Nightrise

as if there were an electric current surging through him. He knew what had to happen next.
    The Five had to meet.
    Scar also knew. She smiled briefly at Jamie, then drew her sword. Jamie did the same.
    Scar called out. A single word. "Forward!"
    And then, at once, they were chasing down the hill, heading right into the face of the enemy but completely unafraid, eager to join the fray. Jamie felt his horse almost flying beneath him, but there was no chance of his falling — he and the horse were one. He had his shield in one hand. He reached down and drew his sword with the other. Frost. When he had first taken hold of it, he had known that it had been made for him, forged to the very shape of his hand. Frost was more than a piece of inanimate metal. It was a friend.
    The hillside was steep and his horse almost stumbled but Jamie steadied it and raced on, around the tents, past the physicians with their bloody saws and bandages, between the archers who parted to allow him through, cheering him as he went. The moment he had passed, they fired another volley to distract the enemy. Jamie saw the swarm of arrows take off, darkening the sky above his head, and gave his horse free rein as if he could leave the ground and fly with them. He felt the hooves hit soft earth.
    Seconds later, the battle had swallowed him.
    On the hill, he had been able to see the battlefield in its entirety, to understand the lay of the land and the direction of the fighting. Now he became part of it. He couldn't see Scar or Inti. If he stopped even for a few seconds to look or to take his bearings, he knew he would be killed. Some instinct told him that the only way to survive was to keep moving. But ahead of him the way was blocked. He reined in his horse and almost at once, one of the creatures lunged at him. Jamie saw a cobra's head, black eyes burning, a yellow fork spitting at him from a twisted mouth. At the same time, there was a crack and something flailed past, inches from his neck. The snake had a human body with human arms and legs — and it was holding a whip. It had attempted to knock him off his horse but Jamie had been lucky. It had missed. He swung his sword arid severed the creature's neck, feeling no resistance as the blade cut through. Blood sprayed out. The whip fell aside. The body crumpled.
    The noise here was deafening. Very little of the sound of warfare had carried up to the hill but now it was all around him. There were the screams of men and horses and it was hard to say which were the more heartrending. Sword clanged against sword, and there was the terrible ripping sound of metal entering flesh. A body, one of his own men, pitched onto the ground and lay still. Another man, blinded, with blood streaking his face, cried out for help and was only silenced when one of the fire riders touched him and he was instantly vaporized,
    "Down!"
    The warning wasn't spoken. It was sent as a thought that slammed into him, making him duck almost instinctively. A second spear, thrown by one of the knights, flew over his shoulder, missing him by inches. Somehow Flint had seen him. Flint was still alive and had been looking out for him in just the same way that Scott would have. There was no sign of the other boy, but now Jamie remembered what Scar had told him a few moments before. His power had returned to him. He had to use it.
    The knight who had just tried to kill him had taken out a twin-bladed sword. He was already galloping forward, the horse aiming directly for him with its deadly spike slanting out of its head. Jamie didn't move. He simply sent out an instruction.

    "You cannot move. You cannot hurt me."
    The knight was almost on top of him but didn't even try to swing his sword. Nor did he flinch when Jamie lifted Frost and drove it straight into his chest. He was helpless. Jamie felt the sword cut through and recoiled in horror as the entire body fell apart, becoming in an instant a buzzing cloud of flies. The hesitation almost cost him his life. He saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye and turned just as another man-scorpion began its strike. Its tail and stinger were already slashing down and he thought he was finished. But they never completed their journey. In front of his eyes, they seemed to separate themselves from the man-scorpion's body. The creature howled and died…and Jamie saw Corian saluting him with his sword and realized that his life had just been saved for a second time.
    Briefly, he caught sight of