Duty Calls

Chapter 2

D’Artagnan’s POV

*3 days later; day after signing of the contract*

We are on our way back from Toulouse and now we’re having dinner in a small village. It actually reminds me of my home. Not Paris, I have grown up in a village just like this one. Of course today we’re having the attention of every single inhabitant of the village, since they would not have expected to ever meet the king in person.

Everybody is in a great mood, again the peace with another country is safe. We are all laughing and drinking and well, actually just having a good time. All in all, everything seems to be fine. But still, something is bugging me. Something isn’t quite right here, I just know it. I have this bad feeling that something is going to happen. So I try to keep an eye on every single person in the room – which of course is a rather hard task. There’s an old man with only a few teeth remaining, another man is just really drunk and tries to persuade the ladies to dance with him. Well, good luck with that. They both don’t seem suspicious. Then I see it: there’s a shadow-like figure at the window and… Wait! It seems to be holding something… Then it hits me: it’s a gun!

I react in a split second: I jump to King Louis and push him down to the ground. I can hear the bullet being fired while I am doing so. It crashes through the window, then goes right into the chair, the king has been sitting on.

“Y…You… saved my… life!” King Louis rambles.

“You’re welcome. Athos, come on, after him!”

Then the two of us run out, while Porthos and Aramis stay with the king to keep him safe. It’s already dark outside, but we can see someone running to a horse and ride away. We quickly jump on our own ones and follow the person. He is riding towards a bridge and I’m right behind him. I can do this! Athos is a little behind me. Finally, right in the middle of the bridge, I manage to catch up to the rider and I jump onto him. This causes both of us to fall. Maybe this was a bad idea. We do fall, but we fall over the edge of the bridge and right into the freezing cold water.

I fight the stranger in the water, under water and at the surface. It is a determined fight, but it’s even. I can feel that we are being swept away by the current. Damn, I really gotta get out of this river! Then I see my chance: a few meters ahead, there is a tree. And finally I am lucky. The current takes me right to a branch which I quickly grab.
But the lucky moment doesn’t last for long, because I can feel something – or someone grabbing my ankle. I know that this branch won’t hold me and the stranger. I try desperately to get rid of him by shaking my ankle, but the only thing that I achieve is a worrying cracking sound from the branch.

“Hold on, D’Artagnan I’ll be right there!” I can hear Athos shout.

“Please hurry!”

I am gasping for air, more and more water is pouring into my mouth and every time I cough, the amount increases. There is another cracking sound caused by the branch and I know that it won’t hold. I try desperately to get some air into my lungs, but I am under water now and struggling only makes things worse.

I can’t breathe and my strength is fading. I try to lift my head to reach the surface only to find out that I can’t. My lungs ae hurting from the amount of water that I’ve already breathed in. finally someone grabs my arm, just in time because at that very moment, the branch breaks. I am pulled out of the water and collapse to the ground immediately, coughing out the water and gasping for precious air.

When I’m finally done, I lift my dead. I can see, that Athos has grabbed the stranger and keeps firm hold of him. I get up from the ground.

“You okay?” Athos asks, giving me a concerned look.

“Yeah, I guess… Just wet…”

“So come on now, let’s return to the king!”

After a while, we’re bath in the village and enter the building, dragging the stranger along…

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Finally, here's the second chapter! Enjoy and vote or comment if you like it.
What do you think will happen next?

Well, there's only one way to find out!

~M