Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm (29 page)

“
This could be very bad,” Faith muttered, “If Mordred has taken allegiance with Darkcover, things could get very dangerous. Very dangerous, indeed.”

“
Who’s Mordred?” Blaze asked.

“
Nobody you need to worry about,” Faith said quickly, “Not yet, at least. What worries me, though, is how he knows about the sword. You said that I’m the only one you’ve told about your dreams, correct?” Blaze nodded, “The only other saloli who knows anything about it is Rust. If this saloli knew enough about it to ask, then there are two possibilities. The first is that this saloli has connections with Valde Abbas, or at least someone else who does.”

“
And the other one?”

“
That one I hope with all my might isn’t true. It’s that someone has betrayed us and is relaying information to Darkcover.”

“
How likely is it that someone else is following Razor’s path?”

“
Think, Blaze. There is only one other saloli who knows about the sword. There is only one saloli who could have betrayed us. Rust.”

Blaze stepped backwards, shocked that Faith was suspicious enough to even consider Rust’s involvement in this. Then again, was it all that unwarranted? Blaze remembered what he had seen not three hours ago.

“
Faith?” he asked, wondering how to break the news to her, “Just. . . how loyal is Rust?”

“
Blaze!” Faith scolded him, “I’m shocked! I would have thought that living in Icefire for so long would have taught you to have more faith in your chief.”

“
But you just said. . .”

“
I only mentioned that because it was the only other possibility. I do
not
believe that Rust would betray his tribe.
Ever.
”

Stung by her words, Blaze hung his head in shame, his tail drooping, “I- I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.”

Faith sighed, “It’s all right, Blaze. I’m the one who brought it up. You’re only trying to help.”

“
But if it isn’t Rust, then what are we going to do about that saloli?”

“
You need to stay away from him,” Faith said immediately, “If he is who I think he might be, then the best thing for you to do is stay as far away from him as possible.”

“
But if he’s a threat to Icefire, then. . .”

“
Then I will deal with him myself,” Faith interrupted, an angry gleam in her eye.

<><><><><>

For the next few days, Blaze kept a close eye on Rust. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Faith about him, but he had decided that it would be foolish not to watch him. As far as he could tell, his chief never left his territory, but Blaze still didn’t let his guard down. In the meantime, Newthorn was getting ever closer to her due date, which was now only two weeks away, and it showed. Her belly had swollen to almost three times its normal size, so much so that it would drag on the ground if she didn’t stand as high as she could. One day she delightedly had Blaze place a paw on her side, just in time for him to feel it kick. He had never seen Newthorn so happy, and the same went for Smallthorn. Whenever he wasn’t on duty, the runt could always be found by his mate’s side, talking about their child, or simply staring lovingly into her eyes.

Even with everything that was happening, Blaze had not forgotten his promise to be Springthorn’s godfather. It worried him constantly. As little as Smallthorn admitted he knew about parenting, Blaze knew even less. Plus, with his supposed part in the upcoming war, would he be able to protect the child, much less raise him? More than any of that, though, Blaze worried about what doing so would mean. It would mean that both his best friend and his mate had died, or at least been rendered unable to function. He prayed to Valde Abbas that it would never happen.

As if those worries were not enough, Blaze also constantly had to pull his mind away from Sunbeam. She was always occupying his mind, distracting him from whatever it was he was doing. More than once, Blaze had been scolded by Gnaw for not paying attention. When he got a chance to watch the rest of the tribe, he discovered what was happening. It was mating season for the saloli. Within days, Newthorn’s pregnancy would no longer be the only one in the tribe. The males were constantly showing off for the females, attempting to win their favor. They play fought, groomed their fur, and performed kind deeds for the ones that caught their eye. This did not leave Blaze unaffected. Whenever he saw Sunbeam, his heart would beat harder, and his breathing would become heavy. It was all he could do not to run up to her and beg her to be his mate, but he resisted. He still could not bring himself to set her up for heartbreak, which would happen no matter the outcome of the war.

Something that Blaze
had
forgotten was Scratch. He realized that he had not even seen the young trainee for almost a week now. That was unacceptable. Blaze had promised to train him, but he had all but abandoned him. He swore he would seek out his trainee the following morning and make up for it.

Blaze awoke with the sunrise and quickly made his way to the trainee’s tree. Gnaw was standing beneath it, just about to wake them up.

“
Ah, Blaze,” he said upon noticing him, “you’re up early today.”

“
I’ve been neglecting my duties as a mentor,” Blaze answered, “I need to catch back up with Scratch.”

“
Nobody blames you for taking a break after what happened that day.”

“
It’s been just short of a week.”

Blaze wasn’t sure if Gnaw even heard what he had just said, because he was already filling his lungs to call up the tree.

“
Wake up, trainees!” he bellowed, “Sun is up, morning’s here, time to get busy!”

As they were trained to do, every trainee leapt up and quickly scurried down the tree to stand in a line before Gnaw.

“
Okay, trainees, go do your daily exercises!”

Blaze put a paw out to stop the head trainer.

“
Could I just go ahead and take Scratch now?” he asked.

“
Sure, go ahead. Scratch, forget the exercises, you’re going with Blaze.”

“
Y-yes sir,” Scratch stammered, coming forward, out of the line. The way he looked at Blaze made him think his trainee feared him just as much as he had feared Scarlet.

“
Come on, Scratch,” he said, “We’re going to the Acorn Place to train today.”

“
Okay.” Now there was no doubt about it. Scratch was afraid of Blaze. But why?

Before turning around to begin the journey to Acorn Place, Blaze’s eye caught sight of another trainee standing in the line. He was fully grown, more than half a body-length longer than the others.

It was Thunder.

He glared at Blaze with an alarming amount of hatred radiating from his eyes. His horribly mangled face only made him look more malicious. Blaze felt guilt creep into his heart, knowing that it was his fault that he was here, looking like he did. He turned away as quickly as he could, not able to look into his eyes another moment, and led Scratch out of the camp.

The sun shown brightly through the leaves in the Acorn Place, lighting the area up so that it looked like a painting. Blaze led Scratch to the center of the ring of trees, and turned to face him.

“
Okay, Scratch,” he said, “Fess up. What’s wrong?

“
W-what do you mean?” Scratch stammered, the fear still showing in his eyes.

“
You’re afraid of me, and I want to know why.”

“
Afraid of you? I’m not afraid of you!” Scratch insisted.

“
Don’t lie to me, Scratch. I can tell just by looking at you. I thought you trusted me.”

“
I do trust you!”

“
Then trust me when I say that you can tell me anything. I want to help you, but more than that, I don’t want you to be afraid of your own mentor.”

Scratch’s eyes dropped, unable to look his mentor in the eye. Tears began to well up in them.

“
I- I was just afraid that you would be mad at me,” He confessed.

“
Mad at you? For what?”

“
For putting you in danger like that. If I hadn’t run off, those foxes would never have found me, and you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

Blaze’s heart softened when he heard this, and his sympathy reached out to his trainee, “Scratch, do you really believe that it was your fault?” Scratch nodded. “It wasn’t, not at all. In fact, you actually helped the tribe by finding them so early. If they had been left alone, they would have attacked the camp.”

“
But you almost died!”

“
I told you, Scratch, living in a tribe presents certain risks. You are expected to give your life for your friends and family if the situation demands it. But like I also said, there is nothing more fulfilling in life than protecting the ones you love. It gives you a sense of meaning that fills up from your tail to your nose, and that makes it all worth it.”

“
Then you’re not mad?

“
Not at all. On the contrary, I couldn’t be more proud of you! When Scarlet attacked me, I would have died if you hadn’t intervened. You showed more bravery in that moment then I had ever seen in you before. Any Icefire saloli would have looked up to you then.”

Scratch’s eyes lit up at the praise, “Really?” he asked.

“
Really,” Blaze answered, “Now, tell me something else. Why did you do that? Why did you rescue me?”

“
Because you’ve tried to help me so much.” Scratch replied, his eyes shining with admiration, “ You care about me. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you.”

Blaze smiled at his trainee, “Well, you’ve convinced me,” he said.

“
Of what?” Scratch asked, confused.

“
That you’re a true Icefire saloli.”

<><><><><>

After a full day of training, Blaze finally led his trainee back into Icefire’s camp. He was impressed, Scratch had worked harder today than he ever had before, and had made serious progress. The young saloli had even managed to give Blaze a good scratch on the face when they were sparring.

“
How did training go today?” Smallthorn asked, coming up beside him.

“
Excellent!” Blaze answered, “I’ve never seen Scratch so full of spirit. He’s definitely getting better.”

“
Good for him! Ink’s skill is growing too. Today, while I was taking her around the borders, she scented a Groundsky patrol coming even before I did.”

“
I think we’re doing pretty well for our first time.” Blaze chuckled.

“
You know what?” Smallthorn asked, “I think we should bring the two of them together sometime. Give them someone new to spar against.”

“
That sounds like a good idea.” Blaze agreed, “How about tomorrow? We can take them both to the Acorn Place to fight.”

“
Sounds good to me, let’s plan on it. I’ve got to go now, Newthorn is waiting for me,” Smallthorn turned to walk away, but looked back at his friend, a wicked smile on his face, “By the way, my trainee’s going to rip your trainee’s tail off!”

Blaze laughed, “We’ll see about that!”

As his friend hurried off to join his mate, Blaze headed for the food pile. He hadn’t eaten since that morning, and he was hungry. He stopped, though, as he passed a small bush near the edge of camp. Sniffing the air, he could smell a familiar scent, one that he hadn’t smelled for almost five weeks. It was mostly the scent of Darkcover now, but the faint smell of Icefire still lingered.