Trapped - Aramis' Story

Walking Into A Trap

I stood in the deserted corridor, waiting. Anne was going to meet me here any time now. She wanted to continue the peace talks but enough was enough. I had to tell her that Louis needed to know, that it was time for him to know. Anne walked into view merely seconds later. The sight of her filled me with joy. I loved her. More than I could imagine.
"My brother wants to hear France's terms for peace."
"This is good news," I replied. It was. We were getting somewhere after being at war with Spain for years. Phillip, the King of Spain, was Anne's brother. "Majesty, now is the time to tell the King about our negotiating-"
"He is not well enough," she cut me off to say.
"That is precisely why."
"Not yet," she said firmly. I heard footsteps and looked around to see if anyone has spotted us but it seemed we were safe.
"Please, Aramis. One more time." I was still entirely unsure about this. But she had won me round. My answer would come with a demand though.
"As soon as we have the Spanish terms we go to him. This is becoming too dangerous." Anne nodded. It seemed I had said the right thing. I hoped she would comply.
"The ambassador expects you at dawn," Anne said with a finality to it, clearly signalling the end of our conversation.
This would be my third journey on behalf of the Queen to talk with the Spanish. What could go wrong this time?

Once I knew Athos, Porthos and D'Artagnan, as well as every other Musketeer, were asleep, I made my move to leave. Hopefully, my absence wouldn't be too noticed. This wouldn't take too long.

I met a Spanish guard halfway to the rendezvous who led me to the building where the ambassador would be waiting for me. The suspicions started arousing there. For one, it was a different building than the one I had been in the previous meetings and two, the man who led me there wasn't the same regular i had met before. I would need to be wary here. It all still looked fairly legitimate however. The other man stopped a little ahead of me. I knew he wouldn't let me pass until I'd got rid of all weapons and was completely defenceless. It had been the same the first two times. I was used to it. I didn't make the first move. He put his gun down before I stashed mine in the pocket on my saddle for them. Then he undid his sword belt and I followed. He beckoned me over. I gathered up my reins and led the horse over. Something about this man was off.
"You're new," I said in Spanish presuming that that was the language he spoke. He didn't reply though. Was it simply me, or did he not understand the language he was supposed to speak? "Has something changed?" I asked, again I'm Spanish. This time he disappeared around the side of the building. I followed cautiously, checking all the windows for any potential danger. This place was an old ruined house, grey bricked and covered in ivy. He reached the door and once I was around the side of the building away from the horses, he entered the building. I followed suit. The supposedly Spanish man sat by a crackling fire. But, he was the only one there.
"We're meeting in here?" I continued in Spanish and got to response. "Where's ambassador Perez?" The man stood up, a club in his hands. Now I knew something wasn't right. "I came to talk peace." I said in English this time.
Something shifted and another figure appeared at one of the entrances. A man stood there. And not just any man. A man who had evaded Athos and the rest of us for a while now, had attempted to kill us. Lucien Grimaud. Oh no. If he was involved, this was bad. This was really bad.
"There is no peace," he said bluntly. More bodies emerged from the shadows and I could see Grimaud's men advancing towards me. I reached inside my jacket, straining to get the letter which had been written to the Queen. In doing this I'd allowed the mercenaries to get a hold of me. I threw a couple of punches, but I found the letter. I was pushed from behind. The letter flew from my hand into the fire. I was kneed back into the man who had me from behind. I saw Grimaud reach into the fire to grab the burning embers of the paper, but that was it as the guard raised the club and struck me over the head. Darkness.