Chapter 7 : Too far

After the maid had brought her breakfast as usual and after she had dressed back into her old clothes Frollo came in to let her out for the day before he would start working.

Although he shot her a look of disapproval at the sight of her not wearing the clothes he had given to her he said nothing, not even "Good Morning" as he tended to do.

I don't care if he decides to sulk for awhile..this way I don't have to talk to him..

She thought as she made her way down the open end of the hallway.

Standing at the staircase again, she stopped.

Hmm..what should I do today ? Look at Paris while it's waking up or go down and explore the next floor ?

....why not doing both ? As long as I can keep track of time I should be able to do both.

This plan in her mind she once again stepped outside.

The morning sun wasn't yet powerful enough to warm every spot, spots in the shadows included.

Albeit the goosebumps that started appearing everywhere on her skin Esmeralda couldn't think of a better place to be right now.

She took a deep breath to inhale some of the air together with the smells that only a morning held :

The smell of freshly made bread, rolls and croissants hung in the air like a thick coat, though not as thick as the visible coat of smoke that came out of black smith's hut.

The smell of breakfast mingled with the former ones and quickly became more powerful as more households awoke and got ready for another long day.

Against her resolution she only finally reminded herself of her former plan just to look for a little bit when it was around noon.

Scolding herself for letting so many time pass again she averted her gaze from the city and reentered the building.

"And down I finally go !"

She announced as she walked down the stairs full of curiosity.

She soon had to learn that the same boring rooms that she had found upstairs waited for her downstairs as well.

For a moment she wondered if there maybe was a garden on the ground level, surrounded by the building's mighty walls and not to be seen by commoners, when a scent entered her nose without permission, making her follow another train of thought.

Oh, that smells good ! Whatever it is, it must be tasty...if I only knew where to find it ....

Although unecessary, she made her way towards the source as quickly and as soundlessly as a thief.

On the last few steps that separated her from the door she reminded herself that she was supposed to be here - as much as she hated this truth - and thus continued to walk normally.

Without really thinking much about the consequences and merely following the instinct that said "Go get the good food !" she pushed the door in front of her open.

In an instant she had at least ten pairs of eyes on her, with of course her own pair staring back.

Some of the younger maids in the room became more wide eyed, a few even stepping back in unexplainable fear.

Things like "Gypsy !" or "What's she doing here ?" reached Esmeralda's ear.

Before anything could happen that both sides would be sorry for later one maid - the oldest looking - stepped forward to look Esmeralda directly into the eye.

Although the small, round woman appeared harmless she didn't like the look on her face that spoke of caution.

"May I ask what you are doing down here, Mistress ?"

What hit Esmeralda even more than the fact that a non-gypsy actually treated her with respect, was the added title, that the maid she met in her room earlier also had used.

How many people must know about it by now ?

"I, uhm, was just wandering around."

"Would you like to eat anything ?" The maid continued.

The memory of the smell came back what made her say.

"Sure, why not ?"

While she seated herself at one of the tables in the kitchen she couldn't help but hear parts of the other maids whispered speech :

"Is she really our new... ?", "..but isn't she a..?", "I heard she..."

She really tried her best to block their gossip out, which was made a whole lot easier once the old maiden had placed a steaming bowl of delicious smelling stew in front of her.

She quickly thanked her and began devouring her meal, not really caring about table manners.

After this pleasant surprise of a meal she decided to continue her exploration tour.

But only after the maid had reassured her that she could come by and eat anytime she would like.

"I know how easily the Master forgets about such things once he is very busy with his work." The old woman had added with a wink.

Now, that she was taking the stairs to even further down she was glad she had the warm stew in her stomach as it was getting colder every step she did.

It took her longer than this time to reach the bottom and when she had, she realized there were no doors whatsoever. Nothing but a long hallway and muffled noises coming from its end.

Curious and without any suspicion yet she walked on.

When she was near of reaching this end too, the metal bars of cells appeared out of apparentely nowhere, like they had merged with the rest of the dull stone wall.

The cells - which were not just a few - contained at least three people each.

In the middle of this cell bay stood a man with a leather whip together with his victim in whose flesh the leather was cutting in at the very moment.

Screams of agony crept into Esmeralda's ears, making her gasp with terror.

Of course this sound was not unnoticed by the torturer, as used as his ears had already become to screams of such a like.

"What do we have here ? Somebody who made it out of her cell !"

Scratched his voice, his dark green eyes already considering his next victim in her.

"Why don't you step closer, my dear ?"

He asked as gentle as his appearance would let him, as he stepped away from the man, who was lying on the floor behind him in pain, and towards her.

"Come, let me give you your reward !"

When he said this he let his whip crack forcefully through the air.

She was able to jump out of the leather's damaging reach but nearly lost her balance.

Before she could recover from this sudden attack the man had already stepped closer and pushed her hard onto the ground.

With an "Uff !" she landed down. She could feel a distant sharp pain in her ripcage when she had to cough from all the dust.

"Please, don't ! Frollo-"

"How dare you gypsy scum use his name ! I should give you ten whipes just for that !

I-"

"André, I brought you some water and- what are you doing with the Mistress ??!"

Esmeralda could have laughed at the irony of hearing her maidens voice ring through this prison hadn't it hurt to much.

"Mistress ? What the hell are you talking about, you stupid thing ??"

"Let her go, André, please !"

The maid begged, grabbing his arm in an attempt to lead him away, but he just shook her off with one movement, almost making her fall too.

"I don't care if she is the Queen of France, she's a goddamn gypsy !"

"But-"

"Just leave me alone, will ya ?!"

He barked at her, about to turn his attention to Esmeralda again.

"I'll- I'll tell the Master and he will not be pleased with this !"

The maid replied defiant and ran off.

"Looks like there's only the two of us left..."

His cruel laugh and the sound of his whip slashing through the air was the last thing she heard before she moved her arms protectively in front of her face.

Then, when she started to feel the pain on her skin she did the one thing that she thought she would never do :

Hope that Frollo would come soon...

When the maid had rushed in the midst of his study time he had for a moment considered to push her out again and just slam the door in her face. But after she had caught her breath and started blabbering something about the Mistress in danger she had his full attention.

"Where is she ?!" He had asked her and grabbed her by the shoulders roughly.

"Down in the Dungeons.." Had been her answer full of fear of having done something wrong.

No other word was necessary to make him storm out of the room as fast as he could.

And indeed when he had finally made it downstairs, which he felt had taken an eternity, he saw Esmeralda on the ground, one of his men with a whip over her.

Now she truly is an angel that has fallen down onto this merciless world..

Was the first thought to haunt his mind.

"Hey, you ! Stop that immediately !" Thundered Frollo's voice through the dungeon.

"Master !" André looked up from his "work" in surprise.

Before he was able to ask "Why" Frollo had pushed him aside rather harshly.

"Esmeralda ?" He asked, his voice full of half disguised concern, while he leaned down to check on her.

"So you do know my name after all.." Was her weak reply.

"Come, you must stand." Ignoring her protests he lifted her up from the ground and gently pushed her against the wall so she could lean onto something.

Her vision, blurred by pain, allowed her to see how the judge approached the other man angrily.

Afraid that she would pass out otherwise, she focused on not to focus on anything.

"Just what in God's name did you think you were doing ?!" Frollo screamed at him, snatching away his whip.

"But she appeared out of nowhere and I thought-"

"You didn't even bother to ask who she was ?"

"Well, she mentioned your name, but I thought-AH !"

Frollo had started to slash the whip against its former user, making him wriggle in pain.

In a frenzy he continued to let the whipe bite into the other man's flesh till blood drew crimson stains on both of their clothing.

Panting, Frollo continued to force his arm down and up again until the man's screaming stopped since he had passed out from all the pain.

That was when the Judge finally stopped in his attack, threwing the whipe away like the useless piece of leather that it otherwise was.

Still slightly out of breath he turned to Esmeralda who was getting better at remaining conscious.

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