The Boy with No Name (Part 1 of 'A Tale of People and Apples' Trilogy)

Chapter 22: A Face Worth Remembering

Present day.

They arrived at the capital of New Felix, Panthera, the next afternoon since leaving Reekmeer, being able to travel through the day and night, alternating sleep. The Bears ability to thrive on no sleep, their strength and conditioning which enabled them to piggy-back their companions, Rosaya's night vision, and everyone's ability to walk among the Creatures of the Night were all incredibly useful tools to travel and hopefully beat their enemies to Panza and her city.

Luka desperately wanted to save one Six. She would be an incredible ally in whatever was happening, before she was kidnapped and her city destroyed.

Luka realized the crew were still human. A sleep deprived Rosaya thought she had seen a person disappear in the ground in the distance while guiding the Bears through the jungle, and agreed she had to rest at one point.

The bugs in the jungle were large and intensely irritating, but luckily the Bears supplied the crew with repellent and the Ravens with sleeved jackets. During their rests, Luka continued to teach his comrades everything he knew, and he realized the Bears too were well trained in combat.

Signey was lighthearted and kept the group cheerful, Rosaya had a keen sense of keeping everyone's mind on track, Adrian was far smarter than he let on, and Luka began to realize how alike he and Tristan were. Tristan would hang onto every word of Luka's, but was confident enough to question his decisions of paths to take.

Breaking through vines and wet vegetation, there were early signs they were not the first to arrive. Rosaya's theory of multiple armies and more than one visitor the Sixes were trusting became more and more probable. When they approached the jungle opening of the large Tiger province, scattered around the perimeter of the great bronze walls of the city but many meters from the walls themselves, were oblong, silver, and red objects. Thousands upon thousands like tombs in a graveyard. The Field of the city offline above.

"Explosives," Tristan said, identifying the missiles that surrounded the city, his rifle slung to his side.

The crew sprinted to inspect. Luka picked one of the missiles up in his hands, and believed Tristan was right. But something was wrong.

"They haven't exploded. What's going on?" Signey exclaimed, looking at one herself.

Luka analyzed the thing in his hand, thoughtfully weighing it, when suddenly three others that were near his feet shot up from the ground and latched themselves to his shield. His comrades readied themselves in an attack position when they heard the tang tang, tang, and relaxed coming to the same realization Luka made. "They're not rockets. They're magnets. All of them."

Adrian's hypothesis made Luka's skin crawl, and he knew he was right. Adrian said, "The Outlanders, they dropped these just beyond the walls. It probably sapped the Tiger's energy. That explains the front gate being slammed open, they were unable to defend it."

The Tiger's had arguably the most profound Gift. They could manipulate electromagnetism. Beyond controlling metal from afar, there were rumors of some of their Hosts being able to make their enemies hallucinate by tapping into the electrochemistry of their attacker's brains, and some able to bend light around them to camouflage with their surroundings.

Luka held their apparent weakness in his hand and discarded it angrily. They were late again.

The Raven's confirmed Adrian's analysis. The front gate was savagely knocked inwards. Silently, Luka motioned the crew to follow him along the jungle floor. The crew was sweating in the intense humidity of the golden and dark green jungle, the knee-high jungle grass waving as they ran. Luka drew his pistol, hand drenched in sweat, and ran towards the front gate of the city. They peered inside.