The Female Musketeer

Chapter 15 | La Femme Combattante

"You're joking." Athos laughs but stops short when I don't.

"I fear she's not my friend." Porthos swings his sword in practiced motions and mulls it over for a moment.

"Where to place our bets?" Aramis bumps his shoulder into Porthos and they share a hearty laugh.

Athos rolls his eyes but considers me fully for a moment.

"As you wish." He smirks. The same knowing and frustratingly confident smirk I saw just a week ago.

I don't know who I was trying to prove myself to. The men around us? Him? Me? My Father?

My father. He's gone. There's nothing to prove anymore.

So maybe as Athos and I assess the other, I'm not in a position to prove myself. But to learn from someone who the city claims already has. He's got most of the advantage. He's constantly fighting people of different skill and stature, has proper military training and has more years on me in experience. What I have is...scrap? Who was I kidding, I had no clue what I was doing. But I tried not to show it.

We took our positions across from one another and began. After a few hits of our swords, I could tell he was holding back. It's what Freddy did whenever we spared. It angered me now as much as it did then. My brother and Father didn't hold back, I wouldn't let them. So im not gonna give Athos a choice. I change tactics and back up a bit. Letting him come to me, which he does. I bring my sword up to clash down onto his, he of course meets my skillfully but I change direction and use my blade to push his up into the air. Before he can bring his arm back down, I quickly grab his other and twist it behind his back and place my sword against his neck.

"Do you yield" I grin proudly to myself, breathing heavy.

I can't see his face but I see Aramis and Porthos share a look. Porthos just shakes his head.

Athos uses his back to push me back against a nearby pole. In the motion I loose grip on his arm and he spins back around sweeps my leg. All the air in my body seems to leave my chest as I hit the ground. I could feel the bruise forming on it. He points his sword down at me, to my chest. The loss of air along with the stabbing of my corset made me unable to speak full sentences so I just croak out a "Yield".

The yard erupted into cheers for Athos. He didn't take even one moment to cherish the defeat before helping me up. I smile as I stand. I couldn't yet breathe fully but I could tell he stopped pulling punches.

"You're quite skilled."
"Not enough to beat you." I dust the dirt from my clothes.
"The point of sparring isn't to beat your partn—" he starts.
"It's about learning from them." I finish his thought. It's almost like he stole the words right from my late father's mouth.
"Or so a wise man once told me." I add.
"Why don't we all go get a drink and you can us all about this wise man." Porthos claps a hand on Athos shoulder.
"I don't think Miss La Vielle woul—"
"Daria."
"What?"
"I like to be called Daria."
"Well, as I was saying. I don't think Daria wants to be seen with us. Considering." He addresses his friends.
We all knew what he meant.
"Why don't you ask her?" Porthos turns and smiles coyly. "Would you enjoy a pint at the old tavern?" His voice was a joking tone but the question felt authentic.
I match his joking voice and mimic his gruff tone.
"How could I refuse?"
Athos shakes his head at our antics. He and Aramis begin to walk ahead. Porthos and I continue to speak in our fake accents the whole way there. It earned us quite a few stares. I look up and notice the sky grow a bit cloudy. I go back to talking with Porthos. Aramis and Athos walk even further ahead of us but there's no illusion there not with our "interesting" group of other musketeers who tag behind us.