Christina Ch 7

With Javert tied up to the post and Erik passed out, Nadir turned his attention to Erik's wound and finally got the bleeding under control and got him bandaged up. He sat back on his heels and took a deep breath before studying and then approaching Constantino, "Why did you come here tonight? What was your motive? Are you not a gypsy like the others?"

Constantino was still sitting on the chair, leaning over and holding his arm. He looked up at the Persian with fear in his eyes, unsure of what was about to happen or what this foreigner's role was in all of this, and answered , "I came to help … him," he said, indicating Erik. "I followed Javert because he was bragging about how he was going to kill 'that devil'. He figured out who he was and I was afraid that he would kill him, so I followed to try to stop him."

"You did what? Traitor! You worm! You did that to me? To Javert?" Javert choked out angrily.

"Why?" asked Nadir, ignoring the gypsy leader choking on Erik's Punjab lasso.

"Because I owed him my life. It was a debt I needed to repay. "

"You owe me everything! I saved you! You ungrateful dog! You marime'!" Javert choked out.

Constantino turned on Javert, "You?! You stole me from my family – killed them. I have hated you all my life and prayed for the day when I could revenge their deaths! You killed my sister when she was carrying your child! What sort of monster does such a heinous thing? And then you kept me as a slave. Tell me, what is it exactly that I owe you for, eh?"

"We were both on our guard for your attack tonight," Nadir told him. "Fortunately, Erik was able to fend off Javert's attack before I could even respond."

Constantino looked up, questioning, "Erik? Is that his name?"

"Yes." Nadir laid his hand on Constantino's shoulder and asked almost casually, "How's your shoulder doing?"

"You can't trust him, fool! He's not one of us. He isn't even a Christian, Tino. He's an Infidel! A Persian dog!" Javert snarled, trying to somehow twist free of his bindings, causing them to tighten even more.

Constantino ignored him and looked over at his shoulder and shook his head, "It hurts… YAGH!" and he screamed as Nadir re-set his shoulder with a sudden jerk to his arm. "Are you CRAZY? What was that for? I oughta…" And he stood, putting up both fists, ready for a fight while Nadir didn't react, just watched, waiting, with a slight smile. Suddenly Constantino looked down at his fists, then at his arm and looked up at Nadir, "Hey! That was good! It feels better! Thank you!"

Nadir nodded to him and helped him get his arm into a sling. "You need to rest the muscles for a few days, but I must admit that I did have ulterior motives for helping you."

Constantino looked at him, questioning, "Oh?"

"Yes. I need your help to carry our friend into the bedroom."

Javert snorted at them.

Constantino glared at Javert before turning to Nadir, "Gladly. What do you need?"

Despite a few moans from him, they gently tied the corners at the top and the bottom of the blanket Erik was on into a knot, then lifted the knots onto their shoulders and half carried-half slid Erik into Christina's bedroom and lifted him up onto the bed. Erik woke as they were lifting him and moaned, asked, "Persian, now what have you found to cause me more pain?" (He tried to sound fierce but was too weak to pull it off and sounded more delirious than anything else.)

"You complain too much, Doostam. We're just getting you settled here in a bed."

"Ugh." and he drifted back into a shallow, uneasy sleep.

Nadir was just checking his bandages one more time when Christina came into the room and stopped short upon seeing Erik in the bed, looking so pale and helpless, almost …. She put one hand across her mouth and let out a small cry. "Is he…?"

Nadir looked at her and frowned in concern for her, "He'll be alright. He's lost a lot of blood, but he should be fine in a few days."

She sank down onto the floor with her head in her hands, weeping, "Oh! I was …so… afraid…"

He rested a hand on her shoulder, "He'll be fine. He's survived much worse, believe me. Would you like a chair or some cushions? Or maybe the duvet from outside your door? You and Erik seem to have devised some rather, er, unique? sleeping arrangements," he said with a smirk.

"It was his idea, to keep the gypsies and Raoul from coming in here at night."

"Raoul?" asked Nadir, "That is your fiancé?"

"Yes… No, not anymore. He's out in the stable, 'protecting' the horses and plotting our escape. He grows less rational every day. Less reliable. I don't think I even like him anymore. Erik has been so protective of me while we've been stuck here."

"Hmm, Erik is a very gallant gentleman, when he wants to be."

"Persian, will you just shut up for once or talk elsewhere? You're worse than an old washerwoman!"

Nadir looked at Constantino and Christina and smirked, "He also has trouble accepting compliments."

"Out! Get out!"

Nadir turned to Christina and said quietly, "There is medicine in the glass on the table. See that he drinks a little each time he wakes up. It will help him to rest."

She nodded, "I will. Thank you."

"For what? He is my friend; I could do no less." And he bowed to her and left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.

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Out in the parlor, Constantino was restless, pacing back and forth, from time to time studying Javert, each of them glaring at the other.

Nadir paused a moment after leaving Erik, studying Constantino, before saying, "Come. We need to move him to the barn."

"Hah!" Javert taunted. "You will need to release me to do that!"

"Of course we will," Nadir smiled at him congenially before clocking him. "See how easy that was?"

While he was unconscious they carried him to the barn and strung him up in the same way out there and returned to the parlor to deal with Stephan's body. They dragged Stephan out into the snow, with Nadir telling him, "We won't have to lift him as we did Erik, and the snow should do well enough to preserve his remains until other arrangements can be made."

When they were back inside Constantino studied Nadir for a few moments before asking, "Who are you? How did you get here in all this snow? You are much stronger than you look. Where are you from? You don't look like you're from anywhere around here."

Nadir grinned and explained how he and Erik had traveled from Tehran together, fleeing from the shah, and become stranded by the early storm, then asked, "And what about yourself? How is it a Catalonian is traveling in company of gypsies across the mountains of Switzerland?"

" I was born on the shores of the Mediterranean," answered Constantino. " I was the youngest of seven children. My family had been fishing, raising sheep, tending our olive trees from time immemorial. The neighbors called my father 'el Morro', because like me, he had olive skin, a large nose and jet black hair. Only his eyes were light. Of all my brothers I resembled him the most.

"As the youngest child, I was my mother's favorite. She babied me over all her other children. She used to hold me tightly and was reluctant to let me go and play with my older brothers and sisters. I wonder if a part of her truly anticipated my horrid fate?

"She told me that she had named me Constantino after the great Roman Emperor who brought Christianity to the Pagan Romans. I later thought that perhaps I was supposed to do the same for the gypsies even though they were nominally Christian. Javert was one of the cruelest men that I ever met.

"When I was very little, maybe 7 years old, our family farm was raided by gypsies. My parents and older brothers were killed and my sister and I were taken captive. Javert took my sister as a wife, but she later died in childbirth. He kept me as a servant. He was a pig!"

"I never forgot that boy who was treated even more poorly than me. They called the boy 'The Devil's Child' but he was never that for me. His only fault was that he had a terrible deformity that made his face look like that of a corpse but he was the brightest person that I ever met.

"At first, like everyone else I was petrified of him. He seemed to embody his name but one day I had been hurt badly and was on the verge of death. The gypsy healer was gone so they brought me to him. I turned away from him in horror and he only looked back at me sadly and started speaking to me in my own language of Catalan and soothed me. I had not heard my language since they stole me from my family. Yet he spoke it with barely an accent and his voice was so beautiful and melodic. I could not help but relax and let him tend to me. He saved my life and from there on out I would sneak away when I could and we would keep one another company. I would tell him about the gentle sound of the sea lapping against the side of the pier where we kept our fishing boat, and about the olive trees that had nurtured my family for 1000 years.

"He promised me that some day he would rescue me so I could see my mama one more time, and that she would hold me in her arms. I asked him about his family and he just turned away tearfully and explained that his father had died a few years after he was born and that his mother had never loved him so he ran away to give her peace. I smiled at him and reached through the bars of his cage and promised that if he would try to rescue me that I would take him to my home and we would adopt him as one of our own. He asked me hopefully, 'Do you mean it?' I replied, 'Of course I do.' From there on out we were not only friends but brothers because we both had suffered like brothers. A short time later he attempted to kill Javert and had to run away because the gendarmes were after him.

"I had been out picking pockets with my gypsy captors when it happened and did not get back in time before he left. He was gone and I remained a prisoner of the gypsies. Over the years I wondered what had happened to my old friend and brother. I think that this man who we have encountered is him. He is in disguise but his voice it is the same one just older sounding than the boy who ran away. The boy who was my brother in suffering."

"I owe him my life. I couldn't let Javert kill him."

"I am quite sure that he will consider your debt paid, but that is something you must discuss with him. For now, we need to let the horses out for some exercise."

Constantino looked at Nadir, his eyes filled with questions, "Of course, but horses? In this ?"

Nadir smirked, "You'll see!"

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Christina heard some noises near her head and jerked awake to find Erik trying to sit up. She jumped to her feet and gently urged him back to lying down. He was reaching for something and she looked around… a can! Oh! I can't do this! He would be so embarrassed! She brought the can to him and looked from it to him, unsure of what to do.

"Just give it to me, under the covers," he told her weakly.

She worked it under the covers until she felt his hand grab hold of it (at least she hoped it was his hand she felt! It was so cold!) then stood back and waited. When he was done, she put the top back on the little can and set it against the wall before taking a wash cloth to wipe his hands. He looked so weak. Just that little task had taken most of his energy.

"Do you think you can drink some of this?" as she held the glass with the medicine to his lips.

He nodded slightly and she raised him up enough that he could drink. "Could I have some water?"

"Of course!" and she got him a glass of water and helped him to drink some of it.

"Nadir? Where is he? He should be here. Not you."

"He and Constantino had to see to Javert."

"Raoul?"

She looked down at her hands, "I don't know, maybe in the barn. I haven't seen him since last night." And I hope I don't see him again, she thought. He was a coward not to come to Erik's assistance and a coward not to show his face around after he'd been injured!

"Don't you think you should talk to him? He's probably worried about you." He turned his head slightly away, "I would be."

She caught her breath and looked at him hopefully, then shook her head, "I'm afraid the only thing he's worried about is what his mother and friends will say. He doesn't think much of me anymore. He told me I was common, contaminated, that I was only a curiosity to show off to his friends. And after what my poor Tante has had to endure… how can I ever go home again? I am so ashamed!" She couldn't believe that tears began to fall, and right in front of Erik! She quickly wiped them away. "He says I am a fallen woman, and now have no hope of finding an honorable husband for my family. No man will take a woman who has been disgraced and left wandering across the country with no escort and no husband. How can I ever face my father?" More tears were now falling, despite her efforts to wipe them away.

"You have no reason to be ashamed. He doesn't understand."

She looked up, "What doesn't he understand?"

"You." He weakly patted the side of the bed, "Come sit here so I don't have to talk so loud. Please."

She sat near him and studied him, his eyes heavy and weary, yet intense, beautiful deep aqua. She thought , After all this man has gone through, he can still be pleasant, even gallant, with me! Why couldn't my engagement have been to someone like him?

He rested his hand on top of hers where she'd set it on the bed. His hand was cold so she put her other hand on top to try to warm his. His hand is so strong and his fingers are so delicate and long. I wonder how it would feel to have his hands caressing my skin?

"He doesn't understand what a wonderful person you are. He doesn't appreciate all the beautiful and lively things you could bring to a relationship." He grasped her had within the warm cocoon she had made with her hands. "You have so much life and love inside of you; you will make some man, some lucky man, very, very happy. But not Raoul. It would take him a lifetime to understand who you are. It would take you a lifetime to teach him how to appreciate all the things you do and love. He's still very much a child and I'm afraid always will be."

She removed one hand and wiped at her eyes, wondering how this stranger was able to draw her out, to get her to talk with him so easily about her situation, make her feel soothed without saying anything. She nodded, "I know. I just don't know how to tell him. I have no place else to go, no-one else to rely on, to help me get back home. The gypsies stole everything we had, though I suppose I could wire my father and he would send someone down here to get me. I don't know how I can ever face him. All the money he gave to Raoul for our wedding, all his and mother's hopes for me to make a good match and find a loving and handsome man. He would be so hurt because mother is gone now and he is trying to do his best on her behalf and…"

He squeezed her hand and then reached for her arm, pulling her down so he could give her a hug. "You don't need to worry about any of that. You can stay here as long as you need to. I'll see to that." And he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, drawing her close to him on the bed. "Don't you worry about anything…" She felt the encompassing warmth he was offering her enclose like a protective shield and relished it, snuggling against him.

"Thank you, but … you sound like you need to rest, Erik. Erik. That's a very Norse name," she said between sniffles. "Erik the Red was a folklore hero who discovered America, you know, at least that's what my grandmother taught me. She taught me many things, including some lullabies." And Christina went on to sing some lullabies to Erik, albeit in Swedish, thinking to sing him to sleep but unaware that he was listening, rapt. After three songs she fell asleep wrapped in the duvet on the edge of the bed, his arm around her holding her close. He thought, If you would have me, I would care for you and keep you safe, protect you from those who would defame you and deny you due respect… if you would have me?

After awhile, Erik heard the footsteps of Nadir (he could tell Nadir's steps by the boots he wore) and the bedroom door opened. Erik held his free hand up, then touched a finger across his lips. Nadir crept a few steps closer and saw Christina asleep next to him. He looked at Erik with surprise followed by a look of consternation. Erik scowled back and waved him off and he tiptoed out of the room and closed the door.

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A few hours later, Raoul came in from the stable and headed straight for Christina's room, walking past the napping Nadir and Constantino. He flung open the bedroom door and took a few steps before exclaiming in a very loud voice, "What the hell is going on here!?"

Christina tried to sit up, not remembering that she was perched on the side of the bed, and fell on the floor. Before she could get her bearings, Raoul had grabbed her arm and was dragging her out of the room, "Come on! We're getting out of here right now! I will not have my fiancé consorting with circus freaks and heathens! Get your wrap. We leave now!"and he dragged her out into the kitchen, heading for the stable.

Christina was protesting, crying, "Raoul! Stop! It's not what you think! He just saved our lives and he's hurt!"

Erik painfully got up, telling Raoul , "Leave her alone she has done nothing wrong, nothing to be ashamed of. How dare you treat her like she's your slave! Leave her be!"

"Hah! And who's going to stop me, YOU?" Hahaha! I'm an officer in the French army; I can take you on any day!"

"Is that so?" came a voice from behind him. He whirled around to see Nadir with his sword drawn and ready to do battle.

"Who the hell are you? Another circus freak? Some kind of Saracen infidel? Haha! I could best you blindfolded!"

"Raoul! Stop this! You're making a fool of yourself! These men are our friends! They've released us from the hold of the gypsies!"

" Oh! And what's this? My whoring fiancé is pleading for her vagabond friends? Maybe I ought to take you to bed as well, since you have already been there with this, this escaped circus thing"

Erik had heard enough from him and stepped forward, pulling Christina from him and backhanded Raoul across the face, sending him sliding against the stable wall. "You vermin! How dare you speak to her that way! After all she has done for us – yes, you included – during your captivity! I'd like to string you up out there in the barn with Javert. Better yet, put the two of you in a cage together and see who survives!"

Raoul got up from where he'd landed against the stable wall and made as if to charge Erik. "Why you misbegotten freak!" and reached to draw his sword, but Christina intervened.

"STOP IT!" she yelled, grabbing hold of Raoul's arm. "STOP THIS, BOTH of you!

Both Nadir and Constantino stepped forward, prepared to defend Erik.

Christina stood in front of Raoul, shouting, "ENOUGH! Stop it! This is madness!"

"Hah!" Raoul shouted, goading them. "It takes a woman to defend me against your array of attack?"

Christina whirled on Raoul, "Raoul, Shut up! I once thought I loved you. I was ready to spend the rest of my life with you. I trusted you with not only my life but with that of my Tante Dagmar. You have betrayed that trust and failed miserably to uphold it and honor it and me. I want nothing more to do with you. You are free of our engagement, free to go and find some frilly little girl who will be impressed with your posturing and your show of vanity. I AM NOT! Good-bye, Raoul de Chagny!" And she emphasized each syllable and spat it out as if it were the vilest thing she could ever call him.

Erik leaned toward Nadir while still watching Raoul, "What are we to do with this peacock strutting around here and pretending to be a man?"

"We certainly don't want to trust him with a horse…"

"You don't have to. I'll just take one!" and he tried to pull Cesár out of his stall, but Cesár refused to budge while Nadir and Erik stood and watched his hopeless antics with smug grins on their faces.

"Come on, you worthless piece of dog meat! I'll show you who's boss!" and he grabbed a buggy whip off of the wall and turned to use it.

In a commanding voice, Erik called out, "You lay a hand on that horse and I will separate that hand from your body and feed it to you. Maybe I'll roast it first. What do you think, Daroga? Shall I roast the hand before cutting it off? or after?"

Raoul was frozen with terror, looking back and forth at them. What kind of fiends are these? he thought. Would they really do such a thing? He took a step away from the horse. "You're just joking! You … You'd never do anything like that," his voice becoming tremulous and going up in pitch.

"Actually, we have just returned from Tehran," said Nadir in a conversational tone, "where Erik here was the shah's chief executioner and where he devised numerous painful tortures for those who had displeased the shah."

"Here's an idea," said Erik. "It seems I overheard you bragging that you knew how to use snowshoes. How about if you take a pair from the barn… and leave?"

"I… well, how did you know that? I was talking to Christina in English! And that was a private conversation!"

"English has never been a problem for me, Vicomte," Erik told him in English before reverting to French, "nor have any languages I have thus far encountered, nor have private conversations been an obstacle in my lifetime. So, is it a deal? You take the snowshoes and whatever you can carry and don't come back?"

"You can't be serious. I can't shoe all that way. I'll die!"

"It's only 10 kilometers. I distinctly heard you say you could shoe all the way to Genève and back!"

"Well, I may have over stated…"

Erik shrugged and said, with no little threat in his voice, "It's of no consequence. If it were up to me you would already be dead for attempting to violate her. You owe Christina your life."

Raoul glared at him, "I will get you, freak!"

Erik smiled evilly, "I sincerely hope that you try, fop."

"Are you coming with me, Christina? If I leave you here I won't be back for you."

"Then go and Farewell to you!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Raoul looked around at each of them, including Christina before saying, "I'll go."

As soon as Raoul was gone, Erik collapsed.

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AN: Once again I must thank my beta and friend, Filhound, for all her help with these chapters. She has been immeasurable help to me with this story.

Read and Review, if you like.