“Calm yourself, Henri. I know you blame D’Artagnan for all your troubles, but rage begets carelessness, and carelessness loses the fight.” Jules patted Lamar’s shoulder as he would a child who was having a temper tantrum. “We will watch for them to leave in the morning and follow them. You’ll get your chance.” He rose from the table and took his friend’s arm. “Let us go up to bed. I will wake early and go down to watch for them. They won’t even see me.”
D’Artagnan had taken the second watch, and woke the others before dawn. A coded tap on the door of the other room told the occupants to get ready to leave.
“I was recognized last night by a former guard who bears me ill will,” he told the monks. “I’m certain that he will try to exact revenge. No, Your Eminence, you knew nothing of the circumstances. It was all handled when you were away with the late king. As far as I know, he knows only that I am with Gerard and Georges.” He turned to Montaigne. “Would you go back down and watch for Monsieur Lamar? The rest of us will leave down the back stairs.” He took a few coins out and handed them to Montaigne. “Please buy some provisions from the innkeeper for our breakfast and lunch. Perhaps more in case we don’t find another inn for tonight.” He passed over a few more coins. “I’d expected to do that this morning, but things have changed.”
There was a tap on their door, and a voice asked, ‘may we enter?’ Montaigne opened it a crack, then wider to let the other three in as he exited. “I’ll meet you down the road heading west in fifteen minutes,” he said as he left.
“Georges, would you go down and ready the horses and cart? Go the back way. I believe someone may be waiting for me in the front. And be as quiet as possible. Gerard, would you go with him to help?”
Porthos and Athos took their saddlebags with them and did as requested. The stable boy was already awake when they got there and agreed to help catch the horses and saddle and hitch them.
D’Artagnan carried the cardinal down while Brother Xavier and Aramis carried the rest of their belongings.
Within minutes the group was ready to leave. After giving the stable boy a small tip for his help and his silence, D’Artagnan led the way along a grassy trail that went behind the adjacent buildings.
“Montaigne should be waiting for us just past the edge of town. Or he should be there shortly,” D’Artagnan told the others. “And he should have breakfast with him.”
Chapter Sixteen
Montaigne glanced around the common room to see if anyone was there. He could see a man sitting in a shadowy corner who he thought he might have seen the night before, but otherwise there were no other patrons. Looking away nonchalantly, Montaigne signaled the innkeeper, asking to buy provisions for the road, and followed the man into the kitchen.
“Do you know the man sitting in the corner? He looks familiar, but I can’t place him,” he said to the innkeeper.
“Do you mean right now? I didn’t see anyone. Last night I saw a man sitting in the dark. Later, the man you helped upstairs came back down and talked to him. But I don’t know who he is.”
“Really? Thank you for the information.” Montaigne asked for the foodstuffs he wanted, including two bottles of wine and a bag to carry them in. After paying for the items, and giving the man a tip for the information, he took them back into the common area and left through the front door. He strolled down the street, looking around, and casually looking back to see if he was being followed. Shortly, the other man left the inn and started walking in the same direction as Montaigne, who went around the side of a building and waited for the man to catch up.
“Good morning, monsieur,” he said as he reappeared from around the corner. “And a fine morning it is, isn’t it? Listen to the birds singing. Such a beautiful sound.”
“Good morning,” the man said as he walked past.
“I saw you at the inn, I believe. Are you traveling through this fine village?”
“Ah, yes, I am.”
“But don’t you have a horse and belongings? It will be a long walk to wherever you’re going.”
“I’m not continuing on my journey yet. I just like to walk in the fresh morning air. By myself. I do like solitude some of the time.”
“Of course, of course,” Montaigne said. “I feel the same, myself. Then I will let you be and go on alone.” He waved a salute and went back around the building, and returned to the inn from behind. There, he retrieved his horse and followed the route the others had taken.
Jules had noticed which way Montaigne had taken when they parted ways. He followed at a distance, stopping when Montaigne arrived at the inn, mounted his horse and rode on. Then Jules went back into the inn and up to his room, where he found Henri waiting.
“I found your drinking friend and followed him. They’re riding west. Come on; we must hurry or we might lose them.”
Montaigne caught up to his friends a short way west of town.
“I had a brief meeting with the friend of your friend on the street just now. He didn’t tell me that they were friends, the innkeeper did. He said he was out for a walk, but when we separated and I headed back to the inn, I saw that he followed me. I’m sure he didn’t notice that I noticed him, but I’m also sure that he stopped to pick up the other man and set out after us. We need to move on quickly, perhaps changing direction at first chance.”
“A good idea,” D’Artagnan said. “We’ll ride ahead and turn at the first fork in the road we find.”
They moved ahead, eating their breakfast on the way. The cardinal was propped up in the back of the cart eating more than he had been able to since the journey began.
Shortly they came to what looked like a path going off to the right. It was grassy and wouldn’t show the marks of horse hooves or cart wheels for long, and the surrounding area was thickly wooded. The only sounds they made were hoof beats and creaking wheels.
D’Artagnan moved closer to Porthos and spoke in a whisper. “Would you ride into the trees and watch to see if they follow us onto this road? If they do, wait until they pass and get behind them. And sound the alert so we’ll know they are there.” He meant the bird sound they used in the village of the Huguenots.
“But if I don’t see them very soon, should I wait longer?” Porthos asked.
“If you don’t see them within half an hour, catch up with us. If you do, and we’ve gone too far ahead, do what I said before. I’m sure they will catch up with the rest of us quickly. Just don’t forget to sound the signal.”
Porthos complied, and D’Artagnan rode back to the others and repeated what he had told Porthos. “Brother Xavier, if we do get in a battle, please drive the cart on and don’t wait for us. We must keep Brother Etienne safe.”
A few moments later, they heard the “twit tu whit” call that told them to be ready.
“Into the trees,” D’Artagnan called softly to the others. They moved to either side of the road in pairs, leaving the cart to go on. Presently, the two they were expecting rode into view. They waited until the newcomers were several yards past them, then Montaigne and Aramis dashed out behind. When D’Artagnan and Athos dashed out in front, Henri and Jules saw their quarry and spurred their horses on. Then Porthos arrived to complete the circle.
Henri and Jules looked astonished that they were surrounded by so many. They had expected no more than two or three men accompanying D’Artagnan, but here were four more with him.
“Why are you following us?” D’Artagnan said.
“We are not following you,” Henri said defensively. “We just happen to be going this way.”
“Really? And what lies in this direction?” D’Artagnan wasn’t convinced of his story.
“You are going this way. Don’t you know?” Jules was trying to get through the barricade of horses.
“Enough! Henri Lamar, I know it is you. And I know that you know who I am. Don’t try to blame your dismissal on me. You did it to yourself, being a drunkard and a liar.”
“And I know you are wanted by the Crown a
s an enemy of the state, Charles D’Artagnan. Give yourself up to me and you may live. If not, I will take your dead body back with me.”
D’Artagnan stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. “Look around you, Lamar. There are five of us surrounding the two of you. What do you think your odds are? Let me introduce my friends to you.” Pointing to each one, he spoke his name. “Athos, Porthos and Aramis of the king's Musketeers. The previous king. And Monsieur Montaigne, who is a great and helpful friend.”
At the mention of the musketeers, while the others were distracted, Jules spurred his horse, which leapt between Athos and Porthos and out of the circle.
The two musketeers wheeled their horses and chased after him. Henri was taken by surprise and quickly captured by Montaigne, while Aramis and D’Artagnan joined the chase.
The cart had been going on, as D’Artagnan had instructed, and had just rounded a curve in the road when Jules, who hadn’t seen the cart as he raced along the road and navigated closely around the curve, barreled into the left side, knocking the cart off balance and frightening the horse. Athos and Porthos were right on his heels and couldn’t avoid the collision either. Those actions caused the cart to overturn, throwing the cardinal and Brother Xavier out and spilling all the provisions and belongings that had been resting inside. Brother Xavier fell on soft grass, but the cardinal fell closer to the road and hit his head on a bump which turned out to be a rock covered with grass.
Jules was quickly recaptured before they noticed the rest of the accident. By that time the rest of the group had caught up. Fortunately, the other two had been riding in the middle of the road and missed colliding with anyone.
Aramis was the first to notice the two monks on the ground.
“Brother Etienne,” he called out as he quickly dismounted and ran to help. “Are you all right?”
Brother Xavier, who had quickly crawled to the cardinal’s location, spoke up. “He hit his head on this hard rock and was knocked unconscious. Help me get him back into the cart.”
The two men quickly raised the cart back upright and carefully lifted the cardinal and placed him on the cart floor, cushioning his head with a sack of grain and covering him with the blankets. Then they began replacing everything else that had spilled out on the ground.
“Eminence! Can you hear me?” Brother Xavier said. He looked up at Aramis. “He seems to still be breathing. What should we do?”
“I would say to let him rest. We still have to deal with these two.” He pointed at the two prisoners.
“Who are they?”
“One of them is someone Allais knew from before. The other one seems to be a friend of that man. Now that they have seen the two of you, we don’t have much choice. We can’t let them get away and tell anyone where we are.”
D’Artagnan walked up right then, and asked, “How is he?”
“Unconscious, but still breathing, thank God,” Aramis told him. “Brother Xavier will keep watch over him and let us know if anything changes.”
The two men walked back to where the others were. They had been disarmed and each tied to a different tree. Athos and Porthos stood a short distance from them, watching them carefully.
“What should we do with them? They know where we are and surely know who we have with us. I wouldn’t trust either one of them not to go back to Paris with their story of how we attacked them while we were kidnapping the cardinal,” D’Artagnan said.
“We can’t keep them and can’t let them go. I don’t see any choice. They did attack us, did they not?” Porthos clearly knew what he wanted to do with them.
“They would have, if we hadn’t seen them coming.”
While the five men were discussing the situation, the two prisoners tied to trees had been trying to get loose. They broke free at about the same time the others finished their conversation and started for their horses.
“Look! They’re getting away.” Porthos cried, mounting his horse and dashing after them. Athos did the same and Montaigne followed.
When Porthos caught up with them, Jules pulled out a pistol he had secreted in his saddlebag. He had just enough time to get off a shot, which went wide, before Porthos caught up with him.
Jules then pulled out the sword that had been left sheathed on the saddle. Porthos already had his sword ready and defended himself from Jules’ attack.
Henri, instead of mounting his horse, had grabbed his sword from the saddle and turned on D’Artagnan, who had his sword at the ready. D’Artagnan and Henri knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Fortunately, D’Artagnan had more strengths and Henri had more weaknesses. Before long, D’Artagnan had the upper hand and Henri was falling back, until he tripped on an exposed tree root and fell. He tried to scramble up, but D’Artagnan held him down with the point of his sword at Henri’s throat.
“It is not my wish to kill you, but you have put my friends and me in a precarious position. As I was reminded, we can’t let you go and we can’t take you with us.”
“Was that Cardinal Richelieu I saw in the cart? I thought, we all thought, he was dead. I know what’s been happening in Paris. I know people are looking for him. I can help take him to safety,” Henri said.
“I’m sure you have no love for the cardinal, or for me. You were dismissed from the guard for being a drunkard and a liar. Why should I trust you now?”
Henri looked blank, his eyes shifting back and forth as if he was trying to come up with an acceptable answer.
“Just as I thought. You would send word back to Paris and try to have us arrested in the next town.”
At that, Henri scooted back and tried again to rise with his sword held high. Before he could even attempt to attack D’Artagnan, he was struck through the chest with the sword that had been held against him.
D’Artagnan turned to see what was happening behind him just as Porthos finished with Jules, whose body lay sprawled on the ground.
Brother Xavier said, “Please, I must attend to them, since the cardinal can’t.”
D’Artagnan nodded and went to watch over the patient.
After Brother Xavier had done what he could for the dead men, they were carried into the woods and buried under bushes.
The group gathered back on the grassy road after that was done. “How is Brother Etienne doing?” asked Aramis.
Brother Xavier spoke up. “His heart seems to be beating regularly, but he is still unconscious. Where can we take him?”
D’Artagnan consulted the documents Cardinal Tremblay had given him: the map and the list of sympathetic nobles and churchmen on their route. “There is no one that is living nearby who Cardinal Tremblay deems sympathetic to our cause. We must trust in our safety wherever we find ourselves, or find another place to go.” He looked at the map again. “Rennes is much closer, although there is no one there on the list, either.”
Aramis spoke up. “Rennes is the closest city of size. I think we must trust that we will be safe there. We must get the cardinal to a physician as soon as possible.”
“I’m afraid you’re right,” D’Artagnan said. “We must get on our way.”
“What should we do with these two extra horses? We already have more than we need,” Porthos said.
D’Artagnan thought a moment, and said, “Brother Xavier, drive the cart onto the road and turn to the west. Montaigne, would you and Gerard accompany him, please? The rest of us will deal with the horses and catch up to you.”
After the cart had rounded the corner, Porthos said, “We could sell them in Rennes. No one would know they weren’t ours. We could also sell the tack and one of the pack horses, too”
“We can try. Let’s catch up with the others.”
Chapter Seventeen
After another uneventful, and somewhat boring, journey of several days, they arrived in Rennes. They had had to camp two of those days, which caused many complaints and some bickering. Fortunately, it hadn’t rained, for which they were eternally grateful. The cardinal had twitched
and jerked along the way, but had not awakened.
They had passed no settlements large enough to support even a healer, but the patient was breathing normally and didn’t show signs of distress even though he had not awakened.
Aramis was taking his turn driving the cart when they arrived, so that Brother Xavier could keep watch over the patient.
“I think there’s an inn up ahead,” said Athos. “Shall we try for rooms there?”
“Come with me to inquire if they have two available,” D’Artagnan replied after locating what looked like the inn that Athos mentioned. “The rest of you, try not to draw notice. We shouldn’t be long.”
“I’m an expert in being invisible,” Montaigne said, as D’Artagnan and Athos rode off. “First, we must try to be quiet and not look around at the sights, such as they are. Next, we must find another place to stop. Stay here and I’ll look around for a likely place.” He rode back the way they had come, looking for a side street or a stand of trees they could hide behind. Not too far back was an alley, so he directed them to pull the cart in there.
D’Artagnan and Athos rode forward toward the inn. It was called The Black Dragon and looked well-kept. Leaving their horses tied to a post in front, they entered the establishment and looked around.
“It looks all right,” Athos said. The windows were open to let in light, although there was a small fire in the fireplace and candles hanging from the ceiling to help. They looked around for the innkeeper or a barmaid.
“May I help you gentlemen?” inquired a small, rotund man wearing an apron. “I am Jacques Boucher, the innkeeper. Are you looking for a meal, a room, or both?”
“A room, if you please, Monsieur Boucher, with meals. Or, rather, two rooms. There are others with us waiting outside,” D’Artagnan told him. “And a stable for several horses and a small cart?”
The Hunt for The Red Cardinal Page 20
