Red Leaves and the Living Token (31 page)

"I know, I'm sorry dad." He was tearing up.

"Now what's this all about? What do you have that they want?"

"Rinacht told me that you knew about it already, that you wanted to help me, that you were going to take me where I needed to go."

"What? Where's Rinacht?"

Emret pointed into the crowd. Handers followed his fingers but couldn't see him.

"No. I'm sorry. I don't know what he's talking about." Handers said.

Emret looked away and wiped his eyes.

"Emret talk to me. What's going on?" He watched his son's face. He knew there was a lot his son had not been telling him for quite a while. He was starting to realize how much of this escapade actually had been Emret's idea rather than Moslin’s. He really could be a stubborn boy.

"You've got to trust me, Emret. Tell me!"

"Promise me you'll listen no matter how strange it sounds."

"I promise."

"I saw the tree in the middle of the old city. It showed me where the Token was. That's why I came up here. I found it just like it showed me. And when I hold it in my hand it shows me something else."

"What does it show you?"

He leaned in and whispered in his father's ear. "It shows me where I need to go to get healed. It shows me where the Red Tree is now."

Handers leaned back and stared at his son. This was the most difficult decision he'd ever made. He believed his son. He believed that he saw the things he did. He was describing something similar to what he had seen.

That wasn't the problem.

"Do you believe me?" Emret asked.

Handers nodded his head. "I do. You're not crazy."

Emret lit up. His lips curled up into a big smile. "Then you'll take me?"

Handers stared at him. He didn't know how to answer him. It wasn't that simple. Here, he had an easy ticket home. He had his son intact. He had a chance with the doctors back home. Some how they might be able to figure something out. Emret still had time.

But if he tried to do what his son was asking, he risked everything. He could die. His son could die. He would have to stand up against the entire Petra army again. Even after that, he was sure there would be more conflict. He was tired, the last thing he wanted was more fighting. He didn't want the pain and anguish of his son's life being at risk.

He took his son firmly by the shoulders, looked him in the eyes and said, "Emret, we will find another way. We have to go home. But we will find something for you. There is still time."

Tears welled up in Emret's eyes. "No." He shook his head.

"We don't have a choice, son."

"Emret, your father really doesn't have a choice." The General said. “He’s doing the right thing for you.”

"Yes he does! He can fight! He can fight for me!"

It was at that moment that Handers finally saw Rinacht in the crowd. He was nodding his head to Emret.

Handers turned back to his son to find that he had dropped out of his chair and crawled under the giant legs of the closest Petra soldier. In an instant he was gone. Handers cut back to Rinacht. He was gone too.

He turned back to the General with his hands out to his sides, shaking his head and his mouth open in shock.

"Find that boy!" The General shouted.

The soldiers burst to life, lifting their feet and stepping carefully.

Handers pushed into the dispersing crowd, crouching to look as low as he could. "Emret!" He traced the marks in the dirt where he saw his son disappeared. They didn't go very far before they were lost in the Petra footsteps.

The crowd of soldiers had spread out enough to see between and underneath them. His son was gone. Handers spun around. Where could he have hidden so fast? And Rinacht? What was he doing here? Why was he a part of this?

The marks in the dirt led towards the forest. The edge of the trees was only a dozen yards away. But for a sick little boy on his knees even that was too far to go in such a short time.

Then he remembered the nod Rinacht gave Emret just before he dived under the soldiers. Emret could've made it to the forest with help. If someone carried him.

He ran to the forest’s edge and burst through the underbrush. After a few steps the underbrush opened up onto the flat surface of a road. He glanced quickly in both directions. Nothing. And the road was completely covered in fresh wet Petra tracks, making it impossible to see anything new.

Handers dropped to the ground. What had he done? He'd held his son in his arms. He was safe. He could've taken him home. What had he said? What did he do wrong? What could've prompted him to run off like that? He didn't know what else to do. He didn't want to go on wondering what horrible thing might happen to him next. Waiting for that terrible news. He wanted it to end. He wanted him safe at home. It didn't matter that he was sick. His sickness he could handle. He still had time. But this. This could be the end, now. If this continued there could be no more time.

Should he have grabbed him? Forced him to give back the token? Then tied him up and carried him home? He was his father. It was his job to protect him, even from himself. Was he not strong enough? Not strict enough?

He heard a noise in the bushes behind him. Moslin and Sinesh stepped through out onto the road. Moslin knelt down beside him. She put an arm on his shoulder. "Come on." She helped him to his feet. "We have to get out of here before the General remembers us."

She took his hand and dragged him off the road and into the forest.

-

Rinacht tromped through the heavy forest with Emret balanced awkwardly in his arms. He glanced over his shoulder instinctively. No one was following. "We've got to hurry," he told Emret. "We have about fifteen minutes before their trackers catch up to us."

Emret stared back at him, frustrated and confused. "Fifteen minutes? Then what?"

He laughed. "Don't worry. We have help."

"Help?" Emret asked.

"Look Emret. Uh, I haven't been entirely honest with you. Your father and I had a disagreement a little ways back. I agreed to come with him to help him find you. You know. I thought you were danger. I thought Moslin took you.

"But then I found out about the Token. I found out what you were trying to do. I tried to convince your father to help you but... He wouldn't listen. He just wanted to take you home.

"I didn't want to have to explain all this while we were trying to get out of the camp, so I lied."

Emret nodded his head as he listened. He didn't know what to think. He knew his father could be stubborn. That's why he begged Moslin to take him. He really shouldn't have expected anything different. It was just... Rinacht had gotten his hopes up. That his father was on his side. He didn't want to do this without him anymore .

Rinacht surprised him. To stand up to dad on his behalf? He'd never seen Rinacht defy him like that. Sure they argued. But Rinacht always gave in if Dad insisted. Dad was the boss. "But doesn't this mean... Won't he fire you now?"

Rinacht laughed again. "I'm sure he'll do more than that if he catches me."

That was alarming. If Rinacht wasn't planning on being caught by his dad, what was he planning on doing after they made it to the Red? Did that mean he wasn't going to help him get home? And honestly he hadn't really thought much about what he was going to do after he found it.

“Listen, we're going to meet up with some people who've agreed to help us. Even if your father had agreed to come, we wouldn't have been able to do it without additional help.” Rinacht said.

"OK?" Emret made an uncomfortable face. Who could Rinacht possibly know out in the forest? Did he have friends out there waiting for him. Watching everything this entire time? And how did he get into the camp in the first place?

"I know this is a lot to take in. You'll just have to trust me." Rinacht said.

Emret was starting to wonder if he'd made the right choice. He trusted Rinacht. But that was because he had worked for Dad for so many years. Rinacht and his father. That was what he knew. But Rinacht and strangers? He'd never known any of Rinacht friends. He'd never even seen him talk to anyone other than the family.

"Who are they?" Emret asked.

"They're old friends. I told them what happened with your father. How sick you were. And how much you needed to find what we're looking for." Rinacht said.

"And they know what we're looking for?" Emret asked. This concerned him. Seemed a lot of people were looking for the Token all of a sudden, and none of them seemed to interested in sharing it.

"They do. But I'll let them explain themselves."

Emret found himself not wanting to continue with Rinacht. But what choice did he have? He had no better alternative.

A
military looking Botann stood in the empty space between The Holy Master Cleric and a crowd of men at the back of the room.

"All captains of the general guard reporting.” The Botan said.

Another man stepped forward next to the first. "As is the High Commander of your special guard."

"Thank you for coming so quickly. The matter is urgent, as I'm sure you've been informed. But there is much you do not know. That's why I've called you all here. I want you to hear this first hand... from me.” He paused.

"Captains please come forward, so we may speak more intimately." He said.

The crowd responded immediately, falling in behind the first two men who stood half way into the room.

"The Holy Token was sighted by a patrol in the mountain outside the city. We sent a company of the special guard to retrieve it.

"They've reported that an entire division of the Petra army has moved into the area of the sighting. The patrol is missing as well as the persons of interest and most importantly the Holy Token.

"We can only assume the Petra command is in possession of it. My friends we cannot allow this. It is a betrayal of the oath we've pledged to protect the sanctity of the holy article, the Token. It must be returned to its shelter here with us. We've made this promise." The Holy Master Cleric said. He paused to study the faces of his captains.

"Who here is willing to fight for this cause?" He asked.

The crowd responded with a unanimous "HO!" as they stomped their right leg and lifted their right arm in salute.

"You honor me with your devotion." He said.

A thin Botan in flowing white rob rushed up to the Master Cleric and whispered in his ear.

"The Petra division has broken camp. They're moving." The Master Cleric repeated.

He focused his glare on his high commander.

"Commander, if we cannot come to a compromise in this situation?"

"We have enough numbers to stop their single division, yes." The Commander said.

"Then we must send our response now." The Master Cleric said.

"This would be considered an act of war, your holiness. A war that we are not prepared to fight." The Commander said.

"Trust me my young friend, we have no choice. The Token is our trust. It cannot be betrayed even at the cost of war.” He paused to push himself to his feet.

“Move the soldiers into position now.” He said with his hand out stretched.

-

Moslin and Handers hurried through the thick leaves, ducking under the branches of the low ferns and bushes. The dense ground covering made it impossible to see more than a few feet in front of them.

Moslin stopped. "Do you know where we're going?"

Handers looked back towards the camp they had just left. All he saw was a quiet and peaceful forest, no sign of anyone following. How long had they been running? Ten minutes? That put them far enough away that the Petra wouldn't run into them by accident. He didn't think they'd come looking for them on purpose. At least not yet. They had more significant targets.

"Now what?" She asked.

He stared at her, not having an answer. He'd been obsessed with what just happened. He hadn't moved on to what they should do now. He kept going over it and over it again in his mind. His son there with in his reach. The door opened for them to go home. He questioned himself, his actions. What had gone wrong? What could he have done differently? Should he have grabbed him and taken him by force. Rifled through his clothes to find the token for the general?

Every time he followed an alternate thread of action in his mind it ended with the same thing, his son's last words. That he wasn't willing to fight for him.

Moslin put a hand on his arm. He glanced back at her a little startled. He didn't notice her coming up. Apparently he'd been staring off into the trees a little too long.

"We'll find him." She offered in comfort.

"I don't know." He turned to her. He felt the guilt rising. This time he didn't push it back. He was responsible for driving his son away. Emret was right. He wasn't willing to fight for what his son wanted. Yet he was ready to kill for what he wanted, to see things turn out the way he felt they should.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Even if we could find him. He'd just run away again." The horror of that thought sank in as soon as he said it. It wasn't that he couldn't protect Emret. It was that he didn't want his protection. He didn't want his help. "I..."