Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm (40 page)

“
Now it seems he is working for Darkcover,” Faith put in, “Or, more specifically, Goliath.”

Gentletide tensed up when she heard that name, “
Never
has this forest seen a greater evil than that foul saloli.” She hissed.

“
Indeed,” Faith agreed, “but time is drawing to a close. We must go. Goodbye, Scratch. You’ll be happier where you’re going. I promise.”

Scratch’s eyes filled with tears, “Blaze?” he asked, “will you please tell my sister I said goodbye?”

“
Of course,” Blaze agreed, “Scratch, if you ever need anything, you come get me, okay? Just because you’re not in Icefire anymore doesn’t mean that I’m taking back that promise I made you. I will stand beside you anywhere, no matter what tribe you’re in.”

“
Th- thank you,” Scratch said, obviously about to start bawling.

“
Come, we need to go.” Gentletide ordered, turning to leave.

Scratch nodded, tears leaking out of his eyes. He gave Blaze one last look, “Goodbye.” He said, “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I’ll never forget you.”

Blaze began to feel tears brimming up in his eyes as well, and he looked away, not able to watch. He heard the two saloli make their way out of Icefire’s territory, and then they were gone.

“
Blaze,” Faith said, gently, “you understand that you can never tell anyone about what happened tonight, right?”

“
Yes.” he replied.

“
Good. Let’s get back to camp. It’s almost sunrise.”

Looking up, Blaze saw that she was right. He turned and hurried back in the direction of camp, the prophet right behind him. He wondered what he would do with all his time now. He no longer had a trainee.

Chapter Twenty Five

For the next several days, Blaze hardly did anything besides sulk around the camp. Without his trainee, he found himself with much more time on his hands than he was used to. Rust had been furious when he heard that Scratch had escaped, but never suspected Faith or Blaze. When he found his guards lying on the ground, fast asleep, he had simply deduced that the “traitor” had cast a spell over them himself. Patrols were sent out, but, of course, he was never found.

In the meantime, Springthorn had learned to speak a little. He could say “mommy,” “daddy,” and “Baze.” Even in his misery, it warmed Blaze’s heart to hear the little tyke trying to say his name. His fur was growing in nicely, his skin hardly visible under it anymore. He had begun to grow claws, but they were soft, not even close to being ready to let him climb. Newthorn had dubbed him old enough to be on the ground, and would often carry him down, where he would incessantly pester the other saloli, much to their amusement. Blaze was lying in the shade of the common’s tree one day, around noon, when he noticed something funny. Newthorn was basking in the sun a few feet away, while Springthorn ran circles around her. Every few seconds, Newthorn would give a violent twitch, as if being shocked by something.

Maybe she’s just laying on something uncomfortable,
Blaze thought, but he knew this wasn’t likely, or she simply would have moved. He couldn’t help but think that this was another effect of the poison. He decided to go check on her.

“
Are you okay, Newthorn?” He asked, walking up to her.

“
Stay away!” She hissed, her eyes filled with fury.

Blaze backed away. It was as he feared. The poison was still affecting her. What should he do? The obvious choice would be to go to Faith, but she had become even busier than usual after Scratch left. He decided not to bother her. After all, the poison may just be taking a bit longer to leave her system then she anticipated. He contemplated telling Smallthorn, but that would just cause needless worry. In the end, he decided it would be best to keep this to himself. He walked back over to where he had been before and was about to lay back down when something else caught his eye. Rust was standing at the edge of camp, and he appeared a bit nervous. Looking left and right to see if anyone was watching him, he quickly dashed out of camp.

Where is he going?
Blaze thought, though he believed he already knew the answer. Getting up, he followed him. Catching his scent, he confirmed that Rust was, indeed, heading towards the Cyclone border. Going after him, Blaze silently prayed to Valde Abbas that this was not what it appeared to be. Maybe he was going to meet a patrol, or he just needed a drink, since the river went past the border. In his heart, though, he knew what he would find. He breathed a sigh of relief, however, when he came to the border. Rust’s scent came close to it, in the exact spot he had crossed over every time, but then veered away, going along with it instead. Blaze decided to keep following it, just in case. He walked for five minutes, and then gasped. In a completely new spot, far away from the usual one, Rust’s scent crossed the border once more. Knowing what he had to do, Blaze followed once again.

This part of Cyclone territory was completely new to him. He kept close to Rust’s scent so he wouldn’t get lost. This time Rust seemed to have gone all the way around the camp for some reason, and then made straight for it. When Blaze came within twenty feet of it, the scents of at least ten other saloli appeared. The dirt was scuffed up, and there was even a bit of blood on the ground. Obvious signs of a fight. Rust had been caught. Continuing on, Blaze came, at last, to the Cyclone camp. There were no bushes to hide in on this side, so he simply hid behind a tree, poking his head around to see. Rust stood in the center of the camp, scratched up very badly. Five saloli stood around him as guards. Goldenrod stood across from him, a look of smug victory on her face.

“
Well,” she said, “if it isn’t Rust again. Don’t you remember what I said last time you came?”

“
I do,” he answered, “but I believe this is worth it. I’ve come to ask for your help again.”

“
And I’m here to deny it to you again.” Goldenrod rebuked him, “Why is your life really so meaningless to you that you would throw it away like this?”

“
If I do not receive your help, then my life is worth nothing.”

“
Brave words, but do you really mean them?”

“
Yes.”

“
Then I suppose I should test them!” Goldenrod snarled. She bared her claws and lashed out at Rust’s face. They missed, but by less than a centimeter. Rust never flinched. “It seems you were telling the truth after all,” Goldenrod said, an amused look on her face.

“
I would never lie about something so serious.” Rust replied.

“
Well, your request still means nothing to me. I will keep my promise. The saloli of Cyclone may do with you as they please!” The tribe began to move in on him, claws ready. “Although,” the chief spoke up again, thoughtfully. The saloli stopped moving. “You’re knowledge of the Icefire territories may prove very useful to me. I’ll make you a deal. Abandon your tribe, swear loyalty to Cyclone, and I will give you the help you need.”

Blaze gasped in horror. Surely Rust would never stoop that low! Rust, however, seemed to have different plans. He came forward, to stand before Goldenrod, and bowed his head. He was actually going to do it! He opened his mouth to speak, but Blaze couldn’t bear to hear him. He turned tail and ran. Luckily, everyone was too preoccupied with his chief, no his
former
chief, to notice him. He ran all the way back to the border and leapt across it, not stopping until he was more than twenty feet away, then collapsed on the ground. This was terrible! What would he do? He couldn’t let Rust come back now! Should he tell the tribe? No, he decided, he wouldn’t tell the tribe. He would lie to them, say that Rust had been killed. It was, he reasoned, better to tell them a lie than force them to face a hard truth. And if the traitor ever came back, Blaze would kill him personally. Suddenly, there was a rustle in the undergrowth from across the border, and Rust emerged! It seemed that time had come already. Blaze backed up into a nearby bush, and watched him. Rust looked left, then right, and then crossed the border. He appeared very agitated.

Which he should,
Blaze thought,
he’s not even in his own territory anymore.

Rust quickly began to make his way towards the camp. He seemed to be in a hurry. Blaze waited until he was right next to him, then pounced! He had taken Rust completely by surprise, and managed to knock him over. Blaze stood on top of his former chief, and bared his claws, ready to kill him.

“
Blaze, what are you doing?” he gasped.

“
Traitor!” Blaze yelled, raising his paw for the final blow. Rust rolled to the side, however, throwing Blaze off of him. He made no move to attack, and Blaze took advantage of that, scrambling to his paws, he lashed out, almost taking off one of Rust’s ears, but the traitor simply moved his head out of the way.

“
Blaze, stop!” he ordered.

Blaze attacked with his claws again, this time catching Rust in the side of his face. He fell to the ground once more. He tried to get back up, but Blaze, without thinking about it, rose onto his hind legs and brought both of his front paws down on his head, slamming it back down again. Rust didn’t move, dazed by the unexpected attack. Once again, Blaze raised his paw, preparing for the final strike.

“
Wait!” Rust said, “At least tell me why you’re doing this!”

“
You betrayed us,” Blaze spat, “you swore your allegiance to Cyclone for your own protection!”

“
You saw that?” Rust asked, shocked.

“
I saw everything. I was there the last two times you visited too.”

“
Blaze, listen to me! I know how it must have looked, but I wasn’t doing that for my own protection. I was trying to convince Cyclone to ally themselves with us in the war!”

Blaze gasped. Suddenly, much of what he saw made sense. He lowered his claws, contemplating this, “But,” he argued, “you swore your allegiance to Cyclone! I saw you!”

“
Did you stay for the whole thing?” Rust asked.

“
No, I left when you were about to agree with her.”

“
If you had stayed, you would have seen me deny her offer. I told her that I would never betray my tribe! They tried to kill me, but I managed to escape. I got back here, and then you attacked me.”

“
But. . . but. . .” Blaze stammered, “You never mentioned an alliance when I was listening!”

“
I know,” Rust explained, getting back to his paws, “I couldn’t. Cyclone is very secretive, and they hate working with other tribes. If I had said the word alliance, they would have turned me away immediately. I tried to make it sound as if we were in trouble, and needed rescuing. Cyclone is a proud tribe. If they thought that they could make themselves look better by helping us, they may have agreed. Unfortunately, Goldenrod is a selfish chief. She cares only about herself.”

It was all coming together now. Rust had never betrayed his tribe, he was trying to protect it!

“
Honestly, I’m surprised that you thought I was a traitor.” Rust said, “I thought you trusted me more than that.”

Blaze looked down at the ground, ashamed, “I’m sorry,” he said, “I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

“
No,” said Rust, I’m sorry. I thought it would be best to do this without the tribe knowing about it. I should have realized that it would only raise suspicion if anyone caught me at it. It’s not your fault, Blaze, it’s mine.” Blaze looked up to see his chief’s eye clouded with regret. “But,” he said, his eyes clearing immediately, “I have to make sure you trust me now. A tribe can’t function if everyone doubts the other saloli’s motivations.” With that, Rust bowed his head to Blaze.

Blaze was startled. This was a test of absolute trust for saloli. One saloli would bow his head in respect, and the other would lift his, exposing his neck, a deadly mistake if the first saloli wasn’t trustworthy. If Blaze raised his head, he would be saying that he trusted Rust. But what if the entire explanation had been a lie? Rust could be trying to kill him! Blaze thought hard about this. Should he trust him? Was his trust worth it?