Nightrise (26 page)

"So it was all over." Jamie whispered the words.

"That's what we thought. Inti was still surrounded — but even if he did manage to reach us, it wouldn't matter. There never would be five of us. He was too late."

"But what was at Scathack Hill?" Jamie asked. "What was so important in the first place?"

"There was nothing there." Scar's voice was cold. "The two men told us that. Matt had been wrong from the start. The fortress was empty and abandoned. Sapling had died for nothing."

Scar fell silent. She'd had enough.

"Finish the story," Finn murmured. He reached out and touched her gently on the arm. "The boy needs to know. The next part matters too."

Scar nodded slowly.

"I never wanted to see Matt again," she said. "I thought he'd betrayed us. I thought he'd brought us all this way for nothing. To be honest, I hated him. I hated him almost as much as the Old Ones. But then, last night, he came to me — and what he said to me…I wanted to scream at him. But you don't scream at Matt. When you meet him, you'll understand.

"He told me to take part of the army and ride to the ruined city where we are now — but after that I was to go on alone to Scathack Hill…just with Finn, Erin, and Corian. He said it was still important to bring back what I found there, and even though he knew I was angry about what had happened to Sapling, I'd understand why he'd died." Scar frowned. "At first I didn't believe him. I hated him and I didn't even want to listen. But Finn persuaded me and so we set off. We left everyone here and went on alone. And when we got to Scathack Hill, we found you. That's why I cried when I saw you. I thought you were Sapling."

"Maybe he is," Finn growled.

"Are you?" Scar turned to Jamie. She was almost pleading with him. "Because we need you to be.

Tomorrow we fight the Old Ones for the last time. They're waiting for us, less than half a league from where we're sitting now. We need you to be one of us."

Jamie tried to collect his thoughts.

"I'm Jamie," he said. Suddenly, he was tired. "I'm sorry," he went on. "I wish I could be the person you want me to be, but I don't think I am."

"Then it's over," Scar replied. "Sapling is dead and the Old Ones have won."

She got up and walked off into the dark.

SIXTEEN

Frost

Jamie woke slowly the next morning, and before he had even opened his eyes, he had sent out his thoughts, searching for his brother. It was instinctive, something he did automatically. He knew there would be no reply.

"Scott. Where are you…?"

But this time it was different.

"Here!"

The single word came back, very faint, from somewhere far away. Jamie sat bolt upright, fully awake in an instant. That was when he saw where he was. He was lying on the temple floor, dressed in the clothes he had worn the day before and wrapped in the same blanket that he had used as a saddle. One side of his body was numb and there was a crick in his neck. In fact most of his bones were aching — he was surprised he'd managed to sleep at all. He groaned quietly and raised himself up on an elbow. Erin was on the other side of the temple, relighting the fire, stirring the embers with his metal hand.

Had it been Scott who had replied to him? Jamie tried again, trying to visualize his brother.

"Scott, are you there…?"

But this time there was silence, and Jamie wondered if he hadn't simply imagined his brother's voice while he was still half asleep. Scott wasn't here. As far as these people were concerned, Scott didn't even exist. Jamie looked around. Nobody had noticed that he had woken up. Erin was lifting a pot of water onto the flames. Corian was sitting nearby, sharpening his sword between two stones. There was no sign of Scar or Finn,

So what had happened? How had he gotten here? Still lying on the hard ground, Jamie went back over everything that had happened, trying to make sense of it. All he knew for certain was that he had arrived at the end of a long war between humankind and creatures who called themselves the Old Ones. And the hopes of all humanity rested on five teenagers. Matt was their leader. Then there was Scar and a boy called Inti who was near but who had yet to arrive. And finally two brothers…twins. Flint and Sapling.

That was the most difficult part. As far as everyone was concerned, Jamie was Sapling. And that meant he was expected to fight in the battle that was going to begin just a few hours from now. The thought of it made him tremble. He didn't know anything about swords or arrows. And now here he was in the middle of a war of his own and he was hopelessly out of his depth.

And yet…

That wasn't quite true. Only the day before he had snatched up a sword from a dead soldier and fought hand-to-hand with a creature twice his size. He had known exactly what to do — and he had won.

Admittedly, Scar had arrived in time to finish off the man-scorpion, but only after Jamie had cut off its tail and stabbed it almost in the heart. And that wasn't the only thing. Although he had never sat on a horse in his life, he had ridden many miles, trotting, cantering, even galloping. And right now he wasn't even stiff. It was as if his body was used to spending long hours in the saddle.

What did it mean?

He wasn't Sapling. He was Jamie Tyler. But Sapling seemed to be part of him. The two of them were the same age. They looked the same and had the same skills, even if they had been born thousands of miles and perhaps thousands of years apart.

There was a movement at the entrance to the temple and Finn appeared, carrying a water bottle. He came over and handed it to Jamie.

"You're awake," Finn said. "Did you have any dreams?"

"I was too tired for dreams." Jamie sat up, took the water bottle, and drank. "Where does the water come from if the rivers are poisoned?" he asked.

"We have wells. But they have to go deep."

Jamie was aware that Finn was examining him. In his own way, Finn was as beaten about as the city in which they had spent the night. His hair had turned gray too soon. The scar on his cheekbone had been left by a wound that had cut deep. His eyes, soft gray and watchful, had seen too much pain.

Jamie handed back the water bottle. "Thank you," he said.

"Sapling…"

"I'm not him." Jamie shook his head. "I know you want me to be. I know he was your friend. But I'm not."

"Maybe not," Finn said. "But today you have to be."

"Then tell me about him. And tell me about Scar. How did the two of you meet?"

Finn sat down next to Jamie. There was obviously some sort of activity going on outside. Jamie could hear the clatter of hooves, the occasional whinny. The army was assembling in the main square just outside the temple. They were getting themselves ready, preparing for the last march to war. But for the moment Finn seemed content to let them get ready on their own.

"I met Scar four seasons ago," he began. "Before the snow arrived. I had traveled far and I was resting with my back against a wall, wondering what to do next. There was a door in a wall and it opened and she appeared…just like that. She was lucky in a way. If my sword had been in my hand I might have killed her before I realized who she was, but I'd been careless and left it with the horse. She told me her name but I didn't ask her where she had come from, even though — and this is the strange thing — the door in the wall didn't lead anywhere. It was just a ruined wall. She knew where she was going. That was all that mattered. And I decided to go with her.

"She and I traveled together for a while and I looked after her. She was different then from how she is today, She was more scared — though it would be best not to tell her I said so. She said she was searching for someone called Matt, a boy she had seen in her dreams. I thought she was mad. But then we found him — or he found us — and suddenly I saw it was all true."

"And Sapling…?"

"I can't help you there. It's all beyond my understanding. You look like him. You sound like him. And if I didn't know for certain that he had been killed and his body burned, I'd say you were him."

"What year is this?"

Finn shrugged. "It's the year after the one before. I've heard it said there were numbers once, but that was long ago and they've all been forgotten."

"The Old Ones…"

"That's right. They've made life miserable and painful but at least they've made it short." Finn thought for a moment, then got to his feet. "Come with me," he said. "I have something to show you."

Jamie rolled himself out of his blanket and followed Finn across the floor to the far wall where there was a doorway he hadn't noticed before. It led into a small circular room with a ceiling that was vaulted and painted blue with gold stars. The walls had once been painted too, but now there was nothing left, any images scratched out of existence.

Scar was there, kneeling in front of a stone slab that might once have been an altar, cradling a parcel wrapped in cloth across her thighs. Hearing Finn, she got up and turned around. She looked at him almost accusingly.

"What are you doing here, Finn?" she demanded.

"And good day to you, Scar," Finn replied.

"I was asleep."

"No you weren't." Finn glanced at the bundle she was holding. "I knew you'd be here," he said. "Give it to me."

"Why?"

"I want to prove a point."

Scar hesitated, then handed the bundle to him. Carefully, Finn unwrapped the cloth and took out a round shield made out of dark and beaten metal with an intricate pattern of leaves around the side. It had no spike. Instead, there was a design right in the middle. Jamie gasped with surprise, recognizing it instantly. A spiral with a single straight line dividing it in two halves… exactly the same design that he'd been born with.

He was sure that this was what Finn had wanted to show him. But Finn laid the shield aside.

Instead, he took out a sword and handed it to Jamie. The sword had a symbol too — a five-pointed star in the middle of the crosspiece, just above the blade. Jamie saw that it had been made out of some blue stone —- perhaps lapis lazuli — set in silver. The blade was surprisingly thin and weighed almost nothing. He wouldn't have thought it could cut through anything, but at the same time he could see that it had been sharpened with amazing precision, like a surgical instrument. He swung it a couple of times and felt the very air being cut in half.

"It was his," Jamie said.

"Yes." Finn held his eyes. "Now tell me what is written on the blade. Don't read the words. Just tell me."

Standing next to the altar, Scar stiffened. But she said nothing.

"Frost," Jamie muttered.

'You see?" Finn was talking to Scar. "He knew."

Jamie looked down. There was a single word inscribed on the blade. The letters were foreign — like Hebrew or Greek — and should have meant nothing to him. But he understood them instantly.

FROST.

"It is the name of the sword," Finn told him. "Sapling called it that because although it is cold, it brings with it the first light. That was his hope for it. And he carried it with him to Scathack Hill. We found it moments before we came upon you. He must have lost it in the fight. But now do you see?" He glanced at Scar. "Don't you see, both of you? There's something happening — some sort of magic — and maybe none of us understands it. But this boy is Sapling, there's no doubt of it, even if he has forgotten." He looked away, suddenly gruff again. "Let's just hope he hasn't forgotten how to fight."

***

Jamie glanced at Erin and saw him touch the palm of his artificial hand. At once five blades sprang out of his fingers and thumb. At the same time, his left hand curled around a curved dagger that he had slipped into a belt around his waist.

Their army had assembled: a hundred men, women, and children, waiting quietly for the order that would bring them to victory or death. Scar stepped forward. She carried a shield with the same pattern of leaves as Sapling's, but hers had the image of a lizard — with slanting eyes and a spiky tail — curled around the center. Three steps separated her from the crowd standing outside the temple. She walked to the very edge and lifted her sword. Jamie wondered if he should do the same but felt too awkward and shy. He realized that everyone's eyes were fixed on her. But they were watching him too.

"This is the day that we have been waiting for," she called out, and although she was young and small, her voice echoed easily across the square. "I cannot say what happened to the world to make it the way it is. I do not know where the Old Ones came from or how they were allowed, to take control. All I can tell you is that it's over. After today, the world will belong once again to us, and even if some of us must die, it will have been worth it. Matt and Flint are waiting for us. Inti will be riding in from the east. I am here and I am not alone. Sapling is with me. Yes! Sapling was not killed."

The beginnings of a cheer broke out amongst the soldiers closest to the front, but Scar raised a hand for silence.

"The Five are coming together at last!" she exclaimed. "The Old Ones thought they'd beaten us, but they were wrong. And now we're going to show them. We're going to show them the power of Five."

"Five!" The single word blasted out all around. Banners flew, swords were raised, and from somewhere came the thunder of drums and a great fanfare. Jamie looked up and saw the musicians, three small boys, none of them older than ten, perched high up on one of the aqueducts. Their horns glittered in the daylight as they saluted the crowd below. Scar's horse had been led forward, and she leaped onto it. The gray horse had been brought out for Jamie, and he did the same. This time he didn't need help. A moment later, they were riding forward with Finn, Erin, and Corian, leading their cheering army between the two pagodas and along the mosaic path that led to the city walls. There were people riding singly, others two to a horse or pulling wagons. A few ran behind. With so many of them, it took several minutes simply to pass through the gate.