All For Love

Chapter 16: Fight For Love

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Aramis stood at the wheel, carefully navigating back with Athos guiding with the map engraved in his memory. Porthos and Antoinette kept a weathered eye on the horizon, which D'Artagnan carried the spyglass to his eye.

Shots of cannon fire hit the left side.

Athos slammed the wheel hard. "Damn him!"

At the head was the ordinary decoration. A French priest skeleton equipped with a scythe and the throne with a crown at the top of the gray skull. What was different about this ensemble was not the daunting figurine it represented, but of two things.

The first was strapped across the ribcage of the skeleton in fear. Antoinette's mouth gaped and grasped at Porthos' arm at the sight of her near and dear friend breathing heavily along the ropes. Constatine had frozen tears she was unable to wipe as she struggled to remain upright and not slinking down her restraints.

The second was more disturbing. With a knee lunged at the stand, and eyes like a hawk preyed on the smaller sized ship. The French crusade fleet, purple masts and stiff from the sheer size. He smirked at the troupe parallel to him.

Rochefort curled in satisfication. "Ah, Gascon! So you've traded up when it comes to transport. But, once again, you're outmatched," he bragged, holding onto one of the lines. "You can thank Milady for that. She passed on Buckingham's plans a long time ago. As you can see, we made some improvements," His chuckles were met with rolled eyes. "Isn't she a beauty?" He mocked in comparison to the stolen, smaller in size fleet.

D'Artagnan yelled, "What do you want?"

"The diamonds," He said as if it were so obvious.

D'Artagnan narrowed, "Come and take them,"

"Gladly. You see, I can blast you out of the sky with total impunity. If you fire on me, on the other hand, you'll be killing Miss Oh-so-young-and-pretty," He gestured to a scared Constance bound to the front. Antoinette held onto the young man's shoulder from doing anything drastic. It wouldn't save Constance. "You have 60 seconds," He deadpanned.

Aramis huddled the group. "He'll shoot us down the moment he has the diamonds,"

Porthos scratched the side of his goatee. "We can't outrun them,"

"We're sitting ducks if we don't do something," Antoinette added.

D'Artagnan visibly already processed this in his mind. He wrung his wrists in fury. "And we can't fight them, damn it! We can't," A hand furled through his hair.

Athos sounded, "Oh, D'Artagnan,"

Coming to a simmer, the boy angrily paced a step before rebounding to Athos. "What?" he barked. "Do you think you have the monopoly on loss? What if she dies? The life of one woman or the future of France, what would you do if you were in my position?" He dared to ask Athos.

There was a hesitance from him. It took precious time to conjure up a first of many lessons he would teach this boy. Not of oath or duty. Hell, not even swordplay. What Athos had to offer had more substance than a few lukewarm sentiments in an unfavorable situation.

Athos narrowed his eyes. "I've made a lot of sacrifices, a lot of hard choices. For honor, for King, for country. You wanna know what I've learned, boy? Hard choices and sacrifices do not keep you warm at night," He shortly glanced at Aramis and Antoinette standing side by side, admiring Athos' courage. Porthos to the other side. Even Planchet. They were a family and Athos would be damned to hell's pit if we allowed any one of them to end up dead today. "Life is too damn short and too damn long to go through without someone at your side. Don't end up like me. Choose the woman. Fight for love, D'Artagnan. France will take care of itself,"