Legends of the Saloli: Vengeance and Mercy (14 page)

Valde Abbas raised his hand, palm up, and Blaze slowly rose into the air, and alighted within it.

Now, become the Sword!

There was a final flash of light, and Blaze felt the power enter his body.

<><><><><>

Six hours had passed since Blaze had gone to sleep, but Icefire was still gathered around him, waiting for the first sign that he would awaken. An air of extreme anticipation had covered the camp, and the only sound that could be heard was the breathing of the saloli, slow with anxiety. What if Blaze didn’t wake up? Was he even asleep? What if he was dead? Nobody moved to prod him, though. Faith sat by his side, her gaze never moving from his prone form. Slowly, Sunbeam came to stand beside her, embarrassed to have the entire tribe looking at her all of a sudden, but her love mattered more.

“Is he okay?” she asked, her voice betraying her fears.

“Yes, dear,” Faith responded, still not looking away from the fiery red saloli, “he is conversing with Valde Abbas right now. He will awaken, and when he does he will be our deliverance.”

Nodding reassurance that she did not feel, Sunbeam moved back to stand among Icefire’s ranks once more. Her mind buzzed with thoughts. Blaze, the love of her life, the
Sword
? It seemed too far out to be true, but at the same time she found that she wasn’t in the least surprised. Caught off guard by the announcement, yes, but not by the revelation. There had always been something different about Blaze, but she had never been able to identify it. Now she knew.

Sunbeam sighed in confusion. When he woke up, would Blaze still be the saloli she knew and loved? Or would he be something completely different? The Sword. The title itself gave her images of a cold, uncaring creature who existed only to take the lives of others.

Goliath.

No! She quickly pushed that thought out of her head. Even if Blaze was willing to do what was needed, he would never be Goliath.
Ever.
Blaze was the one of the kindest saloli she had ever met. He cared for others, was loyal and protective of his friends, and he could even take time from his schedule to play with children like Springthorn. Children. He would make a wonderful father.

Before she could dwell a moment longer on the idea of parenthood, Blaze’s fur began to glow! He shined bright red, like a fire, lighting up ever inch of the Icefire camp. The saloli began to chatter excitedly. This was it! Sunbeam could only watch in fascination and fear as Blaze slowly began to rise from where he laid, his eyes still closed in slumber. Suspended ten feet above the ground, the fiery glow began to move up his body, and soon had congregated in the exact center of Blaze’s brow. There was a brilliant flash, and a tremendous
BOOM,
and some of Icefire screamed in fright. The light was instantly gone, though, and the resounding echoes soon diminished into nothing. Blaze remained in the air, but slowly began to descend back to the ground. He touched down standing up, his back turned to the rest of the tribe.

“Where is Rust?” he asked. His voice sounded the same, but was somehow different. It sounded stronger, more confident. With a trace of unease in his step, Icefire’s chief slowly made his way to stand behind his tribemate, stopping a good twelve inches away. Blaze turned around, and Icefire gasped in shock. Where Blaze’s fur had, earlier, been pure red, a streak of white reached upwards from his nose, and forked to both sides, which reached out to meet his eyes, while the original line continued up to the top of his brow. The end by his nose tapered into a point. It was the image of a sword.

“Rust, the Sword offers his services to the tribe of Icefire!” Blaze announced, and bowed his head.

Icefire waited with baited breath for their chief to respond. For a moment, Rust could only stare at the white streak on his friend’s head. This was unbelievable. Looking Blaze in the eye, he spoke clear and true for all those who could hear him.

“And Icefire accepts it!”

<><><><><>

BOOOM!

Goliath awoke with a start, panting heavily. He had been having a horrible nightmare! It had started as a good dream, seeing himself standing over a mile tall, looming over the forest, able to strike fear into the hearts of its inhabitants with only a glance. Then, out of the sky, a great sword had fallen, impaling him in its descent. Goliath didn’t need Mordred to interpret this one. Standing up, Goliath shook his head. No, he was being ridiculous. He was winning the war! Three tribes were now under his command, and there was nothing to stop him from conquering the third at his leisure. Still, he was glad that the thunder had awoken him. It wouldn’t do to let someone from his tribe find him quivering in fear from a meaningless dream. He looked up to gauge how strong the storm was. The sky was completely clear, and the stars shown down on him.

Goliath’s heart began to beat faster. Looking across the camp, he spotted Mordred sitting on the far edge, facing north. Climbing out of his tree, he made his way through the Darkcover saloli that had massed on the ground, wondering what was going on. They, too, had heard the blast.

“Get back in your trees!” Goliath ordered, “Go back to sleep! Now!” He waited for his saloli to obey before making his way to stand beside Mordred. “What is going on?”

Mordred looked at Goliath, seeing nothing, and Goliath was shocked to see fear etched across his prophet’s face.

“The Sword has come.” He said.

Chapter Twenty Five

Blaze awoke with the sunrise. Shaking the sleepiness out of his head, he was momentarily startled to find that he was alone in his tree. Then he remembered that Rust had insisted that the Sword have a tree all to himself, like the chief and prophet did. Blaze wasn’t entirely sure he liked that idea, but went along with it anyway. Part of being the Sword, Rust had deduced, was acting like a creature that would take charge in any given circumstance, and thus should be set apart from the normal saloli. After spending a night by himself, Blaze decided that he would speak to Rust about sleeping in the Common’s Tree again. He wasn’t like the other saloli, he knew that, but he didn’t want to become an outsider within his own tribe. Besides, Sunbeam was still in the Common’s Tree.

Only two days remained until their wedding day, and Blaze felt his insides churn with eagerness and anxiety every time he thought about it. It would be-
should
be- the happiest day of his life, but he couldn’t rid himself of the notion that something would go wrong. It usually did. Blaze shook his head once more to clear it of these horrid thoughts. He would not look forward to his own wedding day with dread! It would be the greatest day of his life, even if he had to kill all of Darkcover beforehand to make sure they didn’t interfere.

Climbing out of his tree, Blaze casually made his way to the food pile. Picking an acorn out of it, he sat on his hind legs and began to gnaw at the shell. A cool breeze brushed against his fur, and he shivered slightly. Lowering his nut, Blaze suddenly realized something that he had not noticed before. The summer heat he had grown used to feeling was gone, and the air was chilly.

“Fall will be here soon,” Rust observed, coming to stand beside Blaze, “Icefire will need to begin stocking up on nuts for the winter. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t feel any different.” Blaze answered truthfully. Despite the previous night’s events, he did not feel different in the slightest. If he didn’t think about it, he could even forget about the white mark on his brow.

“I wish I could give you some advice, but I have no idea what it’s like to be so important, so… powerful.” Rust admitted.

“Stop,” Blaze ordered, “I don’t want to be treated different than any other saloli. I may have a piece of Valde Abbas inside of me, but my heart is still who it was before last night.” He looked his chief in the eye, “I’m still Blaze.”

Blaze began to gnaw on his acorn again, but looked up once more to say, “By the way, I’ll be sleeping in the Common’s Tree again from now on. I don’t like sleeping alone.” Rust merely nodded.

As he ate, Blaze reflected on how, despite what he had said, things were different. His body didn’t feel changed, but the way creatures treated him and acted around him were vastly different. For one, he had found that even Rust would obey orders from him without question. Blaze didn’t much like this either, but he supposed that it was all a part of being the Sword. The other creatures looked up to him now, and he would have to make sure that their trust hadn’t been incorrectly placed.

“Rust!” Another saloli shouted, running in from the forest, “They’re back!”

Rust ran out to meet the returning patroller, and demanded, “Who? Who’s back?”

“The white one and his companion. They’ve brought almost fifty more saloli with them as well!”

Blaze felt a wave of anger wash over him. In all the recent events, he had almost forgotten about Specter’s demands. Didn’t they realize what Icefire was going through right now? Why couldn’t NoTribe just leave them alone?

Before Rust could send out an interception party, Specter came running into Icefire’s camp, followed by Mask, and then a swarm of other saloli. The fifty saloli that they had brought immediately spread out and surrounded the camp.

If it comes to a fight, they don’t have nearly enough saloli here to beat Icefire
, Blaze found himself calculating,
we could win against these odds, but not without heavy casualties on our own side as well. But what happens when the rest of NoTribe gets wind of it?

Specter strode forward, towards Rust, with a cocky grin on his face, “Hello, Icefire chief. I don’t believe I caught your name last time.”

“Rust.” Icefire’s chief replied, curtly.

“Well, Rust, one week has passed, and now it’s time for Blaze to pay his debt,” Specter announced. “If I were you, I would hand that female over this instant.”

“I’m sorry to inform you, Specter,” Rust replied, not sounding sorry at all, “that the saloli you demanded has been betrothed to another Icefire saloli.”

A spark of anger came into Specter’s eyes, “Well, then her future husband is going to be very disappointed, isn’t he?”

A challenging smile brushed Rust’s face, “Why don’t you tell him that yourself?”

Specter bared his teeth, but kept his composure, “Very well, where is he?”

“I’m right here,” Blaze called out to the albino, stepping forward.

“Blaze?” Specter asked, incredulously, “How dare you ask to marry that female when I specifically demanded that she be given to me?” A look of confusion crossed his face, “And what happened to your head?”

“That’s none of your concern, Specter.” Blaze answered, “What matters now is that you will not take Sunbeam. I don’t care if it starts another war, I will fight you to the death to make sure that she never has to spend a night with the likes of you!”

Outrage almost made Specter’s crimson eyes glow. “Fine, then!” he shouted, “If that’s what you want, then NoTribe will go to war with Icefire! I hope you’re happy, Blaze, because you’ve just killed every single saloli in this camp!”

Specter moved as if to attack Blaze, and Blaze immediately went into a defensive stance, when a voice sounded from within Icefire’s ranks.

“Stop!”

Surprised by the interruption, both Specter and Blaze froze and turned to look at where the voice had come from. The crowd parted slightly, and Smallthorn stepped out, followed closely by Springthorn, who was trying to look everywhere at once in an effort to understand what was going on.

“Smallthorn, what are you doing?” Blaze demanded, “Get Springthorn away from here!”

“No.” Smallthorn replied, “I have to do this.” He turned to look at Specter. “You say you want a son, right?”

Specter nodded slowly, obviously not sure whether to trust this new saloli or not.

“Well, then I give you mine.”

A resounding gasp rang out from Icefire’s ranks. Blaze’s eyes grew large in horror. Abandoning his fighting position, he ran to stand beside his friend. “Smallthorn, have you gone crazy?” He whispered, “What are you doing?”

Smallthorn looked at Blaze, tears welling up in his eyes, “I can’t do it, Blaze.” He answered, voice hoarse with grief, “I just can’t do it.”

“You don’t have to! Go take Springthorn back to the nursery tree, fast!”

Smallthorn shook his head, “No, I mean I can’t raise him. I can’t be his father. It’s too much!”