Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm (15 page)

Chapter Eight

Blaze woke in the middle of the night. Judging by how tired he still was, Blaze guessed that it was somewhere close to midnight. He wondered what had awakened him. Raising his head, Blaze looked around the Icefire Camp, searching for anything out of the usual. At first everything seemed well, until Blaze spotted Rust quietly leaving the camp, followed at a distance by Faith.

Where could they be going?
Blaze wondered.

Almost without realizing it, Blaze rose to his paws and began making his way over to the trunk of the common’s tree, stepping carefully over Sunbeam, Jasper, and all the other commons sleeping on the first branch. Reaching the trunk, he quickly scurried down it and glanced around, making sure there was no saloli around to see him.

What do you think you’re doing?
Blaze asked himself
, What those two do at midnight is their own business.
But somehow, he couldn’t shake the feeling that they were doing something he should know about. Going completely against his better judgment, Blaze dashed across the camp to where Rust and Faith had slipped off. Catching their scent, he followed it through the night. Scurrying through the underbrush, Blaze tracked them across the forest for almost ten minutes. Then the scent got a lot stronger.

I must be gaining on them
, he thought, deciding to go slower now. He didn’t want to run right into them. The scent rose up the trunk of a large, white beech tree. It smelled of age, but when Blaze put his claws into it, he found it to still be incredibly strong. He slowly began to ascend towards the first branch, and then stopped. He heard voices coming from just above him, though from where he was he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He inched closer, hoping that his scent wouldn’t reach them. Somehow, he didn’t think it would be welcome news to these two if they found out they were being eavesdropped on.

“
Why have you brought me here, Rust?” Faith asked. They had obviously got there just before Blaze had.

“
I have a problem that needs to be addressed immediately, Faith. I found something out about Blaze today, something that you declined to tell me when you first brought him here.”

“
Oh?” Faith asked, obviously confused, “What is that?”

“
You failed to tell me that Blaze used to be a pet saloli!” Rust nearly shouted.

“
Rust, I…”

“
You know how I feel about humans!” Icefire’s chief went on, “And yet you bring a saloli who was raised by them into my camp! Why, Faith?”

“
Rust, I assure you, I had no idea about his past when I met him. I just assumed he was an outsider trespassing on Icefire territory.”

“
Well you were wrong, weren’t you? Tell me, Faith, what if his humans come looking for him? What if they find the camp? What will we do then?”

“
Think, Rust. If his humans knew where he was, they would have come by now.”

“
I have half a mind to banish him from Icefire for this!” Rust threatened.

“
For what reason?” Faith demanded, “You’ve been around him for almost a month now, and does he seem corrupt to you?”

“
I would rather banish a rational saloli than endanger the entire tribe with a corrupt one.”

“
He saved you from Flame!” Faith reminded him, “And you’re going to repay him by banishing him? And just after promoting him! How can you justify that? How do you think the tribe will feel?”

“
I would rather be unpopular in a living tribe than popular in a dead one.” Rust insisted.

“
You won’t have anything but a dead tribe if you banish him!” Faith admonished him, “Or do I have to remind you who told me to bring him here?”

“
How can you be sure that he’s here to do what you think he is?” Rust demanded, “How do you know he’s not here to destroy us?”

Faith sighed. ”Why are you so unwilling to trust Blaze just because of his heritage?” she asked.

“
I only have Icefire’s best interests at heart,” Rust said.

“
If that were true, we would be back at the camp preparing for war!” Faith accused him, “Not sitting here arguing about whether or not we should banish the tribe’s only hope!”

“
Again, how do you know he’s here to do what you think he is?” Rust demanded.

Faith seemed to calm down for a second. “I had another dream a couple of nights ago, Rust,” she said, “Valde Abbas can sense your mistrust, and he sent me this dream to reassure you, He says that you must wield the Sword of Icefire to win this war, or we will fall.”

“
What does that have to do with Blaze?” Rust asked, more confused now than angry.

“
I’m not sure, but during the entire dream, I could see only an image of Blaze. Perhaps he is the one who will find this sword, or maybe it means something else entirely. Only time will tell.”

“
Well,” Rust said, sniffing the air, “perhaps we should ask Blaze if he knows!”

Blaze nearly fell out of the tree. How did Rust know he was there? He just sat there for a moment, hoping that Rust might just be spouting stuff to spite Faith, but then Faith, too, sniffed the air.

“
Come on out, Blaze,” she said, gently “It’s okay.” Blaze slowly climbed up to the branch where the two other saloli sat, ashamed at having been caught. His ears and tail both drooped in embarrassment.

“
How much did you hear?” Rust asked calmly. This surprised Blaze, as he had expected his chief to completely explode with fury at him.

“
All of it,” he answered, “Why do you want to banish me? I’m completely loyal to Icefire!”

“
You were raised by humans!” Rust said, accusingly.

“
So? It’s not like I can help being born where I was!” Blaze retorted.

“
You were brought up by the most dangerous creatures on this planet!” Rust shouted.

“
But I made the choice to leave when I had it! And I saved your life. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

Rust obviously couldn’t think of anything to say this time. He just glared at Blaze for a moment, and then said, “All right. I’ll let you stay. For now. But it’s not because I trust you, it’s because I trust Faith.” He came up closer to the young saloli before whispering into his ear. “If Faith is right, then you hold more responsibility to this tribe than you could possibly imagine. Even more than me. If you let Icefire down, or if you betray them, I swear I will make you pay.”

Blaze gulped. Suddenly his task seemed much more daunting then before. He had hoped that he could, at least, have Rust’s support in this, but now it seemed that the Icefire chief was determined to be his enemy. Without another word, Rust turned and leapt off the branch, vanishing into the night.

“
Don’t worry, Blaze,” Faith consoled him, “Rust will see the light eventually.”

“
What does he have against humans?” Blaze asked her.

“
Humans are considered by many saloli to be vicious killers.” Faith explained, “They come into our home, bringing those metal sticks with them.”

“
Metal sticks?” Blaze asked, confused.

“
The ones that explode,” Faith continued, “They come here and kill us and carry us away. And not just saloli, they will kill all the creatures in the forest along with us.”

“
Hunters,” Blaze whispered to himself, then spoke louder to Faith. “Faith, I don’t expect you to understand this, but many humans don’t have the money to buy food for themselves.”

“
What is money?” Faith asked.

“
It’s something humans trade for things they want and need,” Blaze informed her, “And you have to do work to get it. Lots of people don’t have very good work, so they don’t make much money, so, to keep themselves and their families fed, they have to hunt. Just like the foxes that invaded our camp. They’re just doing it so that they can have food.”

“
But can they not live off of plants and seeds like we do?” Faith asked, “Why must they take the lives of others?”

“
Because humans aren’t made that way. They’re made so that they have to eat meat, along with vegetables. They need both, or else they won’t be healthy.” Faith paused, not able to think of a solution for that. “They’re not evil,” Blaze insisted, “It’s just the way they’re made.”

“
This knowledge conflicts with many things I have always thought to be true.” Faith admitted, “If what you say is true, it may have the ability to change many saloli’ opinions on humans.”

“
Then let’s tell them!” Blaze suggested.

“
We cannot,” Faith said regretfully, “If we did, they would wonder how we knew this, and we would have no choice but to reveal your true past to them, and we’re not ready to try that yet. It very well may turn the whole tribe against you. It would certainly turn Rust against you.”

“
I thought Rust was already against me,” Blaze grumbled.

“
No. Rust may not like you, but he will do everything in his power to aid you if he really believes that it will help Icefire. No matter how stubborn he is, he was telling the truth about only caring about Icefire’s well being.”

“
But how do I gain his trust?” Blaze asked.

“
By proving that you’re true to your word,” Faith informed him.

Looking in to the darkness into which his chief had vanished, Blaze couldn’t help but think that was a lost cause.

<><><><><>

Ratty awoke with a start, heart racing and fear pumping through his veins. He had to find Goliath! Scrambling to his feet, he scurried down his tree to seek out his leader. Luckily, he didn’t have to wake his irritable chief this time. Instead of sleeping, Goliath was on his branch, pacing back and forth.

“
Goliath!” Ratty squeaked.

Goliath whirled around, glaring at his tribe’s prophet. “What is it?” he demanded.

“
I- I just had another dream,” Ratty explained hastily, “From Valde Abbas! He says that you should beware the Sword of Icefire, for it has the power to stop you.”

Goliath stopped pacing for a second to think. Then he broke out into an evil grin, “Again you bring me good tidings, Ratty!” he laughed.

“
Sir?” Ratty asked, confused.

“
It means that no one can stop us! Think about it, Icefire has no sword! No saloli does! So how could the Sword of Icefire stop me?”

Ratty still had his doubts, but he kept quiet. It was best not to upset his chief when he was evidently in such a good mood.

Chapter Nine

“
Your first duty as a full tribe member will be to keep the food-pile stocked,” Slicer instructed Blaze and Jasper, “From now on, you’ll both be able to go back and forth from Acorn Place alone, though we strongly advise bringing a companion with you, in case something happens.”

“
Yes, sir,” the two friends said together.

Slicer chuckled. “And don’t treat me like I’m your superior anymore! Remember, we’re equals now.”

Grinning ear to ear, Blaze and Jasper turned and ran into the woods towards Acorn Place. “I can’t believe this!” Jasper said once they were a fair distance from the camp, “I’ve waited for this my whole life. I can’t believe it’s finally happening!”

Blaze knew what he meant. Ever since he had turned fifteen, the one thing he had wanted above anything else was to move out of his mother’s house and do something. Living as a child was fun, but it could not compare to the freedom of being an adult. He may not have been eighteen yet, but he was still being considered full grown by Icefire, and it gave Blaze a sense of meaning that nothing else had ever given him. The two friends remained quiet the rest of the way to Acorn Place, savoring the thought of their new positions. When they arrived, Blaze dashed off to climb up one tree, while Jasper headed towards another. Scaling the wooden behemoth, Blaze scurried out onto a branch and, leaning over the side, plucked an acorn from its stem with his teeth. Dropping it to the ground, he hurried to another acorn and did the same to it. Once he had done that five times, Blaze descended the tree once more, Jasper arriving at the same time he did. Picking up their acorns, the two friends began the trek back to Icefire’s camp, where they dropped their gatherings into the food pile. They did this seven more times throughout the whole day, making the food pile bigger every time they returned. The sun had just begun to set when they returned the seventh time.