captain M. de Treville could save them from the bastille.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of hoof beats coming their way. Quickly they hid themselves among the gravestones. Expecting to see a whole squad of the Cardinal's horse guard, they were surprised when only a single horse entered the graveyard. And what a horse. It had to be the worst horse in all of Paris. This clinched it for the three cousins. Only one person in Paris owned such a horse. In one voice they called out,

"Bonjour D' Artagnan."

Sliding from his horse the young man called back,

"Bonjour Athos. Bonjour Aramis. Bonjour Porthos. You must flee from here at once. There is a cardinal's horse guard on its way. It cannot be long in coming. I left it back at the crossroad to the river bridge. Luckily they do not know of the shortcut across the field of vegetables."

Athos took all this in quickly. He called out to his comrades,

"Quick get your horses from the alley. Ride to the inn where D' Artagnan has his billet. We must hide out there for a few days."

Aramis was now caught up on the urgency of their situation, so he said,

"As long as they do not link us to our dead friend over there we should be okay. Do we send to our Captain or leave him in the dark?"

Athos replied,

"For now we must not contact anyone who has anything to do with the Musketeers. That includes our esteemed Captain. But don't worry, he will not expect us to report with all the intrigue going on around the King."

Aramis came back to show his wide knowledge of the royal goings on at the palace. He said,

"There is always intrigue at the Palace. Yet it is rare for it all to be solely centered around the King. He is like some sun with all the rest circling as his planets, moons and comets. Do you think the King may be in any danger Athos?"

Shaking his head Athos replied,

"No the king is safe for now. The big intrigues are between the Cardinal and the Queen Mother. But lets get going before we become tomorrow's intrigue."

Without saying another word the four young men rode away from the graveyard. Not a moment too soon because as their dust settled eight horsemen rode into the graveyard. They were soon disappointed enough to leave only with a dead body to show their master. They all shuddered. The Cardinal will not be pleased that they had failed to catch the killer of one of his palace guard.

Later on in from the Cardinal's office a much more heated response was being heard far and wide in that very palace. At the top of his lungs the Captain of the Cardinal's guard was defending his men. This he did simply by asserting their competence in no uncertain terms when he said,

"MY MEN ARE THE BEST IN ALL THE KINGDOMS!

But this only evoked an equally strong response from Richelieu.

"If the King's Musketeers can so easily evade a whole troop of palace guards…after my spies told them exactly where they were…then it may be best to change those guards. Or maybe their Captain." the Cardinal said sarcastically.

Turning red in the face the Captain of the palace guards responded with a desperate defense of his position by saying,

"There is nothing that my guard officer did that warranted the vicious ambush from musketeers. My captain said that three guards stood off an assault by eight musketeers. One lost his life! This just shows how desperate the fighting got in such a confined space."

Still not convinced the Cardinal moved on to more important matters. He said to his confidant

"My informant assured me that there was only three NOT eight. But lets leave that for now. Of much greater concern is this message about Marie de Medici, the Queen Mother. She has been seen in meetings with the Count of Calais. When he arrives at her court sessions, always the Queen Mother sends away all but her most trusted ladies. I want Marie de Rohan-Montbazan, Madame de Motteville and Madeleine du Fargis questioned. Here are the authorities signed by the King. But do not question the Count. I want him too think he is safe for now."

Comet de Rochefort, the Captain of the Cardinal's Guard, was used to such commissions. He was not squeamish about torture and knew how to pressure ladies of the court. So he merely nodded his head. Cardinal Richelieu was not finished. He now moved onto his main target. So he said,

"As for Dona Ana Maria Mauricia I will not call her Queen because she is Spanish not French nobility. There must be some way to get a spy into her chambers. I am sure she is getting messages from her brother King Philip IV. If this could be proven then this absurd marriage could be finally annulled. It was never consummated you know? They were only fourteen at the time. Absurd to think that one night could make for a scared marriage. I know for a fact that the blood on thee nuptial sheet was pig's blood. That old fool of a cardinal from Notre Dame had the worst eyesight and no sense of smell. If only I had been there and not down with that mystery stomach pain. I am sure I was poisoned at the nuptial banquet. Like her mother-in-law…those two scheme to get rid of me….The so called Queen of France is not as innocent as she pretends to be in the King's presence. No she is hiding something. I will expose her treachery if its the last thing I do."

Realizing that on this matter the Cardinal would never see reason, Rochefort decided to use it to make him richer. He said,

"There is an inn keeper's wife who does the Queen's....I mean the Spanish traitors dresses. She goes to the Palace every morning! When he exits the palace she is carrying dresses back to her home to alter. Surely this woman could be made to spy for your Eminence."

A look of pure malice came into the Cardinal's eyes. He said,

"Rochefort you have done it again. Where do you get these tidbits of information? That is just the person. Get hold of her today and turn her to our use. Here is a purse of gold. Deliver this woman to me as our own personal spy and I will double the contents of that purse."

Smiling wickedly the Captain left his master's study. As the doors were thick enough, he did not hear what Cardinal Richelieu said softly once the door to his office was shut. To no one but himself the Cardinal said,

"Deny my attentions will you Madame. Well hell has no fury to match mine now that you have scorned me. I will have my revenge."