Chapter 11

I woke up a bit differently this time. This time I felt cold. Very cold. Probably the coldest I've ever felt. When I opened my eyes, I saw that at the bottom of the floor under the cage was wood. Was I in a human hut? I looked around, and I noticed I was on top of a large floor that was covered in wood. It seemed to sway underneath me. The sky had no trees covering it. I looked around, and the wood rose, and a few pieces seemed to be carved into different figures. There was a wheel, and a set of different trees, but these trees had no branches. They rose high, holding up rather strange clouds. They were white, but long and not puffy at all. They seemed smooth. Outside of it was water. Alot of water. As a matter of fact, there was so much water, that it stretched on for miles. I could not see land. Where was I? Only then was it figured out that I was on a boat. A very very big boat!

Suddenly I felt my cage be lifted. The humans had lifted me up, and I was panicking as they carried me into the large wooden boat. They went down stairs, and through places, until I was laid down on the floor next to other birds. They were in cages of all diferent shapes, and sizes. I could only guess they were caught in the same manner as I was caught. Some of them were so strange to me. They must have been birds from different part of the rainforest. They looked so different. Such magical colors. Each one stared at me as if hypnotized by my appearance. They were just as curious as I was. Some of them were huge. Others not so much. Many of them were looking down as if humiliated or miserated. So many sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers. All of them ripped away from the world they lived in. I noticed but one thing, and that was that there were not any birds that I had seen before. Could it be true that none of the birds native to my lands survived?

With anger in my heart, I clutched the bars with my good wing, and shook violently, screaming to be let out. "Let me out! Please get me out of this cage! They took my world away! LET ME OUT!" They all watched me. Not a single one spoke. They all stared blankly. They must have tried themselves. In my heart, I knew that they saw no hope for me. Still that did not stop me. My left wing was starting to be sore from the pulling, and my cage was starting to rock back and forth. Suddenly a green parrot flew over head. Flying so free. His wings were stretched far. He glided in. How did he get freed? He gently perched himself on a box. With a gentle face he stared down at me. He was much older than I was. He was heavier than any parrot I had ever seen. He was also the only bird I could recognize.

With a cold, hard, and souless voice, he said, "Don't die little toucan. If you do, they'll toss you overboard. Trust me. You're more expensive than you know." I looked at him as he flew down to me. He closely inspected me. I don't know why exactly, but I didn't feel safe from being near him. "Hmm nice coloring of the beak. Reds, blues, oranges, greens. Nice flourescent yellow chest. Black jet plumage. Red tail. Nice blue feet. Sparkley eyes. Wow. The men caught a good specimen, they did."

What was he talking about? Specimen? What was I a specimen for. "I don't understand." I said. Clearly I was very confused. I wasn't going to pretend like I new what was going on. I didn't have clue of where this boat was headed or what was going to happen to us.

"Well, of course you don't understand. I never get tired of explaining the conundrum to your kind. You see. As of now you are in the wild bird trade. It's where your kind are captured all around the world. When you are caught you are sold to buyers around the world. Every year five million birds board this ship. None of them return. Each bird you see is up for big bucks. You, though, are very special. You are a keel billed toucan. Those are the most valuable ones that are caught. Not only because of how rare your type are, but also because of how popular you are." He smiled as warmly as he could, as if that would comfort me. "Don't worry, darling. Even for a toucan you are quite vibrantly colored, and in great shape. You will be sold to a high purchasing buyer in no time."

I looked at him worriedly. "Who? Who will buy me?" I asked quickly. I had to know. I had hoped that as long as they weren't anything like the red headed poacher, then it wouldn't be too hard to escape. "Tell me it won't be the one with red hair."

He shrugged his wings. "I'm not sure. Sometimes when he finds a really nice bird caught, he tends to keep them for himself. He isn't so bad. Have you noticed that the pain in your right wing is gone?" I had almost forgotten about that. When I stared down at my right wing, it was wrapped in white cloth. It was like I had a second skin myself. I didn't like it. I had opened my beak ready to tear at it. He interrupted me. "No! Don't do that. It's supposed to make your wing better. Trust me. That right wing broken makes you all the more valuable." He joked to me. " That way you can't fly away from the humans. As for who might want to buy you. It's a mystery. You might be bought by a bird mill, and used for breding purpouses, but for such a exceptional specimen as you, I think you will most likely be bought as a pet. There's no way to know for sure." He said raising his wings.

When he raised his wings they were very wide which indicated to me that he must have been a usual flyer. Then came the question that was not expected. "Well, how did you get out. I noticed that you aren't trapped like us." I claimed with upsettness in my voice.

He huffed loudly. "That's because the captain of this ship wanted me. He got me for free. I was never in the bird markets. They pulled me out, and kept me as a pet for him personally. I was caught several years ago off the coast of Africa." He said quietly.

"What's Africa?" I said confused.

He waved his wing. "Never mind. Point is I was too young to remember my life back then. I was pulled straight out of the nest as a baby. Grew up right here on the boat." He claimed.

I needed to see if Nobli had somehow made it through. I knew that if anybody had a chance of making it out, he would. "Have there been any macaws? I know this scarlet macaw. He is very large, and squaky. Goes by the name Nobli."

He looked at me symapethetically. "Honey. The birds you see around you are all the birds that are on this ship. I don't know of any macaws here. If he did make it out alive of whatever you escaped, he didn't get caught." Suddenly a human came down from the stairs I came from. He walked over to me, and poured a bunch of seeds into a bowl on the side of the cage I was in. 'I sugest you get used to eating those seeds. That's all they feed us here in this boat." When he was handed a piece of bread, by the human, he squaked out a meaningless phrase. "Pieces of eggs!"

I tasted the first seed. It was awful. Quickly I ran over to the water dish, and took sips out of it. He looked at me, and looked pained to see me miserable. He spread his wings, and was about to fly out of the room. "Wait!" I shouted. He stopped in the middle of his flight. "Can you stay down here with me please? I need somebody to stay with me. Please?" I couldn't stay down here alone. It scared me too much. He looked at me, and sighed. For a moment he looked down, then back at me.

"Nobody's ever asked me to stay with them, before. They always want to be left alone." I stared at him praying that he would say yes. "Well, sure. I can stay here with you." He perched himself near a small piece of wood. He smiled to me, and as bad as things were, I couldn't but smile back at him. "So what's your name, little toucan?"

Never had anybody called me something other than Kikiana. My mother, my husband, the toucan kingdom always called me Kikiana. Only my brothers called me by my short name. "My name is Princess Kikiana, but you can call me Kiki."