I awoke from a dreamless sleep to a hollow ringing of the third bell from the tower above Notre Dame. The bell helped me to remember where I had been in my first few moments of weariness. From further away, the bells had always sounded so loud.. But here, up close and in their home, they seemed suddenly quieter and gentler. My neck ached from resting on the side of the pew. In years of homelessness, I had slept in less comfortable situations. The final bell rang, five... it was quite early, and the great church lay still and silent as the final bell's toll clung to each pillar in the great hall. I readjusted my cloak and went to shut my eyes again, when several feet behind me the doors flung open and harsh whispered voices filled the marble palace.
Frightened, I gathered my cloak and skirt and silently crept towards the confessional booth of the church. I shut the small door behind me, backing up onto the seat.
The whispers drew closer, and I positioned myself with my ear pressed to the crack of the old door.
"You most certainly will not!" I heard a familiar voice cry out
"A disgrace. You can't harbour these ingrates forever, eventually, they will need to all be brought to justice." A much colder, harsher voice split the calm silence with fury.
"Judge Frollo, this matter is not debatable!" The voice of the Archdeacon protested.
I gasped silently, pulling back from the door.
"The judge..." I had heard of Frollo before, nothing of goodness or mercy. I also knew he was the ruler of the High Court at the Palace of Justice, and a cruel man he was, torturing and executing hundreds of the poor of Paris.
The voices past through to the hall of the church. My heart had begun to beat rapidly in my chest once again, the sound breaking the silence of the small booth. Did Frollo know about me? Had he come to find me here? I gathered my cloak and skirt up once more and pushed open the confessional door. I glanced at the empty church before leaving the confessional booth and beginning to walk quietly towards the front doors of the church once again. Nearing the door, the voices came around a corner all at once.
"If you have who you're looking for then why have you come?!" the Archdeacon cried, holding his lantern up to Frollo's cold face. Frollo knocked it away. I froze in place, in the middle of a step.
"You act as though your cooperation is an inconvenience. Shall I remind you that in the King's absence that the church works for me?" Frollo hissed
"How dare you!" The archdeacon replied. My foot, in spite of myself, came down on the hard marble floor. Both men turned sharply to look at me, the Archdeacon's lantern held out in my direction.
"Who's there?!" Frollo called out. "Announce yourself!" I cleared my throat and stepped forward, unknowing of what to do, I bowed my head towards the two men.
"Bonjour, Monsieur." I made my voice lighter and cleaner than it was. I felt the two men glance at one another.
"My child, what are you doing here?" The Archdeacon asked quietly.
"Ah!" Frollo grunted "So you are harboring fugitives, as I expected!" Frollo coughed, turning to the Archdeacon.
I looked up and approached the two.
The Archdeacon frowned at Frollo's words and peered at me in the dim light. The archdeacon then recognized me, and his glance grew flighty. He laughed lightly, but insincerely.
"Frollo you misunderstand, this is simply one of the new servants of the monastery. She assists in cleaning... Uh, Mademoiselle..." The deacon peered at me, Frollo eyeing him suspiciously. "Sergeant, Oui." He continued. I smiled as pleasantly as I could in spite of the fear and exhaustion that overpowered my mind, managing to bow my head once again.
Frollo approached me. At this proximity I could see what made the tall, elderly man so terrifying. He towered over me as though he were a great, old crow, awaiting the remains of a ill fated hunt.
"A servant..." He repeated, meditating. I choked back tears of nervousness, my eyes pressed at his feet.
"Is it not the duty of your Monks to assist in the cleanliness of their Monastery, Archdeacon?" Frollo's words crackled like embers in a dying flame, his eyes burning through me even as I avoided their gaze. The archdeacon fumbled
"But of course, however..." he hesitated.
"However-" The judge interrupted "To be an unmarried, young woman in a city such as this poses such risk, such potential for sin." his word's hung in the air like heavy smoke, threatening to take the air from each of my breath. I held my breath and risked glancing up to meet his eyes for a second. He peered down at me in suspicion, his eyes ripping through me, I averted them immediately.
The Archdeacon faked a laugh again. "Exactement!" The Archdeacon exclaimed. Frollo paused, studying my lack of response.
"How considerate of you." At last, Frollo turned from me to the Archdeacon. "But really, the church should not have to burden itself so with these filthy children of the streets. A church is no place for an unmarried woman who is not of god, after all." Frollo continued, sliding behind me and placed his cold, thin hand on my shoulder.
The Archdeacon stammered, attempting to protest, but the judge interrupted him once again.
"And now that you mention it, the Palace is short a servant since one of our own had been caught- stealing." His fingers tightened their icy grip on my shoulder. Petrified, my eyes stayed on the marble floor. The Archdeacon glanced at me, sadly. "A skillful worker such as her could prove invaluable." To protest further would rouse a greater suspicion. I swallowed back the fear that hung in my throat. I turned to Frollo.
"My lord.. If the Palace of Justice should require my service, I will gladly give it." I said, quietly. Upon hearing my accent, the judge's eyes narrowed, but he smiled in spite of this. The Archdeacon's face fell in the darkness.
"What an obedient girl." The judge cooed, closer to my ear than I had ever hoped he would be. A chill ran down the back of my neck.
"Frollo..." The Archdeacon stammered, defeated.
"Perhaps you could take a lesson from Mademoiselle... Sergeant." Frollo hissed again. I shot a look to the Archdeacon, hoping he would understand and back down.
"Very well..." The man of god finally said, his voice heavy. "We will make arrangements to have the girl sent over this morning" The Archdeacon began.
"My good man" Frollo laughed "It is already morning, and I will be leaving here for the Palace immediately. I would be more than happy to escort the girl there myself, if you could see to it her things be sent over."
The glee in the judge's voice once more sent a chill down my spine. I was unsure if he knew who I was, or, if he had simply sensed the Archdeacon's caution and hoped to disturb it. My heart dropped, and I feared the cruel man at my back could sense it fall to the floor. The Archdeacon averted his gaze from me, defeated.
"Very well." He repeated, somberly. "Mademoiselle." He nodded to me. "May god be with you..." He prayed.
Frollo's grip on my shoulder guided me to turn around as he did, walking briskly towards the doors of the church
"Archdeacon. A pleasure, as always." Were the judge's last words to the man of god, who stood hopelessly in the darkness of the church.
I had just managed to find my way back to the sanctuary of the church, but had swiftly become imprisoned in another sense, by another threatening man. My stomach fell to the pit of my body, in tight knots once again. Tears burned at my eyes, but the fear of Frollo noticing overpowered my desire to weep. I wanted to turn and run, perhaps to be killed in flight. Next to the catacombs, the noose, Judge Frollo's hand on my shoulder as he lead me out of the beautiful building was the most cruel, and the most terrified I had ever felt. I swallowed heavily. As he opened the door, I felt his eyes on me, and the cold wind flew in from the world outside.
His coach awaited in front of the church, a large, black and terrifying steed stood before it. Two armed guards stood next to their horses, and once the Judge followed me outside they both snapped to attention. Frollo guided me towards one of the guards.
"Bring her to the Palace with me." he instructed. The soldier, an absent look plastered to his face nodded sternly.
"Yes, sir." he responded mechanically. The judge passed behind me and walked towards his coach. My eyes did not dare to look up, but the solider grabbed me around the waist and hoisted me on to the front of his saddle. Immediately my whole body began to shake, as I had never ridden on-top of a horse before. The soldier mounted behind me, and before I knew what was happening, the soldier kicked his armoured heel into the great horse and we trotted away from the church.
This time, I did take one sad look behind me, truly unsure if I were ever to see the beautiful church again. A sharp movement of the horse jolted me forward and I struggled to sit up right despite the cold armor that sat on either side of me.
The horse trotted ahead of the carriage and I tried to steady myself as we weaved through the narrow streets of the city, waking as slowly as it had the day before. Shop keepers peered out and kept their shutters low at the sound of horses in the streets so early in the morning. I pulled the hood of my cloak closer around my face, in concern of someone further recognizing me, and tried to both steady myself and keep the hood closed at the same time. I had stopped shaking as much, becoming used to the pace of the horse. I smiled a bit behind the thick wool of my cloak, enjoying the vantage point of the streets and the market from on top of the horse. I reached a hand out and felt its warm body stress under our weight as it walked.
We arrived before long, and I lamented at being taken down from the horse swiftly by the soldier. I glanced up past the top of my hood and to the large stone building that stood before us. I had seen this building before, but it had always faded into the backdrop of the city next to the stocks and gallows that were set up in front of it, some days leading lines of sad, poor people to their painful deaths. My blood turned cold as I passed it, the guard guiding me towards the door to the building. Behind me I heard Frollo's horse and carriage approach and I hesitated for a moment on the top step. Why had he brought me here? What did he know, and what did he intend to do? I feared for my life yet again, though, entering the dark, stone building I remembered that somewhere in this strange and terrifying place was the man who could return to me my freedom, as well as the man who could permanently end it.
I shuddered as I entered the great hall and was met with dim lighting and silence.
"Wait here." The guard instructed, nudging me slightly towards the wall.
I was silently hoping that I could avoid Frollo again, when the door opened and he entered, lifting his robe to enter the palace, followed by two armed guards. He glanced at me from the side of his eye, silently walking up the main steps. As he disappeared upstairs, I noticed I had been holding my breath. To be brought here and not to know why was a cruel kind of torture, I was afraid that a horrible fate lay in this place with me in store.
Suddenly a young woman in servant attire emerged from the back hallway and came towards me, motioning for me to follow her. She had a kind face, and it seemed out of place in the courthouse and prison. I glanced around anxiously, following her up a back staircase and towards a servant quarters. I winced as she opened a door at the back of the hall, surprised to see it opening onto a light filled room, with two small beds against each wall, both made up with sheets. On top of one bed lay a set of clothes- the uniform. A wash sink and lantern sat on a small table in front of the window, which looked out across roof tops towards the river.
"Oh.." I murmured, surprised. I took the hood down from my cloak and moved towards the window, staring out at the sunrise. The woman spoke to me in French, which I understood some of, gathering that this was my uniform and that breakfast would be served shortly. I turned to her and she left the room, giving me a kind look and shutting the door behind her. As she left I sat on the edge of the bed, my eyes fixed out the window. Did they treat their servants well here? Had I truly been brought to clean? It seemed sinister and suspicious to me, but the gentle daylight flooding through the window reminded me I had not had a proper room or meal in quite some time... Perhaps the past few weeks had left me callous, perhaps the wheel had now spun again in my favour.