set before film
Clopin POV:
"And then the Prince and Princess loved each other for the rest of their lives and their kingdom was content and happy once again" I told the children who were listening intently to my story and I made the prince and princess puppets hug. There were groans of disgust from the boys and content sighs from girls. "that was so romantic!" Mary sighed, clutching her tiny hands together "romantic? More like sucky! I want fights! Battles! Blood! Dragons! Monsters!" Charlie yelled, pretending to putch Mary, getting shouts of encouragements from the other boisterous boys.
"Now, now!" I raised my voice above the children excited shouts "you better go home now, before it gets dark and I will make sure my stories are extra romantic next time" I told Mary who smiled happily and then I turned to Charlie who let out a annoyed grunt at my words to Mary "but with battles and monsters too!" I hissed, teasingly putting my face into a monstrous face.
Charlie grinned and ran off "thanks !" He yelled over his sholder.
I chuckled and set up packing my stuff away to get going to the Court of Miracles where a large glass of wine was waiting for me in my tent. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned round to see Greg behind me, a worried look in his eye.
I was immeditly alert "what is it?" I asked and Greg immeditly said "sir, I have seen a new caravan, unlike ours, and rumours have it that they are a female band of travelling gypsies that dance for money all around the world, but now they want to stay in Paris" I narrowed my eyes "well they will have to join our clan then, for them to stay!" I straightened up, and lifted my red hat off, the yellow feather fluttering in the air as I scratched my head thoughtfully.
"Lead me to the caravan" I commanded and followed Greg as we ducked and pushed our way through the crowds nearer the center of the village. I frowned when I saw a large blue and purple caravan with silver lettering in the front saying 'Les Agnes Argent'
That was odd, the colouring of the caravan becuase all the gypsies I have ever met usally wear the normal red, yellow, orange or other bright colours attire.
I squared my shoulders and moved to walk towards the large caravan but suddenly I heard a loud and slow-paced music ring in the air as the caravan doors slowly opened and girls with silver masks covering their faces silently walked out of the caravan, wearing black cloaks that concealed their costumes and stood in a silent circle until a massive crowd started to draw around us.
All was silent...Then all their girls ripped off their cloaks, revealing floaty skits with jingling coins sewn on and tight belly-bearing tops drawing hoots and wolf whistles, all in bright or dark purples and blues.
The girls began to dance perfectly, their bodies swaying in the music as they leaped and danced, their hips shaking and their long hair swaying. Even little gypsy girls danced with them, wearing dresses in similar colours, shaking little bells perfectly with the music.
Suddenly they all stopped, every one striking the same pose; their hands on hips, heads to the side and hips cocked, altogether forming a circle but there was a space in the front as if someone was missing from the circle.
There was a loud bang and a young woman suddenly leap down from nowhere and landed in the front of the circle of girls. I suddenly felt my heart freeze and my legs feel weak as I stared at the girl.
She was a young woman, with tanned skin and ebony hair that was half-way down her back with red lips and one green eye and one blue eye with thick eyelashes. She was slender and curvy, wearing a purple headband with pearls studded on it and a purple tube-top with silver hemming, blue scarves across the shoulders that attached to her pearl bracelets, with a long purple sarong with pearls on the end of it, and silver anklets and bracelets on.
The young woman, obviously the leader of the dancers, flicked her hair and swayed her hips seductively, her body dancing in time with the now fast-paced music. Her body seemed to shimmer and shine in her silk dress, lots of tanned legs and arms showing, making me distracted and drawing whistles and hoots from other men. The dancers raised their arms and clapped in sync, dancing around in a circle with the young woman in the center
Suddenly, all the dancers fell to the floor, posed in a elegant crouch, except from the leader.
"once there lived a maiden" The leader started to sing, her voice even higher and sweeter then any songbird, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up "Pure and bright, and, like thee, fair, til he wooed and then he won her, filled her gentle heart with care"
The lead dancer sang, gracefully skipping round making her skirts swish around her, her arms raised elegantly "Then he heeded not her weeping, Nor cared he her life to save" The woman continued to sing, and spun round prettily, her raven hair shining in the sun
"Soon she perished, now she's sleeping, In that cold and silent grave."
The woman sang softly, her head raised as she posed, her arms up and one of her legs in front of the other. Then the other dancers leapt up and danced in sync, there hips shaking and dancing quickly and skilfully so fast you could barely see their feet. The woman backflipped into the air and landed gracefully and started dancing too, everyone's feet in time with the fast music, the coins on their dresses tinkling in the air, their bare feet pounding the cobbled floor .
Suddenly, the dancers froze, then started swaying their hips from side-to-side in beat with the music, but the leader of the dancers flipped over to the crowd of people, and stopped infront of me, grinning wickedly.
"How nice to have you see our show, Gyspy King" She whispered, but her mismatched eyes darkened "but I will have no-one else lead my clan but me" She whipped a scarf around my neck, drawing me closer to her so her scent of honey and roses overwhelmed me "understand?"
Before I could reply, she had flipped away again, posing seductively along with the other dancers, before purple smoke clouded them, and they disappered.
Huffing slightly and knowing that I had looked like a fool, I wretched her scarf away from my neck, but froze slightly when the smell of honey and roses drifted around me again.
I must know who she is.