The War Apiary

Chapter 8 Jack (In Prata)

The room hushed as Mr Bud held up his hand for silence.

"The vote is in." He said softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. "Great Britain has chosen to go Tech Savvy."

The majority of the room cheered. A few people swore, and some of the older people stood in silence with a look of disgust on their faces.

"We will eliminate all Apiariest exams immediately. With the current state of bees in Britain, there is no point in carrying on the old ways. Let us make way for the new and improved way of the Antediluvian Ones. Now we bring the meeting into a close." Mr Bud gave a bow before walking off the stage. People began to chatter amongst themselves and large groups began to leave the hall.

Jack and Nelly looked at each other. "I suppose we won't need to take an exam for beekeeping anymore," Nelly said sadly. Jack shrugged. It had been something he was dreading, and now it had been eliminated. But he did feel as if he had been cheated. He and Nelly, like everyone else in Britania, had all studied and taken the exam, and now he would never get the chance to.

"You both should get some sleep, it's late," Lodovico said as he got up from his seat.

The three of them headed for the exit.

A couple of seconds later an explosion shook the building. Jack and Nelly quickly fell to the ground, following what they had learnt in school what to do when a Rebellion attack happened. Jack looked back at where the stage once stood, now a pile of burning rubble and smoke. 

People screamed, and children cried.

"Quickly now!" Lodovico shouted at both of them. Jack got up before helping Nelly. The crowd of rushing scared people pressed on them from all sides as they all tried so desperately to get out of the crammed tight building. More explosions rocked the ground, this time they came from somewhere outside. Smoke stang Jacks eyes and throat. He glanced at Nelly, she had taken off her coat and was holding it over her nose. After 5 minutes of being crushed by the crowd, the three of them managed to get outside into the cold night's air. People rushed about with buckets to douse the flames that seemed to be everywhere. What looked like a giant shooting stare flew across the sky and exploded into a building opposite the square, throwing out people, sharp wood, glass and metal shrapnel out into the Square. The dead were scattered about like discarded cigarette butts and people were screaming and crying.

"Follow me." Lodovico moved quickly, faster than Jack and Nelly thought he could. They followed him out of the square, down a street that lay dark and empty to the horse stalls of Prata. Most of the stalls stood empty due to people already fleeing by the use of horseback. The horses that remained moved about in their stalls uncomfortably, their eyes wide and ears back at the smell of smoke and the loud sounds of chaos. 

Lodovico took one of the remaining horses out of its stall. "Quick, climb on. Both of you."

"What, why?" Nelly asked hurriedly.

"All will be answered in due time, but now is not that time. You must go, the attack is not by local unhappy voters, but by the hand of the Rebellion, they seem to have brought fire down from the heavens upon our country."

Nelly pulled herself up onto the bare back of the horse. She had nothing but the main of the horse to hold onto.

"Jack, quick now, get up. I will meet both of you in Paris. Whatever you do, you must not come back, you must get away from here."

Jack pulled himself up behind Nelly. The bareback of the horse was uncomfortable compared to a saddle, but there was no time to dress the horse. The ride would be long and tiring. They didn't have food or money to buy food or even clothes.

Sweat gleamed on Lodovicos white face. In the firelight, he looked as if he was going to be sick.

"Jack, look after Nelly, and Nelly do likewise with Jack. Both of you now must go. Once you get to Chelmsford, take the hyperloop to Paris. Seek Charlotte the actress on the top tier, she will keep you safe until I get there. Tell the lift guard that Lodovico sent you. If you come to any station show them this and they will let you on." Lodovico handed Jack a small metal token. "Now go!" He patted the back of the horse and it left with a gallop from the stall and onto the cobbled street. Jack held on tightly to Nelly who held tightly to the main of the horse. They galloped passed burning building after building. Children cried over the bodies of their parents in the street, and parents crying over the bodies of their children.

"Don't look," Jack said into Nelly's ear. "Close your eyes." He hugged her tighter and closed his eyes as well, but that didn't stop the sounds of the terror happening around them as their horse galloped towards the edge of town.

The air smelled of burning flesh and blood, the horse galloped on. A man tried to stop them but the horse pushed him down and the sound of bones breaking under hoof and the blood-curdling cry faded as they galloped on. Jack felt Nelly retch and throw up off the side of the horse. The thought of the man being trampled under hoof made Jack's stomach turn. His mind then thought of Lodovico and what would become of him and his apprentice Leon? What became of Nelly's father Mr Bud and the other councilmen?

The houses soon fell away to fields as they left Prata and entered the countryside, following the main dirt road eastwards towards Chelmsford. The Moon shorn brightly, lighting the road ahead. High above, shooting stars with long tails came from the North, they branched off into two groups, one headed for Prata, and the other headed east. 

"What are they?" Nelly asked over the sound of the Horses laboured breathing and its hooves on the ground.

"I don't know," Jack replied. "They must be a weapon from before the Rust Wars, what the Antediluvian Ones used against each other. The Rebellion must have uncovered some and learned to use them." He hoped that that wasn't the case, but if it wasn't the case what else could it be? He looked back at the town of Prata. It burned brightly in the night, like a red gem against Britannia's skin. The shooting stars fell towards the earth, large balls of fire erupted when they made an impact and the sound rumbled across the Erebus basin towards them. The sound met them and it made Jack's heart race. The stars that they were using now seemed far more lethal then what they were using, to begin with. He sent a silent prayer to Mother Earth that Lodovico and his apprentice were safe, and that Nelly's dad had found safety as well. He hoped that Miss. Tenderly had found safety as well. But looking back at the bright light of the destruction, things seemed hopeless.