“We need to find you a place to sleep,” Faith answered, “The day is almost done, and you must be tired. Come with me.”
Blaze followed Faith through the camp, to a single tree. Faith placed her front claws in the wood of the trunk and hoisted herself up. Seemingly by magic, she stayed attached to the tree! She looked back at Blaze. “Come on, then,” she said.
“Um. . .” Blaze began.
“Oh, I forgot. Just sink your claws into the tree bark and you’ll be fine.”
That might be a problem. Blaze had never told anyone this, but he was terrified of heights. He could stand them if there was a nice sturdy wall between him and the drop, but out here in the open? No way.
“Don’t worry,” Faith said, obviously sensing his fear, “Remember, saloli are made for climbing.”
“Okay.” Blaze said, finally. He did as Faith had instructed and put his paws on the tree bark. When he extended his claws, he found that they were sharp enough to cut through the bark with little effort. Hoisting himself up, Blaze put his back paws on the tree as well. Either his weight was so little, or his strength so great, or both, that he didn’t even feel gravity’s pull on him! Blaze put his front paws forward again, and followed with his back paws. After another couple of practice steps, he began going faster. He found that, somehow, he could go faster vertical than he could on the ground! He was soon beside Faith.
“Very good! You’re a quick learner!” the old saloli congratulated him.
“Um, thanks,” Blaze hoped that Faith would take that as a sign of humility, but what he was really feeling was a mixture of excitement and confusion. Excitement because he had just realized that he was higher up than he’d ever been before, in proportion to his size, and that he wasn’t the least bit afraid, and he was confused because of that. Blaze felt a strange adrenaline rush at being up this high up, and he wasn’t entirely sure he didn’t like it. “How much higher?” he asked, hoping that Faith would say “much higher.”
“Just to the lowest branch,” she said instead, “Since you’re new at sleeping in trees, we don’t want you falling off in your sleep and killing yourself, do we?”
“That might be bad.” Blaze agreed.
They came to the lowest branch of the tree.
“The best place to sleep is in the place where the branch meets the trunk,” said Faith, “It gives you something to lean against.”
“Thanks,” said Blaze, “By the way, what are the different ranks in you tribe?” The question had been nagging him since he heard that Rust was chief, and Faith was a prophet.
“There are four. Trainee, Common, Prophet, and Chief.”
“How do you move up?”
“By doing things that Rust believes are noteworthy. Like winning a battle, or catching intruders.”
“Like they thought I was? What do you usually do with intruders?”
Faith looked away, uncomfortably. “We kill them,” she said.
Blaze looked at her for a minute. “Then you’re saying that Rust could have just as easily decided to kill me as accept me?” he asked.
“That’s what we needed it to look like for everyone else,” Faith explained, “That’s why they were all so shocked when he announced it. But really, we had it all planned out. I would bring you in, and he would accept you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get some sleep myself. Your branch-mates will join you shortly.”
“Branch-mates?” Blaze asked, but the prophet had already gone. Oh well, he thought, I guess I’ll find out later.
Blaze crawled over to the crook where the branch connected, and curled up. He found that it, indeed, was comfortable. He was just about to drift off to sleep when he heard a scratching noise on the side of the tree. He opened his eyes and looked down. At least ten other saloli were climbing up the tree, making straight for the branch he was on. When the first one reached the top, stopped and glared at Blaze.
“What do you think you’re doing there?” he demanded. He was at least a head longer than Blaze, and no doubt stronger and better trained.
“Trying to sleep,” Blaze answered.
“Well you’re in my spot. Move it, outsider!”
“I don’t know where you were half an hour ago, but I’m not an outsider anymore. I’m in Icefire. And besides, I was here first.”
“Yeah?” the other saloli challenged, “Well, I was in Icefire first! That places me higher than any outsider, and as your superior, I’m telling you to get out of my spot!”
“Wow. Ego check, anyone?”
“Do you want me to knock you out of the tree? If I do, you’ll be sleeping on the ground!”
Deciding it wasn’t worth fighting, and probably losing over, Blaze got up and walked a ways down the branch until he was nowhere near the bully saloli. The rest of the saloli began lying down in a row down the branch. By the time they were all down, the line still didn’t stretch out all the way to Blaze. He was just fine with that. Curling up again, though not as comfortably as before, Blaze tried again to go to sleep. Half an hour later, he was still trying. The problem was that the summer heat only lasted during the day. At night it became a bit chilly, and Blaze had nothing to cover up with. He glanced back at the other saloli. They must be keeping each other warm with their body heat, he thought. Just as he was convinced that he would have to freeze through the night, a single saloli stood up and made his way over to Blaze, carefully stepping over its branchmates. Even from a distance, Blaze could see that the young saloli was unusually small for its age.
“Are you awake?” It whispered when it finally reached Blaze.
“Yeah. What do you want?”
“I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for the way Thunder treated you. He does have a bit of an ego problem.”
“What’s your name?” Blaze asked.
“Jasper. Nothing cool like Blaze.” the young saloli answered.
“Why were you named Jasper?” asked Blaze.
“It means ‘precious stone.’” Jasper answered, “Kind of embarrassing, huh?”
“Yeah, a little.” Blaze answered, smiling.
“But I know how you feel now, being left out from the others.” Jasper went on. “I’m smaller than most saloli, so they tend to do the same to me. I think they just forgot me because they found someone they’d rather tease. You.”
“Oh.” Said Blaze, “Sorry.”
“Don’t be! It’s nice to be treated like a regular saloli for once. But tell me, what’s it like being an outsider?”
“Uh. . .” Blaze said, mind racing to come up with a believable response.
“Oh, if you’d rather not tell me that’s fine!” Jasper said, misinterpreting Blaze’s hesitance. Blaze decided it was best that way. “Well, we’d better get to sleep, or we’ll be tired during training tomorrow. You’re taking training, right?” Jasper said.
“Um, I’m not sure. Nobody told me.”
“You probably are. All tribe younglings do. Gnaw is the head trainer, and trust me: you don’t want to make him angry.”
“Gnaw?” Blaze asked, trying not to snort from laughter.
“He’s in charge of us, and he can be really strict. Just do what he tells you, though, and you’ll be fine. Now come on, let’s get to sleep,” Jasper began to lie down next to Blaze.
“Um, don’t you want to go back over there with your friends?”
Jasper made a short, scornful laugh. “They’re not my friends! Not the way they treat me! You’re the first friend I’ve ever had.” And with that, Jasper fell asleep.
Not bad for a first day. Blaze thought, drifting into sleep as well. I’ve already made a friend.
Blaze slept peacefully for the rest of the night, comforted somewhat from what had happened to him by his new friend, Jasper, lying beside him. But at the crack of dawn, he met a very rude awakening.
“Come on, trainees, wake up! Got a big day ahead of us! Come on, wake up, wake up!” All the saloli on Blaze’s branch sprung up at once and raced down the side of the tre
e to stand in a single line, side by side. All except Blaze. He heard Gnaw well enough, but was too drowsy, having just woken up, to think of what to do. For a minute, he forgot where he was, and thought that it was his mom yelling at him for sleeping in late on a school day. Then he remembered it was summer vacation. Then he remembered everything else. Blaze peered over the edge of the branch to see what was going on. He saw a battle scarred saloli looking back up at him from the ground.
“What are you still doing up there, trainee? Get down here!” he yelled. Blaze could see why they called him Gnaw, his teeth were almost half a size bigger than a normal saloli’s. But what would have made another saloli look ridiculous just served to make Gnaw look even more fearsome. They looked like fangs protruding from his mouth. Blaze hurried to the tree trunk and scurried down it. Not knowing which side of the line to go to, he chose the left side. Apparently this was the wrong choice, because Gnaw glared at him more fiercely than ever.
“Um, did I do something wrong?” Blaze asked nervously. He definitely didn’t want to get on this formidable saloli’s bad side— that is, if he hadn’t already. His branch-mates all snickered, except for Jasper.
“What’s your name, trainee?” he asked.
“Blaze, sir.”
“Well Blaze, since you’re new here, I’ll let this slide. But tomorrow you’d better get it right, and every day after that, too! Now listen, when I tell you to wake up, what do you do?”
“Wake up?” Blaze guessed.
“Good! So the new guy does have a brain! Now, what do you do when I tell you to come down?”
“Come down.” Blaze answered, irritation beginning to override his fear.
“Correct. Then what do you do?”
“Line up.”
“And where do you line up?” Gnaw challenged.
“Um, I don’t know.”
“And why don’t you know?”
“Because you didn’t tell me?”
“Exactly. Then why did you try and line up on your own?”
“I thought you wanted me to."
“Well, you were wrong there, weren’t you? The first lesson any trainee around here learns is to never, ever, do anything without me telling him how to do it first, no matter what. What if you were trying to fight a saloli from another tribe? Would you do that if I hadn’t taught you how to fight first?”
“No sir,” said Blaze.
“How can I trust you about that when you don’t even wait for me to tell you how to line up?”
“I didn’t know you wanted me to wait.”
“Well, now you do. Don’t let me catch you doing things without the proper training again.”
“Yes sir,” Blaze agreed.
“Good. Now everyone, break up into your groups and do your daily exercises. When you’re done, meet back here. Blaze, you go with Thunder’s group.”
Great, thought Blaze, Of course I’m stuck in the same group as the saloli who hates me.
He didn’t argue, though, and followed Thunder across the clearing. When they arrived at their destination, Thunder turned to Blaze and said, “Okay, outsider, let’s see you do your exercises.”
“I don’t know them,” said Blaze.
“Well, I guess you’re in trouble then, huh?” Thunder said, grinning spitefully.
“Um. . .” Said Blaze. It did look like he was in trouble here. “Hey, Gnaw?”
“What is it now, Blaze?” Gnaw asked, making his way over.
“I was just wondering if you were going to show me what the daily exercises were,” said Blaze.
“Very good! You’re learning,” said Gnaw, “Now, do as I do.”
Gnaw began a complex series of stretches and movements. He began by putting his back left paw to his cheek, then the right one. He spun his tail in slow circles. He got on his back and touched his back paws to his nose. Blaze tried to mimic him, but many of them were beyond him.
“Don’t worry,” Gnaw encouraged, “You’ll get them eventually. All right, trainees, line up! Blaze, this time you stand next to Jasper. Do you know who he is?”
“Yes sir,” said Blaze, happy that he finally got to be near somebody he liked. Jasper was third from the end on the right side. Blaze went and stood on his right.
“How’d your exercises go?” Jasper asked.
“All right, once I asked Gnaw for help,” Blaze replied.
“That was good thinking. I don’t think Thunder was expecting you to be that smart.”
“Quiet!” Gnaw ordered, “Now, everyone find their mentors and get busy!”
“Mentors?” Blaze asked as everyone began to go in separate directions.
“Our teachers.” Jasper answered. “Gnaw might be the main trainer, but he still splits us up with different saloli around the camp to train us.”
“Who’s your mentor?” inquired Blaze.
“A saloli named Seedpicker. He’s one of the chief food gatherers, but he’s also a very skilled fighter!” said Jasper.
“Is he a good mentor?”
“Yes, but he does get a bit disappointed with me sometimes because. . . because of my size.”
“That’s not fair!” Blaze said loudly.
“Nothing’s fair in the forest,” Jasper said, “I would have thought that you’d know that, being an outsider and all.” Blaze didn’t say anything. He still didn’t know how to respond when the others referred to him as an outsider.
“Blaze,” someone said behind the young saloli’s back. He spun around. It was Faith.
“Hi, Faith,” he said.
“And how’s your first day of training going?” she asked.
“Good, I guess. But I’m not really sure what to do now. He wants everyone to join their mentors, but I don’t have one.”
“Actually, that’s why I’m here.” Faith said, “So I can find you one.”
“Oh. Have you yet?”
“No, I need to speak with Gnaw about it first.”
With that, Faith walked over to Gnaw, who was with his own trainee, and began speaking to him. A few minutes later, Gnaw nodded, and Faith turned around and headed back to Blaze. “Gnaw has decided that you should train with a saloli named Slicer. You’re very lucky. He’s the same saloli who trained Rust.”
“Where is he?” Blaze asked.
“Come with me, I’ll take you to him,” Faith answered. Turning around she began walking in the opposite direction. As they walked, Faith continued talking, “You should be honored. Slicer is the most skilled fighter in Icefire. No one has ever beaten him in battle before, not even Rust.”
“Is he strict?” Blaze asked, remembering Jasper’s description of Seedpicker.
“Oh yes, he is very strict, but he is also fair. He will push you to your very limits, but he will also give you the praise you deserve for your efforts.”
“Oh, well that doesn’t sound too bad.”
Faith chuckled, “That’s because you haven’t met him yet.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Blaze asked.
“You’ll see.” Faith stopped beneath a single tree. Blaze stopped with her, and waited. And waited. Ten minutes later, they were still standing beneath the tree, and nothing had happened. Blaze had learned by now that patience was essential to being with Faith, but he was still getting restless. Finally he asked, “So, where’s Slicer?”
“He’ll be here when he thinks the time is right,” Faith answered”
Great, thought Blaze, I’m being trained by the saloli who can’t even keep a schedule.
No sooner had that thought crossed his mind then Blaze was suddenly bowled over from behind! He hit the ground hard, with a heavy weight on his back. He felt sharp claws digging into his sides, though not hard enough to draw blood. Using his new instincts, Blaze rolled over, trapping his attacker beneath him, but the assailant just used his back paws to launch Blaze off of him. On the ground once again, Blaze scrambled to his paws and turned to face his attacker. He saw an old saloli, light gray, even more battle scarred than
Gnaw, with unusually long front claws. Blaze decided he didn’t want to get scratched by those. Before he could observe any more though, the old saloli leapt at him again. Blaze’s saloli instincts took over again, and he leapt up to meet him. They collided in midair, but somehow Blaze managed to land on top of his opponent. He was just about to reach down and sink his teeth into the old saloli’s neck when he suddenly found himself flying through the air and landing, once again, on his back. It was over. Blaze could only watch as the old saloli slowly made his way over, to strike the finishing blow. He came closer and closer. When he was within striking distance, though, he stopped.
Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm Page 3
