Red Leaves and the Living Token - By Benjamin David Burrell Page 0,95

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