Jewel of his Heart

Chapter 1

The funny things about stories is every time one is being told some facts are left out, sometimes unintendedly and other times it's because the person who is telling it can not be bothered to tell it in full and cut some very important details out. I know of one story in particular that is a victim of this occurrence, it is actually my story only no one knows it is mine because I have been permanently erased from it. Now I'm going to change that. My name is Sapphira and this is the story of how I met my husband, a man misunderstood by the world because he was different but his heart was so full of purity and gentleness that really every man who has ever lived should envy him and his name was Quasimodo who is better known to people as The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

It began on the morning of January 6th, 1482, also known as the day of the Festival of Fools, in the beautiful city of Paris. The streets were crowded with Nobles, Peasants and Gypsies alike all gathering to take part in the days festivities with drinking, games and a few street performances which could all be found in the main square in front of the great cathedral of Notre Dame which at the time was still being completed but that didn't make the building any less beautiful. As the festivities were going on, suddenly, there was a voice that was heard above all others "THIEF!" the voice cried out and when people looked in the direction it was coming from they saw a young boy, no older than 10 years, running down the street occasionally looking behind him. He was being pursued by a royal guard on horse back "THIEF! STOP HIM!" the soldier called out again but no one stepped forward to stop the boy because they didn't wish to see the poor child being harmed despite him being accused of being a thief. He ran as fast as his little legs would allow him and when he reached the city square he quickly dodged in and out of the crowd making his way towards the Cathedral to hopefully claim sanctuary. He almost made it to the threshold when he collided with a middle aged woman "Watch out!" he cried out in warning but they still collided and fell to the ground. The boy quickly got back on his feet and ran towards the Cathedral doors "Sanctuary!" he cried out as he made his way in, he was greeted at the door by an elderly monk.

"Get inside!" the monk said

"Thank you Father" said the boy, relieved that he had made it to safety.

The elderly monk stood in the doorway defiantly as the soldier on his horse approached, he raised his right arm.

"STOP!" he called out making the soldier stop in his tracks.

"Step aside I'm going to arrest him he's a thief" said the soldier as he looked over the monks shoulder seeking the boy out.

The monk stood proudly in the doorway of the Cathedral.

"The house of God is sanctuary for all, the power of your law stops at this doorway" he said in a tone of authority.

The soldier gave him a smug look.

"He's got to come our at sometime" the soldier laughed as he turned his horse around and road away.

                                                                                         XXX

Meanwhile outside of a nearby tavern, there was a young man handing out pamphlets to some of the patrons sitting outside whilst speaking.

"The court of Spain sent a man across the ocean to discover a new world, now our king...our king would have us believe that there are no worlds beyond the walls of this city..." he climbed upon a tables trying to get everyone's attentions but a majority of the people ignored him and threw the pamphlets to the ground but despite this he carried on with his speach. From around a corner came two figures, one of them a woman with red curly hair, wearing a ragged red dress and the other a middle aged man wearing an old hooded grey cloak. He was known to the gypsies as Clopin the King of the Gypsies. When they saw the huge crowd gathering around the young man they whispered to one of their comrades who was watching from behind the crowd.

"They're about to begin, what's going on?" Clopin asked as he continued watching the crowd.

"They're all wrapped up in this skin of drama" scoffed their companion was he too kept watch.

"...why are there no books in Paris except those in our churches?" the young man continued.

"He's good" commented the red haired woman with a smile whilst the two men conversed back and forth.

"A populist?" asked Clopin.

"Worst an idealist" said the second man, he spat on the ground in disgust .

"He's mine!" said Clopin in an angry tone as he made his way to the front of the crowd.

"...that you should have no minds of your own, citizens of Paris knowledge is power. We must not sit idly by we must RISE UP! RISE UP and..."

"SIT DOWN!" yelled Clopin, this interruption caused the crowd to laugh at the young man's humiliation.

"They'll raised you up high enough ON THE GALLOWS!" he continued which resulted in more laughter amongst the crowd.

"But by keeping the people ignorant..." the young man continued to speak but soon was interrupted again by the cloaked man.

"Ah oh here we have an expert on ignorance aye?" laughed Clopin as he sat down on the bench in front of the young man.

"Shut up you fool! I'm giving these people the truth" said the young man in an angry whisper.

"The citizens of Paris don't need the truth, we need dancing...we need music!" said Clopin which caused excitement to build up in the crowd and in the background music began to play.

"La Esmeralda and La Sapphira!" said another male voice amongst the crowd.

"WE NEED LA ESMERALDA AND LA SAPPHIRA!" said Clopin and with his arm he indicated as to where the crowd should be looking and there stood another man with dark skin and short curly hair wearing ragged clothes.

"La Esmeralda and La Sapphira! Ha ha!" he said as he gestured towards some caravans and coming from behind them came these two beautiful young ladies. One of them was dark skinned with long black curly hair wearing a white blouse, a red bodice that had faint bits of blue and purple mixed in and a skirt to match. The other was a light skinned young woman with long, wavy brown hair wearing a dressed that was similar to the other young woman's only the main colour was blue with faint bits of red and purple in it. As the two girls walked towards the crowd they twirled around each other as the musicians played behind them. The crowds clapped and cheered as they danced through the crowd leading them to a stone platform in the middle of the square. The young man watched in disbelief as the crowd walked away from him and attempted to get the people's attention but they preferred giving their attention to the two dancing girls.

He reluctantly gave up his preaching and joined the crowd.