Red Leaves and the Living Token

by Benjamin David Burrell

  A sudden weight lifted off his heart. The idea that the token was wrong, that he could simply return home with his son without worrying about anything else that he had seen or that had happened, it almost overwhelmed him to the point of collapse. Everything would be alright after all! He smiled. Emret was here, he’d found him. All that was left was the formalities of his release, and they’d be on their way home.

  He and Sinesh followed the officer to the back of an enormous tent. They waited as the officer knocked on a post hidden beneath the canvas.

  A soldier came out through a flap next to the post. The Officer whispered some instructions to him that he couldn't make out. He turned his attention back to Handers and beckoned he and Sinesh to follow him into the tent.

  Was this where they were keeping Emret? Seemed a little extreme for a small boy. He noticed the soldier that the officer had whispered too didn't follow them in. He glanced back and saw the large Petra hurrying over to another tent. He wondered what that was all about.

  The interior of the tent was impressive. The sheer size made him feel small and insignificant. Even the ground was covered with canvas. Tall posts topped with Oil lamps circled the outer walls of the tent, casting a warm light on a table and three chairs sitting in the middle.

  The officer pointed at chairs. “Please have a seat.”

  Hander sat down. Were they going to bring Emret in to him here? Was this somewhere they brought him to wait? Sinesh climbed up onto the high chair next to Handers.

  The officer sat down across the table from them. "I'm sorry, tell my your name again?"

  "Raj Handers." He said.

  "And your missing child?" Asked the officer.

  "Emret." He said.

  "And you last saw him how long ago?"

  "We noticed him missing a few hours ago." Handers said.

  "And where were you traveling from?"

  "Pipfe." Handers answered.

  "And your destination?"

  Handers hadn't thought about that yet. This wasn't working out to well. If they'd asked any of the same questions to Emret, they'd be entirely different. He didn't even know where the road they had been on led to. He was such a terrible liar. What about the small border village they just left. What was it called? Upper Archtlier? "Upper Archlier." He answered.

  The officer looked up from his notes with a raised eyebrow. Not a common destination then, Handers guessed?

  "And the nature of your visit?"

  "We're visiting friends of the family. They just had a child." That sounded pretty reasonable. Maybe?

  "I see." The Officer paused. "And your son was by himself when he wandered off?"

  Oh, no! He forgot about Moslin! He hated lying, he was terrible at it. There were too many things to keep track of. What was he suppose to say now? Just add Moslin in? 'Oh yeah, Emret was with another lady who also happens to be missing, but I didn't mention it for some reason.

  "Look, have you seen my son or not? I thought you said you could help?" Handers asked, working himself up to sound upset.

  The officer put down his pen. He pushed his chair back and stood up. "I'm sorry Mr Handers we haven't seen your son." He walked away from the table.

  Handers stood up too. "What do you mean you haven't seen my son? Wait! Where are you going? You just said you could help me! I know he’s here!" Handers was too tired and had gone through too much to play any more games. This was it. He wanted his son.

  The Officer stopped and turned back to Handers with a smile. "And how would you know that?"

  Anger stirred from within. Why was this so difficult? Who care if he couldn't tell a consistent story? He was just a boy, what did they want with him? They should be happy to get him back to his parents. "Where is my son? What's going on here?"

  "Excellent question. What is going on here?" The officer folded his arms and waited.

  Handers stared back at him for a moment then gave in. Fine! "You want to know what's going on? I'll tell you. That lady you have with my son kidnapped him from his hospital bed and dragged him half way across the world. I've been trying find them for almost a week.

  "So now, I'd really appreciate it if you'd return him to my custody, so I can get him back to the hospital to resume his treatments, so that he doesn't die!"

  The Officer took in a deep cleansing breath. "Aaah, now we're getting somewhere." He returned to the table. "What do you know of the small figurine the boy was carrying?"

  "Figurine?" Handers asked.

  “Yes, the small, broken fragment of stone that's shaped like a small plant.”

  Bedic was right. Emret came looking for the Token! Unbelievable. Was that what the Petra were after as well? What would they want with it?

  "He didn't have anything like that the last time I saw him." He answered.

  The Officer leaned his arm out to the side and snapped loudly. Immediately, two rows of Soldiers filed into the room, circling around the back to form and full circle.

  Hander's face dropped. This was not good. He did not plan on this. Was he being interrogated now? By what right? He'd done nothing wrong.

  "Lets try this again. You would like to see your son, and I would like some information. Let see if we can help each other. I need you to tell me everything you know about the piece of stone your son was carrying. I want to know everything about the purpose of your son's travel here. I want to know everything about the woman accompanying him. If you do not tell me everything I want to know, you will not see your son again. Am I clear?"

  “You can’t do that.” Handers said, almost to himself.

  “I most certainly can. You and your son have illegally crossed into Petra land. If you refuse to answer my questions, I’ll have to assume you are an enemy to the Petra state.”

  Handers sat back down. He looked across the stone faces of the soldiers surrounding him. He found no sympathy in the eyes staring back at him, only the hardened faces of trained soldiers, emotionless. He was sure they wouldn't hesitate to kill him if they were instructed. Order and Law? He grossly misjudged them. Order and law apparently did not apply to foreigners.

  "I found the Token on the beach outside my son's hospital. I brought it here. I don't know how my son got a hold of it."

  "You found it on the beach? Interesting." He jotted down a few notes. "Please continue."

  "I'm sorry, I didn't find much use for it. I don't know what else you want to know. You probably know more about what's going on than I do."

  He snapped his fingers again at one of the soldiers behind him. "I believe there is a great deal more that you are not telling us. And that discourages me.” One of the soldiers stepped up to him, holding a patch of brown fur in his hand.

  “This belonged to your son.” The officer continued. “Lets call it a little incentive to cooperate. If you doubt that really was his, I’m sure we can bring you something a little more recognizable. Maybe a finger or a toe."

  Handers shot up. "I'm telling you what I know! What's wrong with you!"

  Two soldiers were on top of him before he could finish his thought. They pulled him back and sat him down.

  "I apologize for the interruption. Please continue." The officer said.

  Handers fought the two giants still restraining each arm. "Let go of me!"

  The soldier on the right cocked his massive stone arm back and snapped it forward, striking Handers in the face with the back of his hand. Handers flew off his chair, tumbled backwards, and rolled onto his stomach.

  Blood gushed from his torn lip and cheek. His head spun violently. What did they want from him? He was trying to tell them what he knew. Then it occurred to him, if they were doing this to him, they were probably doing it to his son. They were hurting him!

  His black arm started to throb. The glossy, sleek muscles bulged. He screamed in pain as his arm literally doubled in size in a matter of moments.

  The guard that hit him reached down and grabbed him by the back of the shirt and lifted him up to put him back in his
chair.

  Handers bore his teeth like an animal, spun around while in mid air, then clawed and struck with a wild frenzy, ripping and tearing chucks of stone from the soldiers arm and face.

  The soldier dropped him and stumbled backward covering his injuries.

  The other soldier who'd been restraining him in the chair lunged at him. Handers grabbed him with his enormous hand and used the momentum of the soldiers lunge to launch the giant Petra at the wall of soldiers circling them.

  They collided with an explosion of rock and dust, leaving a gap in the line as they rolled into the dark corner of the tent.

  The rest of the soldiers in the circle moved in unison to tighten the gap. The ground rumbled with their steps. The Officer grabbed Sinesh by the arm and yanked her out of the circle.

  Handers charged to the closest tower of rock as it bore down on him. He cocked his massive fist and swung. With an incredible crack, the soldier flew backward. Shards of stone split off into the air.

  The soldier rolled back until he hit and ripped a large hole in the side of the tent, flooding the interior with Blue moon light.

  The rest of the circle pounced on him, tackling him to the ground. One soldier after another piled on top until he was buried under a steep mass of rock.

  Dust and pebbles clattered down the side of the pile as the weight settled. Everything went still and silent. After the roar of commotion, the contrast was startling.

  Then there was a shutter of movement. The pile of rock soldiers trembled with an impact. The entire form thumped again, vibrating upward. Again, something was pounding up from below. Thump. Half of the mass lifted up a few inches then dropped back down.

  Thump. Rock and debris exploded out of the top of the pile. Handers black fist shot up then with drew back into the pile.

  Thump. With a loud crack, the two soldiers on top spun into the air and tumbled down the side pile. Handers climbed up out of the hole they left and stumbled over their bodies towards the hole ripped in the side of the tent. One by one, the soldiers got up to go after him.

  Outside the tent Handers found himself lost in sea of tents. A dirt road extended beyond him to the right. But it was lined on both sides with brown canvas tents as far as he could see. It didn’t look like a way out. It was same in the other direction. He was so angry. They wouldn't listen to reason, they just attacked him for no reason. That made him fearful for his son. How much respect would they show to a child? He had to find him!

  Before he decided which way to go, the tents surrounding him opened up, each one spilling a number of oversize rock men. Apparently, they'd heard the commotion. The empty street between tents had filled in a matter of seconds.

  He turned to the tent behind him. Several large Petra had already followed him out of the hole. He was surrounded. Which just made him all the more angry. They were relentless. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? Let him find his son and be gone. Why did it have to be a fight? But if there had to be a fight to keep them from hurting his little boy then so be it.

  He screamed in rage and charged the closest soldier in the road ahead of him. He hit with a crash that sounded like thunder. The man he hit reeled backwards and fell to the ground. The other soldiers surrounding them didn't return the attack. They were looking up at the sky.

  Another crash boomed. That time he knew it wasn't him. He turned. The sky had started to fill with the purple glow of the early morning. But that wasn't what they were staring at. The ragging storm that hung over the mountain peak a little ways in the distance was moving. A small finger of dark cloud was stretching across the sky down towards where they stood.

  The men watched, as it dropped down closer to them and to Handers.

  Handers took advantage of the distraction and marched forward. Lighting struck again, highlighting the surprise on the soldier's faces. They didn't move to stop him.

  The finger of storm began a wide, slow twist which tightened as it spun faster and faster until it had pulled into a thin spiraling funnel. The funnel hit the ground with an exploding crash that ripped across the camp directly in front of Handers. It spat up giant clumps of dirt, ripped apart tents and tossed the bolder like soldiers into the air. It criss-crossing back and forth as it moved out ahead, effectively clearing a path for him.

  The soldiers that were still left standing stepped back as Handers approached. His bulging black arm gave off a disturbing blackened halo that had a resemblance to the black mist of the funnel.

  Through the path of destruction left by the storm, he could see right down into the middle of the camp. He could see the large command structure that he saw earlier.

  That had to be where they were keeping his son. If this was all about the Token, and the boy came with the Token, they probably had him in there under some ridiculous interrogation. The thought made him furious.

  The dark finger of storm swept forward, cutting a wider swath into the dense camp. Finally, a siren sounded as a reaction to the danger. Men raced out of the way as they found themselves in its weaving path. Others rushed in to help others who'd just been hit.

  Hander broke into a sprint towards the command center. He'd find his son as quickly as he could and get him out of this madness.

  -

  Commander Paklin sat at an empty table across from Moslin. The room around them was lavish for a military installation. There were paintings covering the walls and carpet on the floor.

  "You expect me to believe you just found it laying in the bushes?” Paklin questioned.

  “What else do you want me to say?” Moslin answered.

  “How did you know where to find it?”

  “Emret seems to be in tune with it somehow. He knew where it was before he even knew what it was.”

  The Commander stared at her, perplexed. “What does that mean?”

  He paused for half a moment for the answer before continuing. “Look, we want to know who else you're working with in the Botann Government. Who else knows about this? And what their plans are.”

  “What plans with the Botann government? What are you talking about?” She asked.

  He slapped his fist on the table. “We caught you with a platoon of the royal guard! Don't tell me his ‘Holiness’ doesn't have plans. We know you're involved so I would suggest you cooperate now before you make things more difficult for yourself and for the boy!”

  She threw her hands up in the air. “This is impossible.”

  The commander gestured to an aid standing near the door. The aid disappeared for half a moment then returned holding the hand of a small Botann girl.

  “Do you know this girl?” The commander asked.

  Moslin jumped out of her seat and raced towards her daughter. “Sinesh!” She yelled. “What are you doing here? Where’s your grandpa?”

  “Mommy!” Sinesh shouted over her sobs.

  Just as she was about to wrap her arms around her little girl another guard yanked her back by the thick green tendrils she had for hair.

  “Get off of me!” Moslin pounded her fist into the arm of the giant stone creature holding her.

  “What do you want from us?” She demanded.

  “Please, Sinesh. Your mother asked some very important questions. Would you mind answering them?” The commander said gently.

  An aid rushed over to the commander and whispered in his ear. The commander shot to his feet. "What!"

  He ran towards a set of large double doors with the aid. "Take the girl back to the other room and keep the woman here. I don’t want them ‘catching up’ without me." He yelled back at the two guards standing behind Moslin.

  She watched as the commander left, her face betraying her murderous intent. With the double door open, she could hear the siren droning in the background. A fierce wind howled over the top of the siren.

  The two guards wandered towards the double doors. Moslin followed behind them. Past the doors she could see the camp stretched out below them. They seemed to be up on the second or third story of
some building in the middle of the camp. The double doors led out onto a large balcony.

  From what she could see through the door, the camp was a mess as though it’d been hit by a tornado. Half the tents were ripped up and blow over. Their contents were spread in large swaths of debris. What had happened, she thought? Bodies of soldiers lay scattered all over the camp. Had they been attacked?

  Then she saw him. A lone figure running down a wide corridor leading directly toward the building they were in. An aura of destruction surrounded him on all sides.

  As if to accent the man's intentions, a black funnel cloud whipped back and forth behind him. The soldiers standing guard simply backed away as he approached.

  Who was this man? She thought. What did he want? She squinted to get a sharper picture. His clothes, the color of his fur. It looked like... But how... The closer he got the surer she was. It was him. It was Raj!

  Then she noticed his hideous black arm. It was unnaturally large and disfigured. Disgusting. What had happened to him? What ever he'd been through since she last saw him, he was not the same person.

  Pains of guilt shot through her. What ever he'd been through it'd had no doubt been her fault. She and Emret had made it necessary. They’d done this to him. She felt horrible. She had to help, to do something.

  She looked back at the door where they brought her daughter in. She had two children here to worry about and now an angry father who looked like he was about to get himself killed. What a mess, she thought, as she climbed silently over the balcony while the two guarding her were consumed with the terror playing out below them.

  -

  Rinacht sat up in his cot. He swore he heard something in his tent. Perhaps it was just the wind. He searched the small table next to him for his lamp.

  He'd given up trying to make himself useful and had retired early. He felt terrible seeing Emret and Moslin and not being able to do anything about it. As soon as the commander had found the Token he stopped listening to him. He'd even issued a command baring him from talking to Moslin and Emret.

  He knew at some point they would probably need his help. He was starting to doubt more and more his influence here. What instruction had his uncle given the commander, he wondered. It made him nervous about his future, about how much his Uncle really was willing to forgive, even if he did deliver the token.