Chapter 29:
If there were one thing that could make Phoebus superstitious, it would have to be a graveyard. He tried to stay away from them at every opportunity. No place overcrowded with the dead held fair portents for the living.
Still, Esmeralda's fate was more important than his discomfort, so he pressed on, casting quick glances over his shoulder under the pretense of checking on Quasimodo, but really looking for spooks.
It would have been better if they could joke between themselves, but the way that Quasimodo kept his head bowed made it clear he did not have the same urge to humor.
The found one grave at the center of the cemetery which stood out from the others. It was not only taller, but as Phoebus pointed out to Quasimodo, it looked just like the symbol on the map.
"Does that mean we've found the place?" Quasimodo asked, glancing around the cemetery. "I don't see anyone."
"Just because we don't see anyone doesn't mean they aren't here…" Phoebus said thoughtfully. "Maybe there's another message… I can see an inscription here," he held his torch closer to it, and realized that it was definitely Latin. "It will take me a few minutes to translate this…" he admitted
Rather than wait for him to do that, Quasimodo hauled the massive marble lid off of the tomb, revealing a long staircase into the shadows.
Phoebus cleared his throat and said, "Yes, well, that works." When they reached the foot of the stairs, the trail went cold. Or rather, it went damp. Part of the chamber they discovered was flooded, and it was lined on either side with skeletons. "Sacre bleu, I didn't realize we would have to investigate the catacombs," Phoebus muttered under his breath. As they walked through it, trying to skirt the sewage, Phoebus thought that something must be watching him. Was it a ghost from the graveyard above, or were the skeletons all around them haunted? He crossed himself, either way. "Is this the Court of Miracles?" Quasimodo whispered. How anyone could live in a place like the one they were pressing deeper into? At last, Phoebus could not restrain his humor. "Offhand, I'd say it's the Court of Ankle Deep Sewage," he quipped. Ah, that felt better. It almost made up for the sheer paranoia oppressing Phoebus's mind. Maybe he could solve the issue with another jape. "Cheerful place. Kinda makes you wish you got out more often, eh Quasi?" Unfortunately, it had no effect on his companion. "Not me. I just want to warn Esmeralda and get back to the bell tower. I don't want to get in any more trouble." There was that subservience again. Such maddening and needless obsequiousness! In the midst of it, Phoebus was aware that perhaps his paranoia was something sensible rather than his mind playing tricks on him. Numerous times since entering the catacombs, he had felt as if he had seen the skulls move… But surely they had not… surely that was his imagination. Still attempting to inject levity, Phoebus said, "Speaking of trouble, we should have run into some by now." "What do you mean?" Quasimodo asked, more innocently than Phoebus had expected. "You know," or perhaps he didn't, "a guard, a booby trap..." They were suddenly plunged into complete darkness, as by some unknown means both of their torches were extinguished. It should have been obvious what was about to happen to them, and yet it had not been. That was his failing. "Or an ambush…" he muttered. Suddenly voices were shouting at them in a roar of derisive laughter and something like war cries. A lanky fellow in motley appeared overhead, and he sneered, "Well, well, well, what have we here?" Someone among those who had seized Phoebus and Quasimodo from behind shouted that they were trespassers, and then someone else said that they were spies. "We're not spies!" Phoebus shouted. "You've got to listen—" Quasimodo added just before both his mouth and Phoebus's were tied shut with gags. "Don't interrupt me!" the motley man shouted with a smirk. "You're very clever to have found our hideaway but you won't live to tell the tale!" Was this how it would all end? Mocked to death by the people he'd come to rescue? Here they were, all boasting of their formidable nature, but what would they do when Frollo and his men arrived? Their ability to disguise themselves as cripples wouldn't save them, Frollo had no pity! And where was Esmeralda? This idiot clown would get her killed! He did not even care to fear when he was brought onto a scaffold and he could see nooses hanging before him. His death would come soon and it was all for nothing! All he could do was glare at the stupid clown prancing about and bragging about his ability to murder two unarmed guests. The noose was around his neck, time was slipping past… if only he could free his voice… "Stop!"