The crowd was growing bored with Pierre Gringoirre's play and starting to boo him. They wanted action; they wanted some sort of fight.
Then, he heard the music.
He glanced up.
He saw two women on the platform. One had a tambourine and was dancing. The other stood off to the side and was playing an unfamiliar instrument. A little wheat-colored dog stood on her hind legs and moved her front ones to look like she was dancing. Children "ooh"ed and "ah"ed over the little creature and the white goat. Both adults and children alike were enjoying the music and the dancing. Men looked appreciatively at the dancing girl.
"What a beautiful creature! I shall write her a sonnet!" Pierre announced.
"Should we continue?" one of the actors asked.
They had no crowd left. Everyone onstage knew it was a futile effort to recapture their attention when they had something so beautiful and lively to look at.
"Attention, everybody! It is time to crown the King of Fools!"
The crowd was drawn away from Esmeralda, then, too.
She and Dawn began to collect the coins. Dawn had lain her case open and she examined the glittering coins against the black canvas. Esmeralda gathered up the ones in her tambourine. The ones that had not made it to a select vessel were counted up and divided equally. Out of fairness, Dawn dropped some of hers into the gypsy king's hand. He chuckled sinisterly and stuffed them into his pouch. Then, he kissed Dawn's hand (much to her disgust).
"My lady," he said, grinning, "you may come and play your instrument with us ANYTIME you like!"
"I'll keep that in mind," she said, waiting until his head was turned to wipe the back of her hand on her skirt.
"Didn't I tell you that she'd be a success?" Shadow asked Clopin.
"That you did," he sighed contentedly, "I hope she stays."
Esmeralda was still gathering up her own coins when the guards rushed forward.
"Arrest her!"
Dawn had just pulled the strap of the guitar case over her shoulder when she was grabbed, too.
"HEY!" she snapped.
"You were warned, and now you will pay for it!"
"You sleazy son-of-a-"
Everyone gasped in hearing how Dawn addressed this supposed "man of God".
"We didn't do ANYTHING wrong and you know it!" she snapped.
"Let's go," the cleric said to the guards.
They were dragged towards the cathedral. There was some kind of chaos going on a little further up, but Dawn didn't see what it was about.
Squishie trotted beside her master, not understanding what was going on. She growled a few times, but Dawn hissed at her to shut up. She didn't want Squishie getting hurt.
The cathedral loomed ahead. Dawn recognized it immediately; the architecture had been replicated many times in movies and was famous. The pain in the butt cleric walked in front of all of them.
She saw the blonde-haired priest, the one that she thought was attractive. He talked to the one she didn't like for a couple of minutes, then the blonde-haired priest came up to them.
Esmeralda, of course, fell apart.
"Have mercy, I have listened! I told them we'd get arrested!"
She dropped to her knees and grabbed handfuls of his cassock. Dawn made a face and didn't move.
Smooth…
"Get up," he said firmly.
She continued to plead.
"I said get up!" his tone was sharp. She finally got the message and stood.
"Is it so terrible to dance in the streets?"
"You take me for a fool," he spat, "there is a demon, a demon that speaks through your lips!"
"Not hers," Dawn commented, "his, maybe."
She tipped her head towards the other cleric. He lunged forward, but the blonde priest's hand stopped him.
What was his name from the book? What was it…something that started with the letter C…
"You," he said, addressing Dawn, "quiet! I'll deal with you in just a moment!"
Dawn made a face, but she didn't say anything. She was too busy trying to figure out who the blonde priest was.
Cass…Cap…Claus…Corey…no, that last one's Scottish…uh…Claude…wait, that's it! Claude! His name was Claude something. Well, at least I know what to call him.
"I swear by all that's Holy, I've never harmed anyone! Please, let me go!"
Esmeralda was near tears. Though this might have worked the first time, Dawn doubted it would a second time.
"Let you go? Do you know what will happen if you leave this cathedral? You will be taken straight to the Bastille. I am afraid there is no hope for you. Unless…"
He looked around for a second as if making sure that no one else could hear. Leaning in like a close friend about to share a secret, he said, "here, you may claim sanctuary. The courts, the magistrates…they can't touch you here."
"But how could I live here?" Esmeralda asked.
"In the bell tower, there is a place for you to sleep. I will see that you are cared for…I will pray for you."
She breathed a sigh of relief and her shoulders relaxed vividly. Then, he walked over to Dawn. The guards who had held them both were now retreating out the doors. Dawn hoped that nobody noticed Squishie, who was cowering behind Dawn.
"What do you have to say for yourself?" he asked sternly, as though about to scold a child.
Dawn knew to choose her words carefully. The priest, Claude, might not be so lenient on her as he had been for Esmeralda.
"Nobody told me it was against the law to play my guitar," Dawn told him, "like she said, we were just earning a living. Some people are doctors, lawyers, bakers, and I happen to be a musician and an artist. I've tried a lot of other stuff and I'm no good at it. Being an artist is kind of my way of life, just like being a priest is a way of life for you."
"She is-" the other priest started to say, but Claude cut him off with a raised hand.
"Joseph…I'm sure you have more important things to take care of. Why don't you go tend to them? I can take care of this myself."
The one he had called "Joseph" sent Dawn a withering look and retreated.
"No offense, really," Dawn sighed, "but that guy is a royal pain."
For a split second, he looked as though he agreed with her. The mask of sternness returned quickly.
"What was your name again? Dawn?"
She nodded.
"While everyone has the right to disagree, you should pick your battles more wisely. I don't know what your customs are where you come from, but here, women should not dance and sing in the streets. It's not becoming to them and it puts others at risk for developing sinful thoughts."
He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. Dawn had to force herself to remember that people of this era thought about things differently.
"So…how much trouble am I in?" she ventured a smile.
"You may claim sanctuary here as Esmeralda did."
She shrugged.
"All right…beats being arrested. Everybody says a trip to France is nothing without visiting Notre Dame anyway."
He turned and she took this as her cue to follow him.
"Come," he said to Esmeralda.
Both women followed him up the stairs.
There were three little niches in the bell tower. Two of them were vacant, one of them was where Quasimodo must stay. Dawn finally saw him for the first time. Dawn guessed that Claude finding out about the King of Fools thing had already taken place, for the poor, misshapen creature retreated quickly.
"You may stay over there," he said, gesturing to one of the "rooms". Dawn eased the guitar off of her shoulder and set it down. While she was doing that, Claude led Esmeralda to the other "room".
"There now, you see? A room of your own," he said.
Dawn felt slightly guilty for eavesdropping, but she couldn't help herself.
"We will be good…to each other," he said pointedly, raising a hand to touch Esmeralda's hair.
The tension was so heavy in the air that it filled the small area like a thick fog.
Oh, dude, no! Dawn thought.
He touched her cheek and his breath grew ragged.
"You are very pleasing, Esmeralda," he whispered, voice growing thick with lust.
Of course, that freaked her out and she ran for the door.
"Don't be a fool! Don't you realize that I am your salvation?"
She bolted.
Forgetting about Dawn being there entirely, Claude ran towards Quasimodo.
"Bring! Her! Back!" he snapped. Quasimodo ran down the stairs after her.
Dawn ventured out of her hiding spot.
"Smooth," she teased, "kidnapping her's really going to warm her up towards you."
Claude sent Dawn a look that could have frozen blood.
"You will tell no one about this," he hissed, "no one."
Dawn shrugged.
"What you do in your love life or lack thereof is your business," she said calmly, "I was just going to tell you that there's a better, easier way to handle this. He's not going to catch her, you know. He's going to get in trouble and she's going to-"
She stopped, realizing that she was predicting the future from the original story.
He stared at her as if he'd seen a ghost.
"Never mind," Dawn said sheepishly, turning to walk away from him.
He seized her arm and pinned her against the wall.
"Are you a witch? Tell me the truth!"
"No," Dawn grunted, wishing he'd not squeeze her so hard, "I swear…"
He thought for a moment. There had been people who could give prophecies in the old texts…maybe she was one of them.
Then again…
He decided to give her a chance. Maybe it was lust for Esmeralda clouding his mind, maybe it was fear. Either way, he would have just ordinarily had someone like Dawn dragged outside and killed.
Very carefully, he eased his grip on her. She glared at him and rubbed her arm.
"You are a prophetess, then?"
"A what?"
"A prophetess. A woman who can predict the future. One who receives messages from God."
Dawn thought that over. It seemed to be a loaded question.
"I don't know…I've never done it before," she admitted.
Because I've never landed in a universe where a book I read was reality…
He released her completely.
"What about Quasimodo?" he prompted from earlier.
"I'll tell you on a couple of conditions," Dawn said in her "let's make a deal" voice.
He waited.
"First, I don't want your little priest buddies arresting me and Esmeralda every five seconds. In fact, I want us both to have complete immunity."
"I don't know if I can promise that."
"Then I can't tell you."
He drew in a sharp breath of frustration.
"Fine! I cannot promise complete immunity from the law because I don't have that power. But I can promise you that I'll do my best to protect you both! What else do you want?"
"My other request is that we get a little respect. Quite frankly, I don't appreciate the way women are treated in general around here. I want you to talk to us like equals and treat us like you would want yourself to be treated."
"I will try. Now, what about Quasimodo?"
"He's probably gotten arrested right about now," Dawn said, shutting her eyes, trying to remember, "the captain of the Royal Archers…Phoebus, I think is his name, intervened right when Quasimodo grabbed Esmeralda. Esmeralda's going to fall in love with Captain Phoebus and Quasimodo's going to get a beating and be turned on that funny-looking wheel thing so that people can humiliate him."
It was a bizarre prediction to say the least, but only time would tell if this girl was right or not. She could tell he didn't believe her entirely.
"Let her go," Dawn said finally, "she's going to be nothing but trouble for you."
"We shall see tomorrow whether you are real or not," Claude said finally, clearly having had enough for tonight. He turned on his heel and left.
Squishie scratched on Dawn's leg, wanting to be picked up. Dawn hoisted the dog up into her arms and kissed the top of her fuzzy head.
"Well at least you believe me," Dawn said affectionately.
Squishie licked her cheek.
