Red Leaves and the Living Token: Book 1 - Part 3

By Benjamin David Burrell

Book 1 - Part 3

"...a delightfully honest and refreshing tale..." -Amazon Reviewer

"...superbly written...full of life and personality..." -Amazon Reviewer

"...a gripping fantasy tale that always seems to twist just when you think you know where it's headed." -Amazon Reviewer

"A really cool read from an author that I'll be following in the future." -Amazon Reviewer

Doctors tell Raj that his son Emret won't survive his illness. As Raj struggles to prepare himself and Emret for the inevitable, he's confronted by Moslin, his son's nurse, who’s been filling Emret’s head with fairytales about heroic quests and powerful disease curing miracles. Emret now thinks that all he has to do is find the mythical Red Tree from the nurse's stories, and he'll live.

In an attempt to protect his son from further emotional damage, Raj asks Moslin to stay away from Emret. He returns hours later to find them both missing.

He searches the fairytales for clues to where they may have gone and stumbles upon stories that, strangely, he already knows. He saw them in a vision just before his son disappeared.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Benjamin David Burrell
• Release date: May 12, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476295152

Benjamin David Burrell

Biography Benjamin Burrell graduated from film school a little over a decade ago and has been writing screenplays and shorts ever since. He produced and directed of few of his stories as short films and won a handful of awards in film festivals across the country. Due to the limited nature of screenplays, both in terms of length and feasibility of production, he decided to develop one his most intricate and expansive stories into the Novel, "Red Leaves and the Living Token." With its successful completion, he plans to bring many more of his stories to the Novel form, starting with two more, at least, in the "Red Leaves" series. He currently lives in South Jordan, Utah, with his beautiful wife and three perfectly behaved children. Visit http://benburrell.com for information about upcoming books. Subscribe to the newsletter for the first word on release dates.

Book preview

PART THREE

Red Leaves and the Living Token

by Benjamin David Burrell

Published by Red Earth Press at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Benjamin David Burrell.

Cover Illustration Copyright 2012 Benjamin David Burrell.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.

Red Earth Press

www.benburrell.com

To my wife and my children,

You make everything worthwhile.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter4

Chapter5

Chapter6

Chapter7

Chapter8

Glossary

Back

Rinacht stopped outside the incredible stone gate that protected the Petra lands. A hundred foot high wall extended past the gate as far as he could see in both directions.

Seeing his home again after so many years brought an unexpected degree of emotion. He'd kept it bottled up for so long that he'd forgotten how much leaving his home had affected him.

Rinacht Turl, nephew to General Turl, requests entry, he yelled up to the gate guard who was standing on an outcropping a good 30 feet above him.

The guard eyed him for a moment then signaled to someone inside the gate. Rinacht waited patiently. He fully expected the guard to return with a cross bow and ask him to withdraw from the gate. Such had been the state of affairs when he was asked to leave years ago.

The massive stone walls shuddered as the internal mechanics started to move. Perhaps he had less to fear than he thought. With a loud rumble, the two doors separated to reveal a polished roadway beyond. Gas lamp poles of black iron paralleled the tightly paved stone road, as it vanished into the distance. It was still long walk into the city. At least he'd made it this far.

He'd find an inn on the other side of the gate and save the visit with his uncle for the morning.

-

Rinacht waited outside his uncle's office. He'd been directed to a row of plain grey chairs up against the far wall. Twenty years and his uncle still had the same chairs. He couldn't remember how many times he'd had to sit in them as a youth. They were uncomfortable on purpose, he'd been told, to help him think about what he'd done to warrant the visit.

He felt as though he was fifteen again, waiting to be reprimanded. In a way he was. If he couldn't convince his uncle that he had a legitimate reason for coming back, it'd be the worst reprimand of his life.

The office director signaled to him. "Your uncle's ready to see you now.

He stood up. His legs were unsteady. His heart was pounding. He'd have to rein it in. His uncle could smell fear. It meant you were guilty. He took a deep breath and prayed for confidence.

He opened the door gently and entered the office. His uncle stood behind his desk, staring out a window. A busy plaza filled the view, full of Petra soldiers hurrying about. He closed the door behind him.

Take a seat Rinacht, General Turl invited, without turning from the window.

Thank you for seeing me on such short notice. I know you're a busy man, Rinacht said quietly.

The General finally turned to face him. He had a pained expression on his face. I've been thinking a lot about the last time we talked, about the decision we came to. Was it fair? Was it just? You're my sister's son for Red's sake!

He leaned over onto his desk, his palms flat. Rinacht, you cannot come back here! I'm sorry.

This was a surprise. His Uncle had been thinking about forgiving him? That was a miracle. When he left, he was lucky his Uncle hadn't killed him. Twenty years was a powerful thing indeed.

Please, I'm not here to ask for my way back, he lied. This was precisely what he had hoped to gain. But not before he leveraged what he'd found. I have something that I believe might be of great Petra national interest.

The General leaned back off his desk. What? He shook his head disbelieving.

Let me show you. He lifted his shoulder bag onto his lap and riffled through the top pouch. Uh...

He pulled out a dark cloth and unwrapped the dark purple figurine in the shape of a small bird.

The General leaned forward and stared at the little bird carving. He furrowed his brow and shook his head again. What is that supposed to be?

The door burst open. Startled, Rinacht fumbled the figurine, then turned to see a little boy bouncing into the room. The General slipped around the desk and picked up the boy. Rinacht. Meet your nephew, Haden.

My nephew? He stood up and set the figurine on the desk.

Your little sister's married now. This is her oldest boy.

Hi, Haden. Rinacht tried to shake his hand, but the boy just stared at him with a pitiful frown.

The General set him down. I forget how big you’re getting. I can hardly lift you! He tickled the boy under the arms.

Stop it Grandpa! Haden laughed and squirmed away.

Grandpa? Rinacht asked.

Well, someone had to raise your sister! But I don't really need to explain myself to you. And quite frankly, Rinacht, this makes it more difficult for everybody. Now your sister's going to have to explain to Haden why he's got an uncle he's never met.

Wait. Wait. Rinacht rushed back to the desk to get his figurine. But Haden was already there studying it. Oh, Haden, please don't.

It was too late. Haden had picked it up out of the cloth. Rinacth watched as the darkness of the figurine dissolved. Then a flash of brilliant white light flooded the room. Both the General and Rinacht ducked and covered their eyes.

The light receded to a less brilliant glow. Haden stared at the object in his hands, his eyes full of wonder. Then he froze, and his eyes went blank.

Rinacht was stunned. The boy restored it to white. How? The boy stood motionless in some kind of daze. He watched him, recognizing the look. Raj had done the same thing when he touched the Token.

Then Haden was back. He blinked a few times before a look of profound sadness came over him. He sat down.

Haden? his adopted grandpa asked.

Haden looked up at Rinacht. What is this?

A fragment of the Token, he answered.

The General stepped up behind the boy with his hand out to touch it. Is that possible?

Yes, Rinacht answered.

How? the General asked.

"My employer found the entire Token buried in the sand on a beach. I don't know how he found it. He went out there by himself after visiting his son in the hospital. His son is sick and is probably not going to make it. I imagine he was out on the beach wrestling with that. Then it was just there, right in front of him.

He followed the Token to our mountains, saying it was the only way to save his son. He didn't say how or why, he just figured it'd help him in some way or another. And indeed it did. The Token took him straight to the Temple of the Reds.

Impossible!

A small butterfly fluttered past Rinacht and landed gently on Haden's head. Another landed on his arm.

Rinacht noticed a few moths darting back and forth in the middle of the room. They suddenly lined up next to each other and hovered. The butterflies launched up from Haden and joined the moths in their strange hover. More flies and other small insects joined the group until together they had created an unmistakable solid line floating in mid air. The line pointed straight through the middle of the room to the north.

The General stared at Haden in disbelief. A just cause and physical evidence? This man, your employer, was he Petra?

No. Zo.

The General slammed his fist on the desk. Zo! The hovering insects broke formation and fluttered away. Where is this man now? he demanded.

I left him on the mountain twelve hours ago.

Could you find your way back?

Yes. That is why I came.

Good. I'm sending you with my 12th Battalion. Find him and bring him back here. We must contain this. Where's rest of the Token?

He still has two other pieces.

The General patted Rinacht on