'Morning in Paris, the city awakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
The fisherman fishes, the bakerman bakes
To the bells of Notre Dame
To the big bells as loud as the thunder
To the little bells soft as a psalm
And some say the soul of the city's
The toll of the bells
The bells of Notre Dame...'
Several little children grouped in front of a colorful booth, staring at the eccentric young man who was attracting them to his show. The man popped his blond head out, eyes outlined in purple as he grinned.
"Listen, they're beautiful, no?
So many colors of sound, so many changing moods
Because you know, they don't ring all by themselves..."
The man said, motioning to the tower of Notre Dame in the distance. One of the small children, a little boy with tufty brown hair falling over his eyes, raised his hand.
"They don't?"
He asked and the man shook his head, like the boy had committed a crime, green eyes stretched wide.
"No, you silly boy! Up there, high, high in the dark bell tower
lives the mysterious bell ringer. Who is this creature?"
He added and a little girl spoke up, her hair red and flowing down her back, her dark eyes wide and innocent.
"Who?"
"What is he?"
"What?"
"How did he come to be there?"
"How?"
Both the man and the little girl went back and forth until he bent over to ruffle her hair gently, her red fiery hair that shone like the sun. She grinned up at him and he smiled at her, at all of them.
"Hush, Hawkeye will tell you....It is a tale, a tale of a man and a monster.
Dark was the night when our tale was begun
On the docks near Notre Dame..."
Three shadowed figures on a boat were hidden under the cover of night as they cowered together. All three were trying to find safe passage in to Paris. The thin woman in the middle had long dark colored hair that hung slightly in front of her face and she held a thin dark curly haired toddler in her arms. He was wrapped tightly in dark cloth and she softly ran her hands though his hair as he gave a gentle whimper.
"Hush, little one."
She crooned, then screamed as she saw ropes bing thrown over their small boat as midnight colored stallions neared him, raven manes flowing. But it was the dark haired man atop one of the horse's that made their blood run cold and their hearts sink.
'But a trap had been laid for the gypsies
And they gazed up in fear and alarm
At a figure whose clutches
Were iron as much as the bells...'
"Lord General Ross!"
Hissed a male gypsy from her left side, as their eyes just stared at the cruel eyes of the man. He just waved a hand at them, and his lackeys lunged for their attack. The young woman screamed again as she and her bundled child were grabbed roughly and yanked from the boat, so she stumbled on her knees into the snow.
"Bring these gypsy vermin to the palace of justice!"
Ross's voice growled as a pair of hands tried to snatch the young woman's little one from her. She shrieked and tried to claw him furiously, but to no avail.
"You there, what are you hiding?"
The man who had tried to take her baby snarled and Ross gave them a quick once over before shrugging as if it didn't matter to him what they did and murmured.
"Stolen goods, no doubt. Take them from her!"
The woman shook her head, terrified but then she looked at her innocent son in her arms and she turned on her heels and fled as fast as her legs would allow her.
'She ran...'
She ran as fast as she could, heart beating like a drum against the confines of her chest and her soft soled boots providing no traction on the frozen ground. She pushed as hard as she could, she could hear their horses behind her. Strong steady hoofbeats that would be the death of her if he caught her and her son. She was running to the church of Notre Dame, they wouldn't be able to harm her there, not if she pled sanctuary. As soon as she reached it, she bolted up the steps and slammed her fists against it as hard as she could.
"Sanctuary, please give us sanctuary!"
She screeched then ducked as an arrow slammed into the wood, only inches away from her head. She began to run down the steps, maybe if she could reach the harbor...then her boot slipped off the step and she plunged down, smashing her temple against the corner of the steps.
Lord General Ross reined in his stallion next to the woman's prone body and he heard a tiny whimper coming from her. Then his eyes widened as he saw the woman's bundle twitch. He bent down and lifted it from the ground, uncovering its head and then gasping. The little boy had curly hair hair and freckles but his eyes were completely white, no pupil, no iris just...nothing.
"A monster...devil eyes..."
He gasped and rode over to a stone well, lifting the baby high above it, ready for it to drop.
"I will send you back to the hell of which you came."
He snarled, and was startled by a young man's voice coming from the church as the doors flew open.
"STOP!"
The altar boy screeched as he went to kneel by the dead boy of the young gypsy woman, taking her broken body into his arms and holding the still warm corpse to his chest.
"Look at the innocent blood you have spilt on the steps of Notre Dame!"
He roared, glaring at Ross with murderous intent as he held the dead woman.
"I did nothing wrong, she ran and I pursued."
Ross defended but even his voice sounded small and insignificance in comparison to the Altar boy's.
"Now you would add this child's blood to your guilt on the steps of Notre Dame!?"
The altar boy yelled and Ross looked at the toddler in his arms, eyes alight with guilt as he threw the baby to the ground, it landed softly in a snowbank.
"My conscience is clear!"
Ross wailed but the boy shook his head, eyes wide with anger as he hurried to the child and brushed the snow from his face and blanket, yet the boy was still shivering.
"You can lie to yourself and your minion, you can claim that you haven't a qualm. But you never can run from...Nor hide what you've done from the eyes...The very eyes of Notre Dame!"
The Altar boy shrieked and Ross' eyes widened in fear as he looked at the statues surrounding the chapel.
'And for one time in his life, of power and control...Ross felt a twinge of fear for his immortal soul...'
"W-What should I do?"
Ross whispered and the Altar boy shoved the wrapped toddler into his arms.
"Care for the child, and raise it as your own."
The altar boy snapped, and Ross' eyes widened in further in horror and embarrassment.
"What? I'm to be saddled with this blind...? Very well. Let him live with you, in your church."
Ross sighed and the altar boy's brows furrowed in confusion.
"Live here? Where?"
He asked and Ross stared at the blind child in his arms...then at the highest point in the chapel, the bell tower.
"Anywhere. Just so he's kept locked away, where no one else can see. The bell tower, perhaps. And who knows, our Lord works in mysterious ways...Even this foul creature may
Yet prove one day to be, of use to me..."
'And Ross gave the child a name...Robert.
He used a blindfold to hide the child's blind and hideous eyes.
Now here is a riddle to guess if you can
Sing the bells of Notre Dame
Who is the monster and who is the man?
Sing the bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells, bells, bells, bells
Bells of Notre Dame!'