All For Love

Chapter 14: Linchpin

Chapter 14: Linchpin

Once everyone could breathe a little more, D'Artagnan panicked when the irons came off. With a long of bewilderment he searched around the ship for the mere speck of something obviously bothering him.

"So what about the diamonds? Doesn't Buckingham still have them?" he asked Athos who held a spy glass at the tips of his fingers.

"Nope," he answered swiftly. "Milady likes hedging her bets. She'd never have taken the chance we'd actually succeed in breaking into the vault," He already had predicted D'Artagnan's shell-shocked expression was nothing to be expected and instead eyed something in the brass instrument.

D'Artagan, on the edge from adrenaline, continued, "So where are they now?"

Athos responded matter of factly, "With the only person she trusts,"

"Which means we've lost her and all this has been for nothing," D'Artagnan pieced the puzzle rather quickly for a youngster.

Athos shrugged his shoulders slightly as he spotted the very object he had been searching for years. "I wouldn't say that," he said. His eyes meandered over to the group, all of which wereeither gazing at points on a map or tying rope knots for better wind. "You were the decoy, we were the extraction, but the real linchpin of the plan, well, that was someonelse entirely. Someone even Milady would never suspect,"

He left D'Artagnan to scratch the back of his neck and figure out the rest of it for himself. Already, Athos began to feel the whole hearted chains coiled inside. He mulled over his thoughts as he gazed down below.

The grand scheme of things relied heavily on the drop off point Planchet had made hours before our noon performance. This was prior before his reconnaissance with Milady. Perhaps it would have been easier to use the water way routes but then they would have to use every trick of the trade to outsmart the crew and any dutiful soldiers.

Nevertheless, Planchet dropped off a cargo load of ammuniton and loaded weapons concealed in rolled up cloths. The display at the fort was made from three vantage points. One, the switch with D'Artganan. Blending into their scene while arousing the other important commanders attention allowed the pawn to move inside the fort.

Two, because of the seemingly easy ways to distract the footmen, Buckingham would naturally double the guards. What he didn't expect were all of them in one open spot, only to be kicked out and sneak back in. And finally, Planchet, who played a pivotal role in this mission.

Her hand delicately traced a uncocked trigger that held one of the corners of the map down. Making sail was easy enough. The mechanics were already half way done thanks to a bit of information from a fort insider who studied the men on the docks actions regularly when he fished. At precisely noon, they check winds and altitudes the sail can perfectly glide into. By the time they made a scene, the work was half prepared. It wasn't too long before the four of them manuevered the rest of roping and steering directly to their next pit stop- Buckingham's domain.

Antoinette's hair waved back with some help from Aramis' hand. A finger curled around his knuckle while the other hand collapsed on top of hers, pointing out the course they pursued.

As a learned cartographer, she calculated how far off they sailed and what angles needed adjustments to meet up with phase three. She patted his hand jokingly as he whispered directions that would send them the opposite way.

To the side, the youth polished off the hilt of his father's sword. He sat on top of a crate containing military supplies no doubt. He looked around at the helm. The leader of their troupe gazed forward against the wind with his hands behind his back. His eyes betrayed him when the closer the ship sailed over a coastal forest nearby London.