What a coward, Blaze thought, I bet if we could take him out, the others would probably retreat!
As he watched, another saloli apparently had the same idea, rushing up to the fox, leaping to make contact with his face. Flame lashed out with his claws, knocking the saloli out of the air. The saloli flew into a nearby tree with a thud, but jumped immediately back up and sprinted at the fox once again. This time Flame put his front paw on top of the saloli, pressing him into the ground. Blaze squinted his eyes to try and recognize the poor saloli. No, it couldn’t be! It was Rust! And he was about to die! Without thinking, Blaze immediately leapt down from the branch and raced towards his leader.
“Blaze, no!” he heard Jasper call after him, followed by another crunch, signaling that the small saloli was coming after him. Flame was lowering his jaws to Rust’s neck, spurring Blaze to run faster. When he was only a foot away, Blaze made a flying leap at Flame, and swiped his claws across the fox’s nose. The carnivore leapt back with a yelp, blood seeping from the scratch. He glared at Blaze.
“You!” he growled. Flame put himself into a pouncing position, ready to end Blaze’s life. Before he could pounce, though, a small brown blur dashed forward and sunk its teeth into Flame’s shin. The fox took an involuntary step backwards, before flicking his front leg, sending Jasper flying. But the step back had taken Flame closer to the ditch. This gave Blaze an idea. He charged once more at Flame, leaping into the air at the last second, as if he were going for Flame’s nose again. The fox, thinking he was smart, took another step back to dodge it. Doing this, however, put his left rear leg directly on the slope. Thrown off balance, Flame scrambled to right himself again. Blaze took this opportunity to give Flame another wicked scratch in his right front paw.
That was all it took. When Flame flinched, bringing his paw off the ground, he lost his balance and was sent rolling head over paws down the ditch, to the rocky bottom twenty feet below. As the fox came to a stop, Blaze could see that his neck had been twisted at a gruesome angle. A single fox came barreling past Blaze, knocking him aside, to gaze at Flame’s broken form.
“Flame!” she shouted, despairingly. This got the other foxes’ attention. They all dropped what they were doing to crowd around the ditch and see their dead leader.
“Father!” one shouted, obviously one of his pups. For a minute, they all just stood there, not knowing what to do. Then the first fox turned to where Rust was standing, every bit as shocked as the foxes were.
“Who did this?” she demanded. As she had called Flame by his name, Blaze guessed that she was his mate. Rust was actually lost for words and just stood there, mouth hanging open. “I said who did this?” the fox demanded again.
Blaze mustered up his courage, and called out, “I did!”
Icefire gasped at his boldness. The vixen narrowed her eyes and slowly made her way over to Blaze, “How dare you?” She hissed when she was face to face with Blaze, “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Uh . . .” Blaze stuttered, very much intimidated by the vixen.
“I’ll kill you!” she shouted, and opened her jaws to deliver a fatal bite. Before she could, though, Rust darted in front of Blaze and swiped his claws across the she-fox’s nose. She jerked her head back.
“You will not touch him!” Rust shouted.
A maniacal rage came into the vixen’s eyes. “You haven’t heard the last of me!” she shouted, outraged, “I will have revenge!” With that, she raised her head to look at the other foxes and shouted, “Come! We’re leaving!” Without another word, the pack of foxes quickly left the camp. The vixen gave Blaze one last venomous glare before following them. Once she was out of sight, Rust turned to look at Blaze.
“You. . .” he said slowly, eyes wide with disbelief. “You saved me.”
“Um, yeah, I guess.” Blaze said warily.
Rust quickly gathered his wits, putting a more professional face on, “And you disobeyed a direct order to do it.”
Blaze could see where this was going now, “I’m sorry.” he said, “I couldn’t stop myself.”
Rust just stood there, studying Blaze for another few seconds, then asked, “And where’s the other one, the one who helped you?”
“Jasper? He’s uh. . .”
“I’m right here.” Jasper said, coming forward to stand beside Blaze.
For a moment, Rust studied Jasper, too. Then he said, “Here in Icefire, we value bravery and loyalty. Any saloli who has enough of both to disobey a direct order to save their chief is a saloli who is welcome here.”
Blaze couldn’t believe this! Had he head him correctly? He had been sure that he was going to be chewed out, at the very least, but he was being congratulated for what he had done, alongside his best friend.
“In tribal life,” Rust continued, “there is only one thing a saloli places before obeying his chief, and that’s doing what he thinks is right. You two obviously have that capability. I think you are going to be valuable additions to Icefire. If you weren’t so young, I’d make you full members of the tribe right now.”
Jasper beamed. Blaze swelled with pride. Rust turned to look directly at Blaze, “I want you to know what you have done for us.” he said, “You have rid us of a very dangerous enemy. Icefire will never forget this. Thank you.”
Turning back to Icefire now, Rust shouted, “All right, we have wounded to take care of, and I want to know how many we have dead. Let’s go!”
For a few minutes, Blaze and Jasper just stood there, not sure what to do, while the other saloli hurried back and forth to fulfill Rust’s orders.
“You two can go back to your branch, now.” Someone said. They turned around to see that it was Faith. “You’ve had a big night.”
“Thank you.” Jasper said, sounding relieved. He immediately turned to head back to the trainee’s tree. Blaze, however, stayed behind.
“Could I talk to you, Faith?” he asked. The old saloli nodded sadly.
“Yes, I think I know what this is about. Come with me.”
Together, the two saloli left the camp, unnoticed, and went inside a small shrub where they could be alone. Blaze got straight to the point, “You said that when I’d helped your tribe you would change me back.”
“Yes.” said Faith, “That I did.”
“Well, I kept my end of the bargain. I helped Icefire. Now it’s your turn.”
Faith sighed heavily, “I’m sorry, Blaze. This isn’t what you want to hear, but no.”
Blaze couldn’t believe his ears! This saloli had given her word as an Icefire prophet to do this, and now she was refusing?
“Why not?” Blaze demanded.
“I’m sorry.” Faith apologized again, “I know this must be hard for you, but Icefire still needs you. When I asked you for help, this wasn’t what I meant. I didn’t even know this was going to happen.”
“I just want to go home!” he insisted, tears welling up in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.” Faith said for the third time, “But like Rust said, I have to do what I think is right.”
“How can separating me from my family, my own species, against my will be the right thing to do?” Blaze demanded.
“I know you feel out of place here, and I understand that. All that I ask is that you stay a while longer.”
“I just want to go home!” Blaze said, “To my mother!”
Now tears were coming out of Faith’s eyes, too.
“Why don’t you go back to your branch and get some sleep? You’ll feel better in the morning.”
Not being able to think of anything better to do, Blaze turned and left the shrub and headed back to camp. Making his way over to the trainee’s tree, he slowly climbed up to his branch and went to the place far enough out on the branch where he knew he and Jasper would be alone. Jasper soon joined him.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jasper asked, noticing the tears that came out of his friend’s eyes.
“Nothing.” Said Blaze. “I’m just homesick.”
“For when you were an outsider?” asked Jasper, confused.
“I still remember my mother. I miss her so much!” Blaze sobbed.
Jasper’s eyes softened. “I know how you feel. I don’t have a family either.”
Blaze looked up at his friend. “You don’t?”
“No, they died when I was just an infant.”
“How?”
Now Blaze could see his friend was about to start crying, too, “I- I’d rather not talk about it,” Jasper said, then changing the subject, asked, “Why don’t you just ask Rust if he’ll accept your mother into Icefire, too?”
“He couldn’t,” Blaze said simply.
“Why not?”
“He just couldn’t!” Blaze insisted, trying not to glare at his prying friend.
“Hey Blaze, Jasper!” Chestnut called, before Jasper could pursue the topic anymore.
“What?” Blaze called back, angrily.
“Come sleep over here with us!”
Chapter Six
That morning, Blaze woke up before everyone else. Not feeling like going back to sleep, he looked across Icefire’s camp. It was peaceful, everyone asleep except for the occasional patrol leaving or returning. Blaze looked at the sky. It was so beautiful this early in the morning, blue at the top, turning to dark red, turning to bright yellow. He realized as he looked that this was the same sky he used to look at when he was a human. That thought made him feel better. Faith might be able to take away his humanity, but she couldn’t take away this. Was his mother looking at the sky now? That, at least, they could still share. Looking back down, Blaze noticed something out of place. One saloli, not asleep, or part of a patrol, stood facing a bush, near the camp border, talking to something. A saloli that talked to bushes? Blaze was too curious to resist. Getting up, he stepped carefully over his sleeping branch-mates. Reaching the trunk, he swiftly scurried down it, and began to quietly make his way over to the strange saloli. He darted behind every rock or plant between them, to keep from being seen. When he was only three feet away, Blaze perked his ears up to listen.
“I know, I know,” the saloli said, “It’s not my fault! That blasted outsider and his runt friend interfered!”
What? Was the saloli talking about him? A quiet muttering came from the bush, indicating that someone was hiding inside it.
“Yes, sir,” the saloli said, “If the next plan doesn’t succeed, I know what to do.”
More muttering. The saloli was obviously full grown, larger than Blaze, and had pitch black fur. Even from here, Blaze could see that he had unusually long claws, even longer than Slicer’s. Though retracted, they still poked past the tips of his paws. Blaze guessed that this was another saloli not to get angry.
“Yes,” the saloli said into the bush, “Of course I will. You know where my loyalties lie.”
More muttering, then the black saloli turned and scampered away. There was a rustling inside the bush, then silence. Realizing that it might be suspicious if he was caught out here, Blaze made sure the black saloli was nowhere to be seen, and then raced back to the trainee’s tree.
<><><><><>
Goliath raced through the Icefire territory, determined to make it back to his own territory before anyone spotted him. The fox attack had failed, but there was still one more plot to attempt before he had to resort to desperate measures, and he was confident that this one would succeed.
Razor would make sure of that.
<><><><><>
Slicer had a new gleam in his eye when Blaze showed up for training later that morning. Blaze’s chest swelled with pride at the thought that he was probably the reason for that.
“Think you can find your way back to Acorn Place today?” Slicer asked.
“That depends, will there be any foxes to ask directions from?” Blaze asked back, jokingly.
“Hopefully not,” Slicer answered, laughing.
Spotting the black saloli on the other side of the camp, Blaze motioned at him with his tail, “Hey, Slicer, who’s that?”
Looking where Blaze had indicated, he answered, “That’s Razor. He’s one of the newest saloli to become a full tribe member. Why?”
Blaze decided he had better tell him, “Okay, this is going to sound weird, but earlier this morning, I saw him talking to someone inside a bush.”
“Razor was inside a bush?” Slicer asked, confused.
“No, he was standing beside it, but whoever he was talking to was inside it.”
“Really?” Slicer asked, obviously thinking this was a joke, “What did the bush say?”
“I don’t know, I couldn’t hear, but Razor told whoever was in there that something wasn’t his fault, that ‘the blasted outsider’ had gotten in the way and that ‘he knew what to do if the second plan failed.’”
“What are you saying, Blaze?” Slicer asked, growing serious.
“That’s not all. He also told whoever was in the bush that ‘they know where his loyalties lie.’”
Slicer was silent for a moment, before asking, “Are you suggesting that Razor had something to do with the attack last night?”
“I don’t know.” Blaze said, “I’m just telling you what I heard.”
Slicer gave his trainee a stern look, “This is a very serious accusation, you know that right?”
“I’m not accusing anyone. I’m only telling you what I saw.”
“Perhaps you should tell this to Rust,” Slicer decided, “Follow me.”
Blaze followed his mentor through the camp, to where Rust was standing, “Yes, Slicer?” The chief asked when they arrived.
“Blaze thinks he may know something about the attack last night that we don’t.” Slicer answered.
Rust immediately grew serious, “Tell me.” So Blaze recounted everything that he had seen between Razor and the thing in the bush. When he finished, Rust did not look happy, “Are you sure you saw all of this?” he asked.
“What, you think I imagined it?” Blaze protested.
“You could have been asleep the whole time. You may have dreamt it.”
“I did not dream it, I know what I saw.”
“Blaze, I assure you, Razor may be a bit rebellious, but he’s just as loyal to Icefire as you or me.”
“I know what I saw.” Blaze insisted.
“Blaze, don’t argue with your chief,” Slicer instructed.
Seething with frustration, Blaze kept his mouth shut.
“Thank you for listening, Rust,” Slicer said.
“Any time, Slicer, any time,” Rust answered, turning to speak with another saloli.
<><><><><>
“Okay, Blaze, today I’m going to teach you a very useful technique. It is something a mentor always teaches his trainee when he thinks he is ready,” Slicer said. He and Blaze were back at Acorn Place again. This time Blaze had managed to find the way here all by himself. Slicer had been right, once he had managed to find the first landmark, the rest just came back to him. “Today I’m going to teach you to see without using your eyes.”
“Whoa, seriously?” Blaze asked, already impressed.
“Oh yes, I’m very serious. First, I’ll give you a demonstration. I’ll close my eyes, and you go hide. I’ll give you thirty seconds.” He closed his eyes. Blaze scampered off, and made straight for the nearest tree. Digging his claws into the bark, he scurried all the way to the top and went out to the far edge of the topmost branch, where he could watch Slicer. After the allotted time ran out, Slicer slowly turned in a circle, stopping when he faced the direction Blaze had gone. He slowly came to the same tree Blaze was in. Then he began to climb all the way to the top. As he began to make his way across the branch where Blaze was standing, Blaze saw that he still had his eyes closed! He stopped right in front of the young saloli. “Hello, Blaze,” Slicer said, smiling. His eyes were still closed.
“How did you do that?” Blaze asked, unable to explain what he had just seen.
“With my nose. Come down out of the tree with me and I’l
l explain.” Once they were down on the ground again, Slicer turned to Blaze and said, “All right, close your eyes,” Blaze did, “Now inhale through your nose, deeply.” Blaze did, and almost gasped from surprise. Even with his eyes closed, he could tell exactly where Slicer was. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was his mentor he smelled, there were hundreds of saloli scents around here, but the scent just somehow said “Slicer” to him.
Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm Page 6
