To the Ends of the Earth

Chapter 13

Gabriel

I'd never seen so many people together in one place before, at least not in this life. While I had seen most of these people milling about the village separately or in small groups at one time or another, this was my first live experience with a real crowd. Even mealtimes in the mess hall didn't compare to the jumble around me. The herd of semi unwashed bodies all standing together and the cacophony of so many voices talking at once was surprisingly intimidating. Instead of looking around for Maggie, which would be my usual instinct, I shuffled to a less condensed space at the back of the room and propped my shoulder up against the back wall. I didn't like the suffocating feeling of being surrounded. It made me itchy.

Next to me, hunching in on himself in the back corner, was a tall man with dark skin and long, braided hair. He had a grimace on his face when he met my eyes and his nod of greeting was almost imperceptible. He looked about as comfortable with all this hubbub as I felt. I'd never met him before, which wasn't surprising because I still hadn't met most of these people, but he looked young enough that he was probably fairly new here.

I didn't see Jude yet, however some of the other council members had gathered at the front of the room and were making half-hearted attempts to get everyone to settle down. No one seemed particularly inclined to listen to them; maybe it was their own flustered appearance and confused glances at each other. No wonder Jude had taken ownership of this place.

"You're Gabriel, aren't you?" asked the man hunching next to me.

I turned to see him scrutinizing me and I answered cautiously. "I am."

"Bertie told me about you. I'm Clive." He made no move to shake my hand or anything and that was fine with me.

So this was the other natural born. Interesting.

"Ah. She told me about you as well. Real chatty, that Bertie."

He smiled in a sarcastic sort of way. "You and I need to talk. Will you walk with me after this?"

"Do we? What about?"

"Not here." He looked around slowly, raising an eyebrow meaningfully.

Two could play eyebrows so I raised one of mine as well. I hoped it came across as intrigued because that's what I was going for. "Sure, I guess."

We were silent for a few moments before it occurred to me that, aside from Jude, Clive was the only one missing from the line of council members at the front.

"Shouldn't you be up there?" I asked him quietly, jabbing a thumb at the inept grouping at the head of the crowd.

He shook his head and his braids made a swishing sound. "They don't want to hear from us. It doesn't matter where I stand."

I shrugged to myself. I wouldn't want to be associated with them either.

At the close of our strange and short exchange, the atmosphere in the large and crowded space abruptly changed from one of confusion to one of excited expectation. Clive and I both turned to see what had caused the change, though I could guess. I wasn't surprised to see that Jude had arrived; the man had a way of commanding people after all. He began striding through the middle of the magically parting crowd like a violent, grumpy Moses parting the red sea. His faith in his own power left him with no expectation of resistance. These people were his flock and it showed.

When he reached the front of the room he turned to the crowd and held up his hands high above his head, palms facing outward. I wasn't surprised when there was an immediate cessation to the nervous chattering. His influence was even more worrisome when witnessed on such a widespread scale.