Chapter 18

D'Artagnan woke up with sun blaring in his eyes. Blinking, he got dressed and went downstairs to the dining area. Aramis, Porthos, and Bianca were all sitting at a table. When they saw him approach, everyone got silent. Porthos got a big grin on his face seeing d'Artagnan.

"Well good afternoon, sleepy!" D'Artagnan sat down and rubbed his face.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked.

"It is well past noon, my boy," Aramis replied. "You had one hell of a day yesterday."

"And thanks to you all, I am alive."

"Well!" Porthos exclaimed. "You can buy us the first round once we have saved the throne."

"Save France," Aramis added. Aramis and Porthos toasted glasses to that last one.

"Where is Priest, Tom, and Nealson?"

"Tom and Nealson," Porthos answered, "are doing some secretive reconnaissance thing and Priest is…well, we don't really know what he's up to."

"Bianca was the last to see him," Aramis added.

They all looked at Bianca who had a smirk on her face. She shifted in her seat then looked up at the all as if she were innocent to their assumptions. Giving up on this line of questioning, d'Artagnan noticed who was not sitting with them.

"Where is Athos?" Porthos and Aramis exchanged glances with each other then back at d'Artagnan.

"He's questioning Lady de Winter," Aramis answered cooly. D'Artagnan rose up immediately.

"Shouldn't we be there with him?"

"Hold on lad," Porthos said as he grabbed d'Artagnan's arm. "This is something Athos has to do by himself."

D'Artagnan sat back down in curiosity. All three of them hung their heads as if something was different about this particular captive. The more he thought about it, the more his head hung because he finally understood what he had missed. Right now Athos needed to handle this fight alone.