Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm (16 page)

“
One more trip ought to do it,” Jasper said. Before they could leave, though, they heard a voice calling.

“
Jasper!” It was Gnaw, “We need you for a patrol!”

“
I was just going to make a last trip to Acorn Place!” Jasper called back.

“
Go ahead,” Blaze encouraged him, “I can get there myself.”

Watching his friend scamper off to join them, Blaze set off to make the last trip to Acorn Place alone. Leaving the camp for the eighth time, Blaze headed down the now familiar path. He didn’t get far, though, before he heard talking in the distance. Strange, there shouldn’t be anyone out here talking at this hour. He changed his direction to go towards the noise. The sounds got louder as he got closer, but he still couldn’t understand what was being said. Fear began to grip him, telling him that he should remain quiet, not be heard, so he stepped as softly as possible, trying not to make a sound. Peering through the branches of a bush, Blaze stifled a gasp. Razor stood on the other side of the bush, along with a gigantic dark gray saloli. The gray saloli was at least twice the size of Razor, even more to Blaze, and had a black patch of fur over his left eye.

“
Yes, Goliath,” Razor said, “The plan is almost ready to be put in motion.”

Goliath. Even the name sounded like bad news.

“
Good,” the giant approved, “Succeed and you will be honored beyond your wildest dreams.”

“
Thank you, sir.” Razor bowed his head respectfully.

“
Beware, though.” Goliath growled, “If you fail me, then you will be punished severely.”

“
Yes, sir.”

“
Then go and serve your chief well.”

With a final bob of his head, Razor turned and raced away from Goliath and into the undergrowth. Taking a last look around, Goliath turned and rushed out of Blaze’s sight as well.

Blaze whirled around and sprinted back in the direction of the camp. He had to tell Rust! Whatever Razor was planning to do next, it sounded as if it was nearly ready. He wasn’t even halfway there, though when Blaze skidded to a halt in front of a large, black roadblock. He had nearly run straight into Razor himself!

“
Where are you going in such a hurry?” the traitor asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

“
B-back to camp.” Blaze stuttered.

Razor, sensing Blaze’s fear, walked forward and sat on his back legs so that he towered over him, “And what would make a brave young saloli such as yourself run so fast? Not afraid of the dark, are you?”

“
No, I just- just wanted to talk to Rust about something.”

This was obviously the wrong thing to say. Razor narrowed his eyes at him. “Talk to him about what?”

Seemingly out of nowhere, Blaze felt a small spark of bravery light up inside him. Was he going to let this traitor scare him? No he wasn’t! “None of your business!” He spat.

Anger flared in Razor’s eyes. “You’d better tell me, or you’ll really get it!” he snarled, claws flexing out of his paws.

“
What I want to say to my chief is no one’s business but mine and his!”

Then Razor lost his temper. Lashing out with his paw, claws sheathed, he knocked Blaze to the ground. Placing that same paw on top of Blaze’s throat, he slowly extended his claws. “Now are you going to tell me?”

“
Hey! What’s going on here?” someone shouted. Blaze tried to turn his head to see, but stopped when Razor’s claws poked his neck.

“
This outsider picked a fight with me!” Razor lied, “He insulted me!”

“
I will not stand for fighting within my own tribe,” whoever it was said, “Let him up.” Razor reluctantly retracted his claws and raised his paw off of Blaze’s throat. Jumping up, Blaze saw that it was none other than Rust himself who had come to his rescue.

“
Now get back to camp.” The chief ordered Razor. Giving Blaze one last venomous glare, the black saloli grudgingly obliged.

Blaze hesitantly approached Rust, remembering how angry he had been the night before. What if he was still mad? Would he listen to what Blaze had to tell him? He had to! The fate of Icefire could very well depend on it!

“
What do you want, Blaze?” Rust asked in a tone that told Blaze that last night hadn’t been forgotten. Hopefully, though, he wouldn’t let that blind him from the danger that they were in.

“
I-I need to tell you something.” Blaze began, “It’s about Razor.”

“
Razor again? I told you, Blaze, Razor is a loyal Icefire saloli.”

“
But he’s not!” Blaze insisted, “I just saw him! He was talking to another saloli, a huge one!”

This seemed to get Rust’s attention, and he looked at Blaze with a new interest. “A giant saloli?” he asked, “What did he look like?”

“
Um, he was at least twice my size, dark gray, had a couple of black spots,”

“
Could have been any saloli.” Rust said, though he seemed a bit uneasy now.

“
He said he was the chief of another tribe.” Blaze continued.

“
Nonsense. No saloli goes onto another tribe’s territory, much less their chiefs. It just isn’t done.”

“
He told Razor to go serve his chief. He said his name once. It was, um, it was. . .”

Rust shook his head, as if trying to rid himself of unwelcome thoughts. “I don’t have time for this! Razor is not a traitor, and that is final! Do not bring this up again.” He was about to race off when he added, “And don’t let me hear you spreading rumors around Icefire.” With that, Rust turned and raced off into the darkening forest. What was Blaze going to do? Razor was a traitor, but nobody believed him! And now Rust refused to even listen to him anymore. What to do, what to do? The only thing he could do, he decided, was keep a close eye on Razor. A very close eye.

<><><><><>

Blaze did, indeed, keep an eye on Razor. The traitor did not do anything suspicious, so far as Blaze could tell. He simply went along with tribe life, acting as natural as a saloli could. It wasn’t until another week had passed that something happened. Blaze was walking down the path to Acorn Place with Jasper by his side. Honoring Rust’s request, Blaze still hadn’t told his friend about Razor. Jasper was bragging about a particularly long leap he had made between trees.

“
I just. . .” He wasn’t able to finish, because, at that moment, a large shadow blotted out the sun. Looking up, Blaze gasped. Swooping down on the two of them was the biggest bald eagle Blaze had ever seen!

“
Look out!” he warned his friend, before shoving him out of the way and ducking. Just in time, too, because the moment his stomach touched the ground Blaze felt the air above him lurch as the eagle swept over them, missing him by mere inches. It flapped until it was back in the air and turned around, preparing to make another go.

“
Jasper, move! Get under a tree!” Blaze ordered his friend. The runt obeyed, and was soon safe from the predator’s eyes. Blaze, however, was still out in the open. The eagle angled itself downwards again, aimed right at him. Seeing nowhere to run, Blaze had no choice but to stand and watch as the deadly bird raced through the air towards him. When it was only a foot away from him, Blaze leapt at it! The eagle squawked loudly when Blaze landed just above its beak. It was big enough for all of Blaze to fit on its face! It reacted quickly, pulling itself back into the air, flailing its head around, trying to throw the brave saloli off. Blaze managed to hang on, though, by digging his claws into the bird’s beak. Confused, it stopped for a moment, giving Blaze the chance he needed to act.

Letting go of the beak, the young saloli leapt up and dug his claws into the eagle’s eyes! He was only strong enough to pierce the eyelids, but it still caused the giant bird a massive amount of pain. No longer able to see, the eagle began flying in circles, trying to find a place to land. Blaze saw his chance, and leaned to the right, hoping the bird would follow him. It did, and, unable to see where it was going, flew straight into the trunk of the tree that Jasper was hiding under! Squawking loudly, it began to fall. Blaze leapt off of it and onto a nearby branch. The bird hit the ground, thirty feet below, with a loud crunch. Blaze scurried down the trunk.

“
Jasper!” he called, “Are you okay?”

“
I should be asking you that!” Jasper said, coming out from under the tree, “I saw the whole thing! That was amazing!”

Too winded to respond to Jasper’s praise, Blaze turned to look at the eagle. It twitched, showing that it was still alive. The young saloli inched closer to it, hoping it would be too injured to try and attack him again.

“
Rawrk!” the eagle said weakly, “Talons defeated! Talons killed! Killed by stupid treemouse!” Its left leg was twisted at a very unnatural angle.

“
I don’t think you’re going to die.” Blaze reassured it, “But your leg is broken. Stay here, I’ll go get help.”

“
Blaze, what are you doing?” Jasper demanded, eyes wide with shock.

“
I’m going to get Faith. She can heal him.”

“
Why? So he can try and eat us again? That bird is evil, Blaze! We should leave it there for the vultures to finish off.”

“
It’s not evil,” Blaze said, firmly, “It’s just the way it’s made.”

“
What’s that supposed to mean?” Jasper asked, but Blaze had already taken off in the direction of Icefire’s camp.

“
Talons not evil,” the bird squawked, “Treemouse just taste good.”

“
Shut up!” Jasper snapped at it before chasing after Blaze.

<><><><><>

“
Faith, Faith!” Blaze shouted as he came bursting into Icefire’s camp, desperately scanning the scene for the old prophet. He found her up in her tree.

“
Yes, Blaze?” she called down.

“
I need your help. A creature’s been injured.” He reported.

Faith came scurrying down her tree immediately. “Who?” she asked.

“
An eagle. It tried to attack us and its leg got broken.”

Faith’s eyes widened in confusion. “You want me to heal an eagle?”

“
Please, Faith! He’s hurt really badly.”

“
Is this a joke?” she asked, her eyes narrowing skeptically.

“
No,” Blaze promised, “I’m not joking.”

“
Why would you want me to heal an eagle?”

Blaze paused for a moment. Why did he want her to heal it? After all, it had just tried to eat him! “Because,” he said, finally, “it’s helpless the way it is now. It will die if you don’t help it. I don’t want that to happen.”

Faith’s eyes softened a bit. “You do know that it will probably eat us if I do, right?” She asked.

“
I don’t think he will. Please, Faith!”

Faith thought for a bit, then nodded, “All right, I’ll come. But no promises.”

Just then, Jasper came bounding into the camp. “Don’t listen to him, Faith! That bird just tried to eat us. It would have if Blaze hadn’t stopped it, but I think he must have hit his head doing it!”

“
It’s okay, Jasper,” Faith assured him, “I’m only going to look.”

Jasper looked as if he wanted to say something else, but backed down, albeit grudgingly. Blaze led the way, with Faith right behind him. In five minutes time they stood before the fallen eagle.

“
Red treemouse bring more treemouse?” the bird asked, obviously confused.

“
This is Faith,” Blaze informed him, “I think she can fix your leg.”