Chapter 28:
Blu stumbled and fell to the ground for the fifth time that hour. He moaned spitting out the large clumps of dirt which had sprayed up into his beak from his thunderous impact with the ground. He lowered his wings, grunting as he struggled to pull himself up onto his talons. They twitched uneasily against the pavement. His head swelled, causing the world around him to spin. A cold damp sweat rolled down the sides of his face... his breathing became still and almost non-existent. Blu folded his wing and placed it on his injured left side. He winced in pain as his injuries seem to burn as he touched them.
"What is wrong with this thing?" he couldn't help but ask. "It's never hurt like this before."
"That's the fifth time you have fallen, Blu." Jose admitted, shaking his head. "I think maybe you should rest for a bit?"
The blue macaw spit with disgust at the very suggestion. Without a word he continued onward, moaning with each footstep until he finally collapsed. Jose jumped to the bird's side and studied his condition for a moment. The blue macaw seemed unusually pale, almost unnoticeable from a distance, but very close up, the monkey could not deny that something was horribly wrong with Blu. Turning the large lump of a bird over onto his side, the monkey studied the extent of the damage.
"You have been hiding the severity of your injuries, haven't you Blu?" he asked. "Look at this wing, its completely broken. I bet you've even risked infection by moving it as much as you have."
Blu snapped back into reality, throwing himself back onto his feet. He eyed the monkey curiously.
"While we're on the subject of hiding stuff, what are you really?" he asked, peering down at the mark on the monkey's arm. "Why do we keep running into creatures that we know who just all of a sudden have these weird glowing marks on their wings and arms? What are you? What are those marks? Why did Jewel's sister have one? And how many of you are out there?"
Jose lowered his head, sighing as he also eyed the mark on his arm. It glowed a bright purple as its energy coursed through him.
"If you know, you won't forget what I've said. It will continue to follow you the rest of your life."
Blu slammed his talon upon the ground. His eyes narrowed. "I'm okay with that, tell me!"
Jose let out a quick sigh. "I am a member of what is called the Dark Robed Society, all of us have a mark, I don't know where it came from or who gave it to me, but there is seven of us. And we're all after you and Jewel."
"Why?" Blu asked.
"I am not sure," Jose shook his head. "It has something to do with the two of you being spix macaws, we have to kill you, but I don't know why, it was orders given to us by the leader of our group."
"Is it Nigel?" Blu asked, "Is he the leader."
"No," Jose shook his head, "You have not seen him yet. So far you've only seen our weakest members. Amber who contains the mark of vengeance, Nigel who contains the mark of pain, and me who contains the mark of greed, put together we are nothing compared to the rest of them. They're dangerous and bloodthirsty killers. You must avoid them at all costs."
"Why are you after me?" Blu found himself asking. "What have I ever done to you? I've never met you until now."
Jose lowered his head. "I was once a member of King Mauro's high court, which means I gained some of the best stolen treasures the king himself was not interested in. Then came the day that Nigel had us track you down, and we found you at the Samba club. When we lost to you, Mauro started keeping any of the food gathered for himself. His followers started to starve, and thus I made a deal with Nigel. If I helped him kill you, he would give me more treasure and food than I could ever imagine. My kind would never have to follow King Mauro or go hungry again. It seemed like a great deal at the time."
Blu arched a curious eye at the monkey. He peered back down at the mark. "And you claim your mark stands for greed?" he smiled, swinging his wing playfully. "Seems like you have an honorable heart to me. So come on, let's figure out what to do next, we need to get the word out to my family."
"Really?" Jose snorted, spitting with disgust. "You're injuries are probably infected. Our top priority should be to get them treated before you end up seriously hurt."
"I don't care," Blu admitted, "I need to see Nico and Pedro, they can rally up some help. They're the only birds who can help me right now."
Jose shook his head in disbelief. "You're either really stupid or you're a fool. If we don't treat your injuries soon you could lose the ability to fly, who knows you could lose your wing entirely."
Blu peered down at his wound. His eyes hardened with little signs of conflict or debate. "I have made my decision, losing my wing is nothing when compared to losing my family, I would sacrifice anything for them."
Blu eyed Jose who stood speechless for the first time since their journey began.
"Don't look at me like that... you know it's true. Jewel and my children mean the world too me. I've spent the past fifteen years as a flightless bird, and I can spend the entire rest of my life flightless if I have too..."
Blu's voice trailed off as Jose slapped him in the back of the neck. The bird closed his eyes and fell to the ground.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The sweet smell of anesthetic and the beeping of the respirator was the first thing Blu became aware of when his senses returned to him. His head hurt him terribly. He moaned trying to open his eyes but found he was unable to do so.
Where am I? He asked himself surprised that he couldn't move his mouth. Am I in some kind of hospital?
Despite his lack of eyesight, Blu could tell that two humans stood over him.
"How is he doctor?" A voice asked, cutting through his train of thought. "What's your diagnostic?"
"There are a lot of torn muscles and separated tendons in the upper part of the wing structure. That can be healed easily though, as long as you apply the proper care and attach a cast. What concerns me though is the claw marks in the lower section of the feather column. If you look carefully you can see that two of three marks have severed the main nerves."
"So the bird can't fly?" The first voice asked.
"It's too early to say whether he can or can't." The doctor said. "But when you look at a bird, the main nerves are in the wings, the blood goes from the heart to the wings where it is then properly distributed throughout the entire body. Here you see that the nerves which distribute the blood have been punctured. We'll need to perform some tests to make sure he isn't bleeding internally."
Tests...? Blue echoed in his thoughts. I really don't like the sound of that.
He heard a nearby door creak open. The voice he recognized as the doctor spoke gently to someone.
"We're going to run more tests on the wing. You should try to communicate with him and see if he responds."
Who is he talking too? Blu wondered.
He listened to the door close, and the approaching footsteps of someone roughly his size.
"Blu...?" A familiar voice cut through the darkness. "Blu, speak to me."
I'm here! Blu wanted to scream out. His mouth curled as he attempted to speak.
"Blu... can you hear me?"
Blu opened his eyes halfway to see the familiar figure of a macaw standing over him.
"J...J...J..." Blu tried to say her name, weakly forming a smile. "J...J...J...Jewel... is that you?"
The female macaw rubbed her beak against his. Her eyes filled with joyous tears. "Yes it's me." She smiled. "Where have you been? I have been so worried."
"How did you find me?" he asked, struggling to hold his uninjured wing to the female's face. "I'd thought I would... never see you again."
Jewel lowered her head to his chest and listened intently to his heart beat. "We're together again, and that's the only thing that matters. The doctors should be able to fix you up and the children will have their father back."
Blu coughed and shook his head.
"No... they don't." Blu shook his head, he eyed Jewel for a moment and forced a smile.
"Not as long as Nigel can find me."
Jewel's eyes widened in horror at the very mention of the cockatoo's name, her eyes instinctively went down to her wing... the wing that had been injured in their previous encounter. She peered at Blu's injury sadly. "Did Nigel do that to you?"
Blu coughed, and weakly gripped Jewel's wing. "Sort of... he controls a pack of margays and monkeys. They did it on his orders."
Jewel shed a tear and cupped his head in her wings. "I'm sorry you were put through that."
"He is still out there..." Blu explained. "He is looking for me... he wants revenge for what happened that day in the plan. He wants to take my feathers so he can hide the shame of his defeat."
"I'll help you through this." Jewel smiled. "We work the best as a team."
Blu managed to shake his head, his eyes continued to peer at her, unblinking and full of seriousness.
"No... you were already injured once. I can't allow that to happen again. You need to go and watch the kids. I will deal with Nigel. Once that is done, I will come home to you."
"I hope so," Jewel shed a tear.
"Have I ever broken a promise to you?" Blu asked.
"No," Jewel admitted with a smile.
"Then trust me, I will come back to you, I promise."
#
Jewel stepped out into the hallway and studied the monkey standing at the far opposite wall from where she stood. He picked at a tooth silently, ignoring her as she approached.
"I saw you from the sky while I was circling the city. You brought Blu here, didn't you?"
The monkey nodded, refusing to turn his attention to the female macaw. "He collapsed in the street." He explained, "It was the least I could do. I didn't want the poor creature to die."
Jewel forced a friendly smile and held out a wing to the marmoset. "It is quite clear the macaw and monkey species have never seen eye to eye. But I would like to start a new custom. I want to thank you for everything you did for Blu."
The monkey continued to pick at his tooth. He eyed the macaw for a quick second before turning away from her.
"Well I haven't had a good history with macaws. I simply felt bad for him... nothing more, nothing less."
Jewel's eyes softened as the monkey spoke. He reminded her so much of the way she had been before she ever met Blu.
"You can play the tough guy all you want. But you don't fool me for a second. Believe me I've been where you are."
"Yeah, well I don't think you truly understand what it was like for him. He was locked in a cage and left in darkness. All of the creatures down there seemed to enjoy tormenting him... Nigel got some kind of sick pleasure from it. At least until the macaw didn't break or give them the satisfaction. Unfortunately it was only an act. I noticed that his wing is far more damaged than he would like to admit."
Jewel nodded her agreement. "He certain is a stubborn bird,"
"You're telling me." The monkey agreed. "He would have kept on looking for birds to add to his army if he hadn't collapsed."
Jewel stood silent for several moments, her mind traced back through her most recent conversation with Blu.
"He did say he wanted to stop Nigel..." Jewel thought aloud. "Could he really make such an aggressive move?"
"Yes," Jose said, "Unless you've seen the force Nigel has, you wouldn't understand. Blu can not possibly do this all on his own. He was looking for two creatures in particular... Nico and Pedro I believe their names were. He said they could gather birds to help him."
Jewel thought to herself for a moment. "I think I know why," She said, "A year ago, Nigel had monkey's attack us in a samba club. All the birds their came to our defence, I wonder if he plans on using the same birds for this attack."
"I don't know, but we should help Blu out." Jose smiled, "Let's go to this samba club, and see if we can rally some reinforcements."
#
Jewel entered the old samba club. It hadn't changed a bit. Pinkish lights lit the whole area, samba music blasted through the hollow area like a modern day amp. Jose stood slack jawed at the large amounts of different birds dancing to the beat all of them ignoring the new company as they simply enjoyed their time dancing.
"My goodness..." Jose frowned. "This is more than enough creatures... if they're good fighters that is."
"Who says they need to fight?" Jewel asked, "They simply need to keep the enemy away from Blu, long enough for him to reach Nigel."
"So you're not suggesting open warfare?" the monkey arched an eyebrow.
"No," Jewel shook her head. "Monkeys and margays have the right to live too. They're misguided and being used... open warfare would mean too many lives lost for both sides."
The monkey nodded his approval. "So these birds are merely decoys. Start a fight while we sneak Blu in, he defeats Nigel without taking any lives… I like it… it's crazy and completely stupid, but hey, it's just like Blu."
Blu pulled his head back and pretended to be stung by the insult. "I am not stupid, I am just strategy challenged in these kinds of things."
Jewel shook her head for a moment. "There might still be a loss of life. Nigel won't surrender. He's far too proud but to ensure the safety of everyone involved, Nigel might need to be taken care of permanently."
"Won't that be murder?" Jose asked.
"No," A voice interrupted. Both macaws turned to see Nico and Pedro standing beside them. They had heard the entire conversation; their eyes reflected it with their serious tone.
"Nigel is evil and is a threat to everyone who wants to live. He had his chance to reform and live his life in peace. It's not our fault he didn't take it." Nico admitted
"Leave gathering the troops to us, lil missy." Pedro smiled, "We'd do anything to protect your family."
