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Topic: Volunteer (11/23/06)
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TITLE: The Volunteer (iii) | Previous Challenge Entry
By Janelle Bailey
11/28/06 -
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He looked down at the tableau spread out in the village below. He had been planning this day for a long time, forever it seemed; a foray into the arms of the enemy. I wondered what he thought of the hectic villagers spread out before him, now that the day had finally come for things to be fulfilled.
‘Look at them,’ I continued. ‘They have no idea, no concept of what you are about to do to them. They’re totally unprepared.’
My words had little effect on him. He just smiled with that inscrutable smile of his that proved, once again, that he knew something I did not. ‘Not all of them are unprepared,’ he said, seating himself beside me on the cool grass. ‘Some will be ready to rally behind me when the time comes. As for the rest, they have been accounted for in my plans.’
I fell silent at this. I knew enough of his plans to be concerned, yet how could I fault him. He’d never been wrong before, had he. Still, looking at the scurrying, heedless figures below, I had to wonder.
‘Are you truly sure that you wish to enter in this fashion? It’s so…. undignified.
His voice thundered laughter at this suggestion. ‘This bothers you, does it, that I should be undignified?’
I swallowed my discomfort and pushed on. ‘Yes it does. It doesn’t seem right that you should put yourself in that position.’
I grasped at a handful of dirt from beneath my feet. ‘Just look at it, Sir. Muck and mire, this place, it’s just covered in it.’ I let the soil dribbled uselessly between my fingers, he wasn’t listening any longer anyway. Something far below had caught his attention. He had an expression of anticipation that I had never seen before.
‘There she is.’ His eyes traced the movement of a young woman in the village below. ‘It’s almost time,’ he continued in an eager whisper, his hand gripping my shoulder with a strength that revealed the power of his intensity.
He was a tightly wound coil, and I could feel his excitement as he stumbled to his feet, pulling me up with him. ‘Look, she’ll be at the house in just a few minutes. I’ve arranged for her to be alone long enough for you to give her my message. Make sure you tell her everything exactly as I commanded you.’
I brushed the dirt from my hands and looked into his face, knowing it would never appear the same again.
He clasped my hand for the final time; and then I left. Him standing on that vacant mountainside, and me setting off to initiate the most audacious plan in history.
I was almost out of earshot, when I heard his last words shoot out towards me. ‘Remember, Gabriel,’ he called, his voice singing with an undeniable enthusiasm, ‘her name’s Mary.’
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