Juliet wasn't even sure how she got here. First, she was helping her parents serve a couple of traveling gypsies before she went to her room, and now she and her new best friend were tied to a pyre in white robes about to be burned alive.
A man threw several bushels of straw below both of their feet as they were up on the stage that had been where Quasimodo had been tortured on the wheel. It seemed the torture would never end on the stage.
"The gypsy Esmeralda and the citizen Juliet have been found guilty of the crime of witchcraft!" Frollo announced to the incredibly large crowd that had gathered to see the execution. "The sentence: DEATH!"
The crowd went crazy, knowing this was a huge injustice. The drums played another drum roll as he finished speaking. Frollo took the torch from the executioner and got up close and personal to Esmeralda. "The time has come, gypsy. You stand upon the brink of the abyss. Yet even now, it is not too late. I can save you from the flames of this world and the next. Choose me, or the fire."
What a sick and twisted man! Esmeralda spat in his face. Juliet had to give it to her. That girl had guts!
Frollo wiped the saliva off his face and looked at Juliet. "Well, the same offer goes for you, my dear. You don't have to suffer the same fate as this witch."
Well, this was almost insulting! Frollo was lusting after her and she was simply his second choice. She didn't know which was worse! "Never," she whispered harshly.
Frollo turned to address the crowd. "The gypsy Esmeralda and the citizen Juliet have refused to recant. These evil witches have put the soul of every citizen of Paris in awful jeopardy!"
"I'm sorry," Juliet said. "I feel like this is all my fault."
"It's not," Esmeralda said firmly. "If anything, it's my fault. I should never have escaped from the cathedral, knowing Frollo's wrath."
"You couldn't have known that he would go this far. I know you just wanted to be free."
"As long as he is alive, I will never be free. And now I've hurt you, Quasimodo, and all of my people."
"I'll never see him again," Juliet said distantly looking up at the bell tower.
Esmeralda looked at her. "You really like him, don't you?"
Juliet turned away. "It doesn't matter anymore."
"For justice, for Paris, and for her own salvation!" Frollo shouted. "It is my sacred duty to send this unholy demon back where she belongs!" The torch touched the straw below Esmeralda's pyre and the flames immediately spread.
"NO!" Juliet screamed. "No! Esmeralda! Please, stop!" Her wrists rubbed against the ropes tying her to the pyre.
"And you, my dear," Frollo said to her, "get to watch as your friend burns alive for her evil deeds. Don't worry. You will soon be joining her."
She watched in horror as Esmeralda began coughing from the smoke and Frollo smiled as he watched her burn. She began to slump over and slip into unconsciousness. Suddenly, she saw Quasimodo swinging down on a rope from the cathedral! He landed on the stage and untied Esmeralda. He looked at her and she screamed at him, "Save her! I'll be fine!"
He grabbed the free pyre and swung it at the soldiers climbing the stage. Then he grabbed the rope and swung back up to the balcony on the cathedral.
"Quasimodo!" Frollo screamed.
She smiled broadly as Quasimodo raised Esmeralda above his head and screamed, "Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!"
Frollo has lost, she thought.
"Captain!" Frollo ordered. "Guard her and seize the cathedral!" Soldiers started going up to cathedral doors and brought ladders. "And as for you!" he said, furiously turning on her. "You're finished!" He threw the whole torch on the straw. She cried out in pain as the flames licked her bare feet. Her sweat-drenched hair started sticking to her face. She started gasping for breath as the black smoke encircled her and filled her lungs. She felt like her chest was going to explode as her breath was stolen from her by the smoke. She leaned against the pyre as the world started to turn dark.
She saw Phoebus, who had somehow escaped, fight the three soldiers guarding her. Then she felt the ropes slide off her wrists as she landed in someone's arms.
"Quasimodo?" she asked the blurred figure.
"Hang on!"
The last thing she remembered was feeling like she was flying through the air.
