Nightrise

seen no movement at all. They had left the dead bodies behind but it seemed that there was nothing that was actually alive: no cows grazing in the fields, no birds even in the sky. There were a thousand questions that he wanted to ask but he knew this wasn't the time. Scar was still leading, with Finn next to her. Jamie wondered if he had disappointed her. She had come expecting to find someone who called himself
    Sapling and instead she had found him. And yet, at the same time, she had accepted him and taken him with her. She had said they were going to bring him to Scott, even if she knew him as Flint. Sapling and Flint. What did it all mean? He wished she had told him a little more before they set off.
    The track dipped down. Now they were passing through a natural basin with a stream flowing sluggishly alongside. The water looked dirty and uninviting, but Jamie was suddenly thirsty.
    "Scar…" he called out.
    She twisted round on her horse. "What is it?" She didn't sound pleased.
    "Can we stop for a drink?"
    "The water's poisoned." She said it as if it was obvious, and Jamie realized that Sapling would never have asked such a stupid question. Sapling would have known.
    But next to her, Finn took pity on him. The big man had a water bottle attached to his belt and, glancing sourly at Scar, he unhooked it. "Take some of this," he said, holding it out. Jamie rode forward and took it. It was made out of animal skin.

    He was just about to raise it to his lips when Finn froze. He had heard something but his senses must have been tuned to the finest degree because as far as Jamie was concerned, there were no sounds in any direction apart from the bubbling water and the faint whisper of the breeze. "Down!" he hissed. Then, to Jamie, "Don't say anything!"
    Scar was already sliding down the side of her horse. She had begun moving even before Finn had spoken, meaning that she was as alert as he was. Finn and the two brothers followed her, pulling the horses down with them. Jamie was astonished to see that the animals had been trained to lie flat on their side. He did the same, rolling off the horse and then tugging at the bridle to bring it down with him. The horse crumpled as if it had died. Finn stretched out and rested his hand on its flank, steadying it. All of them lay still.
    Very slowly, Jamie turned his head, trying to see why all this was necessary. In front of him, he saw Finn's eyes widen, warning him not to move, not to make any reaction. Nothing seemed to be moving.
    There was no danger. He wondered what it was that had made them so afraid.
    And then he saw it.
    At first he thought he was looking at a column of smoke that might have been rising from a particularly dense bonfire except that there was no fire and the cloud wasn't moving up but down, twisting from the sky to the surface of the earth. Then he realized what it was. A swarm. Insects of some sort…beetles or flies. They were black and there must have been a million of them, pouring down as if tipped out of some giant glass container. At the same time he heard them buzzing as their tiny wings vibrated so fast that they were almost invisible.
    What was it that they wanted? What had attracted them here? A minute later, with a sense of utter horror and disbelief, he understood why they had needed to hide.
    As the insects hit the ground,, the column broke apart. For a few moments it was just a black fog. Then it reformed and solidified. And now Jamie saw that it had taken a shape. Standing in front of him was a group of ten warriors on horseback — but the warriors and the horses were made up entirely of flies. He wondered what would happen if he took a sword to them. The blade would presumably pass right through them. But what if they attacked him? Would a sword made up of flies be able to cut him or would they separate again and sting him to death? He didn't want to know.
    The leader of the fly soldiers held up a hand, signaling the others to wait. He must have sensed something was wrong, that the enemy was near, His head turned slowly in their direction, his black eyes scanning the area. The other soldiers stayed where they were, shimmering a little but keeping their shape. Jamie felt his horse trembling and wondered if it was about to whinny. If so, it would kill them all. Finn stretched out his hand, stroking it, willing it to stay calm. The leader seemed to be staring right at them. Jamie wasn't even breathing. His nerves were screaming at him to