Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm
Page 20
Cyclone’s territory was very peaceful, Blaze realized. It was a lot like Icefire territory, with one big difference, which he found a few minutes later. He heard it before he saw it: the sound of falling water. Coming into a break in the foliage, Blaze found himself standing on the edge of a river. A short distance away, the ground rose up sharply, creating a waterfall. He remembered, from his human life, that it was called Whitetail River, because of all the whitetail deer that were spotted drinking from it. It flowed through Icefire territory as well, but had nothing as interesting as a waterfall in it. Blaze was about to turn and continue following the scent, which turned right at the riverbank, when one of the most amazing things he had ever seen happened. The river began to gurgle loudly, and the water in the middle began to churn. Before his eyes, the water opened up! It spun around, going downwards in a perfect spiral. It was a whirlpool.
Well, Blaze thought, now I know where Cyclone gets its name from. Turning away from the vortex, he continued to follow the scent trail.
Almost a half hour later, Blaze came to the Cyclone camp. He could smell it long before he could see it. The smell of Cyclone was almost overpowering. He found the camp surrounded by bushes. Finding a gap between two of them, Blaze poked his head through to look inside. What he saw made him gasp audibly. All of Cyclone was gathered around a single saloli.
“Please, listen to me!” Rust begged, “I can help you! I have intelligence that could benefit you in this war!”
“There is no war here.” one saloli said. Blaze recognized him as Freckle.
“But there will be soon.” Rust insisted.
“If war does come here, it will be on Icefire’s shoulders, not ours.”
“I can help you.” Rust repeated.
“Tell me something,” Freckle said, going off topic, “why should we not take you captive and execute you for trespassing on our territory?”
“Because I’m Icefire’s chief! Doing that would leave them leaderless.”
Freckle leered at him, “Maybe it would teach the future chief to stay in his own territory.”
“I mean you no harm, Freckle. I only want to help.”
“Why are you so eager to help us? Why not prepare your own tribe?”
“I have my reasons.”
“Maybe the same reasons that kept Goliath alive?”
A flash of regret appeared in Rust’s eye, “Don’t speak of that. You have no idea what happened that day!”
“I know that Goliath is still alive today. That’s all I need to know.”
“Freckle, please!” Rust begged, “I need help. Please don’t send me away.”
“Cyclone does not rush to the assistance of other tribes. Now, be gone! If I ever see you trespassing here again, you will be executed.”
Knowing that there was nothing else he could do, Rust turned and left, ears drooped and tail dragging on the ground. Blaze moved further back into his bush to keep from being seen. Rust wasn’t paying the least bit of attention, though, and walked right past him. What had he been doing? Rust obviously wanted help from Cyclone, but why? Only one reason seemed possible in Blaze’s mind, but it was the one he didn’t want to believe.
Rust’s allegiances had been turned.
Blaze was too stunned to move for over a minute. Then, remembering where he was, he poked his head out of the bush to make sure nobody was around, then quickly took off in the direction he had come. He briefly worried that he would become lost in the unfamiliar territory, but soon found that he could follow Rust’s scent. It took the most direct way out. It was obvious that this was not Rust’s first time here. Within minutes, Blaze was back in Icefire territory. He stopped to catch his breath just as he crossed the border.
“Hello there.” Someone said behind him.
Startled, Blaze spun around to find a thin, gray saloli standing there. He was obviously even older than Faith, and had a malicious grin on his face.
“Who are you?” Blaze demanded.
“That is not important,” the old saloli answered, “Not yet. I am here to give you a warning.”
“Why should I listen to you?” Blaze asked, realizing that he sounded just like Freckle.
“In all actuality, you shouldn’t.” the gray saloli replied, “but I believe in giving my enemies a fair chance when I fight them.”
Blaze’s eyes widened as he realized just what this saloli was insinuating, “You’re from Darkcover!”
“Not originally, but yes, I am now in Darkcover.”
“If you think I’m going to let you leave without a fight, you’ve got another thing coming!” Blaze declared, putting himself into a fighting stance. The saloli simply smiled.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He said. Before Blaze could ask why, an electric tingle ran across his body, making his fur stand up. Startled, he let his defense drop. “That’s better,” the old saloli continued, “Now, are you going to listen to me or not?”
“Say what you want, then leave,” Blaze ordered, more than a little intimidated now.
“Very well. There is a storm coming. Icefire needs to prepare.”
“We already are.”
“Not nearly enough. This war will have more at stake than who rules a meager forest. Far more.”
“What do you mean? How much more?”
“More than you could ever imagine. That’s all I will say. Now, as you requested, I will leave.” With that, the old saloli turned and began to shamble off in the direction of Darkcover’s territory. Before he had gone far, though, he turned back to look at Blaze.
“There’s something different about you.” he said.
“What?” Blaze asked, taken off guard.
“From the other saloli. You’re different than they are.”
“I’m just an ordinary saloli!” Blaze shot back.
“No, no you’re not. There’s something special about you. Something I’ve never felt before. How about an offer, then? I will allow you to join Darkcover. There are plenty of places a saloli with your. . . aura could be useful in.”
“Never!” Blaze yelled, insulted that this saloli even think he would betray his tribe.
“Think about it. If you ever want to speak with me again, I will find you.” The old saloli looked thoughtful for a second, then asked, “By the way? Would you happen to know anything about a sword?”
This question shocked Blaze even more than the last statement. What did this saloli know about the sword?
“You know something, apparently,” the saloli said in response to Blaze’s reaction, “Information like that would definitely get you a position of power in Darkcover.”
“Get out!” Blaze shouted, rage bubbling up inside of him. The old saloli turned to leave once more, but this time it was Blaze who stopped him, “Wait!”
“Yes?” the old saloli asked.
“The next time you see Razor, tell him that if I ever see him again, I’ll kill him.”
The saloli chuckled. “You can tell him that yourself. You will be seeing him again very soon.” Having said that, the old saloli ran for the Darkcover border.
Chapter Eighteen
“Describe him to me one more time,” Faith requested.
“He was thin, very thin,” Blaze obliged, “light gray, and extremely old.”
Faith’s eyes clouded with worry. “Did you see his eyes?”
“What?” Blaze asked, confused.
“His eyes- were they pure white, with no pupils?”
“I- I don’t know. I didn’t look.”
“This could be very bad,” Faith muttered, “If Mordred has taken allegiance with Darkcover, things could get very dangerous. Very dangerous, indeed.”
“Who’s Mordred?” Blaze asked.
“Nobody you need to worry about,” Faith said quickly, “Not yet, at least. What worries me, though, is how he knows about the sword. You said that I’m the only one you’ve told about your dreams, correct?” Blaze nodded, “The only other saloli who knows anything about it
is Rust. If this saloli knew enough about it to ask, then there are two possibilities. The first is that this saloli has connections with Valde Abbas, or at least someone else who does.”
“And the other one?”
“That one I hope with all my might isn’t true. It’s that someone has betrayed us and is relaying information to Darkcover.”
“How likely is it that someone else is following Razor’s path?”
“Think, Blaze. There is only one other saloli who knows about the sword. There is only one saloli who could have betrayed us. Rust.”
Blaze stepped backwards, shocked that Faith was suspicious enough to even consider Rust’s involvement in this. Then again, was it all that unwarranted? Blaze remembered what he had seen not three hours ago.
“Faith?” he asked, wondering how to break the news to her, “Just. . . how loyal is Rust?”
“Blaze!” Faith scolded him, “I’m shocked! I would have thought that living in Icefire for so long would have taught you to have more faith in your chief.”
“But you just said. . .”
“I only mentioned that because it was the only other possibility. I do not believe that Rust would betray his tribe. Ever.”
Stung by her words, Blaze hung his head in shame, his tail drooping, “I- I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”
Faith sighed, “It’s all right, Blaze. I’m the one who brought it up. You’re only trying to help.”
“But if it isn’t Rust, then what are we going to do about that saloli?”
“You need to stay away from him,” Faith said immediately, “If he is who I think he might be, then the best thing for you to do is stay as far away from him as possible.”
“But if he’s a threat to Icefire, then. . .”
“Then I will deal with him myself,” Faith interrupted, an angry gleam in her eye.
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For the next few days, Blaze kept a close eye on Rust. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Faith about him, but he had decided that it would be foolish not to watch him. As far as he could tell, his chief never left his territory, but Blaze still didn’t let his guard down. In the meantime, Newthorn was getting ever closer to her due date, which was now only two weeks away, and it showed. Her belly had swollen to almost three times its normal size, so much so that it would drag on the ground if she didn’t stand as high as she could. One day she delightedly had Blaze place a paw on her side, just in time for him to feel it kick. He had never seen Newthorn so happy, and the same went for Smallthorn. Whenever he wasn’t on duty, the runt could always be found by his mate’s side, talking about their child, or simply staring lovingly into her eyes.
Even with everything that was happening, Blaze had not forgotten his promise to be Springthorn’s godfather. It worried him constantly. As little as Smallthorn admitted he knew about parenting, Blaze knew even less. Plus, with his supposed part in the upcoming war, would he be able to protect the child, much less raise him? More than any of that, though, Blaze worried about what doing so would mean. It would mean that both his best friend and his mate had died, or at least been rendered unable to function. He prayed to Valde Abbas that it would never happen.
As if those worries were not enough, Blaze also constantly had to pull his mind away from Sunbeam. She was always occupying his mind, distracting him from whatever it was he was doing. More than once, Blaze had been scolded by Gnaw for not paying attention. When he got a chance to watch the rest of the tribe, he discovered what was happening. It was mating season for the saloli. Within days, Newthorn’s pregnancy would no longer be the only one in the tribe. The males were constantly showing off for the females, attempting to win their favor. They play fought, groomed their fur, and performed kind deeds for the ones that caught their eye. This did not leave Blaze unaffected. Whenever he saw Sunbeam, his heart would beat harder, and his breathing would become heavy. It was all he could do not to run up to her and beg her to be his mate, but he resisted. He still could not bring himself to set her up for heartbreak, which would happen no matter the outcome of the war.
Something that Blaze had forgotten was Scratch. He realized that he had not even seen the young trainee for almost a week now. That was unacceptable. Blaze had promised to train him, but he had all but abandoned him. He swore he would seek out his trainee the following morning and make up for it.
Blaze awoke with the sunrise and quickly made his way to the trainee’s tree. Gnaw was standing beneath it, just about to wake them up.
“Ah, Blaze,” he said upon noticing him, “you’re up early today.”
“I’ve been neglecting my duties as a mentor,” Blaze answered, “I need to catch back up with Scratch.”
“Nobody blames you for taking a break after what happened that day.”
“It’s been just short of a week.”
Blaze wasn’t sure if Gnaw even heard what he had just said, because he was already filling his lungs to call up the tree.
“Wake up, trainees!” he bellowed, “Sun is up, morning’s here, time to get busy!”
As they were trained to do, every trainee leapt up and quickly scurried down the tree to stand in a line before Gnaw.
“Okay, trainees, go do your daily exercises!”
Blaze put a paw out to stop the head trainer.
“Could I just go ahead and take Scratch now?” he asked.
“Sure, go ahead. Scratch, forget the exercises, you’re going with Blaze.”
“Y-yes sir,” Scratch stammered, coming forward, out of the line. The way he looked at Blaze made him think his trainee feared him just as much as he had feared Scarlet.
“Come on, Scratch,” he said, “We’re going to the Acorn Place to train today.”
“Okay.” Now there was no doubt about it. Scratch was afraid of Blaze. But why?
Before turning around to begin the journey to Acorn Place, Blaze’s eye caught sight of another trainee standing in the line. He was fully grown, more than half a body-length longer than the others.
It was Thunder.
He glared at Blaze with an alarming amount of hatred radiating from his eyes. His horribly mangled face only made him look more malicious. Blaze felt guilt creep into his heart, knowing that it was his fault that he was here, looking like he did. He turned away as quickly as he could, not able to look into his eyes another moment, and led Scratch out of the camp.
The sun shown brightly through the leaves in the Acorn Place, lighting the area up so that it looked like a painting. Blaze led Scratch to the center of the ring of trees, and turned to face him.
“Okay, Scratch,” he said, “Fess up. What’s wrong?
“W-what do you mean?” Scratch stammered, the fear still showing in his eyes.
“You’re afraid of me, and I want to know why.”
“Afraid of you? I’m not afraid of you!” Scratch insisted.
“Don’t lie to me, Scratch. I can tell just by looking at you. I thought you trusted me.”
“I do trust you!”
“Then trust me when I say that you can tell me anything. I want to help you, but more than that, I don’t want you to be afraid of your own mentor.”
Scratch’s eyes dropped, unable to look his mentor in the eye. Tears began to well up in them.
“I- I was just afraid that you would be mad at me,” He confessed.
“Mad at you? For what?”
“For putting you in danger like that. If I hadn’t run off, those foxes would never have found me, and you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”
Blaze’s heart softened when he heard this, and his sympathy reached out to his trainee, “Scratch, do you really believe that it was your fault?” Scratch nodded. “It wasn’t, not at all. In fact, you actually helped the tribe by finding them so early. If they had been left alone, they would have attacked the camp.”
“But you almost died!”
“I told you, Scratch, living in a tribe presents certain risks. You are expected to give your life for your friends and
family if the situation demands it. But like I also said, there is nothing more fulfilling in life than protecting the ones you love. It gives you a sense of meaning that fills up from your tail to your nose, and that makes it all worth it.”