The rest of the next day was uneventful, them both waiting for Esmeralda to return. Other than the fact that later on in the day, a few fires started to appear here and here throughout the city. Frollo had not come to visit, much to Isabelle's relief.
However, she did wonder whether or not the fires had something to do with him or not. By nightfall, half of Paris was on fire. The sky filled and smelled of smoke.
"It doesn't look good," Isabelle said as she was viewing Paris burning from the bell tower right in front of her eyes.
"Any sign of her?" asked Quasimodo coming down the stairs.
"No. I'm starting to fear the worst. I know how father can get when it comes down to someone he wants to be executed. It didn't quite get this far, but when he went looking for that gypsy boy, he wouldn't stop at anything. He found him pretty fast within a few hours I believe," replied Isabelle.
"What are we going to do?" asked Quasimodo.
"Maybe she's three steps ahead from father and out of harms way. Let's just hope so," she said hopefully.
"I hope so, too," he replied.
Just then, the door from below opened up and a familiar voice called out,
"Quasimodo, Isabelle?" It was Esmeralda.
"Esmeralda!" they both exclaimed at the same time as they ran down the stairs to greet her.
She then gave them both a big hug.
"You've done so much for me already, my friends, I must ask your help one more time," she begged them.
"Yes. Anything," replied Quasimodo.
She walked over and both Quasimodo and Isabelle were greeted with a sight of a wounded Phoebus being carried in by a fellow gypsy to the bell tower with his arm around his shoulder.
"This is Phoebus. He's wounded and a fugitive like me. He can't go on much longer, I knew he'd be safe here. Please, can you hide him?" asked Esmeralda desperately.
"This way," Quasimodo said as he led the way.
They laid Phoebus on Quasimodo's bed that he made after letting Isabelle sleep in his usual one the other night. He began to moan as he slowly came to.
"Esmeralda?" he said, looking at her face.
"Shh, shh, shh. You'll hide here until you're strong enough to move," assured him.
She then reached for a flask of alcohol and took the top off with her teeth.
"Great. I could use a drink," Phoebus said weakly.
He cried out in pain as she poured it on his wound.
"Ah yes! Hmmm! Feels like a 1470 Burgundy. Not a good year," he said still recovering from the pain.
"That family owes you their lives. You're either the the single bravest soldier I've ever seen, or the craziest," she said.
"Ex-soldier, remember? Why is it, whenever we meet, I always end up bleeding?" he asked sarcastically.
"You're lucky. That arrow almost pierced your heart," Esmeralda told him. He then put her hand over his heart.
"I'm not so sure it didn't," he replied.
They then moved closer and closer until their lips met.
Quasimodo and Isabelle watch as they start looking at each other once more. they slowly begin it lean in closer to each other, but suddenly they are interrupted by the sounds of Djali, looking out the window, alerting them that Frollo is coming.
Both Quasimodo and Isabelle rush towards the window. They both see Frollo coming out of his carriage to enter the cathedral.
"Frollo's coming. You must leave. Quick, follow me! Quasimodo led Esmeralda away. Go to the south tower steps." She then stopped and turned to Quasimodo as the other gypsy man ran out towards the steps.
"Be careful my friend. Promise you won't let anything happen to him," she said.
"I promise," he replied.
She thanked him as she and Djali leave.
"Quick, we have to hide him," Isabelle said hurriedly as she helped Quasimodo drag him underneath the table with the model of the city on top of it. Isabelle then went and hid behind a broken statue out of plain sight. The last person she wanted to see was her father.
Quasimodo hurriedly tries to straighten his figures out as Frollo enters.
"Master! I didn't think you were coming-" Frollo interrupted him.
"I'm never too busy to share a meal with you, dear boy. I brought a little treat."
He took off his hat and placed it on the table. He clears this throat and Quasimodo goes and sets the table for them to eat. But as he was grabbing things, they were all falling off the shelves and breaking. Frollo noticed this.
"Is there something troubling you, Quasimodo?" he asked.
"Oh. No!" he replied back.
"Oh, but there is. I know there is," he said with a sinister grin while eating some grapes.
One grape fell on the floor, near Phoebus. Quasimodo tries to pick it back up.
"I think...you're hiding something," Frollo remarked suspiciously.
"Oh, no, master. There's nothing-"
"You're not eating, boy," Frollo interrupted once more.
Quasimodo then starts to gobble down the grapes in front of him.
"It's very good. Thank you," he mumbled with his mouth full.
Phoebus moans from underneath the table. Quasimodo makes the same sound, showing that he enjoys the food. Phoebus again, but louder. Quasimodo kicks him, knocking him out, and then pretended to choke on the seeds by coughing.
"Seeds," he said with a nervous smile.
Frollo turned and looked over at the table with the model of Paris and the figures on it.
"What's different around here?" he asked suspiciously.
"Nothing, sir," he replied.
"Aren't these ones new?" He picked up the Esmeralda and Isabelle figures. "They're awfully good. They look very much like the gypsy girl and her little friend. I know, you helped them escape!" he shouted with his voice rising as he slammed both of the figures down onto the table, knocking Quasimodo out of his seat.
He cowered in fear as Frollo continued yelling.
"And now all of Paris is burning because of you!" he pointed at Quasimodo.
"She was kind of me, master," Quasimodo said.
"You idiot!" Frollo shouted as he knocked the model of the city to the ground, breaking it. "That wasn't kindness, it was cunning! She's a gypsy! Gypsies aren't capable of real love! Think, boy! Think of your mother! Frollo grabbed hold of Quasimodo's shirt as he calmed himself down. But what chance does a poor misshapen child like you have against her heathen treachery?" he finished in a now calm tone of voice. He went on.
"Well, never you mind, Quasimodo. She will be out of our lives soon enough. I will free you from her evil. She will torment you no longer."
He then set the Esmeralda figure on fire with the candle.
"What do you mean?" asked Quasimodo.
"I know where her hideout is, and tomorrow, at dawn, I attack with a thousand men. And as for the other girl, I'll make sure you never see her again either," he said with a smirk as he left the bell tower.