Turning the Tide

Chapter One

The spy had spotted them advancing on his position. He took off fast, the musketeers followed. They could see where he was heading, a large abandoned house almost hidden by the overgrown garden that would once have lined the approach road. The spy was probably not thinking about hiding in the house, he would be trying to evade them.

Porthos watched the man as he reached the steps to the house, as he charged after their quarry he thought it would be amusing if the door were locked and the man had nowhere else to go. But the door stood slightly ajar, they were not to be that lucky.

As the spy slipped inside the house, they each quickened their run. D'artagnan reached the door first and with gun in hand he carefully pushed it open. As Porthos followed him he glanced around, there was no sign of the man in the grand hallway. Athos nodded to Porthos and Aramis and pointed to the rooms that opened out onto the hallway, whilst he and d'Artagnan crept towards the grand staircase.

Porthos quietly pushed the first door, it slid open silently, Aramis slowly walked in, his eyes searching every corner of the room. Porthos stayed by the door in case their man made a dash for the main door and his freedom.

He would be glad to catch Gerard Jourdan; the spy had been giving them the slip for several days now or was it weeks? This was the closest they had come to catching him. They had followed him from town to town and village to village but the man was always ahead of them. Jourdan knew he was far enough ahead that he could afford to stay at taverns along the way.

The four musketeers had been despatched by Treville on the Kings orders. Jourdan was to be captured alive and brought back to Paris for interrogation and eventual execution. Jourdan had been almost cocky as he evaded his pursuers. He had even payed for several bottles of wine for them at one tavern.

Jourdan had worked his way across France and had reached the Southern coast. They knew they had to catch him soon or he would escape.

Now he was within their grasp, if only they could find the slippery spy. Porthos opened the next door and entered slowly, whilst Aramis covered the hallway. They continued around the ground floor checking each room in turn. Aramis shook his head as he exited the last room, Jourdan was not on the ground floor.

'I'll watch the door, you go and help the others,' suggested Aramis. Porthos nodded and began to climb the impressive staircase. A loud thud from the floor above followed by a yell had them both charging up the steps.

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As d'Artagnan and Athos reached the top of the stairs they turned to the left and followed the wall around to the first room. The door was open. D'Artagnan pushed the door fully open to ensure their man was not hiding behind it then entered the room. Athos watched as he checked behind the dust sheet covered furniture, poking his gun into some of the sheets.

They moved onto the next room with the same result. Athos entered the third room, checking the corner of the room as he did so, a dusty bookshelf stood there, empty apart from the cobwebs. As Athos ventured further into the room he heard a sound, he turned just in time to see the door being pushed shut by the bookcase falling against it. D'Artagnan's startled face disappearing as the door closed. The spy stepped forward. He had been hidden right in the dark corner of the room, in a small space by the bookcase, his dark clothing helping to camouflage him.

The moment of confusion for Athos cost him a valuable few seconds, Jourdan had aimed his gun first and did not hesitate in pulling the trigger.

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As the door had been slammed shut d'Artagnan just had time to see Athos turn and look back confused, at the corner of the room. Jourdan must have slammed the door. He stepped forward and grasped the handle, he turned it and pushed but could not make the door open. He could tell it was not locked, but it would not budge, he realised something was against the door from the other side. He yelled out for help, he knew Porthos and Aramis were still downstairs.

He heard a gunshot from within the room. Then a clatter of something being dropped followed by the clash of swords. The shot had either missed its target or not caused too serious an injury if the men were now fighting with their swords. But d'Artagnan had no idea which of the men had fired the shot.

Porthos and Aramis were rushing towards him.

'Somethings blocking the door, I can't get it open.'

He stepped aside as Porthos tried, putting his shoulder to the door and pushing, it moved a couple of inches. Porthos glanced back at d'Artagnan who joined him in shoving the door. They managed to move it a few more inches, but not enough for them to get into the room.

'We need to break the door,' said Porthos looking about, he crossed the landing and pulled a dust sheet from a statue, 'let's try this.'

The statue was heavy but between them they could lift it. They moved back to the door and were about to start ramming the door when Aramis appeared at the adjacent rooms door.

'In here,' he said, 'there's an adjoining door, it'll probably be easier.'

They hurried through carrying their improvised battering ram. Aramis stood back as d'Artagnan and Porthos lined up the statue and began to swing it at the door. The door began to buckle at the first strike.

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The ball hit his right arm causing him to drop his own weapon which skittered across the shiny wooden floor. Jourdan smiled as he drew his sword and advanced. Athos knew he could still fight but he would be handicapped by the gunshot wound. He could already feel blood tickling down his arm. What he had to rely on was his brothers. He knew they would do whatever was necessary to get to him, he had every confidence in them.

Jourdan took a sweeping strike at Athos who easily deflected the sword. He suspected the spy was assessing how good a swordsman he was. Athos decided to fight defensively, he knew if he went on the attack he would use more energy and his injury would affect him more. But defensively he only had to react and keep Jourdan busy until the others got there.

He was aware of attempts being made to open the door, he realised they stood no chance of getting into the room that way. He wanted to shout out and tell them about the other door, which must have led to the next room but he found all his concentration was being used keeping Jourdan at bay.

The man was advancing quickly forcing Athos to move about the room, he had quickly mapped out the sparse furniture. The upturned book case did not offer him any help, but the chaise lounge in the centre of the room was currently being employed as an effective barrier between him and the spy. Jourdan thrust forward over the top of the chaise, Athos stepped back. Jourdan, was annoyed, he clearly wanted a proper fight. He wanted Athos to fight back and try to get the upper hand.

Athos could feel his energy beginning to fail. He parried another attack from Jourdan. He wondered how much longer he would be able to keep this up. He had already noticed his footwork was not as graceful as he usually maintained. His injured arm was feeling heavy, he dropped his main gauche and switched his sword to his left hand and continued. But he knew his time was running out. Jourdan would soon get the better of him.

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