Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm (14 page)

“
During this battle, Sol was mortally injured. With his last breath, he begged the Dragon for a way to save his allies, so that they could one day be avenged. The wicked lizard obliged, and transformed itself into a great tree. It was like a pipe, with its top end opened up. They called it the Dragon Tree. The Black Legion retreated into it, going down inside of it, deep within the earth, straight into the Dragon’s own heart, where they still wait, to this day.”

“
Wow.” Blaze said, awestruck by the tale. “So they’re still in there? Will they ever get out?”

“
Yes,” Sunbeam confirmed, “One day, they will escape. They say that only Sol’s heir would be able to release them from their prison.”

“
But where is the Dragon Tree?”

“
Nobody knows. The stories tell that only a creature with a truly wicked heart would be able to find the tree, and he would be the one to lead the heir to it.”

Before Blaze could respond, he heard Rust calling to his tribe, “Icefire!” he shouted, “Jasper has returned from his first patrol, and Seedpicker and I have judged him worthy of promotion!” Icefire cheered. “Now it is time for the other trainee, Blaze, to take his patrol! Blaze, please come forward!”

Getting up, Blaze hurried over to the Speaking Stone. “Good luck!” Sunbeam called after him.

As Blaze reached the Speaking Stone, he found Slicer there waiting for him. “You can take that off, now, Blaze” his mentor said, motioning at the leaf. “The bleeding has probably stopped.”

“
Blaze,” Rust said from on top of the Speaking Stone, “are you ready to take your first patrol?”

“
I am,” Blaze answered without hesitation.

“
Then here is what you must do: go straight out into the forest until you find the edge of our territory. Then you turn left, and follow the border until you come back to the place where you started. Do not cross the border. Do you understand?”

“
Yes, sir,” Blaze confirmed.

“
Then go. Slicer and I will be watching you, so don’t worry if something goes wrong. We’ll be right there.”

Blaze set out in the direction Rust had specified. Knowing that his chief and Slicer would be following him, Blaze raised his nose and sniffed the air, hoping to catch their scent. Nothing.

They must be masking their scent.
Blaze thought.

Continuing on, it was about a half hour before the trainee found the end of Icefire’s territory. It was like a wall of scent. Many, many saloli had obviously been here, marking the territory. Some of it had the familiar Icefire scent, but he also scented something else with it. It was obviously a saloli scent, but it definitely wasn’t Icefire.

It’s from one of the other tribes.
Blaze realized.
But which one?
He had never been told which tribes were in which parts of the forest, so he had no idea which one the scent wall was blocking. He decided it wasn’t important.

Doing as Rust had said, Blaze turned left at the scent-wall and began walking again. After five minutes had passed, Blaze sniffed as the wall made a sharp left turn. Taking in the scent, Blaze noticed a new saloli scent. No, two of them. One of them was so small that it may as well have not been there. Sniffing around, Blaze found that it came from the place exactly where the scent-wall turned, but then was replaced by another scent almost immediately. It took Blaze a second to figure out why, but he soon realized that that small corner was the only place Icefire’s territory would touch the south tribe’s territory, so it would only have a small spot where the scent would be detectable from where he was. This also helped Blaze find the directions again. The scent wall he had just reached the end of had been the west tribe’s territory, and the scent-wall he was about to follow bordered east tribe’s. Continuing on his patrol, Blaze followed the east tribe’s border for almost twenty five minutes before the scent-wall curved to the left again. This time, though, the only saloli-scent Blaze could detect was Icefire’s. This confused Blaze for a second, before he remembered that there were only four tribes, so there wouldn’t be one behind Icefire’s territory. He continued to follow it. Just up ahead, the trees suddenly ended, and a hard black surface covered the ground. It was a road. For a moment, Blaze stood rooted to the ground in fear, watching a minivan the size of an elephant go roaring past him. He remembered all the saloli he had ever seen lying dead in the road when he was a human, killed by these shining, noisy monsters. Summoning up his courage, Blaze slowly looked left, then right. Nothing. He put his front paw onto it, and then sprinted across it, as fast as he possibly could. Reaching the other side, Blaze didn’t stop until he was safe behind the trees.

Locating the scent-wall again, Blaze continued to follow it. On a whim, he sniffed the air again. This time, he thought he might have caught a whiff of Slicer, but it was gone before he could be sure. Pursuing the scent-wall, Blaze soon found himself in another clearing, before another road. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found the scent-wall turn left just before going onto it. He was about to keep going when he happened to look across the street. He gasped! Across the street, practically right in front of him, Blaze saw his old house. No, not his house, Jeremy Lander’s house. It was exactly the same as when he had left it. It still had the same boring gray paint that it had always had. The grass obviously hadn’t been cut, but that had been his job, after all.

Of course it’s the same
, Blaze thought, you haven’t even been gone a month.
What did you expect mom to do, move?

Even as he watched, Blaze saw the front door open, and his mother came outside. No, not his mother, Jeremy’s mother. The thought made tears well up in his eyes. How would she react if she new she was mother to a saloli? It was obvious that he wasn’t only thinking about her, she was thinking about him. As he watched her, Jeremy’s mother sniffed, and burst into tears. With his keen saloli ears, even from across the street, he could hear her saying his name over and over again, followed by other words he couldn’t understand.

Suddenly, she buried her face in her palms, and began sobbing. Blaze couldn’t stand to see her like this. He prepared to dash across the street, saloli or not, and leap into her arms to comfort her. But as he put his first paw into the street, someone said, “Stop.” Spinning around, Blaze found himself face to face with Slicer. “What do you think you’re doing?” his mentor asked, “Rust specifically told you not to cross the tribe’s border.”

“
But, that woman, she. . .” Blaze stuttered, unsure of how to explain what he was about to do to his trainer.

“
What about her?” Slicer asked, contempt dripping from his voice, “She’s a human. She would kill you if you got too close to her.”

“
No she wouldn’t!” Blaze protested.

“
Why would you want to go over there in the first place?” Slicer demanded.

“
Because, I, uh,” the trainee stammered, still not finding any of the right words. “That house, it- it was…”

As he listened to his trainee tumble over his words, Slicer’s eyes suddenly softened. “I think I understand,” he said, turning to look at the house, and the woman who stood outside it. “This explains a lot. Why you couldn’t climb, couldn’t tell predators apart from other creatures, couldn’t do anything a regular saloli could.”

“
What does?” Blaze asked, confused. Had Slicer realized what had happened between him and Faith? How would he react?

“
It’s terrible, isn’t it?” Slicer continued, as if he hadn’t heard him, “Humans keeping saloli as pets.”

Instantly Blaze realized that this could be the perfect alibi! But he should still play along a little, not let his guard down. “It’s not so bad,” He said, “They give us a good home, most of the time.”

“
Saloli weren’t meant to be kept inside human walls,” Slicer insisted, “They were made to run free and climb.”

“
But life is much easier in there,” Blaze argued, “They give us our food, and we don’t ever have to fight predators.”

“
What’s the point of living like that?” Slicer asked, disgust showing in his eyes, “If you have someone do everything for you, why should you even be alive?”

“
I…” Blaze started, but was cut off again by his trainer.

“
Why did you leave if life there was so good, anyway?”

“
Because it didn’t feel right,” Blaze answered, “Like you said, we were meant to run free and climb, not stay cooped up in a house all the time. But that woman there, she did keep me alive for most of my life, didn’t she? I mean, I must owe her something for that.”

“
You owe her nothing,” Slicer said, casting another glance at his mother, “Any sensible saloli would rather die than live indoors all their life.”

Blaze felt his fur bristle, “Are you saying I’m stupid?” he demanded.

“
No,” Slicer assured him, “You were raised in there your whole life. You wouldn’t know any different. But now that you do, can’t you say that this a hundred times better?”

“
Yeah,” Blaze said, his fur lying flat again, “It gives me a sense of meaning.”

The old saloli gave him a suspicious look, “Then why were you so willing to go back a moment ago?”

It’s because, well…”

“
Is it family?” Slicer asked.

“
Yes,” said Blaze, because, after all, it did have something to do with family.

“
How many of them are still in there?” Slicer inquired.

“
Just my mother,” Blaze answered truthfully.

Slicer took a step forward and placed a paw on Blaze’s shoulder. “I understand, Blaze. It’s okay. Family is important. I know how hard it must have been to leave without her.”

“
How would you know anything?” Blaze asked, scornfully.

“
I’ll tell you someday, but not today,” Slicer answered gently, ignoring his trainee’s disrespectful attitude. “Just know that you made the right choice when you left. A saloli can go mad living inside those walls all his life.”

Blaze said nothing. What could he say to this? He turned to watch as his mother dried her eyes at last and went back inside.

“
You had better finish your patrol,” Slicer advised him, “I’ll explain things to Rust and ask him not to penalize you for this, but I don’t know if he’ll agree.”

“
Okay,” Blaze agreed.

Slicer turned and leapt at the nearest tree, climbing it and vanishing among the leaves. Blaze turned and, finding the scent-wall again, continued on his course. After ten minutes, he came to the turn and followed it. Now all he had to do was get back to where he had started, and he would be done. He scurried across one more road with no trouble. It took another ten minutes, but Blaze finally found himself at his point of origin, and turned left one more time, back towards the camp. He arrived back at Icefire camp to find Slicer and Rust already there waiting for him. The minute he walked in, Rust leapt onto the Speaking Stone and, facing Icefire, shouted, “Icefire! Blaze has returned from his patrol!” Icefire cheered, “His trainer, Slicer, and I have evaluated him, and we have decided. . .”

He stopped, savoring the suspense. Was Rust going to pass him? Did he think his incident at his old home was worth failing him for? Why didn’t he just say it already?

“
We have decided,” Rust said again, “that he is worthy of promotion. Blaze, welcome to Icefire!”

Icefire erupted into cheers again, louder than ever. Blaze looked down in embarrassment. What seemed like the whole tribe gathered around him, congratulating him. At the front of the group were Jasper, Chestnut, and Sunbeam.

“
You did it!” Jasper called, “We’re both tribe-members now!”

“
Congratulations!” Sunbeam and Chestnut said together.

Blaze beamed under all the praise. For the first time in his life, just as he had told Slicer, it felt as if his life really might mean something.