Red Leaves and the Living Token (30 page)

Emret didn't know what to do. He could hide, but his chair would be seen. They'd know he was there. He could try to make it back out the door but turning his chair was noisy and slow.

His eyes scanned the stranger as he debated his next move. There was something familiar about him, about the way he moved. He had only known one Petra in his life. Rinacht. But Rinacht was miles from here.

Then the stranger spoke as he reached out a hand to pick up the Token. "So incredible," he said.

Emret couldn't believe it. The voice. It was Rinacht! "Rinacht?" He wheeled backward to the door just in case he was wrong.

The Petra man jumped into the air. "Wha!" He dropped down low to the ground. "Who's there?"

Emret pushed himself forward into the lamp light. "Rinacht it's me!"

Rinacht ran around the table to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. "Emret! What're you doing in here!"

"What are you doing here?" Emret retorted with over exaggerated surprise.

Rinacht laughed and grabbed him in a tight hug. "It’s good to see you my boy! How you feeling? Where's Moslin?"

"Yeah I'm fine. I don't know where they took Moslin. They took her and left me in a tent with two guards. But this is Moslin’s daughter."

Rinacht turned to Sinesh and took her hand. Ah, as lovely as her mother. How are you my girl?”

She smiled.

"How'd you two get in here?" Rinacht asked.

"We snuck out," he explained then put on a more serious look. "Rinacht, how did you get here? Is my dad with you?"

"Patience, child. I'll explain everything. First, we’ve got get you out of here. There's supposed to be guards posted outside this room at all times. They're only gone because of an incident in front of the building. Who knows how soon they'll be back."

He rushed around behind Emret’s chair and spun him back towards the exit. As he did, his back whipped around wide and knocked into a small glass bottle that was sitting on a corner desk.

It fell to the ground with a loud crash. Rinacht froze with a look of horror on his face.

The door from further inside the building slammed open, and two massive stone soldiers tumbled through. “Who’s in here?” One of them roared.

“Hey,” the other shouted, pointing at them.

Rinacht grabbed at something on his belt.

“Rinacht, what are you doing? Get us out of here!”

The soldiers stomped towards them. “All of you, lay down on the ground and put your hands out in front of you!”

Rinach!” Yelled Emret.

Sinesh tried to push Emret’s chair, but Rinacht was standing in the way.

Finally, Rinacht succeeded in removing what he was fumbling with. He pulled out a long dagger with a glowing purple blade. He immediately stuck it out in the air in front of him, pointing it at the soldiers. Then he screamed, shutting his eyes tight. “STOP!”

The purple glow from the dagger expanded to fill the room. The charging soldiers slowed in their approach as though they were being pushed back by a heavy wind.

“Put down your weapon immediately!” One yelled.

Their feet scraped across the floor as they started to lose their purchase, their strong legs strained against the unseen force.

Rinacht opened his eyes, to see the soldiers slam up against the far wall, their arms pinned up above their head. He laughed and looked down at the glowing dagger.

“It worked! It worked!”

He turned to see Sinesh and Emret watching with a look of complete bewilderment.

“What was that?” Emret asked.

“I’ll explain later.” He pushed Emret’s chair through the door as he held it open. Outside they made a hard push to cross the clearing between the command center and the rows of tent barracks.

"We’ve got to get to the forest as fast as we can." Rinacht explained as he ran, pushing the boy's chair in front of him.

"Where are we going?" Emret asked.

"We're going to meet up with your dad." Rinacht said.

"My Dad?" He put his feet down into the dirt, grinding them to a stop. "Wait!" He spun around to face Rinacht. "I'm not going back home!"

"Emret, we saw you with the Token earlier. We saw what happened to the forest around you. We're not taking you home."

"Dad saw that?" This was what he hoped for more than anything else. His father to believe along with him. To help him. To take him there himself. That is what he wanted.

"Yeah. A lot of people saw it. I'm supposed to get you and the Token and get out. Why would I've gone back to get the Token if your dad was taking you home?"

A smile stretched across his face. Everything was working out. He knew there had to be a way around the impossible situation he was in. And here it was. A surprise visit from Rinacht and his Dad.

"But what my mom?" Sinesh asked.

"Your father has a plan for that as well. I'll let him explain it once we get out of the camp."

Emret lifted his feet, and they took off again. "Let’s go!"

-

Moslin led the still fuming Handers through the identical rows of perfectly spaced canvas tents. A mass of Petra rock soldiers collected behind them, careful to keep their distance.

"They put us in a tent just up ahead when we first got here. They left him there when they took me. He should still be there.” She explained.

"Should?" He questioned.

They crossed the last row. She stopped in front of a large tent with two guards standing at the entrance.

"MOVE!” Handers commanded. He raised his black arm with the dark cloud swirling around it. The two soldiers stared at him then at each other. Then, reluctantly, they stepped aside.

Handers pushed the tent flap aside and stepped in. Moslin followed behind him. Inside there were two empty cots and wheel chair tracks in the dirt.

Handers screamed. “Where is he!”

Moslin traced the wheel chair tracks to the outer wall of the tent. “Look!” She shouted.

He ran up behind her. “Looks like he snuck out under the wall.”

“By himself?” Handers asked doubtingly.

“Oh you have no idea how obstinate your son can be.”

He glared at her. “He's thirteen. You can't blame all this on him.”

“I know. I know. She looked embarrassed. “It's just.”

"Just what?" He fumed.

She took a deep breath, giving herself a moment before she spoke. "Raj, I am so sorry. I never should have put you through this. It wasn't my choice to make."

Handers glared at her. "You know, I trusted you!"

She started to sob. "I don't know what came over me. I can only imagine what you've been going through. At the time I thought... I'm so sorry. It was so wrong." She paused.

“But listen. Something else has happened. Something you need to know about. When we find him, please, just give him a chance to explain.”

“Explain what?”

“About the Token.” She said.

He stared at her, not sure what to say. The reality of the Token wasn't something he could ignore or forget. As much as he'd like to go back home and pretend nothing had happened. Things had. But how was his son involved in any of this? He didn’t understand that. And frankly he didn't want his son involved. The Token had brought him nothing but trouble.

None of this would've happened if he had thrown it back into the sea. Nobody would be looking for him. No one would care.

"If you want to make up for what you've done. Help me get my son back home!" He said.

She stared at him for a moment, as though she didn't want wanting to agree. Then she gave in, nodded her head. "OK." She lifted up the tent wall. The tracks continued on the other side. "Lets follow the tracks."

-

Sinesh, Emret, and Rinacht approached the outer edge of the camp. They found a considerable amount of outer defenses; tangles of barbed wire stretched across barricades, and a few half dug trenches with a handful of soldiers.

The forest was with in sight. Rinacht reached into this pack and pulled out a bundle of cloth. "Here, you'll need this."

He handed it to Emret who took it with enthusiasm and began unwrapping it on his lap. As he did, shards of light shone out across the early morning clearing.

A few of the soldiers dug into the trenches noticed the light. "Hey, you. STOP!"

Rinacht pushed the chair through the tangle of barricades, weaving back and forth carefully, to avoid snagging Emret. As they approached the line of trees, the forest began to react. The boughs of the nearest trees started to bend with loud cracks and groans. Branches swayed with rustling leaves.

After a moment, the entire mass of trees in front of them was leaning in one direction as if blown by a heavy wind. The grass and underbrush had parted to form a clear path that pointed them in a clear direction towards the last peak of the mountain ahead of them.

Just as Emret's wheel passed the threshold of the trees, he heard a strange voice calling. "Emret!" It sounded like his father but distorted, monstrous.

He wheeled around.

"Emret what are you doing? We have to get into the forest now!" Rinacht yelled.

Emret scanned the dark clearing for the source of the call. He couldn't see. "I thought I heard something."

"Emret!" The call came again. Handers and Moslin ran past the last line of barrack tents exposing themselves to Emret.

"DAD!" He called back.

“Mom!” Sinesh yelled.

Emret looked back at Rinacht, expecting to share the joy of the moment with him. Instead, he was confronted with a face of shear and utter terror. What was going on? He thought. Why was Rinacht mortified? His fear was infection, crushing Emret’s urge to celebrate.

Something else emerged from behind the last line of tents. Like a flash flood, countless towering stone men flowed in from the space between the rows of tents. They came in like an unstoppable wave behind Hander.

Emret turned, more soldiers had come in from the sides and were already close to him. Before he could move they crashed down on him choking everything else off. He could see nothing but the gray bodies of rock.

WHY! He thought. Was he asking for too much? To live? Why was it so difficult? Tears swelled up inside. This was too hard.

-

Handers watched in horror as his son disappeared behind a sea of moving stone. He thought he'd made himself abundantly clear. If they stayed back, there would be no trouble. What were they doing now?

Apparently they'd had time now to gather their entire army. This wasn't a few collected soldiers standing in front of him. This was it. They were going to try to stop him with everything they had.

It made him nervous. Not for his own safety but for the safety of his son. He had no doubt why they made an effort getting to him first. He was the hostage.

Sure enough, the Petra in charge, that had been yelling at him earlier to stop, walked out in front of the group that was holding Emrett.

What did they want him to do? Leave his son, walk away? Lay down and let them take him prisoner. Lock him up with his son? It would just prolong the fight. It didn't make sense. Why wouldn't they just let him go? What could they possible want with him that was that important?

"You are Trespassing on Petra Land in a Petra military installation. This is your last warning. Surrender or we will use deadly force." The Petra in charge shouted.

"What do you want with my son? Release him and we'll go in peace." Handers yelled.

"I'm afraid we can't do that." The Petra answered.

"Then we have a problem." Handers said.

"Commander, stand down!" A gruff voice shouted from somewhere behind the soldiers.

"General?" The Petra Commander scanned the crowd looking for the source of the voice.

Handers spun around. An older Petra man, surrounded by an entourage of new soldiers, marched up behind Handers.

He stopped a fair distance away from him. "Your son is not our principal interest. We could easily be persuaded to let him go. If..."

"If what?" Handers asked.

"If you're interests are isolated to your son. If you're willing to leave with just him."

"You mean without Moslin?"

The General laughed. "No."

Handers stared at him. Then he remembered what Moslin had said. About being open to what Emret would explain regarding the Token. Was that what all this was about? Was that what the General wanted?

"The Token?" He asked.

"Yes, the Token."

"Fine. I'm not here for the Token, I'm here for the boy. Let us go home, and you'll never hear from us again."

The General smiled. "You are a wise father. Consider it done."

The Commander stepped forward, his arm raised in objection, "But General. You have no idea..."

The General cut his commander off with the wave of his hand. "Bring this woman her daughter and arrange transportation for both these families. "

The Commander fumed but held his tongue as the General passed him by. "Show me the boy!"

The crowd of giant stone soldiers parted to expose the small thirteen year old boy cowering near the ground.

The General stoop down next to him, putting his face as close to the boy's as possible. Handers came up behind keeping a safe distance.

"What's your name, son?" The General asked him.

"Emret."

"Nice to meet you Emret. I've just had a nice conversation with your father and I've agreed to help you both get home as quickly as possible. How does that sound?"

Emret looked around, then made eye contact with Rinacht who was hiding amongst the soldiers. He turned back to the General. "I don't understand."

"What don't you understand?"

"I thought he was going to help me."

"We're both going to help you. But we need one thing from you. Could you give me the white stone piece that you found in the forest?"

"No." He shook his head.

"Its extraordinarily valuable. It wouldn't be safe for a young child to take care of."

"I can't give it to you."

The General stood up and turned to Handers. "Perhaps you could have a word with him?"

Handers nodded.

The General signaled to his men to allow him to approach.

Handers smiled broadly. He hurried up to his boy and got down on one knee beside him. "Emret!" He took him in a tight embrace. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you! I was so worried. I thought I'd never..."