Chapter XV.

Escape From Notre Dame

Several days passed in the cathedral. Slowly but surely, the wound in my foot from the fishing knife began to heal. The kind priest had brought healing herbs that I used. They tasted terrible, but got the job done. Esmeralda spent the time gazing out over the city from the top of the bell towers. She and Quasimodo would spend long hours conversing. I would join every so often.

The hunchback was surprisingly friendlier than I would have ever expected, and extremely gentle. He had names for every single gargoyle and bell in the cathedral, and he talked to them sometimes when he didn't realize that Esmeralda and I could hear him.

It must get lonely up here with only Claude Frollo to talk to, I reasoned.

Speaking of which, it seemed as though we were always being watched by the creepy old man. He came every morning and evening to give Quasimodo his breakfast and supper, and to give him lessons on reading and writing. He rarely said anything to Esmeralda and I, but I could tell by the contemptuous glare that he was always giving us, that he had unbelievable hate for us.

Except that he only gave me that glare. When Esmeralda wasn't looking, he would give her that same lustful look I had seen on the streets several days ago with Marcel.

Finally one night, Esmeralda and I talked about our situation.

"We can't stay here forever," I told her.

Esmeralda nodded in understanding. She knew perfectly well that there would come a point in time when we would be somehow forced out of the cathedral whether we like it or not. "We're safe here, but only for so long."

"Exactly. And think of Clopin, and your husband, and everyone else back at the Court of Miracles. None of them know what happened to us. For all they know, we could be dead, or have fled the country. We need to somehow let them know where we are."

"That means someone is going to have to send the message to them. And it can only be one of us. We don't want to send another unfortunate person to the Court of Miracles, only to find that he has to either marry someone or be put to death."

"Understood. Now, who do you think should go?"

"I'll go. You're foot is getting better, but it's not completely healed yet, so it would be better if I went."

"Yah, but you're the one everyone thinks committed the crime. You're more of a target than I am."

Esmeralda sighed. "You're right. I just wish that I'd never made the mistake of going to meet Phoebus. I knew it was wrong the entire time, especially since I'm married now. I wonder what poor Pierre is thinking right about now."

"It's ok," I coaxed. "We all make mistakes. This one just happens to be pretty big, that's all."

Esmeralda pushed me playfully. "Shut up," she laughed. "But seriously, if I hadn't decided to meet up with that dirty, dog-faced bastard, we wouldn't be in this mess."

I laughed. At least Esmeralda was over Phoebus.

"Maybe we should leave Paris," Esmeralda said after a few moments of silence.

"What? Leave Paris?"

Esmeralda nodded, and she looked as if she was gazing at a faraway place. "It's not safe for us in this city. Frollo hates us, and as long as he's around, there's going to be danger for every gypsy in Paris. Maybe we should return to Spain. Or even Marseilles."

"I don't think we need to worry about that just yet. After all, the decision is Clopin's anyway."

"The decision is going to come sooner than you think Julian. France is a beautiful place, but right now, I'm not sure how safe it is for us. At least in Spain, there are plenty of other gypsies, so we'll fit right in."

"I've never been to Spain. I don't speak Spanish either," I replied.

"I'd teach you. You learned French pretty quickly, Spanish will be a breeze."

I sighed. I didn't like moving. Moving was a change, and change was hard. Leaving Turkey had been hard enough for me and my siblings. Spain? That was a completely new place.

"Would you rather live in a place where we are scorned and looked down on?" Esmeralda asked.

"No, it's just…never mind. You're probably right. I just don't want change, that's all."

"I understand. But when you're a gypsy, you have to anticipate change at all times. That's part of being a gypsy, improvising your entire life. We can't always plan for things, we have to brace ourselves for what might happen and adapt."

It was some time later in that night, when I overheard a conversation between Claude Frollo, and a voice that I didn't recognize. It was oddly suspicious sounding.

"Gypsies don't do well inside stone walls," he was saying. "And sooner or later Esmeralda and her little urchin friend will have to leave the cathedral. And if it means that I have to take matters into my own hands, then so be it."

"What do you mean Claude?"

This man must be a pretty good friend of Frollo if he was addressing him by his first name.

"What I mean is simply this: The two gypsies are safe as long as they remain inside Notre Dame's sacred stone walls. But I don't intend to wait around like cat waiting for a mouse this way. And what do you do to catch a mouse? You use bait."

Uh oh… I thought immediately. Frollo's hatched a plan. I'd better warn Esmeralda.

I quietly raced back up to the bell tower. It was late, and in the candlelight of the tower, I could make out the sleeping form of Quasimodo hanging in the rafters, and Esmeralda stretched out on the wooden floor, fast asleep. I didn't want to wake her up like this…but the current conversation I had overheard seemed urgent.

"Esmeralda," I whispered, shaking her gently. When she didn't awake, I shook a bit harder until finally her eyes slowly opened.

"What?" she asked, slightly annoyed that I had awaken her from her slumber.

"It's important, I promise."

"Ok, then spill the beans. What's going on?"

"I overheard a conversation between Frollo and some other man that I didn't recognize. I'm not sure who it was. But he was saying how he's going to make sure that we don't stay here and he's going to do anything he can to get us out of Notre Dame and strip us of our sanctuary. That way, we can be sentenced to death."

"That rat! I should of known he would be plotting against us this entire time."

"I think you're right. We can't stay here. I need to get out as soon as possible and get everyone else at the Court of Miracles to help," I replied.

"Are you sure you think you can go?"

"We've been over this before. You're the one who supposedly committed the crime, not me. You'd be in more danger than I would. Trust me, my foot's healed. It hurts a little, but I'll have to cope with that I guess. Just trust me on this, we have to get help. I'll go get it. I'm thinking maybe even tonight."

"Ok, but how are you going to get out of the cathedral without being spotted by Frollo's watchful eyes? Have you thought about that yet?"

I frowned. I confessed that I had not. But there had to be some way to get out of here without getting caught, didn't there?

"I can help with that," said a voice from up in the rafters. It was Quasimodo.

"Oh, Quasi, you don't have to get involved in this," Esmeralda assured him. "I don't want you getting in trouble with Frollo. He might hurt you."

"I'm not afraid of Frollo," the hunchback replied. "I want to help. You guys are my friends now."

Esmeralda sighed. "Very well. How can you help?"

"I know every square inch of this cathedral like the palm of my hand," Quasimodo replied. "There are plenty of escape routes. And I've become quite an acrobat over the years; I could help Julian to escape and get word to the Court of Miracles."

"That's very generous my friend," Esmeralda replied, "but…"

"No buts. I want to do this for you."

"Well I guess there's no stopping you so…do what you have to. Remember Julian, go straight to Clopin, and tell him that I'm in Notre Dame, and that I can't come out until I've had a fair trial."

"Got it." We exchanged a quick glance with each other and Quasimodo nudged me out to the balcony outside the bell tower.

"Now," he said, get on my back."

"What?"

"I'm serious. Get on my back. Hold on tight. And don't look down."

"Ok…" I mumbled awkwardly as I climbed onto the hunchback's hunched back.

Then suddenly without warning, he leaped off the balcony. It was so sudden that I didn't even have time to scream. And then suddenly, we were hanging along the side of the cathedral. Quasimodo had grabbed onto a gargoyle that was jutting out of the stone architecture. It's eyes seemed to stare at us.

"You all right?" Quasimodo asked.

"Uh…yah, sure…" I mumbled, feeling a little sick to my stomach.

"Ok, get ready again."

He let go of the gargoyle's neck and again we were free falling in the air…until the hunchback landed us on a ledge. From here, it was about ten feet from the ground. I looked up at the amazing height we had fallen from. The ledge towered high above us from where we had jumped, and I could see the small shape of Esmeralda, waving to me good luck.

"I'll have to leave you here," said Quasimodo. "Good luck, and be safe."

I thanked him, and watched as he climbed back up the cathedral walls, like a cat climbing a tree. You would never have expected that someone as clumsy looking as Quasimodo would be as agile as he was.

I sighed. The dark streets of Paris beckoned for me. I had escaped the cathedral, but now I had to return safely to the Court of Miracles and tell Clopin what had happened.