He climbed down from his personal tree, and went across the camp to where Scratch was standing. The poor saloli hardly knew how to function under so much pressure. Every saloli in Icefire now depended on him to comfort their fears of the upcoming battle.
“How are you, Scratch?” he asked.
Scratch looked up at his chief, the anguish shining clearly in his eyes, “I can’t do this!” he replied, “I don’t know anything about being the tribe prophet. I don’t know what to tell Icefire when they ask for advice. What do I do?”
Rust sighed, “Believe it or not, Scratch, I know exactly how you feel. I was thrown into my position as chief without any warning or training. I was overwhelmed, and thought myself completely inadequate for the job. What I came to realize, though, is that Valde Abbas will always be watching out for you. He will never let you fail. After awhile, the feeling of inadequacy went away, and I came to accept my position and the power that came with it. These saloli look up to both of us, Scratch. We have to do our best to live up to their expectations.”
“Were you promoted to chief two days before the battle that could destroy us all?” Scratch asked.
“Well, no, but…”
Before Rust could go any further, a single saloli came running up to him.
“Rust! They’re coming! They haven’t waited. They’re coming now!”
“What are you talking about?” Rust demanded, “Who’s coming?”
“Darkcover! They’re advancing on Icefire’s territory right now, coming through the valley. They mean to destroy us this time!”
<><><><><>
Mask walked back into NoTribe’s camp, trying to look as natural as she could. Her heart beat hard, and her breathing was heavy with anticipation. It wasn’t that she had anything against Specter, she was actually quite fond of him. If she had been given a choice, she would have preferred to overthrow the albino without killing him. She would have liked to see him look at her with respect as she brought NoTribe to heights greater than he had ever dreamed of. Goliath had made it completely clear, though, that he must die. Oh well, progress required sacrifice, and this was most definitely progress. NoTribe would soon cease to be NoTribe, and join forces with Darkcover. Naturally, there would be some who opposed such an alliance, but they would be dealt with the same way as Specter. In the end, they were no better than Vengeance.
She spotted Specter in the distance, giving orders to a group of three outsiders. She began to mull over her options. Should she lure him out of the camp and dispose of him as she had done with Vengeance? No, it would take NoTribe too long to accept that their leader was dead if they didn’t see him die. It would be much better to challenge him in front of the entire tribe, so they could see how superior she was to him. Then they would have no choice but to immediately accept her as their new chief.
“Specter!” she called out to him.
<><><><><>
Vengeance could only bide his time and listen to the Darkcover saloli talk to each other as they held him captive. It would be too dangerous to attack them right now. He would have to wait until the opportune moment arrived, and then he would make his escape.
“I can’t believe he’s making us wait here.” One said, “I want to be at the fight!”
“It’s an honor to keep this scum away from King Goliath’s plans.” Another admonished him, “This saloli has caused more than his fair share of trouble for us, and now Goliath is depending on us to make sure he doesn’t do it again.”
“Still,” the first said, “I want to be out on the battlefield, killing those worthless Icefire saloli.”
A third saloli spoke up now, “It’s too late anyway. They started marching on Icefire the moment we left. They’ll most likely already be there. The battle would be over by the time you arrived.”
Vengeance gasped! So, Goliath had lied to them. He had no intention of waiting two days for his battle, he was going to ambush Icefire before they were ready! Did they know? If someone spotted Darkcover approaching before they got too close, Rust could at least prepare the tribe a little. Even if he did, though, Icefire wouldn’t hold up long against the entire army of Darkcover. And now Goliath was planning to use the full might of NoTribe against Icefire as well. Vengeance couldn’t let that happen. He had to stop Mask!
The Darkcover saloli were distracted talking to each other. Before they could realize what he was thinking, Vengeance sank his teeth into the paw of the saloli pinning his chest to the ground. The saloli leapt away from him with a painful yelp, and Vengeance bared his back claws and kicked upwards, scratching both the other saloli on their faces. Vengeance leapt to his paws, ducked underneath an attack from the first saloli, and lashed out, his claws cutting deep into the side of the saloli’s face. The second saloli jumped onto Vengeance’s back and dug his claws into his sides, but Vengeance threw himself onto his back, knocking his opponent unconscious. The first saloli came at him again, and Vengeance silenced him with a powerful head-butt. The third Darkcover saloli stared at Vengeance in horror before turning tail and running away.
Vengeance wasted no time, immediately running back in the direction that he had followed Mask. In less than five minutes, he saw the NoTribe camp before him, and there seemed to be a great commotion. Dodging and weaving between outsiders, he soon came to the center of the camp, where Specter and Mask were fighting. The two of them were like rabid animals, scratching and biting each other anywhere an opening presented itself. Bloodstains matted both of their furs, but it was obvious that Mask had the advantage here. No doubt she attacked Specter without any warning.
With a final, savage sweep of her claws, Mask knocked Specter to the ground. “This is for the good of the whole tribe, Specter!” she assured him, though the look in her eyes was one of greed, not compassion.
“I can’t believe you’ve betrayed me for those arrogant tribe saloli!” Specter spat at her.
Without another word, Mask raised her claws for the final strike. Vengeance leapt at her then, tackling her and knocking her to the ground. If she was surprised, she didn’t show it, and dug her claws into his sides. Vengeance beat his forehead against her, forcing her to let go, and raked his claws across her face before backing away from her retaliation. Mask got to her feet, glaring at Vengeance with a look of utter hatred and disgust.
“I won’t let you give control of NoTribe to Goliath!” Vengeance shouted.
“I don’t care what you want, you myth worshipping moron!” Mask shot back, “You’re nothing! You think you can stop this? You’re a fool! Your god isn’t going to do anything to help you because he doesn’t exist! I’m going to rule NoTribe, and Goliath is going to erase your stupid religion from the face of the earth! There’s nothing you can do!”
“I’m done trying to convince you, Mask. If you’re so determined to keep your eyes closed, then that’s your choice, but I’m not going to let you destroy this forest.”
“I’m blind? You’re delusional!” Mask shouted, quickly losing herself to her own anger, “You believe in something you can’t see, hear, feel, or taste! It doesn’t exist! It’s a figment of your childish imagination!”
Instead of growing angry at Mask’s insults, Vengeance felt himself become calm. This poor creature was so lost in her own anger that she didn’t even know that she was lost. She wasn’t someone to be hated, she should be pitied! The fact remained, though, that she was a threat to Icefire, and had to be dealt with as such.
“If you think your god is so powerful, then have him stop me!” Mask challenged him.
“Very well, then.” Vengeance agreed, though he had no idea what he was going to do to oblige her demand.
Suddenly, he felt power surging through his body. A bright light erupted from his fur, and Vengeance felt a strange pulsing in his forehead, where his Sword mark was. Then a beam of light shot out his of forehead, striking Mask right between the eyes. She promptly fell down, and Vengeance’s light immediately faded. A shocked silence had fallen over the camp. Eve
n Specter was in awe of what he had just witnessed.
“W-what was that?” he asked, his voice no more than a whisper.
“We don’t have time.” Vengeance said, “Do you believe me now that Darkcover is a threat to NoTribe?”
Specter shook his head to clear it and looked at his former second in command. He nodded, “Yes, this war has become our problem after all.” He looked Vengeance in the eye, “I don’t know what it is I just saw, but NoTribe will fight beside Icefire.”
“Good, we need to go now. One of Mask’s allies from Darkcover said that they planned to attack Icefire tonight. They’re on their way there now. If we’re lucky, we can still get there in time.”
With a groan, Mask raised her head. The outsiders who were close enough to see her gasped in horror. The black fur around her eyes, for which she had been named, was all burned away, leaving nothing but raw flesh. She looked around at her former tribe in fear, knowing that she had lost. Without a word, she got to her paws and ran through the crowd, away from the forest, never to be seen by NoTribe again.
Chapter Thirty
Rust stood at the front of his tribe, looking across the valley, into the trees where he knew the army of Darkcover was waiting. Lightning flashed in the sky, and thunder rumbled. Freezing rain pelted Icefire from above, soaking their fur and chilling their skin. The tension hanging in the air was thick enough to cut with sharp claws. Everyone knew that this was what they had all been waiting for. This was where it ended.
Rust saw a saloli climb a tree and perch on the highest branch, almost five hundred feet away from him. Was it… yes, he could recognize his coloring. It was Goliath, hiding on top of a tree like a coward while ordering his tribe to do the fighting for him. A surge of confidence ran through Rust as he realized that, despite his tribe’s stronger numbers, Goliath was still a coward. The confidence was short lived, however, as Goliath thrust both front paws into the air, and a deafening war cry sounded out, nearly shaking the very foundations of the forest itself. Then they showed themselves, walking slowly out of the trees on the other side of the valley. Rust immediately gave up trying to count them. They were like a flood, a solid mass of fur and claws, with only Icefire’s destruction in mind.
A single saloli disconnected itself from the horde and made its way across the valley, towards Icefire. When he stopped fifty feet away from the opposing army, Rust realized what was going on. Goliath had sent him to discuss conditions of surrender. Having no other choice, Rust walked out to meet him.
The ambassador wasted no time with greetings, “King Goliath demands that you bequeath all power over the tribe of Icefire to him, and leave this forest immediately. If you do not agree to these terms, you and every saloli in Icefire will be killed.”
“You tell Goliath that if he wants to barter our lives, he will come down here himself and we’ll do it with our claws!”
Without another word, Rust turned and ran back to stand before his tribe, as did the Darkcover ambassador. A few minutes passed in silence. Rust knew what Goliath was doing now, too. He was letting the tension build, hoping that Icefire would snap from fear. Rust was confident, though, that his tribe would never back down in the face of adversity. Then he saw Goliath motion with his front paws, and another roar of bloodlust rose from the Darkcover army, and they surged forward.
It had begun.
“Charge!” Rust yelled, and led the way, racing across the open field towards his enemies. He could hear his tribe following closely behind him. “Stay together!” he ordered, shouting at the top of his lungs over the thunder and driving rain. If the tribe were to be separated in such a large army, they would be picked off one by one. If they stayed together, though, a single mass of fighting claws and teeth, they would last longer. How long? He didn’t know.
And then the two armies collided. Rust leapt forward, sinking his claws into the shoulder blades of the nearest Darkcover saloli. A cruel move, to be sure, but now was not the time to be worrying about the pain of his enemies. As his first opponent fell, Rust whipped his claws around, raking them across the face of another saloli. He felt someone’s claws cut him on his back leg, and kicked out, catching the attacker in the throat and knocking him to the ground.
Mercy was directly to his right, not exactly living up to her new name. Less than three minutes into the battle, and already four Darkcover saloli had fallen to her claws. Smallthorn was a ways off to Rust’s left, riding on the back of an enemy, his claws buried deep inside his skin. Rust ran forward, slashed the cheek of another enemy, and then darted in to bite the vein in his neck.
“We’re doing it!” he called out, “Keep it up!”
A brutish saloli then slammed into his side, knocking him to the ground. Rust rolled with the force of the attack, leapt back to his paws, and lashed out, cutting the big saloli’s eyelid and then rammed into him, pushing the brute off his feet. He cast his gaze upwards, and saw that Goliath was still hiding in his tree. An idea began to form in his mind, even as he dodged and scratched with all his might. If he could get to the top of the tree, he could fight Goliath directly. If their leader was defeated, the army may very well give up. An army can not function without someone to give the orders. Rust began to fight his way across the valley, towards Goliath’s tree.
A screech rent the air above them, excruciatingly painful to the saloli’s sensitive ears. Rust looked up, just in time to see a bat the size of an eagle dive down and scoop up two saloli in its talons. It carried them up above the treetops, and then dropped them. It could only be Phantom.
“Talons!” someone yelled, summoning the eagle. Good idea, let the giant bird fight the giant bat. Talons dove at Phantom, and sank his talons into the bats leathery wings. Phantom opened his mouth once again and screamed, aiming the sound directly at the eagle’s head. Talons had no choice but to let go and retreat before circling around for another go.
Rust brought his attention back down to earth just as another Darkcover saloli moved to attack him. Dodging out of the saloli’s reach, he skirted around him and leapt for the tree in which Goliath was perched. Sinking his claws into the bark, he quickly scurried up, towards his only brother and greatest enemy.
BOOM!
Rust felt a painful jolt go through his body, and he fell back to the ground. Picking himself back up, he found himself a little stiff, but otherwise unharmed. So, Mordred was hiding somewhere as well, using his sorcery to protect Goliath’s tree. There was no way he could climb up to where Goliath waited with Faith’s brother sending lightning at anyone who attempted the climb, so he bared his claws and rejoined the fight.
<><><><><>
Vengeance sat in a tree, overlooking the battle going on in the valley below. It was not looking good. Icefire was fighting valiantly, but Darkcover’s numbers were simply too many. At this rate, Icefire would take out a good portion of Darkcover’s forces, but they would eventually fall.
Luckily, he had brought enough saloli with him to even the odds.
“What’s your plan?” Specter asked.
“Goliath is hiding from the battle in that tree over there,” Vengeance explained. “If someone can get to him, we can take him out.”
“How are we going to get up there with that maniac hurling lightning at everyone who tries?”
“I’m still working on that part.”
“Well, if you can get to Goliath, NoTribe can hold off his army.”
“Thanks. Good luck.”
With that, Specter leapt from the tree, and uttered a war cry, which all of NoTribe took up as well as they followed him. Soon, Vengeance was alone. He racked his brains, trying to think of a plan. He had to get to Goliath, but how?
In the distance, he saw Talons dive down and attack Phantom once more.
<><><><><>
Goliath sat, watching the battle from his vantage point. He had been forced to fight his own warrior instincts in order to stay up here, but he’d finally convinced himself that someone had to remain out of harm’s way
to give the orders. Naturally, that would be him. Was he being cowardly? No, he was behaving as a king and warlord should. And the battle was going wonderfully! Yes, those pathetic Icefire saloli were putting up a good fight, but it was obvious that the odds were stacked against them. There was no way they could win this battle.
He heard the battle cry ring out from the other side of the valley, and watched as an army of saloli even bigger than his own poured out of the trees, straight towards the battle. He smiled. NoTribe had arrived. Mask’s mission must have been successful. The overconfident outsider had been foolish enough to trust him when he offered her a position of power if she could bring NoTribe under his control. He had no such intentions, of course. Only he would hold power in his new empire. Mask would be disposed of immediately after the battle.
Legends of the Saloli: Vengeance and Mercy Page 15
