Red Leaves and the Living Token - By Benjamin David Burrell Page 0,87

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