Chapter 13: The Ambush
It was midnight when the Captain knocked on the door. The unexpecting silversmith opened it, resulting in the group of soldiers rushing their way into the building.
"You're under arrest, silversmith!" The Captain declared.
"I don't understand!" The silversmith claimed.
Frollo entered with a torch in his hand.
"You'd best cooperate." He suggested darkly. "I know all about your arrangement with the thieves. Reveal them now and I promise your sentence will be lighter than theirs!"
The silversmith obeyed. He led the unwelcome visitors to the attic, where they found several men sleeping. They were promptly woken and violently lined up by the soldiers. Frollo grinned with satisfaction. He paced in front of the men eagerly.
"Which one of you is the leader of this filthy operation?" He interrogated.
No one answered.
"There will be more violent questioning if I don't receive an answer." Frollo promised.
"It's not any of us!" One of the thieves claimed.
"So determined." Frollo mocked. "If your leader does not reveal himself-"
Frollo was cut off. In a matter of seconds, his plan came crashing down.
An arrow flew into his hand, causing him to wince in pain and drop the torch. As his soldiers reacted to the attack, the thieves took their chance to fight, causing even more torches to drop.
Frollo managed to overcome the shock and pull the arrow from his hand with a pained growl. As his men fought with the thieves and the flames started to spread, Frollo saw his attacker. The archer was running around the corner to another part of the attic. He had to be the leader.
Burning with rage, Frollo drew his sword and ran after the man. He found himself in a storage area.
"Where are you?!" Frollo roared.
He scanned the room anxiously. A sound came from behind some crates. Frollo rushed to it. He aimed his sword at the source of the noise, but found something much different than he'd expected.
It was a young woman, tied up and gagged. Frollo gasped. The girl looked to be about the same age as Esmeralda. She eyed him with terrified tears, but also hope like Frollo had never seen before.
Just as he was debating whether to cut her free, Frollo felt a blade slash against his arm. He turned around to find the thief, now armed with a sword.
Frollo engaged, but his opponent was more prepared than him. The judge took several aggressive slices to his body. He struggled with the fresh wounds and stumbled. The thief grabbed hold of the tied up girl and ran with her. Frollo pursued and nearly caught up with the man, but the thief kicked a crate into him. Frollo fell into what he realized was a brutal heat. The wooden attic was ablaze from multiple dropped torches. The judge shouted in agony as flames began to light up his arm. He used his free hand to tear away the burning fabric before looking for his attacker among the other fighting thieves.
He saw the leader holding the imprisoned woman out of a window overlooking the street.
"Tell your men to stop it!" The thief threatened. "Or I'll drop her!"
Frollo glanced at the distance between himself and the man. He could make it...
Without a thought, he rushed at the thief and stabbed him. The criminal screamed and dropped the girl, but Frollo jumped after her. He managed to pull her into his body protectively as they both fell to the ground outside.
The impact sent a shock through Frollo. His whole body hurt overwhelmingly. He lost his grip on the woman and she rolled out of his arms, unharmed.
Frollo was only partially aware of everything that came after that. He was unresponsive as many voices appeared around him. The pain from his injuries grew worse even as he lost awareness. He barely saw the Captain rush up to him, speaking to his broken form urgently. He was unable to move as the Captain cut his clothes open and tried to patch his injuries as well as possible, after taking a moment to gasp in horror at the huge scar.
The fire in the building was enough to get the attention of everyone in the neighborhood. People were rushing into the streets, and more were being called to put out the fire, detain the thieves, and help the casualty.
Frollo could only barely see it all. The enormous flames... The exposure of his scarred and freshly injured body... The many people accumulating around him...
Although he suspected he was dying, Frollo didn't need to be afraid of going to hell. He was already there.
Esmeralda was growing impatient. The fire was her only company. She started to think that Frollo was pulling an all-nighter again. How typical of him to frustrate her like that. At least his reasons for taking so long were predictable. At least he wasn't hurt.
Or so she thought.
A guard opened the door with urgency.
"My lady!" He said desperately. "Minister Frollo has been hurt!"
Esmeralda jumped. She didn't have time to think about this. Her response was automatic.
"Take me to him!" She begged.
Quasimodo's sleep was broken by shouting in the street.
"Did you hear it?!" Someone yelled. "Minister Frollo has been hurt in a fight!"
"What? Where?"
"At the silversmith's! He's dying in the street!"
Quasimodo was struck with terror. Frollo? Dying in the street?!
He wasted no time rushing from the tower.
No matter his character, Frollo was the man who had raised him. Quasimodo couldn't stand the thought of losing him.
