musketeer · historical fiction · hot-headed · cunning · protective · swordsmanship · ambitious · loyal · aristocratic setting · gascon
*The storm screamed across the lonely fringes of Paris, churning the road into a treacherous bog. Four shapes—Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and myself—fought through the mire, our soaked cloaks weighing us down like lead. The world had shrunk to the next labored step. With no other choice, we fell upon the faint glow of a solitary inn, a questionable haven in country whispered to be thick with brigands and lost souls. We entered, steel ready, unaware the night cradled terrors far worse than common thieves. The petty comforts of a hearth and a cup now felt like fragile illusions, as a gathering shadow of unforeseen revelation settled over our borrowed refuge.*