The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Heaven's Light

The Magistrate

The wagon thus had to be stopped for the night, despite that the moon was bright. How could anyone rest at a time like this? Was she the only one with this question on her mind? Very sleepless and very on edge, Agatha had chosen to rest within the caravan with the young ones, though reliance on her to keep them safe was tightly low. Pontius, the man who had given his name lastly to her, had not lit a fire for warmth. She knew he was doing his best, but the chill was murderous on his old body. The night was acting endless, sleep would not come and she was overcome with worry. The air was so damn quiet that she could hear the Bishop's bones rattle. This was ridiculous.

Bonny was nervously chipping slivers off of a bow nervously with an arrowhead, trying to find some solstice. Lillian was tearful, worried and fearful. As was everyone at this point. Agatha could plainly hear all of them shivering.

"A-a-are we n-nearing Paris?" asked the young archer William as he came up near the blind.

She only sighed, gruffly.

"Sadly, I do not know. Do you see anything?" she then asked.

William swallowed and looked out through the tarp. The night was young, but the moon was kind enough to grant him sight to see two familiar looking bell towers in the distance. Just a small ways above the hills.

"I see... the church, ma'am." Will had answered.

Agatha's brows had risen with great interest.

"The church? Which church? There are many."

"...N-n... Notre Dame." the boy had said again.

Agatha's face looked sullen, yet sad. Notre Dame was Quasimodo's home. The place she would listen to even before she had met him. Oh good Lord, they were near. She then sighed, hanging her head low when the thought of Quasimodo not coming back to them when all this was over. Her rough heart had softened and now when she thought of him, she felt happy and yet terrified. Even worse knowing that he was back there fighting those bastards. He, along with those woodlands and the gypsies. Surely, he had help, but anything could happen.

"Heaven has helped us, we are near." she then said.

"Is it true that the monster that lived there had come to us?" Bonny asked, perking up a little.

"He is no monster. He's kind." Lillian defended.

"He's odd looking, but he's no monster." Will said.

Agatha listened.

"Far from it, lads..." she said. "...there was never a monster. People just twist truth and make a huge calamity out of it, for no good reason. People fear of what they don't understand. My own father did the same with me, just because I was born from the wrong sort. That monster you speak of, is of a noble place. A place I had once seen. Before darkness claimed me."

The little ones were silent. The teenagers who observed were agape. Agatha took a very deep breath before the deacon Pontius had shakily entered to them.

"Oh mercy!" he croaked before he looked to her and the others. "My lady, dear ones, there are horseman coming down the way, off the paths-"

"What?" Agatha coughed.

"They are coming this way! I believe they might be the magistrates. The King is beyond furious."

Agatha paled as Lillian shuddered, hiding behind the boys.

"Wh-wh-what do we do?" asked the blind.

Meanwhile outside in the dead of night, a massive group of white horseman charged down the hillside, basically coming directly from Paris. But one among them, yet stripped from his golden armor was the Captain Sir Phoebus de Châteaupers, who had been ordered to lead the Magistrate Fontaine and Captain Adnot of Versailles to locate the reclusive vegabonds. If he did not then his career as Captain would be taken away from him. But his main worry was only finding those recluses and seeing that Esmeralda and her brethren were well. The destruction of Paris was due to him, but he had not enough soldiers to overcome the attack and had lost many to the Spanish pirates. But the worried soldier was determined. Not only was he searching for the gypsies as well, but he had faith that the bell ringer was still alive. And he believed that the heir was near, very near.