THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME 3: FROLLO'S REVENGE
~Chapter Ten~
The Court of Death
"Ladies and gentleman don't panic! The exits are over there! Quickly!" Clopin yelled over the screams.
"Their all locked!" yelled Phoebeus banging on the door "If only I had my sword!"
Quasimodo tried his best to knock the doors in but it was a losing battle. The smoke made it extremely hard to breath and he was drifting in and out of conciousness.
Madalliane looked around desperately and noticed something on the ceiling. It was a small hole. It seemed to be a well. She could just make out the sky through it.
"Esmeralda! Quasimodo! I can see a way out!" She yelled, pointing upwards.
"Of course! The well! We need to get people up there!" Esmeralda cried "But how?!"
"I can climb up there and I'll carry you!" Quasimodo said desperately.
"Are you sure? What about everyone else?" Madalliane asked anxiously.
"I'll climb back down, now hurry!"
Quasimodo grabbed Madalliane and Esmeralda and threw them over his shoulder. He beckoned Phoebeus to climb on his back and when they were in place, Quasimodo began climbing the wall fastly. It was the most difficult thing he had ever done, the burning clothes kept falling and the fear that one of his friends would fall kept distracting him.
He reached the hole but by now he was hanging on by his fingertips. Madalliane was unconcious from the smoke and Esmeralda was holding onto Phoebeus so he wouldn't fall. Quasimodo looked up at the hole and within a second flung himself over and grabbed a brick that was sticking out of the well wall. Esmeralda screamed for a second and then realized what Quasimodo was doing and calmed down.
Quasimodo painstakingly climbed up the well but then his energy was gone...he started slipping and they were falling towards the bottom of the well- which was the ceiling of the court of miracles. Esmeralda put her foot out and managed to keep them above the hole.
"Quasi! Please wake up!" She begged desperately, as she tried to lift Madalliane and Phoebus.
"Dear I'll help you!" came a kind voice.
Above them were some farmers who were staring down with fear but determination. They pulled Phoebeus and Madalliane out, and reached in to help Esmeralda.
"But my friend might be too heavy..." Esmeralda started.
"Just grab my hand!" yelled the farmer "Before it's too late!"
Esmeralda looked back at Quasimodo who was on the verge of death by suffocation and then made her choice. She grabbed Quasimodo with her legs and then let the farmer grab her arms.
"Pull me!" She screamed.
They were pulled out of the well and dropped onto the grass. Esmeralda began coughing violently. Madalliane began to wake up. Her face and hair were covered in ashes and her dress was torn.
"Quasi?" She said weakly, as she crawled to his side "Are you okay?"
The farmer's wife began feeding him water and he then burst out in a coughing fit.
"Oh Quasi you're okay!" Madalliane cried with tears in her eyes, hugging him.
Phoebeus sat up and rubbed his eyes.
"What about the others?" He asked wearily.
"I...think it's too late for them" The farmer said sadly "There's no more screams down there..."
"NO!" Esmeralda yelled, as she ran to the well and looked down with tears in her eyes "Their gone..."
"Who could have done this?" Madalliane asked "And why?"
"I...saw a shadow...it looked like Frollo" Quasimodo said "I'm not sure how..."
"You were seeing things! He is dead and that's that..." Phoebeus said firmly.
Esmeralda burts into tears and ran to Phoebeus' side. Madalliane helped Quasimodo to his feet.
"Lets go home...we need to leave now..." she said urgently, before leading him along the path towards Paris.
"That boy didn't do it did he?" The farmer asked, when they were gone.
"Quasi wouldn't something like that!" Phoebeus snapped.
"But that Frollo thing sounds fishy to me" The famer said suspiciously.
"You stay out of this...I'll get to the bottom of this for sure! The people who did this will pay!" Phoebeus said with great anger.
***
Frollo, Maria, Sarcoush and the henchmen were out in the fields nearby. They had a good view of Notre Dame which was a half an hour walk from their spot.
"Now what?" Sarcoush demanded "We attack?"
"No you fool!" Frollo hissed "We wait for the town to hear of this and then we'll convince them Quasimodo did it...then we attack..."
"I can't believe that worked" said Maria thoughtfully "We rid Paris of the gypsies..."
"The battle is won but the war isn't over" Frollo told her "Now let us get some rest...tomorrow will be our final victory"
