A Powerful Little Love

Chapter 69

Gold silk skirts went unnoticed as Amorette trailed through Paris again, approaching the left bank of the Seine with trepidation.  The little pearls and rubies that had been sewn into the embroidery of the Queen's skirts twinkled and glowed in the sunshine, almost like a beacon in the deserted streets.  Amorette had never before seen Paris like this.  There was not a soul in sight and all of the homes, shops, offices and businesses were closed with the windows shuttered.  Evidently, the people of Paris had locked themselves away in the hope that the troubles would simply outdo themselves within a few days.  She couldn't help herself wandering a little out of her way into the Latin quarter and to the musketeer garrison.  It was entirely deserted as she expected it to be and she also knocked upon the doors of Sacha Rouzet's lodgings but there too she received no answer. 

Now there was nothing else for her to do but approach one of the bridges and cross over to the right bank of the river where the Louvre Palace sat.  Although Amorette knew very well that had been the very reason for her return to Paris, there was still something within her that was scared to put one foot in front of the other and make such a journey.  She stopped to glance about her as she stood on the Quay and ascertained that she had made the journey from Versailles in only a few hours.  The journey she had made the night before had been naturally elongated due to the fact that they had been stumbling around in the dark and had been exhausted beyond measure.  Now though, Amorette had such a sense of purpose within her despite her fears.  She wanted to find Athos more than anything else, and once she had done that; together they could begin to think of trying to help those still trapped within the Louvre Palace. 

How to go about finding the musketeer though?  It was likely he was already cultivating some scheme to get himself inside the Palace if he was not already there and for that reason alone Amorette's feet found their way onto the Pont Neuf.  She was not oblivious to the dark clouds that were beginning to roll in across the sky, adding a strange colouring as she walked across the bridge. She tried her hardest not to think of the dreams that had plagued her for the last few years and tried to focus her mind on how she was going to get inside the Palace again.  There was the most obvious choice of course; the way that she and the Queen had left the Palace in the first place.  That was risky, considering that their absence would have been discovered long ago and the passageway was most likely guarded because of it.  Another option was to let herself be caught and walk straight through the doors of the Louvre.  Amorette knew that the Spanish had wanted her alive but after she had escaped and taken the Queen with her who they also wanted, she wasn't so sure they'd be that keen to keep her alive.  They might just kill her on sight.  Amorette resolved that option was not one she could likely take.

The only other option that appeared open to her in that moment was to skirt around the perimeter fence of the Palace and hope that she could find some form of unguarded passage into the grounds at least.  Doing so without being caught would be a tricky thing indeed when Amorette was not even entirely sure how many men the Spanish had, or how many Italians were aiding them.  She did turn to look at the ships they had travelled up the Seine in though.  The masts and sails of the galleons travelled on as far as her eye could see and she guessed that there were at least a good few hundred men needed to crew them all and bring them into berth here in Paris.  Of course, that had to include any Scottish men that Henry Fitzgerald had persuaded to come along too but Amorette didn't think that could amass to a very large amount at all.  Scotland and England currently had their own troubles that they were preoccupied with.  If all of this failed which she hoped it would, any Scots and Englishmen involved would cause quite the headache for the English King.

"You lied to me!" rasped a thickly accented voice from behind Amorette suddenly.  She whirled around where she stood, conscious that with her hood still up she should still remain unknown to many.  Before her again was Shauna, pistol pointed firmly at Amorette's head.  Did sauna think that she was the Queen?  "You told me you'd go for help!  You told me you would help Henry if you could!"