“Do you want to test me, Mordred? Leave now, or I won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Outrage distorted Mordred’s face, “You think you can threaten me you little…”
“He won’t be alone either, Mordred.” Faith asserted, coming to stand beside Vengeance. “I suggest you do as he says and leave.”
A wicked gleam came into Mordred’s blind eyes, “Oh come now, Faith. Is that any way to speak to your own brother?”
A collective gasp rang out among Icefire’s ranks. Vengeance, momentarily distracted from his enemy, looked at Faith in confusion, “Faith, what’s he talking about?”
“It’s true, Vengeance.” Faith replied, her voice bitter with regret, “Mordred is my brother. He used to be in Icefire, and I alone knew his secret, that he could call down lightning. It wasn’t until he lost control of his power and blinded himself with a lightning bolt that I took him away from camp and gave him to HeartTribe. What happened after that is beyond my knowledge.”
Mordred cackled, “Then let me tell you! After you gave me to that band of freaks, I was happy for awhile, despite my lack of sight. ‘It’s all a part of the Creator’s plan,’ they told me, and I swallowed it up. Then, one day, I went exploring past the Icefire borders. I went farther then I realized, and ended up south of Darkcover’s territory. It was there that I discovered my true destiny.” He paused, dramatically, “A tree, taller than any other in the forest, with its top opened up to the sky, like a tunnel to Helm itself! I knew what it was immediately. I had found the Dragon Tree! And now I have completed my role in this game. I have shown it to the heir of Sol, even though he doesn’t know what it is just yet. He will, though, and then this territory war of yours will seem like a quarrel between two siblings.” He leaned his head back, and his demonic laugh was raised to the heavens.
Faith’s fur bristled with rage, “Be gone, you traitor!” she shouted, “I would kill you myself right now, but I want you to take a message back to Goliath. Tell him that he has chosen the losing side in this war, and that will become obvious when we meet him on the battlefield in two days!”
“Will it?” Mordred asked, and turned his attention to Vengeance, “And what, pray, will you do without your precious Sword?”
Mordred flicked his tail in Vengeance’s direction, and a lightning bolt shot from the tip, straight at the red saloli. Blaze moved to dodge it, but realized he would be too late. Could he survive a direct hit from a lightning bolt? Probably not.
And then his view was blocked as Faith threw herself in front of him.
The lightning bolt struck her square in the chest, and rocketed her backwards, into Vengeance, with enough force to knock him to the ground. Faith flew past him, skidding to a stop on the ground in front of a crowd of shocked saloli.
Vengeance picked himself up and turned to look at Mordred, but the sorcerer was already gone. Dismissing it from his mind, he turned his attention to Faith. She was lying on her side, only inches away from where the rest of the tribe was gathered, yet they were all too stunned to move. Vengeance ran to her side, fearing the worst. Her eyes were open, but they were clouded and unseeing. Desperate, he placed his paw on her throat. No pulse. She was gone.
Vengeance wanted to cry, to scream to Valde Abbas to bring her back, the only saloli he could remember who had ever felt like a mother to him couldn’t be dead! Instead, his heart felt hollow and without remorse, but this was worse than it breaking in half with grief. What kind of a monster was he that he couldn’t even feel heartache in this wonderful saloli’s passing?
You must remain focused. You must not allow yourself to be hindered by emotion. You must fight.
Vengeance nodded to the voice of Valde Abbas, which only he could hear. He stood tall and turned to Rust, who looked just as shocked as his subjects, if not more so.
“We must perform the funeral immediately,” Vengeance told him, “and then we must appoint a new prophet. We cannot let ourselves be waylaid by tragedy. We can mourn for Faith after we defeat our enemies.
Rust felt utterly numb after what he had just witnessed, but he managed to nod in agreement, “You’re right. We need a new prophet.”
He turned to face his tribe, and remembered a critical detail that had been ignored. The chief was not allowed to choose the tribe prophet. Only the prophet was authorized to choose their successor, and Faith had died before she had the chance. What could he do now? He was at a complete loss. Rust looked at Vengeance, and then at the rest of his tribe. They were all expecting him to take charge in this situation. Even Vengeance, the Sword, was looking up to him. But what could he do? This was out of his control.
Then put it into mine.
The thought spoke itself into his mind as if it were thinking itself. For a brief moment, Rust was confused. Then it struck him. He had just heard from Valde Abbas. The Creator wanted him to let go of the situation, and put it into his hands. Yes. Yes, that sounded good. It was the only reasonable thing to do now. If anyone could straighten out this mess, it was Valde Abbas.
Rust bowed his head, “Valde Abbas, I come to you today not as chief of Icefire, but as your humble servant. I have tried to serve you all my life, but now I realize that it was never enough.”
A strange silence swept over the camp.
“I know now that I have made a grave mistake. I have forgotten that you are in control of everything. I have tried to fight this war with my own might, when any strength I have was only given to me by you. I can’t do it anymore. I just can’t. Not on my own. I’m giving up. I’m placing my life, and the lives of my tribe, into your hands. I know that whatever happens now will be your will. Please, protect my tribe. Protect my family. Protect my friends. Whatever you choose, may not my will be done, but yours. Amen.”
When Rust opened his eyes once more, he saw that his prayer had been answered. A shaft of light fell through the trees, even though the sun was setting in the opposite direction. It alighted on Scratch. Rust stared in amazement at the young HeartTribe saloli.
Valde Abbas had chosen their new prophet.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Vengeance awoke with a jerk. Raising his head, gazed around the camp. There were hundreds of saloli living here, all loyal to Icefire. It occurred to him, though, that it wasn’t enough. No matter how brave, loyal, and skilled they were, the fact remained that Darkcover outnumbered them five to one now. If they were to win this war, something would have to be done to even the odds. But what?
You need more claws.
Vengeance already knew that. But where could he find them? Every tribe in the forest, besides Icefire, was either destroyed or under Darkcover’s control.
Every tribe?
Yes, every tribe.
Even the tribe without a tribe?
Vengeance’s eyes widened with sudden inspiration. NoTribe had not yet been conquered by Darkcover! What’s more, their numbers rose higher than all four forest tribes put together. If Vengeance could convince them to fight with Icefire, they may have a chance of defeating Darkcover. No, more than a chance. The odds would actually tip in their favor! But how could he gain their support? He couldn’t use religious reasoning on them, as they didn’t believe in Valde Abbas. Perhaps he could convince them that Darkcover was a threat to them as well. It wouldn’t be completely untrue. If Goliath learned that there were countless saloli living free in these woods, he would focus his attention on taking them over as well. Filled with a new sense of purpose, Vengeance stood up, his fur brushing against that of Mercy’s. He would leave immediately. He only had two days before Darkcover marched to meet them in battle. Stepping over his branch-mates, he scurried down the tree and made his way to the edge of camp.
“Vengeance, where are you going?” He spun around to find none other than Mercy standing behind him, a confused look in her eyes.
“I’m going to try to convince NoTribe to fight with us.” He answered truthfully. “We don’t have enough claws on our side to stand a chance against Darkcover. NoTribe could be our only w
ay to win this.”
He expected Mercy to argue with him, but instead she nodded, “Then I’m coming with you.”
“No,” he asserted, “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“Then don’t ask, I’ve already said that I would.”
“No. I can’t put you into that much danger. What if Specter is still angry that he didn’t get you as his mate? I can’t just parade into his camp with you by my side after what happened that day.”
“I don’t care about Specter’s feelings!” she insisted, “You’re my mate, and I want to be by your side!”
“But Specter’s feelings are very important in this situation. If he gets angry with me, he may very well refuse to fight with us.”
Tears filled Mercy’s eyes, “Please, Vengeance, I don’t want to be apart from you! It hurts me!”
“It won’t be for very long, I promise you that. If I find the situation with NoTribe to be impossible, then I’ll come straight back here. After this is all over, we’ll be able to spend as much time together as we could ever want. For now, though, I have to focus on protecting you and the rest of Icefire.”
“But…”
“I also need you to stay here so that you can tell Rust and the others where I went. We can’t have them thinking that I just abandoned them. Please, Mercy, I don’t want to leave you either. It hurts me just as much as it does you, but there’s no other way.”
Mercy’s head hung in dejection, “All right. Do what you have to do. I’ll be waiting here for you when you come back.”
Vengeance moved closer and pressed his face against his mate’s. “When I come back, I want to talk about starting a family.”
Mercy gasped, a new look of hope lighting her eyes. Vengeance smiled, satisfied that he had made his mate so happy, and turned and ran from the camp.
<><><><><>
“You want us to what?” Specter asked, incredulously.
It had taken Vengeance nearly four hours to find the tribe of outsiders. When he did find them, Mask had attempted to send him away out of spite, but he had forced his way in, and now stood before Specter, making his proposal.
“I need you to fight beside Icefire. Darkcover has taken over the other two tribes in the forest, and now we’re hopelessly outnumbered. If you were to fight with us, we’d actually have a chance at defeating them.”
“And yet you still haven’t told me how NoTribe benefits from this in any way. What’s in it for us?”
“Do you really think Goliath will be content with what he has when he knows that a tribe as large as all four tribes put together is still out here, outside of his control?”
“If it comes to that, we can always leave.” Specter argued, “We can find another home away from this one, without any narrow-minded tribes around to get in our way. If we’re going to fight beside Icefire, then we’re going to have to get something worthwhile out of it, something you wouldn’t give us otherwise. I’m still open to the idea of mating with that beautiful female you stole from me.”
“No, Mercy has been mated to me, and I will never give her to you.”
“And yet you have the audacity to come to my camp and ask for my help? You tribe saloli really need to straighten yourselves out. I’ve made my decision. If you give me that female, we will fight beside Icefire. If not, then you may leave right now.”
“What if I could prove that Darkcover is as big a threat to you as it is to Icefire?”
“Then I might consider it. But you won’t, because what the tribes do to each other is not my problem.”
“Then I’ll have to prove you wrong.” Vengeance said, ending the conversation and walking away.
A pit formed in his stomach. How was he going to do what he had just promised? Despite Specter’s arguments to the contrary, Vengeance knew that NoTribe was in as much danger as Icefire. Not fighting against Darkcover would be signing their own death warrant, and Icefire’s as well. But how could he prove this to Specter? The overconfident albino was too selfish to consider any problems that he couldn’t clearly see affecting him.
For the next three hours, Vengeance walked among NoTribe’s ranks, trying to talk to the outsiders. Most of them, however, had already received word from Specter that they were not to speak to him except to tell him to leave their camp. What he did manage to get out of them was not encouraging.
“If it weren’t for you tribe saloli, we wouldn’t have to go hungry like we do!”
“I hope you all wipe each other out. Then the forest will be all ours!”
“Go to Helm!”
Despite this, Vengeance was unwilling to give up. Even though all the evidence pointed to the contrary, he was still convinced that this band of outsiders was Icefire’s only hope. They would fight with them. He just had to figure out how to make it happen.
“Blaze!”
He turned to see Mask coming to meet him, “I told you, my name’s not Blaze anymore. It’s Vengeance.”
“Whatever.” She brushed it away, “I remember asking you, the first time we met, to come up with a good argument for your god’s existence. I was just wondering if you’d thought of one yet.”
Vengeance nodded, “I have. Would you like to hear it?” She nodded as well, “It goes like this: Valde Abbas does not show himself to us because everyone would believe in him, but they would be weak. Those that believe in him without seeing him are the strong ones, and they are the ones he wants on his side. They are the ones who are brave enough to believe in what they cannot see, and go against the entire world in doing so. Those who do not believe are simply cowards, terrified of what they cannot see or control. So they deny its existence and claim superiority over those who do believe. A friend of mine has explained that knowing Valde Abbas exists comes from a feeling in your heart. A feeling that there is more to life than what the eye can see. Those who do not feel it are either too afraid to look into their own hearts, or they just ignore what their hearts tell them in favor of what their flawed logic demands they believe.”
Mask looked at Vengeance with an impassive face. He could not tell if his argument had made an impact on her, or simply caused her to hate him even more. Finally, she turned and said, “Come with me.”
Vengeance felt a bit uneasy following this outsider, but he put it out of his mind. She led him away from the camp, and into the forest. She spoke again.
“I actually had hopes that you would find your way out of this stupidity you call wisdom.” She told him, “You honestly seemed like a rational saloli. I guess I was wrong, though.”
“Did you think of a better argument to counter mine, or are you simply ignoring everything I just told you?” Vengeance asked.
Mask spun around, anger lighting up her eyes, “I don’t need to argue with an idiot! I know you’re wrong, and I don’t need to justify my knowledge. If you’re going to believe in some myth because it makes you feel better then me, so be it! I won’t have any part of it!”
“I don’t believe in Valde Abbas to feel superior to you,” Vengeance shot back, “I believe in him because he is real, and he loves us. Why are you so blind to that?”
“You’re the one who’s blind! And you don’t feel superior? Ha! Your religion was formed so that the followers would be put above the ones who saw the truth, and any argument against that fact only shows your own stupidity!”
“But…”
“But nothing! I have had it with idiots like you keeping intelligent creatures like me from getting what we deserve! Goliath has promised me that he will wipe religion from the forest, and only logic and common sense will remain when he’s done. All I have to do is make sure you don’t get in his way again! Get him!”
Before Vengeance could process what Mask had just said, a trio of Darkcover saloli dropped out of the trees and attacked him! He didn’t even get a chance to defend himself before they had him pinned to the ground, unable to move. Mask stood above him with a look of triumph on her face.
“Goliath told me that you would come t
o us.” She boasted, “He told me that if I could prevent you from swaying Specter’s opinion, I could then kill the albino and take control of NoTribe. If I pledged NoTribe’s allegiance to Darkcover, he would make sure I received a position of power in his new empire. I intend to do just that, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. Your precious tribe is going to fall, and I’m going to be there, laughing as the religious fools die. I’d say it was nice talking to you, but I believe in only telling the truth, which is more than you could ever say. Goodbye.”
Without another word, Mask turned tail and walked back towards NoTribe’s camp.
<><><><><>
Rust looked up at the darkening sky. Though it was only noon, dark storm clouds were already blotting out the sun. Mercy had told him of Vengeance’s quest to enlist NoTribe’s help in fighting Darkcover. He couldn’t say that he was happy about it, but he agreed that more saloli would be needed if Darkcover was to be defeated.
Legends of the Saloli: Vengeance and Mercy Page 14