The soldiers had come out of nowhere.
Saphir would never forget the sight of Iago tumbling gracelessly to the ground, like a marionette with his string cut, blood pouring out of him.
Having been sent to buy their family's fruit and veg for the week, he was away from his siblings…. Which led to him completely panicking.
"Clopin! Esme!" He called out, not caring if some of the produce fell out of the basket, "Clopin! Esme!"
He ran over the cobbled stones, flinching at every cut down body that he saw.
"Please, please, please." He heard himself whisper, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.
"SAPHIR! SAPHIR!"
Turning to his right, he spotted Esme and several other members in a side alley… Clopin hanging between two older members.
His tunic was stained red.
"Clopin?" He rushed over, bending slightly so that he could look at Clopin's face.
His brother was unconscious, face paler than he'd ever seen it before.
"We need to get back to the court." Esme ordered, "Stick to the side streets and try not to draw attention to yourselves."
They all nodded and set off, hoping that they would find more of their extended family as they went.
…
Clopin's wound was deep, but he would survive.
With Esmerelda stepping up and taking over the running of the court, arranging funeral arrangements for those lost during the massacre, and making plans to retrieve what bodies they could, Saphir stayed by his brother's side.
If he decided to pray, then it was no-one's business but his own.
"Please, please, please." He whispered, "Please… bring him back to us. I'll do anything, and if you take him away from us… I don't care about God's will, I'll think you're an asshole for the rest of my life. Heaven or no heaven."
"Don't call God… an asshole."
Saphir flinched, looking up at Clopin who was squinting at him, alive and well.
Well, as well as he could be.
"Bad things happen… to people who… call God an asshole."
Saphir, who still had his hands clasped together, looked up, muttering a quick apology before reaching out and grabbing Clopin's hand. "Please don't do that to us again?" He muttered.
"What? Get stabbed by… a guard?" Clopin winced, "I-I'll try to avoid that." A sad look then flashed across his face, "How many… did we… lose?"
"… Too many." Saphir sighed, "But don't think about that right now, okay?" He rubbed a thumb across his brother's knuckles, "Esme's handling it."
"Mmmm… good girl."
And then he lost consciousness again, leaving Saphir in silence.
…
Apparently, it was a new tactic of the Judges'.
With the Feast of Fools coming up, Frollo wanted to purge the street of the travellers, in the hope that the Festival wouldn't be as grandiose as usual.
With Clopin injured, the Judge might have gotten his wish.
There was also snow, that threatened to ruin the day as well. It was bitterly cold, meaning that the travellers were forced to stay in the Court, near the fires, many of them not having suitable clothing to go out and earn money.
It was a disaster from start to finish.
Wrapped up in the warmest cloak that he had, Saphir had gone out to try and buy as much food as he could in case, they needed to stockpile it. At the moment, the majority of their group were making huge pots of soup that everyone could eat and that lasted for days.
But they couldn't live on that forever.
He made it back to the Court without too much difficulty, sighing in relief when he saw Clopin sat on his 'throne', Esme fussing over him… much to Clopin's displeasure.
"I'm fine! Give me some space!"
"Don't give him any space!" Saphir called to his twin, "Otherwise he'll be up and moving, and we'll find him face down in the waste of Paris."
Clopin sent him a vicious glare, "Did you run into any trouble?"
"Nope." Saphir shrugged, "I think everyone up there is pretending the… incident didn't happen. Some people gave us some spare blankets as well for the children."
"Did you tell them we don't accept charity?!"
"I tried to pay for them, but they wouldn't accept it!"
It was clear that Clopin was torn, before he eventually sighed and nodded. "Fine… but we have to make the Festival one to remember."
Here, Esme and Saphir looked at each, silently asking the other to bring up the subject.
In the end, Saphir won the mental argument.
"Maybe…" Esme cautiously spoke up, "… maybe we should cancel the Festival this year?"
"What?!"
"It's just… you're still hurt and everyone's still recovering from the massacre, and the weather shows no sign of improving and- "
"- and the show must always go on." Clopin interrupted, moving to get up again, only to wince and sit back down, "Every year, the Festival has happened, and I will not be the first king to cancel!"
"But Frollo- "
"- Thinks he can intimidate us! And I say not!"
The words echoed through the court, as all eyes turned to them, the majority looking nervous.
"What if… we put it to a vote instead?" Saphir piped up, "If the majority agree that we should continue with the Festival, then we will. If not, then we remain down here… does that fair?"
Clopin frowned, looking at everyone huddled around different fires, all eyes on them.
The majority looked uncertain.
"Alright…" He sighed, clearing his throat and raising his voice, "GATHER ROUND EVERYONE!"
Slowly, everyone did.
"As you all know, the Festival of Fools is due to happen in a few days, however, with the recent tragic events, I know many of you may not be feeling up to it." Clopin paused, making sure that he had everyone's attention, "So, we're going to put it to a vote. All those in favour of going ahead with the Festival, raise your hands!"
Much to Esme and Saphir's surprise, over half of the hands rose into the air.
"And all those who would prefer to remain in the Court, raise your hands."
A little over twenty hands went up.
"Right." Clopin clapped his hands together, "So, it's decided, we'll start getting ready immediately and- "
"- Can I make another suggestion?" Saphir cautiously spoke up, cutting off his brother, "Yes, the Festival can go on, but there are some families who lost a lot…. And I think those families should be given the option to give this year a pass."
Clopin glanced over at the crowd, spotting several relieved faces, all of them those who had not wanted the Festival to go ahead.
"Alright…" He accepted the condition, "… but all those who want to take part, start preparing immediately! We have no time to waste!"
As the crowd started to prepare, Saphir and Esmerelda glanced at each other and tried not to wince.
This had the potential to be a disaster.