The Man In The Iron Mask

Aramis and Porthos interrogate their prisoner, who reveals that their orders are to kill during the battle and hang whoever was left. The musketeer they captured turns out to be the son of a Cardinal they knew in their youth, and he tells them that to avoid being killed, they simply must not be caught. Aramis hears the sounds of artillery on the other side of the isle and realizes they are surrounded. He devises a plan by which they can escape by canoe through the caverns under the isle.

In the caverns, Aramis greets the three Bretons he sent down to wait for them. Porthos experiences another strange fatigue in his legs. While they debate whether to roll their canoe out on land and then take to the water or sail directly out from the grotto to the ocean, Aramis hears a commotion outside. A fox suddenly races through the grotto, followed by a pack of hunting dogs. The three Bretons kill the dogs, and the men prepare to ambush the hunting party that will soon follow.

The man Aramis and Porthos took prisoner earlier, Biscarrat, is the first from the hunting party to enter the grotto. He walks straight into the barrel of one Breton’s rifle, but Porthos does not allow the Breton to kill Biscarrat. Instead, they send Biscarrat back outside to keep the rest of the men away from the grotto. The hunting party ignores his request, and they storm the grotto. Of the 16 men, Biscarrat remains outside, and 10 others are killed by Aramis, Porthos, and their Bretons. Upon learning the two men inside the grotto are military heroes, famous musketeers from stories they have all heard, they become nervous and do not wish to go inside. But Biscarrat, having allowed his companions to be ambushed, leads a platoon back to the grotto with the intent to capture or kill Aramis, Porthos, and their Bretons.

Inside the grotto, Aramis decides their best chance is to retreat further into the caverns towards the exit taken by the fox. The Bretons roll the canoe along on rollers on the ground, and Porthos breaks loose the large boulder blocking the exit. Biscarrat’s reinforcements arrive and begin entering the grotto. Aramis hides in a small crevice, and Porthos takes one of the iron rollers from the canoe and readies himself in the shadows. As the men move through the first cavern into the second, the path narrows, forcing them into a single line, and Porthos brings the iron bar down upon their heads one after the other, killing them instantly. Porthos kills the first platoon, including Biscarrat, and makes quicker work of the second. In the silence that follows, Aramis hears a third platoon entering the caverns.

Aramis goes ahead to help the Bretons move the canoe out to the water. He gives Porthos a match and a small explosive, instructing him to throw the barrel of powder into the third brigade and meet them at the canoe outside as soon as he can. When Porthos lights the match, the brigade sees his face and the barrel in his hands, and they instantly panic, trying to escape, but there is nowhere for them to go in the dark. Porthos lights the fuse and throws the barrel, but as he turns to leave, he experiences yet another fatigue in his legs. Porthos collapses in the passageway as the barrel explodes. He manages to stand up again, but the exit tunnel collapses on top of him, crushing him to death.