Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm (9 page)

Blaze looked up at his friend. “You don’t?”

“
No, they died when I was just an infant.”

“
How?”

Now Blaze could see his friend was about to start crying, too, “I- I’d rather not talk about it,” Jasper said, then changing the subject, asked, “Why don’t you just ask Rust if he’ll accept your mother into Icefire, too?”

“
He couldn’t,” Blaze said simply.

“
Why not?”

“
He just couldn’t!” Blaze insisted, trying not to glare at his prying friend.

“
Hey Blaze, Jasper!” Chestnut called, before Jasper could pursue the topic anymore.

“
What?” Blaze called back, angrily.

“
Come sleep over here with us!”

Chapter Six

That morning, Blaze woke up before everyone else. Not feeling like going back to sleep, he looked across Icefire’s camp. It was peaceful, everyone asleep except for the occasional patrol leaving or returning. Blaze looked at the sky. It was so beautiful this early in the morning, blue at the top, turning to dark red, turning to bright yellow. He realized as he looked that this was the same sky he used to look at when he was a human. That thought made him feel better. Faith might be able to take away his humanity, but she couldn’t take away this. Was his mother looking at the sky now? That, at least, they could still share. Looking back down, Blaze noticed something out of place. One saloli, not asleep, or part of a patrol, stood facing a bush, near the camp border, talking to something. A saloli that talked to bushes? Blaze was too curious to resist. Getting up, he stepped carefully over his sleeping branch-mates. Reaching the trunk, he swiftly scurried down it, and began to quietly make his way over to the strange saloli. He darted behind every rock or plant between them, to keep from being seen. When he was only three feet away, Blaze perked his ears up to listen.

“
I know, I know,” the saloli said, “It’s not my fault! That blasted outsider and his runt friend interfered!”

What? Was the saloli talking about him? A quiet muttering came from the bush, indicating that someone was hiding inside it.

“
Yes, sir,” the saloli said, “If the next plan doesn’t succeed, I know what to do.”

More muttering. The saloli was obviously full grown, larger than Blaze, and had pitch black fur. Even from here, Blaze could see that he had unusually long claws, even longer than Slicer’s. Though retracted, they still poked past the tips of his paws. Blaze guessed that this was another saloli not to get angry.

“
Yes,” the saloli said into the bush, “Of course I will. You know where my loyalties lie.”

More muttering, then the black saloli turned and scampered away. There was a rustling inside the bush, then silence. Realizing that it might be suspicious if he was caught out here, Blaze made sure the black saloli was nowhere to be seen, and then raced back to the trainee’s tree.

<><><><><>

Goliath raced through the Icefire territory, determined to make it back to his own territory before anyone spotted him. The fox attack had failed, but there was still one more plot to attempt before he had to resort to desperate measures, and he was confident that this one would succeed.

Razor would make sure of that.

<><><><><>

Slicer had a new gleam in his eye when Blaze showed up for training later that morning. Blaze’s chest swelled with pride at the thought that he was probably the reason for that.

“
Think you can find your way back to Acorn Place today?” Slicer asked.

“
That depends, will there be any foxes to ask directions from?” Blaze asked back, jokingly.

“
Hopefully not,” Slicer answered, laughing.

Spotting the black saloli on the other side of the camp, Blaze motioned at him with his tail, “Hey, Slicer, who’s that?”

Looking where Blaze had indicated, he answered, “That’s Razor. He’s one of the newest saloli to become a full tribe member. Why?”

Blaze decided he had better tell him, “Okay, this is going to sound weird, but earlier this morning, I saw him talking to someone inside a bush.”

“
Razor was inside a bush?” Slicer asked, confused.

“
No, he was standing beside it, but whoever he was talking to was inside it.”

“
Really?” Slicer asked, obviously thinking this was a joke, “What did the bush say?”

“
I don’t know, I couldn’t hear, but Razor told whoever was in there that something wasn’t his fault, that ‘the blasted outsider’ had gotten in the way and that ‘he knew what to do if the second plan failed.’”

“
What are you saying, Blaze?” Slicer asked, growing serious.

“
That’s not all. He also told whoever was in the bush that ‘they know where his loyalties lie.’”

Slicer was silent for a moment, before asking, “Are you suggesting that Razor had something to do with the attack last night?”

“
I don’t know.” Blaze said, “I’m just telling you what I heard.”

Slicer gave his trainee a stern look, “This is a very serious accusation, you know that right?”

“
I’m not accusing anyone. I’m only telling you what I saw.”

“
Perhaps you should tell this to Rust,” Slicer decided, “Follow me.”

Blaze followed his mentor through the camp, to where Rust was standing, “Yes, Slicer?” The chief asked when they arrived.

“
Blaze thinks he may know something about the attack last night that we don’t.” Slicer answered.

Rust immediately grew serious, “Tell me.” So Blaze recounted everything that he had seen between Razor and the thing in the bush. When he finished, Rust did not look happy, “Are you sure you saw all of this?” he asked.

“
What, you think I imagined it?” Blaze protested.

“
You could have been asleep the whole time. You may have dreamt it.”

“
I did not dream it, I know what I saw.”

“
Blaze, I assure you, Razor may be a bit rebellious, but he’s just as loyal to Icefire as you or me.”

“
I know what I saw.” Blaze insisted.

“
Blaze, don’t argue with your chief,” Slicer instructed.

Seething with frustration, Blaze kept his mouth shut.

“
Thank you for listening, Rust,” Slicer said.

“
Any time, Slicer, any time,” Rust answered, turning to speak with another saloli.

<><><><><>

“
Okay, Blaze, today I’m going to teach you a very useful technique. It is something a mentor always teaches his trainee when he thinks he is ready,” Slicer said. He and Blaze were back at Acorn Place again. This time Blaze had managed to find the way here all by himself. Slicer had been right, once he had managed to find the first landmark, the rest just came back to him. “Today I’m going to teach you to see without using your eyes.”

“
Whoa, seriously?” Blaze asked, already impressed.

“
Oh yes, I’m very serious. First, I’ll give you a demonstration. I’ll close my eyes, and you go hide. I’ll give you thirty seconds.” He closed his eyes. Blaze scampered off, and made straight for the nearest tree. Digging his claws into the bark, he scurried all the way to the top and went out to the far edge of the topmost branch, where he could watch Slicer. After the allotted time ran out, Slicer slowly turned in a circle, stopping when he faced the direction Blaze had gone. He slowly came to the same tree Blaze was in. Then he began to climb all the way to the top. As he began to make his way across the branch where Blaze was standing, Blaze saw that he still had his eyes closed! He stopped right in front of the young saloli. “Hello, Blaze,” Slicer said, smiling. His eyes were still closed.

“
How did you do that?” Blaze asked, unable to explain what he had just seen.

“
With my nose. Come down out of the tree with me and I’ll explain.” Once they were down on the ground again, Slicer turned to Blaze and said, “All right, close your eyes,” Blaze did, “Now inhale through your nose, deeply.” Blaze did, and almost gasped from surprise. Even with his eyes closed, he could tell exactly where Slicer was. He wasn’t sure how he knew it was his mentor he smelled, there were hundreds of saloli scents around here, but the scent just somehow said “Slicer” to him.

“
What do you smell?” his mentor asked.

“
I smell you.” Blaze responded, though smell didn’t seem quite the right word for it.
Seeing with his eyes closed.
That’s what Slicer had called it. That described it better than anything else, Blaze decided.

“
What else do you smell?” Slicer continued. Again, Blaze inhaled, concentrating harder now. He could still smell Slicer, but he found he could also smell where Slicer had been. As if he had left a scent trail behind him wherever he had gone, which he had, Blaze told himself. Turning around, he smelled Slicer’s scent going all the way up the tree, and down again. There was something else there, too, another scent that Blaze couldn’t quite place.

“
What’s that other smell?” he asked Slicer.

“
That’s your scent,” the old saloli explained, “You left it as you went up and down the tree, just like I did.”

“
This is amazing!” Blaze exclaimed, “Can every saloli do this?” Slicer nodded. “How come I didn’t know I could do this before?”

“
Because you hadn’t been trained to use it, yet. You were so used to it being there that you never even noticed it. Now, keep your eyes closed and see if you can find me with just your nose. Give me thirty seconds.”

Blaze heard Slicer scamper off, and slowly counted thirty seconds. When he got to thirty, he resisted the urge to yell “ready or not, here I come,” and set off to find his mentor. Blaze found it surprisingly easy, only having to follow the all-too-clear scent trail that Slicer had left. He tracked it all the way across Acorn Place and back again. It circled three trees before finally going up one. Just like Blaze had done, Slicer had obviously gone to the very top of the tree. For a second, Blaze hesitated. Climbing with his eyes closed? Was that such a good idea? Then he remembered Slicer had done it, and began to scale the tree.

About halfway up, Slicer’s scent veered to the left. Unsure of why he had done this, Blaze followed it all the same. As he continued up, though, his side brushed against a branch on his immediate right. Blaze found that the farther up he went, the more branches began to appear, meaning that he had to concentrate harder on Slicer’s scent in order to weave around them. When Blaze finally reached the top, Slicer’s scent moved away from him, out onto another branch. Blaze slowly moved across it, until. . .

“
Slicer, are you there?” Blaze asked.

“
Very good, Blaze,” Slicer congratulated him, “How did you know this was where I was standing?”

“
The smell just suddenly got a lot stronger.” The young saloli answered.

“
Very good. You’re a natural at this, Blaze!”

The young trainee beamed at these words. He looked up to this saloli for his skill and bravery. Hearing Slicer praise him for doing something right was like hearing the same words from his mother.

<><><><><>

When Blaze and Slicer arrived back at Icefire camp, Rust rushed up to meet them, “How was training?” he asked.

“
It went very well today, thanks for asking,” Slicer answered.

“
No more fox sightings?”