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Aramis' vengeance ("Duel sur la Falaise")
Episode 51 of Sous le Signe des Mousquetaires: Aramis' secret is revealed when she is wounded in the shoulder and d'Artagnan tries to tend the injury -- I was confounded at the time as to how she had previously managed to go through at least two episodes in the first series with an almost identical wound without anybody noticing anything, but on looking back I see that she actually threw a pail of water in d'Artagnan's face under similar circumstances (which I had entirely forgotten) and insisted on bandaging it up single-handed ;-p
D'Artagnan goggles at her and exclaims redundantly that she is a woman, to which Aramis retorts, with some point, that this is scarcely the most important issue right now when the two of them are under attack. And to do him justice he does get over his astonishment with an almost visible return of resolution, and rushes to defend the staircase while Aramis uses her good arm to set a powder trail and put their enemies to flight, at least for the moment; they make a good team together.
Treville, very sensibly, had put his foot down and rejected the suggestion of mounting a massed invasion of the island by having the troops follow in d'Artagnan's footsteps and deliberately jump into the maelstrom in the hopes of being spat out in the underwater cave, but what is lunacy for an entire army is an acceptable risk for three volunteers, so Athos, Porthos and Aramis have made the attempt and managed to get successfully reunited with d'Artagnan back on Belle-Île, with the task of disabling the batteries so that the others can approach by ship. Having divided their forces, Athos and Porthos take one side of the defences (by means of subverting the elephant!) while d'Artagnan and Aramis take on the task of seizing and holding the ramparts on the other. But Aramis suffers the classic consequences of a moment of vainglory when she insists that d'Artagnan should spare Manson so that she can have the satisfaction of killing him herself; a moment later, he has put a crossbow bolt into her shoulder.
And once the initial shock is over and the immediate danger is repelled, d'Artagnan sets himself quite matter-of-factly to the task of bandaging up Aramis's wound, assistance which she receives gratefully and without the slightest trace of constraint. The whole situation is quite simply accepted between them. He even tells her that she doesn't need to explain, but she is adamant that she wants him to know her history and the reasons behind her hatred of Manson, in case she dies here. So we get the whole story again, which is of course new to d'Artagnan ("But who is François?") -- but this time we get the additional explanation, which makes rather more sense, that she ran away from home and disguised herself later, after her family wanted to push her into marrying another man instead of pursuing her vengeance. And to be fair, it makes a lot more sense that she goes into detail when huddled together with d'Artagnan in a snatched moment of respite, rather than during the earlier confrontation with Manson himself; under those circumstances, it's really not surprising that we got barely more than a sentence of explanation while they were trying to kill one another!
Wounded or not, Aramis is still set on killing Manson personally. But both she and we had forgotten the ugly chain-weapon he keeps in his pocket, and that he used to attack her the last time she thought he was disarmed -- when it comes to the traditional hero/villain confrontation at the edge of the cliff, Aramis fnds her sword jerked from her hands, and the tables are abruptly turned. He stabs her in the heart (and it's very odd to hear anyone calling her 'Madame', even when gloating!) and they go over the edge together. Which is to say that, disappointingly, because this is a traditional hero/villain confrontation she doesn't get to kill him but he has to fall to his death of his own accord... although at least she doesn't attempt to pull him up over the edge in a spirit of mercy :-p
(And of course she doesn't die, but manages to hang on with one hand, even with a wounded shoulder, until the others catch up with them and pull her to safety. The stab wound is foiled by François' pendant that she has been wearing around her neck...)
D'Artagnan goggles at her and exclaims redundantly that she is a woman, to which Aramis retorts, with some point, that this is scarcely the most important issue right now when the two of them are under attack. And to do him justice he does get over his astonishment with an almost visible return of resolution, and rushes to defend the staircase while Aramis uses her good arm to set a powder trail and put their enemies to flight, at least for the moment; they make a good team together.
Treville, very sensibly, had put his foot down and rejected the suggestion of mounting a massed invasion of the island by having the troops follow in d'Artagnan's footsteps and deliberately jump into the maelstrom in the hopes of being spat out in the underwater cave, but what is lunacy for an entire army is an acceptable risk for three volunteers, so Athos, Porthos and Aramis have made the attempt and managed to get successfully reunited with d'Artagnan back on Belle-Île, with the task of disabling the batteries so that the others can approach by ship. Having divided their forces, Athos and Porthos take one side of the defences (by means of subverting the elephant!) while d'Artagnan and Aramis take on the task of seizing and holding the ramparts on the other. But Aramis suffers the classic consequences of a moment of vainglory when she insists that d'Artagnan should spare Manson so that she can have the satisfaction of killing him herself; a moment later, he has put a crossbow bolt into her shoulder.
And once the initial shock is over and the immediate danger is repelled, d'Artagnan sets himself quite matter-of-factly to the task of bandaging up Aramis's wound, assistance which she receives gratefully and without the slightest trace of constraint. The whole situation is quite simply accepted between them. He even tells her that she doesn't need to explain, but she is adamant that she wants him to know her history and the reasons behind her hatred of Manson, in case she dies here. So we get the whole story again, which is of course new to d'Artagnan ("But who is François?") -- but this time we get the additional explanation, which makes rather more sense, that she ran away from home and disguised herself later, after her family wanted to push her into marrying another man instead of pursuing her vengeance. And to be fair, it makes a lot more sense that she goes into detail when huddled together with d'Artagnan in a snatched moment of respite, rather than during the earlier confrontation with Manson himself; under those circumstances, it's really not surprising that we got barely more than a sentence of explanation while they were trying to kill one another!
Wounded or not, Aramis is still set on killing Manson personally. But both she and we had forgotten the ugly chain-weapon he keeps in his pocket, and that he used to attack her the last time she thought he was disarmed -- when it comes to the traditional hero/villain confrontation at the edge of the cliff, Aramis fnds her sword jerked from her hands, and the tables are abruptly turned. He stabs her in the heart (and it's very odd to hear anyone calling her 'Madame', even when gloating!) and they go over the edge together. Which is to say that, disappointingly, because this is a traditional hero/villain confrontation she doesn't get to kill him but he has to fall to his death of his own accord... although at least she doesn't attempt to pull him up over the edge in a spirit of mercy :-p
(And of course she doesn't die, but manages to hang on with one hand, even with a wounded shoulder, until the others catch up with them and pull her to safety. The stab wound is foiled by François' pendant that she has been wearing around her neck...)