Red Leaves and the Living Token (2 page)

"Prepared me for what? Who's coming? " Nemic asked.

"Valance," The School Master mutter almost to himself as he sat down. "There was so much anger when he left. The students were divided. Perhaps I could've handled it better. But, he saw too much, things that students aren't allowed to see. And now he's come back for the Token."

The School Master's mind flooded with memories. The day Young Valance left the school played over and over in his mind. He'd gone down the secret path to the Temple as he did every six months to keep his responsibilities. How could he have known Valance was hiding in the bushes watching him as he took the Token out of his robe to open the temple pathway.

Valance saw everything. The Token shining in his hand. The stone Archway opening up out of nothingness as soon as the Token was revealed. The stone pathway was only visible by looking through the archway. He never thought a student would violate the path by following him through the archway.

The School Master picked up the small metal chest from the table and held it in his gaze. "He'll kill you for it. He'll kill your family for it." He struggled to read Nemic's reaction but couldn't. That was another Botann frustration. Nemic's face remained impossibly smooth, revealing nothing of what went on inside. "I'm sorry I have to ask you to do this." He grabbed Nemic's wrist. "But you must do it. There's no time, and there's no one else. You must do everything in your power to keep it away from him."

Nemic stared at the metal chest. The School Master put it down and lifted the book. On the cover was an illustration of the Token, the shining object that the School Master had taken out of his robes to open the archway. It was a small plant with a round stone holding its roots and a bird wrapped around its trunk. "This book will answer your questions. I'm sorry there isn't more time." He told Nemic as he pushed the book and the metal chest over to him.

"Take the children and go through the back passageway." He got up from the table and herded Nemic towards the back of the room.

Footsteps clanked in the hallway outside the study. The School Master turned to the now closed door. The footsteps stopped. He turned back to Nemic and yelled, "GO!"

The door crashed in. Two towering Zoen soldiers in full armor charged into the room, long swords drawn.

The School Master threw up his robes and pulled a large dagger from a belt sheath hidden underneath. The dagger's blade shimmered with a blinding white light, filling the room.

The closest soldier lunged and struck the School Master before he could get his dagger fully up to block. "Aaah!" The School Master cried as the blow sunk deep into his left arm.

"Drop your weapon," The soldier commanded. He waited half a moment to see the old man wasn’t yet compliant then lunged again. This time The school master was ready. But his strength wasn't what it once was. He deflected the blow from his chest to his shoulder.

"Aaagh! Take it and get out of here!" He yelled over his shoulder at Nemic.

The second soldier moved to get around the school master. "Let's not run off just yet, my friend." He yelled after Nemic.

The first soldier stepped closer to the school master lifting his sword again. "I'll tell you what old man. Give us what we want and I promise I'll make this painless for all of you."

Nemic stopped, causing the school master to turn and shout, "What are you doing? GO!" He turned back to the soldier, "He isn't here yet."

Suddenly, the old man lunged forward and attacked the closest soldier with his dagger. The soldier laughed and lifted his sword complacently to block the tiny dagger.

To the soldier's surprise his sword didn't stop the dagger. The glowing blade passed right through it and continued through the man's armor stopping full hilt in his chest. He gasped and dropped to his knees.

The second soldier watched with wide eyes and an open mouth.

Nemic took advantage of the distraction and hit him over the head with a chair sending him forward in an awkward stumble. He regained his composure after a few steps and lifted his sword towards Nemic.

The master rushed in quickly from the other side and pushed his dagger through the second soldier's armor. He gasped in pain, dropped his sword, then fell.

The master, bleeding heavily, collapsed as well. Nemic rushed to his side.

"How many times do I have to tell you? Take the kids and go!"

"But...," Nemic pleaded.

"Don't argue, just go!"

Nemic reached his arms around his Master and tried to lift him up. "Master, I can get you out of here!"

"Please, I'm already dead. If he gets the Token... We'll be worse than dead!" He grabbed Nemic's arm and put the glowing dagger in his hand. "I'm sorry Nemic, I never prepared you for this."

Nemic got up and backed away reluctantly. His mind spinning, he turned and led the two children through a false door in the back of the room.

-

Outside the wall of the school, Nemic knelt down beside his son, Bedic, and handed him the dagger and the Master's book.
 

"Go find your mother. Tell her something bad has happened and she needs to leave the city. Don't tell any one where you're going," He told him.

He turned to Frezen, "Stay with Bedic."

"Daddy!" Bedic cried.

Nemic turned his son around by the shoulders and scooted him along. "Go!" He instructed firmly. "I'll see you soon."

He watched for a moment to make sure they kept going before he crossed the empty space separating the school from the rest of the city.

-

Captain Brigan stepped past his men to get a better view of the large black carriage that was approaching from the flat plains south of the School.

He wasn't expecting anyone.

Two large Zoen men rode as an escort out in front of the carriage on two well bred black horses.

The captain turned to his first officer. "Have them turned back. The school isn't accepting guests at the moment."

The officer motioned with his hand to two near by soldiers who climbed on their horses and rode out to intercept the visitors. The carriage stopped as the men conversed. After a moment, the soldiers turned around and returned. The carriage, rather than turning back, followed right behind them.

The captain threw the twig he'd been chewing on to the ground with a frustrated grunt. He turned to the first officer with a scowl then shook his head. "Who did you send?"

"Andrea and Cactau." The First Officer answered.

"Worthless."

Private Andrea stopped his horse abruptly in front of the small group of officers. "A Lord Valance requests permission to speak to you, sir."

"Looks like you already gave him permission, private.” Captain Brigan answered as the black carriage approached behind the soldier.

The captain shook his head and spat on the ground. "Well bring him up."

As the carriage stopped, the two horsemen dismounted and stopped beside the carriage door. The door opened, and another large man pushed through. The three men approached the group of officers together.

The man from the carriage spoke first. "Who's your ranking officer?"

"State your business Mr. Valance," The captain answered.

"It's Lord Valance," he leaned in to make a show of inspecting the Captain's uniform to determine rank, "Captain."

"It is my understanding that you are here to provide security for my visit, correct? Your men have not entered the School have they?" He glanced over at the school main entrance for signs of a breach.

"We are here at the Lord Governors request, Lord Valance." The Captain said, giving the visitors title extra emphasis.

"I have not been instructed to divulge the details of this operation to you. With respect, I ask that you and your men turn around and head back to the city. Once we have accomplished our objectives we will notify the Lord Governor who may then, at his discretion, notify you." The Captain finished.

Lord Valance let a friendly smile creep across his face.

"I admire your strict adherence to orders. I assure you there has been a misunderstanding somewhere in your chain of command. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to work out the errors in your organization. I'm here now with work to do. I must insist."

The Captain let out a raspy chuckle. "Insist what?"

"That you step aside and allow me to do what I came to do."

The captain turned to his first officer. "I think we're done here. Have our guests escorted back to their coach."

"The use of force will be met with consequence, Captain. I would not advise it." Lord Valance explained calmly.

The first officer stopped and turned back to the Captain who replied with an impatient look and a motion to continue. Four nearby soldiers moved to surround the three men.

"As you wish." Lord Valance sighed in frustration. He threw back his overcoat to expose the hilt of a sword strapped tightly at his waist. It clashed strangely with his modern business attire.

"Lord Valance. To draw weapons on the Crown's Special Guard would render you an enemy to the sta..." The Captain fell silent.

Lord Valance had moved his hand to the hilt of his sword. A pattern, etched in the metal, glowed brightly, even in the light of day. He looked back at his two companions.

Lord Barnus's overcoat was already thrown back, his hand already on the hilt of his sword. The same pattern was etched down the handle to the blade. A bright glow trickled down from the hilt in the grooves of the etching.

The four soldiers were frozen in place.

The second companion, Lord Whiting, followed, placing his hand quietly on his sword. A third glow echoed the first two.

The Captain and his group of officers dropped to their knees and grabbed their heads and cried out in pain.

"Tell your friends in the guard we are not to be disobeyed." Lord Valance grunted as he kicked the bent over Captain to the ground.

"Your soldiers will be under Lord Barnus's command. If any of you remain when we return from the school, we will draw our weapons." He stepped over the frozen officers, still bent over moaning. "And you will die."

-

The School Master opened his eyes to the noise of foot steps echoing down the hallway just outside. The broken door squeaked as someone entered. He watched without lifting his head as the legs of a business suit stepped over a shattered bookshelf and kicked aside scattered books.

"Master!" A heavy voice cried.

The school master strained to lift his head. The man in the suit, someone he thought he recognized knelt down beside him.

"How badly are you injured." The man asked as he pulled debris off the School Master's body.

"Valance?" The school master asked, not believing his eyes. The man looked like Lord Valance, his student, but so many years had passed. This man was far too young.

"I can't begin to apologize... They were supposed to provide security for my visit. I don't know why they attacked." Lord Valance tried to explain.

The school master's mind was overwhelmed by a sudden flood of memories; every conversation he'd had with this man when he was still a student, everything that led up to their conflict. "I knew you'd be back someday... I didn't think I'd be this old when you finally came."

Lord Valance's two men clanked into the room. The School Master shifted his weight to look over at them.

"Barnus and Whitting? The three of you stuck together all of these years?" They looked just as impossibly young as Valance did, he thought.

"We didn't come for revenge, Master." Lord Valance explained.

The school master paused to study their faces. Was he right to judge them so quickly? So much time had passed. He had no idea who they'd become. Yet forgiveness had a price. He had so much to protect, so much at risk.

"I will do everything in my power to stop you from taking it. You must know that." He told them with as much strength as he could pull together. To add emphasis to his words, he struggled to push himself up enough to rest on his elbows.

"Master, please. You assume the worst of us. That's not why we're here."

"Then what do you want from me." He questioned.

"I'm no longer the angry young boy that left here so many years ago. I've come to regret, rather deeply, the way I ended our relationship. The memories are... an embarrassment."

At least they agreed on that. The events were an embarrassment to both. The School Master thought. Never had he been so grossly humiliated by a student to whom he had bestowed so much trust. That trust ended in the breaking of a sacred oath. True, it was the boy, not he, who broke his covenant with the school and the order. Yet he held himself just as accountable. The boy was his responsibility.

He had left for his monthly trip to the mountains to perform his duties. The young Valance must have followed him into the woods. He must've been there hiding in the trees watching him when he took the Token from his cloak and opened the path.

That path was visible only to the holder of the Token. So he gave little thought to preserving its secrecy path. He never thought he'd be followed.

At the end of the path, below the gray peaks of mountain range that separated the Zoen lands from the Petra and Botann, a majestic white building rose up out of the mountain wilderness.

He had always paused for a moment as he came through the trees to take in the beauty of the Temple, the Temple of the Order of the Reds. It was the only one in existence, that he knew of.

"You went where you were not invited and took what you were not given!" The School Master accused.

"Yes, yes I did." Lord Valance admitted.

It wasn't enough that valance had followed him to the temple. He was seen hours later returning to the school ground with a sack of weapons and armaments.

He stole from the temple!

The School Master looked up at Lord Valance. "I follow the same rules I asked you to follow? I go nowhere unless invited and take nothing that is not given. It is their decision. And to you, they did not give."

The School master had remembered pushing through a crowd of students that had gathered in the commons. He found Valance at the center of the crowd standing over his loot of weapons trying to stir up the students with his stories of secrecy and oppression. He had wanted to shows the students what was being kept from them, how they were being held back.