Free Legends of the Saloli: Approaching Storm by Adam Bolander Page B

about to become a fully fledged Icefire saloli!”
     
    “ I know!” Blaze said back, equally thrilled. “I can’t believe it! What about the rest of my training, though?”
     
    “ We’ll have to work extra hard tomorrow to get all the most important things in before noon. Think you can do that?”
     
    “ How much more is there?” Blaze asked.
     
    “ Not that much, actually. We were already nearly finished anyway.”
     
    “ Can I go tell the other trainees?” Blaze begged.
     
    “ Yes, go ahead!”
     
    Turning away from his mentor, Blaze raced over to the trainee’s tree, and scurried up to his branch, where he found all the other trainees resting after their long day.
     
    “ Hey, Blaze,” said Chestnut, “What are you so happy about?”
     
    “ You’re not going to believe this! I’m about to be promoted!”
     
    For a moment, nobody said anything. They just looked at Blaze, who was beaming with happiness at them. Thunder was the first one to speak, “Why?” he asked.
     
    “ Why what?” asked Blaze.
     
    “ Why are they promoting you and not us? We’ve been here longer than you, and are better trained than you are, so why did they choose to promote you?”
     
    “ Oh, Thunder!” said Chestnut, rolling her eyes at her brother. “Your turn will come soon enough. Can’t you just be happy for Blaze?”
     
    “ No!” Thunder shouted, “He doesn’t deserve it! He hasn’t even been in Icefire a month, and they’re already putting him in front of us! I’m going to talk to Rust about this right now! If we don’t deserve to be promoted, nobody does!” With that, he shoved past Blaze and raced down the tree.
     
    “ Don’t listen to him, Blaze. He just can’t wait to be promoted himself. He thinks that they judge tribe-readiness by age, and, being the oldest, he would be the first of us to be there. But that’s wonderful news! You’re moving up! That means that you’re finally being accepted!”
     
    A question popped into Blaze’s head then, “Hey, Chestnut? Who’s Thunder’s trainer?”
     
    “ The big, black saloli, Razor. He’s a really good fighter, but kind of rebellious. Thunder says he’s training him to be an even better fighter than Rust. Why?”
     
    “ No reason, just wondering. What about you? Who’s yours?”
     
    “ Her name is Hazel. She’s really nice, but not a very good fighter. She’s training me more for food gathering than war fighting.”
     
    Blaze wondered if he should tell her about what he had seen Razor doing that morning, but decided against it. How did he know she wouldn’t run straight to Razor himself and tell him? He was saved from pondering it anymore by Jasper’s sudden arrival.
     
    “ Hey, Blaze, guess what?” he exclaimed, eyes lit up like fireworks. “I’m getting promoted!”
     
    “ I know, me too!” Blaze responded, just as happily.
     
    “ You too, Jasper?” Chestnut asked, “That’s great!”
     
    Since last night, Chestnut had been acting a lot nicer to Jasper than before.
     
    “ I know!” Jasper agreed. “I’m taking my first patrol tomorrow!”
     
    “ Me too!” Blaze said. Blaze didn’t think he’d ever been this happy before. Being promoted meant that he wasn’t just a kid anymore, he was a fully fledged member of society, even if it was a saloli society. He believed that the same was true for Jasper.
     
    “ I’m going to be the best tribe-member ever!” Jasper said, giddy as a little boy.
     

     
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    The setting sun cast blazing streams of color through the tree tops, which alighted on the forest floor almost as if they were part of a stain glass window. Blaze’s spirits were actually dampened as all of Icefire was gathered in a ring around the center of the camp. Rust stood in the center of the ring, along with the bodies of the saloli that had died during the attack. All was silent, except for the wind blowing softly through the trees. Rust spoke.
     
    “ Friends, family, allies, we