Hey guys, just making a side note that anything about the structure of guard housing and such in this chapter is probably not historically accurate, i just needed it to be that way for the fun part at the end *wink wink*

The trip was not completely without incident however, as much as they wished it would be. Several hours after they had escaped from the Farmhouse with their captured Esmeralda, Clopin heard something behind them. On a sunnier day, maybe he wouldn't have, but the coming overcast made the sound carry further.

"It sounds like, a carriage?" Bellamy said.

"Don't be a fool. No Carriage driver would move that fast." Mailhairer said, looking behind them as well.

"Riders!" Clopin gasped.

They couldn't see them yet, but it was apparent now that it was indeed, riders.

"We have to hide her!" Clopin said hastily, looking around for a shrub, or a patch of forest. There was some maybe half a mile away, but he wasn't sure if they would make it there in time. The hills around them made it hard to know just which bend the riders were around. But the lack of forest was made up by the height of the grasses around them, which was just taller than Clopin's waist.

"The decline. We'll hide her right under their noses!" Mailhairer said, but he didn't look at all happy about the situation.

"What do you mean!?" Clopin said. Mailhairer rolled his eyes with a growl, and then grabbed Esmeralda by the wrist, but gently enough not to scare her. Then he started walking off the road, to where it dropped a little in the side of the hill. "Go further into the grass, but not too far." He told her. "Then lie down in a ball and stay very still."
Esmeralda looked at him in fear, then looked at Clopin.

"Go! Otherwise they'll take you back there." He said to her. She nodded, and disappeared into the grass. She was still small enough that she didn't disturb the grass enough to see a trail to where she would be.

"Wait, her footsteps!" Bellamy said, and looked around just as Clopin did. But there must have been more traffic on the roads than they had first thought, or the path was too gravelly to distinguish anything realistically.

"If they're just guards or soldiers without a ranger with them, they'll be blind as bats to it." Clopin said.

"We should pretend we're resting, then they'll be even more thrown off." Bellamy suggested.

"He makes a good point." Mailhairer agreed, and they quickly wandered to the opposite side of the road where Esmeralda was hiding. They shuffled up the incline of the hill, and found some stones protruding from the earth to sit on, and quickly brought out their food and water skins, laying them out quickly on the rocks.

It was a minute or two before the riders finally appeared on their hill, and by then Clopin, Bellamy and Mailhairer had calmed themselves, prepared to spin some pretty lies. When the approaching figures spotted the three men up from the path, they slowed, and stopped below them.

It was soldiers, two of them atop war coursers, lightly armoured. One was handsome, light brown hair that went past his shoulders and a well-built face, while the other looked like a Jaguar. Dark of skin and eyes with short-cropped hair, and was immediately suspicious of them.

"Bonjour!" Bellamy called to them.

"Bonjour." The handsome one replied curtly. "I'm sorry to disturb your meal, but we're going to have to ask you to get down here."

"Whatever for?" Clopin asked.

"We're looking for three Gypsy men who have kidnapped a craftsmen's daughter. Are any of you Monsieur Mailhairer?" said the jaguar.

"I am." Replied the owner of the name, but with a frown and cock of his head. "Kalman can't seriously think we took his daughter? I didn't even know he had one, and I've bought from him on other occasions."

"He's convinced you took her. Now get down here, Gypsies." Spat the handsome one.

Together the men sighed, and stood to make their way down, Clopin giving his staff to Mailhairer, who immediately took the role of a frail old man. Clopin tried to look weak, like people usually assumed about his thin form, and hunched his head slightly. Bellamy tried to look less bright, but moving his eyes around a lot and slightly swaying when they reached the road.

"What wrong with that one?" asked the jaguar, nodding towards Bellamy. Neither soldier got off his horse.

"Simple but strong." Clopin responded, twisting his mouth unpleasantly, though secretly he was trying not to laugh at how ridiculous Bellamy looked.

The handsome one snorted and shook his head with a smirk.
"Now, where is she?" he asked sternly.

"Why would we take a girl?" Clopin asked.

"Gypsies use them for all sorts of unpleasant entertainments." Replied the jaguar.

"Know many Gypsies, do you?" Mailhairer asked, and only received a glare. "Believe me, my good men, we have no idea where she is. We never even saw her. We slept in the barn, and our business with Kalman was short. We left several hours ago."

"Maybe you need some convincing to talk." Then the handsome soldier kicked out with a metal boot and caught Mailhairer in the chest, sending the old man backwards. Clopin managed to catch him by the underarms before he hit the ground. He threw his head up and yelled,

"Leave us alone! We know nothing!"

"Then where's the girl?"

"How do you even know the girl exists!? Kalman would use anything to get a pair of soldiers on our tail."

He saw the Jaguar soldier cock his head in consideration. "Look. The girl's not here, if she exists or not."

Bellamy kneeled slowly next to where Mailhairer was sitting below Clopin's legs, panting and grabbing at his chest.
"Mailhairer hurt." He said simply.

"Bastards." Clopin growled at the shining men.

The cruellest of the two held up a pointed finger. "Watch it gypsy. We'll let you go, but barely."

Clopin could have easily avoided the kick that came, that's how predictable it was, but he had to take the full blow to satisfy them, and make them go away.
It hurt, a lot. The boot caught him in the side of the head and sent him to the ground, yelling in pain. He didn't even hear them ride away, because his head was ringing and he had to keep his eyes shut against the pain. His teeth were gritted and his lips pulled back in a snarl as he gripped his head.

"Soldiers." He groaned.

"You brought this on us Clopin. Don't complain." Mailhairer said, fully recovered from the blow he received.

Is afraid to catch a cold, but he can take a kick to the chest? Clopin thought with a twisted smile.

Clopin pushed himself up to sitting position, his left arm keeping him upright, while still rubbing his head.

"He cut you." Bellamy said, bending down to remove Clopin's hand and look. "It won't need stitches, but we'll clean it anyway."

"We best get off the road first, before his pals decide to join the party." Clopin said, and gripped onto Bellamy's outstretched arm to help him get up. His head swam for a moment as he stood, but a few blinks later and he felt better.

They made their way back up to gather their possessions, poured some water on Clopin's cut, then went down again to look for the trouble maker.

It didn't take long. As soon as they got to the edge of the field, there was a flash of pink and black as she leaped from the grass, and suddenly Clopin's legs were being hugged by her.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry. I wanted to help but.. but.." She started sobbing gently, and Clopin clicked his tongue as he knelt and hugged her.

"No Esme. It was good you stayed hidden, or we would have been a lot worse off. This is only a scratch. You were a good girl."

"Why is my Papa looking for me, if you asked him to take me?" the girl said, rubbing her eyes.

He gulped. "He might have changed his mind. But it's too late for that now. I promised you we'd take you home."

"Home," she copied, like before. He took her hand, and they kept going.

The day grew and then aged, fading just as they reached the edge of Paris.

"We should take on of the back entrances in." Mailhairer said, seeing that there was still people still going about their business. Clopin tied his hair back like before while watching.

"But where's the fun in that? Mon Cherie has never seen Paris before. She at least deserves a taste before the festival."

Mailhairer shook his head. "It's a bad idea, Trouillefou."

"Well then you and Bellamy go down, and I'll show her around for a few minutes, then take the canal way in. We'll be quick as shadows!"
Bellamy gave a smile and shrugged at Mailhairer. Esmeralda was sitting on his muscular shoulder like a small cat, watching the conversation while chewing on a finger-nail.

"He does what he wants, Mailhairer." He said.

"Fine." The older gentleman spat, then walked in the direction of one of the many back entrances. Clopin reached up and grabbed Esmeralda around the waist, lifting her off Bellamy's shoulder, and sitting her on his hip.

"At least be careful Clopin." Said his friend.

"I swear we'll be right behind you." Clopin reassured, then he put Esmeralda down and started walking towards the streets of the city.

At first there was just houses, and Clopin pointed out the ones of informers he got information from. They were the key to staying out of the clutches of the evil Frollo.

He told her of how the old Priest wanted all Gypsies exterminated or banished, and pointed to the Church of Notre Dame.

"Six years ago, he threw a woman down while in pursuit and accidently killed her on the very steps of our Notre Dame, and was straddled with the child she was carrying to make up for the blood he had spilled." He said.

"Have you ever seen it?" Esmeralda asked. He picked her up and put her on his back, to jump across some of the larger puddles.

"The child? No. Frollo keeps him locked up in the bell tower, because it's said he's hideously ugly."

The girl frowned. "That's mean."

Clopin nodded once. "He's a cruel man. If you ever see him, hide, you hear?"

"Yes." She said.

From there, he showed her the river, and some of the parks, and climbed trees with her while counting stars.

When she started to yawn, and Clopin could feel his weariness grow as well from the trip, he suggested that he finally take her home.

"Paris is wonderful." She said dreamily, though she half-yawned at the same time she said it.

"It is, Cherie Esme. It's sad we have to live underneath it."

He carried her the whole way out to the canal, and, hiding from some night patrol guards, opened the grating which led to the tunnels to the Court of Miracles.

"Remember what I said about showing anyone the way in?" he asked, as he pulled the grating closed behind them.

"To not show anyone?" She said, her head tilted. He smiled and rubbed the top of her head affectionately.

"Very good."

He lit a torch from his bag and took them deep into the gloom beneath the city of Paris.

"Eww, it smells funny." Esmeralda laughed, while grabbing her nose.

"It's not as bad where we stay." He replied with his own snigger, and put a hand on her shoulder as he led her in. It was many turns and twists before they started seeing skeletons, and many more bends and twists before one them came alive.

Esme gave a scream and hid her face in Clopin's leg when she saw the skeleton move. She held on even tighter as it laughed.

"So, Mailhairer wasn't pulling our leg bones, you really did rescue another one didn't you?" it asked, and pulled the skeletal mask away to reveal a great moustache and a few gold teeth set into a hard face.

"He's not going to hurt you Esme." Clopin said, sounding as friendly as he could. "He just watches for unfriendly people who try to get in to our home."
She didn't look at first, but then slowly turned her face away from his leg and looked at the man. He sat down on the cold floor in front of her, and removed his skeleton gloves, and held out one of his hands.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, little one." He said. "I'm really not that bad."

"He's one of our repair men, Esme." Clopin explained. She looked up at him uncertainly, and back at the man. "Go on, he won't bite."

Esmeralda stepped away from him, letting go of his leg, and putting her tiny hand in the scouts huge, calloused ones.

"Ohhhh my, you will be a stunning picture, won't you Cherie?" he said. "A dancer for sure."

"You read my mind." Clopin said, leaning back against the wall, with a fist on his hip.

"Who do you plan giving her to?" he asked, and Esme suddenly pulled her hand away, stepping back.

"It's okay little one." Clopin said. "I'm taking her in myself, Monsieur."

"You always should have had a younger sister." The man agreed with a smile. Esmeralda, assured that she wasn't in any danger of being handed over to anyone else, relaxed again.

"Come along Esme, it's past any one's respectable bed time." Clopin said, and held out a hand. She took it, and waved goodbye to the scout with a toothy smile.

The camp was quiet when they entered. Barely any shadow stirred as they weaved their way through stalls and tents and past work benches or clothes lines. The roof of the catacombs was high, high above their heads, and you could have been fooled into thinking it was the night sky directly above them. Sometimes Clopin would catch fireflies in their mating season and release them here, so that they glowed at night.

"Where is everyone?" she asked in a whisper.

"Asleep in their tents. We'll be soon as well. In the morning, I'll take you up to the square and we can have a wash. And we'll get you some real clothes."

"Will they be like yours?"

"God heavens no. We'll give you real gypsy colours. I think white and green would suit you." Clopin yawned, then licked his lips as his eyes drooped. "but that's for the morning."

He was surprised to find a small warm light coming from his tent when they reached it.

"Wait here." He said to Esmeralda, the went inside alone to see who the company was.

Suzette was asleep on his mattress, wearing clothes, to Clopin's gratefulness. He shook her shoulder softly, and she awoke immediately.

"Clopin!" She said softly with a smile. He kissed her, then said,

"I'm not sure if your father told you, but-,"

"You brought back a little girl. He did." She crawled out of his bed. "Come on, show her to me!" She said, too excited than any person who just woke up ought to have been. He smiled, and kissed her softly again, then opened his tent door again and said,

"You can come in Esme."

She entered tentatively, like a wary kitten, that some of the other children would adopt and train to do tricks.

Suzette practically gasped.
"God, she's gorgeous."

Clopin went down onto one knee in front of his little prize.
"Esme, this is Suzette."

Esmeralda stared at the woman, then smiled. She whispered to Clopin,
"She's pretty."

Clopin laughed quietly, and whispered back, "Yes, she is isn't she?"

"I've got something for you, little one." Suzette said, then went over to one of Clopin's chests and brought out something from within.
It was a simple dress of green, clearly temporary, but it was far better than what the girl was wearing at the moment. Esmeralda stared at it.

"That's…for me?" She asked quietly.

Suzette nodded. "I brought a bucket of water for you too, to clean you up."

"You thought far ahead of me, my darling." Clopin said with a quiet chuckle.

"Of course I did. I'm a woman. Come here, we'll get you cleaned up. Then it's your turn Clopin." She said.

Suzette took Esmeralda behind some curtain's, and there was the quiet sounds of dripping water and Esmeralda's giggles and comments on how cold the water was.
Clopin listened fondly as he removed his own clothes until he was back into his purple stockings and a loose cotton long-sleeved shirt. He usually wore the matching purple and blue shirt and short-cloak in the day, but he couldn't be bothered finding them in the arrayed arrangement of his tent. These had been sitting on his bed already, another favour by Suzette he suspected.

When the two girls emerged again, Esmeralda looked a lot cleaner, and her hair shone after thorough drying. Suzette had re-tied the pink ribbon into her hair.
"You're turn." Suzette told him. He went behind the curtain, removed his clothes again and washed himself down as much as he could. When he made his way out again, with his pants and shirt on, Esmeralda and Suzette were already asleep on his bed.

He sighed happily, and his heart warmed when he saw Esmeralda holding his gold earring in her tiny, delicate hand. He carefully pried it from her fingers and put it in his left ear, where it belonged. He found space on the bed beside Esmeralda, which huddled her between him and Suzette.

He blew out the candle, and whispered to them,

"Sweet dreams."

A tiny voice responded. "Goodnight." Esmeralda giggled to herself, and he poked her gently with a smile, then wrapped his arms around her and Suzette, and within moments was asleep.

_3 years later _

Blue early morning light came through the grate openings high in the roof above the Gypsy camp, hidden beneath the city. The bells of Notre Dame had not yelled tolled for the morning to wake up the residents, and few people were awake. But one soul was lividly bright eyed this morning, and crawled out of her tent, and creeped towards another's tent, much larger than her own. Inside, there was masks hanging on racks, cloth and clothing thrown onto benches or over chests. Thick linen covered thin wooden boards to keep the moisture below, and she had to creep very carefully to not make a sound.

At the furthest side of the tent was a small bed, with more bits of wood underneath to keep it even high off the ground to be extra sure to keep it from ruining the mattress. A figure was laid out among some light blankets, and above their head hung a large purple hat with a huge yellow feather sticking from it.

The girl sneered mischievously and tip-toed up to the bed.
Clopin was lying on his side with his head resting on his upper arm, while his forearm and hand rested strangely upwards. There was no Suzette with him this time, but she was there as often as not. The weather had gotten warmer, so he didn't wear a shirt, and there were some small scars on his sides and arms in his tan skin from arrows and lances narrowly missing him. Esmeralda had seen him dodge them like a dancer on moonlight, smiling as he did so.

She crawled up to his side, and whispered near his ear that had a shining gold ring in it,
"Clopin. Psst."

When he didn't move, she crawled up until she was hands and knees on his rib-cage.
"Clopin! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" she shoved him every time she said it, and he started moaning in his sleep from the disturbance.

"Esme, go back to sleep." He muttered, shifting his arm, only slightly opening his eye. She sighed, and flopped onto her back on top of him.

"I just can't. Djali's awake, so I'm awake, so we have to play!" she said dramatically.

"Go play with Djali then!" Clopin said, amused, and gently elbowed her off him and back onto the floor. She landed on her bottom with a 'humph'.

She pouted, thinking, then gasped as an idea came to her. She crawled back up onto his side, much to his muttered annoyance, and then opened his left eye against his will.

The she said in a sing song voice, "Do you wanna make some flash bombs?"

He smiled, and opened his eyes, looking at her knowingly.

She giggled, and jumped off as Clopin grabbed his purple shirt and short-cloak, put on his hat and gloves, then raced outside with Esmeralda leading him by the hand. They went to Apothecary's cart, who not only made medicines and potions, but was wonderful at making the powders they used in acts for all sorts of things, from disappearing on stage, to changing the colours of fire.

She had a lock on the cabinet which held the most explosive ones, but Clopin knew where she stashed the key, and had it opened in no time. Grabbing a few small canisters, some twine and a few of the powders, they locked the cabinet again, and giggled in the morning light as they ran to one of their favourite hiding places in the catacombs.

This hiding spot had a smaller grate above them, which let in the light from outside, and was perfect to make the flash-bombs. Using a torch like they normally do in the tunnels was dangerous when working with these powders.

Esmeralda watched carefully as Clopin measured out the powders and poured the correct amount into the wooden canisters, then carved a small hole into each of the canister lids with a dagger he kept at his side. The hole was only big enough to fit the twine in and not spill any of the powder inside. The lids took a bit of forcing to get on; they were designed so that medicinal powders and such didn't fall out, which made them perfect.

Clopin hadn't done this for a few months, because it did cost the Apothecary cart in supplies, but he'd find a way to pay her back. Besides, the soldiers had turned nasty again once the Feast of Fools had ended several months ago. It had been Esmeralda's third Feat of Fools, and she was bringing home more money with each year. She was nine, but already good with ribbons and a smooth dancer. Clopin didn't want her doing too much acrobatics at this point in her life because she was still growing, and it could hurt her, but her simplest movements were enough to make the women take a liking to her and the men appreciate the skill. She and the other children had been teaching Djali to dance as well, and he practically followed Esme everywhere.

"That should do it." Clopin said, fixing the lid on the fourth and last one.

"Where are we going to put them this time?" Esmeralda asked.

"Hmm," Clopin put a finger to his lips as he thought. "Oh, I know!" he said with a snap of his gloved fingers. "Their sleeping quarters! It'll be a lovely bonjour to them." He said. You'd think at 21 that he would have matured a little, but you'd be wrong.

Esmeralda laughed, and that was all the confirmation he needed. He stashed the canisters into a hidden pocket of his clothes, then led Esmeralda out of the tunnels.
It was hard moving the cemetery stone on his own. He was strong, but not that strong, and the lack of Bellamy to help was a regrettable move. But he managed, and put it back into place. Panting, he then looked around to make absolutely sure that there was no one else around, and the two like thieves snuck from the cemetery and slithered through the shadowy, stony streets of Paris. They avoided any geese of the houses, and quickly hid as some tired and bored guards rode their way past on tired and bored horses.

It was easy getting to the guard house, especially with the lack of guards it had. For who would dare attack the guards themselves? In their own housing, so close to the rich part of town?

Well, two trouble-making Gypsies of course, but they didn't know that.

Clopin unlocked a window high above the street with his knife which led to the corridors of the housing where the guards slept, were fed and trained. It creaked a little as he opened it, and he paused, and looked alarmingly to where Esmeralda was. She had heard it to, and quickly hid behind a wall.

Good girl. She's learnt so much.

He waited, but then nodded to himself that it was safe, and peered inside the window, side to side. They had to move quickly, in case someone was up and about at this time of morning. He waved Esme over, and she ran quickly to him, then scrambled up the side of the wall, sometimes needing to jump to get to hand-holds. No normal person could have made the climb, but luckily Gypsies were workers of magic, and Esme still had small enough hands to grab onto things that adults normally wouldn't be able to.

Clopin grabbed her arm in a monkey grip, and lowered her inside the corridor, jumping in after her with a somersault. Sticking to the sides, they made their way to the heavy wooden doors of the rooms where the guards slept three or four to a large room. These weren't locked thankfully, and Clopin just had to move the iron bars and pull it open enough to let Esmeralda in with one of the bombs in hand, and then they moved onto the next rooms and did the same. The twine they had used was long, so they lit each one, and still had enough time to close the doors, run out into the corridor and climb back through the window.

They were down in the street and hiding behind a chicken coop when the first one finally went off. They could hear it from where they were, and the bang was followed by three more in perfect intervals. There was shouting and bells ringing, as Clopin and Esmeralda laughed and laughed until they were rolling on the ground, struggling to breath.

"We should get back, before we get found." Clopin wheezed, rubbing his eyes from tears of laughter, his cheeks hurting from grinning so much.

When they returned home, the sun was starting to come up, and Clopin was quickly found by the Apothecary who grabbed him by the hair and hit him with a spoon several times with a strange brutality for someone who made things to heal injury. She was about to do the same to Esmeralda, but Clopin stopped her.

"Leave her, it was all me." He said, trying not to smile despite the multiple bruises.

"You owe me all that equipment back Trouillefou!" she screeched, then turned away from them.

When news got out that there had been an attack on several guards, and that some of them would never see properly again, all the gypsies looked at Clopin. He had to hide Esmeralda with Suzette for a little while, as the worst tempered ones yelled at him about lack of responsibility and putting their people in worse danger, and he had to dodge a few slaps. He had taken the spoon attack by the Apothecary because he had taken her resources, but he wasn't willing to take anything from anyone else.
But as many who were mad at him for it, there were even more who clapped him on the back and laughed about it, giving him winks of approval. He would tell these ones that it had all been Esmeralda's idea, and as a result, she got a few treats from people like Landers, who gave her a chocolate he had been saving for himself, but said she deserved it. She had said she didn't want to take his treat if he'd been saving it, and in the end they shared it.

Even weeks after, the guards were either more cruel or more wary of the Gypsies, and no matter how many that attempted to arrest Clopin as he played the mandolin in the street as Esmeralda danced, or how many who would even manage to knock him into walls before he slipped away, he would have done it all again just to see his little Esme laugh like the day they had done it.