Jewel of his Heart

Chapter 11

After recovering from the battle with the soldiers Quasimodo returned to where he had placed Sapphira to find she was still lying unconcious on his bed. He had no intention of waking her so he crept over to the right hand side of the bed, picked up a package wrapped in cloth from a big wooden table then sat down and awaited for the young gypsy girl to awaken.

It wasn't long until Sapphira stired from her unconcious state. She pushed herself up slowly then had a look at her surroundings but counldn't really tell where she was since eyes were unfocused until she turned to look at what was infront of her. She came face to face with some gruesome looking statues making her jump back in shock. Suddenly there was the sound of uneven footsteps behind her, she turned to see Quasimodo coming towards her holding the package wrapped in cloth towards her. Sapphira didn't take it from him since she was disoriented and confused by what was going on but Quasimodo thought she was shying away from him out of fear so he placed the package on the bed and walked away, disappearing down a flight of stairs. Watching him leave made Sapphira feel overcome by guilt and wanted to go after him but he was already too far gone for her to catch up so she turned her attention to the package and quickly unwrapped it. Inside was a beautiful white robe with a laced trim around the edges of the fabric, she tried it on and it fit her perfectly.

Now that she was all alone and had no one to talk to and nothing else to ocupy her time, Sapphira decided to have a look around to familiarise herself with her new surrounding, starting with the tables at either side of the bed. They were covered with various items, some of them appeared to be some kind of tools she was unfamiliar with so she left them alone and turned her attention to the statues at the head of the bed and found herself laughing at her own cowardise because taking a second look at the statue that frightened her the she saw there was nothing scary about it at all, it was only a gargoyles of what appeared to be a man and on top of it's head was the King of Fool's crown that Quasimodo kept as a fond reminder of the Festival two days previous.

Footsteps were heard coming up the steps, at first Sapphira was afraid until she noticed they shuffled a bit and she knew then and there it was Quasimodo returning. He came in to view carrying a plate of food and carried it towards Sapphira.

"Eat, Eat" said Quasimodo before placing it down on the bed before her.

He looked up at the young gypsy girl.

"I'm going away so you won't have to see my ugly face when you're eating" he said as he began to walk away again.

Disreguarding the food, Sapphira followed behind Quasimodo.

"Wait!" she called out as she shuffled between the bed and table.

"Please wait! Wait!" she called out again as she followed him to the stairs before grabbing him by the arm, stopping him in his tracks.

Quasimodo turn towards her covering the deformed side of his face with his hand. The young gypsy girl gave him a smile before taking him by the arm. Gently she led him back towards the bed.

"Thank you" she said.

When the two came over to the right hand side of the bed Sapphira motioned for Quasimodo to sit down on the small bench there whilst she sat down on the bed, facing him. Quasimodo uncoverd his face beofre looking up at her.

"You...called me back" he stated.

Sapphira said nothing then looked down at Quasimodo's hands, catching a glimpse of ssome type of wound on both of them. She turned both his hands over so the palms faced up and discovered both his hands were badly burned from when he touched the vat of Molten Lead.

"Oh you're burned. You must let me tend them" she said.

On the table there was a basin of water and some strips of cloth. Sapphira took two long strips, soaked them in the water, wrung them out then turned back to Quasimodo and began applying the make shift bandages to his wounds.