Last chapter, lovely readers. Thank you for reading, reviewing and messaging.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Treville stood in the doorway with a smile on his face, relieved to see his Lieutenant looking so much better. Moving into the room, he took a chair and pulled it over to the bedside. After making small talk about the Garrison and sharing a glass of wine, Athos grew pensive.
"What will happen to Barre's documents? They should not fall into our enemy's hands," Athos said.
"Don't worry, Dr Baptiste has them, and that damn book of his."
"They should be destroyed."
"He is not ready to do that. Barre was once a good man, Athos, perhaps he was working on a panacea to cure disease. Baptiste wishes to examine all his paperwork; he has colleagues who will assist him in some of the ancient texts we found in his rooms."
"In fact," Treville added, "Barre and LeSavage were both once good men, driven insane by the betrayal of others. One by a Man of God, Richelieu; and one by his own brother."
"So, we just got in the way?" Athos mused,
"Perhaps with Barre. His enemy was Richelieu and the armies of France."
"And LeSavage?"
"Oh, he definitely targeted our Regiment, although I believe he may have once, many years ago, genuinely wanted to become a Musketeer, his view of us was corrupted by the actions of the Red Guard."
"Richelieu again," Athos said.
"Fate brought those two men together. Had the circumstances been different, they could have led very different lives."
Athos raised his glass,
"To honour then," he said.
Treville smiled at his Lieutenant, heartened to see that he bore no grudges.
"To honour!"
oOo
Later:
"Where's the lad?" Porthos asked, as they sat at their table in the yard.
"Athos asked to see him," said Aramis.
They shared a look.
"I told him what he did for him," said Aramis, quietly, not sure of Porthos's response.
"Well, it's not somethin' that should be kept a secret. The lad was brave, Athos should know."
Aramis brightened.
"My thoughts exactly!"
Sometime later, d'Artagnan appeared, looking happier and lighter on his feet than he had for many days. As he made his way across the yard toward them, they poured him a drink, and he smiled broadly.
oOo
The next day, they found Athos standing in the middle of the room, buckling on his sword belt, and they knew that the world had righted itself.
oOo
Aramis though, was unsettled.
Many times, he had been conflicted with his love for God and his love for soldiering. He had seen death and had killed. Now, he must reconcile once more. It seemed to be a constant battle.
Now, here was God versus Science.
Athos, an educated man, was not the person this time to discuss this with. It was too close to him as his friend had had his own conflict with God. But Athos did know that Aramis struggled to understand his latest dilemma and so he pointed out that Dr Baptiste would surely have wrestled with this himself during his life, and he suggested that he was, after all, the only one to speak to.
So Aramis sought out Dr Baptiste, now making ready to leave and packing up his books and equipment in Treville's office.
"Dr Baptiste," he asked, "Was Athos saved by God, or Science?"
Baptiste thought for a moment, gathering his thoughts, looking at this strange breed of Musketeer who had chosen to live between conflict and compassion.
"I have had many discussions in my life about this," he replied, indicating that Aramis should take a seat beside him.
"The most heated were at the Sorbonne when I was training. These debates between the students of Theology and those of Science were interesting, to say the least!" he chuckled.
It was the first time Aramis had seen him smile. He realised he was very much in awe of this learned man, who had saved his friend's life.
"Many felt that Science and Theology should be separate; some felt that, in some ways, they overlapped."
He was quiet for a moment, before continuing,
"I believe that one day, there will be room for both. There will always be conflict and corruption within both disciplines; you saw how Barre used the ancient Hermetic wisdom texts for his own ends; how he chose to misinterpret them? Man must be tolerant if progress is to be made. Both disciplines are powerful, my friend; you have seen that. Here, I think, there has been an overlap of the two disciplines.
But my science is nature, and nature is God."
Then he smiled once more, and stood.
"Now I must get on. May I say, without I hope, offending you, that this whole experience has been most interesting, and I have learned much."
Later, Aramis sat at the back of Notre Dame Cathedral, feeling the majesty of his God once more.
oOo
The following day, they all gathered around as Dr Baptiste made his farewells, Treville held out his hand.
"We can never repay you," he said. "Either of you," he added, looking at Dr Lemay, who had come to bid his friend farewell.
Athos stepped forward then. He looked at both Baptiste and Lemay.
"Thank you, I owe you my life," he said shaking both their hands.
"From what I have seen," Baptiste smiled, "it is a life worth saving."
Porthos sniffed and they all turned round to look at him.
"Sorry, it's very emotional," he murmured, eyes glistening.
Aramis smiled and patted his arm fondly.
"It is ironic," said Baptiste, looking around at them.
"Barre came to this because of Richelieu, and in fact, the Cardinal was the Principal of the Sorbonne, which gave my colleague and I the ability to counter his terrible inventions."
"Ironic indeed," Treville replied.
oOo
That evening, Aramis, Porthos and d'Artagnan sat once more for a meal in Athos's room.
"Well my friend," said Aramis after they had eaten, "You have your fine wine," he said with a flourish of his arm at the bottles they had brought him standing on the table. Athos raised the glass to his lips in appreciation.
"So, you now have a choice ..." Aramis continued, a smile playing on his lips.
Athos frowned.
"We can arrange for you to be shipped to The Americas; or ..."
"We can arrange the touch of a good woman!" his eyes twinkled as he eyed Athos, who promptly choked as his wine went down the wrong way.
d'Artagnan and Porthos jumped up and began to slap him enthusiastically on the back, as Aramis smiled his brightest smile.
"Or, did you forget you said that when you thought you were dying, Mon Frere?!"
Porthos roared with mighty laughter that could be heard throughout the Garrison and perhaps, all the way to The Louvre.
The End
oOo
A/N:
* The Hermetica are Egyptian-Greek wisdom texts from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
* De Materia Medica; Herbarum VivaeIcones (1530); Valerius Corus (1515-1544) amongst many classic texts on plant identification and classification.
* Age of Enlightenment 1550-1800: By the early 17th century, the number of plants described in Europe had risen to around 6000
* The 17th century marked the beginning of experimental botany and the application of rigorous scientific method and improvements in the microscope launched a new discipline of plant anatomy.
* Wakeful Unconscious State is a recognised condition. It is not a coma.
* Baptiste's answer to Aramis:
The kinds of interactions that might arise between science and religion have been categorized as (1) conflict between the disciplines (2) independence of the disciplines (3) dialogue between the disciplines where they overlap and (4) integration of both into one field.
The Roman Catholic position on the relationship between science and religion is one of harmony, as set forth by Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
* On a personal level, I can trace my ancestry back to 1535 to Hampshire,England, to a man who was the "Keeper of the King's Horse". Apparently, his brother was a "renegade priest" who fled to France. Hence my interest to include one in this story. (I hope mine wasn't as crazy as Urbain Barre).