Well, you have to have the torch to get the apples, and the torch in question is not the one you get from Darius. The torch in question is one fashioned from three different items that you find in your journey.

The first item is one you get from Darius, and it provides the functional presence of your torch.

The second item you get from a street vendor of inflatable toys, and it provides technical support.

The third item is... ummm.... found somewhere, but I'll be hanged if I remember where. But once you find this third object (which, by the way, is actually a group of objects (one might even say a bundle)), you can use all three together and make a torch.

Hope this helps!

-Rift "I sometimes worry I'm doing a bad job with these answers" Traveler