In the morning, Frollo exited his carriage, his head pounding and his eyes tired after his uneasy night.

Waiting for him was Phoebus.
"Attention!" he called to his guards before turning to Frollo, hiding his dark feelings that were brooding inside towards the man. "Morning, sir."
Frollo moaned.
Phoebus was slightly confused. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I had a little trouble with the fireplace."
"I see. Your orders, sir?"
Frollo glared, his focus returning to him as he pictured her face…

"Find the gypsy girl."
After that simple command, the rest of the day was dedicated to the troops ransacking home after home, discovering evidence and clues that would take them to Esmeralda.

Eventually, after hours and hours of searching, the did find a group of gypsies hidden in a trap door. They gypsies were then lined up outside, with Frollo looking down at them from his dark horse.
"Ten pieces of silver for the gypsy Esmeralda," Frollo snapped at them, his hand holding out the jingling coins.
He shoved the handful of coins out further, but there were no takers, only glares. Phoebus felt relief at this. She would not be given up so easily by her people. They loved her greatly, it was clear on all of their faces. She was the thing that kept them all together. She had protected them, and now it was time for them to protect her.
Frollo turned to his guards. "Lock them up!"
As their search continued, they soon found even more of the gypsies. All Phoebus could do was stand by and watched angrily as Frollo's men pushed a carriage into the Seine. As it began
to sink, gypsies came floating to the surface. Once again, they were lined up, with Frollo surveying them.
This time, he upped his price, an act of desperation. "Twenty pieces of silver for the gypsy Esmeralda!"

Again, no takers.
"Take them away!" he snarled furiously.
Finally, after setting fire to almost every home in the city, they came to a house with a large windmill. The house was the last place they could think to search and Phoebus was relieved that it would be the last of this horrible day. At the same time though, he felt a knot of fear. If she would be anywhere, it would be here. She definitely was not in the city, that was for sure. Frollo's guards were easily able to find evidence of gypsies there. At the moment, he was interrogating the miller.
"We found this gypsy talisman on your property. Have you been harbouring gypsies?" he asked, his voice dark and menacing.
"Our home is always open to the weary traveler. Have mercy, my lord," he begged, sealing his fate right then and there.
"I am placing you and your family under house arrest until I get to the bottom of this. If what you say is true, you are innocent and you have nothing to fear."
The miller tried to save his family and his self from Frollo's wrath. "But we are innocent, I assure you! We know nothing of these gypsies!"
Frollo pulled their door shut, then barred it shut with a guard's staff.
He then turned to Phoebus sharply.
"Burn it."
"What!?"
"Until it smolders. These people are traitors and must be made examples of." He handed him a torch.

There was no way he could do this, not even of it meant facing Frollo and his anger. He had seen enough of the man's cruelty and carelessness for human life for one day. Despite the consequences, he would not send the people inside to their death's, especially the children. It was time for him to put his foot down and stand his ground.
"With all due respect, sir, I was not trained to murder the innocent."
"But you were trained to follow orders."

He sighed, obviously not getting anywhere. Well, here goes nothing...
Phoebus took the torch and doused it in a bucket of water, extinguishing it.
Frollo's eyes glittered with fury. "Insolent coward."
He grabbed another torch and touched the flame to the windmill. The entire structure was quickly engulfed in flame.

Thinking fast as the screams of the family reached his ears, Phoebus crashed through
the window and brought the family outside to safety, dashing through the fire before it was too late. As the building continued to burn, guards grabbed Phoebus.
Frollo approached on his horse. "The sentence for insubordination is death. Such a pity-you threw away a promising career."
Phoebus stared straight ahead, stone faced. "Consider it my highest honour, sir."
Frollo raised a spear and was just about to kill Phoebus, when suddenly, a stone flew out of nowhere and hit Frollo's horse. The horse bucked, startled, and Frollo was thrown off. Phoebus took his opportunity and quickly escaped the guards by hopping on Frollo's horse and was off.
"Hit him! And don't hit my horse!" Frollo screeched, staggering to his feet as he watched the traitor ride away.
As Phoebus rode off, he was showered with arrows. One of them went right through an open space in his armor and through his shoulder. Pain lashing through him, he fell off the horse, stunned. He then proceeded to tumble off the bridge that he was riding over, and into the river. A volley of arrows followed him in.
Esmeralda, who had witnessed the entire spectacle in disguise, gasped in horror. She didn't know what it was, but it felt like it was her own heart being hit by the arrow and as he watched Phoebus fall, she felt as if all the air had been taken from her lungs.
Frollo held his men back. "Don't waste your arrows. Let the traitor rot in his watery grave! Find the girl! If you have to burn the city to the ground, so be it!"
Esmeralda took off and ran down the hill to the river, keeping under cover. She waded into the water, knowing it could be risking her own life but to desperate to save his to care, she dived under. After a few moments, she finally came back up with the unconscious Phoebus who was breathing but barely.

Hold on, my friend, she though desperately, touching his handsome face. Hold on.