Red Leaves and the Living Token - By Benjamin David Burrell Page 0,85

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