The Hunchback

by Regine Abel

  Frollo snorted as if I’d said something silly. “In light of the tremendous power you displayed last night, the citizens of Paris will do absolutely everything humanly possible to keep you. Everything,” he reiterated, his underlying meaning crystal clear. “The city has greatly expanded over the past few years. None of the previous Vestals have been powerful enough to fully recharge the Well because too many dwellings and surrounding rural cities depend on it. With what you’ve done during the Chant, you will have everyone on their knees in awe during the Festival.”

  I hadn’t been fishing for compliments, but I couldn’t deny his words both flattered me and alleviated some of my nerves.

  “I don’t know about that,” I said shyly, “but I have high hopes that my efforts will significantly help the city’s reserves.”

  “They will,” Frollo replied with confidence, after washing down his meal with a sip of coffee. “However, filling the Well is only one part of the ceremony. You will also have five Relay Orbs to charge at the same time. Do not worry,” he added quickly at my flabbergasted expression. “We do not expect you to be able to fill such a huge Well and five Relay Orbs. As soon as the Well of Power is halfway full, all the extra energy you generate will be transferred to the Relays until they are full. And if, by the grace of Vesta, you still have more to offer, then the rest will go back to the Well.”

  I nodded, only partially relieved. Still, half of such a massive well was no small task.

  “Do not worry so much,” Frollo said in a sympathetic tone. “As per standard practice for Paris, there are always two more Vestals in attendance to provide additional support if needed. But you certainly won’t.”

  “Your trust flatters me,” I said with sincerity.

  “I had high faith before you even arrived, based on your score from Obscura. But now that I saw you in action last night, I have no fear,” Frollo said, matter-of-factly. “Be aware that, after the ceremony, you, the High Seraph, and I will take part in a banquet on the grand plaza with the people. Afterwards, I will fly with the Relay Orbs to each of the five main cities surrounding Paris and will not return until late the next day. Should you not choose to remain in the capital city with the Elohim, I would be honored if you chose to travel with me instead.”

  My stomach dropped. There it was, all the cards on the table. If one of the Elohim didn’t court me, or if I didn’t choose to favorably answer any advance they might make to me, the Praetor hoped I would go with him as his consort. You didn’t take a lover on official trips, only a spouse. Despite my continued attraction towards him because of that insanely seductive aura of his, that prospect made me uneasy. It shouldn’t have. I’d first feared he only wanted to add me to his list of conquests, but that was clearly not the case.

  “You greatly honor me, Frollo. I will be sure to let you know of my decision before the end of the Festival,” I said with a gentle smile.

  To my relief, he graciously accepted my non-committal answer and steered the conversation onto more mundane discussions about life in Paris and the complexity of managing a city this size with so many dependent peripheral towns. Our meal ended in a relaxed atmosphere. Still, a wave of relief washed over me when the Praetor took his leave to go tend to his many duties as magistrate of the city.

  Confused by the contradicting emotions and physical responses my host stirred within me, I decided to take a walk through the garden at the back of the temple. I wasn’t in the mood to traipse through the streets of Paris, always crowded, with countless eyes that would inevitably stare at me like an odd insect. I needed some peace and quiet to clear my thoughts.

  The garden was magnificent, with an exquisite selection of colorful plants, plush bushes with long leaves, and tall trees with droopy branches covered with pale or white flowers. Everything was flawlessly maintained and trimmed. I stopped by a large pond where a few duck-like birds I didn’t recognize were swimming leisurely. Closing my eyes, I spread my arms wide and focused on the soft chirping of the birds in the nearby trees and the gentle rustling of the wind in the leaves.

  As peace descended over me, tension draining from my shoulders, an odd chirping to my right broke through the harmonious whistling of the birds. My eyes popped open, and my head jerked to the right only to find myself face to face with the imp from last night, hovering in place at my eye level.

  It bared its sharp, tiny teeth at me. I instinctively recoiled before it dawned on me it was probably a smile. The creature hid its teeth, his previously engaging demeanor becoming wary.

  “It’s okay, little one,” I said in a soft voice, extending a hand towards it. “You just startled me. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  All tension left its small shoulders, and it flew towards my hand, landing carefully in the middle of my palm. I lifted it close to my face to look into its beady eyes, shining like two enormous black pearls. Reaching with its little hands, the imp grabbed my cheek, its claws slightly pricking my skin without hurting or piercing it. Drawing my face towards its own, the imp gave my chin a gentle kiss, before letting me go with a sheepish look on its adorable little owlish face.

  “You probably shouldn’t be lurking around here,” I said with a gentle voice, caressing the tip of his pointy ear with my index finger. “I don’t want the Praetor hurting you again.”

  The imp scrunched its face in displeasure at hearing the mention of Frollo. Its small hands moved quickly in a series of gestures I assumed to be some kind of sign language.

  “I don’t understand,” I said, apologetically.

  The creature scrunched its face again with a look that implied I had failed it, which made me laugh. Flapping its wings, the imp flew away a few meters, stopped to look at me over its shoulder, and waved for me to follow. My head told me I probably shouldn’t, but my gut told me to proceed.

  The imp didn’t rush me, coming back to circle around me while I made my way in the general direction he was leading me. We crossed the entire garden, and as we approached a dead-end of thick bushes, decorative rocks, and colorful flowers tastefully landscaped, my steps faltered in confusion. But the imp continued forward before making a hard left turn, disappearing behind the wall of foliage.

  My jaw dropped, realizing that the clever arrangement had created an optical illusion dissimulating a path further hidden by a curtain of vines. I brushed them aside, blown away by the neatly kept winding pathway leading farther away from the temple.

  As I cleared a tall, neatly trimmed hedge, the silhouette of a humble, but solidly built house appeared in my line of sight. Even before seeing him, I knew the imp had lured me to the gardener. Unconsciously, I had known where the creature was taking me the instant he’d gestured for me to follow.

  But instead of the wizened older man, maybe reformed old convict I had expected to see, a true god stood before me. At least seven feet tall, muscles for days on his massive arms and chiseled abs, with the angelic face of a Seraph, he was single handedly lifting a beam that would have normally required the effort of half a dozen human men.

  His head suddenly jerked towards me, and his mesmerizing silver eyes widened, hypnotizing me. The pull, the connection I had felt in the chapel last night immediately formed again. And yet, it was weaker, dimmed somehow. The beam dropping to the ground with a loud thump snapped me out of my frozen state.

  Only then did the greyish-blue tinge of his skin, the thick scales on his neck and shoulders, and the horns on his forehead finally register. He was a Fallen, not an Elohim.

  Chapter 5

  Kwazeem

  I sensed her presence moments before Victus came flying around my head, chirping proudly to have lured my woman to me. The fool. The mere sight of her instantly set my blood to boiling and had my stomach contracting painfully with desire. Of all the reactions Esmeralda could have had upon seeing me, I never would have expected the look of awe and wonder in her eyes that seemed to undress me. It only further fanned the flame that had ignited within me. In the last fifteen years of my twenty-ei
ght years of existence, I had only ever known pity, anger, or indifference.

  The bond I systematically felt in her presence formed again, and her tremendous power awakened a strange one inside of me. When our eyes met, I all but drowned in the emerald sea of hers, until a sharp pain at the base of my hump reminded me of the heavy strain I was putting it under, holding the beam up above my head. I let it drop in front of me. The loud thump startled Esmeralda, whose dreamy expression gave way to one of fear as she finally understood what I was.

  It hurt more than I would ever admit. And it hurt even more when her eyes further widened at the sight of my hump. Now that my arms were down, this bane of my existence forced me into this hunched over, servile position. Anger and shame filled my heart.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” I grumbled, when in truth, my fingers ached to reach out and touch her perfect, golden skin.

  “Why?” Esmeralda asked in a soft voice, instead of the apology followed by a quick exit I had expected.

  I looked at her in surprise, oddly moved by her clearly attempting to silence her fear. My imps flying to her, each settling on one of Esmeralda’s shoulders before kissing her cheek, kept me from answering. Although taken aback, she seemed more amused than distraught by their excessive display of affection.

  “Lazarus, Victus, leave her be,” I said in a stern voice.

  They gave me a sheepish look and reluctantly flew over to settle on my own shoulders.

  “I didn’t mind,” Esmeralda said, clasping her delicate hands in front of her.

  “You should mind,” I said in a harsher tone than I’d intended. “You’re an Anointed. Your purity shouldn’t be tainted by exposure to a Fallen and his familiars.”

  She raised a surprised eyebrow at me, then tilting her head to the side, the Vestal studied my features as if they could reveal some hidden mystery.

  “Are you all suffering from some kind of contagious disease that could ‘taint’ my purity?” she asked in teasing tone that made my desire go up another notch.

  “No, but the Praetor would be livid to know you are here,” I countered, confused by her apparent desire to stay and converse with me.

  To my shock, Esmeralda’s face closed off, taking on a stern edge. “The Praetor doesn’t own me. He doesn’t get to dictate where I go or who I speak to.”

  “He intends to make you his bride,” I said, jealousy and possessive anger seeping into my voice.

  “Whatever his intentions, any such plans would be premature. I’ve only been here a day,” she replied with a dismissive shrug. “Anyway, whether I marry him or another, I will be no man’s property. If I choose to speak to someone, including a Fallen,” she added with a meaningful look towards me, “it will be my choice and no one else’s… Well, assuming said Fallen is okay to speak with me.”

  Do I ever want to!

  Until now, besides my vague memory of an older human female who had raised me in my early childhood, Frollo and my imps were the only ones I had ever spoken with.

  And Frollo will skin me alive if he catches me with her.

  “You are the Blessed Esmeralda,” I said mockingly, trying to hide how hungry I was for her presence and companionship. “Who wouldn’t want to speak with you?”

  She waved a dismissive hand. “That title is as much a burden as it is an honor. But right now, I’m simply Mera, freshly landed on the First Circle, and curious about its citizens; all of them.”

  “Then the first thing you should know, Mera, is that the humans of the First Circle, and especially on the outskirts of Paris, hate the Fallen with a passion,” I said with a stern voice, in a final attempt to drive her away. “Aiding one to enter any human city, harboring one within their walls, or merely fraternizing with one could be considered as treason, a crime punishable by death. So, once again, for your own sake, you shouldn’t be here.”

  “Is that what you want then? For me to leave?” she asked after a beat.

  I flinched, biting my tongue not to shout for her to stay and never leave. Averting my eyes, I bent down to pick up the load-bearing beam for the roof of the outdoor forge I was building. The imps flew off my shoulders, and Esmeralda gasped when I lifted it above my head in one swift movement.

  “Careful!” she exclaimed. “That’s too heavy!”

  My eyes snapped down to meet hers, a sliver of anger rising within me. “I am a hunchback, not an invalid,” I snarled.

  Extending my arms as far up as possible, I carefully settled the load-bearing beam on top of the two vertical support beams that I had previously erected. Once secured, my gaze reconnected with Mera’s, challenging her to doubt my abilities again. Being seen as less—seeing myself as less—because of my hump had always been my greatest weakness. However, I didn’t so much mind being half-Fallen; no one controlled their genetics. But being a hunchback, even though I had no control over that, irrationally felt like a personal failure.

  Instead of the embarrassed look I’d expected from her, Esmeralda merely bowed her head in concession, a glimmer of admiration in her stunning green eyes.

  “I never considered you an invalid,” she said in a soft voice with a hint of friendly mockery. “But I most certainly stand corrected regarding my assumptions about your strength. It is quite phenomenal.”

  My face heated, and I once more averted my eyes, not knowing how to handle a compliment—especially one coming from her. The teasing smile stretching her lips did strange things to me, and another wave of desire washed over me.

  “Thank you,” I mumbled, feeling too self-conscious to continue working. Yet, I wanted to keep going to both hide how overwhelmed I felt in her presence, and to keep my hands occupied so that they wouldn’t reach out and grab her as they ached to do.

  “You’re welcome,” she said, taking a few steps closer to the house, an unreadable look in her eyes. “But you still haven’t answered my question.”

  “Why would you even want to stay here to speak with me?” I asked with a frown, genuinely confused by her persistence.

  Esmeralda didn’t answer right away, pondering the response she would give. “Honestly,” she said at last, “because you intrigue me. Because I’m feeling a strange connection with you that I do not understand. And because, somehow, you enhance my power.”

  I gaped at her, taken aback by such candor, but also by the fact that she, too, felt the connection. The possessiveness she stirred within me grew another notch. It had to be a sign. But a sign of what? I could never have her. Had Esmeralda been a commoner, I could have absconded with her into the woods, beyond human and Fallen territories. However, she wasn’t just a Vestal, which already made her untouchable, she was also Anointed.

  “Last night, it was you on the balcony, right?” the Vestal asked, advancing by another step.

  Fearing my voice would betray my emotions, I simply nodded in response.

  “I recognize your energy. It made my Chant more powerful than I would have ever believed possible,” she said pensively. “I didn’t think Fallen also possessed that ability. But then, we never mingle with them, so it’s no wonder no one noticed. Or did you inherit it from your human parent?”

  “Also?” I asked, confused, ignoring her question.

  “We have inherited our energy manipulation powers from the Elohim,” Esmeralda patiently explained while advancing a couple more steps towards me. “They invited humans here when less and less of the original inhabitants of the Nine Circles were born with an affinity with energy manipulation. My ancestors were among the Chosen because females in my family responded well to the Elohim’s ergokinetic influence. I have not personally experienced it… yet. Well, until you that is. But that is why the Seraphs always attend the Festival of Light ceremony; their power enhances the Vestal’s and increases the chances of filling the Well.”

  “I see,” I said, suddenly ashamed by my limited knowledge of the inner workings of the rituals of the city I had grown up in.

  It stung a little that her interest in me only st
emmed from my apparently innate ability to make her more powerful, and not out of some deeper attraction or care for me. Still, I welcomed her attention, whatever motivated it. There would be plenty of time later to pay the price when Frollo inevitably found out about this encounter.

  “I am also glad to see you are well,” Esmeralda added, as if she’d read the thoughts that had just crossed my mind. “You sounded… indisposed.”

  I squirmed under her inquisitive stare and ran a nervous hand through my midnight blue hair. “Thank you, I am fine now.” Her intense gaze on me clearly indicated she expected more details. For some reason, I felt compelled to show her the same candor she had shown me. “I have a condition which builds up over a month and causes me great pain. The Praetor regularly helps me with it, as he did last night.”

  Her gaze lowered to my shoulder as if she could see my hump beyond it, a small frown marring her delicate forehead.

  “It pleases me to hear Frollo assisted you. He seemed quite… upset.”

  “I shouldn’t have been there,” I replied, my voice hardening. “It was foolish of me to put him and myself in danger by risking discovery.” My gaze bore into hers so there would be no misunderstanding this time about my meaning. “If my presence was exposed, my life would likely be forfeit, and the Praetor could face a world of trouble for having harbored a Fallen.”

  “You are only half-Fallen,” she argued, studying my features. “Technically, that part of you should give you some rights. But I get your meaning well. Your secret is safe with me.”

  I nodded in gratitude, but my lack of a sense of relief made me realize I’d never doubted she wouldn’t expose us.

  Watching Esmeralda chew her bottom lip as she hesitated to ask me the next question burning her tongue reignited the flame of desire that had dimmed to slow-burning embers.

  “You may ask your question. I have no secrets,” I said.