Young Blades/Recap/S01/E12 The Chameleon

Written by Gillian Horvath; Directed by Terry Ingram

The Musketeers are guarding treasure, brought back by the ambassadors to India, on its way to Paris. To protect the treasure from thieves, Duval, Jacqueline, and D'Artagnan are guarding the one cart that has real treasure, while other Musketeers are guarding five decoy carts on different routes. Thieves figure out which is the real cart anyway and attack it. After the Musketeers get rid of them, we see an Indian man escaping into the woods.

The ambassadors to India, Pierre Parisot and his wife Elise, show off their treasure to King Louis. He is thoroughly impressed; he wishes he owned a tiger and had a palace as grand as the Taj Mahal. Elise shows him an ancient book of fairy tales. Shah Jahan gave them lands in return for dealing with a family who opposed his rule, and they found the book in a vault there.

The Musketeers discuss the attack, concluding that, since the travel plans were kept secret, it must have been an inside job.

In the street, Duval and Elise share an awkward reunion; they appear to have a romantic history. She is the only one to call him by his first name, Martin.

Siroc has an idea for capturing the thief: use his camera obscura to spy inside the room where the treasure is held, then catch the thief when he goes in. He also plans to apply time-release ink to the chest which will stain the thief's hands red.

Duval watches through the camera obscura and sees Parisot attempt to steal the treasure. He attempts to arrest Parisot, but Parisot uses some kind of smoke bomb to hide his escape. The Musketeers try to chase him down as he runs through the palace hallways, but reach a dead end and only find a maid. When they leave, the maid transforms into the Indian man who escaped after the attack on the cart.

The Musketeers arrest Parisot, who has apparently been out at the cafe with his wife. They present their case to Louis. Despite Parisot's claim that he is innocent, and the lack of ink on his hands, Louis reluctantly says that he must believe Duval. Parisot is taken to prison and will be executed for treason.

Duval lets out his anger on a training dummy. When he is finished, D'Artagnan approaches him and asks about Elise. Apparently Duval and Elise were engaged when Duval was a young Musketeer, but after Duval injured his leg, he felt that he would not make a good husband and broke off the engagement.

Elise arrives, and she and Duval go to their old picnic spot in the forest to talk. Elise tells Duval that he has the wrong man, and that Parisot was with her the whole night. She does know, however, of Indian legends of a man who can change his appearance, and believes that Duval was fooled by an impostor. When Duval calls this a fantasy, she accuses him of wanting to see Parisot executed.

D'Artagnan asks Jacqueline to dress as a woman and talk to Elise in order to see if she was involved in the theft. Jacqueline agrees, wanting to help Duval.

Louis reads the book Elise showed him earlier. He is intrigued by the tale of the Master of Changing Light, who has learned to let go of himself and take on the appearance of others. Louis immediately attempts to take on another's appearance by crossing his legs and concentrating very hard for about five seconds, but nothing happens.

Jacqueline approaches Elise, pretending to be working for a fence who can help get rid of stolen goods. Elise says she has no idea what Jacqueline is talking about.

Ramon, Siroc, and D'Artagnan have coffee at the Cafe Nouveau. They wonder if Duval could be mistaken about Parisot. Jacqueline enters, dressed as Jacques, and acting strangely. She says that the Musketeers should side with Duval and suggests that Duval wants to get Parisot out of the way to get back with Elise. Siroc notices ink on Jacqueline's hands; she shrugs it off, saying she must have gotten it when they were setting up the trap.

Jacques leaves, and on the way out runs into the real Jacqueline, who's still disguised as a woman. D'Artagnan sees them together, and he and Jacqueline stare in shock.

Jacqueline changes back into her disguise as Jacques while D'Artagnan tries to sneak glimpses at her. D'Artagnan says that the fake Jacques seemed off because he was too manly, then tries to reassure her when she takes this as an insult.

They try to convince Duval, Siroc, and Ramon that someone impersonated Jacques, and that same person must have impersonated Parisot and broken into the palace. Siroc believes when he sees that Jacqueline has no ink on her hands.

Duval tries to reassure Elise that he will get Parisot out of prison, but she is still angry at him and believes that he is trying to get back at Parisot.

D'Artagnan and Duval try to convince Louis that Duval was mistaken. When Louis will not hear it, D'Artagnan, in desperation, suggests that the thief was an impostor who could look like anyone. Louis says that he read the story about the Master of Changing Light, and it's obviously fantasy because he, the King of France, could not replicate the effect.

Elise visits Parisot in the dungeon, apparently to comfort him, but after a minute she turns into the Indian man. He identifies himself as the Master of Changing Light, and says he was just trying to recover his stolen sacred text. He has framed Parisot as revenge for killing his family and taking their lands. He threatens to visit Elise in the form of Duval, suggesting that she is cheating on her husband. Parisot is frightened. The Master of Changing Light transforms back into Elise and leaves.

Duval sneaks into Siroc's lab and looks for something. After a moment, he seems to find it, although we don't see what it is.

In the morning, the Musketeers bring Parisot to Louis in preparation for his execution. For his last words, Parisot maintains his innocence. He prays for solace and for forgiveness for his accusers. Duval once again tries to tell Louis that Parisot is innocent, but Louis refuses to hear it. Duval removes his glove, revealing ink on his hand, and says that he lied because he was the thief. Louis has no choice but to release Parisot and have the Musketeers arrest Duval.

The Musketeers confront Duval in his cell, believing him to be the impostor. They are satisfied he is not when he correctly answers the question of what they got him for his birthday (nothing). He explains that he's just trying to stall; he's prevented Parisot's execution, and now the Musketeers have another chance to find the real thief.

The Musketeers walk down the street and brainstorm how to catch the thief. They soon run into Parisot, who tells them what the thief is looking for.

Elise visits Duval in prison. He says that he put a man's life in danger, however unintentionally, and is willing to be executed to save him -- although he hopes it won't come to that. He also expresses regret that he broke of his engagement with Elise.

D'Artagnan figures out a way to catch the thief by involving Louis in their plans. He and Jacqueline guard the door where the book is set; they have intentionally spread the word that the book is being stored there. Siroc sets up his camera obscura leading into the hallway, and he and Ramon babysit Louis as they wait for the disguised thief to show up. Louis says he hopes the plan works, as it would be a shame to execute Duval.

Louis spends his time playing checkers with Ramon and eating beignets, much to Ramon's dismay. After waiting a while, Louis gets bored. At the same time, the impostor, disguised as Louis, approaches Jacqueline and D'Artagnan and demands the book. Louis, insulted at the idea that someone would impersonate him, draws his sword and rushes out to confront the impostor.

The impostor does the same escape trick with the smoke and escapes. Siroc stays to guard the book while the other Musketeers and Louis go after him. They get split up, and the impostor confuses them by disguising himself and pointing them in the wrong directions. They prove themselves to be real to each other by revealing their hands, which have no ink stains.

With his pursuers confused, the Master of Changing Light disguises himself as D'Artagnan and demands that Siroc give him the book. Siroc refuses. They fight, and the impostor fights dirty, kicking Siroc and throwing him to the ground. They reach a standoff when the false D'Artagnan grabs Siroc's arm, holding their swords together.

Louis and Jacqueline enter the hallway. Jacqueline threatens to shoot; both D'Artagnan and Siroc claim the other is the impostor. Louis orders them to put down their swords. Siroc does so immediately; Louis declares that D'Artagnan is the fake, since a true Musketeer would obey his King. Ramon and D'Artagnan catch up, and D'Artagnan asks Jacqueline if she would really shoot him. The Master of Changing Light transforms back into his true form and is arrested.

Elise and Duval walk in their picnic spot again, arm in arm. She says that she plans to go back to India with her husband, since he has a good reputation there, and that they will return the holy book to its rightful place. Duval and Elise say they will always be friends and share a goodbye kiss.