God Help The Outcasts: COMPLETE

Chapter Fourteen: The Court of Miracles

Nakoma leaned out over the railing for the millionth time, quite sure that she’d lost her new friends forever. Tears blurred her vision, and she furiously blinked them away; they were doing nothing but hindering her. She’d heard their yelling earlier and a loud crash; if by some miracle they hadn’t been killed, they would surely be caught. But she’d heard no more shouts from the guards or any other sound for some time now.

“God, please help them,” she whispered. “If they’re alive, let me know—”

Bells rang out in the night and bombarded her ears; she covered them and followed their sound into the tower, thanking God silently. As she retraced her steps back to Quasi’s candle-lit room the bells faded away slowly, though their echo still filled the room.

“Oh, there you are. I almost forgot.” Nakoma whirled toward the voice to see Quasi climbing down a ladder. He jumped and landed on the floor with all the elegance of a cat. “You can stay here tonight. I know a place where Frollo won’t find you.”

“All this time I thought you were dead!” Nakoma said, letting her shoulders slump with relief. “I heard screaming earlier and then that crash…how did you do it?”

“Well, we had a couple of close calls,” the bellringer said with a grin. His expression was one of pure bliss. “We sure got lucky.”

“God was with you, that’s for sure,” she said. “He answered Esmeralda’s prayer from earlier and protected you.”

Quasi nodded and smiled; his joy seemed to make the room glow. Nakoma couldn’t help but smile with him. Her relief at seeing him alive and gratitude to God added to the radiance until she could have sworn the tower was filled with heaven’s light.

***

“Everyone, meet our new friend, Drizella!" Esmeralda announced as she swept Drizella into the Court of Miracles. "She’s here seeking refuge, and at the request of her sister and our friend Cindy I ask that we make her welcome here.”

Drizella stared back at the dark, dubious faces of the gypsies and felt her own face flushing. Maybe this was a mistake. Maybe she’d have been better off at home with her mother—

No, she thought firmly. Anything is better than that.

“Ah, madamoiselle, I’d hoped we’d meet again!” She turned toward the familiar voice to see Clopin striding toward her. “Let me just have a moment with Esmeralda…” He pulled the gypsy to the side and talked quietly with her while the others continued to stare and then began to mutter amongst themselves.

Drizella felt her heart sink, looked down at her feet and tried to fight the urge to run. She didn’t know what to do with herself, and the strange environment and cold dark eyes of the gypsies only made it worse. She had thought maybe Clopin would rescue her again, but now he was distracted, leaving her at the mercy of those questioning glares.

The pair came back a few seconds later, much to Drizella’s relief. They stood one on each side of her and took her hands, raising their arms into the air.

“She will become one of us!” Clopin announced brightly. The court was silent and Clopin’s smile began to fade.

Cheers erupted quite suddenly from a few of the tents and spread like fire throughout the gypsies until the noise became a deafening roar. Clopin and Esmeralda cheered with them and, before she knew what was happening, four of the women had whisked her off to a tent.

“How do you like this one?” one of them asked, holding out a violet gown.

“No, she’d look better in this one,” said another. As the women bickered Drizella backed herself into a corner to wait for the madness to end.

“Ladies, please,” Esmeralda said as she slid into the tent. “Let’s just let her pick out what she wants. In peace,” she added, for the women were staring blankly at her. At her command, though, they all filed out, grumbling and muttering to themselves. Esmeralda flashed Drizella an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. They’re always so excited about visitors.”

“Why do I have to change my clothes?” Drizella asked, hugging herself tightly. It seemed she couldn’t get away from being treated like a dress-up doll.

“It’s so you’ll blend in with us. We can’t have you sticking out if we go out in public. It would draw too much attention to us.”

You don’t need me to draw attention, Drizella thought dryly, thinking of the Festival. But she followed Esmeralda to the open chest and began to sort through the haphazardly-bundled dresses.

“Don’t you have anything…plain?” Drizella asked, holding up a gown festooned with ribbons and beads.

“We despise plain,” Esmeralda said, making a face. “If we dressed and acted like everyone else, we wouldn’t be gypsies, now would we?”

Drizella sighed and continued to pick her way through the clothing. Finally she stumbled upon a dark blue gown devoid of decoration. She held it up to her chest; it fell halfway down her calves and felt light and soft against her skin.

“I think I like this one,” she said. Esmeralda stood; her eyes lit up and she smiled.

“Good choice. Now we just have to spruce it up a little.”

“Do we have to?” Drizella whined.

“Only a little,” Esmeralda said innocently, flashing her a toothy smile.

By the time they were finished Drizella felt as if she was wearing a tent. Along with the gown came the proper white underdress and bloomers, of course. But on top of that came sash after sash in deep violets and greens and lighter shades of blue, and belts with silver coins that jingled cheerily when she moved. To finish it off, Esmeralda had combed through Drizella’s thin hair, somehow making it seem fuller, and tied some of it back with little ribbons so that most of her hair still hung free around her neck.

“There. Perfect,” Esmeralda said as she pulled the bow tight. She pushed Drizella in front of a mirror and stepped back. “What do you think?”

Drizella examined herself with wonder. She looked nothing like herself. But, at the same time, it was so much different than the way her mother had dressed her. It was looser, more free, and even somewhat childish. She decided that she liked the way the sashes hugged her waist and the way the ribbons trailed and floated as she turned her head and the clinking of the little coins draped over her hip. It was new, different. Yet somehow deep within her she knew this wasn’t her.

“I like it. But I would probably do with less sashes.”

“Well, just keep everything you’re wearing with you. We’ll find you another dress to switch into sometimes.” Esmeralda beamed. “Now, let’s go show you off!”

Drizella cringed.

“Please, don’t say that,” she said.

Confused, Esmeralda glanced at her.

“I’m sorry. Um, let’s see…let’s go…introduce you to everyone.”

Drizella smiled a little.

“That’s better.”

As they pulled aside the flap of the tent the muttering outside stopped and all eyes turned to them, or more accurately, to Drizella. On catching sight of her the muttering morphed to exclamations of awe and delight; she caught Clopin’s appreciative gaze and found herself blushing fiercely.

“A different look for you, yes,” he said as he approached her. “But still as lovely as ever.”

“Oh, stop it,” Drizella said, forcing her gaze to the ground, though she couldn’t hide the pleased smile on her face. Maybe she could learn to love the gypsy life. With the way he was smiling at her now, she thought, it was definitely worth a try.



AlyCatAuthor