Nightrise

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."

    ***
    A few moments later, the five of them walked out onto the main square: Scar and Jamie first, then Erin and Corian, with Finn behind. All of them were armed for battle with swords, daggers, and shields.
    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