Chapter 22
Ghost looked up at Flocke, holding her breath slightly. She didn't know what to do here and she hoped that it didn't show on her face. Instead she glanced at Skah. Skah was also watching Flocke, but he wasn't panicking, his highly analytical mind was working through all of the possible ways to help the small male. There was no way that he, or for that matter Ghost could climb up and carry him down. The branches were simply too thin to hold their weight, but... Larimar could get a good deal of the way.
Skah sprung into action then, his plan formulated and ready to go. "Flocke, close your eyes and don't move a muscle till I tell you to" he called up to the trapped chick. He then turned to Larimar where she was perched. He was sure that he could instruct her and she could carry out the task well enough. "Larimar, you have to get as close as you can to Flocke. You can take as long as want, but you have to climb up there and save him". He hoped that by impressing the chick that her friends life was in her hands that she would be able to carry out the task and not freeze up.
Larimar nodded. Her throat twisted up with terror when she tried to say 'okay'. Nodding even more, she started climbing up toward Flocke.
At first, it wasn't too hard. She'd gotten the hang of shimmying up the thick parts that she could wrap both forelegs around. She just couldn't help but notice it was still painfully slow. "Hang on," she gasped, unsure of whether it was directed at Flocke or herself. All she could think about was what would happen if a gust of wind made her friend fall, or he slipped, or some other horrible fate befell Flocke. Keep it steady. Better safe than sorry, Larimar...
Then the real trouble started. She felt the thin ends of the branches snap beneath her. Suddenly, there was nothing beneath her back paws. Her wings started beating in panic, getting caught everywhere and sending her into a frenzy. She couldn't go down; she didn't know how to get up. I'm trapped! I'm trapped like Flocke is! Larimar tried as hard as she could to lift herself up with her front legs, but they were just too weak.
She swung herself to the left and felt her back paws hit something less flexible. Using the sturdy branch as a launching pad of sorts, she boosted herself up to the next foothold. She preceded with much more caution (perhaps a bit too much), choosing her next move more carefully this time.
Larimar ended up a little to Flocke's right, but only about a foot underneath him. She placed a shaky foot on a thin branch and felt it start to splinter beneath her weight. "I...don't think I can go any h-higher," she called down to Skah, her eyes still on Flocke. "Now w-w-what?"
"Good work Larimar" Skah called up to her. "Now can you reach out and touch Flocke at all?"
"Lolly", Skah called quietly to the big chick, "We may need to catch him if he falls, so I want you to move underneath him and slightly to the right, I'll be on the left and hopefully between the two of us we'll get him".
Without waiting for Lolly's reply Skah turned to Ghost, "Ghost I want you to move down below us a little, keep a watch on everyone and call out if you see any trouble".
"Right!" Lolly called as soon as he'd given her orders. She was relieved that he was keeping his head-to her that meant that he was confident that they could help Flocke. "Underneath...slightly to the right." Lolly mumbled under her breathe as she tried to keep her eyes on the chick above and the branch beneath her feet. Finally she was confident that she'd found the right spot.
"Alright, I'm in position!" Lolly cried, "Ready in case of a fall, Flocke! But...don't fall. I mean, if you can help it. We've got you covered!"
Larimar's face scrunched up in frustration. "N-no, he's still too high." She started inching closer to Flocke, trying to stay on the same branch. When that twig snapped, she quickly clambered up onto another one. She balanced precariously among the leaves. It took a while for her to summon up enough courage to keep climbing. Her foot extended again toward Flocke. This time she was a mere two inches away. "Is this close enough?"
"That's perfect", Skah called up to Larimar, having moved into position opposite Lolly. "Okay, Flocke you need to drop your tail down so that Larimar can touch it. Then you need to start moving down one leg at a time".
Flocke peaked an eye open and looked back to see Larimar reaching out to him. He heard what Skah said, but was having trouble moving a single inch of himself. Why did he have to go down? Wouldn't it be better to just stay up here fir the rest of his life?
'No. Bad idea Flocke!' he scolded himself. Then, he began instructing himself of what to do next. 'Your friends are trying to help you, but you have to help them too! Just put your tail down. That's all they need at the moment, so do it. The reassurance of his mind wasn't convincing his physical body one bit. He just couldn't move. One slip, one minor miscalculation of balance, and Flocke could fall to his death.
'It would have been better to stay on the ground with all the bad animals! he thought frantically. 'At least I can do something in that situation! But I can't do anything here! After thinking this, his mind shut down to the outside world. It wasn't that he couldn't, but rather that he refused to hear, see and/or smell anything around him. He hid himself in his head, pretending he was safe in a soft, warm nest, with a loving mother singing him and his siblings to sleep.
"No! Flocke, no! Don't freeze up!" Lolly shouted, trying to jump at Flocke but nearly slipping on her own branch. She looked for something to throw, not to hurt but to snap her friend out of the weird trance he'd lulled himself into.
"Honestly, Flocke! Wake up and try to get down! It doesn't matter if you fall, we're here to catch you!" she groaned in frustration.
Larimar stretched herself as far as she could, every ounce of her energy going into reaching Flocke. The sharp pokes she felt in her side from the broken twigs weren't helping. Flocke freezing up and doing nothing to help anymore wasn't doing any good either. She made a lunging motion forward, her claws barely missing his tail.
"Hey, Flocke!" she growled not out of anger but frustration. "Could you maybe move your butt over toward me?! Or stretch your tail a bit more?"
Almost...dang it! The branches she was perched on made another cracking noise, and she was forced to lean back more. She glanced down at Lolly, hoping the brown chick really was capable of catching Flocke.
Flocke vaguely heard the girls shouting at him, but it was enough to shoo the haze away temporarily. He cracked open his eyes once again, and looked back at Larimar. His limbs were trembling desperately now from how tightly he was holding onto the branch. He took in a deep breathe, then let a shaky one out slowly. Carefully, he lessened his right claw's grip, and took his talons out of the bark. He slowly inched himself backwards, before he was finally in Larimar's reach.
Then he heard something from above. A loud screech. Looking up, Flocke saw a giant bird. (Well, giant to him...) It was screeching and swooping around the tree. Flocke was about to say something to the others when he saw another one appear. They swirled around the top of the tree for a few moments, eyeing the chicks below them.
* *(Hawk's POV)* *
What do you think? asked the female to her mate. The top two are small enough.
Her mate watched the chicks below him. It would be bad for him and his mate if the chick's parents heard their cries and came to their rescue. However, the top chick had been in distress for a good amount of time now, and no adults were showing. Perhaps these chicks had no nearby guardians. An easy meal... if that was true.
Assessing the situation once more, he deemed this hunt safe. Turning to his mate, he gave her silent approval, before folding his wings, and making a dive for the small blue chick. His mate was larger, so she would make for the green one.
* *(Back to normal! :D)* *
Flocke saw the pair of large birds begin to dive towards them. His eyes widened as he realized what the two were planning. His grip, which had been so tight before, suddenly went loose. In hind sight, he would have had a better chance if he were clutching to the bark for dear life. But, instead, his grip went slack, his beak fell open, and all he could get out was, "Lolly..."((Which is the closest thing to "Mommy" he could think of at the moment)) before he felt a large pair of talons grip around his waist and lift him from what had previously been the end of his life.
The shock of being lifted even higher into the air, and realizing that he was about become food for another animal got to him. Flocke, with only one look at the bottom of the face of his captor, fainted.
