Nightrise

snapped back.
    She turned to Jamie. "Matt told me I had to escape from the mine, so I did. It was very close. I nearly got caught. But it's a long story and I'm not going to tell it tonight. All you need to know is that I got away.
    And at the same time, the others were doing the same thing. Flint and Sapling in one kingdom, Inti in another. We were all leagues away from each other. We'd never met. We hadn't even known that the others existed. But we used the dreams to speak with one another, and Matt told us where to go and eventually four of us met close to a river not far from here, on the other side of the hills. Matt is waiting for us there now. Flint is with him."
    "Where's the boy you call Inti?"
    "He's not there yet. He had the farthest to travel. But he should arrive with the break of day."
    "And then…?" Jamie asked the question but he already knew the answer. There was a queasy feeling in his stomach.
    "There will be a battle. It's been predicted for ages. If the five of us can reach one another, we will win.
    If we can't, the world will come to an end."
    She reached out and Finn threw her a water bottle. In that single movement, Jamie saw how well the two of them knew each other. She hadn't asked. He had known what she wanted. And she hadn't looked around. She knew he would have it ready for her.
    "How did you find me?" Jamie asked. "The fortress or whatever it was. You came there…and it was like you were expecting me."
    "We weren't expecting you," Scar replied.
    "Then why were you there?"
    She took a long drink, then used the back of her hand to wipe her mouth. When she continued talking, her voice was low.
    "It's because of what happened two days ago," she said.
    "Tell me!"
    "It was Matt." She paused. "I've already explained to you. We had to meet, the five of us, to win. And we were so close. But there was a problem. The Old Ones knew that Inti was coming and they positioned their entire army between him and us. They were searching for him everywhere. You saw the fly soldiers today. Well, there were hundreds more like them, as well as shape-changers and fire riders.
    Inti was pinned down. He had to hide. He didn't dare move any nearer."
    "How did Matt know?"
    "Matt always knows! And two nights ago he called a meeting of the four of us. He said there was only one way to help Inti and that was to send out a small force to a place called Scathack Hill. There was a fortress there and he said that we'd find something that would help us in the fight against the Old Ones.
    Of course, Finn offered to go. There isn't a single soldier who wouldn't gladly volunteer to do anything Matt wants. But he said it had to be one of us. One of the Five."
    Scar paused a second time, and when she began speaking again, Jamie was astonished to see that there were tears in her eyes.
    "We believed him," she said. "Why shouldn't we? He had always been right before. But even so, it seemed crazy — when there were four of us there — to separate once again. But he insisted. He wouldn't let me go. It had to be either
    Sapling or Flint. He took them into his tent and spoke to them and an hour later, Sapling came out and got onto his horse and rode off. A hundred men went with him. He didn't say anything to me but I saw his face and I'll never forget his look. It was as if he knew what was going to happen. And none of the soldiers asked any questions. He ordered and they followed."
    Her voice cracked.
    'You know what happened next," she said. "Scathack Hill was where we found you. The Old Ones must have known about the expedition because they sent a huge force in pursuit. You saw the result. The moment Sapling arrived, they surrounded him and closed in. The battle lasted almost an entire day.
    Sapling was incredibly brave. But he was hopelessly outnumbered with nowhere to go. His soldiers died all around him…all but two of them. The Old Ones let them live, not out of mercy, but so they could come back and tell the rest of us. All the soldiers were killed. Sapling was left almost to the end. He was badly wounded but he kept fighting, and the last time they saw him he was leading a charge, trying to break out, to get back to us.
    "They cut him down. He took three arrows in his chest but he still kept fighting. But then the enemy soldiers closed in and hacked him to pieces, laughing as they did it. And even when he was dead they wouldn't leave him alone. Some of them cut off fingers for souvenirs. He had long black hair and they