Chapter 22- some more macaws end up kidnapped

At the green/Lear's border in the camu-camu bush grove

Alonso and some of his inner-circle birds, together with Valentino, Rosalind, Waldo, Monique, Sapphire and her mate D'Artagnan and their daughters Miranda, Jasmine and Annette and some other Lear's macaws were at the camu-camu grove, listening to two of Eustace and Velocity's friends, Clemont, Serena and Rosa, with horrified and disbelieving facial expressions as the three cockatoos delivered all they had heard from the three bats back at the cave, including what had happened to the Bluewing Clan and the blue-throated macaws. Like Eustace and Velocity, the three cockatoos had flown to the territories of Alonso and Waldo's tribes each covered in a suit of mud.

"…and that is what the flying fox colony is planning to do," said Serena, finishing the explanation of the bats' plans, "They're going to use this knockout plant to put their victims to sleep to haul out rather than capture them and have them fight back."

"Their likely targets are the patrol and foraging groups," said Clemont. As he said this, Sapphire whipped round as she tried to comfort Miranda who was still depressed over the incident involving Charlie and Ozzy's deaths the other day. Sapphire and D'Artagnan had set to having another brood to replace their lost son but no eggs had been laid in the nest yet. Not too far away, Finn, Jasmine's boyfriend, stood with twin brothers Lewin and Luis, talking with them and some other friends.

"You're not serious," cried Sapphire in disbelief.

"Are you meaning to say that Cicatriz and Iracebeth have not listened to our warnings?" added Alonso. Waldo, Monique, D'Artagnan and Valentino stood with Sapphire and Rosalind, incredulous looks plastered all over their faces.

"We are being serious," replied Rosa to confirm that what they had heard from the three bats were not some sort of fabricated story, "We overheard three of those flying foxes talk about this back in an underground cave in which we took refuge with some birds…"

Rosalind's head snapped to her mate and Alonso and Verde, worries for some macaws flaring in her mind.

"We need to send some macaws out to bring back Aramis' foraging group before they fall victim to any of those sneaky bats," she said urgently. Sapphire and D'Artagnan's faces flashed with horror. Aramis, Esmeralda, Chlorophyll and Petunia, together with Ashley, the military girlfriend of the third one in this line, were among that group. Waldo immediately stood straight up, a determined look on his face.

"I'll lead that group and find them before any of those roaming bats do," he said urgently. And with that, he began to gather up some Lear's and green macaws for the task, among them Luis and Lewin. D'Artagnan went to join but Sapphire stopped him, fearing for his safety. Miranda also went to follow but she was stopped by Rosalind who gently shook her head. Miranda then obeyed and sat back down. Then as soon as he had gathered up enough macaws, Waldo hovered before Valentino and Alonso.

"We'll be back as soon as we can, sirs," said Sapphire's half-brother quickly.

"Then make sure that you find that foraging group and fast!" shouted Alonso urgently. Valentino and Rosalind nodded in agreement. And with that, the mixed group of Lear's and green macaws darted off into the trees in the direction of where Aramis' foraging group had left. Rosa went to follow.

"Oh, you'd better stay here, Rosa," said D'Artagnan, a wing in front of the only daughter of Travis and Sunset to stop her from following.

"Yes, those flying foxes are incredibly dangerous, especially with those weapons," added Verde. Rosa obeyed and lighted down. Miranda, Jasmine, Annette and Finn then looked on with worry for their green friends.

"I really hope you lot are joking," said Jasmine to Clemont, Serena and Rosa. However, the three cockatoos gazed back at her with honest expressions on their faces.

Meanwhile

A group of great green and military macaws were browsing a mango tree for ripe fruit to bring back to their tribe's home patch. The group had brought bags made from tough sticks and vines to save several trips. Among them were Esmeralda, Aramis, Chlorophyll, Petunia and Ashley. Edmund, the younger brother of Chlorophyll and Petunia and son of Esmeralda and Aramis was back at the green tribe's trees being looked after by a babysitter for he was too young to accompany the group, especially with flying foxes roaming the territory and he was almost attacked by a group of them. While the pickers were harvesting ripe mangoes and other fruit, some great green and military macaws were perched around them, looking out for any flying animals with soil-black membranous wings and red, orange, brown or dark brown fur crisscrossed with scars carrying sharp-sticks and other weapons with a cloud of colour tied to one end. Petunia placed a ripe mango into a bag held by Chlorophyll and a female military macaw named Kari while Ashley and another great green macaw, a female, held another bag open for a few other green macaws to place their mangoes in. As they continued to load their bags with mangoes, Petunia breathed a sad and longing sigh.

"I wish I could still fly to the red tribe's home patch and visit my scarlet boyfriend Benjamin without having to worry about running into any of those pesky bats," she moaned dreamily and with disappointment.

"I'm afraid it's too dangerous, daughter," said Aramis nearby as he placed a few berries into another bag, "We can't have any of us running into any armed bats and getting hurt or worse, especially after what had happened to that class of chicks last time."

"Not to mention Tiago's group in the Spix macaw tribe's territory yesterday, and Athos and Ruby's son Alexandre," added Esmeralda. Petunia sighed and went to pick another mango.

"I sure hope that Cicatriz will have heeded our warnings by now," said another great green macaw, a former Pit of Games player named Ted, "Because if he and his bats don't, there will be consequences."

"They've trespassed in our territory enough times, anyway," muttered Esmeralda with a growl.

"Let's just finish the task," said Aramis and with that, the group continued loading their bags with fruit. However, the group was unaware that they were being watched.

In the shadow of the leaves and branches of a large tree near the green macaw group, several pairs of eyes appeared. The pairs of eyes glinted evilly in the dark as they focussed on the foraging group of green macaws. Then one of the shadowy owners of the eyes fiddled and began to prepare something. While the great green and military macaws continued loading their fruit, Chlorophyll stiffened. He began to glance about the surroundings while the others continued their task, the feeling of being watched by something pricking at him for he had heard something out of the ordinary. Chlorophyll had very acute hearing and was able to pick up even the faintest of sounds, a skill he likely developed during his time as a pet macaw.

"Hey, Chlorophyll," said Ashley when she saw her great green boyfriend look warily around like an alerted deer, "Problem?"

Aramis and Esmeralda and some of the other macaws including Ted also stopped and gazed at the wary young male and the former two's older son.

"Something troubling you, Chlorophyll?" asked Aramis.

"I have a feeling something is stalking us," replied Chlorophyll warily. Esmeralda and Aramis looked around.

"Well, I don't see anything," said Esmeralda, "So there's nothing to be wary or fearful about."

"But I believe I have heard something suspicious, Mom," protested Chlorophyll.

"A predator like a harpy eagle, bro?" asked Petunia.

"No," said Chlorophyll, "Something else."

Aramis then breathed an irritated sigh.

"Look, son, we have no time to pause and worry about stalkers or predators," he said, "We've a task to complete. Now back to work."

Chlorophyll sighed and returned to browsing the mango tree for any more ripe mangoes in obedience to his father's command. However, he was right to be alerted and wary for not too far away, one of the owners of the pairs of eyes glaring at the foraging group had already finished loading whatever it had in its wings and had taken aim at the green macaws. It had some sort of slingshot made from a y-shaped piece of wood and an elastic vine tied to the ends of the 'y', but it was designed to fire something else entirely different. Loaded onto the slingshot-like weapon was a long, rigid stick and it was coated with a substance on the end.

The green macaws continued loading the bags until the lead macaw finally gave the finishing signal.

"Right, I think that's enough fruit, team," she said, "Well done, everyone. Let's head back to our trees."

The others breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finished at last," said Chlorophyll with relief, "I was starting to feel on edge."

"Fearing that we'd be jumped by a bunch of armed flying foxes like how Tiago's group was, bro?" asked Petunia, "Oh, yeah."

"Right, let's go," said Aramis. No sooner than the last word had escaped his mouth when suddenly, a mysterious twang sounded. A split second later, a swooshing noise sliced through the quiet air and after that, an agonised screech exploded from one of the macaws. The other foragers snapped their gaze at the crier and to their surprise and horror, especially Aramis, Esmeralda, Chlorophyll and Ashley, Petunia was the one emitting a piercing screech. Her face was twisted in agony and she was grasping her left hip with her wings. Something had flown in from nowhere and had struck Petunia. Terror then exploded chaotically through the foraging group, especially her family.

"PETUNIA!" cried Aramis when suddenly, another twang-swoosh was heard. As the macaws heard this, Ted felt excruciating pain explode from his back as something jabbed into it. Immediately, he jumped about a metre into the air and grabbed his back, screeching in agony while Petunia crumpled on her front onto a branch, her wings wrapped tightly around the something in her hip and her face twisted in immense agony. Esmeralda and some other macaws rushed in to help Ted.

"Ted, what is it!?" cried Esmeralda. Ted, his face twisted in extreme pain then stopped crying and removed his wings, revealing a stiff barb-like thing embedded in his back. Esmeralda examined this closely and when she realised what it was, she drew in a horrified gasp.

"It's a porcupine spine!" she cried.

"Porcupine…?" began the lead macaw when the air was once again slashed with another twang-swoop. Chlorophyll was the first to spot the object causing it. It whizzed through the air like a dart, aiming straight for Ashley.

"LOOK OUT!" he cried and gave his military girlfriend a hefty shove, a split-second before the dart-like barb thing zoomed towards his plumage. The porcupine spine sliced through Chlorophyll's back feathers. Two or three leafy green contours were pulled by the flying dart as it sailed over the macaw's back, an inch above his skin and then jammed itself into the bark of a tree trunk. Chlorophyll shot an alarmed look at it.

"Good grief!" he cried. Ashley also turned and gazed at the dart.

"Is that a…" she began but suddenly, the air was shattered with an ear-splitting screech from the lead macaw.

"FLYING FOXES! RETREEEAAAT!"

Ashley and Chlorophyll, hearing the cry, snapped their gazes from the embedded spine and gazed at the other foragers as panic exploded through them. However, their eyes landed on a group of furry forms with black membranous wings as they emerged from the leaves of a nearby large tree and the moment their eyes made contact, ice splashed over them and submerged their hearts. Driven by panic, the couple lofted into flight and flew off after the other foragers, the group of flying foxes, among them Shinzon, in hot pursuit.

Through the trees, Waldo and his group continued flying through the canopy when the sounds of screaming macaws reached their ears. This made horror explode within them.

"ARAMIS AND HIS GROUP!" cried Luis and with that, he and his brother Lewin accelerated off, followed by the others. The rescue group rocketed on, tracing the source of the frightened and pained cries until they finally exploded from a cluster of trees into a clearing where the source was located. However, as that source came into view, Waldo's heart, and the hearts of the others were swamped with icy water. Right before their eyes was a skirmish cloud with flashes of blue, green, red, yellow and also drabber colours like reddish, black and brown. From the cloud fell feathers and fur as the group of great green and military macaws and flying foxes viciously fought, the flying foxes wielding weapons like sharp-sticks. Alarmed, Waldo and his group leaped into the fray to help drive off the flying foxes. Petunia and Ted, the two that had been stabbed by porcupine spines, flapped out of the cloud with two flying foxes in hot pursuit, their carriers having been attacked when they tried to carry them away. However, the two's heads began to feel like they were flying at a very high altitude, accompanied by drowsiness. Something in the porcupine spines they were struck with was beginning to do its sinister work on the two. As drowsiness eventually engulfed Petunia to the point of clouding her ability to think clearly, she plummeted from the air and slammed onto a branch. Wearily, she gazed at the battle cloud of green, blue, red, yellow and now navy blue feathers and reddish, brown, dark brown and orange fur and membranous wings.

"He-e-eeellp…" she called weakly but then the drowsiness took its toll on her thinking and her head flopped down onto the branch. Nearby, Ted passed out as the substance in the porcupine spine completed its work on him as well and he fell facedown onto another branch.

The moment the two macaws plunged into drowsy unconsciousness, two of the flying foxes, one armed with a slingshot-like weapon consisting of a wide y-shaped wooden piece with some elastic vine attached, touched down around Petunia and examined her for any response. To their wicked glee, there was none.

"Right, let's…" said one of them, a brown female who had the slingshot-like weapon when suddenly; an ear-splitting screech sounded behind them. Hearing this, the brown female bat and her companion, an orange male, whipped round just in time to see a navy blue comet with dark teal tinting his face as well as yellow wings surrounding his eyes and a black beak below them, another piece of yellow-orange skin behind the mandible swoop down upon them from the trees through which Waldo and his group had flown.

D'Artagnan dived down like a falcon with his talons poised to inflict injury, his eyes ablaze with enormous grey firestorms. Then without hesitation, he slashed his claws over the brown female bat's face to knock her away from Petunia. The female bat, a surprised and agonised screech erupting from her mouth, was sent flying back from the branch, flying after D'Artagnan as he flew away. The slingshot-like weapon held by the bat was sent careening through the air. Her companion, the orange male snapped his gaze from Petunia's limp body to his friend when suddenly; another navy blue comet darted in and tackled him off the branch for Sapphire had attacked. With a shriek of surprise, the male bat was sent tumbling through the canopy. However, the male managed to regain his control and began to flap his membranous wings but before he could act, Sapphire jumped onto him and began to mercilessly claw him while D'Artagnan savagely went for the brown female. While D'Artagnan and Sapphire kept the two attempted kidnappers of Petunia busy, Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, Finn and Rosa, Clemont and Serena arrived to rescue Petunia while Rosalind and Valentino, together with Alonso and Verde, went to help Waldo's group. The newcomers had changed their minds and had decided to help Waldo's group rescue Aramis's group at Rosa's insistence. As they arrived to collect the limp Petunia, Clemont saw a barb-like spine jutting out from her left hip.

"That's the porcupine spine with the substance we heard the bats mention," said the citron-crested cockatoo.

"Never mind about that," said Miranda seriously, "Let's get her out of… look OUT!"

The group looked up and saw an enormous brown flying fox swoop down at them from the battle cloud with its sharp-stick aimed at them. Immediately, Rosa flapped up despite Miranda, Jasmine and Annette's protests and prepared to attack. Her banded crest flared out and her eyes ignited into enormous pink flames. Then as soon as the flying fox was near, Rosa, her talons prepared, clamped them onto the bat's sharp-stick and began to try and yank it from its owner's membranous wings. The momentum sent the bat and the cockatoo into a wild spin, the former struggling against the latter for his sharp-stick. While Rosa kept the bat occupied, Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, Finn and Serena escaped with Petunia in tow. Clemont, however, stayed behind to help his girlfriend.

"Let GO of my sharp-stick you FEATHERED SLUG…" snarled the bat but Rosa refused to unwrap her talons from the bat's sharp-stick.

"Over my dead body," snapped Rosa in a fierce snarl. The bat then began to fiercely tug at the sharp-stick with its claws, yanking Rosa and pulling her upper body and face towards its own. When Rosa's beak was in the bat's face, the hybrid cockatoo proceeded to bite down onto the bat's nose as hard as she could. An ear-piercing screech exploded from the bat's face as Rosa's beak remained clamped onto it. In the process it released its sharp-stick. The stick was caught by Clemont much to his surprise. Then suddenly, D'Artagnan's voice shouted, "Rosa, look OUT!"

Hearing this, Rosa released the bat's nose and turned just in time to see another bat with brown fur and a white batch on its torso fly in with a stick, but not a sharp-stick, poised to whack her. Below Rosa, another bat had attacked Clemont, forcing the citron-crested cockatoo to defend himself.

"Lights out, you JUNGLE RODENT!" snarled the bat and before Rosa could react, the right side of her head felt like it had been slammed against a hard surface as the bat's stick swung round and made contact there, HARD. A split-second later Rosa's vision became jolted with dozens and dozens of fireflies and her mind began to spin as though a heavy ball were inside it. Next, the connection between her brain and the rest of the body became interrupted and Rosa's world began to ascend around her, merging together into a blurry mess. Sounds around Rosa became echoed and she could hear Clemont's voice screech her name.

"ROOOSSSAAA!"

Then the last thing Rosa could pick up before blackness began to set in, she saw her world abruptly stop ascending as something caught her wings and tail…

Back in the battle cloud, the Lear's, great green and military macaws continued viciously fighting against the flying foxes. However, more flying foxes had flown in to help and soon the group realised they were outnumbered. Aramis soon found himself face to face with a face loaded with scorn from the lead flying fox, Shinzon. Shinzon flashed Aramis a devilish smile, his weapon, a mace-like stick with a ball of porcupine spines on one end, poised to strike.

"Hello… lowly green ball of slimy featherssss..." hissed the bat in a snaky voice. Aramis flinched harshly but then he snapped back to reality as Shinzon lurched at him with his weapon. Instantly, Aramis's claws came up and hooked onto the weapon as the porcupine spine ball approached him, stopping it in its tracks. Shinzon grunted as he attempted to force the spiky ball onto Aramis to inflict a nasty injury on him while Aramis grunted as he resisted on the other end. As he remained locked in a struggle with the evil bat, he heard a macaw shout, "WALDO!" as well as more screeches and the clashing of weapons as the skirmish between the bats and the macaws continued to rage. Aramis continued pushing with all his might against Shinzon's attempt to bludgeon him with the mace-like weapon, his face twisted into one of straining including a clenched beak. The look was mirrored on Shinzon's face as well as he continued pushing against the great green macaw. Then after another minute of this, Aramis eventually overpowered Shinzon and forced him back. Then with an enraged screech, Aramis lashed at Shinzon and attempted to claw the evil bat across the face but Shinzon dodged. Aramis was about to lunge at Shinzon again for another attempt but before he could do so; he felt excruciating pain explode from his right side, just under the wing. The slender great green macaw named after a Musketeer emitted an ear-piercing screech and flapped clumsily away. As he left, a female bat with orange fur appeared with a scornful look on her face.

"Wretched great green macaw!" she bellowed. She had been the one to stab a porcupine spine into Aramis's side to rescue Shinzon. Shinzon gave the bat a nod of approval to thank her.

"Let's take what we can and get outa here," said he and with that, he and the bat rocketed off to call the other bats.

Aramis flapped clumsily towards a branch, a talon grasping where he had been stabbed. As he reached a large branch, he flopped down on his front. His face twisted in sheer agony, Aramis groped his side with his other wing until he felt a stiff twig poking out from under his wing. Dread coming over him, he gazed down at the spot and when he saw a brown stick-like thing jutting from his green feathers, he released a cry of alarm. It was a porcupine spine but then Aramis noticed something not right about the spine. Near where it entered his plumage, a few drops of weird green dotted the twig. Aramis, his face twisted in agony, grasped the spine and pulled it out from under his wing before raising it to his face to have a proper look at it. He then noticed that the tip had been coated with some sort of green substance based on some green flecks among the red from his own blood, similar to the medicinal paste the green tribe nurses sometimes had in their infirmary tree when they mixed medicinal plants with water to create a paste before applying it to wounds and rashes. However, the paste used on the spines utilised by the flying foxes was altogether very different but before Aramis could deduce what the intentions were behind this paste, he suddenly began to feel funny. His head became very light as though he were flying at a high altitude. As these feelings washed over him, Aramis dropped the spine and clasped his head. It was obviously the effects of the paste which seemed to have entered his bloodstream when the porcupine spine entered his skin and now it was beginning to release its effects. The drowsiness continued enveloping Aramis's mind and he began to walk unsteadily as though drunk. As the drowsiness increased and he collapsed onto his front again, the sounds from the skirmish began to fade but Aramis only had time to hear Alonso's voice before his world finally became engulfed in darkness.

Later

Aramis's vision started out blurry as he finally found his way out of the blackness of unconsciousness. He had no idea how long he had been out cold but it must have been for a good while, a few hours maybe. As his vision began to clear, his eyes picked up a brown background with some colourful smudges at the front. Some were green with red spots and grey blotches below the red while some were dark blue with orange-yellow and black marks. Suddenly, an echoed voice said, "He's coming round, Alonso."

Aramis, stunned and confused, gasped in surprise when his brain registered his whereabouts. When his vision finally became fully clear and the shapes became recognisable forms, Aramis sat up, realising he was in a bed of moss.

"Whoa, calm down, Aramis," said the green macaw at the front, Alonso. Aramis relaxed as his tribe patriarch's wing rested on his shoulder. However, his mind swam through a cloud of confusion and he was speechless. Finally, he found words.

"What happened?" he asked, his green eyes darting this way and that at the walls of the infirmary tree, "How long have I been out?"

"You were out for a good several hours," said a Lear's macaw which was Sapphire. She was holding a ball of damp moss over her cheek and Aramis deduced that she must have been scratched in the face. Alonso began to add to the details.

"We have only managed to escape that cloud of pesky bats," he said, "They retreated after driving us off but… some of us got badly injured."

"Injured?" asked Aramis. Then a thought came to him; the thought about his mate, his son and daughter, Ashley, and D'Artagnan's family.

"Wait, where is Esmeralda?" he asked frantically, "And also Chlorophyll and Petunia?"

When he asked the question, Alonso's face fell, much to Aramis's feeling of dread. Sapphire then answered the question. However, her face was sombre too.

"Your son and daughter are alright," she said, "As are D'Artagnan, Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, Finn and Ashley…"

Aramis saw past Sapphire and saw his daughter, Petunia, awake in a bed of moss. Like her father, she had recovered from her unconsciousness but was dazed and stunned at what happened. Chlorophyll and Ashley flanked her, breathing relieved sighs that she was alright. Sapphire then gazed sadly at Aramis. "But…" she began but trailed off.

"But what?" asked Aramis, wanting to know. Sapphire and Alonso only replied with saddened faces. Aramis became flooded with agitation. He desperately wanted to know where Esmeralda was.

"Where is Esmeralda?" he demanded. Alonso's face fell further.

"I'm afraid she's been taken by those flying foxes," he replied sadly, "Along with Ted and two others."

Sapphire's eyes then welled with tears and she began to cry.

"So has Waldo," she said in an edgy voice, "Alongside three other Lear's macaw. We had been unable to save them."

"D'Artagnan and Valentino went to rescue those macaws but some flying foxes viciously attacked them," explained Alonso, tears also falling from his eyes, "D'Artagnan had suffered a blow to the head while some of the others also got injured but Valentino…"

Alonso daren't say what had happened to the former Lear's tribe patriarch but then the sounds of weeping entered the infirmary tree from outside. Aramis tried to see past Alonso and Sapphire but could not due to the position of his moss bed. But he knew who those sobs belonged to. They belonged to Rosalind, the mate of Valentino and former tribe matriarch of the Lear's macaws. Sapphire flashed a glance outside through a hole in the infirmary tree and saw several Lear's, great green and military macaws, among them Monique (the Lear's tribe's scoremarker), D'Artagnan (who had a moss bandaged to his head with a large leaf), Miranda, Jasmine, Annette, Finn and Lewin and Luis, surround something wrapped in big leaves. Nearby, Rosalind was weeping, her tears falling like rain during a thunderstorm and her wails were as loud as a howler monkey's cries. Sapphire continued to weep while Alonso and Aramis, together with Petunia, Chlorophyll and Ashley, felt a pang of pity for the Lear's macaws. They could not believe that something like this would happen to a former leader of theirs, and Valentino was like a brother to Alonso, the close bond having formed shortly after the green and Lear's tribes had made peace.

"It's going to be a difficult time for us, I think," said the green tribe patriarch in a broken voice. He raised a wing to his beak and sniffled as he began to weep as well. Aramis just sat there, his brain wracked with the sadness, dread and despair at all that had happened. His mate had been taken, as had Monique's mate and the leader of the Lear's tribe who was also Sapphire's half-brother and a relative to D'Artagnan and his three daughters, and the former patriarch had been killed, fatally wounded by the lead bat according to one of the green macaws who had witnessed Valentino's deathblow.

While Aramis and the others wept for the loss of Valentino and also the others that were kidnapped, Rosa awoke from her unconscious brought on by a blow to the head. As she opened her eyes, she noticed an odd sensation around her head. But then someone spoke.

"Rosa!" said a male voice in relief. Chlorophyll's voice as he and Ashley saw the cockatoo come round and with that, the pair left Petunia's bed to see her. Near Rosa were Amelia, the scoremarker for the green tribe's Pit of Games team, and two of the team players for the Lear's team in addition to being a nurse of the green tribe, Daysi and Violeta (not Violeta the matriarch of the nearly-destroyed Bluewing Clan). Rosa, her eyes on the five macaws standing around her, then raised a wing to where she had been struck and felt something plant-like. A large leaf had been wrapped around her head like how humans wrapped bandages over certain head injuries of their casualties.

"What happened?" asked Rosa, "And where are Clemont and Serena?"

"Clemont and Serena had left to warn the blue-and-gold macaws," said Ashley, "But they requested that you stay here for your safety while they see to the task."

"Clemont told us to look after you," said Daysi.

"What happened?" asked Rosa again.

"You were struck on the head by one of those pesky flying foxes with a stick;" said Amelia, "Ashley and her boyfriend Chlorophyll saw it happen."

Rosa lowered her head back into a pillow of soft moss.

"Ugh, the last thing I can remember was that flying fox hovering with this stick and then the next thing I knew, I felt absolutely dazed before passing out," she muttered.

"The impact had left a large bruise on the side of your head," said Daysi, "It's a good job it wasn't anything worse…"

"You were very lucky it wasn't a concussion or something," said Chlorophyll. When the others shot him a confused look at this human term, he explained it.

"A type of head injury," he said. Violeta the Lear's macaw then turned round and put her wings on the back of her head, a frustrated look on her face while Rosa just sighed.

"I can't believe what has happened to the blue-throated macaws and the Bluewing hyacinth macaws," said Violeta in disgust, turning back round to face the others. "You should have seen the green tribe matriarch, Verde. She had been absolutely furious on the way back from that partially successful rescue."

"I'm not surprised," said Aramis in agreement, "It obviously means that those two deranged colony leaders had not listened to our warnings."

"Absolutely," said Daysi. Rosa only sighed and slumped into her moss bed, her eyes gazing at the dash of green from the large leaf encircling her head. She could not believe what was happening to the Sanctuary de Amazon.