Chapter 7 of The Other Side of the Creek (A Leader)

Finally...

Chapter 7

They made their way down the winding tunnel ways once again, and came to Great Oak Hollow. Just like before, it was full of followers. They waited expectantly as Ben and the others came to the front of the great room.

"People," Klii's voice had a faint echo to it. "As you know, we have already called a meeting a few days ago and decided that we will attack Daran very soon. The battle last night has not stopped our plans at all, rather, it is a reason to act even quicker before Daran hears of our victory and realizes that we are stronger than he thought. But to attack, we need an earthly leader, one who will follow Adonai's commandments as much as sinful humans are able to do. So far we have hastily picked a leader when we needed one, but we cannot do that anymore. And this leader that we pick will also be an earthly king when we have won. So we must be wise in this decision."

Klii was about to say more when some voices called out, "Let's have Klii as our leader! He would be good!"

"Yes!" more agreed. "Klii for leader!"

The old man raised his hand to stop them. "No." he said. "Adonai has told me who our leader, and later king, is going to be. We will trust his judgement, as he knows a whole lot more than we do." he paused, looking around at all the faces waiting on his words. Ben leaned forward, wondering what he was going to say.

"Nolan, come up here please." Klii instructed.

Very pale, Nolan stepped up beside Klii, who laid a hand on his shoulder. "This is the one that Adonai has sent to be our leader."

Ben raised his eyebrows in suprise. He hadn't expected the slightly shy Nolan to become a leader and king.

Klii looked around at the crowd. "Does anyone object to it?"

No one said anything, so Klii turned to Nolan. "Now, do you swear that you will lead this people by the will of Adonai, and later be king over them also by his will?"

"Yes, sir."

Klii turned back to the followers. "And do you swear to follow Nolan, under Adonai, and to encourage him, pray for him, and help him? If you do, raise your right hand."

Everyone in the group, including Learka, Yev, Ben, and Kaela, raised their right hand.

"Very well, then." said Klii. "In the Book of Prophesies, Adonai promised that he himself will come to earth to kill death. He is the true king, and will always rule over everything. Under the True King, Nolan will rule us."

Klii addressed Nolan. "As our leader, what will we do now?"

Ben could see Nolan hesitate for a moment. "Uh, well we should have officers that each command a unit of soldiers, so that we can have a little bit more order and that I won't go crazy."

The followers chuckled at that part.

Nolan went on. "Let's see. Gawain and Sam, do you mind being Captains?"

Gawain and Sam, solid and sensible brothers in their thirties, stood and saluted. "Not at all, sir."

"Then come up here, please."

Gawain and Sam came up and stood beside Klii, who was beside Nolan. Yev, Learka, Ben, and Kaela were behind them all.

"And Lerikan, Guelo, Elad, and Meri, can you be lieutenants?"

They saluted and came up front, standing beside the two captains.

"Now, how many followers who will be in the army are there?" Nolan turned back to Ben and Kaela. "Would you kindly go around and take a count of the fighting ones, sir and lady?"

Ben was taken by surprise to be called a sir, but he said, just a little squeakily, "Yes, sir," and then he and Kaela quickly milled around in the crowd for a little, counting. Then they came back and Kaela gave the report. "Three hundred ninety one, sir, not counting the captains, lieutenants, Learka, Ben and myself."

Nolan smiled at them. "Thank you." Then he looked back toward the crowd. "The number is three hundred ninety one. So that would mean--" he did some quick math in his head. "--196 of you are under Captain Gawain's command, and 195 of you are under Captain Sam's command. Lerikan and Guelo, you will be under Captain Sam. Lerikan will command, uh, 97 soldiers, and Guelo will command 98 soldiers."

Ben was impressed by Nolan's skill in mathematics.

"Elad and Meri, you are under Captain Gawain. Each of you will command...98 soldiers. Gawain and Sam, will you please divide the troops?"

While the Captains were assigning the men, Ben worked up the courage to address Nolan. "What will we do, sir?"

"You and your sister, as well as Learka, will be aides to me. Are you willing?" he asked all of them.

"I am." answered Learka.

"So am I," Ben and Kaela agreed in unison, and then smiled at each other.

In that short time, the Captains had grouped the soldiers. They all stood in front of Nolan and then Gawain asked, "Now what shall we do, sir?"

"Each man remember his lieutenant and captain." Nolan instructed. "You are dismissed." he walked away to his family, who was eagerly waiting for him.

Ben, Klii, and the others were about to go back home when the very old man who had spoken out last meeting, named Jarod, hobbled up, still leaning on a cane and the young boy's arm. "That was a good choice Adonai made, picking young Nolan," he commented to Klii.

"Yes, I agree," answered Klii, and the two men immediately launched into a discussion of battle strategies.

As they talked, Ben found himself studying the boy's face. He had brown eyes and light brown hair, with a wide mouth and a turned up nose. He may have been twelve or thirteen, Ben couldn't quite tell. No older than fourteen, probably.

Because he was stationary, Jarod had let go of the boy's arm. Now the boy came over to Ben and Kaela, so he could talk to them without interrupting Klii and Jarod's conversation. "Hello," he said. "My name's Yersi. I don't remember anyone mentioning either one of your names."

Ben nodded. "My name's Benjamin, but most call me Ben. This is my sister, Mikaela, but she prefers Kaela." Apparently, he's not very shy, he told himself.

"I'm thirteen. How old are you?" Yersi inquired.

"I'm thirteen, too." This time Ben let Kaela speak for herself.

"I'm nine. But I'll be ten soon."

Yersi nodded. "Where do you guys come from? I'm just from around here."

"We're from Prince William County, Virginia." Ben hesitated. "You wouldn't know where that is, would you?"

"Never heard of it. Is it up north?"

"No, I don't think so. More south-ish, but it's not really near here."

There was a slight pause, and then Yersi asked for sake of conversation, "So, do you have any other brothers or sisters?"

Kaela shook her head. "No. Do you?"

"I have a twin sister. We both live with our grandpa--" he gestured toward Jarod. "--because our parents got captured by Daran for being followers of Adonai."

"Oh, I'm sorry." sympathized Kaela.

Just then, Yev tapped Ben and Kaela on the shoulder. "Time to go, guys."

"Alright. Bye, Yersi."

"See you!" Yersi offered his arm to his grandfather again, and they walked away. Meanwhile, Klii, Learka, Yev, Ben, and Kaela started back for home.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I agree with Ben, Nolan's math skills are very good. I needed my calculator to figure everything out!

Izori

PS. Feel free to post comments about my story! Suggestions, etc. are appreciated!