Chapter 21- Eustace and Velocity deliver the warning and news to the Spix tribe
The Spix tribe's ravine
Cerulean and blue birds decorated the air above the ravine pool and lilypads as Spix macaws went about their daily business. The flock of rare blue birds was currently unaware of the tragedy that had taken place last night and that one of the territories had been violently taken by their membrane-winged enemies. However, the news of that was about to arrive any moment. Blu and Jewel were busy setting up foraging and patrol groups to send out and gather some food to bring back to the waterfall cave. Since Roberto had delivered the warning he had received from an unlikely ally who happened to be the younger brother of Cicatriz, Augustus and his mate Melissa, son Sebastian and two daughters Stella and Luna, class outings had been completely banned for the safety of the chicks and foraging and patrol groups had been expanded to three times their usual size so that if those groups were jumped by any group of roaming flying foxes armed with weapons, the macaws could protect themselves and escape. Furthermore, Jewel had ordered that self-defence devices, such as sticks and branches, be carried as well so that the patrollers and foragers could subdue their dangerously armed enemies easier. But despite these new rules in place, uncertainty continued to hover above the Spix macaws like a black cloud. Thrown in there was worry for their neighbours whom they had not seen for quite some time, especially after the violent attack in which one of Blu and Jewel's offspring, Tiago, had almost been taken the other day, along with Spock, Azul, one of Porthos and Orquidea's sons, and Lavender, one of Roberto and Brisa's offspring.
Ever since her narrow escape if it was not for her companions, among them Winona who suffered a dislocated wing, the youngest and only first-brood daughter of Roberto and Brisa had been kept under strict watch by her parents and two older brothers. What had almost happened to Lavender had brought horrific memories of Roberto's family's demise back to the poor macaw like the violent flow of water in the Amazon River during a storm. Not to mention the fact that Alexandre, the older son of Athos and Ruby was almost taken by that group of bats led by Voldemort, one of his family's murderers. Based on these incidences, Roberto did not want to risk that happening to any of his offspring, and certainly not his own mate and friends. To add, many of the Spix macaws were reluctant to trust Augustus and his family due to Augustus being the younger brother of Cicatriz and one of the sons of the previous flying fox colony leaders Bruto and his mate Sombra. Some macaws had even questioned Augustus's allegiance to the birds of the Amazon and wondered if he was simply trying to trick them. Despite this, they were persuaded into trusting him since his warnings appeared to match the intentions of the flying foxes' attempted kidnaps that had happened over the day.
While some young macaws were throwing themselves onto the lilypads in the ravine pool to surf on them, laughing heartily and forgetting the flying fox worry for the time being, a certain macaw stood with his girlfriend gazing longingly at the group. Garrett sat on a rock watching those macaws have fun while Lavender was weaving a string of flowers and some coconut fibres into a necklace-like decoration. The only birds present in the ravine were Spix macaws now; Athos, Spinel, Poinsettia and Alexandre, together with Felipe and the other red macaws having left and returned to their tribe as soon as Alexandre was released by Nuvem and Cassia who had deemed him fit to leave, and the group had left early this morning. While Garrett continued watching the surfing macaws, he turned round and gazed down his back at his tattered tail. It was nothing more than a mere pair of short twigs poking from a stump behind him, all the other long flight feathers having been ripped out by the bat that had attacked him during the skirmish when he tried attacking Lavender's kidnapper to release her. Though Garrett could still fly for his wing flight feathers were intact, his flight was clumsy and unsteady. Macaws needed a full tail to fly properly for the tail feathers served as stabilisers when the birds were airborne, and because Garrett was missing most of this crucial balancing stabiliser, he could not balance in the air very well. As a result, he was literally grounded most of the time until his tail regrew and Nuvem and Cassia had told him that it could take a few weeks. This was why Garrett was so miserable and envious of the other young adult macaws who flew around, had fun and flung themselves onto the lilypads. There was no way a macaw with most of his tail missing could do that without potentially falling into the ravine pool and the middle of that pool was deep enough to completely submerge an adult Spix macaw.
While Garrett breathed a sad sigh as he gazed at his stumpy tail, he heard Lavender's voice speak to him.
"I know how it feels to remain grounded and unable to perform tricks that need flying until your tail grows back, Garrett," said she as she continued weaving the string of flowers and vine, before turning her gaze at Garrett and looked at him with her beautiful aquamarine-like eyes, "But you ought to be very proud of yourself for helping to rescue me from that beastly ball of fur with sheets of skin and mangy fingers for wings yesterday." She growled the end of this sentence with pure malice, her ponytail flaring out. Garrett sighed and gazed at the scratch on Lavender's face and the bald patch on her tummy. The scratch was on its way to healing and to the relief of the tribe nurses, the injury was only minor. Garrett then caught sighted a flash of blue out the corner of his eye. He turned and saw a familiar adult male macaw with the distinctive head feathers shared only by his sons Finnick and Oberon come by and gaze at Lavender. Lavender frowned as her father Roberto had given her yet another gaze, the fifteenth one she had counted since yesterday. Lavender hated being checked on all the time, especially by her parents and kept snapping to them that she was old enough to look after herself. She began to voice this disapproval to Garrett.
"I wish Dad wouldn't do this to me every time he comes past," muttered Lavender as she watched Roberto fly over to Brisa, Finnick, Felix, Oberon and Ophelia waiting for him by the pool's edge. "It's bad enough as it is with him watching me all the time each time I socialised with the male macaws when we were adolescents."
"He's just concerned for you," said Garrett, his eyes also watching Roberto as he landed before Brisa and Lavender's four siblings, "Especially after what almost happened to you yesterday."
Lavender just released a disgruntled huff. "But that doesn't mean that he and Mom can come by and check on me all the time. I'm getting SICK of it. It's like EVERY FIVE MINUTES!"
In her small outburst, the pale blue-purple macaw tossed down her decoration in a huff and folded her wings, a sour look on her face. Garrett rose to his feet and strode over to her.
"Don't you get it, Lavender?" he snapped, reasoning with the feisty macaw, "Those flying foxes almost took one of Roberto's offspring. Don't you remember how a bunch of flying foxes attacked and slaughtered your father's family when he was a young chick? He did not want one of his offspring falling into the wings of a bunch of flying creatures that had ORPHANED him!"
Lavender just pierced Garrett with a sour glare, making him stop talking. Taken aback, Garrett took a step back and raised his wings and shook his head in annoyance, as if to say, 'Honestly!'. He sometimes found Lavender's feistiness annoying. Then Garrett's gaze returned to his tattered and stumped tail, the consequence of his attempts to rescue Lavender.
"Look, I know how frustrating it is," he continued, his gaze back on his girlfriend who only looked back at him with a sour look, "But Tiago's on the same perch. He had been forbidden by Blu and Jewel from leaving the ravine for his safety, along with his siblings Carla, Bia, Luke and Linda and cousin Kira, and I'm also not surprised that Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil had been banned by Zephyr and Aurora, Ricardo and Tyler by Nuvem and Cassia and our other friends like Annie, Turquesa and Músculo and myself by our parents as well…"
However, Garrett remembered that Nuvem had gone out on one of the foraging groups to help with the gathering of fruit. Cassia was at the infirmary with Tyler and Ricardo, and also Annie, helping to treat minor injuries on dozens of patients. Lavender did not reply and returned to staring into space sourly. Giving up, Garrett returned to sitting on the rock.
Not too far away, Blu and Jewel continued to allocate macaws to a patrol group to send to the Spix/Lear's border to check that area and also potentially bump into a patrol group from the Lear's macaw tribe. While the two Spix tribe leaders did this, Carla, Bia, Tiago and Kira, together with Luke and Linda, the former three's younger brother and sister, were kept under the watchful eyes of Eduardo and Mimi while nearby, Justin, Charlotte, Matilda and Virgil were helping their parents Zephyr and Aurora with the usual housework and looking after Azurite and Aquamarine. The scratch across Tiago's chest, like the cut on Lavender's face, was on its way to healing and thankfully, it too wasn't too deep. Tiago sat reading a book on jokes and pranks, his favourite topic, but his face was plastered with sourness much like Lavender's face. He had been strictly forbidden from joining any patrol or foraging group for his safety after what had happened yesterday, and the same ban had been replicated onto his two sisters, cousin and on Justin and his two sisters and brother as well. While Tiago continued reading his favourite book, Bia sat nearby reading a book on physics and Carla had headphones in her ears, listening to some music. Kira was playing with Luke and Linda using pebbles like marbles and shooting them into some concentric marks made from flat leaves cut to resemble rings. A brown pebble shot into the ring and knocked into three of the marbles present, sending two of them flying out of the ring while the brown pebble settled near the central circle. Luke, the one who had thrown the marble, giggled while Kira and Linda breathed a sigh of mock frustration.
"Your aim's getting good, little cousin," said Kira. Luke just smiled at her.
"I can see he's a natural at that marble game," said Justin as he came by carrying some sticks, "He seems to take after Uncle Blu in his familiarity with human games."
"I wouldn't say that my uncle, I mean my biological uncle," said Kira, "Was any good at these human games. He told me that a greyhound puppy once beat him in chess when he lived in Rio."
Kira's eyes then travelled to her cousin Tiago as he continued reading his joke book. Nearby, Eduardo and Mimi continued watching the group. Then Virgil and Matilda walked in, thunderstruck looks on their faces.
"I can't believe Tiago over there is still calm and collected and had even slept well last night," said Virgil in a splintered voice.
"After almost being whisked away by that group of winged furballs along with Azul, Spock and Lavender," said Matilda, "Anyone would have thought that he'd have been badly traumatised after what had happened to him."
"He's probably tough as a Brazil nut or coconut shell," said Justin in admiration.
"But it certainly didn't half frighten Uncle Blu and Aunt Jewel though," said Kira, "And I wouldn't be surprised that Andromeda and Eragon and the rest of Spock's relatives would have had the same reaction after hearing what had almost happened to Spock on the same day."
"And as for Uncle Beto (Roberto)," said Matilda, her gaze turning to Roberto and his family with Lavender and Garrett nearby, "He had suffered a double whammy or two shocks simultaneously: first with witnessing Alexandre almost get brutally kidnapped by one gang of bats led by the infamous Voldemort, the one who participated in killing his family when he was young, and then subsequently hearing what had almost happened to Lavender at the clutches of another gang of flying foxes."
"Lavender and her brothers Finnick and Felix have been completely forbidden from leaving the ravine like Tiago and the rest of us for our safety," said Virgil, "Which is a shame really. I was planning on taking Bia out for a date to the Brazil nut grove…"
"After what almost happened to Alexandre over there?" asked Kira with a frown, "Absolutely not."
Virgil just sighed and resumed carrying some sticks he had carried in the direction of his family's hollow, Justin and Matilda following. Though the young adult macaws lived in their own hollows now, they had been commanded by Blu and Jewel to remain in sight of their parents' hollows which further added to the frustration of some of Carla's friends. Lavender and Tiago were obviously two of those macaws.
As Virgil left, Charlotte lighted down next to Kira, Luke and Linda. Like Tiago and Lavender, her face was twisted into a sour look with a streak of envy as she gazed at the patrol group as Blu and Jewel sent them out. She gazed longingly at the group as they flew through the ravine air and disappeared out of the ravine's entrance and on into the Spix tribe's territory to carry out their job. Charlotte loved going out and hated being confined to the ravine all the time but she knew that this was likely to be in place until the flying fox situation was sorted.
"How is it that those macaws get to go out while young macaws that had just become adults like us aren't?" growled Charlotte to Kira.
"I believe it's because the older adult macaws are more experienced, especially in self-defence," said Kira, "Since we're still young adults, we still have a lot to learn." She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe that could be the main reason."
Charlotte just gazed at the last patrol group member as it disappeared out of the ravine entrance before turning and leaving for her parents' tree for she was on duty with looking after Azurite and Aquamarine. As Charlotte left, Blu and Jewel walked in, exhausted looks on their faces.
"That's the third massive patrol group we've sent out thus far," breathed Blu tiredly, "Being the new leaders of our tribe is not easy, you know."
"Daddy told me that he sometimes struggled with the role until several years later," said Jewel.
"Well, I believe you two are excellent leaders, Uncle and Aunt," said Kira, her eyes then travelling to her biological uncle Blu, "Especially considering the fact that you've spent the first fifteen years of your life living with a human before coming to here…"
"Indeed he is, my first-cousin, one removed," said Eduardo as he and Mimi walked over to her and her two younger cousins. Eduardo then beamed a proud smile at Blu. "I'm proud of him despite his little quirks."
"Such as sleeping in sometimes," sniggered Kira, the disappointment lifted slightly, "Only for Luke and Linda to go after him with a spider each time."
Luke and Linda released titters, much to the slightly annoyed glare of Blu. The group enjoyed the brief moment of amusement but that moment was shattered when the group was alerted by the sounds of panicked flapping wings.
"Blu, Jewel!" cried a macaw. Blu, Jewel, Kira, Eduardo, Mimi, Luke, Linda, and Tiago, Carla and Bia nearby looked up and saw a group of five blue macaws rocket in, the one who had called Blu and Jewel's names, Maximillian, at the front. As the five clumsily landed before the group, Jewel went over to them.
"Whoa, steady on, Max," he told Turquesa's father and his companions as they took a moment to regain control of their breath. Then one of Maximillian's companions spoke.
"There is something approaching the entrance of our ravine!" she blurted out. Alarmed, Blu and Jewel shot each other worried looks while Kira, Carla, Bia and Tiago just said nothing. Luke and Linda whimpered timidly and huddled by Kira's side.
"Flying foxes?" asked Kira.
"No, a pair of birds," said Maximillian, "But unidentified brown species. We don't know what or who they are but we'll find out when they are closer to our ravine."
Blu and Jewel, shot each other another alarmed glances and then lofted into flight, Maximillian and his four companions following.
"Stay here with our five offspring and our niece, Daddy and Aunt Mimi," said Jewel to Eduardo and Mimi as they left. Kira was about to follow but Mimi's wing shot out and stopped her.
"No, no, you'd better stay here, poppet," she said. Kira flashed Mimi a look and obeyed. Carla, Bia and Tiago did the same when Eduardo also blocked their way, but Tiago's reaction was not very positive.
"Honestly," he snapped and returned to reading his joke book.
"Don't you get it, bro," said Bia, "You were almost kidnapped yesterday."
"We don't want to risk that happening again," said Carla.
"That's right," said Eduardo firmly, "And the last thing we want is one of my grandchildren being whisked off into flying fox territory for brutal interrogation about us."
Tiago flinched in extreme revulsion as though he had been bitten by a venomous snake at this statement. He detested the thought of spilling information about his own tribe to every Amazon birds' sworn enemies, especially their leaders Cicatriz and Iracebeth, and betraying them. Repulsed with his stomach lurching, the young Blu lookalike but with a slender build returned to his joke book. Carla, Bia and the others sighed.
"Winona, one of our newer blue-and-gold friends was forced to suffer a dislocated wing to save our brother from being taken to the territory of our enemies," said Carla. Bia then nodded to Garrett as he continued talking with Lavender with Finnick and Felix sitting nearby under the watchful eyes of Roberto and Brisa.
"And Garrett had to sacrifice most of his tail to save her (Lavender) from being kidnapped as well," she said, "Not to mention Annie's younger brother Sergio having to face getting stabbed with a sharp-stick while helping him…"
Kira then felt a thought about Winona, Sergio and the other casualty of yesterday's incident, the archaeobird named Glimmergem who had suffered a broken wing caused by a strike of a club-like weapon from one of the bats as they continued to spend time in the hospital being treated for their injuries. As for Glimmergem's bat-bird which had been a female grey 'pterodactyloid', or bat-birds that did not have a long bony tail with a vertical diamond tip on the end, she had not been so lucky and Kira sighed as she remembered how the poor creature was slain during the skirmish.
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the ravine, dozens of Spix macaws, among them Blu and Jewel had gathered around the entrance to the ravine, poised for action. Maximillian pointed to the incoming forms.
"There they are," he said. Blu and Jewel followed his point and saw the two strange brown birds.
"Well, as soon as those two arrive," Blu said, "We're gonna capture them and question them. Get ready, everyone."
The macaws around him obeyed and prepared to pounce onto the two forms. It was then that Aurora, having left to see what the commotion was at Zephyr's permission and Justin, Charlotte, Matilda, Virgil and Azurite and Aquamarine's request, turned up. When she gazed at the two approaching brown birds and were close enough for most of their features to be visible, she felt recognition creep over her. However, it was a very surprised reaction.
"Hang on!" she called, making Blu and Jewel shoot her a confused gaze. "They're not suspicious intruders; they're two of our city friends!"
Blu, Jewel and the other macaws gazed at the approaching pair of birds as their features melted into view. Both of them had brown plumages but their body shapes and features appeared recognisable. One of them appeared to be a parrot with an enormous crest, but its tail was too short for it to be a macaw. The other had lethal looking talons and a cruel beak, as well as a pair of bulbous eyes and swallow-shaped wings, characteristics of a falcon and based on its size, Aurora deduced it to be a female, knowing that female falcons were often larger than the males. However, she saw that the eyes of the short-tailed parrot with the crest were lilac.
As the pair of brown birds touched down before the dumbfounded Spix macaws onto a branch, Aurora approached them, her surprised eyes fixed onto the crested parrot with the lilac eyes.
"Eustace?" she said incredulously. The brown parrot nodded.
"Yes, Aunt Aurora," it said in a voice Aurora knew belonged to Eustace. The parrot then nodded to the brown falcon-like creature and said, "And this is Velocity. We're sorry to cause you guys a bit of an alarm."
The falcon named Velocity then raised a wing and wiped her face. When the wing came away, the brown masking her face became replaced by slate grey feathers. Eustace, the parrot which was actually a cockatoo, did the same but also to his crest as well and revealed to Aurora and the other Spix macaws his pure white face and banded yellow crest, a characteristic of his sulfur-crested and Major Mitchell's heritage.
"They've coated themselves in mud!" gasped Maximillian in shock.
"Yes, we did," said Velocity, "It's to prevent us from being seen by the flying foxes on our way to here."
Blu then came forward, a confrontational look on his face.
"What are you two still doing here!?" he barked, "I thought I told you and your siblings and friends with you to return to Rio!"
"You know it's very unsafe here," added Jewel, "Especially after what happened to your brother, Velocity, when he was talking to my mate on the phone."
"Oh, you mean Orion?" asked Velocity, "He's still alive and had managed to escape with a scratch but he's alright."
"And where are your brother and sister, Eustace, and Serena and Clemont?" demanded Blu.
"They're here as well with our toucan friend, Diantha," said Eustace, "However we don't have time to discuss about our wellbeing. We are here to deliver you some urgent news and a warning."
The Spix macaws exchanged glances. Then Aurora asked, "What news and warning?"
Then Velocity launched into an explanation of what she and Orion, as well as Rosa, Eustace and Milo, had eavesdropped on the three bats earlier.
"While we were caring for a group of rescued birds in an underground cave, we overheard a trio of flying foxes talk about how well the driving out of the Bluewing Clan and blue-throated macaws and their co-residents went last night," she said. When these words reached the Spix macaws' ears, heads jerked up and horrified gasps rolled through the group. Blu and Jewel's eyes bulged out of their sockets and their beaks dropped open in extreme horror and disbelief.
"Are you meaning to say that the flying foxes had actually driven out the Bluewing Clan and the blue-throated macaws and had taken their land!?" demanded Blu, rage taking over.
"You're JOKING!" shouted Jewel. However, the shakes of both the falcon and cockatoo's heads confirmed that they weren't. Aurora then began to tremble all over as thoughts about a friend of her offspring, Ariel, and her family and everyone else in those two clans and smaller bird groups such as Citrine and Caspian the golden conures and their families and the rest of their little group, boiled in her mind. Blu then gazed at Jewel with a thunderous look on his face.
"Something tells me that that pair of deranged colony leaders had not listened to our warnings, dear," he growled.
"Cicatriz and Iracebeth really HAVE crossed the line now," hissed Jewel, an equally thunderous look on her face. Blu then turned back to Velocity and Eustace and asked, "Is there anything else we need to know?"
"Yes," said Velocity, "After those bats had talked about how well last night's events for their colony went, we heard that the colony's next plans are to invade the next patch of land and drive out the next flock of birds, starting with one of the three tribes that live near their land."
"Oh, that's the Lear's, the blue-and-gold and the green macaw tribes!" cried Aurora.
"Go on," said Maximillian.
"But to do that, Cicatrix or whatever his name is, is planning on kidnapping several members from the tribes and clans, including from the archaeobirds, for information," explained Eustace. As he said this, Roberto flew in. A look of surprise crossed his face when he heard what Eustace said.
"That sounds like what that flying fox Augustus and his family told us," he said.
"Augustus?" asked Eustace confused.
"We'll explain later," said Blu, before he eyed the cockatoo and the falcon, "Go on."
"And after you tribes and clans had tripled your patrol and foraging groups to counter the flying foxes' attempts at kidnapping you, we heard one of those three bats say that one of the colony members had discovered a plant with tranquiliser-like properties," continued Eustace.
"Tranquiliser?" repeated Roberto, confused at the very human term. Blu turned to him to explain.
"It's a substance that puts animals to sleep," he said, "Sort of like the stuff the humans known as animal doctors use on dangerous animals like crocodiles and jaguars, especially if they had been injured in order to make them easier and safer to handle."
"But a plant that makes one drowsy enough to fall asleep…" began Aurora. She then turned to Velocity and Eustace and frowned, dread coming over her. "So are you two meaning to say that the bats had just discovered a plant with properties that puts victims to sleep or something?"
The other Spix macaws looked on worriedly as Aurora asked this.
"Exactly, Aurora," said Velocity, "According to those three bats, the plant apparently has knock-out properties capable of rendering a victim unconscious if it gets into them, like through a wound such as a puncture wound, or through ingestion. And the flying fox colony is planning on turning that plant into a paste, and then smothering that paste into porcupine spines. After that, they plan on shooting those porcupine spines at their victims of choice to knock them out."
"And as soon as the paste takes effect on the victims, the bats plan on hauling them, while they are unconscious, back to their territory where they will wake once the substance wears off and then the bats will interrogate them," said Eustace. This took a few moments form the listeners to absorb this information but by the time they did, utter cries of despair erupted from some of the macaws while Blu and Jewel, Roberto and Aurora gazed back at the falcon and the cockatoo, thunderstruck. Blu shuddered with dread while Roberto swayed as though he were about to faint. Nearby, Músculo, who had been sent by his parents to pick some berries that grew on the ravine cliffs, had stopped to listen to the whole thing. When he heard the information that Eustace and Velocity had just delivered, he flinched in extreme horror. Aurora then shot Blu, Jewel and Roberto an alarmed look, moments before Eduardo arrived.
"This is bad, you three," she said in a low voice.
"Do any of the other tribes and clans know about this?" asked Blu.
"Diantha, Milo, Clemont, Rosa and Serena already have that covered," said Velocity, "Diantha and Milo have gone to warn Felipe's tribe and the Navyfeather Clan and glaucous macaws who will hopefully go on to warn Andromeda and Eragon's clan while Clemont, Serena and Rosa had gone to the green, the Lear's and the blue-and-gold tribes…"
Roberto was about to speak when suddenly, the sound of flapping wings reached the ears of the group. Blu, Jewel, Roberto, Aurora, Eustace, Velocity and the others all looked up and saw one of the patrol groups rocket back to them, alarmed looks on their faces. There were about two dozen macaws in this group and some of them looked bedraggled and beaten, a number of scratches and bloodied injuries slashing through their cerulean and blue plumages, similar to the marks Tiago's group had yesterday but then Blu and Jewel noticed something else. Three of the macaws lay limp in the talons of their friends. As the large patrol group landed before the astonished Spix macaws accompanied by Eustace and Velocity, the three macaws were lowered before the group while those injured landed clumsily onto nearby branches, the pain of their injuries making flight and landing awkward. The audience drew in horrified gasps and some had flown away to bring in the tribe nurses to treat the injured. Some of the macaws in the crowd then began to assume that the three limp macaws were dead. However, first glances were often deceiving. Aurora then noticed that someone was missing. This patrol group was the same group on which Nuvem, her cousin-in-law, had left with.
Zephyr and Brisa arrived in time to see the arrival of Nuvem's group. When they saw the three limp macaws, horror exploded within them. Blu then stepped forward toward the patrol group.
"What has happened?" he asked. In reply, the macaw who had led Nuvem's group out into the territory looked up at him and Jewel and the others standing around them. His face was laced with fright and shock.
"We just escaped a group of flying foxes," he said, "We were out patrolling the Spix/Lear's border as directed by you two when suddenly, we heard the sounds of something being shot into the air."
"The sounds were like those of an elastic vine being twanged but there were multiple of these," said another macaw in the group, a female. The audience listened, horrified looks on their faces. It was then that Eustace noticed a dash of brown amongst the blue plumage of one of the unconscious macaws, specifically in the hip area.
"And then the next thing we knew," said a third macaw, another male, "Some of us, among them Nuvem, screeched in agony and dropped like stones towards the forest floor. Those of us that weren't hit immediately dived down to our comrades and landed by their sides."
"We asked them what happened," said a fourth macaw, another male, "and Nuvem responded, 'We've been shot by something!' but what happened next sent everything flying into chaos for us."
"While we were looking over our injured comrades looking for what they had been shot down with, we were suddenly set upon by a large group of armed flying foxes who dived down at us from some large clusters of leaves in the canopy," said the lead macaw. Horrified gasps rolled through the group and Eustace began to examine the dash of brown in one of the three knocked out macaw's plumage. To his horror, he realised that it was from a stiff twig and part of it was embedded in the macaw's hip. Velocity whispered something to him. She could only come up with one option as to what the twig was and its origins.
"Those flying foxes then viciously attacked us and drove us away from the group of macaws," continued the lead macaw, "There were about six of them shot down but we had only managed to rescue three. We were forced to retreat due to the number of those flying foxes armed with their dangerous weapons like sharp-sticks and porcupine ball sticks and as we did, they took away the remaining three macaws, among them Nuvem…"
More horrified gasps exploded throughout the crowd and Zephyr, Brisa and Aurora all flinched in immense horror. Cassia, Tyler, Ricardo and Annie, who had been listening just outside the ravine's entrance, also flinched in immense horror as well. Nuvem was Cassia's mate and the father of Tyler and Ricardo.
"And on our way back here, the three macaws you see lying there," said the second macaw, "began to become less and less responsive until they stopped moving altogether. They're still alive but they're unconscious…"
As he said this, Zephyr came forward and checked the female macaw's pulse by placing a talon on her neck. To his relief, he felt it beating.
"She's alive but she's definitely unconscious," he said. Brisa and Aurora also checked the pulses of the other two macaws and found that they were still beating as well.
"So are these two," said Aurora. Jewel then frowned at the lead macaw.
"Did you see who shot your group-mates and Nuvem out of the air?" she asked.
"No," replied the lead macaw, "We were too busy with our task but as I've said before, we've heard the sounds of elastic vines being snapped. That was shortly succeeded by the agonised screeches of six of our group-mates, including Nuvem and those three. But I assume the shooters must have been those flying foxes."
"We tried our best in fending off those bats and rescuing all six of those shot down by the something but those bats viciously fought back and injured some of us," said another macaw in the patrol group, "During the skirmish, some of the bats managed to escape, Nuvem and the other two in tow while the rest of us were driven away."
"Roxie, our scoremarker who was with us," said the lead macaw, "Had been injured quite… badly. We had to take her to the animal hospital before returning to here." He then sighed. "This attack appeared quite different from the previous attacks reported yesterday and today which implies that the flying foxes had modified their plans in trying to catch birds to take away to their territory and interrogate."
"They also appeared well-prepared too," said the second macaw, "While we fought back against the bats, more came in and helped out, driving us away with stones fired from some sort of slingshots."
The lead macaw then saw the crestfallen looks on Blu, Jewel, Zephyr, Aurora and Brisa's faces. "We're so sorry, you five," he said, "But we were hopelessly outnumbered by those reinforcements and were forced to retreat. We didn't want to risk any of us getting killed…"
As he said this, Eustace pointed out to the stiff twig jutting out like a barb from one of the macaw's hip. "This thing is a porcupine spine," he said, "So that definitely sums up what we had heard from those three bats back in the cavern."
The other patrollers also turned over the other two limp macaws and saw that they had a porcupine spine embedded in the feathers of their hip or side as well as more horrified gasps and murmurs rolled through the crowd. Blu then turned to Eustace and Velcoity and said, "Well, as much as I am angry at you two and Milo, Rosa, Clemont, Serena and Orion and your toucan friend for disobeying my orders to return to Rio, I'd like to thank you both for the warning and also telling us what had happened to the Bluewing Clan and the blue-throated macaws. Now you leave to your hiding place and we'll take it from here."
"And do be careful out there," said Jewel firmly, "Our territory's riddled with roaming groups of flying foxes."
"Thanks, Blu, Jewel," said Velocity and with that, she and Eustace opened their still-mud covered wings and took off.
As the falcon and the cockatoo left, Blu and the other Spix macaws returned to their ravine. A look of thunder was plastered all over Blu and Jewel's faces. The injured macaws of the patrol group and the three still-unconscious macaws were carried along by the tribe nurses that had been summoned by some of the crowd members.
"I'm afraid this means war, Blu," growled Jewel bitterly, "The written warnings we had sent to Cicatriz and Iracebeth had been our last peaceful shot."
"I hope any members of the Bluewing hyacinth Clan and the blue-throated macaw clan," said Blu worriedly, "and also the non-tribe and clan residents such as the golden conures that had survived the incident last night are alright. I'm particularly thinking of Ariel and her family since Ariel is a part of our first-brood offspring's circle of friends."
This was answered by a dreaded look from Zephyr, Aurora, Roberto and Brisa. Their minds were also swamped with concerns for Nuvem and the other two macaws, the three that had been successfully kidnapped by the flying foxes. What was the Spix tribe to do now? Extreme disappointment and despair enveloping them like a cloud, the Spix macaws continued into the ravine.