Nightrise

fighters almost gently, as if trying to get his attention. A single touch was death.
    The young man burst instantly into flame — turned into ashes before he could scream. The fire rider straightened up, then reached out and struck again. This time it was a woman, gone before she knew what had happened. The other horsemen were equally busy. It seemed to Jamie, that Matt's army was rapidly dwindling and the fighting was moving ever closer toward him as his own side was overwhelmed.
    They were losing. It was as simple as that. And although he had never met Matt, although he hadn't known anything about this world until now, he felt the bitterness of defeat and a sense of anger that it had been planned this way. Why had he and Scar been kept out of the fighting? As soon as they left the safety of the hilltop, they would die. But that didn't matter. Jamie thought of the boy called Flint who was somewhere down there, perhaps already wounded or even dead. With all his heart he wished he could have met him, if only briefly, before the end.
    Suddenly, Scar shouted out and stretched out a hand. "There!" She had spotted something. Finn too was looking in the same direction.
    At first, Jamie couldn't see anything. Scar was pointing toward the very edge of the field, beyond the fighting, where the river of grass dipped down and disappeared. But there was something. The light seemed to be darkening. It was impossible, but the very clouds were being drawn together as if they had somehow become magnetized. Jamie felt a sudden heaviness, a thudding in his head that told him there was about to be a storm.
    "It's them," Scar said, and the next moment there was a great flash of lightning and a downpour so heavy that it was like a screen had been drawn across the edge of the battlefield. The rain lashed down on the fighters. Thunder exploded above their heads. Jamie felt the water soaking through his clothes and running in rivulets down his skin. The change in the weather had been instantaneous, as if one of them had somehow controlled it.
    "What's happening?" he demanded.
    Scar didn't answer. She was gazing into the distance. Jamie followed her eyes and saw that a line of figures on horseback had appeared, riding at full gallop toward the edge of the battle. So far, nobody else had seen them. The rain had taken care of that. There were just six of them. Five men and a boy. It was difficult to make them out in the darkness and the confusion of the storm but Jamie could just see the figure riding in the center. Long, dark hair. Dark skin. He too was carrying a shield. His was decorated with a blazing sun.
    Inti had arrived.
    And he wasn't alone. Behind him, more soldiers — perhaps fifty of them — appeared, rising up over the edge of the field. They looked nothing like any of the other fighters, wearing tunics with headdresses made out of feathers and beaten gold. They carried outlandish weapons - slingshots, bolas, and very small, curved bows that they fired while they were still galloping, taking out some of the man-creatures that had strayed too close. They were carrying a banner with the blue star.
    One of the fire riders turned, sensing them for the first time. Jamie saw Inti lean forward in his saddle.
    He had unsheathed a sword with a blade shaped like a crescent moon. Now he swung it. The rider's head flew clear of its shoulders. The rest of the body slumped and then toppled forward. Inti hadn't so much as hesitated. If anything, his horse had sped up, carrying him straight to the very heart of the battle.
    "It's time!" Scar exclaimed. She turned to Finn. "Are you ready?"
    "I've waited too long," Finn growled.
    "Then let's finish it." She steadied her horse. For a moment she was very close to Jamie. "Use your power," she said. "Find Matt. That's all we have to do."
    And at last Jamie understood Matt's strategy. Chaos had joined battle in the belief that only three of the Gatekeepers — Matt, Flint, and Scar — would take part. Inti was supposed to be pinned down somewhere far away, unable to reach them. Sapling was dead. At least, that was what the king had thought when he had tried to get his enemies to surrender. He was confident that the fight was already over, that this was nothing more than a last encounter before humanity was made extinct. But he had been tricked. Inti had managed to fight his way through. And though Sapling had gone, he —Jamie —
    was here.
    Jamie felt a rush of excitement. More than that. It was