The Gathering

by Michael Timmins

  As if thinking about her summoned her, Kestrel flowed into the room.

  “Good evening, Shae. How are you?”

  Shae continued to watch the preparations. “I’m fine. You’ve been gone all day.”

  Kestrel sat down next to her, close enough to rub shoulders and glanced out over the workers as well and sighed audibly. “Yes. Well. Zach had me mingle with the guests. He felt it was best if they were to get to know me a little before I spoke to them at tonight’s rally.”

  “Sounds boring.”

  Kestrel snorted which sounded strange coming from such an elegant woman. “You are most right, Shae. It was. But necessary. Zach does understand how to reach people, and that is precisely what we need.” Kestrel tucked her hair behind her ears causing the beads in her hair to click and clack as they ran into each other.

  “One of the main problems we ran into the first time I waged this war was that most of our . . .” She tottered her head a little as if going back and forth trying to decide on which word to use, “recruits were conscripted into our army, and so, when the fighting got tough, they fled because they did not believe in our cause.

  “I won’t make that mistake again. We will do our best to recruit as many willing participants as we can.”

  Shae was no fool. She understood what Kestrel avoided saying was they infected people and forced them to fight for them using their will. She was happy Kestrel would try a different way this time.

  “Are you ready for your speech tonight?”

  “Of course,” Kestrel replied, her tone a little miffed as if there should not have been any doubt of her readiness.

  “Is Zach?”

  Kestrel chortled, again a weird sound coming from such a lady. “Zach was probably giving speeches as a babe.”

  As a babe? Oh, right, a baby. Shae shook her head in amusement at Kestrel’s vocabulary.

  “What?” Kestrel turned a quizzically look upon her.

  “A babe is someone that you think is hot.”

  “Hot?” She scrunched her forehead. “Oh, right. Attractive. Ah, I see.” She smiled mischievously. “Well then that too.”

  “Ugh,” Shae groaned.

  Kestrel laughed outright this time, and this had a musical quality to it more fitting for the woman.

  “Oh please. You can’t tell me you don’t find the man attractive?”

  Shae grimaced and rolled her eyes. “I guess,” she conceded.

  Kestrel reached over and patted her hand. “Don’t worry, Shae. I won’t leave you for him.”

  Shae felt the color rise in her cheeks in embarrassment. She hadn’t known she had been so easy to read.

  It looked as if Kestrel might laugh again but decided against it.

  “I have to go and get ready. Would you like to come and help me put on makeup?” Kestrel nudged her with an elbow.

  “Well, O.K., as long as you promise to put mine on for me?”

  Kestrel offered her a warm smile. “Of course.”

  She stood and moved toward the door.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you. Gordon, Taylor, Blain and Sarah have arrived.”

  This time Shae groaned loudly.

  “I wish we didn’t need those assholes.”

  “I do too, Shae, but sometimes those are the types of people you need to get the job done. They are necessary for what I need to accomplish.”

  “Samuel and Joseph?”

  Kestrel shook her head. “I expect them the day after tomorrow.”

  “Where were they again?”

  Kestrel smiled at her. “Shall we go?”

  Shae stared for a while at Kestrel but realized she would only get more info out of Kestrel, when and if she decided to. With resignation, she nodded.

  Zach stood off to the side of the stage. In a few moments he would climb those stairs and give the speech of a lifetime. Everything was about to change. No longer would they be some fringe group everyone dismissed as crazed radicals. No. Now they would be a force to be reckoned with.

  Kestrel had given him an opportunity he would not waste. What would happen tonight would reshape the world. It was fitting the warriors of this fight would take the forms of animals. That it would be nature’s beasts who would exact revenge upon the world of man.

  Men who had carelessly destroyed many of their brothers and sisters and continued to do so without abandon. Their continued destruction of habitats and hunting of endangered species would be answered!

  Zach could feel his face heating and when he realized he’d clenched his fists, he forced himself to release them and calm himself. It had been a long time since he had felt this level of anger. Oh, it wasn’t as if these things hadn’t been happening all along, only he had been fighting this fight without making any headway for so long, his soul had become beleaguered.

  He had been fighting the good fight, but these last few years he had been going through the motions. The passion. The anger. They had faded after all the years of not making any headway, and yet, he had continued to plod on because someone needed to try.

  Now, though. Now, the passion returned. The anger. The reason he had founded E.A.R.t.H. in the first place. Anger and retaliation! Those were two parts of the acronym which had faded as time went by.

  But they were back now. Kestrel had breathed new life into the cause. A new purpose. A new focus. And, the power to make it happen.

  Everything depended on their speeches tonight. Everything depended on whether they could convince his followers to join their army.

  Zach wondered again if he should allow one of Kestrel’s followers to give him that same power. He had refused Kestrel’s offer. She had nodded at his refusal, as if she had been expecting it all along. Perhaps she had. She was an uncanny woman. Brilliant, beautiful and dangerous.

  He didn’t trust her. He did, however, trust her motivations, and that is where their interest met. She would use him, obviously. Use him for his followers. But he would use her as well. She would give him the power and the strength to win this war he had been fighting for so long.

  He glanced towards Kestrel’s two followers. How different those two were. One, an obvious thug — a brute in every sense of the word. Broad of chest and waist, he was as bulky as a bus with greasy, slicked back hair which showed off a billboard sized forehead. An oft broken nose sat crooked above a thin-lipped, mouth missing more than a few teeth. Beady eyes scanned the crowd as if looking for someone to shake down and beat up. Probably exactly what he was thinking.

  The other, was a well-groomed man with sandy brown hair, fine features and a winning smile. He dressed comfortably in a fine, if loose-fitting suit. He on the other hand wasn’t watching the crowd. He sat leaning up against the side of the stage, staring unconcerned at the ceiling with the perfect air of boredom.

  They were the two Kestrel would present as options. One was a Boar and the other, a Crocodile. Kestrel had them shift for him. Nobody had to tell him which one was going to be the Boar, and which one was going to be the Crocodile. It had been apparent to Zach from the get-go.

  He wished it was only Gordon there and not Blain. Gordon was charming and attractive and would make a better case for becoming a Were than Blain ever could. Kestrel could have used one of the other two, Joseph or Taylor, but had insisted on Blain.

  “Despite what your opinion of the man is, Zach,” she had told him, “there are those in the crowd who Blain will appeal to, and those are the ones who will be the first to volunteer, I assure you.”

  He had tried to hide his skepticism but knew he had failed. It didn’t matter. It was her show at this point. His speech would be done. His part in it, would be done. He would become a follower. Sure, a follower with a seat at the table, but still subservient to Kestrel. She had been clear about that point.

  The appointed hour arrived, and Zach climbed the stage to thunderous applause. For a long while, he allowed the applause to wash over him. To lift him like a metaphysical buoy. He rode the tide of his followers’ love and apprec
iation for him for what seemed like several minutes.

  Zach rose a single hand and the room quieted.

  “Many of you have come here today from not only across America, but from other countries as well. You have travelled here because in your hearts you know the Earth is under assault.”

  Angry shouts of agreement rose, quickly hushed back to silence.

  Zach let his face grow blank, the muscles in his cheeks, to droop, as he allowed the graveness of what he said be mirrored by his expression.

  “Oil companies. Gas companies. Coal companies!” More agreeing shouts. “Logging companies!” He pitched his voice louder, full of anger. “For too long these companies have been allowed to do whatever they wanted! To rape and pillage our lands. Pollute our skies, lakes, rivers and oceans! To kill nature’s cherished children, some to the point of extinction!”

  Chorus of angry shouts punctuated each and every sentence he uttered. His face was now tight and flush as he tensed the muscles in his jaw. His anger visible for everyone to see.

  “And who is to blame?”

  “Oil! Coal!” came the shouts from the audience. They were the loudest, but he heard some shout other names. A woman near the front had called out the name he had wanted to hear, and he pointed toward her.

  “She knows! She understands!” The woman beamed from the recognition she received. Her neighbors in the crowd were clapping for her and some were leaning in close to find out what she had said. He didn’t give her the chance to tell them.

  “Government! That’s right. Our government. Your governments!” No one shouted now, they were all eagerly awaiting what he would say next.

  “Government for the people? Bah! They don’t listen to us. They don’t care about us! All they care about is the wad of bills they get stuffed into their pockets by these companies so they will turn a blind eye!

  “Well. I’ve had enough!”

  The shouts started up again. Angry and excited.

  He pitched his voice quieter. Not so quiet those in the back couldn’t hear him. But quiet enough so the crowd would strain to hear him, and when they did, they would feel his vulnerability. His sense of defeat.

  “But what are we to do? The government is too big. Too powerful. Oh, I could stand up here and rally you to strike out as we have done in the past. Destroy vehicles, burn down their offices.” He deliberately surveyed the crowd as he spoke. Meeting eyes, locking gazes and nodding in acknowledgment of their steadfastness. “We hold rallies. We hold marches. And still,” he shook his head in exaggerated disgust, “nothing happens.”

  “The system is rotten to the core. We have been fighting a losing battle, but we have never given up!” he added, his voice, gradually raising in decibel. “We have never admitted defeat!” Higher still. “No! We have not given in to despair! We have not resigned ourselves as ineffectual! NO! We have fought on!”

  Shouts and cheers sprung up around the stadium, and like wildfire it caught and spread with wild abandon. Soon, those who had been seated were on their feet, fist raised or clapping, some with hands cupped to their mouths hollering support.

  Zach let it run its course. Let it quiet down on its own and even though he raised his hands and motioned for the crowd to quiet down, they had all but done so already.

  “But I am afraid it is time to admit defeat.” His somber expression returned as he frowned out over the crowd; he could hear murmurs of “no” and “never” but only softly for they did not want to drown him out as they knew, no, hoped for more. An answer for them. Not this surrender.

  Grabbing the microphone, he rounded his podium and came to the edge of the stage.

  “It is time to give up. Surrender.”

  Again, more and more murmurs of dissent, and he knew he had them.

  He scanned the crowd again, finding those who truly looked lost and hurt by what he said and met their eyes, before continuing to the next one.

  “Or at least, I thought it was.”

  He began walking across the front of the stage.

  “I had given up. I had felt we had done everything we could do and there was still no change. No lasting change anyways. The world wasn’t ready for our message and we lacked the strength to do it without them.”

  He stopped and turned towards them.

  “Until now.” He gave them a soft smile.

  People were glancing to those next to them with quizzical expressions, shrugs and open hand gestures of bafflement. What did he mean until now? What had changed? How would they have the strength to make the world listen?

  He let them stew before continuing. “The world has changed before our eyes and we didn’t even realize it. Some of you may have heard the stories out of Chicago. Some of you may have heard rumors of the events in upstate Texas this past week. Some of you are still blissfully unaware.”

  He began to pace again. “Nature has given us the answer to our prayers. They have sent us arbiters of justice. More, they have granted them the power to recruit others to the cause. To join them in their war against the corruption and greed which prevents true change from happening.”

  He turned a smile on them and gave a half chuckle to diffuse the tension in the room which had been building. “I know. I am not explaining myself well and many of you have questions.”

  He nodded his understanding as if he was as lost and confused as they were, though he had brought them to this point.

  “I could try to explain everything to you, but I think it best if I let our guests do the explaining. Allow me to present to you our guest of honor tonight, Kestrel El-Clare.” He half turned toward the stair and began clapping and was soon joined by the thousands in the stands.

  Kestrel, he knew, was all about the entrance. And enter she did. Sweeping up the stairs, she wore an emerald green gown that seemed to know her as well as any man could hope to know her. She had worn a similar gown before, but it had a plunging neckline. This one was modestly cut with barely a hint of cleavage.

  She knew her target audience. She couldn’t help her beauty or her body, and while she wore a gown accentuating her curves, it did not flaunt them overtly. It was enough to captivate the men, but not anger the women.

  She was flanked by her two followers, Blain and Gordon. They followed her to the podium but stood back and to the sides. Sentinels guarding their matriarch.

  He watched her though, and when she reached the podium, her steps faltered slightly, and she looked furtively between the crowd and the floor as if unsure as to why she was there and thinking of running.

  Zach smiled. A nice added touch. If she came out looking like she did and been all full of confidence as well? It wouldn’t matter if many of the women had already met Kestrel the night before. That they had talked, and she had ingratiated herself with them. If they still perceived her as a threat to enticing their men, she would be the enemy. Feigned trepidation should be enough to put the women at ease. At least, long enough for them to listen to what Kestrel had to say.

  Listen, and hear.

  “Hello.”

  Zach had been looking out at the crowd, checking to see if Kestrel’s ruse was working when he heard her utter that word, and his head whipped back around to stare at her. She spoke it in flawless English. It held none of the accent he had grown familiar with this past week.

  Well, well, well. So, how long ago did you learn to lose your accent, I wonder? Had it all been a ploy to set him at ease when they met? The hapless foreigner? Zach shook his head in admiration. He needed to remember whose sandbox he played in. Nothing should surprise him about her.

  “My name is Kestrel. I could tell you my story, but it is long and would be fairly unbelievable for most of you, so I won’t.” She offered an apologetic smile as if to acknowledge some of them doubtless wished to hear it but wouldn’t get the chance to.

  “The important thing to know about me is I am a steward of this Earth. From a very early age I was raised to care and protect all things natural. As I grew older, I came to re
alize nature would never be safe while man could plunder her unchecked.”

  She spoke softly but succinctly. The melodic tone of her voice left everyone hanging on each word, eager for the next one. “Like you, I wondered what I could do to stop this. It made me angry. I wanted it to stop.”

  A sad smile.

  “But I didn’t know how.”

  A slow confidence built in her words.

  “That was when I learned nature was also angry. The Earth was furious about what was being done to her. Because of this, she created people to fight for her.”

  There were nods in the crowd as people assumed, she talked about them, which had been the plan.

  “I knew I must act, and so I sought out these people. I gathered them and I knew I must gather others as well. Those who would join us.”

  She motioned to the two men at her side and the crowd exchanged confused looks, realizing she hadn’t been speaking about them after all.

  “What I am about to show you will undoubtably surprise you. Scare you, even.”

  Murmurs of denial. After all, what could she conceivably show them that would scare them?

  “These men next to me are not like us. They have been chosen by nature to give her justice. But they need our help.”

  She paused, eying the crowd.

  Raising her voice, she continued, “Will you help them?”

  Calls of ‘yes’ and other affirmations rose around her.

  This was not the rousing speech like the one he had given. This had been a slow and steady climb. A building of layers. She had taken them on a journey with her, from uncertainty to righteousness and they had followed all the way, unknowing of where she might be leading them.

  “I give you! Nature’s crusaders!”

  At the signal. Blain and Gordon moved slightly forward, still behind Kestrel, but closer to the crowd. They stepped forward . . . and shifted. No matter how many times Zach witnessed this it still left his stomach unsettled. How could someone not find the instantaneous reconstruction of a person’s body repulsive?