The Tale of the Thirteenth Spirit
an excerpt

James yawned.
“I’m tired. How long has it been since the sun set?”
“Hours, my friend, it must be past midnight, now.” Said Peter, lowering his cup, “I wonder where that Judas has got to?”
Mary looked uncomfortable, though no one noticed it.
“He’s probably with Joshua,” She said casually, absent-mindedly inspecting her fingernails.
“Again?” Peter sighed.
“You know Judas likes to talk politics, Joshua likes to talk philosophy. Together, there’s much they could accomplish!” Mary answered a little defensively.
“I don’t know… I don’t like it. Judas is always following him around.”
“Isn’t that what we all do?” Thomas asked practically.
“Yeah, but it’s the way he does it; acting like he’s better than us, like he knows more, just because he’s some fancy city boy from Jerusalem.”
“Doesn’t he, though?” chimed in James “Do you ever catch that look on his face, like he knows something we don’t?”
“That’s exactly what I mean,” Peter nodded darkly, “Him with his zealotry and all.”
“And have you noticed the way he plays with that wicked-looking knife of his?” Bartholomew pointed out “He gets that strange expression like he might just up and kill someone!”
“I wouldn’t put it past him” agreed Peter, “I keep expecting to feel that knife of his between my shoulder blades. After all, what are those zealots but a bunch of glorified highwaymen?”
“For my part, it makes me uneasy to see Joshua spending his time with a man with so much blood on his hands.” said Jacob.
“We fought to free our country!” bristled Simon, taking a stand for his fellow zealot, “We risked our lives in the service of the law and the prophets while you and your kind languish in the so-called ‘peace of Rome’!”
“The zealots do what they think is right, and I have to say that I’ve come to see why they fight the injustices of Rome!” Matthew interjected, looking a little nervous at siding with Simon, former Roman tax collector as he was. Simon nodded in vigorous agreement with him, however. But as Matthew had probably expected, his statement still released a torrent of outburst.
“What have your lot ever done but make life hard for those of us who’re trying to get by?” argued Philip
“They should have been waiting for the Messiah, not murdering people in the hills!” Bartholomew added.
“And you, Matthew, what’s your excuse for what you did?” James added venomously.

The room was quickly dividing itself into two factions: one lead by Peter, which included his fellow fishermen, James, Andrew, and Philip, as well as Bartholomew and Thaddeus. On the other side was Mary’s group: John, Yafa, Matthew, and Simon
“That’s enough!” Mary said angrily, “You should all be ashamed of yourselves! Joshua said we should love each other, and here you are talking behind the back of one of your own!”
“That stuck-up city-born zealot isn’t one of us in my book, woman!”
“If that’s all you can see, then I fear for the Master that he has such thick-headed followers. And might I beg for a modicum of respect, while you’re at it? I have a name, you know.”
“Oh, here she goes again,” Peter groaned, rolling his eyes, “What, tell me how you’re cleverer than me and how misunderstood you women are.”
Mary’s eyes narrowed and she stood, slowly, gracefully; with all the coiled power of a jungle cat. Peter leaned away involuntarily as she stood before him, looking down, her red hair shimmering in the lamplight.
“You, Peter, are a fool!” She hissed.
“Come off it, Mary,” said Bartholomew dismissively waving his hand, “You have to admit that Judas can be a little crazy, and you’re a little over-zealous yourself sometimes. No pun intended. But really, Mary, do you really think Joshua’s going to overturn over a thousand years of tradition?”
“But don’t you all see what this means?” Yafa cried, a hint of desperation in her voice.
“Not you too, Yafa!” Philip cried. She rounded on him, glaring across the table.
“Don’t you understand how serious this is? What this shows?”
Everyone stared mutely at her
“What Peter said was more than cruel gossip: it belies a canker of hate that remains within, despite all that the Master has tried to teach him! The kingdom of God can never come when you still hold such darkness in your hearts!”
She started to weep
“You hear, but you do not understand! You stupid, stupid men!” Mary ran to her side and laid the other woman’s head upon her breast.
There was a horribly tense silence broken only my Yafa’s impassioned sobs, in which the muttered words “Just like a woman to start crying,” were heard. Mary’s head snapped up, but her words carried a note of sadness when she said:
“Let us leave, Yafa. Those men do not want us with them anymore.”
As they left, John, Matthew, Simon, and Thomas followed them.

In the silence that followed their stiff departure, Peter added: “I still don’t trust that Judean.”
“Nor I,” said James bitterly, eyes still on the doorway through which his younger brother had departed, “Nor I.”