tied to a chair in the living room. Her face was battered and bruised and her clothes were bloodied and torn. The whole place had been ransacked. Sawdon and two others were standing above her, it was obvious that they were waiting for me. They had the box with them and I remember thinking, ‘That’s it, all is lost.’ They could have escaped there and then with the stones, fled through the portal, if only they’d used their brains. But I guess Sawdon wanted me. Maybe he was following Vantrax’ orders, I don’t know, but they came at me one by one. I’ve always kept weapons located strategically around the house and I grabbed one of the swords mounted on the hallway wall. I killed the first two warriors without mercy, as the fury I felt at seeing Jean sitting there half dead exploded within me. I’ve already explained to you that the holder of the stones gains increased fighting abilities?” he asked, sensing that the story would seem a little too fantastic in the telling of it.
“Well anyhow, Sawdon was outraged at seeing his companions die. I’ve never seen anyone so angry. He put the box down and came for me. It was a terrific fight, I was in my prime, but even with all even wwers he was still winning. He was a mighty warrior. I don’t think I’ve ever known his like. He wounded me badly. There was no way I was going to win. But I saw my chance and I broke away. I ran for the living room where I picked up the box. I had the chance to look at Jean briefly. She looked dead to me, so I left her. I was already badly wounded, I couldn’t do anything more. I’m sorry Jake, but I chose to save my own life. I ran out of there as fast as I could!”
Harry was crying openly now, the tears were streaming down his face. But after a few awkward moments of silence, he took another few deep breaths to compose himself and then he continued.
“I ran Jake. I ran to the wooden garage we had at the rear of the house, with Sawdon not far behind. I was still clutching the box. He followed me inside and I was cornered, desperate. But I was used to thinking on my feet; I was a Keeper after all. I grabbed some barbeque lighting fuel and anything else that would burn and I poured it onto some wooden crates that were by the door waiting to be unpacked. I set them alight and they went up immediately, it was a raging inferno in seconds...”
“But how did you...?”
“Escape?” asked Harry, interrupting Ben’s question. “I’d been advised by my father long ago to always leave myself an escape route open. It was something that had saved his skin many times, and it was the first thing I did whenever I moved house. If you look around closely at this house you’ll find alterations I made years ago, all of them designed to allow a quick exit from every room. In my old garage I’d loosened a few wooden panels so that they could easily be prized open. They gave me a gap just big enough to squeeze through. I opened it and quickly scrambled through carrying the box, being careful to replace the panels and cover my tracks. Sawdon couldn’t see through the flames and boxes, the smoke from the fire was too great, so I crawled into some bushes at the back of the garden and I hid there, trying not to make a sound. He was furious. I could hear him roaring with anger and I watched him search all around the garage for some time, but finally he gave up. He seemed sure that I’d perished along with the stones. I blacked out for a while through loss of blood and came round briefly some minutes later. In my wounded and frightened state I didn’t see that Sawdon had set light to the house until it was too late. The house was burning with Jean inside it. And I could do nothing!
I was very weak at this stage through loss of blood and I was barely conscious. I heard some sirens and I looked up to see Sawdon take a piece of Reolite out of his pocket. He summoned the portal, the light came and went in an instant, and then he was gone. It all went