Chapter XIII.
Hope Of Sanctuary
"Did you not hear me, gypsy girl?" the soldier asked. "I said, you are under arrest for the murder of a soldier, the man you are standing over, with the knife in his back."
Esmeralda was too stunned to speak. Her eyes were red, and tears were streaming down her face, leaving pink rings around her eyes. Her olive skin had become blotched with white patches, probably from nervousness.
I wasn't any better. I was frozen in fear, for Esmeralda, and for myself. What was going to become of me? I was here too, I was a witness of the crime.
"You realize that you have committed a crime punishable by death, don't you?" the soldier asked.
Still no answer from Esmeralda.
"I DEMAND that you answer me when I speak to you!" the soldier suddenly roared. "You killed Phoebus, did you not?"
"I…I…no, I didn't!" Esmeralda panted. "It was somebody…somebody else, in a dark cloak with a hood. I couldn't see who exactly."
The soldier laughed harshly. "Sounds like you're lying. The evidence is right here. The knife is plunged into his back, there's blood on your hands, what else am I supposed to think of this?"
"She didn't do it," I muttered quietly.
"What's that boy?" the soldier said angrily, turning to face me. "You keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you. What are you doing here?"
I didn't answer. I didn't know what to say.
"Well then," said the soldier. "If neither of you will answer the simple questions I ask you, maybe you'll answer to the whip. We're taking you to the Palace of Justice."
"NO!!! Please monsieur!" Esmeralda cried. "I didn't kill this man. I swear that what I tell you is the truth."
The Palace of Justice was a terrible place where criminals were taken to be beaten and tortured. The torture was so extreme, that many prisoners often died grizzly deaths in the dark shadows of the prison.
"You can't do that!" I cried. "We have the right to a fair trial same as you do."
The soldier laughed harshly. "You're gypsies. Do you think that the court will look past your tambourines and tattered clothing? You're nothing! The death of a gypsy or two doesn't mean anything to the court, or to Claude Frollo."
"That's who it was!" I cried. "It was Frollo who came in and stabbed Phoebus!"
Again with the harsh laughter. "Do you honestly expect me to believe that pathetic lie? What would Frollo gain by stabbing Phoebus? He's the archdeacon of Notre Dame. His position is too high to compromise. He would be the last man in all of Paris, or France for that matter to do anything like this."
The soldiers ushered us out of the room, leaving Phoebus's bloody body on the floor, the knife still impaled in his heart.
We were pushed outside into the street, and the night air seemed colder than I remembered on the way over while I was following Esmeralda. What mess had we gotten ourselves into? The soldier was right. We were gypsies. We were nothing, not in the eyes of the other Parisians that is.
A wooden carriage with bars over it was waiting.
"Enjoy your stay at the Palace," the soldier said to us, cynically. We had no other choice but to step inside the carriage. With that, the door was slammed behind us. The sound of imprisonment.
Neither of us said anything as the carriage clanked down the street toward the Palace of Justice. The only sound was that of clopping horse hooves and the cobblestones. What were we supposed to do? It was that strange feeling of knowing your fate, but not being able to completely accept what was happening. Almost like denial.
The carriage clacked on and on down the streets. In reality, it was probably less than twenty minutes, but when you are in that much fear, everything seems to be happening so quickly, and you don't know what to do except imagine all the terrible things that are about to happen to you. That's what I was thinking about now. I'd heard awful stories from Marcel about the torture mechanisms in the Palace of Justice. There were wheels with spikes on them, and they were used to grind people up. And whips with shards of glass and broken knife pieces attached to them. Basically, hell on earth.
And now it was about to happen to Esmeralda and I. The most invigorating part of it all was that we were both completely innocent. It was Frollo who had stabbed Phoebus, and I was the only person who knew. Worse still, I was the only one who ever would know it, since nobody believed me.
I glanced over at Esmeralda. I had never seen a look of such defeat in her. Her eyes were hidden by the long, thick black hair that was hanging over her face. It was as if she were trying to shut out the cruel world, and everything in it.
Suddenly, a plan began to form inside my head.
"Esmeralda," I whispered, excited.
There was no answer at first, but slowly she raised her head and looked at me. Her blue/green eyes looked hopeless and depressed.
"Listen, I think I might have a plan," I told her.
Instantly, her face lit up a little bit. But then she paused. "What exactly do you have in mind?"
"It's simple," I told her. "As soon we get to the Palace of Justice and they open the doors of the carriage, we burst out of the doors so fast that the soldiers are left in shock for a few moments. Then, we run as fast as we can."
"That's your brilliant plan?" Esmeralda asked, slightly disappointed. "It's better than nothing, but I don't think that'll work. It's too…weak."
"Yah, you're right," I admitted, "but here's the catch. We run to Notre Dame. There, we can claim sanctuary, and nobody can do anything to us. Then, we can demand the right to a fair trial. The clergy there will have to give that to us. Except…ok great. I forgot. Frollo. That's going to be a major setback."
"No no no," Esmeralda said, "it's fine. That's a good plan. Forget about Frollo, he may be creepy, but he'll be fair."
I sighed to myself. Esmeralda had no idea. I still hadn't told her about the way Frollo had looked at her earlier in the day. I couldn't get the creepy image of his lust for her out of my head. And he hated gypsies with a passion, so what use would he be in helping us?
"All I'm saying is," I sighed, "we have to be careful around him. I'm not exactly sure what his intentions and motives are, or whether they or good or bad, but I'd be watchful around that man. He's just so…"
"Oh stop," Esmeralda interrupted. "I know where this is going."
"You do?" I asked.
"Of course," Esmeralda answered. "You think that Frollo is going to turn us in because he hates gypsies. Well, there's nothing he can do if we are inside the cathedral as you said, correct? I mean, whether it's Frollo or not, we have sanctuary at Notre Dame. Don't second guess your plan, Julian, it's more brilliant than you think, in more ways than one."
I had to admit that I liked being praised by Esmeralda. I so rarely got complimented or noticed for any of my accomplishments that when someone as sophisticated and well known in the Court of Miracles as Esmeralda said something nice to me it felt a hundred times better.
Finally, the sound of clanking wheels against the cobblestone streets came to a halt.
"We have arrived," Esmeralda whispered grimly.
"Remember what I told you," I whispered. "We're going to blitz out of here."
"I think I've got a better way to escape," Esmeralda answered.
"What?"
"You'll see."
I could hear the sound of footsteps now, clicking on the hard cold street.
"This is it," I whispered again. "I hope you have a good plan in mind, because if you don't…"
Esmeralda ignored the negativity of my tone. She just sat there staring intently out the metal bars of the back door of the prison carriage…Finally the moment came when a soldier opened up the door to the carriage.
That's when things began to happen so fast that to this day I'm not sure exactly what went down. What I do know is that Esmeralda jumped out and planted her foot in the soldier's jaw, kicking him to the ground, where he lay, blood dripping out of his mouth, and his nostrils.
"Come on," she yelled over to me. "We've got no time to waste."
It didn't take me a second thought to burst out the prison carriage after it. I thanked the heavens for how lucky I was as I followed Esmeralda's graceful stride down the alleys and through Paris towards Notre Dame.
Hey everybody! Sorry it's been so long. I've been so busy. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. More still to come.