Legends of the Saloli: Vengeance and Mercy (6 page)

A gulley stretched before them, blocking their path, and they slid to a halt just in time to avoid plummeting over the edge. The stone walls reached down about three feet, and then disappeared beneath a torrent of raging rapids. They had reached the river. Blaze looked back just in time to see Razor leap at him, teeth bared in blind fury. Reacting without a thought, Smallthorn moved in front of his friend just in time to take the force of Razor’s attack head on. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to stop him, and Smallthorn was knocked back into Blaze, and all three fell over the ledge, into the vicious waters below.

Blaze felt his neck pop with the force that the current grabbed him with, and almost immediately slammed into a rock. The river quickly pulled him around the rock, and he hit another. Stars danced in front of his eyes, and the air was forced out of his lungs. Paddling with his paws, he managed to pull his head above the surface for a split second, but was not able to take a breath. The raging current slammed him into yet another boulder, and darkness crept into his vision. He fought it, though, and felt his head clear once more. Fighting the pull of the river, he managed to get his head above the surface once more, and gulped down the life giving air before he was swept under again. Terror seized him. In the second he had been up there, he had seen what lay ahead, only fifty feet in the distance. The river disappeared, and mist rose up in a thick fog. The river’s roar grew deafening. He was approaching a waterfall.

Struggling to get back to the surface once more, Blaze managed to lift his front right paw out of the water, but nothing more. Despair choked him, and panic tried to take him, but Blaze did not let his mind lose itself to fear. Still, there seemed to be nothing he could do as the waterfall dragged him closer and closer to his doom.

Valde Abbas, help me!
He thought desperately. He couldn’t do this on his own.

His paw, still above the surface, suddenly flared with pain, and he felt himself be jerked upwards. His head broke the surface, and he gasped, breathing once more, and looked up. He was underneath a low hanging branch from a tree growing near the gully’s edge. Standing on top of it, his claws sinking into Blaze’s paw, preventing him from being swept away, was Dust.

“I’ve got you!” he yelled over the river’s roar, “Put your other claws into the branch!”

Blaze did as he was instructed, and struck the branch with all his might, embedding his claws deep within it. Dust pulled with all his strength and Blaze slowly felt himself rise out of the speeding water. Soon he was able to dig his back claws into the branch as well, and he hauled himself to safety. Collapsing on the branch, Blaze breathed deeply, catching his breath at last. He looked at Dust.

“Where is Smallthorn?” he asked.

“I don’t know, I haven’t seen him!” Dust answered, and then looked back upstream. “There!” he said.

Blaze followed his gaze, and he, too, saw the unmistakable sight of his friend following his earlier course down the river. Blaze scrambled to his paws, and waited until he was within reach, the reached down and snagged Smallthorn’s back with his claws. Pulling back, he slowly brought the runt out of the water, and he, too, instinctively sank his claws into the wood. Blaze loosened his grip so that Smallthorn could pull himself the rest of the way up.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Smallthorn coughed, and nodded, struggling to get out of danger. Just as he was about to pull himself to safety, though, he suddenly jerked backwards, and nearly lost his grip. A black claw rose to the surface, and dug itself into the base of Smallthorn’s tail, and Razor’s face broke through the foam. His eyes showed no sense of sanity as he reached out with his other paw, planting the claws firmly into Smallthorn’s back.

“Icefire scum!” he howled in rage, “I’ll kill you both!”

He took his claws out of Smallthorn’s tail, and tried to pull himself further up, but the current caught him again, and he would have been swept away if he hadn’t had a paw on Smallthorn’s back. Though the runt nearly screamed in pain, he looked back at the struggling traitor. The image of Newthorn driven mad by the poison flashed through his mind, but it was buried by a sudden, unexpected wave of sympathy for him. Taking one paw from the branch, he reached down towards Razor.

“Razor, you’ll die if you try to do this yourself!” he called down, “Take my paw!”

“Gladly!” the traitor snarled, and lashed out at it. Smallthorn jerked it away just in time, though, and Razor’s balance was thrown off. He struggled wildly, trying to catch ahold of the runt again, but Blaze could see that it was futile. He could only watch as Razor’s claws were wrenched free of Smallthorn’s skin, sending the traitor hurtling back down the river, over the waterfall, to the jagged rocks below.

Blaze pulled back once again, and, this time, managed to free his friend of the murderous water’s grasp, “Are you okay?” he asked again.

“I’m fine.” Smallthorn gasped, catching his breath. He looked down the river, at the waterfall, “Good riddance!”

“We can’t stay here.” Blaze advised him, “We need to get out of here.”

“With me, right?” Dust asked, hope shining in his eyes.

Blaze hesitated for a moment, then nodded, “Come on, let’s go home.”

Chapter Nine

Blaze could hear the surprised muttering as he ran back into Icefire’s camp, Smallthorn and Dust directly behind him. It was to be expected. He’d been gone almost an entire five days, after all. Ignoring them, he ran straight to Rust.

“Blaze!” the chief said, astounded at his sudden appearance, “You’re back! Where have you been?”

“You’re not going to believe what’s going on.” Blaze began, wasting no time in getting to the point, “Darkcover has taken over Groundsky’s territory.”

Rust’s eyes grew large, “No.” he said, “They couldn’t have. Darkcover’s fighting force isn’t strong enough!”

“They did.” Blaze insisted, “Darkcover know controls half of the forest. But that isn’t all! They’ve been kidnapping saloli from all the other tribes, and keeping them in a canyon in Groundsky’s old territory. They call it the war prison.”

Rust looked away and bit his lip at this news, obviously very disturbed, “How many were in there?”

“Too many to count.”

“But you managed to escape?”

“There was a breakout. I think everyone got away.” Blaze paused. This seemed as good a time as ever to introduce the Darkcover saloli. He motioned to him with his tail, “It was Dust that masterminded it. If it weren’t for him, we’d all still be in there.”

When Rust saw that Dust was from Darkcover, his eyes widened in rage. He calmed down when he heard what Blaze had told him, though. “You are a Darkcover saloli, Dust.” He said, suspiciously, “Why would you help us?”

“Because Goliath murdered my brother.” Dust said without hesitation, “He killed him for disobeying one of his orders. We’d both had our suspicions about him, ever since he came to be our chief, but we never thought that he’d stoop so low as to kill one of his own saloli. It showed me what he truly was, then. He’s no saloli, he’s a monster, and I’ll do whatever it takes to bring him down.”

“Well, if that truly is your motivation, then you are welcome here,” Rust nodded, seemingly satisfied, and turned back to Blaze, “Did you recognize anybody else while you were there?”

“Only Razor.” Blaze reported, “He was in charge of guarding the prison. He’s dead now.”

Rust looked at Blaze with new interest, “You killed him?”

“Not really, we fell into the river, and he went over the waterfall.”

“Did anyone else die?”

“Just one other saloli I killed, I think. All the others ran away.”

A new respect appeared in Rust’s eyes, “This is the first time you’ve ever killed another saloli, isn’t it?”

With a start, Blaze realized that his chief was right. He’d never killed another saloli before. The only creature he’d ever killed was Flame, and he’d been a fox. Today, he’d ended another saloli’s life. Dizziness came over him, and he swayed where he stood, “I killed another saloli,” he said, “I killed my own kind.”

“Blaze, I think you need to lie down.” Rust said, worried that his newly returned tribemate was about to faint.

Without warning, Blaze opened his mouth and dry retched, not having eaten anything that day. All he could see was the poor saloli’s throat being torn open, blood being spilled on the ground, and the light fading from his eyes. Blaze thought he might even taste his blood on his tongue, and he retched again. It was just too much, and he fell onto his side, closed his eyes, and allowed the comforting darkness to take him.

Chapter Ten

Goliath gazed down at the canyon that had, just earlier that day, been home to hundreds of saloli, and growled in disgust. Now only one saloli remained, lying dead on the ground with his throat torn open. Razor had died today as well. Not that it mattered; the traitor had been nothing but a failure in everything he did. He was tempted to feel disappointment, and had to keep reminding himself that the day’s events were exactly what he had planned to happen. Everything except one.

“You’re upset,” Mordred said, sensing his chief’s sour mood, “I take it the outsider managed to get away with the others?”

“Yes,” Goliath confirmed, “but it doesn’t matter. Now that my prisoners have returned to their tribes, word of my power will spread through the forest like a wildfire. My name will strike fear into the hearts of my enemies, and weaken their will to oppose me.”

“What of the Sword?”

Goliath was glad that Mordred was blind so that he couldn’t see him flinch at his words. “We don’t necessarily need to fear him yet. Sol managed to convert Rascom to his side. Perhaps we can do the same.”

“And what of the outsider?”

“I just told you he doesn’t matter!” Goliath snapped. “He is not the Sword, so I have no reason to fear him. He will die alongside all his foolish friends, and I will enjoy watching his blood spill onto the ground very much.”

Mordred could tell that his chief was unnerved, no matter how strong he made himself out to be. He truly was afraid of the outsider. Interesting. . .

“If I may make a suggestion, my chief.” He spoke up.

“If you must.”

“Let your enemies rest themselves for a while. Give them time to lower their guard. Then, when they least expect it, use your greatest advantage.”

Goliath looked at his prophet with a new interest as the air pulsed around them with the sound of leather wings.

Chapter Eleven

Sunlight gently caressed Blaze’s eyelids, stirring him from his sleep. Where was he? His brain was still fuzzy from his nap. Wait, had it even been a nap? No, he’d fainted. Yeah, that’s what had happened. But why? Blaze felt his brain begin to drift back into dreamland, and decided that, whatever had happened, it could wait another few hours.

Prison.

Blaze’s eyes shot open, and he was on his paws in an instant. His heart beat like a drum, and his claws were bared, prepared to attack anyone close to him.

“Blaze, calm down!” somebody said from behind him.

In his sudden rush of adrenaline, Blaze could barely recognize the voice, but turned around to see who it was anyway. It was Faith, standing on the edge of the branch, a worried look in her eyes. Seeing no immediate threat, his body began to calm itself until his fur lay flat again. Faith cautiously made her way towards him.

“Are you okay now?” she asked. Still breathing hard, Blaze nodded, and a touch of sympathy came into Faith’s eyes, “You thought you were still in the prison, didn’t you?”

“Y-yeah. I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.” He replied.

Faith shook her head in disgust, “Curse Goliath. There is no wickeder creature in this forest.”

Her words caught Blaze’s attention. This was not the first misdeed Goliath had committed in this forest. Something had happened before, and Blaze wanted to know what. Whatever it was may hold a clue to defeating Darkcover’s chief once and for all. He couldn’t ask Faith, though. She had already made it clear that only Rust could impart that information.

“You may want to go see Smallthorn soon.” Faith advised, “I’m sure he is quite heartbroken at the moment.” Before Blaze could ask why, the prophet gave him a severe look and said, “Newthorn’s funeral is to be held within the hour.”