"So, if you changed into clean clothes at the Palace, why are the two of you covered in mud again?" Captain Treville asked as he sat behind his desk studying Aramis and d'Artagnan.

"Because on the ride back to the garrison, we saw a robbery and Athos had us chase the thief through the muddy streets of Paris," d'Artagnan explained with a disgruntled edge to his voice.

"It is our sworn duty," Athos answered stoically. "We had no way of knowing how dangerous this thief might be."

"Yes. Of course. A boy of ten might be a grave danger to the King," Aramis concurred facetiously.

"And he was a fast bugger, wasn't he?" Porthos added with a grin, remembering how much fun it had been to watch d'Artagnan and Aramis slopping through the mud after the street urchin. It had almost made up for him having to stay behind and get the damn coach out of the mud.

"He was as slippery as an eel…in mud," d'Artagnan agreed, his sense of humor returning.

Tapping his finger on the opened letter from the King which was sitting on his desk, Treville appeared lost in thought. Eventually, he began to speak, very slowly. "Your King is very dismayed with the events of today. Words such as inept, bugling, foolish, incompetent, dereliction of duty, and treason were accompanied by words such severe punishment, stocks, prison and gallows."

"Not sure I see how treason applies?" Aramis commented thoughtfully.

"Hmmm, but do you see how the other words might apply?" the Captain asked sarcastically. Wisely, Aramis gave a quick nod and remained silent.

Captain Treville sat back in his chair, stretched out his tense muscles and worked a few kinks out of his back. "I'm curious gentlemen. Do you lay awake nights and dream up these stunts to drive me insane?"

The four musketeers looked around at each other before, by silent conversation, voted that Athos should be their spokesman.

"No. Sir. They seem to occur . . . naturally."

"There is nothing natural about them," the Captain demurred. "You four can take the most innocuous event, like a carriage ride, and turn it into a catastrophic disaster. And somehow, I always get burned by the inferno you four create."

"I swear to you on all that is holy, we don't do any of this on purpose," Aramis assured his Captain, though after moment he added, "mostly."

"Well, for once, I don't have to come up with your penance. The King, though I suspect it was really the Cardinal, has spelled it out here," he announced picking up the paper.

A small shudder of fear ran through the souls of the four musketeers. To say that the Cardinal did not like them was the understatement of the year.

"You are to report to the worksite of the new church that the King is building. The one, unwisely, you were attempting to visit today. It seems the foul weather has gotten the building of the structure behind schedule. The King wants his magnificent, generous gift to the Catholic church to be finished in time for him to be able to rub it in the face of the Duke of Savoy during his upcoming visit. Therefore, since the King has somehow decided you are responsible for the delay…"

"We didn't make it rain!" d'Artagnan blurted out.

"…you four will be assigned for the next month to work as part of the crew building the church."

"Surely you mean watch over it. Guard it. Duties a musketeer would perform," Aramis sought to clarify.

Dropping the letter on his desk, Treville said, "No. I mean as laborers. Hauling, lifting, nailing, toiling from sun up to sun down to ensure the King's marvelous symbol of his magnanimous generosity is completed on schedule. And should it not be done on time, his majesty has dictated that you will be imprisoned in the Chatelet until, and I quote, hell-freezes over. Though, knowing you four, you might be actually able to turn hell into a frozen wasteland in a matter of days."

"This hardly seems fair, Captain," d'Artagnan complained. "It was the King's idea to go visit the church today. We indicated it was a poor choice."

"Life isn't fair, d'Artagnan. You have been given an order by your King and you shall carry it out, successfully. I don't want to hear any reports of even the slightest mishap at that church. Am I making myself clear?" Treville demanded as he rose from his chair.

Solemnly, the four nodded in unison.

"Good. Now get out of my office so I can redo the duty roster to cover the month you will be absent."

As they turned to go, more dried mud flaked off their clothes onto the floor.

With a sigh, Treville added, "And please send Bertram to deal with this…mud. I'd have you four do it, but I am afraid you would get more mud on the floor than you would clean off it. Get out of here, carefully, and go wash off!"

"I suppose that could have gone worse," Aramis noted as they headed towards the bathing room.

"How do you figure that?" Porthos asked, clearly not happy with their punishment. Building was hard, boring work.

"Because the King didn't throw us in jail, put us in the stocks or hang us." Aramis explained, determined to look on the bright side.

"No, that will come later when something happens at the construction site, like, oh I don't know, a tornado hits it and we get blamed," Porthos replied resentfully.

It was Athos who had the final word on the conversation. "Gentlemen, we will do as we have been ordered by our King, to whom we have sworn fealty. We are in good health, strong and reasonably intelligent. Surely, you would rather spend a month laboring on the church than in jail or worse. After all, what could possibly go wrong?"

THE END