Page 2223

~~((The National Jelly Bean Day Special -- page 8 of 10))~~
His brothers were certainly taking their time. That meant, at least, that there was nothing as obvious as smoke or annihilated buildings. A part of Raul had been worried about that.

Before the next text could arrive, however, Raul spotted another vehicle on the road, approaching from the direction of Miro.

It was a large truck, an eighteen wheeler, but it bore no markings that Raul could see. No company logo, even.

He caught a glimpse of the driver as it passed.

Maybe Vantalay was just different, but that didn't look like a typical truck driver to Raul. Skinny, harsh facial features and piercing eyes. No sunglasses or hat, despite the sunny day today.

And what was that truck transporting?

Right now, Vantalay was at war with four different countries. Lyste, Czacoa, Naos, and Yena Maria. According to the news and various people Raul had talked to over course of their stay in Ridgemark, battles had broken out all across Vantalay's borders. The only reason that the region around Ridgemark had thus far been spared was because the terrain rendered the city quite easily defensible from an assault by sea. The high cliffs on which Ridgemark was perched allowed only two paths for incoming ships to approach, and even then, they would still have to deal with the massive amount of artillery that the city had defending it as well.

Taking Ridgemark wouldn't be impossible, Raul thought--Uncle Melchor would've told him that only a fool would consider any location to be truly impregnable. But at the very least, it would require either an enormous commitment of resources on the attacker's part or saboteurs on the inside. The Triplets had been lucky enough to get into the country before the borders were shut down, but Vantalay's enemies obviously wouldn't have it so easy. It therefore made sense that Ridgemark would want to ship in as many resources from domestic locations as possible, rather than relying on its ports too heavily. Foreign agents were much more likely to arrive by sea or air.

But even despite all that, Raul still couldn't help being suspicious of that truck. Something about it bothered him.