Eighth Fire (30 page)

Several counselors walked up and stood behind
Shana. Mark asked, “How many prophecies are there?”

“Quite a few; most have already been
fulfilled.”

“May I look at your reader?”

“Sure.” She handed the device to Mark and
continued, “But I doubt that you’ll understand them. Prophecies
usually can’t be linked to an event until after the event has
happened. On the other hand, a foretelling has enough information
to identify an event before it happens and permits intervention if
necessary. That oath was a bit unusual and I thought I remembered
it from prophecy class.”

LeOmi asked, “That reader has all the prophecies
in it?”

Shana nodded, “Foretellings too, and they’re
updated daily as long as you’re near a node, like a Wi-Fi hotspot
or a phone tower.”

LeOmi handed a piece of paper toward Shana. “I
came across this just recently. I think it was intentionally left
for me.”

Shana took the paper and looked it over. She
pointed to the reader Mark was holding and he handed it back. After
a moment Shana compared the paper with what she had on the screen
and then began to read, “In the last days I shall bring forth my
staves; even the staff called Beauty and the staff called Bands,
and they that bear them shall hearken to my voice. My shepherds
shall witness against the seven headed beast and his followers, to
all peoples who dwell in the seven mountains, and all peoples that
dwell in the seven seas.” She handed the paper back to LeOmi and
said, “Identical, except for the words mountains and continents.
You say this was left for you?”

“I think Henry left it; it was on the back of
the Wheel of Time.”

“Any dreams about it?”

LeOmi nodded, but didn’t volunteer anything
further.

Shana smiled, “We’ll talk later. Okay, Mark
what’ll you have?”

The other counselors stepped from behind Shana
and went to their charges.

Shana returned and sat the orders in front of
her students, walked to beside Jamal and put her hand on his
shoulder, “Good news...I think. Mrs. Iglesias, head of the cooking
department, has agreed in concept to let you establish a practice
kitchen for sophomore students and have it open to the public.
Meals are for homework grade points only. As payment, each patron
will be required to fill out a survey that rates their dining
experience according to several criteria. The only monetary
compensation allowed is tips which have to be completely voluntary
and they can neither be solicited nor mentioned in any way.

“The second part of her conditions is that all
material: facilities, foods, fixtures, frills, fittings, fluff and
other ancillary stuffs, have to be supplied by the students.
Nothing is to be supplied by the school. No exceptions.

“Are you still interested?”

Jamal looked flabbergasted. “How in the world
can I do that?”

Nick countered, “It’s not an ‘I’ problem; it’s a
‘we’ problem.”

Mark said, “If you’re thinking the material is a
problem, don’t worry about it. I can cover that without batting an
eye.”

Chenoa added, “It’s just Saturdays right? I’m
willing to volunteer after flags practice and matches as wait
staff, dishwasher or whatever is needed until you get it
going.”

James and Cap’n Ben chorused, “Me too.”

Even the newcomers wanted to help out and
offered to volunteer.

Nick said, “Looks like most of the major bases
are covered.”

Mark said, “We need a location; just say yes or
no and we’ll go from there.”

“The Council of Elders has agreed to lease the
picnic area in the recreation section in the middle of the mountain
for this purpose,” Shana informed them, “and you can build on the
site.”

Jamal sat his coffee down and said, “This is all
too much to take in. Can I think about it for a while?”

Mark said, “I don’t have to think about it. I
know it’s a good idea. How much is the lease?”

“An ounce of gold per month; that includes
utilities.”

Nick asked, “What are the building
restrictions?”

Shana said, “Single story, style complementary
to the other buildings around the picnic area and I think there’s a
fifty thousand square foot size limit. The Council of Elders has to
approve the plans.”

Nick looked at Mark, “I want a piece of this.
Partners?”

Mark smiled and reached across Jamal to shake
Nick’s hand. “Fifty-fifty, expense and profit?”

LeOmi said, “Hey, not so fast, maybe some of us
want a piece of it too.”

Salina said, “I’d like to have a piece of it.
You could incorporate it and sell shares of stock.”

Shana said, “Sole proprietorships only, but a
sole proprietor can have backers and investors.”

Mark said, “Hey, this is getting way too
complicated. Shana, can you bring me a lease agreement for five
years? I’ll lease it and we can figure out investors and stuff
later.”

Shana said, “Five years is the standard term.
The Council sent a lease agreement for Jamal to look over if he was
still interested.” She produced the agreement and handed it to
Mark.

Jamal said, “I’m still interested, but I don’t
have the means to do it.”

Nick said to Jamal, “The means are covered. It’s
just a matter of doing it. I can draw up the plans tonight if
you’ll sit down with me and discuss what’s needed.”

Mark said, “We can get a crew started on
building it Monday morning if the plans are approved. If everything
goes well it could be open by next Saturday.”

Cap’n Ben said, “It’ll need a name. How about
Jamal’s Table?”

Chenoa said, “How about Jamal’s Kitchen?”

Jamal’s mouth spread into a grin, “I like that.”
His head began nodding, “I like that a lot. Jamal’s Kitchen.
Yeah!”

Mark missed his prediction by a day. Jamal had
wanted to get the plans just right for the kitchen: six cooking
stations all capable of preparing any one dish at any one station
along with ergonomic considerations and efficient cleanup as
priorities. Nick had been patient and as much as he had wanted to
give up at a couple of points, he stuck with helping his
friend.

The group skipped that Saturday’s flags match
since Emerald Tribe wasn’t playing in order to help Jamal set up
for the first day the kitchen would be open. It didn’t help that
Mrs. Iglesias was there taking notes on everything that was
happening.

Jamal pointed to one of the other chefs, another
sophomore wearing a chef’s cap with yellow trim. “This is a big day
for us. Make sure you have everything you could possibly need. If
you don’t have something tell me. And make sure that what you’re
prepared to cook is on the menu boards.” He raised his voice and
called around, “That goes for all chefs; double check the menu
boards to make sure what you plan to prepare is listed.”

The menu boards were several chalkboards placed
around the picnic area at locations visible from every one of the
ten dozen tables. It didn’t make sense to have printed menus done
until they established what meals were the most popular. As much as
Jamal worried and tried to cover all the bases, no one was prepared
for what happened that night.

Not long after sunset the picnic area was
inundated with people. Jamal heard from many customers that the
opening had been dream cast and announced at today’s flags match.
Counselors pitched in to help since not many people were in The
Oasis.

The huge freezers and refrigerators were
absolutely empty by 9:30 p.m. Jamal asked Mark, “Can you have the
wait staff tell everyone waiting that we’re completely out of food?
I need to sit down for a little bit or I’d do it myself.” When Mark
returned Jamal was slumped on the floor leaning against his lower
oven sound asleep. The other chefs were all similarly positioned
and just as asleep. Mrs. Iglesias walked in behind Mark, jotted
some notes on her clipboard, pulled out a camera and took pictures
of the sleeping sextet. As she was turning to leave she said, “They
did well.”

“I know. I had one of Jamal’s hamburgers with
sweet potato fries. It was so good I left him a ten dollar
tip.”

The next Saturday Jamal only supervised the new
set of six chefs. The roster of chef rotations had filled in
quickly with positions of chef and alternates being claimed for the
next year. Word had evidently spread as people were starting to
arrive an hour early, among whom was Jamal’s grandfather, from
Ethiopia.

As he approached the group seated at a table he
said, “Look at you my boy. You are the head chef at your own place
at The Seventh Mountain no less. I am so proud! I tried to see you
last week, but there were so many people, and you were so
busy.”

Before his grandfather could finish Jamal was to
him and they embraced. “Grandfather, it is so good to see you but
how did you know?”

“You are my grandson, a part of my family. It’s
my purpose to know. Besides, news of a place with good free food
spreads fast. I hope you are better prepared for tonight.”

“Don’t worry. All the freezers and refrigerators
are over packed. I don’t plan on running out of food again.”

“That is good. Now, I have a brief bit of
business with your friend before the mad rush starts.”

The elder Mr. Terfa walked toward Mark. He knelt
to one knee, drew his sword and laid it on the ground before him.
As he did so most of the others that had arrived early did the
same. Mr. Terfa bowed his head and said, “I choose: my sword, my
skills and my life serve you and your quest to defeat the son of
evil.” The others, more than a hundred in all said the same thing
discordantly.

Mark leaned toward Salina, “Can you make a list
of everyone here: name, tribe, mountain, that sort of thing?

Salina removed some paper from Aaron’s Grasp.
Across the top of the paper she wrote: Name (print please), Tribe,
Mountain.

Mark took a medium size cardboard box out of
Aaron’s Grasp and wondered if there would be enough. He’d only
ordered a gross of them to start with because that was all
Fairystone Park could supply on such short notice. He handed out a
stone cross pendant with chain after each person wrote down their
information. There were seven left when they finished.

Mark stepped up on the table to address the
group. “All of you are here because you felt compelled to make an
oath to me, but the way I see it is you are devoting yourself to a
quest that the One True God has lain before you. You made your oath
to Him to serve me in this quest. The pendant I gave you will be
our seal, our signet, and our emblem. Let it remind us of our bond
in this quest and to each other.

“I do not know where this quest will lead. It is
not a quest to be taken lightly, but it is a quest I know I must
lead. Many of us will likely be killed before it is over. If you
have any doubt about your oath then come and scratch your name off
the list.”

Mark paused. Not a soul moved.

“I’ll be at Jamal’s Kitchen every Saturday night
when I can. If there is urgent news then I’ll dream cast. Sleep
with your pendants on.”

That night Mark called his close friends into
his dream. After everyone had greeted him and taken a seat at the
picnic table outside of his dream version of Jamal’s Kitchen he
began, “This quest thing to stand against Benrah is developing a
lot faster than I had thought it would. To tell you the truth, I’m
a bit overwhelmed and I have no idea about what we should be doing.
I know that doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in my ability to
lead—”

Nick interrupted, “We’re not following you
because you’re a natural leader or anything. The One True God chose
you to lead and he chose us to follow. We’re not following you;
we’re following who He chose. It’s as simple as that.”

Chenoa added, “Besides, you don’t lead by
telling people to do this or that; you lead by example. You inspire
people.”