Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm (30 page)

Razor!

Before Blaze could react, the traitor leapt out of the bush, knocking him off his feet. Blaze rolled with the impact, and pushed Razor off of him. Scrambling back to his paws, Blaze lashed out with his claws, scratching the black saloli on the side of his face.

“
I didn’t think you’d be stupid enough to come back here!” Blaze spat at him.

“
If it means killing you, then I’ll do anything!” the traitor growled.

“
Not that I care why you came back, it just gives me the chance I need to finish you off.”

“
I’m not the one who’ll be dying tonight, outsider. You are!” with that, Razor struck out at his opponent, and would have taken his ear off if Blaze hadn’t ducked. It did give Blaze a view of Razor’s claws, though. They were covered in some sort of greenish-yellow goop. He didn’t have any idea what it was, but he decided it would probably be best not to be scratched by it. Blaze leapt forward, forcing Razor to take a step backwards, thereby lowering his guard, and swiped his claws across the front of his face. Razor hissed in anger, almost catlike, and then lashed out at his enemy again. Blaze avoided being injured this time by leaping to the right, away from Razor’s attack.

All of Icefire had gathered around by now, each wanting to help, but afraid that their interference would endanger Blaze. Razor lashed out at him, but Blaze jumped backwards, avoiding the blow, and then rushed forward and headbutted his opponent. Razor was knocked off of his paws, but rolled with the momentum, managed to jump back up immediately, and leapt forward, striking at Blaze once more. This time he was close enough to hit him, but only with his paw, throwing Blaze to the ground. Razor stood over him, triumphantly. He had won.

“
You have no idea how happy this makes me,” he growled, unsheathing his claws for the final blow. Blaze wanted to look away, but forced himself to glare defiantly at his opponent. Razor raised his claws to strike Blaze down. Suddenly, a brown blur slammed into Razor’s side, forcing him away from Blaze.

“
Newthorn, no!” Smallthorn shouted, horrified.

Sure enough, it was now Newthorn who fought Razor. She had leapt on top of him while he was on the ground, and was now attempting to slash his throat. She couldn’t, though, because every time she tried, the traitor would slap her paw away. He rolled to the side, throwing her off of him, and scrambled to his paws. Before Newthorn could react, Razor struck, cutting a gash through the fur and skin on her side. She cried out in pain. Before Razor could finish her off, another saloli tackled him. This time it was Rust who had come to the rescue.

“
Razor, I’m going to do to you what I should have done when you accused Blaze of being a murderer!” Rust growled.

Razor, knowing there was no way he could win, pulled a dirty move. Digging his claws into the ground, he threw a pawful of dirt into his former chief’s eyes. While Rust was distracted, the black saloli ran off. A saloli Blaze didn’t recognize began to go after him.

“
No, let him go,” Rust ordered, having gotten the dirt out of his eyes, “there’s no way we can catch him now.”

“
Newthorn!” Smallthorn wailed, rushing over to be beside his mate, “Are you okay?”

“
I think so,” Newthorn comforted him, “it’s not that bad.”

“
I’ll be the judge of that.” Faith said, pushing Smallthorn out of her way so she could inspect the wound. “You’re right, the cut isn’t serious. It should heal in a day or two. What worries me, though, is this substance that Razor left behind.”

Looking over Faith’s shoulder, Blaze saw that Razor had, indeed, left behind some of the slime on his claws when he injured Newthorn.

“
Is it poison?” Smallthorn asked.

“
It very well could be,” Faith confirmed, “but there’s no way to know for sure until it takes effect.” Seeing the look of horror on Smallthorn’s face, she added, “Don’t worry. If it
is
poison, I will be able to counteract it before it harms her. Just to be safe, though, I think it’s best if Newthorn stays with me tonight in my tree, so I can keep an eye on her. With her permission, of course.”

“
Yes,” Newthorn agreed immediately, “better safe than sorry.”

“
Good,” Faith said, “now come, let’s get you up there so I can treat your wound. It won’t matter if it was poison or not if that scratch gets infected.”

Newthorn stood up, wincing only slightly from the pain, and followed the prophet to her tree.

“
All right,” Rust shouted, “I want a patrol out to look for Razor, or any other Darkcover saloli, in five minutes! If you find anyone, try to subdue them and bring them in for questioning. If they will not comply, kill them. Go!”

Immediately, more than half of Icefire was gathering in the center of the camp for the patrol. Smallthorn and Sunbeam were already among them. Blaze hurried to join his friends.

“
Are you all right?” Sunbeam asked.

“
I’m fine,” he told her, his heart suddenly beating even harder then it had during the fight, “his claws didn’t even touch me.”

“
Okay, this group is too large for a single patrol!” Gnaw shouted, taking charge as usual, “Half of you go north, the rest of us will go south! Let’s go!”

Doing as he said, half of the group turned and went north, Sunbeam going with them. Blaze, Smallthorn, and Gnaw all went with the patrol going south. Gnaw immediately picked up Razor’s scent, and began following it. Blaze noticed that Smallthorn had a gleam in his eye that he had never seen before. It was a look of determination so hot that Blaze was amazed his fur wasn’t being singed by it. It was a bit scary. He decided not to say anything. It was obvious that Razor had made a beeline for the Darkcover border. However, when he was within ten feet of it, he had veered off course, going into Groundsky territory instead.

“
Well, that’s as far as we go,” Gnaw announced, “Leaf, Shard, you two stay with me. I’m going to wait for a Groundsky patrol so I can warn them. The rest of you head back to camp and report this to Rust.”

<><><><><>

“
What?” Goliath roared, making Razor cower in terror, “How could you fail
again
? That was the easiest mission I’ve ever sent you on!”

“
It’s not my fault, Goliath!” the traitor insisted, “I was just about to finish the outsider off, but another saloli interfered. I scratched her, but then Rust himself challenged me! There was no way I could win!”

“
All you had to do was scratch the outsider, how hard could that have possibly been?”

“
I’m sorry!”

Goliath rose up on his hind legs, unsheathing his claws, “I should kill you right now for this!” he growled.

“
Wait,” Mordred said, coming to stand beside them, “this may not be a total loss after all. Razor, you said you
did
scratch someone?”

“
Yeah, I don’t remember her name but I do know that she’s mated to the outsider’s best friend.”

“
This could still work out to our advantage,” Mordred mused, “if we can not kill the outsider, we will break his resolve by taking someone close to him. As a bonus, we will also break his best friend when he sees what the poison does to his mate.”

“
What was that stuff you put on Razor’s claws?” Goliath asked, genuinely curious.

“
Sap from the tree,” Mordred told him, “it will wreak unheard of damage on her body, and then. . .” He stopped and began to cackle, evilly.

“
What?” Goliath demanded, “What will it do?”

“
You will see in time, my chief. Just know that it will be worth being there to watch.”

<><><><><>

As the sun finally set on the long day, Blaze happily retired to the common’s tree and curled up into a ball to go to sleep. Smallthorn had elected to spend the night with his mate in Faith’s tree, so, instead of lying next to his best friend, he found his side pressed against Sunbeam’s.

“
You were very brave today.” she complimented him.

“
It wasn’t bravery.” he replied modestly, “I just did what I had to do. Didn’t have much of a choice, did I?”

“
It
was
bravery.” Sunbeam insisted, “I only saw two other saloli try to help you.”

“
Yes, they were brave. I only reacted to the situation.”

“
Well,” Sunbeam relented, “I still think you were brave.”

Blaze turned away from her so that she wouldn’t see him smiling at her praise. The two of them lay there for a few minutes, then, just as Blaze was about to drift off to sleep, Sunbeam spoke up again.

“
Blaze? Do you, um, like me?” she asked, suddenly nervous.

“
Of course!” Blaze answered, “You’re one of the best friends I’ve ever had.”

“
Not like that,” she corrected him, “I mean like. . . I don’t know. Do you think of me as anything more than a friend?”

Blaze’s eyes shot open, fully awake again. Why was she asking him this? He couldn’t answer her. He wasn’t ready! “I, uh, think that you’re one of the best friends any saloli could ever ask for,” Blaze said, lamely.

“
You mean you don’t think of me as anything more than a good friend?” Sunbeam asked, disappointment in her eyes.

“
What else do you want me to think of you as?” Blaze responded.

“
I don’t know,” she answered, curling up to go to sleep. Blaze did the same.

“
Although,” Sunbeam added, without looking at him, “if you were to ask me to be your mate, I wouldn’t say no.”

Feeling as low as dirt, Blaze finally drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Nineteen

The next day found Blaze and Gnaw together on a patrol around the borders. There had been no sign of Razor, or any other Darkcover saloli, since the day before, but Icefire did not let their guard down. Blaze was slightly confused, because Gnaw had invited him to join the patrol, but nobody else. His questions were put to rest, though, when Gnaw spoke.

“
Blaze, may I ask you something?”

“
Sure, go ahead.”

“
I was just wondering when you were going to ask Sunbeam to be your mate.”

Caught off guard, Blaze stopped dead in his tracks, “What makes you think I have feelings for her?” he demanded, immediately on the defensive.

“
I’ve been around a lot longer than you have,” Gnaw told him, “I can see things, even if you think you’re hiding them. It’s obvious that you have more than feelings for her. Blaze, you are downright in love with her!” Blaze was too stunned to respond. “It’s also obvious that she loves you back. You know that, as an Icefire saloli, you have the right to ask for her paw in marriage, don’t you? She’d be lucky to have a saloli like you as her mate, and, if you’ll permit me saying it, you’d be lucky to have her as well.”

Realizing that there was no avoiding this conversation, Blaze hung his head in shame, “You’re only half right, Gnaw,” he said, “I
would
be lucky to have her. Very lucky. But I can’t think of a worse fate for her.”

“
What do you mean?” Gnaw asked.

“
There are only two possible outcomes for me in this war, both of which would break her heart. The first is that I will be killed. How would she feel if I were to become her mate, and then die?”

“
Smallthorn and Newthorn,” Gnaw said.

“
What?”